“Hola amigo, I come to suck your blood!”

Hi everyone,

I played two games of Silver Bayonet this weekend, and I decided to paint up something related in order to get me wound-up for a long haul on the game.

I decided to do something easy in oils and went for the ghosts.  I painted these in an ethereal green. The amazing part is that I painted all six in less than  three hours and a half.

When I restart painting minis for this game, I will have to finish my French team.  I am tired of playing with them unpainted – very shameful on my part, especially when I harp on that this is my favourite genre!

Until next time stay safe and have fun as always.

NR

Hi everyone,

I just finished my demon for Silver Bayonet. As mentioned in the previous post, I painted this miniature in oils except for the axe and bell which were done in acrylics.

Unfortunately, due to my incompetence with a camera, a lot of the highlights on the back of the model were lost. I tried taking shots with different settings but the shot below was my best attempt!

Also, one of the drawbacks of oils is the shininess of the medium, as you can see in the pictures.  This can easily be addressed with mat varnish, but I want to let the paint cure for a week before applying the varnish.  The thing is I did not want to wait that long before posting the pictures!

With my second attempt at oils, I am now convinced that this is the way to go and I will be expanding my oil paint range in the coming weeks.

The fun and relaxing nature of the medium has revitalized my love for miniature painting and there is no going back.  As time goes by and I become more efficient in this medium I will paint more miniatures in oils until acrylics become the exception to my painting and not the norm.

For my next oil painting project, I will try to paint up the ghosts and spirits for TSB.  This will be a new challenge from the darker colours I have used for the first two miniature.

Until then, stay safe and have fun.

NR

Hi everyone,

I am continuing to practice with oils, and as I have said in the last post, I am enjoying the process a lot.

The next mini is the demon, and I thought it would be interesting to show the difference in the painting process.

With oils you can you use acrylic or enamel primers.  I use Vallejo acrylic primers.  The colour of the primer depends on the result you want to achieve.  In this project I went with three types to experiment, but in my first attempt I went with black – since oil paints are very opaque it worked in my favour.

Pre-glazing is probably the most important step in this technique.  It is one step I never knew about.  Pre-glazing gives the latter layer of paint something to adhere to.

The best paints for pre-glazing are colours with high tinting power like Van Dyke Brown and Indigo. There are only a handful!

Most of the colour then has to be removed with a makeup sponge after letting the paint to set for about 10 to 15 minutes.

I call this the ‘fun process’. The first layers are like a delicate drybushing!  The paint mixes with the pre-glaze and instantly creates shadows and highlights.

The next layers are added on then feathered in with a soft brush.  The great thing is that you only need cheap synthetic brushes and sables are kind of useless.

One thing I learned is that the oil paint dictates the speed you paint at, and this forces you to chill out, relax and go with the process.  If you have only ever painted with acrylics like myself, you will have to re-learn the attitude you need to paint with.

Another thing to keep in mind is the ‘Fat over Lean’ rule.  Before I got in line, I was having a lot of difficulty.  I suggest you do some research about the nature of oils and how 2D painters use them for some foundational background.

Below are two videos that helped me get started and trouble-shoot most of the problems I had.

Below is the miniature with the cape and clothes painted up. Since I went with black, I had to minimize the highlights in order to keep the black ‘reading’ as black to the eye. I also wanted some colour in the cape, so I highlighted with light violet and light blue rather than white.

I will let you decide if I managed or not!

That is all for now.  Next week I will continue with the detailing and hopefully post the finished product.

Until the next post stay safe and have fun.

NR

Hi everyone,

The last two weeks I started watching the videos of James Wappel who paints nearly elusively in oils, and I was blown away!

I remember in the early ’80s historical miniature painters used to use oils.  In that time, acrylics started to come into popularity, so I never had the inclination to use oils.  I could achieve all the effects I wanted with acrylics.

After watching, Mr Wappel do his magic, and making it look so easy, I decided to jump in and I am very happy I did so.

It is like learning to walk all over again.  My first attempts were disastrous, and I was over the moon.  Oils have given me a new and enjoyable challenge.  I do not envision ever stop using oils.

Below is the first miniature I ever painted completely in oils that is good enough for the tabletop! It was painted over a black acrylic undercoat.  It took me several attempts to get to this result.  If I painted this in acrylics it would be ten times better.

Nonetheless, I haven’t enjoyed painting miniatures this much in a very long time!

