I thought I'd do a quick follow up to the first figs painted of the year that I teased in my last post...here. First off the bench for 2020, a couple of additions to the combat support element of my 4 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group...ADATS - air defence ant-tank system.
These are not the first batch of these beasts that I've painted for my 4CMBG troops...when I put my Team Yankee force together, I started with a 2 gun section in support. Not only are these figs able to take command of the skies, but they can throw out Mach3 smokeless missiles at Ivan's heavy metal at long range. In the realworld we were talking about 10 kilometres, dependant on the strength of the laser guidance...in gaming terms, I think it is about 72 inches; but a very lethal ability to take down close air and armour!
My first game that I had these beautiful air gunners along, they proved to be very resilient...taking a lot of fire before finally succumbing to 125mm rain...but they also tallied a considerable body count of T72's and BMP's. So from that game I had to paint up another section for a somewhat full-ish 4 gun battery.
Anyhow, these models painted up super fast and were great to paint-up...again. So please enjoy a couple of pics of the latest gun numbers to hit the ORBAT.
I hope the new decade finds you and yours healthy, happy, and well. To say the least, it has been of to one hell of a rocky start, but here's to optimism. It's an odd milestone to bring pause for thought, but this marks year 6 of this bloggy adventure into Nerdly Darkness.
Overall, I think the blog has accomplished the main objectives that I had hoped for...it has helped to bring some degree of focus to my painting and gaming. It has allowed me some venue to document and catalog my gaming woes. And in spite of being hit with random real-world, real-life dramatics, crisis, struggles, or whatever your verbology...it is something that is still near the forefront of my mind and has allowed me to further connect with other folk in this hobby.
The last year has certainly seen a dramatic decrease in the amount of posting...which did also see a decrease in the amount of painting that I accomplished. The one challenge has been that there are some projects that I have started that have not made it to the internet and thus are not captured in my climb up Mount Lead. At years end, I stood around +45 in terms of progress but there are some figs that I have completed that did not make the posting cut...as such, I could probably claim a higher number. Of course, if that's the only stressor I'm dealing with today, then it sounds like a pretty good day.
Oh, I did do some custom painting to support my wife's handicraft business...she had a run on 'Fairy Gardens' this year so I painted up various doors, gnomes, and houses for those. I also painted up a bunch of Star Wars keychains for her shows...all in all about 50 different pieces. And today I am actually test-painting and basecoating some 'dragon eye' pieces for her...so that will keep me similarly busy.
Big picture: I'm still very much into the hobby...I really like painting and I am always working on improving my technique and style. So yeah, you'll hear from me throughout the year.
Big hand, small map perspective: There are still 'places' I want to go, so there are some goals for the year...
increase my output (d'uh...low hanging fruit);
get my 4CMBG project back on track and get into the club campaign before it is too late;
finish up the Legion starter box AND all the various expansions that I bought (although, a lot were gifts and from random windfalls, so they don't count as having been bought); and
right now I am thinking of getting a table together for CanGames...in the realm of possible would be Force on Force Cold War, Star Wars Legion, Fallout WW, or Battlestar Galactica
All the best in the year...a couple of pics for you.
First figures of the year...
And because we are in the 20's, I recently went to Las Vegas for the first time and had to try my hand at a Tommy Gun...it's not the drum that my wife put downrange, but it was a nice treat (I put my money to another shooting venture, but I'll share that later in an appropriately themed post)
I know, I know...it has been some time since my last post; I guess it was last year...I guess over the course of the past year my blogging mojo kind of left me and I greatly reduced my electronic/cyber presence. I did however, continue to push through with painting projects and was able to move the markers a little bit forward.
The end-year had a variety of projects each competing for their time, however, thanks to some youtube video binging I found myself quite motivated to paint up the starter box for Fallout Wasteland Warrior...in spite of my previous toe-dip into these minis:
Now, back to youtube, I happened to see Guerilla Miniature Game pop-up in my feed one day
and one of the featured videos was Ash's intro to the Fallout Wasteland Warrior starter box. I figured what the hell, give it a watch, and go from there. I ended up watching all of his Fallout videos and was sufficiently motivated to breakout the starter box and paint it up. Now I bought the box in 2018 (if I remember correctly) at our LGS and got an excellent deal, because I was gaming Fallout 4 pretty hard at the time I also bought a blister of turrets when they were available and the Boston Companions that I painted for my toe-dip.
Now we jump to the Fall 2019 and I am now putting paint to brush on the starter box. One thing to consider as you look at the pictures, Modiphius released the set in a few options, resin or pvc. The box I bought was the pvc, as such you will see that some of the minis do suffer from some base warp that I was not able to fully mitigate these. As well, I've read that the resin and now metal figures have much more detail than the pvc...curious to see this as I like the detail that is in the pvc figs and really more just sounds better.
Bottomline, thanks to GMG I painted up the box, I am very happy with how the figures turned out, and one of my objectives for 2020 will be to try these figures out on the table.
Enjoy the pics...take care.
