Mercenary Pikeman with Burned Face

Here we have the final figure painted in 2020. It's another Coinpike mercenary and he's wielding a proper pike (presumably in exchange for coin).

From the bottom of the base to the tip of the pike, this figure is an imposing 80mm. I'll need to lie him down to store him in my case with the others.

As you can see, the pike is ridiculously long. En masse, these things could definitely keep the enemy at bay, but individually (en individuellement?), they look pretty unwieldy. For this very reason, landsknecht pikemen carried distinctive swords known as katzbalgers. While I have tiny katzbalgers for these guys, I couldn't get one to fit well onto this figure's belt, so I decided not to include it.

On the one side of his face, there's a bit of burned skin. The greatest threat to massed fighters (in D&D) is fireball, so this guy must have experienced one and lived to tell the tale.

The general colors are the same as the other Coinpikes, but I gave him a red left leg instead of white (as I've done on several others). I felt he needed more red, which is why the top ruffle(?) on his right sleeve is also red. He also has a chain mail mantle painted in the same bronze as the plate armor of the others; steel wouldn't look right.

This brings my Coinpikes up to seven members. From left to right in the picture below: Armored zweihander, spellcaster, burned pikeman, armored sword and shield, rookie pikeman, arbalest, and unarmored zweihander. They fill me with joy.

Ape Attack!

Here's an interesting trio. They were a part of the Reaper Miniatures "Bones 4" Kickstarter, labeled as "Ape Attack." As of yet, they are not available separately. They are available as "Ape Lord" and "Killer Apes (2)."

This is General Simius, immortal supervillain. Empowered by a Roman alchemist's potion, Simius gained intellect, size, strength, and immortality. After a brief tenure as a gladiator, then a general, Simius liberated himself from his Roman masters and has spent the last 1800 years studying the arts of war and alchemy. While he's been unable to replicate the potion that created him, he's had limited success in uplifting other apes with lesser versions of his own powers.

Here we have Formido. He's a big ole fella.

The paint scheme for these guys is quick and simple. Over a black base coat, the fur got two drybrush passes of grey. I love these big critters with a lot of drybrushing area.

The skin is a mix of blue and grey. Teeth and nails are beige.

The eyes are tiny little points of white. Actual gorilla eyes are brown and black, but I can't really paint tiny eyes. The white dots give them an intense look. Also, a kind of crazy look.

Here is Pavor.

Originally, I was going to call these minions Deimos and Phobos, but I swapped over to the Roman equivalents (which I had previously not known the names of).

Pavor's the more bestial, aggressive minion. He's a real terror on the battlefield. I considered kitbashing a few human minions as well, but it turns out I don't have any Roman legionaires left to give assault rifles. Oh well, maybe someday.

Now, usually I forget to take size comparison shots when I do these big miniatures. This time was no exception. So I went back and set up a few minis to show General Simius' size. He's on a 50mm base while the smaller guys are on 25mms.

Here's a meeting of some league of supervillany. Looks like the "league of holding up weapons in your right hand."

 

Dr. Singh

This is a "Reaper Miniatures Savage Worlds Bones 'Deadlands: Noir Patent Scientist.'" That's a mouthful.

I'm thinking I can use this one as a superhero/supervillain. He's got a cool blaster, kind of steampunk-looking.  Overall, just a nice model. For now, I'll call him Dr. Varad Singh.

I went with a red, along with various earth tones. The metal bits are bronze and brass. There are a handful of blue accents just to make it pop.

Mercenary and Monster Hunter

Here we have two largely unrelated figures. First, we have another member of the Coinpike mercenaries. She's another doppelsoldner with a zweihander, but unlike the previous one, she's wearing armor. She could also be an alternate captain for the company.

I think the face came out really well. She looks angry. She's going to ruin's somebody's day.

Everything but the head is from the Warlord Games landsknecht sprues. The head is from the Female Survivors sprue from Project Z.

The paint job leans into the red of the company colors, limiting the amount of green. The colors may look a little busy, especially with the dirty blonde hair, the bronze armor and the steel sword, but it works.

This brings us up to six total members of the Coinpikes.

