Western Suburbs Games Society News
March 2004
Commentarii Senatus (Comments from the Senate)
Nothing from our committee for this newsletter.
Leviathan Announcement as made by Gary Kenworthy last meeting
Mr Kenworthy announced last meeting the following; the annual senior membership of $50 now includes entry into one of the two Leviathan weekends. Junior membership has also been reduced from $25 per year to
$15 per year.
This has been achieved through the money raised in the canteen at Leviathan over the last 2 years, and a consistent effort to raise funds through monthly BBQs, and sausage sizzles at Bunnings, in addition to
an increase in membership and work taken to reduce costs.
My last Newsletter
Well 12 months latter and it is time you found someone better to do the newsletters so I will be handing it back to the committee. Thank you for the opportunity to produce this newsletter
over the last year and also for my involvement in Leviathan in 2002 and 2003. Please excuse the following self-indulgence, as I received a nice thank you note for the newsletter and it is printed below. (note
Eurreka Miniatures is very happy with the level of communication that Mitchell has provided in taking over my role in Leviathan 2004.
Ty Gock
A thank you from a club member.
I have never been much of a painter; I have enjoyed miniature and RPG games since I was 10, to me painting the miniatures was always a chore and Painful. My first efforts are fairly basic
and embarrassing (that's why no one at WSGS has ever seen my glorious Prussians with their Guards and Landwhere Canon fodder - I play those against opponents that have not yet painted their armies!).
Most of my ancient figures I bought as a teenager and focused on cheap discount figures, where paint really did not matter as the figures were basic, lumpy and ugly. When I was old enough
and rich enough I slashed out and purchased an Essex army and had it professionally painted. As a reference, “I have lots of miniatures from nearly every period.”
When my Son was 10 I tried to get him into 40K, and bought him the painting set with some space marines, I bought some orks and discovered, my wife is a good painter. My son has gone on to
get heavily into 40k and magic (4th place at Cancon this year in his age division). His painting at his age (now 14) is better than mine was at age 25 after 15 years gaming.
In steps Ty started his initiative of small painting comps through the club meetings and the family day painting.
My wife entered some Fantasy Figures and scored above average, but the judges comments gave us hints how to paint better. So we stripped back the figures and tried again.
In 2002 I won some Miniatures in a placing in Tactika so I bought some Museum LB to increase my nice painted Anglo Irish to core 2 and 3. They sat around until Ty had a best Unit
competition. So I painted up a unit. They were the best figures I had ever done, in what was now 27 years of gaming. I scored above average. Not bad I thought. I then painted up another unit for the gobos last year, again just above average. But the comments
again helped my wife and I do better. My wife's repainted angel did better than the first time, but lost paints on some gold paint on the wings, that I suggested. (She no longer listens to me,) I also got a lot of tips from other club members on basing, glue,
flock and other things. So now I have the painting Bug. I have painted up the following; 2 figures to play with in Living Greyhawk (which are the best 25mm I have done so far), WWII 15mm Germans (Best total Army I have ever done) Even my wife praised me on
this one. Plus a lot more.
I know I am still not a great painter, but I now take pride in the painting and basing that I have done. I still have a long way to go, but it is an enjoyable part of the hobby now. SO thanks and appreciation to TY for finally getting me into painting.
Scott McManus
Recent events – News
q First Family day meeting 1st February 2004
Four families attended at different times over the day and the painting desk was used by about 12 children over the course of the day. The steak sandwiches were a hit, with 1kg of steak sold out
very quickly, we also went through 4 kgs of sausages. Mark Fenlon’s miniatures paint beautifully, so a special thanks you to Mark for donating the ACW miniatures. Marks miniatures can be found on http://www.users.bigpond.com/markfenlon/
A great day over all, although I was very tired after 3p.m.
Ty Gock
Want to provide Newsletter input – Please see the Committee and new Editor.
q 15/2/2004 Meeting.
Looking for a variety of games?
This meeting saw the following games played; Two 40K games, one large Flames of war game, two Tactika games, War Machines courtesy of Penrith Emperor’s Legion President, “Bails” and a
Napoleonic Board game.
q Emperor’s Legion meet on the Second Sunday of the month at the Penrith Police Citizen’s Youth club and their next meeting will be Sunday 14th March 2004.
