FNN's WWII - North Africa in 28mm - More terrain done!

[FriendlyNeighbourhoodNerd]

First 20mm, then was thinking of 15mm, finally settled on WWII in 28mm with Perry Miniatures' offerings.

Got started on some terrain, and the plastic Afrikakorps box. Unfortunately, the store didn't have any Americans in stock – an order will be, well, in order.

Second guessing my purchase a bit, thinking maybe I should've gotten the Bolt Action stuff, but I can always do that for other theatres will probably stop once I get them painted, or get some vehicles next to them. But I quite like the cartoony look too.

I've made some of the poses a bit awkward, but will probably improve on the next sprues. Also struggling to make the "proper" historical options, as I think there are a bit too few rifles on each sprue, or maybe just about enough? Not quite sure, it's a bit confusing.

[FriendlyNeighbourhoodNerd]

Forgot the terrain! Well, just these 3 buildings so far.

Actually, I started making it for a First Crusade project and then pivoted to WWII North Africa.

As I'm on holiday right now it'll be a while before they get the spackle treatment.

[Tom Dulski]

 Off to a great start on those buildings.

[FriendlyNeighbourhoodNerd]

Thanks! Unfortunately will be a while before I work on them again  moving houses and all.

[FriendlyNeighbourhoodNerd]

Painted the first 5 of my Afrikakorps. Pretty happy with them, although I might repaint them with a sepia wash on the yellow and a flesh wash on the skin, depending on how the next 5 comes out.

Apologies for the poor pictures 

[CapnJim]

They look good so far.  Well done!

[Tom Dulski]

 Agree, nice job

[FriendlyNeighbourhoodNerd]

Thanks guys!

Here is the whole group. They weren't the easiest to paint but in the end I'm really happy with them!

Only got 28 more on the sprues

[Hu Rhu]

Nice start to the project.

[Tom Dulski]

 that's interesting, why do you think they weren't the easiest to paint?

[FriendlyNeighbourhoodNerd]

First of all, it'd been a while since I had painted 28mm, or any miniature for that matter

The detail (webbing, etc) is not very exaggerated and so it's a little bit fiddly. Same with the folds of the clothing, they are quite subtle, which meant that I had to basically draw the highlights and show the details of the uniforms myself. Of course, they're more realistically proportioned, and they are quite nice sculpts, but I do at the same time quite like the stylised look other miniature lines have (having said that, I have not painted any Warlord or Artisan figures, or anything like that). I've heard other people have had similar criticisms, but I did find it to be the case myself.

The faces I found particularly tough, because they are sculpted in a really subtle sort of style, and as it had been a while since I painted any figures as well, I was a bit rusty and found it tough to, again, pick the details and features that I wanted to highlight, if that makes sense.

There were some cases of the washes not acting as I would expect them to, because of the detail being quite shallow, if not soft. I think it was also a matter of lack of skill and/or control over the washes and the brushwork, to be fair.

It must be noted that I also made it harder on myself too, as I assembled them fully before painting, and it was really tough to get to a miniature's chest when he's holding his rifle across it.

There were also a couple of very minor cases of slightly miscasted parts, or some flat details due to the way the parts are laid out on the sprue, but these didn't cause too much of an issue.

Overall I think they are beautiful figures, nicely detailed and realistically proportioned, but for the aforementioned reasons they might not be the easiest to paint.

I wouldn't consider myself a great painter by any means either, I think I can paint to a good tabletop standard and I'm happy with the standard I'm able to achieve on my figures. I have seen people make masterpieces out of Perry figures (for example, I recently came across Captain Blood's Afrikakorps – wonderful stuff!) and I am quite happy with the results I have achieved, this has just been my experience.

I still have about 25 figures to build and paint from this set, and I intend to buy some Americans as well, so I think I will get accustomed to this style of sculpting and improve quite a bit.

[Tom Dulski]

 Very interesting, I'm not familiar with the Perry Germans but have assembled and painted 2 boxes of Perry G.I.'s and had a great time doing it. I used contrast paints and it made it very easy for me. Have you considered contrast or speed paints? They might be just the thing you're looking for.

[FriendlyNeighbourhoodNerd]

Hmmm, maybe as the Perry Americans are a newer kit, detail might be a bit sharper as well?
Again, I think I just need to get used to the style and all.

Contrast/speed paints I haven't used almost at all, actually – I must sound like the people who insist on using enamel paints instead of acrylics these days, but to be honest it's a bit of an investment in money and time as well, I already have a decent collection of traditional acrylics, I know how to use them already, etc. I certainly do want to try them sometime, though.

[FriendlyNeighbourhoodNerd]

I thought I'd posted more WIP pictures of the houses, like when I'd spackled them back in September! I also forgot to post the little sandbag emplacement that I made, you can now see it in the picture.

I haven't had much time for hobbying in the past couple months, between starting college (architecture!), moving out, and everything else.

Anyways, here they are now. Pretty happy with them - now to get the Americans (or Brits - haven't decided!), a ground cloth, and make some more terrain! Won't need a ton, to fill my little 2x2 table. Planning to make a few bases of 1-3 palm trees each, a well, a few tents and other camp thingies, a bigger building like a mosque or bigger house with stairs, or perhaps a "compound", some walls (either dry stone, or adobe? not sure, will do some research) some more sandbags and/or other field fortifications, and maybe some scatter like signs, oil barrels, etc. Oh, and maybe a couple hills or escarpments.

I also painted a couple more guys - although I still need to figure out the officer's insignia, and I'm not sure if I got the NCO squad leater-type guy's insignia right either. Oh. since my last post I did collar tabs, shoulder boards, chest eagles and cap roundels on all of em, and chevrons on the NCO fella. Anyways, here's the whole collection so far, too!

Please excuse the crap pictures.

[CapnJim]

Well, however you painted them, they look good to me.  So do the buildings...