15mm US Airborne for memoir 44, more 10mm AWI's and 6mm ACW's!

It's been a busy last few days but I have managed to base up the first 16 figures for Memoir 44. For once I won't make a song and dance of it - after all I usually end up selling everything I paint - but meantime I'm enjoying getting to grips with a new period that offers a fresh painting challenge. They represent a big change from my usual style in that they have a flat white primer applied followed by a sepia ink wash that gives them a remarkably 'finished' look! I'm just about getting the hang of this method now, and it also uses a final 'magic wash' to add depth just before the matt varnish that seals everything nicely. I'm happy with these so far and itching to paint some German infantry. The quality of the Peter Pig WW2 ranges is quite staggering to me with loads of character figures as usual. I'll begin by painting just 40 figures per side which equates to the 10 infantry 'units' as per the boxed game. After that I'll add individual tank and artillery models to match. I have no major plans for this beyond a bit of fun and possibly a few games on the old original 95mm hex terrain that I still have tucked away.

Other plans include adding more individual galleries to the links bar for easy access. The 6mm Baccus Russians I painted earlier this year I feel deserve to be easier to find as I feel that they represented the pinnacle of my Napoleonic 6mm work and I was very proud of them. I'm also going to add a page of 6mm ancient figures and 20mm ECW's again all commission work that I remain very proud of.

In the meantime here are shots of some of this weeks output. The 10mm AWI unit is the 24th Foot, 1768 warrant, but with some contrast in the breeches, white for most but with a few linen. These figures wear the breeches/stocking combination but units will be painted also in the full tight fitting leggings adopted by many units in the colonies. The hats remain smartly cocked up for this unit.

And more 6mm ACW test shots - added the command bases and another Yank unit. I'll probably paint the last couple of units I have here for a total of 9 bases and then offer them for sale, with my new ACW customer getting first refusal to get him started!

6mm ACW test shots 2 - and 10mm AWI's.

I completed the two ACW Reb test units yesterday so added a Yankee Zouave unit for contrast. The Rebs obviously take a little longer to paint than the Yanks even with a fairly restricted palette. I took care to choose a grey and a light brown to represent the two basic shades and I think the contrast works nicely. Zouaves are lovely castings and a joy to paint. I based them all up for effect and to judge the finished look. As said previously I'm quoting on a planned ACW 6mm project for a new customer so wanted to get my timings fairly accurate.

Zouaves before adding highlights.

A quick dash of lighter red and flesh added - front.

Rear view.

I am actually in the process of restructuring my painting prices into line with the average prices of other good UK painters for 2014 and building a dedicated website. Most will probably have a slight rise in cost per figure to bring me into line. In order to do this accurately and to reflect a reasonable hourly rate for my skills I will between now and the New Year be focusing on painting up samples in various scales for the new site. More on this in due course.

And for something a little different here are the first 4 battalions of AWI British Infantry. The scale is 10mm and the figures are by Pendraken. The customer and I had a discussion about those hats with the result that I have since corrected the hatband (painted it out) and added edge lace to some but not all of them. My understanding is that the hats were shipped out to the Colonies stacked up flat and 'un-cocked' rather like a small sombrero, and were 'cocked up' on issue into a tricorne. However most were quickly unpinned and left to fall down as a 'round hat'. As we can see no reason for removing the hat lace - although most lace and facings were gradually removed and even the tails cut off the coats - and so most now have regulation lace running around the edge of the brim.

The customer will be basing these himself.

6mm ACW test shots and painting guide.

As I am due to begin painting some 6mm ACW's in the New Year for a new customer - he is planning both armies for Gettysburg under the recent 'Altar of Freedom' rules - I decided to do my usual test paint in order to get a better idea of timings/ price per strip etc. The figures will be of course Baccus 6mm and the units are roughly 24 figures plus the odd skirmishers here and there. I duly sprayed up 14 strips of Union infantry first. I have tried numerous ways of painting 6mm figures but I always come back to the flat black undercoat and colours picked out fast but accurately, with no washes used to shade - I let the undercoat give depth to the figures which I think you need in this scale.

