The Dale Wardens

DAK back in the USA at Oklahoma City National Qualifiers!!! mkl

2012-02-18T22:17:00.003-06:00

Well, I am back in the USA for a while and now have played my last 3 version 2 games. Just after cleaning up yet before the anouncements I acquired my soft copy version 3 rule book. I played 2 great players from Oklahoma City (OKC) whom are regulars. I had a great time and loved getting back into the tounament scene. The games were good (I went 1-2) (vp 2-5, 4-3, 2-5) and had tons of fun!! The last game was an accurate 21st Panzer versus 22nd Armoured Brigade on a desert board. Here is my 1625 point DAK Schutzen list. There are 3 objectives (Oasis, Suez Canal, and 21st Panzer emblem) and my more realistic flying stands. Can't wait for the next one!!

LRDG SAS Infantry complete mkl

2011-11-14T14:18:00.006-06:00

The LRDG and SAS infantry is based and ready for the new Burning Empires raiding rules. I used the rocks and sand I acquired north west of Siwa. I first put on the rocks then added the sand. I thought it might make the rocks a bit more embedded in the sand. Also, I wanted to leave a border so I painted it all with GW graveyard earth and left a bit of a border. I started not liking the "sloppy" border but in the end was pretty happy. Let me know what you think.

LRDG SAS forces in the Western Desert!! mkl

2011-08-04T14:37:00.008-05:00

The LRDG SAS forces are in the Western Desert. This is a bit of a WIP type picture as I did not finish some of the forces before I headed out to the Siwa Oasis in Egypt in June of 2011. This place changed hands throughout the Desert Campaign. It was a base for the LRDG (Long Range Desert Group) while Siwa was in Allied hands. This picture was taken just a bit NW of Siwa and just to my right was the old road out of Siwa going west. This road was used by British forces. most probably some LRDG trucks rolled by carrying some SAS troopers starting their way on a long journey in the desert to harass Axis forces in Libya. There are enough forces here to make either a full LRDG force or full SAS force. Now just to finish up the jeeps and trucks and I am set. Oh yeah, the infantry is not based at this time because I am going to use the sand gathered here for the basing. Nothing like taking a bit of the ground your forces traveled and having it as your basing material on your miniatures.

DAK reinforcements in the desert!! mkl

2011-08-04T14:25:00.004-05:00

The DAK force in Egypt just received some reinforcements. 2 Panzer IV F1, 2 Panzer III G and 3 Panzer III N. Along with the armour is most of the core of a Panzerspah company. 3 SdKfz 223 (radio), 1 SdKfz 231 (8-rad), 1 SdKfz 221 (mg) and 2 SdKfz 222. With the forces I already have I can make the core of a Panzerspah company and the 21st Panzer only armoured cars. Infantry now on the table and hopefully done by the end of the night. In the picture the hot Egyptian sun is making the shadows while I used the flash to brighten up the fronts.

Preparing for drop! FoW US Airborne - bandit@faltech

2011-05-28T13:46:00.002-05:00

One month ago I played my first FoW game, received my first miniatures soon thereafter and began painting on or a bouts May 15th. Cranked through the first ~80 figures of my 101st US Airborne company in the form of two rifle/mg platoons along with some command teams and a pair of bazooka teams. Just now starting the terrain-ing of their bases.

Not a bad two weeks.

If you're inclined to see the progression of the figures to this point you can check out my personal blog at FalTech. I'll toss up some more photos here when I reach the next milestone!

Bocage

2011-03-24T23:17:00.005-05:00

A group effort has led to the completion of our first pieces of bocage! It's only a matter of time before we have enough for a Normandy scenario! I'm tired, so I'll let the others update this post with more information...

LotRO Tuesday Nights

2011-03-09T14:32:00.005-06:00

The Dale Wardens return to Eriador on Tuesday nights starting around 8:00pm (Central). That's around 4:00am Wednesday morning if you happen to live in Cairo.

Next week - Tom Bombadil. Rumor has it Tom remembers the first raindrop and the first acorn...he knew the dark under the stars when it was fearless - before the Dark Lord came from Outside.

FoW US Rifles

2011-03-02T21:18:00.005-06:00

This is my first FoW Army, US Rifle Company! Many of the pieces are not complete, and I have plenty more to add, but I thought I would go ahead and post what I have (2 Combat Platoons, 1 Weapons Platoon, 5 Stuarts, several Bazooka Teams and a US HQ Objective Marker).

