Saturday, August 29, 2015

Icestorm Alguaciles and More

It's funny how the sense of scale and numbers change based on the game system. Back when I was painting 40k, 10 models would be the standard, with 30 being high-end. Painting a single mini was a luxury reserved for commanders and special characters!

Comparatively, Flames of War often sees one painting a hundred infantry in a go (even if they're far smaller) and anywhere from 4-10 tanks let's say at a shot.

Then there's Infinity. So often even getting a box set you cap out at 4 models of a certain type. Sure you may paint 6 overall in a starter set, but it's rare you'd be painting them all at once.

Surprisingly, painting 10 Alguaciles took me a long time! That said, they're done, based, decorated, and ready to see a field. This is all 6 I got from the Operation: Icestorm boxes, plus the four from the SWC box.

First up is the cornrows variant. I am not certain why my camera's blurring. I suspect a dirty lens... Anyway: dark skinned one is given a nice fiery hairset for contrast, and the other is one of my rare 'white' models. You can see a simple arms swap for the male pair gives an interesting look with minimal putty work.

Originally, the one would have just red hair, but I realized it made him look like Ganon, and that's not entirely the look I want.

I've also streamlined my Nomad painting a bit: black guns rather than green, and boots in black as well. The green boots wasn't enough contrast with the pale armour, and really felt forced. I'll reserve my drab green for when I do the USAriadna!

Next up is the other hairstyle. Here you can see again the mundane black guns, and swapped arms from before. The first guy appropriately looks to be aiming down the sight (and has a nice central American brown colour) and the other, thanks to an inadvertent realization of what his face looks like, is pulling a mid-90s frosted tips JT look.

As you can see here, as one sights down his gun like a good Alguacile, the other looks to be saying "Really? You're fighting us? You know we're the Nomads right?" - It's just such a perfect condescending smirk that I had to keep it as visible and highlighted as possible.

Next up are the female Alguacile pair. I converted the pose on one so she's leaning slightly around a corner to get a shot off, and the other's kept in the classical 'totally not a lieutenant' pose. Their hair is likewise nice and bright, with one converted to have short hair sloping around to jaw-length from left to right.

Next up is the first of the SWC pair. the LGL model is very dark skinned, with a funky red flair. I initially thought about theming the hair colours after Hunger Games-like Capitol madness, and decided to pull it in a bit for Corregidor, and go all out for Bakunin when/if I start assembling loads of them.

Next up are the rocket launcher guy (very kindly put in a cool position) and the HMG. For the first, the same brown Central American look is set off with a nice bright Blue Jays blue (go Toronto!). HMG-girl also has blue hair tassels, but black hair. I got a kind of Chun Li vibe off her, and so attempted to make her look more Asian-themed. Perhaps a former Yu Jing 'citizen' who managed to slip cordons and join the Nomad nation!

Well, that's that: 10 Alguaciles based, painted, and ready to play. I also finally managed to get a paintscheme for my Daktari I didn't entirely hate, so I can field the traditional doctor/engi pair.

Her stuffed animal matches her haircolour, and the face is a kind of Indian brown, with glowing blue (augmented) eyes. Her uniform is a lot paler. I decided for Corregidor, I'll do a bit more red than usual, Tunguska will be primarily black, and Bakunin will have more white, with the bone colour with more or less prevalence depending. This will be good for suggesting Corregidor's aggression, Tunguska's sneakiness, and Bakunin's "all varieties in one", as well as tying together well with the Nomad symbol's three in one.

With that down, it's on to the Mobile Brigada, which have been varnished just today, and await photographing, and then all the Tunguska-like elements of Icestorm and beyond!

Wednesday, August 19, 2015

Geckos Done, Based, and Photographed!

Not that they're going to be a surprise to anyone, what with my in-progress reports, but I finally finished off the Geckos! I'm using bases I custom-printed for the task, with nice front/back arc indicators.

First up is the Mk.12, known as "Huntress" - I decided to keep the glossy look, so even though it obscures a bit of detail in the photos, it really adds a nice bit of shine when you see them in person. You can see on the pictures where I added decals: Two on the Mk.12 itself, (Caution warnings to keep people away from the magazine ejector and shell ports!) Plus, a large warning label behind the head to denote the various important things that are there.

On the back, a few decals denoting what I figure are the Zero-G movement packs. No matter what exact method they're supposed to use to move around, you can guarantee they'll involve things you don't want to be close to without significant protection!

Next up is the very actively posed Combi Rifle Gecko. His decals are much the same. You can also sort of see on the images how unobtrusive the front/back indicators are: Visible enough to be clearly identified in game, but not distracting when displayed.

In this shot, you can see both a clear view of the caution warnings on the massive Combi Rifles, and see the tiny caution warning at the head of the Chain Colt. Especially for a gun like that I assume they'd have warning avoidance indicators!

Also, I'm gradually refining my NMM-with-metallics painting methods. It's easier on models like this that are supposed to be all bright and shiny and well kept. (I dislike the look of rust on Infinity models: I assume they must have figured out some means of keeping them rust-free that far into the future!)

Final shot for this post: A very-close-up shot of the inner leg. I have a large set of warnings there, since that's where the pilot needs to get in. Stuff like where to hold, what to avoid, how not to lose an arm... Only on one leg, but matched on them both. Now I just can't wait to field them in a battle!

You may also be able to notice what the next post will be, hopefully not as delayed as this one: Alguaciles! I've been painting like mad this summer, trying to get Icestorm stuff finished, in part to play with it, and in part to justify getting more models >.>...

Look for that soon!