Painting Reaper's "Dark Maiden" as a Frostgrave Construct

   Ever since I started working on my Frostgrave waterfront last year, I have thought that the Reaper "Dark Maiden" figure would make a cool addition to my Frostgrave figure collection; taking the roll of either a dockside Construct, or even a Wraith.  I was lucky enough to pick one up in a trade a while back, and it's been lingering on my painting table until I built up the courage to tackle it.  I finally decided with the River scenario from the Frostgrave Thaw of the Lich Lord  supplement on our schedule for next month, that it was time to build up my courage and tackle this beautiful figure.

     In mulling over paint schemes, I decided that I wanted to do something like the grayish-brown of the masthead shown on the shipwreck of the Charlotte during the opening scenes of the movie "National Treasure."

    This seemed simple enough, just some brown and grey drybrushing over a dark base.  The hard part was going to be that I wanted to make it look possessed, with glowing eyes and glowing swords; and Object Source Lighting (OSL) still is not a strong technique for me.
  So I began by assembling the model and then priming it with flat white spray paint.  I then painted the entire thing with Americana "Mississippi Mud", followed by a complete wash with Citadel "Agrax Earthshade" wash.

      Then, when the wash was dry, I drybrushed the figure with Americana "Neutral Grey", followed by Americana "Barn Wood", and lastly Americana "Dove Grey".

      I then worked on the metal parts; painting them first with Americana "Asphaltum", followed by splotchy areas of Crafter's Edition "Spice Brown", followed by more splotches of Reaper MSP "Pumpkin Orange".  I let it all dry a while then gave the metal parts a wash with Citadel "Nuln Oil" wash.

     My next step was to paint her eyes and swords with Reaper MSP "Dungeon Slime".  When dry, I gave the eyes and swords a wash with Iron Wind Metals "Medium Green" ink.  When that was dry, I built up central highlights along the blades and in the eyes working from the base "Dungeon Slime up to Reaper MSP "Peppermint White".  I then gently drybrushed, using the "Dungeon Slime", anywhere I thought the glowing eyes or swords would cast their light.
    I then repainted the base with Americana "Snow White", and glued on some "ice" made from letting a thick layer of clear crackle paint dry in a plastic container.
   Lastly I textured the base with a mix of Citadel "Vahallan Blizzard" textured paint, and regular White paint. The next day I sprayed the figure with Testor's Dullcote.
    I'm really happy with how it turned out.   While I wish it had turned out a little more aged grey, and less brown; I still think it looks properly demonic. :)

Reaper's Drowned Spirit Painted for Frostgrave

    This week I painted Reaper's"Drowned Spirit" figure to use as a wraith in my Frostgrave games.  This figure was newly released when I was planning my Frostgrave harbor terrain build and something about it just made it seem like the perfect fit to be a ghost to haunt the old harbor. So, I ordered it over the holidays, and just now got around to painting it.  I'm really pleased with how it turned out.

    To help convey the frigid Frostgrave look, I added a Water Effects icicle under the rocky outcropping.  Also, I went with a glossy finish, instead of my usual matte, to help bring across the wet look.

28mm Sci-Fi Tanks from Made-in-China Toys Conversion

  Right before Christmas I made a pair of Sci-Fi tanks as a present for a friend.  I had seen other folks online who had modified inexpensive toy tanks into Sci-Fi tanks before, and it seemed like a fun project to do.  I was happy to have a reason to make a pair of them myself.   I started by buying a bag of toy soldiers that contained two plastic tanks from the toy aisle at the local Walgreens.

    I replaced the existing turrets with ones made from old Spiriva inhalers, and the gun barrels were made from syringe covers.  I also added some engine pods to the backs of both tanks made from dollar store toy binoculars separated into two halves.  Other model and toy bits were then added to round out the look.

 I glued a large fender washer into the hole where the old turret sat, and a section of copper tubing to the underside of each turret, allowing them to rotate when in place on the hull.  When everything was assembled, and the glue had had time to dry, I sprayed the tanks with light green camo spray paint.

      When the spray was dry, I added details, weathering and decals to complete the vehicles.