Here's a closer look at a command stand. I used basic block colors with a magic wash. It gives pretty good effects for the time invested. However, it does leave a little shine that the dull coat doesn't quite get rid of...

JR - Flames of War US HQ

2011-03-01T12:32:00.002-06:00

This is my 'almost complete' US HQ. I still plan on applying a little flock or tufts, I just haven't figured out how I want it to look.

I used 22 gauge wire to pin the officer and sentinel to the base. The officer just about lost a leg in the process, but a little wire and glue fixed him up.

It took a couple attempts on the rocks (which I originally thought were just sandbags) to get something I was happy with. I was attempting to make the rocks consistent, assuming they were all from the same area. However, they are all rounded, implying that they were probably river rocks which would be varied in color.

Woodland Scenics Trees - DS & EE

2011-02-11T13:35:00.004-06:00

I was driving by Hub Hobby this weekend, and decided to stop in and pick up a couple of packs of Woodland Scenics Trees, and 3 packs of foliage. A very kind Emily helped me assemble the initial 10 trees. I added 5 more on Monday, and took the pics. I'm still experimenting with how to apply the foliage. The last step will be to spray seal them as some of the clumps of foliage are not all that well secured.

Between the two packs of trees there are 120+ model. It should be enough to supply sufficient ground cover.

DAK is on the move in Egypt!!! mkl

2010-11-01T13:25:00.005-05:00

These are tanks for the 21st Panzer Division 5th Panzer Regiment. There are 5 Panzer III with one M, 2 J lates, and 2 G models. There are also 2 Sd Kfz 222 and 1 Sd Kfz 231 (8-rad) armoured cars. I followed the GW paint guide in the Afrika book and then did an Ogryn wash with bit more Kommando Khaki dry brush. The numbers and symbols are all brushed so I take full credit for the ones which look good and of course the ones which look bad. The numbering is not all form the same unit is on purrpose. I am trying to do a force from the time period of the First Battle of El Alamein. By this time the armour in the DAK was depleted. I wanted to show that this unit was made from several depleted units. My infantry force has a bit of armour support. The armoured cars I love and will create a Panzerspah company in the future. For now they are the eyes of the schutzen company from the 104th Schutzen Regiment 2nd Schutzen Battalion.

GF Airplane Hangar

2010-05-04T09:40:00.003-05:00

Here's my first "O" scale Plasticville building. I'm not sure what we'll use this for yet (40K, pulp, zombies, etc), but I simply love the model's diversity. The door opens and the roof comes off for easy access to the interior. I still haven't decided what to do about the flooring in there.

GF Mordor Troll WIP

2010-03-04T14:43:00.004-06:00

A fun guy to paint, and a nice change of pace compared to the ACW masses. Still have the drums and helmet to do, along with much of the detail work.

GF ACW Progress?

2010-03-01T20:16:00.004-06:00

132 of my 216 troops. Here they are assembled with a quick coat of Prussian Blue over everything. We'll worry about all of the details later, right?

ACW Deadline Announced

2010-02-12T18:16:00.007-06:00

July 1, 2010 is the day we put down the brushes and pick up the dice. Tentative rule set is Piquet's "Hallowed Ground 2nd Edition."

Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition.

GF ACW Union

2009-08-11T20:37:00.005-05:00

And so it begins...

3 down, 213 to go.

DS - Agent Nick Lockhart in Sprechenhaltestelle

2009-07-22T15:33:00.010-05:00

The contact is late, and Agent Lockhart grows concerned.

The year is 1981. The cold war is in full bloom. In the past eight months, three agents of the Special Intelligence Group have gone missing and two have been found dead in the neutral central European town of Sprechenhaltestelle. Growing concerned over the heating up of the cold war, S.I.G. Director J.J. Hubbard has dispatched Agent Lockhart to investigate the comings and goings on in this mysterious town of intrigue...

Another Copplestone Castings spy this time from the "Top Agents KKBB101 pack."

DS - KGB Spies....

2009-07-16T23:37:00.008-05:00

More figures from Copplestone Castings! The item number is "KKBB111 - More KGB Men" from his Kiss Kiss Bang Bang line. The idea behind the figures is spies and agents from the 1960s. I think they really catch the feel of old James Bond films.

