From Our Correspondent in Zugando

News from the Chaos of civil war-torn Zugando, in West Africa, can be sparse and unreliable. Outside the UN protected coastal cities law and order has all but broken down.  It takes a brave soul to venture into the hinterlands of the Zugando in search of a story. Rex Sadler and his intrepid cameraman Lance Waverly are just such individuals, chasing the truth and bringing the light of the world’s media to bear onto this small, bloody African country.

Rex Sadler (the one with the microphone) is a freebee model made by ‘The Assault Group’ and is available on request with all orders over £30. He is dressed in a suit and wearing a flack jackets (health and safety, even in a war zone!). I can see him being of use in Pulp City and in my four-colour supers game, which is why I have based his on a 30mm round lipped base. Lance Waverly is by eM4 miniatures. I have painted this figure before, a few years ago, but I know that when I needed a cameraman for my war correspondent, only Lance would do, so I bought another one. Like Rex, Lance is dressed in a flack jacket.

I imagine that this pair could be used as objectives in Force on Force, or might even turn up as the result of a Fog of War card. 

Best Toys ''R' Us trip ever!

I just popped down to Toys ‘R’ Us to get some play sand for the kids so they can make the most of this very un-English weather while it lasts and while I was in there thought I would just take a quick look around to see if there was anything suitable for gaming/conversion. I was glad that I did…

  First off, I found a die cast Apache helicopter (an AH-64) made by Fastlane for Toys ‘R’ Us. It was on special offer, being reduced from £12.99 to £9.99. It is modelled in 1/55 scale, which if you are interested in using die cast for wargaming you will probably know that it is something of a holy grail when it comes to scale.

  

Scale is a very subjective thing, but it is generally considered that for 28mm scale figures, something between 1/50 and 1/56 is about perfect. 1/48 is far more common form die cast and for model kits, but it is generally too big for 28mm scale figures. 1/72 scale is used for a lot of military models, but is too small for 28mm, being better suited for 20mm or 18mm scale. As I say, scale is very subjective, and people choose to use all sorts of scales, and that’s fine. I think the most important thing is to remains consistent.

My second find, in the bargain bucket, was some models form the Disney’s Cars movie range. I have used these before for my African scenery as these are generally approaching 1/56 scale (although there is some inconsistencies across the range as the models are based on the characters in the film and sometimes the sizes are exaggerated for comic effect, so you have to be wary). These models are based on a Range Rover, and were just £2.49 each. They will be converted and used as part of my cavalcade for The President of Zugando, or any other ranking dignitaries.

  

All in all, I would consider that to be a good shopping trip!

Random Musings

 Yesterday was my 12th Wedding Anniversary. I got some very nice DVDs, but after doing a little research I found out that twelve years of marriage is a 'silk' wedding anniversary. I was a little disappointed to learn that there is no pewter or lead wedding anniversary, or even for that matter, a resin wedding anniversary. This seems somewhat remiss of the wedding anniversary organising people.

 In fact when you think about it, it seems a trifle one sided- gold wedding anniversary; diamond wedding anniversary, ruby wedding anniversary.

 There’s not much in there for the blokes. Where is the ‘X-box Wedding Anniversary’? It’s almost as if the people who came up with the lists for what anniversary gifts you should be given were all married women who had a vested interest in getting lots of nice presents of their other halfs.

But surely that’s not very likely?

 Anyway, enough rambling. You’re probably wondering why I haven’t posted anything for a while. Well I guess a bit of painting fatigue has crept in following the Lead Painters League. I painted over sixty figures in ten weeks, and while it was fun it was exhausting. I had a couple of evenings off to play on Skyrim, but now I am back to the business of painting my modern Africans. The first stage is almost complete, and I will be posting a big ‘reveal’ when they are finished, rather than showing them piecemeal.

Also in the pipeline are some more minions for my four colour super villains and some more Kiss Kiss Bang Bang spies. Keep checking in, as there will be pictures as soon as they are ready. 

Dreadfleet: Grimir's Thunder

Yet another ship completed for my Dreadfleet games. This one is Grimnir's Thunder, a Dwarf Grudgebreaker-class battleship captained by Red Brokk, a notoriously bad tempered and greedy Dwarf engineer-pirate. Amongst the crew is hundreds of dwarf engineers, as well as a good number of iron breakers an slayers to board the enemy ships. Rune-enhanced cannons and gromil plated armour make the Thunder a formidable vessel. 

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SAGA Vikings

Having finished four points worth of Anglo-Danish (which is the minim army for Tomahawk Studios SAGA game) I have started on my Vikings. In order to make my Vikings look a bit different form my Anglo-Danes- because lets face it, there's not that much differences- I have opted to make sure all the Vikings have big bush blond beards.

This photo shows four Viking Berserkers, and one Viking warrior. I painted them for the Lead Painters League. In SAGA a group of warriors are found in groups of four, eight or twelve, but you need a minimum of five for the LPL, which explains why there are four berserkers and a an odd man out. 

The berserkers are made by Black Tree Designs, although one had a weapon swap from a sword to an axe. In SAGA it doesn’t really make a difference which hand weapon you opt for, but I though that aesthetically having them all wielding axes just worked better.  The man in mail is a Gripping Beast Plastic Viking Warrior

Superhero 'Symbiote'

Symbiote is a semi-sentient alien battle-suit that was discovered forty years ago on board a crashed UFO somewhere in the Nevada desert. When it was found it was in a dormant state, and for many years it was kept at the Broom Lake Research facility in a crate labelled 'Device 179A Extra Terrestrial Unknown Function'. While being moved to an alternative storage facility in New Mexico Symbiote awoke and managed to escape from it's storage crate undetected by the security staff in charge of moving it. 

Local sheriff Hank Lowbrung later found Symbiote, and not realising what it was, stowed it in his truck. Later that shift Sheriff Lowbrung stopped some suspected smugglers and was shot and mortally wounded in a gunfight that followed.

Symbiote detected Lowbrung’s weak state, and managed to merge its life force to the sheriff’s. The sheriff survived, thanks to his alien symbiote and found his near-death experience has given him a unique perspective. By day he still enforces the law as sheriff, but by night he brings justice to those who live beyond the law, especially the smugglers and outlaws who inhabit the no mans land between Mexico and USA. 

This figure is an Alien Battle-suit made by E4M miniatures. I slapped a bit of paint on him quickly between rounds of the Lead Painters League, just because I was aware that I haven’t painted any Superheroes for ages. I hope you like it. I plan to do a few more Supers and henchmen soon. 

Another Dreadfleet Ship: Sea Drake

Here's another of my Dreadfleet ships. This is the Sea Drake, under the command of Prince Yrellian of Ulthuan, son of the Phoenix King. Yrellian chose self-imposed exile following his brothers death. His ship is the fastest ship in the Ulthuan navy, and is accompanied in battle by two dragons.