Some 60th Rifles painted

These days I'm starting to work on a couple of 2nd Light Bataillon KGL figures for a Waterloo / La Haye Sainte project some THS fellows and me are preparing. Therefor I bought a bucket full of Alan and Michael Perry's excellent figures but I felt in need of some practice with green uniforms after so many redcoats. So I dug out the four riflemen which were part of their plastic British infantry set and used them as test subjects. But since each and every collector of British Napoleonic miniatures seems to have a set of 95th Rifles I decided to depict their sister unit the 60th Regiment of Foot. Although these men didn't fight in the Waterloo campaign the earned honour some years ago during Wellington's Peninsular Campaign and during the War of 1812. Additionally they're somehow a bit special and so I liked the idea to start a unit of them with those plastic figures.

With no more ado here is the result:

My first four riflemen on a reconnaissance mission.

This photo was kind of an experiment with my SLR and the Gimp image editing software. Next time I've got to use a tripod for the camera to get a picture with more depth of focus but actually it didn't turn out too bad.

Anyway back to the riflemen. As usual I used Vallejo Model Colours for painting them but this time I primed the figures black instead of white. The Vallejo colours are excellently pigmented and look really good to me on the dark primer. At least for this kind of uniform I'll stay with black. I'm a bit double-minded for redcoats...

Here are two close-up views of the boys which turned out a bit sharper:

Those men shall represent some guys of the 5th battalion. To be honest for no special reason except that I remembered it from Bernhard Cromwell's Sharpe novels. Some day I'll complete this unit with "Sweet William" Frederickson... However once again C. E. Franklin's uniform guide was my primary source for the uniform details.

Because I read that during the Peninsular Campaign different trousers and overalls were worn I painted two of the with the usual rifle green trousers, one with the later grey one and one with a pair of brown overalls. I wanted to have the a bit look campaign hardened and not completely equipped in mind condition.

I hope you like those figures. Actually I do so I'll proceed with some KGL men with similar colours but some other details of course.

By the way this evening I read Curd's appeal to his 4th yearly painting contest. Unfortunately all places are assigned already so again I'll be unable to join this illustrious round of painters. It's dangerous to be unobservant for a weekend... Whatever I wish all entrants good luck, good results and a lot of fun!

Keeping Quickshade fresh - Start of a long-term project

A lot of people appreciate the advantages of Armypainter Quickshade and so do I. It's an excellent shading fluid, protects the miniatures as kind of varnish and makes it much easier and faster to paint numerous miniatures in a reasonable ammount of time.

Nevertheless Quickshade has its downsides. It's not water based so you need a certain solvent to clean the brushes, it smells unpleasently and probably anhealthy but worst of all it tends to clod after a rather short time. I've read a lot of repords from people whose Quickshade clodded although they tried seal the can as good as possible. I presume it's just impossible to seal it hermetically after it was opened once and some paint was spilled over its rim. Unfortunately all my attempts to re-thin Quickshade were in vain. White Spirit didn't work although it was mentioned in the directions for use...

Before and after...

Anyway a friend of mine gave me the hint to decant the Quickshade into small plastic bottles. Those are cheap, rather easy to acquire and should be more or less air-tight. So I bought a package of small liqueur bottles, emptyed them into a larger bottle and removed the labels. Finally I bought a new tin and was well prepared for the last step. Yesterday evening I took a large syringe anddecanted the whole content of the freshly opened Quickshade can into eleven tiny bottles.

It woked better than I feared. The tin contained fresh and fluid paint. The pigments were easy to stir and the syringe took the Quickshade very well. Nothing was spilled over my workspace, no blothes on my clothes or hands. Actually a bit too perfect...

Anway I hope Holger will be right after all and the portions will stay fresh until I need them. From time to time I'll give you a short updaten here when I open a new bottle.

50K raffle winners drawn !

Finally a week after the raffle was closed I'm happy to announce that the draw was performed yesterday. All participants got their entries and were put into standardised lottery buckets:

In a sharply monitored drawing process two winners were determined:

The first raffle...

... Italeri 1/72 M4 Sherman and Airfix 1/76 Tank Transporter...

... goes to...

* DRUM ROLL *

Sean

from Sean's Wargames Corner

The second raffle...

... Italeri 1/72 Horsa Glider...

... goes to...

* DRUM ROLL *

Peter

from Peter's Cave

 

 Congratulations chaps !

And thank to everyone for sharing the 50K step with me !

Sean and Peter please contact me concerning the shipping details. You could use Google+ or the new contact form just below my profile (right hand side).

Monty on Tour: Crisis 2013 survived ! - Part 2

After I presented our own game in part one of my Crisis report (here) I want to show you some of the excellent table other groups from around Europe presented at Crisis. Unfortunately only a small part of the pictures I took turned out to be of satisfying quality. I decided to take my wife's handy digital camera with me instead of my own SLR which turned to be a bit light-headed. Somehow the camera didn't master the lighting conditions and didn't focus very well. Unfortunately I didn't realise this until the very end...

So I strongly recommend that you visit some of the other blogs where Crisis 2013 is covered. Those fellows present some far better pics then mine and do justice to the extraordinary work of the other groups:

• Peter's Cave
• DHC Wargames
• Sofie's Paint Blog
• Making miniatures with Mario
• GW Hobby Forum
• Tomsche
• Pijlie
• Mini Wargamers Blog
• Alde Garde
• Modus Reg Magni Momenti
• Roundwoods World
• Crush the Kaiser
• The Dice Warrior: Parts 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5
• Rear Guard Action
• Painting Armies in Tin (and Plastic)
• Little Lions: Parts 1 and 2

Just to name some of them...

