One of the ways I maintain a steady rate of production, especially with my full-time job taking up so much of the week, is through deadlines. This is especially important with commission work, where I refuse to take any payment before finishing the work, and try to insist on a deadline - otherwise, I will simply not get into gear and start painting! Another powerful incentive for my own work in the past has been tournaments and painting competitions - my rather lazy approach to painting my force for Infinity has been taken up a gear since Winner Dave and I signed up for a tournament at the end of July.
With Dystopian Wars, and the blog to update and maintain, I have found a nice deadline to set myself has been a project each month - a fleet, a set amount of terrain, something like this. A recent example would be the Covenant of Antarctica fleet, which I needed to finish before the release of Operation: Shadow Hunter and finished the weekend before my box set arrived in the post.
The reinforcements for the Federated States of America (discussed here) were the project for the month of June, intended to be finished in time for the new Naval Battle Group boxes to arrive so I could crack on with the Prussian reinforcements and then begin my Republique of France. This deadline was achieved last week, and so for the past few days I have painted a test model for the French fleet and started work on a few more Prussian ships.
I don't intend to paint much more for the Prussians as the fleet already stands at 6000pts, but the new ships are too good to pass up. The Elbe-class Fleet Carrier is just a beast, and the Kaiser-Karl paired with an Emperor will form a powerful core to any good sized fleet.
UHLAN-CLASS CRUISER
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| After the basecoat of grey, the other colours are blocked in |
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| A black wash across the entire miniature prepares the model for the finishing stages |
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| I have painted enough Prussian vessels that this is becoming second nature |
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| The Uhlan sets sail! |
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| The squadron assembled |
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| Competent Cruisers with solid stats, I look forward to using these in future games |
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| Initial stages - lots of grey! |
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| Assembled and nearly finished, with magnetised turrets |
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| Pictured with a Generator, though I expect I will usually run it with three turrets |
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| Keeping the camouflage coherent with sets of three "spikes" gives the impression of controlled chaos |
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| Light weathering around the funnels and waterline give the impression of a working warship |
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| Based on the hull of a Blucher-class Dreadnought, the Elbe is a massive vessel |
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| I have chosen to paint everything separately to get at the lovely details beneath the flight deck |
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| The current state of the Elbe, after some three hours painting. This may take some time... |
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| The opening stages of the Ecuyer were very similar to my Prussian ships |
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| I followed the classic studio scheme closely, though with a slightly different shade of blue and grey |
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| The fluid camouflage is quite fun to paint, and not too difficult |
REPUBLIQUE OF FRANCE - 1500pts
Saint Malo-class Heavy Battleship with six Moustique-class Fast Attack Submarines
Couronne-class Assault Carrier
Cherbourg-class Battle Cruiser
Cherbourg-class Battle Cruiser
Three Toulon-class Armoured Cruisers
Three Dieppe-class Cruisers
One Ecuyer-class Support Cruiser (attached to one of the Large vessels)
Four Chevalier-class Heavy Destoyers
Four Lyon-class Frigates
Five Requin-class Corvettes
Lots to do!
Thanks for reading,
George
I was really looking forward to seeing you get your hands on the new Prussian models, and you haven't disappointed :) Fantastic work. Will they be making an appearance in any upcoming AARs?
ReplyDeleteAt least one certainly! The next few we're going yo have a more Pacific theme do not many Prussians around but it would be rude to miss out using some of the new ships.
ReplyDeleteWell done, really nicely painted models.
ReplyDelete