More Figures From The Painting Table

As I said in my last post, I have been making a stab at lowering the concentration on my painting table, so more recently painted, or finished, figures.

This was a pre-painted snow leopard with about 6 spots per side.  Also grey.  Not acceptable, so I repainted him.

We have been playing a bit of Zombiecide: Black Plague, and Theresa has claimed Ann as her own.  However, the miniature provided is a bit on the anorexic side, and Theresa is definitely not.  So I did a simple Reaper Bones conversion.

I got this Viking figure in a group that I bought on the Miniatures Page. I don't know the manufacturer, but its quite a nice figure that sat unfinished for 6 months.

I picked up the Frostgrave rules and realized I didn't have any imps! So I bought some from Reaper. What's that? Finish what's on the table?

This elf archer is probably an old Sandra Garrity Grenadier figure.  She was sitting half-finished on the paint table, and now she's off.

Two Black Tree Design evil elf religious figures.  Come on, how much would it have taken to finish them when started? 

Another Reaper mini, a bit on the small side for today's minis.  Another Sandra Garitty, I'm sure. Perhaps she'll fit in a barbarian horde.

This is a very old resin figure, possibly Scotia.  They came in a bag of multiples with slight differences in the figure, i.e.: helmet, armor, face. Another barbarian.

Wizkids pre-primed boars. I really like them! Dark ages, post-apocalypse.

Children.  I haven't checked the makers, but I'm sure the one on the right is Rebel Minis. Whoops, have to paint the eyes on the little girl in the center!

A resin Amazon, possibly from Brother Vinnie. As I do more resin figures, I am becoming less fond of them for table figures.  They are too delicate, and swords, etc, tend to be a bit wiggly.

This is another Wizkids pre-primed figure.  Transparent Tamiya paint on the clear flame. The figures are ok, but, as you can see, the faces are definitely rudimentary.

The other one that came in the pack with the one above.

I've had this figure for a very long time, as identified by being atop a penny, atop a washer.  It's a nice figure, yet another Scandinavian blond to traipse about Sherwood!  Grenadier?

"There are those who call me...Tim!" I've reworked the eyes, but I'm still not satisfied. It's a recent figure, but I can't remember who made it.

This is not newly constructed, but newly returned.  The first edition on THW's "NUTS!" had a learning game using a building of this layout, so I built this from black foamcore, and ran games at conventions.

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!

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!

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.

Rally Round the King armies from Mighty Armies boxes

I have two Mighty Armies that have sat in the box since the rules came out in 2004.  At that time we would play 6 or 8 man DBA tournaments on Wednesday night.  I had my barbarian army and a couple of others had other armies.  If you've ever played a friendly DBA tourney, you know that 2 guys will finish way before the other and have to twiddle their thumbs white waiting for their next opponent.   So the Mighty Armies was played in between the DBA games.  Of course, Katrina ended all that, wiping out the game store where we played, and a couple of our guys lost their homes and armies.

So, I now have a couple of friends who are willing to play Rally Round the King.  I have converted my Barbarian army to that ruleset and done my Orc army to the same.  Let's start with the Orcs.

Here's the whole army in one shot.
                                 
There are 5 Orc bases at 24 points for a total of 120.

 Plus a Foot Skirmish (Archers) at 8 points, a Black Orcs base (where my general is) for 36 points and a Dire Wolf Rider base for 36 points.

This is a 200 point, 8 base, army straight out of the army list.  After making your 200 point army, you are left with another Dire Wolf Rider base @ 36 points, 2 goblin bases @ 20 points (40 points) and a 3-figure Orc base which would be 18 points (derived by dividing the 4-figure orc base by 4 and then multiplying by 3, duh!).  So you have an additional 94 points in the box.  Oh, and you get a spellcaster.

Now for my take on the Barbarian army.  YMMV.
Being a dyed-in-the-wool DBA gamer with a penchant for warband armies, the Mighty Armies set up didn't light my fire.  So here we go.  All bases are AC 2. All but the Archer bases are Frenzy UD, and the Berserkers add Fanatic.
For the general, I used a 4-figure base, figuring he would have more hangers-on, and gave him a Rep 5 for 24 points.  Since Mighty Armies has a separate pack of Berserkers, I included a 3-man base at Rep 6 for 30 points.

