My Gaming Den 3.0

I admit: I am spoiled.  My wife is very accommodating and has allowed me to claim the basement as my own domain.  She is supportive and came up with many of the ideas below. 

Over the years my basement Den has slowly evolved: from an unfinished concrete basement into a cosy warm cave. Lage TV, fireplace, 3 piece washroom, leather sofas, gaming area and plenty of display and storage options.  

For miniature display my den contains 4 large glass display cabinets, 10 wall mounted glass cabinets and 3 wall mounted antique letter press drawers converted into display cabinets. 

Asher is my main gaming opponent.  He usually wins. 

My gaming table is a 6.5 x 4 foot MDF board, with multiple gaming mats.  It is mounted on black resin shelving which holds all my board games, painting supplies and some terrain.  The table is bar height, 40 inches.  Smaller terrain is stored at the side, in a roll around storage bin.  

The side wall has inserts in the wall which hold terrain and buildings.  The two small display cabinets hold my first 28mm figures I ever painted.  Many are horrible or sub par.  I keep them on display to remind myself how much I have improved over the years. 

The TV is my middle son's primary video game area. The larger glass cabinets hold my old Warhammer armies, 8 in total: Chaos Warriors (Khorne, Slaanesh and Nurgle), Dark Elves, Orcs and Goblins, Beasts of Chaos, Ogres and Vampire Counts.  

Two book cases hold all my printed material: RPGs and gaming books. 

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Most of the wall mounted cabinets hold my 15mm collection.  

Just outside of the main room is a small alcove under the stairs.  It holds my hobby carts and larger terrain pieces in pull out plastic storage bins.  

This is my space, the place where I come to forget about adulting and be an irresponsible kid again.  

15mm Sci Fi - GZG Crusties / Alien Squad Leader Alien Imperial

Well, today I finally got around to taking photos of my GZG Crusties (aka Marshborn from Tomorrow's War).  I painted these ages ago, with the exception of the power armor which was done earlier this year.

The force below can be used in Tomorrow's War or Alien Squad Leader as an Alien Imperial Army.  The latter uses a small number of high technology units alongside primitive units to overwhelm the enemy.  The elite of the alien ranks are equipped in power armor pilot advanced combat mecha.

Alien Squad Leader Alien Imperial Army

The paint scheme was simple for the Crusties:

• Basecoat of Tamiya Dark Yellow.  
• Weapons Vallejo Dark Panzer Grey.  
• Belt Reaper Military Grey.  
• Army Painter Strong Tone Dip.  
• Reaper Stained Ivory skin highlight.  
• Reaper Explosion Orange and Factory White for weapons.

Power armor was covered earlier this year in another blog entery.  The mecha was done identical to those as well.

GZG Crusty Power Armor / Command Stands

GZG Crusty Infantry

GZG Crusty Worms & Handlers

Worms and Cavalry beasts were done in Reaper Redstone Triad.

GZG Crusty Cavalry

GZG Crusty Heavy Weapon Teams & Droids

GZG Crusty Battlesuits & Mecha

Vehicles were airbrushed in Tamiya Dark Yellow.  Legs were painted with Tamiya Metallic Grey.  The whole model was then washed in Army Painter Strong Tone, thinned.  White areas were done with Vallejo White Grey and other highlighting was done with Vallejo Sand Yellow and Vallejo Sand Ivory.

GZG Walker

I need to add more walker vehicles to this force one day.

15mm Sci Fi - GZG Tomorrow's War US Marine Platoon / Alien Squad Leader Human Imperial Army

 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.

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

 

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

GZG Tomorrow's War US Marines

Khurasan Corsair Battlesuits

GZG Advanced Grav Tanks

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.

15mm Sci Fi - GZG Anti-Tank Guns & ESU Crew

This weekend was quite productive: 80+ miniatures painted, including two towed anti-tank gun teams.

GZG Towed Anti-Tank Guns

I have been meaning to paint these for years; not sure what finally made me get around to these.  The scheme was simple: ESU camo pattern on the crew and a color modulation green on the guns.

