New toys, old toys and someone else's toys

I really thought it was time to get back into the swing of this and try and get some more frequent blog updates. I've been busy painting stacks of samurai and to say I'm over them is a bit of an understatement. I reckon I must've painted over a hundred samurai in the last few years but there are still more to go.

I didn't end up taking any photos of them in the end because I moved them along to their new owner as soon as they were done. Suffice to say they were quite a bit nicer than my original samurai (that you can see in some previous posts). All up there were 30 of them and I also painted some sort of Samurai Demon figure which was a bit of an odd one. 

It hasn't been all samurai lately though, I recently picked up a substantial Mirkwood Amoured Elves army from the Hobbit range by GW (didn't pay aussie prices of course) and I'm working on getting some of them up to scratch. The finecast can be a pain, with quite a bit of clean up work to do and there will be a few little air bubbles (not too many) and some detail to rework in greenstuff but it's definately do-able.

I'm holding out for some sweet dark foresty bases from a guy in the UK who is currently moulding them but they are at least a few months away so don't expect to see too much paint on these anytime soon. Still I thought I might be able to start a game or two even though they're unpainted.

Next up is some shield replicating I've done with some Blue stuff (like a re-usable insta-mold). Never have enough shields in their packs to cover everyone plus now I need extras for the cav so I use a 50-50 mix of milliput and greenstuff to get good sculpting qualities and acceptable hardness. I've got a few moulds on the go so I'll see which one comes out nicest and crank them out from there.

Someone else's toys now, a whole bunch of figures from Knight Models in their Batman range. Lovely stuff and looking forward to putting some paint down on these once I finish the greenstuffing.

Finally a Skorne Titan Gladiator. A real bitch to put together because of the weight of the parts. I'll be going for some light blue-grey skin and looking to do a black armour gold trim combo but I will have to wait and see how that turns out. If I can remember I'll try to get some WIP shots on the way.

That's all for now bit of a long post but so be it. Thanks for looking and hopefully I'll be back with more to show soon!

SS Charlemagne

I've been having laptop issues lately as its started to shutdown randomly hence the delay in getting these photos out to you. Got close several times to posting only to have it shutdown and to be honest the computer is lucky to be alive at this point as a rage hit was pretty close to happening..

Anyway here are my Warlord SS Charlemagne (Frenchies in German service). I really loved the look of these figures the second I saw them advertised so I had to have them. I started painting them over a year ago and they got sidelined when I picked up comissions but they are done now!

The photos were taken on a bit of a grey day as winter is ruining my natural light so they are a bit dull. Also the light colour highlights on the yellows and flesh seem to get washed out which is a shame. 

I had my first go at painting eyes and I was actually pretty happy with how most of them turned out. The Pea dot and Oakleaf B is also the first time I've had a crack. I'm really happy with them overall.

All the pea dot camo dots were done with a toothpick so I could get mostly circle shapes. You can also use it to create larger circle areas which is really useful.

 I've been experimenting with some Ammo Mig crystal lens colours to get some depth to the goggles. I really like them, they're basically a glaze that you apply in consecutive layers to get the right colours with the bonus of being reflective. Worth it I reckon

Bit of a mix of Pea dot, Oakleaf B and Italian camo on a few tent covers here. Might be too much but I reckon it creates a bit of visual interest.

Unfortunately the front photo of this guy got ruined by the auto touch up function on the computer and I'd already saved over the original but you get an idea of the field grey.

I wish the eyes showed up better in the photos and the flesh highlights but in reality I was super chuffed.

I tried to fix this photo after another auto touch up oversave but it wasn't really rescu-able in the end...

Anyway thanks for looking and always happy to hear critiques on how I could make them any better!

Until next time

2nd Round of Samurai

I've managed to surprise myself and actually got a second post up today. Managed to get a stack of hobby related shite done, mostly undercoating some Lord of the Rings figures I'll be painting eventually and undercoating another 50 or so samurai that will have to be done for a mate.

Here are some of the samurai I did 3 years ago, the painting quality on them is a marked difference from what I can get now but I'm still happy with them for my first 28mm figures. 

These banners were the 'queen' pieces for the chess set. The Japanese writing was done free-hand copying a few images off google.

Some gun toting samurai that were used as bishops for one side. These guys were the only attempt I made at any sort of uniform among the group. They're Takeda-ish with their red laquered armour 

My favourite figure of the whole bunch was this general's assistant with the gold bell on his back. Such a well sculpted figure and an absolute joy to paint. These sword/naginta guys were the pawn pieces

I've got one last round of Samurai to show off, still didn't manage to get the SS figures photographed today. The light isn't so great during the days now that it's winter so I tend to forget about it until its too late. 

Thanks for looking! Comments and critiques always welcome

The Promised Ones

Finally got these guys uploaded onto the computer and cropped up. My phone wasn't connecting properly the last few times so I'd just given up. But here they are!

12 Wargames Foundry Roman Equites painted up as Legio XIV Gemina around about the invasion of Britain time. The shield transfers are LBMS, they're totally worth it to save heartache trying to freehand all that crap.

The weapons are going to be added by Brett who I'm painting them for as he didn't have them on hand. Anyway I'll let the photos do the talking.

The signifer (guy carrying the pole) and Vexillarius (mini flag bearer)

The centurion

I'm finishing up some more Samurai photos as I speak so I'll try get a second post out today which would be a minor miracle in itself. I've also finished the Warlord SS Charlemagne figs so I'll try take photos of them today too in-between some undercoating and painting up the next mountain of samurai figs for commission. They're to be used for Kings of War I think. I may go insane by the end of this lot though, the Perry samurai are beautifully sculpted but damn they are covered in mold lines and flash.