I will not do away with acrylics altogether.  I will still use acrylics to paint 15mm and 10mm armies, and certain details like gems and gold trinkets.  Over time though, as I get better and more experienced with oil paints, their use will come more and more prominent in my work. If not for the quality I can achieve, then for the sheer enjoyment I get out of the process.

So until my next post, stay safe and have fun.

NR

Hi everyone,

I have finished up some conversions for my French team.  During play, I found that two sappers are better than one. Also, I wanted another Imperial Guard veteran to match the one I already converted.

While I was at it, I also converted up a doctor which I don’t have and another supernatural investigator which I can use with any force. There is a French doctor in the 2nd French set, but I do not intend to buy it since I have all I need now for the French.

All the miniatures come from Victrix sprues.  I went with Victrix because they are slightly larger and fit in better with the metal miniatures.

The most work went into the Doctor miniature.  I had to scrap off nearly all his clothes in order to add the new stuff on.  His bag was super fiddle to make, but in the end I managed to get a good likeness using a piece of sprue as a base.

The twin hand guns on the Supernatural Investigator’s back and the Doctor come from Front Rank Miniatures. The book comes from a Dark Angel’s sprue.

For the Imperial Guard I went with an ahistorical look.  It had to match the first, so I went with some medieval parts.  I also enlarged him slightly to make him a bit more imposing.

The sapper is just a grenadier with and added apron, two-handed axe and some extra height.

That is all for now. Until my next post, stay safe and have fun.

NR

Hi everyone,

I just finished a troll from Gamezone Miniatures. I found this model not only very nicely sculpted, but also the right scale. This is actually in resin and very affordable.  I might get the other one holding a dead horse’s head.

The next miniature is a ‘Church Giant’ from a board game called ‘Bloodborne‘. I honestly have no idea what this game is.  I found this on Ebay for just €3.90 and I snatched it up!

You can get it from HERE.

I added the bone wings from a plastic Reaper miniature.  This will be my demon.  I think it suits the gothic setting perfectly!

The last is my ‘living suit of armour’. I bought this from the same shop on Ebay as well. It is also from a board game called ‘Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood of Venice’.  Once again, never heard of it – even though I am familiar with the brand.

That is all for this week.  I will continue painting up more miniatures for the game, as well as working on a new diorama.

So until next post stay safe and have fun.

NR.

Hi everyone,

I added three more ‘infantrymen class’ minis to my team, and I still have three more to go to get a 10 man strong squad.  All these miniatures are not really needed for Silver Bayonet, but I will use them for other games.

In the meantime, the figures were painted up in different uniforms of the allies that fought with the French during this period.  I did this to add some colour and variety.

The first is an Irishman with the green uniform, the second is an Italian in the white uniform, and the last is also an Italian, but from the northern Piedmont army.

I have a Swiss voltiguer and a Bavarian fusilier left to paint, but I want to add another French fusilier.

Until next time stay safe and have fun.

NR

Hi everyone,

I managed to finish painting up four more miniatures for my French Silver Bayonet team.

I wanted more Grenadiers, a Guard miniature and an artillerist.  I want to add a bit more colour and variety within my force, so I decided to add some models from allied contingents.

The Grenadier with the yellow uniform and the big cross is the first.  He is from the Neuchatel Battalion or the famous ‘Canaries’ as they were often called. The model is a conversion from a Perry Miniatures plastic figure.

Both miniatures below are conversions.  I wanted to give the Imperial guard an ahistorical veteran vampire-hunter look. So I gave him a crossbow instead of a musket and some neck-protection!

The Neuchâtel Grenadier has an ‘over-the -top‘ holy symbol, boldly and bravely declaring their allegiance to God.

The next two miniatures are from the Front Rank catalogue.  They are both Imperial Guard artillerymen. I will be using the first as an artilleryman, since the official range lacks one.  The second with the crate I will use as a Grenadier

I have also started work on some more infantry. I will be painting these up from several allied batallions in Napoleon’s army.

In the first picture, one will be from an Irish batallion, one from an Italian batallion and the kneeling fusilier from the piedmontese ‘Legion du Midi‘.

This should breath some colour into the force.

The second picture contains a French Grenadier and two Bavarian fusiliers. I chose the Bavaians to continue to diversify my force.  The Grenadier was chosen because I want four Grenadiers in total

That is all for now.  My next post will be either some of the infantrymen painted up or a painted up monster.  I will see how my fancy chooses.

Until next post, stay safe and have fun.

NR