Tommy in Normandy

Eleven o'clock time for snuff!

A British Guards officer enjoys a rare blend of snuff before battle, he got the recipe from a Jewish friend of his fathers in Alexandria. It should help to steady his nerves against the coming waves of heavy horse thundering his way.

Stay on target!

This week I received a bunch of WWII Americans I had ordered from Black tree Designs so long ago I totally forgot they were coming. It's always nice to get figures in the post especially ones you had forgotten about.

I have done a look of looking around on the net and decided that Black tree make the best WWII Americans around. You may have to wait a while before you see any finished on this site though. Which reminds me, I haven't painted in a good few months now and I've gone a bit cold turkey. I have ordered some walls from Warlord Games though and a copy of 'Black powder' so I still have plenty of irons in the fire.

Battle Rage!

Release the Boar!!!! This Ancient German calls on the Old Gods to help him avenge his slaughtered village.

Happy Halloween Iron Mitteners.

Tommy's Visual guide

23rd Welsh Fusiliers

Hello, Here are some of my British Tommies in close up. I spent a long time researching these guys and their webbing in particular caused me quite a head ache. Being as I'm recreating Normandy units I went for the later Blanco green webbing.

TOP SECRET

This is my little black painting book where I jot down all of my findings. When I undertake another era I spend a good few weeks researching and experimenting with colours before I am happy to start. These two pages tell me everything I need to know about painting 1944 British. Some of the notes may be hard to understand so I will explain them.
Foundry do actually make a British uniform colour scheme now, but I found it a bit too reddish for my liking, so I stuck to my own findings. For my Uniform I base coat with Tamiya 'Khaki Drab', mid-tone is Foundry's 'Drab' and highlight Coat de arms 'British Khaki'.

If I can I try to keep all colours straight from the pot to increase painting speed. This does take a little time to source though. I hope my rough scribbles can help other painters thinking of starting up a British Platoon.

The Blue and the Grey

Tommy and Jerry settle down in their new home

It looks a little bare in the background, I'm sure a few vehicles will cure that. The funny thing about painting WWII infantry is that because of the camouflage they all blend into one and don't stand out. I have taken the longest time per figure with these lot and they are the most drab figures in the cabinet, I guess I must have got it right for once.

I sometimes miss the old days...

As I stroll through other peoples Blogs and follow links to yet new ones, I am amazed at the amount and standard of Games workshop models these days. I know I will never go back to It myself but I still get a thrill at looking at other peoples work.

However, I did get my GW fix a few years back by playing Dawn of War on the PC. Painting up armies in half an hour then letting them lose with fantastic graphics and sounds effects was brilliant, It's no wonder computer games have hit the table top gaming scene so hard. I have to say though I enjoy the painting side of gaming more these days and that could never be beaten by a computer.

I think for me my lust for GW has been solved by collecting WWII ranges, where you can still go to town on heavily armoured vehicles and equipment and feed your historical head at the same time.

Death by Flocking

Funny because It's true.

German in the Wald

The final touch was to paint the trees with Birch stripes. These should provide a bit more cover than those giant Oaks.
I used a lot of grass tufts and leaves on these tree bases I had ear marked for figure bases. The trees are worth it though, for they will always be on the Battle board unlike many of the figures.

Woodland detail

Life in the Undergrowth

Detail was added with a wealth of products from Silflor, these included tiny leaves and grass tufts.

Turf war

Luckily I had kept off cuts from my Battle board and these I now cut and pasted onto the bases. Having the same colour as the board itself is vital.

Looking more like trees now

I had never used this paste before but found It a joy to work with. You can get some good detail with It And had I more time, I would have gone to town on the exposed tree roots.

Once the Milliput was dry I coated the Sea Moss stems with the tree bark paste that came with the forest package from Silflor. This fattened them up and strengthened them.

The root of the problem

For a while I gave some thought to how I would stick the Sea Moss trees to the bases, but in the end I decided on my old friend Milliput to solve the problem. I wasn't quite sure how things would turn out at this stage.

Green Fingers

As time was an issue this weekend I wasted no time in jumping straight in. I chose Form card as It was at hand and can be easily cut and modelled. I find sometimes it tends to warp slightly, this looks worse than it is for It can be bent back without any trouble.

Can't see the wood for the trees

While I was knee high in green gunk and flock I thought It would be a good idea to touch up my larger trees as well. These I had bought from a Company called All Terrain. They were OK and had nice trunks but being a perfectionist I couldn't just leave them being 'OK'. I had already flocked them once and now took the opportunity to do it again with different colours.

The march of the Ents

Today has been a tree making day. After my last battle, I realised all of my trees were all on the large side, like giant Oaks. So I thought It was time to create some smaller groups of Birches and bushes to add some variety to the terrain.

Sometime ago I had bought a box of 'Forest in a box' from Silflor, It had sat around for ages, getting in the way so I decided to get my hands dirty and tackle It.

French Troops 3060k

French Light Infantry

Here a Chasseur of the Light Infantry advances through the smoke of battle.

The Light Infantry Battalions were seen as a step above the ordinary Regiments of the Line and their members were highly trained. Their uniform was of similar cut to the Line Battalions only all blue in colour with white piping.

Stay on taget...stay on target

After my weekend brush with the Round heads, my painting eye started to wander again as I looked at my unpainted Royalist army. However, I can't quite leave the land of Napoleon just yet as I still have so much to do.

I still buy the odd Regiment from Renegade miniatures while they are still at give away prices, although I have noticed their cost has started to creep up slowly. Their new cavalry with pistols did tempt me this week though. My plan is to collect two sizable armies at a low price and keep them on ice for a year until I can paint them in earnest. It's a good time to be collecting ECW with many companies releasing ranges.

The Parliamentarians

Parliamentarian Guns line up ready to fire.

The Royalists give fire.

Royalist Artillery fire