May update; no new painting

Well, it's been too hot to paint in my little room/office and when I've tried the paint has started to dry out in my palette. Instead, I've taken some photos of flowers with my new (actually secondhand) camera body.

I've always been happy with my choice of Pentax cameras and my K70 was and is no exception, but I've long cast envious eyes on the top of the APS-C range Pentax K3 Mk III as a possible next step upgrade. When Ricoh (the owners of the Pentax brand) announced that it would be discontinuing the K3 range (apart from the somewhat specialist K3 Mk III Monochrome) I knew that I'd have to get one before they were all gone. Brand new, the body alone is eye-wateringly expensive but knowing that, I'd been saving up monthly to get the readies for a good quality secondhand body for quite a while.

Luckily, I was able to get one three weeks ago, and these are the first shots I've taken with it. The camera body is heavier than the K70 but it is of a sturdy pro-spec construction and despite the huge range of parameters and options you can tweak it is remarkably intuitive if you are a Pentax regular user (I've been using Pentax kit for decades). Even so, it pays to really read through the user manual to fully understand what everything does. I think that the multiple focus point options come out well in the last picture of a bee on Pyracantha blossoms, a difficult shot from both a contrast and focal point selection perspective.

I'm pleased with the results so far and looking forward to giving the new kit a proper workout over the coming months.

The future of digital SLRs, certainly Pentax ones sold by Ricoh seems in question. Maybe their next step will be to go mirrorless rather than persist with actual pentaprism cameras? Who knows? In any case, I've now got an absolute gem of a camera and I've got my K70 as a more than adequate backup too. I suspect that both cameras will outlast me!

Two more figures from Bad Squiddo

I forgot to post these earlier, so here they are. Scroll down to see both of them.

This is Jeanne d'Arc. She comes in two versions, mounted and on foot. I only have the latter. Both versions come with a nice paper banner and a metal spear to put the banner on. 

Actually, you get two flags, in case you mess up the first! The flag artwork is Martin Whitmore.

The second figure is a fantasy one.

She is a spellcaster, described as an Arcane Witch on the website. As you can see, she is hovering above the ground, buoyed up by her magical powers.

Tieflings

 Yes, Tieflings. Six of them in total. Scroll down to see them all. These ones are from Bad Squiddo.

I decided that a bold colour palette was the way to go for these lovely figures. Above we have a Fighter of some sort, possibly even a Paladin and a spellcaster with a grimoire under her arm and a mystical McGuffin in her hand, maybe a Warlock or Wizard.

Next are two more Fighters. I decided to tie all the more martial Tieflings together with the colour of their clothes, making them kind of swaggering and dandified swashbucklers. The one on the right has some kind of small pet creature on her wrist.

The last two seem to be rather useful additions to any band of dungeon adventurers; another spellcaster and a rogue. I will say that these two are my favourites of the six. I could see the spellcaster working as a Druid, Sorcerer or a Wizard and the Rogue speaks for herself. I mean, everyone likes a sneaky thief with assassin-type skills, surely?

The backdrops are, as usual from Jon Hodgson's terrific books available from Bad Squiddo or Handiwork Games.

Pyrates!

 Two 28mm female ones, Anne Bonny and Mary Read, from Bad Squiddo;

The treasure chests are resin ones I've had for years, also from Bad Squiddo and are a great match for these two famous female pirates, Anne Bonny on the left and Mary Read on the right.

I've had these on the painting table for ages, half-finished but languishing becalmed in the Doldrums, but now I've finally finished them off.

You will note that I have given them rather dark skin, this is a deliberate attempt to make them look sunburnt and hardened by salty waves and high winds (in Jamaica). 

The backdrop is a Jon Hodgson one. 

I am reasonably pleased with how they look, but blown up to the original size of the photo, I can see all soerts of things I could have done better. Still, on the table, I'm sure that they'll look fine. I just need some more pirates to accompany them on their adventures on the Spanish Main.

The annual LBWS Tabletop Sale is rapidly approaching.

Yes, once again, it is almost time for the Lincombe Barn Wargames Society's Tabletop Sale.

The format is the same as in previous years, i.e. it is essentially an indoor car boot sale for wargamers.

Please note that all tables for the event have now been sold and therefore it is a bumper year for sellers and buyers alike. Demand has been so high from sellers for tables that I have had to open up an extra small room to fit everyone in!

I'm sure that this means more bargains and things you never knew you wanted until you saw them this year.

So, if you are in and around Bristol, come down and spend your cash.

If you want to stick around afterwards, there will be space for gaming too.

 

61st Foot - my final few things

Some people may remember my 28mm Sharp Practice British Peninsular War force using the 61st Foot, the South Gloucestershires. These are the final 15 figures I planned to complete and a mere 4 years late, they are done.

Above are my final six skirmishers from the Light company, with a sergeant on the right. As previously, I have tried to make them look somewhat bedraggled and battle-worn, mainly by varying the colour of their trousers.

Below are an Ensign for the force and a drummer for the Light Bobs, I already have a drummer for the Centre Company chaps and finally, two Deployment Point markers, one for the centre company troops and another for the Light Bobs.

I like to give my Leader figures names, so the Light Company sergeant is Sgt. John Redcliffe and the Ensign is Thomas Barton-Hill. Anyway, I have now finally completed my force for Sharp Practice and hope to get a chance to deploy it at some point in the future. It now consists of four groups of 8 line foot and another four of six skirmishing light infantry, plus a fair number of leaders and support choices.

The backdrop is from a Jon Hodgson book, as per normal and the figures are from the Victrix Flank Company set.

Back to my Averland project

I sort of lost interest in this project for a while, but I'm getting back into it again. I've completed three Command stands which will act as Heroes for Midgard.

The flags used for the first two groups were downloaded from a Warhammer Fantasy Wiki site and reduced in size to suit 28mm figures. I have a couple more standard bearers embedded in two of my infantry groups using flags from the same source.

The figures are all Wargames Atlantic Conquistadors, which are perfect for this project because I have made two groups of Rondeleros (Sword and Buckler troops), two with long spears and one each with handguns, crossbows, halberds and greatswords. All pretty much standard for a Warhammer Fantasy Empire army. 

I was going to paint them all as Averland troops with yellow and black "uniforms" but I decided that I would widen the colour palette with red, blue and white, although I have incorporated black in a couple of cases.If I had to justify this, which I don't, I'd say that they were Tilean mercenary crossbowmen or troops from the personal retinue of some Averland magnate. Frankly, who cares? It just adds a bit of colour. I've decided that I will finish each group of eight figures before moving on to the next, so I get results more quickly.

Once all the infantry are done, I have 24 mounted figures to do. Twelve will be in full armour and the rest will be light horse. The armoured box contains the option of pistols, so I'll definitely do a unit of six pistoleers but will probably use lances and shields for the other 18, although I have been thinking about doing six mounted crossbowmen, assuming I can use spare crossbow arms on the light mounted bodies. We shall see.

So, I'm reasonably OK with how these have turned out. Not my best work but fine for a big army on the tabletop, where they will easily pass the 1 metre rule.

Apart from Mingard, these would also work well for Sword and Spear Fantasy in 28mm.

The backdrop is from a Jon Hodgson backdrop book.