Secondly, we have another monster hunting member of the wardens. This is a Reaper mini, one of the three from their "Women of Dreadmere (3)" pack.

While I like the pose, the actual molding is really soft and a little awkward. The face, especially, has a "potato-esque" quality, not helped by my mediocre paint job. It's good enough for the table, but it's not great.

Aside from the blue coat, she's got purple clothes and some steel armor(?) for color. I'm really not sure what those metal scales are supposed to be. Is there more armor under her outfit? Is it just decorative?

While these pictures don't show them side by side, the warden is about a head taller than the mercenary. The 28mm heroic scale Reaper miniatures look kind of ridiculous next to to 28mm true scale historical minis.

Star Spawn

Spara realizes that shopping at Discount Scroll Warehouse may have downsides.

Here we have some type of eldritch monstrosity like a star spawn from the Cthulhu mythos. This is a Reaper Bones model that they call "Eldritch Demon." It's on a 60-65mm base. (For scale, Spara is on a 25mm base.)

This model has been basecoated solid green forever (since forgotten aeons, really), but a few quick drybrushed layers, a light wash on some of it, and a few picked out details finished it off.

I'm glad it's finally done. Projects are not dead which can eternally lie half-completed.

Spara Cagleoni

Here we have Spara Cagleoni, battle wizard, fire specialist, and planeswalker.

This was a fun little build that turned out pretty well. You can see an early stage of design to the right, held together by sticky tack.

• The majority of the figure is from Warlord Games Landsknecht sprues. The main body is from the missile troops sprue, while the metal right arm and matching plastic left arm are from the Landsknechts with Zweihanders box. The weapon was originally a halberd, but I cut off the main blade and painted it up as a staff/spear. The spell component pouch on her hip is also from one of the Landsknecht sprues.
  

• The head is from the Warlord Games Project Z Female Survivors sprue. 
  

• The heater shield on her back is from the Frostgrave Soldiers box. She seemed a bit bland with nothing on her back, and none of the backpacks felt right. I guess she picked up shield proficiency somewhere along the line.
  

The staff/spear came out as the focal point of the build. Being a battle wizard, a simple staff of power doesn't quite cut it. Spara's staff has a foot-long blade at the end that burns white hot. She might run out of spells (eventually), but she'll never run out of spear. In Dungeons and Dragons terms, given she's a high level wizard, I'd probably say it's a custom job that counts as a Staff of Power with +3s instead of +2s that also deals an extra 2d6 fire damage per hit. It probably also gives a damage bonus to fire spells. Let's call it "The Firebrand Staff," a legendary spear.

In terms of the paint scheme, it's pretty straightforward. Grey clothes with red accents. The tip of the spear is the only really interesting bit, paint wise. It's a simple blend coming up from red, through orange and yellow, to the white tip. I think the blend works pretty well. The metal on the staff is bronze metallic paint.

The shield bears the heraldry of a group that Spara works with, the Chargarde Veterans. My freehand skills aren't great, but the shield gets the point across.

In addition to being a great choice for an RPG character, she could clearly be a wizard in Frostgrave.

Mercenary Pavise Crossbowmen

These poor soldiers of fortune have been sitting in various stages of completion on my desk for months now. Partly because I haven't been painting much, and partly because of trepidation regarding a new technique. (I'll get to that in a moment.)

This is a pair of mercenary pavise crossbowmen. Mounting large shields on their back gives them cover while they reload, letting them shoot others while being less likely to get shot themselves. Win-win!

They're members of my Italian-esque "Red Hart Company," hence the red deer on their shields. Obviously I'm not particularly skilled at freehand, especially on such a small scale, but I think the emblem gets the point across.

As mentioned, I tried something new for these guys. I got a box of some 300 tiny rare earth magnets, 2 mm in diameter and 1 mm thick. Often people drill into models and use hidden magnets to allow for swapping arms or heads, but I used them to attach the shields. So, these guys don't always have to bear the burden of their pavises on their back if they want to take a break. Here's a picture of their backs without the shields (below).

A mockup with a random online emblem.

Because I mounted them on the surface, the magnets are obvious, but they're small enough that they don't detract much from the models. I really like them! I may have to get a 2mm drill and try making swappable arms sometime.

