A Very New Manufacturer?

Just browsing the forums, and I discovered Reiver Castings' massive range of VBCW stuff, which can be seen here.

In sum, they do A LOT of stuff, in packs of 10 infantry, 5 command and 4, or 3 if command, mounted. I intend to get some of their Black & Tans to fill out the Skye Battalion unit I started so long ago.

More Old New Figures

Without further ado...



Anarchist urban guerilla from my Police Action! project.


Metropolitan Police Inspector, Police Action!



Markov Regiment, Volunteer Army - officer and rifleman



Kornilov Regiment, Volunteer Army - officer and rifleman

The Markov and Kornilov men are now in Al Front's possession, as a thank you for the gun-running he did for the aborted attempt at Evesham.

We'll Keep The Red Flag Flying Heeere!

I took a short lunch today on the grounds of work, but managed to get two CPGB chaps from the Shock Group done. I rather like them - leather jackets, SMGs (a Bergmann and a Beretta) and a general air of proletarian vigour. I suspect that, in game(s), the Shock Group will be quite potent if it gets close up - the combination of SMGs and hand grenades is quite powerful.

I also basecoated two Dire Avengers and blocked in the armour for the Farseer. A good base to work from next week.

Next week I aim to paint the Dire Avengers, Farseer, and a chunk of the CPGB chaps.

To keep you entertained, here are some more gems from my collection:


A 2nd Edition metal Stormtrooper for my 2nd/4th Edition Imperial Guard Army. His shoulder patch indicates that he is from 1st Squad, Yellow Platoon, Blue Company, White Battalion.


A better set of views of the Sgt for 1st Tactical Squad, 2nd Company, Ultramarines Chapter Strike Force Sixtus. He is from the Battle for Macragge set, and replaces my very first ever Space Marine Sgt. If I can find that model I'll put a set of comparison pictures up to show what a difference a decade of painting makes!

Olley Painting Points:

This Week: 11
2010 Total: 50
2009 Total: 58
Grand Total: 108

London's Burning, Liverpool Is Red

Yesterday when I got home from work, I found a package waiting for me from my ever-vigilant arms dealer, Al Front. Inside were 8 20mm IT Figures RCW cavalry, 2 lonely Red Guards in Budenovkas, and a Red Guard Maxim team running with their MG...

...and a host of Anglian (now Empress) Miniatures Republican Militia and International Brigade troops for my Liverpudlian VBCW Assault Column. I've ended up with enough figures to complete one group of 10 (Officer, NCO, LMG team, standard, 5 riflemen), start the 'Shock' group (4 figures with SMGs) and another rifle platoon (standard, 3 riflemen). A 'few' purchases, probably at Salute!, of Musketeer Miniatures' Workers' Militia and Workers' Militia Command, plus PLP 111 Atwood, PLP113 Higgins, PLP128 Cpl Gordon, PLP129 Tommy 'Gun' Atkins from Artizan Designs, and the Empress Miniatures' International Brigade Command will do to give me a small command group plus 30 infantry.

Then 'all' I need are an MG team and a bomb-thrower type contraption in lieu of a mortar. They might be supplied by Moscow and the COMINTERN but that doesn't mean they've got all the gucci kit!

Anyway, foaming for yet another new project aside, today I cracked on with my wife's Biel-Tan Eldar, getting a Dire Avenger Exarch to a state where I can probably finish him in my afternoon break. I'm hopeful that I should be able to crank out the actual Dire Avengers fairly fast, maybe two or more in an hour if I 'assembly line' them. The key, I've found, is to keep the scheme simple, use limited colours and few highlights (and where possible don't mix colours), and always remember that it's for playing with, not for show.

Oh yes, and I painted up an Anarchist guerilla/terrorist with pistol. The propaganda of the deed, comrades, is alive and well in 1938 London. His allegiance is hidden, almost, with a black-and-red neckerchief below his shirt and suit. Perhaps he's a Painter, or perhaps he's just another Angel Alley Anarchist... or maybe he's both, or an agent provocateur, or all three, or none of them!

