Saturday, 28 February 2015

From SteH - Dwarven Pirates, Uruk Hai and more Sung Chinese (90 Points)

It's been a few weeks since I last a managed to post anything, I have been painting but I've been a bit preoccupied with a new job, trying to buy a house and still getting to grips with the change in culture after we moved to New Zealand.

Anyway enough with the excuses, first up is my entry to the comedic bonus round, just a tad late I know but I was just too tired to get the darn thing posted in time, so it will just have to be a regular entry. Why is this suitable for inclusion in the comedic round, well because I present five marauder miniatures dwarves, circa 1989 (I think ), these guys were back in the heyday of fun poses and bright colours. 



I acquired these second hand and stripped them down but never actually did anything with them. Then after painting up one of them as a pirate when we arrived in NZ (for variety as I'd been buried in Lord of the Rings) I got the urge to dig them out and get a small pirate company completed. 











Just a shame I was slack and didn't get em completed in time.

Next is the obligatory Lord of the Rings Uruk Hai, eleven of the angry looking chappies. These guys have been the theme for my painting challenge and hopefully by the end of the challenge I'll be able to have a very large game against ScottB with all the models I've painted during.


I managed to convert an Uruk captain, a few spare bits lying around, the application of a sharp knife and voila!



And finally some more Sung Chinese painted up for a fledgling Tsurannuanni force, this time five Shinzawai archers in their trademark blue. As the leading house of the Blue Wheel party it makes sense that they're in blue, we'll just have to see how long it takes me to paint up a few more houses and get a few Kingdom forces to pit them against.







From Curt:

A wonderfully varied submission Ste!

The Sung archers (15mm?) and Uruks (nice conversion on the captain) are great, but the show-stealers for me are those fabulous Dwarf pirates!  I remember coming across these years ago but have never seen any painted up - fantastic! I love the cacophony of colour, especially with the pistol-wielding conquistador with the puff & slash tunic.  Marvelous stuff.

Best of luck in your house hunting!

From TamsinP - NSL Reinforcements (142 Points)


This entry is rather picture heavy, but there is a lot to show, so no apologies from me on that score!

I had decided that my NSL forces were in need of some reinforcements. After all, Panzer grenadiers do need some Panzers and APCs otherwise they'd just be, well, grenadiers.

All figures and models in this entry are 15mm from Ground Zero Games.

The Vehicles

I'd decided a while back that my NSL would utilise hover technology for their armoured vehicles. This was on the basis that it would give them mobility over a wide range of possible dirtside terrain whilst being easier (and cheaper) to repair and maintain than grav vehicles - Teutonic practicality is alive and well in the future!

The radio antennae are plastic bristles from a washing up brush.

Wombat Armoured Personnel Carriers


Four APCs






Flatbed, command APC and missile APC







If you look closely, you will spot that a couple of these APCs have been in prangs and lost headlights.


Rommel Tanks


Three gun tanks










SLAM artillery tank, air defense tank, missile (AT/AA) tank










These were mostly done with an airbrush - the first time I've used it in "combat". They were primed Dunkelgelb then the camo scheme was added. First layer was Hull Red sprayed straight up. The second layer was Dark Grey Blue sprayed though diamond pattern wire mesh - this didn't work as well as I'd hoped; I need some more practice to get the distance from brush to mesh and mesh to model right. The top layer was Camo Light Green sprayed through a mesh with round holes. This worked better - obviously I was getting more practiced. The detailing was then done by hand.


Power Armour Reinforcements



I'd come to the conclusion that my Power Armour company needed some reinforcements, so this is the core of the heavy weapons platoon and some specialists to add to the "rifle" platoons. I'll probably be adding another "rifle" platoon and finishing the rest of the heavy weapons platoon at some point after the Challenge.

These were primed with the airbrush, then painted by hand.

Plasma Gun Squad







Plasma Gun Specialists



SAW Gun Squad







SAW Gun Specialists




Support Weapons

I've also painted up some support weapons which can be used to provide extra firepower for the Panzer grenadiers or power armour troops.

These were primed black and basecoated in camo dark green with the airbrush, then finished by hand.

Hover Drones






Missile armed drones


Tri-barrel cannon drones




Mobile Autonomous Weapon Platforms (MAWPs)

These MAWPs are hover tech, for the same reason as with the armoured vehicles.




Plasma cannons


I quite like how the blue glow of the plasma coils has turned out


AA/AT missiles






Tri-barrel cannons

Phew! That's a lot of pics!



From Curt:

Wow! What a wonderful looking force Tamsin. I have to say that my eye was first drawn to the burnt and mottled groundwork - I think it provides a terrific 'alien battleground' setting for these models and really sets the tone for them.

Like you, I really like the effect of the vibrant blue glow of the energy weapons and the various lens colours add a nice contrast to the olive green armour. 

My only suggestion would be to drybrush a slightly lighter tone on the groundwork to the rear and sides of the hover vehicles to reinforce the impression of them blowing a dusty wake. 

Again, a great looking army Tamsin.