Painted playing pieces

[trackmagic]

@chagadiel:

I did not know they are making more miniatures.
i have been buying some sherman and german tanks for variety from another figure company since the scales are identicle. But what i want is a wildcat ot corsair for the pacific. wicked.

I dont know what the answer is to your cornundrum. I would say yes paint your new ones but if you got the time paint just the ships of those you havent replaced yet maybe  a few tanks of each unreplaced side

Hey Chagadiel, I bought some P-51s, P-40s, and Corsairs from a place on the internet (I think it was from Brookhurst Hobbies). They are pewter, but I was using them for painting anyways. You might want to consider those if you want wildcats or corsairs:

(Picture is so you can see the scale versus the OOB pieces)

[chagadiel]

cheers they are about are perfect.
They must be tumbling dice 1/600 they dont look too different in scale i think i worked out the the AA me-109 was roughly 1/420 so i ruled out trumpeters 1/700 scale models.
I love playing the americans in the pacific arena and it always bothers me that they went for that plane. i always thought the mustang was the iconic american fighter

me thinks i will have to get some wildcats and corsairs

[chagadiel]

chrillenilsson couldnt agree with you more.i will have to get some decals my crosses and stars are appalling

[Viracocha]

Gaa!  Don’t know how I missed seeing this thread!  These. Are. Awesome. Both artists.

chrillenilsson - Really, really like the naval pieces in particular (especially those Jap carriers with the bushido symbols/words!!!  I know doing those aren’t easy  :-o).  The choices for your colors are top notch as well, cool camo. Nice touch with the Navy on the U.S. BB’s.  :mrgreen:

Chag - like your ideas for emphasizing the different platforms on the ships…  And those scorch marks - excellent idea.  Agree with ya about not using straight silver paint - tried doing that with some zeros once, too shiny.  Nose art on your B-17s!!  :-o  :-D

[Viracocha]

@chagadiel:

@MEGAEINSTEIN:

If you want me to be honest i think that the painting looks very amateur.

Some things that could improve your work:

• Use a base black spray coat from warhammer.
• put more water on ink so that is not to thick.
• use decalcs for roundels, don´t paint roundels cause that gives a really low quality look.

nope  i am not a profesional i just like painting. i just thought i would share the way i am doing mine which is a bit differrent i also like to see other peaples  to compare interpretations of colour  style and ideas which i like and borrow for my own.
i agree with the decals especially the american ones i struggel to do straight lines and stars . a black base coat takes away colour and makes it dull, a white coat is better.

ANYways whats the point in it all when last night i was playing europe with my wife and she kept attacking me with backwards faceing t34s :-D

I know, I know, I shouldn’t be bringing up ‘dated’ negative posts but a couple on here struck a nerve.

First off, in my opinion, there are no professionals in painting A&A miniatures - for A LOT of reasons.  First and foremost, there is no way to make a profit, let alone a living off of it.  Considering how much time it takes - you’d be better off flipping burgers, in fact, McDee’s will probably pay you seven or eight times what you could make per hour, easily (if you want to provide a service at a ‘reasonable’ or ‘affordable’ price to the public).  And let me tell you, detailing (not JUST painting) does take a lot of time.  I started to clock myself from start to end on each piece, wow.  And this excluded all the other costs involved (The paints & brushes - you’d be surprised how quick they go, even on these small pieces. The decals, the protective coating, shipping etc.). This cost factor gets worst if you make a comparative issue out of it… say compared to what you might already make in your full-time job.

Secondly, the painting jobs themselves can only be judged by one’s own aesthetic perception.  Sure, a lot of it is based on the historical counterparts - but there were no ‘exact’ camo or color themes.  Not to mention the fact that thousands of the units were destroyed so you’ll never know what all of them looked like.  I personally go for what I have in my head as ‘memorable’ pictures of the unit… images of old comic books, movies and t.v. shows, visits to museums… If I’m unfamiliar with a unit - I of course peruse the Internet and find what appears to be a style that was most common (providing it doesn’t look too similar to another nation’s unit).  But at the end of the day - its whatever you think works - which brings me to…

Thirdly.  This ‘historically accurate’ idea…  eh eh eh  They’re too small of scale to be historically accurate.  You can paint a general ‘historical resemblance’, but no way can it be done to ‘historical accuracy’.  Go ahead and say otherwise, but you’re fooling yourself.  Perhaps this is semantics, but that’s my stance.  Panzerpainter and I talked about this, it’s hard for him to even try for historical accuracy on larger scale pieces (though he has and does do it - he’s awesome).  Leading to the next area…

