Finishing up Before the Challenge, pt.2

More accurately, finishing up during the challenge. 

Aye, more Spanish Civil War to show you, that I didn't quite manage to finish for the Wyvern all-day game, but worked on slowly this month. With two sections pretty much done, I'm working on support options at the moment and this Army Hotchkiss machine gun team should do the job nicely. From Empress, fine sculpts with a head swap to give both helmets, if a bit fiddly to assemble the gun. 

Also this Bilbao armoured car to support my Carabineros. A fine resin model, also from Empress miniatures. This featured in the all-dayer, though true to form for freshly painted miniatures, didn't really achieve much. 

As Gharak pointed out, it did need some weathering. I think I got a bit carried away. 

This served as a test piece for a pot of pigment fixer from Vallejo that I picked up. Previously, I was happy with the subtle effects that I could get, but unfortunately they were rubbed or blown off when dullcoting. The fixer seems to work well at what it should do, but instead I struggled to get the same subtlety of effect with it: it tended to clump where the fixer was placed. I think I need a lot more practice, and looking back at the result, it does need a bit of tidying up and re-application.  

Finally and belatedly, a shot of this year's box of miniatures prepared for the painting challenge:

A whole range of stuff to get me to my modest target of 300 points: plenty of SCW, a bit of Sudan, some Pulp single miniatures, 15mm WWII Germans leftover from last year's challenge, 28mm Napoleonic Cacadores that have featured in at least three (!) previous challenge boxes (and still not even started!) and a couple of surprise entries. 

Now, what to paint next? 

The Sixth Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge

Yes, a sure sign that 'Winter is coming'. No, not the sudden turn for the colder in this fair isle, our favourite Canadian blogger's announcement that once again he is going to run the annual painter-blogger extravaganza, the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge.

If you've not heard of it already - where have you been hiding? Three months of a packed roster of great painters applying their craft to lead, plastic and resin. I heartily recommend it as a fine way of passing the winter months with cameraderie and just a little friendly banter. So if you fancy it, get on over here and sign up!

It's been quiet around here, but how's the time to get industrious. After a summer with limited painting, I feel fairly well prepped, both mentally and in undercoated lead and plastic. But there's still a bit for me to do in the next four weeks, including finishing off everything that's part-painted!

Right, now where did I leave those brushes...

The Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge: March 2014

Its all over for another year - Curt's extravaganza of painting closed in the small hours of Thursday morning. Cue bloggers furiously painting to finish projects off and try to hit their targets. All in all, a bumper challenge in so many ways - output, quality, controversy and banter. With the tallies in, I came a very respectable 28th out of 60 challengers with 755 points, smashing past my 700 target with a micro-'points bomb' on the last day. I'm quite astounded I managed a top half finish given how slowly I paint.

March saw 'the grind' really telling on my output, alongside weekend plans and being busy at work, which sapped my will to apply paint. For some weeks, I could only bring myself to work on the theme round entries. First up was my 'Favourite Character'. 

One of my favourite series of books when growing up was Steven Erikson's 'Malazan Book of the Fallen', an epic fantasy series of increasingly weighty tomes. The first books in the series are quite excellent and I really liked that Erikson ditches many of the fantasy cliches and throws you into a world that feels like it could exist. He skimps on the explanation, so the first book passes in a haze of not quite understanding what is going on. I found that they were best on second reading. Erikson doesn't just write good characters, but cultures and histories. The books span thousands of years, though the 'present' is the age of the Malazan Empire, well packed with heroes and villains.

The books have scores of dramatis personae and I'd have struggled to pick a favourite, let alone one I could have found a suitable mini for. I settled on one of the 'Bridgeburners', a hard-bitten infantry regiment of the Empire, favourites of the old emperor. Members regularly feature in the series and the regiment itself is one of the few 'characters' that features in all of the books. The Bridgeburners are cast aside early in the series and purposefully decimated by a new Empress that is suspicious of their loyalty to the old emperor.

The Bridgeburners are packed with interesting characters: noble and heroic leader Whiskeyjack, brooding assassin Kalam, enigmatic mage Quick Ben or raucous sappers Fiddler and Hedge among others. But the ordinary footslogger is also appealing, so I just painted a nameless, ordinary member of the Bridgeburners, one of hundreds that was buried at the Siege of Pale.

The uniform is conjecture: they are barely described in the books. But I think the mini captures the look of them I have in my head. He correctly carries a stabbing sword, shield and heavy crossbow and wears the sigil of the Bridgeburners on his sleeve: unsurprisingly, a burning bridge.

