Desert Rats

[piersParticipant 25489xp 9]

20mm AB Figures – Desert War British

[gobboParticipant 2570xp 1]

Those are wonderful!  Love the Desert Rats!

[fogh 7155xp 2]

Those look great.  Wonderful paint job.  I can almost feel the desert heat 🙂 .

[damon 7525xp 1]

Excellent looking figures

[phaidknott 7023xp 0]

Love those figures, and the fact they got the shorts to the right length (for some reason the latest Warlord Plastics look like they are all wearing 70’s football “short” shorts). Is Antony Barton still doing these (I remember talking to him a few years ago and he said he was struggling with his eyesight these days…which is why he doesn’t do that many 15mm anymore)?

 

[piersParticipant 25489xp 1]

@phaidknott

Only Tony doing AB… both 20mm and 15mm…

He has produced loads the last three years since he hooked up with Eureka Miniatures.

He takes plenty of breaks but is till releasing at least one full 20mm range per year, often two. He is still producing the 18mm Naps too… and they are stunning.

Plus he is doing his own 1/6th modelling.

 

[phaidknott 7023xp 0]

Ah I did see Eureka were doing their own 20mm figures as well (so wasn’t sure if they were going to be rolled in together with this new reorganisation with UK distributors). Antony is an amazing sculptor (he doesn’t use armatures, he sculpts them on a tea saucer front and back (or at least he used to)). It was such a shame when he first started the whole range and the scandal with the partnership at the very beginning that left Antony basically having to resculpt the whole catalogue again (although I see the ACW figs are back in the fold). Thing with AB figures is you just want MOAR (I’d love to see him expand a bit more with his WW2 Russians). His figures are also very military modelling friendly with diorama building as he does some weird catalogue entries (because he want to), you’ll never see whole squads in relaxed poses from another sculptor 🙂

 

[piersParticipant 25489xp 1]

@phaidknott

Dunno what more 20mm Russians he can do… it’s a huge range now. Only thing missing are medics really. I guess some in winter garb could be added.

He has recently finished the first wave of Winter British and Germans and is on more tropical stuff now. Tony sculpts in Fimo, not putty and it allows him to make and break up figures for reposing. He is also a trained  artist too and I think it shows in his anatomy and posing.

[phaidknott 7023xp 0]

I’ve never heard of anyone sculpting the way Antony does (be interesting to see if there’s anyone else out there), I do think he’s usually got an uncanny knack when it comes to posing the figures. Problem is with AB figures is that they stand out due to the exceptional quality and its sometimes hard to mix other figure ranges in (unless you are a ham fisted painter like me and the paintjob just lowers everything down to the lowest common denominator). Ideally I love to see some British/Commonwealth troops in tropical gear but standard BDUs (ie trousers). They’d be good for things like Crete through to the East Asia campaigns. For some reason most manufacturers always seem to miss these out and just go with the Western Desert garb

 

[piersParticipant 25489xp 1]

@phaidknott

You will be pleased then… long trousers and shirt sleeve British are his next fancy.  🙂

[phaidknott 7023xp 0]

YAY…also does no harm to stick them in with figures with the shorts for the western desert (if the photographs are anything to go by). Always wondered if the troops had the choice of apparel out there, or if it was done by order (or simply they had been issued different kit)

 

[lloydKeymaster 17736xp 2]

wow these are just epic.

I’m defanitly going to have a look around this site:

https://abfigures.com/

[phaidknott 7023xp 1]

Oh Lloyd once you get into the AB figures “cult” you’ll soon be ditching all your 28mm. You can still play games like Bolt Action with 20mm without making any adjustments (in fact it looks better). For WW2 AB have everything covered for Europe and the Western Front and there’s LOADS of 20mm tank kits out there (although I do wish someone did Horse Limbers for Germans and Russians along with a cart in anything other than the soft plastic ESCI use). Plus this might be an excuse to try out the Battlegroup rules (I’m sure Piers can guide you here). I’m a big fan of the Brits, AB do Brits in BDU’s, Leather Jerkins, and Smocks (all good for late war), there’s very few other ranges out there that have this covered 🙂

All you have to do now is find out if there were any Regt’s raised local to you and look into the history and conflicts they were in for a little inspiration (granted you might not have the time, but it all ends up very interesting. Think of it as “free” black library books for the fluff for 40K available on the internet). Knowing the history (just like the 40K background), really helps you get into the game and painting those figures.

All we need now is some tips from Piers on how to strive for the excellent paintjobs he does (possibly step by step), I’d LOVE to be able to get my figures even to 50% of the standard Piers does 🙂 BTW any chance of getting a list of the paints you used for those Desert Rats?

 

 

 

[piersParticipant 25489xp 2]

@phaidknott

I have some painting guides… usually sell them, when I can be bothered to remember to advertise them, but if you want some for free to try out, drop me a PM. 🙂

 

@lloyd

AB are a step up on all WW2 figures… only the Perry stuff comes close until you get to 54mm models really. They also have such variety of pose along with the accuracy of subject.

Lovely to paint too.

[beccasParticipant 1146xp 1]

Great painting Piers.

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