UP and COMING MEETING and EVENTS
q Family Day and BBQ 4th April 2004
Children 14 years and under accompanied by their parent(s) will receive lunch from the BBQ for free. Paint has been provided courtesy of Matisse Paints. All the children need to bring is their paint brushes and
a miniature to paint. Children are invited to bring their favourite table top game. E.g. Yu-Gi-Oh, Spaceships for Full thrust, all miniatures and kits are welcome. WE need a volunteer for the
BBQ for this meeting as I’m determined to actually play a game with my children. (Ty)
q 4th April 2004 - 40K 750 point Round Robyn organised by Ross Heenan
This will be run on the first Sunday of every month.
q 4th April 2004 – Battletech Campaign
The Battletech campaign is played on the first Sunday meeting of the month. All are invited to join in and have some fun playing a game where you command 10m tall robots weighing in from
20 to 100 tones. No rules knowledge is needed, just rock on up and see Rob, the ½ Ogre with the Mohawk.
q Easter Show – Good Friday and Easter Saturday WSGS display 9th and 10th April 2004
Thank you we have all the volunteers we need, a very positive reflection on our club that we can organise 8 volunteers in advance.
q 17th April 2004 Bunning Warehouse display (NO BBQ, just a display to promote Leviathan and public participation)
q Meeting 18th April 2004 last one before the tournament.
q Leviathan 24th and 25th April 2004
q WSGS Inaugural Dinner - Saturday evening 10th July 2004, from 5.30pm
q Theme: Medieval and Dark Ages, Myths and Reality
If you wish to become a member, half year membership is due for the January 2004 to June 2004.
q Junior Membership is $7.50 until June 2004 for children/ teenagers still at school. (18 years and under)
q Adult membership is $25 until June 2004
q Family membership is $25 until June 2004. That covers Mum, Dad and all the kids still at school.
q Visitors to a club meeting have their first visit for free then it is $5 per meeting.
WSGS Meeting Dates for 2004
q 18th January
q 1st February
q 15th February
q 7th March
q 21st March
q 4th April
q 18th April
q 2nd May
q 16th May
q 19th and 20th June (Weekend Meeting)
q 4th July
q 18th July
q 1st August
q 15th August
q No Fathers day Meeting
q 19th September
q 16th & 17th October (Weekend Meeting)
q 7th November
q 21st November
q 5 December
q 19 December
Note the Leviathan 2004 Hobby Convention and Tournament will be held on April 24th and 25th 2004 (Part 1). Dates have not yet been set for Part 2.
www.westernsuburbsgamesociety.com
Taking advantage of my last newsletter the following is a special article for the kids painting at our Family days.
Painting a 28mm Eureka Miniature GREEK HOPLITE
Using Matisse Paints
Matisse Professional Artist Flow range acrylic paints were kindly donated to the Western Suburbs Games Society, so I have written this article to show our young painters that they can get good results from
this Artist paint. The example used is a Eureka Miniatures 28mm Greek Hoplite that I painted after reading Gates of Fire: An Epic Novel of the
Battle of Thermopylae by Steven Pressfield, purchased at Dymocks Penrith.
Note there are many better painters out there and this is only the 3rd 28mm miniature that I’ve painted in years. Basically I wanted something that our younger
painters could look at using the paints that have been kindly donated to us. The overall finish is better than a lot of individual aspects.
At 75ml a tube, the Matisse flow range has good pigmentation and is good value for money when compared to many Hobby paints. The main disadvantage is the tubes do not sit neatly on your desk for colour select. Some colours particularly yellow need a white base coat however I fine that this is the case with hobby paint as well, yellow is always more brighter with a white base coat.
Aside from using the different varnishes and products like drying retardant to demonstrate to our painters what you can use them for, I’ve tried to keep the paint range used and equipment simple.
I’ve also used this as an opportunity to show off products from our sponsors, like Eureka miniatures, Chucks Ballast, OZ flock from Anton’s trains and Dymocks in Penrith. I’ve also listed the retail hobby
shops that have had long and supportive ties with WSGS, such as Tinsoldier, Grey Matter games, HobbyPro, and Bergs Hobbies.
q Brushes.
