The End of An Era

Recent posts have sadly seen a few too many obituaries.This one is slightly different and is not entirely unexpected but marks the end of an era.

Empire Free Company

Bretonnian Men at Arms

Source: Games Workshop (2016)

This weekend the Games Workshop finally retired a large number of box sets as the Age of Sigmar moves forward and the Old World is consigned to memory. Two sets that will be missed are the Empire Free Company Militia set and the Bretonnian Men at Arms set. Even I can tell they're not going to fit into the new setting and so inevitably their time is up.

These sets have for so many years been the go-to henchmen across many games and gaming systems. For me they've been my first choice fantasy humans, not just in Warhammer but in Mordheim and potentially Frostgrave. Their latest use was as part of my Advanced Heroquest Reborn project as, you've guessed it, the henchmen.

I thought about bagging one more set however, with my last post in mind, I decided the let them go. I just about have enough spare parts for this project, but a future ones will have to feature models from elsewhere.

I've been brand loyal for many years but that loyalty is fading somewhat. The new Age of Sigmar models are a mixed bunch, the latest Dwarfs for example I feel are embarrassingly bad, which is quite an achievement given that the old Dwarfs weren't very good in the first place.

I feel, in particularly with the Empire set, that their demise is a bit short sighted. These sets went far beyond being basic foot soldiers in a Warhammer army, and they could be utilized in many different games, be they old Games Workshop games or those made by others.

All this means I'm finally going to start looking elsewhere. The new Frostgrave range looks excellent, and with the option of converting between sets to create henchmen, cultists and even undead.

Source: Northstar Military Figures and Osprey Games (2016)

So next time I'm in need of a few good men, I know where to to look.

Better Than Watching Paint Dry! Tamiya 1:48 Africa Corps - NCOs

I've been trying to fill time between coats of paint on my current aircraft project with some figure painting, better than just waiting for paint to dry!

Recently I've been trying to work out which scale and type of models give me the most enjoyment. Heroic 28mm has obviously been one option; I do have a sizeable collection waiting to be painted. I've also considered 1:72 scale but found at that scale the models lack the character of larger scales. So eventually I found myself painting a couple more of Tamiya's 1:48 scale Africa Corps.

The latest additions are two NCOs, fairly straight forward in terms of uniform to paint.

I find it really enjoyable painting figures at this scale and will certainly do more. It's a shame there are more figures available. Tamiya's figure sets are good, there's just not many of them. Beyond them I'm only really aware of figures to accompany aircraft models (pilots, mechanics etc). If you, my readers, have any other recommendation please let me know in the comments below. It'll be much appreciated!

And Then There Were Two... Or Zwei

There's been a lack of activity for a reason, a good reason, I've been busy building and painting various projects. 

I've also got my hands on a compressor for my airbrush and have been practising with it. After a few false starts it's making a huge difference to what I can achieve with an airbrush and so now I'm having a re-think about what projects I'll be undertaking in the future. For someone who's been so used to brush painting this has opened up a whole new range of potential projects!

In an earlier post I promised that'd I paint more of Tamiya's 1:48 and so now there are two! For now I'll leave you with a picture for this somewhat brief update.

Until the next time where, I hope, there will be something even more "miniature" than I've tried to build before!

A Desert Diversion in 1:48 Scale

Occasionally I like to try my hand at figure painting, usually while waiting for another project to set or dry. Recently I was given an almost complete Tamiya 1:48 Africa Corps set, for free, by a generous eBay seller. I've been thinking that Tamiya's figures at this scale fill a gap in the market and have wanted to try painting them for a while.

So now I had the chance, my first thought, they're a bit smaller than the figures I'm used to. (I always forget to put something in the picture for scale when photographing models, head to foot this figure is about 30mm / 1.2")

My background is that of a figure painter in heroic 28mm and 54mm scales, which I've been painting the best part of 20 years. In this time I've developed a preference for paints from Games Workshop's Citadel range while finding Tamiya paints rather frustrating to use for brush work. So with an infantryman picked out it was time to overcome my Tamiya nemesis.

I started with an undercoat of Tamiya fine grey primer (which is fantastic stuff) and then airbrushed a light coat of Tamiya XF-60 (Dark Yellow) as I wanted a clean base colour to start with as shown above. This was a mistake, I'd picked up the wrong desert colour... So I brushed XF-49 (Khaki) which was meant to be my original base colour before highlighting with XF-59 (Desert Yellow), XF-60 (Dark Yellow) and XF-57 (Buff). Citadel paints were then used for the skin and some of the finer details.

I did wonder if painting the face and eyes at this scale was possible. Originally I decided not to but it was just getting to me, I couldn't leave him with no eyes! My experience at figure painting has taught me the face makes or breaks a model and so eventually I had give him some eyes (and some soul, I guess). I will probably dust him up a bit with some weathering powder later but for now I'm really pleased I managed to paint a figure at this scale. For a first attempt, I think it turned out reasonably well.

Overall a fun diversion, I'm sure this Infantryman will have others joining him in the future.