Para Test Miniatures Redux

I've gone back and re-painted the original test-figure, giving him a lighter, more Nothern-European skin-tone. I've also lightened up the colours on the smock (Or "para-frock" as other British Army units used to refer to them as little as ten years or so ago. A bit of revenge for being called "crap hats" by the boys with the red beret). I've also painted up two more test figures: one using a different ink wash and highlighting method and the second using a different base coat for the smock.

Of the three, the NCO pointing with the rifle is probably the closest in appearance to the original reference photographs provided by the customer, having more of an ochre base to his smock whereas the other two have more of a buff base. On the other hand, the officer with the beret in the middle has a lighter, brighter, cleaner look overall. I've included the the original test miniature paint-job at the bottom of the article for comparison purposes.

Apologies for the picture quality. The differences in painting style/technique between these three are quite subtle. My better -half (the good photographer) is at work and I wanted to get these up quickly for the customer. If I don't hear back from the customer before she get's back, I'll stick up better ones.

New Test Miniature Batch

Para Test Mini 2a

Para Test Mini 2b

Para Test Mini 2c

Original Test Miniature

Para Test Miniature

I've finally finished most of the cleaning and prep for the WWII British Paratrooper order, and I've completed the first test figure (sans base) for the customer's approval. I plan on finishing the first batch of 12 figures during my half-day tomorrow, and then tackling the rest in batches of 15 or so a day, which should still leave me plenty of time to work on other orders concurrently.

Anyway, here's the test figure:

WWII British Paratrooper test miniature.

Technical Problems

We've had some technical problems over the last few days but not to worry: you haven't missed anything. So far, I've mostly been cleaning and prepping miniatures. Hopefully we'll have something nice for you all to look at later today.

Griff and Zug

Finished another of my smaller commissions today, namely the Blood Bowl Star Players Griff Oberwald and the Mighty Zug. These two fine chaps will go to the winner of the Blood Bowl tournament on Day 1 of Chaos of the Warp 4, this weekend.

Griff Oberwald, BB Star Player

Painted the current year on the Scroll rather than CotW IV. It's more aesthetic.

Zug, Blood Bowl Starplayer

He's a big lad, but then, he can give Ogres a run for their money in Blood Bowl.

Also, eighty-three British para-troopers arrived today, so I've started prep on them. I also managed to squeeze in some painting on my lunch-break, finishing 4 15mm miniatures and making a good start on two 28mm characters for Inquisitor. I'm just waiting on some lava bases and a Draigo arriving in the post and then I can start work on a Grey Knights order too. Happy days!

Dark Eldar and Imperial Guard

I finished off my last thirty IG vets during my week off, meaning that my 1500pt IG List is now fully assembled, kit-bashed, converted and painted. There's not a single infantry figure in the army that hasn't been kit-bashed converted in some simple way, even if you count simply trimming off Imperial Eagles and so forth. If you don't count trimming those off, then all but four have been converted in some other form or another.

So without further ado, here they are:

Metla Vet Squad 1

Melta Vet Squad 1: Second Rank

Metla Vet Squad 2:

Melta Vet Squad 2: Second Rank

Plasma Vet Squad

Plasma Vet Squad Second Rank

71 Imp Guard Infantry and 3 Sentinels.

That's not all I did this week mind you. I started work on my new 28mm Kill Team for Inquisitor. You can see images of these guys over at my other blog, Terminus Omega. And, now that my (rather rushed) IG force is at a playable and painted size, I'm starting work on my next project. A 40K Dark Eldar Army. Here's the test mini:

Dark Eldar Test Miniature

It looks like 6th ed might actually nerf Dark Eldar, unfortunately, but there's the breaks. The new Overwatch rule, the random assault range and shooting as a reaction to being charged are going to be hell on most Dark Eldar assault builds, what with low saving throws and lightly armored vehicles.. Especially taking into account that the new Feel no Pain save is just a 5+ rather than a 4+. But what the heck, they still look cool and I've been wanting to paint these guys for ages. It's just a pity that 5th eds greatest triumph (the very well balanced Dark Eldar codex) is going to suffer so much in 6th. But there you go.

