Parting Is Sweet Sorrow

As you know, fine readers, yesterday I said that I would be consolidating my collection of toy soldiers by, well, selling a lot of them off.

I intend to (re)focus my collection largely on skirmish games, as they a) usually require less figures, and b) are more fun, I find. So with that in mind, I sat and thought about what I will be disposing of, and what I'll be keeping.

I will be selling off most of my bizzare and eclectic collection of Warhammer stuff, with the exception of my Undead (and associated army books), and figures that I have an attachment to - like my Dwarfs, for example, or my Oxenford Bretonnians. I can justify this with reference to Mordheim (hurrah) and Song of Blades and Heroes.

Equally, whilst I will be parting with my Pirate crew, I will be retaining my armed SF/near-future civilian mob for use in Gangs of Mega-City 1 (most likely as Total War terrorists and the like). The gist of it all is this:

Out go the armies and forces that I haven't used in years, if ever, and in come (or stay) the skirmish warbands, gangs, and platoons that I have and will use in the future. I have, of course, one eye on my son - it is an inevitability that I will end up playing wargames with him relatively soon, and  I want to have something in every scale that I can pick up and run with - and another on my father, with whom a wargame is seriously overdue and to whom my VBCW stuff is going.

I am actually quite excited, and am raring to dive into my shed and my parent's loft to "rationalise and downsize my assets" - keep an eye on here, the Lead Adventure Forum, the Forum of Doom, the Gentleman's Wargames Parlour, Warseer, and - of course - ATP Painting Studio for sales in the near future.

To the bright new dawn and the end of Rabid Butterfly Syndrome!

Oh, and to maintain the picture-per-update ratio, have some Dark Eldar:

PS: I forgot about the Gran Chaco War - if I can ever get hold of 'Green Hell' I will take the plunge and do it in 15mm. Mainly to annoy my friend who lives in Bolivia by reminding him of Paraguay's great victory!

Slimy Sid

Well, another one bites the paint. Started (and finished) Slimy Sid, a random Goliath Juve who isn't yet part of the Automatics but could well be if they get another game.

He looks pretty cool - red jeans, black leather and gold accoutrements with a purple mohawk. Have it! I also managed to drop Ded Cred and watch his heavy stubber, its ammo tin, and his autogun detach themselves from him and vanish in three different directions.

All were found and reattached later. Hurray!

Then I did a bit more on the Elf Noble in Heavy Armour with Sword and Shield from Games Workshop who will, eventually, be both a figure in my Mordheim Elf warband and my Warhammer Fantasy Battle High Elf army of Tor Sethain.

Oh yes, and this morning while eating my cornflakes (OK, rice krispies, who's checking) , I built a small two-story power station/transformer station. It's in two parts - the top floor can be a small (2"x2") building in its own right, or you can position it on the 3"x3" lower floor and provide models with a bit of a walkway type thing.

I've got enough card for probably one more (ruined) building and then I think I'll call it a day - I've expanded the original four buildings that came in the Gangs of Mega City One box to 10 (9 if you stack the two parts of the powers station). That's plenty for the 3'x2' playmat. The last ruin will be as big as I can make it, and then it'll be time for some mass painting.

Anyone got any ideas for a 2"x3" picture I could use for a vertical billboard? I was thinking of finding something suitably at odds with the dystopian landscape; perhaps a beauty product ad or something. Either that or a Justice Department poster:

CITIZENS - PSU IS WATCHING YOU

EDIT:

How about this:


Olley Painting Points:
This Week: 3
2010 Total: 33
2009 Total: 58
Grand Total: 91

A Cereal Packet

Over the weekend, my friend S, who I've known since we were four, came to stay (and visit some other friends). While he was here, we had a short mini-campaign of Necromunda with my Ratskins versus his Van Saar. I ended it with a significantly higher gang rating than his, but he defeated me in three out of five games!

The first one was played with no terrain at all - just the Gangs of Mega-City One playmat, with -1 and -2 to hit depending on what bit you were on. I lost, but only just, failing a bottle test on the first attempt. Ho hum. In the morning, I thought "Hm, I'm bored" and built the little cardboard buildings that came with GoMC1. They're actually really good - simple, boxy little kits that fit the cartoony feel of GoMC1. Massively out of scale - 2" x 3" x 4" on average - but they look nice and, most importantly, they were terrain!

So, we had a few more games, and I lost the first two (again) and finally got a victory when I rescued a Ratskin who'd been captured. Anyway, while S went off to a party, I had a brainwave, and grabbed an old cereal box and my UHU glue, ruler, pencil and scissors. It was Blue Peter time!

Fairly quickly I ended up with a three-storey slum-tenement (upper floor burnt out), a bungalow medical clinic and a two-storey ruined shop. I haven't quite finished painting them yet, but I'll probably get them done tonight, and stick some pictures up too.

They got used in the last game we played, last night, which I won quite convincingly. End tally: I killed five of his gang (including his first leader, in the first game!), he killed two of mine. I ended up with a Gang Rating of 1,946 and he ended up with a rating of 1,600-1,700. The Bloody Band emerges victorious!