It is a 'heroic scale' mini from Rackham's Cadwollan range, around 35mm tall. I did some conversion work to make him more like I imagine a Bridgeburner: a new, plain round shield to replace the ornate kite shield, trimming off some detailing on the scabbard and helm and sculpting the sigil on his sleeve. The shield transfer came out quite strangely, so I've since painted over it. I actually had a plain transfer with a very battered design, but messed it up and had to re-do it.

My second entry in March was also a theme round offering, but this time didn't go to plan: I failed to finish my entry. I intended to submit a vignette of chose General Gordon last stand in Khartoum in Jaunary 1885, which felt appropriate to wrap up my challenge. Only Gordon himself was finished.

I tried a new method on the skin, trying the same flesh recipe but highlighting in MartinN's excellent style - it seemed fitting for Gordon's face to be drawn with worry as the siege concludes.

I noticed after submitting that I hadn't painted the button on his jacket which has since been rectified.

The photos were hurriedly done late at night, hence the poor lighting. This is as far as I got on the rest. It is a Perry a miniatures set based on George William Joy's painting. I was adding a walkway and backdrop and wanted to add a casualty on the walkway. One day, I hope I'll get around to finishing it off.

I closed my challenge with a few bits that rolled off my painting table in the last few days. First, a captured Mahdist gun with Egyptian gunners. I actually painted them minis in early January, but hadn't got around to basing them. I based the Beja overseer separately as I though he'd come in useful as a slaver in Pulpy games. Also, at a push I may end up using  this for somewhat bedraggled Egyptian artillery, ignoring the shackles on the gunners and leaving the overseer off. It will suffice, until I inevitably get around to adding the Krupp from the Perry Egyptian range. I am trying to get hold of some perspex basing 'holes' to make my own sabot trays for the Mahdists and also mount the overseer snugly on this base. I'fe left space on the base so when they arrive I'll sort this one out and do a huge batch of sabot trays for the Mahdist hordes.

I dug an extra lamp out for these photos, hence the orange glow on the gun.

The British in the Sudan finally get some cavalry support, the rather dashing 10th Hussars. Not a fancy pelisse in sight by this era, but I still think they look fine in their navy striped trousers and spiked helmets. Deployed from India, they were in khaki. After whistling through the horses for these one Sunday afternoon, they were an absolute slog. This is my first stab at getting the right khaki for the Sudan, based on Vallejo khaki grey, I think it came out well, if slightly too green.

Finally, I had two test 15mm minis to play Chain of Command with. A fairly new scale for me, but they colour scheme is quite basic. I successfully minimised the painting time by spraying them Army Painter leather brown, picking out details and giving them a good wash with strong tone. Leather Brown perhaps isn't quite the right shade for the overcoats, but it made the painting a doddle.




Not the most inspiring paint jobs, but I'm not sure how I might jazz them up more, so am tempted to just knock the rest of the platoon out so I can get some games in at Wyern Wargamers.

In review, I'd say my third Challenge wasn't a classic in terms of my output - lots of what I painted had been seen before over the past year or so. But that aside, I'm pleased that I was much, much more focused, saving my more esoteric offerings for the theme rounds while steadily crunching through the Sudan lead pile. I had hoped to finish off more anbd be ready to game by the end of the challange: two more command stands and a unit of Bengal infantry in particular. But I just couldn't face them.

While I'm delighted with a top half finish and my highest tally, I actually painted less miniatures because half of my points came from the seven bonus rounds. While they were fun, creative and well received by the Challengers, timing the bonus round entries interrupted my flow and probably reduced my output overall. In hindsight, I'd probably have better served focusing on one or two and doing a diorama, rather than small entries to all seven. Still, the whole challenge was a blast and I offer my thanks to the ever-steadfast Curt for organising and running the whole event.

I've taken a few days off painting, giving the much-neglected PS3 some attention and finally applying paint to the kitchen walls to placate my beloved wife. But I'll be back at it soon enough.

The Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge: February 2014

Wow, is it March already? As I flick through February's photos, I realise how much I've been slacking. Just one main entry, my entry fee and two theme round entries for four weeks' work. Crikey.

The month started with the 'Hero/Heroic Group' theme round and I rolled out a classic antihero of literature and the Victorian age: Sir Harry Paget Flashman VC, KCB, KCIE.



Of course, a true heroic story wouldn't be complete without a love interest - even more so for the lecherous Flashman. So I offer two for him to charm - a modestly dressed local and upstanding European lady. Here we can see our man, on Her Majesty's service in some far-flung corner of the Empire, spying the ladies on the veranda...

...and making his move, brandy in hand.

