Heavy Gear: Peace River

Since I stopped playing BattleTech in the late 1990's, I've had an on-again, off-again interest in Heavy Gear. I love the world. I love the Gear designs, and the mix of hard sci-fi and Anime influences really hits a sweet spot for me.

A while back I painted some Peace River Defense Force Gears using a simple method of a black undercoat, Vallejo military color base coats, and the famous Dip method. I'm quite taken with the results of this very simple method, and I intend to re-visit the PRDF and do some more in this scheme.











For those not in the know, the scale of these minis is about 12mm, or 1/144th. All figures are top notch quality castings, and though they're a tad pricey, DP9's customer service cannot be beaten. Well worth a look!

--Scott

The Unpainted Minis Bin(s)

We've all got them. Here are mine!













This unit sits just to the right of my paint area, within easy reach! Now I am a pretty prolific painter, but it seems that my miniatures consumption has outstripped my ability to paint it all!

I wonder if others have such problems?

--Scott

Tyranid Project

My friend Rico and I have decided to each build at least 1,000 pts. of Tyranids for a series of games at our FLGS. I finally settled on a paint scheme that is executable over a large number of models and looks pretty good. I found the scheme quite by accident while searching Google for "Tyranid Paint Schemes".

Anyway, this is an example of my version of the scheme utilizing Devlan Mud in place of the old Flesh Wash. BTW, the new plastic Ravener kit is awesome!

















Not counting assembly time, the three of these were done in around 2 hours. Not bad, huh?

--Scott

My Hobby Area

There is a neat little thread on RPG.net about posting pics of your work station. It got me thinking that I should do a blog post about my hobby area in the basement of my house. I spend a good deal of time there, and I have made the space uniquely my own. Anyway, here are some pics of the area.



This is my main work area, an old desk left by the previous owner of my home. Those shelves attached to it were already there. A perfect storage space!




That paint rack holds most of my Foundry paints, along with some Vallejo and other odds and ends.



On the shelves I have 3 Rubbermade bins with drawers for loose metal figures and bits. All are labeled by period or genre, and the bits are roughly divided into weapons and non-weapons.



Another shot of the loose mini and bits bins.



I always keep medical tape close by for those nasty cuts that can occur when working with Xacto blades. The two shelves above my paint desk function as display for some of my Mini-Mates. Above are the Marvel Mini-Mates.



My collection of primers sits on the right of my paint desk, and is guarded by my awesome Dragon Skull ash tray. Not being a smoker, I picked up the ash tray on eBay 10 years ago to use for terrain, but I never followed through.



Along the right side of my shelves on my paint desk is a little section where I keep my safety goggles, jeweler's saw, and a hanging bin of washers used for miniature bases.



Further to the right is an area I use for photographing minis and displaying finished pieces.



To the left of the paint desk sits another desk. On this I have my D&D minis collection, my stereo box, and various other bits of stuff I've been working on or using. You'll see my CD rack a little further to the left and set back. It's filled with ambient electronic music. The fewer lyrics the better!

That concludes this brief tour of my painting and modeling area; it's not pretty but it gets the job done!

--Scott

15mm Sci-Fi Ship Corridors

Joe Dragovich and I finally got a game in using his wonderful scratch-built ship corridors. We used Savage Worlds to run a hostage rescue. Very cool!
















Special thanks to Danny Mircowave for the pics!

--Scott

"The best laid schemes o' mice an 'men..."

I know I said I'd get back to some 15mm sci-fi, but I just haven't had the chance to paint any of my existing stuff from other companies. I don't have the green light to show any of our own Blue Moon stuff yet, so I'm spinning my wheels a bit.

In the meantime, I came across some great pics I took of an old D&D metal mini I painted for my good buddy, Kurt, back in 2008. It's one of the old Iconic characters from Wizards' 3.X line of D&D releases, Jozan, Cleric of Pelor. This mini was done in both metal (the one pictured here), and in the plastic, pre-painted Harbinger set.

Kurt wanted to run a Warlord in D&D 4E, so I got hold of my extra Jozan (yes, I own multiples of many of the iconics--part of my miniature collecting mania), and did some conversion work on him.

Kurt did not want the crossbow on the mini, so I cut it off and replaced it with a pack, a healing potion, and a throwing axe--all GW bits I had laying around. I also swapped out the mini's mace with an axe head from a Privateer Press model.









Very simple paint job on this guy using some of my go-to Foundry colors. He makes for a very effective and convincing Human Warlord in 4E.

