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| "Politics is more dangerous than war, for in war you are only killed once." |
This 28mm scale model of Winston Churcill is produced by “Warlord Games”, and came free as a special edition figure when I ordered the "Bolt Action" Second Edition Campaign book "Operation Sea Lion" direct from the Nottingham-based manufacturer's web store. Sculpted to represent "the most stalwart of British Prime Ministers" during an inspection of invasion defences near Hartlepool, on July 21st 1940, the single cast figure comes armed with a .45 calibre Thompson Sub Machine Gun.
Initially, I had contemplated simply painting the miniature predominantly black, and just giving "the roaring lion" a dry-brush of "Vallejo" Heavy Charcoal in order to provide some straightforward shading. However, having spotted a colourised version of the politician carrying the Tommy Gun and wearing a distinctly grey pinstriped suit, I decided to prime the model using some Dark Grey instead.
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| "Doctor Who" WIPs - A Time Wars drone, the Dalek Interrogator Prime, and a Dalek Scientist |
The former army officer was then washed in "Citadel" Nuln Oil and dry-brushed with (more) "Vallejo" Dark Grey. I did momentarily consider trying to 'draw on' the formal suit's eye-watering vertical pattern, but quickly chose to leave well enough alone, and instead just 'picked out' Churchill's shoes and hat with a couple of coats of "Citadel" Abaddon Black.
Winston's hair, cigar and rifle butt were pigmented using a combination of "Vallejo" Heavy Sienna and "The Army Painter" Strong Tone Quickshade. Whilst the rest of his firearm was treated to some "Citadel" Ironbreaker and a splash of Nuln Oil. Finally, the member of parliament had his handkerchief, shirt and cuffs marked out with a tiny amount of "Vallejo" White.
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| "Empire Of Dust" WIPs - The swarms contain scarab beetles, scorpions, snakes and large flies |
Sticking with "Warlord Games" figures, I have made some significant progress on three of their plastic Daleks for the "Doctor Who: Exterminate" miniatures game. Two of the Mark III travel machines actually follow those of the Dalek Interrogator Prime and Dalek Scientist as imagined in the audio plays by "Big Finish", whereas the third will simply be a slightly converted Time Wars drone.
Lastly, I've based and primed an Empire of Dust swarm regiment for the BlackJack Legacy Slow Grow "Kings of War" Army Challenge. Originally I had thought these three square stands of scarab beetles would be a reasonably simple way to attain 60pts for the tabletop. But once I'd actually perused the metal sculpts in more detail, it has quickly become clear that each base contains far more than just the stout-bodied insects...
Lastly, I've based and primed an Empire of Dust swarm regiment for the BlackJack Legacy Slow Grow "Kings of War" Army Challenge. Originally I had thought these three square stands of scarab beetles would be a reasonably simple way to attain 60pts for the tabletop. But once I'd actually perused the metal sculpts in more detail, it has quickly become clear that each base contains far more than just the stout-bodied insects...
Great work on Churchill Simon, like the colour schemes on the Daleks, those swarms look fun ! LOL with the scorpions on there you probably want a sandy colour for that region, unlike the ones hollywood tend to use ! LOL
ReplyDeleteThanks Dave. Not sure why I hadn't finished Churchill before, as he was a nice mini to paint. The swarms will be my usual grass and mud basing palette, but I do plan to pick out the scorpions, flies etc. I think there might even be a few frogs in there too tbh, LOL!!
DeleteChurchill looks good. An interesting model too! Nice WIP's on the daleks and good work on picking all those nodules in black as I think the end result will be worth it. I like the variety of those creatures in the swarms so I hope you get stuck in and pick out those snakes and scorpions as the end result will look all the better for it. What happened to the skeleton regiment? I was looking forward to those!
ReplyDeleteCheers Undercoat. Some of the nodules will need tidying up etc, but I plan to do that once I've picked them all out silver and given them a Nuln Oil wash. The Swarms were just a test piece as I'm slowly working my way through my first skeletons but they're not much fun to paint tbh...
DeleteA nice bunch.
ReplyDeleteThanks Phil.
DeleteLove the Winnie figures!
ReplyDeleteCheers Ray!
DeleteI got Churchill too as a freebie with Sea Lion, lovely model and I have him earmarked on my soon to do list when I push him up the queue along with my Russians. Interesting concept the way you've painted yours, I like it. I`ve scoured the WWII In Colour series to try and find whether he ever wore a pinstripe as I have this notion floating about in my noggin he`d look cool done that way too.
ReplyDeleteThanks ever so much Steve. Churchill is definitely wearing the pinstripe suit in the Hartlepool photos, hence my momentary flutter as to whether to draw them in on this mini. But I thought the figure looked fine with a simply prime, wash and dry-brush. I look forward to seeing yours :-)
DeleteOoo I`ll check the Hartlepool photos cheers for that :-)
DeleteYep you wont have to wait too long, as I start my Russians project in a few days, and I feel sure the iconic man with the cigar will be near the front of the list.
P.S. I feel a real "what if" coming on. What if on Churchill`s visit to Stalin his plane had gone down somewhere in no-man`s-land. I can see a whole mini campaign... within a campaign... based around that.
