Plastic Minis

The first plastic fantasy mini I saw was attached the front page of White Dwarf. I had been playing with Airfix stuff for years as a kid but this was different. In fact it was playing with Airfix figures on the first day at school that started me down the whole wargaming thing. It has to be said that the Dwarf was a step ahead of of anything from Airfix. It was still a lot more basic than anything they were producing in metal. It was a nice idea nt it was never going to catch on. Beside, who wanted to do all that gluing?

I seem to recall that a box set with seven lots of ten different monopose minis came out which had core units for different Warhammer armies. This was great if you played dwarves, elves and skaven etc but no so good if you only had the one. The space marine set was better. You could even pose these guys. Things got better after that but it was almost a couple of decades before I became aware of any serious attempts to manufacture historical minis.

For a longest time I was still against them. I have precious little time to paint and I didn't want to waste the time I had gluing them together and chasing after the bits on the floor or digging them out of my feet. The detail still felt a little soft. I was and still am mostly a painter of minis for RPGs and skirmish games and rarely needed thirty of something. Metal minis still had the better detail, they bent rather than broke and you have to admire the heft.

For some time I was searching the internet for gaming inspiration. One of the things I did see a lot of was kitbashing. It wasn't for me but I liked the look of it. People were taking bits and some green stuff nad making something unique. Then I did one. One became a few. And so on. You get the idea.

My opinion didn't really changed until Frostgrave came along. Even then, I was really after the metal minis. The Plastics were nice but they were not to scale compared to the metals minis. It was some time after I got them, maybe when I had about four of the kits, that they really began to appeal because I could see the interchangeability and the choice that this offered. Stargrave would only add to that (and I have even come up with an idea for Ghost Archipelago recently). Both continue to add to my collection but not as fast as I would like.

Customisation is the name of the game for me. It usually works better across minis for a single manufacturer than those from multiple lines. But I am working on some stuff for Atomfall ish/SUnderdground and its no problem to have a partisan with a crossbow and another with a medieval handgun (homemade black powder rifle) assuming you have a knife and a pin drill. I am thinking in terms of a resurgent British Union of Fascists as a opfor for the SUnderground game, so WW2 German bodies, with a few German style helmets and weapons but overwhelming British weapons and equipment or homemade kit would if I can glue it together. The druids from Atomfall become Wiccans or Pagans and I have some Viking bondi that might work.

My plan for Sludge could only come to life if I used plastics and second hand plastics are even better than new ones. It was really getting hold of the stuff for this that has changed  my mind the most. This was despite the fact that a lot of the minis I had were deus Vult who used the same heads, bodies and arms across multiple sets (not a fan).  Even my bete noire, the Wargames Atlantic The Damned project seems to have a delivery date. This will push forward a few projects. And I do like the stuff they do, I really do. Even more so now they are talking about 2300AD.

Now I have gotten into buying up single frames instead of boxes. My current project is a post apocalyptic one. For this one I want a broadly generic British post World War Two vibe, which is basically World War Two but more chaotic. Basically late war uniforms, but some early war, paras, commandoes and a lot of winter uniforms when they come out, Maybe even some other uniforms with the right pouches added. I wanted some SA-80s. I was about to buy some metal ones when I found a plastic frame with the same number of them and a load of other bits. What's not to love?

Middleweight Middle Week

So all things considered I am a little ahead of where I was expecting to be. Not everything has a base layer but almost everything has. Right now I am thinking that maybe I could have set myself a slightly higher target. Maybe next week. 

It's late and I am still awake. My usual Wednesday post contact high. This is despite fighting a bug. It's affecting my sense of smell. Currently everything smells of burning cat shit. Believe it or not it is actually a medical condition.

Had a good night but it wasn't sat in front of the painting bench. Some more random frames came my way today. With this, and the odds I have hanging around, I should have enough to be able to keep going next week. If things go to plan, there are a couple of sources for some more stuff.

Within my campaign the troops of Regional Control represent what is left of the former government. They might be small in numbers but have the best kit. The Brethren are a religious group which are now a pagan crusade. They have acquired a lot of kit but this is irregular in nature. The next two groups are ones I haven't touched yet. The first is the British Union of Fascists. The game has plenty of alternative history and Germany didn't do as badly at the end of the war. The have supplying an insurgency in the UK. This includes things like updated stg 44. Any German models in winter gear work fine. Moderate numbers good kit but not as well trained as the men of Regional Control.Then there are the communists. Pretty much what you think. Copied stg 44 or Kalishnikov. Lots of them but most are pressed men. Then there are plenty of regional powers.

I got some VBCW stuff today. Nicely painted second hand stuff. Good news for me but sadly not good news for the original owner. 

Movement Bases

Just doing some bases for somebody else. Nothing major. Kind of a distraction but an interesting one. It k makes you think about the materials side of the thing and the physicality.

By physicality I mean the difference between 2mm and 3mm. This sounds nothing right? These are two of the standards for mdf. and one is 50% thicker than the other. Ask a woman the difference 50% can make. Except that this is wood and dimensions, especially thickness are....er..somewhat national. They are what the manufacturer was aiming at. There can easily be a 10% difference either way on any given manufacturer and a specific manufacturer might not be much better. Them hope the moisture content in the air isn't that great. I originally thought it would only be natural materials but the depth variance happens with acrylic too. Once its cast it isn't affected by moisture.

3mm is a lot stronger. If you are using 15mm minis 3mm bases look massive, they look pretty big even on 28mm. So I used 2mm, even though I think their main use is for Warhammer, The figures being used will mostly not be Warhammer figures. They are also using a lot of 2p bases which are close to 2mm than 3mm.

