Trench and mud

21 April 2017 No re.

I had the great opportunity to prepare a diorama for the cover of Wargames Soldiers and Strategy #90, where I have represented one of the probably most charismatic scenes of the last century wars, a trench raiding. More specifically, a German counter attack to take a trench section back. I wanted to share with you some details addressing the preparation of this diorama, although you will actually find more information inside the magazine. Additionally, in this very same WSS issue I have published a complete step-by-step painting guide of the Spanish 1898 colonial army, using the new miniatures from 1898…

How to paint the 1980 Spanish army

9 April 2017 No re.

Today, I have another painting guide to share with you. If last time we saw how to paint Spanish Tercios, this time we move a bit forward until 1980. I have ad-hoc prepared a painting guide for the new Totentanz Miniatures Kickstarter campaign which covers the 1980 Spanish army in 15mm (perfect to play Team Yankee!). In this guide I show how to paint Spanish infantry in a detailed step-by-step guide, besides a couple of color sheets; one of them dedicated to the AMX-30E tank. This time the painting guide has been prepared in collaboration with Modelbrush. Note that the…

How to paint 28mm Spanish Tercios

24 March 2017 No re.

Today, I wanted to share with you a painting guide I prepared ad-hoc for the Kraken Released’s guys, who recently founded a Kickstarter campaign to produce an entire new range of 28mm Spanish Tercios miniatures (17th century). The painting guide, prepared in collaboration with the PaintingWar magazine’s crew, is divided in two sections. The former contains a step-by-step painting guide showing how to paint a pikeman (how to paint clothes, metal parts, skin, etc); while three sheets or color carts form the latter, covering the colors needed to paint the miniature beside some historical data and painting tips (for instance,…

Painting 15mm tanks: E25 tank hunter

23 January 2017 2 Re.

I painted this German tank –one of my favorites WWII tanks, although it was a prototype– two years ago. It is a E-25 tank, produced in 15mm by Khurasan Miniatures. Although I have already published similar painting guides in my blog, I think that there is always something new to learn. The main topic of this article is the combination of the hairspray technique (or chipping effect fluid) with masks to create worn tritonal camouflage. Step 1 – Preparation We remove all imperfections from the model with a modelling knife and files. Then, glue some parts such as hatches, but…

Painting uniforms

7 December 2016 2 Re.

I obtained a nice feedback from the “philosophical” article I posted regarding how to paint mounted units; where instead of discussing technical issues (or “how to paint…”), I paid more attention on the question mark “why”: why we do what we do. In my opinion, painting miniatures for wargames is not only about the painting, but it is also about telling a story. And these stories might be based on the (military) history; something that is real. And therefore, we can try to reflect this reality in our tiny armies. And in this post I would like to discuss some…

Extreme weathering in 15mm: Mark IV

14 September 2016 No re.

Almost two years ago I received a number of lovely 15mm WWI tanks from Battlefront Miniatures, and I started immediately working on a video-tutorial to explain how to paint a British Mark IV tank. I completed the first part of the tutorial regarding how to paint the base color and published the video (see below). Nevertheless, the poor quality of the video discouraged me from recording a second part. Instead, I put the tank into a box with the idea of buying a new video camera in the future. Unfortunately, I haven’t had the chance (nor the money) to buy…

Painting mounted units

31 August 2016 No re.

I hate painting horses. It is a fact. It is repetitive and monotonous. And I have never found it fun. However, here I am; I continue painting horses (at least another almost forty for my Thirty Years War army…). And I am not going to stop because although I hate painting horses, mounted units are very impressive, aren´t they? Somehow, I would like to share with you some tips I have learnt after painting several mounted units, although I have to concede that some of them are personal opinions. But you will agree with me that is not the same…

Painting Wargame Tanks 2nd Edition

11 July 2016 No re.

I am so happy to see that many people found interesting my book about painting 15mm (1:100) tanks and edited by AMMO of Mig Jiménez, so that a second edition has been published. Therefore, if you didn’t have the chance to buy your own copy, do it now! In the book you can go through nine painting guides from a basic level to more skilled techniques. Everything you need to paint your tiny tanks! You can find a review in the following post.   And what is next? Take a look at this sneak preview 🙂

Painting Warhammer 30.000 Space Marines

14 June 2016 1 Re.

My brother wanted me to prepare an easy painting guide to quickly paint his new Warhammer 40K force, the Space Marines (SM) from the chapter World Eaters. My brother specifically wants to use the airbrush to save time, but banned me from doing color modulation because he considers this technique as very complicated and time demanding. Thus, you will find here a simple painting guide for SM.  When I paint one of my Ultramarine warriors, I will prepare another more advance painting guide using color modulation and other techniques learnt from painting vehicles.      After removing the flashes with…

Working with the terrain II

21 April 2016 No re.

I was so fortunate when people from Wargames: Soldiers & Strategy asked me for preparing a cover for the special Salute issue. They wanted me to prepare a vignette or small scene with some 28mm Italo-Norman knights from Conquest Games; and I decided to build a diorama where a number of knights are crossing a meadow. I would like to share with you some hints about how I built it, although you will find more information in the WS&S 84 issue.  Prior taking the putty and knife, I took a piece of paper and a ruler in order to design…