Waaagh! It’s Spring Clean 2023!

Having titled my project with the word Waaagh I thought it was about time I addressed this aspect of my Spring Clean Challenge. I got all my 40K Orks out of the garage and had a look at what I had. I had assembled the Boyz years ago, however I had not done a particularly good job. This will need corrected as I progress through this part of my project. Mould lines will need cleaned properly and guns drilled out and in some cases I am going to have to completely reassemble the models.

The two vehicles I had also built but I want to do a quite a bit more work on them and add details such as chains and car body mesh etc. The bikes were all still attached to their sprues. The only problem I had was that I hated the riders and drivers and crew. This was at the time of Gorkamorka and some of the Ork plastics were not exactly to my taste. I used five spare Boyz and converted them so they could ride the bikes. The hands holding the handle bars was the trickiest bit. I used hands that were designed to hold shootas and cut them off at the wrists and rotated them until they ‘worked’. The bodies legs and arms were all then ‘made’ to result in a convincing rider. I was really pleased with how these turned out.

This was a fairly simple kit bash and involves using the crowned head from the command sprue in the Perry Foot Knights 1450-1500 boxed set with a horse and rider from the Mounted Men at Arms boxed set. The head was actually designed to be used to make a dismounted version of Richard.

I like to vary the colours I use in units of horse so the following are the mixes I used for my unit of Mounted Men at Arms 1450-1500 by Perry Miniatures.

All paints used are from Colour Party’s horse set of paints unless mentioned.

Palomino: Base Palomino, wash with Army Painter Soft Tone, highlight with base mixed with Vallejo Ivory. The horse’s mane, tail and socks were painted Ivory and also washed with Soft Tone before being highlighted with the base colour.

White: this was painted Ivory and then washed with a diluted mix of Space Wolves Grey Contrast Paint and water. Thin glazes of Ivory were then used to create definition on the raised areas of the horse.

Black: The miniature was painted with Scale 75 Petroleum Grey and then shaded with any black. Highlights were then Scale 75 Rainy Grey and final highlights with GW Administratum Grey. I used this colour to highlight the horse hair as well. Socks were painted Ivory and washed with Space Wolves Grey before being highlighted with the base colour.

Light Bay: Starting from a base of Light Bay wash with Army Painter Light Tone before highlighting up to the original colour before final highlights are applied with that mixed with Ivory.

Grey Bay: Wash the Grey Bay with GW Basilacanum Grey Contrast. highlight with Administratum Grey.

Brown. Base with Vallejo Flat Brown and wash with Liquitex Raw Umber Ink. Highlight with the original colour mixed with GW Zandri Dust.

Chestnut : Wash the Chestnut with Scale 75 Inktensity Chestnut Ink. Highlights are applied with the base colour and further highlighted with that colour mixed with Vallejo Yellow Ochre.

The Brown. Light and Dark Bay’s horses socks, manes and tails were painted black and highlighted with Administratum Grey. Thar Brown and Rainy Grey were used depending on horse colour for the horses’s hooves. The former was washed with Agrax Earthshade and the latter with Basilicanum Grey.

This was built straight out of the box. The spirals on the lance are two colours : Mephiston Red from GW and Petroleum Grey from Scale 75. The armour on this model was a base of Vallejo Air Duraluminium washed with a blue / black ink wash. This wash was heavily thinned with water. Because of the ‘blue’ result I then highlighted up with glazes of GW Grey Knights Steel ( it has a bluish tone to the silver) and final highlights were applied with GW Stormhost Silver.

I painted these with the Plastic Crack Podcast’s Online Painting challenge for April in mind as this was focused on civilian figures. They with many more figures ( Perry) will be placed on a large diorama base. The regal looking lady with the red hat will represent Anne Neville who was married to Richard III and will be placed in a Royal box I am building alongside a conversion of the King that I have made. A lot of the other figures I am using can be seen in the photograph accompanying my Wars Of The Roses post.

I really enjoyed painting these figures and they are quite colourful as they mainly represent richer looking members of society. More recent research indicates that medieval citizens were very fond of brightly coloured clothing. These miniatures are from Wargames Foundry’s 100 Years War Range and are pack MED401.

I always enjoy painting Victrix models. They are characterful minis with great faces. My technique on this one was to (over a white undercoat) start with a base of Army Painter Barbarian Flesh. Then I washed the skin with an equal mix of an old GW Flesh Wash and Seraphim Sepia. The eyes are shaded with GW Rhinox Hide and then the whites of the eyes are painted in with GW Ulthuan Grey. Make sure you leave an outline of the brown paint. Pupils are then dotted in with Scale 75 Petroleum Grey.

The skin is them brightened with highlights of the original flesh colour and further highlights on extremities (chin , cheekbones, brow and nose etc) with this mixed with Vallejo Game Colour Pale Flesh. The teeth are picked out with Vallejo Ivory and the tongue with GW Mephiston Red. Colour under the cheeks and around the nose is added with a glaze of GW Screamer Pink. This colour is mixed with GW Bugman’s Glow for the lips. The variations in shine of the paint is then flattened with a brush applied matt varnish. I used Vallejo.

