MC1 Population Explosion

 It may have been more than a couple of months since the last post but there has been some painting at least going on in the background. This batch are all for Mega City One (amongst others)

First up are some Fatties, bought from an Etsy store (sculpted by Papsikels). The set has 11 figures in it, 7 all wearing these jumpsuits and 4 who are dressed as clowns. These last 4 still need to be coloured, but the main gang is done. The colour scheme is a vague nod to the outfit worn by Arnie in "The Running Man". A great addition to flesh out the Fatties gang, which lacks numbers of different sculpts.

Cometh The Hour, Cometh The ... Wash?

 

This post marks 2 occasions.

More New Recruits

 

A couple of new recruits to the Sci-Fi drawer. Well, almost new!

First up on the left is an Urban War VASA Sergeant. I already have a painted version of her in military grey for my VASA force, but I love the dynamic sculpt so now I've another painted version. Given the grey of the previous incarnation I fancied something a bit more "bubblegum", hence the pink and white theme.

On the right is a dominating Warzone Nepherite of Illian.  The gender of this figure has always confused me as it is very masculine apart from the very busty chest armour. That and the fact it is just a random miniature I picked up has meant that it has been in the lead pile for a VERY long time, so very happy indeed to have this one painted.

Urban War militia

 

A couple of figures to add to my Sci-Fi gangers. These are from the Urban War range. Clothing style wise very generic and realistic. So flexible that they can fit into any sci-fi or near future game I think. Nice and simple to paint as well. Some of my favourites!

(Shameless plug) available in store HERE

More Urban War Koralon

First set of figures of 2014 off the table, a selection of larger Koralon models. 2 Brood Masters with their big double blades, 2 more Larvan and a Phazon to open up those all important portals. I've quite pleased the way the top of the Phazon staff has come out to mirror the portal colours.

The big Broodmasters come with carblike legs on them, but I didn't like them. So they were snipped off and I drilled the stubs to leaving them looking like open pores or something. They are big beasties (that's a 50mm base they sit on!)

I've a Hydra still to be started to finish off my initial full Koralon force of 300+ pts. I've loads more to go, as I plan to use these guys as my "Bug" force in the future, but I really want to get the Woodland Warband roster cleared and get on with other projects this year (VSF and Zombies).

Making Warp Portals

Been making a few warp portal markers for my Urban War Koralon (although there is nothing stopping me from using them for other games). U.W. provide counters to represent the portals, but as they are small and sit flat on the table surface they've never seemed to represent the technology that is described in the rulebook. If my scary aliens are to charge through space I want them them to do it through a swirly magic door!

So I had a google around for images under "warp portal", "magic portal", etc and picked a few I liked. In the end I plumped for the one above as it had the swirly-ness I wanted and enough of it in the centre of the picture to be shaped.

Then I loaded it up in my graphics software (I used the free software GIMP) to size and shape it into the desired doorway shape. Somewhere in the Urban War forums there is a thread mentioning that portals should be 40mm wide, so that is roughly the size of the base.

The picture was then mirrored in GIMP, printed and cut out and folded to make it double sided (the mirroring in GIMP keeps the swirls going in the same direction)

The final part was laminating to give it a bit of durability and rigidity before slotting into a stand base (I bought these from EM4 Miniatures).

Urban War Weapons Test Dept

Following on from last weeks introductory Urban War game, MacSver and I had another game to test out some specific pieces of equipment (and their associated rules). One section was how weapons teams played, so the Viridians had a HMG team and Mortar Team (which handily also tested indirect\speculative fire effectiveness) and the other was to see if Heavy Armour could be a game breaker, courtesy of some VASA Black Legion.

The table was set as shown with players starting at either end.

3 objectives were randomly positioned D10 inches from the centre of the table (the direction indicated by the way the D10 pointed) to run a variation of the 3 Sisters Scenario in the rulebook. The 66% breakpoint was kept.

The Viridian's split into 3 groups from the off. A brace headed to the covering position on the left, the Weapons teams moved right to try and take advantage of the limits high position and cover, and the foot-sloggers pushed through the middle.

The VASA decided to move more directly towards the objective points, one force flanking wide and most the others working with the middle cover positions.

