15mm Sci Fi - GZG ESU Power Armor, old sculpts

These past few days have been rather productive: two small projects completed.  The first was my Khurasan Puritan Power Armor units.  The second was a project which I had been putting off for awhile: GZG ESU Power Armor teams.

These are not the newer figures from GZG, but the older models.  Despite being aged, they hold up well and have a couple of benefits: 1) they are single piece figures and 2) they provide variety.  Many rule sets have statistics for various types of power armor: scout, heavy, ect.  Therefore, it is somewhat useful to have smaller models to represent such troops.

ESU Power Armor Platoon under Lieutenant Popov patrol the icy tundra on New Siberia.

These guys were painted up in my standard ESU Taiga camo scheme.  See my previous posts regarding this.  

Chen-Kunyang Mod II Power Armor suits form the mainstay of ESU PA teams.  The larger, Black Bear design is issued when heavier firepower is needed.

The older figures are roughly man-sized.  There are four basic designs: a command unit, a RPK-100 Rotary Cannon armed suit, two armed with KI-72 Assault Rifles and two with KI-72s and should mounted micro missile packs.  

GZG ESU Power Armor Trooper (old), GZG Generic Command Officer, GZG ESU  Black Bear Power Armor (new) 

I will likely pickup another pack of these guys and convert them with heavier weaponry (The VK-20 Assault Cannon in SG2 comes to mind).

ESU PA teams operate in 6 man squads.

These two dozen will join the one dozen Black Bear Power Armor suits already finished.  These 36 will form the core group of infantry for my Alien Squad Leader Imperial Strike Force (ESU themed that is).

15mm Sci Fi - Khurasan Miniatures Post Apocalyptic Puritan Power Armor

 This week brought me closer than ever in finishing off my massive Khurasan Miniatures pile that has been sitting around since Christmas.  This is a big deal for me.

My Control Battalion (see my past post) was originally designed for Alien Squad Leader Games, specifically for the Cyborg Enslaver army.  This force uses Command Squads made up of Power Armor troops, who are responsible for protecting the psionic masters who control the army.  The Control Battalion had no such troops, so I decided on a suitable model: the Khurasan Post Apocalyptic Power Armor Puritan Troopers.  These guys are big and fit the role as commanders and enforcers.

Khurasan Miniatures Post Apocalyptic Puritan Power Armor

They are painted in the same scheme as the Control Battalion: Reaper Master Series Coated Armor, airbrushed over a grey primer, followed by a polyshades wash.  To complement this I used some products that I do not normally use often: MIG Enamel Filters and Washes, specifically the Blue for Dark Grey Filter, and the Brown Blue Wash for Panzer Grey  I used both in targeted areas only, to bring out details.  I could have dispensed with the overall Tudor Polyshades wash actually and used these in its place.  Habit I guess.

Filters are an interesting product.  They are designed to tint the underlying base color which they go over.  It is a highly transparent  product, like a wash, but less pigment dense.  Mig has many such Filters all designed for specific applications.  They are expensive.  $7.00 for the Filter and $13 for the washes.

The models themselves are interesting, and have enough poses to maintain my interest.  They are not high tech designs, which fit the Control Battalion models perfectly.

When completed I did a dry brush of Vallejo Model Color Light Sea Grey and Tamiya Light Sand Weathering Pigment.  The weapons were done in Vallejo Model Air Black Steel, followed by Tamiya Light Gun Metal Weathering Pigment.  The decals were the last stage.  They are super small....very similar to watchmaking I think.

I did not add any white reflective dots on these figures.  Not sure if I will continue that practice in the future.  I may add them in the very near future to thread guys just to provide coherency beside the Control Battalion figures.  

Their new home.

With 15 of these chaps I have enough for three command squads for ASQL.  That is certainly enough for games of Tomorrow's War and Stargrunt 2, where power armor units are small size ass-kickers.

15mm Sci Fi - Khurasan Red Faction Motor Rifle Platoon

The Red Faction range of miniatures was one of the first sets of miniatures I painted for 15mm Sci Fi well over a decade ago.  Since then I have changed as a painter, and I dare say have gotten slightly better at painting these ridiculously small soldiers.  In any case, I decided these guys needed a bit of an update (every model needs a makeover now and then).

Since I prefer the Stargrunt (and to a lesser extent the Tomorrow's War universe) I use these guys as Eurasian Solar Union regular army forces (vs GZG's own ESU Regular Army models, which came out years later).  These could also make an appearance in the Traveller universe as Terran Confederation forces fighting against the Vilani 1st Imperium.  Only half of the platoon is currently present.  The remaining are back at the barracks along with their associate tank company.

ESU forces patrol the vast tundra of New Siberia.

