Perry Mounted British Officer - AWI

This is the figure that accompanied the multi-box deal they had for their plastic British Infantry. I decided to paint him as a General that could slide into any number of roles on the wargaming table. There was an absence of button hole lace and after much trepidation I decided to take the risk and paint some in place. I'm not real happy with the result, but they'll pass on the game table. It had also been a long time since I painted a pure black horse and since I was already going to risk the lace I thought why not risk the black horse. I've got some work to do in the future when it comes to black horses, but this one will likewise pass on the game table.

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Horse Color Charts

I'm sure most, if not all, of you have your favorite references for painting different horse colors. I've personally always enjoyed perusing the pages of an old horse encyclopedia for ideas. Today however, I did a search looking for anything new or different when I came across these charts. You may have already come across them yourself, but on the chance somebody is interested I thought I'd post them.
They were authored by this fellow.

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Pinkertons

I picked up a couple packages of Artizan's Pinkertons from Brigade Games last month as they looked both fun to paint and they looked ideal for some much needed shading/highlighting practice via their overcoats. They also allowed me some experimentation with colors for said overcoats. Not to mention one of the hats was painted using the Foundry Middle Eastern Flesh triad.

• 1 & 4 - Both of these were painted using the Andrea Color black set. A full 6 shades, happy with the result for the most part, but could have probably cut out a step or two and had similar results...especially when working toward a wargaming standard paintjob.
• 2 - This one was painted using the Andrea Color white set while leaving out the final (whitest) color highlight.
• 3 - This is where things get a little...different. I started with GW Steel Legion Drab and then washed with Devlan Mud. The first highlight was a mix of GW Steel Legion and Tallarn Sand. Another highlight was a mix of GW Tallarn Sand and Vallejo Model Color Khaki. with the final highlights being a very thinned VMC khaki
• 5 - Here I begin with a base of Americana craft paint color "Fawn" and then applied a thinned wash of Army Painter Soft Tone Ink. I painted up the highlights beginning again with Fawn then working with a mix of Fawn and Reaper Stained Ivory, I worked the mixed from 3:1 to 1:1 to 1:3 for the remaining highlights.
• 6 - GW's Baneblade Brown laid the base for this final attempt. I also used a wash of Army Painter Soft Tone Ink on this one. The first highlights where made from mixing GW Baneblade Brown and Foundry Rawhide 11B. The final highlights were of Baneblade and Foundry Rawhide 11B and 11C.

When basing them I didn't want to go the usual dusty Tombstone like setting fitting for anything from the Southern Plains, Southwest or Northern Badlands areas. I wanted to go a more muddy route for all those mountain or Black Hills mining towns. The bases themselves for GF9 magnetic. I'm not sure if I like these as much as Litko as there is a lot of clean up and there is still is a distinctive seam on the side. The figures themselves were very nice to work with and I hope that my attempts didn't make a sow's ear out of a silk purse...

    

Not sure when I will be gaming the old west so I'm not sure if I'll keep these or put them up for sale in hopes of recouping enough to buy a pack of gladiators or maybe ww1 U.S. Marines.

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Hessian Jagers

These figures, along with Rall's Grenadiers, were started a long time ago, but have been sitting idle for some time. Making a concentrated effort to clear stuff from my painting desk I finished these Jagers today. Borrowing the basic palettes from those done on Tarleton's Quarter, I gave these a basic paint job. After such a long lay off I hope to improve quickly as I have many more AWI figures to complete along with a number of figures from other periods in which I'm dabbling.

As seen with these figures, I'm basing my skirmishers on individual 25mm x 25mm bases by Litko. Starting with .8mm plywood bases I then back them with the same size heavy duty magnetic pieces, also by Litko. I think the resulting thickness is sufficient without being obnoxious. Basing my skirmish infantry individually gives me the flexibility to play a number of skirmish games yet easily conform to the basing standards of British Grenadier. The magnetic bottoms are nice for storage and transport.