Anyway let me present my few shots: 

A large gaming board which represented Operation Market Garden in 15mm. I think they used the Flames of War ruleset:

I'm not sure which conflict this table represented but I like the look of it very much:

Stronghold Terrain presented their awesome terrain pieces and an excellent gaming space for Saga. Mirco and Elmar are real masters of their trade:

In the rearmost part of the hangar a couple of guys presented an unique Bloodbowl board. Unfortunately my detail shots are too blurry to present them but maybe you get an idea how much work the put in the minutest details:

The battle of Culloden in small scale. I think it was 15mm. Anyway it was a large table with excellent miniatures. You really got a feeling of the battle which is difficult to create with larger miniatures because of the large space such a table would need:

This table looked like a kind of pulp scenario. I don't know which it was exactly but the desert board with the plane above was very well made:

One centerpiece of the entrance hall was of course Joe Dever's and Ron Ringrose's Quatre Bras table. It was part of the promotion they made for their Megawargames book and wasn't made for gaming actually. But the mere number of figures was very pleasing. The table had a lot of very nice vignettes and diorama pieces like a field bakery, some British squares, artillery limbers and such stuff and invited to investigate it foot by foot:

Napoleon turns away from the battlefield. Maybe he foreboding what he'll face two days later...

Just besides our very own table the SELWG presented their new Valhalla ruleset for skirmish games in the Dark Ages. Unfortunately I didn't have the time for a friendly game but the table looked excellent:

Just around the corner a battle in a galaxy far far away took place. A large squadron of TIE-fighters battled a small rebel force which was lead by an enormous Corellian corvette. I think it was a repainted model from Hasbro / Kenner. Anyway it looked excellent surrounded by all those tiny fighters:

Last but not least a very nice ACW table. I think from the T. S. A. themselves but I'm not completely sure. Anyway they did an good job with a terrain carpet, flock and some excellent miniatures and scenic pieces:

Well that's it. To my regrets I cannot show you more pictures of Crisis 2013. If you're interested in more eye candy then visit some of the blogs I mentioned earlier.

In the end here's a special picture for the blogger who asked for it and for those who didn't dare to:

Monty on Tour: Crisis 2013 survived ! - Part 2

After I presented our own game in part one of my Crisis report (here) I want to show you some of the excellent table other groups from around Europe presented at Crisis. Unfortunately only a small part of the pictures I took turned out to be of satisfying quality. I decided to take my wife's handy digital camera with me instead of my own SLR which turned to be a bit light-headed. Somehow the camera didn't master the lighting conditions and didn't focus very well. Unfortunately I didn't realise this until the very end...

So I strongly recommend that you visit some of the other blogs where Crisis 2013 is covered. Those fellows present some far better pics then mine and do justice to the extraordinary work of the other groups:

• Peter's Cave
• DHC Wargames
• Sofie's Paint Blog
• Making miniatures with Mario
• GW Hobby Forum
• Tomsche
• Pijlie
• Mini Wargamers Blog
• Alde Garde
• Modus Reg Magni Momenti
• Roundwoods World
• Crush the Kaiser
• The Dice Warrior: Parts 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5
• Rear Guard Action
• Painting Armies in Tin (and Plastic)
• Little Lions: Parts 1 and 2

Just to name some of them...

Anyway let me present my few shots: 

A large gaming board which represented Operation Market Garden in 15mm. I think they used the Flames of War ruleset:

I'm not sure which conflict this table represented but I like the look of it very much:

Stronghold Terrain presented their awesome terrain pieces and an excellent gaming space for Saga. Mirco and Elmar are real masters of their trade:

In the rearmost part of the hangar a couple of guys presented an unique Bloodbowl board. Unfortunately my detail shots are too blurry to present them but maybe you get an idea how much work the put in the minutest details:

The battle of Culloden in small scale. I think it was 15mm. Anyway it was a large table with excellent miniatures. You really got a feeling of the battle which is difficult to create with larger miniatures because of the large space such a table would need:

This table looked like a kind of pulp scenario. I don't know which it was exactly but the desert board with the plane above was very well made:

One centerpiece of the entrance hall was of course Joe Dever's and Ron Ringrose's Quatre Bras table. It was part of the promotion they made for their Megawargames book and wasn't made for gaming actually. But the mere number of figures was very pleasing. The table had a lot of very nice vignettes and diorama pieces like a field bakery, some British squares, artillery limbers and such stuff and invited to investigate it foot by foot:

Napoleon turns away from the battlefield. Maybe he foreboding what he'll face two days later...

Just besides our very own table the SELWG presented their new Valhalla ruleset for skirmish games in the Dark Ages. Unfortunately I didn't have the time for a friendly game but the table looked excellent:

Just around the corner a battle in a galaxy far far away took place. A large squadron of TIE-fighters battled a small rebel force which was lead by an enormous Corellian corvette. I think it was a repainted model from Hasbro / Kenner. Anyway it looked excellent surrounded by all those tiny fighters:

Last but not least a very nice ACW table. I think from the T. S. A. themselves but I'm not completely sure. Anyway they did an good job with a terrain carpet, flock and some excellent miniatures and scenic pieces:

Well that's it. To my regrets I cannot show you more pictures of Crisis 2013. If you're interested in more eye candy then visit some of the blogs I mentioned earlier.

In the end here's a special picture for the blogger who asked for it and for those who didn't dare to: