Wednesday 28 November 2018

SYW and Cold War everything has gone small in the Dungeon !

Everything seems to have gone really small in the dungeon....it must be just a phase. So first up I completed my first SYW unit. A Prussian Infantry Regiment, this was really a test to see how they painted up, how long and what technique works best for me at 10 mm.
Here they are on their single unit base, thirty figures in two ranks. As to be expected I have brightened the colours considerably with Prussian blue becoming a French blue, but when viewed from normal standing height you can still only tell they are slightly blue.
The unit was actually pretty quick to paint and were completed on Sunday, but I was waiting for the scatter to arrive from ebay before taking a photo. My guess would be it took about 5 or 6 hours to complete the unit, I am looking to simplify the bases and am pretty happy with the overall effect. The trees in the background are 6mm scale and I need a few more larger options to create some height. At 10 mm the sculpting isn’t perfect but my normal slapdash painting techniques seem to work ok at this scale. My only gripe at this stage is the standard who carries his hat over the centre of the flag which is a bit annoying.
While I was waiting for the scatter to arrive I needed to rebase these little babies for a small Cold War project. I picked these up from Martin a while ago but haven’t used them, but they are the star of a small 1980’s Cold War Soviet Army. I have ordered a few more bits to add variety as you do.
A mixture of T62’s, BMP1’s some 122mm Artillery and some Command bases, they were already painted, not fantastically but good enough for this small project, I do have quite a lot of 6 mm Americans so might get a few of these done some time.
Finally an amusing shot of the diminutive Prussians next to some more Iron Brigade who are being painted this week πŸ˜€

26 comments:

  1. Great start on a Prussian army for your new project, Matt!
    Your (ex-Martin's) Soviets look great too!

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    1. It is at least a start πŸ™‚ and as Bilbo would say you have to take that first step !

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  2. Very tidy Matt, perhaps I could not just spray them red and blue, hmm.

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    1. Thanks Phil, I think the challenge is learning not to fuss too much, to not treat them like 28’s, so actually perhaps you could just spray them? I think a proper painter (like yourself) would have to work hard to simplify as the sculpts are actually quite detailed.

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  3. Great work on the Prussins Matt, they look excellent.

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    1. Thanks Ray, I’m hoping for an overall mass effect which definately doesn’t work with a single unit but I have made a start.πŸ™‚

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  4. The Prussians have turned out really well Matt...
    I would say that you have got the colours just right.

    All the best. Aly

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    1. Thanks Aly..certainly happy with the level of ‘blue’ πŸ™‚

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  5. A fine job on the Reduced Prussians as far as I can tell anyway! Just seems such a waste of proper painting time, use blocks or paper soldiers or a board game! πŸ˜‰
    I’m looking forward to seeing the Iron Brigade, a proper sized unit after all...

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  6. that was pretty nifty wasn't it. They look great. If you carry on at this rate I'll end up getting some. Don't hold your breath

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    1. Cheers....I have another unit prepped so I am interested to see how quick they are ?

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  7. Really amazing brushwork in such a small scale, Matt.

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    1. You are too kind Dean....blocked in some stain and some highlight, I have seen some exceptional work by some on the Internet.....but they will do for me πŸ™‚

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  8. Nice job and I like the bigger single base. I ink mine, which makes them look far too dull and dead and so very quickly I go over everything with a few dabs of highlight here and there and that does seem to bring some vibrancy back, as you say, at this scale, they do need to look brighter.

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    1. Blocked in then stain and some highlight, seemed to work πŸ˜€

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  9. Wow! You were quick with the SYW guys. Looking good! The cast on flag on the Prussian standard bearer figure is indeed a pain in the neck. Do you know you can order separate 'Generic standard bearers' without cast on flags from Pendraken? (See under SYW Misc in the catalogue).
    Davy

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    1. Thanks Davy πŸ™‚ and thanks for the heads up on the separate standard bearers....having checked them out I have ordered a pack...I needed some flags anyway for the Austrians πŸ˜€

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  10. The infantry came out looking good! I’ve been told that the trick for painting smaller figures is to paint the unit and not the miniatures. You seem to have pulled that off well. πŸ˜€

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  11. Lovely looking Prussians! I'd say you've got it just right on the colour tone,much darker and they'd read as black and nice cold war soviets!
    Best Iain

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    1. Thanks Iain another unit on the way soon....

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  12. Love your SYW unit, excellent work!

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