Painting Update

Well, like painting I find the actual difficulty with maintaining the blog is getting started. So maintain the momentum, maintain the momentum. There is a definite advantage of the blog in that it provides the impetus to paint so there is something to write about.

I've made some progress with the Napoleonics.

Pants - Grey



Weapons and Hair -Brown



Bayonets and Barrels - Silver
Hands and Faces - Flesh
Hats, Packs and Boots - Black


They're beginning to come together.
I am getting some belief that they will actually look good when I'm done.
I did have an element of doubt as to whether I could paint effectively at 6mm but I am starting to believe. It is all about the mass effect.

Why Popski?

I started using the name Popski for online gaming about 5 years ago after reading Popski's Private Army and it has stuck as my common alias online. Popski's real name was Vladamir Peniakoff who was born to Russian parents in Belgium. He was a French Artilleryman in WW1 and fought for the British during WW2. He commanded Popski's Private Army or number 1 Demoliton Squadron, PPA.

From the wikapedia entry on Popski (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popski%27s_Private_Army)

Specialising in behind-the-lines raids (but not quite in the same form as the SAS or LRDG), PPA caused problems to the enemy for a short while in North Africa and then mainly in Italy. They entered Italy at Taranto as part of the advance guard of the amphibious landings. By the end of the Second World War, PPA had destroyed several Axis aircraft and thousands of gallons of fuel, and had taken roughly 600 Italian prisoners. The value of their reconnaissance work is hard to assess, but considerable.

Popski's book is a great read.

Peniakoff, Vladimir (2004). Popski's Private Army. Cassell Military Paperbacks. ISBN 0-304-36143-7.

For those who are interested in a bit more on Popski check out (http://users.telenet.be/ppa/homepage.htm)

The beginning

Well, I thought I'd start a blog on my miniature painting hobby. I'm not really a wargamer. Mostly because I don't really game. I'm more of a serial painter of the bright and shiny, with a succession of armies that I haven't finished painting before the next Army takes over. I suspect that this is reasonably common and that there is a spectrum ranging from painters that rarely game through to gamers that rarely paint. My collection is reasonably eclectic, covering Games Workshop (Warhammer Dwarfs and Empire, Epic Space Marines and Eldar, Blood Bowl, Mordheim, & Inquisitor), Flames of War (DAK and Eight Army with a smattering of British and US Para's), some Splintered Light 15mm Woodlands creatures for HOTT and now my latest push is 6mm Napoleonics.

I've been painting mini's for a bit over 20 years now and think I am functionally adequate. I do OK. I'm particularly fortunate having a wife that not only supports my hobby but on occassion paints herself and has a pretty good Warhammer Orc and Goblin army, a Blood Bowl team and the lead elements of Easy Company in 15mm. Unfortunately, she has reprioritised her hobby time to building her 1:1 TK Armour for her future career as a stormtrooper. Such is life.

The only miniatures that we have really used in gaming are the Blood Bowl ones and that's just a natural consequence of both having busy jobs and Sean (2and1/4) not being up to painting or gaming just yet and demanding a lot of time in other areas. He will be a painter and gamer or a Jawa, that is still an issue we are working through. Maybe he can do it all, we'll see.

My latest project is 6mm Napoleonics. I have some really nice miniatures from Baccus Miniatures and have just started building the British Army from the starter Boxed Set - French vs British 1812-15. For anyone that's interested Peter Berry from Baccus has some good stuff to say on the advantages of 6mm as a scale. (www.baccus6mm.com) This pic shows 10 stands of British Foot that have been undercoated using GW white spray and tunics painted using Vallejo Red.


What I'm trying to achieve looks like the photo below from the Baccus page.



I'm still not sure if the white unercoat was the way to go or whether black would have worked better. Time will tell. I'll try black on the French force and get a feel for what works better. My last time painting 6mm was almost 20 years ago painting a Epic Blood Angels Army, so it's been a while.

Anyway that's the end of my first blogging post. More to follow with some more photo's and updates as I do some more work on the British Foot.