As a final side note, I've discovered that I accidentally installed the magnet pairs in opposite orientations. The unintended side effect is that each soldier can only use their own shield. They find using their mate's magnet to be... repulsive.

Slasher

I decided to speed paint a figure tonight and pulled out a Project Z miniature. I'd previously started this guy, but I mangled his face pretty bad with some thick paint, so I covered everything in black and started over from primer. Immediately, given his pose and messed up face, I decided he should be a slasher movie villain. The finished product is probably about an hour's work.

The face paint/mask reminds me of the characters in We Happy Few, though that wasn't intentional. He also appears to be wielding Gordon Freeman's crowbar, since all crowbars should have that color scheme.

Not bad for a quick, unplanned project. No idea what I'd use him for, but I guess he could also be a supervillain. You can never have too many supervillains.

The Last Blue Alien

Following on from the previous post, I dug out the remaining Blue and set to work fixing it up. This was another figure from the Reaper "Gray Alien Warrior" pack. It originally wielded a keyblade-looking sword, but I chopped off that arm to replace it with something I liked better. My original kitbash attempt was an assault rifle, but the arm and gun were too long and too thick; it looked ridiculous.

Today, I replaced that arm with a shortened female arm from the Project Z Biker sprue. It's thin enough to work on the little alien. This also gives the Blue an Uzi, which looks nice. There's no reason every sci-fi character needs to carry lasers.

As is frequently the case, I picked the color scheme on a whim. Red with yellow accents is a bold fashion choice for this dashing Blue adventurer. Black boots complete the ensemble. Thankfully, I had done the head and crackle paint basing when I did the rest of the Blues, so both parts match the others.

As a side note, I originally got my Blues out for the previous post after hearing a bit about the upcoming Stargrave skirmish game from Osprey. It looks to be like a science fiction version of author Joseph McCullough's popular Frostgrave fantasy skirmish game. Frostgrave crews are usually ten figures; if Stargrave is similar, these eight Blues will be a good start for a team. Even if they don't all fit what I need, if I need more (or more with weapons), the Reaper "Grays" are three bucks for a pack of three. Miniatures don't come cheaper than that.

Blue Aliens

I painted these aliens some time last year, but I somehow neglected to photograph or post them. They're Reaper Bones "Gray Alien Scientists (3)," "Gray Alien Warriors (3)," and "Gray Alien Leaders (2)," with some modifications. Of the eight, I completed seven, as the eighth died in a tragic kitbashing accident. (Perhaps it will be resurrected at some point.)

The first three of the little blue aliens are wearing orange and have a scientist/engineer feel to them. From left to right we have:

• A Blue with a tech backpack with what I painted as a light on the top. He's waving in a friendly manner.
• A Blue with a satchel and a datapad of some sort. This was one of the two figures in the "Leaders" pack, but I feel it's a good fit for a scientist.
• A Blue with a datapad and a cool head ring thing. It's actually a plastic orle from a Perry Miniatures Agincourt box. I tried for quite some time to find hats for these Blues, but in the end I couldn't find any that fit nicely. The orange and white orle really sets off the blue head nicely. Maybe they can't wear hats because of sensory organs/heat dispersal on the top of their heads?

These two Blues (and the two below) aren't in any sort of matching livery. They're probably space adventurers, so they can wear what they want.

On the left is what I think of as a duelist. It was an unarmed figure from the "Warrior" pack, but I added a sword from... somewhere? Possibly a Warlord games Pike & Shotte sprue. It's painted a shiny blue because SPACE SWORD.

Lefty's outfit is purple, but I wasn't satisfied with it plain so I added a series of white dots on the upper left quarter. Quite flamboyant.

On the right is some kind of gauntlet-wielding Blue. The white and gold of the tech pops nicely on the blue skin and grey jumpsuit. This alien is probably a psyker, focusing his powers through the gauntlet.

Finally, we have two true blue Blue soldiers. The left figure, from the "Leaders" pack, is some kind of cyborg with a huge arm gun and a targeter over one eye. I gave this one a basic dark camouflage pattern to make him look even more military. He definitely strikes me as the deadliest member of the crew.

