Christmas 40k challenge

I think some mention of how I came to possess such a large number of Imperial Guard figures would be a good place to start. I have never been a 40k player but have been interested in the Universe and the obvious amount of thought that had gone into it. I have a large amount of Sisters of Battle figures and have sold off an Ork Army many years ago, but other than a couple of games I had not really played 40k. Once I had enough Sisters figures I started to collect Imperial Guard. I managed to get hold of large amounts of Valhallans and Catachans. I also bought quite a few Praetorians and Mordians on sale but as these were out of production I eventually sold them off as I did not get enough to make an army of either. I then started collecting 28mm WW2, BOB and Cowboys as these were being played at the club, so the 40k collections got pushed aside. I did however keep picking up second hand Valhallans when I saw them for sale here and there.

Recently a friend (Tyrone) and I each watched Luke of Lukes APS video about him painting a Praetorian Army, which sparked a conversation. Some time later Tyrone was in possession of my pile of Catachans and I had a pile of cash and some 4Ground buildings. (I was never going to have time to paint two Imperial Guard Armies) Then Tyrone suggested a Holiday challenge which would be two sections and a HQ. I think the way this is going its going to be a Summer challenge as the figures I have are quite complex and I want to do a really good job on them.

So the obvious question is "what colour scheme or theme for them?"

My original plan was WW2 Soviets, but I have painted plenty of 15 and 28mm Soviets so then thought Stalingrad Germans. Since then I have painted many 28mm Germans so that idea was binned as well. After that I painted my WW1 French so thought Horizon Blue and paint the Tanks in a suitable French Camouflage. However Wargames Atlantic have produced some nice Late War French which I like so the search was back on. Some Googling later and I found a photo of a Leopard Tank in Winter Camouflage which interested me.

A slight modification of the Tank scheme later and I decided to do Winter Valhallans largely Soviet based but as they have dress elements in the way of Epaulettes, sashes and breastplates a nod to the Imperial Russian look would be in order.

These are WIP photos as I had not touched up after using washes nor have I started on the white overcoats. You may notice the Copplestone figures which I used as practice figures to work out some colour choices. Two of the figures will be used as Tank Commanders.

Tyrone is doing the normal Catachan paint job as far as I can tell. These are also very much a WIP shot so will update later. We live about 90 minutes away from each other so I can't just pop over for a photo shoot. Tyrone has also been buying up some Mordians but the majority of the Army will be the plastic Catachans.

Warlord Games Ancient British Slingers

 I picked up one packet of these up locally and one from Warlord direct. The packet from Warlord came with some kind of Ancient Greek looking archer instead of a slinger! I have substituted a spare Renegade Archer from a Chariot to take the missing Slingers place.  I also found out that I had been looking at an out of date army list that I found on the internet instead of my own copy which has been in my car for months. I found that I just needed one more stand of Javelin throwers to max out the Army list. I made up two Warlord figures but used left over Victrix heads. I was surprised how well they fitted. Since taking the photos I have matted and based the figures, but not done the terrain. I had difficulty taking photos with the usual black background so used a cardboard box instead. So excuse the rather odd look.

Great War Miniatures French 75mm Field Gun

 The latest piece to come off the painting desk. I'm quite pleased with this but will make a few observations. The first being that I was not sure of the exact shade that the gun should be, so just went with some coloured plates that I found on the net. I feel that the shade should be lighter and more grey. Some plates showed the crew with double striped trousers and others showed single. I opted for single as it was easier to do. The gun is very nice as are the figures. The only issue is that the figures mounted on the gun base are very small with bobble heads. The other two on single bases are a decent size. Once placed on the table top I doubt that this is very noticeable but it bothered me when painting them.

Great War Miniatures French Cavalry

These are the Cuirassiers with the Command and Trooper packs. For the painting I followed some plates I found on the internet as well as Mark Hargreaves "Over Open Sights" painted examples but changed a couple of colours to suit my taste.

I thought at first that the horses look really small but later changed my mind. I have some Renegade German Cavalry to paint at some stage which have larger horses so it should be interesting to see a comparison. I didn't plan the basing very well and just grabbed some that I bought for DBMM. These being 60x30mm.

