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Monday, March 18, 2024

On the Workbench

 

Another wonderful Movember figure for Men's Health from Pulp Figures.

Whew! I have forgotten that painting individual figures that are different takes a bit longer than doing the assembly line for a uniformed unit - but I'm not complaining! I'm making progress for the Pulp campaign that will be done later this year and soon I'll be heading on to other projects.




Stahl Mask in his stepping out clothes. Very chic and fashionable.



Pre-primed plastic mules from WizKids.


Of course we need more Villains!






Thursday, March 14, 2024

The Search For Charlie Episode 1.8: Nicholas Fury

 

Nick Fury and Sam.

From Sam's Diary: "I think I have a lead . . . a slim and unlikely lead but I'm going to follow it. After years of experience, I know not to go in alone. It was funny how I ran into an old friend in my favorite dive and even better that he was buying my favorite whiskey. It was my old friend from the war, retired Command Sergeant Major Nick Fury of the 369th Infantry Regiment, "The Harlem Hellfighters."


Unknown to Sam, Nicholas "Nick" Fury is secretly a Colonel in the United States covert unit REDACTED. Fury's injured left eye, though initially minimally affected by a grenade blast during The Great War, has over the years resulted in a 95% loss of vision in this eye. Despite some comments to the contrary, Fury has not had the eye removed, nor REDACTED, and he merely covers it with a cosmetic eye-patch to prevent depth perception distortion. He has explained that when needing to disguise himself, he only needs to remove the eyepatch, slip in a color lens, add some hair, as everyone always looks for a one-eyed man.


Fury is a seasoned unarmed and armed combat expert, was a heavyweight boxer in the army (during The Great War), and holds a black belt in Tae Kwon Do and a brown belt in Jiu Jitsu. He has further honed his unarmed combat skills sparring with REDACTED. In his special role, he is concerned about the rise and influence of certain Nazis and REDACTED, REDACTED, that may REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED.

Arch-nemesis Stahl Mask.

“I have friends in high places you goose stepping, black clad goon.”

"
But if you want to stay ahead of me, Mr. Nazi, you need to keep both eyes open."

Monday, March 11, 2024

The League of Unemployed British Officers

"Hmmm, my new location of employment seems to be deserted."

I have not developed back stories for these wonderful Movember Figures for Men's Health from Pulp Figures; but, I'm sure they will be gracing the tabletop this year in some glorious adventure one way or another!






 




"If I hear one Three Musketeers joke someone is going to die of lead poisoning. Quite. Carry on."

Thursday, March 7, 2024

The Search for Charlie Episode 1.7: The Batman

"They think I am hiding in the night. But I am the night."

From Sam's Journal: "The world is getting screwier. I served in the Great War . . . and since the war, things have just changed. For the worst. We were honest detectives, and Charlie and I saw some unexplained events. But Charlies gone and there's gangs, and Nazis and a rumored megalomaniac scientist and a psychopathic clown making headlines - and some urban legend of an avenging angel dressed as a devil or a bat . . . "


After I came up with the brilliant idea (I thought it was brilliant) to paint a figure as the Joker for our 1930's Pulp campaing "The Search for Charlie" I knew I had to come up with a 1930's figure for The Batman. 


Finding out what Batman looked like in the 1930's is easy; finding a figure is not. Then I saw a HeroClix Batman and Superman that were made for the Batman vs. Superman movie and the figure for the caped crusader was pretty close so it's conversion time!


Mmmm . . . the Caped Crusader is tall. Of course he is! He's The Batman! Next to the HeroClix figure is a 28mm figure from Pulp figure on two bases. How to remove the base? I love the internet. Put the figure in the freezer for one hour. The base and the smaller base that the figure are on are hard plastic and it was easy to pry the small base from the bigger base and then I used by sharp hobby knife to remove the figure from the smaller base.

A one hour trip to the Fortress of Solitude in the Arctic.

Handy dandy hobby knife.


