15mm Ion Age: Shia Khan Infantry

Something a bit different, some 15mm figures for a change

I've always had a soft spot for 15mm sci-fi figures and when the Ion Age launched their range of figures, vehicles and scenery I dived straight in with multiple purchases. Now, this was fine but after a few months I found myself with a box file full of stuff to paint..

So, I grabbed these couple of packs to start the ball rolling on getting some of them painted. These are both Tesseran's of the Shia Khan Empire, the enemy of the Prydian human forces

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Simple colour schemes that were quick to paint and look good on the tabletop, just what I need!

 

Pulp Alley: Red Queen

Finally, I have something new to post again. What with one thing or another I finished this figure a week or more back but just haven't managed to get a good photo of her due to the rubbish light here in the UK lately..

She's from Statuesque Miniatures and is designed for use with the Pulp Alley rules. Statuesque probably produce some of the best looking 3D designed figures I've seen and certainly caught my eye when they were previewed!

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The Hobbit: Master of Laketown & Azog

Another couple more figures from my lonely mountain of Hobbit lead. This time it's the Master of Laketwon, as portrayed by Stephen Fry and Azog the Despoiler

Both are Finecast miniatures, the master is definitly the better of the two as he has a lot more detail and looks just like the actor. Obviously Azog won't as in the films he is CGI of course..

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That's my Hobbit itch scratched for now. I've been busily prepping, assembling and basing a small collection of figures ready for the next painting blitz though

Tales of the Dragon Kings: Part 18

Well, sort of. It's not one of the range sold by Black Hat but a figure from the Kensei range from Zenit Miniatures

As soon as I saw the first photo of this figure I knew I had to add him to my collection. Not only would he slot into the Dragon Kings setting but he has a passing resemblance to the bad guys from the film 'Big Trouble in Little China' with that straw hat

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The Hobbit: Tauriel & Thranduil

Kicking off my start back with painting, here are a couple of GW figures from the Hobbit films. It was because I rewatched the DVD of the first film that got me digging these figures out to paint. They were bought just after the second film came out nearly a year ago (although I didn't pay the price that GW sells them for..)

The first figure, Tauriel, is the female elf lead. The figure is a plastic kit that went together easily enough but to me the details seem a bit soft

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The next figure is of the elven king. It's cast in GW's resin, Finecast. Whilst the detail is better, I'm not a fan of Finecast as it flexes easily, is very light and on thin parts has a tendancy to break. I didn't find any of the horror stories regarding air bubbles on this casting but there were a couple that needed sorting

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More photos tomorrow!

Painting Mojo Rediscovered

Yes, it's been quiet, too quiet, but I've finally rediscovered my painting mojo and have been splashing some paint around

Expect an update over the next couple of days, I just need to finish off some bases and then do some photography..

A Couple of Painted Things

I haven't had a very good September painting or gaming wise. Some health issues plus painters block meant I haven't really done much at all

I did almost finish this Atomic Cafe figure and the pair of Deadzone sentry guns nearly two weeks ago but it's taken me this long just to finish them off

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It might be a day or two until I can shake this block, hopefully not too long though..

Deadzone: Plague 1A

I treated myself to a copy of the Deadzone game from Mantic Games a while ago. With all the health issues I have had recently, a spot of retail therapy can do you th eworld of good!

I spent a day or so cleaning and assembling most of the figures from the two factions but this is the first one to have paint applied. It's the leader type for the plague faction (think mutated humans) and is probably the figure that sold me on getting the game

Standing 60mm tall he's a big chap with plenty of detail that easily picks up dry brushing and washing. I went for a slightly darker scheme than the Mantic one, I just didn't like the bright colours they used but that's just me

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Not sure what will be next to be painted, watch this space..

Meet My Minions!

Some figures just ask to be bought and painted. These were one such case, Mini Helpers from Sergeant Major Miniatures, obviously inspired by certain characters from certain movies..

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More random painted stuff in a few days

Atomic Cafe: Kit Kat Club

A while ago I picked up quite a few of the Atomic Cafe range from Brigade Games. North Star Miniatures, here in the UK were having a sale (it looks like they have now cleared their stock), and seeing as it had peeked my interest a while back I decided it was too good not to indulge..

I had painted up one figure (Hef) from this pack already and decided I wanted something frivolous to paint so decided it was time for the girls. I followed the colour schemes they used in the rules, I could have done them all the same but liked the variety

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A Couple More Gothic Horror Figures

A quick update with a couple of Gothic Horror figures that I have finally got completed. These are from SHQ Miniatures and are part of the Victorian vampire hunters pack. There are only three more figures still to paint to finish them, and all of my outstanding Gothic Horror figures. Now there's an incentive!