A round or 2 in and the the 2 forces had reached their phase one positions. The mortar crew decided to try a shot at the VASA sniper, which and a good elevated position overlook a main bottleneck. Their test shot the previous turn and hopelessly missed but this shot hit the sniper right on top of the head and even took out the supporting Suppressor on half damage.

On the other side of the table the VASA were carefully pushing forward with little resistance, as the covering Marines failed Overwatch command checks time and time again, with only there hard cover saving their skins.

With the VASA starting to close in (and starting to keep space between them) the targets were getting rare for the Viridian Mortar. One (very) speculative shot though did pay off with another mortar landing on the head of a Suppressor, ending his fight. The Heavy Machine Gun team had reached their optimum position to use their range and firepower (especially with the enemy Sniper gone) but all they managed to do all game is make a lot of noise - no hits were scored.

MacSver though it was time to test out the Heavy Armour special rule and popped a Red Guard member up for a charge. Heavy Armour basically acts as an additional save, with the appropriate level (+2 in this case) adding onto a D10 roll, hoping to get an total result of 10 or more. Unfortunately for his jump trooper MacSver didn't make his required 8+ roll and he was out-of-game. So not a license to stride down the centre of the table then!

The turn count was starting to get to the crucial number 6, and everyone was wary of the final objective dash (from games ends from turn 6 onwards with a rolled D10 + turn number > 12). The VASA Sergeant rushed out of cover to try and take out her opposite number. No-one was on overwatch, but fortunately he made a crucial cover save. A hail of lead flew the other way, but with one Marine shooting and the Sergeant ploughing ALL his CAL extra shots at the VASA Commander she was still untroubled. Finally a lone Marine stepped from cover, drew a bead and took down the enemy #1.

This signalled the 66% breaking point for the VASA force and they withdrew.

A fun and useful game. MacSver was most obliging, it must be pointed out, in putting some of his troops in perilous positions to allow the testing of some rules and effects. The effect of mortars to negate obstacles was shown (and also their unreliable accuracy). It also hammered home the importance of finding some solid cover to stand behind when taking fire - this extra save really saved the bacon of some of the Viridian Marines time and time again.

Urban War Demo

MacSver came down to run through a game of Urban War with me. It was a fun and useful session, as we found I'd had a couple of rules wrong. MacSver chose to play Viridian, as their more "shooty" focus seemed easier to follow for a first match.

As this was a first game we opted for a straight fight, both sides starting at either end. MacSver was quick to ascertain that his Sniper could fire the length of the table and mentally mapped the table length firing lines through the various scenery. Quite how effective in practical terms I'm not sure, but as a psychological exercise very good as it had me wary of his shooting from the word go!

 The Marines started moving down the right flank with covering fire from the Sergeant and Sniper and using the old supply pipework as a sheltered route.

The VASA, with their shorter effective firing range (and Close Combat only troops) moved up the opposite side, hoping to get a chance to charge in from a side. A Sniper and Suppressor were left behind to cover the Marine flanking advance.

The covering VASA were short lived. The Sniper was taken out by the Viridian Sergeant from the ruins across the table (despite feeling safe tucked behind a window) and the Suppressor missed his shot and was taken out by the Marine Sniper.

The VASA continued their advance up the left, using the tall ruin and a base for cover. A Viridian Marine tried to draw some of the covering fire from the other side, but unfortunately for him drew it too well and was gunned down

The Viridian Sergeant decided to to nip the VASA advance in the bud, and used both his extra CAL actions to dash round into the ruins and charge a baton wielding Suppressor. The resulting close combat was a stalemate, and his opposing number took up a covering position, not wanting to fire into the melee.

The Viridian Sergeant successfully broke off though, and made to escape. The VASA Sergeant gave chase but could only shock him with 2 volleys of fire. The Viridian managed to escape out of LOS round the corner, but the Suppressor caught up and with his baton on combat mode beat the enemy to the ground.

The other CC Suppressor dashed round the corner of the building to threaten the lurking Viridian Sniper, expecting a hail of lead. But luckily it was almost the first time in the game that the sharpshooter hadn't been on Overwatch, and the charged assault proved most successful, leaving the last couple of Viridian to break and retreat.

Urban War Reminder

With the Edinburgh Urban War Legionary, Sebigboss, looking to organise a tournament in December I thought that if I fancied attending I'd best be up to speed with the rules again, so put together a couple of forces and pressed Arabiansquire into action for a run through.

