Gates of Antares - Ghar: Assault Suit

I started by undercoating the Assault suit with a matt black primer 

Next I used a flat headed small drybrush to apply GW Ceramite White, in a drybrush style (as in I removed as much of the paint as I could on a piece of paper) I brushed over the armoured areas trying to leave the gaps in the armour free from paint. Ceramite White is classified as a base paint so it needs to be used lightly to give a good coating.

I then followed the same process using Bonewhite (72.034), but this time applying several light coats to get a consistent covering; as free from streaks as possible. Using the Bonewhite stops the black showing through, helps the next stage provide a consistent coating and applying it on top of the Ceramite White helps ensure that further.

Next I used Dead white (72.001), again in the same fashion as the Bonewhite, this creates a solid white covering.

The next stage may seem a little odd, but bear with me: In this stage I drybrush Ceramite white over certain edges to bring them out. The reason for this is that Ceramite white has a brighter white pigment than Deadwhite so, I feel, you can see the difference.

As you can see the white process leaves the model looking somewhat messy, and as I want the other areas black (apart from the “power nodes”) I go over those areas with Black (72.051).

Next I applied GW Mephiston Red to all the power nodes and sensors, washed them with Army painter strong tone, then painted them with Blood red. The blood red was applied to the majority of the node/sensor but leaving the base in the dark washed red I started with and in several light coats an all over smooth red finish was achieved.

The black and white areas where tidied up where required, then as I can’t leave the black areas looking so flat, so I drybrushed them with Stonewall Grey (72.049).

Red wash was then applied to the gaps.

I then applied Matt Varnish all over; It was at this point that I discovered (to my horror) that the red wash hadn’t dried and was smearing over the model. So I stopped, waited 24 hours and tried again only to experience the same issue. This has meant applying white to cover up the smears, ruining the original white coat I had applied. In future I think I’ll use red paint. Was that situation was resolved I applied gloss varnish to the power nodes and sensors.

Next I glued sand to the base using PVA. Once dry I painted it Charred Brown (72.045), drybrushed with Plague Brown (72.039) and then drybrushed with Bonewhite (72.034),  after which Static grass was added.

Painting Bolt Action: Soviet Weapons team

So after dealing with my infantry, and finding a scheme I was mostly happy with I have painted up my weapons teams.

Below is a summary of how I did it.

Undercoat of Army Painter Desert Yellow

• Flat Earth (70.983) for the webbing
• Cam Olive Green (70.894) for the helmets
• Luftwaffe camo green (70.823) for canteen, grenades, Mortar, Maxim MMG and magazine box
• Tan Earth (70.874) for the bedrolls and bags
• Beasty brown (72.043) for the gun stocks, handle of the knife and some hair
• Black (72.051) was used on gun barrels, ammo casing, boots and some hair
• Gunmetal grey (70.863) for the guns, followed by a black wash
• Gunmetal (72.054) for the bullets of the MMG and the mortat shell
• GW Mephiston Red was used on the Soviet Stars on the hats and magazine case
• Army Painter Strong tone wash over the majority of the model, but not the flesh.
• Uniform drybrushed with Plague Brown (72.039)
• Helmets, mortar and MMG are drybrushed with Gunmetal (72.054) to give scratched look
• Boots are drybrushed with Stonewall gray (72.049)
• Webbing with Leather Brown (72.040)
• Bedroll and bags with Khaki (70.988)
• For the flesh I took my time compared to the infantry and used Dark fleshtone (72.044), then Tan (72.066), then Dwarf Skin (72.041)
• Some AP dark tone around the face to act as facial hair (this is applied then dabbed off with a tissue)
• Matt Varnish (70.520) all over

Painting: Bolt Action - Soviet Infantry

So for a little while now I have been working on my soviet infantry.

This has certainly been a learning curve and I'm still not quite there; essentially I had ideas of where I wanted to go but not quite how to get there, so trial and error have been my only option.

