Painting Update - The Walking Dead

Howdy folks,

Hopefully all is well on your end. Over the summer, I tried to make an effort to get back to some figures that had been on the bench for quite some time, and Mantic TWD figures are some that have been waiting a while. Now it has been a while since I’ve gotten in a game of TWD, but I do have a few boxes of figs still waiting to be painted.

The thing that I really like about these figs is that as I have continued to branch out and see other rulesets and game settings, it is handy to have a bunch of non-military or historical figures that can fit into several genres. So one of the side benefits of these figs is that I have this vision of doing a progressive campaign for Zona Alfa and these figs will work well as noobs to the Zone…so a bit more on that to follow in the medium term.

Anywho, the figures themselves are solid…they paint up quite nicely and have some great expressions. Looking at the TWD graphic novels, they definitely follow the novel over the series. Not much else to say on these fellas except, hope you enjoy the pics.

The way I figure it, these figs will be great as introductory newbies to the zone, I have some nice plans for the gent with the long rifle and lens. Will also work really well for some rando armed civilians in a modern setting.

Painted 

15mm            93

28mm+          42, +3

Bought         131

Progress      +4

Painting Update - Terrain

Howdy folks,

I hope all is well on your side of the dice. I thought that I would share a quick post with you to show off some quick terrain items that I completed way back a month or two...maybe even three. Nothing much too special with the pieces, I painted up some crates for pretty much any genre or setting. These were pretty simple, just some primer, white highlight (or skip to white prime), contrast paints, and then paint in the slats. I bought the 'boxes' from the Dollar Store or Dollorama...can't remember which, but a few bucks get you about 20 of these little darlings.

These 3 pieces are courtesy of my buddy Duncan, his wonderful resin printer, and some STLs that he downloaded...it think they're from Modiphius...anywho, I went with some classic retro colour on the appliances as you can see if you have ever played Fallout 4. The tool box just screamed, "any other colour than red"...which isn't easy, cause all I can seem to remember is every metal toolbox being red.

Anyhow, I hope you enjoy the quick shots. Have a good one.

Painted 

15mm            73

28mm+          38, +10

Bought         121

Progress      -10

North Star Yakuza

Howdy folks,

For those with short memories like mine, in lead up to CanGames this year I was going to run a Force on Force game. If you check out the test run post you’ll see that we were looking to run a cops n robbers type scenario.

I happened to stumble upon the Yakut pack from North Star Figures that they release as part of their A Fistfull of Kung-fu line. I’ve had these figs kicking around for some time and to be honest, I had forgotten about them for awhile. So this crew was an obvious choice to help fill out the criminal element for the scenario. So, I figure the least I can do is share some pics of these figs, and see where the year takes us with the scenario.

Have a good one.

The crew, boss man in the middle, sumo-muscle and young hoods to the right. On the left of the boss, 3 x hitmen…

The young hoods (I can’t remember what North Star called them, lol). I tried my hand at drawing out a organized crime/Yakuz-y type tattoo for the hood in the yellow jersey. 

The boss and his sumo…This is literally the only picture of the two of them that didn’t suck hard…I tried hand painting a stylized dragon the scabbard of his sword, looks nice and colorful at least.

The hitters…I really ended up enjoying these figs, they came up pretty quick and were much more fun than I expected

 

Painted 

15mm            47

28mm+          23, +7

Bought         120

Progress      -50

Even Small Soldiers Need a Ride…

Howdy folks,

Been a bugger of a go lately, but hoping to get some posting momentum going with this one. Just a quick post on some recent purchases I was able to make. As I get further down the 28mm rabbit hole, I was sorely missing vehicles to fill out the battlespace. One of the most common manufacturers I had seen referenced in posts and videos was Kinsmart. 

Kinsmart vehicles are anywhere between 1/36 to 1/48 depending on the specific car or truck being depicted. As well, they definitely have a penchant for depicting higher-end vehicles. So for a modern, ‘scrubby’ looking battlefield you may need to be a little more deliberate on the cars you choose. 

As for sourcing, I had hit the internets pretty hard to see what was available through eBay and the usual online shopping suspects. However, over the past year I have seen more displays popping up at my local shops and big-box stores…so I have had some luck there.

Thus far, my collection has been sourced from Michaels, Metro, and Canadian Tire…all come in around at $10 Canadian each…so not too bad. Anyhow, most of them will be good to go as is, one of the trucks came already weathered (nice touch), and a couple will need some modifications to get the feel that I’m shooting for.

Enjoy the pics. Take care…

Most of the collection, missing a couple of John Wick vehicles. All of them fall from 1/43 down to1/48. There is a surprising variety available in truck models, Dodge, GMC, and Ford.

Pre-weathered…nice touch, bought this one from Canadian Tire…looked like there were at least 3 varieties available.

Here come da fuzz…these will be handy for some future scenarios…I’ll have to modify the Dodge Ram, I don’t have any dog teams in my inventory. The SWAT ‘Tiger’ will fit the bill nicely, but I’ll have to modify the Tan one that I have…want that one to be more SOF looking.

Cangames Tester - Force on Force...ish

Howdy folks,

Hope all is well on your side. The past few months have been a bugger of a go with the last weeks especially pulling me away from painting and posting online. Trying to make up somewhat for that I thought I'd post a battle report from a Cangames tester with Duncan and Mike.

