Paint Table Saturday: ready for the holidays

Hi everyone.

I told you I had picked up my brushes once again. Today is a bit special, since I'm going for three weeks in places where I won't be able to be connected. But at the same time, I should have enough spare time to paint a bit. I have therefore prepared some stuff:

A small batch of 16 Xyston hoplites  I inted to paint as some sort of black guard, of some tyrant. And next, a s***load of Romans, from Old Glory and Essex. They were amongst my first minis, at a time when you had to buy what you could lay your hands on.... But more importantly, why Romans!!!! I keep saying that I hate Romans. Well, they're for my Spartacus army, and some other projects too ;)

See you in a bit more than 3 weeks.

Slowly moving in, more 28mm on the way

Right. First of all, Johnny Rosbif has reached the 100k milestone, and is doing a book giveaway. The 4 books he's offering look interesting enough for you to drop by and give it a try.

Now, onto business. I've decided to continue painting my 28mm army, and this time, I've primed enough minis to paint a phalanx unit. I've also added 4 skirmishers, and I think I'll start with them. In the background, you can see the first based minis. it's not completely finished, but should be done this week.

Salutations. Tout d'abord, Johnny Rosbiff a depasse les 100k hits, et a donc organise une petite loterie pour gagner 4 bouquins tout a fait interessants. Allez-y donc et tentez votre chance.

De mon cote, j'ai decide de continuer a peindre mes 28mm, et j'ai donc sous-couche de quoi faire 4 tirailleurs et plein de phalangites. Enfin plein... de quoi faire une unite quoi. En arriere-plan, vous pouvez voir mes premieres figs sur leur socle, pas encore tout a fait termine. Je vais m'en occuper cette semaine.

Skinned

-My lord, I'm ready to do everything to get this minis done.

-Everything lady Farrow? I think I can arrange it in a most pleasant way.

-Good, otherwise the Queen said she would chop your head off.

-...

24+1 minis to go heh. Mind you, it's not that big a deal. But I'm sure you all know this feeling, when you're about to finish a project, you tend to get slower... Yup, I might struggle a bit for this lot. I'm fed up with Romans at the moment. Anyway, I managed to put the skin and brown base colours. But for the rest, I think I'll divide the lot in two. Much easier in  my eyes. See you. Oh, and tonight it's off to the club to get another game of Art de la guerre: 4 players. Yay! Everyone wants to try it!

Bon, en theorie, 24+1 figos, ca devrait etre rapide. C'est juste que j'eprouve un certain sentiment, que vous devez sans doute connaitre, a l'approche de la fin d'un projet... Bref, je vais plus lentement. Le truc, c'est que j'en ai maintenant ma claque des Romains. Du coup, si j'ai passe les bases chair et marron sur l'ensemble, je vais diviser mon trvail en deux groupes, ca devrait aller mieux. Et demain, hop, nouvelle partie ADG au club. Youpi!

Of wall (again) and umpiring

-Sir, with all due respect to the Roman ingenuity, I don't think this two feet high wall will stop a foul-smelling rampaging horde of barbarians.

-Come on centurion, look at the size of my skirt, and I tell you this:  we were right to do this and trust me they will be so scared they'll grow hair everywhere.

-You mean they will turn into Scots?

Yesterday evening, I went to the club to host a game of Art de la guerre between two people who were interested by the rules, Richard and Jay. i brought my Chinese and Carthaginian armies, ready to play with. We really started at around 7.40PM and the game was over with a clear Chinese victory at 10.20PM. Yes, this is a fast game, even for beginners. And they were satisfied by the game. Though it's a I go you go system, and you use some pips, still the game runs smoothly. And the pics? Well, When en route to club I discovered I had forgotten it, sorry... But don't be mad at me, I'll give you some. Before leaving, I had time to do the highlights on the Roman wall. Now, I need to wash the wood, and I think it'll be done.

Hier soir, j'etais au club pour faire une initiation a Art de la guerre. Debut a 19h40 et fin a 22h20. Je trouve que c'est pas mal pour des debutants, surtout qu'il y a eu une victoire decisive des Chinois sur les Carthaginois. Les joueurs ont apprecie le systeme, et la vitesse de jeu. Donc c'est du tout bon, pari reussi. Petit probleme, pas de photos, car j'avais oublie mon APN. Argh. Pour compenser, voici l'etat d'avancement du mur romain, avec ses eclaircissements. Il manque encore, je pense, un petit lavis sur le bois et ce sera bon.