Fourth.  These are game components, not pieces to just be placed behind glass for viewing.  BUT, here is another area that starts to roll into personal choices.  If you approached painting the pieces to say… suit all the ‘most common’ style of that particular unit, guess what?  You’re going to have a hell of a time telling some of them apart during a game.  It leads to arguments, “Wait… I thought that was a German ship? It is gray . I wouldn’t have done the attack if I’d know that!” Yeah, been there.  Sure, that’s why there’s insignias, painted or with transfers. And perhaps between turns you should be bothering to study the board and get all of that sorted out… but I think it’s safe to say that some A&A games go a looong time.  At whatever hour in the morning (and for those of the legal drinking age imbibing during a game especially), the pieces are not as defined as they once were.  And anyone who has played global a couple times will know that this game in particular is now the longest in regard to gameplay out of all the A&A editions.  But yet… ya don’t want to necessarily paint the Russians in fireman red uniforms… so it’s a personal choice.  At one point does one start making a piece particular to the nation?  I’d say, depends on the gaming group.  I’ve painted some components for games to close historical resemblance of the most common colors/style - and they turned out fantastic I think, but we’ve spent half the game time trying to determine who was who and what was what.

So wait… this MEGAEINSTEIN person, you out there?  Let’s see your work then ‘professional’.  I couldn’t find any A&A pieces on here by you… thought we could turn that over-critical eye you put on these wonderful paint jobs on your own.  Don’t get me wrong - I firmly believe any paint on an A&A mini adds to the game.  People forget that you’re looking down at a board with tons of these pieces… it looks cool.  Not many realize that posted pics of painted minis don’t do them justice, in fact, they are usually an injustice.  You see things that you normally wouldn’t notice in the game at all, oftentimes things the naked eye wouldn’t even realize until it’s frozen in a photo (which can then be enlarged).

So in regard to this statement, “If you want me to be honest i think that the painting looks very amateur.”  … I would A. completely dismiss the negative connotation due to lack of credibility, and the person is simply running off the head.  B. take this as a compliment, as there are no “professionals” in this niche.  There is no panel of judges, no certifications.  The origins of the word (and its use as a noun)  ‘amateur’, is someone who does something for the love of it, regardless of fame or fortune.  You, like many here, have a love for the game and wish to enhance it to a point where you’ll spend some time detailing the components.  In my opinion, all true artists are ‘amateurs’.  The moment an ‘artist’ becomes a ‘professional’, is the same moment they lose the title… they’re now in marketing/advertising (which admittedly, is probably more profitable  :| ).  Hence the term, ‘starving artist’.

My apologies for the length of this… it takes someone who has painted a whole set to empathize perhaps.  It can be mind numbing if one isn’t an amateur.

This has prompted me to start posting a detailed account of how I go about painting A&A miniatures… in hopes of having the pleasure of seeing many more pics of other people’s work.  I like the idea of feeding off each other’s completed pieces rather than there being set standards.  I’ll be using FMG’s.

[Degrasse]

I haven’t started painting my A & A pieces yet, but this post has made me very tempted.  I have been painting 25 mm historical miniatures, one trick that I would like to pass on is the use of home made decal sheets.  I found this to be much easier for doing Greek hoplite shields and Imperial Rome legionary shields instead of trying to paint a tiny straight line with my old eyes and shaky fingers.  The details of the process are below:

1.  Use GIMP or other suitable image manipulation program to make your master image file
2.  Surf the internet for appropriate artwork to use as a base, then change it fit the file size.  WW2 aircraft insignia should be easy to find and then stack up on the image file, you’ll like get 200 or so into the image file.
3.  I used the water transfer sheets from Testors but really didn’t care for the decal software that they included.  GIMP was much better.  The water slide sheets and sealant spray worked great.  You want to get the white background sheets though, not the clear.
4.  Using your inkjet printer, print the decals on the half page sheets.  I usually did two or three test prints before doing the transfer decal sheet, I usually wanted to tweak some of image positions.
5.  I went with three light coats of sealant on the decal sheet and let the coats dry several hours between coats.
6.  All that work paid off when I got to applying the decal to the historical figs, what was an hour or two painting each shield was now a minute or two each.  For painting aircraft insignia versus using decals, you’ll probably be much happier with the straight lines and time savings.

Good luck with painting more game pieces.

[chagadiel]

I am 100% in agreement with you Viracocha. strange this thread came up again i havent been on here for 6 months while the baby  has  been my project. now we have a semblence of life again i have started painting again only to find i cant post pics any more.

