Galleries

Steam Wars – Martian Slaves Update

A lovely sunny weekend and I should be out enjoying it.  Well, I did pop out this morning in the company of the good lady of the house, and was allowed to be head chauffeur for a short shopping trip.  Once I managed to get home though I found a balmy 38 degrees of heat awaiting me in the shed. On a day that reached 24 degrees outside, in late spring, I do wonder what will be achievable in there on other more summery days.

It wouldn’t be the first sacrifice I have been forced to make to the hobby.  Other summers I have been forced to drink buckets of iced rum and coke just to get through a heatwave in the shed.  Needs must when the devil (…add your own ending, as ‘vomits into your kettle’ seems too brash for such a lovely day).

Enough of the old English phrases and on with the images…

In all that heat a simple job was about all I could manage so changing the colour on the bases on a few figures was a good choice for today (also it afforded lots of drying time, while I popped in for another cold one…)

These were purchased already painted at Salute, so only needed a base change to fit in with the existing Martian scheme.

Grouped up into units of 6, with a combat role specified by their weapon choices.  First up a unit of short ranged missile troops (a standard option for my Steam Wars Martian Slaves)

A second unit of Short range missiles (told you they were a staple – I have 5 units of these I believe).

An artillery piece with 3 crew. Likely to be seen as Medium Anti Tank or a more rapid firing Light AT gun.

A Tesla style wheeled gun.  Crewmen (x3) still waiting for some attention in the painting queue.

Short ranged missiles again but with a standard bearer type that allows me to make them a rally point for other units. That might just keep my hordes of slaves from being pinned all game long.

A close combat unit with Standard (one of 2 units of this format) again adding a rally point to the other forward thrusting units.

Languishing in the paint queue, are some more of these guys.  A few are completed and have has their units split so that their combat role is more specific.  Last game they were slowed by the presence of a couple of riflemen who wanted to fire while the majority of the unit could not do anything but wish they were closer to the enemy.

These should be done by summers end…

Fistful Of Kung Fu Protagonist – Blaine

After staring thoughtfully at the new Boiler Suited Minions that I painted for A Fistful of Kung Fu, I decided that they needed a slightly more imposing leader.  Not to say that the grumpy veteran, in the neat uniform, that they came with hasn’t got his own charms. I just needed a figure with a little more…  Something…  to act as my protagonist.  That way the grumpy sergeant can be my teams bruiser (second in command).

As the team is human, and by that I do mean that they are very much ‘year 2000 human’, they needed a human to lead them.  An almost human might do, but not too futuristic or alien.  Looking through the old bits box for ideas, I came up with little in the way of inspiration.  A rummage through the selection of neglected figures that I had collected over the years was no more useful.

So, not wanting to buy a new figure and then having to wait for delivery, I decided upon an alien figure that was: a) not too tall,  b) not too futuristic and c) could be painted in a way that hid his alien heritage…

Meet Blaine…

Blaine is a Mantic Games Deadzone Figure that has been discontinued, but a chap that still features in a number of their other games. He seems to be a semi legendary character in the warpath universe.

Their current versions of him include this chap in a similar pose, a jet bike riding option and the oddly proportioned chap below.

He is a tan coloured alien mercenary with a bony forehead, that I have painted up as having a very human skin tone and a metal mask to hide his identity.

Burley and mean looking and a head taller than the sergeant he is imposing enough to fit the bill.  Not perfect, but perfect enough for now.  I am still on the look out for another alternative but for now he can lead them with head held high and matching cloak colour.

Random Free War Dogs

I don’t buy many magazines these days. Even the mighty White Dwarf fails to attract me as I can’t get past all the adverts that make it more of a monthly sales catalogue.  You guys provide me with as much ‘new and shiny’ stuff as I need these days (and most of it doesn’t even need to be new…)  I did buy a magazine this month though, as it had a free figure sprue on the front of it…

I was wandering about on the Warcradle Studios website looking at their Wild West Exodus range when I noticed they had a free figure on the front of the June edition of Miniature Wargames. The free miniature mentioned was this set of two K9 Gun Dogs.