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Once again, thanks to my work colleague Tom for the photography on these

Starship Troopers 1

The internet can be a wondrous place for a wargamer, it can also be dangerous..

There I was, just browsing my blog reader looking at all of the blogs I follow, when I spotted Dust, Tears & Dice and the Starship Trooper games that Stuart there has been gaming. Now, that was bad enough, however several years ago, my gaming buddy Steve and myself had discussed the possibility of doing a game ourselves

Steve had purchased some bugs from the now OOP miniatures game from Mongoose and I had picked up some not-mobile infantry from 1st Corps. These are more 25mm scale than modern heroic 28mm, however they are readily available and cheap. They sat mostly unpainted (I had painted the TV crew for some reason) since their purchase but seeing Stuart's ones on his blog got me unearthing my figures from the Lead Mountain

I painted these relatively quickly, block painting the uniforms and washing and dry brushing details. I could have spent longer on them but there is only so much you can do with black & grey..

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Of course, I have now ordered and received a new lot of figures from 1st Corps to add to these plus a couple of the APC's from Daemonscape that Stuart suggested. Will this madness ever end?

Don't answer that..

The Headless Horseman

A couple of years ago I progressed on quite a bit on a Gothic Horror project, the plan is/was to run a series of linked stories for several gamers at the Wells Club. Due to various reasons, they haven't really started yet but I felt the need to paint something from what I have left

This figure is, of course, the Headless Horseman from Sleepy Hollow and made by Westwind. I think I picked him up from the Colours show in 2012 and he's been waiting for paint since

I assembled him, undercoated him black and then couldn't decide what colours to use. The Horseman in the Sleepy Hollow film is virtually all black, looks great but not a very inspiring colour scheme to replicate. After a brief discussion with my friend Steve, I found that Hessian cavalry wore both dark green and blue uniforms. I decided to go for the blue version as it would still be dark but lift it a bit

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Here are the other Sleepy Hollow figures I previously painted. I probably need to get a pack of the village elders to do the game I want so better get shopping

 

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Now to start thinking about gaming!

World of Twilight: Engineer's Hut

Last month I picked up this lovely little resin hut from Fenris Games as they were having a sale to say goodbye to their old webstore. I had this piece pencilled in to get for a while and this tipped me over the edge to get it. It's designed for the World of Twilight setting but can get used in many others

Cast in one solid lump of resin it is a wonderfully detailed scenery item. There are pipes, barrels, wasp nests and all sorts of details just dotted all over it. A simple wash in soapy water and undercoat with black was all the preparation that was needed

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Of course, I still have plenty of Twilight figures to paint. I really must get focused..

Remainder of June Painting

I was actually quite busy with the brushes during June, it just seemed like everything ended up being completed towards the end of the month. So here are the photos of the random finished things

First to be done was this dwarven steampunk Queen Victoria I got during the Kickstarter that Bob Olley ran. I have some dwarven thugs to go with her and am thinking they would make a fun 'In Her Majesty's Name' group..

 

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Next is a metal Lord of the Rings dragon I picked up (relatively) cheap off of eBay. I had to strip some old paint off and fashion a replacement horn for a missing one. I wanted this model for ages and am glad I got it

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Next a few remaining Batman range figures from Knight Models. The Heath Ledger Joker is an amazing figure plus the henchmen are brilliant!

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Finally, a giant crocodile model from North Star Figures that will form another part of my Egyptian 'Of Gods & Mortals' force. It's a big model, that's two Flames of War large bases I fitted together to make a base large enough for him

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Next month, likely more un-focused project painted things

The War Doctor & Boone

I painted something! It might not seem like much but trust me, with all the health  problems I've been having, this is a vast step

Looking at the lines of figures waiting to be painted, I dusted (literally) these two figures off to get done. The first is Doctor Payne by Heresy Miniatures. Obviously based on John Hurt as the War Doctor from the Doctor Who episode, The Day of The Doctor. The resemblance is amazing and the only thing that kept me from painting him sooner was all that dark brown clothing. He didn't come out too bad in the end though

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The second figure is the last of the Star*Hide range that I had left to paint for Craig at Killer-B Games. Standing at 40mm tall, he's Boone, a sasquatch hunter complete with a pair of man traps. Nice..

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Now I've got my mojo back, expect some more postings

April

April? But we're half way through May?

