Test Models for Turnip28 ( Undead Napoleonic British ).

I have painted five test models for Turnip28.

Mine are a combination of bits from Napoleonic British kits (Perry Miniatures and Victrix), and various Citadel Undead parts I had left over in bits boxes. I have spent the last few evenings making lots of these, somewhere in the region of 100! They are organised into 'Regiments' of 12, with an Officer, Standard Bearer, Drummer, Sergeant, and eight troopers.

They have been great fun to convert, really a nice change from Oldhammer, (which I still love). I am still painting the Big Hatted Chaos Dwarfs, but for now I am very distracted with this. It is an interesting distraction which is allowing my imagination to move beyond the 1980's and 1990's Citadel focus which I have been in for a while.

In line with the Turnip28 idea I have added tufts to the body of the miniatures to suggest a link with roots and the land. If I was to leave this out, I think that the Undead Napoleonic British would look great in a more Ethereal aspect. However, I have added the tufts and gone for the muddy look. They were easy to paint, very slap dash in a way, similar to the Chaos Dwarfs. I say that, not to suggest they are badly painted, but as painted in a particular style, not the precise style of some painting (which I shall reserve for other miniatures), but a more laissez faire approach to give that muddy, unkempt look. 

A quick mention on the bases. I have used Vallejo Thick Mud for them, a form of technical paint. It is a great paint for adding mud which is oozy and sticky looking, similar to the mud which Sussex is (in)famous for. I will be adding model leaves and wood, etc, to later bases, but for now, just plain bases. It's great stuff to use.

Enjoy :)

Five test models.
I under coated black, dry brused dark brown, and then lightly painted on the base colour onto the brown. I then gave everything a very light dry brush of tan (Vallejio Game Colour 'Earth).

Two Troopers at porte.

Rear view.

Marching.

Rear view.

A big pot of mud!
When I ordered this I didn't quite realise that it would be this big. But I will find uses for it. :)

Next update will probably be a combination of Big Hatted Chaos Dwarfs and Undead Turnip bothering soldiers. 

A little bit of Turnip28 ( Undead Napoleonic British ).

Don't worry, I am still painting the Chaos Dwarfs. However, I have got a little distracted by a project I have wanted to tackle for a while...

I have always liked the Crimean War, and Iron Maidens song 'The Trooper', and so I wanted to do an Undead Crimean War army era based on Eddie from the Iron Maiden cover. So the other night I started converting some old plastic 28mm Napoleonic Miniatures which I have had for a while, using the Skulls from the Citadel Miniatures Skull box set, and a little bit of green stuff. As I converted them I realised that it might be easier to just have an Undead Napoleonic Army. This got me thinking of the Tunip28 gaming movement.

The Turnip28 idea is a concept drawn from the miniatures converting and art works of Max FitzGerald, whose work can be found here:
https://twitter.com/maxstaxidermia

The premise (or the root, if you like!) of his idea is, to quote, a sort of "post-apocalyptic Napoleonic root-vegetable themed wargame". It was born out of his wish to have have some Napoleonic miniatures without the hassle of painting the large amount of detailing which goes with them, and also with the desire to build the kits and kit-bash with some medieval kits too.

Add to this some John Blanche inspired artwork, and a kind of muddy, earthy, root vegetable based apocalyptic setting, and there you have it! He conducted an interview with Edwin Moriarty on the Goonhammer site which better explains it here:
https://www.goonhammer.com/turnip28-interview-with-max-fitzgerald/

Anyway, with this in mind I took a slightly more Undead take on the idea, something which a few other kit-bashers have touched upon. Many of the people involved have been using some of the excellent Napoleonic and Medieval kits made by Perry Miniatures, Victrix, Warlord games, and others, with elements from bits boxes thrown in (to the cooking pot!?).

Now, I love the Perry and Victrix kits (I have never dealt with any of the Warlord Games ones), and assembled the beginnings of a British army comprising of them years ago.When I moved house some years ago, they were sadly damaged. As Napoleonic armies usually have to be 100% perfect, and my kits were now in a less than ideal condition vis a vis broken bayonets, etc, I never went back to them. But for Turnip28 conversions this doesn't matter.