I have followed the same initial process for all 40 models:

Undercoat of Army Painter Desert Yellow

Then following the guide on the soviet paint set, which are from the Vallejo Model color range:

• Flat Earth (70.983) for the webbing
• Cam Olive Green (70.894) for the helmets
• Luftwaffe camo green (70.823) for canteen, grenades, molotov bottles 
• Tan Earth (70.874) for the bedrolls and bags

then outside of that paint set I used the following from the game colour range

• Beasty brown (72.043) for the gun stocks, handle of the knife and some hair
• Black (72.051) was used on gun barrels, ammo casing, boots and some hair
• Gunmetal (72.054) was used on the catch of the canteen, blade of the knife/bayonet, anti-tank grenades and drybrushed on the helmets
• The boots were drybrushed with Stonewall gray (72.049)

The fire of the molotov was painted with a base coat of GW Iyanden Darksun, then Sun yellow (72.006), then Bloody Red (72.010) around the edge.

That was the basics after that things didn't stay as consistent as I wasn't happy with the results:

On some models the gun barrels were painted with Gunmetal (72.054), then washed with GW Nuln Oil. I wasn't keen on this as it resulted in overly shiny guns. So I tried Gunmetal grey (70.863) which is much darker and provided a better look for the weapons, this was then washed with GW nuln Oil. This can be seen in the flesh pictures below.

The flesh on most of the models were painted using Bronze flesh tone (72.036) then a wash was applied which was then drybrush/highlighted with Elf Skintone (72.004) but this gave the models too pale skin, everyone looked scared or drained so multiple different techniques were tried for the remaining few that hadn't been through this process.

I tried:

1. Tan (72.066), then Dwarf Skin (72.041), then Elf Skintone (72.004) on 3 models
   
2. Tan (72.066), mix of GW red wash and Army painter strong tone in the gaps, then Dwarf Skin (72.041) on 2 models (courtesy of this guide: http://www.talkwargaming.com/2015/03/tutorial-how-to-paint-bolt-action.html?m=0) although the mix ratio wasn't quite right so ended up a little more red than I had hoped.
   
3. Tan (72.066), Dwarf Skin (72.041) soft tone on 2 models
   
4. Bronze flesh tone (72.036), soft tone, Elf Skintone (72.004) on 2 models
   

Processes 1 - 3 had improved results but I still want to find a quick process for painting flesh, as these processes are too long winded in my opinion for infantry. I don't mind spending time on characters and specialist units but for standard infantry I want something that can be done quickly and easily.

Further to the issues with painting flesh I was unhappy with how I washed the troops; 20 were washed with Army painter dark tone, although this looked good it meant that any highlight didn't work so well unless it was bright and a bright highlight didn't work (various paints were used from plague brown to bone)

The next 20 were washed all over with AP strong tone, this produced a much better look that allowed the uniform to be drybrushed with Plague Brown (72.039), the bed roll with Khaki (70.988) and the webbing with Leather Brown (72.040).

The bases! the bases almost drove me to insanity! By all accounts they shouldn't be that difficult to add sand to a base and paint it but I encountered two issues;
one some of the positions (in particular the laying down models) were difficult to cover in sand, resulting in some locations getting missed.
The other issue was having to paint the sand on 40 bases! this took ages and lots of black paint.
Going forward I will cover the bases with sand, spray black and then glue the models (I know that's a bad idea, so maybe I'll just do it to the laying down ones and invest in some childrens acrylic black paint so not to use my own "expensive" model paint)

After this I added some static grass and some foliage.

