Ready for war.. ok nearly

So I have the offer of a FWC game this week, and wanted to get the new boys ready. So here's how they look as of tonight.

Whole Battlegroup - Dropship, Walkers, Recce, Hvy Weapons and Troopers

Command

Heavy Weapons

Not the greatest paint job so far, but I could put them on the table as they stand. Now to make up a list.

FWC - Army no 5

So after I finished the Pax Arcadians, I thought about the fact that my armies so far are a bit too similar - the bugs apart, the South African Federation, Pax Arcadians and FSE are all pretty much straight 'panzer division' copies.

I had a browse through the lead mountain, and decided to try something a little more sophisticated.

Not any more advanced in many ways than current tech (or something very near-future). Based on infantry with hover/jump packs (look up Martin Jetpack), - target designators (Grumman), adaptive camouflage (BAE & DARPA), walker (exo-skeletons), dropships (ok, the Osprey is about as close as we have at the moment), high quality smart missiles, orbital artillery..   yeah ok...  and excellent tactical comms and awareness for top command and control.

So I also made a throwaway comment online about how fast I could finish some of these guys for an FWC battlegroup.

These guys were undercoated, so tonight they got a drybrush of Chromacryl neutral grey, a wash of Coat d'arms Magic Yellow (walkers):

And Magic Green (infantry) -  this was followed up with white glue and sand for the bases, then a quick dab of Chrome Orange for visors (I intend to highlight this with a gold pen), while the walkers got GW Sunburst Yellow base colours.

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Next steps (tomorrow) - black and tin-bitz for weapons... might also try the tin bitz for visors... flesh and flesh wash, sage green for backpacks - I am also thinking a red sienna wash for the sand bases, then ochre dry-brush for that nice 'red planet' feel. The other option is a greyish/green, but I quite like the idea of doing some outrageously coloured bases for the sci-fi stuff.

They still don't have a name yet..  so I will think about that one. They are definitely human(oid) so perhaps a Terran offshoot or new colony. Or maybe I should just paint a Weyland Yutani logo on the walkers and have done with it. I am thinking of NAAS  - New Alba Airborne Services.

On a Snowy Ice Bound Planet

So I finally screwed up the courage to try some snow bases on the Dark Realm Miniatures Pax Arcadians.

I am pretty happy with how they turned out...
 

All the armour

Tank 602 ready for action

Infantry & sniper teams

Anti-Air defence

Artillery

IFV & support buggies

Transports & support buggies

Command, recce and artillery observer

And now with Added!

So in between entertaining, I 'liberated' part of a floor-brush, and located a 0.3mm drill bit for my pin vice..   a dab of super glue and 'voila'!

Really happy with how this looks. I have always been too scared to try this in 6mm, but it is actually really straight forward, and I think it really adds to the look. You can probably also spot that some number decals have been added.

I have decided not to do the pinwash, as I don't want them looking too dirty. So next step is basing. I am going to go for an experimental 'frozen ice' with some snow. Plan is to paint the bases pale grey, wash with blue ink, and then add small snow drifts with bicarbonate of soda.

I will do a test base first tonight, and see how it looks...  watch this space.

Need Grey Paint- and some more White applied

Further progress - lights in yellow and red, and highlighting some panels in pure white. Once I source some dark grey paint for the tracks, the next step will be lacquer, some decals, some more lacquer and then a light pin-wash on tracks and some of the details.

Ramjacks and Valiants (Thunderstrike in the background)

Buggies - two types of Infantry Support (Firewall AA at the back)

Bastion and Ramparts (plus Command buggies)

Day 1 of a lack of discipline

Well, I complained about my lack of discipline this morning, but I got through a bit of painting in between swimming and cleaning up.. So far they have been glued onto bases, undercoated gray, then wet-washed 'Antique-White', dry-brushed 'Arctic White', and arm of service colour strip added.

Turquoise = HQ/Command
Yellow-Green = Recce
Red = Artillery
Blue = Infantry
Orange = Armour

The whole Enchilada, about 3,500 points in FWC terms

Buggies for Recce, FAO and Command units

Artillery/Air-Defence

Armour

Infantry and Infantry Support Weapons

I am still considering the basing scheme, and increasingly inclined to a snowy base on ice, so perhaps a light blue tint, then a blue wash and then Bicarb of Soda 'snow' ...  Also having a rummage through my decals for numbering and other items. I think the British armour symbols from GHQ might be worth a look - plus some German armour numbers.

Discipline.. I'm all for it!

In other people of course. I have none. So the story goes like this. If you have been following the blog, you will have seen me start to put together some forces for the Too Fat Lardies Chain of Command (CoC).

All well and good, despite the fact I have acquired way more armour and softskins/support vehicles, than I am ever likely to need for CoC. I have actually quite enjoyed building, painting and weathering the kits, and I am pretty happy with how they have turned out.

But this morning I open my email, and there's Michael announcing that he has picked up a copy of Future War Commander (FWC) for $5 - and is anyone playing it...  so of course, I say yes..  I have 6mm Brigade Games South Africa Confederation, plus a Eurofed force as in the rule-book, (actually, the Eurofed force that WAS in the rule-book, it came up for sale ;-)

So then I think - hey - I have some Dark Realm Miniatures Pax Arcadia figs in the shed..  how hard could it be to get a battle-group of those painted up?

So here's to distractions...

The whole force, minus Infantry & Snipers, Command and Recce

Anti-Air- love the look of these guys

Heavy Artillery and Self-Propeled Anti-Tank 

Buggies - 2 kinds, and a wheeled APC

The whole lot based up, those are big suckers..  they are on 3cm x 3cm bases

When I ordered these (over three years ago) - I made sure I had enough to do a variety of force types, so there's everything from Buggies and Sniper units to massive heavy armour.

Now all I need to figure out is the colour scheme. I am thinking of a dirty white, with a single black-edged coloured stripe for the relevant arm of service. Should be quite quick to do...   thinking about basing I might go for either a very Martian red, or a frozen landscape... watch this space.

Finished!

With Cancon 2014 and the Sui Chinese now over..   time to get back to some 20mm CoC stuff. Bit of weathering, mud, and crew, and it's done.