So I set to work on them. I wanted to keep a Napoleonic look to them, but with an Undead twist, and as I don't have any Medieval box sets to use, so didn't add any Medieval items! For head swaps I used the Skulls from Citadels Skull box set. The bodies were a mix of Perry Miniatures Napoleonic British (the grey plastic ones shown in the photographs), and Victix Napoleonic British Line, and Centre Company box sets (the yellow and brown ones).

I have thoroughly enjoyed converting them up, and am very happy with the results. I like kit bashing, and still have lots of these miniatures left over, giving me a sizeable army. According to the background, they are to be organised into regiments of 12, and so I have gone with that premise for now. Painting wise, I am not going for the full root look with the tufts of grass on the miniatures, etc (although it does look good), but will be going to a very muddy, as though they have risen from their mud-filled graves.

 Enjoy :)

Yes, I got a little carried away by this the last two evenings!

Converted Perry Miniatures.
These are the ordinary Troopers, or 'Fodder' as Max FitzGerald referred to them in the Turnip28 background.
To have the Troopers wearing hats I have sawn off the top of the skull, and the face/head part attached to the Shako, and then glued the two together. To keep the skull at head level, I have added some green stuff to hold it at the correct height.
They are based on 25mm round bases.

A pair of Victrix Miniatures, with Perry Miniatures heads. I find the Perry Miniatures Shakos look and sit better with the Citadel Skulls.

A pair of bare-headed Troopers.
Some of the Citadel Skulls have some lovely (!?) battle injuries and damage to them, and look better without the Shakos.

Sergeants.
I love how these two turned out. The Nonchalant Sergeant with the half-pike looks quite mournful to me. The other Sargent, who is apparently meant to be received ammunition from another Trooper, does, with the Skull head, look like he is Death beckoning you to your fate!
I also used the covered Belgic Shako for these two to differentiate them from the other Troopers more, and give them a slightly different look.

More Victrix Troopers, this time loading their muskets.

For a few of the Troopers I drilled holes in them to suggest they had been shot,either in the former as a cause of death, or latterly as a situational hazard of being Undead!

Officers, or 'Toffs' as they are referred to in Turnip28.

Two more officers.
For some reason, I thought it would be a good idea to have a few of the Officers, and maybe other ranks, wearing gas masks, just to give them a different look. These gas masks are metal, and are from West Wind Miniatures. They originally had Kepis on, which I removed and replaced with Bi-corns.
I plan to do a few more crazy ideas for other Officers and NCO's.

Drummers.
The one on the left has a great looking split Skull. The Drummer boy on the right seems quite poignant as it represents a boy/young teen, killed and now Undead. Some of the Shakos, like his, had lost their plumes, but I am still using a few as they fit in with the battle damaged look.

Standard Bearer.
I haven't tackled converting many Standard Bearer Miniatures yet. This one had lost the end of the pole, so I replaced it with a Skull. I am planning to use some of the big beast looking Skulls from the Citadel set, along with root vegetable themes pennants.

Riflemen.
Max FitzGerald suggested that some of the Regiments, named 'Chaff' might be more skirmisher in nature.The quote he used was "long-beaked, nasty arrogant bastards that scout ahead". That got me thinking of using the bird-like Skulls from the Citadel box set on the Rifleman bodies.
Here I have converted an Officer and a Rifleman.

Another two Riflemen. To wear the Shako I had to flatten the top of the bird skull and remove the face/head from the Rifleman Shako as per normal.

Next update with probably be some Chaos Dwarfs, although I might also paint up a few of these as test miniatures as well.

Big Hat Chaos Dwarf Blunderbuss Regiments.

 A Happy New Year and all of that sort of thing. :)

In the closing few of weeks of 2020 I have managed to paint quite a few of the 4th Edition Chaos Dwarfs of large hat fame (or infamy, depending on your point of view).

Keeping with the 'industrial wasteland' concept, the Chaos Dwarfs are very quick and easy to paint. I have found that the bases are more involved than some of the painting. With the bases I have to paint them milliput the gaps of the slotta base, paint them black, add the sand, paint the sand, highlight the sand with (Fenrisian) grey, add the watch parts and skull, undercoat them, paint them -usually in a three stage process, and then varnish. Still, they look quite nice in my view, and add to that wasteland feel. I almost would like a 40k feel to the bases, similar to a Hive Ash Wasteland, but in a fantasy context.

