Myfanwy Thomas from 'The Rook'

This is Myfanwy Thomas, the main protagonist in 'The Rook', a fantasy novel set in modern day UK, where a nefarious and dangerous element within the British Government faces off against foreign entities, and tries to cover up arcane plots from public sight. Wait, I hear you say, isn't that the Tory government? No, no, no this is an effective government entity doing these things, and it's fiction. ;)

Seriously, this is a great two-book series. Think Cthulhu meets Bond, with a dash of Holmes and a sprinkling of Frankenstein. Don't watch the TV miniseries as it sucks Big Time. Stick to the books. Anyway, Myfanwy is a super fun, kick-ass character. Sort of a wallflower, but wickedly smart and with some arcane skills backing her up. Very, very fun.

This is a figure from Hasslefree Miniatures. Very petite and slim, perfect for Myfanwy. Really simple paintjob as I didn't want to overthink it. Bam, done.

Thanks for popping in for a peek!

- Curt

Loo Roll HazMat Team

I'm still undecided if this post is in very poor taste or ingeniously apropos... No matter, I'll put my head down, brass it out and hope for the best. I present to you a quartet of  special forces operators in badly clashing hazmat gear. 

To my way of thinking, in a perfect world, these would be the guys we'd call in to 'have a chat' with the loo roll hoarders and those tw@ts who refuse to take 20 seconds to wash their hands.

Some may think those backpack canisters hold oxygen, but I think they are just clever toilet paper holders...

These are Ebob sculpts offered through Hasslefree Miniatures. Great minis to paint, with lots of foldy relief and neat details to have fun with. I thought I'd save time using yellow contrast paint, but it all just ended up with me layering them similar to my normal method. This being said, I still enjoy the funky colours you can achieve with these paints, depending on how you mix them and on how you prepare the surface (i.e. use of various shades of grays and whites as an underlay to skew the colour saturation).

I was originally planning to put them on clear bases like my other modern skirmish stuff, but I thought that I had run out of stocks, so I muddled along without them. As it turns out I had scads of them in another drawer (facepalm), but being lazy I just dashed ahead as is. Sigh. I think they look okay.

Thanks for dropping in for a peek!

Curt

A New Project: The Second American Civil War (2020-?)

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This project is a pure flight of fancy, a bit of shameless, cathartic self-indulgence. I've always had a dark fascination for contemporary conflicts - the brutal, kinetic and extreme violence that seems to pick away at the edges of our fragile veneer of modernity. I know that for many in the hobby, ultra-modern warfare is simply 'a stetting too far', or indeed too close, perhaps a little too near to home. I completely understand, but I find this setting allows me to indulge my somewhat jaundiced view of the world, letting me to playfully skirt the margins of convention (and perhaps good taste).

Several years ago I wrote a piece on my blog where I reflected on wargaming, history and morality. In retrospect I think it was a little too heavy for a toy soldier blog, but whatever, I enjoyed writing it and I recently revisited the post along with all the well-considered responses from those who took the time to comment on it. At the time when I wrote it, I wasn't sure if I wanted to wargame ultra-modern settings, but now I think it may serve nicely as a cathartic outlet. 

While wanting to do something ultra-modern, I'm not especially interested in gaming the stereotypical white special forces guys operating in third world countries, killing brown and black people. Instead I want to explore the divisions in our own western society by taking our contemporary environment to an extreme conclusion, a narrative where North America has fundamentally broken down. It's meant as a poke in the eye to our civilized sensibilities, something provocative to fly in the face of our Western sense of superiority - blowing up the idea that, 'it could never happen here'. 

So I present to you my vision of 'The Second American Civil War (2020-?)'. 

I won't go too much into the hypothetical background other than to say that it's built upon the premise that the POTUS, fearing the comeuppance of impending destiny, has manufactured a crisis from which he has declared martial law. This serves to interrupt any constitutional challenge to his power and helps to divert attention away from his various entanglements. 

Peaceful demonstrations criticizing the Executive Office are suppressed by elements of the government's enforcement agencies and nationalist militias. So, demonstrations turn to riots, and riots to open revolt. From this, the great 'American Experiment' begins to unravel.

Like many of these kinds of projects, this one will probably never see 'completion', but that's not what this is all about. I'm just wanting it to serve as a silly vehicle for my sardonic, very personal narrative of what I see occurring in the world today.

Anyway, enough blather, let's get on to the miniatures!

The figures and terrain seen here are from several sources.

First, we have a team of MAGA Militia in their distinctive red baseball caps. These guys are from Spectre Miniatures. Great sculpts, though the weapons are 'true scale' which means rather fragile.

Then we have a team of generic, very well-equiped urban operators. Perhaps members of a SWAT team. These chaps are from Hasslefree miniatures. A bit larger than your average 28mm figures, but beautiful models to work on.

Then four members of a Mexican Sicario hit team. As a certain silly Orange Man described them, these are all 'Bad Hombres'. The figures are from Spectre Miniatures.

Finally a group of local survivors just trying to stay alive. I imagine these as ex-military service personnel armed and clothed in an ad-hoc mixture of gear and equipment. These are also from Spectre.

