Cosmonauts On The Moon

Yesterday was my 26th birthday. I ate Batman Cake with my son, and, before he returned home from school, I finished the following figures:

 

Two Ground Zero Games' spacemen from their Stargrunt range, specifically CR-3A and CR-3B Crewmen in Heavy EVA Suits with Tool Pack and Plasma Cutter. Painted for my son and heavily gloss varnished. He still managed to snap the 2p off the red spaceman! But they were a hit; he took one to school today.

 And Mehmet Brokenose, a Lord of the Rings Corsair to go with my Haradrim force, the Al-Bakr tribe of Far Harad. Incidentally, doing his base and then putting him next to the Haradrim showed me this:

The bases are completely different. The Haradrim were all based at the same time - many years ago, around the time that Games Workshop's White Dwarf published a set of skirmish campaign rules for their Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game set - and the particular mix of flock and paint has long since gone west.  So, I had a bit of a think, and, as I finished this figure...

This figure is an out of production Viridian Sergeant from Urban Mammoth's Urban War range. I am using her as an officer in the Paradisan Imperial Guard (Paradiso being a matriarchy), but - see the base? That flat green? That's because not only do I have no idea what actual force she'll end up in, but I have decided that from now on I will base my armies all in one go, once they are finished, in order to prevent them looking like they have stood on a patchwork quilt. Plus it makes them all a lot more unified regardless of colour schemes.

That figure is also notable for being the testbed for a new way of painting leather - highlighted very dark blue and chipped with grey, then washed with blue and black inks. It all ended up very shiny even after a coat of matt varnish, although it may actually have been a semi-gloss varnish. Hm. I wasn't massively impressed but I do like the finished figure. Incentive, perhaps, to put together that Paradisan force I've been hankering after for years, using figures as diverse as the Urban War Viridians, Shadowforge's Marines, and Hasslefree's female SF troopers.


And finally - a birthday present!

A full regiment of Molgravians for The War Game - in this case IR1, the Liebgarde zu Fuss. I shall clean them up tomorrow and undercoat them white (which, in fact, will be them mostly done)!

Olley Painting Points:
This Week: 4
October Total: 4
2012 Total: 45

Plans, Plots, and Moving House

Although I have no newly painted figures to show you, I do have some interesting weblinks and more mad and crazy schemes for you all.

First of all, I am moving house from London to Warwick. This will put me closer to my parents' place (and with it all my toy soldiers) and various model shops (two independent and one GW). This is a good thing! However, it does mean that until we've moved and settled in, painting time will be limited.

Secondly, I've decided on a couple of new projects. These are as follows:

Afghanistan 2006

Using Ambush Alley Games' Ambush Alley: Force on Force rules, I intend to wargame the first year's fighting in Helmand province between the 3 PARA battlegroup and the Taliban/anti-government elements that gave the lie to John "not one shot fired" Reid. For figures, I intend to use a mix of Britannia Miniatures and Liberation Miniatures.

Inspiration and information so far have come from the excellent books A Million Bullets, 3 PARA, and 3 Commando, as well as countless newspaper and media reports.

It's likely that as I read more on the subject (books like The Junior Officer's Reading Club and Leo Docherty's Desert of Death together with Lt. Col Stuart Tootal's account of the 2006 fighting are on my reading list) I will expand the project to cover the entire period 2006-current. And, if I am successful in my attempt to get into the Royal Armoured Corps as a Troop Commander, who knows? I may be able to represent myself on the wargames table.

The Matriarchy Guard:

For a long time now I've been creating an entire sector of space for the 40K universe in my head. This sector was originally known as the Rigel Sector, but after a Tyranid invasion it was renamed. Anyway, one of the planets - Paradiso - is a paradise world - pristine, barely polluted, full of holiday resorts for high-ranking functionaries and nobility from across the sector, that sort of thing. It's also a matriarchy, and for some time now I've wanted to make two armies for it - one Planetary Defence Force platoon for when I play Dark Heresy or Inquisitor 28 there, and one for standard games of Warhammer 40,000.

Now I have the figures to do both:

Planetary Defence Force from Hinterland Miniatures, and Imperial Guard from Shadowforge Miniatures. The Hinterland figures are perfect for Palace Guard types, with ceremonial uniforms and weapons, while the Shadowforge Politburo Worker Battalion will make cracking Imperial Guard.

There are other uses for some of the Shadowforge Sci-Fi range - the Marine Special Ops will mix in nicely with my Jungle Fighting Imperial Guard, while the Gangers, Bounty Hunters and Scavangers will go brilliantly in both Necromunda and Gangs of Mega-City One.

So there you have it - one move and two new projects. Madness, eh? Hopefully I'll be able to post some more painted pics tomorrow.