About Me

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London, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
A mythical beast - a female wargamer! I got back into wargaming in the summer of 2011 after a very, very long break and haven't looked back since. I must admit that I seem to be more of a painter/collector than a gamer, but do hope to correct that at some point in the near future. My gaming interests span the ages, from the "Biblical" era all the way through to the far future. I enjoy games of all sizes, from a handful of figures up to major battles (see my megalomaniacally sized Choson Korean and Russian Seven Years War armies).

Sunday 24 November 2013

Of Spaceships and Challenges

I've had a grotty old cold all week so there wasn't much to post until now. Whilst I might not have done any painting until this weekend, I wasn't doing nothing. The nelliephants have been stripped and reassembled - I'll be painting them with the howdahs off this time, then gluing those in place later (before the Klear/ink and matt spray).

As well as stripping the nellies, I also stripped the FSE intro fleet which I'd painted about this time last year (but hated the paint scheme). After a bit of fannying about, I repainted them over the weekend.

How they were:





Hmmm, I guess I never took pics of them in the finished state.I had picked out weapons and some panels & pods in white, red and yellow.

And how they are now:




Some close ups:

Frigates


Destroyers


Light Cruisers


Heavy Cruiser



Battle Cruiser



These were quite quick to paint up:
Sprayed with grey primer
Basecoat of slightly thinned dark-grey
Wet-brush of ultra-marine/dark grey-blue
Heavy dry-brush of dark blue-grey/dark grey-blue
Light dry-brush of dark blue-grey/light grey-blue
Panels picked out with flat red
Weapons and engine grilles picked out with natural steel
Weapon ends picked out with fluo orange
Exhaust: deep sky blue, sky blue/white, white, washed with fluo blue
Spray with satin varnish

These ended up somewhat darker than I originally envisaged, but I'm pleased with the result. I was also reminded of the problem with my photography set up. For some reason the matt black boards and my lighting combine to white-out the ships in my photos, so I ended up going with the glossy white boards.


As well as this, I've done a bit more prep - the NAC intro fleet I won in Seb's prize draw and some grav tanks and grav APCs from Critical Mass Games. The tanks have been washed and assembled (apart from the gun barrels - I'm still trying to work out whether to fix the barrels or go for magnetisation so that I can swap them out). The APCs are currently soaking in soapy water to remove any release agents from the resin.


Planning for the Challenge

I'm still trying to work out a running order for what I'm going to paint this year. Curt's introduction of fortnightly specials has thrown a bit of a spanner into my intentions from before the call went out. I can't see myself entering for all of the specials, but I should be able to do something for the non-combatant, vehicles and casualties.

I'll also need to find something for my entry fee. I had thought of doing a certain iconic vehicle from a certain iconic film developed from a certain song but haven't had any joy finding a model in less than 1:12 scale! This means I'll just have to find a 28mm figure that would fit the requirements (inspired by a Peckinpah movie).

So, I guess you all want to know what I'll be painting for this year's Challenge.

Camp scene for use with my Swiss army (and as my entry for the non-combatant special)
"Arrrrrrr! There do be pirates on the horizon Cap'n!" Yup, my 15mm buccaneer army will be hitting the painting table. Lots and lots of bloodthirsty, cutlass-wielding, grog-drinking ne'er-do-wells.
6mm ACW - it's been just over 2 years since I bought the base armies so it's about time I painted them.
15mm Korean arquebusiers - so I can use my Koreans for FoG:R as well as FoG:AM
15mm SciFi, as Curt is allowing non-historical minis this year. I haven't decided which ones to do yet (so many to choose from!). I will probably try to tie this in with the Vehicles special and do a reinforced platoon sized force.
28mm Coureurs de Bois - the FIW figures for the Bloggers For Charity game (if I haven't painted them before the Challenge).
15mm 30YW - I've got 6 limber teams, 32 casualties (24 men, 8 horses) and 10 battalion guns to complete my army. Guess which special I'll try to tie these in with!
28mm Vikings - 4 berserkers,  a warlord and 2 wolves

If I manage to get through all those, I do have some more things waiting in the wings, but I haven't prepped any of these.


18 comments:

  1. Greaat stuff T. Like the blue engine/glass spot colours.

    I still have that NSL fleet you bought for me sitting there, maybe they'll get the treatment during the painting challenge!

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  2. Very nice Tamsin. A definite improvement over the old paint job and something I've been doing too of late (as if we don't have enough unpainted lead to begin with!)

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  3. Very nice, i think the ships are much improved, I like that color scheme.

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  4. Big big Improvement, nice work Tamsin.

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  5. Very nice ships! I'm looking forward to the contest, esp with most of the bloggers I follow throwing their hats, er brushes into the ring. Should be a grand contest this year!

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  6. I just finished painting my FSE and NSL fleets as well! I really do need to get around to actually playing FT, probably with the Cross Dimensions version.

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  7. That looks a nice pile to work through

    Ian

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  8. I do like the FSE fleet. And you seem to have been a lot more organised than me with regard to the challenge. I wish you luck.

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  9. Love the FSE fleet - I did mine in your original colour some years ago, with similar thoughts on the outcome!

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  10. Very cool. I find it so hard to repaint stuff, so good on you for getting motivated. Looking forward to seeing your output for the challenge.

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  11. Looking forward to seeing your entries in the Challenge. Maybe we can collectively beat the sandbagger back into last place this year?

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  12. Sorry to hear you've been suffering Tamsin, but the space ships look rather splendid.

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  13. The space ships look cool, I like the darker look. I look forward to your output for the challenge this year.

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  14. Cheers guys - glad you all like the ships!

    @ Vladdd - I should get round to doing my NSL shortly. It will be good to compare our two fleets. And then I need to do my Japanese....

    @ Michael Mills - I really disliked the originals so I just cracked on and stripped & repainted them while I had a chance and the impetus to do so

    @ Ferret and Chris - cheers! It's definitely an improvement. I was originally planning a lighter look, but this works well.

    @ David Bromley - the Challenge this year is shaping up to be pretty good fun. I don't know how Curt is going to manage to keep up with 60 of us this year though.

    @ Brian - just popped over to take a look and left a comment. Nicely done with those fleets!

    @ Andrew - and good luck to you too for the Challenge!

    @ Ian - yup, quite a pile to work through

    @ Clint - any semblance of organisation on my part is purely coincidental!

    @ Paul - the blue was (I thought) a thin coat over a black-dry-brushed-with-grey base (as pre-shading) but it dried to a solid colour over the top. I thought it looked awful and I guess you had similar thoughts.

    @ Dan - if something looks wrong, there'd no choice but to go back and re-do it.

    @ Lee - well, my own target is twice what the budgie-smuggling badger has said he's aiming for. As for collectively beating him into last place, you and a few of the others will just have to pull your fingers out and aim higher!

    @ Michael Awdrey - thanks, almost over it now!

    @ Sean - and I to yours! :)

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  15. "you and a few of the others will just have to pull your fingers out and aim higher!"

    It has been 'suggested' I raise my target.

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  16. Lovely work girl and good luck this year and I'm not pulling anything out!

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  17. Spaceships everywhere... :-)

    It reminds me of a Battlestare Galactica I can use as shuttle for my 28mm Sci-Fi troopers...

    Marzio.

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  18. That looks like a fair amount of stuff set up the challenge, look forward to seeing it.

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