Yes, well, the real world has transpired against me the last month. The health issues I was suffering with earlier have returned, I spent some time in hospital, had a minor operation and am having ongoing treatment. This not only severely hit what I managed to get done in April but it means I haven't picked up a paintbrush at all in May :(

So, I thought I'd at least record what I did get done. They aren't the best of paint jobs, I may revisit a couple of figures in the future..

 

The god Set from North Star for use with the Opsrey rules, Of Gods and Mortals. Big figure, at least 50mm tall

Painted and finished the cafe that I built in March. A simple colour scheme but it works I feel

A slightly modified Hasslefree figure altered to be Dark Alessa from Silent Hill. She was originally a zombie but I repaired the leg bite and patched the torn skirt. The hair is a too long but it will do

A ghost miniature from the old Chinatown range. It came with flowing ribbons to attach but I felt they wouldn't last on the tabletop so left them off

And a robot from the same OOP range. Really struggled with this one, the lines and edges are a bit soft and needed to be harder really for a robot. Still, it's done

And that's it. Not sure when the next post will be so don't hold your breath..

Batman: Harley Quinn

First completed figure for April now complete, another one from Knight Model's Batman miniature line. This is Harley Quinn, a female sidekick/girlfriend of the Joker, who appears in comic books, the animated series and computer games

These really are lovely figures, OK they're not cheap but they are so worth the cost

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I think I might have to get some of the Cityblock buildings from Sarissa Precision now to game with these figures ..

March Pledge: Week Four + Three Days

And so week four of March passes, at least it was more productive than week three! I've also included the three days left at the end of the month rather than do a separate posting

March 22nd: ILL

Unfortunately I was still recovering from the week three issues so didn't get started until Sunday

March 23rd: Rogue Trader era Eldar from Games Workshop

There's something about the original Warhammer 40K figures that were released over 20 years ago that really appeals to me. They seem to have so much more character than the figures that are currently being produced. I picked this guy and the one from tomorrow up for only a few pounds cheap off eBay. Metal, cheap, great figures, what's not to like?

March 24th Rogue Trader era Eldar from Games Workshop

And the second one, not sure if he's a standard bearer or musician?

March 25th : WIP Cafe

I picked up a small collection of Atomic Cafe '57 figures a while ago when North Star were having a sale. I also managed to get the walls for this O scale diner really, really cheap off of eBay. Agreed, I've had to build the roof and sign but I think it was a bargain. The sign lettering is 8mm plastic characters from Slaters, by the way. I'll undercoat it over the weekend when I can get outside with some spray paint

March 26th - 28th: Frothing Looneys from Statuesque Miniatures

Three figures that I received from Statuesque last week. Brilliant figures that really show what can be done with 3D sculpting. I have some other Statuesque figures as well, after painting these I need to do them :)

March 29th: Elf Artist from Alternative Armies

Part of a very limited edition Flintloque set that also includes a Todoroni noble. He still needs painting though

March 30th: Zin Envoy from Ion Age

A free monthly figure I got with an order from Ion Age for some 15mm sci-fi figures. He appears to be Asian inspired with the clothing and hair/hat style. Great figure, quick to do which was great for a day with not much spare time

March 31st: Hef from Brigade Games

The leader of the Kit Kat Club, one of the Atomic Cafe packs I picked up from North Star when they had them on sale


So, March is complete. Although not totally successful due to illness, I feel it was worth the effort. It was a struggle some days but it made me clear some things which was good

Will I do it again? Yes, but not every month as I need a painting break for a few days. Maybe every other month is possible, I'll have a think ..

World of Twilight

If anyone is interested in a fantasy game that is different and not just the usual elves, dwarves & orcs rehash then check out World of Twilight. It's down to the last three days of the Kickstarter and things are progressing well, with some bargains to get you started in the game or add to your existing forces

Click the picture to start your journey :)

March Pledge: Week Three

Well, that wasn't the best of weeks to be having whilst trying to do a painting pledge

It started off OK with the first three days then I succumbed to both a back strain and a stomach bug that laid me out for the rest of the week (and even the first day of week four). I did try to paint but it was just not possible :(

So here is a very shortened week three ..

March 15th:  Ghân-Buri-Ghân from Games Workshop

Another one of those Lord of the Rings figures that has been sitting about forever. It was attached to the cover of one of the last issues of Battle Games In Middle Earth magazine. For those who don't know, he is the leader of the wild woses that live in the forests near Rohan

March 16th: Chinese Warrior Princess by Black Hat Miniatures

Yes, another one of the remaining Chinese mythology figures painted. Getting there!

March 17th: Bane by Knight Models

From the Batman range that I painted a figure from at the beginning of the month. Lovely figures, not cheap, but so worth it

And then it all fell apart ..

So next post will be week four