Lead Painter's League 2018 - Round 7 - Meeting the Maasai

This is my LPL round 7 image, "Meeting the Maasai". The figures are all Copplestone Castings- the flag carrier is a conversion based on a standard DOAG askari with a brass rod and freehand painted foil flag.

Lead Painter's League 2018 - Round 2 - Oasis of Death

LPL Round 2 entry, comprised of undead camel riders. Formerly offered by Obelisk, they're now available from Badger Games.

Zombie Baluchis

Better late than never, I finished up a few more shamblers for the 'Army Painter' project I started a couple months ago.These six are from Obelisk Miniatures, who have stopped trading, and I'm not sure who has the rights to these. They fit with the style of Foundry Darkest Africa range very well.

Yet More Darkest Africa Baluchis

I'm quite a bit behind on my timeline for finishing up the various Baluchis I had planned for this years 'Army Painter', but I have squeezed in another installment.

Darkest Africa Baluchis

The Lead Adventure Forum has a low-key painting challenge called the 'Army Painter' that runs from August to January 1st. The gist of the challenge is to paint a 'unit' for an army project each month and post it around the 1st. I think I've done it four years now, and I have picked Darkest Africa projects because it is the only way I will ever get the range done :)

This year it's Baluchis. I have a number painted already but I still possess a few packs of 'Baluchis in Arab Dress' and some zombie versions made by Obelisk which are now OOP, as far as I can tell. I've been wanting to get them painted for some October games for a while now and for some reason Halloween creeps up and they're still not done.

 Up first is the old DA82 (Now DAO52) "Baluchi Matchlockmen in Arabian Dress 2".

 I was chomping at the bit to do a test run on a zombie, so here's the first of them.

 I never did a group shot of my Missionaries of Africa, also known as the "White Fathers", so here they are. Converted from Perry clergy from the Crusades range.

Lead Painter's League 11 - Round 5

My round 5 entry for this year's LPL. The flag is hand painted (and double sided). Sailors by Hinterland Miniatures.

Lead Painter's League 11 - Round 3 - Seeking Sanctuary

Round 3 of the LPL is now over, which means I am allowed to post it here.

The priests are converted Perry Miniatures clergy from the Crusades range. They've been modified with greenstuff to look more like 'Missionaries of Africa', also known as 'White Fathers'.

The warrior women are from Wargames Foundry's 'Darkest Africa' range, and the princess is from Northstar. Good to see Copplestone back on an Africa project :)

Lead Painter's League 11 - Round 1 - It Should Not Be

The 'Lead Painter's League', an annual ten-week painting contest hosted on the Lead Adventure Forum, is up and running. I felt I had the time to run with the pack this year.

My first entry was "It Should Not Be".

 I found a fake pulp magazine image a few years ago and had been wanting to re-create the jungle girl on the cover ever since. A friend identified the rifle for me and I was able to acquire a 28mm Mosin-Nagant. The original cave girl figure, from Tin Man Miniatures, had a spear (I also painted that version in an earlier LPL!). Replacing the weapon was a nice little challenge.

  

The warrior women are from Wargames Foundry's 'Darkest Africa' range.   

The creature is from Pure Evil Miniatures. He looks like an even more horrifying version of the Hasslefree 'Maw', so I had to have him.

Darkest Africa Azande Warband Completed

I finished up the last six Azande warriors for the Lead Adventure Army Painters project last night.

Joined up with their fellow tribesmen.

 

 I think that's it for the Azande force.

I'll have to double check but I believe that's all the Azande figures in the Foundry Victoriana catalogue, as well as the musketmen set that Copplestone Castings  released. Every year I get one step closer to finishing off the Darkest Africa range...

Azande Rifles...

A small update on the Azande project, three more riflemen.

This completes the semi-uniformed unit.

 

Additional Azande

African Animals

My painting queue contained a miscellaneous collection of animals, most of which are African. I think I am about ready to open up a zoo...

Colobus Monkeys (Mega Miniatures I believe)

 Donkey (Wargames Foundry)

 

Gemsbok? (Ral Partha)

 

Wildebeest (Ral Partha)

Also in the group was a dead Zebra from Mega Miniatures. The Lion (Black Tree) and Hyena (Ral Partha) were painted quite a few years ago.

