This figure is built from the Project Z Female Survivors sprues, combining the arm options to carry the two guns, and clipping off some of the "extra" weapons to put on display. The color choices are basically greens with either a black wash (jacket and hat) or sepia wash (shirt and pants).
After being fully painted and while still attached to the painting handle (actually just a craft paint container), Armory fell off my desk and snapped off in three pieces. Emergency superglue surgery has gotten her back into fighting form, and the fracture lines are basically invisible if you don't know where to look.
Memento's figure comes from the Project Z Female Survivors, though the head is swapped out for one from a Stargrave sprue. Even in grey plastic, this one looked like someone out of a comic book, and I think the end result turned out very well. The purple is Vallejo Game Color Extra Opaque Heavy Violet (72.142) with a wash of (possibly unnecessary) Vallejo Violet Wash (73.209). Basalt Grey (70.869) and a smidge of Stonewall Grey (72.049) set off some of the black. The two henchmercenaries are entirely from the Project Z Modern Military sprue, and are painted black, drybrushed with Heavy Charcoal and a few spots of Luftwaffe Uniform WWII. Otherwise, the colors carry over from Memento.
The road texture is Heavy Charcoal, then stippled Luftwaffe Uniform WWII, then stippled Basalt Grey. It gives it a more varied and interesting look than the flat color I've been using lately. I found that by painting the street lines first, then laying down a very thin strip of painting tape (then painting one more layer of the street line color), I could paint the rest of the road while maintaining a really smooth line.
The building was 3D printed in two main pieces, with the roof (and top three layers of bricks) as a separate piece that attaches to the bottom with magnets. The sign, door frames, and window frames are also separate pieces. The window frames are each split into two halves, with "window glass" of transparent acetate (overhead projector sheets) sandwiched between them. The current sign design is a stand-in until I can design more appropriate signage.
This puts our fair city to a total of 12.5 lots out of the 14 needed to fill the board:
Using three of my 2-inch (half lot) alleys would be enough to make up the missing spaces. This means the basic urban table is practically done!
You can never have too many generic thugs, and Gingerbread has rung in the new year by recruiting a few more dastardly goons to her criminal empire. These are painted in the same basic colors as the previous generic thugs, though this grey has a slightly greenish hue (Vallejo "German C. Extra Dark Green").
This batch also adds another special lieutenant, Mr. Mistletoe, with a heavy anti-superhero weapon. The missile weapon Mistletoe is towing appears to be an AT4 (from a Project Z sprue). According to Wikipedia, "the AT4 is a Swedish 84 mm unguided, man-portable, disposable, shoulder-fired recoilless anti-tank weapon." Technically, it's a recoilless rifle and not a missile launcher, but honestly, I'm just going to call it a rocket launcher.
So, this brings Gingerbread's gang up to 13 members:
That seems like a decent-enough criminal organization for a supervillain. (This does now outnumber the next-largest specifically supercriminal group, Redcoat's gang, which has a total of 11 members.)
The restaurant is printed on a 4" by 8" base so that it can be used as a modular component of a larger board. The base and walls were printed together, then the roof was printed separately. (The small beam across the top of the skylight was also printed separately, using less than one gram of filament.)
While I'm not finished painting (with mostly weathering to do), it's currently in a table-ready state. First, everything was primed with Craft Smart Black, as usual. The brick is a haphazard mix of FolkArt Imperial Red (4669) and FolkArt Matte Coffee Bean (940); having a bit more or less on each brushstroke gives some nice color variation. The blue is Vallejo Blue (70.925) and the grey is Vallejo Heavy Bluegrey (72.144). The front concrete is actually a different grey, Ceramcoat Rain Grey (02543), but the two are very similar. The roof was a progression of dabbed colors with a coarse brush, though a sponge may work better in the future. I went with a mix of Black (70.950) and Basalt Grey (70.869), then some haphazard mixes of that with Luftwaffe Uniform WWII (70.816) and Rain Grey, then some FolkArt Real Brown (231) and Coffee Bean. The metal bits are a mix of Gunmetal Grey (70.863) and Oily Steel (70.865), with a bit of that mixed with Craftsmart Orange Spice for a little bit of rust.
