Painting results to swoon over - Prussian Artillery

I'm very privileged to have been permitted to put some photos on my Guest pages by my friend from Bristol, Kevin East.  As reported here previously Kevin is slowly building up to the "big game" in 2015, and the latest additions are some absolutely superb 28mm Prussian artillery guns, crews and tranport teams.

Here's a sample but you can see all the serious detail and learn about some of his techniques by clicking on the "Kevin East 3" Page on the right hand side bar of this blog.

...and if you haven't seen them before also look at Kevin East 1 and 2 for more Waterloo era Napoleonics, and Kevin welcomes feedback so please comment on his Page.

Whatever next? Old school Warhammer 40K?

Hope the title grabbed your attention but if you're looking for Warhammer 40, 000  figures on this blog you might be disappointed..if you're an "old school wargaming" enthusiast please try to smile benignly.

Those who have followed my ramblings on art and wargaming will realise that from time to time I get asked to do some art work that brings wargames figures, or historic fantasy/fiction, to something approaching life. This one is probably my strangest commission yet and I call it old school Warhammer 40K because, along with recent blogs discussing "what is old school" (such as this one  - link) it got me thinking. So much of our talk about old school wargaming is because it is something from a lost past that is nostalgic and for me, surprisingly, this painting did just that.
Please take a look at it:

Hikz and da Boyz, Acrylic on canvas 16" x 12"

Games Workshop and Warhammer has been around for what, 25- 30 years now? And being a die-hard historical wargamer I tended to look on it with disdain until my son reached the age of about 6 in the mid 1990s and we were venturing into all sorts of strange things, among which was "Space Hulk" (I think it was called) which eventually led us into the local GW store. It didn't take long to realise that here was branch of the hobby with its own futuristic universe with fully rounded armies, "national characteristics", uniforms and literature (at a price!) to back it all up - and rules that were fun, and, Heaven forbid! included saving throws when your figure was hit! - old school rules indeed.  Space Marines and Eldar "Codexes" became regular bedtime story reading while we planned the next squads or mechanised squadrons, and later produced our own orks for "Gorkamorka". He learned to paint figures to such a good standard I later paid him to paint some of my 18th Century units. It's nostalgic for me as it represents a period of several years when  my son and I actually spoke the same language and enthused about the same things.........until he found Playstation!

So imagine my surprise when, through email correspondence, I found one of my kindred spirit "old school" wargamer clients also had a soft spot for Warhammer 40K, had created his own gang of Ork Boyz with Imperial Guard opposition and had scratch built a superb model armoured train to go with them. He liked them so much he commissioned me to come up with an idea for a portrait of "Hikz" and his two leading henchmen "Spike" and "Shaggratt"  (Yeah I wondered I about that name too!.....well he is a disgusting ork).

So we got to thinking about, if you were an Ork boss in the 41st Century (and not withstanding what will pass for art if the World lasts that long) how would you wish to be portrayed? The answer is obviously - hard, tough, uncompromising, cruel, powerful, commanding etc, so we needed to capture that idea..... And now a bit more nostalgia since the client asked for a ruined city backdrop "like Stalingrad", and of course I first encountered the awefulness of Stalingrad when doing my own "old school wargaming style" research for 1/72 scale wargames back in 1968 (no handy scenario books back then). Then there was that old pile of my son's "White Dwarf"  magazines from 15 years ago which gave inspiration for the garish colour scheme of a 40K World and uncompromising charisma of an Ork Warboss. 

Now "How to paint what doesn't exist?" and I refer you back to James Gurney's wonderful book in an earlier posting imaginative realism. So I got the client to send me some nice quality photos of his ork models and the armoured train, from all angles. I found some grainy, but effective, black and white photos of the real Stalingrad on the internet and married then together in a computer mockup, as I do for most of my figure paintings. The Imperial Guard bodies and destroyed cannon were inspired by the old WD magazines but original poses from my imagination.

And then, with the client's agreement to the basic design and colour scheme I set to with the brushes and acrylic paint to come up with what you see about 20 hours work and 5 days later. Here is the sub-text to set the scene:

Ork leader, and all-conquering hero, Hikz, has masterminded a ferocious assault on this enemy city and now has entered on his armoured command post train to dispatch any remaining opposition. The defenders are mostly dealt with - evidenced by the foreground bodies and wrecked cannon. Those who fight on are being confidently overcome (by, for example, Spike’s blasta and the bomba rockets). Shaggratt is carefully watching his boss’s back.  The city is a raging inferno so destroyed and hot that no one should be in any doubt that is what you get if you mess with Hikz and da Boyz.

Thanks for sticking with this combined nostalgia and advert, and as a reward here is a photo of the client's original armoured train model which is far too good to hide from public gaze.

Reviving 15mm vintage Napoleonics

As part of the normal cycle of a wargamer's life I often found my display cabinets getting full and new units beckoning me to give them shelf space. Decisions have to be made and, pretty though they may be, if an army isn't "earning it's keep" by regular appearances on the tabletop it either has to be boxed or sold .  So it was a couple of years ago when my 28mm Seven Years War and 10mm American War of Independence armies were blossoming I felt the decades-old 15mm Napoleonic armies had to go. Most of them were very old Minifigs which I'd ceased to like anyway, and also home cast from my own masters, but a couple of hundred were original late 1980s Anthony Barton designed Battle Honours miniatures, somewhat larger than the early Minifigs. I always loved these as they were anatomically perfect and had great detail and many were full of character. It was sad to get rid of them, but a friend had the artillery and generals so I still get to play with them occasionally, however, most went to the quick fix of being sold off rather cheaply at a Bring and Buy.

Just to remind me here are some photos, but I find I have very few

French staff officers and a home cast battalion in a Peninsular village I scratch built.

Battle Honours French officers and infantry show off a card cottage by  Brian Collins of Cheltenham
See Brian's website for interesting card models alternate realms.

Casualty figures fresh from their coating of Army Painter Quickshade
but not yet with finished bases. These BH castings are full of character.

Well, these have all gone now but imagine my surprise when, trawling eBay, as one does, while getting rid of my World War Two 20mms, and AK47 15mms I stumbled upon a large collection of original and unpainted AB/BH miniatures being auctioned off in manageable lots. These items went on sale over several weeks during the Christmas and New Year period and I was lucky enough to win quite a few of them, and make the email  acquaintance of the seller who is a one-time professional figure painter and a talented jewelry designer. scwdesigns.co.uk

Now the real point of this blog is that I'm not reviving my 15mm Napoleonic armies as such but I am intending to paint these to a very nice standard, because I think they are worth the effort, and sell them at a small profit. They include a couple of Napoleon figures and dozens of marshals, generals and aides as well as Imperial Guard Grenadiers, Young Guard Mounted Chasseurs, Cuirassiers, Polish Infantry, British Light Dragoons in helmets, as well as bog standard French line infantry in greatcoats. My initial aim is to create useful command groups and individual Generals and ADCs that will be generic enough to fit with most rules. The first of these is Marshal Davout, and here is just one photo:

I hope you will want to see more as there are lots of close ups on the eBay advert, where you can also bid for it, if so inclined. Marshal Davout on eBay

I'm interested in advice from 15mm Napoleonic collectors as to how best to present them for sale. My idea is that infantry will be 4 figures in two ranks, and cavalry two figures side by side, on a 1 inch square base. Please add a comment here or email me. And if you'd like me to notify you personally when I do more for sale please let me know. chrisgregg@blueyonder.co.uk