Thursday 23 November 2017

"By My Clever Riddles..."

"I'm setting Batman and Robin up for the kill!"
This 28mm plastic pre-painted "Wizkids" miniature of a Lackey is number 019 from the "DC Comics" Hypertime range, and has been painted to coincide with the palette I’ve previously used for my Riddler’s Mole Hill Gang. However, as I wanted him to be a pistol-toting minion, as opposed to one carrying a cruel-looking crowbar, I have substituted his close combat weapon with a gun-hand cut from a Marvel “Heroclix” Infinity Challenge Henchmen model.

Happily, due to the nature of the plastic and the hand in question butting up against the crook’s body, I didn’t need to use anything other than super-glue to ensure the replacement piece was securely attached. Albeit, the new hand is somewhat larger than its predecessor and is adorned with a non-matching fingerless glove…
Judoon WIPs - These two alien mercenaries just need their toe-caps to be picked out
The model was initially undercoated with “Citadel” Abaddon Black, and had his trousers and woollen hat treated to a combination of "Vallejo" Heavy Green and "Citadel" Niel-Tan Green. The Lackey’s jumper was then painted using "Vallejo" Heavy Violet and "Citadel" Druchi Violet. Finally, the hand-gun was given a coat of "Citadel" Ironbreaker and washed with Nuln Oil.

Due to an imminent self-imposed deadline to pitch a substantial Judoon faction up against the Fisher King in a "Doctor Who: Exterminate!" miniatures game, I have been persevering with the last of my pewter "Rhinoceros-headed humanoids" by "Warlord Games". These two black-clad mercenary police will actually give me more than I need to field a 'basic' six-strong Judoon force. But as I was already going to be painting one of the models it seemed silly not to work on my final unpigmented figure at the same time; especially as the sculpts are identical.
"Victrix" Napoleonic French WIPs - Work has finally started on the two soldiers' backpacks and muskets
Lastly, I have spent quite a bit of time progressing a pair of plastic Napoleonic French by "Victrix Limited". It's been some years since I last attempted to 'pick out' all the straps, pouches, bags and cuffs of so detailed a Line infantryman, and my enthusiasm for renewing this 'Marengo' project has been slightly dampened by the fact I can no longer use the same "Citadel" paint colours as those which I applied on my previous Frenchmen.

Fortunately, I have managed to find some suitable alternatives within the "Vallejo" Game Color range, and additionally located an old, yet still very usable, OOP pot of "Citadel" Asurmen Blue wash. I have also undergone a little 'shopping therapy' by taking full advantage of "Warlord Games" Black Friday sale and ordered myself a rather nice Napoleonic 1809-1815 Russian 6 pounder cannon...

24 comments:

  1. Like you needed more minis Simon... :D

    Judoon look great!

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    1. Cheers Dai LOL. This actually ends my spending for the next few months - I hope.

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  2. I love Napoleonic minis but you do need SO many and they are SO fiddly, good luck!

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    1. Thanks Andy. I guess that's why I thought if I don't give them another go now, I probably never will.

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  3. Great addition to your riddler gang Simon, wouldn't worry to much about the one glove as I recall it was big in the 80's.
    Almost finished on the Judoon, until you add more ! LOL
    Keep plugging away at your naps mate

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    1. Cheers Dave. All the converted gun-men suffer with the same black glove, so I thought I'd simply raise it as an issue of interest. Once my last two Judoon are finished I'm really hoping they'll be the last for a good while, and plugging away is a good description of my work on my Naps.

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  4. Looking good. A great mix as always. Keep plugging away with the Naps. After them the Boromites will seem like a breeze! The Judoon really are great models, keep the Dr Who coming. I also look forward to the next batrep in Gotham, as they are always entertaining.

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    1. Thanks Undercoat. The Naps are fun, if not a little fiddly etc, and my final five Boromites are earmarked for an end of December deadline. Lots more "Doctor Who" to come, and the next instalment of "Gotham" is just around the corner.

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  5. An interesting mix of figures, Simon, the hallmark of your blog. I never know what to expect when I see a new post from you. I see you're backing "Spitfyre" on Kickstarter. I saw it advertised and decided it wasn't for me but I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on it.

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    1. Cheers Bryan. I like to dabble in the odd genre as well you know :-) I wasn't going to back "Spitfyre" at all until I saw the minis in the flesh at "Warfare" in Reading last weekend, and was bowled over by how crisp they were - and by all the plans the company has for expansions etc. It simply sounded a real scream and different from the norm; with (French) gnome riding pigeons sealing the deal for me.

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  6. Phew! When I read the last line, I thought it was going to finish with the word "Army" - with some relief it was "6 pounder cannon" ;-)
    The fingerless glove doesn't detract from the Lackey, the Judoon mercenaries look great, and the Naps are coming along SO nicely, I might try and find my "Flintloque" mini's :-)

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    1. Ha Hah, Greg. Perhaps I should have written " and ordered myself a rather nice Napoleonic 1809-1815 Russian 6 pounder cannon for the unpainted army I already own" ;-)

      I'd love to see your "Flintoque" stuff. I'm a huge fan of the range, and its only my desire to have a Nap army finished first that I haven't bought into that range myself.

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  7. You know my thoughts on Batman/Gotham Lackeys, gimme gimme gimme lol, so yep you got my attention here from the very start. nice one. As for your Napoleonics, I`d just go with Ganesha Games "Song of Drums and Shakos" and be done with it (skirmish scale Napoleonic games in 28mm are soooo much more manageable than mass armies).

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    1. Thanks Steve. I certainly hope to give "Song of Drums & Shakos" a go at some point, and once I've an appropriately sized Austrian force then that'll happen. For now though I'm just going to try and ease back into all the straps, cuffs etc and see how many that Frenchmen that takes me to before my enthusiasm dries up.

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  8. Nice work mate. I have done Sweet FA this week!

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  9. Nice rhino man and thug,napoleonics coming along nicely, a whole Russian army and French and Austrian? Wow that's worse than me, I figure I'd better start napoleonic now or I'll run out of time before I die!
    Best Iain

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    1. Thanks Iain. The last two Judoon are finished and just waiting to be varnished and flocked. I too figure its now or never for 28mm Napoleonics - fingers crossed :-)

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  10. The henchman conversion is excellent, I for one couldn't tell that he was one!
    Loving the Judoon (and any aar forthcoming involving them), but you'll slowly go mad building up Napoleonics !

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    1. Cheers Joe. The Henchman now gives me enough minis for the next instalment of "Gotham", and once I've finished all my Judoon, then they'll be in action soon enough too. I totally agree about the Napoleonics, but its a looong-term project ;-)

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  11. The latest Riddler thug looks ace - crew shot soon?

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    1. Thanks Leon. Yup, crew shot at the start of the next "Gotham" BatRep when the Joker attempts to once again take down his Enygma ;-)

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