“Warfare" Loot 2021

"Crooked Dice Game Design Studio" WIPs - A Raging Brute, Divine Mortal and Kobold

This past Saturday I decided to make a trip to the Ascot Race Course, Berkshire, in order to attend the Wargames Association of Reading’s annual show “Warfare”. This two-day event is one of my favourite shows of the year, and was doubly exciting as for the first time in my memory it wasn’t being held at its usual home of the Rivermead leisure centre in Reading.

So major change of venue certainly seemed to help the numerous traders have a bit more elbow room than normally, and whilst the Bring and Buy sale location was somewhat difficult to reach – at least without some guidance from the show’s staff – it was definitely easier to reach the main tables so as to see all the second-hand miniatures being sold. Sadly, I didn’t feel the same could be said for the parking though, which was strangely off-site in a muddy, cordoned off area, which also resulted in punters having to cross a well-used main road during a nasty downpour.

"Tangent Miniatures" WIPs - Two of eleven Enemy models and NY Serpent

Purchase wise, I got off to be a bit of a flyer with “Crooked Dice Game Design Studio”, who had a lovely display of all their goodies spread across quite a sizeable area. A couple of their more recent figures quickly caught my eye, such as a resin Raging Brute and a metal Divine Mortal. Both of these models have already been pinned together and primed in preparation for the upcoming Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge (AHPC); albeit the resin ponytail on not-Goro snapped off surprisingly easily whilst I was simply dusting the multi-limbed ensemble down in my grit tray.

In addition, I couldn’t resist picking up the company’s eight-figure strong 28mm Kobold Tribe. These “craven reptilian humanoids” are one of my favourite dungeon dwellers, and as smooth-looking, single-cast sculpts look set to be a lot of fun to paint in the near future. The horde come armed with a mixture of swords, spears and shields, so have already been efficiently based and undercoated ready for the AHPC.

Three buildings from the now discontinued 10mm range by "Escenografia Epsilon" 

One of my other favourite visits was to “Tangent Miniatures”, where I delighted to be able to swap nine Enemy Commander figures I inadvertently received from them a year ago, for some Enemy miniatures instead. This was superb service, in my humble opinion, as I should have double-checked the order twelve months ago when I first received it. But luckily, the manufacturer were an absolute pleasure to arrange the exchange with. Indeed, I was so impressed, that I ended up buying the remaining Enemy models they had, as well as NY Serpent from their Escape Artists range.

Finally, my biggest buy came from “Pendraken Miniatures”. I already own several of their pre-painted 10mm scenic kits by “Escenografia Epsilon”, so ended up coming away with several more bags when I discovered that the terrain was being discontinued. Despite being a little larger in size than my 1:285 scale plastic “Battletech” models by “Catalyst Game Labs” I figured the different resin pieces would easily allow me to populate a suitably varied 3’ x 3’ battlefield for my upcoming Weird War Two campaign…

“It Takes More Than A Sceptre To Rule, Xur...”

“…Even on Rylos.”

This 28mm scale metal miniature of an alien invader is produced by “Tangent Miniatures” as code TN23 The Enemy Commander from their Space Warriors range, and consists of a single cast figure. The model makes an excellent proxy for the evil Lord Kril from Nick Castle’s 1984 American space opera film “The Last Starfighter”.

The Kodan was primed using a double-helping of “Vallejo” Heavy Red, shaded using some “Citadel” Carroburg Crimson and dry-brushed with (more) “Vallejo” Heavy Red. I then picked out the extra-terrestrial’s boots, helmet, belt and the front of his officer’s tunic with “Citadel” Abaddon Black. To be honest, I wasn’t too sure about the footwear being non-red, but went with the colour as it made the Armada’s leader stand out a bit more, and matched the colours used on the movie’s never released line of action figures.

The Germans and Americans battle across a stretch of water and an area of woodland

For Lord Kril’s final steps I applied a combination of “Vallejo” Gunmetal” and “Citadel” Nuln Oil to his somewhat elaborate-looking belt buckles, as a little “Vallejo” Heavy Sienna to the alien commander’s lower face. This area was later treated to a splash of Strong Tone Quickshade by “The Army Painter”. Lastly, I went back and re-pigmented the veteran warrior’s retinal tactical screen with a bit more “Vallejo” Heavy Red and “Citadel” Carroburg Crimson.

Stepping away from painting, I have managed to get a couple of ‘quick’ games of “Flames Of War” in recently, simply to see just how the World War Two rule-set by “Battlefront Miniatures” works for infantry. We only used the “Hit The Beach” Starter Set Quick Start Core Rules, and ignored any formation rules to allow us to pitch several 15mm teams (stands) of German Panzergrenadiers against an American Parachute Rifle platoon.

Despite some fierce hand-to-hand fighting by the Panzergrenadiers, the Americans win the day

The first game was set up across some un-traversable water, a small piece of rough terrain and an area of woodland, and was designed for us to try out the different effective ranges of our various weapons. Needless to say, I was rather pleased with the high number of dice potentially rolled by my MG34 teams, especially when they hadn’t moved. However, that didn’t save my Germans from eventually failing their motivation roll and fleeing the battlefield following a series of poor saving throws.

Disappointingly, my Panzergrenadiers continued to perform poorly under fire throughout our second skirmish, albeit we did manage to work through the rule-set’s very bloody Assault phase with a few units. Of particular note was a scrap just outside some woods, which almost resulted in a German win when a Panzerschreck anti-tank team successfully defensively fired into the face of some oncoming American paratroopers. However, the damn Yanks dodged the formidable discharge and somewhat shortly afterwards victoriously forced my forces from the field again.

“The Griffin Was Originally Classified As A Heavy BattleMech.”

“Combining tremendous speed and firepower in one frame the Griffin briefly dominated in this role.”

This 1:285 scale pre-assembled plastic model of a Griffin is made by “Catalyst Game Labs” and currently can only be found together with the Wolverine, in the company’s BattleTech: Beginner Box. There are actually numerous ‘official’ Regimental Paint Schemes for the Kallon Industries manufactured mech. However, as I plan to employ this particular sculpt as a Japanese Mitsubishi class War Walker for an upcoming Weird War Two campaign using some homemade rules, I decided to go with a predominantly yellow palette.

“Combining good striking power, endurance and speed” the 40mm tall figure was initially undercoated with “Vallejo” Japanese Uniform WWII, shaded in “Citadel” Reikland Fleshshade, and dry-brushed using (more) “Vallejo” Japanese Uniform WWII. As I wanted the machine to somewhat represent the look of the Empire’s old carrier-based fighter, the Zero, I then ‘picked out’ the machine’s knees and shoulder-pads using a combination of “Vallejo” Luftwaffe Camouflage Green and “Citadel” Biel-Tan Green. These areas were later carefully dry-brushed with (more) “Vallejo” Luftwaffe Camouflage Green.

"Each Flesh Hound is larger than a fully armoured Space Marine."

The Griffin’s cockpit windows and hands were pigmented in “Citadel” Abaddon Black”, whilst it’s right-handed Fusion Particle Projector Cannon (PPC), drum-mounted Delta Dart LRM-10 launcher and elbow joints were ‘picked out’ with a little “Vallejo” Gunmetal and a splash of “Citadel” Nuln Oil. Finally, I took two war flags of the Imperial Japanese Army and applied the Rising Sun transfers by “Decal Details” to the top of the mech’s shoulder-pads.

With the first of three Japanese Weird War Two walkers I currently have planned finished, I’ve found enough time to also complete a second base of 6mm scale Flesh Hounds, which used to be produced by "Games Workshop" for their tabletop wargame "Epic". These tiny chaotic beasts of Khorne were primed using two coats of "Vallejo" Heavy Red, washed using "The Army Painter" Strong Tone Quickshade and delicately dry-brushed with (more) "Vallejo" Heavy Red. Their back spines and head crests were then ‘picked out’ using some “Citadel” Abaddon Black.

"Tangent Miniatures" WIPs - The Enemy Commander has been primed, shaded and dry-brushed

In addition, I’ve started work on the second of my Weekly Challenges, randomly chosen via a deck of playing cards. This time round I’ve got to paint a single 28mm model, so thought it might be a good opportunity to ‘crack-on’ with another science fiction figure by “Tangent Miniatures”.

Due to my already completing The Enemy from their Space Warriors range, I decided to base and prime The Enemy Commander. As with the (not) Rodan I’ve previously pigmented, this sculpt is heavily-influenced by Nick Castle’s 1984 American space opera film “The Last Starfighter”, and should make an excellent stand-in for the alien leader, Lord Kril…

“Flesh Hounds Are The Powerful Daemonic Attack Dogs Of Khorne.”

“They dash into combat at high speed and tear their foes apart with razor sharp claws.”

These three plastic 6mm scale Flesh Hounds used to beproduced by "Games Workshop" for their tabletop wargame "Epic", and disappointingly are now long Out Of Production (OOP). However I was fortunate enough to stumble across a small tub of these daemonic canines from the second-hand stall, “Lesley’s Bitz Box”, whilst visiting "Colours" at Newbury three years ago, and thought I should finally paint up a single unit as a pilot piece.

