Almost finished the Praesentia now: just a few Trinaries and the drones to go.
Here are the rest of the Sentinel and Guardian drones:
Here’s hoping that Ral Partha, the current owners of the range, get around to producing the resin as well as the metal elements of the Praesentia. The infantry are lovely, but are going to be easy meat without some drones to back them up.
I am lucky enough to have a permanent painting station set up on a table under a skylight.
It’s round the corner from the rest of the house, so a little haven where I can quietly let all the cares of the ‘real life’ melt away as I slap a bit of paint of some miniatures.
I got back from holiday yesterday, however, and realised that the week away had given me a new perspective on things:
I think it might be time to have a bit of a clean up, so that I can actually use the majority of the table for work-in-progress as opposed to limiting myself to one small area at the front!
Remind me never to go on holiday again: far too many entries to the Painting Challenge to be dealt with quickly!
To start with, however, a couple of gentle requests. First, can we remember to clearly mark or list your entries please: counting legs, or heads, or spear tips to work out how big a unit is can be a real pain. Secondly, can you try and keep image size down to under 1MB please. No problem if you can’t, but just means I can down- and upload things more quickly and in multiples.
Anyhow, on to today’s entries. In no particular order, we have:
Travis with a whole series of WW2 figures, including the first of his Winter War Americans
Matt Slade with more painting than you can shake a stick at. A host of WW2 desert war Italians and Brits; a mythological Greek kickstarter, some Space Marines…it’s a cornucopia from the painting machine!
Mr Luther fills in some of his gaps, and adds more ‘planes and terrain
There are also more ‘planes from Steve Burt, along with some Romans
Chris Kay sends in a couple of WW2 jeeps, and a couple of very strange post-apocalypse specials
There are three 15mm Napoleonic units from Sapper
Seven buildings from Mervyn
More Germanic types from Joe McGinn
Chris Cornwell sends in some medieavals
Mr Helliwell is back on the Prussians, or are they Hessians…and are those chaps with them Normans?
Ed Bowen makes a welcome return to the Challenge with his first entry of the year
There’s another convert to Contrast paints: Fred Blogs and his Indians, and a few other bits and pieces
Chris Stoesen serves up two sloops (yes, it is a Victoria Wood reference!)
Carole sends in a Papal flag-bearer
And last, but by no means least, Mr Plowman has three sci-fi vehicles to display
As usual, clicking on the name of the person in the list above will take you straight to their gallery (opens in a new window).
Here are today’s pictures (note that these are only a tiny fraction of everything that’s been sent in, so gallery viewing is highly recommended):
Another great battle report resurrected from the archives of the A Wargamer in Cyprus blog.
This time, the scenario is #11 from the Operation Compass scenario pack: the first of the three games focusing on the Australian attack on the Italian-held fortress of Bardia.
Click on the picture below to see all:
If you’ve visited this site before, you’ll know I’m quite a fan of Frank Wang’s mdf buildings, made and shipped from China via www.miniwarfare.com.
Frank has now expanded the range into the middle-east, and is running a 25% off sale to kick start the new releases.
They look pretty good to me:
The houses are $4-$7, dependent on size. The mosque is $21, with the minaret tower $5. Postage is a flat $15.
I’ll definitely be getting some of these to add to my collection.
I do so like it when I stumble across a source of material for I Ain’t Been Shot, Mum or one of the other Lardy company-sized games: it does take the pressure off a little…as anyone who runs a blog knows, keeping it fresh and updated is a serious, long-term commitment!
Anyhow, latest discovery is the excellent A Wargamer in Cyprus blog, which contains a plethora of quality wargaming material. I haven’t been able to get hold of the blog’s owner to ask permission (I’m no Tango!), so I hope he doesn’t mind me reproducing some of its content here as part of efforts to support TFL and IABSM etc.
Here’s an AAR taken from the site featuring the German attack at Agheila that formed the first proper German vs Commonwealth encounter in the Western Desert. Just as an aside, I actually have a half-written scenario pack for Sonnenblaum which features this action…and am now feeling all inspired to dig it out and finish it.
Click on the pic below to see all:
Tim Whitworth sends in a quick AAR re-fighting the Szack scenario from the September War scenario pack.
