Favorite Figures I Painted in 2023, Part 1

 It was a great, but shorter year for painting due to "The Great Move." Most tragic of all was the disappearance of Charlie, on of my stalwart agents and all around good guy. But don't worry - there is a Pulp campaign coming up in 2024 to find out what exactly happened to Charlie.

The last known photo of Charlie after "The African Adventure."

Each year I like to showcase (brag) my favorite figures I painted each year. In no particular order, here they are:

1. Sam.

Technically Sam is not a new figure - but he did get a makeover. If Sam is going to find his old partner Charlie, I want him looking spiffy. I decided to repaint Sam without removing him from his original base. With the complexity of doing that and they way he turned out - Sam is on the list.

2. Pashtun/Afghan Tribal Leader.

There is no big secret that I am a big fan of the Perry Miniatures Afghan Tribesman hard plastic miniatures. I have never been a great modeler or very good at converting figures, but I am having a blast with them and I really like how this figure turned out to be one of the leaders for my Pashtun/Afghan Tribal Force for The Men Who would be Kings.

3. Pashtun/Afghan Flag Bearer.

Speaking of conversions, I ran out of Flag Bearers for my Tribal Force. After some careful cutting, filing and drilling I was able to convert the above figure into a Flag Bear for one of my "shooter" units.

3. Another Pashtun/Afghan Flag Bearer.

This is one of the running figures that is not really designed to be a standard bearer - put I thought it would be perfect for a band of scream, sword wielding tribesmen charging the infidel.

4. K2SO.

Everyone's favorite droid from Rogue One, K2SO was a joy to paint. I'm slowly building up forces for Xenos Rampant and I wanted K2SO to match the theme I had already selected.

K-2SO

K-2SO (also referred to as K2 or Kaytoo-Esso) is a droid character in the Star Wars franchise, first appearing in the 2016 film Rogue One. He is a CGI character voiced and portrayed through motion capture by Alan Tudyk. In the film, K-2SO is a reprogrammed Imperial security droid and the co-pilot of Cassian Andor. I think he is a great, imposing figure for my forces for Xenos Rampant.

Tudyk has been widely praised in the role. Recounting fan reaction on Twitter, uh, I mean "X", Megan McCluskey wrote for Time that "there seems to be one aspect of the standalone Star Wars story that the majority of viewers have agreed on: the excellence of K-2SO." Justin Chang of Los Angeles Times dubbed the character "the requisite scene stealer" of the film, and A. O. Scott of The New York Times praised "the dry, sarcastic tones of the indispensable Alan Tudyk." The bottom line? He steals every scene he is in!

I'm not going to go into a lot of detail on how I painted K-2SO as I used the same color scheme and techniques that I did for Andor. After the basic painting, to weather the droid I went back and painted patches of white and then repainted the lighter GW Contrast paints to give it the look I wanted.

The options when putting the figure together are to give it two open hands, an arm with a laser pistol (you'll have to watch the movie Rogue One for the hilarious running jokes about giving K-2SO a blaster) and a grenade. Heck - we're going to war! He gets both the blaster and the grenade.

Ta-Dah!

Captain Cassian Andor, Part 2

When we last left the good (a relative term for Cassian) Captain Cassian Andor, it was time to finish the figure and make it look like the actor Diego Luna as much as possible.

For the base color for the face, I used GW Contrast Cygor Brown. Next up was GW Layer Cadian Flesh Tone.

Next on the face I used a light wash of Contrast Dark Oath (BWAH HAH HAH!) Flesh. You probably noticed that I did the hair; I used Contrast Black Templer. The blaster and other metal type thing-a-ma-jings were painted with Contrast Basilicanum Grey. 

Next for his face I highlighted the high points with Vallejo Dark Flesh and did his mustache with Contrast Black Templer. Wait a minute . . . is there a mistake on the figure? One of the advantages of taking pictures.

What is that?

While painting the face I was a little sloppy. It looks like I accidentally hit the leg with some Layer Cadian Flesh Tone which will be easy to fix - though a pain. I'll need to repaint the area with Vallejo Flat White and then repeat the Contrast colors.

