More Freshly Painted Hotness

   Well, I just clear-coated a new bunch of freshly finished minis. As is becoming my habit. I took pictures while they are drying.

Overall shot. Lots of fresh goodies!

2x 15mm "long corridor" pieces from Ion Age

Also, some of the many air conditioner units for Team Yankee

A Reaper Saproling Warrior - bound for Dr. Vardu on Venus (VSF!)

And a Reaper Blacksmith. Because I want some fantasy villager NPCs, dagnabbit!

Lorraine Schleppers for Flames of War, a 15mm WW2 wargame

Closer view of the Lorraine Schlepper. I like the guy covering his ears.

The Lorraine Schlepper was a stopgap measure for the Wehrmacht. They took captured French Lorraine Schlepper tractors and added a WWI-era 15cm sFH 18 cannon to it in an armoured superstructure. It was slow and lacked an effective traverse system - you had to move the vehicle to aim the gun, basically. The extending stabilising spade is a cool touch though.

Hordes and VSF beasties

   No, not police officers. Shame on you.

   These are big piggies, warbeasts from Hordes. The Minions faction. Razor Boars, if I remember rightly. I plan to use them for both Hordes and VSF games, where they are mutant giant pigs created by the twisted Doctor Vardu.

   I have also finished a Bull Snapper Light Warbeast, also for Hordes and seconding in to Vardu's plans. He's the lesser cousin of the big Blackhide Wrassler I already have.

There is a puddle at its feet.

   I've got a new camera, so I am still fiddling with it. These photos seem okay, though.

Project Review, Fall 2016: 25/28mm

A recap of what's going on:

    With the start of fall coming on, I decided I need to survey my madness. To wit, I am looking at each wargaming project I have ongoing, and what the status of said project currently is. 

   To define, a 'project' is a faction or force for a particular genre in a particular scale. Therefore, 15mm British WW2 and 28mm British WW2 are two different projects, as would be a 15mm DAK force, as would a British Paras vs. a British 8th Army force. Since there are so many and in so many scales, this shall be a short series of posts rather than one mega-post.

   For status, I shall use 'planning' (want to buy minis), 'active' (not playable but I am currently working on it), 'inactive' (unplayable but on to-do list), 'dead' (can't play, not doing anything, don't plan on it), 'playable' (enough to play, still adding to it), and maybe rarest of all, 'finished' (can play, no plans to add to it).

   I've already done the Small Scale projects, and the 15mm projects, if you missed those.

25/28mm

1. VSF Eureka Pond Wars: dead
2. VSF Lizardmen: inactive
3. VSF/Colonial British: playable
4. VSF German: playable
5. VSF Automaton: finished
6. VSF Martian: inactive
7. VSF Vardu: inactive
8. VSF French: inactive
9. VSF Russian: dead
10. VSF Japanese: dead
11. VSF Turkish: dead
12. VSF Parrotmen: inactive
13. VSF Characters (HM Victoria I, others): playable
14. Skyrunners VSF Racing: dead
15. EOTD/IHMN Werewolves: finished
16. EOTD/IHMN Gentlemen: finished
17. EOTD/IHMN Police Constables: playable
18. IHMN Lord Curr's Company: playable
19. IHMN Servants of Ra: playable
20. IHMN Society of Thule: playable
21. Colonial Boers: dead
22. Gutshot Cowboys and Lawmen: finished
23. Gutshot Banditos: dead
24. Terrain Old West: dead
25. Terrain Sci Fi: inactive
26. Terrain VSF: inactive
27. Terrain Fantasy: inactive
28. SAGA Normans: dead
29. SAGA Vikings: dead
30. SAGA Arabs: dead
31. Roleplaying Heroes: playable
32. Roleplaying monsters: playable
33. Doctor Who Daleks: inactive
34. Doctor Who Doctor and Companions: active
35. Doctor Who Angels: active
36. Doctor Who UNIT: planning
37. VBCW Free Welsh: playable
38. Warmachine Cygnar: playable (marginally)
39. Hordes Circle Oroboros: inactive
40. Hordes Minions: inactive
41. Warhammer Empire: inactive
42. Warhammer Lizardmen: inactive
43. WH40K Imperial Guard: inactive
44. WW2 British Paras: planning
45. WW2 Germans: planning
46. AT-43 Therians: dead
47. AT-43 UNSC: dead
48. AT-43 Red Blok: dead
49. Star Wars Prepaint: dead
50. Warhammer High Elf: dead
51. Warhammer Bretonnian: dead
52. Highland Badgers: playable (old and need re-paint)

Note: EotD is "Empire of the Dead," IHMN is "In Her Majesty's Name," VBCW is "A Very British Civil War."