I used my phone Camera again but now see that I cant see the subtle differences that using a wash and then a highlight brings out, so may go back to using my Camera again. The faces and Helmets in particular look much better in reality.

French Flag bearer.

This is another item that has been hanging around my work desk for far too long. I don't like to paint individual figures so find that they keep getting pushed aside. The figure started out as an Artizan figure which then got a new head cut from a Great War French figure, the left over HMG Gunner I had. The flagpole is a metal Lance and the Flag was down loaded and then printed courtesy of Major Thomas Foolery's Blog. It may be wrong for this conflict but I like it.

 

Cyber Punk Police Vehicles

Well these have been a long time on my workbench while I worked through a few ideas on how to finish them. I have taken the photos using my iPhone and feel they look a little bit washed out. They look much better on my table in the games room.

The two bikes were converted from a flying bike made for a Movie. What Movie? I cannot remember as I threw the packaging away months ago. The wheels were copied using Blue Stuff from a toy car. These were inspired by Judge Dredd in case it is not obvious. The Police figures are from West Winds Road Kill range with some Greenstuff added on the helmets. The two Cars are from Scotia Grendal with the light bars taken from some toy cars. I'd like to add some decals on them but there is not much spare surface space to work with.

Celtic Chariots J K L

 These are the last three Chariots (for now) which are also Renegade but with Wargames Factory Horses. These are not as nice as the Victrix Horses but they were all I had to replace the originals bought when Wargames Factory were still selling. The riders etc are mainly Victrix but with one Black Tree Design figure. My order of more Chariots have arrived with the transfers I was waiting for.

I have some better news about my old iMac. I found that I can still look at the files on it by using Finder on my new iMac. I had thought that I should have shared the folders the way you would on a PC but find its not necessary on iMacs. So I am spending way too much time looking for things I need rather than spending time on my hobby. Time Machine stopped working about eighteen months ago and even with a new drive I could not get it to work. That should have been the time to buy a replacement Mac. I did consider going back to a PC but am glad I stuck to Apple. I was really pleased to be able to recover all my TooFatLardies PDF's in particular as I want to see if I can find someone at the Club to play CoC with. 

Celtic Chariots G H I

Well I am a week late in posting this next lot of photos. My old iMac decided that it had enough of life and now has a black screen, it seems to be alive but has no Video. I'm told this is normal for iMacs. 

I was only about three days without a PC but it has taken time to set things up again and enjoy using the new one before catching up. So far with trying to write this post I have to say is the most painful experience I have had with this Blog. I started off using Chrome which then decided that it would hide my photos from me. I then switched to Safari which loads the photos in completely random fashion which is then really difficult to rearrange in the correct order. The photos in the Photo program are so small that you cannot see which Chariot you want to pick unless you have your face a foot away from the screen. On my old Mac I could load the windows into a temporary page at a decent size and then pick which ones to put on the Blog in the correct order. The strangest thing is that the new folder I created to load these photos in has been automatically dated as January 1970! If I don't get the hang of this it will be the end of the Blog. It took so long to write I ended up with a headache

These next Chariots are Renegade metal versions. I had used the original Horses for my Robin Hood project as they looked like great big Cart Horses rather than the smaller ones which would have been more suitable. The new horses (ponies?) are Wargames Factory and some really old Foundry. This batch are using Foundry Metal Horses.

Celtic Chariots D E F

 The next three Chariots starting with the Druid. I am not sure if he is meant to represent a leader or if he acts as some kind of spiritual adviser to Boudica? He will just join with the other Chariots in my Army. I failed to mention last post that I found some of the tufts really dark and shiny. I resolved that by dry-brushing them with twice with Russian Uniform and then Middlestone both from Vallejo. Did I mention that I have another six Chariots on the way from Victrix? I was originally going to get some from Warlord but luckily in time my brother observed how large my Chariots are in comparison with his Warlord and Foundry versions.

Chariot D

Chariot E

Chariot F

This one that I am waiting for the shield transfer before I can assemble it.