Here, the Soviets advance again, determined to take the village. Click on the pic below to see if they make it…
Nice little battle report from Dan Albrecht and his friends at the Vermont Historical Gamers group in South Burlington Vermont.
Scenario is #20 from the Anzio: Wildcat to Whale scenario pack: part of the German counter-attack that was Operation Fischfang, Day Three.
Click on the pic below to see all:
I’ve already posted pics of half of the spear block, here’s the block now I’ve added the other half:
I am really happy with these. The speed that you can achieve a detailed paint job with Citadel contrast paints is extraordinary. I know I sound a bit like a fan boy, but I painted one row of these (i.e. 12 figures) from start to finish in about forty minutes: a miracle, and such a relief when you have 288 to paint in all.
I’m not 100% sold on having the command figures in the middle of the second row, but it certainly makes for a striking unit. Only another five spear blocks to go!
Incidentally, CP Models are now doing a 28mm version of the above. They are using the same 3D printing files, so the figures are identical…just bigger! They look amazing:
I’m still working my way through painting my Praesentia army: high tech chaps originally from Critical Mass Games and now available through Ral Partha.
First up are another two platoons of RAL robot infantry led by their Enlightened ‘Trinaries’ or collection of three Big Men. Painting them was easy: the robots got an undercoat and then one coat of one of the new Citadel Contrast paints. Add in a red dot for the eye, a tiny bit of green as detail on the weapons, and done! The Trinaries’ robes are painted in the same way, with their bodies a dark blue highlighted by a sky blue.
I’ve also started on the drones that the Praesentia use instead of manned vehicles. Here are three Sentinel drones:
Just a few more Trinaries and drones to do now…
Peace and quiet whilst the distaff side of things watches the Wimbledon Men’s Final. If only daughter number two wasn’t downloading some OS update, making everything else in the house very slow. The joys of family life!
Without further ado, however, here are today’s submissions for this year’s Painting Challenge.
Big fantasy figures from Carole before she disappears on hols
Two lovely WW2 vehicles in 28mm from Chris Kay
All sorts of different things from Mr Hodge, including some very nice Napoleonic Marines
And a first appearance this year from Mr Hooge (with a very odd entry!)
RAF reinforcements from Steve Burt
A mixture of skeletons and WW2 from Travis
Mervyn is still Conan-ing
The usual entry from Andrew Helliwell
Amazing animals from Ralph Plowman, and a bit of sci fi too
Mr Luther has been very productive this week
Some lovely Indian Mutiny Highlanders from Joe McGinn
John Haines pops in some AWI Militia, rather a lot of it actually
And last, but by no means least, is Lloyd Bowler with a selection of Italian WW2 shipping, and some barges!
As usual, clicking on the name of the person above takes you straight to their gallery (opens in a new window).
Here are today’s pictures:
Some of you may remember that back in April I mentioned a company called Mini Warfare, based in China, who do some great 15mm mdf Vietnam style huts. The post was at:
https://www.vislardica.com/blog/2019/4/9/15mm-bamboo-houses-from-miniwarfare
Good news for all: as Frank is busy preparing to launch his new range, he’s running a 40%-off clearance sale on his old range. Well worth taking advantage if you need some far eastern huts.
Website is here: Mini Warfare
I haven’t yet managed to get to a Deep Fried Lard yet, but good to see plenty of Lardy gaming taking place last weekend.
One of the games played was a CDS scenario taken from the Surf’s Up scenario pack.
Click on the pic below to see Alastair McBean’s AAR:
When I first saw the new Museum Miniatures Sumerians, I knew I just had to get some. Designed by CAD, they looked absolutely amazing.
The thing with Sumerians, however, is that you need to have an awful lot of them: to play To The Strongest (my current system of choice for Ancients) you need five or six spear blocks, with each spear block containing (the way I base) 48 figures. That’s 288 infantry: a significant investment in both money, and perhaps more significantly, time.
So a test unit was called for: 48 figures were ordered i.e. one spear block’s worth.
This was to be a double test: one for the figures themselves, and the second for the new Citadel Contrast paints I keep banging on about. I couldn’t face painting 288 figures my normal way (basecoat, wash, highlight i.e. paint each figure three times) but maybe I could if I only had to paint each figure once.
