Hobby Roundup. Spring Clean 2024.

For the gold cloth, saddle cloth trim, details on sash and bicorne etc I used a more sophisticated paint recipe, which while it is more time consuming than the contrast method I shared previously on L’Heritier, does result in a cleaner and more controlled finish. Start with two thin coats of Vallejo Scrofulous Brown. Then highlight with Vallejo Ice Yellow. Apply a tghinned glaze with GW Iyanden Yellow. Shade with very thin Doombull Brown. Then line and selectively shade with GW Rhinox Hide. Highlight again with Ice Yellow and finally with Vallejo Ivory. The red weave that can be seen in the rear shot of the sash is done with thinned GW Evil Sunz Scarlet.

These were painted in a very similar fashion to the Warlord Games figures that I have previously posted. I have used the same colour palette for these and also for the Perry figures that I have also posted i.e. the ones wearing greatcoats. This completes all the French line infantry that were in my pile of shame.

Did a fair bit of tidy up on this Perry sculpt. The face was miscast and the hair had a casting fault. Part of the rear cuirass was missing too. I corrected these faults with modelling putty and also drilled out the reins with a wow stick. As I was going to start the figure with contrast paints as a base coat I also smoothed all the pitting out with milliput.

As this is more of a display level mini I added a lot more highlight stages across the miniature. For the coat for example I again started with two thin coats of Leviadon Blue and then highlighted with Caledor Sky, Calgar Blue, Fenrisian Grey and Blue Horror. The latter is applied extremely sparingly. All of these are GW paints.

For the gold sash and saddle cloth etc I used a NMM method . I do not personally like gold cloth etc painted with metallic metal paints as to me it reads as solid metal rather than gold wire or cloth . Sticking to a contrast theme I had a go at a recipe I came up with. Two thin coats of Nazdreg Yellow as a base coat. Highlight with Vallejo Ice Yellow. Glaze with thinned Iyanden Yellow Contrast. Shade with Snakebite Leather. Highlight with Ice Yellow and finally with Vallejo Ivory.

Again all done with GW contrast paints. I slightly converted these. The models tassels on their bearskins are moulded as one tassel whereas in reality they should be two. I altered these so they were more historically accurate by cutting them in two and carefully manipulating them so they looked correct. The bearskins are highlighted with Vallejo Brown Grey. All other colours and methods used I have already described on my previous posts .

Again I have used contrast paints exclusively for these figures base coats. This is a guide to how I have painted the coats on these miniatures.  The darker brown is Garaghak’s Sewer highlighted with Vallejo Ivory and the contrast paint mixed equally. The lighter brown is Gore Grunta Fur highlighted in the same way but this time use any ochre  colour. The Grey is Space Wolves Grey highlighted with GW Administratum Grey . All of the figures are then glazed with a heavily diluted ( I use matt medium mixed with water) application of the original contrast paint.

As I said below I wanted to paint all these with contrast paint from Citadel base coats. The blue jacket is Leviadon Blue highlighted with Calgar Blue. The white trousers or gaiters are either Soulblight Grey Shade or Apothecary White Contrast. In both cases highlighted with Vallejo Off White. The black parts of the miniature are painted with Black Templar which is highlighted with Dawnstone. The contrast paints have all been thinned with matt medium mixed with water. A couple of coats will give you a much better result than with it applied straight from the pot.

Both the two miniatures armour was  painted from a black under coat. Sir Robert was base coated with Grey Knights Steel by GW. This paint has a blue tone to it which works very well with the blue wash which is then applied. The wash is made with Scale 75 Inktense Blue and Liquitex Carbon Black in about a fifty/fifty mix. It is very important to heavily dilute this as the pigments in the ink are very strong. Several applications work much better and you can by doing this apply it in a more controlled way. You can also ensure that it does not pool where you do not want it to.  Highlights are then applied with the original metallic. I do this by looking at the figure and seeing where the light reflects off the shiny metal paint. Selective highlights were then done with Vallejo Model Air Chrome. Use this sparingly. You may be surprised how judicious use of this at this stage really makes the miniature pop! Very much a less is more technique.

This knight is wearing blackened armour. I have deliberately painted him to look as if he is wearing armour that is less fine than his lord.  The figure is base coated with GW Iron Hands Steel. The wash this time is several applications of very thinned Carbon Black. Pin washes are also used to bring out the detail. Highlights were then done with the base colour and chrome paint. As the armour is darker the chrome paint will stand out even more than it does on the previous figure.

The base is coconut fibre glued on with PVA glue. More PVA which is heavily diluted with water is then washed onto the coconut fibre. This is then washed with Liquitex Raw Umber ink.  Various tufts were then applied.

All the products used are by AK. I was going for a melting snow effect. Snow Sprinkles is the ideal product for this. I used Ice Sparkles around this to get a melting freezing effect. Snow Microballons is a fine powder and this gives a great effect of freshly fallen snow. The last two products were applied with diluted PVA. Finally Terrains Snow gives a thicker snow effect and is a paste. I applied this in small clumps and also brushed it over the vegetation.

The scene depicts the eve of the Battle of Towton 1461. Sir Robert Whittingham ponders the question from one of his retainers, ‘How do you think the battle will go on the morrow?’ Robert would have been about 40 years of age at the time of the battle. His effigy shows him as being clean shaven. Perhaps because of the cold weather and him being on campaign excuses him having a beard in my representation. I took inspiration from Graham Turner’s beautiful painting of Robert. The figures are shortly to be released by Ragged Staff MInis and are available on Etsy.