Could you stick to the plan, please ?

Well, the answer is "No" I'm afraid.

Instead of painting dozens of Orcs and Goblins, I have been wandering here and there on the net, and I had another look at Paul's ACW regiments. That's all his fault! First I wanted to buy a confederate infantry set, because there was a photographer and his ancient camera inside. And the more I looked at the resting soldiers, the more I wanted to paint some. I also remembered that I had some old sets by Airfix, Revell, ESCI and Italeri somewhere, I looked for them, found several foot soldiers, and began to represent several regiments, North and South.

So today, this October post isn't an Orctober post. For those of you not interested in Fantasy, it's probably a welcome break :)

Anyway, these are the first figures on this blog related to the American Civil War.

As for the Germanic warriors, I think that these figures from several manufacturers and made in different decades fit well together.

Hope you like them :)

Edit 4/10/2019: A zoom on an Airfix figure, a Union soldier painted grey, with a bayonet added on his rifle.

 

First day of Orctober - the Horde

Just one picture for the first day of Orctober.

Don't they look fierce ?

Wild Orc - test shot

I keep on preparing Orctober. After the Dark Alliance sets, I wanted to try to paint the Caesar figures.
Their style are very different from one another: the Dark Alliances ones are much smaller than the Caesar, which are sculpted in the spirit of the Games Workshop green horde.

At first, I wondered whether I would paint these ones in green, so that I would get two different hordes, from two different orc people, but I eventually decided to stick to the initial color scheme, and use other items to represent different people: the clothes of course, and also, why not... warpaints.

Here you are the first of my Wild Orcs, as a test shot.

A close-up to have a look at the warpaints. White for the skull and some stylized bones, with red lines and hands for blood (of course).

And last, a picture of the Wild Orc as a bodyguard for the orc queen.

What do you think ? Is the color scheme convincing ? And the warpaints ?
Thank you in advance for your wise comments, my fellow painters :)

Last days of september...

... preparing Orctober :)

From times to times, I keep on painting Orcs and Goblins for my Orc army. Remember the color scheme I chose ? A yellow skin, as you can see here or there, not the usual green we see everywhere, even on this very blog !

So I've just added a few Orcs from Dark Alliance set 3, the best Orcs by this producer by far.

As usual, a few individual pictures. First of all, the queen of Orcs, ruler of the great hord I want to paint this Orctober.

The general of the army, at least the foot warriors (I'm thinking of a conversion of this guy on a small dragon). I must say that I didn't like this mini because of his shield that I found ridiculous, but once painted it is ok to me.

Two warriors as guards, or maybe vanguard, since they're lightly equipped.

And a closer view of these fierce warriors. Can't wait for next month!

So, who's in for painting hordes for Orctober ?

The Mummy returns

An update on this blog, at last!

I must explain that I wasn't interested in figures any longer. I have been away from the community for almost 9 months, which has given me a lot of time for other hobbies, such as collecting Japanese woodblock prints, or playing music in a small band.

Since I was away, I didn't even visit the blogs of my fellow figure painters - I hope you don't hold it against me too much. Well, it seems that a break was necessary.

A few days ago, I had a look at Benno's, and I discovered that Dark Alliance was about to release a set of Mummies. Mummies ? That was completely unexpected (at least to me)... but absolutely necessary for a painter whose nickname's Philotep :)

So I left a very small comment at Benno's, ordered this set as soon as I could, received the package a few days later, opened the box with excitement (a feeling long gone), and begun to paint the first minis this afternoon.

The first mummy is finished, I have taken a few pictures so that I can show you. Here you are:

Well, not my best, but I haven't touched a paintbrush for a long time. And I had difficulties removing the mold lines - something I have never been good at, but it is obvious that I must change my blade.

Some other mummies are on their way. I will take time to finish them properly, take better pictures, and write a small review about this set.

Hope you like this one anyway :)

A few more Goblins

In the previous post introducing a Goblin drummer as the musician of the month, I wrote that I was also painting other Goblins from the same set. I could spend some time today to finish 3 of them, so that I could take pictures and show them as reinforcement for the lonely drummer.

Here they are:

To tell the truth, I was not very happy with the drummer. Remember, I wanted to paint a very pale skin for this underground dweller, but there was a lack of contrast in the result - the skin looked the same everywhere - too plain, too clean.

So for the next Goblins, I decided to add a layer of watery white, with only a little bit of red - and I painted that layer on the drummer too. I also used yellow and blue washes in some places on the skin to simulate skin disorders. And last but not least, I painted some dirt on their legs, arms and bellies.

Some close-ups to see the result:

I think that this one might represent a halfling, with another color scheme

These minis were an excuse to paint some rusty weapons - once again, I wanted to go a bit further than usual, and added some orange highlights to the rusty parts.

Maybe you would be interested in a size comparison with other minis ?

First picture: Goblins and Orcs, same manufacturer (Dark Alliance):

They are approximately the same size - the Goblins look much uglier, is it the figures or the painting? :D

Second picture: Goblins from two different manufacturers (Dark Alliance and Caesar):

The Caesar are much smaller. In my eye, they really look like Imps rather than Goblins. And the color scheme I chose in not that interesting, I should find another.

As a conclusion, I would like to list what I've learnt with these minis:
- a very pale skin with a lot of white is possible, but you need contrast and splatters of color in some places - it is a bit boring without
- the rust can be very orange
- I like monsters

That's all folks!

Musician of the month: Goblin drummer

Hi everyone! For the first post of 2019, since we're are already late in the month, I must carefully choose my priority, so let me introduce you the musician of the month: a Goblin drummer.

This guy comes from one of the last sets by Dark Alliance, Goblins set 2, that I bought 2 days ago.

I've chosen a color scheme that is meant to recall the Goblins from Goblin-town as we can see them in "the Hobbit" first opus. These creatures live in the depths of the Misty mountains, so we can imagine that their skin is very pale - I never used so much white to paint a skin.

Some more pics:

Oh, I've just realized that I chose the same colors as Paul (from Paul's Bods) for the drum! It must be the only common colors :-)

Well, I hope I find time to finish the others soon.

My plans for 2019 are still vague, but this is a first wishlist:

- finish my Late Crusader army: I didn't take pictures recently, but I only need to paint 2 minis (1 foot, 1 horseman) to finish this army according to DBA (with some personal adaptation), so I should write a post about them rather soon

- paint some ACW figures: YES, something very unusal on this blog, but I see so many interesting pictures everywhere... 6 old references are already painted

- paint a lizardmen troop, including conversions to get some cavalry... I mean, lizardry :)

- add some Mayas to my 3 men Maya warband (a bit short)

- paint a second Frost Giant (work in progress!!)

And I don't say anything about 28mm figures, I have at least fantasy 4 armies for Kings of War to paint.

I wish you a year full of minis, and of many other good things too !!