Captain Morgan Earnest Helbrooke



Hello everybody, thanks for stopping by again.  I've been very slow on the modelling front these past few weeks but I've got a week off now.  Plenty of catching up to do!

Despite me saying I've finished my Palladians there are still the squad special weapons to paint.  And that'll free up six men from the squads, the best part of another one...  A Guardsman's life is never done!

As well as that little project (and the WWII and the BFG ships), I still have my Last Gasp Platoon to finish.  The latest step was building the commander, Captain Hellbrooke!  There wasn't any converting done here so I skipped the WiP shots and I'm rushing you straight to the finished product.  The bitz are all Victoria Lamb's finest, with the exception of the Tommy Gun which is an unknown part from my bitz box.


As for painting, although the majority of Penal legionnaires wear their faded-white prison jumpsuits, I wanted to throw in a mix of hats and odd uniform items, to hint at past lives with other illustrious Guard regiments (hence one of the sergeants from the last squad and his Mordian dress cap).
But since Hellbrooke isn't technically a prisoner, he's entitled to wear his own uniform.  So rather than going for the stereotypical, Lee Marvin-Colonel Schaffer approach, I thought I'd go for a nice dress uniform.  Can't resist painting a nice dress uniform.

I picked the colours supposedly at random, although I can't help thinking my choice may have been influenced by Stephen Lang (and the Stonewall Brigade pouring lead into some Yankees) with Gods and Generals on TV as I painted.  Give them the bayonet sir!  Anyway, that's the result.  I painted in my standard formula:
  • White undercoat
  • Base colour (eg, Adeptus Battlegrey for the tunic)
  • Black Wash
  • Re-highlight in base colour (Adeptus Battlegrey again)
  • Drybrush lightly in grey
That's pretty much my standard formula for painting - sometimes I add an extra highlight, and the flesh has a few more steps in it, but that always works for me.  It adds consistency to have broadly the same plan when painting different miniatures and also makes it go faster.

Anyway, there we are!  Captain Hellbrooke is ready to take command of that desperate bunch of legionnaires - bring it on!  Thanks for reading, folks.  I hate large photos because they show up my mediocre painting but here are a few.





The Colonel

Comments

  1. Very cool Scipio! Are they Cadian legs? Also on your next order from Vic grab some of her water canteen. I got some in my set of 'Van Diemen's World Devils' and thought they were awesome. Its a look that would totally fit these chaps well.

    Back in the day I wouldn't have put non 40k gun on 40k-ish models. But now, I don't know what changed, but I love gritty realistic look it gives the models. and a Tommy gun- Perfect!

    A job well done and another cool character for the collection!

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  2. oh yeah I forgot to say - Love the paint job too! (especially the little medal)

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    1. Thanks my dear Colonel! Yep they are Cadian legs. They're the ones I don't like, the 'walking' ones as they have a tiny area on the soles of the boots for glueing and they're prone to falling over. But I had to use them here to get that whole smoking, walking away, gun at his side vibe! And thanks for the kind words.

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  3. I think you need to give yerself more credit mate. Simple paint jobs are often the best because they don't try to be clever. Your stuff is great.

    This officer has great character. I've got those Vickie Lamb goggles for my Fen Guard. Have yet to tackle them though, but soon, soon.

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    1. Hmm yeah I didn't mean that last bit to sound like false modesty, I'm happy with the painting but it's more the slightly depressing way that the camera brings out the worst, zoomed-in and all. After spending ages painting him up you take some photos then on the site they either come out blurry or show up the gaps. I think that's what I meant. I need a personal model photographer! Although if I took out an advert asking for someone to photograph models for me I'd probably get a few applicants under a misapprehension.

      But thankyou anyway, your opinion is always highly valued here and thanks for the kind words :) can't wait to see what you do with your goggles!

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    2. Ah well in that case I know your pain all too well. Damned digital cameras take pictures that are too clear and show all the negative aspects of a paint job that look just fine with the naked eye.

      Yer off the hook them mate. ;)

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  4. Bloody beautiful sir, as I said before. I'm off to convert a Rough Rider Captain based on Sam Elliott in "Gettysburg"... Actually, joking aside that's going on the to-do list lol.

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    1. Thanks! Sounds good, don't you think he looks like that New Zealander who plays Death in Gunmen of the Apocalypse?

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