The nose art is not really nessasery you cant even see them. But i look faward to doing the detail bits, its the fun part.
Before i do a new peice i look at other peaples work to see their interpritation. articles and pictures of the real vehicle and model sites to see what colours are used by them and then idecide what i like and what i feel will work.

Your absalutly right about making desicions about authenticity and not haveing arguments about the fact they all look the same. A good example is i have brought some 1/285 micro armour for the germans panzer v’s, tigers and some elephunts all as tanks works fine. I was going to get hummels for artillary extras but decided just becuase i know what they are the other players will not and wouldbe most displeased if they realized that a country they didnt attack was becuase they thought they were tanks not arty.

any way here is the way to some germans i have done
            i185.photobucket.com/albums/x282/chagadiel/axis and allies new

[Viracocha]

Hey Trackmagic, those pewters are really nice. Nice shade for the corsair as well (Ba Ba Blacksheep comes to mind). That mustang <insert me=“” doing=“” the=“” roar=“” of=“” a=“” plane=“” engine=“” as=“” momentarily=“” become=“” childlike=“”>! perfect scale too…

Degrasse - I’m interested in that…  There are things I’d like to have as decals that I can’t find to scale or that aren’t even made.  I’m not overly graphics savvy though, but I’m going to check it out.  I’ve never done my own decals and the thought of it has me all excited.  How small can I make the transfers and still have them not disintegrate? Oh - well I guess I should just check it out myself.  Will do.  You have any pics of those Greeks?  Sounds like you have some experience with a brush in your hand… I think your A&A pieces deserve some paint. Give back to the game that gave you so much… eh eh eh   :wink:

Chag - “nose art is not really necessary you can’t even see them.”  Eh eh eh - know what you’re say’in, but you can!  I seen 'em.  And that’s one of the excellent things about A&A mini painting due to the scale, you can have an “impression” of something, but it doesn’t have to be spot on (I mean c’mon, look at the size of the pieces).  My nose art aren’t little ladies… when you put them under the magnifier its not like a little blonde lady leaps out at ya, they’re just flesh colored squiggles with vague imagery of hair and a bikini.  But impression is there so it works.  That fine detailing is my favorite part of painting a piece - when it is generally done… but I’m looking over it and thinking, “what else could I add to this?  Or is it complete?” Btw, I like those Tigers… the color scheme works for the European setting or the desert (green & the tan).   Oh - and congrats on the newborn! That indeed is a huge project!  Keep the pieces away from the baby … they’ll learn A&A when they’re older. eh eh eh</insert>

[trackmagic]

Thanks! Glad you like them. I only have the French and Italians and Kriegsmarine left then I have all my pieces done. I have been putting it off because I want to do the italians next and I dont like the OOB pieces so I plan on painting the FMG pieces.

After I get them done I want to make a thread with pictures of all the pieces like you did. Actually your pieces were a pretty big inspiration.

[chagadiel]

my nose art is the same. painted as you would see it from a distance with the details  blurred into colours. I have aproached the painting process with the viewing distance at 12" or more. up closs the eagle on the right shoulder and helmets of the heer infantry are just off white dots but from a distance the brain will notice the detail without thinking.

there are two great principles which i have learnt and use which are not obvious. one is to never use pure black and white except as base coats as they never occur in the real world. the brain will pick this up and will be nugding you to tell you somethings not right.

the second is to use as at least more than one shade of colour. once again the brain notices that something is not right but doesnt no what it is when everything is just one colour eg a wildcat in a base blue. but with the same colour with a little white on areas with more light reflected off the brain will accept the data comeing through.

As for the tigers thanks i had great fun just decideing what year and style pattern to do. With the russians being a olive drab style paint job you really can go to town with the germans. They are so much fun to paint.

[oztea]

I would pay $1000 Dollars for a fully painted Euro/Pacific game set.

[Viracocha]

@oztea:

I would pay $1000 Dollars for a fully painted Euro/Pacific game set.

You’re not serious (and you’ve provided no strings).  A couple cans of spray paint is only going to cost you some change. eh eh eh - I know, you are referring to detailing, but I couldn’t resist.

