More Orcs and Friends

Taking a break from tiny clones to finish up these grungy orcs.

 These have been sitting on the worktop for a couple of months and need to be finished. Amongst them are those recently acquired figures from Gremlin Miniatures.

The horde slowly grows. It's nice to just paint the odd one or two between other projects.

A large orc from Reaper miniatures, at that size he has to be a leader. As he is a massive brute, I have given him dark blue/black skin, a black Uruk of Mordor.

These two figures were ones who's spears broke off and so we're promoted to standard bearer.

 

I bought this wood Elf from Reaper Miniatures recently, but noticed he didn't have any dagger. I tried a couple of plastic and metal swords but they just looked wrong. 

Good old brush bristle knife looked just right, job done!

Update, The Silvan Elf is now in his woodland colours. I need about twenty four Elves to bring my Silvan force up to strength and this guy is the first.

Painting Elves is very relaxing and rewarding. No dirty colours here, just nice ink washes and subtle woodland tones.

The new dagger looks good now it has some detailing. Might just make all the difference when he runs out of arrows.

More evil Orcs crawl out from under a rock to join the growing horde. I used a dabbing technic to draw on the skull design. This worked well I thought and produced a crude, naive design, very Orcy.

He carries the broken bone on his shield so will go with the standard bearer of the same design.

 A silver Sharpie pen was used to add metal highlights to the rusty armour. It's also excellent for doing rivets and studs.

This strange hairy Orc makes for a good leader. A Ral Partha figure judging by the detail and styling. He's a good size too, able to lob off a few heads to bring his lads back under control.

It's always good to put some black around the mouth to act as dried blood and the like.

MTT Toy

A screen shot from the Battlefront game for reference.

Another lucky find on the toy front, a MTT to help transport 102 B1 battle droids or 10 B2's.

The scale isn't bad at all and is definitely close enough to work. It could of been slightly bigger maybe but it's pretty damn close.

I will weather it up and add some scratches etc. Again the images from the Battlefront game will really help with this.

I won't bother to repaint the whole vehicle as it is already very good, just a few washes of black and browns should do.

I've realised that there aren't very many vehicles in the Xenos Rampant game, one or two at the most. These large transports can be used for debris on the battlefield. They're so big you'll have to go around them and they should also block line of sight too.

A nice touch is the doors at the front actually open up which is great for a knocked out vehicle.

Magazine Interview

Well I'm very proud to announce that I have made it into Wargames illustrated. While at the 'Other Partizan' show with James Morris and the Midgard game, I was interviewed by James Griffith from the magazine.

It was all done via a face to face dictaphone recording, so I'm surprised anything could be heard over the din of the huge gaming event. However, on reading through the article it all made sense and I thought James did a grand job putting it all together.

I did mention my Blog in the chat and that too has made an appearance.  I love the scrapbook effect they have created for this page.

I was only expecting a page if that of my painting tips and figures, so was blown away to see it had made a six page article. I know the interview went on for around twenty minutes but I still wasn't expecting so many pages.

I'm really pleased with the finished article and the WI team have done a great job in laying it out.

Having this hobby blog also helped with WI able to delve in and select photos to help show what I was talking about. This was really useful for the creation of the mighty Beorn out of a couple of toys off eBay.

I kept running down the town to check if it was in the WHSmith, only to come back empty handed. However, James got in contact and offered to send me some copies which was very thoughtful and greatly appreciated. 

I hope it goes down well with the readers, if it does it could lead to more articles, you never know...

 This article is the cherry on the cake to what was an amazing weekend recreating the infamous battle. I know James Morris has shown interest in putting it on again...now I've found a way to transport my armies safety, I'm all up for it.

Jon Hodgson background books

 Well what a great Friday for getting stuff in the mail...these two beautiful books turned up.

 I first saw these a couple of years ago used by James Morris to photograph his Middle Earth figures. I decided to follow suit and order a starter bundle.

As I was also painting up Sci-Fi figures I went for the Sci-Fi backgrounds too.

These are just quickly put together pictures with what I had on the table. However, even these quick snaps show how a good backdrop can make all the difference.

Here is the soldier I painted with my son as a learning project, now he's a Colonial Marines fighting xenomorphs.

It's always best to use some scenery as well with your figures to help blend them it. I can't wait to do some arty stuff with these books. My ancient Irish Fomorians spring to mind...

Even my Transformers got in on the act, showing a more peaceful age of Cybertron.

Til all are one.

I actually messed up big time when ordering these books. 

When I first became aware of them they were a kickstarter in 2023. I placed an order for this bundle but what I actually ordered was a license to use the backgrounds commercially. Knowing Kickstarters can take ages to arrive, I sat and waited for my phantom Kickstarter for a couple of years. After seeing them for sale on a web shop I contacted Jon. After some detective work the whole dyslexic tangle was unravelled and Jon kindly sent the actual books to me at home. A very nice man indeed. So my wait for these books has been a very long one but definitely one worth waiting for.

Advanced Attack Tank (AAT)

The Sepretist heavy armour has arrived just in time to counter those bloody handed Jedi 

The AAT hovers into place to lay down some covering fire.

As I was constantly referring to a reference book for the colours and details, I thought it wise to complete one fully. This completed model will then be used as a guide for the others.

One of the main features of these tanks is the emense carbon scoring from the missile launchers.

There is also a subtle colour change on some of the rear panelling, This took a little paint mixing to get right.

I went around the tank with a lead pencil just picking out worn edges and panels. This tank was quite easy to paint. I started with a spray of Tamiya dark yellow. Zandri dust from GW was then used to dry brush it to bring out the panels. On top of this, I added a few washes of browns to weather it up.

The carbon scoring was done with a brush so that was a nice easy step  I also used a sponge to add from metal chipping with a silver paint.

AT-TE Vs AAT

The repulser lift vehicle out manoeuvres the slower walker. Its nice to see these two models together fully painted.

 

Again, the Battlefront game really helped get the detailing right on this model. Having such amazing graphics that can be rotated is a god send for a painter.

The other great news is that most vehicles from the Clones wars are on the game. This will be very handy for the speeders and other vehicles too.

Update: Three Advanced Attack Tanks hover into position.

I've given them a coat of Kleer floor varnish to give them a metal appearance.

I'll go over the smoke streaks with some Tamiya weathering soot, this will take away the gloss.

The picture above is the one I've used for reference.

It was very useful for spotting all the details like the rust streaks and battle damage.