Boromite Overseer

So I settled on a color scheme...

I tried a couple of different schemes. I like the studio version, but decided I wanted to make my Guild unique. Rick Priestly goes out of his way to mention that in the future universe of Antares, gene splicing is a common practice, even for cosmetic purposes (giving you the license to paint your models any way you like). The Boromites in particular use technology to alter their natural appearances to mark themselves as a member of a particular Guild or family.

Here are the paints I used (all Wargames Foundry except where noted)...

Skin - Terracotta (37A-C), wash of GW Carroburg Crimson after A, final highlight of Native American Flesh Light (120C)
Rocky Scales - Granite (31A-C), wash of GW Nuln Oil after A
Eyes - Bright Green (25B and 25C)
Armour - Ochre (4A-C), wash of Casandora Yellow after A
Accents - Bright Green (25A-C) and British Red Coat (68A-C)
Metal - Slate Grey (32A-C) with spot highlights of White (33C)
Pouches - Storm Green (27A-C) and Conker Brown (54A-C)
Black - Black (34A and 34B)

This model was a lot of fun to paint, but it took me longer than usual. I think the main thing was simply a lack of familiarity with the subject. I had to repaint various areas more than once as I figured out what type of gear they might be. Hopefully, that will not be an obstacle going forward. The other thing is the model is full of detail and the details are TINY. I had to resort to smaller brushes than usual. Some of the third stage highlights are pin pricks!

Anyway, I like how this guy turned out and am looking forward to working my way through the rest of the starter army, beginning with the other two models and spotter drone of the Overseer Team...

Shades of Grey

I know my activity here has been very limited. Running the LoA blog has been quite a bit of fun but it's also been fairly time consuming. I am trying to finish Donnybrook, add to the range of Quindia Studios flags (almost have all of the Swedish foot for Poltava ready to go), and still piddling around with other projects.

One of these projects is a collection of adventurers for pulp era games, destined for an H.P. Lovecraft style setting. I'm not exactly sure what I'm going to do with them - I envision a skirmish game with several groups of adventurers (possibly rivals) and 1920's era policemen facing off against cultists, deep ones, and other Things That Should Not Be. My Donnybrook rules will work perfectly well with a few modern additions like vehicles and SMGs and some rules for madness and giant gribbly monsters.

Anyway, more on that at a later time. I decided pulp horror is best in black and white and so I set out to try my hand at a few noir minis...

Professor Kettlewell

Professor Dyson

Mrs Sunderland

Curtis

Toby

I've got lots of these characters painted and I'll post some more in a few days. They have all been painted with various Foundry triads. The models are all from Artizan and Copplestone.

Paints I Can't Do Without

I have been painting everything from fantasy to WW2 models in the last few weeks. Most of my painting is done in my lunch hour and I have a traveling paint kit that I carry to work. I have noticed that regardless of the subject, there are a handful of paints I always have in the kit (all are Foundry):

1. Flesh 5 A-C: Unless I'm painting orcs, this triad is always in my kit. Sometimes I use Terracotta 37A as a base to create extra shading before Flesh A.

2. Boneyard 9 A-C: This is a favorite alternative to white for tunics and breeches. I use this for lots of different leather items, drum heads, blond hair, etc. It's also great for bones, fangs, and claws on fantasy models!

3. Rawhide 11 A-C: I use this triad for boots, belts, hats, etc. There are lots of good earth tones in the Foundry line, but this seems to always be in my kit.

4. Spearshaft 13 A-C: I use this for boots and other leather, hats, hair, muskets, and, yes, spearshafts. I also frequently use it for horses.

5. Winestain 15 C: This jar of paint will last me forever - I use it to paint the bottom lip of all of models. This little touch of color adds a lot of life to the face.

6. Slate Grey 32 A-C: This one of my staple colors for neutrals, used for trousers, hats, pouches, etc. If I want a rough and tumble look for a model on campaign, I use A and B to add a five o'clock shadow to the jaw. I also use Slate Grey C as a base for white...

7. Arctic Grey 33 B: Like black, I rarely use more than one highlight for white areas. Maybe if I were painting a unit in parade dress or Imperial Storm Troopers I'd add a layer of pure white, but I don't normally carry it.