Sold!
The figures are as good as promised, and the paint as well. To emphasise again, the flesh, kilts, spear shafts, cloaks and shields are painted with one coat of a Contrast paint each. Only the bronze is double-painted, but that’s using non-Contrast paints.
Right, once more into the breach: only 264 spearmen to go!
Time for another day of To The Strongest: with friend Neil bringing over his vast collection of 28mm Wars of the Roses figures for us to play with. These are all professionally painted Perry Miniatures plastics, including some hobelars specially put together for the occasion.
We managed three games in all.
The first, with me playing Yorkshire, was a nail-biting backwards-and-forwards kind of game where either side could have triumphed. As it happened, my mounted Later Knights, accompanied by Richard of York himself, suddenly managed to burst through the enemy battle line and find the way open to looting the Lancastrian camps. A hard fought victory.
The second, with me now playing the noble house of Lancaster, was again looking close. The two main lines had clashed in the centre of the field, and the luck was swaying backwards and forwards, when each sides’ one unit of Later-Knights-plus-Royal-Personage charged into each other. Luck was obviously on my side, as Richard of York (my erstwhile self but now enemy commander!) was wounded and carried from the field. This gave me the edge and gradually the opposition crumbled. A narrow victory.
Onto the third game, with Neil making sure that I would play to win and not gift him a consolation victory…which just goes to show how little you can know about someone you have known for years! Play to win? I was playing to grind him into the mud! Anyhow, this was a very cagey game: very different to the previous clashes. Neil hung back, not really moving (annoyingly keeping his troops out of the range of my single cannon, the only one on the field) and waiting for me to make the play.
I edged forward, thinking that perhaps I could get a bit of advantage on the right hand side: maybe two archer units vs one, kill them, then try and curl around the edge of his now-slightly-decreased line. Neil read my intentions, however, and moved troops forward to counter. A clash began to develop, and one not in my favour. He moved more units in and my right flank was beginning to crumble, when both of us realised that he had now moved forward into cannon range. Bang went the gun and finished off a unit of Men At Arms, giving me the initiative. Neil sent forward his Household Knights and King to plug the gap and force me back onto the defensive…and then either bang went the gun again or in went my Household Knights (I can’t remember which) and off came the head of Richard of York again!
A horrible piece of luck for Neal which once again swung the game in my favour.: making it a three-victory whitewash to me.
A great day’s gaming, however, but an interesting demonstration of how a non-normal distribution game mechanic can swing a game in seconds. Oh, and Neil wants to know if anyone wants to buy two 28mm Wars of the Roses armies, one with the command figure slightly dented! Here are some pics:
One of the armies that has been sitting in my lead mountain for some time is the Praesentia: mysterious, super-high tech beings originally designed and produced as part of the Critical Mass Games universe and now available, with the demise of CMG, from Ral Partha.
I like the way that although the figures themselves are fairly humanoid, there is an impressive back story which explains, amongst other things, that the Praesentia equivalent of Big Men always operate as a Trinary i.e. always in a three.
Mind you, in Q13 terms, who wouldn’t want a Tech 5 army that includes teleporting killer robots (excellent for dealing with those hidden away mortars); and Specialists who can alter dice rolls, prevent units from moving, and other fun stuff!
Here are the first two units off the painting table, each painted with one coat of the new Citadel Contrast paints. First up are the Phase Shifters and their RAL Phase-Shifting robots:
Second up are a Trinary of Enlightened with their RAL robots with ranged weapons:
I like these, as I can see them being used for a variety of different robot-types.
Those of you who read my last Q13 AAR will know that I am currently playing “king of the ring” with my new sci-fi factory complex. Last game, the Felids defeated the Hauk, so now it was their turn to defend, with their opponents being the Aphids: frog-like beings from Zombiesmith.
My opponents were Dave and John, who were on a strict time limit which actually nicely suited the type of game we were playing: they would play the Aphid attackers, and would have almost exactly 2½ hours to reduce my position.
Click on the picture below to see how they did:
Regular visitors will know of my woes in trying to find some Citadel or GF9 Grass flock: a right pain in the posterior as I have models to base!