The closed security gate at the front is actually a piece of thin cardboard. I scored lines into it with an old ballpoint pen, then painted the whole thing with Oily Steel. I then dabbed on some Real Brown and Coffee Bean—especially around the base—to dirty things up.
The big sign is just a placeholder, as I hope to make up a bunch of (scale) signs, posters, and other things, put them all onto a single sheet at high DPI, and get them professionally color printed. I may also finish the interior with scrapbook paper (for flooring and wallpaper); scale restaurant furniture is possible, but unlikely for the foreseeable future.
I hope to design and print more modular tiles for this set soon!
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.
I've started to put together some reinforcements for my 6Gun mercenary force, partly to offset the threat of the Embers of Alexandria cult. With my recent order from Anvil Industry for more of their costly but excellent resin bits, I bought some modular female pieces. They stand slightly taller, on average, than the males (as shown in the picture).
From left to right, these figures are:
These four bring 6Gun up to nineteen human members.
Six of these were originally meant for a Frostgrave warband, painted up in purple. I never finished painting them, which is just as well, since now they're in the red and grey livery of the Embers. There are five in this batch that could be used in Frostgrave (the ones with archaic weapons), but I did add a shotgun to the hand-axe wielder, so he'll probably have to stay in modern times.
Four more were newly built and painted alongside the six. I put together two more light machine-gunners to provide heavy fire, since I feel like they would be the most common support weapon. There's one more pistoleer, because I wanted to see if a shaved-down SMG would look like a pistol. Finally, there's another Ash with an assault rifle, so that I can do three squads of three; each squad could also include an LMG Coal and a shotgun Ash. Nice little evil fireteams.
And then I built three more, because I was kind of on a roll. Another Ash with an assault rifle, another Coal with an RPG, and another Coal with a sniper rifle. The sniper got the "hero face" treatment. I haven't done an actual miniature face since February; everything's been robots, masks, skeletons, or aliens. So, since I liked the pose and wanted to do a nice face, I gave him good eyes, good skin blend, some redness on the nose, and the overall glow up treatment.
With these thirteen added, here's where the Embers of Alexandria stand in total:
Total: 41
That's an insane number of cultists. The Embers' primary opponent, the 6Gun mercenaries, only have fifteen (human) soldiers; maybe it's time to start thinking about reinforcements. You know, to keep the cultist threat in check.
Here's where the Embers of Alexandria stand in total:
28 cultists! My old maroon and brown fantasy warband only has 25 members, meaning the cultists have stolen the title for "most painted figures in a cohesive group." I'll probably knock out a few more Embers here and there in the new year, but I have a very solid foundation painted up for whatever I end up doing with them.
There are two cultists with the rank of Coal, a sniper and a hacker. The sniper has his eyes uncovered so he can see to do his job. The hacker has a visored helmet and carries a tablet and SMG. I really like the sniper figure; I tolerate the hacker figure. (The hacker's head really doesn't work for me, and the pose isn't great.)
Unlike most of the cultists, she has a full face and skin, which I think turned out really well.
The pose is quite dynamic as she reaches up toward--something. The pictures don't really do it justice. It's definitely one of my favorite poses that I've ever assembled from a multi-part kit (in this case, entirely the Frostgrave Wizards 2 sprue).
As you can see from the weird lighting, I was playing around with a new set of colored LEDs that I received for Christmas. Magic!
These are cultists of an organization known as The Embers of Alexandria. In 48 BC, Julius Caesar burned part of the library of Alexandria. Historically, it is believed this was an accident, but the Embers maintain that it was intentional, destroying a tremendous store of forbidden knowledge that Caesar feared would fall into his enemies’ hands. In vengeance, the Embers salvaged what they could and successfully conspired with allies in Rome to assassinate Caesar. For the next several centuries, the Embers functioned as a mystery cult across the Roman world. In the dark ages, they hoarded knowledge in faux-monasteries paying lip service to the Catholic church. In the age of exploration, after a series of purges, the Embers spread across the world, in search of new knowledge or ways to bring their tremendous arcane power to bear for revenge or profit. The Embers have split into several factions in modern history, and each faction has differing and sometimes conflicting aims.