I added some highlighting to various areas where I could and gave them a light brush with Tamiya Weathering Pigments Light Sand.  This gave them a slightly worn look and tied a lot of the features together.   Ten years ago I did not do much in the way of highlighting, so this was a huge improvement.  

Lieutenant Sergei Vlassov confers with his Political Officer Lieutenant Nadya Petrova and Senior Sergeant Ivan Potemkin.  The platoon medical Droid, Sasha is always ready to assist wounded comrades.  The platoon technical officer also doubles as a field medic.

Squads are currently organized in a Tomorrow's War fashion, with the Squad Sergeant leading two fireteams of 5 men.  Stargrunt squads have a different loadout. 

Motor rifle troops are well equipped with AK-200 Assault Rifles and optical targeting systems.  Light composite body armor protects against shrapnel and light small arms fire.  Support weapons include the RPK-80 Plasma Gun and the RPG-100.

Sergeants are always ready to provide suitable motivation when the advance stalls.

The platoon is well equipped with heavy machineguns, snipers and a small mortar battery.

The platoon is equipped with BMP-5s, a rugged if unsophisticated combat vehicle, well suited to off-world environments.  ATGM teams deal with enemy armor with efficient AT-21 laser guided missiles.  Snipers are armed with the SVG-1 Gauss Rifle, suitable for engaging personnel and light vehicles.

Light combat mechs accompany the platoon when heavy armor is not available or the terrain would prohibit their employment.

I actually did camo on the snipers back then (first time ever).  It is hard to see.   :-) 

  

I could certainly do a better job today than ten years ago.  But everyone starts somewhere and it is often helpful to look back on previous projects to see just how far you have come skill wise.

Long live the People’s Paradise!  

15mm Sci Fi - Traveller Zhodani, by Eureka Miniatures (aka Venturans)

This week saw another painting project complete, Zhodani Lift Infantry (from the Traveller RPG), by Eureka Miniatures (also known as Venturans I do believe).   These guys were kicking around for over a year now so I was mainly interested in just getting them done, especially since I had almost 100 of them to complete.  My advice: do not buy 100 of these.

Right off the bat, I will say I am not happy with them.  They turned out quite different than I would have liked....more of a sandy color than a warm grey.  But, I was not going to spend more time on them via stripping to take another crack at them (although I almost threw them into the tank this morning).  They are done and that is that.

Zhodani Marines secure a landing zone on Acheron V.

The sculpts were ok.  However I make a rookie mistake and forgot to file off mold lines on the helmets.  GASP!  This was unacceptable.  I managed to fix this later.  How could I make such a basic error?  Oh I know, impatience.  The weapons were nothing to write home about.  GZG leads the way with weapon sculpts now.

They were paint scheme was simple:

• Primed AJ Grey.
• Base coated in Tamiya JN Grey.  Weapons and items picked out in Sea Grey.  Visors done in GW Contrast Aethermatic Blue.  This is a great special effects color since it is very translucent.    
• Washed in Polyshades Tudor.
• Helmets filed off and re-primed  by hand with AK Grey and dry brushed with Vallejo Model Color Buff.  THIS WAS A HUGE PAIN IN THE ASS!!!!!
• Visor washed in Army Painter Blue Tone.  Highlighted with Vallejo Model Color Glacier Blue.
• Armor highlighted with Tamiya Weathering Pigments Light Sand.  These pigments are much more subtle than a drybrush of paint, and the Light Sand was the perfect color for the armor.  I also used the Tamiya Grey Pigment on the weapons.  I will have to do a blog entry on these products some time.
• Vallejo White Grey dots added for light reflection.  I did this to make the models a little less boring visually due to their rather bland scheme.  
• Matte varnished with AK Matte Sealer.  This also prevents the pigments from rubbing off.

Grav IFVs are integral to Zhodani marine operations.

The number of poses in this range are limited.  I do not know why I painted almost 100 of these guys.  Probably because I am an idiot.  Most of them are not in the photo of course.  That would be pointless.

Warbots provide heavy support if needed.

Riflemen of various types, a SAW gunner (which is kind of boring), a missile launcher dude (another boring pose), a ammo bearer (yawn), a couple of officers and a heavy machine gunner.  I teamed the last guy up with two other figures to create a larger weapon teams, 4 of them in total.

Zhodani Officers plan the next phase of the operation.

I did consider doing multiple colors on these guys.  However the details are just so small that I did not think it was worth the effort (especially when 100 guys are staring at you).  GZG UNSC Hardsuit Marines (which are identical to Traveller 3th Imperium Marines, the Zhodani's main foes) are their closest companions in terms of size and design.  

