"The Soviet Union Was Able To Pull Ahead..."

"...And claim a major victory by landing on the Lunar surface."

This 32mm resin Russian Astronaut is produced by "Black Site Studios", and forms part of the Lunar Core Game pre-order I made with the American-based manufacturer way back in July 2021. These days the figures are available as either part of the five-figure set SKU: LNR6805BSS - Soviet Cosmonauts, or the manufacturer's current Two-Player Starter Box, and was rather patiently assembled from an almost overwhelming number of tiny pieces which came inside the starter box.

To begin with the rocketeer was super-glued to a "Citadel" 30mm circular stand, as opposed to one of the bases which came with the kit, and then armed with a whopping great ceramic tiled panel and a brain-bustin' monkey wrench. The fearsome spaceman was then undercoated with plenty of "Two Thin Coats" Sanguine Scarlet, drenched in "Citadel" Carroburg Crimson, and dry-brushed with (more) "Two Thin Coats" Sanguine Scarlet.

"Black Site Studios" WIPs - Three primed NASA Astronauts ready for some shading

As I wanted the Cosmonaut's equipment/weaponry to stand-out from his suit, and felt that the coated LI-900 silica ceramics would be light coloured, I decided to pigment the model's shield using a combination of "Two Thin Coats" White Star and plenty of watered-down "Citadel" Agrax Earthshade. The panel's rim and interior was later treated to some "Vallejo" Gunmetal, "Citadel" Nuln Oil, and a dry-brush of (more) "Vallejo" Gunmetal. Lastly, I picked out some of the stray wires protruding from the piece with either "Vallejo" Heavy Blue and "Citadel" Drakenhof Nightshade, or "Vallejo" Escorpena Green and "Citadel" Biel-Tan Green.

The miniature's face-plate was carefully painted using some "Vallejo" Gold over a Heavy Sienna basecoat, and subsequently shaded with a little "Citadel" Agrax Earthshade. Whilst it's large wrench was given a lick of "Scale 75" Decayed Metal, washed with "Citadel" Agrax Earthshade, and given a dry-brush of (more) "Scale 75" Decayed Metal.

The French win a narrow victory in "The Silver Bayonet" by killing a homicidal Hobgoblin

Alongside finishing off my Soviet Cosmonauts, as well as starting my NASA astronaut squad, I have started a campaign playing Joseph A. McCullough's "The Silver Bayonet" ruleset by "Osprey Games" using a selection of my Napoleonic miniatures. We've gone right back to the first of the scenarios to begin such an adventure, and stuck to the recommended 3x3 foot table too - as opposed to the significantly larger cloth mat we had been playing on. Having fought "The Investigation" a few times, I also thought it might help mix things up a bit if the two opposing forces fought over an Egyptian-themed field, rather than a European one.

Perhaps the biggest impact for my (up to this point) unbeaten British (Coalition) party was how much more quickly the French came within musket range of my green-jacketed Riflemen. Admittedly, my forgetting to use their +2 Accuracy bonus didn't help either. But compared to our previous encounters, it wasn't very long before Napoleon's men were peppering my elite sharpshooters with plenty of withering fire. Needless to say, I never properly recovered from this increasingly frantic exchange of lead balls, and narrowly lost the scenario by a single Victory Point when the French surprisingly cut down the vindictive Hobgoblin who had been slaughtering nearby settlers...