Pressed in very BRIGHT orange plastic it was a pain to prime using a standard rattle can. The vivid orange of the plastic was still visible in the deepest recesses even after three or four passes with a standard can of paint. I was at the point of obscuring the details on the flatter surfaces when I gave up, and tried to ram some primer colour on an old paintbrush into these areas to hide the last of the orange.

I would suggest you paint before building if you manage to get hold of these guys after reading this…

Even when finished I can still see orange in the deepest areas but only because I know its there…

I armed them with a Gatling cannon and Flamer but only because I wanted to save the third option, a missile launcher, option for use on a Gaslands car.

Scale wise they are quite big so they could be fielded individually in an existing unit, as an added support option, or as a small vehicle by themselves.  I have no firm plans for them as yet, but I did base them to match either my Nurgle 40k Army, the Steam Wars Martians or my Scrappers Crew…

Fistful Of Kung Fu Boiler Suited Minions

These guys were on the ‘List’ from earlier this year.  Being older 7TV miniatures, they were packaged by Crooked Dice as a starter set of Minions and are still available to buy.

I got them a few years back at the Reading Game Show ‘Warfare’ when Crooked dice were moving from the 1st version of the game to the 2nd edition of their main rules. A lot of stuff at that time was being sold off slightly cheaper than normal by stockists.

The bases are due to get finished in the next week or so, so please excuse them for now…  The pack came with a good mix of figures, with heads supplied separately, so that they can be switched about for added variety.

As well as the standard ‘Goons with Guns’ you get a couple of lesser armed minions which can be leader types or security guards if you prefer.

They appear to be led by an officer who commands with a ‘will of steel’ and the help of Tom Selleck in his prime…

Lets not forget the need for an effective administration team…

I suspect these guys will get some good usage in other games as well. I have a hankering to get a couple of older infiltration style games out of the cupboard, and I may well need a security detail for door guard duty…

Fistful Of Kung Fu

I may have been spending less time in the shed recently but I have not been idle.  We got a game of Fistful of Kung Fu in recently. Yes, we are still trying to get a number of games from our ‘loved but neglected list’ played before summer gets too far along.

FFOKF benefits from a wide selection of scenery items.  Your protagonist (hero, leader, main-man (or woman)) usually gets to do an awful lot of actions in your opponents turn with this game. While the mass of minions that he brings along with him will only act in their own turn.

Lots of scenery protects him while he runs everywhere, and does everything he can, but it also adds some cinematic elements to the game. This is because he can activate various scenic items for some humorous effects (e.g. tip a blue portable toilet over on to an enemy figure…)

Its also a good excuse to get a Poundstretcher train set and a green plastic Thomas the tank engine crane onto the gaming table…

Steam Wars – Biplane With Rockets

A model that has sat unfinished in the shed for months now is a biplane that was slated to join the Steam Wars Navy but never started.  I got the pilot ready, an Ironclad Gyro copter pilot, months ago and still it was not promoted to the front of the queue.

With the recent good weather, and with me undercoating stuff in blue and grey, this got its base and top done in these colours and a boost up the paint queue without realising it.

With so much of it complete after just the base coats it only needed a touch of black here and a bit of silver there.

A propeller and a set of decals later and she was almost done.

The wing mounted rockets went on after painting along with the MG, and suddenly after 5 months, she was done.

The ironclad pilot was a tight squeeze to get in (so lost his legs before being seated…)

This photo does it no justice but underside in blue…

…and top in grey makes it a match for the first of my Navy fly-boys.

I may go back and trim that overly long rocket stick.  Hadn’t actually noticed that until looking the pictures over…

Warhammer 40,000 – Baby Knight Two

Some weeks ago I got all excited over the release of some smaller Imperial Knights for Warhammer 40k.  I made one up to see if it was as easy a task as the original knight.  It was, but I never managed to get the second built, as the Codex for this army is not due out until summer by my guess, so my excitement faded as fast as it arrived.

