Irongrave Knight

I haven't posted for a while, and that's because I haven't painted anything for a while. I've been busy with summer. But here's my latest off the worktable: another 28mm Reaper Bones figure.
They call this dude Norgol, but he just doesn't look like a Norgol to me. So he'll just be an Irongrave Knight, for now.
He didn't take long to paint up; most of him is his armor, a  monotonous dull metallic black. And I did not highlight extensively, because I wanted to give him a dark, brooding look. So mostly shadows on this guy, no bright colors or highlights.

Mason Thornwarden 28mm

Here's my latest 28mm Reaper figure: Mason Thornwarden. Or, for those of you who have read the trashy young adult series Ranger's Apprentice, Halt.
He was really easy to paint; there was virtually no detailing, just a bunch of highlighting and shading on the different materials of his clothing. But despite the lack of detail, I think he's a pretty cool looking figure.

An Orc and a Dwarf

I have finally taken the plunge - the descent into madness. I have crossed the threshold from wargaming into Wargaming: I have painted my first 28mm fantasy figures.
They are the Orc Berserker and Dain Deepaxe from the Reaper Bones line, which I chose mainly because of their cheapness (the average figure on Reaper Mini is about $3, as compared to maybe $10 or more for a small Scibor or GW figure) and their appearance: though plastic, they still have that slightly whimsical trashy-fantasy air about them. And there's plenty of variety, too: everything from dwarves to orcs to elves to ogres to rogues to demons to dragons to werewolves. So you got choices.

Anyway, I'm really happy with them, and would recommend Bones figures to anyone who, like me, is new to 28mm gaming (that's pretty much the purpose of the Bones line - they're for newbs) or for anyone looking for a line of cheap minis that can fill up a wargaming table fast.
Reaper claims that you can paint Bones minis straight out of the box - meaning no washing, primer, or anything - but just to be on the safe side I treated these figures normally and washed them in soapy water and primed them. Also, both figures came with slight deformities - the orc had a bent sword and the dwarf was leaning forward on his base. If you find your Bones minis bent, fear not: there is a simple solution. Boil them.
Bring water to a boil and throw your figure in (I turned the water down to a simmer first, but I don't think you have to) or hold it in with tweezers for about 1 minute, then remove the figure and immediately bend it into the correct position. Then put the mini in some icewater for one or two minutes, and boom. Your crippled figure has miraculously been made whole. (For more details on preparing Bones minis, see this page on the Reaper site).
On to the painting. I did a lot of research on painting 28mm figures, because, of course, you use different painting techniques for larger figures. There are a bunch of different techniques, and after experimenting with a few on these two figures, I think I have my preferred method. Actually, this method consists of several different techniques, used on different parts of the figure. Here's a rough tutorial.

Start with chain mail, if there is any. This is because you're going to drybrush it, and drybrushing is clumsy and can get paint on unwanted areas, so that's why you start with it. Paint the chain mail black and then drybrush in silver or another metallic color. Easy.
Now move onto the skin. On skin, as on certain other areas, I use the three-tone method as described in my earlier post on painting crusaders. You'll use three shades of each color: a shade (or shadow) color, a base color, and a highlight color. Paint the skin in the shade color first; for my dwarf I used a tan/flesh combo, and for my orc I used a dark olive green. Then paint everything but the crevices and recesses in the base color, and finish with a highlight color on just the areas exposed to the most light. This will create a nice smooth blending transition between light and dark, as long as the discrepancy between your three colors is not too great. You will use this three-tone method on all skin, leather, cloth, and certain other items. (A quick tip: do the eyes (if you want to do them at all) after the shade color and before the base color, so if you screw up you can fix it with the base color.)
For my orc's abdominal armor plates I used the NMM (Non-Metallic Metal) method, then cheated by drybrushing in a metallic paint. The NMM method consists of the normal three-tone technique, but sometimes slightly modified to use more colors. For instance, for bright silver metal, you'll use black folloewd by dark grey followed by light gray followed by really light gray followed by white. But for my orc's armor, since it's supposed to be tarnished and rough, I just used black, dark gray, and light gray, followed by a drybrush of metallic gray to give it a more weathered appearance.
The orc's sword was done using a similar method; I gave it a base coat of black, then drybrushed it in dark gray and finallly drybrushed it in metallic silver.
Washes and filters are also very useful, and I used them quite extensively. (BTW, a wash is very diluted paint that brings out shadows; a filter is less diluted paint that is meant to change the overall color of the surface area). You have to kind of use your discretion for these; for instance, for the orc's leather arm thingies I applied a filter of dark brown over the base coat, then highlighted in light brown. One note: for my washes and filters I use Liquitex Matte varnish/thinner as a thinner instead of water; water washes leave dirty-looking rings in the wrong places and doesn't cover as well. My Liquitex works much better, covering evenly and smoothly.
As for basing, I used a 30mm base for the dwarf and a 40mm base for the orc.
So all this might sound time consuming and tedious, but it's actually quicker then you might think. Each of these figures only took me only about two painting sessions.