I suddenly thought of widening my search to the general modelling retail community and came across the 4D ModelShop.
Rather impressively, they have the url modelshop.co.uk, so must have got into this Internet thing pretty early on.
They have flock for sale: lots of flock, and some of it grass. They have lots of other things for sale as well, as you can see by their home page, promise that items ordered by 2pm will be posted that day:
Well I did, and I did, and they did, and, for once, the Royal mail did their bit, and lo and behold, the very next day I had a packet of Grass flock in my hands. I was happy as Larry!
So kudos to 4D Model Shop from a very satisfied customer!
I might be a bit late coming to this, but these new Contrast paints from Citadel are absolutely fantastic!
For those of you who haven’t heard of them before (especially those who would normally eschew anything to do with Games Workshop), let me explain why.
Imagine you are painting a hundred 15mm figures who are largely one colour: skeletons, naked warbands, chaps in khaki, robots. Once prepped for painting (including undercoat), my usual method would be to paint in a base colour, wash with Agrax Earthshade, then highlight once, maybe twice. That’s three or four stages.
These new Citadel paints allow you to do those three or four stages in just one go.
Yes: just one go.
It’s like magic…like one of those cartoons where the paint brush paints in multiple colours at the same time.
Let me give you an example, and one involving one of the hardest colour to paint: yellow.
On the painting table I had 18 Phase-Shifter RAL robots for my new Praesentia sci-fi army. I decided to paint them yellow. I then had 48 normal RAL robots that I decided to try and paint what I would call technology-white i.e. a bit like a white iMac.
I undercoated both sets in the recommended (and expensive) Citadel undercoat, let it dry and then opened the yellow Contrast paint. In went the brush and onto the model: low and behold a fully base-coated, washed and highlighted model in one coat. It was incredible. Once the yellow had dried, all I had to do was add some metallic claws and red scanner-eye and that was that.
Virtually the same for the others: one coat of the white Contrast paint and I had an effect like some of these genius painters achieve with their white trousers for French infantry but that I never have. Incredible!
Now I know you all want to see some pictures - the proof being in the pudding - but until my flock arrives (see yesterday’s post) I haven’t got any of the finished models. There are, however, many examples of how these paints can be used on the web: just Google and you’ll see what I mean.
What I am doing, however, is posting a colour chart nicked from someone who had nicked it from the person who originally produced it. When you look at it, just remember that the effect was achieved with JUST ONE COAT OF PAINT!
And there are a lot of colours available!
Oh, a couple of downsides: the Contrast paints are expensive (almost £5 a pot), and I understand (from other posts that I’ve read) that you must deffo varnish your figures, as they are not as hardy as a pure, single-colour acrylic…but then I varnish my figures anyway.
Right: off to start my new Sumerian ancients army: six blocks of 48 spearmen figures means 288 spearmen to paint. Luckily that’s now one coat for the cloak, one coat for the skirt, and one coat for the flesh!
POSTSCRIPT
I’ve now had a chance to flock my first lot of Praesentia:
As mentioned above, this is just one coat of Iyanden Yellow!
Missing!
Is it me, or is it impossible to get Citadel/Games Workshop grass flock any more?
None of the three GW shops I’ve been into have any (“we don’t stock it any more: people only want to buy tufts”); the GW online store has none; my order from Element Games is on back order…where the flock has all the flock gone?
I can’t even buy the Gale Force 9 stuff from their store, as the speed checkout that the link to the Battlefront shopping cart sends you to is faulty.
Why does this matter?
Well, I’ve been using the stuff for thirty years or so. I have literally thousands of figures based with the stuff, and would rather like any new ones I get to match!
Meanwhile the painted and partly-based minis mount up on my painting table!
Vis Lardica is a website devoted to wargaming and military history, with a special emphasis on the company-sized rulesets produced by the TooFatLardies: I Ain't Been Shot Mum (WW2); Charlie Don't Surf (Vietnam); and Quadrant 13 (science fiction)
Welcome to Vis Lardica, a not-for-profit website mostly dedicated to the company-sized wargaming rules produced by the TooFatLardies, but encompassing my other gaming interests as well.
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