Deep sea diver

Today I fancied painting something completely different - so I painted this steampunk deep sea diver!  I bought a pack of these awesome 15mm-scale 'Nemo Heavy Infantry' from Rebel Minis a couple years ago, purely because they looked so cool.  I didn't have any plans for gaming with them at the time, I just thought the aesthetic & sculpting was brilliant (especially at such a tiny scale!).  So many neat details on this model, but I especially like the breathing apparatus, the ornate cutlass, & what I am going to say is a repeating barb gun.

Since buying these divers, I have occasionally mused over using them in a home-brew steampunk deep sea skirmish game, with oceanic forests (aquarium plants), rocky underwater canyons, sunken ruins & wrecks, repainted toy sea beasts (e.g. & e.g.), & these Deep Ones (also from Rebel Minis).  Given the 15mm scale, some very large sea monsters could be represented with toys - a liopleurodon, megalodon, or even some unknown tentacled elder god from the deepest ocean trench maybe?... I'm very pleased with how this tiny test figure turned out, so I may even start yet another wargaming project...


In doing a bit of research, I discovered that when it comes to retro deep sea diving, truth is stranger than fiction:
1720s 'Old Gentleman' diving suit

1878 French diving suit

1910 Submarine Armour

1920s diving suits

Traveling monk

Last weekend I painted this Japanese monk for Ronin gaming.  It's a 28mm-scale Perry Miniature.  He could be used as a harmless civilian traveling monk, but I am planning mostly to use the figure as a kind-hearted warrior monk who has thrown his weight behind the local peasants in resisting the dastardly Yakuza gang.  In rules terms I will tweak the Warrior Monk 'hired sword' profile to allow him to be armed only with a bo, & he would have Bojutsu & Acrobatic as Attributes, making him a skilled fighter with his innocuous staff, less hindered by difficult terrain, & even able to traverse terrain that is impassable to other figures!