I’ve just finished painting the last of my Empress Miniatures 28mm New Zealand Wars troops. That’s them in the picture above. British infantry on the left, and naval rocket-men on the right (with a couple of Brigade Games Napoleonic naval interlopers I decided to paint at the same time). In behind are previously painted Empress Maori figures, as well as a clutch of various individual unpainted figures, and some Foundry pirates from an earlier project who are still waiting for space to be made in my display cabinet.
The NZ Wars project has been a joy to paint. The figures are beautiful, and the variety is enough to maintain interest during painting. I only hope that Empress now come out with a second release to add even more variety – I’m ready for them if they do come! I’ve now just got the New Zealand terrain to sort out, including assembling and painting a box-load of Renadra plastic fencing, and sourcing some New Zealand-style trees and plants.
Next project? Well, I’m not sure yet. I might take a break over the summer, but in that time something will no doubt come along to pique my interest (if another release of NZ Wars figures doesn’t emerge from Empress in the meantime).
I’m past being interested in starting any new projects that involve buying and painting large armies. So whatever I do next will have to be on the ‘manageable in half a year’ scale of things, as were my last NZ Wars and Pirates projects.
One possible future project is if a company called Gothic Line Miniatures fulfil their proposed plan to come out with a range of 28mm WW2 Dutch figures. As my father was in the Dutch army in 1939/1940, a unit or two of such figures might be a nice gesture to paint. I’ve never been particularly interested in WW2 gaming, so what I would do with these figures gaming-wise, who knows? … though, because for me painting is my main hobby, and gaming is just icing on the cake, deciding on rules to use (if any) is not really a problem or priority for me.
DRESSING THE LINES 
Not enough cute ‘Pirettes’ among your pirates!
(Black Scorpion minis are *huge* but Eureka mixes well with most other ranges).
And what about a 18th C. NZ, even if largely ‘Imagi-Native’? Re.Neues Sudland and the The Holy Mormoan Kingdom on ‘Emperor vs Elector’ …
28mm WWII, can be played at Skirmish Level with a large variety of rules… if those Dutch figures ever materialise, then give me the heads up and I’ll happily do up a few dastardly krauts…
Roly,
Nice work! I see you still have your French cantiniere and donkey to finish which could be an easy project over Christmas.
I took your advice and now dry brush my black undercoated figures…and what a difference when trying to identify detail to paint the top coat.