Sculpted figure: General Atena Minervista

Hi everyone today I present to you something of a labour of love of mine. I have been working on this figure on and off for the past few months now but now I can finally present to you the figure that I sculpted and have now painted. For those interested in the biography of the character refer to this post on the Oronegro blog. The model is the third that I have sculpted, although given that it has been several years since my previous efforts this is essentially a first effort. There are certainly areas where I can improve, notably the sculpting of faces and on the detail of clothing. The figure was sculpted from an white metal armature rather than from wire which meant that the correct body proportions were already established. Still it was quite enjoyable to sculpt and very satisfying to paint. I hope you enjoy her too.

As a Minervista she originated in the unit that I covered in my last post.

the scabbard sadly broke and had to be repaired. However, despite being made from strengthened card (used super glue) I think it looks quite good.

Also for those wondering these photos were taken on our balcony. Making the most of the natural light which my camera prefers for sure.

The hair took quite a while to get, based it on a friend. She is the one who painted my nails, you may be able to see the remnants of that incident in this shot.

Also despite being a little oversized I am also very satisfied with how the grip and handguard of her sword turned out. Although in future I may get premade scabbards and swords to ensure it looks good.

That is all for today. I hope you enjoy this model. I am hoping to get some more stuff out before the end of the month. I am also working on another sculpting project but very much an on and off affair. Once again I will direct you to the post on the Oronegro blog. If for nothing else for the additional photos. However, until the next one I hope you all have a good day/night. ::) 

Las Minervas, 18th century female infantry

Hello everyone today I have something rather special. Las Minervas the 8th regiment of the line in the Oronegrean army. A unit entirely composed of very tall pagan women. Sounds strange? Well you can find out more about them here, on my Oronegro blog. They were fun to paint and creating a flag for them was also fun as I had managed to lose my file full of Oronegrean flags meaning I had to start from scratch. I do believe that the new ones I have made are better although perhaps this didn't turn out so well in this instance due to pre-moulded flag and the paper one not working together well. Still I hope you enjoy them.

Las Minervas, the regiment of La Tierra del Diablo (land of the devil), one of Oronegro's founding units and one of her most special.

The uniform of Las Minervas is quite different from the rest of the soldiers. While the colours remain the same Las Minervas are proud of their uniqueness and their uniform is designed to set them apart from their male comrades.

Painting metal miniatures is a quite unusual for me and there was a few small breaks I had to fix, notably one of the muskets had to be glued back on and made firm with putty. However, the difference is not as easy to notice now they are done.

Coming up with a slogan was difficult. In the end I chose Lágrimas de plomo" - "tears of lead." This is based on the fact that Minerva herself was often depicted in mourning for the dead of war. As such I wanted to include some reference to that. Las Minervas like their goddess also cry but their tears are lead bullets

This banner represents one of many I have come up with each for unique units in the Oronegrean army. There's square ones like this and rectangular ones (more like the original I did). Each includes a number, a unit name and some symbols depending on the unit's role.

Rosa Alexandra Minervista the commander of Las Minervas, she would go on to be one of Oronegro's finest generals.

Once again the macro camera reveals that I didn't actually manage to get that damn hair off when I had a go at it with the tweezers.

las Minervas on Parade. I would love it if more of the marching figures could be made separately so that a larger unit could be made.

Finally, I mentioned that these women are tall. Here's a comparison. The figures themselves stand around 27mm tall. This translates to around 194cm tall or 6'4" which is huge for their time and they do indeed tower over their male counterparts

Well that is all I hope you enjoyed this post. I just want to give a little shout out to Paul from Paul's Bods who painted these beautiful women a few years ago. No doubt Bodstonia's Purple Roses and Las Minervas have a deep respect for one another as fellow sisters in warfare.

I don't have any models that are immediately near completion so it will be a little bit before the next one. I do hope to get something else out before the end of April. However, until then, I wish you all a good day/night.

