I admit I'm starting to slow down a little in my painting; more due to needing to expand my storage options for painted miniatures than anything else! As such I'm likely nearing the end of my submissions for this year's AHPC, but I'm not counting myself out just yet. I do have a small submission this week.
A lot of my home gaming involves modern, urban skirmishes; gang fights, escaping from zombies, big alien monsters trashing downtown. I've got a nice collection of buildings going, but I could stand to expand my urban scatter, especially cars and civilians to incorporate into scenarios. As such, I've got one of each today:
We've got "3 Card Monte Guy" and a 1980 Volkswagen Vanagon, both 3D prints. Our hustler is from Miniature Building Authority, and arrived in four pieces - the guy, his arms (gluing on at the sleeves) and the stack of boxes in front of him.
My urban tables tend towards seedy and rundown; inspired by the Rust Belt environs I've spent my entire life in, they're battlefields made of liquor stores, pawn shops, and off-track betting parlors, and as such the sort of place this con man fits right in. The details of the face took a wash and highlight beautifully, and I'm pretty proud of myself for doing the ace of spades on the card he's showing us using a brush instead of a pen. I did use a pen for the lettering on his boxes.
The Vanagon is from Miniature Tanks Company, who offer an incredibly wide variety of vehicles for 20th century conflicts in a number of scales. I included a couple options from them on a wishlist for a hobby Secret Santa I took part in last December, and I'm happy enough with the quality that I'll probably order more sooner or later; they're FDM prints rather than resin, and the print lines are visible, but for my purposes they're just fine and at $3-$6 per car in 28mm, the price is right.
Looking at photos of various Vanagons for color ideas, I found a burnt orange one with a white roof that I really liked the look of; I added white trim around the windows for a little extra visual interest. Of course, now I'm tempted to get another and add an avocado green version to my collection as well! I've got a sports car and a pair of police Crown Victorias awaiting their turn; we'll see if I get those in before the end of the Challenge.
One 28mm figure and one 28mm vehicle should net me 25 points.
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Sylvain: Just looking at his face, I wouldn't trust your hustler to bring me a glass of water. Great job on this shady character. And the Vanagon looks both cool and definitely from another decade. It has been an honor to be your minion; "à la prochaine".
