6mm Hussars - speed paint

Prevarication is my middle name, well not really but if my parents had bothered to give me a middle name (they felt it was surplus to requirements, possibly like myself) prevarication would have been high on the list.

Along with 'Oi you!', 'Don't touch that' and 'what have you done now'.

So rather than actually painting stuff I tend to deflect my attention onto reading how others paint stuff and generally achieve something in their lives.

But every so often I give something a go and one Saturday afternoon in February I decided to see how quickly I could blob paint on a squadron of 6mm Russian hussars. That's 9 figures, all Baccus.


14:50 All set for my dubious attentions

All were stuck on a lolly stick which Amazon sell in batches of a hundred or so at a ridiculous rate which can in no way be sustainable (either as a business model or a rain forest).

Undercoat was just a watered down slap dash of citadel Abbadon Black.

14:55 Undercoat splattering achieved!

Of course this takes a bit of time to dry so to encourage them I switched on the spare fan heater in the office. Don't know if it achieved anything but I felt at least I had done something. The industrious amongst you might have considered painting something else and I did glance wistfully at the 28mm Napoleonic French infantry battalion that has been sitting on the desk waiting to be PVA'ed onto MDF for over two years. But, I must confess, after all this time I find it difficult to establish eye contact with the blighters; its an old romance gone stale.

Drying done, then horses time. Straightforward coat of Mournfang Brown for the lot bar the trumpeter's that got dabbed in Celestial Grey.

15:08 Brown horses... other colours are available but not in my army

In future I'm going to do horses by setting the airbrush on them. This should mean I can get that colour done on an industrial scale, which is just as well as I have an industrial scale backlog.

Things quickened now as I could splat different colours on as others dried. Russian hussar regiments don't have the diversity of colours that adorn some nations. I decided these would be a squadron from the Soumy regiment mostly because they had red breeches and grey everything else and I thought that would break up the uniform bottle green of the rest of the army.

15:15 Grey pelisse, dolman and saddle cloths added

15:19 A dash of red on the trousers

15:25 Hands and faces on

15:28 Swords

15:34 White detailing.

The white braiding doesn't show up well in the photograph partially because of the scale of the figures but mostly because I didn't want to waste my eye sight painting it!

15:36 Sabretache red detail

15:50 Bases and tidy up

The completed squadron

In all it took 55 minutes... sure I can go faster and probably be neater/more detailed.

But that's them ready to hit the basing manufactorium in the garage.

Wait, did I just use the word 'manufactorium'? Games Workshop have a lot to answer for...

Dumfries October 2017 - part 2

Previously on Khaki Drab...

In the first game at the League of Augsburg Dumfries October 2017 weekender, a motley group of Pirates, Natives and Huguenots attacked and destroyed the rum production facility on the Honey River.

But this was a feint and the main attack took place a few months later.

Except it really wasn't really an attack more of a Tarantino-esque saga  of double dealing, betrayal and mild violence that if filmed would no doubt be entitled "Kill Kirke".



The initial set up, Mr Barry Hilton organiser extraordinaire in the background

The protagonists were:
Attackers:

• An expeditionary force of noble Huguenots exiled from their homeland and searching for a new home and a peaceful life(I typed that with a straight font),
• perfidious English supporters of the pretender James (the Huguenot allies);

Huguenots advance!

• pirates with their own agenda which had something to do with picks and shovels;
• natives who were tired of the Bourbon yoke and dreamed of nothing more than their own rum soaked republic in the sun.

Natives defend a mill

Defenders:

• The colonial forces of the treacherous Bourbon king Louis led by a former Huguenot.

Unknown:

• Mysterious British force whose commander had revenge in mind.

The game started and that's where the complexity kicked in. I'll try and summarise though obviously my viewpoint is through Huguenot tainted glasses.

• The Huguenots not trusting Kirk's English forces posted Huguenot officers with their trusted English allies;
• Various accidents then occurred with both English and Huguenot officers falling down cliffs, bathing with crocodiles etc.
• The French and Huguenot's came to an arrangement not to attack each other;

A lot of marching... not a lot of shooting

• After taking a fort from the French the natives joined this entente cordiale;
• Unfortunately, the natives had lost all the forces attacking the fort which the Huguenots then sauntered into and refused to give back;

One fort, fully supplied with excellent views of the sea

• The natives took exception to this and started sniping at the Huguenots;
• Percy Kirke appeared on the field and this galvanised all the other players;

That's a familiar standard

• Despite the best efforts of at least three of the players (my Huguenots were strangely ambivalent) Kirke escapes to betray another day;

Kirke's last stand?

• The other protagonists decide to set up a joint venture with their target Jamaica... but that's another story.

Will Kirke return to fight again?
Will the new Caribbean Republic flourish?
Will the Huguenots actually discharge their muskets or will the new hobby of Peace-gaming catch on?

To be continued (if the organisers choose to do so) at the next League of Augsburg weekend.

Inquisitor Greyfax

This is a model from the Triumvate of the Imperium box set which was released last year as part of the cataclysmic updating of the WH40K universe prior to the release of 8th edition (minor spoiler ahead btw).

As can be seen Ms Greyfax sports the infamous 'boob' (for want of a better adjective) armour which any armourer will tell you is difficult to make and actually degrades protection - not to mention giving opponents a target.

You will also notice that Ms Greyfax sports high heels which I am not convinced are the most pragmatic footwear for squabbling with your modern 40K Chaos demon.

I have heard rumours that GW are going to do away with such anachronisms in a campaign to diversify the range and hence the appeal of their product (though having seen a preview of the Warhammer dark elves - maybe not).

Perhaps Ms Greyfax's attire can be explained away as having been in fashion when she was captured and put in stasis by the Necron Trazyn many centuries ago and what with wars, resurrections and crusades vying for her attention, she just hasn't had time to get down to the shops.

Having typed all that I do rather like the miniature despite my disquiet over the attire and my paint job! This is one of the last miniatures I did before adopting a wet pallete, so we'll see if that improves the quality.