PICTURES!

There's a lot of them, too...



Daemonette of Slaanesh - Warhammer Fantasy Battle, Hordes of Chaos - Hasslefree Minatures



Chaos Marauder Heroine - Warhammer Fantasy Battle, Hordes of Chaos - Hasslefree Miniatures



Anarchist LMG team - Very British Civil War: Police Action! - Musketeer Miniatures



Anarchist Militiamen - Very British Civil War: Police Action! -Artizan Designs



Greater Israeli Army troopers - Space 2200 - Ground Zero Games



Unnamed Hellbitch - Necromunda Escher - Games Workshop



Jimmi Funt - Necromunda Goliath - Games Workshop



Plainclothes Police - VBCW Police Action! - Artizan Designs



BUF Officers - VBCW Police Action! - L-R: Copplestone Castings, Artizan Designs, Musketeer Miniatures



BUF men - VBCW Police Action! - Musketeer Miniatures


BUF Vehicle Park - VBCW Police Action - L-R: Lledo Days Gone By, Honourable Lead Boiler Suit Company; Lledo Days Gone By



BUF 1920s pattern Rolls-Royce a/c - VBCW Police Action! - Honourable Lead Boiler Suit Co.



Ganger - Gangs of Mega-City 1 - Mongoose Publishing

Phew! Now you're all caught up with my painting.

"You there - halt!"

I'm as fed up with the lack of photos as you lot are, I suspect.

Since losing the cable, I've painted:

1 Rolls-Royce Armoured Car
6 BUF
3 Anarchists
2 Goliath Juves
and now also

2 Plainclothes policemen
1 Gangs of Mega-City 1 ganger

The policemen are quite nice, in my opinion - the sinister Z Division man with his closed raincoat, party badge, pinstripe suit, Webley revolver and leather gloves; the Scotland Yard Detective with blue three-piece suit, tartan knitted tie, and concealed pistol. Same organisation (State Security Police), different methods.

The ganger's completion means that I've effectively finished my GoMC1 project, although, as previously discussed, I would like to get some Judge models and find some more esoteric Mongoose miniatures on eBay. However, I'm happy for the moment. Hurray!

Mind you, none of these figures can be seen because I STILL can't find the bloody cable! Arrrgh! In the meantime, feast your eyes on these:


A mix of Ground Zero Games 'Street Level' range and Copplestone Castings' 'Future Wars' models, this horde of civilians and militia represent the near-future European Federation's Red Block and innocent bystanders during an intensive period of civil unrest following the 2105-2107 Resource War when the EuroFed armed forces soundly defeated the North African-Arab alliance. In the process, however, the EuroFed became something of a right-wing dictatorship. This lot are protesting (and fighting) about it.

However...


The security forces might have something to say about it. Here are Ground Zero Games Neu Swabian League Jagers and Troopers (together with a couple of 'Street Level' coppers and figures, two 'Combat Babes' and two Copplestone Castings models) painted as the feared paramilitary Security Police (Zekurit-Polizi, or ZEPO) as well as normal Polizi (the blokes in black with blue helmets and caps, and the uniformed and plainclothes officers).

I fully intend to at some point return to this project and, using the utterly wonderful Offensive Miniatures range of rioters and police, expand the Polizi (so the rioters don't automatically lose to the hail of automatic and energy weapons fire) and give the rioters-guerillas some extra bodies.

I'm also eventually going to produce terrain, too, probably based on this stuff on Matakishi's Tea House although obviously without the desert vibe - this is Europe, even if it is Europe 100 years hence and in a very different world (climate change hit 4 degrees C, alternate energy is commonplace, oil is rare, the near space system is colonised to try and reduce the effects of population growth, etc, etc). Or even this set of inner city buildings, which is much better!

Really, this project (EuroFed Rioting) sets the scene for my SF stuff, such as the New Israelis who I hope to make a start on this week.

Olley Painting Points:

This Week: 8
2009 Total: 31

Anarchists in Suits and the Gangs of Mega-City One

Today, I managed to put the pin-stripe onto the Angel Alley Anarchists' LMG No. 2, and add the checked stripes on the flat cap of the Lewis gunner. Other details were added too - the ammo drum bag (a school satchel!) painted up, armbands painted on, hair painted, wooden stocks painted, that sort of thing.

Still can't find my camera lead. At this rate I'll have to get a new camera! In the meantime, here are the painted figures I have for GoMC1:












They're a mix of Mongoose Publishing plastics (now out of production), Hasslefree Miniatures and Copplestone Castings. I intend to eventually get some Judges from Wargames Foundry, probably Dredd, Anderson Psi, a Tek-Judge, and three or four Street Judges. I might get a couple with Riot Foam launchers, just because.

That would give me a Justice Department precinct house, really. I may well expand the gangs over time, too, although sadly eBay is now the only place Mongoose's models like the Ape Gang, Rogue Robots, the Lawmaster Bike, Cadet Judges, or Fatties can be found.