Sloth
It’s been a slow week for wargame preparation due to holidays and exams. Still, I managed to paint another eight American GIs, bringing me up to a full squad. I really should have concentrated on trees and rock walls, as that’s all I lack to have a complete set of soldiers and terrain for the introductory NUTS! scenario, but I’ve been strangely reluctant to finish up. I wonder if I’m afraid that actually playing the game won’t measure up to the fun of painting and researching.
A dozen citizen-soldiers...
Ansel Von Adams
I’ve also been trying to get down to the nitty-gritty of miniatures photography. Or as much as I can without owning a macro lense. I’m using an 18″x24″ sheet of cheap watercolor paper as a backdrop. Light is provided by an overhead bar-shaped incandescent with fluorescent light as a general room ‘fill’ light. Normally I hate any light from fluorescents for pretty much anything, but the incandescent lamp seems to balance things out nicely. Correcting for white balance is also a tremendous help to getting good color.
A key step to getting more than one rank of miniatures in focus is to use a large (in number) aperture size. Large aperture numbers mean a smaller aperture, which is counter-intuitive as can be. Such is life. Unfortunately, small apertures let in less light. Even with a high ISO setting (ISO is an analogue to old film speeds), these photographs are extremely blurry. And these are the best of a dozen shots. This means I need to purchase a tripod. Joy.
18x24 Watercolor paper, white balance adjusted
For completion’s sake, here are the opposing forces: a full squad of Wermacht soldiers. Yes, I painted the shoulder-boards. No, there’s no way I’m going to attempt to paint collar insignia. The NCOs are up front. I realize no sane soldier would wear a soft cap into combat, but for skirmish gaming it’s awful handy to be able to quickly recognize a figure. Plus, it looks cool.
The opposition...would it kill Valiant to put in some action poses?
ArkieGamer 