Monday 19 January 2015

From BurkhardS: 28mm Warzone Resurrection Imperial Trenchers (125 Points)

It is quite embarrassing... we are over a month into the Challenge and this is my first entry. Part of it is to blame on the fact that we were gone over the holidays, but still I am a bit behind on my schedule. So to catch up... here are the minis I painted since our return about two weeks ago.

These are some Imperial Trenchers for Warzone Resurrection. Some of you may remember some of my entries for last year, which included some Bauhaus  for Warzone. Now I played Warzone back in the 1990´s and one thing that drew me to the game was the strong historical inspiration on some of the minis, most of all Bauhaus and Imperial. Lots of the units with these two factions took their inspiration from World War One Germans and British respectively. And this always made the two my favorites, so I played them in every Edition so far, First, Second and now Resurrection.



Now before I start, showing the minis in detail, I want to go into some info on why I painted them up this way. As most people will recognize, in this edition, these minis still retain their WWI British looks, so I wanted to follow that with my colour choices. British Uniform Brown for the uniforms, lots of tans for the gas masks and puttees and leather webbing. With their Trenchcoats I went for a darker green than would find on historical Brits, simply to enhance the contrast. Same goes for their shoulder pads (yes those are the Trademark in every edition of Warzone ;-)). At first I had gone for the same green as with the helmets and kneepads, but that simply provided too little contrast. So after a try with brown (same result) I went for ochre and that turned out really fine. Especially once the varnish was on these minis, when the colors really popped! The bases were given a trench theme on some of the minis and a mud theme on the rest to give them a trench warfare feel.
What I really underestimated with these minis was the effort, that went into painting all the little details, like the skull shapes on the gas masks, the national insignia or the wrist computer, but I did not want to skip them, so they had to be painted on.
As some with a keen eyes might spot there are small numeral number 42´s on their right shoulder pads. Those are homemade decals. I simply could not resist painting the Black Watch (42nd Highland Infantry) in yet another period.

But now on to the minis. Up first if Brigadier Sir Paul David Rist. In Warzone, your troops need to be led into the fight by a Warlord and he is one of the possible choices. And I really like him. Above par wounds, the ability to guide in Paras and call artillery, an awesome SMG (it keeps generating new shots as long as you do not miss) and the option to have him accompanied by the coolest bodyguards in the game.






Able to fill the same function as Warlords are two Trencher Officers. Now I personally do not like them, since they are too week and lack in offensive power, but my two Starter Boxes contained one each of them, so they had to be painted. ;-)


And to round the group of leaders off. SGT. Benjamin Taylor. He is a bit of a trackhead and gives a force enhancements for their vehicles and the option to repair them. Unfortunately he is a not on the expensive side (pints wise, he cost nearly as much as a cheap Warlord), so right now I do not see myself fielding him, but maybe his price tag will come done with the final Imperial book. A small change with his base here. I added some cogwheels and a road wheel from a blown-up tank buried in the mud on his base to signify his abilities with repairing mechanical objects. 
Oh and as a funny side note... the guys at Prodos Games nicknamed the mini Lenin... wonder if anyone can figure out why! :-P




Up next are the rank and file, four five-men squads of Trenchers. Not much to say about these. Only that each squad consists of four riflemen (including the Corporal) and a Heavy Machine Gun. I apologize if they look a bit boring... it is the same five minis four times, but one needs a certain amount of basic troops in the game, and here they are:








So this is it. 24 minis in total, all 32mm from Prodos Games Warzone Resurrection range.


And I am proud to announce, the next entry is almost finished, so I am positive, I will be back next Monday (and of course Sundays theme round) with more! Thanks for looking!


From Curt:

Ah, I was just beginning to wonder about you Burkhard so I'm delighted to see your arrival within the daily roster of the Challenge - welcome back! 

These figures look wonderful and you've done a great job in conveying that alternate historical reality in their colours and basework (the homemade custom decals are brilliant). It's too bad that the figure designers could not have come up with something like a Future Lewis Gun instead of the rotary cannon (which is becoming a bit of a trope now). Is the terrain custom made yourself? Those bunkers and blasted trees look excellent. 

A few extra points for the custom decals and, again, welcome back to the grind Burkhard!

