'O' GROUP.......Rationalisation

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I'm cooking! Not in some power charged I am all I can be kind of way - actually cooking. So text now, pics to follow as I do my Jamie Oliver in the kitchen this evening.

With Force XXI back in the race, with some very, very tempting 15mm Gunships and sexy Soviet Blok Grav armour, plus all this new stuff from Critical Mass Games, Khurasan and GZG, more to come from Rebel Minis; it's been time for a rationalisation at the Dropship Headshed. We've been shuffling minis around, retiring some, swopping others to meet our current wants.

As I really haven't bonded with the Critical Mass Drop Troops, they're a bit 'Darcey Bussell' for my tastes, I've packed them off to the Master Chef. In return he has given me his painted Earth Force Marines and a handful of GZG New Israelis. Can't have enough Earth Force Marines I say, sooooo classic Traveller!

Tell me M.C.? What the hell did you use to stick these E.F.M.s to your card bases? 15 year old Stalinist Bostik? An hour and two sliced fingers later, I have removed the Earth Force minis from the card and stuck them, plus any remaining card, Bostik and blood onto my 'standard' 40mm round bases. I can hear Master Chef right now...

"No 1 rule of wargaming!
You can't love your troops
unless you BLEED for them!"

At the moment we are both concentrating on Critical Mass' Light Recon as HALO O.D.S.T. proxies. Somewhat inspired by Phil's treatment of the Light Recon over at Firezone Studios, I've painted a 'Commando Platoon' black overall with Citadel OOP Striking Scorpion Green helmets armour and pads. Not on the plan, not gritty, but very Sci Fi.

If I ever got into 6mm Sci Fi - and it might not be far off, might be the best way for me to fight my Sci Fi Hyborian campaign, Phil can paint my minis for me (as long as I still have a job that is).....mucho hairy on that front at the moment.

Well that's it - SANS MARCHE - Sur La Table!

Cheers
Mark
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'O' Group......The Inspiration Bus

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If you are a regular visitor to this blog, you may have noticed that I've included a 'Projects' section in the sidebar. It's really no more than a heads up of what's rotating through my 'workbench'. Some things rotate more slowly than others whilst I wait for the Inspiration Bus to make a stop. Unfortunately, it's occasionally known in these parts for the bus to be running only a sunday or bank holiday service! LOL!

If I like a range of miniatures or even a couple of decent miniatures within a discrete range, I'll buy them over and over to paint in different camo styles. GZG's New Israeli's being a case in point. I've already got Critical Mass Games (CMG) Light Recon Troopers marked out for Paramilitary, Urban & Desert camo schemes.

At the moment, I'm applying the same to Rebel's Earth Force Marines - I picked up 4 packs initially, some 80 plus figures, but oh god, I'm going to need more. I've painted a couple of 'short' platoons for asteroid assaults. But, I also want to paint a couple of platoons in desert/wasteland cammies and another 'short' company in Traveller 'Red'. I know the Traveller Imperial Marines are a terracotta brown - it's 'Red' to me.

I also hanker for a 1:1 platoon worth of Rebel's EF Marines as early Terran Space Marines, you know the sort, 'white' space suits with blue NASA badges. I admit, it's a Seventies thing, hardwired no doubt by the US Space Marines in the Bond movie Moonraker (1979), Gerry Anderson's UFO and not least being a child of the Apollo missions. I plan to give the Terran Space Marines support in the shape of GZG's latest MULES and Wheeled MAWPS - which have a Moon buggy feel about them.

I've ordered a tub of GF9 GFSO16 Ash Waste / Tundra flock for the bases from MAELSTROM GAMES (UK). Maelstrom have extended their current 17% off deal till Monday 3rd August. The deal code is SUMMER-MADNESS.

Probably the next set of miniatures I paint. Maybe even get a couple of bases done this week.

The Rebel Mini's Sahadeen are yet another example. Really like these miniatures. The first batch have been split in two. First being painted as future 'desert' Special Forces, but they will also fulfill the role of Wasteland Raiders with Old Crow Gecko and Goanna Scout cars.

I found a simple but fun camo generator online and created this version of Modern Australian 'bubblegum' camo which I think I'll use with these Sahadeen, though I may stick with British desert camo and use this on GZG's latest NAC Marines.