I have been concentrating on the Blunderbuss armed Chaos Dwarfs first as I quite like the miniatures, and they are some of my favourites of the range. The also are quite iconic of the Chaos Dwarfs. It's nice to be able to get on with some painting as well. The Chaos Dwarfs, especially the Blunderbuss-ers are straight forward to paint and I feel as though I am getting somewhere by painting them. I have a lot (and I mean a lot!) of my more Oldhammer 1980's miniatures to paint, but the Chaos Dwarfs are less involved than they are. I'm also having fun painting them. I think this will allow me in  time to return to painting older miniatures with a fresher mind, and also being back in the habit of painting again.

Enjoy :)

The three Blunderbuss Regiments, still a WIP.

Please excuse the state of the photographing. I am still in mid house renovations and so my painting table is deconstructed and I am using the spare bedroom window sill for photographing. If anyone is interested, I am using a pile of stacked boxes and a green cutting mat as a make shift painting table! LOL

I little better photograph, but not greatly.

The first regiment.
I still need to finish painting the standard bearer and drummer.

The second regiment.
I still need to finish painting the standard bearer and drummer here as well.

The third regiment. 
This is still very much a collecting WIP group. I require seven more Blunderbuss, and a musician. 

One each of the 'shooting' Chaos Dwarfs.
Please note metal detritus in the form of cogs and metal plates on the bases. These are watch parts purchased from e-bay and repainted in the same rusty look at the Chaos Dwarfs. The Skulsl are from Citadels current pack of Skulls, which are actually pretty good.

The 'standing' Chaos Dwarfs.
These form the centre of the regiments. I much prefer the firing versions as the hats are better. I might do a few hat swaps before I finish this regiment to give a little variety.

One of the three regiment bases. I should really have photographed all three, but this one gives a good idea of the three. I have added some of the same cogs and skulls as the bases, except taken the opportunity to use some of of the larger ones. These are the first ever movement trays/bases I have ever painted. I am quite impress with them. :) 

WIP's.

General and Sorcerer Lord.

Hashut was very kind to me at Xmas.
I received the Shar'Tor the Executioner miniature, still available from Forge World. Although he is designed for the Age of Sigmar era Legion of Azgorh army, I thought he would make a lovely Bull Centaur Lord, or just to be himself if I used the Legion of Azgorh army list. I also like the miniature, and will have bought him at some point anyway.

Side view.
It's a very big axe!

I have described him as a 'miniature', but he is a very large chap!
I will probably paint him in a few weeks time.

Next update will be more Chaos Dwarfs as I seem to be painting the army now. I would like to paint  few of the Hobgoblins too, I am, after all, Goblinlee! :)

Limited released Chaos Dwarf Axemen and others.

I've been busy painting, but also very busy at work, so a bit of a hurried blog update.

I am really enjoying painting the 4th Edition Warhammer Fantasy Big Hat Chaos Dwarfs. The industrial wasteland look is quick and fun to paint, and I think it gives my army a different feel to other Chaos Dwarf armies, not that I am decrying the other armies out there! The rusty look, combined with the pallid green flesh and darker red clothing gives them an evil aspect. I like the idea of them being the despoilers of a 'green and pleasant land' with the 'dark satanic mills of Blake's imagination, and with the attitude of the blue Meanies from the Yellow Submarine!

Anyway, this update is primarily about the three Chaos Dwarf Axemen sculpted around 1995 for Warhammer Quest. These were not part of the first few releases of Chaos Dwarfs, but received a limited release a little later on.

The miniatures themselves are all variants on a one standard sculpt, the main differences being the axes, hats, and the length of the armour. The sculpts are a little smaller than the other Chaos Dwarf sculpts of the same era. As they are rarer miniatures, and I purchased them from e-bay, I was concerned that this was a sign they were re-casts. However, upon a little more research it seems that they were actually slightly smaller sculpts. I'm not sure why, and I am unsure if they were sculpted by someone else other than Alan Perry, who sculpted the main Chaos Dwarf range. To compensate for this I raised them on the base a little to bring them more to eye level with the other Chaos Dwarfs. The painting followed the standard template as the others.

I have also painted a lot of Blunderbuss Chaos Dwarfs, and started other elements of the army. I haven't had the time to showcase the Blunderbussers, but will do in an oncoming update. They were fun (indeed a blast!) to paint, and the bases were enjoyable to do, being full of cogs, skulls, and industrial detritus.