The table set-up: but I was being lazy (and last minute) so it was set to be a straight battle. Future Cube buildings free download from www.toposolitario.com and crosspiece ruins from Dave Graffam Models .

Arabiansquire's Vasa force advance. The archangel pops on top of a building to act as a spotter for the Suppressor Grenade Launcher tucked safely behind the building. To be fair the forces were slightly big for a "first game back" (250 pts), especially it almost felt like a demo with the wee lad having almost completely forgotten the rules. The aim was to add a couple of different units into the mix (like the indirect template weapon threat of the grenade launcher) and brain crunch through the rules.

My Viridian force use some vehicle obstacles as cover to move across the road. The sniper thought he could use his extreme range to take out some Vasa early doors. However he failed a climb (command check) test and didn't get into position early enough to be truly effective. He then proceeded to shoot poorly while his targets passed shock and cover saves!

We didn't manage to finish our game - too much time trying to remember\look up the rules again. But I want to have a few more games in the coming weeks which should help both myself and the wee lad. Best get the hobby shed table clear of all the rubbish so that I can set up!

Urban War - Koralon First Batch

First batch of Koralon painted up.

As an easy start in both painting and construction I've just done the basic troop type (Brood) a brood Leader and a bigger Larvan. All look capable of bring pain with big pointy blades.

Stayed with the scheme in the test model, but adding the final touch of applying gloss varnish to the black\green areas to help their hard'n'deadly appearance.

I'm building to an initial force of around 300 points painted with the next batch which should contain some higher cost models by way of Phazons ( who can open up portals on the desktop to let their comrade charge through) and Brood masters, who tower above the others with 4 long vicious blades.

Koralon Test Paint

Time to start up my next major painting project - my Urban War Koralon.

I've been trying to decide on what colour scheme to use on these guys for ages, as there is so much room for choice, as the obvious thing seems to be to have 2 contrasting colours between the body and head\weapons. Also despite my original intention that the Koralon were meant to be a quick addition for a 300pt force I seem to have "accidentally" ended up with a few more, so again I want a good fast paint job that will get them on table.

As ever to keep myself right more than anything else, here is what I ended up do:

• Base prime White
• Wash entire model in Vallejo Sepia Ink
• Paint head and weapons Black
• Dry brush entire model White
• Wet highlight head and weapons
• Green Ink Wash black areas
• GW Baal Red Wash on exposed muscle
• Dry brush teeth Gun Blot Metal

This will be the base for the core troops (Brood, as above). nice and quick.

And why metal teeth?

Urban War - Viridians Finished

Finished my final Urban War Viridian Model: a Sabre Clau. It's been waiting patiently to in a 75% completed mode for a few weeks as I concentrated on the Saurian riders. The other figure is the pilot. I bought her with a few other unpainted figures and while they had a repaint she was painted nicely and in nearly the same colour scheme so was left alone. She included here for completions sake.

More notably, it makes the completion of my Urban War Viridian Force.

In the end the Force list reads:

• 1 Commander
• 1 Heroine Marine Sgt
• 10 Marines
• 1 Marine HGR
• 3 Snipers
• 4 Shock Troopers
• 2 Mortar teams (both with 2 loaders)
• 2 HMG teams
• 3 Saurian Riders (1 Sgt, 1 HGR and 1 Marine)
• 1 Sabre Clau + Land Pilot

Urban War - Viridian Saurian Riders

Finally finished my Saurian Riders. A bit late for my Painting Oaths pledge, but life at the moment isn't really leading to hobby time (as the silence on the blog of the last few weeks would seem to back up).

There was a deceptively large amount of painting on these, so they took a bit longer than expected, Especially as I was adjusting the lizards skin after each application as I only had a rough idea of where I was going with it.

The models are also very top heavy. They all sit on one hind leg. The HGR one above needed to be propped up on the barrel as even when moved into place the whole thing sagged down towards the ground over the course of a couple of days. This also means that they can topple over forwards quite easily. I need to find a method of weighting down the underside of the bases. If nothing else I suppose Milliput may have to do!