--Scott

Superhero Conversion: Dragon Lives!

In testing out the new BASH UE superhero RPG rules I made a mid-power character named Dragon. He was once a real, medieval Dragon and got transformed into a human form, and is stuck in it. He still retains some Dragon-like powers.

I looked through my reserve of SuperFigs but didn't see anybody who struck my fancy for this character--I wanted a mix of a pulp-looking character with modern elements. Hard to pin down. I do own a small collection of Heroclix I keep handy for these sorts of conversions, and in rummaging through it I found a DC Clix Catman:




Nicely sculpted figure, isn't it? Moving from there, I tore him off of the base, ripped his cape off, and did some other trimming. I cut the knife sheathes off of his belt in the back, and added some throwing discs I made from green stuff. I fixed the area where I tore the cape off with some more green stuff.

Here's the final results:












I am very pleased with the results. A simple, but effective paint job--black and green always work well together. Who knows if I will ever get a chance to use him in a BASH game, but I will have him in the queue for something down the road! Now back to 15mm sci-fi!

--Scott

"Nobody asked me, but..."

Another installment of my catchall gaming update! Here goes:

--Work on my 15mm sci-fi game for Blue Moon is moving apace. I am hoping for more play-test feedback soon. I've seen (and painted) the basic infantry for the first 5 factions, and I am very pleased with Bob Naismith's work on the models. Can't wait to see more! I hope to have more in the way of a formal teaser (complete with art and pics) in the next month or so. We'll see...

--Finally got around to making a character for BASH Ultimate Edition, the new supers game I got a few weeks back. I like it a lot, and it seems to offer a nice mix of detail and ease of play. I'd like to run a play-test game one of these weeks coming up. I think it could be a real winner!

--I am very much re-enthralled with D&D 4E after my brief re-introduction to the game a few weeks ago. I've started selectively buying D&D minis again, thinking about characters, and possibly even considering running a short campaign again. The Manual of the Planes is a fine book that I have been reading of late, and I am eagerly awaiting the arrival of Dangerous Delves, a book I missed when it initially came out, and that I am in the process of acquiring.

--My buddy Joe Dragovich is in from University in the UK, and he's coming to hang out this weekend. We'll be doing some kind of gaming, maybe using his sci-fi corridors I pimped a few posts ago.

That's all for now. I'll try to post some shots of various miniature-related projects this weekend!

--Scott

"So, You're An Alien, Then?"

Starport 3030 needs more alien denizens. That's for sure. While sifting through some of my RAFM 15mm sci-fi packs, I spotted this little guy. He can't possibly be intended as a normal human, I thought, so I gave him some cool purple skin-tones and presto, one more alien for the 3030!






I think I'll call him Besh. He's local muscle for hire, but he also does mechanic work on the side. He can fix just about anything.


--Scott

Slaadi, Slaadi, They Like to Party!

As a gamer and a miniature lover I have many predilections. I love ape miniatures of all stripes. I dig figures who principally wield knives of one sort or another. I like Goblins as a PC race in D&D.

Add Slaad to the list. For those who don't know, Slaadi are a race of chaotic, D&D monsters who dwell in the Outer Planes. Here's one of Wizards' recent Slaad miniatures, a fearsome Black Slaad.



I just picked up this mini and a nice consignment of other Slaad from an eBay store.

I must share a personal joke from my gaming group about the Green Slaad miniature, pictured below:



He is referred to affectionately in our gaming circle as the "Casino Greeter", as he appears to be offering someone a hearty handshake. RPG and D20 luminary author Monte Cook has a nifty little article on altering this figure.

My intent is to eventually use the Slaadi as villains for a D&D 4E game set in the City of Brass. In the meantime, I may enhance their paint jobs, or just set them up around my painting table and bask in their awesome, fearsome frogginess!

--Scott

15mm Sci-Fi Space Ship Terrain

My buddy Joe Dragovich is showing off some really amazing 15mm sci-fi terrain on his blog.




I can see having some real, knock-down, shoot-it-out skirmishes in these wonderful creations!

Good show, Joe!

--Scott

15mm Happy New Year!

Just thought I'd start the new year off right with a fresh blog post!

Nothing really new or earth-shattering here, just some pics of my 15mm sci-fi guys with some pre-painted Star Wars miniatures for scale comparison. I think both the Star Wars Huge Crab Droid and the Scarab Droid Fighter are ideal for use in 15mm sci-fi gaming. And the pics tell the tale!









--Scott