Enjoy :)

The three Axemen.

Flat hatted Chaos Dwarf.

Rear view.

The 'Turban' Hatted Chaos Dwarf.
I am not sure if 'Turban' is really the best description of this style of hat. As I live in Brighton and Hove they always remind me of the Domes of the Royal Pavilion.

Rear view.

The other Flat-hatted Chaos Dwarf.
I thought he would benefit from a little bit of extra colour and so I painted a simple alternate patterning.

Rear view.

Bull Centaur.
I love these miniatures, and still need to pick up a couple more of the variants. The green seems to work well on the Bull Centaurs body.

Left side.
I like the slightly bigger basses as I allows me to add bigger pieces of debris and skulls, in this case the Plague Bearer skull and the large spring (see above). 

Scale comparison of the limited release Chaos Dwarfs with a metal Axeman on the left, plastic on the right.

Blunderbussers!
I will photograph these properly at a later date. I had fun doing the bases, which took almost as long as the Dwarfs themselves! It's quite pleasing to be able to paint these so quickly, especially when i have a lot of other comments on my time at the moment.

WIP Fan Sculpt 'Ass-Cannon'.

Next update will be more Big Hatted little Guys! :)

Middlehammer: 'Big hat' 4th edition Chaos Dwarf test miniatures.

 Yes yes yes,  I know I should really be continuing with painting the Daemon Legions, which is a fantastic project. However, yet again I have had a busy month and not had time to do any real painting. Indeed, I have had to dismantle my painting table in order to remove carpets and attend to a leaky radiator! None of these shenanigans, and working, has left any time for serious painting.

Instead, I have only painted a few test miniatures for my 4th Edition Chaos Dwarf army, painting them whilst sitting on a bed and using a couple of plastic boxes as an impromptu painting table! I never really got on with 4th Edition Warhammer Fantasy Battle. After 2nd and 3rd Editions it seemed such a let down. I was further put ill at ease with the dominance of the so-called 'Red Period' of Citadel Miniatures, both with the painting and sculpting, and so drifted away from Games Workshop for most of the 1990's.

I did however buy a few of the Hobgoblins which I always liked, but I never liked the 'big hatted' Chaos Dwarfs at the time. Over 20 passed and I decided to reappraise my view of the Chaos Dwarfs, and to my surprise I really liked them! I picked a few off of e-bay and, which as is often the case, this led me to collecting an army of them, well over 100+ including Hobgoblins, monsters, and artillery.

I really would like to paint these, but I have never settled on a paint scheme. The old 1990's red scheme is actually quite nice in it's own way, but after a test model or two I found it to be a real faff to do. To paint them in that style would take a lot of time away from all the boxes of other stuff I have to do, and I also wasn't too struck on them en-masse as an army. The paint scheme seemed 'too busy'. I tried a couple of other schemes, but It was only until the other day I considered the rusty look. I like the idea of the Chaos Dwarfs living in some fantasy version of a polluted industrial wasteland, and so have gone for the grimy grim look, using Citadel's Technical paints. I picked up the idea of adding old watch parts to the bases from the Nergling blog ( http://nergling.blogspot.com/search/label/minis ) .

Enjoy :)

Three Chaos Dwarfs.
I used Citadel's Typhus Corrosion over a black undercoat, with Ryza Rust. I have kept the palette quite small and simple to avoid looking too busy.  
I also chose a pallid green look for the skin, to make them look less healthy. I will vary some of the colours and tones as I go on. I also might need to highlight the beards a little more.
A controversial topic, but I prefer them on the 25mm round bases rather than the smaller 20mm square.

Blunderbuss.

I have kept the watch parts on the bases to a minimum to avoid clutter, and also so that I can paint the dark bases with dashes of bright colours to suggest chemical pollutants.

The left side.

I want to keep the red clothing to add a bit of colour and contrast, otherwise them might look too dark and amorphous when in regiments on the table.

Another Blunderbuss armed Chaos Dwarf.

Rear view.

Chaos Dwarf Axeman.
This is one of the mono pose plastic Chaos Dwarfs. He is actually quite full of character for a mono pose miniature. He requires a shield.

Rear view.

Next blog update might be the Daemons or the Chaos Dwarfs. I might even paint up something Christmassy!