EASTERN FRONT

This month we spoke to Piers Brand about his miniatures painting. “I’ve been painting toy soldiers since at least 1984” he tells us. “My family had an interest in model making and history so I easily fell into playing with toy soldiers. Eventually my Stepfather bought me a copy of Warhammer in 1984, and the world of miniature wargaming just sort of sucked me in.”

Piers will happily paint whichever miniatures catch his eye, with interests from ‘Oldhammer’ to differing historical periods, but says his staple is 20mm WWII figures and models. “It’s just the perfect medium for the period, and nothing comes close to it for accuracy and detail, especially when you see manufacturers like AB Figures or Elhiem or many others in 20mm. Plus the massive variety of other material – vehicles and scenery – offers pretty much all you could want, it being a traditional scale for model makers too.”

For the pictured models, he tells us “These are two conversion I did of AB

Figures: it involved me chopping off the heads to get figures suitable to represent 7th SS Prinz Eugen division troops in the Balkans. I tend to have some esoteric interests in parts of WWII and – along with the more common theatres of the war – I also like to game the less well known parts. For painting these, I used a black undercoat and built up in layers of colour from dark to light, often using a filter to tone in the overall effect. I use mainly AK Interactive and GW paints, but I also have a lot of Vallejo paints which form the backbone of my paint collection.”

We asked Piers for any tips he would offer: “Take your time painting. Do it when you want to and enjoy it.” He tells us. “For me, painting has become a time when I get to switch off from the stress of work, family and the real world and lose myself for a little while with my toy soldiers. Oh... and get a comfy chair to sit on while you paint!”