Double Dipping - Persian Tests

I thought I'd try two "dips" on some of those Persians I assembled.

The three on the left are don using regular ol' Minwax, the three on the right use my homemade "Substance D" that I've previously mentioned, and tested a few times.

Truthfully, I'm not that happy with either result. But I'm definitely more unhappy with my Substance D dip. I tried touching up the three on the right. Maybe if I give the three on the left the sametreatment they will look better.

I really don't want to (and don't have the time to) paint a hundred or so Persians. I think they are going on the back burner for a while, anyway. I just wanted to try a bit of comparative dipping. If/when I get some time, it's most likely back to the Romans & ancient Spanish.

Phalanx, Primer, Crusader, Campaign

Phalanx Test

This is my first phalanx test figure. The base isn't painted yet. Most of the figure was painted using blocked out colors, then a wash using my Substance-D. The only post-wash painting was the face of the shield and the pike shaft. I'm considering getting some decals for the final shield design.


Armory Primer

There is a saying, "fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me." I would like to amend this to contain the third phrase, "fool me a third time and I must be a f-ing idiot." Why? I primed my first 24 phalanx using Armory primer. I had run out of my usual Krylon, and the only stores that seem to carry it are across town. I had no plans (nor time) to go across town for a can of primer, so I figured I would give the Armory another chance as I still have cans and cans of the stuff (all colors, plus clear) filling a small crate. Everything went fine. I did a test figure and it worked fine. I did a few other figures, they primed fine. I put 24 Macedonians on the painting board -- they turn out fuzzy. F-ing worthless Armory primer.



Crusader Miniatures

On a more positive note, I would like to state (once more) how much I love Crusader brand figures. My first 72 Macedonians (including the one above) are Crusader. I've also got about 24-28 Crusader Thureophori to work on. I also own and have painted some of his Ancient Germans, Spanish, Romans, Numidians, and the recently posted Carthaginians.

They are clean figures, both in terms of sculpting and casting. Because of this they paint up quickly, and look nice and distinct on the tabletop. As a US customer, I appreciate that they have a North American distributor/caster, as it saves me a bundle on postage that I would pay ordering from some of the other UK companies/sculptors that I would otherwise like to buy from. That's a big advantage to adding +40% for overseas postage from the UK from some companies. At any rate, I for all of those reasons I am a fan of, and enjoy painting and collecting Crusader figures!


Ancients Campaign

As much as I had been looking forward to trying to put together a Diadochi campaign, I think I may try a Roman "end of the Republic" campaign first. Of the 5 local WAB players I know, we now have 4 Roman armies, and one "barbarian" who we can easily work in. My thought is to divide into two major factions (Optimates and Populares or whatever) with two Romans in each faction, then toss the barbarian player in as a bit of a wild card. I'll set up a map that will determine resources (points and troop options) are available to those possessing different territories. Points will be assigned in two groups, Core (mainly legion & Roman characters) and Allies/Mercenaries/Levies.

Attacks will be made in adjacent territories, or if an army is in a territory with a port and is willing to risk a hazardous sea voyage (roll on a table for effects) they can move to another port location. Moving into an unoccupied territory means you take possession of it (I'm thinking of throwing in a random table to see if there is some sort of temporary side effect.) Moving into a territory with an enemy army in it means a battle. Each army will have a certain amount of the total faction points assigned to it. Battles can be fought between any player or players from the faction involved, based on who is available to play. I figure this will allow the campaign to continue without getting bogged down by people's schedules, while letting those who are not as frequently available still get to play some occasional games.

I'm thinking of putting a couple of special rules for a few territories and/or troop types. Maybe something like Egypt requiring a dedicated garrison force, Germania can not be conquered, bringing too many foreign troops into Italy or Rome will risk an uprising, some troop options become unreliable if taken too far from home, etc.

At least those are my thoughts thus far. Maybe this can be a practice run for a Successor campaign to see what works & what doesn't.

Dipping and Bitching

Dipping

I've made my next experiment with dipping. I've headed back to my Paint Machine Project blog for this, as I tracked my time and it seemed appropriate to post there, as that was the whole point of starting that project. My comments are there, in my latest entry. I won't elaborate here, other than to say that I think a bit more experimentation will be done.

