Old West Gunslingers...a legend or two in the mix...

Howdy howdy all,

My buddy Mike has been on an Old West kick lately after he picked up the Dead Man's Hand ruleset and figures...in the past month or so he has put up a bunch of posts of his progress including a battle report.

Inspired, I grabbed a quick set of four figs to paint-up...I really do like the era and the figures, so this wasn't a particular hardship for me...I'm actually running near the end of my Old West minis...I'm almost at the end of figures I picked up from North Bay Hobbies.

These ones came up really fast, I was fairly surprised how easy they felt to paint this time.  Amongst the chosen, I painted up Pat Garrett, Kid Curry, Wild Bill, and William H...aka, Billy the Kid.  They only took a couple of nights for me to tackle, and one of the nights I also had the American History Channel show "Gunslingers" on in the background for inspiration...

I think my favorite episode so far is the Wild Bill...

 

of course, followed by Wyatt Earp (if for no other reason than to see a cheery Kurt Russell...

 

The figs...

 

Group shot...Mr. Garrett, Kid C, Wild Bill, and Billy the Kid... 

 

 Pat Garrett and Kid Curry

 

And larger than life, J.B. Hickok complete with longhorn belt buckle and army scouts sash, along with William H. Bonney...or Henry McCarty depending on your preference

 

Tomorrow's War - Miners 2249'er

Howdy folks,

A couple of weeks ago I managed to slog through another batch of figs that have stood fast for an extended period of time on the ole work bench.  I was lucky enough to get these figures from a buddy of mine at the club...can't remember what they cost, if anything...but he got them through a figure swap and had no interest in sci-fi...If my research is proving me correct, then these belong to micropanzer miniatures...I expect these troops to see action in Tomorrow's War as either an accompaniment to or belligerent force against my Neo-Sovs. 

In terms of backstory, I've painted these figs up in fairly obvious colours, no camouflage here...these are deep core miners for the Novo-Tajik Mining Consortium...they see action against the Neo-Sovs when the labour force goes on strike.  If I take them as Neo-Sovs, then these troops represent the assault force who are disguised as Novo-Tajik miners...they infill'ed into the mining camp on a NT transport craft in the same manner as when the Neo-Sovs descended on Kabulitz during the brief intervention invasion into Benbecula-stan.

Anyhow, here are the pics...enjoy.

Group shot...Green suits are the scouts, Reds are heavy support, Blues are the grunts, and 'Yellows' are the leaders...

 

Scouts...

 

Shot of the Reds with Blues in the background 

Special Ops groupshot + small preview...

Hello Folks,

A while back I completed a bunch of Khurasan Miniatures special ops figures...as I said before, I really enjoyed these ones...unfortunately, I seem to have a bugger of a time taking pictures of these ones and have struggled in the past.

Today I decided to give it another go...I changed my lighting setup as well as my shooting points and I'm pretty happy with how they turned out.

So, just a quick post, but I thought I'd share some promised group shots.

Take care.

Oh yeah...this past weekend I decided to get back to my Great War guys...here's a very small preview of a few stands I've worked on just to give me a feel for the basing and painting.

Drinking the koolaid...hello Frostgrave...

Hello all,

A little while back I was over at my buddy Mike's gaming some Arab-Israeli conflict when afterwards he showed me his spoils from the recent Nickstarter for Frostgrave.  Needless to say, the book and the figures looked great and well...I think I'm hooked.

I did not buy into the Nickstarter...mostly because at the time it was not feasible for me...however now that I have a few extra pennies...I have spent these pennies...

damn you MIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIKKKKEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



But I digress...later that week (...<secret shame> the very next day) I went to my LGS and decided to take a look through the options for fantasy and Frostgrave-ing...I ended up picking a selection of Reaper Bones figures to start my foray into fantasy.

Please refer to the above picture...and repeat...



These figures are very interesting...great detail, very nice 'artwork', and are very very light...first thing I learned was the NEED to wash them thoroughly...sometimes I get lazy and don't wash my figures...and I'm lucky enough to get away with it...NOT with these ones...

I blame Mike...please refer to the above picture...

To be completely honest, these figures were a lot of fun to paint...afterall they literally bullied their way into the queue and got to the head of the line...nicely done Reaper, nicely done.

Without further delay...more photos...

Group shot...be careful in the hood...

Reaper minis...Bones line...(left to right):

Werewolf, Warg, and Ghast

Snarly animal things...

and their little butts... 

Creepy looking Ghast...

 I also took the chance to finish up some random skeletons that I had bought at Cangames about 3+ years ago...all they needed was some basing...nice to be finally done them... 

 

Nice thing...the world of Frostgrave also gives me the opportunity to recycle and use some of my existing Crusader Warband...

Nice rune-sword John Frank Sr.

SAGA Warband...4 Points of Crusading goodness...

Hello hello,

Continuing on from my last post...I have been hard at work on my SAGA warband.  Our club has a tournament coming in early November and I wanted to make sure that I was prepared in advance for it...as it turns out, there may be a terrain competition, so I am eyeing this as well.  As well, just after finishing my crossbowmen I also went to completing my last Hearthguard...so I have 2 sets of Hearthguards with shields, 1 with two-handed weapons...

