A Piece of the Funcken Collection online...

At long last there appears to be an online resource of the wonderful artworks of L & F Funcken.

The images from thier texts have served as inspiration for my troops and I am certain the troops of many table-top war gamers the world over.

Dak-Kon XIII : ANDALUSIA 2008

There was a field of 8 entries in three categories for the painting contest.

My entry of Napoleon and escourt at Eylau, in the vehicle, construct, or unit up to 8" in size was the winner in that category, though I was not the overall painting contest winner.

JEFF (of Bluebear Jeff and Stagonian Jeff fame) was the Best Overall Player winner!
Once again 3 Arcadians won in the 4 categories at the event, I am very proud to be part of the group that has connection to so many good game players and game masters.


This will be an early return only as I have more notes to pour over from the tabletop teaser and some thoughts to add to that game.

The event was, quiet, to use a simple word.

With only about 25 or so gamers through most of the day and the vast majority interested in RPG's I was happy to have one active player for one of the time sessions for my SHAKO game.

There were three other major games, all role-playing focussed at the same time, one other tabletop game ... Zombies! That game was actually won by my eldest son, whom later came to 'help out' dad by taking active command of the French to finish the Shako game.

I finished up the Saturday with a fun game of Bamboo Dragon, aka "Tall" from the 'Firefly' TV series.

Then watched a Railroad Tycoon game get started, including my own little 'prize' to sweeten the pot for their game. I had managed to get a small .1 karat, cut and polished piece of Andalusite. It was for presentation to the winner of the Shako game, but my player had to go to take care of work and none others came in until my son filled in the last 'charge'. Leaving me with the prize still...so I chose to extend it out to a newer game group in the Comox Valley and I hope that they can connect with us all more.

I ended the night with a game of Eagles, with an avid card player and someone whom found the whole game very enjoyable...we did Lingy and while I won it was not without great losses.

Sunday saw a game of A&A Europe, I was happy that my son came out again. The day was really for him as he had loads of fun in the afternoon once the Magic players started to get bored.

The entire event had a "first con" feeling to it, with a lot of familiar faces having a chance to just chat. My son got to win a game and then spent plenty of time simply looking about and asking loads of questions about the games in progress around him.

On the grand scale of conventions this one rates a 2 out of 10 for me, for game only events it rates a 5 out of 10.

I still miss Kelly.

Dragoons and Irregulars done.

I have finished the flocking of the 'irregular' forces, but given the time chose not to get them onto bases tonight.

I shall likely have time tomorrow and will do up some closer pics of these troops 'in situ'. For now the 'finished' group will have to do.

Up next:

6 Horse Guns
4 Foot Guns
6 HEAVY Guns
along with 32 Gunners!

With a quiet 2 or 3 nights I could have all of this month's plan done by Valentines Day!

All SHINY and new!



Just finished the minwax Polyshades treatment on the troops and now they get to dry for a few days.

I have a course that will take me away for the weekend, then its back to work at the brushes and studying.


After I flock these men I shall detail something about what has inspired them.

Blazing Brushes!

Finish work has been done on all troops, all that remains is to 'gloss coat - sealant' on all of them, this should be done tonight once the family is in bed.






The Dragoons turned out very well, once again the painting of the large horses was not a dread and they look 'animated' due to the 'thinning/coloring' process that I use now.


The Dragoons were a treat to do the 'finishing' work on as the castings are really good, with easily detailed locations (indeed there are 'loops' on the sleeves that I did not use as I wanted these boys to have a more 'basic' appearance).



With this batch completed, giving me 86 more infantry, 12 Cavalry and 6 commander elements; I shall move on to a mass of Austrian Artillery batteries and crews.

Österreich Arms

Having had a little look around at my current white coated troops.
Today was gloriusly sunny and the light was hitting the table at just the right angle while I was working with the troops, so a very 'bright' shot was called for.