Happy with the results. The marines and webbing all follow the usual colour scheme I've been applying throughout the army, so no bother there. With so much green and brown on their back I knew I didn't want the lizards to follow a green colour scheme, and I'm happy with the way the grey (with slight undertones of green) has turned out, making themselves and their riders stand out.

Urban War - Viridian Snipers

Here now are my camouflage delayed Viridian snipers:

The DPM hasn't been tried since my Dog Soldiers Squaddies (phew, 3 years ago!) and again I find myself half liking the outcome despite it looking close to the desired effect. I'm starting to believe that it's actually DPM I don't like. Oh well.

Urban War - Viridian Heroes

Been painting the last of my Viridian ground troops. These two have finished first:

These are the Viridian Heroine Marine Sergeant and an old sculpt Marine Sergeant.

The Marine Sergeant is destined to be the model for my Viridian Commander, although I'll have to consult the stats, etc to decided who he will stand in for.

The original plan for the Heroine sergeant was to have her coat in DPM, but when I decided before starting the DPM painting that the folds in the coat looked to good and dynamic to muddy with the camouflage pattern. I have 2 final cloaked snipers who are in a similar painted position waiting for the camouflage to go on.

Urban War - Viridian Mortar Teams

Viridian Mortar Team 1

Viridian Mortar Team 2

Quite nicely (and by chance) I've ended up with two different "aimers". One with some camoflage netting on his back and the other with a backpack. The identical loaders will be handy if I want to have only one mortar with a bit a "survivability" by recruiting one form the other unused team.

The end id in sight for my Viridian, but I was starting to feel a little "here we go again" for these guys so i'm going to take a brief break and pull out something completely different. For my Birthday last year I was given the post-apocalyptic Not Scooby Doo gang by Hasslefree. It would be rude to just leave them in the unpainted pile...

Urban War - Viridian HMG teams

Two Viridian Heavy Machine Gun teams. One standard (gunner and loader) and one older combined veteran team. I love the pose of the veteran team. It's so reminiscent of many German HMG team photos during WWII.

It wasn't until I was putting the final highlights on that I noticed that the gun for the veteran team had slipping to the side a bit, but if you don't look for it you don't notice.

Next on the table a couple of Viridian Mortar Teams...

Urban War - Viridian Marines and HGR

Finishing off the last of my standard Colonial Marines and I've added in a Veteran Heavy Gauss Rifle (HGR) Marine as well to boost the short range fire power of the squad. I had a bit of trouble choosing a colour for his cap. I was inclined to only paint armour the light green, but the cloth brown didn't look right, so light green it became. Also painted the yellow/black stripes on the HGR to help him stand out.

Talking of fire power, next up are a Heavy Machine gun teams...

Urban War - Viridian Shock Troopers

With my VASA forces finished I can now move onto adding to my existing Viridian starter strike team. I'd picked 2 of these from Ebay to combine with a brace bought from a gamer in the area. The Ebay purchases must be earlier editions, as they are smaller in build and have slightly different details. They also have awful palsied looking hands on their blade arm. Now painted up though they fit with the newer sculpts, and I'm sure they'll look fine when they hit the table.

Urban War - VASA Finished

I was going to try and title with another of my cunning puns, but in the end thought this deserved an obvious one.

Neura and Archangel Sergeant

It's been pretty quiet posting wise on the blog. A combination of Christmas preparations, the usual rush at work to get things finished before the turn of the year and finally I was trying to finish off the last of my Urban War VASA before the self imposed deadline of 2013.

Suppressors with batons & Gauss rifles, Grenade launchers
and Snipers.

So 10 Suppressor types, an Archangel Sergeant, Commander Neura and a Pacifier Clau later here we are, all done. This force hasn't had any rhyme nor reason to its composition. It's been made up entirely from a starter box and whatever came in a Ebay job lot.

Pacifier CLAU

The final VASA pool is:

• Core Suppressors (4 baton, 10 Gauss rifle) and one Sergeant
• 4 Grenade Launchers
• 4 Snipers
• 6 Archangels and one Archangel Sergeant)
• 2 Black Legion
• Commander Konrad
• Commander Neura
• Commander Kali
• Pacifier Clau

This should be enough for varied Strike Team Actions games and also the odd STA:Clau games.

It's always nice to finish a project/army, but it wouldn't be finished without the family group photo...