Painted London Gentleman

Last week, I posted photos of the bare-metal London Gentlemen pack from West Wind. Below is my painted version of a gentleman from that pack. I'm very pleased with the result, though my photo isn't that great. Like I said, I'll get better photos in the future. I still have to do some detail work on the base.

6mm GZG Photo

I'm posting this photo of Ground Zero Game's 6mm figures for Phil Walling and the guys over on TMP. He was asking for photos of the Tactical Interface Transport. You can see it in the upper-left corner of the photo. Hope it helps everyone. Note that I did not take the photo.

West Wind Gothic Horror Packs

For the past year, I have been slowly working on a Victorian Science Fiction theme relating to my Western gaming. Most of the figures are from West Wind's Gothic Horror range, manufactured by Old Glory here in the States. Unfortunately, these figures will never be manufactured again, so when Old Glory runs out of current stock, these figures will be gone. With the Old Glory Army membership, the packs are $4.80 each, which comes to $1.20 a figure, a good value in my book. As with all West Wind figures, some are excellent while others are fair, with some just downright odd.

While Old Glory has photos of many of the miniatures, a few packs are not represented. This didn't stop me from buying them. Rummaging in my folders, I found these photos of unprimed Gothic Horror figures, which I had shot nearly a year ago. Maybe someone will find them useful.

GHZ-5 The Lady Doctor and her Staff (Gothic Horror: Zombies)
Old Glory has a photo of the two nurses online, but not the Jamaican fellow and the other fellow with the machete and revolver. The lady nurses have awkward faces, which have been difficult for me to paint. The chap with the revolver is quite nice for a West Wind figure. I'm nearly done painting him. Having mixed emotions about the pack, I'm not sure how I would rate them. Would I buy the pack again? Probably. Crazed nurses and female doctors are hard to find. Plus my wife is a nurse.

GHJ-5 London Gentlemen (Gothic Horror: Jeykll & Hyde)
If you play Victorian vampire hunting games, you must get this pack. The fellow on the far right is a dead-ringer for Gary Oldman's Count Dracula in Coppola's 1992 Dracula movie. The fellow to the far left is ok, while the figure second from the left is one of my favorites. He can be a crotchety old man or, in my campaign, the crazy mastermind pulling the strings. The figure second from the right I also like, a stuffy gentleman. I'll be posting my fully painted version of him soon. Regardless, if you need a Gary Oldman "Dracula," you must get this pack before it disappears forever.

Thanksgiving in Normandy

After eating our Thanksgiving dinner, my son and I settled into our first ever game of Disposable Heroes. This also is the first time my 15mm figures have seen actual action. All the figures are from Peter Pig's World War II line. It took me nearly a year to finish a platoon of German and US figures. Progress was on and off during that time, plus I was learning as I was going. I am still a newbie painter.

The buildings are all from Landmark's Normandy line. I'm still working on scenery, so we used what I had on hand. A bit abstract, but it worked. The table changed a bit after I took the upper-left photo, with more hills behind the buildings in the left foreground. That's from where the platoon of US infantry was approaching. There goal was to secure the east-west "road" on the northen section of the town between the church and farm house. They knew the farm house was occupied by a German platoon HQ and machine gun, but had no idea where the other rifle teams and MG's had been deployed. They were about to find out! And learn the benefit of cover. I played the Germans and Jeremy played the Americans. We didn't finish the game tonight because we both had to wake up early for Black Friday!

The Figures
I used the Vallejo German and American paint sets. Flesh is P3 Midlund Flesh. I gave the figures a coating of black magic wash and then applied highlights. I individually mounted the figures on half-inch fender washers, textured the bases with wood putty, dipped in sand and painted (US) or dipped in Woodland Scenics brown ballast (German), flocked, and added some scenery bits here and there.

Because many of the weapons are small and DH differentiates between them, I used small stones to mark all US infantrymen carrying carbines. To me, 15mm carbines look too similar to Thompsons. I also tried using the same poses for different ranks, though US sergeants and lieutenants have the white stripes on the back of the helmets.

It was a fun and sometimes frustrating project. The US infantrymen are my favorites because they took so much work. The Germans were dead easy compared to the US. All I need now are a few Shermans, a Panzer IV, a Stug, and an 88. I also need more terrain!

I hope you enjoy the photos.

1: Using the cover of a wooded hill, a BAR team approaches the southeast outskirts of the village at sunset. So far no signs of the Germans anywhere. The village was eerily quite. Why hadn't the village been shelled prior to their attack?










2: The BAR team spots a group of Germans behind the wall in the back yard of some row homes. That MG42 is going to be a bear to take out!










3: There they are--the Germans and their MG42. That wall is going to be a problem for the Americans! Eventually, the two units of Germans will totally take out the BAR team and pin two rifle teams while suffering only a couple casualties themselves.









4: A heavy machinegun finally arrives, giving the Americans some needed firepower. The machinegun will pin down the Krauts behind the wall, allowing some rifle teams to get into a better position to flank the defenders.







5: A rifle team maneuvers through a patch of woods, getting a bead down the street and into the church yard.











6: In a gutsy move, a depleted rifle team finally flanks the Germans behind the wall. In a few seconds, they will pull the pins on their grenades, giving the Germans a little Thanksgiving surprise!








7: Meanwhile on the other end of town, a German MG42 team waits behind some sandbags.

Fly's Studio: Part 6 - Exterior Trim

In case you are just joining us, this series of articles chronicles my real-time adventures preparing and painting Old Glory's Fly's Studio from their OK Corral series of 25mm Western buildings. Because the entire process is an experiment, you'll get to see my successes and mistakes along the way. To see the entire series of articles, click on the Fly's Studio link.

Due to my schedule this week, this will be a short installment today. After painting the base color on the exterior walls and the floor, I drybrushed the trim using Americana Avocado Green. I want the side windows and trim to look like the owner gave them one coat of paint and then ignored them, while maintaining the paint on the false front. I will paint the sides of the shingles dark gray once I work on the roof. I chose the lighter, faded look of Avocado Green because the front trim will be a dark green against a light tan. The interior trim will be the same dark green with most likely buff walls.

Color-Coding Paint Bottles

I got this idea from someone online. I don't remember who, when, or where. I totally forgot about it until last week, when I sat down and took inventory of my paint collection. Shook each bottle, inspected it, and painted the bottle's cap. It has really helped me see the difference between colors, intensity, and sheen. Here is a quick shot of some of my craft paint collection. I also own a number of Vallejo, Reaper, and P3 paints. I did the same with those, but they're not shown here. Give this little trick a try. You won't regret it.