Addition by Subtraction

 

In our hobby, there are often times we are faced with the prospect of culling our herd of toy soldiers. It can be a cathartic process, liberating us to pursue other ventures by freeing up space and adding money to the pocket. 

There are very few instances where I have regretted ridding myself of a certain project or certain miniatures. Most of the time I don't even notice the absence.  

The HMGS Fall In convention is fast approaching and I will be there selling my excess hobby clutter in Wally's Basement. Some are projects that began with great promise only to fizzle out, other projects failed before they ever started...still in shrink wrap and never opened. 

There will be 15mm Hundred Years War, 28mm King Phillips War, boxes of unopened Star Wars Legion Droid Wars and many hobby and history books. Stop on by if you are interested, they will be heavily discounted. 

I realize the hypocrisy of this post right after posting about a rather large order of plastic miniatures (over a thousand). However by culling excess, we make room for the new...

Christmas Come Early (or Late)!

This past Tuesday was a most happy day as a parcel arrived at my doorstep from Wargames Atlantic. As a Christmas gift for myself in late November/early December, I indulged in the eagerly anticipated 10mm Azincourt pre-order event. Less than a month after Christmas they arrived. 

Inside the package were the boxed sets for both French and English Azincourt armies! Also included were some 10mm fantasy Dwarves and Boneblades (aka undead). 

Backside of the English Azincourt army box above reflecting the contents inside. In the image below is a sprue of English. The figures look good, looking forward to figuring how I will base these little fellas and a plan of attack for painting them. I don't realistically see me starting this until perhaps the summer as there are other projects in the queue. 

One of those projects ahead of these little buggers is my 10mm SCW project. I thought I finished enough figures for a full infantry company plus support. Instead, my "fuzzy math" betrayed me as I was about four rifleman short of the necessary amount. I quickly prepped about a half a dozen more infantry and also prepped some T-26 tanks, CV-33 tankettes, mortars and 37mm anti-tank guns. There was also supposed to be a Lancia Italian armored car but that assembly was so fiddly that I gave up...and I think I may have assembled the gun shields on my 37mm anti tank guns upside down. 

SCW Progress Report

I've been grinding away on the International Brigade infantry company for my 10mm Spanish Civil War project. 

I managed to finish painting on one platoon and some support weapons. I based a few of the attachments and an HMG. I also managed to finish base painting on the remaining two platoons and the accompanying attachments and support weapons. 

Since I don't really have much finished to show at the moment, I will show you this:

On the left is one of the Italian CTV squads I painted back in 2023. To the right of them are some finished International Brigade: Maxim HMG, a commander base (with a fella aiming his Chauchat) and a Maxim-Tokarev LMG attachment. 

Since it's been nearly 3 years since I based the CTV, I couldn't really remember what color paint I used for the earth on the base as well as the static grass. 

I initially painted the International Brigade earth with "Teddy Bear Fur" but that wasn't the proper color. I was able to determine I had used "Coffee Latte" and corrected the problem. The static grass isn't a perfect match but it's close enough. 

I'm hoping to finish the International Brigade this week and get them based up. Those will be the next update. After that, I plan to finish the rest of the CTV and perhaps some SCW vehicles. 

Troll Country and Dark Lords

As previously mentioned, I had ordered character and packs and some trolls from Copplestone to supplement my Orc (and possibly undead) armies. After a few days off during the holiday, I finished some of these. 

The Copplestone trolls come 9 to a pack in 3 poses, they are pretty massive fellas for 10mm. I could squeeze two of them onto my 40mm square bases. I went with a pale green-grey color and painted them in a similar style to the WA orcs with alot of the black undercoat showing.

I didn't invest alot of time in these figures even though they are very nice sculpts. My objective is to get this army painted quickly. As you can see above of the troll rears, highlights were minimal. 

Next up is a Saruman-like leader of the dark forces. There is no face under the hood. I have seen many wonderfully painted versions of this sculpt online. For me, I wanted him more like a wraith or spirit so I decided I would just prime black, dry brush with a blue-grey and apply diluted blue Contrast to the dark lord and his sword (which was painted a metallic silver). The horse was given a diluted wash of Contrast black/brown mix. 

A picture showing the size difference between the Copplestone trolls and the WA orcs. The trolls will make a very nice addition to the orc army.

The dark lord rallying some orc axemen. The two ranges are very compatible in my opinion.

The dark leader charging at the head of some orc wolf riders.

Overall, I am very pleased with this 10mm fantasy diversion. I will try to keep it relatively contained although I see myself fleshing put the undead and dwarves (which I have yet to paint). Next up, I will return to 10mm Spanish Civil War as I have some International Brigade primed and ready to paint.