So overall, what I feel is working is:

Undercoat of Army Painter Desert Yellow

• Flat Earth (70.983) for the webbing
• Cam Olive Green (70.894) for the helmets
• Luftwaffe camo green (70.823) for canteen, grenades
• Tan Earth (70.874) for the bedrolls and bags
• Beasty brown (72.043) for the gun stocks, handle of the knife and some hair
• Black (72.051) was used on gun barrels, ammo casing, boots and some hair
• Gunmetal grey (70.863) for the guns, followed by a black wash
• Strong tone wash over the majority of the model, but not the flesh.
• Uniform drybrushed with Plague Brown (72.039)
• Helmets drybrushed with Gunmetal (72.054) to give scratched look
• Boots are drybrushed with Stonewall gray (72.049)
• Webbing with Leather Brown (72.040)
• Bedroll and bags with Khaki (70.988)
• Matt Varnish (70.520) all over
• Gloss Varnish (70.510) on Molotov Bottle

So now I need to find a quick, yet effective flesh painting process...

Miniatures: Bolt Action - Soviet: 82mm Mortar

This week I have been working on the Bolt Action Soviet 82mm Mortar that came as part of the Warlord Soviet 500pts deal.

The Packaging

Standard blister pack, where some pressure can pop out the back panel, allowing reuse of the pack if required.

The models

This pack contains 3 crew, 1 mortar (2 pieces: stand & mortar) and a base.
The models are nicely detailed however one crew member appear's to be wearing a longcoat which doesn't really fit with my summer uniform force. This, of course, is a minor issue.

The building of the models

These models had a lots of flash and mold lines, which took several minutes to remove. The mortar was carefully clipped free of it's metal tag then glue was added to the rest part of the stand and the legs, these were then positioned on the base. Glue was applied to the base of the mortar then the mortar was carefully aligned with the stand. Once the mortar was in position the crew was positioned around.

Once the models were tidied up, it took no time to set up the base, I'm looking forward to painting these.

Miniatures: Bolt Action - Soviet: Maxim MMG

This week I decided to crack on with putting my outstanding Bolt Action Soviets together, so I can have a game with something other than infantry. In this post I am reviewing the Maxim MMG.

The Packaging

This blister is like most "modern" blister where no cutting is required and just a little pressure from the front will pop out the back panel, releasing the models from their sponge walled plastic prison.

The models

Inside the blister are 3 crew, a Maxim MMG consisting of 4 parts (chasis, two wheels and the MMG) and a large round base.

The crew are nicely detailed, but the MMG lacks depth. (hopefully paint will resolve this)

The building of the model

The crew contained a fair amount of flash and mold lines that needed removing, as did the MMG with the added difficulty that the MMG wheels and chasis are made of a thin light metal so care had to be  taken to clear off excess metal.

The MMG was a little fiddly to build, and did result in me super gluing my fingers together along with a wheel. Despite this the building of the model wasn't challenging.

The MMG and crew were positioned on the base without glue then, once I was happy with their positioning, I glued them down. The gunner needed to be held in the correct position while the glue dried; as he is in a kneeling position I found he couldn't be left on its own otherwise he would fall out of position.

All in all this took little time to prepare and glue together. I'm looking forward to painting it up

FOR THE MOTHERLAND!!

Painting: Gates of Antares - Ghar: Outcast Disruptor cannon

This week’s post is about the Ghar Disruptor cannon that came with the Ghar Outcasts as part of the Ghar Starter set.

As ever the paints listed are from the Vallejo Game Colour range unless otherwise stated.

Disruptor Cannon

• I started by undercoating with Halfords Black. I decided to use this undercoat instead of white as I feel that there are more black areas than white. 
• GW Ceramite white was used on the cannon's legs, weapon shielding and Outcast's flesh.Then several coats of watered down Dead White (72.001) were used on the weapon shielding and legs 
• Outcast was washed in Army Painter Strong Tone, then once dry, drybrushed with Dead White (72.001) (yes once again I forgot the bonewhite stage and you can see the difference in the first photo with the two models together) 
• Black (72.051) was used to tidy up the line on the legs, cannon, Outcast spine support, straps and wrist/ankle clips. The solid areas of black were then dry brush with Stonewall Grey (72.049) 
• GW Mephiston Red was used on the eyes, spine support power cells, ankle/wrist cells, leg power cells, cannon power cells and the power cell at the top of the back.