Click here for Camo Generator

The other group? When the Sahadeen miniatures arrived I instantly saw the potential to use them in another theatre of war, and so this second group are due for some headswops to add variety and possibly the odd bit of additional gear sculpted with Green Stuff. More later.

Khurasan's Garn and 'Garn' armour (GZG Kra'Vak Grav Tanks) are defeating me at the moment. I want to do some angular Brown/Orange affair. Master Chef did something similar on his Aslan armour (again GZG Kra'Vak Grav APCs). Might just ask him to paint them for me.

The Garn themselves.....I have some OOP 28mm Lizard troopers from Archive Miniatures, bought way back in 1977, at the original Games Workshop in Dalling Road. These were big for their day when 25mm was err, 25mm. I painted them in glossy black armour, as they had a Darth Vaderesque lizard commander. Their skin was painted a green basecoat lightened successively so that the tips of the scales are off-yellow/green. I'm tempted to repeat this paint scheme on the Garn as a tribute to these still serviceable 30 year old minis.

I'm taking my time painting GZG's 'Ravagers', simply because they are such nicely scuplted miniatures and I want to do them justice. I've given 'Regan' a sheepskin collar to his coat using Green Stuff. 'Dogfart' has become an Adam Ant acolyte and 'Jenny Woo' is blue, but I can't decide yet on pink, white or purple hair?

Asteroid terrain? Think black and jagged, inspired by JTAS, and 'Crematoria' in Chronciles of Riddick (2004). Simple and modular with a few inspiring pieces for quick and easy retro Sci Fi games.

Photos to follow.

Cheers
Mark

'O' GROUP.......

My most recent order from Khurasan Miniatures was waiting for me when I got home on Friday. 10 mixed packs of Garn and 6 packs of Corporate Marines.

The Corporate Marines are really nice miniatures. Well sculpted and very much in human proportions. The MasterChef was worried about how thin the legs looked in the photos - I can assure him and anyone else, that the legs are fine, as is the shoulder armour. The figs match perfectly with GZG's new Ravagers which are still on my workbench.

I have two small gripes about the Corporate Marines. First, no VISORS. To me, simply, No Visors = No Sci Fi. It's a personal thing. I don't care whether the visors are chic Ray-Ban strips or half/full face affairs, I just want to see visors on my (human) Sci Fi miniatures!

Second. These miniatures like many currently available, they lack dynamism, being mostly in standyabouty poses. Which I guess is fine for a 'Corporate' Marine guarding premises, installations and corridors, or possibly any military force conducting planetary policing actions. As such, I think they are perfect for RPGs like classic TRAVELLER, where military miniatures in more dynamic combat poses look out of place when they are supposed to be doing guard duty, patrolling streets/spaceports or looking for fugitives in the local Cantina.

To be fair to Jon, he did ask me what changes I would like to see. Given any changes would be at a not inconsiderable cost to him and push back getting these miniatures cast, I didn't want to impose my foibles on miniatures that would likely sell anyway.

These comments aren't a critiscm of Khurasan's releases, more a gentle plea to sculptors and manufacturers. I know it's more costly to sculpt 3 different skirmishing men than an equal number of standing guys who are 'converted' by swivelling torso, moving arms and heads. But bear in mind that the drought of 15mm Sci Fi figures (in comparison with other gaming genres) that existed over the past twenty years has ended in a Tsunami of new releases this year.

Speaking with the MasterChef the other night, we recognise we are lucky to have a fair amount of disposable income that can be spent on our hobby. But we also have come to terms with the fact that it's simply not sustainable for us to continue purchasng new miniatures month after month, purely because they are the latest Sci Fi releases.

This isn't solely a financial decision, it's also a practical one. Like everyone, we have a backlog of miniatures to paint and other wargaming interests. Perhaps more importantly, few of the new releases enhance our core gaming project and we find that we are losing focus. Buying more but getting less done.

I for one, am going to sit back over the next few months, concentrate on my core forces, and wait to see what comes on the market. Even if there's a price hike in-between, I'd rather pay 10-15% extra for miniatures I want in September, that tick most or all my boxes, than spend 100% on something now that will be superceded on the tabletop and consigned to a drawer in the garage in August.

Cheers
Mark