The 2022 Q1 (and a bit) Report, or, Beware of Greeks bearing pointy sticks

 As we approach Easter I thought I had better post an update on how things are going.  The first quarter has been a busy period for painting here, with the year starting with the Greeks and Persians that I had purchased late last year.  After checking the Army Lists I decided to up the points values for these and the Dark Age armies to 550 points each which meant buying a few more figures for each of the armies.  

The Greeks were really nice to paint up and although I struggled at first with the shield transfers that I had bought, I eventually got the hang of them.

Most of the infantry were units of 48 figures based on either 2 40mm x 20mm bases or 2 40mm x 40mm bases.  The smaller infantry and cavalry units were on single 40mm x 20mm bases and finally the commanders were based on 20mm x 20mm bases, this was also true for the Persian units which I started on after the Greeks.  Most of the Persian infantry were cast in files rather than strips, so I mainly used the larger square bases for these as well as the cavalry and chariots.

I managed to get both armies finished at the end of March, which was slightly faster than I had planned.  Overall there were 765 Greeks and 874 Persians painted in those three months, if I can carry on like that then everything should be painted and done by Autumn.

Towards the end of March I took a trip to Newark to the Hammerhead show to pick up an order from Baccus and in addition to that I bought my Norman army to go with the Anglo-Saxons and Vikings I got at the start of the year.  I also picked up some nice Timecast Dark Ages buildings and yet another Napoleonic set of rules (like I don't need another set!).

So, here we are in April and the painting marathon has continued, I returned to the British Napoleonic infantry that I still had to do.  In the end there were twelve units to paint up, which are now all completed and packed away.  That completes the British contingents for the Peninsula and the Hundred Days campaigns.  There is not much room left in the case so I will have to be careful what to add into it next, I have twelve Portuguese line units available, though I will need to get flags for them and after that there might be just enough room for a handful of Dutch-Belgian units.

Finally, this week I have been practising painting thatch (another one of my many weak spots) and also experimenting on a Heroics & Ros Long ship;.

I am very happy with what I have done with the longship, it was the first time I have used Vallejo Water Effect gel and I just have a couple of minor tweaks to make in the way I apply it for next time.  I think the layers i used for the thatch on the building finally worked and they look alright to me, just a shame I forgot to note down the paints and the order I did them.  Still, it will mean any future ones will each be unique until I can hit on the right order again.

That is it for now.  I will probably take a break from painting now for a few weeks, but come May it will be all about 1066.