Giant leeches

This week I finished these 1D3+1 giant leeches for Warhammer Quest in Lustria, the land of the Lizardmen.  These nice miniatures are Rebel Minis Ripper Worms.  In hindsight I wish I'd bought another pack or two, before the Rebel Minis shipping costs to the UK seemed to rise dramatically. 

They don't present much threat to experienced Warriors, & are only worth 35 gold for slaying (compare that to 20g for a Goblin, 40g for a Skink, 55g for an Orc warrior, & 150g for a Saurus warrior).  However, giant leeches do have the Ambush & Bloodsucker abilities.  Stats for Lustrian creatures & Lizardmen can be found here.

They were very straightforward to paint, & I gave them a double-coat of gloss varnish to make them look suitably slimy - although this doesn't show up as well in these photos as it does on the tabletop.

Here's a photo of them with a Saurus warrior for scale  >

Brain leaf tree

I recently finished painting this brain leaf tree & its victims, for games of Necromunda / 'Inquisimunda'.  I modeled the brain leaf tree using florist wire to create an armature on the base, with trailing wires positioned for the branch-tendrils.  As the rules state a 6" reach for brain leaf attacks, I based the dimensions on that.  Next I layered papier-mâché for the surface of the trunk.  Then I used Green Stuff putty to bulk-out the tendrils, texturing them to suggest 'bark' (or perhaps something flesh-like) with a craft knife.  Leaves clipped from a plastic aquarium plant were used for the brain leaves at the tip of each tendril - & for those embedded by the tree into its victims (an unfortunate House Orlock ganger & a scavvy mutant).

The brain leaf is a plant with a surprising instinctual intelligence & ability to transform the victims in which it embeds its leaves into slaves of its influence.  It is believed that the brain leaf plant may be native to the jungle death world of Catachan, & was transported to the hive world of Necromunda at some point in the distant past.  The brain leaf plants of Necromunda are described as having vine-like tendrils, with greyish colouring that allows them to blend with the chaotic industrial ruins of the Underhive.

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!

French AMX-30 B2 tank

I recently painted this 15mm-scale AMX-30 B2 MBT for my friend & gaming comrade, Tim.  This is another wargaming piece that I bought for Tim as a birthday/Christmas gift a few years ago, to support his French Foreign Legion Paratroopers.  As a follow-up gift I've been basing & painting the force for Crossfire gaming.

This tank should provide some heavy armour & hitting power for his elite French paras, as they try to keep the peace between Israel, Palestine, & Syria in early 1980s Lebanon.

Tim requested the classic three-tone late-Cold War to present day NATO camouflage scheme, which will certainly make this vehicle stand-out from my khaki & green / khaki, green, & blue-grey Syrian vehicles; & from my grey-olive Israeli vehicles.  As well as a 105mm main gun, the AMX-30 has a paraxial 20mm autocannon, & a 7.62mm GPMG pintle-mounted on the commander's hatch.  I added the latter using an IDF MG from Peter Pig, as this QRF miniature didn't include one.  This MAG MG isn't technically accurate, but it's close enough, & Tim pointed out that it could've been scrounged from the IDF if the original had been damaged. We'll be treating the autocannon as a .50cal HMG in Crossfire rules terms probably.

Foreign Legion Paratrooper platoon

This weekend I also finished a platoon of 1980s French Foreign Legion Paratroopers as a gift for my friend Tim.  I had been buying him packs of 15mm scale modern French infantry & vehicles for a couple of birthdays & Christmases (originally intended for Force on Force games).  As Tim never got around to painting these, I offered to base them up & paint them for our new favoured system, Crossfire, instead.  These were to be his birthday present earlier this year, but I missed that deadline, so here they are finally, as a belated Christmas gift.  I'm even including the convenient mini storage box too :-)

These represent a platoon of Foreign Legion Paras ('Section Bleu'), of the elite 2e REP (2nd Foreign Parachute Regiment).  I've given them Middle East themed bases to match my own Syrian / IDF / PLO collection, as they will be serving in the multi-faction chaos of early 80s Lebanon.

