Chinese Civilians Completed!

    28mm Chinese Civilians from Pulp Figures by Bob Murch

I am curious how long it has been since I've painted a batch of miniatures. I don't want to count terrain -- which I did a lot of this past summer and fall. However, I bet it has been at it is going on three months! Way too long, I say!

So, to remedy that situation, I finished off my batch of 10 28mm Chinese Civilians for my Pulp Skirmish games. Most of the minis are from Pulp Figures by Bob Murch, as mentioned in the previous post. I really like these figs, so will doubtless be buying more from this company. They are big, solid figures with interesting poses and equipment. Of course, I changed out a lot of that equipment to convert the pack of "Yangtze River Gangs" into more peaceful farmers, merchants, and laborers. These figures have a lot of character -- particularly the short guy selling the duck, the hobbled old man, and the porter with the two boxes suspended on a pole.

    The Bob Murch line of Pulp Figures has lots of colorful characters, like these two on the left

I used the painting schemes on Pulp Figures' website as inspiration. Some color mixes I pretty much copied, while others I improvised upon. I'm happy with how they turned out. There is a nice mix of faded colors and brighter, more oriental silk palette. I think all of the conversion look natural. I was worried the barrel the one laborer was hefting would look out of scale, but I don't think it does. Same with the basket on the ground that the well-muscled porter has set down. They all look like they were off to the market rather than to war.

    Farmers, Laborers, and other civilians will come in handy in my Pulp games

These figures will be pressed into action as soon as I run my final scenario in this storyline of Dakota Smith's Oriental Adventures. What's up next? I will likely paint some 28mm Native Americans. As I'm getting ready to playtest my Beaver Wars campaign rules, I need more figures I can use for youths or bow armed troops. Hopefully, these Chinese got the ball rolling and I'll get back into the swing of painting, again...

Lead Painters League 8, Round 10

My round 10 entry, "East Africa Rifles Advance," surprised me with a solid victory. I won 297-170, which gave me a 6-4 and my first winning record ever in the Lead Painters League!

I was more stressed about what to do for this round than any of the others. It was a theme round, and the subject was one I really didn't have any miniatures for. World War I has never been a period I've been drawn to -- the battles are pretty much meat grinders and the tactics completely uninspired, for the most part. Historians often accuse generals of fighting a war with the previous wars' tactics -- ignoring the implications of advances in weaponry. WW I vies for being the grand pubba of this dubious distinction, what with charges of lines of troops against entrenched troops armed with machine guns. Pure slaughter...for a good Hollywood depiction of that, check out the early Mel Gibson film, Gallipoli.
Anyway, I suspected that when I purchased about 100 figures for my Pulp project a few years back that some of them might be able to masquerade as WW I troops from one of the outlying theaters. I dug through my unpainted lead and came up with three possibilities. I showed these to my Sunday night gaming group and they identified one as good candidates for volunteer allied troops in the East Africa campaign of WW I. Keith dug out his Osprey Men-at-Arms source book on the campaign. Leafing through it, we found a painting that was a dead ringer for the troops: East Africa Mounted Rifle civilian volunteers.

I had five of the miniatures in the pack, but figured the voters in the Lead Painters League would slam me for fielding five 28mm miniatures of all the same pose. At Cincycon this March, I'd picked up Blue Moon's "A Mummy Scenario" box for half price. This set is essentially the movie, "The Mummy Returns" in miniature. In addition to Rick, the box contained some of the American fortune hunters. I sorted through them and drafted both Rick and one of the Americans into my dismounted, mounted rifle troops.

I wanted to depict them as having a basic uniform with variations in color to reflect weathering of clothes or civilians providing their own "close enough" match to the regulation equipment. The painting in the Osprey book showed a faded, gray-blue shirt, floppy brimmed hat, and khaki pants. For the pants and hat, I used a range of shades from bleached linen to dark brown. The shirt took a bit more artistry. I began with a very light gray base coat. Once dry, I took a denim blue and watered it down more than 50/50. I did this as a wash for a couple figures. I added some more water, and washed a couple more. Then even more water, and washed the last two. This gave a range of faded blues that seemed natural to me, but also provided some nice variety. This is probably the one skill I picked up during this year's league that I feel best about: color washes.

I also use a color wash on my European flesh tone, now. I start with a basic, normal flesh base coat. Then I take Ceramcoat "Georgia Clay" and water it down more than 50/50. I apply this as a wash over the skin areas. I usually do this first to keep from having to worry about it seeping onto other areas of the figure. Then I finish the flesh off with a very light flesh tone dry brush.