Flashman is from Eureka, both the European and native ladies are from the Redoubt Sudan range. All were rather nice to paint up. 

The bulk of my work in February was a few more infantry for the Mahdists and a third Command stand: Osman Digna himself. I was very pleased with the basing on him - raised just a little on a rocky outcrop, overseeing the battlefield. A very fine sculpt, his lack of movement nicely complimented by a more active rifle-armed tribesman.





I painted these alongside the casualties below, a fairly sizeable batch for me but a mere drop compared to DaveD's ocean. Different parts of the force are starting to get differentiated by colour, with Beja being very plainly dressed, mostly in Vallejo Iraqi sand and tan yellow, deeply shaded as usual with Devlan mud. I'm almost out of Devlan Mud - crisis!

Once again, this batch is well furnished with conversions to mix things up a little. These five all got a good hacking, mostly with arms from various places, including Warlord plastic Celts and Wargames Factory Greeks. My favourites are the tribesman with arm thrust in the air, his war-cry of 'Allahu-Akbar' almost audible and the Beja flinging his spear, shield arm thrust backwards for balance. No doubt I'll do some more conversions at some point - I fancy a stick-thrower for starters.

This batch will bring my Mahdist infantry to 70 or 80 - no mean feat for me as someone who normally paints a mini or two then shuffled off to order something else.

For my entry fee, I went for a desperado from the lead pile. I don't know who the manufacturer is, as he was picked up in a bargain bin at Triples many years back. A slim but nicely posed sculpt.

I chose a 'Wild Bunch-eque' palette. He's unbased, so Curt can finish it to his liking.

I like the fluff that has settled on his hat here

This is him after a few updates last weekend - I painted the eyes and made him quite a lot grubbier - actually just done with stippled Khemri Brown rather than powders, but came out well on the black clothing. 

Finally, I finished the 'casualties' theme round, a handful of Mahdists  painted in the same batch as Osman Digna and the rather more healthy Mahdists. For this, I set a scene packed out with Mahdists and the Sudanese infantry that featured earlier.  

 On my entry, I wrote:

The first Battle of El Teb was a disaster that destroyed Valentine Baker's Egyptian field army in a single day. When deploying into a brigade square to face Osman Digna's Beja tribesmen, one regiment inexplicably extended to the front, leaving yawning gap on one flank. Poor fire discipline at 1000 yards wreathed the line in smoke for no effect and caused skirmishers and artillerymen to be fired upon by their own infantry. When the furious Beja charge hit, the fragile Egyptian formation collapsed entirely and routed, to be slaughtered for no quarter. There were only small pockets of organized resistance, including a fighting withdrawal by the Sudanese Massowah Battalion, that I attempt to represent here.   

Of the 3500 men who had set out, barely more than a thousand survived. The Beja force is estimated to have been 1000, with a marked technological disadvantage and yet their casualties were only in the dozens. The disaster led to the deployment of British troops to secure Suakin and defeat Osman Digna, starting with the second battle of El Teb just a few short weeks later. 



I had a lot of fun getting some minis out and setting it up, but I didn't seem to do well on the voting - perhaps unsurprising as there were some quite excellent entries, spearheaded by MichaelA's grisly Victorian murder scene. Stiff competition this year!

I also did Egyptian and Sudanese infantrymen, picked up from Redoubt as Perry don't do wounded Egyptians. I was pleasantly surprised by these minis - perfectly serviceable alongside my Perrys.

I was really pleased with this one

So, the final countdown: barely more than two weeks to go. My plans have been tweaked accordingly: the 15mm WWII platoon is unlikely to feature and while I've started a test mini, I'm waiting on the arrival of some AP Strong Tone to replace my nigh-on empty Devlan mud. I've some colonial cavalry on the table now that have a realistic chance of being finished and my final theme round entry needs a lot of work. Beyond that, I'm not sure I'll get much more done. And that'll be it for another year! 

The Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge: January 2014

Well, what a start to the year. 2014 seems to have picked up the pace again, I can't believe it's mid-February already. The year is shaping up to be a great one hobby-wise, with games in the offing, a good few events I plan on going to and some fair progress on the painting front. Fair, but not particularly impressive volume-wise, I've just about managed a batch of figures and a theme round entry each fortnight. Sadly, hobby time in January was hit with DIY (again) and life admin galore  (again). But I'm just about on course to make my points total by mid-March

My first January painting was this chap for the 'Villain' theme round. Recognise him?

Ok, here's a rather less than subtle clue:



Yes, more a 'Villainous Henchman' than pure Villain, it is he of a Strange Occupation.



