Crusty Infantry Platoon - completed!

I've been painting like crazy over the last two weeks, and need to get the blog caught up!  The figures I'm most pleased with right now are my Ground Zero Games Crusties.



I have completed two packs of the rifle infantry, one pack of the command/heavy weapons, and one pack of the Heavy Arc Gun teams.  I've also basecoated a GZG Guncrab Walker, which I intend to use as their vehicle support as I grow the force.



I based the gun teams on 1.25" fender washers rather than on individual pennies, and I really like the look of them. I'm going to start basing all of my heavy weapon teams in this way.



Overall, I'm disappointed in myself for not having painted them sooner.  I've had these ever since they  were released... for some reason I thought it would be a far more difficult paintjob than it really was.  I completed everything in this force in just three evenings.



In my Conquest System gaming world, the Crusties are going to be a bit different than their cinematic counterparts.  They were the indigenous race on several system planets. But now that every race in the galaxy is attempting to colonize Conquest for its wealth of resources, the Crusties have been displaced from their homes.  They now hide in startown slums, selling weapons, drugs, and mercenary labor to anyone willing to pay and feed their communities.

More painted troops to follow this week, including some Micropanzer SAS.

Chris

HOF Post Apocalyptic Warriors - Review and Paint Test

I picked up some assorted HOF Humanity minis a few weeks back.  Surprisingly, the Post Apocalyptic Warriors and Rim Mercenaries became my instant favorites once I saw them in person.  They are somewhere between Death Korps of Krieg and Pig Iron Productions in 15mm... very good minis.  The gas masks open them up to quite a few environments and scenarios.  I think in the Conquest System they are going to be militant rebels formerly assigned to a mining facility.

I painted up one of each gas mask sculpt, just to see what they would look like:



I think they turned out rather well.  :)

Chris

GZG Crusties - Paint Test

I've owned these little gems from Ground Zero Games ever since they were released, but I've been intimidated by the idea of painting them.  I finally became frustrated enough with not having them painted that I did some searching around the other blogs and message boards... I never hesitate to steal good ideas.  Spacejacker's quick basecoat/wash method mentioned here looked great to me (even if he was unsatisfied with the results).  So I decided to give it a try... but what to use for a base color?

I figured there was no point guessing.  After a blast of white primer, I chose four different colors and set to work.  Each produced a pretty effective result using that basic method:

From left to right:

• Testors Model Master "Wood," Wonder Wash "Dirty Brown"
• Citadel "Rotting Flesh," Wonder Wash "Skin" then a thinned "Dirty Brown"
• Citadel Foundation "Khemri Brown," Wonder Wash "Standard Black" then a second wash of "Dirty Brown".  "Khemri Brown" is also my usual color for desert troop bases
• Citadel Foundation "Gretchin Green," wash of Dirty Brown

While the fourth one is probably the most District 9-inspired scheme, it's my least favorite.  I personally like the first one best.  The third is also good, I think it would look too dark for an entire army.  Any other thoughts or suggestions before I knock out a quick platoon of these guys?

Chris

Growing the collection: Terrain Edition

Since the pile of unpainted figures and vehicles seems to be growing much faster than I can paint, I decided to slow down on my miniature purchases for awhile.  Instead, I decided to focus on expanding my terrain collection.  For quite some time now I've been playing on vinyl tiles, using just a few painted-and-flocked styrofoam hills... maybe the occasional clump of Ground Zero Games shacks.  But the same old terrain was getting pretty old... definitely time for a change!

The GZG shacks are great little buildings (see Dropship Horizon's writeup)... lots of possible gaming scenarios in that type of environment.  I grabbed a second set of them before GZG went on hiatus.  In the midst of his packing and shipping chaos, Jon accidentally gave me a double batch of the side walls.  So now I have spare bits, possibly to make a walled compound (similar to the old Gorkamorka forts).

And a couple weeks ago, Battleworks Studios announced an second series of their own Startown Slums line.  The first series had been on my list to buy when the budget allowed, and the extra buildings were too good to pass up.  After selling some old Rogue Trader lots on TMP, I was able to buy both sets!  I'll post a detailed review when they arrive.

But what about the terrain itself?  My old styrofoam hills and floor tiles are okay, but I want some variety.  For some time I've had my eye on Zuzzy's Despoiled Reaches line.  Well, I took the plunge and ordered a 2'x2' mat, a large hill, some sulphur vents,  and some limestone spires.  If this stuff is half as easy as it looks to paint, I could easily see myself expanding it to a 4'x4' mat and some additional pieces.

There are still a few items I'd like to add eventually.  These are some of the bits I'm hoping to add to my collection over the next year or so:

• A War-Zone GTS Bloodstone tabletop and some acute hill packs (to do a Mars-style board).  In theory I could make most of that stuff on my own, but War-Zone's stuff is cheap and good enough that I would rather spend my time painting miniatures.
• A JR Terrain muddy river set.  I've seen these in person at a few shops, and again, they are far better than anything I could produce myself.
• Some S6 Engineering city streets and canals.  I assume they will be a big hit with the Gruntz demo board at Salute this weekend... hopefully we'll see some good photos from those games.
• Critical Mass Games also has a set of pyramid-styled alien buildings in the works.  I've been kicking around a sci-fantasy setting to game, and I could easily see these as being the rulers' fortresses. 

There's a lot of other good stuff out there (Old Crow has their urban buildings, and Combat Wombat just released this modular building) that I'll probably pick up in small doses when I get back to ordering minis.  

Cheap homemade terrain was nice while it lasted... but for someone without much spare time, I say bring on the good stuff!

Chris

Color Scheme Test for Old Crow Vehicles

Okay, folks, I'm back from my little hiatus.  Sorry for the absence.. I was overseas for some military training and I don't like announcing what I'm doing or where I'm going until after I'm back. :)

I returned home to find a large order of Old Crow grav vehicles waiting for me, and some fantastic weather to get them assembled and spray them with some primer.  And then I found that I had a major choice to make, so I will now share it with you!

This was the test tank I painted a few months ago.  It matched my Conquest Development Center Stormtroopers (Rebel Minis Titan Marines) color scheme, and I was pretty pleased with it.  So I continued the paint scheme onto my new vehicles.  Here is an Outrider scout vehicle, which I'm going to use as a four-man transport for sniper and command teams.

The former Space Marine player in me has no problem fielding an army like this.  But something still feels missing, especially after ogling Jeff Racel's galleries and the Hammer's Slammers Crucible website the past few weeks.  While I was away I came up with a possible camo scheme for this army.  I don't want to use camo on the infantry, but I thought it might work on the tanks and APCs...

So after finishing the solid-colored Outrider, I decided to give the second one a full camo treatment.  Here's the result:

And a comparison of the two:

I think I'm going to keep going with the camo scheme.  What do you guys think?

Chris