Big Pig

This hefty piggy, shown here with the Captain for scale, is another Reaper miniature from a Bones Kickstarter.

It's a big pig.

The miniature was painted in pink, then touched up with some browns. It's just a pig.

Oink.

Giant Crocodile

This giant crocodile is from Reaper Miniatures and came with one of the Bones Kickstarters. Its skin is various shades of green, mostly dabbed on or drybrushed.

To scale, this crocodile is 20-25 feet long. The Captain bravely stands by for comparison purposes, but he's not happy about it. That mouth could swallow him whole!

Alien Horde 5: Eight Small Harvesters

These are eight more little aliens, which gives me a total of ten. This uses up all of the small Harvesters that came in the box. Once again, they were a bit of a pain to paint, and finding the right points to glue to the base was kind of frustrating. I did not do what I did last time to raise them up with beads, so the attachment points are largely on their elbows/knees and/or claws/blades. Still, now that they're done, they've contributed greatly to the size of the Alien Horde.

As a note on how big they are, since they're based on 1 inch bases (which represent a 5 foot diameter), the bodies of these things are about four scale feet long, and with their tails and arms fully extended, they could probably reach six or seven scale feet long. While they appear small, these things would be utterly terrifying as they crawled and skittered toward you, and their armored carapaces would probably make their bodies at least somewhat resilient. With that in mind, the larger Harvesters would be utterly, paralyzingly horrifying when charging toward you.

Aka-Oni Irregulars: Stinger, Centurion, Archer

Three more Aka-Oni battlemechs, starting them off on the path beyond a mere two companies of mechs. We've got a tiny Stinger, which is a fast, weak, and incredibly cheap scout mech. On the left is an Archer with a whole bunch of missiles. Finally, on the right, is a very special Centurion. This is a model representing the Yen-Lo-Wang variant, which was piloted in the arenas of Solaris. It's got an AC/20 on one hand and a big ole' claw on the other. This one can almost serve as a five-ton-lighter Hunchback.

• Stinger (20 tons, BV 359)
  
• Centurion (Yen-Lo-Wang) (50 tons, BV 957)
• Archer (70 tons, BV 1338)

Total mechs: 27
Total tons: 1530
Total battle value: 29,858

Troll

This is a troll. Specifically, it's the Reaper Miniatures Cave Troll. It's a pretty straightforward figure, mostly just a basecoat of green (actually Vallejo Heavy Grey 72.145) with some other greens and light beige drybrushing. That's some kind of jaw bone he's wielding.

His base is an oval about two inches by one inch. His size category is large.

Troll, troll, troll.

Troll.

Supervillain: Grenadehead

Bear with me on this one.

Grenadehead is a fairly normal Human woman who—inexplicably—has a grenade for a head. She's a scrappy fighter who can see, hear, smell, and somehow talk, even though she lacks the common head-mounted sensory organs needed for these tasks. She also doesn't need to eat or breathe, which are plusses. Aside from this, her only real superpower is the fact that if she either dies or pulls the pin from her head then she explodes. A little while later, she reappears somewhere within a few miles no worse for wear.

When pressed about her powers, Grenadehead's only explanation is that she got really drunk one night with an equally drunk minor deity and when she woke up the next morning, boom, Grenadehead.

The grenade is from the Wargames Atlantic Landsknecht Ogre set. When I realized it was basically head-sized, I threw the rest of the figure together. The body is Stargrave crew, the pointing arm is from the Wargames Atlantic Ooh Rah, and the baseball bat arm is from The Warlord Games Project Z survivors.

Grenadehead.

Third Company: Blackjack, Rifleman, Archer

Three more mechwarriors have joined the Third Company. These are all the third model of each type of mech that I own; that's really the only requirement for joining the Third Company at this point; they're the leftovers.

• Blackjack (45 tons, BV 1011)
• Rifleman (60 tons, BV 1039)
• Archer (70 tons, BV 1338)

Third Company
Total tons: 315
Total BV: 6187

Supervillain: Harvest

Harvest is a spooky, B/C-tier supervillain with a big ole' scythe. That's all the backstory I have for this one, but that's good enough.

The figure is from the Bloodborne Board Game and represents a Hunter wielding the Burial Blade trick weapon. Like most CMON figures, it's a little undersized and its features are a little mushy. While it's on the small side compared to some other 28mm figures, it's close enough for most uses.

This model could also be used as a slasher in a horror game, like the mechanic. Not a game genre that has a lot of rulesets available, but it probably wouldn't be hard to whip up a simple set of rules.

Note: There was apparently a DC supervillain named Harvest who operated between 2012 and 2018. This is a coincidence.

Nightmare Spiders

Five demonic spiders, which I'm calling Nightmare Spiders. They're dark blue and purple, with a very light grey drybrush to bring out the details. I painted the bases a plain black because trying to put basing material on them would have been terrible.

These are from the Bloodborne Board Game. They came in the "Blood Moon Box" of extras unlocked during the Kickstarter. The large figure is called the "Large Nightmare Apostle" and serves as a boss, while the smaller ones are merely "Small Nightmare Apostles."