That's the model done, now the base.

• As the base had been sprayed black I just glued sand to the main area of the base, that, when dry, painted Charred Brown (72.045), drybrushed with Plague Brown (72.039) and then with Bonewhite (72.034). after which Static grass was added.

Loader

The loader was done in the same fashion as the other outcasts:

• I started with Halfords White undercoat 
• Then covered then all in Army painter Strong tone. As mentioned in my last post this really helped bring out the detail 
• Black (72.051) was then used for the majority of the ammo cartridges, belt, bag casing, claws, wrist & ankle clips 
• GW Ceramite white applied directly onto the armour (the "nappy" like thing between the legs), and the ammo bag. Army Painter Dark tone was then used on the eye recess. Dead White (72.001) was carefully painted over the same areas 
• GW Mephiston Red was applied to the eyes, and the nodes on the wrist/ankle clips 
• The flesh of the Outcast was then drybrushed with Bonewhite (72.034), then Dead White (72.001), finally GW Ceramite white was drybrushed on areas I wanted to stand out; like the face and hands. 
• The areas of Black were tidied up then dry brush with Stonewall Grey (72.049) 
• The strap to the ammo pack was painted brown and then I went over with leather 
• I then tidied up the areas of white using Dead White where other colours had accidentally come in contact with it. 
• Next I coated them in all over in Matt Varnish (70.520), then used Gloss Varnish (70.510) on the areas painted red. 

Now onto the base.

• I painted the main area of the base with several coats of Charred Brown (72.045), and painted the lip/side Black (72.051). 
• Then I glued sand to the main area of the base, that, when dry, was painted Charred Brown (72.045), drybrushed with Plague Brown (72.039) and then with Bonewhite (72.034) after which Static grass was added.

That's the Outcasts from the starter box complete; only the battle suits and flitters to go...

Painting: Gates of Antares - Ghar: Outcasts

So as mentioned in my last post I have been working on the Gates of Antares Outcasts. These are from the starter set I mention a few posts back.

I can tell how excited I am to paint a model by how quickly it gets to my painting station and is finished. As an example these Outcasts jumped ahead of 20 Soviet Infantry for Bolt Action and the 6 Battlesuits from the 2 player Gates of Antares starter set, all of which have been started yet not finished. 

Now the Outcast unit does come with a disruptor cannon and loader; the loader has been completed along with these guys however the disruptor cannon has not, so those will be in another post.

Anyway, I digress, on with how I painted these Outcasts. Now I wanted a sort of Albino look to them so thought I tried to apply a similar theme to that I used on my Shaltari.

As ever the paints listed are from the Vallejo Game Colour range unless otherwise stated.

• I started with Halfords White undercoat
• Then covered then all in Army painter Strong tone. This really helped bring out the detail which I struggled to see when they were in their unpainted state, and so allowing me to defrentiate between the areas.
• Black (72.051) was then used for the majority of the weapon, belt, spine support, claws, wrist & ankle clips
• GW Ceramite white applied directly onto the armour (the "nappy" like thing between their legs), plasma grenades and casing areas of the weapon. Army Painter Dark tone was then used on the weapon casing and the eye recess. Dead White (72.001) was carefully painted over the same areas
• GW Mephiston Red was applied to the eyes, power cell on the weapon, trigger on the grenades and the nodes on the spine support 
• The flesh of the Outcast was then drybrushed with Bonewhite (72.034), then Dead White (72.001), finally GW Ceramite white was drybrushed on areas I wanted to stand out; like the face and hands.
• The areas of Black were tidied up then dry brush with Stonewall Grey (72.049)
• Now two of the Outcasts have protrusions on their weapons, I was unsure as to what this exactly is I assumed it to be a scope of some sort and painted it as such, using Magic Blue (72.021) on what I believed to be the glass on the scope; a small curve of Dead white (72.001) was added to it.
• Next I painted the teeth Plague Brown (72.039), then, once dry, covered with Army Painter strong tone.
• I then tidied up the areas of white using Dead White where other colours had accidentally come in contact with it.
• Next I coated them in all over in Matt Varnish (70.520), then used Gloss Varnish (70.510) on the areas painted red and the weapon "scope".

