15mm Peter Pig Pirates!

18. Pirate characters - This pack still exists, as is, from Peter Pig. Many others have since been resculpted since I first picked them up from Brookhurst way back when.

These were finished many, many years ago but only putting them up now after finally finishing the basing on some newer ones.

14. Pirate band - In terms of my own painting skill these are definitely more representative of my current style. I painted these years after many of the rank and file seen below.

This pack too is still available as pictured.

Artillery Crew - these are out of production but a pack of updated models exist. These match in style my old Minifigs pirates - really trying to get a deep tan look on the skin.

7. Pirates with swivel guns - The swivel gunners are the same but the two at left are part of the old Unarmed Pirates pack.

Really tempting to go back and redo those swivel guns ...

I don't see these on PP's site anywhere so I'm not even sure if these were packaged together or not. Collectively they are among my least favorite - I've always hated "standing around" models though the three at right are good.

These were the original "Unarmed Pirates" and have all been resculpted now. Oh - I just recognized the two at left go with the swivel gunners!

I don't see these anywhere on PP's site either and I don't know why I only have seven.

Many of this below are no longer available. It's unclear which figures they were originally packaged with so I'll just group them by pose or weaponry.

Pirates with pistols - no longer available.

I love this pose - I gather he's steadying his shot on his forearm.

Pirates with Rifles - no longer available.

These are the last of my old generation of painting style with the dark skin.

28. Pirates with pistols - This is still available. I have two packs so I sorted them out by pose below - this is my least favorite sculpt in the pack though it's solid.

I do like these a lot - great animation.

These are my favorite Peter Pig models of them all! Great pose and I did my best painting on this set in particular.

As I finish off these ranges, I'll try and put together comparison shots for sizing purposes. Left is Minifigs, Right is Peter Pig (now obsolete).

Left - Peter Pig (now obsolete model), Right - Minifigs

The only Peter Pig pirates remaining are the Corsairs, the guns, dead pirates and all the little water vignettes - sharks, etc. I have several packs of Government troops and crew as well. Museum Miniatures, then Eureka? Pirates are up next before all that.

You can see the Peter Pig Pirate Civilians - mob, governors, women, etc here: http://flashman14.blogspot.com/2011/01/15mm-peter-pig-pirate-range-civilians.html

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

15mm Minifigs Pirates Part 2

Pirate Captains with Rifles - These, I believe, were in Limeys & Slimeys ship packs as well as all of the models below - half rifles, half with blunderbusses.

Not sure what rules to use yet - I imagine a points system where you each sculpt determines what he has in the game. Also I imagine a bigger land invasion force a la Morgan, more like Pirate wars than a single ship crew.

Pirates with Rifles

I got to thinking when I set these up that they might be a pain to move so I made up two bases with two figs on each. In retrospect I should have put them on circle bases.

Pirates with Blunderbusses

Same as the rifles I made two stands with two figures on them.

I don't think there are any identical figures with the same paint scheme - I alternated the linen cloth on many - it's subtle but they are different.

See the rest of the 15mm Minifigs Pirates here: http://flashman14.blogspot.com/2012/01/15mm-minifigs-pirates.html

Thanks for looking!

28mm West Wind - Gothic Horror - Cooper & Team

This is the last of the character packs for this Caribbean Zombie game. The rules governing these characters and the campaign can be found in the Gothic Horror - Vampire Wars - Realms of Terror Vol. 2

I pretty much knew where I was going to go with Cooper (trying that outline/edging method that West Wind did with some of their EotD range). And Father Dupont reminded me of the preacher in Poltergeist II. As for Simon and Marcus, I was actually trying a method intended for Napoleonic French blue. Marcus shows the failed way - too purple. But I may just have it with Simon. I like having oddball figures around to test schemes on before I do the serious stuff.

Next up Colonial Police and the forces of light are completed!

Thanks all for looking - questions, comments and followers are welcomed and encouraged!

28mm West Wind - Gothic Horror - Lady Doctor & Staff

These are from West Wind's small but wonderful Caribbean themed Zombie range.

According to the GH: VW: Realms of Terror supplement many of the figures are named. Not all, but I've added a few (L to R - italics are the names in the book - otherwise I picked it):

 Dr. Marielle (Serpent & the Rainbow), Alexis (Fr. "helper"), George, Nurse Desmarais ("of the swamp")

• George's skin is unmodified, straight from the three-color Foundry set, African Flesh. 
• The dirt is VGC Earth then 50:50 VGC Earth + VGC Khaki then VGC Khaki on it's own. 
•  Swamp Tufts from Army Painter.

I knew the black pants here were going to be problematic but I just couldn't think of how to handle these long mostly unwrinkled legs. I probably shouldn't have highlighted it at all except for the behind-the knee creases.

The last pack of heroes for this game are nearly finished then it's on to the police and then voodoo warriors.

Thanks for looking! Questions and comments are welcome!

28mm West Wind - Gothic Horror - Amazonian Explorers

Here's four of the heroes to be pitted against the Voodoo uprising.

 According to the GH: VW supplement Realms of Terror, these figures all have names: (L to R): 
Dr. Delasandro, Miss Carpenter, Mike McBrice and Dr. Chatterwick

 These are from the Piranha Men of the Amazon range - a game I have no interest in doing at all but the figures are still quite useful. I've been on the fence about the Steamer Crew but to date have not even purchased them.

