Finally ~ Incoming!!! (22.5 Points?)

Embarrassingly overdue, but finally done my first ever entry to the AHPC! My parents gave me a copy of Featherstone's Solo Wargaming for my 14th Birthday.  I have a huge Collection of unpainted primarily Ral Partha lead. I've been a gamer since I was a little kid.I've always wanted to play Large Army Fantasy Battles. I'll be sixty this Summer . . . Definitely past time to make it happen.

My Dear Wife Pat gave me a dog grooming kit for Christmas. We don't have a dog, so it seemed like a good idea to, um, trim my fur. (The fur mat is unfinished and is not a terrain entry ~ yet. It's a practice piece for a later project.)

Bad color drift, but I hope you all can get an idea of how the base looks. (I haven't painted a landscape in over forty years, but I've been wanting too. So I began this skyscape last night as practice for another later project.)

 Unfortunately I unthinkingly used W&N Galleria Matt Varnish on all of the Officer's armour.

I repainted it, but I'm still not happy with the result. I'll go back and try a satin varnish later.

 Poor photo of the Loader.

You didn't?!? Well, yes I did! 

I've always been kind of bothered by how this thing would work. So I strung it with 28 gauge Sterling Silver wire. I'll satin varnish the strings, when my varnish gets here, so they won't tarnish. In Honor of, and to amuse, our Mighty Friday Minion ~ this obviously has to be some kind of an Italian weapon!

 I've had this classic Tom Meier since the late 70's. He's a simple conversion.

I chopped off his sword and the potion bottle, added a quillon and pommel nut. I made the plume from fine brass sheet, a simple repousse job. I wished I'd curved the edges down more to match the Citadel figures' plumes and I should have made the veining deeper; they looked good in metal but don't show up well once painted.

Oh yeah, the bases. I've been thinking about and tinkering with this project for years. The 1/8" bases I had custom cut were just too thin for me. The 1/4" ones I made were so thick they just didn't look right. I finally found 3/16" white board was perfect for me. I joined our local Senior Center so I could use it's amazing wood shop. I cut 2' X 4' into 6" X 3" bases. Why 6" X 3"? You'll have to wait for another installment!

These are all 25 mm. The One True Scale. So I figure split the difference between 20 and 28 mils? So 3 foot figures at 4.5 plus an artillery piece at 9? Plus whatever else our Worthy Friday Minion things warranted.

Hope you all enjoy! ~ Tom T

The Beginning of the Saga of Nuada of the Silver Hand, the Sword of Light, & Bebu

Nuada of the Silver Hand, the Sword of Light, & Bebu

I did this conversion fifteen or twenty years ago. At some point I began painting him, but I just wasn't happy with it. The greens are okay, but the skin tones are off to me, and the paint is too thick.

So, after the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge IX began, into the Simple Green he went!

I've almost finished painting him at this point. I'll post some finished photos a couple of days after he posts on the Challenge site. Back to painting for me!

Finally!

Finally all primed and ready to paint! (With one finished test figure.)

Thirty-six square inches of long-dreamed of AElf Guard pike phalanx goodness . . .

Forty-seven classic Tom Meier Ral Partha sculpts mounted on their metal painting bases. After all of these years I couldn't resist setting them up on two 3" X 6" movement bases to finally get a glimpse of what they're going to look like.

Now to get 'em painted!

Proof of Life

I am alive and have been painting. But it doesn't look like I'll have my first entry in before the New Year. (That was one of my goals . . .) At least we had a break in the weather and I was finally able to a start on priming my AElf Guard Pike!

Onward we go! 

Brushes Away!!! Good painting to all of the Companions journeying together during this ‘Fellowship’ of The Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge IX !!! !!! !!!  I’m still prepping. And, yeah, I do have a bunch of figures still waiting for rattle can priming. ~ once the weather allows. It’s all good.

I have A Plan. I do. Really. I do . . .  (?)

This will be Fun. Hopefully it will also help keep me sane through the depths of Winter’s darkest nights AND reduce my Lead Mountain. I’m really looking forward to seeing what my finished unit bases will look like on the field!

And we’re are off!!! (And I’m not even slinging paint ~ yet.)

In The Beginning . . .

A long time ago I fell in love with the incredible Elf sculptures that Tom Meier's created for Ral Partha.

I purchased my first pack of six of the Sea Elves, shown above, in 1977 the year I graduated from High School! The next pack was in 1979, when they were re-molded. Pat gave me another pack for Christmas in '84, after we moved in together. She knew I really wanted to create a pike phalanx. Inspired by a friend I was gaming with in the early 80's I white glued them onto 20 mm square tiles and stored them in a clear plastic shoe box from the 70's.

They've lived, still loved and admired and unpainted, on the book shelf beside my computer desk where I can see them every day ever since then . . .

Then I saw I stumbled upon https://youtu.be/XcQfxtN65RI

At https://yarkshiregamer.blogspot.com/2018/06/the-italian-wars-project-is-go.html

This Inspiration helped me finally figure out how I really wanted this long dreamed of unit to look!

I've been Collecting Ral Partha figures, literally, for decades. And Ral Partha is back in business again! Hmmm . . . Pat gave me a generous order for my Birthday this year. I cleaned and primed them and did an initial dark wash to show their details, while I stared at their older 'lead' relatives.

Since I've been accepted into the ranks of the AHPC IX I think it's only fair and right to strip these and start fresh. So,  yesterday I popped them off their bases,

 and started their Simple Green soak.

Their older cousins are finally cleaned up!

Yes, I wear nitrile gloves whenever I handle them before they're pimed. Heck, I even have a separate set of files and scalpel handle for  working on my antique lead figures.