These critters have too many legs to be arachnids, right? They have 12 legs each. I think they still count for arachnophobia, though.

Outpost Crew

Here are four crewmembers for a scifi mining outpost. I have a scenario in mind for a game, and these are some of the primary NPCs.

The captain (What do you call the person in charge of an outpost?) is an older gentleman with a datapad and a charge pistol. I don't often use bright colors on weapons, but this one has a nice industrial look that distinguishes it from normal guns.

The security chief is a tough-looking lady with a beret and a carbine. She's the toughest remaining member of the crew, and it's her job to keep the others safe.

The technician with the cybernetic arm has a stubby SMG in one hand and a remote controller in the other. He's wearing a sweet ushanka.

Finally, another technician. She's frightened, unarmed, and in an awkward position, as she was hiding behind a stack of crates. Not a usual look for figures I paint up, but it follows the narrative.

Three of these (captain and both technicians) are using Wargames Atlantic Cannon Fodder bodies, which make for good jumpsuits. The security chief's body and all of the arms are from Stargrave sets. The scared technician and security chief have Stargrave heads, while the captain is from a renaissance set, and the ushanka head is from a Russian WWII set.

The jumpsuit is painted a base of Vallejo Extra Opaque Heavy Charcoal (72.155). The gray portions are Vallejo Basalt Grey (70.869), and there is some lighter gray on the zipper and other highlights with Ceramcoat Rain Grey (02543).

Embers of Alexandria (Part Six): The Crimson Herald

This is a leader of the evil cult known as the Embers of Alexandria. Twisted and mutated from some unknowable power, he reads eldritch spells from an ancient book.

This model is from Reaper Miniatures, and it is known as The Crimson Herald (03787). It came with the Dreadmere Expansion of the Reaper Bones 4 Kickstarter.

The colors are the normal Embers colors, mostly starting with a layer of Vallejo dense extra opaque paints. The base is a 40mm poker chip.

Graveyard Walls

Here are eight wall pieces to act as movement blockers (though only two are pictured). They're the same set as the ones I used in Skeletonland, and they come from Reaper Miniatures. I'm counting these as Mordheim terrain, for what little good it'll do my total.

• 3 Small pieces: 2" x 0.5 in" (3 in²)
• 4 Long pieces: 4" x 0.5 in" (8 in²)
• 1 Gate piece: 4" x 0.5 in" (2 in²)

Total Wall Pieces: 13 in²

Total Mordheim terrain: 135.56 in²

As noted in a previous post, I'm eventually aiming for 576 in² of terrain to have a quarter of a 4' x 4' board covered. 135.56/576 = 23.5%.

20 Zombies

Here are 20 zombies painted up for the month of Zomtober.

These were incredibly cheap miniatures (and it shows). They're from the Zpocalypse: Horde in a Box, which provided all 20 miniatures for about ten dollars. The size is somewhat smaller than 28mm, but they're close enough. These are meant to be used as a horde, so I painted them up quickly with a variety of colors, then drenched them all in an Agrax Earthshade wash. They're not great, but then they're not meant to be. If I ever need a big group of zombies for a game, they're better than plain plastic--and better than nothing.

Quadcopter Platform Drone

This is a toy from a dollar store, painted up and put onto a transparent flight stand. I painted this up and put it on a shelf, but I'd never finished the basing. It now sits on a 2-inch base with texture paste and a rock.

This can either be a quadcopter drone by itself or it can be used as a flight platform for another miniature (as shown here with Scrapper).

Supervillain: Publius

John Quentin Paine was a patriotic young man who always dreamed of serving his country. As he approached his high school graduation, a natural mutation manifested and John discovered that he could teleport to anywhere that he could see. John applied to join the armed forces, and as soon as he demonstrated his powers, he was accepted into a special government program for supers. After extensive training, he ended up on the government-sponsored superteam the Bright Stars with the alias Publius.

Publius became quite a spy over his career, but in 1995, the team undertook a covert mission to intervene in the Yugoslav Wars and all five members of the Bright Stars were either captured or killed. Agent Publius was kept sedated by his captors until he was moved by the leader of Gorskaland, Lord Auctoritas, to a secret prison in his country. Publius was kept prisoner in a windowless cell for eight years as Auctoritas' scientists took his blood and did other tests to try and determine how to replicate his abilities. The United States never mounted any rescue operations and denied that the operation ever took place, claiming that the Bright Stars were killed by an ambush during a humanitarian mission.

In 2003, a lapse in security protocols allowed Publius to escape his cell. Leaving a trail of death in his wake, he managed to escape the Gorskan facility, and then the country. Feeling betrayed, Publius refused to return to government service and became a free agent. With his teleportation abilities, he became the ultimate getaway driver, able to teleport up to two others at a time as far as he could see, and chaining teleports together to moves miles in moments. As a mercenary, his skills are highly sought by criminals, governments, and rich individuals, and he commands a high price for his expertise.

Side note: Publius can also teleport through live video, but even a brief broadcast delay prevents him from using the stream to teleport.

So, the model: This is a Stargrave Scavenger body and arms, with an Anvil Industry head and a set of binoculars (and hand) from a Warlord Games Bolt Action British Airborne sprue. Under his brown leather longcoat is at least a hint of his old superhero costume in red, white, and blue.