   As you can see, there are a lot of dead projects in this scale. Ambition and ooh shiny got the better of my good sense over the years, and I almost never get rid of anything. Most are things where I have only a few figures, just testing the waters really. Which is good, I suppose. It's also by a fair margin the single longest list, which honestly surprised me. I thought the 15mm list would be the biggest.

   Also, I am shocked to see that I was considering up to 20 (!) different VSF projects in just 28mm. Twenty! I'm a sick man, really, I need help.

A few things I am not sure I have shared yet...

A Wold Guardian for Hordes

A Mutated Plant Man for Doctor Vardu

(Actually Reaper Bones)

Another Hordes figure, the Blackhide Wrastler

He is a mutate of Vardu for VSF - or will be one day!

Hordes Warbeasts

   I recently finished painting these two Warmachines/Hordes Heavy Warbeasts. I purchased both at Historicon's Wally's Basement flea market. Both were painted already, to one degree or another.

   The first is from the Minions faction - one of the very few I own from this faction and the first I have finished. He's the Blackhide Wrastler. He was pretty much finished when I bought him. I just had to do some touchups and a bit more shading and highlighting on him to get him good to go. Also, three coats of clear coat - the raised scales on his back have some serious paint loss issues.

Love his base. Part of why I bought him.

I think he also fits in with Dr. Vardu's Genetic Experiments in VSF. Don't you?

   The second one is for the Orboros faction, one of the golem-like wolds. In this case, it's the Wold Guardian. Those big ol' pistons of his, all rune-carved - oh yeah! He was primed in gloss brown spray when I got him, so this is very much my own paint job. I'm really happy how the stonework came out, a little less so with the 'glow' of the green runes. They got a bit too muted, I think. Still visible, though.

Lady Felicity and Friends...

   The lovely Lady Felicity, the last member of Lord Curr's Company to be completed, is now ready for viewing. Please do not ogle her; it's both unseemly and dangerous. Those pistols she's packing aren't for show!

   The next miniatures is the first of a batch that I was given by my good friend Eli Arndt, proprietor of Loud Ninja Miniatures, blogging wizard, and all around great guy. He sculpted them (his first comercial sculpt, if I recall). They are 15mm scale anthropmorphic owls, called 'uhul.' Unfortunately, the sunlight is sort of washing out the color on him. Since it only took me about two years to get around to painting him, I figure the rest will be done by about 2020...

   This last photo is a fellow you've seen before. Now he's all finished, with a flocked base and some protective clear coat. Here's Ape-X, from Reaper's Bones Chronoscope line. He's supposed to be a mutant supervillain or some such, I think. I am using him as a mind controlled slave to the nefarious and secretive Doctor Vardu...

Recent Projects Completed...

  A big update today. Lots of photos, and a few more are coming up on Victoria's Boys in Red, as well.

The Galvanic Ray Cannon

Germany's Newest Landship

A Simian Mutant Bodyguard for Doctor Vardu

OGRE meets Gojira!

IHMN: Lord Curr

IHMN: One of Lord Curr's Incorrigibles

A Texian Walker (French design) - a matched pair.

British Balloon Scouts (and nine friends)

     In addition to the items pictured above, I also managed to finish two more of my India Pattern Carriers for Flames of War. I don't have any photos of them, though.

   Plus, I have almost finished Lord Curr's Company for In Her Majesty's Name. Just lacking Lady Felicity, and she's still on the painting table. Once I finish her, I need to work on more Dystopian Wars vehicles - Prussian land forces this time!

Vardu Plans

The following is a quote lifted from copy text Matt Beauchamp of Hydra Miniatures' blog. It was posted two years ago...

Xenophobic and defensive in nature, the humanoid plant race of the Vardu rarely travel far from their native rainforests. The Vardu are not one species of plant-being, rather they are a variety of different species linked by collective intelligence of their surroundings. Silent yet ferocious when provoked, the Vardu use dried organic weapons from the forest - large seedpods on rigid stems become clubs, enormous dried leaves become blades. The humanoid Vardu warriors tower over most enemies on the battlefield. Their gnarled bodies are a mass of tendrils formed into strong sinews. A thick wooden hide usually protects their central bodies and their limbs and body often sprout incredible sharp thorns. Their blossom-like "heads" contain all of their sensory and sexual organs and are often opened dramatically in battle to enhance their awareness, aid in comunication, and frighten invaders. the Vardu reproduce by budding, and small sproutlings emerge from the leaf-like structures that project from their backs. These sproutlings finally drop to the ground and gain mobility, easily swarming invaders. The exotic Vardu elders are rather exotic and are easily identified by an abundance of brilliantly colored, feather-like petals sprouting from their heads and backs. Covered in sharp spines and rough barky armor, the Vardu blood thorns are the most dangerous close combat warriors of the forest. Breeds of smaller, muscular, carnivorous quadrupeds known as maw hunters serve as the "hunting dogs" of the Vardu. their strong limbs allow them to overrun their enemies and their gaping maws can make short work of their prey. Ambling quietly along the forest floor, the sporers are bloated multi-limbed fungi with massively oversized heads. A distinctive whoosh sound can be heard as the plant-thing launches a powdery cloud of spoors, choking all non-plant creatures in the vicinity. These floating clouds of spoors are also used to cloud enemies vision, thus allowing the Vardu warriors to advance undetected.

So far, only the Vardu sprouts have been released. I own twenty, for use on Venus in both 15mm and 25mm scale, although they are technically supposed to be 25mm miniatures. I love the scale-neutrality of the sprout figures, which stand between 20 and 24mm tall. As Matt himself says, "They'd be perfect for pulp/VSF games..."

Why do I bother to post about this? I am hoping to drive more business Matt's way so that he'll produce more figures. You should definitely check out his Retro Raygun stuff too, for retro-looking robots that make for great VSF automatons (see them elsewhere on this blog!).

And for the record, I have no financial interest of any sort in Hydra Miniatures, nor have I ever met Matt personally. Just a very happy customer who is looking forward to more products from a talented sculptor.

Painting... actual painting!

Okay, so I finally took up a brush for an hour or so this evening. First time in ages.

I worked on several projects:

• The first three vessels of the Papal aeronef fleet are just about ready to go. They still need flags. [Brigade Models]
• Professor Vardu, a biologist working on Venus. [Reaper]
• Frau Frobisher, assistant to Professor Vardu. [Copplestone]
• Two members of the Kaiser's Fliegenjagers, an officer and a trooper. [Eureka]
• A start on the prototype of my 28mm Aetherbattalion regulars. [Copplestone]
• A little work on some of the Aetherbattalion KFG. [GW Mordians]
• A little re-base work on Herr Professor Maton and a Mysterious Egyptian Gentleman.

Nothing finished, quite, but some actual progress on several projects. Feels nice. I took photos, but the camera is just about out of a charge, so pictures later. Plus, it's late and I am knackered. Still, progress marches on!

Vardu Photostats

As promised, photostats of the strange Vardu plantmen of Venus. We have as yet been unable to verify the veracity of these photostats, and many of our more cynical readers may remain skeptical for the time being. However, be assured that our own correspondent - armed with camera and heavy rifle! - has been dispatched to the steamy jungles of Venus to obtain independent verification. Once he is back (assuming the dinosaurs, diseases, lizardmen or parrotfolk don't get him!), we will happily provide additional confirmation.

More Plantmen Spotted!

News from the Veiled Planet!

Witnesses have described to our Venus correspondent a remarkable creature that has been lurking about our station there. The beast is humanoid, in that it appears to have two arms, and two legs, and a head of some sort, but there the resemblance to Mankind ends. For, in fact, this beast is no beast at all - nor any sort of animal!

No, good readers, your humble journalist has not taken leave of his senses. I do not claim that these tales are true, but merely report on statements made by Venusian prospectors to the chief correspondent of the Unveiled Planet, a news journal of somewhat dubious and sensationalistic character. However, all of the many reports bear out the same story: a plant which moves and stalks its prey, with tendrils of vines for limbs and a great bulbous purple flower for a head.

To date, the largest group of these plantmen (which the Unveiled Planet has labeled the Vardu, after Christophe de Vardu, a noted Swiss biologist currently studying the plant life of Venus) seen at one time is only ten, but surely more must lurk in the misty rainforests of that forbidding planet. Teeming with unknown lifeforms and barely explored at all, the jungles of Venus hold many a strange surprise for the unwary Earthman.

It is hoped that the Unveiled Planet will soon provide photostatic evidence of these strange creatures. Naturally, friends, this journal will reproduce them for your edification once they have been authenticated.

[Editor's Note: Finished the first ten Vardu sprouts today. I've also gotten a new scientist figure from Reaper (28mm), who will be Christophe de Vardu. What surprises have I in store for you all? I 'd bet you can guess.]