Test Miniature

Finally I am feeling like normal human again after being sick for the past week. Here we have after a long delay the pictures of the paint scheme I am going to use on my NAC platoon. This is the orbital artillery observer from my platoon HQ. The paint scheme is a fairly simple one Vallejo Iraqi Sand for the uniforms and Testors Model master Israeli armor sand for the armor. I was going to use a camoflauge scheme on the uniform but I thought honestly it looks better with out one and it will be a lot quicker to paint each miniature by not adding another painting step to each figure. so without further ado here are the pictures.



So I had just finished applying a layer of Testor's dullcote to to seal this miniature. A friend of mine who plays Warhammer 40k has just come over to hang out for a bit he sees this completed miniature and exclaims "Hey its a 15mm imperial guard figure." I don't play 40K (I do own some Orks you can see a box of them under this figure) so the paint scheme similarity was unintentional but I am sure the comparisons will be made. I like the colors though and I think it works well on these miniatures.

Still sick

I am sorry I have not posted pictures yet. I am still under the weather. I have finished my test miniature I just have not felt like setting up my photo box to take pictures. I swear I will try to tomorrow. I'm off to take some more Nyquil and head back to bed.

I'm still here

I have not forgotten this project. I have been sick as a dog since this past weekend. I have not accomplised much as a result. I have cleaned up, primed, and done the intial basing of my platoon. I am almost done with my test miniature and I should be able to finish him tonight. I will post pictures of it tomorrow.

2 and 3 section at last

Well after several delays and a busted USB key, here are the last of my conversions. There are not many conversions in each section so I am posting them together.

2 section group shot


Section leader

This is one of my favorite conversions. This pose is kinda limited in what you can do with it so I sculpted him as giving the freeze hand signal ( or the solidarity fist raise, your choice) The hand may be a little large but I think it will look fine when I paint him.

Designated Marksman

Pretty much the same here as the DM in 1 section. I cut down the barrel of the gun also so it is not so blocky.

SAW Gunner

A simple head swap

Rifleman

Another head swap. I am going to go back and rework this one a little bit so he does not have such an Olmec look about him. You get the general idea of what the finished figure will be though.

3 section


Section leader

This is my favorite sculpt. I really like how she came out. The photo does not do her justice. I wish GZG would have had a few more female trooper sculpts in 15mm.

Designated Marksman

The last of the DM sculpts. I added the scope and reworked the front end of the gun.

That's it for the conversions. So what is next? I need to finish clean up on the figures removing mold lines and such. I will do that tomorrow. Mounting the figures to bases and priming follow that. I will post and update this weekend with all of that. Hopefully since I am off work tomorrow I can get a figure test painted also.

As a final note. I realize that in reality soldiers do not tend to go into battle without helmets. I like the beret wearing and bare headed figures though as it breaks up the monotony of the army. This is a game after all. Have fun, see you all soon.

Medic!!!

I knocked off my laptop with my USB key plugged in that held the photos of 2 and 3 section. Needless to say that USB key is no more. I will retake the pictures tonight and post them tomorrow.

Better late than never

Well I am a day late in getting these up but here are the pictures of 1 section. I only converted a few figures in this group so this will be a short post. I did not ink wash these before hand, that was a bad mistake. It looks like the bare metal combined with my cameras flash washed out a lot of the details. I have ink washed my other two sections so this should not be an issue when I post them later this weekend.

The group shot


Designated Marksman

I created a scope for this troopers rifle. I had read an article about how future scope designs may not have traditional lenses but instead would use digital zooms like camera displays do now Doing this would make the scope smaller and lighter. I think this is an interesting idea, so I copied it in miniature. The shape was inspired by the EOTech weapon sights.

SAW gunner

A simple head swap here. This picture makes the figure look like it does not have a neck. The real miniature when not zoomed in on 400% looks perfectly normal. I think if I would have inked this figure first it would not look so rough.

Section 2i/c

This is another figure that the camera made look absolutely terrible. I think this is going to be my test paint job figure just to prove the point that this miniature does not look as bad as the photo make it appear to be.

That is it for this group. The rest of the figures in the section are straight from the package. I will post 2 section and 3 section later this weekend. See you all here again soon.

Picture time

As promised here are the first of the pictures of the conversions I did to my Ground Zero Games NAC infantry. I can't stand to have too many duplicates in an army especially amongst the figures that represent the leaders. These conversions were mostly accomplished with head swaps. The other changes were basically sculpting to fill gaps in the NAC miniature line. This first group of pictures is of the platoon HQ only. I will probably post pics of one section a night for the next few nights after this. In the pictures below the original miniature is on the left and the converted one on the right unless otherwise noted.

First up is a shot of all of my HQ figures


Platoon leader

I swapped heads with a figure from pack SG15-A2 NAC Royal Marines - berets etc. I then sculpted on glasses and a headset so that this figure would fit in with the style of the of the other miniatures I am using. Finally I carefully bent the arm up and repositioned the hand. I envision him giving the rally on me command in this pose.

Signaller/Electronic warfare trooper

I sculpted on some details and an aerial on to the helmet to make it look more like communication equipment. I then sculpted on a new back pack and made an antenna to represent the signaller's secondary role as an electronic warfare specialist.

