Monday, November 12, 2012

25mm Old Glory Cossack Wars Dismounted Cossacks Pt. 1

This is one of two 15 man bands. The other is in blues and browns. I failed the Dullcote here and probably didn't shake it enough giving a semi satin look. I may hit them again later.

These were from a previous Dullcote session with an older can and they came out normal.



Though intended for a Renaissance game, I'm repurposing them for a Patriotic War game. They'll serve as semi-uniformed partisans. They don't look the period at all but there is a decent hole in Napoleonic figure ranges.

Old Glory really has the right idea doing separate heads om the same body. I wish I had one facing down the barrel on this pose (my favorite) but they are still great.

These faces are seen in the Cossacks Celebrating seen elsewhere on this site. There were several heads sculpted and you see most of them more than once. Again, same body, different heads means two radically different figures - one confidently advancing, the other thinking better of it and withdrawing.


Just the sound of a Cossack yell would have the French dropping arms and surrendering. I doubt very much they used these axes at right  ...
Firing pistols, my favorite pose! He's actually doing it gangster style with the lock hardware almost on top. Still, high energy and animation.
The blue one will likely come up next but until then thanks for looking - Questions, comments and followers are welcome and encouraged!

Friday, November 9, 2012

More from Facebook's History & Reenactment Photography

Ah truly a Revolutionary spirit!

Saxons, right? 
Europeans really take reenactment seriously - there's no growing that beard out for the weekend. And he's not the only one who adopted period hair.
Officer of the 7th Hussars?

Go to Facebook and "Like" the  History & Reenactment Photography page. There's only a handful of what appear to be in aberrant costumes - the rest drips with authenticity. 

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

French Grenadiers

There's several re-enactors on Facebook with excellent pages. This shot is from one called "Reenactment & History Photography" via the Incomparable page. I really like the campaign-y look to this and wonder if I shouldn't ban pure white from my French altogether. I think I may also make the five o'clock shadow the norm too.

Monday, October 15, 2012

28mm Eureka Cossacks Looting

I have a lot of non-combaty frolicky Cossacks done - After this lot, the next 40 will be armed and dangerous.
I love this set from Eureka ... I think they'll mostly serve as markers for, well, looting figures

Intended for 1799 they are seen here re-looting a French baggage train during the Great Patriotic War - none of which has been painted you understand.

Winter Tufts from Antenociti's Workshop: here
Mostly satisfied with this pair of bases though I'm least happy with the rose colored tunic on the figure at left. Note the Eureka Mascot carved into the silver pot.

Those are cart wheel tracks in the road alongside which these two labor.

A shako of some French troisième compagnie lies abandoned at lower right ...

The camera captures every error doesn't it? I'm thinking the sloppy blue tunic under the belt there.

I had a jar of Citadel Ultramarines Blue that I wasn't sure was going to be right for the final highlights but it turned out much better than I had hoped. It bordered "electric" in my mind when I applied it but not so much after it dried ...
Swarthy. Before the pictures I forgot to go back and edge the base again. In the finals, that will be remedied.
 
I forgot my own rule on the Cantiniere seen elsewhere - to add white into the glue mixture upon which the snow flock rests - and remembered this time yet leaving those ugly drag marks along the sides. Normally the white glue dries clear leaving the edges tidy.
This pack posed several challenges - not least of which was the mirror. It wasn't perfectly flat. I really am at a loss how to do them. I thought of some impressionistic lines or something but in the end just painted it straight silver and then glossed it up at the end. I'll "meh" for you.

I thought the goose was going to throw me too, but I saw too many plain white ones to my relief on Google.


Close up shots - terribly unforgiving to me ...
The other nigh-insurmountables was the bottle and the vase tied to the saddle. Both were given a coat of brush on gloss after all the dull-coating.



The bottle ended up looking fine ...

I was stumped on the vase pattern too but was inspired by some more Googling. I used a Micron pen in light blue as you can see but have too shaky a hand to pull it off perfectly - same with the red dots in the resulting diamonds. Nonethelss it gives a good impression. Somewhere between finishing the figures and sealing them, I smudged the blue diagonals which bled out in spots looking just awful. I hate repainting especially since I wasn't convinced I could actually make it much better. So the error lies there immemorial.
Thanks for looking - questions, comments and followers are welcome and encouraged!

25mm Soldiers & Swords Games - Castle Falkenstein - Gentlemen

There's a 4 figure set of the Ladies in varying degrees of readiness - but first, the gents! Who's that douchey guy on the Kardashians? The middle guy reminds me of him.

More shots of my cartoony bases - one of the only things I paint with an eye towards long distance viewing, as if on the table top.

There's actually less folds on the coat at center but I added one just with paint.
It's often fun to see a bigger context to the photographin'. Helps one appreciate the scale a bit too.

Thanks for looking - questions, comments & followers are welcome and encouraged!

25mm Ral Partha Frantisek Markov

I s'pose he could be Mr. Hyde but that's not quite right. Here's the official history: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frantisek_Markov
Extra bold on the red silk lining. Micron Pen eyes ...


Base detail - again this is a motif I've committed to on over a hundred figures so far ...

Egads! Glossy bits remain! And for other reasons I hate the back shot - all those folds is just overkill and I did just a middling job on it.

I have a thing for these old school miniatures  ...

Thanks for looking - Questions, comments and followers are welcome and encouraged!

25mm Westwind Baron Savoodie & Priestesses

There should be teeth painted in on the skull paint but the mouth is in such an arc that I couldn't accommodate it. So now he looks a bit like a mime!
Weird experiment with a red, and an unsatisfying motif for the Baron himself. Not quite pulled together. The sculpt has undead qualities - exposed bones and I believe organs that I painted over as cloth to greater or lesser effect. (When it's unclear what is actually going on there I feel entitled to take liberties.) The Caribbean feel though I felt worked - even the eye shadow!



Snakes, snakes, how do to the snakes? Black I thought would be dull, and a black mamba just has a black mouth interior but is otherwise grey. Green was a possibility but would clash with the already painted turquoise accents. So coral won out in the end which just adds to the festivity of it all.

"Swamp" Tufts from Army Painter

I think I may go back and hand paint a layer of satin over the Dull Cote on the snakes.

The teeth are tucked in on the snake at left so that's a pink tongue you're seeing there.
Thanks for looking - Questions, comments, followers are welcome and encouraged!