Sunday 24 January 2016

2016 - Back To Blogging, with a review

My God, Last Post September 2015!!!
Where the hell did all those months go :-(

Yes its been a while, but to be brutally honest, I've not felt much like blogging, in fact I've not felt much about the hobby at all. It must be a winter thing, as I always get on a massive downer at this time of year ,struggling to do very much, and flitting from one unfinished piece of work, to another, seems to be the order of the day.
         I have managed to finish a few bits, mostly models that I made for Fenris Games, I went on a massive Frostgrave bender, before realising that playing with myself was the only option there!!!
So, back into the box went the war band, I still have some work to do for Fenris, but the inspiration for figures has gone by the by. Next up, Fury Road, I got lots of cars, fiddled with some bits n bobs, and then realised that playing with myself was the only option there...............I think you can guess what happens next?

So, lets get this blog thing rolling, with a review of the latest bit of  wargaming frippery to fall through my letter box.

Painting War Magazine-Spanish Civil War

Not much of a surprise, me ordering this, as most of you can see the attraction, but whats it like inside?
Well now, its a shiny A4 soft back magazine, full colour printing throughout, and very cleverly laid out.  The models themselves are incredibly well painted, and you would expect nothing less from the talented Ruben Torregrosa, at first glance, most modest painters would think, no way can I paint to that standard, but what this clever little guide does, is to lead you through the methods used by Ruben, to paint his models to the high standards seen in the images.
The first 45 pages of the magazine act as an introduction to how Ruben paints his figures, covering  such topics as how to paint faces, and clothing. There are sections dedicated to painting various pieces of equipment, how to paint horses and even how to base your models.
From page 48 onwards, we are treated to a series of images relating to no less than 40 individual models, all 28mm, and mostly from the Empress range


Each page covers an individual model, listing the Vallejo paints used, and packed with useful painting hints, its not only a great painting guide, but  also choc full of very useable uniform information, it provides the budding SCW gamer with a wealth of excellent information.
You don't have to be an SCW fan to buy this, as its a great stand alone guide to painting figures.
I ordered mine direct from Spain, its actually cheaper to do so, I always like to give money direct to the producing company, rather than through a third party, I'm a weirdo like that.

So if you are serious about putting together a Spanish Civil War collection, add this magazine to your list of "must buys" you won't regret it.

My biggest gripe, well why did no bugger do this when I had the models in my Anglian Miniatures range?
Its a fantastic advert for the Empress range, and I had hoped that we would see some new models added to their range, but so far nothing doing :-(

If I could find a sculptor as good as Paul Hicks, I would get back into the period, and start anothr range............I wonder if there are any Spanish figure sculptors who fancy having a go?