The figures are designed to be mainly in combat poses. I added in arms and helmets from the other Perry Wars of the Roses boxed sets for added variety and to make a unique unit. I varied the armor colours from blackened metal to highly polished steel plate.  This was achieved by varying the base colours. I used Grey Knights Steel and Iron Hands Steel from GW, Plate Mail Metal from Army Painter and Duraluminium from Vallejo. The different effects were then achieved depending on the wash I used. For the less bright ‘silver’ paint I used thinned Carbon Black ink from Liquitex ( two coats) to create the blackened armor. For lower quality plate I used more diluted ink. The Grey Knights steel is bluish in tone and I used a mix of the black ink and Inktensity blue from Scale 75 as a wash. I deliberately varied the intensity for variety. For higher quality plate I used  a very diluted Inktense Violet which gave the armor a nice purple tint. All the figures were then highlighted with their original base colours. I used a thinned glaze consistency on upper armor surfaces and treated them as though I was using a simplified NMM technique. This is best used sparingly as the highlights really contrast with the darker areas of the armor and adds significantly to its shine. Final highlights using GW Stormhost Silver really makes the armor pop!  The flag I have used comes from the beautiful range by Petes Flags. This one is on their Richard III sheet and features his symbol the boar.

The models featured are principally Perry although one is the Richard III figure available at this years Hammerhead wargames show and there is also a pack of civilians from Casting Room Miniatures. The plastic figures are made up with parts from the following boxed sets: Foot Knights 1450-1500, Mounted Men at Arms 1450-1500, Wars of the Roses Infantry ( bow and bills) and Mercenaries European Infantry 1450-1500.

The figures are all more or less compatible with each other and no two figures are the same. I have also converted quite a few as well. The project revolves around Richard III at Bosworth although I will also be making a vignette of him when he was the Duke of Gloucster at the battle of Barnet. When completed I will have made seven different vignettes/dioramas featuring Richard. Wargames units wearing his livery coat and also Henry Tudors will be added as well. Several of my ideas have been inspired by artwork by Graham Turner and Peter Dennis as well as the cover of the new Billhooks publication.

I also purchased several metal packs of medieval civilians and  Wars of the Roses personalities. They will be used in a huge diorama I am planning which will feature Richard at a joust. The wagon that can be seen in the picture is available from Warbases.

This was quite an involved conversion as the figure is sculpted blowing the trumpet. I wanted my model to have a slung trumpet and posed charging with a sword. This involved removing the right arm and carving away the hand. The trumpet was then sculpted with greenstuff to complete it.  The cords were made out of fuse wire. The sword arm had Imperial livery lace added again with the same modelling putty.

For the Battledress the base colour is Vallejo English Uniform washed with Agrax Earthshade by GW then highlighted with the base colour. A further highlight was the applied with a 1-1 mix of this and Scale 75 Thar Brown. Thar Brown is then used sparingly as a final highlight.

The webbing was painted with Vallejo Yellow Olive. This was washed again with Agrax and highlighted with the base colour. Elysian Green ( GW) and again Thar Brown were applied as the final highlight stage.

Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas. For the figures Elven cloaks I used Vallejo Model Colour Green Grey. I then added black into it and shaded this into the recesses. This was then blended with less black to make the transitions smoother. I then added Administratum Grey and finally worked up to pure Ulthuan Grey ( both GW colours) for the highest highlights on the cloaks.

For the green cloth on Aragorn and Legolas I started with Vallejo Model Colour Yellow Olive and shaded with this mixed with black. I then took the base colour and highlighted with increasing amounts of scale 75 Thar Brown. Extreme highlights were pure Thar Brown. For the leather on Gimli I started with a 50-50 mix of Mephiston Red and Rhinox Hide from GW. Then added warmer browns into the mix for highlights. Shading was done with Rhinox hide.

I wanted clear differences in the skin tones on the models. For Aragorn I wanted a weather beaten look so started with Barbarian Flesh from The Army Painter. This I shaded with an equal mix of an old Citadel Flesh Wash and GW Seraphim Sepia. I highlighted this with the original flesh colour and worked this up with a mix of this and Vallejo Game Colour Pale Flesh. Around the nose and cheeks I glazed GW Screamer Pink and mixed this with GW Bugman’s Glow for the lips. His facial hair was done with repeated glazes of GW Thondia Brown.

Legolas was painted in a similar fashion although here I started with the Pale Flesh colour and the wash was less intense. Highlights kept the overall skin colour much lighter in finish than with Aragorn.

I wanted a ruddier finish with Gimli so the base colour was GW Bugman’s Glow. This was washed with the very red toned GW wash. Highlights were worked up to Barbarian Flesh. His beard started with GW Doombull Brown which I then washed with Liquitex Burnt Umber Ink. Highlights were then achieved with the original base colour and then GW XV-88 and finally sparingly applied Balor Brown.

These were the first unit I finished a set of 13 Warlord Games metal figures. They were principally from the SS Charlemagne set and two were from the early war set. I did a bit of conversion work on them by removing all the shields that bore the tricolour on the left arms and added bits from my spares box. These included different hands and weapons and I even replaced one of the heads with a Wargames Atlantic one.

I have painted WWII camouflage before but never Oak leaf so I decided to attempt both Spring and Autumn types here. In both cases I started from an equal mix of GW XV-88 and scale 75 Thar Brown. For the Autumn pattern I started with irregular patches of GW Thondria Brown and applied Vallejo Bright Orange within the brown patches. I then washed the uniform with GW Agrax Earthshade. Dots of GW Fire Dragon Bright were  then placed on the original orange colour. The rest of the uniform was then highlighted.

For the Spring uniform I added patches of Vallejo Yellow Olive and the same process was then repeated as above with the final dots being made with Vallejo Deep Green. Jackets and trousers that were plain uniform were either Army Painter Field Grey or Uniform Grey respectively.