And, finally, some more pictures from my collection:


A Games Workshop Imperial Army Sergeant - when I got this model he was missing his right arm, so I gave him a new one from a plastic Sentinel pilot, with a metal stubgun from a Necromunda Escher Juve. I like this 'colour test' figure, and will be painting all my Mercian Yeomanry (AKA Syrtis 72nd) in this way.



Two views of the same scene - an Inquisitor of the Ordo Hereticus approaches a PDF roadblock on Rigel, together with three Stormtrooper bodyguards and an assassin. Violence is likely - but my money's on the PDF this time, unless that 40mm GL can take out the APC with its tribarrel cannon...!

ADDENDUM: Figures in the above by Ground Zero Games (Hammer's Slammers range plus resin vehicles and ESU Commissar's dog), Hasslefree Miniatures (Kat) and Games Workshop.

Olley Painting Points:

This Week: 8
2010 Total: 47
2009 Total: 58
Grand Total: 105

So THAT'S What Paint Tastes Like

PROTIP: When painting, do not stick the tip of your fully loaded paintbrush in your mouth to give it a point before you wash it. Eurrrgh!

On a less paintophage note, I finally finished my Priestess of Ssotay (hurrah) which sort-of-for-now finishes my Accrani Song of Blades and Heroes warband for my Azabhande setting. She looks pretty cool, and I've tried a few new tricks on her just for fun. I'll talk about them when I get the pictures up, probably this weekend.

Then, whilst discussing children's antics with someone, I painted a Police Inspector (this figure from Artizan) to fight my London Anarchists in the Very British Civil War. I think I may have his uniform wrong, but I don't care. It's fictional and any discrepancies can be explained by the "it's a different timeline" hand-wave.

Now, more of my collection to sate your desire for pictures:


Six Stormtroopers from Stormtrooper Assault Force Hilfe. These are for a Stormtrooper army mounted in Valkkyries and supported by a Vulture flight - there will, eventually, be 66 Stormtroopers in six squads of 10 and a HQ of 6. Oh, and the gunships...


Possibly my most prized model, this is the Lahmian Countess D'arque of Tyrka (a principality in my Warhammer setting). I intend to create another model of Lady D'arque on a dragon, but I need the dragon first. I'm tempted to get the Heresy dragon just for gits and shiggles!

Olley Painting Points:

This Week: 7
2010 Total: 46
2009 Total: 58
Grand Total: 104

Perfidious Eldar

Hurrah! I made a start on the Biel-Tan that I'm (very) slowly collecting for my lovely lady wife. Eldar because she bought herself a box of Harlequins to paint, and Biel-Tan because green's her favourite colour.

So, this morning, I dug out the Guardian Weapons Platform I made up two years ago - I did say I was collecting this army slowly - and this lunch I painted it, and the gunner, up. They look rather spiffing really! I've decided to go for a very simple colour scheme on the rank-and-file, and pay more attention to Warlocks, the Farseer, Exarchs, and so on.

Al Front, he of the arms-smuggling, sent me a package which arrived at work today. Inside were 10 Warlord Games plastic Roman Legionaries, to go with my lone Legionary I got from Wargames Illustrated, and four semi-uniformed chaps with Moisin-Nagant rifles and PPsH SMGs. Immediately I thought "Aha! CPGB Liverpudlians for a VBCW!"

Which means that I now feel the need to build a force of horse-drawn CPGB revolutionaries hailing from Fazakerley, and a force of loyalist Kings' Rgt men to oppose them. Great. Thanks, Al Front, my wallet loves you!

And now, because I'm bored of the lack of photos, some of my collection:


The core of my Darendaran X Mechanised Imperial Guard. This is now set to be expanded, quite significantly, and requires rebasing to fit a snow/ice/winter theme.


Waaagh! Da Orks! Evil Sunz wartrakk. The first finished element of a 1,500point Kult of Speed for 4th Edition 40K.

Olley Painting Points:

This Week: 5
2010 Total: 39
2009 Total: 58
Grand Total: 97

Dakka Dakka Dakka

Today I finished Ded Cred with Heavy Stubber. I'm quite pleased, actually - he looks a lot better than the original did, and I even managed to GS a strap to hold his autogun in place.

