Converting Northern Europe to North Africa

 If you are anything like me, you will no doubt have drawer fulls of terrain and models that have never been out of storage since it was first painted! With my current focus on North Africa (and whilst waiting on miniature deliveries from Artizan) I decided to look through my old terrain pieces to see if any could be converted.

The piece below is a tin roofed, sand bagged check point built against an old fence. It also features a downed telegraph post. I figured that this would look like something found on the outskirts of s French colonial village.

The first step involved soaking the model in warm soapy water, which made the flock come away from the model easily. The residue of the glue can be seen at the base of the telegraph post.

The next step will be to paint the model with a base coat of Vallejo Desert Sand.

More 28mm Afrika Korps

 Here is my second batch of Afrika Korps. I really like the Artizan Miniatures, it is just a shame that it took almost four weeks for the figures to arrive! Whilst waiting for the figures to arrive, I painted n old Solido Puma that had been sat on a shelf gathering dust.

As per my last blog entry, the figures were painted with a mix of Vallejo and Citdel paints and varnishes.

Next on the paint table are 4 NCOs armed with MP40s. I have also ordered a HMG team, an 81mm mortar crew and a first pack of SAS raiders.

28MM fox holes for North Africa World War 2

 Whilst I was waiting for my second batch of Afrika Korps to arrive from Artizan, I decided to paint up two old two/three man foxholes that have been in the painting mountain for a while. I bought these several years ago from the now defunct Snapdragon Studios. I painted several up for Northern Europe, but for some reason left these.

I started with a base coat of Homebase exterior paint 'sandstone' and then washed it with Citadel Devlan mud. I followed this with progressively lighter drybrush coats using Vallejo Desert sand, Vallejo Iraqi sand and finally Citadel Dry Tyrant Skull.

The wood started with a base of Citadel Base Mournfang Brown,followed by dry brush coats made up of the base and iraqi sand.

 "Vere ist der Englanders, Heinrich?"

"You dumkopf Fritz, Mark has not painted any yet!"

 

 

More Afrika Korps are due on the paint table next, just as soon as they arrive!



28mm Artizan Afrika Korps

Ever since I started wargaming I have always wanted to game the North Africa campaigns of World War Two. (My Grandfather served as an infantryman in the Lincolnshire Regiment, part of the 8th army, before transferring to the LRDG). I recently bought a copy of Call of Duty and there were some pretty good skirmish scenarios for North Africa and this prompted me to look into figures.

 

I opted for Artizan Miniatures range of metal figures, purchasing four packs of their DAK to start with. The miniatures were well sculpted and had no flash or cast lines on them. The picture below shows some of them glued onto 2p bases, the bases covered in polyfilla with cork rocks added.

 As ever I added sharp sand which I then painted because it didn't look enough like sand (am I the only gamer that thinks this way?). The figures were then painted with a range of Citadel and Vallejo paints. I deliberately varied the colours uniforms to give them that faded, in theatre look. The pictures below show the figures painted and gloss varnished (awaiting a final matte coat). I used grass tufts for the fist time with these figures and was really happy with the results.

 

I'd be really interested to know what you think.

Subbuteo re-paints

You can imagine my delight, as a child of the 70's, when I saw that Subbuteo had been relaunched. The  new set contains rubber players that remove the old Subbuteo annoyance of players with chunky ankles caused by over  enthusiastic super gluing following a snapped ankle incident.

 

I quickly snapped up a set, with the aim of setting it up at school as some sort of behaviour incentive for my difficult, but football mad, class of boys. Together with some of the lads, I built a Subbuteo 'arena', pictures of which will appear in a later blog.

 

As with classic Subbuteo, you can buy specific teams, however I was really disappointed to see that the Liverpool team's kit was inaccurate! With this in mind, and with apologies to Subbuteo purists, I bought an old 80s plastic Liverpool team with the aim to paint it up in the current kit.

The Picture above shows the whole team pre-painting. The existing paint job on the team was at best faded and at worst, bloody shoddy. The goalie was just a generic keeper that bore no resemblance at all to the Liverpool keepers kit of the day.The picture below shows how worn the figures were.

 

 

The first stage was to prepare the players for painting - this involved filing off mould lines and imperfections, and in the case of the figures that will represent Jonjo Shelvey and Martin Skrtel, the hair line was carefully filed away to leave the skull looking suitably bald.

 The next stage was to paint the skintone. Classic Subbuteo teams were either all white or all black (although they did mix it up in the 1990's). So Glen Johnson and Raheem Sterling were dutifully painted with Citadel Dark Flesh, whilst the rest were treated to Vallejo pale skin washed over with Old Citadel Ogryn flesh wash.

Once dried I painted over the entire kit with Vallejo Red. I painted some of the players in short sleeves and some in either long sleeves, or with 'under armour' shirts on. The result of which can be seen above.

Next came the keeper, having painted the skin, I then used Old Citadel Goblin Green to make Pepe's home kit. Hands were then painted Citadel Skull White, as the Classic Subbuteo keepers were all bare handed.

 

The next step will be to add the details such as badges, sponsors and numbers. Next is the decision to either just repaint the books black, or research the specific colour required by each player in  the current first team.



28mm Napoleonic Prussian Infantry

 At last the summer holidays are here, which means I now have a little bit of time for painting! It's now full steam ahead for my Napoleonic Prussian Infantry.

I opted for a Box of Perry Miniatures hard plastic Prussian Line Infantry (1813 - 1815). The figures are nicely sculpted and have proven simple to assemble. As ever I glued the figures to a 1p piece, however, instead of the usual polyfiller, PVA glue and sharp sand, I used the new Citadel texture paint. Basically it's good old Basetex! I was quite pleased with the results, but it may prove expensive in the long run.

I have painted the figures as the 2nd Silesian Regiment. I have used a mix of old and new Citadel paints, details of which are below:

Boots, Gaiters, ammo bag and Shako cover - Chaos Black
Tunic - Kantor Blue Base with Badam Black Wash
Trousers and Greatcoat roll - Fortress Grey with Badam Black Wash
Collars and Facings - Sunburst Yellow
Webbing and bread bag - Skull white with Badam Black Wash
Musket - Vermin Brown washed in Agrax Earthshade and Boltgun metal
Buttons and sword hilt - Dwarf Bronze
Scabbard - Vermin Brown
Sword Knot - Skull white.

Next on the paint table, more Prussians!

Gripping Beast Viking Heathguards (2)

 You can always tell when it's half term or a school holiday - I get to paint and post! Here are the second batch of Viking Heathguard.

 Next on the paint table Viking archers and then the Napoleonic Prussian Infantry.