Lockdown Day 87 Tale of a Solo Gamer, 15mm Edition

Hi!

So after a bit of a ponder, I've decided to keep cracking on with my sculpting projects but I've also got two different projects that I'm keen on doing some work on over the course of the next six months in a Tale of a Solo Gamer mini challenge!

In the last few years I've worked on a host of 15mm scale projects but seem to have lost a bit of steam with them of late so figure that this is a good time to get back in the saddle so to speak and ad such, I'm going to be working on the following:

Sci-Fi

Now the best thing about working on 15mm sci-fi is that it's quite possible to collect a force for under £20 for smallish skirmishing and when combined with conversions, original sculpts and repurposed toys or historical stuff, the possibilities are quite literally astonishing.

Squat Guild Transport

I am really keen to create a number of small forces for a variety of settings that can be rolled into whatever I fancy. I'll be playing around with some hard sci-fi as well as space opera and indeed grimdark.

With this in mind, I am going to set myself a monthly challenge to create a skirmish force on a different theme. I hope it will give me the motivation to clear through my unpainted 15mm lead pile and get back to 15mm. The aim will be to paint a couple of infantry squads with a vehicle or two and character to lead them.

Battleaxe Brigade Merc Troops

Having read back through my previous few posts, I've noticed that there's quite a few settings that I want to explore so I figure this will be a good way to do it. I'm also keen to push my painting and showcase just how versatile 15mm scale is.

Badmoon Ork Warband

For example, I may decide to put together a force from Warzone or Moongrunt or Vor using available 15mm scale proxies and attempting to capture the look and feel of the forces I'm trying to represent. It's going to be an interesting process as I've no idea how it's going to develop!

It's not all going to be sci-fi though, as I have a plan for some fantasy gubbins too!

Fantasy

I must admit that while I've done tons of sci-fi gubbins for 15mm, I've had mixed luck with fantasy and want to do something about it. I've decided to take a leaf out of the Old World Army Challenge and try to put together a 1000 point army using Warhammer 4th edition as a guide.

I'm not sure as to which army to try and put together yet as there's lots of different options to try from several companies but as with my sci-fi stuff, I am keen to showcase just what 15mm scale can do and on a small budget too!

I'm planning on trying to paint 200 points of figures each month so that six months will give me a decent sized army to work with! 

As with all my projects, I try to keep myself to a small budget and figure that my combined expenditure for the two will be £20-£25 a month but hope to see if I can spend less as it is also important to me to show just how far ones pennies can stretch with a bit of care.

Tomorrow will see my initial plan for both projects with the sci-fi theme and the fantasy army I plan on building so watch this space!

If you have any suggestions, please feel free to drop a message and I'll see how I get on and in the meantime, All the best!

Lockdown Day 9

Hi!

Just a quick update this evening. I found that with all the 28mm, 6mm and 2mm painting that I've done over the last few weeks I had been neglecting 15mm scale so have remedied this with a quick and easy addition to my 15mm Dwarf force!

Dwarven Guard Dog

I have a couple of these little plastic Dwarven dogs from Mantic Games lying around and had based the first one a while back but have finally got round to painting it.

He's not the best sculpt but does make for a pleasingly ferocious Guard Dog for my Dwarves to hunt down some Goblins with in 15mm scale!

Tomorrow I will have something considerably larger to showcase which has been taking up quite a bit of painting time and I just need to get its base done before taking photos and putting it up on my blog so watch this space!

In the meantime, All the best!

From the Lead Pile: Dwarf Spearman

Hi!

As I have a small stack of unpainted lead and plastic kicking around, I thought I would start painting up some bits and bobs and adding them on a semi regular basis on my blog and to get the ball rolling heres an old Heartbreaker Dwarf spearman!

 Dwarf Spearman

I've actually had him sitting in the lead pile for ages before deciding it was high time to get the little fellow painted up! I experimented with washes on top of his usual skin tone and I must admit I am rather pleased with how he turned out. Sadly I think I might need to add some more highlights to his beard as its a little flat looking at present!

I'm actually starting to get a fair number of the stunties done now and almost have a small unit ready:

Who are you calling Stunty?!

Despite my plan to go 15mm for Oldhammer, it looks like I may yet still stumble through in good old 28mm after all is said and done! In the meantime they make a rather decent skirmish force for the likes of Song of Blades.

I still need to paint up a couple more that I have undercoated including some crossbow wielding types and another two handed hammerer but its been a really nice change from Sci-fi!

All the best!

Painting Dwarves!

Hi!

Well I seem to have found myself painting some 28mm scale Dwarves for the first time in years since my Leviathan project ground to a halt while I was still at University!

Dwarves!

For the most part they are the identical plastics produced by Games Workshop back in fourth edition of Fantasy Battle but with a rather lovely Heartbreaker Miniatures leader!

I must confess I am not sure what I will do with the little fellows as yet but I am sorely tempted to have a bash at playing some of the rulesets I have kicking around which is why they are on the 20mm square bases which will allow me to use them in games of Warhammer and Crucible as well as more skirmish based games like dare I say it, Leviathan?!

I have enough bits and bobs to bash together a small Dwarf army without buying anything else which is very handy too! What I do need though are some command troops as I currently seem to be missing some musicians and standard bearers to complete the units! I must admit I am really liking the Heartbreaker Dwarf and may have to nip over to Black Tree Design and Ral Partha Europe to pick up a few more of the style.

The plan is to get the unit up to 10-12 figures with a complete command and see how I go! I will need to see if I can rummage out some more bits and bobs to go with it but I already find myself basing up some Hobgoblins to menace them!

All the best!