Wednesday - From PeterB - The future of Law Enforcement and some crazy squigs - Black and White + Under Construction - 132 points

 

Most of my inspiration for purchasing or painting toy soldiers tends to come from the movies, I watch Zulu so I want to paint Victorian redcoats, I watch Band of Brothers and feel a need to investigate some WW2. Therefore this challenge map jumped out at me as great fun, I love movies. I do have the problem though that most of my movie taste is post 1977 ( we hear the hum of lightsabres a lot in our household) so when it comes to painting something black and white at first I was a little stumped. 

Of course there are modern black and white movies, Sin City springs to mind, of course I have already painted Marv as I mentioned on TomG's post with the excellent model from Hasslefree minis (it comes with a choice of heads and arms). Then there is the excellent Clerks from Kevin Smith, but not really a movie in the toy soldier world. Then I glanced at my to do tray and realised I had something that needed painting in grey scale even though the movie was colour:

 

ED209, such an iconic image.

Ever since I first played Space Crusade and then collected Space Marines, I had wanted one of these in miniature. Yes the GW dreadnought was obviously inspired by this design, but I really wanted something like the original. Last September at Colours wargames show my first visit of the day was to the Crooked Dice stand to pick up brand new Military Robot and Cyborg Enforcer

I really couldn't decide on a background for the photos, so I put the green background in on my lightbox in case anyone has any green-screen skills and they want to add a suitable Future Detroit background. I will have to admit to once again using the magic of Nuln Oil for both these models. Painting wise I really didn't have to do much to them, the sculpt does all the work.

 Secondly this week I have also finished off an old project, therefore moving on to the Under Construction studio I have painted up a unit of GW Squigs. Last summer during a week off work I buckled down and painted what I though would be an entire army of goblins in a week. The army was made up of car boot finds over the year from plastic starter sets that parents had obviously bought their children and then subsequently interest had waned. I added a proper leader from Ebay (Skarsnik and his pet Gobbla) and thought I was done, however I felt there was a distinct lack of cave squigs in the army for a Night Goblin horde. This Christmas my sister kindly gifted me a box of the new squigs:

Thus the army now feels more complete:

 

Oh and on the subject of construction, I guess this would cover that same brief, I also painted this mdf kit from Blotz this week.

So to points:

28mm Cyborg Enforcer - 5pts

40mm Military Robot - 7pts

10 Squigs at 28mm - 50pts

2 goblins at 28mm - 10pts

28mm scale loader vehicle - 20pts

 Black and White studio - 20pts

Under Construction studio - 20pts

Grand Total -  132pts

Minion Miles:

Very sci Fi here but even a grognard like me can approve of that - nicely done!

From TamsinP: Starship Wreckage (67 points)

Caution for the faint of heart - there are a LOT of photos in this post!

The Adventures Of Oscar: Time Traveler, Slayer of Squirrels and Very, Very Good Boy

Chapter Five

In which our hero faces one of his pet hates...

Rooww! Rooww! Desert! I hate desert! It's all hot, dry and dusty. And no squirrels! Rooww! I'd better see if I can find some shade - let's take a look over this hill...

What's this? Looks like lots of scrap metal...

I wonder if there's more? Better keep exploring...

There is more! 

This looks very futuristic! Am I in the future? I think I must be! Row-row! Felix will be ever so jealous!

There's more bits over this way, and they're getting bigger...

Wowser! This would be a great playground if it wasn't so hot, dry and dusty!

There must be more, but I can't see anything. Maybe if I go through this canyon...

There is! There is! Row-row!

I bet I haven't found it all yet. I think I've got the scent of it now and there seems to be something over that way...

There is indeed! I've got such a great nose!

I think I'll stay here a while and explore this playground! Lots to find...maybe some food? Food! Oh, my, food! It must be ages since I've eaten...

The Crashed Starship

I hadn't originally planned to do this lot this week, but I somehow got it into my head that those 15mm cavalry were only 72 points and thought I needed to get something else done.

Here's a photo of all the terrain pieces:

They're 28mm MDF kits (also available in 15mm) from Blotz. The basic kits didn't have any "relief" between the surfaces and the gridded subststructure, so I photocopied the wall pieces onto white card, cut away the substructure parts and then glued them onto the MDF before priming everything (the card facings were "primed" with varnish).

I did consider basing the pieces, but decided against it so that I can use them in a variety of settings. I wouldn't want to have wreckage draped with jungle vegetation in the middle of a desert, after all!

The hills and rock formation were made over the past two years. The orange hue seems to have intensified quite a bit since they were made - I might have to tone them down a bit.

Here are some decent photos, with a 28mm figure for scale.

The Airlock

The Hatch

The Engine Section

The Nose

The Bulkhead

"Barricades"

Scatter Pieces

And everything scrunched up tight:

That's about as tight as I can get things. The footprint is 11" x 11" and the average height is 6". that gives a volume of 726 cubic inches which is 3.36 terrain cubes. That comes out as 67 points.

<<<<INTERMISSION>>>>

Extract from the journal of TamsinP, Time Traveler, Society Girl and Adventuress

It's been almost a week since I spoke to Dave. I wonder how he is getting on with things? He should have called by now. 

As I think this, the phone rings - the caller display shows it's Dave, right on time.

"Hi, Dave! How are you getting on with the device modifications?

"Well, I think I know what needs to be done, but it will take me a couple of weeks to put it all together."

"That's great news. You got the equations sorted out, then?"

"Yes. I asked Peter first, but he said he deals in real-world probabilities, not far-fetched time-travel rubbish. He suggested that I needed to speak to someone who engages in the dark arts of Mathaumaturgy to get the answers I'd need."

"No, not him, surely?"

"Yup. Miles."

"And was he able to help?"

"Yeess. But there was a consultation fee that I said you'd sort out."

"A consultation fee?"

"Indeed. He wants seventeen puppies and thirty-one kittens. He muttered something like "The spreadsheet demands them!" then started cackling dementedly before ringing off."

"Well, it's Curt's problem so he'll have to stump up. Anything else I should know?

"Well, the device is going to be a bit bigger than the original..."

"How much bigger? Backpack size?"

"Errrr, no. You're going to need to vehicle-mount it"

"That big? Anything else?" 

"It'll be a two-person job. One to work the device and one to drive the vehicle."

"OK. Well, Oscar is Curt's hound, so he can come along with me. Two to three weeks do you reckon, to get it put together?"

"Yup, I'll let you know when it's ready."

"Thanks again! Toodles!"

I lean back in my chair, relieved to know that things are in hand. Puppies and kittens? What on Earth does Miles want them for? Surely he knows that the spreadsheet runs on a computer and only needs electricity to run?

I make a mental note to call Curt with a progress report and to let him know that he will be accompanying me on the rescue mission.

I think that's enough silliness from me for one weekend!

For Scoring:

3.36 terrain cubes @ 20 = 67 points

Total =67 points

__________________________________________

Oscar has been making the most of his time away, I see.  The scamp is right, all of this time-travel adventuring is going to make Felix absolutely mad with jealously.

You've been very industrious this week Tamsin! That wreckage scatter terrain looks terrific, especially with the card modifications you did to spice them up a bit. I also really like those desert hills from a few years ago. Excellent stuff. 

3.36 cubes?! Sounds good to me. ;P

- Curt