On The Painting Desk: 2022 Work so Far

 

I started 2022 with a list of purchase and painting goals.  Most of them were focused on items to help expand and support the Blood and Spectacles brand.  This included the following key painting goals: 

1. Dark Age Irish from Wargame Atlantic for my Fury of the Northman project
2. Gripping Beast Dark Age Infantry/Cavalry for Fury of the Northman Project
3. Persians from Victrix/Wargame Atlantic for an Ionian Revolt Supplement

4. Tumbling Dice 1/600 aircraft for the Korean War to use in White Star/Red Star

5. Finish off other things I buy in 2022

So, I have gotten started on tackling this list right away.  The longer I wait, the harder it is to get finished and the longer until the booklets they go with get done.  Therefore, here I have all ready picked up the following: 

Dark Age Irish- Wargame Atlantic

Korean War Aircraft- Tumbling Dice

In addition to that, I finalized a few things and started a few things.  The first thing I finished was a Reaper Nativity scene for my folks as a present.  This was the second one I purchased and painted.  The first went to my In-laws. I purposely painted them differently.  

I also got an Orange30 Resin Printer for the Holidays.  I got it all set up, and figured out the first thing I wanted to print.  I printed some 1/1200 Greek Triremes so that I can start two forces for Poseidon's Warriors.  I tried to paint one squadron while I printed the next one to paint, as each takes between 45 to 120 minutes per squadron to print and prep.     

I'm still working on my water bases, as right now they do not look like the Triremes are moving at all.  They are good enough for now though.  

I figured the easiest things to get done would be the Tumbling Dice Korean War aircraft.  The USAF paint schemes for the time were pretty straight forward.  They were basically a silver or light grey with yellow, black, or red stripes/marks.  The USAF roundel would be the biggest challenge, as I did not find decals of the proper scale.  Therefore, I was going to try to free hand... something.   Not expecting much but at the scale of these planes, detail would not be needed.  We are looking more at impressions and the proper silhouettes.

Here you can get an idea of their size on the flying mounts I typically use on my Aeronef and Space Mecha.  Pretty small scale minis!  

A nice thing about small scale models like this, is that they paint up really fast.  Plus, Korean War aircraft paint schemes are relatively simple.  Therefore, I was able to pound out several aircraft quickly and get them ready to play.  This is enough aircraft to get me going on the table, post-production, and for battle reports.  However, I think I need to order more Litko flying bases.    

F-86 Sabres, F-84 Thunderjets, and F-80 Shooting Stars.... Oh My!

A swarm of Mig-15s

A mighty B-29 Superfortress and three A-26 Invaders

More B-29 Super Fortress and Communist TU-2 Bats in front

The North Korean Air Force, La-9 (or 11's) with the red cowlings, Yak-9 with red nose cone, and Yak-18 Maxx in front.  

I had to order some more Litko bases half way through the process, so that slowed me down a bit.  However, these 1/600 aircraft painted up nicely and quickly.  I had all of my Korean War Communists and USAF painted in less than a single month.  That was even faster than I expected!  

The last of the Communist forces: 3 more TU-2 Bats in back, and then 12 Il-10 Beasts in ground attack and night attack colors. 

The last USAF with the F-82 Twin Mustangs in back, F-51 Mustangs on the left, and a pair of A-6 Texans on the right.  

All done.  Here is a sample picture of what they will look like on the table....

Yu can find the rules on the Wargame Vault now too.   Go here for White Star/Red Star

Next, I started assembling those Dark Age Irish.  I used the typical base of a washer for all of them.  This gives the model a nice bit of weight to it.  This army will be about 60 models strong when it is complete.  It is intended for battle reports, pictures in the rule book, and for use on the blog.  

These are pretty early stages, but the goal is to have 2 units of warriors, 2 units of slingers, and 2 units of Skirmishers to face off against my Viking forces.  Once I have them painted, I will add shields to the units and models that need them.  It is early stages, but the Wargames Atlantic sculpts seem pretty clean.  However, where the sprue joins some of the models can be a pain to clear off.  

Overall, there are three distinct features that make up a Dark Age Irish army: 

Uggh.... terrible lighting 

1. Bare footed and little to no armor

2. The distinctive Shillelagh walking stick club

3. Irish Wolfhounds

The Irish Wolfhound going into battle besides the Irish forces is a staple of wargaming.  However, I am not sure how strong a grasp this common Irish army feature has in reality.  I decided to lean into it with my skirmishers being half regular troops and half Wolfhounds.  As skirmishers it seemed to make the most sense in the army.  I also did not get enough slings, so half the two slinger units are just throwing rocks.  This makes the army look considerably less professional than their Viking foes, which I have no issue with. 

Overall, not a bad start to my 2021 painting goals and objectives.  The next step is to get some of more bases for my Korean War aircraft.  Then, I need to get them fancy photos for the White Star/Red Star rulebook.  The sooner I get the Irish painted, the sooner I can get some playtest games of Fury of the Northman on the table too.  2021 is going to be a great year if I keep this pace up!   

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