A New Boss and Some Other Boring Figures

I'm still painting bugs and building my xenomorph army. I'm enjoying painting sci-fi stuff at the moment. It's easy and gives pretty good results for minimum effort. This week I wanted to paint up the big 3d print critter that bought. I wasn't really sure what I was doing but it came together okay in the end.

It is a great figure with very nice detail. I wasn't sure if I could do it justice with the minimalist colour scheme that I'm using for my bug host but I think it came out all right. Here is is with the other bugs I currently have. It seems suitably huge to me. It's on an 60mm base... The other regular sized bug on the right is on a 40mm base.

I also put together and painted the second box of Mantic Reapers (at least I think they're called Reapers). Horrible figures to put together but they do look weird and scary. I like them and, as mentioned in my previous post, I'm calling these Xenomorph Hybrids. I now have 20 of them and here they are with the new boss.

And they other thing I made during the past week are some Firefight Enforcers - once again from Mantic. These figures were pretty easy to construct but I think they're a bit boring. They were easy to paint too. I didn't bother doing much detail on them as I found the sculpts to be ill-defined and sort of indefinite. They are not really very crisp and lack something. I don't find them are very inspiring although they do have hard-sci-fi look about them.

Having said that I think they came out okay and it should be an easy task to build and paint up the rest of them.

And that's what I did last week. I also played a Napoleonic game over the weekend. I played General d'Armee 2 for the first time. It was an interesting game but, strangely I found it to be a very "gamey" set of rules and a bit of a departure from the original rules. Maybe I'm wrong - after all is was my first game.

Thanks for reading,

IanKH

Bug In or Bug Out!

 A short Space Bug update.

I have a bug at this point in time. I'm coughing and full of snot. Hot lemon and honey with a shot of whisky is the only cure. At least it's the only of which I approve!

Anyway, enough of my misery and complaining... I've continued to paint bugs and I've managed to finish two of the larger bugs that I bought - the Ankeg 3D prints I recently bought. They took a bit more effort than the others and they came out looking great. I might see if I can get my hands on a couple more. At $20 for a pair they're pretty good value compared to other "space bug" miniatures on the market.

Compared to the Wargames Atlantic, Harvesters they are about twice the size. So they will be perfect for representing larger/tougher bug species or unit leaders etc. I mounted the harvesters on 40mm bases and these bigger guys are on 60mm bases. I wasn't too sure about the ivory coloured mandibles and claws but that's the way I did them and I'm not going to change them now. Since I took the photo's I have noticed that I forgot to paint their eyes but that's an easy fix.

I also took some pics of my other bugs. These are metal figures from Khurasan Miniatures from their 15mm sci-fi range. I considered getting more but I looked at their site and saw a Bugswarm Pack which is what I bought. It has 30 of the green bugs so I must have anther packet of 15 somewhere. I know I've seen them but I can't remember where they are. I don't want to order more in case I find them. I like the idea of using these as something like a large locust swarm, so lots of them would suit that theme.

I'd order more of these but they come with 4 flying and four on the ground and I only really want the flying version. What sort of fool would want flying critters that aren't flying? Not this fool!

So that's it for the moment. I haven't found the big beetle figure from my previous post. It came as part of the Bugswarm Pack. I know I still have it but it's a matter of locating it amongst the various boxes of various armies in various locations around the house and garage.

Thanks for reading,

Ian KH

P.S. The whisky was Jack Daniels for those interested.

Space Bugs Are Coming To Town

Another day and another post about Space Bugs.

I finished off my first box of Wargames Atlantic, Harvesters during the week. There are 20 large bugs and 10 smaller ones in each box so I decided to make them into units of 5 models. As a result I have 15 normal bugs and 5 with ranged bug bio-weapons. That's 20 bigg'uns and 10 little'uns.

As you can see in the photo above they make up a good starting hive. You may have noticed that I stated above; "my first box..." which implies that I have more. This is true. I ordered another box and it's on its way. Two complete boxes should make up a pretty intimidating bunch of bugs. I'll probably change the ratios and squad sizes when I get more models to play around with. I'm not sure yet so we'll see.

Here's just the new ones I added (3 regulars and 5 bio-weapons, 10 little ones). I added some fluro green to the bio-weapons to give them a bit of extra colour. It's not very evident in the photos.

I'm not sure how to classify these small bugs. They are a decent size (the bases are 25mm) so they're not small when compared to a 28mm human. I mean... If you saw a bug that size coming at you I'm sure you'd need a change of underpants. Especially if there was a small swarm of them. I know I would!

I still haven't figured out what game to use these for. I made up a Xenos Rampant list but it doesn't really scratch the bug-itch that I have. I much prefer the Firefight rules but it's difficult to add bugs into it. I can make up my own list but that would only be for my own games. As it is, they will work for either or both set of rules.

That's all for now.

Cheers,

Ian KH

Sir, We've Got a Bug Problem

And we're gonna need some Bug Dust. ASAP!

Hot on the heels of painting a bunch of zombies I intended to complete painting the half finished WSS English cannons that are sitting on my paint table. Instead I broke out a box of Wargames Atlantic Harvesters and started snipping and gluing plastic bugs.

I've wanted to do a hoard of bugs for a long time and I actually acquired a box of Starship Trooper bugs a while back. I painted them up but then lost interest in the whole bug thing and sold them. Silly thing to do: but there you have it! Anyway, now, for what it's worth, I've gone and made anther bunch of bugs.