Together with Kal Kutter, my Heavies now make the Automatics quite scary, being able to effectively cover the entire board and pump out 3 sustained fire dice (between 3-9 shots a turn) at S4/8 with an ammo roll of 2+ thanks to my two Armourers. If all that meant nothing to you, don't worry, it confuses me too sometimes.

I also painted the priestess' gold jewellery. I opted to paint it straight Shining Gold, as it leaps out more against her skin. I think tomorrow I'll be painting more Necromunda before I do anything else.

Unfortunately, and contrary to previous thinking, I won't be able to attend the Big Game at Evesham because it's just too expensive. I have too many bills to pay and not enough to go round once they're paid. To slip into whinge territory, very briefly:

I earn £1,433 a month after tax (this will go down this month, I think, as I have exceeded the threshold for tax above NI and Student Loan Repayments). This is immediately eaten by our £1,225/month rent.

We then get around £200 a week in Working Family Tax Credits, which is swallowed up by food, travel expenses (to get to work), and bills. This month our disposable income (£50 each - this would originally have got me to Evesham) had to go on paying off an old and outstanding tax bill.

End result - I can't go. I just can't afford it! I had hoped to be able to get the tickets in two goes (train return to Warwick - £30, bus tickets to Evesham and back - £20) , but ... I just can't.

Sorry, chaps! If any of you are reading this blog.

Olley Painting Points:

This Week: 2
2010 Total: 32
2009 Total: 58
Grand Total: 90

Accrani Cultists

I have begun to develop the background to my very own fantasy world. The world in question is called Azahande (Land of Demons), and one of the civilisations is the Accrani. They are loosely based on a mix of Nubian-Egyptian ideas and influences, echoing the general Africanesque feel of the world (or at least the part that I'm focusing on the most at the moment).

My first Song of Blades and Heroes warband is that of a cult of Ssotay, one of the minor Demons hoping for advancement in the Demonic Pantheon (Pandemon?) through the actions and numbers of its followers. Ssotay most commonly takes the form of a snake, and thus its cult is known as the Cult of the Snake. Its sacred colour is blue (in all shades) and this is worn by its worshippers as a sign of their devotion.



Omishe, cultist of Ssotay. She carries a heavy stabbing spear.


Omishe (on the right) and Ashande, cultists of Ssotay. Ashande carries a light two-bladed stabbing spear and a shield marked with a stylised snakeskin pattern.


A WIP, for once! As yet un-named, but the photo doesn't do her justice. I'm very proud of what is my best attempt yet at African skin - Vermin Brown mixed with Chaos Black in varying degrees all the way up to almost pure Vermin Brown.

And finally... la Legione Nera in all their glory:


That's it for this week, loyal readers! May Ssotay bless your dice and curse your opponents'!

Photos!

In order of painting:



The Pantokrator, leader of the Pantokrator's Fallen Men (1,500 point Chaos Space Marine army for Warhammer 40,000)



The Legione Nera, seen here without their officers, for Action Group 32/The Wilde Bunch and VBCW Big Game II.



Praetor of Orpheus, late of 3rd Squad, 9th (Devastator) Reserve Company. Now in the Fallen Men.


Just for fun - the Pantokrator and his bodyguard!

Oh, and as for the games of Necromunda the Automatics had last night: I played two Gang Fights and won the first in five minutes (largely thanks to the Autocannon and a really badly placed enemy Heavy) and lost the second in fifteen. Upshot: No deaths, Ded Cred gets his Heavy Stubber, and some decent advances (both my Leader and a Ganger got the skill Armourer after the first game! I was stunned!).

La Legione Nera

Well, I finished them - the Black Legion, or a bunch of Italian ex-pat fascists from London who joined the Casa del Fascio's militia and found themselves turned into a unit that roams the country in armoured lorries, supporting local BUF militias and Action Groups as and where necessary.

Their next action will be in Somerset; here's hoping la Legione Nera will do better than the CVT...

