From The Vault: Wuxia

I've previously posted about my love of Song of Blades and Heroes, so I won't go into that again. This, however, is my second warband for that game – a monastic order based on wuxia and old kung fu movies.

This is a really eclectic mix of figures, featuring miniatures from five different manufacturers. There's a lot of variation in the sculpting (both scale and quality) but, with a relatively unifying paint-job, they all fit together.

The gang does include more options than the average game of SoB&H would normally allow, so I threw in a few spear-armed peasants to help round out the force if there was a point of two going spare. These Redshirts are Foundry Chinese pirates, converted to hold wire spears.

The core of the gang are its fighting monks, and these three all come from Reaper.

Every warband needs some heroes, though, and its first was this monk, again from Reaper. It's officially a half-orc, but I ran it as a demon seeking redemption through meditative contemplation... and kung fu.

The second is a dragon-headed Bruce Lee-style miniature from Hasslefree. This was the last figure painted before the project was pushed to one side, and so he never really got a backstory (or even a statline, if I recall correctly).

One thing that was almost always fielded was this big dire ape (a D&D pre-paint), run as a Yeren ("Chinese Wildman – a bigfoot-like creature). Although mouldlines on fur are always a pain to clean up, I do really like this model.

Leadership (and some magic) was found in the form of these two. The one on the right is another Hasslefree martial artist, fielded as the top student of the temple, while the one on the left is the abbot – it's a model from the now-vanished (I think) Chinatown game from a company called Stone Circle.

Painted around the same time as the above gang, these terracotta warriors are from Renegade. They were painted up really quickly (and shonkily, even by my standards!) for reasons that escape me now. And, no – I have no idea what that is on the chest of the one on the right...

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Disclaimer: All links to third-party sites are solely for the purposes of sourcing the products I have discussed, if anyone is so inclined. I have simply linked to the original manufacturer or the source I used (but feel free to shop around!) and make no money from people clicking through.

From The Vault: A Little Bit of Cyberpunk

I can't remember any particular reason behind buying and painting these figures – perhaps I just fancied doing some Cyberpunk minis.

The borgs in front are from the Urban War game (a spin-off of iKore's Void setting, now carried by Scotia Grendel), the troopers at the back are from East Riding Miniatures.

I do like the borgs – they're nice sculpts, and a doddle to paint, with sharp details and clean lines. Their size is all over the place, though!

Speaking of size, these basic troopers are immense! I really like the aesthetic, with the stubby carbines and the Dredd-style helmets, but they definitely don't mix well with regular 28mm figures. Alongside the larger borgs, they're fine, but they do dwarf the one with the chain-gun arm...

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Disclaimer: All links to third-party sites are solely for the purposes of sourcing the products I have discussed, if anyone is so inclined. I have simply linked to the original manufacturer or the source I used (but feel free to shop around!) and make no money from people clicking through.

From The Vault: VBCW

The Very British Civil War craze from a few years ago was one I really wanted to join in with. I loved the idea of the Abdication Crisis spiraling out of control and into civil war. The figures that were put out for it were incredible, and I couldn't resist buying and painting a few, even though there was absolutely zero chance of ever getting them to the table.

My first unit was repainted Black and Tans from Musketeer Miniatures (now carried by Footsore). I decided to theme the force around my old college – Lincoln – hence the dark and light blue bonnets. These guys were members of the college's UOTC formation – hence the more uniform appearance.

Of course, every college needs staff, and so these Musketeer/Footsore IRA figures were pressed into service as porters, groundskeepers, and the like. Their armbands were painted in the same two-tone blue to tie in with the uniformed chaps above.

Of course, as a college with close ties to the Church, it made sense for Lincoln to side with the Anglican League, which gave rise to this command group. A limited edition (I think – at least it used to be) Foundry figure, flanked by two from Artizan's pulp range.

Long since departed this world, there was also a Hurricane, painted in the same two-tone blue colour scheme (light undercarriage, dark on top), complete with a flight stand made from a coat-hanger. It was a mess, but I did enjoy the brief foray into Airfix kits.

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Disclaimer: All links to third-party sites are solely for the purposes of sourcing the products I have discussed, if anyone is so inclined. I have simply linked to the original manufacturer or the source I used (but feel free to shop around!) and make no money from people clicking through.