That's the models done, now the base.

• I painted the main area of the base with several coats of Charred Brown (72.045), and painted the lip/side Black (72.051).
• Then I glued sand to the main area of the base, that, when dry, was painted Charred Brown (72.045), drybrushed with Plague Brown (72.039) and then with Bonewhite (72.034). after which Static grass was added.

There we are, 6 Outcasts done.

Out of interest, for those of you that read and enjoy my blog posts, what do you prefer: my step by step guides with pictures of each stage or this bullet point guide with the end result picture?

Miniatures: Bolt Action - Soviet Infantry

After months and months of trying to convince me to get into Bolt Action my friend Grum finally persuaded me and I invested in the warlord 500 point Soviet set (http://store.warlordgames.com/collections/soviet-army/products/500pts-soviet-army)

As per the link it consisted of a box of infantry, a mortar and a medium machine gun.

In this post I will be looking at the box of soviet infantry

In the box you get 40 infantry; 5 sprues each with 8 alternative posed bodies on them.Then there is more than enough arms and heads to build all 40 and still have spares, as well as lots of detail items such as magazine cases and entrenching tools

Further to this there is 3 weapon sprues which contains rifles, PPSH, PTSD rifles, an LMG and all sorts of other accesories.

Now those of you that have read my previous posts about the Warlord products you'll know that I don't seem to have much luck with them (although to be fair they usually resolve any issues quickly). This case is no different and inside my infantry box were instructions for winter Soviet infantry, which I quickly learnt meant the arm layout didn't match those on the sprue.

After raising a query on a Bolt Action Facebook page some kind soul provided me with the correct instructions, and I have now inserted them here to help any other gamers who finds them-selves in the same situation I did.

Now the issue I have with these instructions as they don't really explain the arm layout; so for example if you wanted some aiming arms or "charging" arms it's unclear which to select and results in painstaking moving of arms and associated weapon to get the look you desired - unless i'm just being an idiot.

So Warlord if you read this please adjust the instructions to reflect clear definitions of what type of arms they are.

The models themselves had quite a few mold lines, which are easily removed. However it seems I was quite lazy and impatient in my building process and I have noticed quite a few still have these as I paint them,

The models come away with relative ease from the sprue, and again any excess plastic can be removed.

Now while I'm talking about plastic; I used ploystyrene cement to put these together, now I haven't used this glue is some time. As such I don't know if it's my lack of recent experience with it, if the glue strength has changed or if it's the plastic warlord use, eitherway I have found that the plastic has melted.
I know this is part of the process of using poly cement on plastic but the melting has turned the hands into indistinguishable blobs, and you can see the telltale melting marks in other locations on the models, so heed my warning fellow gamers and use the glue sparingly or use a different glue

Painting: Pike & Shotte/Pikemans Lament - English Civil War: Musketeers (Scheme 2)

What follows scheme 1....scheme 2 of course!

So like scheme 1 below is a basic overview on the scheme, originally described in my Firelock storming party post. I will go into more details in this post as to how it was applied and what paints were used, most of which were from the Vallejo Game color range, unless otherwise stated.

Scheme 2
Undercoat British Battle Dress (Bolt Action - Warlord spray)
Straps: Leather
Flesh: bronzed flesh
Metals: Gun metal
Gun stock: Bestial Brown
Boots: Bestial Brown or Black or Leather or left as undercoat
Wash with AP strong tone

So I started with an undercoat of British Battle Dress (Bolt Action - Warlord spray), then painted the skin in Bronze Fleshtone (72.036), as you can see its rather messy but I won't worry about that at this time.