Next up on the painting desk is the Praetor of Orpheus. I hope to get his white armour painted in my afternoon break, and then he shouldn't take too long to finish off after that. Then I'm going to do the 3" mortar and Vickers MMG of the Somerset BUF. I think gloss black tin helmets should be fun.

Olley Painting Points:

This Week: 13
2010 Total: 28
2009 Total: 58
Grand Total: 86

Realistic Painting Results... Possibly?

Well, I didn't get a chance to put the pictures of the Pantokrator up last night or this morning, but I'll try and remedy that tonight.

This lunchtime I cracked on with the Black Legion and got them to the stage where they're nearly finished - all I need to do is highlight the furniture on their rifles, paint their webbing black, touch up anything that needs touching up, paint their belt buckles silver, and gloss varnish their shoes, webbing, and anything else that needs it.

I doubt very much that they'll be done in my afternoon break, but they'll definitely be done tomorrow, hurrah.

I also started to paint the Praetor of Orpheus' armour white, but got bored!

Lord Of All Things

Ahaaa! The Pantokrator is finished! He looks remarkably subdued, colour-wise, compared to most Chaos Lords, but then again - who's going to argue with an 8' tall Tactical Dreadnought armoured, bio-genetically engineered psychopath with foot-long electrically-charged monomolecular edged finger-blades who wears the flayed skin of his enemies as an Ikon at his waist and decorates his armour with polished bone and a pet daemon?

I thought so.

He makes a suitable centrepoint for the Fallen Men at any rate, which is important, and hopefully his relatively low-key appearance will prevent my opponents from fearing him too much. Their mistake.

I also painted the Black Legionnaires' bedrolls, puttees and rifle furniture, and hopefully will have them finished by the end of the week. Booking my train tickets to Evesham for the Second Big Game this week, too, along with the Valentine's Day Suprise for my wife.

Oh, and I also managed to reschedule my Necromunda game for this week, so expect an AAR on Thursday night or Friday - with pictures!

Olley Painting Points:

This Week: 1
2010 Total: 16
2009 Total: 58
Grand Total: 74

As Promised, Pictures

A little later than planned, but then again I'm ill, so nyah.


The revamped Ded Cred. Not a fan, as it turns out, of what was a Great Idea in my head. Oh well - not going to change him again, so he'll just have to have silly PVC tartan trousers until he gets his Heavy Stubber.



L-R: Black Legion CO, Black Legion 2iC, AG32 SNCO, Rolls-Royce crewman.

The black paint I'm using at the minute is an artists' acrylic, but it's crap. Chips and flakes like nobody's business. If I had the spare cash I'd get some Coat d'Arms black, but... I can't. Not yet.

Hopefully I'll be better tomorrow.

Slow Painting Day

Wel l, I finished the four BUF men I was on about yesterday. The Rolls-Royce now has a crew figure in case it gets knocked out, Captain Wilde has a SNCO with SMG for close protection, and the two Black Legion officers have been finished up.

I also added a (rather badly painted) grey/white tartan to Ded Cred to tie him into the other non-Juves, so there'll be pictures of that up later. I think for the version with Heavy Stubber I'll do a Black-Red-Yellow tartan pattern.

Then the curse of "too many models to tempt the eye" hit, and I ended up by working on the Pantokrator, starting a Praetor of Orpheus with rocket launcher, painting a base of Scab Red onto a Goliath Juve with autopistol, and washing the grey shirts of the Black Legion with a black wash.

Ahem. Woops?

At any rate, in my afternoon break I'll probably concentrate on the Black Legion and try and get their bedrolls and puttees done so that I can finish them off over Thursday and Friday.

Olley Painting Points:

This Week: 5
2010 Total: 15
2009 Total: 58
Grand Total: 73

My Kingdom For A Pin Vice Drill!

Well, today was remarkably productive. I 'finished' the last Sworn Man (more on him in a bit), and almost finished the BUF Rolls-Royce driver, a BUF man with SMG to accompany my Action Group's CO, and the two officers for the Black Legion. Just have their skin and bases to do now.

I also painted all the Black Legionnaires' shirts grey. Their trousers, webbing and sidecaps will be black, their puttees tan and any other random leather gaiters or what have you will be black too. I hope to have all 14 of them finished by Friday.

