Something to Go on With

One can not help notice that all the bloggers are preparing for the now infamous yearly Painting Challenge put on my Curt at Analogue Hobbies. I have been making my own preparations and have also been very much consumed by a couple of terrain projects. I thought I would do a brief update on what I have been doing.

Here are some of the figures that have been prepped. I have some WWII German vehicles which have been primed with some Later War German Flames of War Primer. These are the 20 mm vehicles I need for my upcoming 1944 Normandy project involving the British 6th Airborne actions at the Mesnil Crossroads on June 8, 1944. Of interest of course because the 1st Canadian Paras were heavily involved. On the wooden stands are the German drivers and passengers needed for all the vehicles. Directly behind them are some 20mm Paras, as well as some British Engineers and some German Pioneers. Next up we see some 28 mm Perry Plastics both French and British which will complete my Sharpe Practice forces. These are the last 28 mm infantry plastics, I will paint. Learned my lesson here stick with metal. I will paint some Perry cavalry as they are such nice figures, but I have given away all the infantry I had left so I would not be tempted. Finally we have the final figures, I will be painting for SAGA. First up is a Swords for Hire Unit, the Gall-Gaedhill and behind them are some slingers which will complete my Anglo-Saxon Warband. I also have some French Légere from Front Rank ready as well as the Dwarves from the LoTR Hobbit Town set. I think that will be enough to keep me going in the short term anyway. I am not sure if I will hit my planned 1500 points, we will have to see!

For my Normandy campaign (taken from Skirmish Campaign's '44 red Devils of the Orne), I needed a 20 mm two story house. This is a discontinued Italeri 1/72 item, which is slightly bigger then 20 mm, but will work well. I tracked it down in China and got it shipped from there. It still needs a wash and an application of some flock.

The ability to place figures in houses is quite important in WWII skirmish gaming so I went ahead and even painted the inside. This is a very nice building. I am really unsure why they have been discontinued.

Next up is my latest project "bocage", this was a lot of research and I will detail the process in a dedicated post soon.

These were my two trial pieces, they are 12" long which have a tendency to warp,  so the rest of what I have done is 6" in length, I have almost completed 10 feet now, messy work!

I think it looks OK though.

Maybe slightly too high for 20 mm, but I will go with it.

Looking Cool!

Last up is my latest purchase. As you know I am a travelling gamer. I need stuff that travels well. I really need a mat that I can bring about and looks good. After much research, I decided to try a latex one from Zuzzy Miniatures. It took 2 months to arrive but I am enormously pleased. This is a 6x4' mat in their Verdant Green line. It really is quite amazing. Soft, conforms well and quite light and rolls up in a tube.

The tricky bit is though that I have to paint it. I really do not want to screw this up. They recommend a wash and then a dry brush. I plan to do a raw umber wash (dark brown) and then to paint ist as a semi-arid terrain with grass and dirt splotches. As you can see it is already textured to do this. I hav eto say that I have no artistic ability and I am a little confused. Should the flatter (the lighter part) be the dirt and the rougher part be the grass? I am just not sure, if any of you have a suggestion, I would much appreciate it.