Next I painted the guns, bags, powder holders, boots, hair etc Beasty Brown (72.043), then painted Leather Brown (72.040) on some of the boots, some hair, and all of the bags, powder holders etc.

Then I used Abaddon Black (GW) on the gun barrels, boots and hair. Then Gunmetal (72.054) was applied to the gun barrels.

In this picture I'm showing the different hair colours, I've already described the browns and blacks used above, the other colours are Cold Grey (72.050) and Hot Orange (72.009)

The collars and cuffs were painted Ceramite White (GW), then the models were tidied up. The coats and trousers were tidied up using British Battle dress from a Flames of War paint set. Then Army painter strong tone was liberally applied

Once the strong tone was dry, I drybrushed the coat and trousers with Earth (72.062), the leathers with Plague Brown (72.039) and the flesh with Elf Flesh (GW). I then applied a Matt Varnish (70.520). Next was I covered the base in sand and once dry painted it Charred Brown (72.045) then covered in static grass.

There you have it, like the previous post, 16 musketeers ready for ECW or KoW.

Regiment layout for Kings of War

Painting: Pike & Shotte/Pikemans Lament - English Civil War: Musketeers (Scheme 1)

I decided it was time to paint something different to Kings of War undead, and thought I've overlooked my "For King and Country" box set for too long. Also by painting up something from that box set I have a painted unit for my Kings of War Kingdom of Men army - Double win.

As some of you may remember (or can easily reference by looking back through my blog posts) I painted my Firelock storming party first and from that I came up with two painting schemes - this was so I could split my army for intro games.

So below is a basic overview on the scheme, originally described in my Firelock storming party post. I will go into more details in this post as to how it was applied and what paints were used, most of which were from the Vallejo Game color range, unless otherwise stated.

Scheme 1
Undercoat: Camo green (Halford)
Straps: Leather
Flesh: Bronzed flesh
Metals: Gun metal
Gun stock: Bestial Brown
Boots: Bestial Brown or Black or Leather
Wash with AP strong tone

So I started with an undercoat of Camo Green Spray from Halfords, then painted the skin in Bronze Fleshtone (72.036), as you can see its rather messy but I won't worry about that at this time.

Next I painted the guns, bags, powder holders, boots, hair, belts and straps with Beasty Brown (72.043), then painted Leather Brown (72.040) on some of the boots, some hair, and all of the bags, powder holders, belts & straps. You'll also notice I found a stand of 3 more, so I quickly got them up to the same stage as the rest.

Then I used Abaddon Black (GW) on the gun barrels, belt buckles, boots, and hair (Left picture). Then Gunmetal (72.054) was applied to the gun barrels, firing locks and belt buckles (Right picture).

In this picture I'm showing the different hair colours I've painted, reflecting the different ages in a musketeer unit. I've already described the browns and blacks used above, the other colours are Cold Grey (72.050) (Darker grey of the two), Stonewall Grey (72.049) (Lighter grey of the two) and Hot Orange (72.009)

The collars and cuffs were painted Ceramite White (GW), then the models were tidied up. The coats and trousers were tidied up using Yellow Olive (72.064). Then Army painter strong tone was liberally applied

Once the strong tone was dry, I drybrushed the coat and trousers with Camouflage Green (72.031), the leathers with Plague Brown (72.039), the musket fuse with Bonewhite (72.034) and the flesh with Elf Flesh (GW). I then applied a Matt Varnish (70.520). Next was I covered the base in sand and once dry painted it Charred Brown (72.045) then covered in static grass.

There you have it 16 musketeers, all ready to fight; Be it during the English Civil War or in the fantasy world of Mantica for the Kingdom of Men (As a unit of arquebusiers). But 16 is such a horrid number for Kings of War (although perfectly legal for a regiment (1/2 unit size +1)) I prefer the whole 20 so 4 more are to be built soon.

Thanks for reading.

Regiment of arquebusiers for KoW