More Conquistadors and some sculpting

Hello everyone turns out I do have one last post for this month. It appears that a couple of conquistadors were somehow able to slip through my grasp and escape the photoshoot that happened last week. Well now I have found them they too have been told to scrub up and prepare for the photos. Much whining was had but finally they were compelled to pose nicely for the camera. In addition I have been trying my hand at scultping recently using a couple of techniques. One was one used by the manugacturer AB figures. For this I substituted the NZ made hobby putty Du Kit for Fimo, it didn't work so well and one leg broke so I decided to use a more traditional method for the remainder of the figure. Perhaps I need to experiment with the Du Kit a little moe. The other was based on an armature I had bought from Green Stuff World. I decided to sulpt a woman in this case mostly because I have so few woman figures plus it does give me a chance to practice sculpting flesh a bit which will be a useful skill to have once I transition to using wire based armatures which I hope to do if my efforts here prove successful. I hope you enjoy and please remember these are WIP those massive eye sockets will get filled. None of my usual commentary on these figures as I am someone rushed for time. Still I hope you enjoy this wee post of mine.

Well that is all for today I hope you like it. I am now off for a twelve hour shift at work. Wish me luck. And to you all I hope you have a good day/night.

Oronegrean Conquistadors

Hello everyone today I have got something rather special, something for the very begining of Oronegro. These figures may also double as elite armoured troops for a later time period as Oronegro retained armoured troops for use in combat against native tribes or behind the main lines of infantry. The basic principal was that in situations where melee combat was likely to break out armoured troops would be superior to unarmoured troops. Certainly many of those who faced Oronegrean forces during the 18th century got a nasty surprise when these troops bushed their way to the front during a bayonet brawl.

These guys appear to be preparing to recieve the enemy. But what enemy? Native tribesmen? Pirate marauders? Something inhuman?

This figure I have shown off before. The first to be painted and all around one of my personal favourites. He is the officer of the group.

The pouch on the back may be for some supplies but perhaps he intends to fill it with gold stolen from native temples?

To more armoured soldiers. As can be seen there is no standardised uniform for these troops, something that was true for their entire existence.

The black and yellow man on the right was harder to paint than initially expected. Seems that the yellow paint refused to go on evenly despite my best efforts

I forgot that there was an even numer of figs so one special guy gets to be on his own. Although sadly the camera refused to focus for this pic.

The camera did focus for this picture however, the lighting doesn't really do this guy any favours though.

Two crossbowmen, the crossbow also continued to be used. Especially because of its silent nature which was quite useful when fighting native troops in the jungle or even against regular armies at night.

The guy in the tophat is one of the many Moorish settlers in Oronegro, although he appears to be dressed in red, white, and green so perhaps his loyalties really lie with Italy.

The gun however, was what truly terrified the native troops. These big and powerful guns are not to be messed with. Even in later times big rifled guns, often requiring stands, were issued to these troops in part due to the value of intimidation alone.

Hmmm perhaps more than one of these guys has questionable loyalty towards Oronegro.

Well that is all for today. I have a lot of work coming up (two rather large events that I will be cleaning at) so I won't be able to do much painting. But I am still chipping away at the little pile of figs on my desk (which is increadibly cluttered because of it). Hopefully I can get something out for you in a week or two but this will probably be the last post of this month. What a good way to start the year. I hope to be making many more posts in the months to come.

I hope you have enjoyed this post and I wish you all a good day/night. ::)

Ninja! Or some early los angeles negros.

So it has been quite a while since I last posted. But for once I have something to show. My models have now moved up with me to Auckland. A bit awkward having my painting set up, laptop and piles of books and over stuff all crammed onto the one desk but is better than having the perfect set up in another town. These are the first fruits of my new set up some ninja from the Caesar Japanese samurai with ninja set. But as with all things I have found a way to fit them into my oronegrean story. ::)

I thought doing a shot outside would be a good idea... Wasn't prepared for the mosquito swarm. Unfortunately I don't have the reflexes of a ninja and the little blood suckers escaped my vengful hands

I added bits of colour to their clothing, not particularly realistic but I felt they looked a tad boring otherwise

For those wondering how these fit into Oronegro, I will use them as early members of los angeles negros.

