Easily Distracted

I ended last week with a trip to Phalanx at St Helens. The show was a bit of a treat as I spent a large part of last week decorating the kitchen. I say decorating it was mainly renovation and repainting. I took my camera but it stayed in my bag. If you want some photos of the show Will McNally's blog has a few.

My haul was relatively modest: six 15 mm figures for my Islamic Persian army, Gush's "Renaissance Armies 1480-1650" (1982 edition), and a 38 year old UK war comic for £1.00. You'd think this wouldn't offer much by way of distractions but it did. Let me explain.

Prior to the show I contacted Irregular Miniatures asking them to bring along samples of their 15mm Islamic Persian camel gunners (MIP4). Their web site doesn't have any photos of this code and I wanted to see whether it would match the Donnington figures I already have.

I'm pleased to report that I am now the proud owner of six MIP4s. They are an excellent size match and feature the gun mounted on a saddle frame and a rider in distinctly Persian dress.

So to the point. Today I found a few precious hours to dedicate to painting. I have a batch of Persian hand gunners and a batch of heavy cavalry already mounted on painting stands, primed and uncoated for just such occasions. Did I work on either of these? No. I spent all the time doing a test run with one, yes one, of the MIP4s. Typical wargamer: no focus.

Anyway, I can report the figure was easy to paint and I don't think painting the remainder will take as long as the first one did. I did have to adapt my standard painting technique slightly. The camel has turned out really well with an expressive face that isn't obvious when you look at the bare lead.

Once I've based the test figure I'll post some photographs and a comparison shot with the Donnington figure. I'll also comment on my different approaches to painting these figures. That is if I can remain focused.