From RobH: Space 1889 - Martian Gashants (85 Points)

This is not the post I expected to be opening my campaign with. However on Wednesday, an unexpected package arrived on my doorstep. One that was not expected until December 30th. I brought it into the kitchen and put it on the table for my room-mate to open. I assumed it was the kitty treats that she ordered on my amazon account. The  treats  arrived an hour later.

1.65 Kilos of Martian goodness.

Instead it was 35 Martian Gashants that I had won on eBay earlier in the month.  Another 1.65 kilos for the mountain of shame. I followed this item since early September before making my move. The figures came primed, with 25MM x 50MM metal bases. I had to reglue most of them, as they came unstuck in shipping.

I wanted to try some ideas I had for the painting them up and I set to work on a third of their number. The sad fact is these are riderless mounts. I must continue to haunt eBay and other auctions sites seeking the troops needed to mount up my Martian Cavalry. This is how I end up with storage boxes, from which I know I will be able to pull unpainted miniatures.

The hidden mountain of shame.

There appear to be two types of Gashants. The domesticated variety equipped with European tack. I painted up three of them and kept it to a simple uniform look. I have another 24 of these figures to paint.

Then there is the second, wild variety, which appear to be used by the various Martian tribes. I had 8 of these figures and painted them all. I experimented with 4 different skin colours, as well as two different beak colours (red or yellow). One of each for the four different skin colours used. For lack of a better term the wild gashants seem to display some sort of comb. Again I used a different colour to go with each of the skin colour variations.

Mars is covered in red soil. I used Vallejo Earth Texture - Desert Sand mix with 1/4 amount of Liquitex Cadmium Red. The overall effect was pink sand. I applied an Army Painter Slaughter Red wash over the sand to darken the colour. Finally to quote from another Martian Chronicle, the ubiquitous red weed was applied to all the bases. 

Since a 25mm mounted figure is 10 points, and a foot figure is 5 points, I figure a mount must be worth 5 points in itself. 

Points 13 Gashants x 5 points = 65 Points

Sci-Fi Studio = 20 Points

Total 85 Points

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I'm loving the Barsoom theme here, Rob! These 'heavy metal' Gashants look terrific in their variety of hues, and I really like the vibrant Martian groundwork you've gone with. This herd makes me want to do a few more of my TinMan miniatures that I have sitting in the wings. Must. Keep. My. Resolve...

A great entry for the 'Sci-Fi Studios' theme. Well done!

- Curt