From JamieM - Aeronefs Away! (55 points)

This post sees my majestic rise to the top of Snowlord's peak and what better way to do it than accompanied by a couple of Aeronefs and their pilots?

These two are from the treasure trove of figures that is the Bombshell miniatures range.  As soon as I saw these two in the lead mountain, I knew I wanted them to be VSF pilots as it's an area my gaming group is very keen to get into.

In the yellow is Pilot 3rd rate Raven Skye.  Newly promoted to the rank, she's wearing the recommended armour for Aeronef pilots in the Covenant of Antarctica fleet.  In the jaunty hat is pilot 1st rate Betty Owens, who is far more experienced a pilot and has, as with many pilots, replaced her recommended armour with more comfortable flight attire.  The CoA is very open minded for a Victorian society and so has no problem with either gender flying combat craft.

I decided to go for clear bases given they'll be on their 'nefs or elsewhere as scenario objectives and I managed to mess them up in totally different ways.  One is messy and one is frosty, so clearly some more patience needed next time......

But onto the 'nefs!

These beauties are MDF, designed by one of my gaming buddies and available through Blotz. He's designed about 8 now I think for the different factions in the VSF that we're going to do one day - we have a bunch of figures from the now defunct Dystopian Legions range from Spartan games. As we couldn't find any available commercially the clever chap got some CAD software, taught himself how to use it and offered the designs to Blotz! He also did this shuttle and is beavering away on other things

The 'nefs get their power from the fans and engine and are great fun to paint. The coloured panels indicate which division and theatre they are in and also have numbers to identify them. We're planning to play VSF on Mars, hence the red bases.

I decided that as Antarctica doesn't have many trees, they would be all metal.  It's a classic iron and brass scheme.

They're chunky old things, here is Raven at the controls of "Dauntless"

And this is Betty at the controls of the "Iron Duke".

As this is my second trip on the balloon, which will net me no points as I've used it before and haven't achieved frequent flyer status just yet, I decided that my shameless points grab would involve a glass of bubbly.  This will hopefully provide the moral fortitude that I may just need whilst quaking before the all powerful Snowlord himself......

As for scoring, 2 x 28mm figures and 2 x 28mm vehicles scores me 50 points I think and 5 extra for the bubbly?  For insurance purposes I am required to state that Blogger put the picture sideways and it is in no way a comment by myself on the somewhat unconventional flying style of the Balloon's pilot.....!

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Oh wow, these are just fantastic, Jamie! I love the saturated colour palette you've used for the pilots, especially that yellow jacket and the literally painted-on jeans. :)

While the pilots are undeniably terrific, my attention is absolutely riveted by these groovy aeronefs you're treating us to. Those are so darned cool. I like how you did the wood planking, which also shows off your clear acrylic bases you used for your figures. I've been wanting to do something like this for garden wargaming and I think I may need to get out my credit card and pay a visit to Blotz. Brilliant work Jamie and a perfect entry fee for a passage on Sarah's Balloon. Enjoy your flight to Snow Lord's Peak!

-Curt