I can't remember if I've talked about Evesham before, but it's why my Police Action! project has inflated somewhat. The good chaps over at the Gentleman's Wargames Parlour are, by and large, responsible for the madness that is the Very British Civil War. Indeed, I've played my own small part by contributing to the article on London in the latest sourcebook, The Gathering Storm Part 2.

Anyway, they had what they called a Big Game (it was covered in this January's Wargames Illustrated, #267 I believe) and I was intrigued by this concept of wargamers from all over the country meeting up and having a Jolly Fun Time, so on seeing that a second one was being planned I leapt in with both feet, despite at the time only having a few BUF chaps and some Skye Battalion.

Following some purchasing, and a lot - a lot - of gun-running from Al Front via Artizan Designs, Empress Miniatures and others, and adding in some borrowed troops (also from Al Front) my eventual force for the Evesham Game will be as follows:

Action Group 32:

Captain Wilde, driver, SNCO with SMG - staff car
Dispatch Rider
Vickers MMG team, 3" mortar team in truck
12 BUF with LMG, SMG and standard in truck
14 Black Legion with 2 LMGs in Lancia armoured Truck
1 Rolls-Royce armoured car
1 Armoured lorry with 3" naval gun

Somerset Action Volunteers:

Captain Daring, NCO, MO, 4 riflemen inc SMG
Vickers MMG team
10 AV with LMG, petrol bombs and SMG
10 AV with LMG, petrol bombs and SMG

Hopefully this little force will be enough to put a spanner in the works of the Anglican League and Somerset Freedom Fighters!

And now, back to the 41st Millenium... my final Sworn Man, a Blood Angel, was supposed to be the Icon Bearer for the unit. Unfortunately that would require a pin vice drill and a length of wire, neither of which I have, so for now he's Icon-less. It shouldn't be too much of a problem as I can get hold of both of those before I finish the project and start gaming with them.

As ever, pictures up tonight!

Olley Painting Points:

This Week: 1
2010 Total: 11
2009 Total: 58
Grand Total: 69

Of Hide Shields, Assegais And Automatic Weapons

I received the last shipment of weapons from Al Front today - a Vickers HMG and 3" mortar for Action Group 32. Also included were a civilian with glasses and a revolver (Anarchist!) and an excellent figure for a BUF Officer with revolver - he's broken open his Webley and is reloading it. I think they're all from Artizan Designs.

The heavy weapon crews need minor headswaps really as they're all in British Army uniform c. 1939/40. Alternatively I may get lazy and just paint them up as BUF men with steel helmets and khaki gaiters. I'm only really bothered about the Action uniform men for the Police Action! project to be honest.

At lunch I managed to paint another Ratskin, Dave Longtooth (in 55 minutes!), and almost finish the Nubian with Hide Shield and Assegai. I'm really, really, really pleased with the way her skin and translucent trousers have turned out; she's very dark-skinned indeed. The hide shield looks quite good, with an abstract design meant to represent a stylised snakeskin. She's the testbed for my Song of Blades and Heroes snake-demon cult.

I'm almost certain to get her finished in my afternoon break, too, so I'm going to count her as done for painting points purposes.

Olley Painting Points:

This Week: 4
2010 Total: 4
2009 Total: 58
Grand Total: 62

A No-Nonsense Update

Does wot it sez on da tin!


Gun truck corporal. Note added armband and Flash of Action in Circle of Unity.



Martin Twospiders after his promotion to Ratskin Warrior. That autogun's not going to be used by anyone else!

Another Day, Another Mini

Well, today was fairly eventful. After having done all the usual morning rituals (scratch, yawn, &c &c), I donned my trusty desert boots and nice warm grey wool coat, opened the door...

...and stared out onto 2" of snow that hadn't been there when I went to bed. Still got to work tho'!

And what did I get up to miniature-wise? Well, I based the Empress Miniatures' Foreign Legion, Falange and Condor Legion models Al Front sent me, and tried out a tube of artists' acrylic black as a replacement for my now empty pot of Citadel black.

