I'm Still At It!

 Well that was a quick couple months since my last post. Time is certainly flying by. I am getting much painted but the lead mountain seems to be the same. I thought I would share my progress over the last couple months.

First off we will be heading to the Empire of Japan. Here are a few of the 20mm Japanese I did for my Island War project. 

This is a sample of the 60+ I have finished. I'll just need to add some support weapons and vehicles. The last picture are Frontier but the others I could not figure out. Looked at EWM and FAA but they did not match. I was fortunate enough to find some 1/72 scale tanks on ebay. They are from China, and they have to be assembled, but, they are already done in a camouflage scheme. I bought a couple that I need to get together. I'll definitely share them when I do.

Next up are some figures from the samurai period. Up first is Oda Nobunaga and a palanquin set from AW Miniatures They make a nice range of 28mm Samurai, as well as some other periods.

Oda came with a banner bearer as well. I have to figure out a banner for him so he is not pictured. I left the palanquin doors open just because there is a figure in there. I mean whats the point if you can't see it, right?

Next are some figures from the old Clan War range done by AEG

I had a lot of fun painting the Oni and the ogre. I was torn a bit on the ogre's skin tone, but settled on this scheme this time. I have some others buried somewhere so I may change it up a bit on those. From top to bottom is the Oni No Akuma, Lion Clan Elite Spearmen, Ogre, some misc. stuff, and some Crab Clan Samurai. These guys will get used in either a Lion Rampant type game or the variant for Test of Honour for the Clan War stuff.

The final entry for Japan this time is the geisha from Warlord Games. While I don't think she is available individually, I think she is in one of the Erehwon sets.

I was a bit disappointed on how the decal turned out. But, I will just pait over it and use it as a template. I did enjoy doing a bit of research on geisha and the difference in the makeup between them and the maiko.

Next we head to 1930s Spain for the Spanish Civil War.

These guys are all from the old HPC range that is currently not in production. They are, however,  available from RH Models as the Bandera range. I did confirm with them a couple weeks ago. Top to bottom we have Nationalist Infantry in Spanish Helmet, Assault Guard machine gunners, and some Andalusian Lewis Gunners in the sun hat. I really like these figures and the variety in the range. They are substantially bigger than the Minairons range unfortunately. That will not stop me from using Minairons vehicles though.

Next up is more of my Mexican American War Project

This is kind of a hodge podge group in that, I was finishing up some units that for some reason I had only partially completed. Now I am "caught up" I can paint complete units. As is customary for me now, I do both side of a conflict. 

Now for something a bit more modern.

Rhodesians! Selous Scouts to be exact. There are from the Liberation Miniatures range, which coincidentally, is sold by RH Models I had picked these up second hand along with some ZANLA/ZIPRA types I have yet to paint. They are 20mm and were super easy to paint. I was at first intimidated by the camo scheme but once I got a system down it worked pretty well.

The last entry for this post is some scatter terrain.

I wish I could remember the manufacturer of these. I had bought them from Bad Squiddo in the Bargain Bin so I can't look back to see. And the packaging has long been tossed. Anyway, a few columns and such for dark age skirmishes. 

I was also, able to get my Feudal French army rebased for Impetus, and I painted a hand full of figs to fill out 2-3 units. I will most likely be posting sooner than two months from now. I have a ton of stuff painted and awaiting basing. Probably paint for another week or two then get it all based. I hope you all are in good health and staying busy despite everything that has been going on.

Working From Home = More Time Painting

Working from home the last 6 weeks has certainly had its advantages. Breaks and lunch can be spent painting, and since no driving is involved I can work a little later, or have more free time once work is done. This has, of course, led to more minis getting done. Hurrah! So, thus follows the latest off the painting table.

First up are the marvelous figures from the latest Skull & Crown Miniatures Kickstarter Triumph of Death II - Apocalypse. I was in love with these when I first saw the KS and I was not disappointed when they arrived .Beautifully sculpted and cast. I loved every minute of working on these. Plans are a sort of undead Pike and Shotte skirmish type game. We will see how that develops. I have some halberdiers, crossbowmen, and pikemen to paint yet.

Part of one of the command sets

Part of the command set above

The three photos above are a variety of arquebusiers from the KS

These six figures were all stretch goals, the Bishop looking one was a favorite of mine.

Even dead Landsknechts need someone to keep them in line

These two pic are another command set. I really liked this set.

And of course the reason I bought into the KS to start with, The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. I was quite happy with the color I achieved on the pale horse for Death. 

If you like these minis you can find them at the Skull and Crown Webstore They are also starting the Killer Rabbits II KS soon so if you are into anthropomorphic animals that might be of interest. Not sure when that is coming, it said soon.

Next up is a group from the Stoessi's Heroes range. I picked up a few for commanders and the like. A couple I just liked them and wanted to paint them. They have a pretty cool range of figures depicting notable individuals from WW2. If interested you can find them in their webstore

Lt Spears, and Lt Compton from Easy Company

Fallschirmjager Lt Erich Lekpowski and Oberstleutnant Walter Koch

Marine Cpl Tony Stein and Japanese 2LT Hiroo Onoda

Devils Brigade Canadian Sgt Tommy Prince

I had a good time painting these they are well sculpted and cast very nicely. Definitely worth getting. Now the caveat, if you are picky about size you will need to be careful. The Fallschirmjager and the Japanese LT are, IMO, pretty comparable to Warlord, Brigade Games, etc. The BoB guys and Stein are a little bigger, the BoB guys being heftier rather than taller, Stein being a bit taller but not so much he would not fit in. Tommy Prince however, is tall. I don't know if dude was super tall in real life or not, but this figure is really too tall to fit in properly with 28s.