Before I could even begin to apply a brush to these tiny figures though, I needed to make some repairs to a couple of their spiked tails, which had somehow been broken during their storage. In the past I’d have probably just dumped the damaged dogs in the bin. But as these models are apparently rather difficult to acquire these days, I was willing to spend the extra time fixing them up with a little drilling and an application or two of plastic glue, rather than just throw them away.

Xenomorphs - Made up of figures from "Ground Zero Games" and "Pendraken Miniatures"

Once mended the trio were all super-glued onto a thin strip of wood, and primed using two coats of "Vallejo" Heavy Red. They were then washed using "The Army Painter" Strong Tone Quickshade and very carefully dry-brushed with (more) "Vallejo" Heavy Red. I subsequently 'picked out' their back spines and head crests with some “Citadel” Abaddon Black and their teeth with a combination of “Vallejo” White and “Citadel” Agrax Earthshade.

With my tiny test base finished, I have found the time to also complete six more 15mm scale metal miniatures by “Ground Zero Games”. These Xenomorphs are available as code SG15-X01 from the company’s Stargrunt Infantry range, and were super-glued in pairs upon three medium-sized plastic “Flames Of War” stands by “Battlefront Miniatures”.

"Tangent Miniatures" WIPs - The Recruiter has been primed, shaded and dry-brushed

The vicious extra-terrestrials were undercoated with a double-helping of “Citadel” Abaddon Black. They were then somewhat softly dry-brushed with “Vallejo” Heavy Bluegrey, before being given a wash of “Citadel” Nuln Oil in order to help tone down their highlights and better blend them in.

Lastly, I have based, primed, layered, shaded and dry-brushed another 28mm metal miniature by “Tangent Miniatures”. The Recruiter/Conman is from their Space Warriors range and delightfully bares more than a passing resemblance to Centauri from Nick Castle’s 1984 science fiction flick “The Last Starfighter”.

“Delta Beta Two At Six.”

“Delta gamma three at five.”

This 28mm scale metal miniature of an alien invader is produced by “Tangent Miniatures” as code TN19 The Enemy from their Space Warriors range, and consists of a single cast figure. The model makes an excellent proxy for a Kodan from Nick Castle’s 1984 American space opera film “The Last Starfighter”.

As a result the figure was primed using a double-helping of “Vallejo” Heavy Red, shaded using some “Citadel” Carroburg Crimson and dry-brushed with (more) “Vallejo” Heavy Red. I then picked out the aggressive extra-terrestrial’s visor and belt buckle with a combination of “Vallejo” Gunmetal and “Citadel” Nuln Oil.

"Catalyst Game Labs" WIPs - A Stormcrow, Griffin and Wolverine

Finally, I applied a little “Vallejo” Heavy Sienna to the alien’s lower face, and later gave this area a splash of “Citadel” Agrax Earthshade mixed in with some Strong Tone Quickshade by “The Army Painter”. I did consider using this colour combination on the model’s bare hands on, as per Lewis Galoob Toys’ abandoned action figure range based upon the aforementioned movie. However, the ‘official’ costume photographs and picture stills clearly have the soldiers wearing red gloves, so I stuck with that notion for this initial test piece.

In addition to my “Tangent Miniatures” sculpt I have also continued to make some progress on a handful more “Battletech” 1:285 scale plastic models by “Catalyst Game Labs” for my Weird War Two project. I have been recently focusing on three mechs suitable to represent the forces of Germany, Italy and Japan on the battlefield, but have since added a fourth formidably-armed machine to bolster my Soviet forces too.

"Battlefront Miniatures" WIPs - A German Machine-gunner and his Loader

The Stormcrow, Griffin, Mongrel and recently started Wolverine are all at different stages in their respective paint-jobs, but most are now in the position of having their metallic areas, such as weapons, exhaust ports and the odd joint, getting picked out. I’ve also decided to add some green to my Japanese Mitsubishi-class Medium war walker to help break-up its predominantly yellow palette.

Lastly, I’m just finishing off the last couple of figures for a MG34 and K98 Rifle Team for “Flames Of War”. These 15mm plastic Germans, produced by “Battlefront Miniatures”, consist of a Machine-gunner and his Loader, and will complete the first of six four-man stands I require to field a full German Panzergrenadier Platoon alongside my already painted Company Headquarters, Unit Leader MG42 Team and Panzerschreck Anti-tank Team…