For the close up shots I relocated away from the mosquito menace

This figure was completed well before the others, finally his friends (all completed today) can join him

This pose is one of the mid-air poses, given I don't know how to make things levitate making it appear the figure was jumping off a roof was the best I could do.

This angle gives a better perspective of the roof itself. Unfortunately I was unable to fix the bent swords on the figures. Something about the soft Caesar plastic makes it hard to fix bends.

Well that's all for today. I have some work coming up this weekend (I work cleaning up rubbish at events - in this case the Mumford and Sons concert) so it may be a bit before my next post. I am working on a few things, including some fantasy figures.

For those curious I now also have a facebook profile so feel free to add me on there and sent constant reminders to paint the little ones.

Hope you all have a good day/night. ::)

FIVE YEARS OF ORONEGRO! Anniversary post

It was on this day 5 years ago that I did this post about my return from Argentina. This trip was the catalyst for me to start my own project and create my own little imagi-nation in Latin America. Little did I know then how big this project would become but Oronegro, as this nation came to be called, has defined all of modelling endeavours ever since. So today we celebrate five years of the Oronegro project! Sadly I can't do a grand review as some of the models have been damaged. So instead I shall start with a look at the forces of Oronegro through time. From those first arrivals on the sea of an unknown land in 1492 until the armed forces that took part in the second civil war of the 2020s. There is more below...

Oronegro through history! Or mostly a range of Caesar figures with some Airfix, Imex and others thrown in.

 Here is the progression of the 'standard' Oronegrean infantry soldier. Note that the intermediary uniforms are not included and that some uniforms are not fully representative of the infantry at that point in time. (Mainly because I just don't have enough figures for every single variant over 6-7 centuries.) Also weaponary changed vastly over the period but these changes are also not shown.

And let's not forget the evolution of another troop type: Los Angeles Negros!

 Sadly I can't do every single Oronegrean military unit through history. But there is one that I simply must have represented: Los Angeles Negros - the Black Angels! Currently I can only represent a portion of their history and uniform (because they often wore whatever was most appropriate for a particular action). Here the origin of the unit, which was based off and initially trained by Japanese Ninja and some indigenous hunters, and the elite killer of the 21st century stand side by side. Don't piss them off.

From the early years of the 15th and 16th century to the hight of power in the 18th and 19th

 The first soldiers in Oronegro were mostly armed with swords, crossbows and a few guns (1st on left). As time went on through the 16th and into the 17th century the gun became the main weapon of war in Oronegro. Unlike elsewhere Oronegro retained armoured troops meaning that they looked very outdated to many eyes (2nd from left). However at the end of the 17th century uniforms began to change. This led to the development of a new uniform more familiar to travellers from Europe (3rd from left). This design retained the helmet, a feature of Oronegrean troops that was retained in some numbers from the inception of Oronegro until the present day.

from the 19th century to the early 20th are represented here. This era saw the 1st civil war and Oronegro's decline

The crested helmet (1st figure on left) and blue uniform was standard until the first decades of the 19th century will little variation from the start of the 18th century. However, as time went on a new design (2nd from left) was to take over. This design came from the units of el ejército segundo where it was introduced in the late 18th century. It replaced the previous design in all but a few 'guardia' - guard units. It was soldiers in this costume (and the previous one in guard units) that took part in the 2st Oronegrean civil war in the mid-19th century and faced off against soldiers uniformed in a new design (3rd from left). This design, much like the crested one, would remain in use for a very long period of time lasting until the 1920s.

the 20th and 21st centuries saw Oronegro's power return slowly but then the 2nd civil war began!

During and After WW2 Oronegrean uniforms design was influenced by that of NAZI Germany (1st figure on left). These uniforms were inherited first by the national guard and then later by the native units who used them into the 2020s. Next is a bit of an oddity. The second figure on the left is representative of the 'official' uniform from the 60s to early 80s. In reality most units had uniforms based of US kit with only a couple of units being in the official kit.  The next figure shows how the Oronegreans began to catch up with other places militarily towards the end of the 20th century. This uniform (which usually included a helmet)  became very common amongst the rebel units in the civil war of the 2020s. The final figure shows the uniform that became standard towards the end of the 2010s and was worn during the 2nd Oronegrean civil war.

