Painting Challenge: Week Thirteen - 28mm Heroclix Miniatures

The subject of my final week’s Painting Challenge are six 28mm plastic models by “Wizkids” from their pre-painted “Heroclix” range. Five of the miniatures are copies of the Thug figure from the Marvel Infinity Challenge set. I actually painted an identical figure back in February and plan to use this as the basis for these guys’ paint scheme. The sixth model is Catwoman from the DC Hypertime set.

Sticking with the “Heroclix” theme, I’ve already started applying some coats of paint to Groot and Rocket Racoon from the Guardians of the Galaxy starter set. Although the model of the Monarch of Planet X is based upon the character’s design for the film, I much prefer the darker brown colour scheme used in the comic books, so have gone with a “Vallejo” Heavy Sienna undercoat as opposed to the silver birch grey of the pre-paint. I am aware that there are two (seemingly far larger) Groot “Heroclix” figures on the market which are based upon the Flora Colossus who debuted in Issue Thirteen of “Tales To Astonish”; including one wearing his Guardians uniform. But due to their prices (on Ebay at least) I doubt I’ll be picking either up until I next make a bulk order from the United States.

WW1 Egyptian Expeditionary Force - WIP - Part Two

I’m slowly progressing the painting of my World War One Egyptian Expeditionary Force but been slightly delayed working out a satisfactory ‘factory process’ for painting the numerous “Pendraken Miniatures” the project will entail. Sticking with my previously posted test models from code ME1 Imperial Infantry I’ve finally decided to simply separate the soldiers’ rifles, jacket, leggings and areas of flesh with a coat of black and then pick out the relevant areas with either “Vallejo” Heavy Skintone or Heavy Grey.

As (yet another) distraction I’ve also based up a couple of 28mm plastic miniatures from the “Heroclix” “Guardians of the Galaxy” six figure starter set. To be honest the majority of these models suffer with appalling sculpting and dreadfully thick paintjobs, but Rocket Racoon and Groot appear to be the best of the bunch.

Comic Capers Within a Universe of Mystery, Horror, Alien invasions and Super-Heroes

I thought a bit of self-publicity for a Cartoon Strip Blog I've started wouldn't go amiss. Especially as when I'm not painting or gaming, I spend my hobby time drawing these comic capers.

Please have a look: Mooretoons

"...A Darned Fine Judge"

This 28mm metal model of Judge Giant (Senior) was sculpted as part of the October 2012 "Judge Dredd Miniatures Game: Block War" kickstarter by “Mongoose Games” and can be purchased as code JD20007 from "Warlord Games".

 

Based upon the original Judge Giant who first appeared in the comic “2000 A.D.” in 1977 and then later died in the 1981 adventure “Block Mania”, this model has unfortunately spent the past couple of months languishing on one of my shelves, waiting to be properly based. As opposed to some of the other Judge miniatures I’ve painted from this range, this figure was relatively simple to finish. The only real issue being the sculpting of his helmet’s red trim, which seemed to almost disappear around the back of Giant’s head, and thus took a few attempts to ‘nail’ using “Vallejo” Heavy Red.

Recently inspired by yet another re-watching of the 1998 film “The Mask of Zorro”, I’ve picked up this masked bandit model from “Boot Hill Miniatures”, along with a Mexican Sergeant and Captain. I have some mounted versions of the same figures waiting in the wings as well, but for now I hope to just paint up a small collection of foot figures for some skirmish games.

WW1 Egyptian Expeditionary Force - WIP - Part One

I’ve been considering a foray into World War One wargaming for some time, and recently have had this particular itch further irritated by both “Battlefront Miniatures” announcement of doing “The Great War” for “Flames Of War” in 15mm, and the numerous programmes dominating the television currently in celebration(?) of the centenary of the war’s start.

A recent excursion to the Bovington Wargames Show finally settled the matter as I found myself so thoroughly inspired by the impressive “Trench Experience” and the “Warhorse To Horsepower” display that upon impulse I bought the “Osprey Publishing” Campaign book “Megiddo 1918 – The last great cavalry victory”.

Having consumed Bryan Perrett's text and Ed Dovey's illustrations I have ordered a sizable number of 10mm miniatures from “Pendraken Miniatures” Middle East Range. The first of these models are from code ME1 Imperial Infantry and will hopefully be painted up as part of my Egyptian Expeditionary Force.

Somewhat disconcertingly I have found a number of contradictory sources as to the colour of the main British uniform fighting in Gaza at this time, but having been inspired by the painting scheme used by “King And Country” on their toy soldiers, have gone for “Vallejo” Stone Grey helmets and shorts with Heavy Grey shirts and stockings. As a result I’ve simply undercoated these test models with Stone Grey, washed them with “Citadel” Devlan Mud, and then given the soldiers a drybrush with more “Vallejo” Stone grey in order to bring out the detail.

Sticking with the theme of 10mm “Pendraken Miniatures” I’ve finally started progressing these three T70b Russian Light Tanks models from the Middlesbrough based manufacturer's Code SV16. Having finished washing and drybrushing the armour, I’ve just got to pick out the metal tank tracks, apply some decals and base them.

In addition I have finally finished painting my “Mongoose Publishing” Judge Giant 28mm model from my "Judge Dredd Miniatures Game" Kickstarter pledge.

Pendraken Miniatures English Civil War Cuirassiers

This 40mm x 30mm stand of English Civil War Heavy Horse is actually the third such base I’ve painted over the past eighteen months for my long suffering and far from complete 10mm Royalist Army. All the models are from "Pendraken Miniatures" code EC11 Cuirassier.

 In order to ‘tie-in’ with the rest of my King’s Lifeguard forces, the models were initially undercoated with “Vallejo” Gunmetal Grey and then washed with Black Shade. I then dry brushed the cavalry soldiers’ armour, helmets and swords with more Gunmetal Grey. Their helmet plumes were painted with Heavy Red and washed with Red Shade, and their boots picked out with Heavy Ochre and Umber Shade. For the horses I simply undercoated them either “Vallejo” White or Heavy Sienna and then washed them entirely with some more Umber Shade.

 I’ve still got a handful more of these 6mm "GHQ" "Micro Armour" miniatures to paint and base, but I’ve finally finished enough to start basing up the majority of my Fedayeen Squad SVU sniper rifle and AT-13 Sexhorn-2 anti-tank missile system stands.

 I've also managed to start using “Citadel” Abaddon Black to help pick out some of the detail on three models from the "Empire Of The Dead" boxed set EOTD-07 London Bobbies. I'm actually in a bit of quandary with these 28mm miniatures by "West Wind Productions", as I am not sure how best to bring out the dark ‘Bobbie” blue of their uniform and capes. In the past with such subject matter I’ve either undercoated them black and then dry brushed them dark blue, or simply painted them dark blue and applied a dark blue wash.

Sally 4th Wargames Figure Warchests

Despite my best intentions the size of my model collection, be it lead, plastic, resin or MDF mountain, continues to grow. As a result storage space has increasingly become a problem so I’ve invested some time, and a little money over the past couple of weeks trying to remedy my shortage of shelf space. Having decided to abandon my current practice of simply using plastic bead craft storage boxes for my miniatures, I’ve taken the plunge and bought some precision laser cut MDF Wargames Figure Chests from the “Sally 4^th” website found here: http://wargamesbuildings.co.uk.

I only purchased five of their MDF boxes, including lids and appropriate inserts, in order to see just how well they’d accommodate all the 6mm and 15mm models I’ve been painting recently. Currently these figures are stored in a variety of brightly coloured plastic craft containers, which despite their considerable size, are unable to hold many of my miniature bases due to the odd sizing of their compartments; doubtless though they’re ideal for keeping beads and suchlike safely housed.

When the package from “Sally 4^th” arrived, I must confess to being a little overwhelmed by the sheer number of pieces confronting me, and as a result was somewhat concerned that I had made an expensive mistake; especially as each Chest costs approximately £12 with the lid and insert.

Fortunately my package included an excellent ‘Assembling your Warchest’ guide, and having identified which MDF parts made up a single lid I was able to set to work with my PVA glue. I’d actually strongly recommend that you build the lids first as they come together far easier than the warchests and once dry make a useful housing structure to sit your warchest inside whilst you wait for its glue to harden. It also ensures that the lid will fit over the warchest when you’re ready to start stacking them up.

The 40mm square slot inlay has proved ideal to accommodate most of my 6mm “GHQ” miniatures as I can snuggly fit two of their 40mm x 20mm stands in each space, allowing me to house 40 bases of “Micro Armour” infantry and (small) vehicles per tray.

I must also extend a big thanks to Chris Abbey at “Sally 4^th” for specially cutting two 30mm x 40mm inserts out for me. These will allow me to not only store my larger “Micro Armour” vehicles but also a large part of my ever increasing “Pendraken Miniatures” 10mm Second World War Eastern Front collection.

Finally I bought a couple of inserts specifically designed to hold both the small and medium “Flames of War” rounded-corner bases by “Battlefront Miniatures”. I actually plan to use them to help store both my “Ground Zero Games” Xenomorph models and my Prydian Army by “The Ion Age”.