Volksstrum progress and more Crimeans.

 As of yesterday I have painted the first 48 of the 20mm Volkssturm figures, all so far packs VSO1 and VSO2. All 75 will be finished by the weekend, I'm saving the command, the character and MG packs until last! Working in batches of 12 works well with these and features a good mix of uniforms, civilian clothing and equipment, as expected  they are very rewarding figures to paint. I'm trying to keep everything quite muted with just the odd splash of a brighter colour here and there, the military uniform would have been whatever could be laid hands on, mostly with all patches and insignia removed. Ex Luftwaffe and 'Brown shirt' shades also feature scattered throughout. They look a lot better close up in the flesh, there's a lot of subtle shading in there and the arm bands are three colours, red/white and then black through the centre which required an incredibly steady hand and fine brush!

Crimean War in 6mm. I'm really enjoying putting this little lot together. I have added more infantry for both sides and a unit of Dragoon Guards for the British. I have enough now to play a small battle which I hope to do at the weekend on the folding card table to begin with. To this end I decided to attempt a couple of small woodland areas and as a change wanted to create a more 'top down' effect as befits the scale. The base is cut from 5mm foamboard painted Burnt Umber top and edges and then lines added all around the edges in a lighter shade, in this case Flat Earth. I had a huge bag of clump foliage sitting in the drawer so selected large lumps to glue around the top edges before gradually filling in the entire top. I'm actually really pleased with the look, of course the bases will need to sit on top but in this scale that won't look too bad during a game. I have also painted up some Battlescale buildings. The only reference I could find was of small white houses dotted around the harbour at Balaclava so these will do for a small village for the time being until I can further research. 

On order are Russian Infantry in caps, some lovely Greek Legion infantry, some French line infantry and Chasseurs d'Afrique and another battery of guns for both sides. There is of course the prospect of Turkish and Sardinians down the road too! 

Latest additions, another British regiment of foot and Dragoon Guards. I will just knock the helmets back to bronze as they look a little too bright after I touched them with Gold and I don't have Brass!

Below, a bit more work on the edges needed I think, maybe lighter vertical lines and fill in any gaps.