We haven't set out all of the specifics, but this was more of a test of game mechanics and overall game scenario. We had the chance to test the layout, figure out what elements we wanted to keep from the game, and how we could adapt some of the others to our scenario.

For those who might not be up on their Force On Force (FoF), it is generally scenario based, modern war ruleset, and a variety of mechanics to capture insurgent based groups, military forces, and asymmetric battlespace...although you can certainly have a classic nation state on nation state knockaround. In this case we are adapting the main rules behind Force on Force as well as the insurgent group idea to that of an urban setting and more of a crime gang thing.

The tester worked out well, we were able to walk away with the framework of a scenario and table layout...had some fun pitting random forces against each other.

Now just to get it all on paper...cheers folks.

Test layout for the table...mainly looking at having some structures, line of sight, blockages to LOS, and all that good stuff.

Deployment of forces, crime groups around the outer fringes, one group coming in on motorbikes, another group near a open lot at the bottom-right of the pic.

Trying out some vehicle placement...we have a few 'insurgent' groups shooting down to the streets, some excellent roles, some not so excellent roles. The main mechanic here being that a unit is assigned a troop quality dice/value and rolls for 4+ on that dice. So either a D6, D8, or D10...

Law enforcement team gets caught behind a collision and takes some fire from the rooftop as well as the street as the bikers jump into the fray.

Lots of action here as shots ring out at the collision just left of table centre, and the open lot at the top-right of the pic sees some action between cops and robbers.

The final shot of the game...I think at this point we have a bunch of wounds on the table, and we've 'expended' plenty of ammo on both sides.

Painting Update - Studio Miniatures

Howdy folks,

I hope all is well in your corner. Definitely a bit of a rainy day over here, so a perfect opportunity to drop a quick painting update. This time, I wanted to share a few pics of some Studio Miniatures movie inspired tough-guys. I’ve posted their figures before and am pretty happy with the sculpts and the results. 

The latest figs are Snake from Escape from New York, Doc Brown from Back to the Future, and I’ve tackled him before, John Wick. I had misplaced a few figures at one point and ended up reordering the figs…and of course found them right after the package arrived. We’ll call this fella John Wick the first movie, and this latest John…Wick 2. 

Like I said, this is a quick post. Enjoy the pics…and if you’re ever looking for figures of some of your favourite movie characters, then I would definitely head over to Studio Miniatures…they even have Monty Python!!

The latest trio…Doc Brown, Baba Wick, and a classic, Snake Plisskin…

Classic good guy wears black…and I thought I would give him some leather holsters to break up the pattern. As well, ended up using some green stuff to fill in the gaps in the base and then kinda went with a minimalist approach to the base, just enough to offset the black scheme.

This time I went with a much lighter suit colour as well as a different facial tone to make some subtle changes from my first take on Mr. Wick…trying to capture an Indigenous look…the base as well is just a quick minimalist take and break up of shapes…nothing specific, but again just shooting for some differences in appearance from Wick #1.

Definitely one of my favourite movies from the 80’s, Back to the Future, and Doc Brown’s character were a lot of fun. Pretty quick to paint up, I’m looking forward to finishing up Marty and they can tackle time travel together.

Painted

15mm               30 

28mm+             30, +3

 

Bought              25

Progress          +35

The 2nd Post Over Christmas...

For the second post over Christmas,

I have to share with you,

2 pop icons...from Studio Miniatures 

and a figure from HassleFree.

 

 

Howdy folks,

 

I hope everyone is well...1st post down...and here's the second...I bought these 2 powerhouses quite some time ago. Gotta say, they have a really great level of detail and were really easy to paint up. Being a big fan of Indie and John Wick...they were a real treat when I say them on Studio Miniatures website.

 

Please enjoy the pics...constructive comments and feedback are always appreciated.

 

Take care, stay safe.

Hike up Lead Mountain 2020

 

Painted:

28mm               59 (+2)
15mm               135

Bought:            2

Progress:          +192

Knights of the Crescent Moon

Howdy folks,

Never underestimate the ability for home reno's and work to get in the way of blogging momentum!! Now, it could always be worse, but as we approach the final stretch of the month, I am trying to push forward with momentum and some good posts...

Everytime I go through North Bay, I try to make an effort to drop by North Bay Hobbies and spend a little there to try to support the small business folks in our hobby.  This one time, a few years back, I dropped by and bought a flurry of Artizan miniatures. 

I have finally gotten around to putting paint to metal on this great looking pack of the "Knights of the Cresent Moon"...for me, visualizing these figures was heavily influenced by this character:

 Kevork Malikyan as Kazim, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

 

The pack was fairly quick to paint up and includes 3 focused individuals fighting to protect the Holy Grail from adventurers and riff-raff alike.

 

Enjoy the pics.

 

Always looking stylish with colour and highly shined shoes...these gents are ready for anything...

 

I think every movie I've seen has at least one person wearing a tan suit in the desert...going with that, I thought this was a very appropriate colour to choose...I initially went with desert yellow with green ochre highlights with green ochre/Iraqi sand as the final highlight.

 

Initially I had thought of painting the Tommy gunner up exactly like Kazim...but...I did doubt my ability to nail the pin striping...so I went with a safe black suit for this guy.

 

Painting so far in 2017:

 

Painted:

28mm - 53
15mm - 5

Bought:
28mm - 53
vehicle - 1

15mm - 0
vehicle - 7

Overall PROGRESS: -3