Assorted Lowlifes

Hi!

Well I have found myself with a couple of unexpected days off so have painted up some more gubbins that I've had sat primed for a while now in the form of a bunch of assorted guns for hire in 15mm scale:

 Thuggish Gunmen

They come from a variety of sources with converted WW2 US infantry, a rim mercenary from 15mm.co.uk and a Ghoulani too. I've been playing around with some camo patterns as I always find that my attempts to do something vaguely realistic ends up looking naff but quite like how the two turned out.

Outlaws

The gang thus far is looking decent but it does show the vagaries of scale in 15mm with some of the minis being true 15mm while others are closer to 18mm or even 20mm! Still at a distance, they all look fine to me! 

I am also working my way through a batch of Imperial Guard to try and start squad building but am finding it rather slow going as painting lots of grey and brown isn't exactly an exciting way of spending my time so I'm limiting myself to doing two at a time and then working on something different to keep my interest from flagging.

Hopefully I will have some pictures soon of the start of a squad but in the meantime, I find myself in rather a head scratching moment. 

I have really enjoyed painting the 15mm scale Rogue Trader project and know I will game the scale but 28mm stuff keeps catching my eye. It's not a scale I can conceivably game in anymore as my gaming space is strictly limited to a 3'x3' board which is just fine for small skirmishes in 15mm scale but not really feasible in 28mm...

 Random Dark Age Gubbins

Sadly this knowledge hasn't  stopped me from perusing some of the lovely stuff available for Beyond the Gates of Antares and Dark Age to name but a few. I know I have no reason to buy any of the goodies on offer but I do find it tempting. Maybe I need to scratch the itch every so often an just get an interesting piece or two just for painting purposes but we shall see!

In the meantime, All the best!

Revamped Rogue Trader?

Hi!

Well I am now into my second week of holidays and sadly I've not managed to get any of my current leadpile painted but have been ruminating on Rogue Trader.

I constantly see lots of beautifully painted Rogue Trader era lead posted up on several of the rather fantastic Oldhammer blogs out there and it gets me wanting to paint some of the bits and bobs that I have kicking around but as soon as I pick up something to paint, I put it down again in abject failure. I think the problem is that over the last few months, I have been tempted by different styles and scales of miniatures rather than the traditional GW heroic 28mm style of sculpting.

I've been having great fun over on my SOMEWHERE ON THE BORDER blog sculpting super stylised figures such as those seen below but I can't seem to summon much enthusiasm for traditional Citadel or similar.

Boar Company

What I have been tempted by is some of the really amazing figures that the likes of Dark Age is producing of late:

I do believe that Dark Age have really raised the bar on their miniature quality over the last year or so and the combination of good CG sculpts and traditional work as well as the more realistically proportioned figures themselves look fantastic. It has to be said that the painting quality of the figures they showcase looks totally brilliant too (and I would suspect, far beyond my own humble talents!)

Looking at them has given me a bit of an idea though. The visual aesthetic kind of reminds me of Rogue Trader somewhat with the mixture of tech and savagery as well as lots of quirkiness to set things off pleasingly.

Could one use these figures to represent some far flung colony world on the edge of Imperial space? I think they could very well do! Coupled with some of the other bits and bobs that have been creeping onto the market over the last few years such as Malifaux, EDEN and even some of the newer Mantic sculpts, one could represent some of the races of the Imperium without too much difficulty.

With this in mind, I am thinking of picking up a few bits and bobs and painting them up to represent some of the small warbands that inhabit the Farpoint sector as I quite like the look of them and think they fit the reimagined Imperium I've been working on a bit better than the classic Citadel figures I have been failing to make any headway with up til now.

Who knows where this latest foray will take me, I may stall and give up or it may be a bit of a breath of fresh air but we shall see. I am not going to be going mental with ordering lots of bits and bobs though as I don't want to add a mass of stuff to my leadpile, instead I will try a single pack and see how I get on and will post my progress up here but I do think I could do with something different to paint for a change and it may clear the painters block I seem to be having at the moment!

All the best!