Well, that and I'm not sure why I am still referring to it as "dipping" as there is no dipping going on, other than a brush dipping into the wash medium.


Bitching

This is just a bit of an overflow of my bitching elsewhere. But I think my interest in WFB is hitting an all time low. I think I've even got over the 8th edition blues. Well, I still think 6th/7th were better, but I just accepted that 8th edition was the reality of the current game and I came to a state of acceptance.

I think that the current focus on tournaments and competitive play is just pushing my interest further down. I play wargames for the mental challenge (I view the games like a kinetic puzzle, evolving on the tabletop between two or more players,) but also for fun and relaxation. Right now there seems to be too much of a focus on the "meta game" and list building, too little on pushing figures around and rolling dice. Tournaments that were previously relaxing social events are becoming a source of arguments and bitching about determining a "winner" and/or bitching about whoever was decided as the "winner." This is all spilling over into local "friendly" games which, it seems, are now being dictated by this competitive environment.

That's fine for the people who are really into that. I guess it's just not my thing. So I think I've decided I'm done with tournaments, and I'm bordering being done with WFB entirely.

Dipping Experiment - Continued

I'm pretty happy with the results of my Minwax dipping experiment, and my subsequent home-brewed dip experiment (see below.)

So here are the Carthaginians, post-dip. After the dip, I painted the shields using a quick three layer technique (hard to see the shading, the photo washed out the white.) And finally I added a layer of matte varnish. I just used Krylon UV Protection Matte. I thought I might have to pull out the "big guns" of matte varnish (Testors) but it doesn't seem necessary. These are simple figures with a lot of mail, but overall I'm happy with the results. The only minor change I should have made was using a different color for the spears.



As a result of discussion of my attempts at replicating GW's Delvan Mud wash in the replies to my last entry, I took some anonymous advice and sought out a bottle of Ceramcoat Dark Burnt Umber. I found it at the local craft store for a whopping $0.79 and it is perfect. Far darker than any of the other browns I currently have, but a bit warmer than black.

I mixed up a batch of Future, water, DBU (dark burnt umber) and a bit of anti-shine additive and applied it to the figure below. It was a little two thin, so I added more DBU the the mix and gave it another coat before the first had fully dried. I probably should have used another figure, but I was impatient. So the results look good. I think I need to fine tune the mix a bit (maybe less/no water?) and apply it to a fresh figure. But I'm optimistic.

I have labeled the bottle with this mix, "Substance D" -- as in "D"evan Mud replacement (and "D"ark Burnt Umber.) But also because I am a Philip K. Dick fan, ans Scanner Darkly is one of my favorite books.


So here's my plan, then.... I'm going to try some more figures using both my Substance D and the Minwax. Then I hope to make use of "dipping" one some of the piles of rank and file troops that have backed up in my collection and get them on the battlefield.

Taking the Plunge -- With Dipping

I'm finally making my first experimental foray into using the "Dip."

After much reading on the internets, I actually purchased these supplies almost a year ago. But I've just now got around to trying them.



Here are my shiney shiney Carthaginians spearmen, basecoated.



And here is a somewhat poorly lit shot after the "dip." I didn't actually dip the figures, but used the "apply heavy wash with brush" method. But that's a bit much to say or type quickly.


So far the results look OK. Hard to say until they dry completely and I can hit them with a matte clearcoat. But so far I'm not sure the results are quite as good as I could get with a similar wash method using GW's Delvan Mud. The trade off, of course, is that the large tin of Minwax costs less than two tiny bottles of Delvan Mud. And for what it's worth, I can skip the gloss coat and go straight to the matte.

After considering the Devan vs. Minwax, I tried mixing up a new homebrew wash of Future, Reaper anti-shine addative, a bit of water, a bit of matte medium, and some dark brown paint. I used Vallejo "Leather Brown" which paints very dark straight out of the bottle, but as a wash it turned out far too light. I may dump it and try using some dark artists acrylic in a new batch. I think I have something pretty dark, but don't remember what (Umber? Van Dyke?)

Not that I'm ready to give up on the Minwax yet. I've got a lot of the stuff and a bunch of figures that need painting. I will continue to experiment, and will post further photos as I finish these guys.



This last photo shows why the above photo was poorly lit. I've got my "dipping station" set up on a separate table, so I can let it sit & dry overnight while not getting in the way of my regular painting spaces.