Aliens: Infected Human

Has anyone seen Crewman Smith? He's been gone for--oh my stars! That's him! He's been turned into some kind of horrible alien-human hybrid! Noooooo!

The arms/claws are Wargames Atlantic Harvesters. The melty head is what I think is supposed to be an alien egg, also from the Harvesters sprue. The jumpsuit body is from the Wargames Atlantic Cannon Fodder.

The jumpsuit is painted a base of Vallejo Extra Opaque Heavy Charcoal (72.155). The gray portions are Vallejo Basalt Grey (70.869), and there is some lighter gray on the zipper and other highlights with Ceramcoat Rain Grey (02543). This is also a test of this scheme for some planned scifi survivors.

The Broken Watchtower

I scratch-built this 17" watchtower as a Mordheim centerpiece back at the beginning of the year. Now, it's painted!

The rocky base and the stone bricks are made of solid pink insulation foam. The round bit was a cut-out from a terrain board six or seven years ago. The bricks were hand carved with a craft knife. The stone color formula was Black (Craftsmart), Zinc (DecoArt Americana), Graphite (Craftsmart), and Rain Grey (Ceramcoat).

The main structure was made of black foamboard with half-inch wood rods for the corners. All of the wood is painted a mix of Black (Craftsmart) and Coffee Bean (FolkArt 881), which was then drybrushed with just Coffee Bean.

The plaster on the walls turned out exceedingly well. It's Vallejo Diorama FX Dark Earth (26.218), which is what I used as the ground cover as well. I drybrushed it with very old FolkArt Camel (953) and then a lighter drybrush of very old Delta Ceramcoat... um... it doesn't even have a color name? It's an off-white and the bottle has a copyright date of 2003. I also have an old Apple Barrel Haystack (21179) that might have been substituted for the Camel at some point in the process (they're very similar).

The roof tiles are cut-up strips of cardboard about 3/4" tall. Each shingle is a half inch wide and cut up about 1/2". They're all connected in strips, which makes them easier to work with. The lower shingles are smaller. The color is a base of Ceramcoat Cardinal Red mixed with Craftsmart Black, then a drybrush of just Cardinal Red. Some lighter and darker colors are also drybrushed on for some variation.

Broken Watchtower: 8" x 8" (64 in²)

Total Mordheim terrain: 122.56 in²

As noted in a previous post, I'm eventually aiming for 576 in² of terrain to have a quarter of a 4' x 4' board covered. 122.56/576 = 21%.

Chosen Men

Redcoat's Chosen Men have expanded their ranks. From left to right:

• Two troopers with rifles.
• One trooper with a stolen super-tech cannon. It's heavy. The colors don't match the rest of the Chosen Man stuff because the cannon is, again, stolen.
• Another sergeant. In addition to his rifle, this fellow has an RPG-7 on his back, along with extra ammunition.
• Finally, two militiamen with pistols. They're on their way into the gang, but they don't get the full kit just yet--not until they prove themselves.

Supervillain: Hactuary

Enter Hactuary, the human calculator! Janie Pegg is a hacker and actuary who uses her built-in cybernetic supercomputer to run hundreds of processes per second. She's more than capable of carrying on dozens of tasks at once while working on even more in the background. A thinker and planner, she often works behind the scenes setting up heists, hiring other criminals, and vanishing without a trace—but with her cut of the loot. She's no slouch in combat either, with an array of physical augmentations and gadgets to make a speedy getaway.

The miniature is a Stargrave "Specialist Soldier: Hacker." It's fully metal--and heavy--so I glued a nickel to the bottom of the base to keep it stable. The colors are basically purple and green with a brown coat and a few other splashes of color for interest.

Supervillain: Snake Eyes

No, not Snake Eyes the G.I. Joe character. This fellow is a dice-themed villain whose name comes from a roll of double ones on a pair of dice. He's an older character of mine, and this is a reasonable approximation (though he was originally green/white instead of orange/white).

The body is Wargames Atlantic Cannon Fodder, the head is Warlord Games Project Z Male Survivor, and the arms are Warlord Games Project Z Spec Ops. The dice are about 5 mm, and they come from old Wizkids Pirates (constructable card game) packs. I don't think this figure is top-tier work, but it looks good enough for tabletop use and it has a neat, unique theme.

Superhero: Tempest

As the superhero known as Tempest, Abigail Guthrie has flight and wind powers. (Wind powers only make sense until you think about them. How are the winds generated? Manipulation of temperature and pressure? Don't think about it. Wind powers. They just work.)

The miniature uses a Stargrave female body with Frostgrave Wizard II head and arms. I used the head with the hair whipping to represent the winds swirling around; I angled it with the body to make it seem like she's holding herself against a strong gale while conjuring her powers. The color scheme is green with a dark gray-green. It sort of makes her look like a Green Lantern.

