Shermans Anyone?

I apologize for my long absence. As we all know, life has a funny way of getting in the way of things. Anyway, I have unlimbered my paintbrushes again but my focus has shifted a bit.

I am building and painting a mid war US rifle company (circa late 1942) in 15mm. When all is said and done, the rifle company will have 3 complete rifle platoons, machine gun and anti tank platoons, a mortar platoon, A&P platoon, and armor and artillery divisional support.

With the exception of the divisional markings, my 3 tank platoon of M4A1 Sherman tanks is complete. These all have the 75mm main gun.

Next up on my painting list....my machine gun platoon. 4 machine gun sections all packing the vicious M1917 HMG.

Gesso

I am fairly certain that this will not be news to you painting experts out there (I'm looking at you John, Red, Raymond, bobaferret, and everyone else whose blog I follow), but I have discovered a new kind of primer. Gesso. It is a brush on primer and I love it.

I was reading on another forum recently about painting and modeling in an effort to discern some techniques and such to help me improve my painting. I found a discussion regarding gesso and I was intrigued enough to run out to my local arts and crafts store and by a pot of the stuff.

I'm not a chemist so I'll not even try to explain what gesso is from a component standpoint. I will only say that this is the stuff the artists use to prep their canvases prior to actually putting any paint down. Not only does it stiffen the canvas but it also seals the surface so that the paint doesn't bleed into the material.

Anyway, the stuff also works brilliantly on my Protectorate models. I am sure that some of that is due to the fact that these models have been blessed by Menoth so basically all of you non-Menoth players are screwed. :). What I do is pour some gesso into my little cup, mix in just a bit of water, and then just glop it onto the model. Excess fluid is not an issue as long as you make a point of not putting on too much!! I've got some pictures of my WIP Revenger light warjack to illustrate my point. Observe.....

This is my Revenger with original coat of spray primer on it. A terrible finish.........

Here is the same model with the gesso on it. It might be a bit difficult to make out but a lot of the detail has been obscured by the gesso since I just plopped it on there. Take a close look at the haft of the halberd. No detail to be seen.

And here is the model after drying overnight and having some base color applied. Look at the haft of the halberd and the fingers gripping it. All the detail is visible. The detail is visible on the smoke stack and on the face grille and that is how the gesso dries. I have no idea what happens but the stuff tightens as it dries and reveals all of the detail while leaving a good primer coat with a great tooth to hold the paint you put on there.

Again, I am no expert but I wanted to follow in the footsteps of those who have real skill and share with everyone the little things that help me out. Enjoy!!

I have the attention span of a 3 year old

OK, I'm having a great time with my Menite models. I have fully assembled and primed the Crusader, Repenter, and Revenger warjacks. Kreoss is primed as well. The Vassal, Heirophant, and the High Executioner are all about 90% assembled. My Devout is about 20% assembled. I have begun laying down base coats on the Crusader, Repenter, and Kreoss. The Crusader even has some shading and highlighting done as he is my experimental piece. Severius and Feora are mostly assembled and my Temple Flameguard UA is being prepped. In other words, I can't focus on a single model to save my life. What the hell is up with that?

The real issue is that I have all these ideas rolling around in my head and when a new one pops up through the grey matter, I immediately want to try it out. :(. I have changed primers. Experimented with new color schemes. Pinned some models and not others. Filled some gaps with green stuff. I am all over the place!!! Like I said before though, I am having a wonderful time. In fact, I am having such a great time that I wonder if I am not more interested in the hobby aspect of the game, rather than the game itself. Something tells me that may be the case. But wait, it gets worse.

Enter the Trollbloods. Holy schnikes those are some sweet models. Now I have ideas pertaining to beefy (to borrow a phrase from another blogger who shall remain nameless but whose initials are bobaferret), nobby, rowdy, grouchy trollkin rolling around in my head in addition to the ideas for raging, burning religious fanatics already in there. As if the inside of my melon wasn't a squishy, soupy morass already. What is a guy to do?!?!?!? I've fielded my Menite battlebox models in a couple of games and while I thoroughly enjoyed the experience, I'm in no hurry to get back to it. I just want to paint! I just want to create! I am attempting to justify my inclusion of trollkin into my efforts by telling myself that more models = more painting and conversion practice, both of which I am in dire need of. Add to this Red's incredible terrain making efforts, bobaferret's breast cancer awareness army, and everyone else's bitchin' armies and there is no end to the list of things I want to try my hand at and that list doesn't seem to include playing the game. (Was that a run on sentence?)

Don't get me wrong, I love reading the battle reports and I still want to write a few of my own but I can feel my priorities shifting where the hobby is concerned. Is that a bad thing? Can you collect, paint, and NOT play and still feel part of the Warmachine/Hordes community? I suppose only time will tell. Damn you Warmachine/Hordes ADD!!! If it weren't for you.......oh look, an article on basing!