DS - Pulp Investigator

2009-07-07T17:47:00.004-05:00

This is a character I painted up for a Call of the Cthulhu or pulp game. The model is from Copplestone Castings Gansters line, GN8 "Honest Citizens?" It was Grant's call on colours, (which I think worked out really well) and the idea to do the base as an interior wooden floor.

se twisted defiler on display base

2009-05-25T22:50:00.002-05:00

After some success using the fencing material for scenery, I decided to use it to make a base with it. I found a couple of extra marines, got an acrylic rod and some gel media later we have a grusome scene.

DS ACW

2009-05-20T11:08:00.004-05:00

The Dale Wardens Civil War order was sent off to Perry Miniatures last week, but I could not wait for the figures to arrive to begin our group's ACW project! I picked up 3 packs of Crusader's Civil War line to start out. The item numbers are RHF 32, 33 and 34. Since most of my forces that I ordered are Confederate, these are going to be painted up as 20 figure Union Army regiment.

The sculpts are very nice, but are a little bit more sleight than Mike Perry's are.

DS Ancients

2009-05-20T11:03:00.005-05:00

The painting begins. The centurion was fun,
so he got more done.

Roman Cohort in formation: Still
needs shields and basing flock.

A steely eyed Centurion.

A new Histoical Period for me:
I am part of the Minneapolis Napoleonics Meetup.com group. On the message boards they have an area to post about other periods that people are interested in. Several of the players play Fields of Glory, which is an Ancients set of rules and were discussing it. I have always had an interest in the battles of Ancient Rome, so I pulled out the computer game, "Rome: Total War" to get a healthy dose of Ancient Battles, but it was not enough.

I did a thewarstore.com order and purchased a Warlord Miniatures box of Roman and one of Celts. They produce a line of hard plastic miniatures that look good so I thought I would give them a try. Neal Capitano of thewarstore.com also carries some of the Foundry 3 tone paints, which is difficult line to find in Minnesota, so I picked up 5 new sets to help out my paint collection.

Then it came to waiting for the order to arrive... I began to scour the various Ancients wargaming blogs, and look at the various manufacturors of Ancients minis. On one blog, the writer said that he picked up a good deal on ebay of some used Romans, so I decided to have a look. The above minis are first part of Wargames Foundry - 124 figures set I bought for $140.00 US plus $7.0o shiping.

So far I have been working on them off and on for 2 weeks. They are very close to being completed. The shields still need to be put on, but I don't plan on doing that until I get some waterslide tranfers for the shields. I am also deciding whether or not I want to paint "eyes" on all the rank and file.

One thing I did not do was put the shields on the figures to see how they work out before I painted the figs. If I would have, I could have saved time by not doing the detail on the brass buckles on the front of the figure. When it comes time to glue the Roman shields on the figures, all the work on those parts will be covered up!

The last thing I have to decide is what look is going to be for the flocking of the figures. My idea is something arid, but with a touch of greenery.

Static Grass Trick?

2009-05-08T12:06:00.000-05:00

Someone needs to try this out and report back...

Here is a top tip for those of you who use static grass on their bases to make them look more realistic. Once the grass has been applied, and I use PVA for that, put the figures on a plastic tray and leave them on top of the telly overnight.
The static electricity in the telly,(and it doesn't have to be left on, watch that carbon footprint. my [gordon brown]), will charge the grass and make it all stand up, looking much better than some of the sparse limp efforts you see.
Jon Sutherland came up with that gem, and it works a treat.

JR LOTRO Cave Trolls

2009-04-20T12:15:00.004-05:00

It has been a while since I posted, but I picked up my brushes this weekend and here's the result. Two new Cave Trolls to support my horde of Moria Goblins:

Game Table - W.I.P.

2009-04-01T10:08:00.005-05:00

Work continues on yet another game board. This time I have four individual 2' x 4' board sections that can be combined to create up to a 4' x 8' table. The surface is 3/8" MDF board mounted on a frame of 1" x 2"s. The texture was created by mixing saw dust in with brown paint. I then drybrushed using some old cans of paint I had around the house.

Prepare to jump!

