Some palm trees

I've had zero time to paint these past few months but I did manage to finish some terrain, inspired by Bruce's latest addition to his Vietnam collection.

These are cheap cake decorations and came 12 to a pack (I bought 36). The palm fronds come a nice two-tone green and I left them as-is. The trunks were a dark brown and I did the sloppiest wet-brush I could to bring up the highlights. 

I also glued them to washers for stability and sanded the bases. Bruce used poker chips for his bases and I think his wider base was likely the better choice. When combined with some bushes and some figures, I think the effect is good enough for wargaming.

Up next: I have some more Indiana Jones figures from the 1980s on the paint table, if I can find some time to sit down and get to them.

Mayfair Games 25mm Super Heroes: Justice League

Back in about 1984 or 85, Mayfair Games released a superhero rpg called DC Heroes. For a kid who loved dungeons and dragons and comic books, this was fantastic. They also released a bunch of boxes of 25mm superheroes and villains. 

I recently bought the Justice League box to see what they were like. Straight out of the box, these were hugely disappointing, being very small 25mm figures with very flat and static poses. After some work, though, they started to grow on me. 

The heroes in this box were Batman, Green Lantern, Superman, Hawkman, the Martian Manhunter and Green Arrow. The lack of Wonder Woman is notable, but not as notable as the insane pose they gave Batman (which looked way worse on bare metal).

In the end, I was reasonably happy with the results. There is some nice detail on Hawkman and the rest do well with simple, bold colours and a quick wash.

 

I presume the Bat-wahtuzzi or whatever the hell is happening here is an homage to the campy Batman of the 1960s and 1970s so I painted him in those colours. Th eGreen Arrow sculpt was super dissatisfying but then suddenly came alive with some paint.

I struggled with Sup's chest emblem and finally decided that this the best I can do (you are seeing him at least 2x) and he looks fine on the table. Ditto Green Lantern's emblem.

The backs of the figures are also pretty decent in terms of detail and animation.

The only modern comparator I could find in a matching pose is Green Arrow, with a heroclix on the left. He'd probably about 32mm and you can really see the effects of scale creep over the 25mm 1980s standard.

The box also contained four "super" villains.

Sinestero is an okay pose, I guess, and the Joker is fine enough (again, evoking the 1960s and 1970s renderings).

Brainiac is a pretty nice sculpt that I struggled to paint up with the detail of the comics. Darkseid, a villain I have always hated, is just an awful figure and three tries (with different colour palettes) and this was the best effect I could get (the sculpt is just terrible, terrible work, even by 1980s standards).

Overall, I had a fun time with these guys and, if I see the other boxes for a decent price (especially the Titans and the Outsiders), I will definitely pick them up.

More 25mm Indiana Jones

I finished off the box of 25mm Indiana Jones figures that I started last week. These figures represent the baddies from the first two films.

Below we have Chatter Lal, Mola Rama and a Thuggee from, I think, Temple of Doom.

From the first film (I think), we have Deitrich, Belloq, Toht, and a mine guard (so maybe he is from Temple? I initially took him to be the dude with the scimitar that Indy shoots in the square--whatever).

For 40-year-old sculpts, the detail is pretty good (note the scar on Toht's hand). I've no idea what Deitrich is leaning so far forward.

25mm Indiana Jones

Back when I was a kid (1984), there was an Indiana Jones rpg released by TSR along with a set of minis. I finally found a box of them for a reasonable price and bought it.

There were 12 miniatures in the box, representing key characters from the first two films. The figures are described as 25mm and have bases that are both very thick (stupidly so, really) and very small. After some dithering and messing with slotta bases, I stuck them to some washers and used sand and glue to try to smooth them out (meh).

There were five "good" guys, including Indy and that's what I finished this week. Short Round was probably the most fun to paint. I used movie stills where I could to get the colours right. I did give him a brighter ball cap and I decided against trying the checked pattern on his sweater.

