First Brush: CoA

Instead of continuing with the KoB fleet, I wanted to start my Covenant of Antarctica models.  I wanted to work on my own colour scheme, and I need to get to the Time Dilation Orb as soon as possible.  I also really like the torpedo-shaped ships.

I started with the tiny Diogenes Class Frigates, as I have 9 and could afford to make a few mistakes.  I imagined a pale icy blue, with blue washed metal; sounded great for the waters of Antarctica.  My first attempt was very quick, but not very good.  The icy blue was too dark and the metallic blue was too similar.  I switched to ice and green metal, with copper pipes to tie it back to the steampunk origins.  The result was better, but I'd like the blue to be paler.

Ice water colour scheme:

Viewed from above:

I need to touch-up the ugly duckling, but I'm pleased with the result.  I'll try a different model, then tackle the Orb.

Kingdom of Britannia Fleet (1)

With 3 different miniatures painted, it's time for a fleet picture.

I know, it's a bit small, but I'm moving on to some Covenant of Antarctica models, so this is it for the moment.

The loyal forces of Queen Victoria:

Burney 109 Scout Flyers

"What?", I hear you say, "When did Spartan Games release the new Burney miniatures?"  Relax, you'll notice these look a lot like Prussian Pflichts; surprise, they also have the same stats! It's just not steampunk without dirigibles, so I had to co-opt these guys into my KoB fleet.  I think these are some of the best Dystopian Wars models.
These are often painted some shade of grey and look suitably German.  But when I saw Straet's Prussian Blimps painted in a weathered canvas scheme, I knew could I borrow the idea for some Britannian Blimps.

Burney 109 Scout Flyers:

Looming above:

HMSS Victoria, Ruler Class Battleship

I'm still working on my KoB fleet for  Dystopian Wars.  Having worked out some kinks on my Tribal Class Cruisers, I painted the largest KoB miniature I have at the moment, the Ruler Class Battleship next. 

Yes, this is my first Huge Miniature!

I was a little intimidated by the detail on this battleship, but it went easier than I thought.  I organised the painting better, starting in the recesses and had far less mistakes to touch up than before.  I think the result is a bit crisper and looks good.  I'd like to find some decals for fleet numbers, etc, but otherwise, this model is finished.

HMSS Victoria, Ruler Class Battleship:

Deck view:

Any purists viewing will notice I've got some FSA gun turrets on this model.  All the turrets are magnetised and can be swapped out - I have more KoB 3-barrel guns painted.  I play with the KoB stats, the FSA turrets are just for show.  I think they are scaled a little better to the larger miniature, and the gears on the top are a perfect steampunk motif.

First Brush: Tribal Class Cruisers

I think the Spartan Games miniatures for Dystopian Wars are great, but I found painting them a bit daunting.  I had never painted such large miniatures, my techniques were rusty and I had no good idea of the paint scheme I wanted, having never painted ships.

For the Kingdom of Britannia, I knew I wanted something historically realistic, a camouflage scheme to break up the large flat areas, and a dirty, smoky, weathered look.  But I couldn't make these ideas gel into a completed idea.

The Spartan Games community website really helped me get started, especially once I saw Maestro's work:
Maestro's KoB Fleet
Seeing these miniatures immediately got me going. This was the first camo scheme I really liked and the colours fit my dull, grey, dirty, realistic ideas.  I knew I couldn't come up with anything this good, so I unashamedly copied it (thanks Maestro).  I added more metallic colours, which made it a little more steampunky, and glowing green sturginium engines.  Here is the first result, on the Tribal Class Cruisers.

Here are some other views:

There's an ugly one at the back of each picture, my first attempt.  The next two were much better.
I'm looking forwards to painting the rest of the fleet.

And So It Begins

Wow! My first blog post.

It’s been about 10 years since I last painted a war game miniature.  Computer games spoiled me; no time consuming setup, no rules to memorise, no problems stopping halfway through a game, no backlog of unpainted miniatures.  A vague interest in steampunk and a random visit to the Spartan Games website changed that.  Although their Dystopian Wars rule set is so complex I might never play a game, I knew immediately, I had to paint some of their miniatures.  Steam ships, blimps, giant tanks, tiny fliers, it’s a great range that captures steampunk perfectly.

And the miniatures are huge!