Gettin' the Flock InCountry!

Comin' right attcha!

Is t a coincidence that his beard matches the ground cover?  High-speed grooming!

I've a neutral Base color that matches my most-preferred table cloth cover [courtesy of Lowe's paint sample deal - matched to the cloth itself]...

... It can be easily darkened for temperate climates or lightened for arid. 

Where will these InCountry fellows fight?  Great question.  I'm running with arid / Mediterranean at this point.  Still want them to look good, however.  So I made a quick mixup with standard railroad flocking that I have on hand, it just emphasizes the brown and olive tones - with some fall colors - in 3 of the selections.

The yellow is an imaginary desert plant, blooming in the wild. More importantly, it adds a bit of color to the bases.  This is, after all, an artistic endeavor!

For the dirt, I used actual dirt.  I found it under a telephone pole in my neighborhood while walking the dog, and like a true gaming nut it immediately occurred to me that it was the perfect tone for desert / arid bases:

God conveniently put little bits of dead roots [plants] and rocks [rocks] in it!  Best of all, it was free!

I used a version of white PVC glue that claimed to be 'stronger', an Elmers brand. I just squeezed it directly on, spread it with a watered-down brush near the feet, and then placed the fig among the dirt and pushed it on. Once covered, I pushed down on the dirt to get it in there solidly, then shook / tapped off the excess.

Note: all these bases were done this way, takes a few seconds a base.  No additional rocks / dirt were put onto the base.

Once the dirt was on, I just did a little gardening with the flock mix.  I used a long toothpick and dabbed some glue in the spots I wanted it, usually 2-3 a Base.

Once I had the plants down, I put a little dab on for the yellow 'blossoms'. I imagine they are some sort of thorny scrub that has a bit of yellow in its flowers.

Below, final result for the Rangers.  A certain amount of unity in the basing, but they also look varied enough to be 'natural' which is what I was going for with them.

On table, the InCountry hard board folding mat matches quite well!

I assume the board is some sort of digital printed scheme.

The Yankies Ranger team Boss man, beard and all...

three men with assault rifles

two SAWs, a 5.56 on the left, and a 7.62 on the right [technically, a light machine gun, really]. These appear to be the Mk 249 para and Mk 48 GPMG.

The Russkies also came out well on the table.

Leader w' 5.45 assault rifle, drone operator with 9-19 SMG [probly]...

two 5.45 RPDM, the Russkie SAW [again, probly]

two more 5.45 assault rifles.

As you can see, the bases match the lighter tones of the table, which is ultimately what catches the eye.  I'd like them to have a bit more 'depth' so perhaps a darker initial coat of dirt is needed, but this is good enough for now.

Hope this is helpful to you hobbyists out there.

Rezolution: w'More Resolution!

CSO Is Looking for a Few Bulky Men!

Those flagged for steroids or genetic enhancements WILL be considered, and prioritized!

When last work was done on this Rezolution project [CLICK] all ten of these figs were cleaned, assembled and waiting for primer.  Even in metal, their many details are visible, as well as their bulk and the dynamic poses available in the set.

I mainly see them as a 6 man Team with 4 specialists that can rotate in depending on mission. I have another 10 regular officers that I acquired later [mint metal] but I'm uncertain how large I want this force to be.  Most likely I'll at least make another Team of six, so two teams total each of which may also have a Marshal. 

Took a while, but they were primed black first fine weather I got [took a couple months] and then I gave them a wash of thinned vallejo black paint to cover the places that the spray missed.  There are still a few places to touch up...

...but have to say, these guys look great!  Large presence on the table walking...

...dashing...

...or just on routine patrol.  Also, the facial features and styling is a little less realistic which makes them a bit more fun.  No substitute for my InxCountry figs, but Rezolution is a lot darker and a lot less serious than the real world.

The painting methodology:

1) Dry brush the black battle rattle and weapons, then 

2) Block paint the blue uniform and flesh.  Reverse of how I usually do it...

3) Pick out the fine details and highlights.

Overall, seems like it will be easier to dry brush the highlights [lots of black web gear] that have been sculpted physically higher, then block paint the blue uniforms underneath.  They will be a lot brighter, so the contrast should pop to the eye.

First dry brush highlight on the black was a dark grey. This was a bit lighter than I thought, and the second was a medium to light grey.  Comparison of the dark [right] and the lighter second highlight [drybrush] on the left.  Left definitely pops!

About halfway through, easy to pick out the figs that have been drybrushed.

Fantastic how the sculpting and details pop out with this method!

These guys are running under fire!

These guys are on routine patrol.

My specialists, the Engineer, Technician, and Medic.

Up close, they look a bit rougher than they do at 2-3', which is understandable.

Next up, I need a wash or something to blend the grey dry brush highlights in a bit better.  I'm uncertain what is best... but I have three choices:

The Black Ink was too strong - it diminished the highlights too much.  Nuln Oil didn't do very much at all. The clear winner was Devlan Mud Wash.  It smoothed out the highlights without making them disappear.

