Its Monday and time for another army parade, this time the US Marine Corps, from the GZG Tomorrow's War series.
This is a reinforced platoon, with extra infantry, power armor, battlesuit and armor support. The models are only placed on bases so you can get an idea of how many elements would be available in an Alien Squad Leader game, specifically a Human Imperial Army.
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| GZG Tomorrow's War US Marines |
The armor and battlesuit palette has already been covered on this blog. The infantry however have not. The scheme was simple:
- Vallejo Grey Primer
- Basecoat of MIG Protective NC 1200 (MIG-053)
- Reaper Afterburner Grey on all weapons.
- Vallejo Chrome on the visors, then washed with Tamiya Clear Red
- Reaper Camo Green on the backpacks
- Washed in Thinned Minwax Tudor Polyshades
- Armor highlighted with Reaper Highland Moss and Pale Lichen
- Weapons highlighted in a lighter grey
- Visor washed in thinned ArmyPainter strong tone.
- Weapon master sight given a dot of Vallejo Carmine Red
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| US Marine Command Squad and Power Armor section |
The normal platoon consists of 43 men and 3 medical droids.
- HQ Section: Officer, Sergeant, Battlenet Tech, Rifleman, all with M1 Advanced Combat Rifles
- 3 Rifle Squads each with one Squad Leader, 1 Medical Droid (I forgot to include these in the photo shoot) and 3 Fireteams
- Fireteams: 2 Riflemen with M1s, 1 Gunner with M233 Squad Automatic Weapon (AP1), 1 Gunner with SLAM Launcher (Shoulder Launched Assault Missile, AP:2/AT:2[M]) (or an Automatic Grenade Launcher, AP:2/AT:2[M].
- Sniper Teams are attached as needed depending on the mission, equipped with M9 Gauss Anti-Tank Rifles, AP:2/AT:2[M].
- Additional heavy weapons, such at heavy ATGMs and light mortars are available per mission requirements (I use GZG heavy weapons without crew, with the marine command elements acting as crew in these cases)
An Armored Fighting Suit Platoon consisting of four Corsair Battlesuits will also be attached depending on mission requirements.
The Alien Squad Leader version of this army would consist of
- 3 Command Squads
- 9 Infantry Squads with Flak Suits
- 2 Power Armor Squads
- 4 Heavy Battle Droids
- 3 Main Battle Tanks with primary weapons, aiming devices & turrets
- 3 Armored Transports with heavy weapons, aiming devices and turrets
- 1 Distant Flyer
- 1 Off Map Artillery
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| GZG Tomorrow's War US Marines |
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| Khurasan Corsair Battlesuits |
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| GZG Advanced Grav Tanks |
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| GZG Advanced Grav APCs |
Air support is simply an F117, repainted. I modified the the command APC & support vehicle somewhat, adding a plasma gun turret and missile launcher (making it more multi use rather than just an artillery vehicle).
These guys took a fair amount of work, specifically with the highlighting. But it was worth it as they are fantastic models. I ran out of decals to finish 4 of the vehicles. Waiting on the mail man now.
Superb!
ReplyDeleteThanks Jim. The body armour took awhile to do. There are a lot of segmented plates on those marines. Small brushes were a must. I have painted this range twice now so I was familiar with how to paint them to achieve Th r look I wanted.
DeleteI've used dry brushing and washing on GZG figures before but your approach gives a much better end result..thanks for the inspiration!
DeleteNP Jim. I paint 15mm the same as 25/28mm. The only difference is at 15mm scale I use extreme highlighting, whereas at 28mm I would use a color slightly less bright for the same effect. I did paint some 28mm this year; it felt like I was painting a massive statue. In any case I never dry brush (well, almost never...never say never I guess). The scale is just too small in most cases (hard to control and getting the popping effect is impossible). I will do pin washes on occasion with a specific wash color, thinned down of course. For my though, Minwax (or Army Painter), properly thinned, gives results that I have not been able to replicate with other products. Using these un-thinned is generally unwise since they can go on rather thick and clog details unless you are very careful.
DeleteVery nice work, looks to be a tough unit on the table!
ReplyDeleteThanks Don. TW Marines are tough.
DeleteThat is a REALLy nice army. Love the crisp paint jobs you have done - the highlights work a treat and were well worth the effort
ReplyDeleteThanks Paul. The infantry took about a week, with a few dips in the strip tank. Longer than normal for me. Extreme highlighting is the way to go for 15mm, especially as my eyes get older.
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