27 comments:

  1. Wow... those are pretty cool... Sir Paul David Rist is a heck of a hero figure I immediately thought of the "The Brigadier" from Dr. Who (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brigadier_Lethbridge-Stewart) I am not sure if its intentional but there is certain resemblance.

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    1. The character actually has a funny story. Back when Prodos Games ran their Kickstarter to resurrect the Games in 2013, there was a very high pledge level. Those who pledged got a ton of minis, but also the option to have one character modelled in their likeness and with their name. They also got to participate in the character creation (background and abilities). This is one of the two where someone actually did this.
      So there actually is a Paul Rist out there that this mini is based upon. And knowing the guy I can vouch, that the mini actually looks a lot like him (although his facial features are a bit more defined in a positive sense)!

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  2. It's not my cup of Joe but they remain great work, really like the lok you have got on them

    Ian

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  3. Thank you all, guys and gals!

    @ Curt: The last few weeks have been extremely hectic and I can hardly tell why. So I am really happy if I can find a few minutes here and there. But I am positive my entires will become more regular again. After all I have 59+ days left!
    Never really thought about a alternate Lewis gun. The Trenchers had the Charger (rotary) HMG in every edition of the game and it is one of the few iconic weapons that any Warzone player will instantly recognise. So I think they had to include them.

    The bunker and trench pieces are from Snapdragon Studions. As far as I know these have been out of production for nearly a decade now. Fabolous pieces and a shame no one picked the line up when the owners quit the business for health reasons. I am just happy I have a huge box of their trench pieces! Although I will one day have to do a few homemade pieces to match the ones I have, since I lack some inside corners.

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    1. Ah yes, Snapdragon Studios! I love their stuff. I'm too am shocked nobody picked them up as the entire range is so wonderful (especially their hedges, stumps and ponds if I remember correctly). Good on you for getting some as they are excellent.

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    2. Yes, they are magnificent! Imused a lot of their tree stumps as bases for my K&M trees. Mighty expensive solution, but they always catch peoples eyes at conventions!

      I have often thought about phoning them and asking if they were willing to sell their old moulds, but to be honest… casting resin terrain is not something I think one would want to do as an extra business in addition to a day job!

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  4. The trenchers look really great, you did a very good job of the trench war feel on them! ...and a welcome to the party!
    Been wondering what you were up to, even your blog was quiet!

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    1. Thanks David!

      So far this year has been strange. At times I feel I have barely started with a days chores, when it is already time to go to bed. Which accounts for a lot of the non-movement here and on my blog!

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  5. Nice work with the SF figures, Burkhard, gritty without being too grimdark (TM).

    Well done!

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  6. Great looking figures Burkhard!

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  7. Great job - and excellent figures. Well done Burkhard!

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  8. Never heard of the game before. Some interesting minis and you've done a top notch job on them. I really like all the effort you put in on the little details.

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  9. Thank you all guys... really appreciated!

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  10. Very nice work Burkhard! Coming out with a splash then after the fortnight challenges :)

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    1. I will try my best to keep the pace up, but right now I am wondering if I should rather skip the next fortnight round. I still need to paint 16 of minis for a tournament in Hamburg a little over a week from now and at least two days are blocked for other stuff.

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  11. Very nice. (I think we all liked Snap dragon studios...... I seem to remember they might have been re-named "Moon Dragon Miniatures" but that may well be out of date now. but It may help in tracking the moulds down)

    Nice work on these.

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    1. Thanks Clint!

      IIRC Moondragons was the same company. They also cast some more ornamental pieces from resin and I think that is the name they gave to that branch of the company, but that is about it.

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  12. Why does stuff like this always make me go and check out the figures even though I've managed to avoid it previously? Very nicely painted which doesn't help!

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  13. Lol... maybe I should ask Prodos for royalties! ;-) Thanks!

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  14. I remember the old Warzone minis in the 90s. Really like the dynamic poses with these guys, and your paint job is aces. The basing is particularly well-done.

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  15. I really like these figures - kind of a Warhammer 40/ Sidney Roundwood mashup. Very cool. I am always tempted by these sorts of figures to jumpstart my old Imperial Guard army, though not using GW rules.
    Braco Burkhard!

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    1. Thanks Micheal! To my best knowledge, a lot of people have always used Imperial Trenchers as IG in 40K, so you are not alone there!

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