Almost Done

Well, that was a good night's painting on the Rajputs. The bases need two more drybrushes, then some static grass glued on. Apart from that, about all that's left to do is jewellery and leather straps on the foot, stirrups on the horsemen, then maybe add some more decoration to horse furniture and bowcases. Too dark for pictures now, will post some in the morning.

Rajput WIP

As I mentioned in my previous posts, I am building a Desert Rajput army for use in DBMM, mainly because it will be colourful and let me use the Museum camels I found lurking in the Man Cave. In the meantime, I committed to going to play a DBA competition this weekend, and so finally had to start slapping paint on. Apart from the Elephant, which I had done some preliminary work on, up until last night, these were basically glued to bases, and undercoated.

So last night, first layer of sand on bases, base skin colour, horse colours and metallics. This morning - first washes for the horses, some base colours, and first wash for the bases. I have till Saturday lunchtime..  watch this space...

Rajputs Triumphant

Just back from the club, and the Rajputs triumphed in their first outing...  versus that powerhouse, Graeco-Indian, steered by Dave and Mike.

A few 6-1 in my favour sorted out the elephant pretenders.. 

In the meantime, for Tim, here's a pic of the spear elements -

Butterfly Effect

As usual, I should be painting. I did muster the energy to get some basing done, so I can see what I have to do. And also as usual, I am trying to do too many things at once. It's classic wargamer 'oooh shiney' syndrome. Anyway, here it all is...  WIP

The Desert Rajputs

WotR Scots

BKCII May 1941 British Desert

Condottiere - Venice in Greece

Elephants Galore

So when I started rummaging around in the man-cave, I discovered not only Chariot minis Classical Indian, but also two Essex elephants they sell as Ghaznavid.

I started slapping paint on, and I am reasonably pleased by progress so far.

Obviously a lot of work still to do...

Eclectic? Moi?

So today I chopped down a few trees, I started with the chainsaw, but ending up using a pull-saw as the chainsaw was struggling with Acacias. Those things are real tough!

Afterwards I went to hide in the man-cave, and decided I had better start by tidying up a few things. I slapped some paint on seven elephants, a mix of Chariot 'Classical Indian' and Essex 'Ghaznavid' - which might end up being part of a Desert Rajput army. (In DBMM, 'Hindu Indian')

I discovered about 57 Museum Minis camels with lancers (AC71) in the lead pile the other day, and thought that Desert Rajputs would let me use a decent amount of them, (up to 12 elements in the DBMM list). The Museum camels are lovely, but much too big for the standard basing (30mm deep for 15mm figures

There were also a number of Mirliton 15mm Condotta, principally infantry, Hungarian horsemen, Stradiot, and mounted crossbowmen, that I undercoated and put flesh colours on over 10 years ago, that have never been finished. I originally purchased all the figures I would need to do a Venetian colonial army in Greece. Some of these then got 'semi-finished' to be a DBA army.

Now - I discovered a kilo of 'Eastern Medieval' lead recently in the great evacuation to the man cave, and these guys would fit right in. So the Mirliton got pulled off their painting sticks and stuck onto DBMM sized bases.

Mirliton on the left, Camels centre, elephants right with Houstons in the background

And finally, my Houston's ships - the acrylic gel had finally dried, so I applied a white drybrush to the gel wave-tops... 

Not a bad day's work, although I should probably try and focus on one thing at a time.

Houstons Ships Part 5

After a lengthy hiatus, when I got distracted by the 'Ooh Shiny' new lead thing, I finally returned to my Houston's Ships. I got them based up some time ago with some plain white card I had lurking around, put some ratlines etc. on, and they sat there for ages. Now that Cancon and the Sui saga is finally over, I have been looking at the lead pile, and decided these would take minimal effort to finish, so why not?

First step..  a rough mix of Paynes Grey and Powder Blue. Not too well mixed, so applying a thick layer leaves streaks of the lighter blue. Hopefully you can see the effect in this picture.

Bases painted 'blue'

Next step is a thick 'slap' of thick acrylic gloss medium. It dries clear, but the picture below shows how it looks when first applied, being white in colour. Useful as you can actually see it to apply it, and you can work up bow waves and stern turbulence. In the background are the first two bases to be done, and you can see how it is already starting to dry clear.

Acrylic Gel applied

Once these are quite dry (about 2 days) - a simple drybrush of the wave peaks followed by gloss varnish, and these will look the business, as well as letting me tick off another line in the great lead 'to-do' list..  hurrah!