Where's Brian?

What, no updates since Monday? That's because I belatedly realised that I haven't had more than a day and a half off work each week for nearly six months! So, given that I've finished all my current commissions, I'm taking a well-deserved break until Monday, when I expect two more commissions to arrive from the States.

Take care till then.

Prince Jerome Bonaparte

Finished some of the Napoleonic miniatures today, in-between working on some other orders. The other two generals should be finished by Wednesday (tomorrow is my day-off this week). Here we have Prince Jerome Bonaparte, painted in the uniform he wore in the portrait beneath the actual miniature. He was something of a flamboyant character. He even took his court on campaign with him. So having him painted up in court dress rather than his actual field uniform is entirely appropriate.

What makes having finished this miniature today even more special? I'll give you a hint. It happened 197 years ago today.

Prince Jerome Bonaparte. 28mm Perry Miniature

Prince Jerome in Court Dress

28mm Inquisitor

I've been getting in some practise with my wife's camera. Thought I'd show you all how I'm getting on by posting an image of a miniature I finished last night: a converted 28mm Inquisitor for games of 40K, Inquisitor and Dark Heresy. More updates later today.

Inquisitor Strom Helsing.

Rear View

Sunday Service

Well, the Napoleonic figures are coming along nicely, but not yet finished. I expect you'll see them in their glory (relatively speaking), tomorrow. In the meantime, here are the fruits of my recent lunch breaks: another Imperial Guard squad. Only 30 more of these guys to build and paint before the tournament. 

Malifaux Commission Complete

 Well, it was a very small commission. Just two miniatures in fact: Marcus the Beastmaster and Miranda the Beastmistress. Still, the customer (one of the lads from my gamin group) has already paid for four miniatures in advance. Just need to wait and see what else he comes up with. You'll have noticed that I haven't done the bases.The customer has something special in mind for these two, and will be re-basing them after delivery.

32mm Miranda the Beastmistress

And again from the back.

32mm Marcus the Beastmaster

From the rear.

French WWII and 40K Stormtroopers

Finally, we have some decent pictures (yes, my wife is back from her holidays). First up we have the French WWII Commission. I was asked to match the paint-job provided by a previous painting service as closely as possible. Here's the sample miniature I was sent to work from:

The sample miniature provided by the customer.

And again.

 And here's my efforts to match the painting style, painting recipe and basing techniques. Almost spot on really, with the small exception that I couldn't find quite the right shade of static grass (hmmm, I should have done a better job of blowing the loose static grass away before taking the photographs. Ah well.).

WWII French Machine Gun Teams.

WWII French Anti-Tank Gun

 And finally, here are some Storm Troopers for Warhammer 40,000.

Imperial Guard Stormtroopers

I should have enough done with regards to the Malefaux, Napoleonic and Blood Bowl figures that WIP pics of at least some of them will be up tomorrow.

No Photographs today.

Well, no photographs today, but lots got done. The WWII French have been based, and I've started work on the prize for Chaos of the Warp 4's Bloodbowl tournament (two human star players painted by moi). I've also started prepping a trio of French Napoleonic Generals from Perry Miniatures and some Malefaux figures.

Meanwhile, the final part of my 40K Rogue Trader battle report is up on Terminus Omega, take a look if you're interested.

The good news (great news in fact) is that Mrs Lead Legion comes home tonight so we can all look forward to decent photographs again.

World War II French WIP

Actually, not so much a work-in-progress as all done apart from the basing and anti-shine varnish. The customer asked me to match the painting style and painting recipe of his previous painter, which meant importing some Testors' paints from the States, since I couldn't find a UK supplier. Alas, I never thought to take a photograph of the sample miniature I was sent so you could compare the two, but I'll be sure to include it tomorrow when I photograph the miniatures again. Actually depending on how well I do I might ask my better half to take better photographs on Friday morning, as she won't be back early enough tomorrow to take advantage of the natural light.