    I'm pleased with how the pair turned out, and am looking forward to seeing them used in a game.

Saving Wee Willie Winkie By GASLIGHT

This past Sunday Buck Surdu hosted a GASLIGHT game as a going-away event for a friend of his who works for the State Dept. and is about to be deployed overseas.  The game was set in the Northwest Frontier, and was a followup scenario to a previous one Buck had ran in which British troops were tasked with saving Wee Willie Winkie from the clutches of the evil Pasha.  In this outing, the British troops were on their way back to camp with Wee Willie Winkie when they are ambushed by the Pasha's men and some Russian advisers who have supplied the Pathans with some Steam timberclads

The scene early in the game as the Brits from up their defense. My troops are seen moving off on the left, while a force of Sikhs move up to hold the center, and the Lady Hussars take the right.

     I played on the British side, commanding two units of Punjab infantry, a light steam tank, and Captain. Caruthers.  The Brits decided to form into a defensive lager, anchored on several key terrain pieces, while withdrawing Wee Willie Winkie to a safe distance far from the front lines.

Some of the fierce fighting around the point of the British inverted "V".

   On the British right, part of the column get separated from the main body  and valiantly held out the entire game against repeated attacks from two units of Russians and their Steam Lorry. The rest of the British line ended up in a shallow inverted "V" , with the point of the V on a hill in the center of the table.  The British left was anchored on a large outcropping , but the right, held by the Female Hussars ended up with out a secure anchor.

My troop unleash a volley at a charging unit of Pathans.

    A fierce battle developed in the center as the Pathans threw their weight against the Brits holding the hill.  The fight seesawed back and forth.   Meanwhile, where I was positioned on the left, I was able to hold off the Pathans facing me.  After a couple devastating volleys from my troops, the Pathans contented themselves with holding their ground and sniping at my troops at long range.

The Pathans facing me resorted to sniping from the hills.

  When the time seemed right I decided to counterattack, launching my one unit of lancers in  a flanking maneuver around the large outcropping securing our flank, and attempting to take the Pathans in their flank as my infantry charged forward and hit them in the front.

An overview of the table at the height of the battle.

  My cavalry successfully decimated the first unit they hit with the aid of some  volleys from some Highlanders positioned nearby, but my mounted troops then came up against the decimated unit's Leader, The Big Khan, who started slicing his way through my horsemen like they were butter.  Only the intervention of the Major in charge of our force saved my horseman, and defeated the Khan.

Wee Willie Winkie being guarded by a unit of Highlanders.

This unfortunately delayed the cavalry, so that my infantry was caught charging  across the open terrain without the mounted troops providing a flanking force, and I ended up taking some serious casualties.  Luckily, at that point the game was called as it was dinner time.  The Brits were declared the winners, as even though many of our units were chewed up, the Pathans were no where near Wee Willie Winkie, and in fact had been severely mauled themselves in the battle.
    You can read another report of the battle on Buck's Blog.

The Big Khan slices through my cavalry, before going head to head with the British Major.

  Everyone had a blast, and the game was a lot of fun.   Thanks go out to Buck for hosting, and his wife Candy for providing great snacks throughout the game and a nice dinner afterwards.

British on Mars with Earth Pattern Radium Rifles

This past week I worked on completing a unit of 10 British Soldiers armed with Earth-pattern Radium Rifles to use in my "Terror Devils of Mars" GASLIGHT game, Saturday night at Cold Wars.

I constructed these figures using the plastic Wargames Factory Zulu Wars British Firing Line Infantry, and the rifles were from a set of plastic Warzone Bauhaus Ducal Militia.   I imagine the rifles to be earth constructed radium rifles copied and modified from the Martian originals.

  I painted them in an alternate history 1880's-'90's uniform, that envisions the British reissuing the red tunic for Mars service, but keeping the standard khaki trousers.
   The figure shown below is a man-portable Gatling armed soldier, also made from a Wagames Factory figure with a Warzone heavy weapon added.