Of walls and sand

-Rotten wood, bloody sand, dangerous mud. Oh yes George, this is definitely my idea of a nice holidays in France... At least here we're warm and cosy.
-Well sir, apparently, wargamers seem to enjoy this
-Barbarians

Wednesday is children's day. Yup. I've been quite busy caring my sweet little general, so I couldn't do much. But I still managed to paint the base colours on the Roman fortifications, and then glue some sand on the many bases I have to finish. I've also washed and cleaned 1 point of SAGA troups, aka 8 bondis for my Viking warband. Tomorrow, I'll be at the club umpiring a demo of Art de la guerre, with three new people who can be interested. Cheers.

Pas vraiment eu le temps de peindre aujourd'hui. J'ai quand meme reussi a mettre les bases sur les fortifications, et coller le sable sur les plaquettes terminees. J'ai egalement pu nettoyer 1 point SAGA de warband, a savoir 8 bondis. Demain, demo d'Art de la guerre prevue au club.

Of Adder, Romans and Impetus

I'm back, you lunatic freakazoids!How dare you think I could have been useless? And now, thanks to my shiny costume, I will submit you all. Baldrick, have you changed your thong?









What? Three days of week-end and no post? Well, to be honest, I can't really go near the computer on the week-ends and besides, both my wife and daughter were sick... So, no real blogging for me. But then, things were looking better yesterday evening, so I managed to go the club to participate in a game of Impetus. Interesting rules, and quite complementary to Art de la Guerre: they're both fun and fast ( though AdlG might be faster), and Impetus is brutal and chaotic, whereas AdlG seems more manoeuvre oriented. So, complementary rulesets, yay.

Did I do anything part from this last week-end? I certainly did. I finished, at last painting the Roman cavalry, and started prepping the fortifications for the camp, from Baueda.
And yes, thanks to your support, Blackadder is back!

Hop, trois jours sans vraiment blogger. Il faut dire que je ne peux vraiment m'apporcher de l'ordi le week-end, et mes femmes etaient malades, alors... La situation etait toutefois meilleure hier soir, donc j'ai pu m'esquiver vers le club pour participer a une partie d'Impetus. Les regles sont interessantes et elles sont complementaire avec Art de la Guerre car le but recherche n'est pas le meme. Impetus me parait plus brutal et chaotique (dans le sens chaos de la bataille), et recompense l'attaquant, tandis qu'ADG est plus axe sur la manoeuvre pour obtenir la meilleure situation possible d'engagement. Bref, deux bons systemes selon moi.

Dans le meme temps, j'ai fait un peu de peinture, et j'ai donc enfin termine les cavaliers romains et j'ai commence le camp. Courage, l'armee romaine est quasiment finie. Et grace au plebiscite, Blackadder est de retour.

There! You look a bit more human now

I was at the club yesterday evening, mainly for watching a game between Tim's Chinese and Alan's Successor army for the second round of the Ancients competition. Yes I was spying, gathering some intel, but it's always interesting to see other people playing your army.  I now have some more ideas to play my Warring States. Thanks Tim. So, As you would expect, I didn't do much painting. There you're wrong. I had enough time during the day to ink/wash my unit, and start the highlights.

It should be over quite soon I think.

Meanwhile, I now know my opponents for the second round of the Ancients Comp:

- Chris and his Neo-Assyrians: lots of heavy chariots and good shooty cavalry. Argh

- Andy and his later Seleucid: pikes, cataphracts, and lots of nasty stuff. Don't know what to expect from him

- Dave and his Mid-Republican Romans.... Arrrrrrggggghhhhh. Lots of killing machines. I'll have to avoid the legions as long as possible to hope for a win.

Etant au club hier soir, je n'ai pas forcement fait beaucoup de peinture. J'y etais surtout pour observer comment une armee chinoise peut se debrouiller face a une armee de piques. J'ai maintenant deux-trois idees. Durant la journee, j'ai pu passer les encres et les lavis sur mon unites d'archers, et j'ai egalement commence les eclaircissements.

