Rating Squad

The Emperor Protects, y'all

After a good solid week off and no distractions, I've been fortunate in being able to get a good few hours' painting in every day; a luxury I'm very grateful for.  While my platoon of Latvians are finally nearing completion and I'm always whittling away at the ranks of infantry to paint, I focussed recently on my 5-man Ratling team (or should that be 5-ratling Ratling team?  Discuss.)

Anyway, my first (test) model turned out well - for those who missed it this is the article.  The next four guys passed over the painting table a little more quickly as I'm keen to get them game ready.  But I'm still rather chuffed with the results; minor tinkering will follow (painting jewels, belt-buckles etc) but this is their battle-ready state.

Three... two... one...
coming, ready or not!

(Quick aside on painting details like that:  I often leave these until I have approx 20 models who all need details added.  Every time you switch colours on a brush and dry it, I feel like it's adding wear-and-tear to the brush so for a single belt buckle, it's worth waiting until you have a lot to make the painting worthwhile.  Like saving up all the little trips to the corner shop and doing one big supermarket run on a saturday.  Interesting to see if anyone else does this or if it's just mad painter's superstition... )

Where did I put my keys...

Anyway, the models!  I'll add my standard qualifier that the iPhone photos don't do these models justice (the sculpting more than the painting), these are some of the finest models to issue forth from the workshops of Messrs. Games and Workshop for a good few years, in my humble opinion.  To tie them in with my army, I stuck to Knarlock Green tunics and the ubiquitous black bases.  The webbing was deliberately varied with innumerable combinations of browns and washes.  The browny glaze (these are pre-varnish photos) is down to the extensive brown washes I used to vary the tones slightly, as well as giving the tunics a slightly worn-out feel.

I see no such order!

One of my favourite little details was the trucker's cap on the top model.  The old ratlings all used to have these caps (which some despised, others loved).  Maybe the sculptor did it as a tip of the hat to the old models, but I couldn't resist putting on an old Confederate saltire.

I am a stone...

So, all in all the perfect models:  lovely sculpts, fun to paint, and great on the battlefield!  I plan to put these chaps to use in smaller patrol clash games where their accurate fire can hopefully whittle down any missile launchers and such like, leaving the tanks free to do their dirty work.  Not sure about larger games, as I wonder if their points might better be spent on something like a lascannon or a heavy mortar, but I'll try a few combinations out and see.

Anyway, thanks for tuning in and look forward to next time!  Hopefully will have started on my Boarding Team by then, and the Latvian Legion are a stone's throw away from being finished.