This weekend we in the UK have had a bit of a heat wave…  25 degrees is hot for us at this time of year (hey, its hot for us at any time of the year).  The Shed is situated in the sunny part of my garden and as such gets the full force of the sun on days like these.  On venturing in one morning, to see if I could get some painting done, I was assaulted by the heat as I opened the door.  On checking the thermometer I decided not to try painting anything, as it would dry on my brush faster than I could daub it onto any miniature.

A quick check back in to the shed at mid day showed that I had taken the right decision as it had reached 45 degrees by then with both doors open and a fan on.

The decision to pop out and pick up supplies was taken by the good lady, and a bottle of Pims was added to the shopping list.  It was actually an act of blatant bribery, as she had a cunning plan to get me to clear the garden in mind…  4 trips to the local recycling centre later I was allowed to sit back and enjoy what was left of the day.

As I did not want to call the day a bust from a hobby point of view, I decided to get another of the simple jobs done.  Baby Knight two was therefore pulled out, clipped, trimmed and glued together in a way that would allow me to paint up armour and chassis in the laziest way possible.  A couple of spraying sessions later She was finished to the same point as the original mini knight.

For two models made up from the same kit a little variation in pose is possible.  The legs are interchangeable and it can be set with the left or right foot forward.  Arms are also swappable so left or right again.  I am hoping that the Codex, and the release of this miniature in its own packaging, will allow me to vary the weaponry slightly. I have to admit that, although the Melta and Chain sword load out is good, I would favour a rapid fire option knowing which opponents I will be more regularly facing.

Don’t hold your breath though, as these are likely to be sat in a drawer until the codex arrives in the shops.  It might be a while before they are given their next trip out onto the painting table.

Steam Wars – Scale Shots Of Navy Skyship

As I have been trying to remind myself that it is useful to have a sense of scale in my last 2 photo posts, I thought that a few shots of the new Skyship, with crew, would be useful.

28mm miniatures from a couple of manufacturers on 25mm round MDF bases. As a transport ship it can hold 20-25 figures with room to spare.

As Steam Wars uses 5-6 man units this is going to be more than I need in most games.

With the Blotz Tesla guns on board I can still get 3 units onboard and still have room for crew if I wanted.

Painted to match the Skyship the Deck guns are a nice addition to the boat.

For a little perspective (and as I had them still sat on the drying table) the new Mole and Ball Tank along side.

Not bad for a couple of weeks work…

Steam Wars – Navy Ball Tank

Another easy to complete miniature is the Ball Tank for my US Navy Steam Wars army.

This is a West Wind Productions German War Wheel from their recent Kickstarter.

Obviously I will be using it for the Navy, so it has had their usual battleship grey paintjob.

Decals freshly applied and in need of a coat of varnish to blend them to the hull slightly.

Again, sand to the base, keeps it in line with the US Navy army theme.

Not a huge tank but a weighty piece of resin all the same.  I like it for its uniqueness and its 4 gun heavy weapon armament. A valuable antitank presence that I used to lack in the Navy army.

Steam Wars – Navy Mole Finished

I have managed to find a few more minutes in this busy life to hide in the shed and get a few items finished off.  The first of these is the Ironclad Tunneller that I was working on last week.

Not much was required to finish this model off.  A bit of brass to the bands on the main body of the thing.

A couple of decals to the rim to show its allegiance to the US Navy forces.

Sand has been added to the base plate, as this brings it in line with the Navy basing scheme, and tries to get it to lighten up. The original base I had painted was looking very dark…

I always forget to give a bit of scale with models in photos.  Today we have a Pulp Figures 28mm miniature included for scale.  It also shows that it can easily hold a five man unit, ready for deployment as it breaches the surface…

A great little model and easy to prep for the table.  It also adds a new aspect for my army to use with the Steam Wars Rules.  Deployment from a tunneller is slightly random, as 3 tokens are placed on the table, and it will emerge from one of these during the course of the game…  That way your opponent can’t be sure where it will pop up…