If they were for straight GW minis planning them would be a little easier. They have standard base sizes so they need a standard area, with maybe a little bit of play. 2ps are 25.9mm. If you fail t clear a bt of sand or flock off the base you knock it over 26mm. Some minis have a habit of just hanging over the edge of the base. So for me its always best giving enough space on a base for a little extra play. 2mm on a 5 figure wide base is an extra 10mm, which is a lot.

The lips are also an issue. The absolute minimum, with mdf at least is 2mm. People seem to like things in 5mm increments, So sometimes I round them u to get me to the right number

Start Of The Week With Crooked Dice

I know Games Expo isn't really a wargames show. This is a good thing as I only came back with eight new miniatures. Lots of board games there but I didn't really feel the urge. My plan for the week is to stick with the plan. Currently this means Atomfallish / SUnderdground.

I've acquired some moree plastic minis which arrived with enough time for me to put them together, attache them to bases and provide these with some texture. 

The first four are sine Crooked Dice stuff with SLRs. I wasn't planning for the good old SLR playing a major role in my game but I only have one mini with one. In my timeline the Brits used the Jenson/EM2 rifle. S I guess I need a reason to have these,

Again within the timeline the Sten would be out of date, The Kenson was supposed to do double duty as assault rifle and SMG, Still, I thought a few would be nice. I like these figures but they are a bit bigger than the plastics and the plastic has a base attached to the mini itself.

More druids / pagans. Slightly more heavier equipped this week. The plan calls for them to have some more equipment than the civilians and outlaws. They won;t have heavier weapons like the military but I am happy to give them an extrenmely nixed bag of weapons. I am debating giving them an M3 grease gun, a Schmeiser and drum fed Tommy gun as well.

More civilian / militia / outlaws. I have been trying to figure out what to use for shotguns. There were a couple of rifles that I figured would be find for single barreled shotguns and I have a BAR which if cut in the right way looks like a magazine fed shotgun. Yes one of them has an AK. The background calls for there to be an opfor that i essentially communist and the main bad guys are German funded fascists, Both have a suitable assault rifle.

End Of The Week And Ready For Bed (20)

Last week was a busy one. Apart from the bits where I slept. Somewhere along the way I got enough time to finish the target for the week. Again I haven't managed to paint the bases.

No real plan this week. It was about grinding through the back lig. This is stuff I could easily find the enthusiasm to paint.

Next week is back to Atomfallish / SUnderdground. I have another twenty plus minis to do. It will be another mixed bag. There are some more coming with enough for another twenty for the week after next. If things go to plan, I should get some more frames second hand, either as freebies or at a knock down price.

Somewhere down the line there should be some winter British, Germans and Russians.

UK Games Expo Day 2

Whilst I appreciate this is arriving on day 3 I was just too tired to do anything else yesterday. It was another good day, if a long one. 

The first thing I wanted to tell you about is Emesh. He has a game called Black Metro. Of all the people I spoke to over the weekend he was the one I most enjoyed speaking to. If you like cyberpunk as a background and board gaming, go and have a look at Black Metro.

My pace was a little slower on the Saturday but it gave me more chance to dick about doing some painting. I intended to try out the Two Thin Coats stuff but as I was at least two foot taller than all the other participants, I went back to where I was yesterday.

Since the start of the year I have really concentrated on using Contrast and Speedpaints. I have been reasonably happy with both. I've been a little disappointed that I got the Speedpaints before 2.0.  The average is still better than Contrast as some of the GW is little better than a wash.

So my paint trials had me playing around with Vallejo Express paint. I have some Vallejo regular paint and like it. I started with GW paint and never really had a reason to change. It was good enough and it was always available. But it's in GW bottles, or at least it used to be. 

Then I was given a box set of the Army Painter range. I like it although it does have it's detractors, it is a dense high pigment paint. Not good for everything but pretty good. 

I still wanted to have a mess around with the Express. So over the course of a couple of days I have gone through about a dozen colours. I started with the flesh tones. I have a variety of flesh tones from GW and AP. None of them are great but can give some exceptional colours if you go over a regular skin tone and then hit it with a wash. Which kind of defeats the point.

The two I have used were much better and even have some texture. I still think they need a bit more detail. I have some photos but I was painting without a magnifying lamp and with a ten year old kicking me in the back every thirty seconds. So I have no intention of showing them here.

The other colours I used were also pretty good. As good as the good ones from the other ranges, I just haven't found a duff one yet.

One of the other things that went on was the chat I had with the mega game people. I've been involved in a few of these in the past and had a giggle. Whilst I didn't get involved in one, there are a few up north now. Which is better than driving six hours.

I went down there with no plans. No games booked. I'd not even looked at a map (which I think was actually three or four maps). We were talking and there is a very amorphous plan to go next year and maybe stay over. I would certainly be feeling less crap than I am feeling now. I would also be going there with a plan. Which has got to be good.

Some of my mates play a lot of BattleTech and I play a bit of it. It was one of the main reasons for turning up as a group. My brain would struggle with a day of it (it's struggles with a game of it) so I was really just tagging along. So a couple of them were looking for something to do and there was a get a salvage box, paint it and play a game event. It was really aimed at kids, not men in their fifties.

So two of them were playing a ten year old girl. One of them died twice. Then it turned out she was five. I will of course use this whenever I can. But, he's a dad. As a dad (and hopefully as a functional human) you want the kids to have fun. I sound like a YouTube host on a sugar rush when I talk to my daughter. It's good to find time to spread a little happiness.