More Old New Figures

Without further ado...



Anarchist urban guerilla from my Police Action! project.


Metropolitan Police Inspector, Police Action!



Markov Regiment, Volunteer Army - officer and rifleman



Kornilov Regiment, Volunteer Army - officer and rifleman

The Markov and Kornilov men are now in Al Front's possession, as a thank you for the gun-running he did for the aborted attempt at Evesham.

London's Burning, Liverpool Is Red

Yesterday when I got home from work, I found a package waiting for me from my ever-vigilant arms dealer, Al Front. Inside were 8 20mm IT Figures RCW cavalry, 2 lonely Red Guards in Budenovkas, and a Red Guard Maxim team running with their MG...

...and a host of Anglian (now Empress) Miniatures Republican Militia and International Brigade troops for my Liverpudlian VBCW Assault Column. I've ended up with enough figures to complete one group of 10 (Officer, NCO, LMG team, standard, 5 riflemen), start the 'Shock' group (4 figures with SMGs) and another rifle platoon (standard, 3 riflemen). A 'few' purchases, probably at Salute!, of Musketeer Miniatures' Workers' Militia and Workers' Militia Command, plus PLP 111 Atwood, PLP113 Higgins, PLP128 Cpl Gordon, PLP129 Tommy 'Gun' Atkins from Artizan Designs, and the Empress Miniatures' International Brigade Command will do to give me a small command group plus 30 infantry.

Then 'all' I need are an MG team and a bomb-thrower type contraption in lieu of a mortar. They might be supplied by Moscow and the COMINTERN but that doesn't mean they've got all the gucci kit!

Anyway, foaming for yet another new project aside, today I cracked on with my wife's Biel-Tan Eldar, getting a Dire Avenger Exarch to a state where I can probably finish him in my afternoon break. I'm hopeful that I should be able to crank out the actual Dire Avengers fairly fast, maybe two or more in an hour if I 'assembly line' them. The key, I've found, is to keep the scheme simple, use limited colours and few highlights (and where possible don't mix colours), and always remember that it's for playing with, not for show.

Oh yes, and I painted up an Anarchist guerilla/terrorist with pistol. The propaganda of the deed, comrades, is alive and well in 1938 London. His allegiance is hidden, almost, with a black-and-red neckerchief below his shirt and suit. Perhaps he's a Painter, or perhaps he's just another Angel Alley Anarchist... or maybe he's both, or an agent provocateur, or all three, or none of them!

And, finally, some more pictures from my collection:


A Games Workshop Imperial Army Sergeant - when I got this model he was missing his right arm, so I gave him a new one from a plastic Sentinel pilot, with a metal stubgun from a Necromunda Escher Juve. I like this 'colour test' figure, and will be painting all my Mercian Yeomanry (AKA Syrtis 72nd) in this way.



Two views of the same scene - an Inquisitor of the Ordo Hereticus approaches a PDF roadblock on Rigel, together with three Stormtrooper bodyguards and an assassin. Violence is likely - but my money's on the PDF this time, unless that 40mm GL can take out the APC with its tribarrel cannon...!

ADDENDUM: Figures in the above by Ground Zero Games (Hammer's Slammers range plus resin vehicles and ESU Commissar's dog), Hasslefree Miniatures (Kat) and Games Workshop.

Olley Painting Points:

This Week: 8
2010 Total: 47
2009 Total: 58
Grand Total: 105

Aliens And Volunteers

Today I painted up four Copplestone White Russians - two officers and two riflemen - as troops from the Markov Officers' Regiment and the famous Kornilov Shock Infantry Regiment. I got a few uniform details wrong, such as white piping at the top of the stand collars rather than the bottom, but overall I'm happy with them. They're destined for the collection of Al Front - which is where they originally came from!

ADDENDUM:

Since writing this, I went back to them and corrected the errors. Hurrah!