Track - Almost there!  Looking forward to seeing those pics. My pieces were?  That’s so cool - cheers man.  I was inspired to paint mine after seeing Capt. Kiwi’s (his work is posted on here somewhere) and an Air Force fella named Sam Hill (his stuff is on BBG, AA50th).  I’ve been painting minis for … I don’t know, a long, long time - but 15mm was the smallest I’d ever done.  You know, I don’t think I would have went through so much trouble with trying to get unique pieces from other places and painting them for my AA50th set if I’d known that FMG and HBG were going to produce such nice sculpts… but oh well, now I’ll have all sorts of units to use for house rules or just have in a game to represent different types  8-)

Chag - I’m on exactly the same page in regard to the painting techniques. Started writing up some technique posts - haven’t finished them yet because they require some pics (and kinda strapped for time lately).  Though I do use black as a ‘shader’ for parts I really want to emphasize sometimes.  And I have to admit, I forget my own 12’’ viewing distance rule on occasion - its the damn magnifier that my gal gave me for my birthday… (I didn’t have one when I painted my AA50th).  I had to resist the urge to re-paint my 50th when I started to look at them through the lens… but ya don’t play the game with a magnifier… at least, I’d hope not.   Eh eh eh - yeah, the Germans are my favorite to paint as well (the “bad guys” always have the coolest uniforms/“look” eh eh eh).  Though a close second is the Americans, not sure if its my patriotism surfacing or because of my family’s tradition of serving in the military.

I know you guys probably comb the Internet for images before painting as well - but here’s one that I drew upon a lot.  Mainly because it has so many different nation’s units all on one site (as oppose to the vast multitudes of individuals sites/images scattered everywhere with individual searches).

http://ww2drawings.jexiste.fr/index.htm

What always amazes me is the crazy units that never made a significant appearance - always thought it would be interesting to have some kinda of game/version of A&A where just the zany prototypes/ experimental units are used.  “Mishap” rolls or “breakdowns” would be a must eh eh eh  Especially the aircraft - there were some really strange designs - and would love to paint some minis like Germany’s HE-176, VTO Interceptor (rocket interceptor!), Fieseler Fi-103R-IV, Flettner (early helicopters) - that’s just  few of the Germans, there are a whole bunch of strange war machines.

[oztea]

For a set painted as well as All Dice and No Clay did (not sure on the spelling) With roundels painted at their feet.
I would……
Or maybe im just really good at photoshop  :-D

[Viracocha]

@oztea:

For a set painted as well as All Dice and No Clay did (not sure on the spelling) With roundels painted at their feet.
I would……
Or maybe im just really good at photoshop  :-D

Well you need to contact him pronto! TallPaul (I think? or someone) posted numerous times that he’s painting theirs, so it sounds like he takes commissions. Good luck in getting a painted set Oz, it really does enhance the game with painted minis.  And btw, you might want to look into other avenues of payment, I wouldn’t suggest sending cash through the mail…

[Gargantua]

Pfftp…

If it were the new CANADIAN $100’s on the table, it might have caught my eye.

[Viracocha]

@Gargantua:

Pfftp…

If it were the new CANADIAN $100’s on the table, it might have caught my eye.

EH eh eh - I like that your five cent coins have a beaver. And isn’t there a moose on a coin? When I was a kid I thought that was pretty nifty.

[Gargantua]

Has anyone ever played Axis and Allies with REAL money?

How much currency would you need?

Assume USD :D

Probably $700 would do?

50 Tens
32 Fives
40 Ones

[Viracocha]

@Gargantua:

Has anyone ever played Axis and Allies with REAL money?

How much currency would you need?

Assume USD :D

Probably $700 would do?

50 Tens
32 Fives
40 Ones

Ask Oztea to break down those hondos he has pictured and use them in his next game, he just scampered off to a cash machine to take a photo of $1000 so it shouldn’t be a problem. ehehehe

[oztea]

Cash machines only give out 500 at a time….in 20s
I keep $1000 of cash in a safe place in case of some sort of unforseen incident…
If the internet crashed and ATMs everwhere exploded, everyone else would have only their useless debit cards while I would lord over my town, a veritable Bill Gates.

[Viracocha]

@oztea:

Cash machines only give out 500 at a time….in 20s
I keep $1000 of cash in a safe place in case of some sort of unforseen incident…
If the internet crashed and ATMs everwhere exploded, everyone else would have only their useless debit cards while I would lord over my town, a veritable Bill Gates.

Hmm… if the Internet crashed (a global wide EMP?), and the ATMs everywhere exploded… I think there are some serious problems going on, and I think paper money at that point would be as valuable as the paper it was printed on.

Wait… so you’re saying you’re going to use your ‘secret stash’ to buy a painted set?

So where is this ‘safe place’  :evil: ?