On the right is what I envision as a bounty hunter. I tried to find a hat to make it look more like Cad Bane from Star Wars, but none fit. In any case, this Blue was from the "Warrior" pack and had a strange, alien blaster (or something) in its hand. I wasn't a fan, so I removed it and replaced it with a scoped pistol from a Project Z survivor sprue. I notice now that even though it's a skintight jumpsuit like everyone else's, I painted it to appear like there are black boots.

Back when I finished these figures, I took a few pictures and made them into a .gif to show the sweet crackle paint I used on the base. This is a Citadel Technical paint called "Agrellan Earth." You just sort of gloop it on and over time it dries into cracked desert terrain. Pretty sweet and easy, when it works right.

In the finished pictures, above, you can also see that I used my Army Painter Wasteland Tufts to decorate them a little further once they were dry.

Finally, here's a shot to show the size of these Blues. They're a bit on the short side. Here it's beside Southpaw, a man with a fairly normal 28mm scale body. The Blue is about a head shorter. Beside a Reaper Miniatures human it would be even shorter.

I should also point out that in the background of all of these shots you can see part of the awesome Battle Systems UK "Cyberpunk Core Set." It's really good, modular, and easy to use stuff.

6Gun Mercenaries (6/6) - Fifth Batch

Here's the final (for now) batch of mercenaries. These three are all loud, and they bring some heavier firepower to our little squad.

My naming convention for these guys is, in general, [Color] [Hat/Hair], but there are only so many relatively natural hair colors to go around. Thus, the soldier on the left is Bleached Hair since I already have a blond on the team. He's wielding a blackened AK-74, making him the fourth soldier to do so. Unlike most of these guys, he actually seems to care about carrying enough ammunition. Aside from the magazine loaded, he has another one strapped to it jungle style, and a final one strapped to his backpack. He's not going to run out of ammunition. He probably has a few more magazines in his backpack, too. (He also has a pistol. Preparation is key.)

The middle soldier, Blue Hat, carries a 40mm grenade launcher (a Milkor MGL). Whether it's loaded with frag grenades, smoke, or whatever else, it brings some explosive options to the group that it otherwise lacks. He also has a shotgun strapped to his backpack since a grenade launcher isn't great in close quarters.

On the right is Black Hat with a M249 light machine gun. Firing from a 200-round belt, Black Hat can lay down heavy suppressive fire for his teammates. It's a machine gun. What else would you want? Black Hat doesn't even feel the need for a sidearm.

With that, my team of 6Gun Mercenaries is up to 15 total members (ten loud, four covert, and one "other"). For now, that's all I'll be doing. I still have enough parts to make two more of them (armed with an AK74, LMG, shotgun, or Dragunov). Presumably I'll make them at some point if I find a need or have a whim.

Below is a picture of my spreadsheet that I've been using to keep track of all of these guys. 15 total troops. Not too shabby. Ready for skirmish games, RPGs, or whatever else catches my fancy.

 

6Gun Mercenaries (5/6) - Group Photo!

 

Here we have a group shot of the entire current 6Gun Mercenary organization. On the left are the Assault Team and on the right are the Covert Team. The drone straddles the line.

From left to right, The Truck, Green Hat, Red Hair, Purple Scarf, [Manbun Fingergun], Red Hat, Orange Hat, Blond Hair, Drone Operator, Beige Hat, Tracked Drone, Brown Hair, Grey Hair, and Brown Hat. Quite the team.

This shot also includes their only current vehicle. It's a Kinsmart 1/46 Scale diecast imitation of the "2014 Chevy Silverado LTZ Crew Cab 4x4." I have done no painting or modification to it at all. It may be a tad on the large size compared to the figures, but it fits pretty well. I'm considering putting a mount in the truck bed for a machine gun to turn it into a real technical, but for now, four or five of the operatives can tool around in semi-luxurious comfort, both on road and off.

Now, you might notice that this is post 5/6 of the 6Gun Mercenaries. That's because I still have another batch that I'm working on. In order to bring some heavier firepower to the group, the three new fellows will bring a grenade launcher and a light machine gun to the field, along with another assault rifle.