Azande Warriors

Continuing with my Darkest Africa Azande project, I've added another unit of warriors and two leader figures.

The center figure in the next photo is a head swap using a spare Azande head and another generic  leader figure from a different Foundry pack.

Darkest Africa Azande

A couple of years ago Lead Adventure Forum member HerbyF started an "Army Painters" club in which forum members set themselves a task to finish up or make significant progress on an army. In the past I took advantage of this self administered goal and finished off my Darkest Africa Force Publique and British Askaris. Basically, the idea is to complete a unit per month from July through December.

This year I moved on to the next army in my extensive Africa queue, Foundry's Azande range. They're a pretty interesting tribe located in the Congo, and are suitable enemies (and allies at times) for Zanzibar slavers, Force Publique, Congo basin tribes- and each other.

I already had a unit of spearmen painted, so I selected another troop type for my first group- the Azande riflemen. These figures represent Azande that have come into contact with 'Arab' and Western soldiers and have a rudimentary uniform. They'll work well for other random soldiers as they have an Egyptian style look to them that appears to be popular with tribes that wanted to look more civilized.

Lead Adventure League Round 5 - Defend the Herd

Here is my Round 5 LPL entry. Foundry African cattle and some herdsmen warriors from the excellent Darkest Africa range.

The shields were sculpted by me and then cast in resin. There were a few tribes in Northeast Africa that used variations on this distinctive shape, such as the Acholi, Dodinga, and Lango. I have about 15 more figures to complete for this little group. 

Market Tables

I started the third and final phase of the North African terrain project, the market. After considering using some laser cut tables from a variety of manufacturers I decided to go old school and make my own. They're a little rough but once stained and covered in goods and trinkets they should be fine. 

 

... More Mud Brick

I completed several more East African mud brick buildings over the last two weeks and finally managed to get them photographed. A mission house, guard tower, and a few huts. This pretty much finishes up the mission station for Darkest Africa gaming, and huts can be used for slaver villages in the lakes region as well.

The figures are mostly from Eureka Miniatures 'Pax Limpopo' range. The pedestrian version is a converted British figure from London War Room, which is no longer in business. I'm not sure who makes him now, if anyone. I imagine this guy to be a Kurtz-esque madman with some sort of mysterious pheromones that give him an unlikely advantage with the native gals. They were painted several years ago so please don't judge the wonky eyes too harshly ;)


I've also been painting in my rare moments of free time, but I can't show those images because they're intended for the 2015 Lead Painters League and I'm a stickler for the rules :)

African Chapel

The roof for the chapel has been finished. I had some warping problems and had to keep it under some carefully stacked books to maintain the shape. This building is intended for Darkest Africa games and represents the fruits of missionary activity, and a building the slavers will want to burn down...

I still need to make a little crucifix or cross to hang on the wall but this little side project is more or less done. 

I started a mud brick watchtower as well. I intend for it to have a magnetized door, and a thatched roof that slopes on four sides. I figure I'll need about eight more buildings of various types to finish out the "Arab" slaver villages and the mission stations. 

North African Buildings Part 4

Two weeks ago my wife broke an ankle at Roller Derby practice. Naturally this reduced my free time to almost zero, which explains my recent lack of posts.

I have however managed to complete phase two of the North African terrain, as well as the mud walls. The latter took a lot more time than I expected, considering that I intended them to be a side project.

I decided that I wanted doors that could open or be removed, so I imbedded a magnet in the wall and the base, and drilled a hole to accept a nail  in the door.

I used a thick plastic-like cardstock material for the bases. 

After painting the walls with a thin coat of wood filler, I painted them a dark brown gray. 

The bases were painted with another gritty wood filler, then painted brown. I drybrushed them with a mud color, then stained them with a MinWax wood stain. The walls were painted/drybrushed with a layer of Martha Stewart crackle specialty finish ("Sandbar") I bought years ago.

I also started a chapel for the African village. The roof has been very problematic so it isn't finished yet. 

Walls, planters, and the chapel after staining, but before the final whitewash.

Finished walls and planters.

After all the planters were complete I glued in the trees and cycads. These are eBay palms with some airbrushing to give them a more natural color and a little depth. The fountain received some clear resin to mimic water after it was painted and the decorative tile (a printed border) glued in place.

Next up for this project is a market, which will be a few buildings with 'storefronts' and some free standing stalls.