Alien Horde 4: Big and Small Harvesters

Here are two more of the large Harvesters (with their legs on the right way around this time) and two small Harvesters. I need to reiterate, this set of miniatures looks very nice, but they are awful to actually work with. I clipped off the tips of the large Harvesters' claws and they did attach to the base more easily. The small Harvesters come as a single piece, and they are just the wrong size to fit on a 25mm base. They look like they're kind of crawling, but unless you prop them up, they're at a weird angle. I attached them to some tiny beads to get them up off the ground a bit.

As another interesting development, I used my 3D printer to make the 50mm bases for these models. They turned out usable, but I need to dial in the system a bit before I print any more. Still, much cheaper than buying bases.

Supervillain: Dr. Chimera

It sure would be swell if all these aliens I've been making could fight superheroes. That sounds like a job for... a bridge miniature! Enter Dr. Chimera. The aliens can be controlled by this epic miniature lady, either in a superhero scenario or a scifi scenario.

Dr. Chiyo Kimura (because Kimura looks/sounds vaguely similar to Chimera) is a well-intentioned extremist. Born August 6, 1936, Chiyo Kimura (Ph.D., M.D.) has seen first-hand the damage that humanity is capable of doing to itself and its homeworld. When humanity wipes itself out (whether by war, damaging the environment, or scientific accident), Dr. Chimera and her creations will survive and adapt. She will see to it that humanity survives, even if its form is completely different than it is now. She sees herself as an ignored harbinger, and she believes this justifies doing what she does; the rest of the world is short-sighted and self-destructive.

Dr. Chimera is immensely intelligent and resilient, can shapeshift to suit her needs, can regenerate, and explicitly cannot be killed by any known means. She also has minor psychic abilities, the most notable of which is a kind of hive mind with her biological creations. All of these powers are self-developed by altering her own genetic code based on collected (largely stolen) samples.

The miniature's main body and head are from Stargrave parts while the alien legs emerging from her back are from the Wargames Atlantic Harvesters box. The alien legs are in the same colors as my growing alien horde to tie this miniature in with them. The body goes with a white and green color scheme with a Nuln Oil wash (instead of the Agrax Earthshade) to make the two sections noticeably different.

This is one of my favorite figures that I've done this year and is a great example of what can happen when a weird kitbash goes well. Figure of the Year Nominee!

Alien Horde 3: Harvester

This is my test piece from the Wargames Atlantic Harvesters box. This set is going to make up the main bulk of my aliens. The paint scheme is the same as the Rock Worms and the Tyranid spores; they're all in this together.

These figures have great detail, but they're really fiddly to build. Also, gluing them to a base is a nightmare, since they stand on tiny claw points. There's hardly anything for the glue to adhere to! I'm probably going to try snipping off the tips so there's more surface area going forward. Also, I think I put the back legs on his front and vice versa; this figure is going to be a bit taller than his peers.

After trying a few base sizes, it looks like these creatures need a 50mm base to have any posing options.

I'm happy with how this creature turned out and will definitely make more soon.

Alien Horde 2: Tyranid Spore Mines and Spawners

These figures are a blast from the past. The Battle for Macragge box was a starter set for the fourth edition of Warhammer 40k. It released in 2004, but I picked up a copy in England in 2006. These were basically some of my first miniatures. Some 17 years later, I've finally painted them up as part of a larger project to build an army of aliens. Here's what we've got:

• Large Spawner
• Small Spawner (3)
• Spore Mine - Frag (4)
• Spore Mine - Gas (2)
• Spore Mine - Acid (2)

This is basically the same color scheme that I used for the Rock Worms, but I didn't write it down then, so I can't be absolutely sure. For future reference, I'm writing it down now:

• Carapace: FolkArt Coffee Brown (940), FolkArt Real Brown (231), FolkArt Coffee Latte (2559)
• Fleshy Bits: Ceramcoat Dark Foliage Green (02535), Ceramcoat Medium Foliage Green (02536)
• Drybrush: Vallejo Game Extra Opaque Heavy Ochre (72.150)
• Bone/Accent: Vallejo Game Color Bonewhite (72.034)
• Wash: Citadel Agrax Earthshade

The basing material is Vallejo "Dark Earth" Earth Texture (26.218), which is about 1/7 the price of Citadel basing stuff like Stirland Battlemire (about $2 per oz compared to $14 per oz). I prefer Battlemire in general, but this looks nice and is just so much more economical.

Twinhammer Part 1: Exterior Shell

So, now that I have a 3D printer, I've been 3D printing! The exterior of this spaceship has taken about two months to print. It's primarily two Hammerhead modules from 2nd Dynasty which have been extensively customized.

I only have the exterior finished so far, but I'll get to printing the interior soon. Hopefully by the end of the year it will all be printed... and then I have to figure out how to paint this 24" monstrosity!

Villainous Thugs 2: Return of the Thugs

Adding to my collection of thugs are three new old-school gangsters. This batch includes another flat cap fellow with a pistol (a broomhandle Mauser C96, no less!), another fedora fellow with a SMG (the classic M3 SMG, also known as the "grease gun"), and a new type of thug: red bowler hat guy with a Bren light machine gun! Even gangsters need some support weapons, especially if they're going up against superheroes.

