The Work (In Pogress) Continues

When I got up this morning I decided that I was going to paint ten of the old Grenadier (now Mirliton) trooper figures. Nice simple figures with an almost standard uniform that even if I do give certain aspects of it a camouflage pattern, should be done by the end of the week.

 Then I picked up the two D&D mimic figures I picked up last week. Then I thought what the hell, I'll do these first. So I did. When you have a small number of essentially similar figures, they are quick and easy to do so I just got on with them. I guess each of them took about an hour to an hour and a half to finish. In the round, and certainly on the tabletop, the look pretty good.

When they were done I went back to the troopers. They have progressed a little bit. All the boots, equipment and uniform are finished. To be honest I haven't made up my mind what I am going to do with the armour and helmet yet although I have an idea (does anyone remember Aliens). Given that a lot of what I am doing is vaguely desert, I think I will go for something like MTP/Multicam. I do like the Copplestone vibe.

These figures have all sorts of potential uses for me. Aside from the standard sci-fi, 2300, Stargrunt, Titansgrave Tomorrow's War ad Traveller, I can see a use for them in other genres. The armour would look pretty good for combat armour for Fallout. They have planned uses in some post apocalypse stuff as well. Maybe even as soldiers in a super hero game.

This is more for my benefit so I can go back and remember what colours I used if I decide to do any more

Accidents

Not the major kind. More the fortunate (ish) coincidence kind. I made a determined effort to get the cultists done today. They are still not quite done and there is a little bit of detailing to be done on them. They would have been finished but I got a little sidetracked. This happened when the spot of paint I was trying to squirt out to touch up spots on a couple of arms became a rather large blob.

I hate waste. So I decided to use the blob for something else. There was probably enough paint to put a flesh base coat down on just about all the faces and hands of the figures I currently have primed. What I did see were a bunch of Macrocosm Immature Ticks. The way they are painted in the webshop gives them a distinctly alien vibe that is very reminiscent of old GW Genestealers. Whilst this is not a bad look I did want something different.

Having a big blob of skin tone paint gave me an idea. Genestealers were part of a life cycle so why not make these creatures part of the lifecycle of something else. So using regular caucasian skin tone was a good place to start with a couple of different colours for a bit of variety. My plan for a while has been to get some more of these. It would be an easy job  to give them some slight variations on the skin tone as well.

Whilst these were brought as an Opfor for the Titansgrave game, I can see a number of uses for them. Using them as a kind of genestealer esque creature has some and that this would probably work for X-Com and just about any post-apocalypse game. I don't really have a firm plan but I can see a number of ways of making this work.

On the plus side these should be a quick and easy paint job. There are a dozen of them so if I finished them by the end of the week I should be ahead of the curve for the first time this year.

Yet More Scatter Terrain

This is more of a catch up post than normal. I did most of this a while back and have just got round to taking some pictures before putting the stuff in it's storage boxes. Today's offerings mainly come from Peter Pig. They do some nice scenery packs that I'd had my eye on for a while. I have been after piles of tires for a while. Whilst there are plenty of packs out there, they all tend to be massively over sized for 15mm. Eight foot tires don't really do it for me. The tires come with some old looking petrol pumps which I thought would be great for a Fallout style retro petrol (that's gas for you foreign devils) station.

outhouses

Outhouses seemed like a must. For the shanty type village I am planning, I thought these would be great. I guess they would also work with the sci-fi and Afghan stuff I have worked on in the past. Peter Pig also do some nice furniture. I now have lots of wild west stuff from doing the Fallout game and these were originally wild west terrain.

A bed, piano and a chest of draws are found here and there. I'm not sure why I got the coffins. A bit of an impulse I guess but I am sure they were find a use somewhere.

Most of the rest of this is random junk although the missile came from Eureka I think.

Half A Dozen Shades Of Grey

Another slightly suggestive title. I suspect that there might be a few more women looking at this post than normal.  It possible should have been half a dozen shades of greys.

There isn't much to say here. I have a huge number of these figures. The idea was to use them for an X-COM game. Then I moved onto doing a force for Tomorrow's War or Stargrunt. I have done a few to see how they turned out. Then I thought that I was going to use a few for a Conspiracy X game.

GZG Trucks Painted

May has been a busy month for Lead Reckoning. This kind of shows that I have the time and momentum for doing some gaming painting and developing some new ideas. So I am hoping that June should be another good month. So to help make it happen I thought I would post early and I have some pictures of GZG vehicles to show off.


