Tag: Hasslefree

Undercoating Weather

A single benefit that could be drawn from global warming is the increasing opportunity in the UK to get outside and undercoat a few models.  Usually it is too cold.  Often too windy, and all too often, too damp.

This time of year we get short windows of opportunity that cannot be missed, otherwise we would all have nothing in the painting queue when winter comes around…  (Who am I kidding, there is always something in the painting queue).

First up, and likely to get a bit of attention when I finish that run on GREEN Space Marines, are some Hasslefree miniatures that were purchased with Last Days: Zombie Apocalypse in mind.  I suspect Kev sculpted them all as African Americans and I might actually try to do them in an Afro-Caribbean skin tone. Most of my miniatures end up with pink skin purely because that is my usual flesh paint colour. The last time I attempted a darker skin tone was on a set of Buffalo soldiers for some cowboy game. 

The other batch to get a little attention from some spray paint was my Nurgle Kill Team.  These are the mutated crew from the Rogue Trader expansion.

I used a can of the new GW Wraith Bone contrast undercoat on these guys and it went on very well.  I plan to try a few of the new GW contrast paints on these guys.  I suspect that I won’t find it any quicker to paint them up.  I never spend a lot of time on highlights and shading so won’t be saving time that way.  They might offer up a few more colours and some interesting effects to these, well sculpted and nicely detailed, figures though…

Last Days – Second Half And Final Crew

I finally found time this week to get the last of the Hasslefree miniatures completed.  These, you might remember, are for Osprey’s Last Days game.

They consist of a second child, this time with a baseball bat and bin lid. A teenager with anger issues. An older lady with a stoic ‘Keep Calm and Carry On’ attitude and lastly, a slightly shifty chap with a bag full of ‘supplies’.

Pre shading shot…  showing all the mistakes and my poor attempts at getting clean edges…  and my attempt, on the older lady, at polkadots and tartan…

And now all those issues hidden away by a healthy dose of ink wash…

I don’t paint eyes anymore (if I ever did) as the ink gives a hint of definition and at table distance I can’t see them anyway (this is likely to be the last time I see them this close up…)

The full crew in all its glory outside their homestead.

Last Days – Start Made

Last Days is a post apocalyptic zombie game set a few years from now.  I had purchased a few figures specifically for this game from Hasslefree miniatures. Once undercoated these have sat for a few weeks untouched.

I have made a start though.  I played a game, almost by accident, against a fellow gamer, Will, in a club nearby.  Coronasan had to cancel his planned game against Will and I stepped in, last minute, to help out with scenery and to act as an opponent.

Will took me through the basics and we played a game that can be reviewed here…

In that game I played with whatever came to hand.  Which happened to be a crew of ‘Boiler Suited Thugs‘ that lived in a prison.

So to balance things out, my official crew will be a bunch of do-gooders that live in a police station…

An older lady in charge (SWMBO), 2 Coppers, 3 Survivors and a couple of kids…

Half way there in an evening, not bad as starts go…

 

Last Days – Slow Progress But Progress Never The Less

Have you ever noticed that with a touch of paint, in this case just an undercoat of simple white paint, the detail on a great miniature jumps out at you and can actually give you a much needed jolt of motivation.

When I bought these figures I knew they were good. Hasslefree miniatures have for as long as I can remember provided great, highly detailed, miniatures. Sadly these have sat on my ‘to do’ shelf for longer than they should have done, but as I was doing some undercoating at the weekend, they got pulled out, completed and basecoated.

Only then did I see the real detail and character in each if them.

These were bought to be used as a modern, zombie fighting, group of survivors for Last Days, one of the Osprey Games rulesets that we picked up earlier in the year.

The first figures included in this lot include the groups selfless leader Kev, with his fire axe. The next is the groups ‘mother figure’ a selfless first aider… with a shotgun…

As my leader is classed as selfless I can only take up to 25% of the force from another keyword selection.  For this I have chosen two ‘trained’ members. A British bobby and his Sargeant.  Two more shotguns should add a bit more firepower to a fairly low tech team.

The remainder of the force are all ‘neutral’ choices, two survivors with pistols and two kids with clubs (sadly chainsaws are not available to starting teams). All basic weapons that they can use to protect themselves from any roaming zombies (and my opponents team).

Seeing these in their full glory should help me to get moving on finishing up this small team.  Hopefully…

Rogue Stars – Dogs Of War

Another couple of quick painted minis.  Hasslefree Smudgester in both his forms.

These got more attention to their heads and faces than the space suits.  Why?  I don’t know.  I just like them this way.  The suits have enough detail on them to work with a simple scheme.  The character in each figures face deserved more time to really bring it out.

Anyway, gruff cigar smoking space dogs can pull off purple. Can’t they?

Yeah, they can…

Scrappers – More Dog Faced Crew And Another Salute Statue

Another couple of items picked up at Salute, actually the first items I bought that day, are a pair of futuristic dogs from Hasslefree.  They got put together recently when I was doing about 3 or 4 other small jobs at the same time in the shed. If you tell the lady of the house that I can multi task I will never hear the end of it so, Hush!

I also dug out another older Salute figure, to get the statue treatment, while I was doing this years set. It proves I can be quite efficient with my time when I want to as well…

Hasslefree do a number of anthropomorphic animals (a posh term for animals in human poses – but only if I got the word right…)

These two are the same character in 2 differing guises.  I will be cheating and using them as a set of twins…  The first is Elite Smudgester with his ‘BFG’ (I will let you guess what that stands for) and a cigar and Zippo lighter.

The second is the alternate Smudgester, this time with a Pulse Carbine.  Both went together easily and had few, if any, mould lines or areas of flash to clean up.

Another clean and crisp miniature is the 2017 Salute figure. Supplied to the show last year by Warlord Games.  Soon to get the bronze statue treatment along with this years figure.