Some More Crusaders

I finished two more batches of Italeri Crusaders for Lion Rampant.

These are a lot better than my last ones; the earlier ones didn't turn out as I had hoped - something to do with the coat of primer.
Anyway, I experimented with some new techniques on these guys, including the Foundry 3-layer paint system. In this system (a deeper summary can be found here.) This paint system is actually designed for 28mm, but can be used occasionally with 1/72 figures, on areas such as a tunic, cape, or caparisons (horse blanket thingies.) Anyway, I was experimenting with it a little bit because I'm going to try my hand at some Reaper 28mm Fantasy minis soon, and want to practice a little first.

Back to the painting system itself. It involves three shades of the same color of paint: a shade color, a base color, and a highlight color. You paint the shade color all over the desired surface and then paint the base color on everything but the crevices and recesses. Then you paint the highlight color on just the highlights. This three-tone method gives you a smooth, blended look, without the hassle of wet blending. It takes a little practice, but it's easier than it sounds. Again, for 1/72 figures, you'll only want to use this method for large areas, but on 28mm you use it a lot more. 
The figure in the first photo below is an example of the Foundry technique. I painted this guy's cape red, washed it with a dark red glaze to darken the color, then painted the highlights in a reddish-pink. This is actually a two-layer job, not three, but that's because I wanted the highlights to be pronounced so you could see them from a distance.

The lot of 'em

World War III: Armageddon

Okay, here's my pretty much finished WWIII wargame rules. I say pretty much finished because, as any rule-writer knows, there's always room for improvement, and I'll probably make some modifications at some point. But for now, they're pretty playable rules. Be warned, however; this game is conducive to heavy casualties. No protracted slugfests here; whole units can be wiped out with a few unlucky rolls. The basic combat system is easy enough: each figure rolls 2D6 against his Accuracy to see if he scores a hit; then roll 1D6 to determine the extent of the damage. Activation tests, reaction tests and morale tests are also used. No revolutionary game mechanics.
I've included pdfs for the core rules, reference sheet, and two sample army help cards at the bottom of this page. Feel free to download (and adapt, if you want) all or any of the documents.The army help cards are meant as examples of the type of army lists you can create; you'll probably want to create your own, unless you happen to have modern Russians and British available.
This game is supposed to be played using scenarios with specific objectives and troop placement. Make up your own (its easier than you might think) or look in some other wargame rules for scenario ideas.
Please note that I have revised and updated these rules several times, so if there is a slight discrepancy or mistake in the rules, forgive me.
Here are some pictures from a test game.

WWIII: Armageddon Core Rules

Cover

Reference Sheet

Russian Army Card

British Army Card

Italeri 11th Century Crusaders

Got these figures for Lion Rampant, the rulebook for which I just received for my birthday. I did a few test games of Lion
Rampant using unpainted figures, and it's really fun. Fast paced and easy to learn. Me and my opponent were playing smoothly and fluidly, without too many checks to the rulebook, in the first game. Intuitive game mechanics and it doesn't take itself to seriously. Highly recommended. I'll have to get some more of those Osprey Publishing wargame rulebooks.
The figures are not great - a lot of the figures are on the skinny side, as is common with Italeri sets - and some of the poses are unnatural and stiff. But the mounted figures make up with it with their fluid knightly grace. They'll look great, all painted up in bright heraldic colors and ready for battle.

Finished Panzer IV Tiger I

So, here it is in all its painted glory. This was only the second tank I've ever built, so I was pretty happy with the way it came out. There were certain things about the model that were really irritating, however. When I used a heated metal screwdriver to fuse the first track together, it worked fine, but when I tried the second track, one of the little holes for the peg broke open, and it ended up looking like a mess.
Also, the decals didn't work well at all - even though I used Testors decal set, one of the crosses on the side of the hull disintegrated and fell God knows where, so I had to paint the cross on. Still, doesn't look too bad. The decals on the side of the turret were also a pain in the butt, they didn't stick well at all to the bumpy and rounded surface.

HaT Gallic Chariot Element

Here's my latest addition to my Gallic DBA army. Just two more of these babies to go - one more regular light chariot, then a LCh(Gen) as an alternative to the 4Wb(Gen).
 I'm pretty pleased with this set from HaT; the figures are relativley well sculpted, the horses are nice, and the chariot fits together well. My one problem was with the softness of the plastic. And you get 3 chariots for 5 bucks - can't beat the price. Plus each chariot comes with two options for the guy in back.