Artizan Late War Germans in Winter Gear

  I recently competed a couple packs of Artizan's 28mm Late War Germans in winter outfits.  I plan on using these figures for the club's traditional New Year's Eve game day, and again for Cold Wars, in a GASLIGHT Pulp game called, "Santa Claus vs the Nazis."  Here is the game description as submitted to the Cold Wars PEL:
   "Bent on obtaining fabled and occult objects from across the globe, Hitler sets his sights on the magical factories of Santa’s North Pole workshops. If these factories could be turned to munitions production for the Third Reich, nothing would be able stop the Nazi war machine. The Fuhrer dispatches a team of commandos to capture Santa’s workshops. Can Santa, his elves, and toys stop the invaders, or will evil prevail? Children under 14 with playing adult only."

You can click on any photo to see it larger.

The figures will of course also  be very useful for historical scenarios too.  And will probably see service in the Bulge, and on the Russian Front.

 

  The figures were fun and easy to paint. I first sprayed them with gray Krylon primer, then drybrushed them with successively lighter shades of gray, working my way to white.  The baggy outfits have lots of great folds and creases to pick up the dry brushing.

The bases were painted white, then flocked with a mix of Woodland Scenics snow flock, white sand, and some old mica glitter.  Some were then detailed with either twigs, or rope fibers to represent dead grasses, or small white stones.

Historicon 2012 AAR: Mars by GASLIGHT Extravaganza

Saturday morning, Buck and I ran our big 21 player Mars by GASLIGHT Extravaganza.   This was a mash-up game of many different Mars backgrounds, and featured Green Martians, Red Martians, Cephalopod Martians, Rockmen of Mars, and even Rooman of Mars, plus a variety of Earthmen forces, including American, Russian, German, British, and Masked Minions of unknown origin.  We had a full compliment of players around our big 20 ft table, which was decked out with an assortment of terrain from both our collections.

Overview of the table.

Everyone had their own objective. These were such things as retrieving an ancient artifact, rescuing Dejah Thoris, securing a crate of medicine, capture one of each type of Martian, or obtaining Cephalopod tripod technology, for example.

Green Martians can be seen advancing in the foreground, and German Sea Battalion troopers move out in the back.

The figures used were an assortment of Bronze Age, Parroom Station, Tin Man, Pulp Figures, Hinterland, Ironclad, and a number of other manufacturers. Many of the vehicles were scratch built.

A view of the action near the canal bridge.  A real scrum developed here in the table's center.

In the end, several of the players achieved their objectives, and the players all seemed to enjoy the game. We as the GM's had a blast setting it up and running it. And we appreciated those folks who hung around and helped us clean up.

The Female Hussars advance with their gyrocopter support

Buck (in khaki shirt) helps some of the player work through a close combat melee

The big battle in the center.

The view from the far side of the canal.

A view of the table about midway though the game.

Another scene of battle. In the foreground is the Red Martian Thoat with a radium cannon mounted in the howdah, and the German Sea Battalion's walker. In the back can be seen the Russian tank (copper colored), and on the left can be seen Tars Tarkus riding his Thoat.

Russian cavalry battles a group of Green Martians

A lucky shot blows up the Russian tank, and a nearby Female Hussar gyrocopter is caught in the explosion and explodes itself, killing some of the Female Hussars on the ground.

Buck and I doing our tag-team card calling.  Both of us were constantly calling unit cards throughout the game to keep the action moving and nearly lost our voices by the end.

GASLIGHT Thark Unit Completed

As Historicon quickly approaches, I am rapidly trying to complete all the Martian units I'm contributing for the big 20 player Mars Extravaganza GASLIGHT game Buck Surdu and I are running there. This week, I finally finished up my unit of 10 Tharks (six-armed green Martians). These figures are from Bronze Age Mniatures, and I really like their large size and dynamic sculpts.
There's also a lot of detail on the figures so, they were an ease to paint.

Shown with the Tinman John Carter figure to give a sense of size.

First Red Martian Unit Finished

This week I finished my first unit of ten Red Martians and an overall commander for the big 20 player GASLIGHT game Buck Surdu and I are running at Historicon.  The figures are from Bronze Age and measure 32mm tall.  I really like Bronze Age's stuff.  The figures were relatively flash free and have a lot of detail that really makes simple paint jobs look good.