Union regiment finished

Hey Guys

I just finished up Robs first Union unit.

You can check it out on my American civil war blog: http://acwim.blogspot.co.nz/

Mark
:)

KCS Unboxing - Warlord Games Dragoons

Hi Guys tried out a few things today and thought id give an unboxing a go.  The video is better this time as i have a tripod and mount for my phone now and it makes a big difference.  I think i have too much light(??) and im not sure how good the sound is - trying to figure out how to make my voice a tad louder without annoying my family when im recording something.



As always i really want your feedback. its a massive learning curve for me and although im a painter im not a graphics or sound guy so the intro start is pretty rough till i learn how to improve it.



Hope the unboxing info is slightly interesting. now its time to go back to what im good at painting.







P.S a quick thank you to all the new people who have joined my blog in the last couple of days. And also a big thank you to the people who have already inquired about my painting service. With your help im going to be able to start doing what i love and hopefully start bringing more and more content to you guys.



Till next time.



Mark

:)

New Blog Designs

Playing around with a few new blog designs - so if you check and things look weird don't worry ill have it all sorted in a few hours.

Thank you for your patience.

Welcome new followers and its competition time.

Hi Guys

Just wanted to say a quick welcome to the new people who have joined this blog. Great to have you here.

Now those of  you that have been following me for a while have seen a few changes recently. the blog went from infrequent posts to no posts to suddenly lots of posts. the look and style has changed a couple of times and has now gone back to something very similar to how it looks right back in the very beginning.  The reason for this is im about to start up my miniature painting service again. The changes to the blog are to make it simpler to look at as well as being more functional for people wanting to look at my work and request painting quotes etc. 

 I've started a YouTube channel as well as a store on eBay and also have a Facebook page (which went from 60 hits all of last week to over 3000 hits in the last 48 hours!!!).  These will be used to advertise and sell my work as well as hopefully produce some useful videos like unboxings and painting tips etc.  I have a ways to go but hopefully once i get the hang of it the videos will improve a lot form the tests ones i put up during the day.  All of the feed back you guys have given me here plus the feed back ive received from my Facebook followers and the groups i post in have given me the confidence to start up this business and hopefully the dream of working from home and spending more time with my family will become a reality in a short period of time.  

Anyways on to the competition!

I want to get more people looking at my content so i figured a small competition might be a nice way to attract some more followers.

So onto the details: what im going to do to coincide with the relaunch of my miniature painting service is paint up a single figure on a small diorama like base to the very best standard i can. The level i would do if entering a Golden Daemon or other well known painting comp. The miniature may have upwards of 20 hours spent on it (if not more!!). Once done it will be nicely packaged in a box for safety.  I'm going to give it to one of my blog followers including shipping it to them track and trace anywhere in the world at my own expense as a thank you for watching my blog and also as a way to show what im capable of producing. 

Whats the catch - there isn't one! (well there sort of is).  There wont be a winner announced until this blog gets to at least 120 followers - After all its the point of the competition right. :).

Now im going to run a similar competition on my other blog as well so if your signed up on both you have a chance to win two miniatures (and they will be totally different subjects). For this blog i haven't decided on the subject matter - i may let you guys vote on it!

Now what do you need to do - not much, just help spread the word about the competition, my blog and painting business. Once that Blogger followers counter hits 120, i'll randomly generate a number for each follower and get the computer to pick who is going to win the model. Simple right.

Now it might happen quickly, it might take a while - or it might never happen. no matter what the case is im still going to paint the model and will blog about it and possibly use it as a subject matter for YouTube videos.

Anyways, welcome once again to my new followers and id love to hear what you guys think about the competition. 

Till next time, hope you all have a great week.

Mark
:)

More Historical goodness

Next up on the new Photos of old work is my Crescent and the Cross Militant Orders army.