Below, two pics in illuminated...

...and natural light, of three Devlan Mud washed CSO fellows, and one that has no wash at all.  I think it's just right - blended and toned down a bit, but still highlighted.

Another pic of a guy with the Devlan Mud wash [left] and no wash [right]:

Next, to paint the blue uniform, pants and shirt, that is 'under' the black gear. I have a Prussian Blue, a Medium Blue, a lighter blue, and Ultramarine by Vallejo. Hopefully, each is a bit lighter than the other.

Below is the Prussian Blue block painted.  Definitely strong enough as a base coat.

The next blue, block painted over the Prussian Blue.

Then, with the highlights of sculpting painted in the final blue.

I then did some touch-ups in an even light blue, almost a sky blue but not quite. [the Ultramarine by Vallejo was similar to the third blue, didn't highlight anything].

Finally, I did a coat of Nuln Oil to blend things a bit - using Nuln Oil to blend brighter tones seems to work, while the Devlan Mud was better on dark highlights.

I think the result is satisfactory.  There are some minor things to fix, mostly due to brush errors.  But I like that they look 'BLUE!' and not some dark shade, or black. The uniform's blue on the CSO Starter Set box [click] has too much purple tone in it for my liking.  I wanted a very BLUE Thin Blue Line.  Black and other dark tones is  needed for the bad guys, who are, as of this post, gaining strength every day!

I hope this quick summary of the painting method is helpful for anyone painting up some "Thin Blue Line" types.  More coming soon as I knock these 9 figs out!

Yankie Ranger Team for "InCountry"

Rangers Lead the Way!

from Army.Mil [click] 

It's hard not to think about the 75th Ranger Regiment when you consider the many operations the US has been involved with.  Along with the Marines, they are often among the first to be used in any operation.  Plus there's movies, books, etc galore out there.  

So no surprise that Enemy Spotted Studios sculpted these for InCountry 1e. and included them in the starter box. Now, INX.2e is in the hands of Echo Dark Studios [Click] and has moved to fictional near-future figs for the starter box.  But the Rangers are still available in resin as Green Beret Advisors [Click]. Regardless of what they're called, they are lovely figures and a pleasure to paint.

When last seen [click], they were primed and ready on the painting bench:

I ran a thinned wash of brown paint over them, just to fill in the cracks the spray primer missed and give them an even base coat since they are metal...

...and looked to my uniform OCP for some inspiration.

I should have gone to the website for inspiration, also, as their OCP paint job is quite well done. The 'effect' is there, altho some closeups and a tutorial would be nice...

...and here is how my first sample came up.  I wanted them to look good from a few feet away, so I darkened the dark brown color of the OCP, and lightened the beige color - this gives the figs a bit more pop to the eye:

[you can see the amazing detail in the gear on these figs!]

Generally, I just used a fine brush to mottle and blob colors on in a more linear pattern than the Flecktarn - which as you can see is what OCP looks like. 

- When I don't like a patch, I speckle some opposing or contrasting color on. 

- When it is too busy, I use the base coat brown to neutralize it.  

- The key is lots of little dabs of paint, strung along mostly linear then trailing off with a bit of up or down.  Don't overthink it!  Just get the paint on there.

After you get a couple Figs the way you want, it's not hard to do. And it is definitely a lot easier than I thought it would be! 

I got some feedback from the Discord and Fb, and went on to paint the other five in similar fashion, altho I did modify the sample a bit.  This is how they group foto:

As always, the goal with game miniatures is to get 'the effect' you want from about 2-3' away.  Beyond that, they are just little painted people shapes, anyway.

The Army is a bit less uniform that it has a rep to be, especially from the past [like, when I was in the first time, in the 1980s...]. Most Soldiers have local parameters and guidelines for uniforms [regs by commander, cantonment, operation, theater, etc], but they aren't issued everything they want, nor does gear have to be identical.  With more experienced and elite Soldiers, the variety of gear is often a bit more pronounced as they tend to keep things after the wear-out date, or buy their own once they have a defined preference.  So I see the little differences as what makes them more realistic when painting them up.

There are definitely times when "everyone is issued one" which I have experienced also.  Then, lots of people might have an identical widget. But still, others will keep what they already have installed, and of course some will trade or sell of the item as long as it isn't something that has to be turned-in [usually...]. I wanted to capture that vibe on this team, so using pics from the internet, I have different colors and patterns for some of the gear, helmets, etc.

For the optics, I just caught some pics of the net.  I like the blue, so went with that.

I also like the magenta tone, but didn't want to head that way for these guys - I'll do it in the future on some other Figs to differentiate them.

And below is the final product [unless I realize what a piece of gear should look like and I go back and redo it!] with as much gear figured out and painted as I'm able to at this point.

Next up, I'll be adding more Fire Teams in groups of four Figs, adding to these fellows.  I also have a bunch of Tallies and generic Insurgent types for more bad guys by Empress Miniatures.  They are a bit smaller [28mm] but they will look good since in real life they likely *are* smaller people.

Stay tuned and follow!