Still Miles to Go, But Shaping up Nicely. . .

After applying the legging colors on two or three more figures, I plan to paint the coats with a nice reddish brown I've selected before moving onto the mustaches and hair.  The various basic uniform colors with then each get an Army Painter wash in a similar color before retouching with the original color(s) as a highlight.  Borrowing from Aly Morrison's magic brown liquid approach.  The various currently dark brown areas will also get a highlight in one of several lighter, leathery browns to add visual interest.

Ok, plugging away with these 15 Croats getting in about 45-60 minutes most evenings, and here is where they are at this point.  Still lots to do, but the addition of the mid-blue really makes 'em "pop" as the cool kids were all saying 10 or 12 years back.  We'll see how much I am able to get accomplished this week before taking off up north on Friday morning for a solo skiing weekend however.  Admittedly, the thought of assembling a small travel painting kit has occurred to me for some brushwork on Friday and Saturday evenings, but I expect that I will be too delightfully tired to do much following hot showers and evening meals.  

I very much will pack a couple of new titles on solo wargame campaigns, however, which were given to me by the Grand Duchess for Valentine's Day last week.  Cross-country skiing and daydreaming about playing with toy soldiers will surely make for a pleasant weekend to come.  I wish the Grand Duchess could join me, of course, but she is in one of those very busy administrator spells, and the Young Master is. . . 15.  Nothing more need be said other than that the things Bad Dad does are not cool at the moment.  

-- Stokes 

 

A Wistful Paint P.S.

My bottles of Ral Partha Leather Brown and Dark Blue (visible just behind the Croats in-progress) -- purchased 25+ years ago from a now long gone hobby shop on State Street in Madison, Wisconsin when I was a graduate student -- are finally starting to get grainy and thicken beyond use.  These are the final two of six Ral Partha colors that I purchased during the fall of 1998 along with a bag of 15mm French Napoleonics in greatcoats and campaign dress, of which the less said, the better.  

The failed Waterloo corps-level project.  Sigh.  But I digress!

The red, yellow, green, and white Ral Partha bottles did not make it beyond the early 2000s for whatever reason.  I managed, though, to keep the leather brown and dark blue going with the odd drop or three of flow enhancer over the years with good results on many of the figures in the Grand Duchy of Stollen collection.  But all good things must come to an end I suppose, and when I can bring myself to do it, I will send these out into the fjord aboard a metaphoric flaming viking ship.  Which is to say the trashcan next to my desk here in Zum Stollenkeller.