Friday 26 December 2014

Secret Santa 2014 - "Crooked Dice" Federated Security

This year I decided to take part in the fantastic Secret Santa organized by Ian and his excellent wife, Cath, over on “The Blog With No Name” [http://walladvantage2.blogspot.co.uk].

As a result I was absolutely delighted to be greeted with these five Federated Security models by “Crooked Dice Design Game Studio” yesterday morning, and have already managed to spend some time painting up a test piece. Based upon the dastardly henchmen of the Federation from the BBC science fiction television series “Blake’s Seven” these figures look set to be a joy a paint; especially as they’re almost entirely black.

Three of the miniatures, which are slightly thinner than ‘heroic 28mm’ scale and are somewhat sedentary, are sculpted by Ian Mountain. Whilst the more dynamically posed and slightly thicker-set Federation goons are by Martin Buck. All the models come with separate heads.

To begin with I’ve given each figure a double undercoat of black and then dry-brushed them all with charcoal in order to provide some highlights but also to help me see the detail I need to pick out. I’ve seen some photographs of some lovely bright green headwear for these miniatures on the internet but I wanted mine to be somewhat more muted so I have gone with a rather bland green undercoat before applying a wash over the area. I have also seen a number of different colours used for the space henchmen’s visors. I’ve decided to go with red but as I just want the vaguest suggestion of crimson I painted just a single layer straight onto the black undercoat and then washed it with a black shade.
I like my science fiction weapons to somewhat stand out from a model so instead of painting the Federation rifle the brown-tin colour depicted in the television series I’ve simply gone with a metal undercoat heavily washed with a double helping of black shade. I’ve also picked out the belt accessories with silver in order to make them stand out a bit more than my normal “Citadel” Boltgun Metal and hopefully break-up the pure black of the Federated Security guard’s uniform. The model just needs another wash of black shade to help tie-in the charcoal highlights and should then be finished, ready for final basing.


I genuinely can’t thank my Secret Santa enough for selecting these miniatures for me as they’re really helped re-galvanize my “Blake’s Seven” “The Way Back” painting project from a couple of months ago.
 I have also managed to find a little more time to spend on these three models from Dick Garrison of “Wargames Supply Dump” [http://www.wargamessupplydump.co.uk].

These arrived as a surprise gift from Roger a couple of weeks ago now and I’ve struggled to progress them as quickly as I would like as a result of my commitment to the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge. However I’m hopefully almost halfway finished with Ballistics Man, and finally getting into the orange and gold layers for Captain Garrison and Ultra Retrovian; two colours I really struggle with at the best of times.

I’ve got some high hopes for these models to prominently feature in a “7TV” campaign set in America during the Prohibition period, which I have planned for 2015. But for now I just want to get these lovely figures painted up to a similar standard to those done by Roger on his “Rantings From Under The Wargames Table” blog [http://rantingsfromunderthewargamestable.wordpress.com]. 

16 comments:

  1. Love the Blake's 7 figures, what a great show that was.

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    1. Thanks Ray. Great sculpts and a smashing Secret Santa:-) Totally agree about the TV Show, especially with its fourth season when I don't think there was a weak episode amongst the lot... and how many other shows kill everyone off in the final episode!?! Just great stuff. Merry Christmas :-)

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    2. I think Children's BBC killed off all of the Teletubbies in their last episode ...or is that just wishful thinking :))

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    3. Wishful thinking, mate. They'll be back next year with 60 new episodes :-) http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-27834804

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    4. Oh, well :(
      The silver lining could be, that Crooked Dice produces some new figures of them! ;)

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  2. Didn't everyone die at the end of "Above and Beyond"? and there was that other british sci-fi series a few yeas back where the aliens were infecting the water supply and the humans set of a load of nuclear bombs to kill them off, but it didn't work. Cant for the life of me remember what it was called though.

    Oh Roy I think your thinking of the Teletubies episode where they went to an alternate reality and they were all evil, but it turned out to just be a dream the "Noo Noo" had.

    I do like those Fed troopers by the way. And remeber Simon you promised "not to good!!".

    Cheers Roger.

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    1. "a dream the "Noo Noo" had"

      I'm hoping that Ridley Scott's reading the blog, sees the above, and creates a movie masterpiece as he did with Philip K Dick's "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?".

      Blade Runner - The Director's 'Teletubbies' Cut

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    2. Thanks Roger. The Fed Troopers are very nice indeed. As for your minis - I swear you purposely picked those ruddy colours because you knew you could paint them and I couldn't!!! :-)

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  3. Cool... Look forward to seeing the bed result.

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    1. Thanks Dave. At least with these all-black uniformed minis I might be able to keep up with your output... might :-)

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  4. That must have been a lovely surprise for you getting those Federation Security Troopers. Lucky you! As you say, they should paint up very nicely and will suit your style.

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    1. Cheers Bryan. They are absolutely superb and suit me down to the ground. Should have the group ready for next week's Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge submission and then straight into a Batrep or two :-)

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  5. Very nice Fed Sec troops dude! I loved that show when I was a nipper.

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    1. Thanks Bob. They are great minis... from a great TV series :-)

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  6. Secret Santa was good to you, I see. Cool minis.

    No doubt, evil, alternate-reality Teletubbies would sport goatees in the manner of evil, alternate reality Spock.

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    1. Cheers Finch. Secret Santa was very good indeed. Certainly plan to do it again next year. LOL. Easily one of the most memorable Star Trek episodes ever :-)

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