DeleteI look forward to it enormously, Steve, especially as it might ignite a Soviet "Konflikt 47" project I was just discussing this weekend. Spookily, I do have a "What If" scenario planned, by teaming Winston up against a horde of the Nazi Undead ;-)
DeleteNow THAT sounds excellent Simon, there are just so many weirdness`s to WWII and conspiracy theories (and that`s without even needing to add any more of our own to the Mix). I have owned FFG`s Tannhuser and one of its big box expansions for years and never really known how to get it into my game: the expansion (Operation Novgorod) is still sealed in fact. I took a look the other day just how hard it is to find, and how pricy this old game is.. and I found myself smiling in gratitude that I actually own a copy sitting on my shelf. Its a sort of Konflikt 47 thing but done FFG style, so very dark and macabre, and full of the things you mention, undead dogs and Nazi soldiers, mad monks and Josef Mengele look alikes, and all that.. very reminiscent of Hellboy and war time flash back Captain America, but with an almost Cthulhu feel and tone to it. I think it has potential for adding into the Bolt Action mix (assuming I go this route and don`t just use my own rules entirely, which is tempting). Anyway, in a couple of days I will be starting my 2020 WWII project in earnest, so the first small games of that should swiftly follow, so expect werewolves and she wolves and mad experiments and chemical spills and viruses run amok among unsuspecting Ukraine and Polish villages ^^ Imagine the impenetrable Alpine castle in Where Eagles Dare, only with an infiltration attempt to stop Nazi experiments taking place.. to create a super army. Mmmmm all good stuff.
DeleteLet me know when you do your Konflikt batrep I`d be very interested to read that.
Ah... Tannhäuser. I was so very close to picking that up when it first came out - didn't it come with pre-painted minis, and then single figure expansions? Spookily, I penned a three scenario Weird War II article for "Wargames, Soldiers & Strategies" based on zeds being housed at the Schloß Adler, entitled "Where Zombies Dare". Sadly it never got published - as I believe the mag didn't have the painted minis needed for the photos...
DeleteYes, that's dead right, the game and the expansions all came with rather nicely pre-painted miniatures.. and the expansion packs also did the same. Oh I wish you`d have got it when it was around: in all my years I`ve never met anyone else who has it - most/many have never even heard of the game. I only managed to pick up the two big box games, the core and the Russian one, and got lucky enough to pick up one of two of the figure expansions. Really marvellous stuff. But what`s most interesting about it all is the atmospheric fluff, and the boards (one of which is double sided and would be IDEAL for the interior of the Schloss Adler).
Delete"Where Zombies Dare" Oh what a cool title. You HAVE to find out the unfinished article and complete it, it would be an amazing piece I`m sure. A sort of mix between film, history and fiction
I do recall being sorely tempted, Steve. I think it was the price which put me off tbh, plus I believe it came out at a time when pre-painted minis were all the rage, but no-one had done them justice (with the exception of "AT-43").
Delete"Where Zombies Dare" was finished and submitted. Indeed, I think WS&S even got some artwork commissioned for it as I recall. But then ended up dropping the article - which meant I wasn't paid and when this happened again with my next commissioned piece I made it clear I wasn't writing for them anymore.
The price was horrendous wasn't it. I only picked up mine at the time `cos the guy at Other Realms in Cork couldn't shift it, and offered me the core game AND the Novgorad expansion (which was on the shelf at the same price) for the price of two for one. £110 I seem to recall.
DeleteWow bad news on the articles that nearly were, Ive been there myself and know what that`s like, kinda jades a bit doesn't it.
Yes on both counts, Steve. Always the problem with 'paid only when published' work - been bitten plenty of time since by other editors too. I certainly recall feeling priced out of Tannhäuser, and actually only buying into AT-43 once the shop in Aldershot started selling the range at discount. Some of the prices for that were horrendous too - especially for the ape-men in space-suits, which whilst very nicely painted, cost a fortune for a three-gorilla squad.
DeleteGreat job on Winston Simon, smashing stuff.
ReplyDeleteThanks very much, Michael :-)
DeleteI had to look real close to these pictures of the swarm to make out all the details. These are far better than I would've guessed.
ReplyDeleteAlso, great job on Churchill!
Cheers Wouter. Yup, the swarms have a surprising amount of detail. I'm actually a little surprised they're metal rather than resin, but also pleased as I prefer painting metal. I really thought they were just scarabs when I bought them, so the inclusion of other insects and reptiles definitely threw me :-)
Delete'Churchil' does look the part though my children still thinks he a dog, selling insurance !.
ReplyDeleteI do like seeing the many Dalek variants you come up with too, you must now have enough to invade Earth surely?
The swarms look very intersting and imho won;t be a joy to paint but with your attention to deltil they'll be great eye candy when finished.
Thanks Joe. Hopefully I can get the Daleks finished soon and get them posted. The swarms are certainly not as simple as I first anticipated, but time will tell if I can get them painted as well as I'd like.
DeleteChurchill looks very smart. He did love him some armaments.
ReplyDeleteGood stuff mate.
Cheers Dai. The fact he's part of the British "Bolt Action" range should mean he gets plenty of tabletop action too, once I've gotten round to that particular project ;-)
Delete