I don't seem to have done too badly with these photographs, but I had to take about thirty photographs to get three that looked alright.

WWII French Anti-Tank and MG Teams. Work in Progress.

French WWII Anti-Tank gun and crew. WIP.

WWII French Machine Gunner, Work in Progress.

Battle Report

I've been playing a game of WH40K Rogue Trader on my lunch break today and have recorded events on my gaming blog Terminus Omega. I'm only about two turns in, but I hope to have the game finished by Thursday afternoon, with updates after every day's play. Please take a look if this sort of thing interests you.

The quality of the photography leaves a lot to be desired though. My wife and her camera are on holiday until Thursday, so I'm having to take the pictures myself.. Once you've had one look at these pictures you'll no longer be wondering why I haven't being putting photographs of my work up on the blog while she's been away.

I truly am a dreadful photographer.

In painting news, I've been busily working on scenery and vehicles for the better part of a week. Thankfully, the paints for the WWII French order arrived today, so I'll be able to take a break from painting structures while I work on some WWII machine gun and anti-tank crews.

Prize Draw Results: The Winner is...

Well, the deadline has passed us by, so let's find out who wins the 50 quids worth of free painting. We had a grand total of 21 qualified entrants, so lets choose a random number (thanks to RANDOM.ORG) between 1 and 21. Entrants are numbered in the same order as their first comment (I'm lookin' at you Ray!) on the post announcing the competition.

1. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot
2. Chris
3. Styx
4. Ray Rousell
5. Wargames News and Terrain Blog
6. Dai
7. Ragna
8. The Angry Lurker
9. Mecha Ace
10. Hendrid
11. Lord Siwoc
12. Andrew Paul
13. Dan
14. Scottsz
15. Kieffer
16. Ian
17. Derek
18. Donogh Mccarthy
19. Mr Lee
20. IMP
21. Tom Badguy

Good luck everybody. It's time to consult the random number generator. And the winner is:

Dan!
Congratulations Dan. Send an email to brian@leadlegion.com to claim your prize. And to everyone else: may you have better luck next time. Thanks again for taking part.

Prize Give-Away: Last Chance to Enter

Today's you're last chance to enter your name for the Lead legion prize-give away. Entries close at 23:59 tonight, British Standard Time. Find out how to enter here.

New Terrain and Chimera number 2

My new terrain matt arrived today, but no sign of the paints or mini's I've been waiting on, so today was another self-indulgant day of painting of my own stuff.

I finished off that second Chimera and, inspired by the arrival of my luverly new terrain matt, set out to finish a few undercoated terrain pieces that had been languishing on my "to-do" list for a while. As you can probably tell by the fact it's been given a Heavy Bolter rather than a Heavy Flamer and the fact a few bits are ever so slightly broke, I acquired this little tank second hand. It's actually older than most of thekids in GW on a Saturday afternoon.

Traitor Chimera Number 2.

You might recognise this first one from a while back. Unfortunately, there were problems with the original basing material that caused it to clump after painting (grrr). It had to be scraped off and the base re-touched with gravel. Some of the original basing material still survives at the base of the exterior wall though.

Haven't we seen that fridge somewhere before?

The same terrain piece, rear-view.

And a shot from above, showing off the painted floorboards.

Secondly, we have a bit of terrain you might have seen on my wargaming blog, Terminus Omega, about six months back when I was a scenery making (but sadly, not a scenery painting) frenzy. My basing style doesn't match the mat exactly, but it's close good enough to suit me.

Rusty Drum. Crackin' name for a pub, that.

Anyway, these will probably be the last photographs until Sunday. Dearly beloved is off on her hols for a week and doesn't trust me with the camera (audio-visual technology and I have a hate-hate relationship). I hope to pick up a digital camera so simple that even I can take a shot in focus on Sunday. So look for more (and more blurry) pics then.