Actual Painted Miniatures

I finally picked up the brush again after a long break. It felt good, and I finally got a chance to try the reading glasses I’d picked up at the dollar store. I’d asked my eye doctor if wearing reading glasses just for the magnification would harm my eye sight. I was assured that this was safe, so I thought I’d give it a try. At worst, I’d be out a buck-fifteen, at best, I’d have a very inexpensive stereo magnifier. It turns out it was a waste of money for me. I don’t really have that much trouble seeing what I’m painting. I think I’m like many people who think that a magnifier will somehow help them steady their hands. I certainly don’t like the short focal range, and the fact that I either have to load my brush blind or shift my glasses. The transition from glasses to naked eye¹ is not smooth for me, so it ends up slowing down my painting, as I load my brush often.

I drybrushed these miniatures with a bit of VMC English Uniform mixed with white. I painted the weapons with VMC Dark Sea Grey mixed with black, highlighted with VMC Dark Sea Grey mixed with less black. I also tried to pick out some items with VMC Buff, highlighted with VMC Buff and white. This is somewhat of an “artistic license” situation. I’m treating these items like they are pouches, while in some cases they are thigh-plates or random pieces of belt. I was also not consistent with what was what. The plan was to try to break up the monochrome look. I don’t know if I succeeded, but at least there’s a reward for those looking closely. Monochrome uniforms are fairly standard in the world’s modern armies, so the urge to make the miniatures wear otherwise is strictly aesthetic. It they were carrying more kit it would be better, or if what they were wearing was better defined, I might have made more of an effort.

Almost finished

Speaking of the sculpts, I have to say they are unimpressive. I believe they are older sculpts, but I really dislike miniatures where even the sculptor isn’t sure what it is her or she is sculpting. It may not be the truth, but that’s the impression I get from the miniatures. I’ve really fallen out of touch with Dream Pod 9 in regard to new releases, so don’t know if a new sculpt has been released yet, but I hope there is.

Another problem I have with these miniatures is that there aren’t enough basic rifleman. In a pack of 40 there’s 12 each of three poses, and four officers. The three poses are rifleman, machine gunner and rocket launcher. At least, that’s my best guess, as the weapons are fairly indistinct. This is because each pose was cast on the same sprue. A better arrangement would have been to cast a larger sprue, or have 3 of the same pose on each sprue, then cast them in the ratios needed for the current rules. A perfect ratio would be an officer, rocket launcher, machine gunner and six riflemen for the current rules. However, these miniatures pre-date the current rules, so one cannot blame DP9 for not redesigning a mold which will probably be retired shortly. However, a little forethought for flexibility would have made things easier for use who don’t want to have each base including a rifleman, machine gunner and rocket launcher. Or rather, one squad have two rocket launchers and a rifleman, or two machine gunners and a rifleman per base.

These miniatures are almost finished. Most likely I am going to base them up and be done with them. They just don’t warrant that much effort. They will most likely not be included in any Cangames army if I participate this year, in order to defend my “Best Painted Army” crown. Unless, of course, they end up as the only addition to my army. I’d rather lose that feel sheepish for winning twice with the exact same miniatures. Someone who makes the effort to paint up a new army shouldn’t lose to someone who didn’t.

Tyler