Silver Linings And All That

After the hottest June on record, July proved to be rather the opposite, with very wet and cool weather, more like Autumn than high Summer. But every cloud has a silver lining, as this has meant plenty of time indoors for me to crunch on with my 18thC ImagiNations force for use in an upcoming game in October.

As mentioned before, I decided to start with the simple Light Infantry units, as they would be pretty quick to paint and so proved to be. I reckon actual painting time once primed is about two hours per two base unit, but would allow half a day per for paint, wash and lacquer drying. So in theory I could complete 2 or maybe 3 units a day, but then it would feel more like work rather than a hobby, which I don't want it to be. On average I've been painting maybe 1 1/2 units per day, which is not bad for me!

The units painted so far. Each base is 40mm x 20mm.

All are in a light khaki uniform, with simple coloured headwear and scarves, plus the flag, to identify each unit. Simple but it works for me.

I've tweaked shield colours to best fit in with the colours used, so here some bronze highlights to contrast with the blue.

The view most of us will have of our troops during a game.

The gold tassels at the bottom of each flag look better than in the photo and add a nice bit of bling to a simple and drab colour scheme. 

There is so much detail on the figures, but it is way beyond my talents to bring out. Maybe 20 years ago I might have tried, but these days I go for brighter and broader strokes so th eunits pop when on the table. I find that subtle shading etc simple disappears when at more than arms length and definitely during a game.

One thing I have noticed during this spell of painting is the wear and tear that small brushes take when painting small miniatures. Maybe it's the length of time since I last used them or poor brush care on my part, but the tips wear out quite quickly, which should not really be a surprise, given how small they are. Luckily I have a good artist's brush as back up that is working well for adding highlights and fine detail. Base coats are fine as the wash hides all manner of ills (ie missed bits or over painting of areas), so brushes that are a bit worse for wear are fine for this. At the forthcoming show this Sunday I'm going to check out few brush suppliers to re-stock and frankly to see what's on offer these days, as it's a few years since I bought any new brushes and these have lain unused for the most part.

I finally finished my paddy fields a few days ago and let them stand a while to allow the lacquer to dry and harden off enough for flocking. They are OK for a first go and if I were to do them again, I'd go for a more brown colour for the flooded area and probably try some Vallejo resin water or something similar. Water based lacquer is fine as it's quick drying and doesn't smell, but it lacks the high gloss I would like. But given how often they will get used (rarely) they will do for now.

A couple of the paddy fields I made. As mentioned if I were to do them again, I'd paint the water areas a muddy brown.

A unit to give an idea of scale.

I'm looking forward to the IPMS Show on Sunday and baring any last minute changes, will be there early doors. Not many games are of interest to me (too much 40K by the look of it) but it's always a good chance to catch up with fellow gamers and a few friends. On top of that there are all of the wonderful models on display and tend to provide lots of ideas and inspiration for camo schemes or conversions for my games. Then of course there will be a bit of shopping as I need to stock up on a few things...

The only fly in the ointment for the above is that my back went again yesterday, so am in some discomfort and wearing the back brace all day to help ease things. I don't want to miss the IPMS show and hope things will be better by Sunday, but will wear the brace as driving really aggravates it! Plus sitting down to paint is not good, so that looks like it's on hold for a bit. To say I'm bored and frustrated is a tad of an understatement!

TTFN.