Some Finished 15mm Sci Fi

Here's a few shots of a few painted Micropanzer Gitungi. They will be used as troops in my Aquan Force. Kind of an aquarium suit for uplifted fishmen.

And her's some accompanying support for the Aquan force. Barracuda UAV's (GZG UAV's), and Crab Heavy Support Drone Walker (GZG).

Enjoy.

The Uplifted Army of the Aquan League

Uplift -The development or transformation of animals into an intelligent race by other, already-intelligent beings.

On a planet of oceans, deep water lakes, wide coastal estuaries, and swamps, a hyper intelligent species came with 'The Gift'. The Others brought their gift and left untold millennia ago, leaving only their arcane temples and the modified genetic code for the Uplifted.

The Uplifted races of the Aquan League number fifteen. While the enigmatic Whales and Great Jellies dominate the thought, planning, and balance of the planet, the warrior species of the Karks, the Lamphreys, and the Orcind, dominate the armies of the league and the off-planet space navies and gunboat diplomacy that seems to dominate the League's actions. It is the warrior races that most who have encountered the league have seen, and cowered under their wrath.

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Having finished the Numancia Dragoons, I need a change of pace. 15mm sci fi should fit the bill. First up, the the life aquatic of the Aquan League. A confederation of Uplifted aquatic species, the League has fifteen uplifted aquatic species with a highly regimented caste system. Whales and Great Jellies are the big thinkers, Karks, Lamphreys, and Orca are the warriors. Other species fill in other societal roles. I spent my would be painting time this weekend scraping, assembling, and getting on paint sticks the various troops of my Aquan forces.

I have the Khurasan Karks, Lamphreys and Orca ready to go. I have crab walkers, and manta drones and spider drones from GZG, and the one eyed fat suit guys from Micropanzer, as well as a couple of Micropanzer's old 32mm line that will be used as Mechs. Still not sure of the vehicles yet. Nothing has really struck me, but I have a bunch of options. So expect to see some 5mm SciFi for Gruntz coming soon.

Karks from Khurusan(pic from their website)

Lamphreys by Khurusan(pic from their website)

Orca from Khurusan(pic from their website)

Little fat dudes from Micropanzer(I call them water ticks)

Old battle walkers from Micropanzer that I think are owned by Rebel now. The version with claws looks great, but man what a pain these and the other walkers are to put together. 15mm figs come up to their knee.

Happy painting.

LA

Derivan Paints are here, Workshop Organization, and 15mm Sci Fi Brigade Pac Fed Armor

The Derivan paints I ordered from Scale Creep Miniatures got here on Saturday. And man those bottles are twice as big as the Vallejo ones. Colors look good, I put some on my fingers and smashed it around to feel it and see how it covers. Pretty nice. Pigment seems to be ground really well. I am looking forward to trying these out. I kinda wish I would have bought some of the yellows and a few more greens and greys. I think I got all of the browns, reds,  and military colors. So at $1.00 a bottle and $6.00 shipping and suprer fast service, I would say if you want some good back up paints, or some good terrain paints, these would be a great choice. Here are some more in depth reviews at TMP and they are very glowing for this discontinued line of paints.

Thanks for great sale Scale Creep Miniatures!

And all the Chaos on the workbench in the Workshop of Doom has me thinking about organization. Check out this guys great setup. Man am I jealous.

Gret use of a CnC machine and some really nice organizational stuff. I have always liked Miniature Scenery's terrain stuff, and this stuff is just as good. Prices are a little high, but that kind of organization really is nice to have.

And Finally, I was given some helpful thoughts on choosing the right tanks and IFV's for the Jasmine Throne/Alien Legion 15mm Sci Fi troops from Khurasan. Mostly that (as was in the orginal comic) that they should be hover/grav units. And I agree, I just haven't had any I like that walk the less Near Future more Space Opera line that I wanted. But maybe these would:

New Pac Fed Armor from Brigade, based upon their original 6mm line. I really like the looks of them and these may have shot to the top of the list.(minus the MaK armor next to them).

Some little progress...

 So last night, I climbed this creaky a bruised ole body back up on that horse and started to paint again. Painting is a mind game for me. And I have to be in the zone to do it well. And much like good writers will tell you, you can't wait for inspiration. You have to write, everyday, to really get good at it, so that when inspiration does strike, you have exercised enough to capture it and ride it out. So following the loss of my father in law, I just hadn't felt like painting. So I hadn't picked up a brush in 2 months, and only then was I painting cause I was painting a gift. So after getting excited by seeing the Portuguese Nappies that Eureka picked up from Victrix, sculpted by Paul Hicks, and various other stuff from the interwebs, I dipped my toes back in the water for a couple of hours last night. I had Season Three of Community on the DVD, a box of Dots, a big glass of ice water and a unit of all YELLOW Spanish Dragoons staring me in the face. Oh well, better dive right in. It took a bit of time to get brush control, and the brushes them selves working in unison, but, when I was done, it felt good to be back in the saddle. I see some time this weekend spent at my paint table to finish the Numancia Dragoons.So here's to being back at it. As sloppy as it was, I still enjoyed it.

