More Painting Stuff

I figured that since I was doing some posting on painting, I'd fill you in on a few other things. One is Future Floor Finish. It's a clear acrylic that you can use to wash a figure with; much like "the Dip" in the previous posting. I mix mine 50-50 with water and add inks to use for shading figures; I haven't mastered it yet and I've ended up with either too much or too little ink in the mix from time to time. I like it because it does clean up with water and doesn't smell like "the Dip", but I haven't mastered it yet and it's still a work in progress for me as far as painting goes.

As for how I paint. With very few exceptions (like vehicles or 10mm stuff or terrain or figures on GW style bases) I mount my 15mm & 25/28mm figures on nails for painting. I have a few small boards that my friend Neil drilled out for me years ago and I just stick the nails in the holes. I even do this for horses. I like it because I don't have to touch the figure when painting and I have great control over the figure when painting; I tried the popsicle stick thing, but doing that just seems to cramp my hand after a while. The only negative is having to glue the figures to the nails and pop them off of the nails afterwards...doesn't take too much time, but it's a pain.

"The Dip"

I've been using "the Dip" for several years now...oh, I can still "paint" and do so occasionally to prove to myself (and others) that I still can. "The Dip" is a manner of washing or staining a figure using Minwax Polyshades stain. I use Satin Tudor. Gloss does not stain as well and figures generally are still very shiney using the gloss...even after a coat of dulcote. The Tudor gives a good black shading to the figures, and the "poly" in "Polyshades" is for "polyeurothane" which protects your figures nicely...I can't recall ever having a scratch on a figure that has been "dipped". I do the washing out in my garage because between the dip and the "odorless" mineral spirits the fumes can be a bit much. I use a brush that I wet with mineral spirits to brush on "the Dip"...when I first started I would just dunk the figures in and let it run off of them and use a cloth to soak up the excess. I now brush it on and use the mineral spirits to help it flow when needed and also to lighten up areas that get too dark...you can go back over the figure for a few minutes after brushing on "the Dip"; don't wait too long though, especially out here in AZ as it can set up pretty quickly.
Here are some figures "pre-dip". They are 28mm and were primed white.

Here are the same figures "post-Dip"; hopefully you can see the difference with the shading that takes place. The figures are still wet so that's why they are as shiney as they are. They will still have a satin finish with some shine to it when completely dry, but then they get hit with Testor's Dulcote and the shine is gone.

More WAB Mitanni

Here are the rest of the infantry for my 28mm WAB Mitanni Army that were painted by Fernando Enterprises. The javelinmen are Newline Designs, the Sea Peoples are from Old Glory, and the Phoenicians are from Foundry.

Javelinmen

Phoenicians
Sea Peoples

WAB Mitanni Infantry

Here are some pictures of the start of my 28mm WAB Mitanni Army. The infantry are mostly from Foundry with some Newline Designs mixed in. I've had these guys for quite some time, but only recently based them up. I sent them to Fernando Enterprises in Sri Lanka to get painted and I think they did a good job. All of the infantry are done, but I have 17! chariots I have to paint up myself. I'll get cracking on those soon hopefully. The army will be mostly Mitanni with a Hittite allied contingent.

Archer Unit 1

Archer Unit 2

Archer Close-up

Hittite Spearmen
Mitanni Spearmen

I took these pictures in the portable photobox my wife got me for Xmas. I like it for taking pictures in...I seem to have less issues with focus than I did in the past; now my main issue is the lighting which I'm still working on as you can tell by the pictures. Maybe I'll get it, maybe I won't, but either way I don't think the pictures are awful.

New Gripping Beast

I've got some Gripping Beast figures in some of my armies like my Late Roman Cavalry, some of my Vikings, and an unpainted Andalusian army. The Vikings and Late Romans are some of their older product and are "ok"...not great, but acceptable. The Andalusians are a bit better. Anyway, after gawking at their Carthaginians both online and at Historicon last time I went and looking at their Teutonics online and their Thematic Byzantines online and in Beyond the Golden Gate I couldn't resist anymore. I bought full Carthaginian, Byzantine, and Teutonic armies from them and I couldn't be happier. I of course won't use their spears as they bend too easily, but the sculpts are wonderful. The Teutonics are great...and I got some of their "late crusader" range to mix in and they look great too. Once I get these taken care of (years?) I'd definitely consider getting more of their new sculpted ranges like the Later Crusaders, Seljuk Turks, and Medieval Russians...

You can see pictures of the Gripping Beast figures at: http://www.grippingbeast.com/

And you can purchase them in the US through: http://oldglory15s.com/

Last of the Danes

I wanted to show more of my Ulfhednar; the picture isn't the best, but it shows more of the variety in the unit. The Danes are as "done" as I'll ever be with an army...I've got more than enough troops to play a "standard" 2000 point game. If I ever start playing larger games I'll have to add more troops. I know that some in WAB think the Ulfhednar are "cheesy", but I don't use Beserkers in the army as I consider them the Beserkers. They are actually pretty easy to beat...there's nothing like getting an expensive unit shot up by 40 points of skirmishers!

Even More Danes

Since it appears that I can only upload 5 pictures per post, I'll have one more post after this to put up to finish showing off my Danish WAB army.

Two Units of Hird:

More Hird:
The Fallen:
"Tiny" and friends:
Ulfhednar:

More Danes

Here are more pictures of my Danes for WAB. The figures are a mix of Foundry and Gripping Beast...

More archers:

Another Bondi unit:

The General's Unit:
The Gestir:
A Hirdman Unit:

First Post and Danish WAB Army Pictures

This is my first post to the blog and I think I'll be starting off by posting images of stuff I all ready have, starting with my 28mm Danish Army for Warhammer Ancient Battles. This army has been done for quite a few years and uses Foundry, Gripping Beast, and a few Black Tree figures in it. They all mix together well and I like the look of the army.

One of the archer unit leaders:

A unit of archers:

A nicely done Hirdman with a daneaxe:

A unit of Bondi spearmen:

The General and Army Standard: