Death is the Jungle

Painting and Modelling a Loud Ninja Games Chuhuac Sniper
By Eli

I got around to painting one of my Loud Ninja Games Chuhuac minis. This one is a personal favorite, the sniper from RAP005 Chuhuac Special Ops (HERE). This commando figure is poised with his powerful, long-range accelerator gun used for anti-personal as well as anti-material missions.

Because I wanted to do a more subdued scheme than the catalog Chuhuac, I started with a brown base coat and a bit base. The large base is to accommodate scenic effects. 

I started with a base coat of a sort of pale green, almost like a green-tinted white. This shows up a little bluish in the pictures, but it's a shade of green. I covered all of the parts that should be concealed by the commando's stealth suit. for the base flesh tones, I used an actual human shade of flesh. I left the plumage, weapon, and cloaking pack brown.

The next step was to paint the plumage red and the backpack and gun a dark olive drab.  I highlighted the gun and pack with a bit of the OD and the suit color blended together. I then washed the entire figure in Army Painter Strong Tone wash. I went back and picked out some details with the highlighting color again and smoothed out some of the blotchy parts with some of the base color with just a touch of OD.

Basing was quick and dirty and took all of 5-10 minutes (wasn't counting). I started by simply painting darker brown splotches over the base coat lighter brown. Then, a few dabs of superglue here and then as a run through the grit bin. After this, I glued down the major scenic features (bare branch, leafy shrub, log and rock.

With the arrangement to my liking, I then applied more glue to the ground, this time covering most of it and a few dabs on the bare branch (actually a grape stem). A sprinkle of my special "leaf litter" blend of tea leaves. These are unused tea leaves pulled from their packets and mixed in a container to the right color blend.

After the leaf litter was applied, I went and picked away any bits that were sticking in places they shouldn't and then dabbed a bit of glue on the log and rock. A sprinkle of blended modelling flock gives a nice mossy effect.

The end result is a nice, concealed Chuhuac commando. A deadly threat on its own, giving a raptor an accelerator cannon just seems like overkill!

-Eli

Slicing Through the Air

New V105 Saber Flyer from 15mm.co.uk

By Eli

One of the coolest things that 15mm.co.uk decided to do was to remaster some of their wonderful, albeit aging scifi vehicle models, refreshing the models and giving them renewed life moving forward into the future. The latest in this line is the V105 Saber Class Jet Flyer.

An all white metal kit (many of the remasters have incorporated rein & metal), this is the perfect vehicle for your light flight duties. Whether it is a military scout, law enforcement or even just a space colony runabout, this two-seat, open cockpit VTOL craft will fit the bill. 

For more information, read - HERE

It's a Block Party

Block House Release for The Ion Age
By Eli

Hey all,

Brand new from our friends over in Scotland, the newest release in the ever-growing range of configurable resin terrain...

THE ION AGE

IAF040 BLOCK HOUSE

Continuing their series of interconnecting, stack-able, accessory-filled resin terrain, Ion Age has released  the IAF040 Block House model. Representing a hardened bunker, this piece can be used on its own or linked up with other pieces from the range utilizing the standardized joining details which are masterfully finished as either solid walls while still allowing a smooth join to other components. The blockhouse also uses the same standardized roof mount for the various roof top accessories in the range, allowing you to outfit this piece as anything from a communications bunker to an air defense position. Add cannons and this tough little structure can become part of a line of defense.

For more information read - HERE

 

Gruntz 15mm Sci-Fi - Activation Cards Preview

By Harold

Check out the newest Gruntz add-on preview over at the Gruntz Blog

Robin from Gruntz! is showing off his new card activation deck for Gruntz.

Activation Cards

At many of the show games for Gruntz I have been playing with the activation cards. They add a dynamic feel to the game with less of the I-GO-U-GO feel. They also allow for games with more than 2 players because the activation sequence is determined randomly by assigning cards, so players feel like they are involved rather than waiting their turn.

To support this play style I have been developing a dedicated deck of 62 cards for Gruntz. They are a smaller half poker card size, so ideal for the 15mm scale where you don't want to ruin the table by having a larger poker deck strewn across your terrain layout.

Here is a sample of the draft card back and a couple of the card fronts.  There are around 20 of the 62 cards that have some sort of special result for the unit which adds a bit more chaos to the battlefield. These abilities could be ignored if you just want to use the cards to determine activation sequence.

Using these rules result in a card being assigned face down to each unit on the table (or vehicle) and when they are turned face up you can determine which unit activates by the number on the card. The highest number activates first and then you work back down to the lowest. 

They are heading off now for printing a draft proof set of cards and should be available to order in the next 6-8 weeks (once any final layout and rule tweaks are adjusted). 

I'm very excited about these. I'm working on a simple reaction system for Gruntz as well and I think these would fit in nicely.

I envision using these as follows:

• Each player is dealt a number of cards based on how many units they have (1:1 for each unit)
• Each player (alternating) assigns cards to their units. They can assign any cards to any units, even putting multiple cards on the same unit.
• Everyone reveals the cards and you activate from highest to lowest.

I (ClearHorizon Miniatures) was at the Gamex Convention this last weekend.  I played a lot of demo games and got a lot of folks interested in 15mm gaming.  I look forward to playing more games!

Look to the Skies

New Heavy Combat Cyberform from Loud Ninja Games
By Eli

I am happy to announce the first new release to my Chuhuac range since the Kickstarter - RAP012 Heavy Combat Cyberform.

This miniature represents a larger, more capable version of the light flying cybernetic drone that accompanies the Command Section from RAP03. It is used for longer range, more detailed recon, target acquisition and communications missions. 

In addition to RAP012 a new sub-code for RAP03 is available that allows you to purchase 6 of the Light Combat Cyberforms separate from the Command Section pack. Use these to expand your drone network to cover a wider area of the board, coordinated through your Heavy Combat Cyberform.

For more information and background, read - HERE.

Legate Vanya of the Styx Legion

New Khanate Character for the Ion Age

This week we see the release of Legate Vanya and one of his legionary guards from the Styx Legion. This cool character can be used to lead units or to add character to any scifi setting. The base pack come with the Legate one guard but you can also order the miniatures separately.

For more info, read - HERE