And there we go. How Oronegro's soldiers changed over time from the beginning until the 2nd civil war. But wait there's more!

  CHARACTER COMPETITION!

 To celebrate 5 years of Oronegro I have come up with a competition in which you, yes you, can help shape part of Oronegro. The competition is to create a character (or characters if you prefer) who play a role in Oronegrean history. They don't have to be the great and powerful, they could be a humble farmer. They don't have to be from Oronegro, they could be from overseas. Or alternatively they could be from Oronegro but make a name for them-self elsewhere. It is all up to you.

Prizes:

The winner will have their character's biography posted on both the Oronegro blog and here. Plus they will receive a miniature of their character (if you make more than one I will give the one of your choice) and probably other things that can fit in the envelope I send the figure off in. (I will also create a second figure for them so they can continue their adventures here in Oronegro)

The runners up will have their characters biography posted. In addition a character will be painted up to represent them, but they will stay here so they can have more adventures in Oronegro.

Winners will be announced later on. I will announce the closing dates of the competition with at least 1 month warning later as well (This will be based on how many entries come in and at what speed.) Furthermore the number of runners up is also random and will include whatever stories I really enjoy (could be all of them knowing me.)

So put on your creative hats and give it a go! Submit your entries to: gjditchburn@gmail.com I look forwards to reading what you come up with.

Here is to the last 5 years of Oronegro! And to all those to come! Have an excellent day/night everyone.

¡Viva Oronegro!

Oronegrean Infantry of el ejército segundo

I know I said my next post would be on a hike and you probably thought the next model I would present would be another boat. Well I have recently gone back into figure painting mode and I finished up a group of figures from the Imex Alamo set. Painted up here as Oronegrean infantry of el ejército segundo (Soldiers of el ejército primero can be seen here). El ejército segundo or second army of Oronegro are often termed reservists or even militia. However, on the whole, many units are comparable to the line regiments of other nations at the time. Basically I made the other units too OP so these guys can be normal. These soldiers specifically are from what can be considered an average unit. Some equipment has been sourced from home, while most make do with the standardised equipment they are issued. Anyway onto the pics.

Still trying to find a lighting/background set up that works. I find that the contrast is a bit too much with this set up.

But I should be talking about the figures. All 16 of them, There is a mix of skin tones and hair colour but it's rather hard to see, some also wear pink gloves which matches the uniform in other units.

Other things that are mixed are the colour of blankets, bags and canteens. This makes the unit feel more varied and alive.

16 figures isn't much and it too small for a unit. In the future I plan to acquire an Imex set of US infantry for the US-Mexican war. This would bulk out the numbers and increase the level of variation

I have singled out this figure to be the representative of the uniform. Although the cross belts are hidden.

The colour scheme matches that of the other infantry. With dark blue and white being the primary colours, accompanied with yellow, black and grey, highlighted with golden details and the occasional addition of pink.

This gentlemen is the current officer of the unit, he doesn't wear a uniform rather his own preferred attire (which often was in the military colours popular in Oronegro). He will likely be replaced by a uniformed officer in the future.

So that concludes our little infantry unit. They will no doubt feature more in the future as I try my hand at some games. In addition I am looking to redo and create more law for Oronegro's military. Particularly in this period. Indeed there are plans for a total re-write of Oronegrean history and a major clean up and organisation of the Oronegro blog. Don't be alarmed though, the main aim is to improve consistency as well as quality (But I will change certain things). This will be a long project so it will probably happen further down the line.

 

Finally I'm looking to seriously churn out figures for a bit. This is primarily to break the monotony of ships but I admit I hope that it will increase views and comments. Input from others is what really helps keep me motivated and working. So please leave a comment, no matter what it is, do please come again and maybe bring a friend along too. With that I wish you all a good day/night.