Wednesday, March 30, 2016

Red Ops 5: Asylum Part 3... and nekkid wemin

I've finished 2 more gangs, the Chainsaw gang and the Franken gang, and here they are!

First up is the Chainsaw gang, and it's obvious why they are so named.
The figures on both ends are the same figure, but they have interchangeable heads. I looked at a lot of chainsaws on Google, and found that the blade that carries the chain is pretty plain.  That makes sense, as they are always up against the edge of the cut.  The figure on the left has a welder's helmet, blue jeans, and a dark wifebeater. The lower arms are cast as a separate piece with the chainsaw.  This gives great grip, but a bit strange around the elbows. The second figure is more nattily (?) dressed with a t-shirt and pants with a pocket chain.  One arm and one hand are molded with the chainsaw and must be glued to the figure.  Pretty good fit.
The monster in the center has his two arms separate with the chainsaw molded with his right hand and arm.  The arms fit into the armholes quite well.  I anticipated a lot of trouble getting them to fit but was pleasantly surprised. He pretty obviously is not adept with his chainsaw.  All his exposed flesh is covered with nasty scars. A very impressive figure!  The last figure is wearing a motocross helmet.  Note that his shirttail has come untucked.

Now we have the Franken gang.  Obviously, some weird stuff goes on in the labs on the island of Artigo.
On the left, we have Hamlet, addressing Yorrick, who seems to be replying!  His arms are of two different sizes, and he is stitched up on his abdomen, and has metal pieces covering his backbone.
Next we have the first pieced together boy.  I had a lot of fun painting different skin tones at each joining. A real Frankenstein monster!
Next we have the fellow doing Tai Chi.  He also has different sized arms, is stitched up the front and has metal covering his backbone, or perhaps it is his backbone.. It reminds me of a joke by a long-gone comedian, Chris Rush, which I won't explain. And the final construct.  I went with metal staples fastening the parts together, and pale blue plastic for kneecaps and other parts.

All of these gangs are covered in the upcoming add-on to the rules.

And some GW topless barbarians from 1985 & 1987!  They were named on their slotta tabs.

They will be added to my barbarians!

Finally, two more Amazons, who were misplaced.  So easy to paint, other than their shield design.

About all you can do with painting these figures is give them different shield designs, hair, and skin tones.  I know others might go wild with tattoos, but I'm not that guy. And yes, per James Bond, the collar and cuffs match!

Wednesday, March 16, 2016

Red Ops 5: Asylum Part 2

Here we have the next two gangs I've assembled and painted.  There is no particular order in which I'm doing these: just the next two ziplock bags out of the box.

First up is the Mean Streets gang, so named on as yet unpublished update to Red Ops 5: Asylum.
I took these to be lab workers infected by the virus, so the guy on the left with the baseball bat is painted as a scientist in a white lab coat, and the lab dweeb uniform of Hushpuppies, and various tans for the rest of his clothes. He was painted in my usual block painting and brown wash, as were all of the rest. The next guy has to be an orderly large enough to handle crates, etc.
The third figure from the left is a lab supervisor, mindful of the lab dweeb colors.  He should have had a lead pipe, but I had just seen Wyrmwood: Road of the Dead, an Aussie zombie film on Netflix, so he got a nail gun like the "hero".  I would give it Range 4", Target 2, Impact 1. And last, I read as a security guard.  The figure has rank badges and and insignia on his Ike-type jacket.  I painted a dark stripe down the side of his pants, though it's not visible here.

Now we go to the Merc-Hunters gang, also mentioned in the above update. Before I got that, I termed them survivors.
The first figure is the greying self-proclaimed tough guy with two pistol, one held in a modified gansta grip. He has a knife point-upwards on his chest.  A really nice touch is that the straps on his holsters are separated by air from his hips.  I considered that a really nice touch.  The R-D on the back of his vest is from the movie Re-Kill.  Just can't get enough of zombie movies! My wife immediately called the nest guy, John Henry, the steel drivin' man! His arms were separate at the shoulders, and gave me a hard time connecting.  I finally pinned and filled the joints, but that was the 4th try! He's a very dynamic figure.
The escaped convict is next.  He's a really nice single-piece figure, and the chains are nicely cast. And finally, the modern gladiator(!). I figure he either collected the helmet and shoulder armor, or found them while looting. He then made up the rest of his armor as he found it, including motocross boots. I love his trash can lid shield.  He come with a number of weapons, but I liked the circular saw blade in the automobile part handle (at least that's how I saw it).

Coming up next: the chainsaw gang and the Franken gang!

Thursday, March 10, 2016

Red Ops 5: Asylum Part 1

I joined Rebel Minis Red Ops 5: Asylum kickstarter, and received my package pretty quickly.  The pledge level was reached very quickly. The figures are available at Rebel Minis, but as of this morning, the rules are not up.
Rebel Minis Horror Packs

In my box are 2 d6, a translucent ruler, the rule book, and 7 gangs with an additional 2 creepy children.  Rebel Minis acquired this line of 28mm horror miniatures from Comfy Chair.

If you are familiar with Two Hour Wargames ruleset Chain Reaction: Final Version, you'll have no problem with these rules.  The rule set is digest size, printed on gloss paper, center stapled and easy to follow. Pages 4 - 8 provide background with a history of Artigo Island. There are pictures of some of the miniatures well-painted (in b/w) sprinkled through the rules.  Weapons are modern with what you are likely to find on the island.  It's basically civilian combat, so no RPG's or HMG's.  However, flash bang grenades and molotov cocktails are accounted for, as are body armor and shields(!).

With further emulation of Vampifan's great blog, Vampifan's World of the Undead here are the first 2 gangs of 4 that I have finished.
First up are the men in black.  You'll notice that mine are in very dark blue.  I don't like painting black.  The two outriders are dressed in suits with ties, and firing pistols.  Both have neatly trimmed facial hair. the center schmoos have two power-fists each. The way in which the powerfists are cast make them fit the figures' arms quite well. I don't think any door or vehicle could stand against them.  I painted them neatly and used a thin black wash to accent the figures.  The bases are painted with a dark brown highlighted with a tan.  Then I added clumps of winter grass from Woodland Scenics.
I think they represent the company men very well.  I glossed their shoes and belts, and semi-glossed their pistols.

These are the Pig Boys, a really grungy group.

They have knives, and sawed-off shotguns.  The giant in the center has an enormous communication device. Their belts are hung with pig trotters and snouts. (Amazing how many pictures you can get if you Google "pig trotters") I seldom add blood to my figures, but they kind of demanded it.  For some unknown reason, I took it into my head to paint the giant as an albino. The smudges on their aprons and the leader's belly are Reaper Pro Paint Brick Red.  I painted it on thinly, as I wanted a more stained look.  The two figures with the outstretched knives have a separate left arm from the elbow down.  Here is the only niggle I have with the figures. Separate parts have little location aid and are difficult to pin.
The figure on the left had a separate shotgun to add to his shoulder belt.  The figure on the right didn't come with one, but had the hole in his back for one, so Wargames Factory Female Survivors donated a double-barreled shotgun whose barrels I clipped.

Overall, I'm happy with the figures. There are some more vague fittings that I will cover in future
posts. As I finish 2 gangs of 4, I will post them, and I post them individually on my Facebook page.