 These are some of the older GZG trucks I showed on the blog last month and in their kit form back in December, now painted. They look okay to me. I had a play about with some of the GW glazes. Then I changed my mind and painted over them. I like the variety that GZG offer within a limited range of parts. The orange tracked vehicle really has a sense of a Traveller ATV.
Looking at the pictures, as usual, makes me think I need to do a bit of touch up work. The grey actually stands out on my normal gaming surface which is very sandy in colour.


I've been gaming today so I have some pictures to post soon as well.

New GZG 15mm Ground Vehicles

As well as the civilian mechs I got at Triples I got some of the new trucks. These are now glued together. They have a nice rugged 2300ish look. I'll not do too much about them here but I'll post a bit more when they get closer to being done. The one on the right hasn't quite set right so I've had to re-glue it.

I have been playing about with some of the GZG vehicles. I started on the military ones the other day. These are still at a very early stage. The trucks are really what I was after. I know they are vehicles but in many respects I see them more as scenary. The aim for them is more as things to make the terrain more interesting than it is to use them as vehicles.

I like the buggies as they have a nice Space 1999  vibe. This show is one of the best bits of scifi cheese even now. These too are a long way from ready.

Triples

I've been to the Triples wargame show yesterday. This is the biggest show in the North of England and the highlight of the gaming year. It's been a good day with some good mates. And a burger van. Mustn't forget the burger van. One was missing but he'll be down in a few weeks instead. He's vistied for just about every Triples for the last twenty years so it felt a bit odd but nothing I won't get over.

I got the feeling that there weren't quite so many people there this year but there were still plenty of traders. There seem to be a few new traders and the established ones seem to be doing okay.

Mecha Bodies

Mecha Arms

Having just started painting some GZG vehicles I had the excuse to buy some more. I purchased three of the new civilian mechs and some of the new trucks. I haven't got round to doing anything with the trucks yet. I have had a look at the mecha. I haven't put them together yet but this a is a view of the basic mecha kit and the three weapon systems with the mechs. They are not as grufty as the military versions but they are a lot cheaper. I can see some use for them in a range of scifi games and maybe even Fallout when the game comes back for the new season later on in the year.

One of my mates was talking about doing Empire of the Dead last year. It's something about steampunk being the new black or staying in or something. I am guessing that this is another game that is going to die on it's arse but I thought I would give them a go (he said looking at a pile of 6mm French Napoleonics that are gathering dust). I figured that I cold use one of them as an RPG character in an upcoming space 1889 game. I had the idea for an aging Kiplingesque general with a boderline mental health problem. The figure, with smoking jacket, revolver and swagger stick, seemed to be the right one. The rest of them could be used in another game or maybe even Empire of the Dead if there is someone willing to give it a go.

15mm GZG SciFi Armour

I have purchased a large amount of  GZG 15mm vehicles that have have been sat around for a while now. In terms of weight in the lead mountain, this is the single biggest purchase I have made in ten years. I wanted some stuff that would fit in with my ideas for Tomorrow's War. Sort of 2300 meets Aliens. So lots of mid-tech stuff with wheels and tracks are the main order of business. I have a some srmoured grav vehicles which I think  will do for a more advanced focred just for good measure. Mostly I wanted some civilian looking vehicles to use more as scenery rather than vehicles. All of which now require some degree of attention.

They have been taking up limited storage space ever since I got them. I thought it was about time I did something about it. Sooooo...... If I put some paint on them, it means the project has been started and is not at the gathering dust stage. I can justify buying some more stuff to stick in storage when I go to Triples later in the month. Then I can sit back and admire an even bigger lead mountain. In general, the lead miuntain has been getting smaller (or did I just stop buying 28mm figures?)

Wondering why there is a picture of a mountain at the top of the post? Well that is lead Mountain Colorado. No, seriously it actually exists, it's not just a clever metaphor :-)

Desert Wanderers

I wanted some desert type characters for when I got around to playing a Fallout game. The game happened quicker than I was expecting so I thought it was time I got round to painting the figures. Time is tight (according to Booker T and the MGs anyway) so a quick and dirty paint job was called for. The minis evoke what I think that something from the planet Arakis would look like so just about perfect for the post apocalyptic desert wasteland of Fallout.

As is my want, this is more work in progress. A vermin brown base coat picked out out with a darker shade of scorched earth for deep creases in the outfit and for boots. The weapons and goggles are gun metal. Although fairly shiny, this will be toned down when the spray matt varnish is applied. A couple of lighter beiger browns have been used for the face masks. Topped of with some sepia ink to give it a bit of texture.

The Fallout game is set in Arizona which gives me a bit of a free hand when it comes to game design. There guys have become the Yuma Private Military Company. I am not sure if they are good guys or bad guys yet. I'll see how much the players wind them up.

I think eventually they will end up as a unit for Tomorrow's War and a general RPG bad guys.