2009-03-06T10:49:00.002-06:00

Yep.
2 x cylon basestars
4 x cylon heavy raiders
15 x cylon raiders
vs.
5 x colonial vipers
Yikes.

con of the north pics

2009-02-13T17:38:00.004-06:00

plague marines

neat ogryn idea. fantasy ogres with guns

won best painted

lights work on the guns!
way cool ig!

cool scenery crash!

painting spree-se

2009-01-21T17:56:00.005-06:00

I had time off over the holidays and painted like a fiend:)

DS Darkest Africa

2009-01-05T21:15:00.008-06:00

I have been getting back into painting Darkest Africa miniatures recently. One reason may be that I have been playing in a Star Wars RPG campaign, and I think I just need a does of good old fashioned high adventure historical minis to balance things out.

The British officer on top is from the Black Treet Miniatures Zulu War line. The red and blue are certainly a lot brighter than they should be, but having some colour on the game table is no a bad thing. The relaxed pose of the model is really good looking. Shading red paint is still presenting some new challenges for me. For the officer, I used chocolate brown on the creases of the red and no highlighting.

The figure next to the officer is a Baluchi from Wargames Foundry as are all the models in the rest of the pictures.

The second and third picture are from African Tribal Leaders pack. The figure on the left I painted as an Ngoni leader to match a similar looking warband I painted a couple of years ago. Since that purchase Copplestone Castings acually came out with a real Ngoni figures.

The last pictures are porters, work in progress Masai, and Africa tribesmen with savannah shields. The Masai shields are taken from ones I saw in the Val Kilmer, Michael Douglas movie "The Ghost and the Darkness."

GF Chapel

2008-12-08T13:55:00.004-06:00

I've started working on one of the scenery kits released by Games Workshop. There is still a lot of work to do with the details and such, but it's getting closer. I think I'll be picking up one of those watchtowers next!

Old West Cowboys , DS

2008-10-26T16:11:00.011-05:00

This is my cowboy posse for Legends of the Old West. The figures are by Wargames Foundry and were really fun to paint up. The minis were really clean and easy to paint.

I'm also now the proud owner of a digital camera! There's a lot of functions that I have been experimenting with; it's a bit of a learning curve, but I am reasonably happy with how the pictures turned out.

Warhammer Online Guild

2008-10-08T19:32:00.008-05:00

Now playing on
Server: Ostermark
Side: Order
Guild: Ordo Polaris

No longer using the previous server (small population)
Server: Skavenblight
Side: Order
Guild: The Dale Wardens

DS Sci-fi Figures

2008-09-18T11:31:00.007-05:00

These models are part of a group I have been working on for a Star Wars game. The manufacturer is Copplestone Castings from the Future Wars line. As always Mark Copplestone puts together some very good figures.

On the top photo, the character from left to right are Jeff's character Lowell (a tech specialist), Voort (level 3 nonhero npc soldier), Owen (level 4 non heroic scout and Lowell's older brother.)

The balance of the 2 packs the figures came from, FW31 Scavenger Heroes and FW20 Citizen's Militia I, I am planning on using for various spacers and fringers. Coppletone's Scavenger line looks like it will be great for assorted space scum and I plan on picking up the FW2 Sewer Scavengers and FW30 Scavenger Scout.

Legends of the Old West Tournament Round 2

2008-07-16T22:26:00.008-05:00

07/16/08
Jim's Lawmen vs. Grant's Outlaws: High Noon scenario.
Shawn's Cowboys vs. Dave's Plains Indians: Avert the Massacre scenario.
Deb's Outlaws vs. Garrett's Cowboys: TBA

Dave: 2/0/0
Deb: TBA
Garrett: TBA
Grant: 2/0/0
Jim: 1/1/0
Shawn: 0/2/0

Legends of the Old West Tournament

2008-07-07T13:53:00.011-05:00

07/05/08 and 07/14/08
Deb's Outlaws vs. Jim's Lawmen: High Noon scenario.
Shawn's Cowboys vs. Grant's Outlaws: Hang 'em High scenario.
Dave's Plains Indians vs. Garrett's Cowboys: Dawn Raid scenario

Dave: 1/0/0
Deb: 0/1/0
Garrett: 0/1/0
Grant: 1/0/0
Jim: 1/0/0
Shawn: 0/1/0

JR Lawmen

2008-06-29T09:54:00.000-05:00

DS Plains Indians

2008-06-29T09:00:00.002-05:00

I have been working for past several weeks on plains Indians for a Legends of the Old West posse. The figures are from Wargames Foundry. The sculpts are of good quality and fun to paint. There are some bits on them that are at this point a bit unidentifiable, so I have decided to paint them simply for now, and to do some research to see what they could possibly be for the future.