The scene that I set up was a town assault, or advance more properly, as there were no enemy present. I used my resin buildings from my modern Africa games, along with some Acheson Creations sandbag emplacements and crates. I honestly thought I was going to slaughtered in the voting on this round. The same poses for 4 of the 6 figures, and not having a "big item" (tank, aircraft, trains, etc.) would cut down on the "Wow!" factor. I lucked out and was matched against what is normally one of the top painters in the league. His photograph was so dark that voters had a hard time seeing his details. In addition, he did not label it as a smaller scale -- I think his figures are at least 15mm in size, but could even be 10mm. So, I ended up winning fairly handily, which secured my first-ever, above .500 record.

Lead Painters League 8, Round 7

 

"Raptors? They bred raptors?" -- my round 7 entry, that went down to defeat 350-144. I honestly felt they had a good chance, but they were matched against some incredibly colorful 28mm Conquest Miniatures Indians...hey! That's not fair...!

I actually had these guys done before the league started. I planned them as a change of pace since I was submitting so many French & Indian War themed rounds. Wouldn't you know it? They got matched against some very well-painted 28mm Conquest Miniatures Indians...! I guess it is only fair, considering how many rounds of those types of figs I've submitted in my three Lead Painters Leagues...ha, ha!

I broke new ground on technique in the subtle banding of the raptors. I did several layers of watered down paint for each stripe, and the results really repaid the effort, in my opinion. These are some of the most subtly shaded figures I've ever painted, in my opinion. Maybe TOO subtle, considering my opponent's bright colors. Oh well...*I* was happy with them.

The eggs, if you're curious, are last-minute rolls of blue tac that I was inspired to throw into the scene. I dropped to 3-4 after this round, continuing my tradition of losing anything resembling a close race. The voting was about 70/30 in my opponent's favor. The good thing, though, is I have yet to be "blown out." Everything is no worse then this ratio. This has kept me in the middle of the pack, and I am usually the highest placer for contestants with the same record. I've decided that my goal for this league is to end up at least 5-5. I was 4-6 in both of my previous ones, so I figure it is a good goal...

Pygmy Headhunting Cannibals of the South Seas

    "Good God, man! Not Pygmy Headhunting Cannibals of the South Pacific...!" These are 15mm "Cave Imps" from Splintered Light Miniatures

Ever since watching the movie "The Mummy Returns," I felt I had to have a horde of pygmy headhunters to plague my players. Of course, the movie versions are zombie pygmies, but once I spotted these 15mm "Cave Imps" from Splintered Light Miniatures, I knew they'd fit the bill. Besides, ZOMBIE Pygmy Headhunting Cannibals of the South Seas is just too long of a name. Pygmy Headhunting Cannibals of the South Seas is fine, but sometimes that one extra word takes it over the top.

    Tattoos, face paint, and decoration on the weapons makes these guys look like they belong in some undiscovered jungle valley...

Anyway, I painted up my first batch of these as an entry into the first Lead Painters League that I entered a year and a half or so ago. I had about a dozen of them left and knew I'd get around eventually to painting them up. They have wonderful character and manage to pull off looking menacing and comical at the same time. Some of that is due to the hilarious upright hair on them, ala Heat and Cold Miser's imps from "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" (my favorite Christmas special).

    Woe betide the Pulp adventurer who chuckles when he sees a horde of these emerge from the underbrush...

They stand about half the height of an average 28mm figure. There is great sculpting of muscles, hair, and weapons on them that allows for easy dry brushing. I started with a base coat of dark brown. I dry brushed them Iron Wind "Asian" flesh, and added a final highlight of "Warrior Flesh." To give them that extra twist, I painted individual tattoos on all of them. For the eyes, I just went with all black. I even decorated the weapons with colored stripes or dots or whatever.

For all that detail, they paint up quickly. I think that is probably because of the lack of equipment...er, I mean weapons and such. Even clothes. But now that I mention it, I *am* kind of glad they don't have...well, a normal naked man's "equipment"! They look more exotic -- and less like simply short humans -- this way.

    My photo of the original batch of Pygmy Headhunters the Lead Painters League in 2012

For the heck of it, I am also putting in a picture of my original batch I painted of these from the Lead Painters League. I do feel I didn't 100% match the skin tone, but it is close enough that I can live with it. My players in my Pulp games should encounter these little menaces shortly, so it'll be fun to get them out on the tabletop...!