I used an old thick bristled brush for the undercoating a new O and triple O for the painting, even for the eyes and an old triple O for the dry brushing.
q Preparing the miniature
I used a hobby knife to clean up some mould lines, however the beautiful miniature from Eureka was nearly 100% ready to paint. The Greek Hoplite is not listed on Eureka’s web site or in its catalogue, so
you will have to ask for it.
q Basing the miniature
I based the miniature on a piece of thick cardboard, so that I would be handling the base and not the miniature while painting.
q Undercoating using Black Gesso
It is important to use an old brush with stiff bristles, as the Gesso is quite thick. The Gesso may be watered down, however if you put the time into it, the Gesso can be spread thinly and get into all the
cracks that spray undercoating does not necessarily cover. Don’t use you fine pointed brushes, you will ruin them.
q Order of painting
I painted the large areas on the miniature first. Linen armour, shield, flesh, grieves and helmet. The spear, sword, face and eyes were last.
q Painting the leather appearing below the Linen Cuirass and on the shoulders.
This was basically a red oxide brown, with a very light dry brushing of the same brown with a little titanium white added. I was careful to keep fine black lines where appropriate.
q Painting the Linen Cuirass
This was the simple part of the miniature. I just used a straight Titanium white and took care to retain thin black lines between the linen panels on the armour. Now I could have weathered the armour however I
wanted it to look bright and relatively clean for effect. I could have done a better job in hiding the brush strokes.
q Painting the Hoplite shield
I wanted the bronze to be highly polished but still show a rough bronze surface. I also wanted to try an idea that I saw at the Matisse Arts and Crafts Open day when I spoke to the ladies doing Decoupage.
First I painted the shield face bronze taking care to retain a thin black line going around the shield. I didn’t however thin down the bronze paint or use a large brush to remove the brush strokes. This
isn’t a smooth sheet of modern factory manufactured bronze, this would have been a hand beaten sheet of bronze.
I then tried some simple decoupage. I printed out a “V” on the computer, cut it out, painted the edge of the paper black and glued it upside down on the shield to make it a SPARTAN Hoplite shield. Then I
painted the inverted “V” red taking care to maintain the black outline.
I wanted the shield to shine, just like the impression I got from reading Gates of Fire, so I used the Matisse finish Gloss varnish (MM14) over a few nights. Basically just before it retired for the evening
I would put a thin single coat on. I stopped after 4 coats. I’m not sure Mr Kenworthy liked the shield, his only comment was it was very shiny.
The back of the shield I painted various shades of Brown and then gave it a wash of black and burnt umber paint watered down with water.
Painting bronze greaves
For the greaves base coat, I used Copper. I then gave it a wash using watered down black and burnt umber paint to represent the build up of grim and dirt on the greaves as I wanted this item on the Hoplite to
appear old and worn. Finally I dry brushed with bronze over the greaves’ raised areas to highlight where the grim would not have settled and wear and tear would have kept these areas clear of grim.
q Painting Flesh
I painted the flesh using skin tone pale on the miniature making sure the black showed in any crevice. I then washed the flesh with skin tone mid and Water Based Patina (MM20) which turns the paint into a wash.
I forgot to pre-seal the existing paint with Pre-Antiquing medium (MM18) however I think I got away with it. (This is only my second attempt in using these additives to make the paint into a proper wash as per what the Folk Artist do)
I then painted over the flesh again with the skin tone pale leaving the brown colour between the flesh and the black crevices. I was also careful to ensure I maintained a black outline between things like
the bronze grieves and the back of the legs.
The face was the last place that I painted flesh and I took care not to paint over the eyes which I left black at this stage.
q Painting the helmet
I basically used silver and then washed it with some thin black paint. I then went back and highlighted by dry brushing with silver again. I added a thin blue line along a raised ridge on the helmet.
q Painting the face
I painted the face with skin tone pale, making sure the black definition lines were maintained. I painted the beard with Payne grey, and then dry brushed with some Paynes grey and
titanium white added. The final dry brush was very light using just titanium white.
I used a little red for the lips. You really cannot see the beard or the lips due to the shield.
q Painting the Eyes
When painting the white of the eyes, try and leave a black outline to define the shape of the eye against the flesh colour on the face. To improve the flow of the paint off the brush, I used a little spreader
medium (MM8) although I’m told surface tension breaker (MM3) is actually better. If the white goes over the black outline, just touch up the black outline using some black paint.
For the pupil in each eye, I used some Ultramarine blue paint and added a little titanium white. I put a little on the point of the brush only and placed it where I believed the pupil would be if looking in
a certain direction. My first attempt failed as I was using such as small amount of paint that it dried on the brush. So I went back and added some drying retardant because the eyes take time. (MM1)
It is very important to have the eyes looking in the same direction and this may take some effort making adjustments to trim or add to the amount of blue paint on the eyes of the miniature.
q Painting the Spear
I used raw umber from memory for the wood and unbleached Titanium for the cord handgrip on the middle of the spear. I used a brown wash on the wood and painted the spear tip silver and the spear butt copper. I
darkened both with a black wash. I then went back and dry brushed the spear tip with silver again.
q Painting the Sword and sheath
I keep this very simple. The sheath was a basic red, made dirty with a black and red wash.