Section Bleu itself consists of an HQ équipe (squad) of platoon leader stand, & accompanying fireteam; & then 3 équipes of 2 fireteams each, plus an équipe leader.  They will be interesting to play, as every équipe includes a sharpshooter with a scoped rifle, which we had decided to house-rule as allowing that fireteam to ignore normal Target Priority rules.  Typical for an elite platoon, this is on the small side for an infantry block (& emphasised further by only having 3 soldiers in each fireteam), but they will make up for this by being elite & having good leadership.

I've also been painting support units for this platoon - 2 sniper teams, 2 GPMG teams, & a Forward Observer for artillery / air strikes, so far.  As a bonus I also put together 3 bases of seriously wounded / dead Paratroopers.  These are just decorative really, to emphasise particularly FUBAR situations...

Tim has also purchased enough figures for an additional platoon of 2e REP, which I will paint as 'Section Rouge'. Then I need to get to work on their attached APCs, armoured cars, & MBT...

Here are a couple photos of the platoon & support in their cute little storage / travel box:

Festive Greetings Tim, hope you like them!

Ronin board & roads

This weekend I started on my gaming board for Ronin (28mm scale samurai skirmish), & made some roads/tracks for it.  I'd had the 2'x2' compressed chipboard ready for ages, but couldn't decide how to prepare it (PVA + sand + dry-brushing or flock? As earth or grass?).  I eventually decided to get 3'x3' of dark brown felt (£3.50 from the local craft shop), & glue this neatly over the top, around the sides, overlapping the underside.  This results in a nice soft basic gaming surface, with the edges of the board tidy & protected, & the underside cushioned for placing on tables.  I may follow this up by dry-brushing/stippling the felt surface with a lighter brown for a more natural effect, & to blend it in with my other terrain.

When trimming the excess material underneath the board, I had long pieces left over which gave me the idea to see if they would work as flexible roads/tracks which can conform to terrain like hills etc.  A test footpath proved that these would work much better than I expected - they were very simple to produce, & easy to press into shape on a gaming board (unlike flexible roads made of latex or canvas).  I simply cut the roads to size, checking how they could be laid out on the board, & then brushed undiluted PVA glue on each in turn.  I poured a custom mix of flock (1 part dark brown to 2 parts light ochre, with a tiny sprinkle of dark green 'plant' flock) over this, & pressed it down with my fingers (it adhered much more successfully than I expected).  I then added a few patches of yellow-green 'grass' flock, & some small dark green 'plants' along the edges of the roads.

After tipping off what little excess flock there was, & saving what I could for future use, I moved onto the next road, & once the PVA was fairly dry on the whole batch, I gave the lot a spray of matte craft varnish, hoping this would reduce 'flock shedding'.  The varnish has also made the roads feel a little more sturdy.  Very pleased with the results so far.  On the left is a quick shot of the board with some of the scatter terrain that I've already made.  Now to start constructing those buildings, to really bring the setting to life...

Ronin rulers

This weekend I glued together & painted these rather nifty katana rulers for Ronin gaming.  They are simple 4-piece laser-cut MDF items included in this set from Sarissa Precision. The 6" blades are divided into 1" segments, & likewise with the 3" hilts.  Next, I will be painting up some Wound & Stunned markers for Ronin using Ø10mm laser-cut discs.

Crossfire platoon boxes

I've bought a load of these 0.55 litre boxes from Really Useful Products, as they are perfect for storing my 15mm scale Crossfire 'moderns' platoons.  I first spotted one of these pencil-case sized storage boxes in WHSmith, & bought it to try out.  It proved to be the perfect size for efficiently storing a platoon plus a few bases of support, so I bought the rest for cheaper online, direct from the manufacturer.  They are currently £2.37 each.  I may stick some bubble-wrap or foam in the lids to protect the figures more, but I'm really pleased with this storage solution.  Previously I had been storing all of my forces haphazardly in plastic chocolate boxes - these take up up less room, you can see the contents without opening, & they are more convenient for transporting.