The French and Indian War part 1

Here we have, at last, the first figures for my FIW project. I had completed some rangers before and you can see them mixed in with the American militia below.

The pictures hopefully show the effect I am trying to give. While these miniatures are singly based, I will be using multi basing for the regulars.

Glory of the Sun .. and Dip

Just a quick post. Ive been painting some of copplestones new Glory of the sun range. Nice figures but some mould errors on the faces which I find very annoying.

Anyways, I used army painter dip on two of them and it tool less than half the time. See if you can guess which ..

I love my Staedtler

So I bought myself the thinnest pigment liner I could find in the art store. I find it really useful for outlining and doing eyes! The best thing though is that you can use it on a finished figure. In fact I would recommend this because you want to grasp the figure firmly during the process ie need it varnished ...

My painting process has now changed to.

1 - undercoat with gesso
2 - base coat - leaving black only on parts of the face
3 - wash with GW washes
4 - first highlight
5 - add chesnut wash to face
6 - second higlight
7 - third highlight on face and some other areas.
8 - apply humbrol gloss brush on
9 - after 24 hours apply cryla soluble matt
10 - use pen for outlines (especially to define belts, clothing divides etc)

Here are some figures that I have done using the pigment liner. See if you can notice where I used it ...







Oh and I have to draw your attention to these figures. I have been wanting to do the french and indian wars forever but never found the figures..... Now I thought I had decided apon perry and conquest 28.. but these images have thrown a big spanner in the works.

https://www.thunderboltmountain.com/preview.php?osCsid=65e75320dd7e55b0fb66482cc7a44053

I emailed Tom Meir about these, guessing that it would only be a very limited release for painters. He replied to say that they were aimed at 'small skirmish games' and would contain about 20 figures. This would be enough for me so I will have to give it some thought ....

Basing ideas, cont

Hello again,

I thought I'd post my first finished sample of my new basing scheme. I agreed with some of the negative comments that the test mixes were too rocky. This mix has much more earth flock/ballast. Even, so it looks better in person than in the pictures.

The idea is to make them look like they are on the edge of rough terrain, skirmishing. hope you like...

bunch of stuff for sale

Given my switch to 10mm, Im selling a bunch of Napoleonic 18mm AB on ebay.

http://shop.ebay.co.uk/cheechocheecho/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=&_trksid=p3686

There is some good stuff there and all bids start an 99p so you might get lucky!

New basing ideas

I'm quite keen to experiment with basing ... I have far too many different bags of flock, sand etc lying around to the point where I just threw away a bunch the other day ...

Anyways, I am going to try a new approach for my FIW skirmish project. Though I've experimented with basing before its always followed this basic sequence.

Add flocking gel or sand/grit to base
Paint a dark colour
Dry brush lighter colours
Add patches of tacky glue
Attach various static grass, clumps or other stuff

Now, the only real changes Ive ever done is with the paint colours and the type of "stuff" I glue on.

My new idea is to add a mix of "stuff" as a ground cover and then seal with more glue (no annoying painting). The second stage will be to add more "stuff", including static grass, in patches. I'm hoping this will both, reduce the basing time, and give a more natural look.

This pictures show some figures placed within a ground cover mix. Ive been playing around with what looks good. The second stage will brighten this up a bit by adding bright green grass patches and perhaps tufts.

Finished army (again)

It turns out I was mistaken when I said that my Saracen army was finished. For the FOG starter army required somewhat more cavalry. I really couldn't be arsed painting these so commissioned DPS to do it for me. For those interested I would recommend bidding between 60-70$ of their asking price on eBay. Multiple quantity's give better chance of success.

I do think they give a good and fast service. There were a couple of lances broken off in transit but you have to judge these things on all factors. I would personally recommend them for eBay orders such as these but not so sure about more detailed commissions with complicated specifics. Communication isn't the best I have heard.

Anyways, here are some shots of the whole army. These pictures arnt great. For better close ups you can look back to my other posts.