A couple of views of the armour. The starting point for these was when I borrowed a spray can of Army Painter's Army Green from a friend at our club. It was brilliantly quick and provided a great staring point. I'll definitely use these sprays in the future.
There then followed some highlights and dry brushing, then some washes. On the pictures, the Firefly at the top left was washed with soft tone, the other Sherman remains without a wash at this stage. The bren carrier was given a black wash and turned out a bit too dark. The Stuart had a mix of tones. I reckon the soft tone was best and I'll use it on the other Sherman. I'll probably add a bit of black shade to line hatches and the like, just to give a bit more depth.
The transfers went on. The Firefly is intended as the Scots Greys of 4th Armoured Brigade, the Sherman as the Fife and Forfar Yeomanry, the Stuart as the recce units of 11th Armoured Division and the bren carrier as the Black Watch in the 51st Highland Division.
And a couple of shots of the infantry. At this stage they just have an airbrushed coat of Vallejo brown green. I then quickly splashed some green on the helmets. This would allow the figures to be used in game without looking too stark.
And another brighter shot. The chap in the blue at the bottom is the RAF forward observer and the blue was a first try at getting a decent base for the RAF blue.
What is the rough size of a force needed ? I read of the forthcoming Sealion 1940 supplement and was tempted ,possibly to use the rules with VBCW too.
ReplyDeleteHi Alan.
DeleteRules are scaled as 1:1 and based on a section or squad of 5 to 10 infantry or a MG team or mortar team etc., The minimum force suggested would be 1 leader and 2 x 5 man squads. After that it's just a matter of deciding how much you want to play with. Troops can be inexperienced, regular or veteran.
In the last game I played, I had 3 x 10 man sections, a MMG an artillery observer, a sniper, a sherman and an officer in charge. It gave a good game in an evening and I'm not going to vary my force much. I reckon I have everything I need and the vehicles I have are just indulgence to paint and which I don't actually need for a game.
The 1940 dads army list in my book has a core of an officer and two sections, then everything else is added to taste. The core infantry are either regular or inexperienced and extra home guard or other infantry can be added.
Also, just in case you're interested, Warlord do a Walmington on Sea boxed set with the regulars in both uniform and civilian clothes. It's quite expensive (30 plus pounds for the 14 figures) but still tempting.
Looking good Tom. The sprays are a great way base coating your vehicles and you are right about the washes; stay away from too much black as the result is too dark on a darker base coat.
ReplyDeleteStill struggling to find the time to do some serious painting although the 20mm Universal Carriers are moving slowly to completion.
Cheers, Ross
Thanks, Ross.
DeleteMy only regret here was applying the transfers before experimenting with washes, specially on the bren carrier. Otherwise I would have been tempted to spray it again. However, all is not lost as Army Painter do bottles of paint in the same colour as the spray, so I'm planning to go back to the bren carrier with the army green colour and lighten the bigger panels and areas that look too dark.
I hope you can still get some painting done. I follow your blog and hope you and Russ can paint a decent amount in the challenge.
cheers
Hi Tom,
DeleteOn my 20mm stuff I use the spray then wash and then the matching acrylic paint to go back over the washed based base coat.
With 20mm dry brushing is often good enough; in 28mm you might need to wet brush.
Regarding decals, some of the setting solutions can be used to remove them and I always do all the painting then add the decal. The decal can be aged afterwards.
Cheers, Ross