Sadly, the state of my brushes is not good.  It took a little bit to get my favorite 2 brushes up and running last night. But at the end they were soldiering through. So I need to go get a couple of new ones to get in the rotation.(and now... a brush rant)

I want to say that I am pretty hard on brushes. I have spent really good money on really good brushes (Sable W&N, Foundry, Reaper Pro, endless others) and for me, I keep coming back to two lines. First is the Reaper Pro line of takalon brushes. Blasphemy #1! I know as a painter I should use sable. I should prefer sable. But ya know what, I hate sable. Too supple, too soft, to blah for me. I use cleaner and soap on my brushes and take good care of them, but I also use the hell out of them, and the sable is always the most expensive and the first to fail. Side hairs, won't hold a point, split tip, you name it. And for all of the advice to keep paint out of the ferrel of the brush, how is that even possible when yo are pallette mixing, and paint a unit of 36 line infantry at a time? So for my money the Reper Pro line is a good value and they last the longest. runner up is Brush Blasphemy #2 - I like Plaid brushes too. You know the ones at Hobby Lobby, or Jo Ann's or Michaels craft stores, that you always get a 40% off coupon for. Yeah, those. They last as long and hold a point as well as my Repaer Pros do. Now when they go, they go fast, but up to that point, they are the tits. And Blasphemy #3, I never paint with anything smaller than a #2. Never. Oh I have them all, I just don't use them. I don't even know what I would paint with the 000 that I have. I just got it cause people said you had to have one. I use a #3 for almost everything, and if it is keeping its tip, I don't have to go smaller. I will admit, for my British, I started using a # 2 to make sure I wash getting definition on all that lace, but that's really it. And if I paint eyes, which I don't do on bulk troops, a good pointed #2 will do it. So like many things, its all about what you are comfortable doing. and I guess I really did listen when an art teacher said, paint with the largest brush you can to accomplish your goal. Done!

Scale Creep Miniatures is having a crazy clearance sale on Derivan Minis Paint. Its a 37ml bottle(about twice the size of Vallejo) for $1.00. I don't really need a bunch of paint, but they had several great and interesting colors, and they have gotten favorable feedback on TMP, so I thought I would pick up a few. And with all this 28mm Nappy, 15mm Sci Fi, and 15mm Fantasy to paint, plus Sedition Wars and Bones coming, you can never have enough paint. When I was done, I had 25 pots in my cart. So if nothing else I have a bunch of new terrain paints. And if I can ever get the boys to paint again, they will have some good paints too. My hope lies in the fact that they have a French Blue that I like for my Nappies. We shall see.

Khurusan Jasmine Throne Foreign Battalion

I wanted these guys so badly when they were teased at us for what seemed like a year. They have been subsequently released, but my focus on Nappies and Kickstarters and such has gotten me away form a massive list models I want to buy from Khurusan, including these.

So I think I will ask for them from the Mistress for an upcoming BDay. Which of course got me to thinking, What the hell will I use for their Armor and transport and support vehicles?

Here are the final figs of the 5 packs of the JTFB:

Great stuff. And I will be painting them like Alien Legion. White Armor, Black Undersuit etc.

So, just rifling around Khurusans site I think maybe this is what I will go with for a start for the vehicles:

The Felid Lion Class Carrier. A storing, robust and big vehicle with all sorts of room for the varied morphology for the various member races of the JTFB/Legion. And the Big Gun Turret adds some flexibility on punching power. Its styling is futuristic, and still sensible, but it is very distinct. I am sure I will have some difficulty matching a Scout/LtTank/MBT to it.

The Khurusan Neo Soviet walkers are great, and may fit in. The roundness of the crew cabin makes it a tad off.

Maybe speeders or trikes from GZG?:

I think the Wheeled alternative to the Lions is from GZG:

I love this model. It also walks that fine line between believable and  SciFi high tech.

 

 

I shall keep thinking on it. Thoughts by you dear reader?

Its an amazing time for 15mm. No doubt. The selection we have now is almost embarrassing.

Merry Happy to all, and to all a good Haul!

Hope all of you who celebrate the holidays have done so, survived, and enjoyed. So first to all my fine readers, I wish you all health, wealth, happiness, and TOYS!!!!!!!

Time for the annual haul report on toys that the Queen hath bestowed on me(even if I doth give her a handy linked list):

First from the good folks at GZG:

The two Aliens Mercs sets. These would go with my already painted Alien Mercs Sets for needed back up against the Human Hordes. Or they would I deal to use for Space Orcs for In The Emperors Name. I am torn. Good thing I am not painting them soon. But I love them.

I have lusted after this set since it was released. These shacks are awesome. I need to add a couple of the full size buildings and I have a nice ruff town for anything 15mm scifi.

Ahh Drones. I love them. I finally got to add the spider drones to my collection. They will be squad support drones for my Aquan Hegemony troops. Who are first on the list for painting after the Spanish are completed...maybe.

Next up is buidlings from Proxie Models. I got a nice mixture of their ruined buidlings, and generic sci fi buildings to further flesh out my 15mm games. I envision the ruins being used for Fallout style games, and the Sci Fi buildings for my Colony I am building(in my mind at least). Great m,odels that are not done very good justice by the pics on their website. If you want to see the potential of these models go to Spacejackers site(scroll down and look at his poto roll on the right side). What he is doing is amazing and really shows the potential of these very nicely done terrain pieces done by a one man shop. I have been very inspired by his work to pick these up.

Finally, the 1920's Eldrict Horror pulp rules set - Strange Aeons. I love the era, I love the literature, and I even built a few places of power for terrain. It should be a nice diversion and not much to paint.

I did get Farcry 3. It should be a real time eater. SO I want to get some painting done before I fall down that rabbit hole.

Hope you all had a great Christmas. Much love, friendship, and good wishes to all my friends(cyber and otherwise) for the coming year.