15mm Warhammer Quest part 2

My Copplestone Castings fantasy figures for my 15mm Warhammer Quest project arrived, & I have to say the quality is brilliant.  The poses are dynamic, the detail is very good, & there were only minimal mould lines/flash to clean up.  They are 'heroic' 15mm scale- that is to say the humans are about 17mm tall (but then they are barbarians!), & the Dwarves are about 14/15mm high, but I've allowed for a bit of scale creep in the 3D dungeon sections that I've been making.  I've concentrated on making the corridors & basic rooms so far, & plan to do the texturing & painting & other fancy details when I've got the set together- though I may get bored & dive into this fun stuff sooner!  Below is the 1st of the dungeon rooms, to represent the Torture Chamber card:

If my skills are up to it, I plan to add racks & possibly a crucifix-type-thing to make it more specific in appearance.  & of course plenty of bloodstains!  Chains may prove too challenging at 15mm scale, but ropes should be easier.  Any suggestions welcome!

15mm Warhammer Quest part 1

Imagine that you've wanted to get back into Warhammer Quest, & you've also been looking for an excuse to use these very cool 15mm scale fantasy figures from Copplestone Castings? (I really like the Hyborian look to them!)  Well, from within the ever-shifting Warp on my gaming plans - specifically my long-term want to make 3D WQ sections - the idea to make a 15mm scale WQ set manifested...

Below are some photos of WIP 15mm scale 3D Warhammer Quest corridors, which I built specifically with the above Copplestone Castings range in mind.  Over the course of a few days I've put together 3 door layout variants of the 1st corridor type, plus 1 of the more 'Dwarven' 2nd type, & yesterday I added the stair section shown in the 3rd photo.

Now imagine that you wanted to buy the following (or nearest equivalent) from Games Workshop.  Undoubtedly their miniatures are some of the finest out there, but how much would it cost for:

Trouble with Tau urban camo (W40K / TW)

Having hatched a plan with Tim to try out some skirmish games set in the Warhammer 40,000 universe, but using Ambush Alley's Tomorrow's War rules, I've dusted off my Tau Fire Warriors, & have been attempting to sort out the urban camouflage scheme that I started many months ago.  Right from the start soon after the first Tau Codex came out, I've wanted to use the lush Hawk Turquoise colour in the overall paint scheme, but my poor minis have been through various guises (including a hideous purple/turquoise/orange combination at one point!) until I finally settled on a 'realistic' urban camo effect for the armour, but retaining the turquoise (which is the colour of my Battlefleet Gothic Tau fleet) for the undersuit.  Below is a run-through of the process I've been struggling with in finalising the urban camo pattern...

Syrian T-62 crews (FoF)

I've just finished these T-62 (Soviet) tank crewers for 15mm scale Force on Force.  These are miniatures from the excellent Peter Pig AK 47 Republic range. For when inevitable bailouts occur!

Ratings / Gangers (W40K)

A little diversion back into Warhammer 40,000 now.  Below are some photos of a group of ratings I've finished, intended to represent the lowly crewers of a Rogue Trader spaceship for my long-planned Inquisitor adventure campaign.  They were made using the Imperial Guard Catachan sprues, with the odd bit of Chaos Marauder & an Imperial Guard tanker's las-carbine.  I've painted them with a 'House Orlock' look, so they could double-up as hive city / urban gangers too.

Below are two less-well-equipped ratings / gangers, armed only with cudgels.  The one on the right has a device / remote made from part of the Cadian voxcaster backpack...

PLO fighters (FoF)

Next up are the first batch of 15mm scale PLO fighters that I've finally completed.  This group are wearing the so-called 'Black September' Palestinian camo pattern.  After experimenting with a heavier emphasis on civilian clothing, I decided that I prefered the look of a mix of camouflage schemes, as shown in the Osprey guides to the Arab-Israeli wars.  With the rest of my PLO, I'll probably paint a variety of fatigues including 'lizard' & 'leopard' patterns for a nice rag-tag - but still military - look.

IDF infantry (FoF)

I've painted up some more 15mm scale Israeli Defence Force infantry.  After extensive browsing of the colour plates from the Osprey guides featuring the IDF, I'm finally satisfied with the green tones - I'll have to repaint the webbing & flak jackets on my original batch of Israelis to match this.  I've also improved the sand/dusty earth hues on the bases, to match the scenery pieces that I've made, as the my original bases were a bit flat & dull in colour.

I'm intending my IDF infantry to represent the Golani Brigade, since they see the most action in Lebanon/along Israel's Northern border.  I need to discover a simple way to represent M203 grenade launchers on some of the Galils that these soldiers are carrying, but I haven't got an wire/rods thin enough for this scale available at the moment.  I also fancy painting up a small unit of 1980s Sayeret Mat'kal with AKs, but can't decide whether to go with the standard fatigues, or something to make them stand-out (I have seen one alledged photo of some Sayeret Mat'kal commandos wearing unusual tan-khaki uniforms).

Syrian T-62s (FoF)

I've painted-up all 3 of my T-62s for my Force on Force 1980s Syrian Army platoon.  The one in the centre is a main-production T-62, which I'll treat as the 'squadron leader' where needed, whilst the ones at the sides are less-common early-model T-62As (at least this is how QRF title them) I've seen contradictions on the exact differences, but most obvious is that the turret hatches & pericopes do not match, & T-62A commander's hatch has a raised welded-on cupola.  I haven't stuck the slightly-fiddly MGs on yet.  If I do, I think technically they should point to the rear, as this is the orientation that QRF appear to have modeled the commanders' hatches in.

So far my Syrian force consists of a (Mi-8 'Hip') heliborne commando force, backed up by these tanks & a 'Shilka' AA platform.  I'm thinking it might make more sense split into 2 distinct forces, but Tim, Dom & I have got enough factions as it is for our planned 'Lebanon 1982' campaign- Tim has French Foreign Legion peacekeepers, Dom has a Russian force, & I'm thinking we should each play 2 (more-or-less aligned) factions because of the sheer diversity of the historical combatants... Possibly PLO & Syrians for me, IDF & Foreign Legion for Tim.  I'd like to get Phalangists in there too, but I don't think they'd sit easily with Dom's Russians. Hmm...

Red Army Izhorski-Fiat armoured car

Sticking with the Russian Civil War, here is the armoured car that I've put together for my Red Army force - an Izhorski-Fiat.  In Force on Force rules terms it'll probably be identical to the Armstrong-Whitworth-Fiat from my last post.  Like that vehicle, I'm pleased with the way this one has turned-out.  Getting the hammer & sickle correct was the most fiddly part - the icon required multiple re-paints!

Getting the hammer & sickle correct was the most challenging part - the icon required multiple re-paints!  The name painted on the side reads "Freedom Fighter".