Once again, they're painted up in a drab color scheme so that they don't really stand out. Each has at least some Gingerbread-style dappled brown, so they all fit together cohesively. The weapons are incredibly dated, but hopefully that just lends them a nostalgic charm. Also, they can be perfectly slotted in for pulp games.

This brings our little gang up to seven members:

• Pistol thug x3
• SMG thug x3
• LMG thug x1
  

Supervillain: Sergeant Orc

Sergeant Orc has arrived in the city to commit crimes! Back in World War II, Sergeant Luca Porchia of the United States Marines was chosen as the subject for an Allied supersoldier program. While the experiment successfully gave Luca super strength and nigh-invulnerability, it also turned him into a hulking, violent, green monster. After he was deemed uncontrollable on the battlefield, Luca (now known as Sergeant Orc) was frozen⁠—against his will⁠—until such time as his condition could be cured. No cure was forthcoming, and after several decades, the quest to help Luca was abandoned and his cryogenic pod was quietly ignored. In 2011, Luca was discovered by Anachronist thieves as they raided his storage facility. Freed, Luca felt betrayed and began to cause destruction with the Anachronists, sometimes selling his services to the highest bidder.

There are a lot of greens on this model.

• Skin: Ceramcoat Dark Foliage Green, Ceramcoat Medium Foliage Green
• Cloth: Vallejo Game Extra Opaque Heavy Grey (72.145) (which is green.)
• Armor: Vallejo Model Color "Panzer Series" German C. Extra Dark Green (70.896)
• Accents: Vallejo Extra Opaque Heavy Sienna (72.154), Vallejo Extra Opaque Heavy Red (72.141), Vallejo Model Color Gunmetal Grey (70.863)
• Wash--Cloth and Skin: Citadel Agrax Earthshade (old matte formula)
• Wash--Armor and Accents: Citadel Nuln Oil

The model is from the Wargames Atlantic Landsknecht Ogres box (making it the fourth I've made from that box), but this does mean that even with the helmet and armor, he still has Landsknecht pants. Thankfully, as I was writing his backstory, I remembered the Anachonists and their love for Landsknecht costumes, so there's some decent reason "in universe" for the fashion choice.

In addition to his modern supervillainy, the Sergeant could also be used in pulp WWII games in a more heroic role.

Bloodborne Blood-Starved Beast and Hooded Beast

These two pieces are from the Bloodborne board game, and they were painted up on a whim. They're mostly drybrushed, so they were very quick. I used Ceramcoat Brick Red instead of my normal Vallejo red so that they're a bit more desaturated.

These could stand in for any number of monsters like werewolves, or they could be used for a two-stage boss battle with the little one turning into the big one.

Embers of Alexandria (Part Five) and Spectral Wolf

The evil cult known as the Embers of Alexandria have recruited some new members. In addition, they've allied themselves with a spectral wolf (so that I don't have to make two separate blog posts today)!

Five of the six Embers are made of the traditional parts: Frostgrave Cultist bodies and heads with Stargrave arms and weapons. This batch has three with assault rifles and two with the shotgun/sword combo. The new Spark (with the swanky yellow hood) is made with Dead Man's Hand Gunfighter parts topped with a Cultist hood; he's got a double-barreled shotgun and real evil cowboy vibe going on. This brings the Embers of Alexandria up to 47 members: Three Sparks, eleven Coals, thirty Ashes, and three "other" "members."

The wolf is a Reaper Miniatures "Bloodwolf." It has six legs, so I figured I couldn't paint it as a normal wolf. With a simple, green paintjob of mostly drybrushing, it can work as either a spectral wolf or an alien wolf, depending on what I need at the time.

Rock Worms

Here are the two Rock Worms from the Core Space First Born Kickstarter. I didn't like the default color scheme (white armor with bright pink fleshy bits), so I opted for a yellowed brown for the armored carapace and green for the fleshy bits. These are pretty dynamic models and will be great for bursting up through the ground into any science fiction or fantasy campaign.

I'm not sure if I'd use these figures as "Large" or "Huge" sized figures for gaming. They're on 32mm bases, but they're significantly taller than most "large" figures, and there's implied to be more of each worm still underground.

The bounty hunter's sizable rocket launcher seems woefully insufficient for the task at hand. The bounty hunter regrets being chosen to show the scale of the rock worms.

There are a lot more miniatures from the Core Space First Born box that I've yet to paint--the only other one I have painted is the droid I called SAT-R9. I will probably do some more from the box soon. The plastic quality is mediocre, but the sculpts themselves are pretty nice.

Ogre Zweihander

Here's another figure from the excellent Wargames Atlantic Landsknecht Ogres box. It's all straight off the sprue, other than the metal eyepatch (made from putty) and the bronzed skull medallion (made from half a skull from the Citadel Skulls box). 

The color palette is on the drab side, with similar greys and greens with just a bit of yellow, bronze, brown, and oily steel for little accents. The beard is a grey-brown; maybe this fellow managed to reach middle age despite his dangerous occupation.

All in all, this is a good looking ogre.

