Back to the Desert

I have recently been reading Patrick Macrory's excellent history of the First Anglo-Afghan War, titled "The Fierce Pawns." This got the colonial juices flowing again in my brain and I decided to rake out my 10mm Sudan. There was actually more painted up than I remembered, enough in fact for a small game. So I threw together some rules (which have since gone through several revisions) and had a few small games. I took a few pics of the first couple games. The rules are now quite different from how they were in these games, and I seem to be closing in on a good workable system. Perhaps I'll post the current draft soon if anyone is interested?

I also uncovered the many packs of unpainted 10mm Sudan minis I have lying around. Lots to paint! And I wouldn't mind ordering a brigade's worth of Egyptians...

I also need to make some desert hills, as the cliffs seen in these pictures are probably much better suited to the NW Frontier than the Sudan.

Something that may be of interest...

For anyone who might be interested, I run a tumblr blog dedicated to all things Victorian, Edwardian, and British Empire (with some additional oddities thrown in). Have a look here.

Pendraken Painting Competition

Just my entries for this year's competition.

10mm Sudan Close-Ups

Here are some close up pictures of some of my Pendraken 10mm Sudan collection.

I must say, I was rather disheartened by the fact that seeing them this close really highlights all the imperfections in my painting!

New stuff!

Since my last post I have painting and modeling up a storm! I have painted 2 more units of British, a few stands of Mahdists, and made a village and several pieces of rocky terrain for the 10mm Sudan stuff. For my 15mm stuff I made 2 ruined buildings and painted 5 resin buildings from JR Miniatures.

The Sudan village didn't turn out as well as I'd hoped, but it will do for now. I made the buildings out of cereal box card, folded into shape, glued together then applied a thin coating of paper mache mix. The flash on the camera shows the unpainted insides of the buildings, but in normal lighting you can't see inside them.

The ruined buildings were made from foamboard, then I covered them in a sort of paper mache mush, and threw on some rocks and sand to taste. I am pretty pleased with the results.

The rocky outcroppings are not pictured because I am not very happy with them. They look decent enough, but the card bases warped quite a lot from the paper mache and subsequent painting. I am going to re-make them in the future, with use for the bases (as I should have done in the first place).

Currently working on another ruined building, a unit of naval brigade for the Sudan, and a platoon of 15mm sci-fi troops from GZG. Production will come to a brief halt, as I will be away for a week to Maryland Deathfest, then visiting a gaming buddy in Vancouver.

Anyway, here are the pics. Yes, I know, I really need better backdrops for my pictures, and I need to work on lighting, focusing etc. Feedback on the minis and terrain is appreciated.

My First 10mm Sudan Unit

I've finished my first unit of 10mm British infantry for the Sudan, so here are some pics! These are the first minis I've painted in a about a year, and my first time ever painting in this scale. I used quite a simple and fast painting method:

1. Block paint all the colours
2. Wash of Minwax Polyshades Tudor Satin Polyurethane Stain
3. Base the minis, sand and paint bases
4. Spray with Testors Dullcoat

They won't win any awards, but I am pretty pleased with how they have turned out.

Sorry the pictures aren't the greatest. I'll have to practice a bit more with taking pics of minis.