Category: My works

Weathering with Enamels and Pigments

When I started painting minis and when model paints finally became available, the most commonly used option was enamel. It wasn’t the most friendly material: it was smelly, it dried slowly, it could re-activate the layers under and correcting mistakes with it was also difficult. Some of the more experienced miniature painters had used oil paints, but that seemed to be even more challenging, so I have never considered oil paints as an option. Acrylic paints made everything a lot easier, and when they appeared, I was convinced that enamels were gone for good.

Apparently, I was wrong: I have seen more and more articles recently, where enamels and oil paints were used, tutorials where pigments were applied, and I also found a growing range of these products, but they still seemed to be over my league. When I bought the “Painting Wargame Tanks” book of Ammo by Mig Jimenez, I was shocked to see that they recommend these techniques for wargaming tanks. Since the book explained everything in detail, and it made this method look so easy, I soon ended up with a set of pigments and enamels. When I gathered my courage and applied it on my Valentine Mk IX, I was pleased with the result and decided that I would write more about this topic.

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My Funny Valentine

Love strikes in the most unexpected moments… You catch a glimpse of perfection, the true beauty itself and your fate is sealed. Love fogs your senses and you don’t care anymore if there’s another one that is younger, more modern, better armoured or has more firepower: you’re in love with the Valentine Tank.

Joking aside, Valentine is a British tank that was manufactured in the highest numbers during World War II, it was used probably in all the theatres of the war and had more than a dozen variants. The distinctive look and the diversity of this tank make it a very interesting subject for my hobby.

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Goodbye 2020, Hello 2021!

Well, last year didn’t exactly go as planned, and I’m sure I’m not the only one who feels that way. 2020 wasn’t the best year for gaming: game shows were cancelled, and due to the lockdowns and the restrictions, there were only a few face-to-face games. I was also very busy at work, and I had many exams which left me with far less free time for my hobby than I expected. Sadly, I had no chance to paint with my nieces either.

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Christmas Special 2020

Now that Christmas is over, packages were delivered and gifts were opened, I can finally tell you about the project that I had been working on in October and November. I try to make a handcrafted Christmas gift for someone in my family or for one of my friends every year, and this year it was my nieces’ turn. Sadly, visiting family and painting something nice together was not an option in December 2020, but I still wanted to give them a personal gift that I made.

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Silversand – The City-state and the Neighbouring States

In my previous post about Inkarnate, I mentioned Silversand, the fictional realm where my D&D campaign takes place. It’s in Faerun but not part of the official canon, it’s my creation for a low fantasy D&D 5e setting, inspired by the medieval Italian city-states and the Mediterranean region.

Silversand is a city-state on the Sword Coast, with a seaport and trade routes to the continent, named after its white sand of the seaside that sparkles like silver in the moonlight. It’s not as big and famous as Baldur’s Gate or Neverwinter, but prosperous, wealthy, relatively safe and well organized.

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The More the Merrier

After finishing the first three squads of the 15mm OutRim Coalition Infantry , there was no turning back. I had to go on.

I have painted standard troopers, medics, squad leaders and SAW gunners so far, but I decided to add more support weapons (plasma guns and two different missile launchers), snipers and two assaults squads. I used the SG15-RC09 and SG15-RC04 sets from Ground Zero Games’ OutRim Coalition range.

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My First Steps in the 15mm Universe

Though I haven’t planned starting a new army or collecting anything in 15 mm scale (all my minis are in 28mm), I knew there’s no turning back and decided to buy some minis from Ground Zero Games, after reading the Stargrunt II rules. The range is surprisingly huge, there are many factions with distinct appearances, units and equipment. After carefully considering, I chose the OutRim Coalition and ordered a starter pack and a few vehicles.

The figures are very neatly detailed, there is no real sign of mould lines and they are full of character. All the figures are in power armour (no skin to paint! 😊 ), and there are marine assault troops, command and comms squad, anti-armour and light anti-armour support squads, three different heavy weapon teams, a heavy power armour squad and grav bikes in the pack. That is almost 100 figures in total.

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Soldiers of Fortune

If you’ve been following this blog, you might be wondering why haven’t I posted anything since the beginning of 2020. The end of 2019 and early this year was extremely busy with a lot of work, studying for exams, and visiting family (which also means that we’ll soon have a new entry in the “Painting with my nieces” section too). I also spent a significant amount of time with building and painting my brother’s Christmas gift in December, which is what this post is about.

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New Year – Same Old Me

This is the beginning of a new year, the time when people make resolutions. They start a new life, sign up for the gym, start a healthy diet, ditch alcohol and tobacco… and before the end of January, they get back to their old routine. The gyms that were full of new year resolutioners are back to the regular guests, snacks and comfort food find their way back to the more and more liberal diet plan and a good pint or a drag of a cigarette still does the magic.

I never really believed in new year resolutions and dramatic changes, but there are a couple of things that work for me:

  • Learning from past achievements and mistakes
  • Determining what needs to be done differently and making the necessary changes
  • Planning the next period

    • In this case, it’s not for my life in general but for my hobby only: the games I play and the minis I build and paint.

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    Carts before the Horses

    In my previous post I briefly talked about the difficulties with following schedules in my hobbies and this time I have another perfect example of how strict plans have to be abandoned sometimes. When it comes to miniature painting, I always face a huge scheduling conflict. Should I work on the army I started painting for a wargame, or rather paint the minis that are needed for the RPG campaign I run, or maybe paint these miniatures that are not really needed, but look too much fun to skip?

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