The miniatures (except for the big guy) are a mix of Frostgrave Cultist and Stargrave Trooper parts (with a few other bits mixed in).
Here are the three individuals. On the left is the leader of the soldiers. His rank is Torch (with Coals and Ashes below him), as indicated by his yellow cowl. He's armed with an assault rifle and a sweet backpack with an axe.
The big fellow is a Reaper Miniatures "Maggotcrown Bonesack." Quite the name and quite the creature. It came with the Bones 4 Kickstarter. Beyond this project, it would be perfect as a creature in Zona Alfa or many post-apocalyptic or sci-fi settings. The gaping maw immediately makes me assume it can swallow characters whole, maybe if they're still grappled a round after being grabbed. Maybe faster.
On the right is a hybrid, unarmed beyond incredible supernatural powers. It's a cultist body and arms with an alien head from a Stargrave Sprue.
Here are three of the Coals (a rank which normally means they use special/heavy weapons). They also wear metal masks in their cowl.
On the left, a cultist with a rocket-propelled grenade. He's running somewhere with a spare rocket grenade.
In the center, a cultist with a light machine gun and a backpack full of ammunition, perfect for suppressing those foolish enough to oppose the Embers.
On the right, a cultist armed with flamethrower arms from the Wargames Atlantic Einherjar. Burn!
Here are six Ashes, the foot soldiers of the Embers. They're armed with assault rifles. This is probably the most common cultist type. No special abilities, no special technology, just numbers and plenty of ammunition.
Finally, some different Ashes. On the left are a trio armed with pistols. They could either be used as lower-threat enemies, or as technicians or other scenario-based units.
On the right, two Ashes armed with shotguns and axes. Presumably, these guys would act as rushers to get in close and do heavy damage if not taken care of.
Opposing these cultists would probably be my 6Gun Mercenaries (possibly rethemed as something more heroic). These cultists could also work as a Stargrave crew. (Spark and Hybrid as captain and first mate, the Coals as possible specialists, and the Ashes as Troopers/Sentries/Runners/Recruits as needed. They could also work as pirate enemy forces for Stargrave. While we're at it, these could work as forces for Zona Alfa. Or villains in a superhero campaign! So many possibilities! So many cultists! (16! And the big guy!)
A while back, I posted a picture of a scavenger team that I put together. Not too long after, I put together a few more models that would fit in as similar units, using the same camouflage pattern. They were speed-painted, and I never got around to doing the skin or weapons at the time; I recently found them in the "In Progress" bin and decided to finish them off.
These are all Warlord Games Project Z models, mostly from the Bikers box. The poses are a little awkward sometimes, but they hold good detail. The rightmost guy was originally a child, but I put him on some sandbags for height and, when I continued the project, I took off the original, oversized head I'd used and put on a Setla head.
So, all in all, these are five more "filler" units for whatever. With a heavy wash of Citadel Agrax Earthshade, they look pretty good despite their speed and sloppiness.
The majority of the figure is, as with all of the mercenaries, Anvil Industries resin. They make these heads, probably as proxies for Warhammer 40k Genestealer Hybrids, but they work for generic aliens as well. The right arm with the power axe is plastic from the Frostgrave soldiers box. With the pauldron and thick glove, it looks like he has some protection or insulation against the power axe.
He's in the normal 6Gun color scheme. His skin is a base of Vallejo "Game Extra Opaque Heavy Red," which is a good single-coat paint. It's blended with some Vallejo "Orange Fire" for the central, um, ridge? Cleft? The middle bits of the forehead. I then put some different color splotches and washes over the head to give it some splotchy texture. The axe is dark blue blended up through sky blue to white. It's okay, but not great.
So, I realized I didn't have a picture of the current 6Gun roster, even before this gentleman was hired, so I took the below picture. They're so cool. While not my largest army (that would be the brown/maroon medieval team), they are the most detailed and the group I've spent the most time on. Sixteen members!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