One of the nice things about the Foundry line is that they provide the models both mounted and dismounted. I was lucky to purchase most of this line back when the packs came with 8 infantry per, or 4 horse and 4 riders (the packs are now 6 infantry and 3 cavalry.) I also got them when Foundry ran one of their infrequent sales and picked them up for $12.00 per!

When the Dale Wardens got interested in playing LotOW, I dusted the packs off and got to work. Next on the project agenda is finishing off 23 more mounted plains Indians warriors and the last 5 dismounted Dog Soldiers. The finished force will be a bit more than the standard "$200.00 posse" in Legends of the Old West, but the Blood on the Plains supplement has gotten me interested in doing some larger battles.

Once the plains Indians are completed, I will start work on U.S. cavalry, so they will have a suitable opponent. When I made my plains Indians purchase, I also picked up the Foundry line of cavalry. It will be a bit of a daunting task as I have 40 dismounted and 40 mounted to complete. As all miniatures painters know; it's so much easier to spend the money than it is to get them done.

JR Moria Goblins

2008-06-29T08:55:00.003-05:00

GF Crossbowmen

2008-06-09T11:07:00.002-05:00

se-old west scenery

2008-05-12T12:50:00.003-05:00

se- obliterator

2008-04-30T16:21:00.003-05:00

se rider

2008-04-27T22:50:00.002-05:00

se custom dreadnaught

2008-04-27T22:29:00.003-05:00

this used to be mostly jet bikes and other bits. now it' old b0b!

saloon wip-se

2008-04-27T22:01:00.004-05:00

interior is 2 floors and has wallpaper siding

DS

2008-04-27T11:19:00.002-05:00

BR Uruk-Hai

2008-04-26T23:06:00.002-05:00

JR Defenders of Edoras

2008-04-26T22:54:00.005-05:00

se- chef gordon, hell's kitchen parody

2008-04-22T07:49:00.000-05:00

se -grave guard

2008-04-22T07:48:00.001-05:00

banner has soem work yet but it is getting there

se- new pics of old stuff

2008-04-22T07:47:00.001-05:00

GF Il Cattivo

2008-04-11T13:24:00.002-05:00

GF Ringwraith and Standard

2008-04-09T16:37:00.001-05:00

GF Warg Riders

2008-04-09T16:34:00.002-05:00

GF Scenery

2008-03-12T22:33:00.006-05:00

Four sections of 6" fencing plus two smaller 2" sections for Legends of the Old West.

GF Scenery

2008-03-05T08:46:00.003-06:00

GF Scenery

2008-03-03T22:42:00.002-06:00

GF Dark Heresy Scum

2008-02-11T10:16:00.001-06:00

GF LotOW Building In Progress 2

2008-01-30T11:20:00.001-06:00

GF LotOW Building In Progress

2008-01-28T13:55:00.001-06:00

se- undead horse

2007-12-27T00:49:00.000-06:00

se even more goblins

2007-12-27T00:48:00.000-06:00

se goblins

2007-12-27T00:46:00.001-06:00

se more undead

2007-12-27T00:41:00.001-06:00

se more chaos

2007-12-27T00:23:00.001-06:00

LOTR 12.22.07

2007-12-25T22:23:00.001-06:00

Click here for entire LOTR photoset.

DS Men of Numenor

2007-12-25T21:46:00.000-06:00

GF Drune Warriors

2007-12-25T21:43:00.002-06:00

GF Drune Archer

2007-12-25T21:43:00.001-06:00

DS Riders of Rohan

2007-12-25T21:22:00.001-06:00

SE WFRP Character

2007-12-25T21:20:00.000-06:00

se zombies

2007-11-08T00:25:00.000-06:00

se- ghoul

2007-11-01T17:23:00.001-05:00

BG- new confrontation dwarves

2007-10-30T23:30:00.000-05:00

GF Western Gaming Board

2007-10-12T10:52:00.000-05:00

An experiment with texturing a small 2'x3' gaming board. Note to self, try to use sand that is a bit more fine next time.

The surface was covered with watered down glue and lightly sprinkled with sand.