Phew! You guys need a wash

As I told you last time, I didn't think I could paint last Tuesday, because I would be out tutoring a A-level student. Yup, I was right because I was home at 10PM. But yesterday I managed to get my bowmen unit ready for washing and inking. As you can see, nothing too fancy:

So, two steps to go and they'll be done. Great. I should then think about future plans:

- base the four medieval units

- finish the Roman cavalry (the shields need to be done, and then basing)

- paint some Nappy

- paint the Roman camp and fortifications.

I'll think about the rest next week. Cheers

Comme je vous l'avais dit, faire des cours de soutien le soir, c'est sympa, mais ca empeche de peindre, surtout quand on rentre a 22h. Bref, hier je me suis rattrape et j'ai termine les bases des archers. Il ne reste plus qu'a encrer/washer, puis eclaircir et baser. Pour la suite, petit programme de peinture, a objectifs modestes. On verra si je tiens.

Bows and Thirty Years war... again?

The Mirlitom unit has been varnished and is now almost finished. So I've just finished prepping my new unit. Yes, I know, more longbowmen, but this time, they all come from Corvus Belli. I also did the brown and flesh bases. More on that tomorrow,  if I'm motivated enough because I'll be out gibing a lesson until 9PM...

I also learned that the new copy of the French wargaming magazine, Vae Victis, had an expansion module for Art de la guerre, to play The Thirty Years War. I immediately ordered it and I'll give you a review asap. Cheers.

Tandis que le vernis seche sur mes Mirlitons, j'ai commence la peinture apres preparation d'une nouvelle unite d'archers, Corvus Belli cette fois. J'ai passe le marron et la chair de base. La suite va arriver rapidement si je suis motive car je commence une serie de cours le soir... Et j'ai egalement commande le numero de Vae Victis, car le module guerre de trente ans pour ADG me faisait de l'oeil.

Do you want proof?

A few days ago, I dared say I was using a headtorch when painting. And some of you wanted a proof. Well, yesterday evening, while inking and washing my unit, I took my tablet and here is the picture:

So, my third unit is almost complete now. I just need to do some touch-ups and highlights, and then varnish and voila.

you an see a real difference

Comme j'avais ose dire que j'utilisais une lampe frontale pour peindre, j'ai du me justifier. C'est maintenant chose faite, na. Et pis j'en profite pour vous montrer l'avancee de mon battlegroup. Il ne me reste plus qu'a faire les eclaircissements et vernir le tout.

Tata.

One more step

Didn't do much yesterday evening, simply because I went to the club and got to play a game of Force on Force. Sorry no pics this time, but I didn't think I'd play. As always, I really like this game, and I might in the near future start my Sci-Fi project again. Anyway. While mini-me was napping ( though a tad short) I managed to get some painting done on my Mirliton. Now all the bases are done. The nest step will be inking and washing, and then highlights and touch-ups.

This guy will be my ref figure to show you the effects of washing/inking over base colours/ bare metal

Je n'ai pas beaucoup hier car je suis alle au club, et je me suis retrouve a jouer une partie de Force on Force, regle que j'apprecie beaucoup. Pas de photos car APN oublie, desole. Je pense ressortir mes figs SF un de ces jours moi. A part ca, j'ai termine de passer les bases sur mes Mirliton. Prochaine etape, wash et encrage. Et pour terminer, eclaircissements et finitions.

So many things to do...

Sorry lads, you won't see our friend Blackadder this time. I'm quite busy at the moment, and I prefer writing down "important" things. But don't despair, you might see him again soon, unless you don't want to see my pathetic attempts at British humour. Anyway. During the Easter Week-end, I couldn't paint much. So, I only painted the last parts on my dragoons, and then I prepped 15 Romans horsemen, and 18 longbowmen. The problem is, I still don't know which army to pick for the club comp: Swiss? French Ordonnance? Quite typical, but then, I want to use what I already have, though unpainted...

Le week-end de Paques fut loin d'etre productif de mon cote. J'ai tres peu peint, et comme j'ai commence a donner des cours, j'ai maintenant peu de temps pour moi. Bref, J'ai quand meme pu passer les dernieres touches de peinture sur les dragons, et ja'i egalement prepare 15 cavaliers romains, ainsi que 18 archers longs  pour le tournoi interne du club. Le hic: je ne sais quelle armee choisir. Suisses? Ordonnance francaise? J'ai un stock de figs non peintes donc je vais voir ce qu'on peut faire.

