Hello fellow gamers. In this issue, I would like to talk about the quality of painting that are now available to us. It used to be that some gainers would put any figures on the table with any kind of a paint job on them. With the high quality of good figures that are available today, the gainers can field an above average painted army with very little effort on his part. I use the black primer method and I would like to talk about this type of painting. After purchasing the figures, clean all of the flash if there is any on the figures. A good sharp hobby knife and a set ofjewerly files will do this job . After this, I use Walmart flat black spray paint on the figures. I always spray outside on a warn day and after spraying the figures, I let them dry completely in the sun. I always wait a couple more days before I paint the figures. As most gamer's, I use a variety of paints and brushes that are available. I will explain how I painted some 25mm Germans for Hal. On the basic field grey uniforms, I use a #4 flat paint brush to drybrush " Slate " over the black paint. After this has dries, I then use the same #4 brush and then drybrush " Country Grey " over this color. For the flesh areas, I use a #1 flat brush and I will drybrush a dark flesh over the black flesh. After this is dry I will use a #10-0 brush to drybrush a light or medium flesh over this. By using this, a person can get the old, dirty wrinkled effect on his figures. I will then use a #1 or #2 brush ti fill in the rest of the accessories that the figures has on it. When painting a German camouflage uniform, I drybrush an " Olive Yellow " over the black paint. Sometimes this will takes a couple of coats to cover most of the black. When this is dry, I then use some small hobby sponges that are cut up in pieces about 1" by 2". I then dab these into a red brown or a light green. I then dab these colors onto the painted figure. This will give you a nice pattern over the Olive Yellow. After this is dry, I then proceed to use a #1 or #2 brush to finish with the detailed touchup. This method of drybrushing will work on all ranges of figures. I use this method on 15,20 and 25mm figures. This method will work just fine on horses or other animals. Recently, Hal came to my house and along with another friend, we played a small Napoleonic game. We used SHAKO rules and we had a small Spanish and British army bring attacked by a stronger French army. Yes, I know that many of you might wonder about Hal playing a game. Hal told me that it's been close to seven or eight years since he played a game, without judging or doing anything with a game. For ages, Hal has talked about the Napoleonic games in Spain and how they would be fun. As usual, he's started to collect the necessary figures to give battle. Hal, finally accepted the invitation for a game. Big Game The day of the big game arrived and Hal was up to the challenge of fighting the French with only the Spanish army under his command standing between the escape and the complete destruction of the main Spanish army. General Thinglumpez had the following troops under his command; four artillery batteries, twelve second rate Spanish lines regiments. He controlled the center of the pass and the right flank. The British had two artillery batteries and six line regiments on the left flank. The French were trying to brush aside this token force and attempt to destroy the main Spanish army. General Thinglumpez began the engagement by trading long shots with the French artillery. After a few fast turns, the General then turned his attention to the advancing French infantry. The artillery fire did quite a number on them. Once the Swiss Guard began to advance and engage the Spanish in a melee, did the real General Thinglumpez come out. Hal always talks about his had die rolls. It's true. Hal stinks at rolling the dice. He did come out on top, only because the French player rolls bad dice all of the time. As an example, the French player in melee rolls a " one 11 on his dice. Hal then proceeds to roll a " two ". It's not pretty, but the Spanish infantry did succeed in routing the Swiss Guard. After, playing for twelve turns, the French player didn't have enough troops in good enough shape to continue the fight. The French player limped away from the battlefield in order to fight another day. General Thinglumpez left to order a complete Spanish, Portuguese and British armies for the Peninsula. In all fairness, Stan as the French player always plays a good game but he gets beat most of the time by his bad die rolls. Hal on the other hand was a little aggressive in the defense of the pass. A good time was had by all the players. We can't wait to get Hal involved in out World War Two games. Back to MWAN #103 Table of Contents Back to MWAN List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 2000 Hal Thinglum This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com