Bolt Action - Africa Corps

So I have been busy today experimenting with the WWII realistic camo for my Africa Corps that I decided to start.  Now I know I said I was only going to use USMC but the other week Warlord games done an offer that was to good to refuse and that was a 1000pt force for £60.00.  The army I went for can be found here http://www.warlordgames.com/store/bolt-action/german-army/1000pts-german-army.html.  It is still availbable for sale but is the normal price of £75.00 which I think is a steal when you compare it to other game systems that I do and are out there.  There is also a suprise that you actually ger 50 models and not the 40 listed (not including HQ), this isn't a one of either as a friend also brought the British army deal and got 50 troops as well.

So with the models arriving I decided to do the Africa Corps paint scheme as I really like the scheme and the idea of tank battles in the desert (thanks to Alessio's armoured platoon this is now possible).  I also wanted to try a few new tricks and here they are:

Firstly I sprayed the vechicles Chaos Black and painted the masking fluid onto the tracks, weapons and tyres that I wanted to keep black for later on, see above picture.

Next I primed the vechicles with German uniform grey (from Warlord).  With the paint dry I then applied Hairspray, why your see later.

I then sprayed on the next colour middlestone (warlord 882).  This was done lightly so the base colour could be seen through to represent a quick spray job to get the vehicles into the field see below.

The next paint to go on was German camo orange (warlord 823) This like the last paint was applied lightly and the previous two colours could show through on places.

Finally a light brown was applied to break up the pattern as you can see they have a factory fresh look that just wont do so it was time to make them look worn.

 

Prevously I would of at this stage applied the dry brush to get a worn look but I wanted to try the hairspray technique (if you remember the hair spray was applied with the german uniform grey after the Chaos black).  This is where the magic happens.  There are loads of articles explaining how to do it but to sum up this is what I did next:

a.  Applied a brush lightly over the part you wish to distress with warm water this will help loosen the paint.

b.  Do the above all over the model.

c.  Once your happy you can spray a matt varnish over the model to lock the paint down to stop any more paint coming off.

d.  Continue painting the model until finished.

Before I applied the varnish I pulled off the masking fluid to reveal the tyres, weapons and tracks on the hanomag's.  I also applied MIG Sub Sahara wet mud look to the tracks.

So thats it just a few little finishing touches to do I just thought I would share this with you.  I really enjoyed doing the above and cant wait to try out these techniques again.  Once these are done I best get back to my vampires

Skeletons Rising

So after a great time away in sunny Brighton for the club day where my friend Gaz has written all about it in his blog http://garethhobby.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/hey-folks-hobby-station-has-been-busy.html

I got the bug as always to get the paints out and start painting after using Trollbloods in Hordes all weekend and playing Bolt Action using my USMC, I felt that my GW models needed a bit of loving so I have promised myself to paint a 1000pts Vampire counts army before I go back to work in April, is that realistic I think so, as long as I don't get distracted by other toys (I am looking at you Bolt Action new army of over 1000pts brand new for less than £75.00!!!!!!).

So with just over a week gone I have made a good start and here's the proof:

20 Skeletons done just need to do the shields and banner design for the army when I settle on one.

All movement trays and bases where purchased from www.base-x-of-war.com/ (ghostly graveyard range).  They are good no prep work was needed before I painted them and the quality is good, if you want some scenic bases take a look.

10 Ghouls











Sorry for the bad pictures but as I have said before my equipment is back at work and this is the best I can do at the moment.  Comments are always welcome, what do you think?  All I have to do now is paint the Black Knights, Terrorgiest, Corpse cart and characters and I will be there ready for a gaming weekend on the 15th with the lads that I went to school with.  I believe they will be using Ogres, Warriors of Chaos and Wood Elves.  Hopefully I will remember to take my camera and take photos of the weekend.

Until next time Keep it real and see you at a gaming table soon.