Greetings. It has been awhile since I have picked up a paint brush; several months at any rate. I seem to go through painting spasms: I paint a huge amount of material then take a long break for up to 10 months. Probably not the best thing for my painting skill level. At any rate, there is some new material for me to post: 15mm Rebel Minis Martian Tripods.
These guys have been sitting on my WIP shelf for almost one year. Frankly, I didn't know what to do with them. They were a pain in the ass to assemble. There are not a lot of pieces mind you, but simply fiddly, especially with 3 legs. The tentacles are extremely fragile. Several were attacked by my cat and lost a couple of hit points. I painted these guys up last week simply because I was sick of looking at them on my WIP shelf.
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Rebel Minis Martian Tripods |
This force was to constitute a 100 point army for Alien Squad Leader, for the Tripod faction. The Tripods are a vehicle only army in that game. So, assembling this force was a rather expensive undertaking. A 200 point force would be double this size and easily cost over $300. However, they could also be used in other various games with an assortment of alien infantry to round them out. I decided to stop at the 100 point level and see if it was worth going to the next level.
The paint scheme I settled on these guys was a simple metallic grey. That seemed appropriate for a Martian.
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Small Martian Tripod |
Everything was airbrushed, starting with a basecoat of NATO black. The metallic base was Vallejo Black Metal, followed by Vallejo Gun Metal and Vallejo Steel for highlights. I then washed the various areas in Vallejo Grey and Light Grey Wash, mixed with a little Vallejo Dark Grey.
Various other areas were picked out with other colors: Reaper Steely Blue for the weapons, Reaper Fire Red, Phoenix Red, Fire Orange and White for the sensor eyes located in various areas.
The tentacles were painted in a basecoat of Vallejo Steel since I wanted them to stand out.
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Large Martian Tripod |
Once sealed with Testors Dullcote I used Tamiya Weathering Pigments to highlight the edges and bring out a metallic shine where so desired.
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Alien Squad Leader Tripod |
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Large Martian Tripod |
These were a rather expensive purchase. However the models are nice and the bigger ones are quite large. They tower over regular 15mm figures and vehicles.
For now I don't think I will be pursing a 200 point force. Assembling another 7 models is not on my to do list and spending such a huge sum for a single large army for a single game seems pointless to me a the moment.