Time Flies… Paint Table Saturday Again!

I started my new job this week, so the the days have flown by and we're back to Saturday again already – superb!

There hasn't been a lot of progress during the week, but last weekend I had a dedicated hobby day to myself and got quite a bit done.

To start with the models for my new project saw a bit more paint…

This fine fellow got his cloak painted and some of his gear a bit of colour. I'm taking my time with this guy as it's quite a nice sculpt (even if it is finecast).

His companion saw a bit of cloak action too, not to mention some armour.

There were also some additions to the ranks (even though I've only finished painting one model so far!)

This burly bloke is going to look fantastic when finished. A Hasslefree sculpt called Ferrus, he will be seeing a bit of converting before he's ready for paint – a simple weapon swap.

The next two crossbow crusaders were put to the dremel. They had lovely flowing locks, which just wouldn't do in such a disciplined group. They were shaved mercilessly and I will be adding some greenstuff mail to replace the missing hair.

I'd also been threatening to add some balsa to my lovely Saxon Hovel to make it a little more three dimensional. Well, I stumbled across a sheet the perfect depth earlier in the day and set to bolstering my latest piece of terrain. I just need to do the same for the roof section, add a little texture here and there, then we're good to go with a re-paint!

And finally, I got some time to work on my gaming board!!

Hindsight is a wonderful thing – I went about this the wrong way, but have created a clearing in the middle of the board with exits at either side (hence the eye shape). I've added a bit more height with the addition of some foam, but at present it's too high. Lots more work to do, but all very exciting.

However, the activity will be scaled back in the coming few weeks as we're finally moving house at the end of the month. Once we're in, I'll have a garage to myself so things can get proper rowdy!

Enjoy your weekends!

For more Paint Table Saturday action, visit Sofie's Paint Blog.

Paint Table Saturday: 3rd May

This is my first Paint Table Saturday contribution, which is really rather sad. For someone who prides himself on nicely painted models, I haven't painted anything in what seems forever. In reality I did paint some Nurgle Blood Bowl a few weeks ago, but nothing quite as dedicated as this.

So here is my makeshift painting table – trying not to spill paint on my keyboard. I've got a handful of models from my new side project currently being looked at. You will have already seen the initial progress on both the Forest Rangers and the Crusaders on Foot – now we actually have some colour!

The first couple of Crusaders have now had some more colour added from my previous post. I used my lovely P3 Coal Black, mixed with Army Painter Matt Black as the basis for the clothes, helmets and shield. This has a couple of crude highlights by adding Grey to the mix. Their skin had my classic GW treatment – basecoat of Vermin Brown followed by a couple of highlights adding Bleached Bone to the mix. A final highlight of pure BB finished it off. It still needs a wash to blend it all together but not too shabby so far. Leggings have had a basecoat of P3 Cryx Bane Base – a lovely green/grey – but that's about it.

The first couple of Rangers have had a remarkable amount of attention so far on their cloaks alone. I've had real fun getting my mojo back with several layers of very thin paint, followed by a wash to knock things back and start the process again.

I started with a Loren Forest/Matt Black mix, followed by a few thin layers of pure Loren Forest. A wash of Athonian Camoshade later, I went back to the Loren Forest before moving on to Army Painter's Army Green as highlights.

Happy with these first two 'test' cloaks I moved on to something a little different. This mysterious maiden is having the similar treatment to the Rangers, but I'm trying to be a lot more subtle with my highlights. At the moment I'm about halfway – it looks good to the naked eye but doesn't show up so well on the phone camera.

I've also dug out my gaming board from the attic – who knows what madness may ensue this afternoon!

For more painting table goodness, visit Sofie's Paint Blog.

Crusaders On Foot

I had been looking for these at Salute but couldn't get them so placed my order with Perry Miniatures as soon as I got home.

The models themselves are pretty good; minor mould lines but a fair amount of flash in enclosed spaces (armpits and gaps between sword and body). I haven't worked a lot in metal recently so it was something of a nostalgic treat to have an afternoon of cleaning and filing metal figures.

In order to limit the number of sets I had to buy, a conversion or two was required – trading spears for swords. I also stuck the shields on straight away (which I know some of you will consider heresy).

The bases got similar treatment to the Forest Rangers. I added green stuff to hide the slot in the base and add a bit of texture on the surface. I then doused the base in red oxide paste – I'm really liking this stuff.

I do have a few more of these to build, but I need to do some more serious converting to get them where I need them to be – some of these soldiers are far too casually dressed.

Taking advantage of some lovely weather this week, I got both these models and the rangers undercoated – I supplemented a black spray with a brush of Army Painter Matt Black, which is amazing and covers a multitude of sins in one coat.

Timely spraying indeed as the weather is somewhat wet today so I decided to –wait for it – get the paints out and pick up a brush.

Needless to say not a lot got done before 9am, but at least we have the beginnings of colour (even if I did spend a day trying to cover up the bare metal, only to paint metal colour over the top!).

It will be very tempting to push these guys to one side in favour of the character models on the painting table, but I must resist.

I have booked in a hobby day on Saturday – praise Bank Holiday weekends! – so will hopefully have some progress to show next week. I may even dig out my gaming board if I'm feeling brave…