Slaves to Dorkness

I think my favourite strategy for getting stuff painted is to have four or five projects on the painting table at once, so that the desire to avoid painting one of them spurs you to paint another. Here is a case in point, I've started re-painting my chaos warriors (the first models I ever owned) for use in a future Kings of War army.

Re-painted Chaos warriors, now back in bold, bright colours with little regard for artistic coherence. Just as they should be. Flash used.

Back when I was 9 and first painting this lot I disregarded such modern fripperies as undercoating and highlights, instead just slapping on a different colour for each armoured limb and leaving the metal weapons in their bare pewter. I have since been told that, with a careful use of ink, one can achieve excellent results working with the bare metal. I later repainted these primitive efforts (directly over the old pigment, which has obscured the detail in places) using red and bronze for the hand-weapon-and-shield warriors and plain metal for the halbardiers. To try to avoid too much overpainting, I have tried to keep to the principle of this scheme, except adding coloured trim, washes and highlights to add some depth.

Scale comparison shot, with Britannia miniatures 20mm German (left) and old Airfix H0/00 German (right) being dwarfed by 90's chaos warriors.No flash.

The other thing I want to show you is my uncertainty about using flash photography for photos. My current camera rig is my phone camera using natural light and the room light, which tends to darken the models a lot in comparison to the white background. One alternative I have tried is using the phone flash, which isn't perfect either, but it does at least bring out the colours. Seeing as it's summer, It might be worth waiting for a sunny day and taking them outside actually...

3 more marauders, one of whom is the dwarf from the Bad Squiddo shieldmaiden range.

Whilst I have mostly been painting Warhammer to avoid starting on the Gunny Peegs (remember them?), I have also been avoiding painting WWII armour (pics to follow. Eventually.), Afrika Korps and Italians (pics at bottom of page). At least I've finished all the Feldgrau Germans who carry Panzerfausts for late-war engagements.

Close up of the Norse Dwarf

A Bad Squiddo figure I have actually finished is Agna - Norse Dwarf. I only have 14 Citadel chaos marauders, so to make up the numbers to a regiment of 20 I will be adding two-handed weapon models from other sources. Agna really does fit thematically with the Citadel chaps, but the subdued colour palette might stand out a bit. Unrelated to this, I've at length put paint on a Wood Elf I've had lying around for years. I'm tempted to buy a few more, but that costs money that ought to be spent on WWII armour, chaotic supernumeraries etc. An aside: I've been avoiding the use of iron on my elf and dwarf models. I was inspired by Glorantha, where elves and trolls can't get on with iron for whatever reason. I think it gives a fey otherness to the non-human races which can often be lost.

Wood elf, I think this originally came as a freebie with a mail order.

In the time between updates I have at least finished a couple of Shermans, so I suppose this is as good a time as any to elucidate my Girls und Panzer tank marking conventions. The show considers a world where stylised non-lethal tank combat is considered to be an appropriate sport for schoolgirls (like hockey or lacrosse I suppose) and numerous schools are invented, most of whom are based on WWII tank building nations. To convert this to the table top, if a tank has been featured in the show, it will display the badge of the school that fields it. If a tank has not been featured, it will display the badge of the school associated with the manufacturing nation. For example, The Sherman is only used by Sanders, so that's the badge I use for both British, American (and, hypothetically) Rusian Shermans. The Valentine hasn't featured to my knowledge, but it was built by the UK, so will feature the St. Gloriana's crest in both British and Soviet service. Yes I have put too much thought into this.

Latest batch of WWII 20 mm: finished the Feldgrau Germans and a couple of Shermans, who are sporting the markings of Sanders School from Girls und panzer.

Finally, I can report that the cold war rages on across my painting desk. I've finally started permanently basing everything on assorted metal bases and eventually I'll be able to get round to the *new stuff* that I've bought, which is essentially more of the old stuff. Currently on holiday and won't be back to the painting table until August, so no model updates, but I might finally give you the tournament report from Four Foot Snake. Maybe.

The small size of the 2mm with some unpainted 1/72 WWII Italians for scale. Italian forces will feature in North Africa, also Russia.