Anyway, I am happy they are done and at least out of their plastic bag, even if they are not really what I was trying to achieve.  They could fit in Alien Squad Leader as Human Imperials or as Alien Imperials.  In Tomorrows War or Stargrunt they might join my GZG Darghaur forces in the invasion of Human Space.

15mm Sci Fi - GZG Outrim Coalition, Squad Leaders & 200th post!

 This is my 200th blog post!  When I started this seven years ago I never imagined getting this far, or surpassing 130000K views.  I appreciate every single person who has ever perused these pages and for all the kind and wonderful comments.  Your feedback is most appreciated and drives me forward.

Recently I was thinking about how to better represent Leader figures in 15mm games.  Most suppliers create officer and leader models, but at a distance they often fade into the background with the rest of the army.  Thankfully I had eight spare GZG models in my WIP pile, Outrim Coalition.  They were just regular troopers mind you, but they gave me an idea: I would paint them in two different colors and use them as Squad & Platoon Leaders.  

My Outrim Coalition can be found here: 

https://darebearsminiemporium.blogspot.com/2020/09/15mm-sci-fi-gzg-outrim-coalition.html

GZG Outrim Coalition

My Outrim forces are done in a blue scheme.  To contrast that I chose a Vallejo Model Air 71.105 RLM26 Brown (more of a red actually) and Tamiya JN Grey.  They were then washed in Polyshades Antique Walnut and Tudor respectively.  Highlights were done with Vallejo Model Color 70.817 Scarlet and 70.829 Amarantha Red & GW Longbeard Grey respectively.  The visors were painted Vallejo Chrome & then washed with Tamiya Clear Red and GW Contrast Aethermatic Blue.  White dots were added at various points to simulate reflected light hitting a corner.  

UPDATE: I have replaced the white dots on the RLM26 Brown models with Vallejo Model Color German Orange to create a less stark appearance.

A simpler solution would have been to simply paint the rims of the bases different colors.  However I wanted something a little more striking and more individualistic, especially for smaller games.  

Anyway, I do not know why I did not think of this solution earlier.   It is certainly not a revolutionary idea mind you.  However, it makes it much easier to visually see where the leaders are and where units should be forming up around.  An easy enough solution, with a side benefit that these can also be used as character models in small skirmish games alongside regular troops.  I need to expand this idea to my other armies I think.

15mm Sci Fi - Khurasan Control Battalion

 This weekend I finally got around to painting my Control Battalion figures from Khurasan Miniatures.  These have been in my WIP pile for 10 months.  No longer.  These were a lot more trouble than I bargained for.  70+ figures are pretty good for 3 days work though.  

These figures are suitable for any future force which loves to oppress their citizens.  For Alien Squad Leader games these guys would work well in a number of armies, including as World War 2 German Occultists.   The Control Battalion will merge with my Khurasan Terror Troops (see my other post) and to form a larger force: a large regular infantry contingent backed up by several squads of elite infantry.

Khurasan Miniatures Control Battalion

The figures are good sculpts.  However, I think the molds are showing their age.  The helmets are the main selling feature of these models.  However, the details on mine were sorely lacking in some areas.  The helmet eye slit was almost non existent and the sensor dots on the helmet were almost impossible to discern.  There was considerable flash to clean up (no big deal...I am just spoiled by GZG figures) and the hands on many of the figures were barely sculpted at all.  Since these are now very old figures I will give them a pass on this.  Grade A overall.

I did not bother to paint the drones which came with the command packs.  To be honest, the sculpts were not clean at all.  GZG drones will sub in for these.  

I went with a light blue, with a suitable lighter grey white helmet.  

• Primed AK Grey
• Model airbrushed in Tamiya Light Blue.
• Helmet painted in Vallejo Model Air Light Gull Grey.
• Weapons painted in Vallejo Model Air Sea Grey
• Boots and Gloves & Visor Slits painted in Vallejo Model Air Dark Grey.
• Hard armor plates painted in Reaper Coated Armor.
• Sensors painted in Vallejo Model Color Red & Scarlet.
• Washed in Polyshades Tudor.
• Helmet highlighted in Vallejo Model Air White Grey.
• Some hard armor areas were highlighted with Coated Armor.
• To add some interest, dots in Vallejo Game Color Glacier Blue were added at various corner points where light would hit.  This causes the eye to move around the model and breaks up the areas.

I could have highlighted the fabric and other areas more.  By this point I was just too exhausted to continue.  

The visors were a pain since I had to paint the slits freehand.

The Battle Mechs are really old.  However, I think I painted them in the same scheme years ago.

Next up, Control Battalion vehicles.  Not sure if I will go with Old Crow hover vehicles (which I have in abundance) or pony up for some GZG Walkers.