Scifi Alien Sniper, Mountain Man, and Setla Brontoid Rider

Here are some more kitbashed science fiction figures! On the left is a purple alien with a sniper rifle (which is impossible to really see from this angle). The head and arms are from Stargrave sprues, but the torso and legs are from the Dead Man's Hand Gunfighters sprue. His hat is from a Pike and Shotte sprue; the jaunty hat matched with the kerchief gives him a space-French look.

On the right is a space mountain man made from a Stargrave body and gun arm, along with a Dead Man's Hand saddlebags arm. He also has a backpack from a Death Fields Cannon Fodder sprue; the backpack carries a lot of explosives. Presumably, this grey-haired fellow totes around a goodly stash of gadgets and explosives along with his pistol.

Finally, in the center, is a Setla riding a genetically engineered dinosaur that I'm calling a Brontoid. This thing was kitbashed from all sorts of bits, and I love it. The dinosaur itself is a cheap children's toy; it came in a pack of a dozen different kinds, but this one looked suitable for riding. I went with a dark blue and orange color scheme, and the molded ridges really look good. The brontoid's headset/bridle is made from a part from the Antares set, some putty, and a tiny bead to hold the reins. He also has a tiny biomonitor on his chest, which also allows him to talk (but he's not very bright).

The rider is another Setla (I've apparently painted 17 Setla now?) made from a Reaper Miniatures Gray Alien Warrior with empty hands. I cut off the lower half and repositioned everything to make it look like they're sitting. The empty hands are glued to thin brown thread to look like reins and give some reason for the hands to be in such a weird pose. Working with that thread was a nightmare, but I'm happy with the result.

The saddle is a faceplate from a robot, the backpacks are from here and there, the gun is from Warlord Games Spec Ops, and the big belly strap is just painted duct tape.

Space Landsknecht Ogre and Trooper

I love these Wargames Atlantic Landsknecht Ogres. Having already painted up one fantasy version, I opted to make a scifi version. And, of course, since every big guy needs a little buddy, I cobbled together a normal Human coworker for him. The Ogre is entirely made up of parts from the Landsknecht Ogre box. The trooper is a Warlord Games Landsknecht body with a Stargrave head and arms and a Napoleonic British backpack. The pieces didn't work together perfectly (mostly due to Stargrave being 10% or so bigger than the Warlord body), but she turned out pretty well with a little bit of putty for the gaps.

I went with basically the same color scheme as the Leland's Fusiliers battlemechs. The Vallejo paints used are Heavy Blue (72.143), Heavy Bluegrey (72.144), Gunmetal Grey (70.863), and a little Bronze (70.998) and Bonewhite (72.034). The orange is Craftsmart Orange Spice. The wash is Citadel Nuln Oil (old formula). The skin is Craftsmart Brown, Brown mixed with Craftsmart Golden Brown, then topped off with just Golden Brown. There are a few more little incidental colors, but that mostly covers it.

I'll probably end up doing more of these guys so that I have another cool little scifi mercenary group. This is a much more involved color scheme than the simple corporate security scheme I've done, but these Ogres are just so rewarding.

Battletech: Another Wolverine

Since the Wolverine is in multiple boxes of Battletech, I have three of them. I have one painted for the Aka-Oni Irregulars, one painted for Leland's Fusiliers, and now one more painted in generic green and purple. This paint scheme matches the Stalker, so this technically means I have a third faction started.

      Wolverine (55 tons, BV 1101)
      Stalker (85 tons, BV 1559)

Third Faction
Total tons: 140
Total BV: 2660

Razormouth

This is a Reaper Miniatures "Razormouth," so named because of its excessive, razor-sharp teeth. I'm not entirely sure what kind of creature it's meant to be, but it's a pretty neat science-fictiony monster. As you can see when it's beside the Stargrave fellow, it's a hefty critter. It's mounted on about a 40" base, so I guess it will be considered a "large" creature in any one-inch-square-scale game but "medium" in any non-square game.

I really like how the paint came out. There is only a small wash on this to bring out the scales a bit. Everything else is just made of blends of purple, brown, and red, though it does have brown mixed with bone-white on its many, many bony protrusions.

Shuttle Alpha Exterior

Over two years ago, I put together this beautiful 28mm spaceship designed by 2nd Dynasty. Now the exterior is painted! There's a lot of information about the model in the previous post, so I won't repeat it here.

I started with a few coats of cheap Craftsmart "Dark Blue," but it wasn't giving the paint the sheen that it needed. I then applied a coat of Vallejo Model Color "Blue" (70.925) and that made it pop. As a secondary color, I used Vallejo Model Color "German Camouflage Extra Dark Green" (70.896). The metallic bits are a layer of Gunmetal Grey (70.863) with a drybrush of Oily Steel (70.865). I then applied some light sponging of random browns, greys, and metallics to weather the ship. There were some washes with Nuln Oil and Agrax Earthshade as well.

Maybe in two more years I'll have the interior painted...

Leland's Fusiliers: Marauder, Battlemaster, Crusader, Enforcer, and Shadow Hawk

These five mechs bring Leland's Fusiliers up to two-company strength (24 mechs), on par with the Aka-Oni Irregulars.