I had a blast painting this force last year. I love the colours, i love the subject mater - it was just a great project to work on start to finish. The models are all Fireforge Games Plastics.  Its a shame it hasn't had more gaming time as i really like the Saga system. This may be an army the goes up for sale soon simply because its not a game the other lads like to play at the moment.

On to the pictures,

First up the Knights!

The Army General.

Men at arms - unit 1

Men at arms - unit 2

Men at arms - unit 3

Crossbow Unit.

The whole force together.  Overall i think this may have been the nicest force i painted in 2014.

As always guys love to hear your thoughts etc.

New Updated Photos

Hey Guys

So today i broke out my camera and my new Light Box and started going crazy taking photos.

I decided i would start with my Bolt Action British.

This is an army which i really like. I painted it over the course of 2-3 months near the end of 2014 and most of that was waiting for stuff to be delivered and finding time to do some painting. it was cheap to assemble fast to paint (once i got started), i think it looks great on the table and it plays well too. All in all a total win :)

The models are all Warlord Games except for the Staghound which was from mmm i cant remember - that's embarrassing!. (ill update once i can remember) - now on to the photos.

(Apoligies for the paper lines - i still need to locate a nice clean white surface the right size to use as a backdrop).

The Cromwell - i love the design of this tank. Looking at these photos i realize i still need to do some transfers to finish it off. - welcome to suggestions for unit marking etc. etc...

 

 The Staghound - as with the Cromwell this one needs unit markings. Love the Staghound, one of the coolest armored cars of the war.

An infantry Squad.

HMG team.

Piat team.

The whole force assembled together.

Tomorrow ill put up some pictures of my SAGA force.

Painting contracts/Followers and youtube videos.

This is one of those posts that asks you my followers some questions:

I'm looking at having a total lifestyle change for my health and sanity.  I want to look at getting my miniatures painting business (The original reason i started this blog many years ago) up and running again with the intention of going full time as quickly as possible.

So to facilitate this change i need work obviously.  My first step towards this is getting more followers and getting my work out into the world more so people know me and what i do.

My first question to you my followers is:  how can i attract more followers to my Blog?  I have noticed that since google + came along people don't seem to follow blogs as much anymore as posts are now shared through google. i think this is great but it does mean you have no idea of how many people are seeing what your posting.

One thing ive been thinking about for a while is adding painting videos.  I'm not sure of a format or what people would like to see - but is this something you guys would like me to do? and if so what would you like to see?

Id love to hear everyone's thoughts and am interested to know if anyone out there is looking for a contract painter at the moment of in the near future. Or if you know someone who is looking for a painter get them to check out the Blog.

Anyways watch this space im going to add up pricing structures in the next few days.

Time to go and try out a few test videos and see what i can do.

ECW Reinforcements

A nice order of foundry miniatures has turned up on my door - did i say in my last post that the army was almost finished - hahahaha as if!!  not content with 700 odd point i wanted to make sure i could do a solid 1000 point for the big club game next month.

So i have 2 large units of commanded shot

and 2 units of muskets

and finally a unit of pike to go with the musket units.

Going to be tight to get these done in 3 weeks but ill give it a go.

On to the last bits for my ECW army

So im onto the command stands which means the basic army is close to completion.

I have a pike unit to base and another Cavalry unit to base and these command stands to complete and then the army is finished.

I love it when your so close to having an army done that you can taste the success !!!

Casualty Markers for Black powder/Hail Caesar/Pike & Shotte

Over the last couple of months that ive been playing Pike & Shotte ive been using glass beads as my stamina markers Whilst this system works its a little clunky and means that every time you move the unit you have to move all the separate markers along with the unit.

I decided there had to be a better system.  Some people use dice, some people use dials, some use counters/ markers of one type or another. They all have there good and bad points. I decided i wanted something that was easy for both me and my opponent to look at and know how the unit was looking.

