I’ve been e-chatting with one of the chaps who’s fortunate enough to be the partner of one of the domestic godesses behind Empress Miniatures and I was looking for my post on their snipers to share with him only to realise how I’d painted them but not got around to sharing them on here despite having spewed forth on the other modern snipers I was working on at the same time. Their sniper team comes in two parts, an eagle-eyed spotter and the man behind the trigger. Now many folk base this pair together, but I chose to base them seperately, so I can use the spotter seperately as a forward observer. I’ve based him tucked behind a slight hill with grass upon it as these chaps have a habit of not making themselves stick out.
The sniper is in the lesser-known sitting position for snipers and comes with a drag bag for his weapon. Both are great fun to paint but beware, Empress Miniatures are the Uber-Miniatures when it comes to detail- and this can slow painting for two basic reasons; one is the natural desire to make the best of something – so if someone is generous enough to provide an incredible level of detail you tend to feel a need to equal that with the best paint job poss. The second is how that detail can be so sharp that it becomes difficult to paint, don’t mistake this comment for criticism, but for example the cocking levers on their figures with AK47s take the paint well, but any handling of a non-varnished figure tends to remove that very paint. This is more a comment on my rough handling than anything else but don’t expect painting them to be incredibly easy. Fun? Yes! Easy? Unlikely!
These figures do re-enforce a very positive development though, the production of top-notch miniatures to a high quality for a decent price from independent vendors. Empress is a very young company who has equalled the brilliance of Eureka, Bolt-Action, Artizan, BEF Miniatures et al much to the gamers benefit. Ain’t life great?
What’s that tearing through the countryside? Why it’s a tidy line of GHQ jeeps tearing into action in the style of the Para’s or the SAS.
Now the GHQ standard jeeps come in two basic forms, windscreen up or windscreen down and with just a driver who wears a yank style helmet. For me this is a handay variety, but not enough if you’re likely to be playing six tiles in close proximity. The first thing Ive done is filed those helmets to look like a beret, then I’ve added two or three more figures including one with a .50 cal, plus a couple of boxes here and there. The finished look is a quite threatening little convoy likely to worry just about any unit unfortunate to be set against it.
After Mike asked for bigger photo’s I’ve had a bash, and generally I’m not having a lot of luck with them. I’m at the limit of my camera’s ability which is far beyond my own, out of around 30 photos, two weren’t blurred but even with these ones (above & below) you can see how the rear third of the base is in focus while the rest isn’t. They did prove handy for revealing fluff and hairs though, and have been tweezered to perfection.
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