Eight more good guys almost finished then a squad of Colonial Police and this force is finished.

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

From Waterloo Reeanctment

These photos are not my own but were posted by Alex Maréchal Mercier on Facebook. Copyright Olivier Papegnies and Frédéric Pauwels
His gallery is public if you want to see the rest. Join Les Grognards on Facebook.

Michael's Grass Matt Basing Tutorial

I never noticed the wonderful variety of colors on these until very recently. Plus, I never really needed them until this Voodoo Zombie game I'm making moves closer and closer to reality. Arguably, these may very well be good to go without modification, but I wanted to make permanent patches of the stuff and disguise the grid bottoms for eye level photography.

Lovely grid for creating identical clumps.

I have so many junk CD's around I thought I'd use those as the bases, these will need to be halved first to fit ...

... then quartered (Yes, GW sprue cutters on display and they work superbly on this very soft plastic).

Lots of overhanging ribbing so time to trim away some excess plants. I'm going to just do the Long Grass style to make sure I feel comfortable doing these. I'll put these aside for now.

That's more like it, even yet I will need to trim some of the corner tips of these existing grids.

One thing to note - these grids are not all full - it turns out I had a half dozen missing plants that had fallen away. Before you buy any, make sure all the spikes have a plant on them.  Luckily the excesses gave me plenty of extras with still some left over.

Last check - that's a fit. Now to GENTLY pluck off the plants. You can see it's a bell shaped concave wheel thing that has a center spike. In my haste I did pull the whole thing, spike and all, off the grid rendering it useless. Again, lucky I had extras.

Each plant here has it's own base and spike that I can make smaller arrangements with.

Extra sprues for making stones. Keep track of the little spikes that remain - these will be useful in providing a solid frame for remaining plants in the event you break some off or want to make smaller bases.

You can see at left, I jerry-rigged a spike and corner piece to replace the corner I had broken.

Plain ol' Elmers white. These dried overnight and I used binder clips to make sure all the edges were pressed on to the CD; you will find they don't lay flat.

These Golden mediums are invaluable. I had a lot of this Extra Course, and I'm fine with chunky gravel here. I'm not going to worry about the interiors - the plants themselves are DENSE so as long as the edges are done it should be fine. I let this dry overnight.

Skipped a step here but I sprayed all of it black with Krylon black spray - don't use fancy hobby primers here. Another night of drying.

Three layers - a shadow and two successive highlights - again, the interiors I don't care a whit for - they'll be well covered.

I should have done an "in progress" shot. But working with the hot glue gun was harrowing. You have to move fast and decisively. You also have to select the plants with the widest spread for the interiors so they don't splay all over the edges, You will also need to make sure the "bell" of each plant doesn't invert in the gluing - I made that error on a couple and the leaves went wild and looked awful. Already glued down it was difficult to pop the bell back into shape.

These looked much worse I think as miniature terrain goes so I'm pretty sure it was worth the time. I have nice heavy and sturdy pieces to show for it. Now to to the other plant styles and smaller sizes ...

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

28mm Brigade Games Haitian Zombies l & II

Haitian Zombies I (5) - Front - This particular pack is un-pictured at Brigade for some reason. Most of them have large wounds sculpted on somewhere so I made these five risen dead, flesh eater types.

Haitian Zombies I - (5) - Rear

Haitian Zombies II (5) - Front - These, however, had basically intact garments and I made all but the splint leg guy, simply under the spell/command of Mama Magombi. No apparent wounds, no rent garments. I'd love to get scluptor's notes on these. Can't seem to find info on these capes hoods online anywhere? Total fabrication (pun intended)? Some old movie? [Edit 3/15/18 - I watched White Zombie and the servants seemed awful familiar - see below for more.]

Haitian Zombies II (5) - Rear - There is a story about a fractured leg in Haitian Voudoo lore but it belonged to a woman and it was also proof that the "zombie" under investigation, who did not have a game leg,  could not be the same woman.. Yet, second from left here, is a zombie with a bandaged and splint arrangement on the left leg. Where does this come from? Old movie again?
[Edit 3/15/18 From White Zombie - see below.]

Zombies!

Yes.

They are my servants.

Did you think we could do it alone?

In their lifetime they were my enemies.

Ledot, the witch doctor. Once my master. Secrets I tortured out of him.

Von Gelder, the swine. Swollen with riches. He fought against my spells until the last. 

In him I have a struggling type. His Excellence, Richard. Once minister of the interior.

Scarpia, Brigand Chief. 

Marcquis, Captain of Gendarmerie.

And this... this is Chauvin. The high executioner, who almost executed me!

I took them just as we will take this one. But what if they regain their souls?

They would tear me to pieces. But that, my friend, shall never be.

Chauvin seen wearing a hood in other parts of the movie. He also has the wooden splint on his leg.

Two of the ten had Caucasian features so I painted them accordingly.

All the risen dead zombies in one shot. The will join the European styled ones seen here.

For giggles here's the mind slave zombies with West Wind's Madam Magombi. The skin  on these was straight out of the bottle Foundry's "African Flesh" triad. No fourth highlight on those at all.

West Wind's Baron Savoodie and his minions.

Next up is some West Wind heroes to oppose all this then some quantities of Old Glory Voodoo Warriors from their Pirate range. Colonial Police in there somewhere too - all are in varying levels of completion on the painting table.

Thanks for looking - questions and comments are welcome and encouraged!