6Gun Mercenaries (4/6) - Fourth Batch

 The fourth batch of mercenaries rounds out both the covert and assault groups.

On the left, Beige Hat brings some heavier firepower to the covert team with a silenced MAC-10 machine pistol. He's also the second member of the covert team to sport a ballcap.

In the middle, the overall commander of 6Gun. While it's not his actual name, I keep thinking of him as Manbun Fingergun because (a.) he has a manbun and (b.) he's making a fingergun pew-pew gesture. This guy looks like he's tough-as-nails. His pants are worn through at the knees, he's scraped up, and he's carrying:
    AK-74 Assault Rifle (with black finish)
    Pistol
    2 Frag Grenades
    Hatchet
    Gas Mask
    Fingergun! PEW-PEW

On the right, Brown Hair brings a duffel-bag to covert team, along with his silenced pistol. What's in the bag? Technical equipment? Demolitions equipment? Lunch? In any case, if anyone on the team needs to be carrying some extra equipment, it will be him.

Together, this brings Covert Team to four members and Overt Team to eight members.

6Gun Mercenaries (3/6) - Third Batch

 This batch was put together as I ran out of other pieces and waited on a second order. It's an eclectic mix, bringing together a drone operator with two more shotgunners. Yes, this meant shotgunners outnumbered riflemen, which felt very strange.

On the left, Drone Operator. Wearing a VR headset and holding a small controller, he's a technician more than a soldier. His only weapon is a pistol tucked into his backpack. While his display screens aren't much to look at, I did do some little squiggles on them that turned out OK. Below the picture, check out the Tracked Drone that I painted up for him as well.

In the middle is Blond Hair the shotgunner. He has a carbine strapped to his backpack, so he's ready for anything at close range.

On the right is Red Hat. He stands stoically, surveying the battlefield. Not much else to say about him, but I think he turned out well.

I neglected to note in the previous entries on these guys that their color scheme allows them to serve as henchmen for my previously-painted supervillian, Nox, should the need ever arise. I guess I have enough for a decently-sized minion squad now.

6Gun Mercenaries (2/6) - Second Batch

 

This batch features two more overt troops and one more covert operator. I've found painting in batches of three works well for me since it isn't too many to be overwhelming, but it also allow for at least some assembly-line painting.

The left soldier is a sniper, wielding a Dragunov rifle with a pistol backup. Depending on the game system, Purple Scarf might be defined as fielding a generic sniper rifle (as in Zona Alfa) or a designated marksman rifle up to heavy sniper rifle (as in Spectre: Operations). As he has the only sniper-type weapon of anyone I've built yet, he's pretty flexible in that regard.

The middle soldier is my first shotgunner. Orange Hat is running forward, assaulting a position, and is one of the only operatives who remembered to pack extra ammunition (seen here as red 12-gauge shells strapped to his backpack).

The right soldier isn't wearing his mask, which means he must be important. (Don't worry, he has his mask clipped onto his belt.) In this case, I see Grey Hair as the commander of the covert forces. He's older, greying, but has a lifetime of experience guiding him.

6Gun Mercenaries (1/6) - First Batch

I have mercenaries for fantasy worlds, mercenaries for Battletech, and mercenary spaceships (and probably more mercenaries I'm forgetting), but there's a sizable hole in my collection when it comes to modern and/or scifi mercenaries. Toward the end of 2019, I decided to put some together and now they're mostly done.

Looking at my options, I decided to go with Anvil Industries despite the facts that're resin, expensive, and ship from the UK. They are also incredibly customizable, beautifully detailed, and perfect for what I was looking for. Besides, since I only get around to painting three or four miniatures in a month, the costs are spread out enough to satisfy my budget.

Like I said, these are beautiful sculpts. Also, the ability to pick different heads, bodies, legs, weapons, and other bits from their wide range of options is amazing.

With all that said, here's what I'm going for. This is my mercenary company, 6Gun, which I've used (primarily as antagonists) since the (Classic) Spycraft game I ran in college.

Their clothes are beige while their armor, backpacks, and jackets are expresso brown. They wear gas masks and gloves, which I thought could represent being cleaners or something (in the criminal sense). I just like the look. Each also tends to have an accent color. In this case, from left to right, these guys are Green Hat, Red Hair, and Brown Hat.