The metal on the sheath was copper, a black wash and the highlighted with bronze. The three circles on the bronze in the bottom of the sheath I took as inlayed gems, so I painted them white and then inked
all three with an emerald green. The sword was painted silver and the handle painted unbleached titanium and then weathered with a wash.
q Assembly
The shield, spear and sword were glued on using”gel” super glue.
q Varnish
The metal was finished with a water based gloss (MM19) and the linen armour and flesh etc was finished using a water based Matt (MM6).
q Finish
The temporary base was carefully removed and the miniature glued to a wooden trophy base. (I had already added the penholder and secured it with a screw.)
I then roughly added some plaster based-filler around the base. When this dried I painted the filler raw umber. I then painted the base with white glue and sprinkled some mixed oz flock and fine ballast from
chucks ballast on it. Finally when it had dried I dripped some final finish gloss varnish on to the flock to secure it, and while it was still wet I lightly sprinkled a little more flock to vary the colour a little. This additional flock appears a lighter
colour that the flock sealed in varnish.
q The following products are ALL Australian Made.
q Greek Hoplite, trust me to pick a miniature not listed on the web site or in the catalogue. Eureka Miniatures has consistently sponsored Leviathan and our Family painting days for as long as I can remember. www.eurekamin.com.au
q Matisse Derivan Flow range, Gesso and different mediums. Matisse has sponsored Leviathan for the last 2 years as well as our family and display days. It was through Matisse that we have a display at the Easter Show. www.matisse.com.au
q Oz Flock from Anton’s trains has sponsored Leviathan for the last 2 years. Anton would love his product at the stores however he may be contacted by Email on bognar@bigpond.com
q Ballast (small rocks used in model railways and on miniature bases) Chucks Ballast has sponsored Leviathan for the last 2 years. www.chucksballast.com.au
q Supporting Local Retail Stores and Australian Manufacturing
Please encourage your local hobby store to stock these products or at least accept orders for these products where stocking them is not feasible.
Grey matter Games in Blacktown , HobbyPro in St Marys, and Tin Soldier in Penrith and the City all have historical and strong current ties with WSGS. Grey Matter Games, HobbyPro, and Tinsoldier are all
sponsors of Leviathan.
Bergs Hobbies in Parramatta has a historical tie as they helped establish our club in the 1970’s.
It is very important to support your local hobby shop and buy locally whenever possible.
However so is supporting Australian Manufacturing especially where the product is value for money and of good quality. If you cannot access these brands then you may need to consider buying direct if
possible to support Australian manufacturing. I personally would like to see these products in the shops however this is not always practical, so maybe the local hobby shops will accept an order for items that they do not normally stock.
Grey Matter Games in Blacktown (formerly Unlimited Hobbies) did once stock Oz Flock and may still have some available. They do accept orders for Eureka Miniatures. Tinsoldier in the city did also stock OZ
Flock and both Tinsoldier stores accept order for Eureka Miniatures and may have some on display. E.g. the Pirate range is displayed at their Penrith store.
Matisse products are normally found at Art Supply shops, although I actually bought my Matisse drying retardant and Spreader medium at Penrith Toy and Hobby store, which is now Pro Hobbies at St Marys.
Chucks Ballast is stocked at Berg’s Hobbies in Parramatta. All these local Hobby stores have a good supply of brushes, hobby knives, needle files, glue, miniatures and models etc.
I’ve also noticed that a club member Scot McManus has an occasional stall during our meetings and has been seen with some Oz flock for sale.
One final recommendation, Dymocks in Penrith have consistently sponsored and supported WSGS for years, so if you are interested in a good read please order Gates of Fire: An Epic Novel of the Battle of Thermopylae by Steven Pressfield from the Penrith store.
q Dymocks in Penrith have sponsored WSGS activities for years
The only Non Australian Product used was Winsor & Newton Drawing Inks, scarlet. I’ve used their inks for years, and out of habit I used it again. I will look for an
Australian alternative for next time.
Western Suburbs Games Society (WSGS) generally has meetings on the 1st and 3rd
Sunday of the month at Quakers Hill High School, Lalor Road Quakers Hill.