The other Temple of Doom alum is Willie. I haven;'t seem Temple since it was in theatres (1983?). The mini mostly matches the pictures I could find. Indiana is a pretty good likeness,

The two sidekicks from the original movie are Marion  (note the monkey on her shoulder) and Sallah and both are pretty accurate sculpts. I painted them pretty much as they were in the film even though the embroidery on Marion's short doesn't really translate into paint.

In terms of scale, although these are listed as 25mm and from 1984, they fit in pretty well with contemporary 28mm figures. Interestingly, a different set of 25mm figures from the same era (Mayfair's DC Heroes from 1985) are clearly smaller (see partially painted Superman below). 

Up next: The baddies.

28mm Vietnam Xenos Rampant

A few weeks back, Bruce and I played a game of Xenos Rampant with a Vietnam theme. Bruce set a beautiful table with some palm trees. The Yanks need to eventually capture with village and they start with three units on the edge of the table. The open area is a landing zone for the choppers, which, when the LZ is clear, can deploy additional troops as well as hover and provide heavy support fire. The Men in the Black PJs can deploy into any cover that the Americans have not yet moved through.

The first turn saw the American's enter the board while the VC moved their one on-board unit into the LZ to slow the US reinforcements. Additional VC deployed into cover to start harassing the US troops.

 

There was a sharp fire fight on the right side of the board but the US managed to clear the LZ and drop their first reinforcements. Heavy MGs quickly chewed them up but the helo lifted off and was annoying as hell for the rest of the game.

The VC eventually managed to start eliminating the US units on the board while jamming up the LZ and setting up a defensive line between the US troops and the village.

The US finally withdrew due to losses. We'd probably change the deployment to slow the rate of VC deployment but otherwise, the scenario worked really well.

I just cannot get over how slick Xenos is for modern small arms combats.

Up next: I may be posting a bit more sporadically as my real life has become a bit busy these past few weeks. We'll just have to play this by ear.

28mm furies

I continue to paint when I have some time and, this week, I finished off five 28mm fantasy figures.

These are some kind of feathered, bird-based monster. Maybe they are sirens or furies or some such? Anyhow, they were an easy paint and I think I have finished all of the monsters in the fantasy boxes Chen gave me. Now it is on to the last dozen or so adventurers.

Up next: Hard to say. I would guess some 28mm adventurers.

Three 28mm adventurers

Alright, the last few months have been a bit crazy with family stuff and it has been awhile since I have sat down long enough to make any progress on painting,

This week, I managed to crank out three 28mm fantasy figures (at a guess, a bard, a fighter, and a thief?) and a base of wizard fire. These were some nice figures Chen traded me. I wish I had done them a bit more justice but, well, things have been crazy.

Up next: Hard to say. I may actually be taking bit of a break for a few weeks since I have nothing in progress and not much time to start anything new.

More bunkers

This is the second batch of bunkers that I got from Scott last year. These had been primed but otherwise were untouched. Based on the undercuts, I think these are 3-D prints.

These are roughly 20mm scale and could work for 15mm or 25mm or even 28mm in a pinch. Here I have them set with some old 25mm West End Games Star Wars figures (which happened to be at hand).

The roofs lift off and they have rudimentary interiors. I just did a grey spray, dry brush, wash, dull coat and then some scenic texturing to match my stuff.

In addition to the two large bunkers, there are four smaller ones plus a giant gas tank. These are slightly bigger than the bunkers from last week (compare below) but are close enough that they'd work together. 

I'd say I have enough here to put together an Imperial or Cylon outpost for a game of Fistful of Lead, which might be my next project. In terms of painting, I have some long-waiting fantasy to get finished up.

15mm bunkers

This week, I completed some minor finishing work on some 15mm bunkers I bought from Scott last year.

These came well painted and based and looked like they were fresh off the drop ship. I added some dry brushing and a dirty wash to make them a bit grittier and then redid some of the basing finishes to match my collection.

The roof-mounted stuff (gun, dish, antenna) lift off and swap out. The solar panels on top are a nice touch (shhh, don't tell Danielle) and the two barricades are lovely pieces.

Up next: Probably the remainder of the 15mm terrain, including a bunch of bunkers that are unpainted. I have also run to the end of my last bottle of Future floor wax (which they apparently discontinued in 2022?) and am now experimenting with a replacement. Pray for me!

15mm tanks and 25mm Star Wars

A bit of a mixed lot today.  First up are some 15mm storage tanks. These were part of a job lot that I bought from Scott. They came painted and I just added a bit of grit and some highlights.

The good news is that they work for anything from 15mm to 28mm, which is super useful.

Dave printed some 25mm taun-taun riders for me a while back from some files I bought. He scaled these to 25mm scale so they fit in with the Battle of Hoth figures I have plus my old West End Games Star Wars guys.

 

My goal here was to give the rebels another unit type in the board game to match the AT-STs I added for the Imperials. I'll probably play these as the analog to the Empire's probe droids.

They are maybe a touch too big (my fault--I should have asked for 20mm prints) but the sliding scale of Battle of Hoth figures is so elastic that it isn't a big deal. The prints turned out super well.

Up next: Probably more 15mm sci-fi terrain.

Random Star Wars painting

This week is a bit of a grab bag. First up are some game pieces from the game Star Wars Rebellion (these are from an expansion, I think).

Dead simple painting and they will work with 15mm (and smaller) sci-fi troops.

I also painted up some AT-STs from the same bag. Again, dead simple paint jobs.

These guys I will be using to add a new unit type for the Empire in the Battle of Hoth game with its sliding scale miniatures.

Up next: Some actual 15mm sci-fi terrain, I think.

More Battle of Hoth figures

At Christmas, I ran across a discounted copy of the Battle of Hoth and picked it up for the extra figures and so that I could play the giant-sized scenario (that requires two sets). I spent one of the cold snap in January painting these guys up.

Having painted this set once, I was able to knock out a duplicate a lot faster.

To help me keep the sets straight, I went with a plain white base instead of the light blue base I did on the first set.

I found some AT-ST minis that are roughly in scale with the AT-ATs and will paint those up shortly to add a unit type for the Imperials. I am hopeful that the success of this game will mean future release for, say, the Battle of Endor.

 Up next: Probably some 15mm sci-fi terrain.

FoL: Robin Hood

Back in January, Bruce hosted Richard and me in a Fistful of Lead Robin Hood game. Bruce's terrain has reached pretty epic proportions and we spent some time admiring his handiwork (the buildings are also finished and furnished inside...).

The basics of the game are that the Sheriff has discovered the blacksmith is in league with Robin Hood and, thus, the Sheriff has decided to run the smithy down (requires lighting three fires--the red game tokens). Robin Hood must prevent this. 

 

I had the Sheriff and three mounted men at arms and our plan was to make for the smithy and get it cooking. Unfortunately, Little John was defending it along with one archer. The rest of the hoods were coming to their aid.

On my left, Richard commanded 6 shoot7 and stabby foot guys who would block Robin Hood and his band of Merry Property Thieves.

 

Richard's troops did a bang-up job. Not so much my guys as we could neither lay a glove on Little John nor get the thatch and wood to kindle. Truly terrible rolling.

Richard tangled with Robin Hood in front of the church.

And laid him low! That was the turning point for the Team Sheriff and now it was a foot-race between Richard breaking the Merry Men's morale and Little John causing the sheriff to flee.

Richard even had the time to send a stabby guy up to deal with the annoying sniper!

Below, we see pretty close to the end game: the Merry Men are decidedly un-merry but Little John had KO'ed the Sheriff and is methodically beating the hell out of the rest of my guys (a complete slaughter).

Too late to matter, I finally got some hot dice and pasted Little John a good one (or two). The Sheriff must have been sold some defective flint and tinder or something because nothing would bleeding burn for me.

And this was Richard winning the game for the forces of capital... errr... evil... errr... whatever. The Merry Men fled to steal the rightful property of the rich another day and the Sheriff's forces (presumably) burned the smithy.

A very fun game and a visual delight to play out.