I also painted up a Guardian Defender squad leader type (technically he's the Number 2 for the weapons platform I did last week, but hey - who's checking?). He looks quite snazzy, but the white armour is a swine to paint. I think I'll do the rest of the squad in the same green-and-white as the weapons platform operator.

A good start to the week, figure wise. Still no photos, but feast your eyes on these:



L-R: Battle for Macragge Space Marine Sergeant, Captain Sixtus v2 (5th Edition special character model), Captain Sixtus v1 (2nd Edition Ultramarine Captain). The Sgt and Sixtus 2 are the start of my Project 2nd Edition: I'm rebuilding my old 2nd Edition Ultramarine army which I had when I was 9-10 using modern (4th and 5th edition) models. Good, eh? You can also see how I've improved - both versions of Sixtus were painted to the best of my ability: number 1 when I was 10, number 2 when I was 22!

Olley Painting Points:

This Week: 5
2010 Total: 44
2009 Total: 58
Grand Total: 102 Hurrah! Past the 100 mark!

A High Elf And A Blast From The Past

Well, I finally finished the High Elf Hero. He was a right swine to paint, for some reason, and to be honest I could've spent more time on his gems and the two small areas where I think the metal's showing, but it's hard to tell so I called it a day and based him. Thanks to the Basing Effect, he now looks perfectly OK and will fit in fine with both my Mordheim Warband and my putative Army of Tor Sethain for Warhammer Fantasy Battle 6th Edition.

My painting pile at work is now very sparse - I'll have to take the box home tonight to stock up! Not sure what I'll take back to work with me though; perhaps some more Necromunda or maybe a few more Fallen Men.

Recently I downloaded The Perfect Captain's Red Actions! rules, mainly to have a look at them with an eye to applying them to mine and Al Front's 28mm Back of Beyond stuff. Then, this morning, while I was reading Evan Mawdsley's The Russian Civil War, a thought occurred to me.

"Wait a moment," cried my brain, "surely you have not forgotten your poor old IT Figures Russian Civil War force, which you painted up in your youth!"

"Aha," said I, "now that you mention it, I had - but lo! With a bit of card and some glue, I can rebase them to Red Action standard and finally turn them into something to game with!"

IT Figures, of course, has gone bust, but the models can still be purchased here, under the name IT Miniatures (click on 'Contents' for a list of available figures - they come in packs of 3).

From memory, I have a fairly sizeable contingent of Red Sailors (who I used as Kronstadt revolutionaries in the one and only game that this little army has ever seen), some Red Guards, a 76.2mm Putilov field gun, a doctor and two nurses, some unpainted Red Cavalry and a Tchanka. That in itself is pretty decent, probably working out at about two 'companies' of Red Guard, one of Sailors and one of Cavalry, plus three supporting 'companies' in the form of two Maxims, the Tchanka and the field gun.

For opponents, I'm most attracted by the Volunteer Army and the Armed Forces of Southern Russia, mainly for all the 'colour' Regiments - Kornilovski, Denikov, et al. Although the potential for Women's Battalion of Death would be good, if I could find anyone that makes female Russian infantry... and then, of course, there's the Poles, the Freikorps, and a host of other forces that are both interesting to paint and field. For those interested in the 1919-20 Russo-Polish war, by the way, I strongly recommend Norman Davies' book, White Eagle, Red Star.

So, at any rate, I suspect that my previously published Project List for 2010 is now to be altered, as I have 'The Itch' and want to get hold of my old Reds, sort them out, identify potential force gaps that require attention (I'd like a company of CHEKA infantry, and some regulars to stiffen the Red Guards), and then purchase the Whites at Salute.

ADDENDUM:

Companies that make 20mm stuff for the RCW:

IT Miniatures
B&B Miniatures
Tumbling Dice
Reviresco (vehicles)
Emhar (Whippet and Male/Female tanks)
HaT Industrie (plastics)

Olley Painting Points:

This Week: 3
2010 Total: 37
2009 Total: 58
Grand Total: 95