Rudulian Runner

 This is the last member (for now) for my first Stargrave crew. He's another red, forehead-ridged Rudulian, and he came out pretty well. He's got the team arctic camouflage pattern on his sweatpants, paired with a dark blue-grey hoodie. He's also got a pistol and sweet goggles. All parts are resin from Anvil Industries.

In Stargrave, he's a runner, a free (no cost) and fast but pretty ineffective unit that can be used to fill out your crew. He could also be used as a Recruit.

It's nice to have the full crew done. Below is a group photo.

Back row: Runner, Chiseler, Hacker, Sentry, Trooper, Trooper

Front row: Burner, First Mate (Veteran), Captain (Tekker), Pathfinder

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.