After a decent search on the internet i discovered a company called Counter Attack Bases.  They do a whole range of different items and one i found was a product called Fantasy Battle games Wound Post and Rings.  You get 10 wound posts and a bunch of rings - some white and some red for 9 Quid. The idea being that every time you take a wound you place a ring over the post. White for a single wound and red for 5 wounds. A simple system that looks ok on the table.  The shipping was a bit of a killer to NZ at 9 quid and is a bit of a rip when you consider the weight and size of the package but that's one of the crappy things about being a war gamer in a small country at the arse end of the world.  I have emailed them to see if the shipping charge was a mistake as the price on the envelope was only 3.30.  (Edit i received a reply a few days later and they refunded the difference in shipping -great customer service!!)

Anyways the product itself is great and im sure they will get back to me about the shipping price.

Onto the pictures!!!

There is a small amount of assembly required - a bit of PVA glue and some drying time and your done.

I wanted to make mine look a little better on the table so i based them in the same way im doing my models, i think they have turned out quite good.

Here's a final shot of a finished Wound post behind a stand of pike.

I think on the table they are going to work very well - ill find out tomorrow night when i have a game against Kevin's Scots.

There are a couple of additions im going to make. In the Black Powder series of games you need to be able to show not only the wounds a unit has taken but also when the unit is Shaken, Disordered and when a unit is Broken. I'm thinking a great way to do this is to introduce a few extra counter colours to the mix. Due to the type of plastic the counters are made of i doubt i can repaint some of the white ones so im thinking of looking around some $2 shops and seeing what counters and beads they have that might do the job (Although once i hear back about the shipping im going to inquire if the do some different colored rings). (Edit: unfortunately they cant get different coloured rings )

Anyways that's a long enough post for today.  No mater what game you play id be keen to hear of what type of wound markers you use in your games.

Overall these are a great product and i recommend them as something a little different from the dial based markers (which Counter Attack Bases also does).   Go check them out. Speedy service and great customer service. :)

More ECW goodness!

Hi guys,

As promised here is my third infantry regiment (bet your getting sick of seeing these things by now).

As you can probably tell by now my Royalist force is going to be pretty colorful overall.  I've got plans for two or three more regiments to round out the army to a solid 1000 points in the long term but for now the army is pretty close to being finished and im really happy with how its turning out. Now if i could only win a game!!!!

Another Cavalry regiment

Hi Guys

As i promised yesterday here is my 2nd cavalry regiment. I'm pretty happy with the flag on this one as it had a big of an accident when i was trying to glue it on and it fell in some paint - I was mortified!!! After a quick wipe off i waited for the remaining paint to dry and then proceeded to repaint it by hand, its not perfect but i think its pretty damn close to what i had originally on the brought flag. 

 Tomorrow ill post up my third infantry regiment, See you then.

ECW Royalist army nears completion

Well im at the stage now where apart from finishing off my command figures im at the basing stage for my whole army. Today i managed to finish off another 3 units.

Rather than do a big photo dump ill spread the three units over the next few days (Gives ya a reason to pop back a few times) :)

We will start off today with the kings Life guard Pike and Musket units.

Tomorrow ill post up my next Cavalry regiment and the day after ill post up my 3rd Infantry regiment.

Till tomorrow.

Another finished Royalist ECW Unit.

Well the title says it all, ive finished another ECW unit, this time the first of four Pike and Musket Regiments.

Overall I'm pretty damn happy with how they turned out as yellow is a pain to paint at the best of times. I think the small amounts of blue in the sashes and pike tassels (which im using as the linking colour in all my units to designate that they are royalists) and in the flag all work well together against the bright yellow and the grey of the pants. Hopefully it will be a really stunning looking unit on the table.

I did have a third Central shot but something went wrong and it didn't come out right. (The lesson boys and girls is to take lots of shots and choose the best!) Something ive heard Will, Rob and Lee say a lot but i obviously forgot!!  Lesson now learned lads!

I'm really keen to hear what you think as i worked on these for a wee while to try and get them right.

More Finished ECW

So following on from yesterdays finished unit here are my artillery pieces for my Royalist army.