A fairly quick job, but one more theme round down. I'm on course to nail all seven despite my glacial rate of painting, which appeals to the completionist in me.

Next up, another unit for the Sudan project and one that I'm pretty pleased with. Another unit for the Anglo-Egyptian forces, this time the Sudanese IXth infantry. The Sudanese battalions were regarded as the pride of the Egyptian army, being professional soldiers recruited for life from Southern Sudan and the Nuba mountains. The Xth and XIth were even recruited from old soldiers that had been captured by the Mahdi, served in his Jihadiyya before escaping en masse in 1885 and re-enlisting in the Egyptian army.

Mine are officered by an Egyptian (in this next photo, painted pre-challenge), though it was also known for Sudanese to be promoted from the ranks. The IXth's conduct alongside the Cameron Highlanders at the battle of Ginnis led to them being presented a unique standard in 1886: of red silk fringed in red and gold with Kosheh and Ginnis as battle honours and a central wreath. Other Battalions carried a green standard with just an Arabic numeral. I chose to represent them with this snazzy standard, made at my request by Flag Dude. I like this product, despite some drawbacks, the ease of use swings it for me - just stick it on and paint the pole/finials to match.



The uniforms of the Egyptian army changed quite a lot between the various campaigns. I've settled on having my Egyptian units in a white summer uniform and Sudanese in a blue with white trousers. All units were later issued khaki uniforms. No doubt it will surprise you to hear that they are from Perry miniatures.

At the same time, I worked on this Command stand for my Mahdist forces: a Khalifa and his faithful standard bearer. Both were started as part of my first challenge batch but set aside part way through. I pondered a while how to paint the Khalifa, given he has such a large robe aching for some freehand, perhaps patches in the Mahdist style. But for a religious leader, I decided on the understated purity of a plain white robe with a jagged edging in blue.

The standard bearer is converted from a spare metal spearman, carefully trimming his cast on spear off and replacing it with the Flag Dude banner. 

The next theme round went down to the wire, but I got him finished. For my 'Vehicle' entry, I intended to paint the first 15mm vehicles for Chain of Command US platoon. But alas, a delayed Wayland Games order necessitated a last-minute change of heart. Fortunately, I had this Pulpy motorcyclist from 1st Corps already prepped.

He's intended to represent one of the Prof's sidekicks, the boozing buffoon and beau of young Victoria Hemingway: Flight Lieutenant Michaels, riding a purloined military-issue motorcycle. No doubt he'll find cause to be pursued by some Nazis in motorcycles and side-cars (which happen to be in the challenge box, again) - I think that would make a great scenario some day.

To round out the month's painting, I just about squeezed in these Coureur de Bois for the Bloggers for Charity project started by James and Andrew. I hope that they will be put to good use.



These were a bit of a slog for me as I'm unaccustomed to painting irregulars in an efficient way, as evidenced by my disastrous first attempt at Bashi Bazouks last year. But they came out ok in the end, I think and I'm glad to have them finished well in time to be sent off and based with everyone else's fine contributions. The fine sculpts by AW Miniatures looked quite busy at first glance, but took the paint well and have well-defined detail, though I feel they are in the classic style, with larger hands and weapons akin to some Artizan sculpts.

Well, that's January and I've just dropped the first February entries into Curt to be posted. But I really must get back to the grindstone, Mr Awdry must be rocketing ahead in out side challenge. 

Photography and The Challenge

I'm not a good photographer, in fact I'd say I'm a distinctly average one. But a new camera that's too clever for my own good and Curt's request for smaller images on Challenge submissions had me looking to improve my setup. This is what I came up with:



First, location. This is in the loft, below a velux window. The brightest spot in the house, neither direct sunlight nor too shady. I tried shooting outside, but couldn't get enough light to the underside of the minis so had to retake the photos inside.

The backdrop is made of a cardboard box. The plain blue card gives a less harsh background than white but would be better if it was blue/white transition. Someday I might try other colours, black seems quite popular. The white paper is an attempt to make the most of the limited light from one daylight bulb and the natural light above. Well, it might work!

I'd like to get more daylight lamps, this angle poise is my only one so it have it as close to the camera lens as I can. Two or three in some kind of light box setup would be great, though would take up quite a bit if space if I left it set up permanently. The daylight bulb is quite harsh, particularly as I often photograph the slightly shiny minis before the final coat of Dullcote. So I've a makeshift diffuser from a piece of baking paper blue-tac'd over the bulb - that's what you can see on the right.

The camera gets great images, but I struggle with depth of field. I'm shooting with a high F number and get best results from the tripod. The backdrop sits on a box file to shoot from a more suitable level. I usually set a 2 second delay too, to minimise any shake from me pressing the button, a tip I picked up somewhere. But the setup makes it a bit fiddly to reach the camera, let alone the subject!

