Cultists! The Knights of the Mystical Sword.

I was digging through my stacks of unpainted and I found a bag of cultists.  Some were from Artizan Design, some from Pulp Figures, and a couple from Rattrap Productions, though they no longer show on their page.

To start, we have the High Potentate of the Mystical Sword, by Pulp Figures.

A group of unarmed cultists.  Those with the crest on chest and/or hood are by Artizan Design, the uncrested are by Pulp Figures. The crested figures are the Elevated Knights of the Mystical Sword, while those without are merely Knights of the Mystical Sword.

The tommygunners, all from Artizan Design. Since they only have the crest on their hoods, they are the Ultimate Protectors of the Mystical Sword.

Pistoliers from Artizan Design and Pulp Figures. Those with the crest are the Ultimate Minions of the Mystical Sword, and the crestless, merely a Minion of the Mystical Sword.

The Knight Keeper of the Mystical Keys, from Artizan Designs, the cage is plastic and came with two enormous piles of chain.

I believe that these two figures had Rattrap engraved on the bottom of their bases. The figure in the brown suit has the only nickeled pistol because one painted black disappeared. Since they have earned neither robe nor propper hood, they are merely Acolytes of the Mystical Sword.

And finally, we have the Ultimate Torch Singer of the Mystical Knights (also the Ultimate Squeeze of the High Potentate of the Mystical Sword), flanked by the Carrier of the Mystical Torch of the Mystical Sword, and the Highest Purifier of the Mystical Sword.

Here are my cultists, eager to Purify the non-believers with bullet and flame.

Painting was pretty simple. They were all painted blue and washed with a homemade black wash. Hands were painted with a craft paint flesh and washed with GW flesh. The torch singer was painted with a lighter flesh tone with my brown wash. Her dress and hood are painted with a Martha Stewart craft paint. The swords on the crests were added with a Prismacolor Premier .005 pen. The curlicues on the High Potentate's throne were added with a fine brush.  I failed to show that the back is painted to simulate plywood.

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.

A kirk for my Saxons

The Nothelm Chronicle inspired me to copy him and make a Saxon kirk from the Dapol (ex-Airfix) village church.  I didn't do any assembly photos, since the church is pretty simple.  However, it's HO/OO scale and too short for 28mm.

To bring it up to 28mm, I added 1/2" of sheet rockwork to the bottom of the church all around. In a marvelous example of serendipity, I had a Plastruct rectangular tube that exactly matched the width of the columns cast on the church. I only had to cut them to height and depth with a razor saw. I did a little filling with Squadron Green Stuff. and then painted it.  The roof was thatched with funny fur (a.k.a. teddy bear fur).  The cross is a jewelry piece painted to look like weathered wood.

Here are some photos after I based it.  The thatch is a bit darker than it photographed. The figure is a Wargames Factory Saxon for scale.

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.

Painting 30 tanks in one day (10mm, of course)

First, do a lousy job of cleaning them up a couple of weeks ago.  Pendraken do have some mold misfits that are impossible to file down without changing the shape of the turrets.

They were all primed with WalMart cheapo grey primer, with which I prime everything.
They were then sprayed with Tamiya AS-24 Dark Green (Luftwaffe).  The machine guns were painted flat black and the ends of the exhaust pipes in charcoal grey.

The louvers and grills were washed with P3 Armor Coat, and everything below the fenders including the front and rear glacis plates were painted with Plaid Apple Barrel (Michaels M20389) Spice Brown. If a little splashed over the fenders and glaci, so much the better!

The tanks were then hand numbered on both sides of the turret, and the rear, not standard practice, but to make the individual tanks easier to identify by the player. Checking a lot of wartime photos showed that as many tanks had two-digit numbers as three-digit numbers. That saved painting 90 digits!

Once that was dry, the entire vehicle was washed with my dark brown wash, made with the Magic Wash formula.

Now for the juicy bits, the photos.

The entire group, ready for action.  The photo was taken, hopefully, by a Soviet reconnaissance aircraft.

The IS-2's.  Not much to say, except that the barrels are supplied separate from the turrets.

The T-34/85's.  You can see the mis-molding on the turret sides that are impossible to remove without changing the shape of the turret.  It's not too noticeable on the table.  There are 15 of these.

T-34/76's. The same hull is used for all T-34's. It would have been nice if the 85's had been molded with external fuel tanks, but, oh well. There are 10 in my force.

The SU-76's.  There is a surprising amount of detail on these tanks. There are indications of the ammo racks in the interior, and the gun block has enough detail for you to know what it is.. There are only 3 of these poor, under-armored souls in my force. They seem to be a bit large in comparison to the other Soviet vehicles.

The entire force consists of 2 IS-2m's, 3 Su-76's, 10 T34-76's, and 15 T34-85's.  30 tanks.  How did I arrive at these quantities? Blame it on Two Hour Wargames "Hell Hath No Fury".
http://store.twohourwargames.com/hehanofutaon.html

It is a fast-play, tank only set of rules.  The rules only have US and German tanks, but there are free updates for Soviet and UK forces.  The time is D-Day to the end of the war.  There are only the tanks one is most likely to run into. The rules can be played solo, head-to-head, or players versus non-player forces.
The proportions are derived from the scenario, of which there are 10, mission forces.

AT Bayou Wars, the will be fighting 20 German tanks, also determined by the scenario mission forces.  There will be 6 StuG-III/G, 3  Panthers, 3  PzkwIII-M, 7 PzkwIV-H and 1 Tiger 1.  Last year's US vs. German was a fiasco, with the US tanks being neutered within the first 20 minutes.  Luckily for this GM, there were 2 souls who took a platoon of PzkwIV-H's vs. a platoon of M4-76's and played for an hour or so.