Thursday 22 November 2018

"A Nox Warrior Is One With Its Armour..."

"...And their armour is one with them."
This trio of 15mm metal miniatures come from the "The Ion Age" Code AIAF001 The Nox and are part of the first order I ever made with the Girvan-based manufacturer in March 2014. These "best of the ordinary legionaries" found within the Shia Khan Empire are designed to be used with the company’s “Patrol Angis” rule-set, but as with their Prydian Army models I have based them together in order to form an infantry unit for a set of home-made rules.

All three figures were undercoated with two layers of “Vallejo” Heavy Red, heavily washed with “Citadel” Carroburg Crimson and later dry-brushed with (more) "Vallejo" Heavy Red in order to try and bring out all the wonderful tiny details of their "Segmentum powered armour". I was rather tempted to then leave the "elite troops" well enough alone, but soon afterwards plumbed for their 'official' colour scheme courtesy of some "Vallejo" Black being used to 'pick out all of their ribbed piping and backpacks.
US Lunar Force Rocket Sled WIP - The model has had six more occupants permanently fixed in place
The rectangular medium-sized “Battlefront Miniatures” plastic stand actually consists of two copies of Pose Four (Nox Discens [private] with Flora Grenade Gun) and a single Pose Two (Nox Discens [private] with Janus Blast Gun). However, I painted both of the different types of firearm in the same way using a combination of "Citadel" Ironbreaker and a splash of Nuln Oil.

Sticking with 15mm miniatures, only this time those produced by "Ground Zero Games", I have finally managed to assemble and attach six seated US Marine Corps Extra-Planetary Expeditionary Force Luna figures into the rear of my US Lunar Force Rocket Sled. These "seated troops" come as part of the "Moongrunt" US Lunar Marines Starter Force, and although I had contemplated painting them separately before super-gluing them on board the transport, I have since decided to do it now. 
"Lord Of The Rings" WIPs - Two primed Ringwraiths and the Mouth of Sauron
With so much currently going on upon my painting table I had completely forgotten about this year's fast approaching annual Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge, especially as I was planning on allocating my hobby time from December to focusing upon the backlog of partially-painted models I have acquired over the past few years. I may well still do so, but as this is the Ninth year of Curt Campbell's event, and resultantly has a definite "Fellowship Of The Ring" feel to it, I thought I would also apply myself to tackling a 500 point "Lord Of The Rings" flavoured challenge during the AHPC as well.

Fearing for my sanity, and scrambling about my collection of metal and plastic miniatures, I have subsequently started work both prepping and priming the first of my entrants; two "Games Workshop" Ringwraiths and the Mouth of Sauron (on foot). As on average I'll need to complete eight 28mm scaled figures per week so as to reach my ultimate goal, I plan to prioritise such predominantly straight-forward subjects for the challenge, as well as hopefully pick up a fair few bonus points during its series of fortnightly thematic Bonus Rounds...

20 comments:

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    1. Well I'm certainly looking forward to the AHPC this year because of its "LoTR" feel, Phil.

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  2. Nice work on your latest Ion Age additions. :)

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    1. Thanks Leon. Slowly working my way through the Nox :-)

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  3. I think I bought one Nox recently to add flavour to my galactic sci-fi scum!

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    1. Which pose did you go for, Fran? I must confess these early Nox sculpts are a bit static-looking, so I’m hoping to paint/post some of their more recent dynamic models once I’ve completed the six stands I own using just this code.

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  4. Lots in the pipe-line that is right up my street

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    1. Very pleased to hear it, Clint. I must confess to really looking forward to the AHPC next month, as it should spur me on to complete quite a chunk of my “LoTR” backlog :-)

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  5. An eclectic post again. I like the strong red on those Nox, but they are weird looking things. The moon buggy is coming along nicely and I hope the gluing of the passengers was the right choice. I do like the LotR stuff but with a mountain of other stuff in my painting queue mine have gone back in the loft. Can't wait to see those denizens of Mordor coming to life though, you never know if may inspire me to push mine up the painting queue!

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    1. Thanks Undercoat. I'll hopefully have another two bases of Nox completed before the end of the week, and hope to get some more "Moongrunt" stuff finished too. I have an awful lot of "LoTR" to prep for the AHPC, so expect tonnes of WIPs over the coming weeks as my preparation becomes a regular feature :-)

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    2. I do like the new plastic Gandalf coming out soon, so your posts may weaken my resolve and make me purchase that.....and of course he would need some companions!

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    3. Spookily, I've just assembled one of the original metal Gandalf miniatures - in his "You Shall not Pass!" pose no less.

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  6. Another healthy mix of scales and genres Simon, and a timely reminder that I need to get hold of a few more LoTR minis to complete some Dragon Rampant units :-)

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    1. Cheers Greg. I'd be very interested in any details of your "Dragon Rampant" units for "LoTR" as although I plan on building some for the official "GW" rules, I also wanted to do some for "Dragon Rampant".

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  7. The Nox look good and sticking to the same colour scheme of the others is a good move imo.
    There's always that problem of whether to stick passengers in open vehicles into the vehicle or not, whether pr-painted or not, but overall doesn't make that much of a difference.
    I've never tunderstood the Painting Challenge, but good luck with it !

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    1. Thanks Joe. I think a flood of red Nox on the tabletop will look good when opposing the dark blue and grey of my 'Imperium' forces. I'm hoping the astrounaut passengers will prove pretty simple to paint now they're on board.

      The Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge usually sees my painting productivity go through the roof, so fingers crossed it will do so this year too :-)

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  8. Good to finally see some bigger pictures of the Nox. I like that red colour scheme you gave them.

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    1. Cheers Skully. Hopefully I can get the rest of the Nox finished reasonally quickly and get them in a BatRep or two.

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  9. Chaos marines look great mate. The scheme will be a great contrast to the Crimson Fists and guard.

    Mouth of Sauron is my fav character from the novels by far and I think Jackson's version is super creepy, so looking forward to seeing your painted one.

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    1. Thanks Dai, I think so too. I was a huge fan of the Mouth of Sauron in the movie, and very surprised Jackson cut him from the cinema version. Fingers crossed I do him justice :-)

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