It works! Bwahahahaaa! And it makes an excellent undercoat, too.

Armed with my new black, I set to, and achieved the following:

Repaired the gun truck commander (I dropped him and he snapped in two at the ankles),
Painted the armband onto the gun truck corporal with rifle,
Undercoated Hasslefree Miniatures' Nubian with Assegai and Hide Shield,
Painted (from the undercoat!) a Ratskin Warrior - Martin Twospiders.

I'm dead chuffed actually - I've definitely hit an all-time top speed of toy soldier painting: I can produce one figure, at almost my absolute best quality of painting, in around 1 hr 15 mins. If I paint at 'basic tabletop' quality, I'm looking at about 5 figures in an hour, maybe more, depending on the paint scheme - BUF, I'm looking at you.

I'm looking forwards to finishing off another Ratskin on Friday (I'm away tomorrow to take my driving theory test), and then next week it's on to the BUF foreign volunteers of the Black Legion. After them it's more Ratskins, then the Song of Blades and Heroes warband I got for christmas.

Picture up tonight!

Olley Painting Points:

This Week: 2
2010 Total: 2
2009 Total: 58
Grand Total: 60

A Native, A Fascist And A Mule...

...went into a pub, see?

Here you go:



Chief 'Bloody-Hand' Chulain (his base was finished after I took this picture).



Fascist Artillery Corporal from Al Front (needs his armband painting on, I'm doing that tomorrow).


Action Group 32's attached Artillery Truck crew.



Skye Battalion supply mule.


Skye Battalion men detailed to guard the mule and its whisky cases.

More Ratskins tomorrow, and maybe some BUF stuff if you're lucky!

Back At The Coalface

Ah, the click click of keyboards and the production of words for money. Yes, I have returned to work and daily lunchtime updates! Woohoo!

Anyway, when I got into work, there was a small packet on my desk with the following stuff courtesy of Al Front, to whom eternal thanks.

8 Empress Miniatures' Falange with Rifles
2 Empress Miniatures Spanish Foreign Legion LMG teams (with the abominably bad Chauchat LMG)
4 Condor Legion advisors

Which all combine to give me a BUF NCO with SMG, an armoured car crewman, and 12 foreign legionnaires of the Black Legion. Plus a spare LMG team. I may actually fold the two LMG teams into the same platoon to give them some serious firepower and enable me to field them all. At any rate, as I need these for Evesham they've been rapidly bumped up the painting planner and will start getting painted next week I expect. Shouldn't take too long - black trousers, grey shirts, black puttees, black sidecaps with black piping and tassles, khaki blanket rolls. I'm strongly tempted to give them all different armbands or different shirts to signify their 'home' fascist movement, e.g. blue for a Falangist, green for an Iron Guardsman. On the other hand, the lack of shirt colour for some - e.g. the Ustace - means that might be a non-starter.

And then! At 12 o' clock - the post came, and lo! I got another parcel from Al Front! This time it contained a brilliant little donkey for the Skye Battalion (hurray!) and a BUF lance-corporal with rifle who'll make up the third member of the gun truck team. Both painted already, which is ace.

On top of all that, I knuckled down and have very nearly finished (from just the undercoat) my Necromunda Ratskin Warband Chief, Chief 'Bloody Hand' Chulain. All he needs doing is a bit of detailing and the base. I'm going to chalk him up as finished because I can get him done in my afternoon break.

However, I have hit a stumbling block - I'm rapidly running out of certain paints, notably black, and with funds at a fairly low level, I may have to grovel for a few bob from the family purse to replenish them. We shall see. I may even order online and try out the Coat d'Arms stuff, or the Vallejo range. I am tempted by the Foundry Paint System as it matches my style and reduces the need for mixing colours, but the price is a bit steep (£7.50 for a set, or £3 a pot). In fact I think it's more expensive than GW's stuff!

Expect photos tonight of the Skye Battalion with donkey, the expanded gun truck crew, and the Ratskin Chief.

Olley Painting Points:

This Week: 1
2010 Total: 1
2009 Total: 58
Grand Total: 59