From TeemuL: Reinforcements for Delmonteland (50 points)

Continuing my project with imaginative Wars of Insurgency I come back to the first faction I painted in previous challenge: Delmonteland Warriors in AHPC XIV

"US Marine" next to his "German" friends

I'm not quite sure who these warriors really are and what they are fighting for, but they are definitely from the better armed and equipped end. But here they are casually sitting on the Open Blitz (painted before Challenge) and waiting for action. So they are originally Germans for WW2, but now "paint converted" to Delmonteland and fight with their "paint converted" US Marines. :) The same colour scheme for different warriors does wonders, doesn't it? I'm almost tempted to use these as an entry for one of the inner circles of Abyss, but I'm not that far yet.

Their camo is basically for desert, but Delmonteland is quite green  - basically a jungle. That might cause some issues in firefights, but these are professionals. Unfortunately their WW2 era surplus equipment doesn't fit the field of war they have gone. Actually I'm quite sure that most of these are just bullies and they don't expect to get any real fights (or at least any real opponents), they are just posing and looking dangerous and expecting it to be enough. We shall see, when I get to the actual gaming phase.

Freedom Fighters guarding their truck...

...only to be surpsised by the cargo!

Story behind these is that I got the Opel Blitz from Warlord Games Mystery Box and decided to use it for my Delmonteland Natives (the ones you saw last week), because it looked like a vehicle, which could have been used in the blood orange plantations after WW2. I was happily surprised, when I found these 10 passengers in the box. They do not work as natives, but I can field them as mercenaries (or whatever that faction shall be). And they can even hijack or "take in control" the Opel truck and travel with it undercover. Or I can use the truck to move the natives. Lots of options, you see.

Paint job is quite quick and dirty, sprayd yellow, then picked out the flesh, boots, guns and belts. Dotted some camo spots and then a brownish wash all over. The scoring is a bit tricky, since they are touching each other, but quite lightly - they are not prone or something like that. And I painted their bottoms and soles of their boots, so I'm asking for the full points. My minion is free to disagree.

Just to allow myself to sleep, here's the proof of rarely seen painted areas...

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Who am I to disagree with Teemu and the well-painted back sides and bottoms of his Banana Republic passengers? Full points it is for your soldiers of Delmonteland

I am intrigued by this project of yours.. it seems very versatile and a project that could easily morph into many diverse scenarios. Cool!

10 x 28mm figures = 50 points added to your scoreboard

See you next week

- Sarah

From TeemuL: Imaginatives (40 points)

During the previous Challenge I encountered a ruleset called "Wars of Insurgency" and the simplicity, openness, inbuilt campaign mode and multiplayer possibilities inspired me. Not wanting to scare away any players frightened by too modern conflicts, I created an imaginative conflict. You can read more from my rather slow progress blog: Delmonteland.

In short there are several factions to fight over the power vacuum in a former colonized country somewhere warm some time after WW2. The country is called Delmonteland and the main export is blood oranges. I have already painted some forces for a strong military faction, possible mercenaries whose loyalty to anything else but money and gold is not very clear or strong, and internation peace keeper faction called United Federation of Kindness. I have started a third force, consisting of natives of the country, whose part has been being the work force of the blood orange plantations. With this post I'm adding couple of warriors for that faction and some civilians.

These all are slightly converted Afghan Tribesmen from Perry Miniatures plastic range painted in imaginative blue-purple-pink. The unarmed people are civilians and they have some off-white in their colours, to give some hint about their neutrality, but mainly trying to create intended chaos on the table. If opponent isn't paying attention and mistakes a civilian to freedom fighter or vice versa, then it just adds to the story.

Like I wrote, these are natives of the country, forced under a colony rule some time ago, but now when the system is collapsing, they are eager to make their voice heard. And like every one else, they are ready to use some weapons to make themselves heard. These four warriors have WW2-era weapons from my bitzbox (originally German) making a strong contrast to previous warriors, which were armed with weapons from Tribesmen box (dating them to the previous century). So the bulk is using the old weapons inherited from their great-grandfathers, but these are most likely leaders, who have acquired some modern weapons.

These are the unarmed civilians. Play close attention, they are unarmed - do not make the mistake and take that sophisticated blood orange gathering tool as a machete, sword or knife, it is a tool. A bit of clipping and cutting here, there were not enough empty hands in the box. So they are the natives of imaginated country, or imaginatives. The brushwork here is bit sloppy, lots of washes, not that many highlights or details, no eyes, but that is somewhat intentional. They are not real historical forces, but they are not really fantasy either, they are a bit blurry, suggesting that they are just gaming pieces of a game. And I wanted to finish these guys quickly. :)

Points wise this is rather simple, there are 8 28mm minis, which should make 40 points in total. I really need to focus on the Dante theme next...

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Hey Teemu

I just got home form work and was delighted to see this post in the drafts.

I love the pink/purple colour choices for your civilians of Delmonteland  and also your creative raiding  of the bitzbox. You say the brushwork is sloppy but I think it works well ... Afterall, it is imagination-land!

40 points added to your total

- Sarah

From TeemuL: Warriors of Delmonteland (50 points)

Working on with the box project this time. In January I bought Wars of Insurgency rules after reading the review in WSS. I liked what the review said about the system and I also saw the game as a possibility to some conversion projects and a group work. What I didn't realize, that I didn't have any minis for the rules (nor terrain), but I was hooked after reading the rules. Then one thing led to another and I dug up this US Marine Raider Box, which came in a Warlord Games Mystery Box last year. These minis would be a nice test project for the main project.

After some chat with our group it came obvious, that not everyone was comfortable playing a post WW2 wargame, where the values and agendas are not "fresh" an history might be too close. I understand and accept that and we started to play around with imaginative conflict in an imaginary area - alternative history or something. So my US Marine Raiders got a new camo, some sort of a desert camo, although they seem to be in a jungle now, and they will be fighting for some one in the conflict of Delmonteland. Heinzenstania has reportedly some own agendas based on historical borders and Afrovision is keen to protect their rights and people. World Police will be represented by United Federation of Kindness (UFK - try to pronounce it like a word...).

The paint job was quite fast, just the basecoat, dotted camo here and there and then a brown wash. I experimented with different tones, so some of the clothes and skin areas are different, bringing some realism. I decided to paint all the equipment brown, grenades green and guns black or wood and metal. Not a force for rivet counters, but they are exactly correct, because they are imagination. :)

I got some basing materials with my latest order and tried them out with these. The end result is quite a jungle, I think, and I like it. The camo is not practical there, but if it is a dense jungle, then the colours doesn't really matter...

I have couple of special weapons more, but lets see if I can manage to paint them during the challenge. My emptying the boxes project is going well, as you can see. 50 points for 10 models, please.

 

 

Sylvain: A great little project done quickly. The miniatures are colorful in a military sense. Nice paint job!