I wanted to have two different types of operators, normal troops and stealthy agents. This first test batch has some of both. Two of the troops are the armor/backpack overt type, wielding AK-74 assault rifles. The other troop is dynamically posed in a leather jacket with a silenced pistol. You'll see more of both types as we progress through each batch of these mercenaries in the coming posts.

Owlbear

Sometimes you just need some monsters for monster hunters to hunt. Enter the classic Owlbear. It's a large CR 3 monstrosity whose purpose in life is to provide filler encounters on the way from place to place.

This is a Reaper Bones owlbear from the Bones 4 Kickstarter. I can't seem to find it available anymore, as Reaper has already replaced it with a Reaper Bones Black version that's significantly different. Edit: They now appear to be selling it as "Bones: Lowland Owlbear" (January 2021).

In any case, this was a quick project on a whim, took less than a day despite its size. The fur and spikes allowed for fast and effective drybrushing across most of its surface. It won't win awards, but some day it'll be a fun 45 minutes to an hour for a scrappy team of adventurers.

To give a sense of the scale, I've thrown together the following meme-tastic picture showing him next to the pike-wielding mercenary as they prepare to rumble.

Anachronist Punks

Sometimes I undertake projects that don't make much sense, even at the time. This could easily be considered one of those projects. I was reading through the enjoyable rulebook of Joseph McGuire's "Reality's Edge: Cyberpunk Skirmish Rules" and found out that you could take two Ganger models where you could normally only take one of another kind of operative. They're cheap, they're disposable, and I do like having more bodies on the field.

So I turned to what I had on hand. Cyberpunk is a weird genre and it allows weird combinations of styles. I decided these two fellows are the founding members of the Anachronists gang (so that I could use a mashup of different parts). Kitbash time!

Since I have a lot of Warlord Games Landsknecht bodies lying around, that was the base. Both guys have mercenary bodies. Broadsword guy also has both arms from a landsknecht sprue, while orange/purple guy has one of their sweet hats.

Next, their weapons are from the Warlord Games Project Z line. Broadsword guy had his other hand replaced with a pistol hand. Orange/purple guy has both of his arms replaced with bare modern ones, giving him a "stylish" look. He's wielding a combat knife and a Walther MP.

Finally, just to give the broadsword guy another little non-renaissance bit, he was given a hat from the Warlord Games Soviet Infantry (Winter) sprue. A man walks down the street in that hat, people know he's not afraid of anything.

In terms of paint scheme, I went with whatever color combinations I felt like. Their outfits are close enough that I didn't feel their colors had to be related at all.

While they make no sense and I don't know if they'll ever see a gaming table, I really like how these guys turned out. They were a fun kitbash if nothing else.

Young Warden

 

I've previously posted a miniature for my half-orc character, Warden. As I noted then, the miniature didn't really fit the character and I've never been satisfied with it. Thankfully, I received a more appropriate miniature in the Bones 4 Kickstarter, and I finally got around to painting it recently.

While the quality of the mini's production leaves a lot to be desired, the design of the sculpt itself is perfect. He's a guy in a long coat with a bag and a sword. He's tall (as all Reaper miniatures are) and has a good air of solid calm to him. This is a much better fit for the character.

The base features my go-to basing element: The Army Painter Wasteland Tufts, which comes with 77 tufts in three sizes. They're a great balance between "looks nice" and "ease of use," which is important because I don't enjoy basing.

Now if I could only play the character again sometime....

Smilebert Barrelbuddy

Halflings are supposed to be happy, right? Well, Smilebert is always happy. Or at least, he's always smiling. Painted up from a Reaper Bones "Bergamot, Halfling Scout," Smilebert is the product of a rare non-good/neutral campaign. He's an evil paladin of Cyric with a whip and a sword.

He is meant to look creepy. I'd say he pulls it off well.

Maybe too well.

A Package Arrived!

Just over a year ago, I backed the Fantasy Wargames Terrain from Battle Systems™ on Kickstarter. Today, almost exactly on time, it has arrived.

