Brimstone – Goliath

I have finally finished the XL miniature from the Brimstone – City of Ancients box, so now all the monsters from that box are done. 

This miniature is unfortunately proof that Flying Frog Productions are very new to producing miniatures. I was a bit disappointed with the Night Terrors, but this was worse. Far worse.

Lots of different pieces and lots of green stuff and filing needed, meaning I had to spend a couple of evenings honing my green-stuff skills. Not a total loss all experience there is good for me as I’m relatively, ehr, green with green stuffing. I let the pictures speak for themselves.

Paints used:

Skin – Vallejo 985 Hull Red with a wash of Army Painter Dark Tone ink and then drybrushed with 982 Cavalry Brown, 818 Red Leather, 981 Orange Brown and finally 948 Golden Yellow.

Suction cups – 835 Salmon Rose

Tongues – 944 Old Rose, 803 Rose Brown, 835 Salmon Rose and Citadel Dwarf Flesh washed with AP Strong Tone and Citadel Washes Baal Red.

Eyes – black with 915 Deep Yellow slits.
Teeth - Bone White with a AP Strong Tone wash

Undersides of the tentacles varnished with Vallejo satin varnish and the suction cups got a coat of gloss varnish. Mouth, tentacles and eyes were also gloss varnished. The rest matte.

I’m satisfied with how this one turned out. The starting mess didn’t really inspire me, as I thought all the gaps were sure to be noticeable. As it were they are nearly invisible.           

The tongues are rather two dimensional. They could have been made so much better.

Click here for the rest of my painted Brimstone minis.

My old pal Håkan Olbrink is a new Google+ follower. Welcome.

God Jul and the winners are…

God Jul everyone! 

Today, December 24^th, is the big day here in Sweden. (Living close to jultomten we try to give him an easy start, so he’ll take care of us today, taking his time, and tomorrow is his hectic day when he flies all over the place trying to please everyone else. Poor chap. Anyway, true to tradition, he’ll get a snaps when he shows up here later today – he’ll need all the energy he can get to survive this yearly ordeal.)

When this goes live I’m furiously preparing the last things for the julbord. Presents are under the julgran. Homemade candies and pepparkakor are everywhere. The kids are eyeing the presents wondering what they will get. So am I (I’ve heard rumours of miniatures…)

Enough of that! On to the give-away. Without further ado the winners are:

1.    William Dowie – you’re in for an Otherworld pack

2.    Brownk29 – you’ll get the Lonewulf or one of the Brimstone sprues

3.    Styx – a Brimstone sprue for you

Congratulations to you all. Send me a mail at miniaturesman(at)gmail(dot)com with your address and what of the above you want the most.

Rodger Wood is a new Google+ follower. Welcome.

Dust – Battle Squad and a giveaway!

Enough German Dust-squads for a while now. Time for SSU, the Chinese-Soviet pact, and first up is a SSU Battle Squad, aka Frontoviki.

Five men armed with assault and machine guns and lightly armoured. The minis needed some cleaning as there are mould-lines. They’re not in any way bad but I prefer to clean them off.

One thing that bothers me a bit with these figures are that they all wear the same magazine pouches, regardless of weapon used. I had an idea about sculpting a new pouch for the machine gunners and making a mould of it so I could produce a bunch. But that is for later…

I’ve based the paint-scheme on the previous early-war Russians I painted earlier this year. A bit simplified though.

Paints used:

Uniform – 924 Russian Uniform

Assault pack – 912 Tan Yellow

Magazine pouch, entrenching tool cover – 914 Green Ochre

Entrenching tool handle, grenade handle – 843 Cork Brown

Water Bottle – Formula P3 Battledress Green

Belt – 984 Flat Brown

All above one coat of Army Painter Strong Tone Ink wash.

Amour, helmets, knife sheath, magazines etc – 894 Camo Olive Green + AP Dark Tone Ink

Gloves – Citadel Foundation Charadon Granite + AP Dark Tone Ink

Weapons, metal – 863 Gunmetal Grey + 2 coats of AP Dark Tone

Knife handle - black

Bases will be changed to transparent ones as soon as I get those. Should be any day now.