Then we add 7, yes 7, 3-man bases of Warriors @ 18 points for a total of 126. ( I did 2 pics of them to show the mass.  Neither is sparkling.)

And two 2-man Rep 4 bases of Archers (Foot Skirmish), 8 points each for 16 points.

This gives you a total of 11(!) bases at 196 points.  When the Mammoth is available again from Rebel Minis I'll add it at 6 points (Rep 4), either dropping a base of Archers for a total of 194 points, or if I'm playing a charitable opponent, add him for a total of 204 points.  Of course, elephants are just as iffy in Rally Round the King as in DBA, but much easier to hurt, with only AC2.  What's left?  Only an Archer base, since I used 2 of them with swords held high to fill out a Warrior base (the last base in the top photo of the Warriors.)   I could have filled it out with figures from the Berserker pack, but I wanted the Berserker base to be unique in my army.  By the by, this is one of the few armies for which you can buy extra Warriors and Berserkers.  Oh, and the spellcaster!

I hope this gives players a little hint about how to make your own armies.  I'm sure one could go into the historical army and find a use for the chariots, but they are so huge that they would have to be mounted on 40mm x 50mm bases.  You don't want 4 of something that enormous falling back!  Here's a picture of them.  I may at some point get bases for them and go to the historical lists for an army, but they would only be either Rep 5 light chariots (Mounted Missile) at 7 points or Rep 5 (Mounted Melee - Dual Shock) at 12 points.  At any rate, here's a photo of them.

Though I've showed them before, here is my other army so far, Amazons straight from the Valkae list.

2 noble bases, ET, one containing the general.

3 Warriors - Frenzy

1 base of Sword Maidens Frenzy Elite and one of Marines Dual.

and 2 Archers

To swap out I have 1 base of Noble Cavalry, Shock and 2 of Cavalry (Mounted Skirmish)

Now if I can only get time and energy to get some solo games in.  The Amazons are from Black Falcon.  All other figures are from Rebel Minis, who is the supplier for all things Mighty Armies.

Shanty Town, my Shanty Town, where the lights are ... non-exisitent!

Been a while since my last post.  Real life, as usual.

In a moment of insanity, I decided that it was time to paint about 150 - 200 Peter Pig AK-47 republic figures I bought as a hodgepodge about 10 years ago.  Then somewhere in the past, when Cannon Fodder Miniatures was still selling them, I bought a pack of his African irregulars, recently added to with Rebel Minis' Bongolesia box set.  All of these are, of course, 15mm.

So far, I've only painted Rebel Minis African regulars, close to the picture on his site.

But the recent release of a Shantytown by Finger & Toe decided me to do buildings first.  Originally I reduced the 28mm buildings to 55%, but that made them too small, so I ended up reducing them to 73%, to match up to the ones I had generated in Model Builder at 1/87.

I had found a pack of 50 new, unused Budweiser beer coasters at an Antique store and decided to use them as bases.

Here are the nine bases I made up.  The ground texture is from Finger & Toe.  The roofs with round ventilators on them are from Finger & Toe, as is the two-story hovel.  The fences and the rest of the buildings are my designs.  Finger & Toe's buildings are from a more advanced shanty town than mine, since they have electricity.

This shot is obviously from a passing UN helicopter, but gives you a better idea of the cluster.

And here's a panoramic view featuring the outhouses on the left!

One like this, and one like that.

There is also a need for a more modern town, so I designed these 2 buildings with Model Builder, with signs from PrintMaster.

I'll design more, and place them on some floor tiles Chris Swearingen gave me.

The picture quality is not up to my usual because I didn't use a tripod as I was getting ready to go to Texas and needed to get the buildings off the dining room table!

Oh, though I mentioned AK-47 Republic rules, I won't be using them.  I'll look at Rebel Minis' Modern Havok and Bongolesia, and do what he does; modify something from Two Hour Wargames.