14 Perry Miniatures, Barn by Architects of War

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The Saxon Grant

When my wife and I play SAGA, we tend to make it a light hearted affair. We rarely put together WAAC forces without warning and tend to place poor dicing squarely on the shoulders of the Warlord on the table at any given time. The Saxons, as my wife's SAGA faction of choice, have gone through many leadership changes. Somewhat reminiscent of the Army of the Potomac's leadership during the early years of the ACW. Thankfully, I'm unable to visualize my wife as Lincoln... That being said, my desire was to paint her McClellan equivalent first so as to perhaps entice that figure on the table more often and thereby upping my win total. This was not to be and I found myself painting first her Grant. The interesting twist, this is my first SAGA figure completed, not to mention the first after some time away from the brush, and it is wanting in style and refinement...her McClellan will hopefully be much better dressed. It'll be interesting to see who wins my wife's favor, the impending better dressed Warlords or the victory laden Grant.

      
The figure is from the Gripping Beast Saxon Thegns box set. Decal by LBMS. The basing is minimal as I have yet to decide just how busy I want my SAGA bases to be.  
Photos are a bit off as my camera is down and I'm using the IPad to take pictures.

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Base-ix Rack

Most of the time when Nicole approaches my painting area she mentions what she recognizes as a disheveled environment, to use her kindest parlance.  My usual defence of organized chaos and other weak objections have begun to hold less water as the time spent searching for particular paints has increased.  In the past, when I had looked at paint rack and organizers it was difficult to know the good from the not so good; for every positive comment there seemed to be a matching negative.  Not to mention my attempts at DIY usually end badly.  At the end of the day, I figured the money I'd spend on organizing could be better spent on miniatures, terrain, etc.

To my surprise, one of my father's day gifts this year was the "Rack Pack" with my choice of a couple extras from Back 2 Base-ix.  My wife had noticed this as one of the solutions I'd been eyeballing and with my procrastination swept aside the deed was done and the item ordered.

When considering organizers in the past I had concerns ranging from price and construction to assembly and function.  As long as I was given one, I figured I'd write up my impressions of how the "Rack Pack" fits the role and give a completely unscientific and personal rating from 1 to 10..

Price: 8/10
At first glance I thought $175 from Australia was a little steep, but considering that they offer free shipping to many countries the sticker shock went down.  Important to note is that you can add in a few extras at their normal cost and still get them shipped free.  Each section that goes into the system can be customized for paint size and some have other options such as a front tray.  Despite it being reasonable at $290 with a couple extras, I'm happy it was a gift as I probably would have bought more figures.

Shipping: 10/10
This experience ranks easily in the top ten for international orders I've placed.  Free shipping with tracking from DHL was great.  It was only 6 days from Australia to Minneapolis and an additional day to find me down here in the sticks.


Packaging: 10/10
Well protected and packaged all around with each component individually wrapped and protected in bubble wrap.  Being that I ordered the system in acrylic rather than MDF, each sheet of acrylic is also protected by an easy peel adhesive covering to further protect it from being scratched.


Assembly: 8/10
The first thing I noticed was the absence of printed instructions, but the instructional videos were available online.  This may be a problem for some, but I found it a nice format.  The videos were simple and void of any annoying voiceovers. 


One of the things to note about assembly was that the bolts are small, so having a small screwdriver and agile hands are a plus.  Another observation is about the magnets.  Make sure you watch the video concerning them so you can avoid any headaches later.  In the end, assembling the Rack Pack was fairly smooth.  The only problems came from my own error, often from watching Netflix while putting it together.

Overall I could easily rate this product a 9 on a scale of 10.  I already plan to order their Wall Climber product for use over by the airbrush. 

The Rack Pack will easily unclutter and help my painting desk, however with all things, its up to the user.  If I don't use it properly and get lazy, leaving paints about, then it was obviously a waste...and I don't want to know what colorful comment my wife might have when next she sees the "organized chaos"..

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MirBach Regiment

It has been awhile since I've been able to post the completion of another regiment, but life has been keeping me busy. As a direct result of this, my painting has probably suffered a bit as I again try and find my style.

I used all my previous palettes except I changed the flesh by using more panzer aces flesh tones in the mix. 

I have Rall's regiment about halfway done and on the way as well as a number of skirmish infantry.

 

24 Perry Figures

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