AWI Continental Soldier Test Figure

Exactly 7 years ago, I posted about a WIP Continental soldier I was working on. He was an Old Glory figure that I’d had for a few years and I wrote about trying out some new techniques and using a washer as the base.

The 2013 version.

Well, none of that ever came to fruition. But I rediscovered him and several other Continental figures while cleaning out my basement home office and felt compelled to give him another go. So I threw the above figure into a pot of Simple Green and started fresh.

The 2020 version.

I painted him up to represent the Southern forces (South Carolina, North Carolina, and Georgia wore blue facings per Washington’s 1780 order) because a) I’ve not seen anyone else do it and b) it’ll be a little quicker to paint. I blocked in the basic colors and used Army Painter Dark Tone Quickshade and was really impressed with the results. I did go over the skin with a bit of GW Reikland Fleshshade to liven him up. I also just got a jeweler’s magnifying headband with an LED light and have been double checking things (I missed a lot in my initial paint job!) and fixing as needed.

This thing is seriously awesome!

I have a few more figures nearly finished as well. These guys won’t win any painting awards but they’re quick to do and should look good in a larger group. All told these guys we’re done in 6-7 hours. I have a few more in stockings as opposed to gaiters, and I think they’ll help give this unit a nice, motley appearance suitable for the American army of this period.

Jungle Fever!

While stuck at home, the urge hit me to try my hand at making some jungle bases. It came out of nowhere really, but I realized I had all the necessary parts. Using this awesome tutorial from Games Workshop, I set to it. I did stray from the video a bit and throw in some skulls and fallen branches (courtesy of a fallen branch in our yard....how meta).

The underside of the barbed bracken was under coated with Death Guard Green. I also strayed a bit from the tutorial on this, but I didn’t want to run the risk of any bare plastic showing on the final product. While this was drying, I slapped on some old GW texture paint (from four years ago...yikes!) and allowed it to dry. I glued in the branches and skulls while the texture paint was still damp. I waited until the texture paint was dry to glue in the flora. 

With everything dry and in glued in place, the bases were also given a spray of Death Guard Green. 

Once dry, I randomly picked out the leaves with Elysian Green and Warboss Green to give things some variety. The fallen branches were painted Steel Legion Drab. As the tutorial specified, everything was given a wash of Athonian Camoshade, then the plant bases, stems, and branches were given a wash of Agrax Earthshade. Everything was then dry brushed with Screaming Skull.

Speaking of skulls, they were heavily dry brushed with Screaming Skull and then given two coats of Skeleton Horde Contrast. I liked the “earthiness” of the color mixed with hints of the original Death Guard Green. It reminds me of examples I saw in my Anthropology classes back in the day at Fullerton College. 

This was also my first time using a light box! I'd picked it up for cheap on eBay a few months ago with the purpose of photographing both my minis and Teresa's jewelry. Full disclosure, I did adjust the brightness and contrast in editing but I feel it does the best job of showing the bases' details. 

Additionally, while running errands yesterday I hit Curio Cavern and went through their bits box. To my knowledge this is currently the only bits box in Northern Virginia (since the Island Games closed last year). I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of jungle pieces they had! I'll definitely be incorporating these on future bases and scatter terrain.

Now that I have jungle bases, I think it's only natural to put proper figures on them.

Yup, the classic Catachan Jungle Fighters for Warhammer 40k. I used to hate these guys when I was first getting into the hobby but they've grown on me over the years. Plus they're not the ubiqitious Cadians that every Imperial Guard Astra Militarum player seems to have. They're different and that's something that really appeals to me. 

Norwegian Pearl

Ahoy everyone!

My wife and I just got back from our 5-day Western Caribbean cruise aboard Norwegian Pearl. She was the same class of ship as Norwegian Gem, so it was quite a bit like coming home! The Captain was on hand, of course. But because the the Pearl was so similar to the Gem, I didn't really get photos of him around the ship. Oh well.

We caught a 6 am flight to Miami, Florida (courtesy of Norwegian Cruise Line) and as such had plenty of time before boarding. We could see Norwegian Pearl just out the cruise terminal windows. And so we waited. 

We finally boarded a few hours later and our anniversary cruise officially began!

 

We had one sea day before hitting Belize and Mexico, as well as one before getting back to Miami. We spent a lot of time on the Pool Deck soaking up the sun, reading, drinking tropical drinks, and people watching. Cruising is great for all of those. 

Belize was our first stop. Norwegian has its own island called Harvest Caye, but the 400 people who work on the island are locals, which we both thought was pretty awesome. 

We went ashore and spent most of the day relaxing in the sun and drinking rum out of coconuts. It was all awesome until we realized the sunscreen we'd put on had expired some time ago. So we got back to the Pearl looking a bit like lobsters.

Our second, and last, port of the trip was Costa Maya, Mexico. As we were docking, we pulled up beside Norwegian Getaway. She was quite a bit bigger than the Pearl and can carry almost double the passengers. The Captain, of course, had to take a look for himself.