A quick run through of order of colours used is included below. I based the figures up on the standard 30mm x 60mm bases used in AOF and indeed Polemos ACW. For those who have not seen AOF here is a link.  http://www.6mmacw.com/

My 6mm painting method - as used on the Napoleonics in the Gallery - relies on swift but accurate touches of paint that must go exactly where I want them to! This means for example when painting in the basic blue coats I need to take care not to hit the crossbelts, bag, cartridge box etc, as I generally don't use a black after the undercoat. There is no dragging of the brush across raised areas in this method. I'll give a quick run through as I said above. Note that I'm still using the method of using my thumb to guide the tip of the brush exactly where I want it. I described this method some time ago here and have continued to work on it until it becomes almost second nature. You can find it here. (Link).

OK, I set the clock running and were off!

Firstly I have selected Vallejo Royal Blue for the coats. This may appear slightly light in the bottle but for 6mm Yankees it gives a good finish and covers well. I use only the tip of the brush and reload frequently - both arms, dot around the belts front and back and a fine slash along the collar.

Now Foundry Sky blue light - quickly but accurately paint the trousers, take care not to touch anything else, I want to keep any corrections to a minimum. Also a dot on the canteen covers, could be other shades of darker blue or even uncovered tin, but the lighter blue adds contrast.

Flesh is next - Vallejo Sunny skintone is perfect. I carefully touch the hands first and then paint the faces. It makes a huge difference to the finished look of 6mm figures if you avoid blobbing in the face but rather make a couple of accurate strokes - first touch the nose then a stroke down both cheeks .... done! Keep the brush moist so it flows just where you want it.

Brown is Citadel Mournfang (Base) my favourite brown and again selected for coverage even on a fine stroke. - muskets, hair, drumsticks etc.

White - Vallejo white, slightly thinned for whats to follow - the canteen straps. Keep the thumb resting for accuracy, just dip the very tip of the brush and fast clean strokes along the back and front, taking care to keep the lines very fine or they really do spoil the look. Add lines to drum etc.

Vallejo gunmetal along the musket barrel fronts, take Vallejo Gold and carefully touch the belt buckles and I like to touch the tiny breast plate on the crossbelts.

And essentially they are done, just 6 colours used. Adding flags in this scale requires practice and a steady hand..... I managed to chop off the eagle on one flagpole .... blast! To add the 4 flags takes around 10 minutes and they are ready to base. I always brush the PVA over the entire base before carefully siting each strip in the glue, cut the skirmishers down to individuals and place along the front edge. Now I cover everything in the Baccus basing stone and leave to dry. Then use the Foundation wash to soak the base, leave to dry and then add static grass, leaving areas of stone showing which can be dry brushed at will. Again this method is fast but gives pleasing results.

The results are as shown below which represents approx 2.5 hours start to finish excluding drying time.

Next up I'll be doing 2 Confederate units as a test paint.

Hope some of you find the above helpful in tackling 6mm ACW figures.

Best 6mm 'woods' I have seen!

I have been reading up on a few blogs and found this video of a Gettysburg game in 6mm. What I think struck me immediately was the way the wooded areas have been created, maybe I'm out of touch, but I have not seen this method before! It's really very clever and realistic for this scale.

The rules used here are 'Altar of Freedom' ACW, a set that I have been sitting on as a purchased PDF for some time but I have yet to be able to print!! The whole game is very clean and tidy, something that appeals to me.

It's back to sea again for me!

I'm already thinking about what I want to do next. I remembered today that I only got as far as undercoating and blocking in the initial colour on my second Langton Napoleonic ship earlier this year. The little frigate I built was and remains a source of real joy, and she sits on my bookshelf where she is often admired and commented upon, but I think she could do with a fleet! So I took her down for a few pictures and a play with my camera settings. Number two is a 74 gun (I think) and I'm going for the stylish black/ red colour scheme shown in the Langton guide. And I'm even looking forward to the challenges of rigging!

Pics show the first red blocks in, needs strengthening up and somewhat untidy, but that will be corrected when I paint the grey/black. Amazing detail in those hull castings.