I used some old paint we had laying around for the base coat. I was hoping it would be brown, but it turned out to be pretty red.

I applied a second coat of a light brown.

I drybrushed using a color called "Goatsbeard" (which is apparently the color of our kitchen). By itself, the color is pretty yellow.

The current state of the board. The upper right side is with the base coat of red plus second coat of light brown. The lower left side has been drybrushed. Yeah, I'm about halfway through the drybrushing.

A shot of what the drybrushing looks like up close.

Lord of the Rings

2007-09-30T20:52:00.001-05:00

Our first run at the Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game. The scenario involved a small force of Numenorians defending a village from raiding orcs. The Men of Numenor needed to delay the rampaging orcs for 8 turns, just enough time for the fleeing villagers to escape to safety.

The initial deployment looked like this. Ignore the bird. 12 brave men faced an overwhelming force of 24 orcs!

The Men of Numenor inflicted the first wound. The orcs seemed confused as to whether they should avoid the melee all together and go for the distant villagers, or if they should crush the small band of defending men.

While the orcs had the advantage of numbers, the Men of Numenor proved to be fierce fighters and would give no ground.

The orcs overpowered the men on both flanks, but the Numenorians held the middle ground just long enough to ensure the safety of the escaping villagers.

The final casualty count:
9 of 24 orcs killed
10 of 12 men killed
(ignore the bird)

GM Gottfried Von Stirland 2

2007-09-30T20:18:00.001-05:00

GM Gottfried Von Stirland 1

2007-09-30T20:17:00.002-05:00

DM Sonja Spinola

2007-09-30T20:17:00.001-05:00

BG Orcs of Bran-Ô-Kor

2007-09-26T10:15:00.000-05:00

SE - 1..2..3.... every body say 'brains!'

2007-09-24T14:26:00.001-05:00

I tried a few different things on these guys and I like the slight overlap in the red and blue shading. Gives a happy dealth icor look to it!

SE chaos marines finall done!

2007-09-24T14:24:00.001-05:00

Finally done! I think I will go back to doing just a few figs at a time! I like the colors, but rush the blending a bit, so they look fine on the table, but no so good close up!

SE scooby ghost

2007-09-24T14:22:00.001-05:00

I got bored and decided on a scooby doo radio active green ghost. Thoughts on which looks better and if I should color the eyes?

SE ghost mini diaramas

2007-09-24T13:53:00.000-05:00

Tried to do something different and used the base to make a cool mini scene instead of packing figs on the base.

JR Klaus

2007-09-12T09:42:00.003-05:00

GF Empire Militia

2007-09-12T09:42:00.001-05:00

GF Bretonian Archers

2007-09-12T09:41:00.001-05:00

SE Bazûka

2007-08-28T22:55:00.000-05:00

I am not quite done with him, but what the heck I will post him any way since I am posting and taking photos. I need to finish the blade, base and retouch the tone mismatch n the back skirt. I like the way he turned out so far.

SE chaos space marine color test

2007-08-28T22:53:00.001-05:00

So I am trying out an paint schema on some chaos marines. I would really like some opinions as to if it works or not? Other colors? Color tones to adjust? Does it pop enough to be seen on a battle field? etc.

SE- ghoul

2007-08-28T22:50:00.000-05:00

So I wanted to try something new. I have not done undead before, I liked the model and a local game store had them cheap, so here is my first ghoul:) I think my nmm blades are finally starting to look like blades and not just really bad nmm:)

SE- return from gen con

2007-08-28T22:45:00.001-05:00

So back from gencon. I entered a speed paint there, and this was the fig I managed to do. I was very happy with the results, given the restrictions: 40 minutes, primary and secondary colors+ black, white, brwon, flesh and silver metallic. I was sadly dq'd as I failed to listen to the direction that the base counts:( oops.

I liked the fig anyway so here it is. I was happy with how the nmm from the buckles and guns turned out. I was also happy at the color mixes I wa sable to get in the time frame. I could not use any of the colocrs out of the bottle as they were all too bright, ultramarine blue...ick.

GF Bandito 3

2007-08-28T20:16:00.002-05:00

"There must be a hundred reasons why I don't blow you away," his voice barely above a whisper. "Right now I can't think of one."