One thing Teresa and I have both wanted to see for years were Mayan ruins, so we booked a shore excursion to Chacchoben. The archaeological site was about an hour northwest of the port and Paula, our guide, gave us a great rundown of Mayan history and culture. The site was settled somewhere around 200 BC, though the existing structures date to around 700 AD. 

The ruins were amazing! Although Chacchoben is a smaller site, there was a lot more than either of us had expected! It was a dream come true for the both us...and I also felt inspired to finally pick up and finish my Mesoamerican-themed Rainbow Warriors Space Marine force for Warhammer 40k.

When we got back to Norwegian Pearl, Norwegian Getaway had set sail but there were two other ships in port: Norwegian Sun and Royal Caribbean's Adventure of the Seas. 

Teresa and I also met the Pearl's captain as well! Captain Giovanni was so nice and welcoming (he even gave me a hug I presented him with a small gift). 

We got to see him go up against Cruise Director Tiara in the Battle of the Cake Masters on the last day and it was hysterical! Seriously, the Captain could have a career in stand up comedy if he wanted to.

Captain Giovanni was even kind enough to take a photo with me (in his chef hat) afterwards!

Of course, photos cannot do the voyage justice. It was a great time! We'll undoubtedly do another cruise for our second anniversary, but in the mean time we're looking at a short trip in October on either Norwegian Sun or Norwegian Sky. The Captain will, of course, be along for that voyage as well!

The Mummy

Happy Halloween! 

This was just a quick little thing I did for the spookiest day of the year! It’s the “Mummy Rising” set from Reaper that was painted as historically accurate as possible; I spent a long time looking at Ancient Egyptian sarcophagi in order to get the colors right. Because I’m that level of geek. 

Upon seeing the photo above, one of my friends said, "Yikes! That's nightmare fuel right there." Nice to hear that I did a good job! 

Anyway, hope everyone has a happy and safe Halloween! 

Zulu Warrior Conversion Work

Things have been super busy lately, but I found some hobby time the other night. I decided to do some minor conversion work on one of the figures that I found in California last week. 

The shield was a spare that I had from a Zulu sprue from Warlord Games. The figure's hand was filed down slightly so as to make it appear like he was holding it properly. Nothing too fancy here, honestly. 

I had a bit more trouble finding a proper weapon. I'd initially thought that I might give him a musket but couldn't immediately find anything that worked. But as it happened, I found part of a spear that had broken off a few weeks ago while I was working on my Army of the Dead figures. It'd disappeared underneath my desk until I happened to bend over to pick up a paintbrush (I drop stuff a lot). The spear just about the same length as the iklwa that comes with the Warlord set and fit nicely in the figure's other hand.

So with this quick conversion work finished, the figure is now primed and ready for painting. He's going to be my test Zulu figure; specifically a warrior from the unmarried iNdluyengwe ("Leopards Den") regiment (or ibutho). Per Shaka's military reforms in the early 1800s, shield colors and designs marked different Zulu regiments. The iNdluyengwe shields were black with a white spot on the lower half. Although they formed part of the reserves at the Battle of Islandlwana, they didn't see action and so pushed on to Rorke's Drift in order to "wash their spears."

Norwegian Gem

Ahoy folks!

The day after the wedding aboard the Queen Mary, my wife and I embarked on a 7-day cruise to the Mexican Riviera aboard Norwegian Gem. Neither of us had been on a cruise before and it was the time of our lives! I was able to get a few shots of the Captain around the ship, but was paranoid the entire voyage that I'd accidentally drop him overboard. The above photo was from our first full day at sea.

Our first port was the lovely city of Puerto Vallarta. We went zip lining and I didn't die (which is something that I thought was surely going to happen).

I realize now I didn't get a shot of the Captain at our next port, which was Mazatlan. None of the shore excursions looked too exciting so we stayed aboard a bit longer than most and checked out an independent craft brewery just a few blocks away from the port. Definitely recommended! 

Our final port was Cabo San Lucas. We did a whale watching cruise and weren't disappointed! At one point we found ourselves in the midst of a dolphin pod and were surrounded by no less than 30 of them! It was sooo cool!

Also, here's a lovely shot of the Gem from the whale watching cruise trip.

Not a photo of the Captain, I know, but this was one of the most incredible sunsets that I've even seen. It also happened to be from our last night aboard.

Early the last morning, just as the ship was coming into the Port of Los Angeles, I was able to quickly take the Captain for a few photos in areas that were normally packed with people.

We also met the real captain, too! Captain Marin was kind enough to invite us to his VIP reception on the second night after I gifted him a book about the Queen Mary with a note saying how excited we were to be aboard the Gem for our honeymoon.

Of course this brief description and photos don't do the trip justice. But I think I'll make it a tradition from here on out. My wife and I have already booked a cruise for our 1st Anniversary. You can bet that the Captain will be coming with us!

The Queen Mary

Ahoy everyone! 

It was a busy few days (what with the whole getting married thing and all) but I managed to snap a few shots of the Captain around the Queen Mary!