Somali militia part 2 (FoF)

This weekend I finished my 2nd batch of Somali militia for 15mm scale Force on Force.  In order to fit in with the Day of the Rangers scenarios these are all 'armed rabble', so I've painted them completely in civilian clothes.  Next I'll need to paint some with camo tops & trousers in the mix to mark them out as 'hired gunmen'.  I'll probably use a mix of BDU & 'chocolate chip' desert schemes, plus some of the many patterns used by militias in Lebanon.

Apologies for the poor lighting in this photo, it's a very grey day here.  I'll be painting some more armed rabble after the hired gunmen, & I'm planning to try out some more patterns on shirts next time, for variety.  I'll also have to paint a lot of civies for the civilian mobs...

Somali militia part 1 (FoF)

It's been a very busy month with family commitments for me, but I've finally started painting some 15mm Somali militia.  I'm going to need to do a lot more of these militia men for Force on Force Day of the Rangers games...  I will be painting them in batches of same colour tops on each pose variant, to speed the process along.  Once they are all mixed together there should be plenty of variety.  I'll have to try some patterned shirts too.

The camera has made the paint jobs look brighter than they really are.  Camo tops or trousers will mark-out the 'hired gunmen' on the tabletop from the less experienced/skilled rabble in civilian dress.  The figures that are gesturing are the leaders.  It's quite fun painting varied civilian clothes for a change.

Delta Force fireteam (FoF)

Yesterday I finished this 4-man Delta Force fireteam.  I've had another busy month where I haven't found much time for wargames stuff, & my 2nd batch of 15mm Warhammer Quest corridors have been proving problematic - either an inferior mix of all-purpose filler or the biting cold have caused the wall texturing to flake away repeatedly.  So I needed a mini project to get me going, & a Delta Force fireteam were perfect.  These are intended for use in Day of the Rangers scenarios, but they will do nicely for spec ops troops in other settings.

They are Peter Pig USMC, painted in the same way as my Rangers, but with their body armour and helmets coloured black.  I filed-down the helmets to smooth-out the cover texture & make them look more like the non-ballistic helmets worn by Delta Force in Somalia.  I've been saving the figures with scopes & forward hand grips on their rifles to use as spec ops.  Apologies for the poor quality of the photos, it's been difficult to find decent light during these recent grey weeks.  I have a pair of Little Bird helos to glue together, for these & future operators to ride on...  & of course a Black Hawk.

15mm Warhammer Quest part 4

I've finished painting my 1st 15mm scale WQ corridor & my 1st group of Monsters - 1D6 Savage Orcs!  I'm not such a fan of Games Workshop's Warhammer Orcs (though I think W40K Orks are great), but I have always liked the concept of the more primitive Savage Orcs.  I'm really pleased with how the paint scheme came out on these tiny figures, & I think the corridor looks suitably dank.  Unfortunately the highlights on the base grit & on the corridor floor slabs don't show up that well in these photos:

 

These are actually Copplestone Castings 15mm Fantasy range Pict Warrior miniatures, but I thought they were crying-out for an Orc paint job.

15mm Warhammer Quest part 3

I don't like to post unfinished things in this blog, but December was busy & I didn't complete much hobby stuff.  So here are some of my work-in-progress 15mm 3D Warhammer Quest sections.  & they said it couldn't be done! :-]  I've started painting-up my Copplestone Castings monsters to begin population of this dungeon, & once the texturing is complete on the corridors & rooms I will be laying the paint on them too.

US seriously wounded (FoF)

Following on from my last post, here are 6 US Seriously Wounded markers for 15mm Force on Force.  Again, these are Peter Pig USMC figures that I've painted in the same scheme.  I used gloss varnish on the blood.

US Ranger force (FoF)

I spent a lot of time painting them up, but this weekend I finished my US Ranger force.  I'm quite pleased with the results, & these Peter Pig minis are particularly nicely sculpted.  After a bit of research into uniforms I went for 3-colour DCUs for the fatigues & helmet covers, with the Woodland pattern body armour.  Although technically during the Somalia intervention in 1993 the Rangers had the older (as seen in the Gulf War) 'chocolate chip' pattern helmet covers, this means I can use these figures for Day of the Rangers games right up to Road to Baghdad (2003), where they can be used as Rangers, USMC or US Army soldiers.  This force covers what is needed for the 'Objective Badger' mission from Road to Baghdad, where Rangers are providing a cordon around the Al Qadisiyah Research Centre whilst operatives fruitlessly search for evidence of WMDs:

After reading lots of online tips for painting modern 15mm figures, I opted for brighter tones rather than sticking slavishly to tonal accuracy - at this scale when you are looking over a table of 15mm figures, the effect seems better.  Below is the Combat Controller, the GPMG team & the sniper team:

...& here are some more photos showing the Ranger chalks:

Ruined building (FoF)

Below is a medium-size ruined building for 15mm Force on Force, which I finished yesterday.  It's made of foamboard & all-purpose filler over polystyrene chunks, with sand for the grit & small stones.  I had Road to Baghdad in mind when I painted this up, but it will be suitable for any setting really.

Saddam Fedayeen (FoF)

This week I put together & painted some 15mm Saddam Fedayeen for Force on Force Road to Baghdad scenarios.  Having reconsidered branching out into Chechen rebels due to taking on too many projects with limited time, & the fact I wasn't happy with how the 1p base surface was 'glinting' through the earth & grass that I'd used, I repainted most of the Rebel Minis Fedayeen Soldiers that I'd used.  These Fedayeen don't have the infamous 'Vader' helmets, but I've seen photos of Saddam's paramilitary wearing black balaclavas like these too.  I plan to add some Peter Pig figures wearing caps with material covering their necks, which can easily be modified to look like the Vader helmets.

I also added a Peter Pig PLO sniper & a beret-wearing figure to represent a Ba'ath Party official.  For easy-ID on the tabletop, the Fedayeen with green headbands are the cell leaders, the ones wearing headscarves either have an RPK or a Dragunov rifle.