EndTransmission’s gaming stuff is a good blog that I’m following. He covers just about everything with a slight emphasis on zombies. A great read and recommended. Anyway, The site has reached 25 000 page-views, and that is, off course, cause for a celebration – a give-away with a chance to win a goodie box. Go over and check it out!

Lee Gaddies is a new Google+ follower. Welcome.

Don’t forget my own 100K giveaway.

Dust – Heavy Kommandotrupp and Lara

The latest new-comers to the heavy Sturmgrenadiers. They are painted just like the rest of my Dust Germans.

Mechanic armed with a Fliegerfaust, Commander with twin MG:s and a medic

German Hero Lara packing two twin MG:s

Don’t forget the 100K giveaway.

Another short and brilliant film – The Gunfighter

This short, and free, film is less than 9 minutes long, and will give you a new look on the usual saloon encounter. It is very funny (or at least I thought so)

Check it out here
and while you're at it have a look at Werewolves too.

Don't forget the give-away, open until December 22.

Zvezda’s Vickers Machine Gun with Crew and another give-away

Another great little 1/72 kit from Zvezda’s Art of Tactic range. When you look on the cover art of the box one thing is immediately obvious, namely that the machine gun looks somewhat strange. Yep, the real thing didn’t have the shield. So if you’re building this kit, just skip that (I used mine for one of my LRDG vehicles).

The cover says it is usable for 1939 to -43, but considering that the crew is wearing gas masks and 1939 pattern entrenching tool I would advise against using it later than 41, if that. Anyway it is perfect for BEF 1940 and Operation Seelöwe.

One thing missing in the kit is the condensation can that was used to preserve cooling water. I scrounged one from a Hät-set of British machine guns.

The soldiers were painted as presented in the painting tutorial.

Don't forget my give-away, open until December 22.

Don't forget The Batman Holiday Giveaway at Tales of a Tabletop Skirmisher. Great site, great giveaway

Dust – Sturmpioniere

Another squad of German Dust-figures finished.

I try to get a coherent look for each faction, with emphasis on painting speed. That means no fancy camouflage and a very limited number of paints. My goal is to get troops ready for a game or two, not get them ready for a painting competition.

I'll use clear bases from Sally 4th as soon as I get them.

Paints used for German troops:

Armour – Vallejo 995 German Grey drybrushed with 992 Neutral Grey

Clothing – 830 German Fieldgrey WWII

Heavy weapons, gasmasks, equipment – 920 German Uniform

Tubing – 836 London Grey

Power packs – 859 Black Red

Belts and high boots – Black

Low boots, chinstraps, gloves, other leather equipment – 872 Chocolate Brown

Panzerfausts – 977 Desert Yellow

Hand weapons – 863 Gunmetal Grey with two Washes of Army Painter Dark Tone ink

Everything except armour, skin and Panzerfausts washed with AP Dark Tone ink

PF and skin washed with AP Strong Tone ink

Good enough and works well with the rest of the German figures. Not as fancy as those Thomas did a couple of years ago, but I bet mine were done in a much shorter time :-)

Ready for combat!

Don't forget the give-away, open until December 22.

BEF painting tutorial

I have painted a couple of 1/72 British Infantry from Battlefield Miniatures and their Blitz range, using the reference books as inspiration. This is hopefully something that is close enough to the real thing.

I’ve included paints below for more specialised equipment too, just to have everything in one place, and you will see examples of that in future posts.

Paints used:

Uniform, water bottles – Vallejo 921 English Uniform

Helmet, ammo boxes and other equipment – DOA Khaki Green G3

Boots, scabbard – Black

Webbing, pouches, anklets – 881 Yellow Green

Helmet nets – drybrush 819 Iraqui Sand, no wash (note – these were uncommon for BEF in 1940)

Anti-gas cape (rolled on backpack), gas mask bag (on chest) – 887 Brown Violet

Band to rolled anti-gas cape – 819 Iraqui Sand

Wood – 984 Flat Brown

Steel details, weapons – 863 Gunmetal Grey + two washes of Army Painter Dark Tone ink. (note, on these minis I used 863 Oily Steel and Strong Tone wash, but it is not as good)

Machine-gun band – 819 Iraqui Sand

Cartridges – Brass

Text on ammo boxes etc – 948 Golden Yellow

Everything washed with AP Strong Tone ink.

Don't forget the give-away, open until December 22.

