The Dwarf Sauerkraut Wars - the regiments part ten

Regiment ten - The Krautian Guard

Allegiance - Krautian

One of the most characterful group of figures ever to come from Alternative Armies. A review in Orcs in the Hills, issue 9, page 55 - Krautian Guard (52502) 'Ten short and hairy weapon-wielding guys. As soon as you take a look at each dwarf you can see that every individual has his own personality, all sporting pickelhaubs and the greatest collection of mutton chop whiskers ever assembled, aiming their blunderbusses menacingly and fairly bristling with aggression. Under no circumstances would you want to mess with these guys! The standard bearer is hoisting a flag that is topped with a lovely detail - a foaming beer tankard, obviously a potent symbol in dwarf culture.'

This group of eight miniatures has a commanding officer from the Dwarf Landwehr set (52504), which I have always felt works better with this group than the capped officer with the eye patch.

Tony

Flintloque - Small Stone Warehouse finished

These photos show the finished warehouse model, the project has taken less than a week from start to finish and cost me nothing - I have used scrap Blue Foam and MDF that was already stored in my 'spares box'.

Photo One - The finished Warehouse, based, varnished and with ground-cover added.

Photo Two - As above, the green foliage is ground-up foam, mixed with PVA glue and spread-on with a piece of scrap wood. Once dry the heaped foam is very strong.

Photos Three and Four - Show the finished model with a Flintloque Ogre (56009) and a Connartist Command Figure (54034) alongside and shown for scale.

I am pleased with the model, but as stated earlier, a cream coloured stone might have looked better than the grey stone. The model is 80mm wide, 90mm deep and 115mm tall.

Total modelling time; 6 - 7 hours.

Tony

Flintloque - Small Stone Warehouse part five

These photos, show the progress made over the last 24 hours,

Photo One - the groundwork painted GW Spearshaft Brown and some dirty Black/Brown washes over the stonework.

Photo Two - A couple more washes, to add colour to the bland grey walls and roof as well as the groundwork, drybrushed and washed. The door and window shutter was first painted Cream, washed with Black and later drybrushed Grey. The rust coloured studs, are Red/Orange over Black.

Photo Three - With the exception of the two barrels, the painting is finished. I am pleased with the model and the finish, but wonder if a cream coloured stone might not have been better than the grey.

Tony

New 40mm Miniatures from Spartan Games

I have just seen on TMP notification that Spartan Games are to release a range of 40mm miniatures from Greek Mythology, see;

http://www.spartangames.co.uk/40mm_mythology.htm

I can see these being used in my 40mm Flash Gordon collection!

Tony

Flintloque - Small Stone Warehouse part four

Photo One - This morning I undercoated the whole model with a mixture of Acrylic White paint, PVA glue and some very fine sand. I used a stiff, cheap paint brush, to prod the paint and glue into the stonework.

Photo Two - This evening, I painted the whole model Pale Grey - a cheap 99p bottle, acrylic paint, bought from an arts and craft shop.

Photo Three - A quick 'wash' of distilled water, black wash and flow improver, brought out the detail.

Photo Four - A couple of dry brushes later and the detail (particularly the stone roof) just 'popped out'.

Photo Five - The basic painting took less than two hours and I think the technique has worked. I now look forward to the detail painting over this Bank Holiday Weekend.

Tony

Flintloque - Small Stone Warehouse part three

This evening, I was able to get another half an hour of work completed on the warehouse, the door has had more detail added and the base has been partially covered with sand and grit.

Just before I finished - I was able to give the wood-chip roof another coat of diluted PVA glue. Once fully dry/set I should be able to start painting.

Tony

New-Look Wargames Illustrated

There has been much written about the new owners of Wargames Illustrated and how WI will become a White Dwarf style advertising catalogue for Flames of War. I saw a comment on TMP earlier this week about how the articles were so well written and the illustrations taken from Osprey guides, this directly led to me searching out a copy at WH Smiths, handing over £4.00 and picking up the new-look Wargames Illustrated (and free plastic Riflemen from the Perry's).

My first impression is that the standard of production and presentation is so much better, now looking and feeling like a prestige and very up-market publication - well done.

I am yet to fully read all of the articles, but delving in to just a few is enough to wet my appetite. The Sturmtiger Diorama by Matt Parkes had me questioning the authenticity of the comments, the detail is so good, that I just couldn't believe it was 15mm scale! I would have thought at least 28mm and maybe larger. Again - well done.

I have NOT found a huge number of FOW adverts, quite the contrary, with a very wide selection of different manufacturers and beautifully painted miniatures to tempt me (and I believe others) to buy.

In summary, there is very little to criticise, I would suggest that it is going to be very hard to maintain this standard but I also look forward to reading more issues.

Do I think I will buy more editions? - YES.

Every one? - NO, I do not think so, but the last WI magazine I purchased was well over a year ago, this new look has tempted me to buy again.

Tony