For our tournie, there is a minimum requirement to have a 4 point warband...ideally everyone will have upwards of 6 points using the original SAGA book.  I have just finished 4 points with 3 x Hearthguards and 1 x Crossbowmen.  As my warband is inspired by the Crescent and Cross book, I have also painted up a priest to accompany my forces.

My warband is the result of much toil, work, and fleecing of tribute and taxes from the peasants that inhabit the lands held by Duke John Frank of Orange.  Financed by John Frank I, the younger, John Frank II, seeks to further the family holdings, fortune, and his personal fame and glory in the service of God.  Overshadowed by their distant French relatives and their poultry and culinary fame, the Duke of Orange and his son see their time for opportunity and triumph.

(left to right) John Frank I, Friar Chuck, and John Frank II...

Crusader Miniatures personality figures, and Gripping Beast warlord (l to r)

The 3rd Hearthguard...I had a lot of fun painting these shields up and moved to a little more adventurous side compared to last time...I also made sure to include a very horrible looking Orange Duck...in tribute to the Duke and his French lineage and their amazing Duck a l'orange...

Finally, the entire Warband...4 points plus priest... 

 

Warriors...part 2...

Howdy all,

Happy Labour day, etc...it's a very hot one over on the East end of the continent...not like the snow they have over in Alberta...quite an interesting display of extremes.  Given the heat of the day, I thought I'd get caught up on my posting and picture taking.

I recently finished the second half of my Warrior crossbow unit for my SAGA warband, part 1 here.  I very much enjoyed this foray into the dark ages and things medieval...that and it gave me an excuse to watch Nicholas Cage in the "Season of the Witch"...

Don't ask...I have this morbid love for Nic Cage movies...I blame it on "The Wickerman"...

Anywho, here are some pics of my latest warriors...cheers.

And now...with the rest of their unit...

I'm here...not dead yet...

Howdy folks,

While I have certainly been making the most of this summer, I have unwittingly embarked on an electronics-light diet...I haven't had all that many posts over the past few months.  The painting brush has nonetheless been steadily working.

I was lucky enough to get some gaming in at the Club and at my buddy Mike's place...I was very happy to get my Israeli's back into the field against his Jordanians...while I certainly won the battle, I think he may have taken a financial victory.  After our game I looked at some of his recent purchases including the Frostgrave Nickstarter...needless to say, I am slowly drinking the koolaid and now somehow have some Bones Reaper fantasy figures on my workbench...damn you!!!

I have been continuing with my SAGA warband...as of last night I am 99% finished 4 points worth of Crusaders under the command of the Duke of Orange...or Duke L'Orange depending on if he is John or Jean-Francois...I'll see what the figures tell me.  I think I'm well on my way for our November 6 pt tournie.

I have started basing some of my Main Force VC...they are still on the table...and am looking forward to working on a group gaming scenario of the Maersk Alabama...more to follow on that.

Have a great last day of August and take care...more pics and posts to come in the next couple of weeks.

Cheers.

Khurasan Miniatures - Special Ops

Hey folks,

As some of you who have followed my blamblings...you know, blog ramblings...m'eh, it was worth a shot...my chance to influence the English language...for worse.  Anyhow, some of you may know, I have a bit of a love-fest for Khurasan Miniatures...they are great figures, amazing detail, they come to the door clean...super clean, and are a lot of fun to paint <insert shameless, cheesy advertising jingle>.

I really like them! A while back I ordered up a couple of packs of the Special Ops troops for modern, near-modern, ultra-modern, and sci-fi...these are such great figs they can fit so many different categories.

The real issue for me was to make sure I painted them as well as I could...after all, the website pics by Piers Brand set an incredibly high standard, so I wanted to do the figures some justice.  The second issue was finding some great inspiration pics...thank you google...thanks to the airsoft forum, ctv news, and a few other places that I unfortunately cannot recall.

Because I had upwards of 20 figures to paint, I thought I'd try a few different schemes...in the end I copied some plain 'desert' uniforms, some Canadian Cadpat (desert and green), OCP, and a mix of many others.

At the moment, I still have to put the finishing touches on the bases, but I'm pretty happy with the results.

Feel free to offer any advice and comments...feedback is always appreciated.  I hope you enjoy the inspirational pics.

Cheers.

First group, CSOR inspired, green cadpat with some other mixed pieces... 

The inspiration...CSOR recruiting pic

Second group, mixed camouflage...

The inspiration...CSOR overseas

Third group...fairly plain jane type desert uniform...

 



The inspiration...JTF2 in Afghanistan at the beginning...

Final figure...my first attempt at OCP cam...very challenging...but worth the adventure

The Inspiration...CSOR troops on Parliament Hill last 9th of May for the Afghanistan Mission National Day of Honour...

I know I've missed a few of the troops due to my crappy picture taking, but I'll post a proper group photo when I'm completely done.

Take care.