• Vallejo NATO Green Primer
• Vallejo Camo Black Green over the whole model.
• Vallejo Camo Green on all upper gun areas.
• Vallejo Camo Light Green on exposed areas
• Vallejo Light Green (from the Russian modulation kit) as a final highlight on exposed areas).
• Vallejo Matte Black on the wheels.
• Vallejo Gun Metal on ammo cannisters.
• Washed in thinned Minwax Polyshades Tudor
• Tamiya Weathering pigments (Light Green and Sand)

The crew are removable.  They are held in place with blue tac.  I struggled with the decision on whether to base the crew permanently to the base along with the gun.  In the end I decided that the gun was more akin to a vehicle rather than an infantry support weapon.  By making the crew removable I could accommodate both the rules from Tomorrow's War and allow different crews (i.e. non ESU troops) to man the guns.   

Overall I am pleased with the outcome.  I have another two guns to complete, but they will likely be im the field artillery versions rather than anti-tank guns.

15mm Sci Fi - GZG Brazilians 2.0

I will get to the point: I did not like my initial paint job on my GZG Brazilians.  The colors did not match what I had envisioned for this force.  Normally, I would have stripped them.  However, I decided it would be simpler to simply obtain more models and start again.  I did these boys over Friday and Saturday this week.  

These guys are basically my heavy armor troopers for the DRPG and my ESU forces.  So, I went with the same color scheme as those troops.

GZG Tomorrows War Brazilians

The colors used are identical to my ESU Naval Infantry force, but without the camo (see that post for the paints used).    There was simply not enough room, physically on the models, to perform this paint scheme.  My DRPG infantry also have no camo so I did not want to go too far away from them as well (paint scheme wise).  The only change was that I added a glaze of Reaper Pale Lichen to the helmet tops as a final highlight.

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I am much happier with this scheme.  They fit into both forces perfectly now.  I will keep my old models for awhile.  Perhaps I will sell them, perhaps not.

15mm Sci Fi - GZG Tomorrows War Brazilians

The DRPG was my third force that I ever painted in 15mm, almost 10 years ago.  Initially there were only models for the regular DPRG army, with light body armor only.  The People's Republican Guard, the elite of the DRPG army (with hard armor) had no equivalent figures.  Folks of course used whatever they wanted, with GZG NI Infantry being a popular choice (I did the same at the time).

However that gap was filled once GZG released the Brazilians for the Tomorrows War line.  Using these figures for the PRG seemed a logical choice since Brazil was a major arms supplier for that power.  The figures themselves are a little different, with a cyclops helmet vs the more traditional visor.  To me it is quite interesting and sets them apart from their foes.

I went with a very light green; much lighter than I have ever used before, with a wash I had never used before.  I was truly in unfamiliar territory (I did not even do a prototype....I always do a prototype).  

GZG Brazilians for Tomorrows War

• Tamiya Flat White undercoat
• 71.009 Duck Egg Green basecoat
• Reaper Afterburn Grey for the weapons
• Backpacks were washed in GW Thrakia Green Wash
• Eye was given a dot of Tamiya Clear Red.
• Armor parts washed in Army Painter Military Shader
• Armor was then highlighted in Reaper Pale Olive
• Backpack were highlighted in Vallejo German Light Green Camo
• Weapons highlighted in a light grey.

Vallejo has a pattern of changing their paint names now and then.  It is pissing me off to no end.  The number is now far more important than the actual name of the color.

I only painted up enough models for a single platoon.  Normally I do a lot more but for whatever reason I had some restraint this time.  The official TOE requires the purchase of multiple packs of RPG gunners.  This I did not do.  

"Shoot that way fool!"

Prone gunners are used as GPGM weapons teams (combined with another rifleman).  It passable and works (normally I don't bother painting prone models).

I had an old rocket launcher lying around so they have a little extra punch.

Pew!  Pew!

My wife likes the color scheme.  I am on the fence.  They pop on the tabletop for sure and look very tropical.  Whether they stay in service or are replaced with a new scheme remains to be seen.