Three of these mechs (the Shadow Hawk, Marauder, and Battlemaster) are already painted up in Aka-Oni red, since two are from the main Game of Armored Combat Box, and I had another Marauder from a "Legendary Mechwarrior" single box that came with the last Kickstarter campaign as a bonus. Of the remaining two, the Crusader has two LRM-15s, which puts it in my fusilier category. The Enforcer is a good but not exceptional 50 ton all-rounder.

• Enforcer (50 tons, BV 1032)
• Shadow Hawk (55 tons, BV 1064)
  
• Crusader CRD-3D (65 tons, BV 1338)
• Marauder (75 tons, BV 1363)
• Battlemaster (85 tons, BV 1519)
  

Leland's Fusiliers Stats
Total mechs: 24
Total tons: 1445
Total battle value: 28,660

Despite both Leland's Fusiliers and the Aka-Oni Irregulars having 24 mechs each, the Fusiliers have a 55 ton and 1,456 BV advantage. In the grand scheme of things, however, the two forces are basically evenly matched.

Scifi Bounty Hunter with Rocket Launcher and Revolver

This bounty hunter has been sitting in my "almost finished" pile for a bit, so I finished him off. He's got a Frostgrave cultist head, a Stargrave trooper body, a Stargrave rocket launcher, and a Dead Man's Hand revolver arm. He has a very dynamic look that gives the rocket launcher some weight. His face reminds me of the Star Wars bounty hunter Dengar, but the similarities are broad at best. The painting on the face turned out surprisingly well.

This is a fun little kitbash to add to my growing ranks of unique scifi bounty hunters.

Aka-Oni Irregulars: Rifleman, Banshee, Victor

Today we bring the Aka-Oni Irregulars up to a full two-company strength. 24 mechs! The Rifleman isn't a favorite of mine, but it's... well, it's a mech and it looks nice. The Victor is equipped with an AC/20, which is enough for me to enjoy it. The original Banshee wasn't great, but this model is the BNS-3S, which carries two PPCs, an AC/10, four medium lasers, and an SRM-6; this is a solid assault mech that would be a terror to face on the battlefield at any range. The Banshee also has a cockpit that looks like sunglasses; this is top-tier design.

• Rifleman (60 tons, BV 1039)
  
• Victor (80 tons, BV 1370)
• Banshee (95 tons, BV 1751)

Total mechs: 24
Total tons: 1390
Total battle value: 27,204

Mordheim Terrain: Pie Shoppe Ruins & Fish Plaza Statue

I love the aesthetic of Mordheim ruins. With a campaign soon to start, I figured now would be a good time to make some terrain. Here are the two fruits of my labor: a ruined pie shoppe and a huge fish statue for a plaza.

First, we have the Pie Shoppe. This building is a staggered ruin with about a 6" square footprint. It stands 9.75" tall. The shoppe is made entirely of black foamcore and craft wood (dowels, coffee stirrers, popsicle sticks, etc.). This is my second attempt at making a ruined building; the first was a few years ago, and take my word for it when I tell you this building is a lot better.

The exterior is Craftsmart Brick Red mixed with varying levels of black paint. The interior is Craftsmart Dark Blue mixed with, as you might guess, varying levels of black paint. The wood is FolkArt Coffee Bean (940) mixed with... varying levels of black paint. Finally, everything was drybrushed with FolkArt matte Coffee Latte (2559) to really tie it all together. Then I added some fine turf flock ("Weeds") and clump foliage ("Conifer") from Woodland Scenics. When everything was complete, I heavily sprayed the whole thing with a Mod Podge mix which, while it made it a little shiny for these pictures, should also protect the paint job and flock during play.

Second, we have the Fish Statue. This is a large statue with a 4.75" square footprint that stands about 8.5" tall. The base is some kind of bumpy cardboard shipping material that I painted up like stone. The big fish statue is a Reaper Miniatures "Gulper" that came with the Bones 4 Kickstarter; I had no idea what to do with it, but since Mordheim has a fish motif, I rolled with it. The skeleton on the gulper's fin is from Wargames Atlantic, one of the torsos with no attached legs; I'm pretty happy with how he turned out. The smaller pikemen statues on each corner are Warlord Games Landsknecht Pikemen. Both the fish and the pikemen were painted up with bronze (or another, similar metallic paint), then covered with Citadel Nihilakh Oxide. I'm not sure if it's quite the effect I was going for, but it looks fine.

Pie Shoppe Ruins: 6"x6" (36 in²)

Fish Plaza Statue: 4.75"x4.75" (22.56 in²)

Total: 58.56 in²

A 4'x4' table (48"x48") is 2,304 in². If I were to aim for terrain coverage for half of the board, then it would mean it needs 1,152 in² of terrain. So, 58.56/1152 = 5%? If I aimed for covering one quarter of the board with terrain, that would mean 576 in², which would be about 10% done. That seems more manageable, so I'll set that as the goal. (I don't know if I'll even try to hit that goal, but it's a number to aim for.)

Mordheim: Ogre Bodyguard

Wargames Atlantic finally released their Landsknecht Ogre box, and I scooped it up immediately. I've been waiting for this box for ages, as it was supposed to release back in December. In any case, here's a big fellow to join both my Mordheim warband and my Noble Retinue (shown beside a normal-sized soldier for scale). Everybody needs a hulking enforcer, right?

