Summer Break Painting Marathon Begins! Part 3-All the King's Men 54mm Woodland Indians!

As per the title of the post, I've finished a box set of All The King's Men Northern Woodland Indians. They're soft plastic so some folks will give me "the raspberry" about painting plastic. The box set has 18 figures in it. I don't know who John Jenkins is; but, apparently the original figures were his sculpts.  For toy soldier(y) miniatures and war gaming miniatures, they'll work just fine. They're priced right that's for sure. I like to hear the whining about how expensive 54mm war gaming is.  The cost of "modern" miniatures in 28mm versus the cost of All the King's Men figures is comparable. Painting plastic figures just moves the cost bar down. I paint them using Rustoleum Flat White enamel primer.  I do not black prime. I won't argue the merits of either or both. That's a waste of time that can be spent painting figures.  I block paint the miniatures with basic colors. I use Howard Hues' Suntan for base coating of the flesh.  After drying, I brush on a coat of Minwax Golden Walnut. I like it better than a dark glop of "dip". It's a softer shade that leaves the figures more natural through my painter's eye. I then spray them with a Dullcote coat and paint the highlights like I would with any other figure.  I think I messed this unit up by trying to highlight the musculature by highlighting with a mix of Suntan and a bit of white.  I won't do this again. I will leave the flesh alone.  It really did not need any highlights.  Here's a gallery. I've got several more box sets and can recommend them highly to the period war gamer.

Unit shot on the game table

Unit shot #2

Close up.  I like these miniatures!

Magua and his war party!

Magua Shot #2

Lots of variation. Great value for the price!

Summer Break Painting Marathon-Part 2-Pike and Shotte Casualty Markers and SHEEP!

I finished out the casualty markers for Black Powder Pike and Shotte. I stole the idea from Brian Smaller's post on The Miniatures Page.  I used Warlord Pike and Shotte casualty figures with a couple of Old Glory I had already painted.  This is a straight up process, the manufacturer is easy to work with. If you need to keep up with numbers of casualties, this is the way to do it!  Highly recommended.

Warlord makes some pretty cool "eye candy" items for folks whose collections are pretty complete.  I ordered and received a shepherd diorama and a surgeon diorama.  Here's the shepherd and the sheep; keep your troops under tight discipline, no buggering the sheep or the shepherd!  That is all!

Sheep and Mr. Wilson

Warlord dead guy laying down (duh)

Warlord guy shot in the...uh...gut.

Another laying down dead guy from Warlord

Another and last picture of yet another guy shot in the uh...gut. Seems that
being gut shot is a Warlord thang....LOLZ

Summer Break Painting Marathon Begins! Part 1-VIII Corps

I've been working on several projects during the school year. Been slogging through painting Junot's VIII Corps for Napoleon at War. This is has been a rather frustrating project as I've had to size-match these weird sized Man at War figures with other manufacturers.

I've had an VIII Corps for years in both 25mm (real 25 before it became 28/30mm) and in 15mm. It was the only Corps the guys running a campaign when I was an eager newbie could remember no one would paint. Everyone paints "The Guard" or generic "French".  What war gamers tend to forget is that Napoleon just didn't take a load of wine swilling Frenchmen to Russia, or Spain when he went on his Grand Tour.  The Corsican Brother made sure the German princes he supported and maintained plus his immediate familial 'kings' sent an allotted and REQUIRED number of troops for Napoleon's soirees in Europe and Russia.

I've used Nafziger's OB as a foundation source. Please feel free to flame on on using it. I won't care. The Corps is almost done. Here's what I've got left to paint to finish the Corps: 2 Chevaux Leger Lancer regiments (using New Line Miniatures), Garde Grenadier Battalion (New Line Miniatures), Garde Jagers (New Line Miniatures), Voltigeurs of the Garde Battalion plus a box set of Man at War French infantry to paint up as Westfalian Line Infantry.  I'm adding a French Heavy Cavalry Brigade because I can and an additional Light Cavalry Brigade because the figures have languished way too long in the "Steve paint this stuff" drawer in my painting room.   I decided to use New Line 20mm Napoleonics as a relatively similar (nice fit) fit for the huge Men at War figures.   I'm alternating painting these guys with 28mm ECW for Black Powder Pike and Shotte, 54mm AWI and Napoleonics from All the King's Men.  Anyway, here's the work in progress:

ADC Painted as an officer of King Jerome's Hussars (the Crabs)

Foot Artillery Batteries-Still need another...

Four Feet of Ham Eaters! Work in Progress!

Horse Artillery and Westfalian 1st and 2nd Hussars
(artillery are Men at War, cavalry are New Line Miniatures)

Another picture of the Horse Artillery. They were fun to paint (sorta')

Light Battalions for each brigade of VIII Corps (New Line Miniatures) 

Ham Eater Line Infantry (Man at War)

More Hussar pics..geez I like them already....

Close up of New Line French Light Infantry
Painted as Westfalian Line Light Infantry

Four Feet of Westfalian Ham Eaters!

Foot Artillery deployed (Man at War miniatures)

Foot Arty Again

Westfalian Brain Trust (oxymoron?)
Men at War miniatures from box set

Line Light Infantry closer up
(New Line Miniatures)