That's my setup, but I'd be interested in seeing how other painters take their shots, particularly any good tips I might be able to use.

As for the challenge itself, we've trundled past the one month point. I think I'm roughly on target to make my points, while I was looking bare I've just logged a theme round and normal entry. I think I'll be relying on relatively quick theme round entries to make my target, unfortunately. Sadly, those 50 point blocks are just too tempting for a painter of my rate and it does give me an excuse to dig through the lead pile for something different.

The side challenge with MichaelA and Greg isn't looking great - that might be a loser particularly as I'm going to detour into 15mm WWII once a delayed Wayland Games order arrives. But I'm pleased what the side challenge has kept me focused this far with a good few units added to the Sudan project. But I'm afraid I'm feeling the grind now so intend to spend a couple of evenings prepping, terraining or on the PS3 before attacking the next batch with gusto.

Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge: December 2013

With all of my free time being spent either at the painting desk or attacking the extensive list of household jobs and DIY, I doubt I'll get chance to post up each Challenge entry as they are submitted, so have settled on a monthly summary. This should also ensure I get chance to post up terrain, AARs and general rambles over the course of the challenge. I seem to have settled into around an entry each fortnight which is convenient as it will loosely follow the theme rounds. 

Upon picking up my brushes, the first painted mini was actually my entry into first theme round, 'non-combatant'. Finished in the first Sunday, a single miniature of a Napoleonic Cantiniere from Westfalia miniatures. Unfamiliar with French Hussar regiments serving in the Peninsula, I painted her Hussar jacket as the Spanish Maria Luisa Hussars. I liked the cheerful colours, offset by the yellow scarf and particularly with the rest of the colours I settled on being various browns. I really enjoyed painting this miniature and hope to buy more from Kawe at Westfalia. 

The theme round entries were all superb this time around and I can see I'm going to have to really up my game to have even an outside chance of coming top in any of them. I have now got something lined up for each round too! (mmm, points...)

After that, I ploughed into the Sudan project that forms the majority of my challenge box.  I started out with nine miniatures including one mounted, but the days rolled on an I had a deadline before I had to visit family for Christmas. Realising that I wouldn't get them done, I trimmed the batch to six. The rest will follow, hopefully in January. These are Perry plastic Mahdists, many of which have seen a scalpel, as I've around 50 complete now, so I've started adding variety. The flag is from Flag Dude and will permanently live on a command stand. The ones in units will get smaller banners, once I put an order in with Flag Dude. 

Next up, their opposition, some British infantry, specifically the Royal Marine Light Infantry. The RMLI were one of the first units to disembark at Suakin in 1885 following the Mahdist revolt. With a strength of 464 men and 14 officers, they fought at El Teb and Tamai. Their helmets, pouches and belts were lightened with white pipe-clay, which makes them quite distinctive from the other regiments in grey serge uniforms.

I thought I'd left the white cross-belts behind with Napoleonics, but it seems I'm a glutton for punishment. These took an age to do, particularly on the kneeling figures. But I'm pleased with the final outcome. 

The bugler and sergeant were finished back in May, but I'm very pleased the unit is now usable on the tabletop as I've had to use my mounted infantry as stand-ins to date.

Finally, a dalliance in the 'what-if': a British Hales rocket team. I'm not actually sure whether the British used rockets in Sudan, though I've seen a few references to Egyptian forces doing so. But I couldn't resist adding one to my force: I find the British perseverance with the rocket as a weapon of war quite charming and Hales rockets remained in service until well after the Mahdist revolt was brought to heel. 

This is a very fine Empress miniatures sculpt from their Anglo-Zulu war range, I just trimmed off the braiding on the cuffs. There are a few other differences in the uniforms, between 1879 and 1885, but if I'm honest, I could hardly tell so I didn't think it was worth the work to correct it as it could have all ended badly. The bombardier's uniform is pure conjecture. The rocket trough itself is quite delicate and I did accidentally crush it and to repair it I had to prop it up with a small rock!

After submitting the last of these last week, I've had a fairly dry week of painting. I have completed my 'villain' theme round entry and have bizarrely done quite a bit of prep work. This is because I've thrown down the gauntlet to Mr Awdry and Greg and am getting a bit panicky that I'm going to be steamrollered. Also, as I paint upstairs, the wife wasn't seeing much of me in our free time, so I've taken to spending an hour or so each night pottering downstairs, often doing smaller bits that I can set up on the coffee table. That includes prep and small terrain bits so far.