Okay that is much better. The figure is still noticeably taller - BUT HE'S THE BATMAN!


Okay we are making progress. Did I mention that I got the HeroClix figures from a Used Book Store for $2.50 USD? Since the figure was already painted (yes I check the internet for ideas!) I decided no priming was needed; but, I wanted the black parts to have some texture and I needed to give the figure the classic under wear look. I used Vallejo flat white to paint the cowl, the cape, the utility belt and to give him some underwear since I was going to use Citadel Contrast Black Templar. I accidentally painted his face so his face will be repainted too.


As I memtioned the cape and cowl were painted with CC Black Templar. I painted the face with CC Darkoath Flesh and the utility belt with CC Iyanden Yellow. The eyes I used Vallejo Flat white.  I wanted the main costume lighter so I did a light dry brush with Vallejo Neutral Grey. After looking at this picture I went back and cleaned up some spots. I used part of the old base on the stand to use as concrete.

Just a touch of clean up on the cowl and we are ready to terrorize criminal elements.

"Fear is a tool. When that light hits the sky, it’s not just a call. It’s a warning. For them."

Tuesday, March 5, 2024

"Epic" Pike and Shotte for One Hour Wargames


Okay. Yes. They came free with Wargames Illustrated. Talk about a gateway drug. I love the English Civil War (or the War of Three Kingdoms) and became interested in the period for gaming during my first tour in Europe. I have an extensive collection for King and Parliament in 28 mm so when the Epic Pike and Shotte came out from Warlord Games, I thought they looked cool but I was not going to start another large army for the same period, no matter how good it looked, in another scale. Then the free give away and I thought, I love One Hour Wargames and I was looking for a new period to do with the rules. Ta-Dah!

Here is a quick and simple painting guide. I painted these figures over two nights with a combined time of about 4 hours (not counting priming). For me, the smaller the scale, the lighter the colors so the unit does not look like a dark blob at gaming distance and can be distinguished from other units. Here is what I did:

1. Prime the figures white. I decided to paint them on the sprue.

2. I used Citadel Contrast (CC) for most of the colors.

3. CC Darkoath Flesh for the skin.

4. Clothing is CC Space Wolves Grey.

5. The hat is CC Ultramarine Blue.


6. Paint the pikes CC Skeleton Horde.


7. Straps, pouches, scabbards and anything leather use CC Snakebite Leather.



8. I painted the blanket rolls (?) using Vallejo Flat Green, Yellow Ochre, Flat Red and the Sergeant's sash Dark Blue. The fringe on the halberd was also painted Flat Red.



9. The arquebus and musket rest were painted with CC Gore Grunta Fur.


10. The gunpowder "apostles" were painted CC Ultramarine blue. I did a second coat of the hats with CC Ultramarine Blue also to b make them darker.



11. The pike heads, halberd blade and sword hilts were painted CC Black Templar. Hose was painted Vallejo Flat White and the shoes were painted with CC Black Templar. I also painted the hair various colors. I also gave the pikes a second coat of CC Skelton Horde as I noticed I had missed some spots and it ended up looking better.



12. Below is a cruddy picture but I attempted to make some of the blanket rolls tartan by adding some stripes. At gaming distance they look like tartan and up close they look like crap! But we are going for gaming distance. I glued the figures to a 3" x 1" wood precut base from Litko. After I glued them I realized that the back of the first rank is obscured and the front of the second rank is obscured. So . . . if you make any mistakes there, don't worry about it!


One rank of musketeers and one rank of pikes will represent one Infantry Regiment of One Hour Wargames.




13. I put watered down white glue on the base and dipped the base in my handy dandy small sand tub.


14. I put splotches of watered down glue on the sand when it was dried and dipped the stand in green static grass. Doesn't look too bad and it (bragging) looks good at gaming distance.




This unit was a test to see how the figures would paint and it was a success. As I have other projects in the work right now, I am going to take a pause on getting the rest of the army painted and will do them later this year.