The color scheme is the same as the other groups (red, grey, and charcoal), just... bigger. The teeth and nails are a base of Heavy Goldbrown with a thin layer of Bonewhite over it. There are eight more ogres in the box, so I'm sure they'll turn up here on the blog sooner or later.

Supervillains: Xeno and Doc Brimstone

More villains have arrived to torment my superhero miniatures, and these two share a supernatural affinity.

On the left is Lord Xeno the Eyeless, an ancient, twisted creature. Though blind, Xeno's magic allows him to see--and see beyond the mortal realm.

Xeno is a metal Stargrave miniature that came with my Nickstarter order (yes, Nickstarter with an N) when Stargrave first came out. Obviously, it would also work well for a Mystic Captain or First Mate for Stargrave when it's not busy being supervillainous. I love the hooded coat, especially from the back.

On the right is Doc Brimstone, previously the Brimstone Kid. This foul creature bedeviled Dead Marshal back in the wild west and has continued his evil from the old frontier to the modern day. Aside from packing heat with his magic revolver, he also packs heat in a more literal sense with his mystical control of fire. A right charmer, he's willing to make deals with anyone--but he's sure to come out ahead in the end.

Doc Brimstone is a Stargrave head on a Dead Man's Hand gunfighters body, with a hand throwing up horns from Anvil Industry.

Leland's Fusiliers: Awesome, Locust, and Thunderbolt

New year, new mechs. Leland's Fusiliers have been reinforced with three new battlemechs. 

• Awesome (80 tons, BV 1,605)
• Locust (20 tons, BV 432)
  
• Thunderbolt (65 tons, BV 1,335)

Interestingly, I've already painted another copy of all three of these mechs in Aka-Oni red; they're all from the Game of Combat boxed set, of which I have two copies.

Leland's Fusiliers Stats
Total mechs: 19
Total tons: 1115
Total battle value: 22,344

Superheroes: Baroque Boy, Brightside, Scrapper, Magefist

Behold the newest team of superheroes! I've recently put together four superheroes (who, granted, could just as easily be supervillains). Inspired by reading through the rules for Masks: A New Generation, which does not use miniatures nor feature any tactical combat, I put together these fine heroes. Also, I made a lot of supervillains last year, and there are only a few painted heroes to keep them in check. Something must be done to balance the scales of JUSTICE!

In the group picture here, they are (from left to right) Baroque Boy, Brightside, Scrapper, and Magefist!

First is Scrapper. She's a cyborg made with parts from the Stargrave Crew II and Mercenaries II boxes. Her head is resin from the Anvil Industry Female Wasteland Heads sprue. The buzzsaw was a hand weapon with a full handle, but I cut off the handle and glued a nice flat part to the obligatory Stargrave wrist-thing (which always makes it look like Stargrave minis have a Fallout-style Pip-Boy). I painted a rough S on the back of the leather jacket. Green and brown aren't really "hero colors," but they offer a nice warm contrast to the metallic robot parts. She could just as easily--or more easily--be used as a villain. Scrapper is definitely my favorite hero of this batch, and her heavy left arm and cybernetics would make her a great mirror/nemesis for Southpaw.

This is Baroque Boy, sidekick to the Renaissance Man. He's based almost entirely on the pun of the Baroque coming after the Renaissance. The miniature is from Reaper's Bones 5 townsfolk line. He's got a red front cape part and a blue back cape? I don't know what these costume parts are called. He also has a dark gray muffin hat and knee-length tunic. With the yellow mask, he has all the primary colors, and the dark gray keeps everything focused on his face and upper body. With his slightly hunched posture, I think Baroque Boy might still be a bit uncomfortable in his role, needing more time in the hero career to really grow into his heroism.

Next is Brightside, a genius gadgeteer with a flamethrower and a drone. Once again, mostly Stargrave parts with a head from the Anvil Industry Female Wasteland Heads sprue. The drone is attached with a magnet, so it can be removed and put on its own flight stand! Her outfit is largely gray, but that makes the black and bright red really pop. Flamethrowers aren't typical hero tools, but there's no rule that says they can't be. Also, when the drone is mounted to her back, she can use it as a jump pack for maneuverability. Fun fact: the drone is actually a tiny-scale spaceship, the European Federation Comète class Interceptor from Brigade Models, which I had lying around from an old spaceship combat game I built up a force for.

Finally, we have a martial artist. Or a magician. Or a magical martial artist? I don't really know. I just wanted to try a purple and blue color scheme. Let's call her Magefist and assume she likes '80s action movies. The body and head are Stargrave II, while the arms are Frostgrave Wizards II. Blue and purple isn't a color that you see much in comics, but there are a few characters like Galactus and the Sentinels that wear it. It's not really a hero color combination. Still, assuming Magefist is calculating and stealthy, the cool colors work pretty well.

There we go. Four young heroes to keep the city safe from the rogue's gallery I've been building up. Speaking of which, I have pages set up for a Supervillain Directory and Superhero Directory, with links available in the left column.