In French, one would call this "du réchauffé", or My Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge Wrap Up

It was about time that I take a little break to dust my Nowhere. Two months off the bloging enjoyement were slowly leading me to a hobby dead end. Yes, life and work have tended to over shadow everything else during April. Also, I must say that I felt really tired when Curt's painting challenge came to an end. Almost a painting burn out, even if I could only achieve to paint a third of what I pledged to do. I managed to paint at least one to two hours every day during Curt's challenge which has been quite an achievement by itself, considering my usualy irregular commitment to the paint desk.

Anyway, to keep some consistancy in my wargaming venture, I really meant to be back on track where I left it two months ago. So, here after, comes a little bundle up of all the figures I managed to sneack into the challenge. Just for the record I finished 30th out of 47 contestents, which was beyond my expectation for a first go at this kind of event. To be very honest when I pledged to paint about 800 pts last December, I knew this was merely showing muscle, and that I be thankfull to reach an half of it. Well, with 387 pts, I almost did.

If you ever like to, click the label of the images to be directed to the original post on Curt's Blog:



28mm Franks of the First Crusade (170 points)



28mm Frankish Crusaders (144 points)



Ronin #30 (20 points)



28mm Russian Folk Hero Dobryna Nikitich (12 points)



28mm Russian Folk Hero Alyosha Popovich (10 points)



28mm Russian Folkhero Ilya Mouromets (11 points)

I have recently received new brushes to replace the ones that were brought to me in the Army Painter box set and that have already quite suffer during winter. So far, with these new tools in hand, I have been back to the paint desk for 3 weeks, but nothing new is quite ready yet. I hope to show more pics of the Crusaders in the neer future, as soon as I can get a little more job done on their bases. And hopefully new things should be released in the coming weeks.

Voilà. À bientôt!

Ronin thirty, Kogaratsu or Kazamatsuri?

Back to the Analogue Hobbies Winter Painting Challenge with this new entry. One significant point of the Challenge's is that any impetrant has to paint a Samuraï Figure as both a participation fee and a reward to Curt's incredible dedication to clutter his blog with our highly eclectical works of art.

So, Here is Ronin #30. I didn't have a samuraï in stock when the Challenge popped up, so I had to browse a few manufacturers on the web to find a figure that would suite both the purpose and my taste. Yet, I didn't hesitate very long to pick this Reaper Miniatures interpretation of a Ronin. Okay, this is a 32 mm model, but I thought it would do the job. Let say this ronin will be the tall guy among the crowd.

Kogaratsu by Bossé

Now, the way I would paint this figure was not very clear to me until I received it. But, once I had it in hand, the propinquity of this model with the two prominent characters that have shaped my understanding of the concept of ronin really stroke my mind. In fact, this figure proved to be the perfect illustration for both Ronin Kogaretsu, the hero of a rather fascinating Franco-Belgian Comics (13 episodes so far), and the nontheless fascinating (and Rock n’ Roll) villain of the movie Samuraï Fiction: Ronin Kazamatsuri. I don’t think that the adventures of Kogaretsu have been transalted to English, although… But I am pretty confident you can find the movie quite easily. I actually advise anyone who has interest for the Chambara movie style to watch it: it's a quite cool reassessment of the genre...

A groovy approach to Chambara films

So, it has suddenly become all clear that Ronin # 30 would dress in black. What wasn’t so clear to me though, was how I would paint a nice black dress, since, as we all know, black is among the hardest tone to render… After a deep breathe, I went with the option of experimenting new things, and tried to see how well my brush could respond to John de Terre-Neuve’s approach. Well, not clearly his technic, rather what I understood of it: some sort of semi grey-scale chiorusco slowly darkend by layers of a very diluted mix of dark-grey and orange, and washes of GW blue ink after washes of AP Dark Tone.

To be honest, I am not so pleased with the result. But I thought that I would mess it up if I would try anything more to make it better. Also, I had never painted asian skin tone before. Therefor, I went with what Army Painter recommends, i.e. a mix of AP Desert Yellow and AP Skeleton Bone. Here again, you might feel he looks a little sick… Not to mention that each time I give a Matt Varnish coat with the brush it ends up looking shiny… Well… Hell is paved with good intentions.

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Challenge wise Ronin #30 has earned me 20 more points. Added to the 144 points I earned from the later submission of Franks Knights, I am now poling at 197 points. Dude! I am so close to reach a quarter of my original par...

Now, since I like you very much, here is a glimpse at Samuraï Fiction. Enjoy!