Plastic Malpractice

Sunday, 21 July 2019

From The Vault: Alien Bounty Hunters

A couple of alien mercenaries/bounty hunters, etc. Pretty sure I just painted these on a whim!

The aliens are from AE-Bounty and the robot is a Copplestone fig. Much as I hate painting white, the Stormtrooper-esque armour does look good, and I aimed for that Star Wars vibe with these figs.

My absolute favourite, though, is the pilot-type in front. I'd clearly been watching Firefly because this guy seems straight out of the Wash playbook – the shorts, the shirt, the paunch – he really looked like a down-on-his-luck smuggler. I leaned into this some more, giving him a Hawaiian shirt.

Minimal effort, really, but it brought the figure to life for me. I'm a ways off doing tartan or embroidered robes, but I should really try more stuff like this – I've fallen in the habit of painting for speed, using plain colours. A spot of flamboyance now and then never hurt anyone...

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Sunday, 14 July 2019

From The Vault: The Reikland Reivers

Ah, Mordheim. One of those games that always seems to offer a good time. Going back nearly ten years, we had an urge to play some Mordheim, and put together a selection of gangs. Joe had Dwarf Treasure Hunters, there was a Skaven mob (I think), and I had my Reiklanders.

All the figures are Vendel border reivers (hence the punny name). I remember nothing about the gang, and everything about their initial skirmish! We were playing a three-way game, and I managed to get my archers and crossbowmen into an elevated position on the balcony of an inn (Reiklanders were the 'shooty' warband, so that was sound tactics). My melee troops rushed out, grabbed a couple of treasure tokens, and drew back to safety with them. All the while, my ranged troops are pummeling the opposition with arrows and bolts (even the occasional pistol ball from my captain). This wouldn't have been so bad, except Joe's Dwarfs were SLOW and were focusing on the other warband, which was similarly focused, so he came under heavy fire for most of the game, while I sat back with most of the treasure and barely a scratch!

I'm particularly proud of this champion – the sleeves were worth the effort. My one niggle? The figures are open-handed, to be armed with a variety of weapons. This guy cried out for a halberd, but his scabbard is empty, meaning that he really should have been given just a sword. Oh well.

From The Vault: Cobra!

I'm actually a little surprised that I haven't posted these before... This is my rough-and-ready interpretation of Cobra from the GIJoe comics. I LOVED the action figures as a kid, so it's no real surprise that I'd return to them as a wargamer...

Destro and the Baroness are from Artizan and Wargames Foundry respectively, while the nameless Cobra troopers in the back are from The Assault Group.

Do not ask me why I painted the forestock on the Baroness' MP5s brown. I couldn't tell you.

Sunday, 7 July 2019

From The Vault: WWWII Germans

Man, what was I thinking? Look at those bases. Why did I think brown edges would look good? This is a very quickly painted Weird World War II German force, with miniatures from a range of sources.

The scientist is an AE-WWII model, and one that I keep painting. This was my first attempt at it, and (base aside), is more polished that my more recent effort. I am especially fond of the bloodstained apron.

I'm pretty sure the gorilla is a conversion – the main body is from AE-WWII, and the arm, I think, is from a Confrontation model. It kinda works.

The scientist and the gorilla are joined by two German officers from Artizan and a dog-handler and his pooches from AE-WWII yet again.

Sunday, 30 June 2019

From The Vault: Pulp Cult

Another batch of figs from Pulp Figures (to accompany my cops), these guys reflect my feeling that a cult makes for a cracking villain, no matter the setting.