All,
I'd like to start off with a note about my Operation Jupiter batreps, of which there are now two. It is much to my consternation that no one seems to be interested in them. While I'm not too put off as 1) they were fun games to play, and 2) the blog is, in the overall scheme of things, for no one but myself. Having said that, having one of these things does draw you into the realm of wanting to have other folks look, comment on, and critique your stuff. So if you've got any critiques regarding the batreps (to make them more readable, interesting, exciting, etc...), please let me know. Back to our regularly scheduled show...
I'm a huge NFL fan (Steelers to be exact, though I don't want to talk about it as they severely embarrassed themselves yesterday), so gaming on Sundays is out for awhile. But I did figure out how to make it more productive from a wargaming standpoint; I couldn't do it during the Steelers game, but during the other games I allowed myself to be distracted enough get some gaming stuff done. Here's what I did yesterday during football:
Some 10mm pallets from Minifigs. From left to right, empty pallet, pallet with wooden boxes, pallet with something covered by a tarp, and pallet with 55-gallon drums. This is all of them.
My stone walls. If you've been looking at my previous battle reports you will see these are the same ones I've always used, but now I dry-brushed a stone color on them and painted the wooden gates (I've got 16 stone wall sections, all finished as above). The pic looks a bit garish, but I promise it looks pretty good in real life. Previously they were simply spray painted dark gray. I'm trying to up my game a bit regarding terrain.
Sandbag emplacements. Previously these were simply spray painted khaki (I've got 3 of these, will use them like this for temperate, tropical, and desert).
The town fountain, previously spray painted khaki. I only have one of these.
Craters, previously spray painted dark brown, now highlighted with sand and reddish brown, given a little flock and a wash. I have eight of these.
Here's the front of the first building I did (previously spray painted khaki).
Here's the reverse of the same building.
Here's a top down of the same building.
Here's the front of the second building I did yesterday.
It's reverse...
Reverse with the second floor removed.
After having no fewer than 8,436,212 people on TMP and the Pendraken website tell me I need to put a wash on my figures, I decided to give it a go with some of them. I did up my CLA regulars/paratroopers and my modern irregulars as they both had pretty bright colors. I did not do any of my other Cuba Libre forces as they are dark already and I didn't like the test guys I did. But I was happy with the CLA regs/paras and irregulars, so I did all of both forces. Above and below are some examples. I really like how they turned out, and I hate it when other people are right!
In preparation for D-Day, I did some some CLA unconventional warfare types to serve as SF A-team types, popular force militia cadre, and LRRP/Recon types. I did a total of 9 guys in three poses.
Your eyes don't deceive you, and no, those aren't little 10mm Incredible Hulks. These guys are cammied up. The green is a little bright, but I like it because I think at this scale you really need a sharp contrast so everything doesn't just blend together (if you've been following my posts you've heard me lament trying to put gloves on guys but not being able to find a color that works). If you look real close you can see I tried to put black stripes in their face/hand camo (it does aggravate me slightly that I chose to cammie up guys that have their sleeves rolled up to their elbows, but c'est la vie!).
I tried putting a wash on these guys but it just darkened everything and made the uniform and skin camo blend together, giving the figure a nasty, mottled look. Yes, I understand that is part of the point of a wash, and yes, I understand that is certainly the point of camouflage, but I like colors that pop/stand out. I think if we wanted to be perfectly realistic at 10mm we'd just paint everything green, but I don't think that looks all that great. So, I introduce a bit of "Hollywood" to make it a little more visually engaging (for me).
So yesterday was pretty productive, and I believe I will continue this trend to get guys based/washed and get terrain pieces down a couple at a time. I've got some admin work to finish for Cuba Libre (I was working on Castro regime OOB last night), and I've still got a few things to figure out regarding figures for my forces, and I need buildings and to finish my palm trees, but I'm getting tangibly closer to D-Day. I've also been a bit distracted with other stuff (I did up some 6mm Napoleonics and I did some Cuba Libre painting for the 1991 Gulf War)...
V/R,
Jack
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