As you can see in the picture, it's a solid stack of cardboard, dwarfing the brave Coinpike who volunteered to demonstrate the scale. Not including the yellow padded envelopes (which hold the plastic clips), the stack is three inches of flat-packed terrain! I have some of Battle System UK's other terrain (the cyberpunk set), so I look forward to cracking this one open and taking a look.

Scavengers

Welcome to the post-apocalypse! Here we find a crew of interestingly kitbashed scavengers for modern, sci-fi, or post-apocalyptic skirmish games. These figures were built in the order seen above (from left to right). Ultimately, they became a group for Zona Alfa, but their uses are many. As usual, I prefer to have five or so models of any given type as a minimum for skirmish games. Here they are individually with some notes.

This was the first one I made. It was a test piece I cobbled together from medieval Saxon Fyrd bits mixed with modern zombie survivor bits (all from Warlord Games). The camouflage pattern breaks up the top enough to look like some kind of long shirt or poncho or something, so with the guns and backpack it still looks modern enough.

His pose is a bit odd, a result of the Project Z arms not matching the Saxon Fyrd bodies very well. In person it looks quite dynamic as he reaches back to pull a grenade off of his belt.

• Body: Warlord Games Saxon Fyrd Warriors Body Frame
• Head: Warlord Games Saxon Fyrd Warriors Weapon Frame
• Arms: Warlord Games Project Z Male Survivors Arm Weapon sprue
• Backpack: Warlord Games Project Z Male Survivors Arm Weapon sprue
• Grenades: Games Workshop Imperial Guard sprue (Cadian or Catachan)

I picture this guy as a medic. Originally, he only had the pistol, but after reading the Zona Alfa rules, I tacked a submachine gun (a Walther MP) onto his pack to make him more viable for that ruleset.

• Body: Warlord Games Saxon Fyrd Warriors Body Frame
• Head: Warlord Games Project Z Male Survivors
• Right Arm: Warlord Games Project Z Male Survivors Arm Weapon sprue
• Left Arm: Warlord Games Saxon Fyrd Warriors Body Frame
• Backpack: Warlord Games Project Z Male Survivors Arm Weapon sprue
• Walther MP: Warlord Games Project Z Male Survivors Arm Weapon sprue

Here we have something of a knife nut. He holds a machete in one hand, with another large knife on his backpack, while a small knife is sheathed on his belt. He has scratches over his eye, probably related to his love for melee combat. The pistol seems almost like an afterthought.

• Body: Warlord Games Saxon Fyrd Warriors Body Frame
• Head: Warlord Games Project Z Male Survivors
• Right Arm: Warlord Games Project Z Male Survivors Arm Weapon sprue
• Left Arm: Warlord Games Project Z Male Survivors Arm Weapon sprue
• Backpack: Warlord Games Project Z Male Survivors Arm Weapon sprue
• Sheath/Knife: Games Workshop Imperial Guard sprue (Cadian or Catachan)

The leader of this band, if only because he's the most distinctive member is almost like an alternate universe Warden with his blue longcoat and green detailing. As opposed to the Saxon Fyrd origins of his comrades, he's built largely from Soviet Infantry bits. He's equipped with a modern gun (with a red-lensed scope) and has a modern backpack (in resin) from Anvil Industries.

• Body: Warlord Games Soviet Infantry (Winter)
• Head: Warlord Games Soviet Infantry (Winter)
• Right Arm: Warlord Games Project Z Spec Ops
• Left Arm: Warlord Games Soviet Infantry (Winter)
• Backpack: Anvil Industries Modern Backpacks

"Old Shotgunny" is a distinguished older gentleman with a ripped sleeve and a shotgun. His pose is a bit odd, but it's relatively dynamic, as if he's moving to aim at something.

• Body: Warlord Games Saxon Fyrd Warriors Body Frame
• Head: Warlord Games Saxon Fyrd Warriors Weapon Frame
• Right Arm: Warlord Games Project Z Male Survivors Arm Weapon sprue
• Left Arm: Warlord Games Project Z Male Survivors Arm Weapon sprue
• Backpack: Warlord Games Project Z Male Survivors Arm Weapon sprue
• Additionally: A bit of putty because I messed up the arms

Before I built this last fellow, I read the Zona Alfa rules and decided I had the proper bits in hand to model him as an expert salvager. He's posed examining a mortar round that he's found. On his back he has both his backpack and an additional set of pouches, in addition to another pouch on his hip. He knows how to appraise what's worth the crew's time as they pick through ruins or anomalies.