Welcome followers

- Christopher Sheets with Dispatches from the Rim and Brass & Blood

- Pat G (who’s been with us a while as a Google+ follower) with blogs Victorian Bo(w)ler, Irr Wb (F) (Irregular Warband Fast) and Steampunk Canada

-Brian Botzan with RayGun Gothic Galaxy

-Edwin King with Thoughts of a Depressive Diplomatist
-Chris Stoesen with Wargamer's Odds and Ends
If you have any more blog I haven’t found, then put a link to it in the comments below so I can update the text here.

Black Scorpion vs Brimstone – a comparison

There seems to be an interest in using Black Scorpion miniatures as substitutes for the minis in the Brimstone boxes.

Here are a couple of comparison shots for those interested. The unpainted minis are Brimstone, waiting for paint.

Click here for more on Brimstone and here for a lot of Black Scorpion minis.

Don’t forget the 100K giveaway.

100 000 pageviews – it’s time for a give-away

About a year ago The Miniatures Man reached 50K hits and celebrated that with a give-away. The number of followers has risen constantly and the same with page-views, and now we’re there again. 
Another milestone: 100 000 pageviews.

Time for celebrations! Time for a give-away!

And such a good time it is, with jul coming up and all that. Three winners will have their pick of one of the prizes below.

So, what have I found in the tin- and plastics mountain this time?

Sprue from Brimstone - City of Ancients. Contains 4 Void Spiders, 2 Stranglers and a Night Terror.

Sprue from Brimstone – Swamps of Death. Contains 4 Zombies, 2 Hell Bats and a Slasher.

Kobold family from Otherworld, two females and four kids (will be mailed without box)

Troglodyte shaman and chieftain from Otherworld (will be mailed without box)

A Wolven Lonewolf from Rackham.

Forgefather Jotunn Heavy Hailstorm Cannon from Mantic. SF dwarven heavy gun. 

The rules:

1. You must be a public follower of this blog, old or new.

2. You must comment below so I know you’re interested. List what you’re interested in, be it one thing or several, or get a random pick if you’re one of the winners. Gives you one chance in the draw.

3. Write about this giveaway on your own blog, with a link to this post, for an extra chance to win.

4. If you’ve linked from your blog, then tell me (and the world) so in the comments, and give us a link to that post.

5. You have until Monday December 22, noon GMT, to apply. Then I will randomly (using dice of course!) select the winners.

6. Winners will be presented on December 24^th – a nice extra present.

7. You will have to come back to me in a reasonable time to be eligible (say two weeks)

8. If your prize is lost or damaged in the mail, then it’s a shame. Better luck next time.

British BEF-Tommies – reference library

My BEF-project putters on, slowly, even though I have fluttered away to Pulp-territory, Brimstone and Dust.

I’ve done some extensive reading on BEF, and I have found two invaluable books on the subject of British uniforms and equipment. Two must-buys if you’re into this rather tricky subject.

The World War II Tommy, Martin Bradley and Richard Ingram, The Crowood Press

Great pictures of uniforms, equipment and weapons. You’ve got re-enactors dressed in the real thing, be it the ordinary Battle Dress or something totally obscure, like the Hospital Pyjamas. A great resource! Highly recommended.

British Web Equipment of the Two World Wars, Martin Bradley, The Crowood Press

This is obviously a more specialised book, covering the different webbing patterns and their equipment. Another great buy, as this is a rather tricky subject. You really want to get the 1939 pattern entrenching tool for your BEF in France, and not the 1937 pattern that was introduced in 1941. Confusing? Yes. That’s why you need this book.

I give booth books a rating of 5 out of 5.

Wanderers – a short film by Erik Wernquist

This film is a fantastic little gem produced by fellow Swede Erik Wernquist. Less than four minutes and free.

It’s about life in the solar system. Our future life out there.

Beautiful.

See it! What do you have to lose?

Brimstone – Night Terrors

We’ve come to the Night Terrors from the Shadows of Brimstone – City of Ancients box. Three of these large creatures in the box.

They were a bit of a pain. Lots of pieces with rather lousy fit, meaning I had to green-stuff a lot. After that I wasn’t sure of how to paint them. Black, grey, brown, blue… ? I really didn’t know.

Anyway, I undercoated them my usual way, with Vallejo 919 Foundation White and a darker wash. The first one was washed with Army Painter Strong Tone Ink, and it didn’t look so bad, actually. It was the beginning of a snow-man. I washed number two with AP Dark Tone to see how that looked, and I stuck with the same for the third figure.

I then drybrushed them heavily with Vallejo 951 White, and, if I may say so, the result wasn’t too bad.

Mouth 944 Old Rose, teeth and claws Bone White and AP Strong Tone wash over it.

Eyes Citadel Foundation Mechrite Red with black pupils.

40mm clear bases from Sally 4^th.

This came out much better than I expected. It also fits well with the theme of the City of Ancients where the alternate world is a snowy plateau.

Next on the painting table is the huge Goliath. I have to get my green stuff and sculpting tools…

Click here for the rest of my painted Brimstone minis.

28mm total painted in 2014 so far:
S+M: 164
L: 8
XL: 1

Finally – A big welcome to new follower Oswald. I couldn’t find out if you have a blog or not, but if you have then put a link in to it the comments below so I can link to it here.

Dust – Heavy Laser Grenadiers and tank traps

Another quick paintjob, this time the German Heavy Laser Grenadiers. 

Painted with the same colours as the last lot, only difference being the thingies on the backpacks. I’m not sure if they are cooling devices or power packs. Anyway they got a coat of Vallejo 859 Black Red with an Army Painter Dark Tone wash. 

I will change the bases to clear ones later.

This pair of tank traps comes from one of the Dust starter sets. I painted them with Vallejo 884 Stone Grey, the debris got a coat of AP Strong Tone wash and everything was drybrushed with 989 Sky Grey.

Snow

This is the forgotten post. It was nearly ready just after I finished my Winter War Russians earlier this year, then forgotten until now. Enjoy!

For my Winter War troops I needed snow-covered bases. A quick check of the closest gaming stores got me two different snow-effect thingies suitable for basing.

I basecoated all bases in white before I started with the snow-effect.

Heki Shneeglitzer

Made for the railroad crowd and at 250 g it will last a long time. I applied a thick coat of white glue to the bases and dipped them. The result is very sparkling and it looks like ice-crystals. Suitable for dry snow.

Tamiya – Diorama Texture Paint – Snow Effect White

This rather big pot, 100ml, will last a while. It is a thick paste that is easy to paint on to the bases, it sticks well and looks like wet snow when set. Sparkly and nice.

Both works well, but my favourite is the Tamiya snow effect.

Dust – Heavy Flak Grenadiers

Late spring a new Kickstarter appeared, Dust: Operation Babylon. I knew my pal Thomas had bought into the system earlier, and asked him about it. He said something like “Let’s play a game”, and I’m sure he grinned evilly saying that…

That's an awful lot of enemies. I'm not sure this really works...

Said and done, we had a short and fun game of Dust Warfare over a couple of beers. It turned out this is a good beer and pretzels type of game and I rather enjoyed it. Figures are really nice. Fun theme. What’s not to like?

I jumped into the Kickstarter. Laffe (also grinning evilly) dumped his bought-but-not-played-with minis on me, as did one of his pals.

So I suddenly had a bunch of minis and more to come from the Kickstarter (very, very late. They were supposed to deliver in August, still nothing…)

I needed some respite from Brimstone figures and especially the Night Stranglers, so the first unit hit the painting table – Heavy Flak Grenadiers.

These are heavily armoured troops wielding Fliegerfausts, a real weapon used sparingly in the very last days of the short-lived 3^rd Reich. In Dust the year is 1947 and the Axis troops are de-nazified.

Anyway, to have a chance of ever getting painted models on the gaming table I decided to go for simple paint-schemes – no camo-smocks or anything fancy.

Paints used:

Armour – Vallejo 995 German Grey drybrushed with 992 Neutral Grey

Cloth – 830 German Fieldgrey WWII washed with Army Painter Dark Tone ink

Fliegerfausts – 920 German Uniform washed with AP Dark Tone

Chinstraps – P3 Bootstrap Leather

Tubing – 836 London Grey

I haven’t done anything with the bases as I intend to base all my Dust figures on clear bases from Sally 4^th, but I have to order them first.

A fast paintjob, done in little more than an evening. More Dust figures will appear shortly.