I also did a test paint on 8 of the US Airborne 15mm troops from Peter Pig. Used a white primer with a sepia wash as an undercoat and these figures took around 45 minutes to paint them as you see here (not including basing of course) ..... not bad going. Not sure I have the uniform shade correct yet (and a slice of that 45 minutes was lost in mixing and recording shades), but I like the way they paint up.

I also enjoyed a game of Commands & Colors over the weekend, the River Coa scenario. Always a tough one for the French side and again it ended in an Allied victory. As the French commander I wasted time demonstrating against the Allied left as I attempted to bring up infantry from my  left and centre against the right. I could not prevent units slipping away over the bridge - even a rifle unit reduced to a single block got away for another Victory Point ( any Anglo - Portuguese unit exiting over the bridge earns a VP!!). The French were pounded in the centre from horse artillery and infantry, at one point a 5 die throw turned up 5 infantry symbols destroying a unit of light infantry and causing it's attached leader to retreat having survived a casualty dice throw. I must say I thoroughly enjoyed the game.

Can a block game be as beautiful as a miniatures games?

News.

I don't know why they have to do it, but leave something new in the house for a few minutes unattended and cats will always make a bed of it. I went to fetch the blocks to set up a C&C N game and came back in the room to find KitKat snuggled up in the middle of the board!

Anyway, main news this week is something that I'm sure won't come as a surprise to those who have followed this blog for a while - the entire AWI project is now up for sale on ebay, figures, hex board the whole lot. I'm not sure I understand this myself, but I think I'm moving closer now to wanting to play block games, and I simply cannot find enthusiasm for painting stuff for myself any longer. It only took me a couple of tester games to understand that it offered me very little potential for enjoyment, and that hopefully somebody out there will be able to put it to far better use than I ever will.

The future is blocks.
I have decided that I will stick with board games for the future and I'd like to collect all of the C&C expansions and the Ancients game. I will of course be continuing to paint on commission for others, and I still find it very rewarding from a painting perspective, but I doubt I'll paint any major projects for myself any longer. At the end of the day I regard the AWI project as just another piece of work that can go up for sale, and any cash generated can be ploughed back in Commands & Colors games.

I have no idea how it will do, I enjoy the anticipation of an ebay sale, (not so keen on the high fees though!), but should anybody care to take a look here's the link:

15mm AWI figures and game board.

So onwards and upwards it is ..... commission work continues on the 10mm AWI's, 24 figure battalions and I have nearly completed 4 so far. I'll have some pictures soon to post here.

Memoir 44 - the next project.

I managed to delete my previous post re Memoir 44.... so here we go again.

Having taken the AWI project to it's logical conclusion - each side now consists of 10 infantry bases, 4 skirmish bases, 4 artillery bases, 2 cavalry bases plus Generals - I have decided to make Memoir 44 the follow up. It's won't be a huge project, but does look so much fun. I have decided to focus upon the fights between US airborne troops and German forces based upon the Band of Brothers series. I was delighted to see that the published scenarios include the very same battles featured in the series, perfect.

I'll be getting a copy of the box game - lovely graphics on the cards, medals and additional hexes etc - but I'll be making all of the new terrain tiles from MDF hexes for my board and replacing all of the supplied plastic figures with 15mm metal figures from Peter Pig. The first order for figures is in so I hope to get started at the weekend. The armour units (3 blocks) will be replaced with a single scale model tank and hits marked on the base. It's been a very long time since I played WW2, in fact it was at SELWG club nights in the late Seventies!

Memoir 44 is a relatively simple game, typical of what was to become the Commands & Colors system, but this suits me well as I'm no student of the period I must be honest. But like C&C it offers many subtle command and control challenges and decision making and the emphasis for me is to have fun and enjoy playing  the games.

For a peek at the rules (PDF) click here. Note it's for ages 8 and over!

There are literally pages of scenarios available, this is the 'Carentan' scenario for example as featured in Band of Brothers. Here.

Other news.
I'm ready to write up the report of the AWI game played recently completed. I won't spoil it, but suffice to say that the British Guards and Grenadiers suffered heavily in the action as a result of an impetuous early attack. Back soon.