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Wednesday, 13 May 2020

Castle Defenders

Taking a wholly pragmatic approach to the current restrictions, I have established a routine that helps manage the days of isolation.  This is greatly helped by the working timetable imposed by the school and the interaction with my pupils, but because there is no commute or boarding duties in the evening, I have managed to build in a modicum of hobby time.  Just an hour a day has seen a number of flights of fancy brought to a conclusion, but with this post I am delighted to report that I have finally completed the miniatures required to represent the castle defenders.
These amazing sculpts are, again, from 'Empress Miniatures' and have been goading me into painting them for some time now.  I seem to struggle when it comes to painting units of troops, in this case my lack of knowledge of the period and the masses of detail, not to mention the prospect of yet more camouflage had conspired to relegate these to the bottom of the 'to do' list.
Having completed the character set, as seen in the 'Cross of Iron' post,  I had a smidge more confidence to revisit these and armed with yet another outstanding painting guide from Nick of 'Moiterei's Bunte Welt' fame, this time detailing the intricacies of the splinter pattern camouflage, I endeavoured to move them forward.

I was feeling rather pleased with myself when they were complete, but having taken the photographs and seen them a little closer, as it were, I see that they look a little rushed in places and my ever  failing eyesight is definitely missing one or two details.  That said they seem to do the job from arm's length and look rather splendid when seen as a complete unit.

When checking the numbers for the game, I noticed that I was a couple of G.I.s short and so quickly remedied that oversight with a 'Warlord Games' plastic (left) and an 'Artizan Designs' metal (right) miniature as seen below, finally completing the roster for the game.  
Completing these has definitely given me a bit of a boost and have been beavering away with the SS Troops that I had left to do, but have also finished some scenic elements which I am looking forward to sharing soon.  With what we hope is the end of the restrictions in sight, I can't wait to see these elements all brought together on the finished boards.


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51 comments:

  1. Good looking GIs and splendid defenders, hurrah for Nick's camo guide I say as my batch are on the painting table!
    Best Iain

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    1. Thank you Iain, pleased to have got them done. Good to hear the troops are on the bench, Nick's guides will certainly help - best of luck!

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  2. Both parties do look good. I'm very interested on their fate ;)

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    1. Thank you, hopefully not too long before they get a chance to defend the castle for real!

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  3. Wonderful stuff Michael, shaping up to be quite a game.
    Cheers
    Stu

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    1. Thank you Stuart and I do hope so, a couple more bits and pieces to finish off and we are there.

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  4. Beautiful work Sir, and a few more that four there I think? ;-)

    Cheers Roger.

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    1. Thank you Roger, to be fair I did them in two batches. ;)

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  5. All of the minis are flawlessly painted! I especially like how well German camo turned out!

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    1. I'm not sure about flawless, but thank you so much Mr. Nimrod.

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  6. Very nice figures. Nothing wrong with them at all.

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  7. Splinter camo looks great Mike. Not a fun one to paint imo but if done at least half well it looks great on the table.

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    1. Thank you Dai, it was great to have a handy tutorial to guide me through.

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  8. There must be somewhere (someway) to find out the names of all those involved..then you could name each fig (?)

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    1. We certainly have most of the Americans, but not turning up as many of the Germans, but you are right it has to be thought.

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  9. Excellent work again Michael! Great work on the camo! Makes the early war period a breeze when there wasn't much camo apart from on the tanks. Unless your painting Goumis!

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    1. Thank you Terry, to my shame I had to look up Goumis, but not sure I am any the wiser?

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  10. Great work as always, sir!

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  11. Nice job Michael, lovely camo!

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  12. I wouldn;t worry too much about yoour "failings", the figure look great and much better than a lot I've seen. I emptjause with the whole "failing eyesight" thing too, I struggle a lot to get eveb ;average' looking figures anywhere near presentable.
    With the promise of scenics on the way, we have a lot to look forward to.
    Thanks Michael.

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    1. You are very kind Joe, thank you. Just writing up the next post so hopefully not too long to wait.

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  13. Great additions to the collection Sir M.

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  14. Excellent additions to this fascinating project. I'm really enjoying following the progress, Michael.

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    1. Thank you so much, some more updates to follow soon.

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  15. More fabulous examples of your craft Michael. Really nice to see. I'm excited too at the prospect of the whole thing coming together soon. Never before have two teachers so longed for the return to school. :)
    Just one question. Have you a tally of all the figures for the project? There seems to be dozens!

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    1. Thank you James and never a truer word said in jest! Super excited at the prospect of getting the boards together. Now, as for a tally and because I love a list, we have the following:
      28 SS Troops completed (Another 22 have been farmed off)
      12 German Defenders
      16 Americans
      8 French P.O.W.
      That doesn't include the staff of Dacha Werks (5) or the 4 Grey Aliens that may have just shuffled off the painting desk!
      So a grand total of 64 with another 22 to arrive!

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  16. Lovely work on these! It's amazing what gets done, when you can work consistently, even in half an hour a day.

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    1. Absolutely, just tinkering around each day has made the world of difference.

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  17. These look fantastic. I hate painting splinter. Never been happy with it. Might give the guide you used a go as these turned out very nicely, next time I get the urge to torture myself with it!

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    1. Thank you so much Billy, the guide helped but I was painfully slow at following it. I have just left a comment on your splendid blog. ;)

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  18. A fine bit of painting Michael & as they say its never an ill wind that doesn't blow some good :)

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    1. Thank you Frank, as always so supportive.

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  19. Fine looking troops Micheal!

    Christopher

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  20. Your work rate is just amazing that I can't keep up and of such high quality that I'm really pleased to just be following along and seeing what you've achieved. This is one of the great projects Well done.

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    1. Such a lovely comment, thank you. It is great to see the last of these pieces finished.

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  21. Great looking Germans, Michael. I too find things I missed or overlooked when viewing the enlarged images.

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  22. A great looking gang of Castle Defenders! And on the topic of not having to commute during this pandemic, it certainly makes people appreciate how much time is wasted traveling daily to and from work.

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  23. I think you've done an excellent job on that splinter pattern. I wouldn't know where to start on something like that. All my Germans are in grey!

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  24. Stellar work on the camouflage, brilliant how you managed to make each on of them look unique.

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