The Starter Set survivor lineup...(l to r) potential railroad faction figure that could pass for random settlement survivor, pipe pistol packing survivor, Dogmeat, Nora the sole survivor, and another random peon who can be used as survivor or slave; dependant upon the scenario.
Closeup shot of the crew...the bases turned out really cool and each one is themed. I even tried to paint some Quantum Nuka Cola for Dogmeat...
The Survivor/Peon/Slave...double barrel at the ready...
There is a power armoured figure for the survivors...I elected to paint this up as a survivor with some scrounged pieces from other suits...as opposed to going all BoS with it.
Nora the sole survivor and Dogmeat...
The MUTANTS!!!! These were a ton of fun to paint up...pretty much anything goes and if you're inclined it is an excellent reason to 'research' some time with a Fallout console game of your choosing...
The Turret blister...these came in hard resin and were a little finicky on building but turned out really well...I'm very happy with the results.
Saving the best for last...the first figure from the starter box that I painted, the Chairman of the Board...the DEATHCLAW!!! This was a blast to paint and I had a lot of fun bringing the various details out with the highlights and shading...
Over the past summer I made some effort to tackle figures that, while bought with the bestest of intentions, unfortunately got into the painting waiting room and drew a 3 figured service number. Amongst that crew of recently 'NEXT' or 'served' was a trio of packs from Artizan, Hasslefree, and Reaper.
Dr. Klomps Laboratory was a purchase I made at NorthBay Hobbies during one of my drop-ins while driving through...I always like to try to support LGS's. The figures looked good, I liked the theme, and I figured they could fit into pretty much anything from WW2 with some weirdness, post-war, or even some fantasy.
The figs were pretty good to paint...Dr. Klomp screamed mad scientist and I couldn't help but think of Red Skull while I was painting him. His goons were pretty easy to decide on...laboratory smock and a secret police typical suit.
From Hasslefree I finally got around to painting up his version of Ash. I recently finished watching the Ash vs. Evil Dead on Netflix...incredibly entertaining, and Lee Majors is his Dad!! Simply gold! The figure looks great and is excellently sculpted...lots of detail on this one! It painted up quick and was a hoot the entire time.
Finally, the last pack was the Brass Bull from Reaper...this was a really easy purchase from Cangames a few years ago...in the end it was dead easy to paint up and really tested the highlight and shadow techniques. At first, I was going for all brass/gold...I can't remember what made me change, but at some point I went with lower limbs, tail, and horns as gunmetal/silver. The spine of the beast I painted up with Vallejo Desert Yellow...the main body was Vallejo brass...the body was hit with a mix of army painter strong tone wash and citadel sepia...and any silver was hit with nuln oil. The best setting I could imagine for this one was somewhat Frostgravey and the Northern City...
Quite some time ago, I was looking through my emails and eyeing some of the nice previews of what was coming out and what I might be curious to paint and/or try gaming. One of the previews that caught my eye was Modiphius's Fallout: Wasteland Warfare. When I saw the initial renders of the Fallout figures, my interest was definitely peaked. I had been playing Fallout 4 off and on for some time and I really liked the feel of the story, the setting, and retro sci-fi post apocalyptic world that was created.
Needless to say my son was a huge fan of the game and whenever he was not keeping me abreast of his progress, he made sure to check in on mine. So, when I read the email and saw the figs, I passed the email to him.
I can definitely say he was a fan of what he saw...the downside has been that he greatly appreciates the work that goes into the hobby, he has not caught the painting bug...so, if I was going to jump into this it would be somewhat one-sided on the whole venture. For the most part, I did not hop on the Fallout bandwagon and kept my distance by and large. I kept track of the progress from Modiphius and admired the figures via email but it wasn't until I saw the starter box in my LGS at a VERY reasonable price that I made my purchase.
To be fully transparent, I have yet to game this thing...I do like the looks of what they have made, I also bought the Boston Companions expansion because I liked the looks of the figures. At the moment, it remains a painting project nothing else...
After unboxing the starter kit and expansion...and after getting paintbrush downrange on these guys I am somewhat torn on what to think. The figures look good! They are sculpted well, I seem to have not been bitten by any of the production bugs that I heard were out there. However, when stacked next to my current 28's (pick your range/manufacturer) they seem rather small and certainly unepic.
For 32mm's they look scrawny...I think this is why it took me some time to get them on the paint station...they just didn't live up to my expectations. Now, to be fair, there were also some cost considerations that also kept them off the table, but the boxart did look really good. With that, I bowed, and took to the Boston Companions Expansion...the best part of the model is definitely the sculpt...they look good, very dynamic, and you get a dynamic base to go along with them.
Overall, I am happy with the figs...I don't know what I will buy in the future...as it stands it is only a painting project, however once I get to painting up the starter box I may have a change of heart.
Hope you enjoy the pics.
The Boston Companions...Piper, X6, and Cait
pic taken with flash...I was having a bugger of a time with pics on this day...
Piper...I actually had a lot of fun trying to capture her look...the coat was interested and I ended up painting to bands of colour and then wet brushing them in to get the smooth overlap of colours...first time I've tried this technique.
X6...I really liked this figure and pose...the coat and syndicate laser just stood out and screamed to be painted.