Of Sun, in-law and dragoons

 I have a cunning plan Mylord... While you distract the misses, I'll go fetch the bushes and paint your baboon...
Not bad Baldrick, but I see a tiny flaw... It is I who should paint the dragoons, and I should use brushes, not sodding bushes...







I really hope you enjoy your Easter week-end. The weather here in London is nice, though a tad cold for my daughter... Anyway, we still enjoyed the sun today and hope to do the same the next days. In the meantime, my sister in-law arrived from Paris to spend a few days with us. It's really nice of her, but, if you add her visit to the lovely weather, I won't paint much. And indeed this is all I could paint yesterday: base colour for the buff (khemri brown), black and red, plus the highlight on the brown horses.

A mes chers lecteurs francophones. Ici au Royaume-Uni, nous avons 4 jours de week-end de Paques. Le temps, bien qu'un peu frisquet, est vraiment sympa, donc j'en profite a fond avec ma fille. De plus, ma belle-soeur est arrive de Paris nous rendre visite. Super sympa de sa part, mais pas genial pour la productivite. Du coup, je n'ai pas peint grand'chose hier: vest en Khemri brown, bases rouge et noire, et eclaircissement des chevaux.

On my workbench

Hmmm. I' m now facing two choices: Doing only Romans or beeing weak and paint my  newly arrived French... Well, for once I've been strong. I'll be painting one unit of Romans, and I'll start bits from the French, just to get the feeling, you know ;)

So, First, the Romans: only 4 bases of legionaries remain, so I'll do them. But When Ludo gave them to me, some had their shields already glued on, quite badly I should say, and I couldn't remove them. Darn1. Then, one of them had primed in black, and I don't prime my minis anymore. Darn2. and one of them had a broken pilum, so I drilled in the hand and put a bit of wire. Darn3. Oh, I forgot: they're from the same batch as the others, ie with lots of defaults from the moulds. Darn4...

the black guy already received a layer of chainmail

 

Then onto my French. I took a blister of AMX10P, the armoured infantry carrier, and based them. No need to clean, they were almost flash-free. Ahhh. at last some good news.

hey, where is the fifth one gone? "Chercher le pinard sergent".

Bon, pour eviter de sombrer dans la monotonie, j'ai decide de mener deux unites en parallele, a savoir les 16 legionnaires restants, meme si je vais avoir du boulot, car franchement, ils ne sont pas en bon etat ( sous couche de m***, desole Ludo, un pilum casse, et des boucliers colles parfois n'importe comment). Et de l'autre, j'ai pris et base un blister d'AMX10P. Et la c'est beau, pratiquement pas de nettoyage a faire. Affaires a suivre.

Medic! and some horses

Hi everyone. Well, I think my week-end will be somewhat busy doing something else: My daughter is sick, so first I've had to postpone my game against Tamsin, and then I think my painting speed will be slowed down. Oh well, my sweet and loving daughter first.

Then, I still managed to have enough spare time to prep another unit for my Chinese army: nomadic light horses, but this time fromn Old Glory.

Bon, week-end pertirbe, car ma fille est malade. Du coup, j'ai du annuler ma partie contre Tamsin et ses Sarmates, pour etre sur de bien m'occuper de ma pupuce adoree... Mais ce n'est que partie remise. En attendant, j'ai pu grapiller siffasemment de temps pour preparer une unite de cav legere des steppes, provenant de chez Old Glory.

Chariot WIP log - part 4

Almsot there people, almost there. I've done the last highlights, and then varnished them. And once dry, I did a wash of Vallejo Tan Earth on the base. Next, the banners and the basing, and voila!

Bon, c'est pratiquement fini. J'ai passe les dernieres touches peintures, puis verni le tout. Une fois sec, j'ai passe un lavis de Terre Mat de chez Vallejo sur les socles. A suivre, les bannieres et le flocage.

Chariot WIP log - part 3

Now, we're onto some serious business: I've painted the crew, well at least the first layers, and continued on the chariots. I've taken some pictures to show you the colours I used. As you can see, I'm almsot finished.

After that, an other highlight of Elf Flesh

Bon, j'avance bien dans la peinture. Pour vous montrer la progression, je vous ai fait des photos avec les peintures utilisees. Chui pas gentil?