Sahadeen and Gota Clan

I managed to paint 16 minis last week, and now 17 this week. I haven't been this productive in ages!

Firstly I painted 9 figures from Rebel Minis Sahadeen range. I have always liked the look of these minis, so finally ordered some. I'm sorry to say that I was quite disappointed with them- not the style or sculpt of them, but sadly the standard of the castings was really poor in many cases. I'm sure a more competent modeller than myself could have made a bit more of them, but I just cleaned up the worst and carried on regardless. Having said all that (sorry Rebel Mike, I don't mean to be harsh) I actually like the style of the Sahadeen, with the breathing masks, goggles and 'cowl' type head gear.
I took a couple of pictures, but nothing too exciting.

Having finished these, I moved on to some minis from Khurasan which I ordered a little while ago, namely the 'Gota' Clan. I am so pleased with these that I have already sent for some more with my recently placed order, along with a rather smart mini on a jet 'board' from the new Andromeda range, amongst others.

Anyhow, in keeping with the theme of my previous post outlining figures to be used in a city setting, I painted these figures in an urban style camo. As I have stated in a previous post somewhere, I'm not entirely convinced that I can pull off a successful camo paint job at this scale, but I wanted to have a go. Helpful comments welcome, by the way.

I have to say, these are really lovely sculpts and castings, hence a second order!

I realise that as this blog isn't sufficiently interesting for many people to comment on, and I quite understand, I don't really have anything significant to say, or different to show. Therefore, I have one or two ideas to do something a bit different with it, more in the line of a continuing story, involving one city and surrounding area, and the 'chronicles' (that should figure in the title perhaps) of that paricular sector. There are things flying around in my simple mind that need consolidating, but I think I will give it a try. I think the posts by Jay of  'Jay's Miniature Enterprise' blog may be something to do with it. I don't mean to copy his blog style- who could?- but to try and create a more intimate and local background rather than a planet-wide theatre of operations, and follow the stories and characters that are involved.

We'll see what happens!

Khurasan (not so) Old and New minis.

I had a few moments this week to paint some miniatures, and below are pictures of my efforts. I sent an order to Khurasan when they opened up after Christmas, and within days they had posted pictures of a new release, namely the PNHE Cyborg Agents. After a quick e-mail exchange, Jon kindly added them to my order. I loved the colour scheme on the Khurasan website, and saw no reason to do any different, so in full Matrix mode I copied the hell out of them.

Now I know it's not very clever, but I don't have much of an imagination, so thanks to whoever painted these for the vendor. These are terrific sculpts IMHO, and with the leather-clad look could feature in all sorts of games.

Also in the same order I received the Zebra Kilo team, miniatures that I have painted in the past, but I wanted to re-do them for more general use, ie 5150SA, 5150NB, and zombie games. I painted them quite differently before but, and you are going to have to take my word for it, even though I have previous, I didn't realise that I was copying the website colour scheme again (well, almost, apart from the helmet colour). Possibly I did realise on some subconscious level... Anyway, I wanted them themed with the PNHE Agents, so went with the black leather look again.

 Once again, really nice sculpts, possibly by the same artist/sculptor. The black/grey colours work really well with them I believe, and my next batch will be Khurasan's 'Police Bots', which will fill out this 'police' themed force.

Apologies if the pictures aren't too clear- I took them with a little Canon Sureshot, so not as crisp as I might have got with my other camera (with flat battery as it turns out), but as those of you who kindly look in to this blog know, I'm no great shakes as a photographer anyway.

Thanks to some kind comments about my last post, I have added some detail to the Mad Mecha Buildings, such as vents, and some computer type terminals to act as vending machines and cash dispensers and suchlike, and am currently awaiting a small order from The Scene with things like air conditioning units which I can attach and create a bit more interest. So thanks for those suggestions.

Right, off to paint the 'Bots' before enthusiasm wanes. Thanks for looking in!

Urban Development

It has been a while since my last post, but I haven't been entirely idle on the modelling front. I wanted to create some urban terrain  for regular wargaming, and I thought I might try a little zombie bashing, and 5150 New Beginnings. I have had a number of buildings from Mad Mecha Guy, pictures posted before, but I wanted to make a bit more of them. So, I attached them to some 150 X 150mm  MDF bases (from Warbases) to give a little uniformity, and the appearance of a prefabricated colony. I also wanted a scruffy and neglected look, so used a few washes, yet this isn't apparent from the pictures.

First up, a single storey commercial establishment with a suitably unspecific name. All the bases of these buildings were marked out with a fine permanent marker, then the joints dry-brushed with GW's Bestial Brown. I think I may have been a little over-enthusiastic here, as less is probably more.

Now a two storey 'shop' with posters printed out from a quick trawl on the internet, and the sign on the roof made from an offcut of MDF that came with my order from Mad Mecha Guy- Joseph doesn't waste much, and sent me a nice selection of bits and pieces with my order.

A two storey habitation block with a feeble attempt at some graffiti....

and Quite obviously a severely un-secure banking establishment. I couldn't think of anything clever for the name so stuck to the obvious. These rooftop signs aren't glued in anyway, just held with a couple of 'pins' so I can change them when and if.

Another two storey commercial property with different window configuration.

I could have done a bit more with this 'shelter' but by this time at night my enthusiasm is waning!

Police Department- very utilitarian. I used the aluminium mesh that you can buy from car part shops for mending bodywork in all the windows- maybe for a 'Precinct 39' type scenario.

And so to 'Kelly's Bar and Grill'. I thought it would probably have obscured windows, what with the pole dancing and all, so covered them over with some picture mounting card.

These two buildings are from Warbases, but I've tried to dress them up with broken 'tile' pieces which I bought some time ago and never used, plastic girder, plastic tube for pipework etc. It wasn't until I'd put them on a base that I made more of an effort with them.

I just took one of the bases and threw a few things on to make a scruffy vacant lot. Exotic future crate from Atenociti, skip from The Scene, but I can't remember the origin of the vehicle.

This is just another improvised base, with a plastic container for the column, a mini from CP Models, I think, an MDF 15mm base for the plaque and some walls I picked up at a wargame show. Very simple stuff I know, but good cover nevertheless.

This is my first attempt at zombies. these are from Rebel Minis, but I also have some on order from Khurasan. I'm fairly happy with the result. I painted the flesh a sort of mid grey and highlighted it, then picked out top detail with Vallejo Game Colour Dead Flesh. I've seen much better on your blogs out there, but this will do.

Finally, I have seen pictures posted of various bloggers work spaces, so I took a quick picture of my own chaos.....we're all the same!!

Thanks for stopping by.