Bitterly disappointed by my camera

March is a spring month; I am told. Since it was nice and sunny out, I decided to take a few pictures of the miniatures I painted in February.

Needless to say, I was deeply disappointed in the results of the photos. I am biased, but I honestly think these are some of the best miniatures (and certainly the best basing) that I have done. I was afraid that some of the highlights would be too subtle for the camera to pick up, but I was not prepared for photos to look like this:

All I can say is that I either got some wicked glare, or my Olympus needs to lay off the booze. I don't think I have ever had as much trouble getting things to focus. The Sassanid pictures were totally unusuable - I do believe those figures desire to spite me!

If your eyes can stand the strain, that is supposed to be General José Jerónimo de los Dolores Leal Treviño, Governor of Nuevo Leon from 1867-1871, and the entire División del Norte from 1877-1880. Seeing as how he fought the French, the Apaches, the Kickapoos, and the Americans (and incidentally, married the daughter of the General Edward Ord, commanding the Department of Texas and his nominal American opponent), he seemed an ideal use of the Foundry figure.

This is the only remotely decent image of the mounted figures. Naturally, you can only see them from the back and most of the shading I worked very hard at is washed out. However, you can make out some of the bases. They're a new basing approach for me. I usually paint 15mm figures, so my basing skills were pretty rudimentary. I would just paint the base, dip in the proper colored flock, and be done with it.

25mm figures mean I needed to step it up a notch. Each figure was glued to a Litko 1"x2" plywood base before painting (I used a brush-on primer). Once the figure was completed, I spackled the base to hide the figure base line, painted the base in Delta's Mississippi Mud, then glued down rock. The rock was washed with Games Workshop Flesh Wash, left to dry overnight, then drybrushed with Reaper Woodland Brown, Vallejo Thick Ochre, and then Delta Bamboo. I then glued on Games Workshop Dead Grass, and then Gale Force 9 Summer Static Grass. As you can see, each figure's base has their name in white ink on a colored tab.The colored tab reflects a figure's varying skill (yellow-very inexperienced/brand new, green=less experienced, still kind of raw, blue=average, red=experienced, black=veteran). I was less than impressed with Reno's performance at Little Big Horn, so I made him average. Benteen is referred to in Son of the Morning Star as "an agate-eyed killer," so I decided he was not somebody I would want to mess with. Custer is Custer.

Here are the dismounts. Every mounted figure also needs a dismount, should a horse be wounded or incapacitated (for cavalry that don't like to fight on foot) or should they form a skirmish line. So here is the dismounted General de Brigata Treviño, General George Armstrong Custer, Captain Frederick W. Benteen, and Major Marcus Reno. Once again, the lighting has pretty much washed out the figures, but you can see the bases I am very proud of.

Zooming in on General Custer, and the best of the pictures, frankly.

Benteen center stage. You cannot see the frogged uniform tunic, but hopefully the highlights on his campaign hat and face came out. Yes, his eyes are actually blue!

Here is Major Reno. Once again, you cannot really see his expression. I tried to make him look drunk (as alleged at the Little Big Horn) and clearly show his indecision. In person, I think I achieved that effect. I don't know if you can see it in the photos.

Well, that's what I painted in February. I hope to take some better pictures over the weekend.