I find that I have:
Infantry: five (5) formations in tricornes (different 'facing' colours for each) three have 24 figs, 2 have 16; two (2) formations in 'bearskins' of 24 figs each; two (2) formations in 'helmets' one of 16 and one of 24 and a 20 man formation of 'irregulars' in top hats.
Artillery: sadly only one battery is complete, there is a 'howitzer' that I have been using as 'captured' for the French which I can include now with this force. The three current gunners are in tricornes. There are 30 gunners in bicornes that will be taking paint this year.
Cavalry: two (2) formations of 12 each of Kuirassier and Dragoons in tricornes. (the Kuirass have been used as Russians in the past since the uniform is only a bit different)

Command: many have been used as Russians before, but there are a few in Tricornes that are for Österreich use primarily; in total there are three (3) on foot and ten (10) mounted, including a pair of 'messengers' for a Commander in Chief (with two figs on the base).

Blazing (well mostly) brushes:

Got all the highlights done, again was stymied by Daddy daycare needs of small children before I could get the musket barrels and straps done.




Only the 'fiddly' bits are left to go now and I am hopeful to have them all finished by this weekend, possibly even all flocked by Monday!

At least this time I got a decent picture of the dragoon riders 'in progress'.

More painting progress...

At last the ink stage is done and now the details get to be 'filled in'.

Fell on the deck today while toting in some wood...ice rain and snow will turn almost any surface into a skating rink.

That slowed me down for a few hours.

Then the opportunity time for painting got the better of me and I got busy for an hour and a half this evening.

All the greys and blues got their 3rd layer color, then it was time to ink in faces, hands and the bodies of the horses.

Remember that you can 'clik a pic' to see it larger.

The tricornes and Dragoons have developed at least as well as anticipated, I recall someone whom pointed out the technique I use saying that '...until the final layer they {the miniatures} will look like hell.'



A closeup of the Jagers and insurrectio forces, the Korsehut (Corsican Hat) of the Jagers will take on a distict look as will the less formal dress of the irregulars.





The horses taking on their mix of brown and black ink really bring out the character of these pieces, all that remains now is 'markings' and tack.



edited on 8 Jan 08, this should 'fix' the image problems?

More Painting Progress


Just a bit more on the Tricornes (picture did not turn out and I am too tired to re-do it), and the Dragoons along with the Irregular or Insurrectio Infantry.

Only a bit more to do on the Jagers and I move on to the inks.

ZOOM IN ON ME

So this post will be a continuation of the current project of some more Infantry and one force of Light Dragoons.

This time I chose to take closer pics of a few minis to show some of the progress.

Nothing done today on the horses, as I wanted to get the men all ready for their ink layers at the same time as the horses get theirs.

For those asking I use Liquitex and GOLDEN acrylics from tubes, commonly called 'poster paints', I think.


I mix all my own colours, so matching in the future will simply be a matter of testing the new mix'n'match with the old one.

I had used the little pots of paint from Plaka "Poly S" ones and some from Testors and from GW, the problem was a constant need to either 'thin out' the ever thickening paint or to do some of my own mixing anyways to get the shading right.


So I have given up on the little pots that are always going dry and use the tubes, the cost is lower and I find that my speed and quality of painting have both improved. At first I was thinking that I was going to go slower with all the extra mixing I had to do, but a little eyedropper (from an old bottle of green ink) and a large plastic coated palette have contributed to a faster, not a slower system of paint applications.

Happy New Brush Year!

X-mas painting update:

All base coated, now first blocking layers filled in.


Also the first 'undercoat' done for the speed painted horses.

Final run of brushworks for now:

At last I have cleared all the backlog of painting works.

The TITAN is finished as are a little 'mob' that I plan to use in the coming Peninsular Conflicts game at Dak-Kon in February 2008.



I was unable (too tired) to post this progress picture of the mob and gunners on monday night, they were just about to get the gloss coating. You can see the 'dauber' I use rather than the 'dip' and 'fling' process. I am unwilling to try the 'fling' part since I have the minis stuck to the painting sticks it makes 'dipping' rather hard also. So I have adopted a cotton ball stuck between two sticks, held in place with old elastics, to use as my polyshades applicator, then I wipe off excess. So far the system has only had one blunder with too much polyurethane left on one white coat (making it rather brown, like the poor man had fallen into the mud!).

Interestingly the progress report arrived in the post today and my eldest son Alex's name was on it. He was absolutely tickled and read through it avidly, then got a pen and was ready to make the t-shirt order along with getting his membership confirmed! He wants to attend both days this year...we shall see as he is still only 8 and needs that sleep time or can be a real bear the next day.

Check out Dak-Kon information board and my little page for them.