8. Charcoal Black 34 A and B: Unless a model is predominately black, I only use one highlight layer when I paint black.

9. Terracotta 37 A-C: Seems like I use a little bit of red on everything I paint! I tend to use muted tones in general... terracotta rather than red, ochre rather than yellow, etc.

10. Boltgun Metal: I have a full set of Games Workshop paints on hand, but this one is the only one that is a permanent part of my kit.

These are the foundation of everything I paint. Other colors may be dictated by a specific uniform or simply a whim, but I try to maintain a limited palette so I keep this to two or three extra colors when possible.

Rebel Yell

As I've mentioned, I am over Napoleonics for a while. I spent more than a year concentrating on building up my armies without a period shift, which is almost unheard of for me. I'm positive I'll be back to it before long (I have two boxes of Perry Dragoons sitting on my desk), but I wanted to try something completely different.

American Civil War in 40mm. I got a chance to see the great Sash & Saber models at Historicon, but I resisted buying any until Barry Hilton suggested we might put on an ACW for Historicon next year. Now, we haven't even decided for sure to attend, but all it took was the idea (thanks for that). I have piles of books on the ACW, but no figures... until now. I ordered enough models for one regiment of 30 or so. I have only a vague plan of exactly what I want to do so far other than collect a few regiments. I'll go into the details as they develop, but for now I thought I'd share my experiment with gray.

All paints are Foundry except the sparing use of metallics which were GW Shining Gold, primarily for buttons, and GW Bolt Gun Metal for the bayonet, musket bits, belt buckles, etc...). The models were first undercoated with black spray paint. The flesh tones are based with Terracotta 37A, then built up with Flesh 5A-C.

Rebel One
Kepi: Slate 32A-C
Jacket: Slate 32A-C
Trousers: Spearshaft Brown 13A-C
Blanket: Terracotta 37A-C
Haversack: Boneyard 9A-C
Musket: Bay Brown 42A and 42C (only one highlight)
Musket Sling: Spearshaft Brown 13A-C
Canteen: Night Sky 62A-C with Bay Brown 42A+42C strap
All black highlighted with Charcoal Black 34B

(Click the photo for a larger image)

Rebel Two
Kepi: Night Sky 62A-C
Jacket: Granite 31A-C
Trousers: Night Sky 62A-C
Blanket: Boneyard 9A-C
Haversack: Rawhide 11A-C
Musket: Bay Brown 42A and 42C (only one highlight)
Musket Sling: Spearshaft Brown 13A-C
Canteen: Night Sky 62A-C with Spearshaft Brown 13A-C strap
All black highlighted with Charcoal Black 34B

(Click the photo for a larger image)

Rebel Three
Hat: Charcoal Black 34B over undercoat
Jacket: Night Sky 62A-C
Trousers: Slate 32A-C
Backpack: Charcoal Black 34B over undercoat
Haversack: Boneyard 9A-C
Musket: Bay Brown 42A and 42C (only one highlight)
Musket Sling: Spearshaft Brown 13A-C
Canteen: Spearshaft Brown 13A-C with Black strap
All black highlighted with Charcoal Black 34B

(Click the photo for a larger image)

Rebel Four
Hat: Spearshaft Brown 13A-C
Jacket: Stone 57A-C
Trousers: Night Sky 62A-C
Blanket: Boneyard 9A-C
Haversack: Arctic White A+B (only one highlight)
Musket: Bay Brown 42A and 42C (only one highlight)
Musket Sling: Spearshaft Brown 13A-C
Canteen: GW Boltgun Metal with Bay Brown 42A+42C strap
All black highlighted with Charcoal Black 34B

(Click the photo for a larger image)

I don't think there are any 'wrong' choices here. There were four 'official' shades of gray issued from various CSA depots and about a zillion variations based on wear, replacement with local cloth, and captured enemy equipment. Most of the unit will be be painted using one of the schemes above (or a combination thereof), with about one in four sporting one of the alternate colors above. The result will be a very dynamic unit with lots of variety, but it should still look like a unit rather than rabble. Many Confederate units were far more uniform than often depicted on wargame tables.

More on this project as it unfolds. Hopefully this was helpful (I tried to search the net for ACW units painted with Foundry paints to get a head start and found NOTHING). This should serve as an example the type of thing I'm going to try to do in the future so the site is more than just pretty pictures!