Next is a selection of 20mm Dutch for my Early War project. Mostly a sampling I did paint more than these. Figures are from SHQ. Outside of Minairons, these are the nicest 20mm figures I have worked on. I'll definitely go this route with the Belgians and other troops I still need.  It looks like the range has been sold and moved to a new website as of last week. You can find the new website here. 

A machine gun and an anti-tank rifle

Section of mortars

A selection of poses, regular infantry

This next group are some Kuni Witchhunters from the old AEG Clan Wars range. These are from the Crab Clan. I don't play Clan Wars, though I think I have enough stuff to play it. These will go well in other skirmish games as well as Frostgrave I would think.

I got rid of the square bases they come with, for some more aesthetically pleasing round ones I got off ebay. For some reason I just like round ones better.

Next up are some Footsore Goths

Footsore has a pretty awesome range of metal figures. Lots of detail, well sculpted and cast. I love them. I do need to get more Goths to finish off my army though, probably this summer.. Check them out here 

I was somewhat hesitant to post this next guy even though he is really cool. You see I missed cleaning up some of the mold line and its glaringly obvious in the pics. I'll have to go back and fix that section.  One thing about washes, they really show stuff like that.

Anyway this is Sgt Rox from Model Box. Model box is a subscription service where you receive monthly a box of miniatures and other sundry items along the lines of a theme. This one was War 2.0, the last months was Barbaric. Anyway you usually get a few figures up to a half dozen, a couple of paints, and some other gaming items. As an example,  I've gotten rulers, dice, and paint brushes. In each box there is included an exclusive mini. Up through last year it was a version of Rox, the Model Box Fox, outfitted to match the theme. This year they have been doing an exclusive mini but not a Rox. Though I think this month the exclusive is a Rox. The exclusive minis have all been resin since this one. Sgt Rox was metal. If you want to check them out, just head over to their website and take a look. Regrettably I ended my subscription, but I was just ending up with too much stuff accumulating. I think the value is there, certainly better for those in Europe because of the postage, but, it was always fun opening it up to see what was in the box each month. They do allow you to skip a month here and there, or sign up for specific boxes if you prefer that.

The next grouping is all Vikings. This first pic is a group of Gripping Beast metal figures. They are ok, I am thinking the molds were getting old because the mold lines were pretty bad. These were the best of the group, Probably not a manufacturer I would buy from again. Too many other, better options.

The rest of the Vikings are ones I got in the Norse Model Box back in 2018, yeah I have a backlog. There were six figures in that box overall, somehow the Freya figure from Bad Squiddo got separated, so I'll show her at some later date, when I get her painted. First up is this bad boy from Lion Tower Miniatures

He is a large figure so he would be fitting as a god or hero in a fantasy setting. I really enjoyed working on him. He is resin, which is an awesome medium to work with, IMO. Next up is a mix of Footsore and Warlord Vikings

Left is Rolf the Jolly from Footsore, Right is a figure from the Warlord Games Viking Warlord pack.

These two are the rest of the Warlord Games Viking Warlord pack

Again, a really nice figure from Footsore, somehow I lost his weapon hand and weapon, he comes with a sword. So I cut off an ashigaru hand in my bits box and used a Gripping Beast spear. So he is a bit different than what you see on their website. The Warlord Games guys are their typical fare. I did really like the guy in the bearskin though.

I finished some additional troops for my Warlord Era Chinese army. These are Copplestone Castings. I really like the range. They are well sculpted, and easy to paint. This group had some pretty bad mold lines though. Probably worn molds.

I am really liking the field drab uniform with the sepia wash. It makes a really good combo. You can buy Copplestone figures from Northstar in the UK, or Brigade Games here in the US. Either way you won't be disappointed. Both outstanding dealers. I did up about 24 figures but I decided that since I had so much to post I would do smaller samples of the more repetitive groups.

Next up some 15mm Mexicans for the Mexican American War. 

These are Musket Miniatures. I really like the figures, but, as seems to be the case in this hobby, someone buys a line from the original owner and they vanish from the face of the earth. There is a website that purportedly works and takes orders, but, the owners can't seem to answer emails, so it will be a hard pass for me. Old Glory 15s are a close match so I'll finish up the project that direction. I think too often we give people running these small companies a pass by saying its a small operation, or its just a cottage industry. I say so what. It's a business. Either you want it to be successful, or you don't. If you are running it as a hobby, why bother. OK rant over, that's a pet peeve of mine.

Last, but not least is this grouping. I got all of these pieces in a large lot of gaming stuff I bought for my ebay store (well technically it wasn't a store back then). Since none of it sold for months on end I just decided to keep it and paint it up.

Not sure the make of the Dwarf, but he had no equipment so, I fitted him with a viking sword and shield. He is now set to explore dungeons, or whatever. I thought the middle two would make ok terrain or markers of some sort, and the dino I just said why not? 

Anyway That was quite a lot of stuff. The next painting post should be just as big. Though it looks like I'll be heading back to the office late this week or early next. Stay safe out there and make good use of your time! I will get part 4 of my China trip up today or tomorrow as well.