These figures are difficult to put together and it took me most of the week just to construct this lot. On the other hand painting was easy. White undercoat, heavy wash using contrast paint, heavy light khaki dry brush, then dry brushed the red and then the black. A bit of detail on the fangs, mouth and eyes. Very easy. They are mounted on 40mm bases with a simple pva/grit mix. Reddish to make it look like Mars or any other desert terrain/planet.

I've since constructed a few more with ranged bio-weapons. I have 4 more to construct but I haven't decided how to do them at this stage: close combat or ranged? I think I'll get myself another box of these. I've got a method now for their construction which is still a pain in the arse but at least I know what I'm doing. There are 20 models in a box as well as 10 little ones. I'm not sure what to do with them. Put them onto individual 25mm bases or make swarm bases?

Here's a photo that gives a better idea of their actual colour against a more neutral background.

I also picked up a couple of other figures last week. This first is a spider queen. I think she could work well as a Hybrid Hive Queen. I picked her up a a local store House of War. If she doesn't work out she could become one of the leaders of my evil fantasy army. Either way, this is a great figure.

These next ones are Ankheg - I only know these creatures for D&D. I don't know if they exist in any mythology or fantasy literature. I'm just going to use them as big bugs/bug leaders... Whatever. They should look okay. Also, these are the first ever 3D printed miniatures I've ever bought. It will be interesting to so how the material reacts to painting.

Now, I also have a bunch of other things that I can shoehorn into this bug army of mine. Some of them I actually bought when I started with the Starship Trooper bugs. It was actually waiting for a long time for them to arrive in the mail that crushed my first attempt at a bug army.

This guy is pretty big and looks pretty imposing. He'd make a good sort of tank-bug.

I have quite a few more more of these flying guys than the ones pictured here. I'm pretty sure I still have some unpainted ones too. I'll have to try and find them. I used them as giant flies when I was playing Rangers of Shadow Deep.

I also have these figures that might fit in with the bug theme too. I have a feeling I might have added a saddle and a goblin to the scorpion. The other is an umber hulk. It looks buggy and mean. It doesn't fit with any other figures I have so maybe this is army could be a good home for him.

These are from my evil army and they could work but I don't think they'll fit in. Wargames Atlantic make some fantastic spider models but they are so good that they worry me. I have a very acute case of arachnophobia and those figures just scare me. These GW spiders don't worry me because they look like silly toys. But realistic spider figures just freak me out. I have about a dozen or more of these and I'm pretty sure I rebased them onto round/oval bases at some stage.

So there you have it. Bugs, bugs, bugs.

As far as rules are concerned: I have a copy of Xenos Rampant which I've dragged out. I'm pretty sure there is a generic space bugs list in the book. I'll go through the book again and see what I can come up with. I already have an enemy for them that is ready to hit the ground fighting. All I need to do is work out a good list for them.

On the other hand I also have Firefight from Mantic games. I like those rules although I haven't played them for a while. But the last time I played the game there was no scope for a bug army. Maybe that has changed. I'll look into it.

NWA Games Day Display Test

On Friday evening I tested out my set up for our Nunawading Wargames Assoc. Games Day 2017. This will be the last Games Day at our long standing venue (Croydon Uniting Church), whilst they rebuild their community hall over the next two years.

I'll be putting on a display for Firefight and I've been building a nice looking sci-fi city for the event. Some of the pieces aren't finished yet but I wanted to see the set up so I could determine how to lay out of the various pieces and to see if I needed more. And, while it was set up we had a quick game.

I'm pretty happy with the set up and I think that I have enough pieces (I still have several smaller items that I haven't yet built). The pieces are, in the main, from Miniature Scenery from Melbourne with a few other pieces from other producers of Infinity terrain. There are also a couple of nice landing pads from Knights of Dice (another Melbourne business).

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Game wise, It was a bit of a whitewash. I used my new 1500pt Asterian list and they completely dominated and totally wiped my opponent, Brent's Forge Fathers, off the table in 3 turns. That was unintentional and I don't think that the list is over-powered. But, I must admit, I did use orders and cover a lot better than my opponent who relied too heavily on his tough armour. Also, my large unit of Marionettes proved to be capable of laying down a mass of firepower (24 dice if they were unharmed). But likewise, they proved very vulnerable to a dedicated assault unit.

So, here are some pics. I'm pretty happy with the set up and it should look great when all the pieces are finished.

The Bugs are Coming.

I'm making another force for Firefight. This time it will be a hoard of bugs using the Plague list for stats.

I really wanted a bunch of the Starship Trooper plastic arachnids for this list but I soon realised that that wasn't going to happen. So I searched around for something else. I eventually settled on the Parasachnids bugs from Khurasan Miniatures and prepared to make a large order. But their website closed down for maintenance for a long while so I had to wait.

During the wait I attended the Traders Day at Nunawading Wargames Assoc. (my club) and lo-and-behold. Nic from Eureka was there getting rid of all the vast accumulation of shite that h'e collected over the years. Amongst his treasures was a full box of 20 Starship Trooper's bugs at an extremely attractive fire-sale price.

Oh, lucky day!

So here they are. They're not quite finished yet but I couldn't wait to show them (all I have to do is their beady little eyes). I brushed them a flat beige colour with a wash of GW sepia. Then today, I set up my airbrush and did some red. I was also going to do black tips on their legs be decided against it because they look pretty nice, as is.

So here they are:

These friendly little fellows are Arachnida, the spiders, our finest collection...