I'm imagining several more factions, militias, thrill-kill cults still to come, which should be fun and perhaps raise an eyebrow or two. :)

The terrain shown here is a mix of stuff as well. 

The gas station is from Sarissa Precision. This was a incredibly fun kit to work on. Due to the setting I had in mind, I really went over the top on weathering it. Sarah says I need an old Coke machine out front and a bunch of windblown newspapers around the pumps - as usual, she's absolutely right.

The billboard is from my good friend Byron over at Northern Lights Terrain and Gaming Supplies. A great little kit that was easy to assemble and a doodle to weather up.

The two wrecked cars are from 'The Walking Dead' terrain boxed set. I think it has 4  plastic vehicles, half a dozen barricades and a bunch of other scatter for around 30 bucks - Really, an incredible value for what you get. I picked this up at 'Crisis' this past autumn and DaveD was kind enough to send it on home so I wouldn't have to pack it around Europe for the rest of our vacation. Thanks Dave! 

The green wrecked car is a resin model from Armorcast. 

The Jersey concrete barriers and oil drums are 3D prints from Thingiverse. 

So there you have it, my little post-apocalyptic diversion for the summer. I invite you to come back to see more stuff roll out over the coming months. It's going to be YUUGE! 

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From DallasE: 28mm 40K Tech Priest, Dwarves & M113 APCs (90 points)

Dallas, one of the Old Guard of my old gaming group: The Fawcett Ave Conscripts, sends in this great post featuring a 40K Tech Priest, a passel of Dwarves and a trio of M113 APCs.

From Dallas:

1. Rogue Trader era 28mm Adeptus Mechanicus Tech Priest. Useful as an objective or scenic weirdness in our occasional RT games. 

2. Hasslefree 28mm Dwarves (4). Picked these up at Salute '12 and with the recent Fantasy Madness have just painted them. A joy to paint, etc. They are great, ordering more.

3. First Corps 28mm M113 APCs (3). Got these for my birthday, to go with the MOPP-suited US Army troops I painted for your last competition (!). These are not very good models and required a lot of cleanup and greenstuff work to get looking remotely "OK". Strictly speaking they are Vietnam-era, but I sculpted gasmasks on the crew and I think they're close enough for government work ;-) The stowage is random resin stuff found on eBay as "Sherman stowage". It's from someplace in South Korea and is really good stuff, except that it reeks! The smell dissipated completely after soapy cleanup, but this stuff ponged something fierce.

Great work Dal! Even though the kits were a bugger to build you sure did a nice job on them - they look fabulous.  The stowage you added really gives them that lived-in look (even providing the pongy laundry smell-o-rama effect).

This eclectic submission will give Dallas 90 points (with a bit extra added for the sculpted gasmasks and stowage). Well done buddy!

From PhilH: 28mm Pulp Adventurers (35 points)

From Phil:

You'll never guess what I wrap up my challenge with. No sandbagging here, just another small entry : yet another eclectic collection of miniatures! 

First up, four Artizan Designs French Foreign Legion that I got on eBay or in a bargain bin ('they'll be useful some day' syndrome). Classic uniform, painted in a 1930s Khaki, these will be useful for Pulp - some hired guns for the Societe, perhaps?

Next, an investigator for Pulp, this lady looks like she means business. I really liked the sculpt, from Hasslefree Miniatures. I've no use for most of their modern range, but figured she could pass for a little earlier. Kev White does lovely females, while often very petite (this one particularly so), they seem quite natural and believable sculpts. 

Third, another lady, this time from the Victorian era. She is from the Mutineer Miniatures 'Defenders of Lucknow' pack that Gharak grabbed. I bugged him to let me have this feisty lady. She looks like she means business and can add some colour to my Sudan Brits! I've done a lot of ladies in the challenge it seems. Not entirely intentional, but they have been great to keep it varied! 

Finally, one with a story. With the Sarah's Choice rules this year focusing on noncombatants, most of the ladies I had in stock wouldn't fit the bill (I've painted them anyway, of course!). I pondered for a while and came up with two options: a single figure and a small diorama. Time ran away from me and I didn't get the diorama done, so this will have to be my stab at reclaiming the prize. 

When I saw the miniature, I was a little struck by the ethereal grace of her. I thought she'd look great alone on a cliff edge, looking out over crashing waves. Perhaps a sailor's wife, waiting for his return, quietly watching for sails on the horizon, with the breeze catching her hair. 

There's only so much space on a 30mm base, I wasn't up for making cliffs and crashing waves. But I thought I'd position her offset slightly from the usual position on the base, which I think draws out her loneliness a little. A simple paint job to bring out the simplicity of the sculpt, in my usual clean style. I tried a new recipe for the blonde hair and am rather pleased with it. She was a pain to photograph though, the flash often makes the dress look harshly pale. 

A lovely miniature and a joy to paint, Hasslefree once more. 

The paint is still drying on her. With these submitted, it is late and its off to bed I go! 

Beautiful work Phil. Though all are excellent I have to say that my favourite is the solitary lass. You've done such a nice blending with her dress and hair. Lovely stuff.

This final submission will give Phil 35 points to close off his roster. Well done and thank you for joining us again.