• Body: Warlord Games Saxon Fyrd Warriors Body Frame
• Head: Warlord Games Project Z Male Survivors (some putty to fix the neck)
• Right Arm: Warlord Games Project Z Male Survivors Arm Weapon sprue
• Left Arm: Warlord Games Project Z Male Survivors Arm Weapon sprue
• Backpack & Pouches: Warlord Games Project Z Male Survivors Arm Weapon sprue
• Additionally: Games Workshop Cadian Mortar

As usual, I painted with my cheap craft store acrylic paints. The camouflage pattern is pretty quick and easy, but it looks nice.

Camouflage (In order of application)
Base Color (all over): Ceramcoat Medium Foliage Green
Light Color (in squiggly splotches): "My Studio" Sage Green (72741)
Medium Color (lines overlapping and connecting light colors): Ceramcoat Territorial Beige
Dark Color (squiggly lines perpendicular to medium color): Ceramcoat Dark Foliage Green
Darkest Color (dots where something is needed): Craftsmart Expresso

I also used the Expresso paint on the backpacks, because if you gloop it on correctly, it makes a nice leather look.

Supervillain: Nox

Can they be considered "leftover" parts if they're used before the project they were bought for? This is Nox, a supervillain I kitbashed together from a whole bunch of different sources. As of the time of writing, he's the most recent model I've painted.

The color scheme here is pretty basic. We have military-esque earth-tones for the pants, boots, body armor, and backpack. The main tunic is orange, which pops, and while it's bright, it's used relatively sparingly and doesn't really overwhelm the other colors. The face is a mix of peach flesh and sage green (though it does lean towards green), representing a virulent pall over his skin. His hair is green, which does make him look kind of Jokerish (specially with the widow's peak), but I think it turned out nicely.

Here's what the miniature is made out of:

• Torso: Anvil Industries PMC Armor
• Legs: Games Workshop Cadian Shock Troops
• Head: Frostgrave Cultists
• Arms and Left Hand: Frostgrave Soldiers
• Right Hand: Anvil Industries Modern Pistols
• Gas Mask: Anvil Industries Respirator Heads
• Backpack: Anvil Industries Modern Backpacks

To elaborate, there's a lot of Anvil Industries resin stuff here. I usually try to get miniatures on the cheap, but Anvil is pretty expensive. Thankfully, skirmish games only require a handful of models per side, which means you can splurge a bit on each model. In this case, my Zona Alfa squad is going to have five models, but the Anvil sprue has six torsos... and there's a spare gas mask... and an unneeded pistol. Of course, I needed legs, but I have a bunch of old Cadian Guardsmen that I'd be happy to cannibalize. (As a side note, I got my Cadians twelve years ago and they still make the exact same sprue. Come on, Games Workshop.) The arms worked out really well from the Frostgrave soldier sprue, and I'm impressed by how well the hand joined up to the wrist (the lower right corner of the finished picture shows how seamless it is). The head was the final piece I chose, and it's supposed to be an undead or vampire or something from the Frostgrave cultists, but it works for a plague-ridden fellow quite well.

The character in question I'm now calling John Nox, because he isn't quite the same as the version I started from. The character pictured to the left I called Rot, and he's gone through a number of iterations over the years (as comics characters are wont to do). The first two versions pictured are from old versions of "Fábrica de Heróis" online superhero maker from at least a decade ago. The last one is a minimalist pixel art version of the same. I have to say, I loved making characters in the "Diniverse" style generator (the one on the far left); I must have made over a hundred.

In any case, both the original Rot and the (paramilitary, possibly rebooted) Nox are walking plague factories whose very breath is virulent/toxic or whatever works for the story. Comics are not known for perfect continuity.

I'm very happy with this model in pretty much every respect. Now to pick some superhero rules!