The Notorious General Zero

2007-08-18T07:50:00.001-05:00

This summer, our local gaming store had their yearly role playing mega event. The game of choice was Mutants and Masterminds; a super hero game based on the d20 system. My preferred hero games are Villains and Vigilantes, Living Legends or Champions but: when in Rome do as the romans....just don't forget to complain a bit. I think there were 12+ gamesmasters for the event, and each group numbered from 4-9 players. They had one or two groups playing any given day!

I am normally a bit resistant to these sort of big events, but as a friend of mine was reffing, and he had an interesting idea for the scenarios. Instead of the typical group of do good heroes, our characters were to be a band of desperate of super villains. That was enough to sell me on the idea of the game.

The character I made was the military conquorer, "the Notorious General Zero!" He is an old character from the 1950s comics era (or earlier?) and nemesis of Captain Wonder. My modern version captures the essence of General Zero and gives him an updated look. The original 50s character had a Snideley Whiplash style moustache that I wasn't sure if I should add it with green epoxy. I do like those classic, cheesey, old school villains, but decided to leave him modern looking!

For General Zero I used a Reaper Miniatures -General Drake #1403- from their CAV line of figures. It's a great sculpt. The character is in combat cut battle fatigues and is wearing an open trench-coat style field jacket. It sort of has the feel of a cape and gives the sense of movement. The defining element of General Zero is that he wears a red garrison hat with gold trim and the Drake miniature's hat fit the bill.

In the fifties, General Zero's troops alternated looking like WWII Germans or Russians with that sort of goofy pot helm that they used. I thought about picking up some Black Tree Designs Russians, but settled on an updated look for the "Zero Army" troopers. From Copplestone Castings, I chose the -Hostage Rescue Squad #FW1. They have a really good masked commando operative look to them. This is exactly the kind of trooper a new millenia General Zero would have.

The character in the red beret is the General's cheif henchman Sgt. Huiderman. This figure is from Copplestone Castings Future Wars line also -FW35 Trooper Officers. I chose that model because it had a nice flat area on his chest to paint General Zero's signature skull and crossbones.

Finally, the figure on the far right is one I painted for Todd's character: Mathias Morgue. The concept behind him is a freebooting mercenary for hire. The figure is from Copplestone's -FW7 Mercenaries- pack. Todd had a very specific pattern for how he wanted the camo paint on Morgue's face and it turned out ok! Oddly enough, even though this was the quickest figure to do, it also is the most pictuesque of the entire gang.

It took 4 days to paint them up! I am pretty happy with how they went. They look better at arms length. Seeing them magnified has given me the incentive to do some retouches...

British Adventurer

2007-08-18T07:45:00.000-05:00

This is my hunter character Alan Carter, his right hand man Kiwahi, an askari guard and a porter for the trip to the interior.

GF Bandito 2

2007-08-12T21:44:00.001-05:00

"There's always a man faster on the draw than you are, and the more you use a gun, the sooner you're gonna run into that man."

BG Epic Space Marines

2007-08-06T18:48:00.001-05:00

Brian has just raised the bar to crazy insane for detail with these epic space marines. They have a friggin' flame painted on the sholder pad! gak. we need another battle. he says prettier are more resiliant.....lets blow 'em up good!

GF Bandito

2007-08-05T22:52:00.002-05:00

"You see, in this world there's two kinds of people, my friend: Those with loaded guns and those who dig. You dig."

SE Goblin Witch

2007-08-05T12:15:00.001-05:00

The building was from green stuff. My first attempt with it. The shingle depth is an illusion as they are really almost flat, but the highlights make them pop. I choppped the arm from a troll. The idea of an arm coming out of a building was inspired by Wayne, who I asked what would look better an arm or a building. He brilliantly said both and was right! Thanks dude!

This was my first attempt at nmm on the bolts on the rocket.

SE Goblin Mystic Hoosu Uzo

2007-08-05T12:07:00.001-05:00

I finally like the gold look on the hilt on this fig. the shadows got a little dark to see the face. too bad:( I like the rats all over him though. He's supposed to worship the goblin rat god.

SE Cowboys

2007-08-05T12:05:00.001-05:00

Just some cowboys. I was trying something different with the guns. I was going for a shiny silver in these. Seemed to work better in the green cowboy. I used more blue in my mix of grays.

GM Undead Chariot

2007-08-04T12:28:00.000-05:00