The completed figure (with the start of the paint fix up).

For basing I use a mixture of various sizes of model railroad gravel which is less expensive than hobby sand.

The colors  look good with the existing figures and just I just need to fix that knee pad.

Up next: K-2SO.

Captain Cassian Andor, Part 1

"Make ten men feel like a hundred."

Okay, I'll admit it. I've been a Star Wars geek since the first movie came out when I was in high school. (Now don't Google that to try and figure out my age!) The second trilogy was okay, the third trilogy had no continuity between movies - what was a man supposed to do?

And then Rogue One came out. OMG. Captain Cassian Andor of Rebel Intelligence is one of the main characters of Rogue One. No spoilers here - but I'm still trying to figure out in my own mind what is the best Star Wars movie: Is it The Empire Strikes Back or Rogue One?  Then the Mandalorian came out - Star Wars was saved! And then - Andor. Andor was the best show of 2023 and details how Cassian got his start in the Rebellion. And not a light saber or Jedi in sight! What a great Season One. Okay, I'm prejudiced.

I've been building a force for Xenos Rampant using figures from Star Wars Legion. The force has a brown uniform pattern to give continuity amongst all of the figures from various movies and shows.

I'm always hesitant to paint a character based on a real person or actor - I'm always afraid of goofing it up or making the figure look goofy. But hey, I need Andor in my force (more on K-2SO later).

The hard plastic figures are easy to put together and this figure came with three different weapon options: the small blaster that he used to murder, I mean eliminate a character in Rogue One, the military blaster pistol and a sniper rifle that is really cool but I already have a sniper figure in my army. The small gaps were easily filled with green stuff.

I've been painting my force using GW's Contrast paints. With the move I haven't bought any spray primer yet as the Contrast paints work with shades of white and gray. So I used Vallejo Flat White and applied it with a brush. Hmmm. That does not look so good.

Okay - second coat of Vallejo Flat White. Much better.

To give the base color for the face, I used GW Contrast Cygor Brown.

While I painted Andor, I kept handy one of the officer/leader figures I had painted earlier. The basic uniform is painted with Contrast Skeleton Hoard and the backpacks, gloves, webbing, belts, etc. are painted with Contrast Snakebite Leather.

The jacket was painted with Contrast Gore Grunta (snicker) Brown. Dang. The highlights of the Snakebite Leather and the Gore Grunta (snicker) Brown make the uniform of Andor look too darn dark. New plan!

When using GW Contrast paints, unlike the normal enamel paints I use, you cannot paint a lighter color over a darker color. I pulled out the Vallejo Flat White and repainted the parts I wanted to make lighter. Also I failed to mention, Contrast paints take about 30 minutes to dry which is a lot slower that the enamels I am use to using.

Now that looks better with a better contrast. I went back and used the Contrast Skeleton Horde and I am pleased with the result.

Just another angle. Next up will be the real challenge - making the figure look like the actor Diego Luna!

Photo Editing during the LONG MOVE

"It's been quiet since November Colonel Sahib . . . too quiet."

I have been transitioning to my new location and needless to say, with moving the household, I have not been painting or gaming. On the gripping hand, I have been playing with photo editing techniques with my Iphone 13.

Editing for a dramatic look!

 Here is the original picture from the photo above:

The biggest mistake I have made as I was experimenting is not keeping track of the editing I did with each photo though I have general ideas of what I have used. Oh well. A lesson learned for the future. Here are some more examples with the original first followed by an edited version.

10th Bengal Lancers.

It is amazing the differences you can make with some simple cropping, filters, changing of exposure, black point, shadows, etc.; all with some easy to use controls on the phone.

Guarding the gate.

The Meeting of the Minds.

The Last of the Mohicans.

A Lost World.

A Pulp Adventure.

In a galaxy a long time ago and far, far away . . .

Anyway, that's how I've been entertaining myself during the move. It won't be long and I'll be up and running again with more painting, figures, battles and adventures galore! So be prepared for the Eastern Frontier of America, the Northwest Frontier of India, some Pulp Action and a return to Science Fiction gaming.

"What was that sound?"