Plasma gunner

This is one of the older NAC SAW gunners from pack SG15-A2. Since he is chunkier and has a larger weapon than the new style SAW gunners, I decided to make him into a plasma gunner since GZG does not currently make a miniature armed this way in 15mm. I added green stuff to the barrel of the SAW to change its shape. I then sculpted a power supply for the gun onto the figures back.

Assistant plasma gunner

This is another one of the older GZG 15mm sculpts. This series of miniatures had rifle barrels that were rather blocky. On the unconverted figure you may be able to tell that I have started cutting down the barrel to make it match the newer figures. On the converted soldier you can see the finished result.

Light RAM mortar operator

This a straight forward head swap so the figure would match up to the rest of the platoon.

Naval fire observer radio operator

Here is one half of my naval fire observer team. I added a communications helmet to him like I did on the signaller. I also threw together a ground based laser signal transmitter antenna from a bead, green stuff, and brass wire. Once I base the figure I will sculpt a cable connecting the antenna to the computer unit the miniature is using. I figure this figure is using the laser antenna for direct line of site contact with and orbiting ship for fire support.

That's pretty much it. The other two miniatures, the platoon sergeant and the naval fire observer officer are unmodified figures. I did not think there was much reason to photograph them. Up next is will be 1 section. I will get them photographed tonight and will hopefully have pictures up tomorrow evening.

I'm a slacker.

It has been a busy week. I still have not taken pictures yet as I have been trying to finish up my last few conversions. I promise I will have pictures this week.

Patience is a virtue

I have made some progress on my NAC platoon. I have almost all of of my miniatures conversions done. Most of the conversions were simple headswaps, these were pretty straight forward. Some of the conversions consisted of sculpting new details out of Green Stuff. Let it be known now, I am not very good at sculpting. I do not have the artistic skill required for it. I do think overall the few things I did with the putty came out pretty well if I do say so my self. I am pleased with the results.

One tip I can share about sculpting, know when to quit. There were several times when instead of stepping away and letting what work I had done dry, I kept going and ended up messing up the whole conversion. Do not be afraid of working in layers, Sculpt a layer of detail let it dry and add some more until your done. Hopefully that makes sense?

I will post pictures of these converted figures in the next few days. My wife left our digital camera at work. When she she brings it back on Monday I will post some pics.

The Plan

I'm back. So continuing from last week, here is my plan for my first miniatures project on this blog. I have decided to go with Ground Zero Games 15mm New Anglian Confederation miniatures. Jon at GZG has really expanded this line and the new figures he has come out with are excellent. If you have no clue what I am talking about you can find the miniatures I am referencing here in the 15mm section. You can download the Stargrunt II rules and all of the other GZG games for free from here.

So I am starting with a platoon of mechanized infantry. My organization is based off of modern British army platoon structure. My background is going to be a modified version of SGII's background set about 170 or so years in the future. So with out further ado here is the basic structure:

Two Platoon A Company 1 Battalion Royal Anglian Regiment

Platoon HQ: Call Sign A20

Command Group A20
Platoon Commander
Signaller/Electronic Warfare Specialist

Admin Group Call Sign A20A
Platoon Sergeant
Light Plasma Weapon Gunner
Asst. Gunner
light Rocket Assisted Mortar Gunner

3 Infantry sections Call Signs are A21 -A23. Each section is structured as follows:

Fire Team Charlie Call sign A2#C
Section Leader
Sharpshooter
SAW Gunner
Rifleman
Fire Team Delta Call Sign A2#D
Section 2 i/c
Rifleman/Arrow Guided Missile system operator
SAW Gunner
Rifleman

Finally, we have the platoon transport. I am pretty certain I am going to use 4 of GZG's V15-50A, 8-wheel APC with remote autocannon mount which is on this page. In my fantasy world I have named these the Templar Multi-Role Armoured Vehicle. Each Templar can carry 8 infantry plus 2 crew. The call signs are A20B-A23B. The platoon HQ command group and fire team A22D ride in Templar A20B, section A21 rides in Templar A21B, the platoon HQ admin group and fire team A22C are assigned to Templar A22B, and finally section A23 rides into battle on Templar A23B. Templar A20B has room left over in it for 2 more infantry. I plan on these seats going to company level attachments to the platoon such as sniper teams and forward observers. The attachments I will work on at a later date.

So for this project I have 30 infantry to paint up plus 8 dismounted crew figures and 4 Templars. I have all of the infantry purchased. I still need to order the Templars and the crew figures. My next post will be about the infantry miniatures and some of the conversions I am doing to them. See ya'll soon. This should be fun.

A reason for being

Well after thinking about it for a bit, one of the the things I am going to talk about here is the progress of my Historical and Sci-fi miniatures gaming armies. I have had an interest in miniatures gaming for a long time but painting ADD and a lack of local gamers has kept me from getting much done. I am thinking that if I post about my progress for all of the world to see, it will motivate me to get something done and on the gaming table. Let's hope that my logic is sound.

My first project to post about will be a Sci-fi mechanized infantry platoon to use with Stargrunt II, a set of rules produced by Ground Zero Games.

I am still in the planning stages of this project for the moment. I figure over the weekend I will finish up my rough draft of what I am going to do and post it here. So see ya in a few. In the mean time there is this:

1st Post

Well I am not sure what all I am going to put here yet but we will see over the next few days. In the mean time enjoy this: