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The Biosynth? She has one boot because. .. cyborg?

Maybe I should've posted that Dougram 'bot vack when I finished it? I suppose I still can. I should have some mechs to post tonight, anyway.

Nice stuff! The mechanicus is loaded up on big uns.

I'm surprised. Only two replies and barely any views. Here I thought Mechanicus stuff would be popular. Oh well. I have a couple new 15mm mechs to add to my galleries tonight.

First, the Steornede Battlesuit from Ion Age.



This is a mech suit used by the Planetary Militia, which is pretty much a generic PDF force. The two figures flanking the suit are so far my only PDF figures. There's two loadout options for the Steornede, dual machine guns or dual missile pods. I chose the guns. It looks like it probably has an anti-air/anti-armor role for the PDF.

Speaking of PDF, here's a better look at the two figures.



One is a female PDF officer, which was Ion Age's May freebie figure, the other is a demolitions specialist which was a freebie from either last year or the year before. According to the fluff, the demolitions guys are pretty much armed with Melta Bombs.

The other mech I have to share is the Hoplite CAM (I don't know what CAM means) from Conflict Horizon. Conflict Horizon is pretty small still and hasn't really officially launched, though you can buy some of the mechs.



I had to have this when I first saw it. It is VERY clearly based on the Knightmare Frames from the anime Code Geass. Code Geass may have been okay at best, but it had some really cool mecha designs. The casting on this thing was surprisingly really good for such a small operation. I'm going to have to get at least another at some point.

For those curious, here's how it stacks up against the Proteus and a regular human.

Looks like a nice generic/workhorse mech. Good paintwork all around. The quad guns and machine gun remind me of armored core. If they made those in some reasonable scale I'd probably want some. Still have a dreadnought sawn in half that was slated for conversion into one lol.

As for the views, I've posted 40 photo battle reports that have gone unnoticed while everyone hops on to respond to two sentences of nonsense . Time of day and in the week has a big impact. But I wouldn't let it bug you.

Here's a little something I've had done for a while, but just never bothered to photograph. You old school Battletech fans may know this machine by the name of Thunderbolt.



To us anime nerds, this is the Hasty F4X Ironfoot from Dougram. This kit comes from Max Factory of all places and is 1/72 scale. It's almost entirely snap together and really no paint needed. I did paint the pilot figure, but he's almost impossible to see and equally impossible to photograph. So much effort painting him and it was pretty much all for nothing since you can't see him. The kit is my first Max Factory model and I've got to say, the quality is really good. Everything fit perfectly and the engineering on the joints is top notch. It's knees are interesting designed. They have a sliding mechanism that gives you access to a very flexible double joint that is normally completely hidden. I would definitely have to recommend this kit if you're a fan of Dougram or old Battletech. I'd love to track down a Blockhead sometime. Max Factory announced their next kit will be the Bushman, which looks to be another winner.

Whoa! A blast from the past. I think Revell made a version of this kit, but it was pretty primitive, IIRC.

 Barzam wrote:

The other mech I have to share is the Hoplite CAM (I don't know what CAM means) from Conflict Horizon. Conflict Horizon is pretty small still and hasn't really officially launched, though you can buy some of the mechs.



I had to have this when I first saw it. It is VERY clearly based on the Knightmare Frames from the anime Code Geass. Code Geass may have been okay at best, but it had some really cool mecha designs. The casting on this thing was surprisingly really good for such a small operation. I'm going to have to get at least another at some point.

That's a really nice mini. What was it like to assemble?

JoshInJapan wrote:Whoa! A blast from the past. I think Revell made a version of this kit, but it was pretty primitive, IIRC.

They did! They repackaged the Takara kits along with some Arii and Imai Macross kits as well as some Orguss kits and released them under the Robotech name, prior to the actual Robotech tv series. What's really weird is around that same time, DC Comics released a comic called ROBOTECH: Defenders, which utilized Dougram mechs in some entirely new story and setting involving some humans using the various Dougram mechs- which were sentient for some reason- to fight some ugly looking lizard people. So, Dougram mecha have been used in at least three different properties.

Dreadclaw69 wrote:That's a really nice mini. What was it like to assemble?

Very simple! Legs are one piece, torso is one piece, then you have the arms, head, two gun options, and the smoke launchers. Assembly is very easy and straightforward. There were a pair of bayonets that I left off, too. The fiddliest bit in my build was getting the smoke launchers to stay on, and those are entirely optional anyway.

Part of my June challenge is to finish up my Dystopian Wars airships as well as my Raging Heroes stuff. I'm starting the airships, but I went ahead out of order and worked on some of the Raging Heroes. I have two of the seven figures finished. I'd gotten my hands on a couple of the metal editions of some of the Iron Empire characters when Raging Heroes had their free shipping. For some reason, the metal versions only seem to be available from them direct.

First up, Lieutenant-Colonel Kruger.
Upon Highlord Tamburlaine's suggestion, I did her without her helmet.



I don't enjoy painting eyes. I had to redo hers several times, and this was the best iteration. I'd also wanted to go with a much more detailed paintjob, including non-metallic metal gold, but the details were just too small for my noobish abilities. So, I gave up and went with just doing a tabletop quality paintjob.

The second one I did was Lieutenant Drakkan.



The figure definitely has presence, even if the pics don't convey it. She's pretty hefty in metal, too. I had to go with the helmet option for her. Her helmet is just too cool to leave off. It's probably really hard to tell, but I did paint the eyes and the little sensors around them. It's just very hard to see and the details are extremely tiny. The other Iron Empire stuff I have left to do are a box of the Iron Storm heavy troops to go with Drakkan.

Following them, we have another Eureka Miniatures Soviet in NBC gear. This time, it's a sniper.



Finally, we have another 15mm item. This time is the Xin Hegemony's (currently) lone vehicle, the Guaiwu, also known as the Jade Ape Battlesuit.



My Jade Ape is obviously not green. I had actually done a largely green scheme on it, but I didn't like how it looked, especially with my other Xin troops, so I went back are redid it in basic grey to match the rest of my Xin. In the fluff, the Xin operate mostly in the form of a massive trade fleet. The Sanbao, their troops, are primarily meant to be security for the trade fleet. The Jade Ape is primarily meant to be a cargo handler for the trade fleets. So, that's why I went with the hazard stripes. They're supposed to also function very well as frontline combat suits as well though, so when they're under attack, these things will function essentially like tanks for Xin.

I think you went with the right choices for the Raging Heroes stuff. Drakkan really stands out with that helmet on.

How big is your Jade Ape? I was checking some out myself, but was good and abstained from making any more orders.

Nice job on the Toughest Girls! I've been looking forward to seeing some of their stuff with some paint, so thanks!

Great work on the Raging Shiroz models there. Soviets look good but not spectacular, just as they should. The Grape Ape looks very cool. It could almost fit in with some Iron Warriors with that scheme.

I like Kruger's headsculpt, but I don't think I was able to do it justice. I kind of wish I'd just gone with helmets on both of them.

Now, I thought I'd uploaded it, but I guess I forgot about it. I did have a size comparison for the Jade ape against another Xin.



MacPhail, one of the reasons it's taken me this long to actually get started on the Toughest Girls at all has been the lack of painted pictures of them aside from the studio ones. It's kind of annoying that there'll be these high profile Kickstarter projects like Toughest Girls with tons of backers, and yet it's almost impossible to find some other painted examples. It's an issue I have with Void and Urban War, too. There's really not that many painted examples of the stuff I'm looking for when I'm hunting for inspiration.

Azazel, Kickstarter drama aside, the Toughest Girls figures are actually pretty nice. Well, the metal ones are, anyway. I haven't really messed with the resin ones other than opening my troops to make sure I had everything. Thankfully, I think getting just a few more should satisfy me with that line. Just need the two Regulatrixes and the tank commander. I wouldn't mind having a box of the regular troops at some point though.

Those Soviets are, thankfully, very easy and quick to paint. I painted that sniper up last night while watching a movie and Netflix and building a Gundam kit. I'm hoping that I'll be able to find a use for those guys in TNT or MDRG eventually. Who knows if the Grape Ape will ever see any tabletop action though. Alternative Armies is doing a preorder for their new supplement for their 15mm rules though. I'm going to have to grab a copy of that, I think.

I told you I have a box of Iron Empire girls if you're interested. They had so many little parts I just went "NOPE" and have permanently set them aside for the time being.

Which didn't stop me from a hefty pledge for the 2nd Kickstarter...

Those Raging Heroes miniatures are bang on Barzam, some excellent work there.

Kruger looks better without the helmet. Use magnification to see the eye detail better ( I use +3.00 reading glasses) . And keep the paint really thin. There are lots of really good tutorials on painting eyes if you look.

The raging hero stuff (and should it not be Raging Heroines anyway?) looks pretty good.

The 15mm minis are very well done.

Great crop of recent progress Barzam, keep it coming

Thanks all. I'm continuing to work on my monthly challenge. I've sworn to finish my Dystopian Wars Aerial Battlegroup this month as well as my Toughest Girls. I've started working on the Dystopian wars stuff and the first of the three Icarus Class ships are done.



It's nice to finally see even one of these done after having their unpainted resin sitting there in my pile, mocking me since December. Just two more Icarus Class ships to go and then on to the Daedalus Class.

Another item I mentioned I would work on as long as I have the drive to do so is my Mercs: Recon Kickstarter stuff. Well, on a whim I actually started a couple of the figures tonight. Granted, the ones I chose to start with are very simple, but still, starting it is the hardest step, right?



These guys are the Infected. They're part of the Myth crossover and they have their own campaign add-on to the Mercs: Recon game. You can also use them in the Lockdown game mode as well. They aren't actually supposed to be undead zombies, but rather still living humans who have been infected by a bio-weapon. They're classed as civvies in-game, so you get punished for killing them. While you're not supposed to kill them, they can still infect your guys and turn them against you. This is especially hazardous in Lockdown mode. I'm not sure how much work I actually want to put into them. I might do maybe a highlight layer on their skin, maybe paint some white eyes and that'll probably be it. They're simple sculpts, so they don't need a ton of detailing.

Along with that stuff, I've been working on terrain of all things. Granted, it's for 15mm, but still. I'm amazed at myself for even working on terrain, let alone finishing some. These are a pair of Geo Habs from The Ion Age.



The unit on the left is designated as a laboratory whiel the one on the right is supposed to be an actual habitation unit. I will probably get some more of these things as I really like them. They make a nice, quick little colony camp or research station. However, the next ones I do, I'm using a black wash instead of an orange one. The orange wash really muddied everything up and wound up just making more work for me.

Lastly, for this update, we have a little unofficial Briareos Hecatonchires from Appleseed.



He's just a tiny little 15mm figure though. He's made by Darkest Star, who also happen to have a few other Appleseed and Ghost in the Shell "inspired" mecha and figures.

That's a nice batch of stuff. How well does Recon play? I have Myth, and I'm pretty sure there is a good game hiding in there, but I can't get together with the local gamers often enough to really treat it as a campaign. Does Recon work as a one-and-done game?

Wow, that is a straight up Bullyeros from Appleseed as produced by Main guh Entertainment!

God that was a terrible dub. Not that the aneemay was any better mind you...

Does that Darkest Star make any other Shirow landmates? Or Briareos' landmate suits he uses later in the manga? I wouldn't mind having them.

Josh- My understanding is that Recon plays well single player, just a lot of bookkeeping. Not that either of us have played it, despite both of us pledging for the whole shebang.

Did mine come yet Barzam?

No clue if your stuff has shown up yet. I'll check tonight

Darkest Star doesn't have any other Landmates just yet. He showed renders for some Opfor Landmates a while back though, and when I asked about the old Police ones they used to have, I was told they were being redesigned with digital sculpting. So, it may still be a while yet, but we should eventually see more Landmates.

As Highlord Tamburlaine says, we haven't actually played the game yet. In my cade, it's because I haven't painted any of it yet. my own defense, I was waiting until I had all of my stuff before I started working on it. Now that I have everything, I'm going to start working from the stretch goals and add-ons backwards towards the main game components. I did watch the gameplay videos and it does look like the game should be pretty fun and hectic once you start blowing rooms apart. Recon should definitely work as a one and done type game though. Especially if you are playing Lockdown. It will be a glorious day when I have the whole thing painted and I can actually play the game.

Just a little update for tonight.

Though it will most certainly be hard to tell, I did a bit more work on the Mercs: Recon Infected. I added highlights that the camera doesn't show, added eyes and teeth that barely show on the camera, and I painted the pustules on the chubbier Infected.



The details I added are all pretty visible in person, but the camera just doesn't want to show it. I bet if I took the shot with some actual daylight, those details would show. I'm thinking that for the other two, I'm going to paint them using washes, just to add some visual variety.

The other thing I worked on, aside from carving spaces for magnets on my Dystopian Wars airships, was trying out one of my new plastic Enforcer Pathfinders.



Obviously this is not my typical Enforcer scheme. I have two sprues of these guys, so I'm going to do some in more woodland-ish colors to go with N7-117 while I do the other sprue to match my regular Enforcers. Likewise, I plan to eventually paint my plastic regular Enforcers in a green scheme similar to N7-117 whenever I get around to them. This guy was also a test run for working on my USAriadna. I've actually been pretty intimidated by the USAriadna box. I want to paint them in woodland camo, but I just don't think I can pull it off very well. So, I figure I should practice on some other figures. You'll note the lack of camo on this guy though. I actually did do a camo pattern on his pants, but I wasn't happy with it and got rid of it. The way I painted his armor though was practice for painting the USAriadna armor, so at least I got some experience with that. I'm thinking that USAriadna is going to wind up being one of my big challenges for the next Tale of Painters challenge.

Nice Pathfinder. How do you feel about the accessories on the sprue? I have opted not to attach any to mine because there don't seem to be any good places for most of them-- pouches and holsters stick way out, at least to my eye.

I only clipped out the bits to make this guy as a test run, so I didn't mess with the other accessories, really. Chances are, aside from the knife sheath I'll leave them off as well though. My problem is more that there simply aren't enough little greeblies to put on everyone. So, I'll probably save most of them for my plastic Enforcers or Peace Keepers.

Limited accessories aside though, I think the new Pathfinders are actually pretty nice. The details for the most part seem really good. I thought they felt a bit shallow and soft on the armored Enforcers, but that doesn't seem to be the case here. They're definitely an improvement over the restic Pathfinder and the female biker one, as well.

Nice work on the Pathfinders, and horrible looking infected. Marouda just said "eurgh, what are those?" so I guess they're hitting their intended effect...

Great stuff Barzam

Really like the infected and the pathfinders.

Very nice work. The specific things you mentioned about the Infected may not be noticeable but there's something subtle about that that looks better.

That enforcer pathfinder guy looks great. I need to get mine out, the ones you guys have been putting together trump the stock photos.

I got lucky with my USARF scheme, tried something out and liked it. It's really close to the box scheme in that 'look at what they did and figure out how to do it as lazily as possible' kind of way, but it works. I look forward to yours though, as you'll actually be taking the time to think it out and the results will likely show that effort.

Well, I'm glad you've got confidence in me. I'm going to have to practice more and try different patterns. I've got a Dozer coming soon, he should be useful for practicing on.

Oh, hey look! I painted a Stormcast!



Yep, just a regular 'ole Stormcast. Why? Why not? This is one from the starter set. I picked up a Knight Vexillor with the intention of using him in Silver Tower, whenever Highlord Tamburlaine gets around to building/painting it. I used this guy as a test for the scheme I wanted to use on the Vexillor. I like it.

I also finished the Mercs: Recon Infected. Here' s the other two.



And all four together.



These guys were freebie stretch goals. I didn't get the "Blood Contagion" expansion, which was supposed to have more Infected, a scenario for using them, and additional tiles and cards. So, my batch here are only good for Lockdown mode and throwing them in with the rest of my zombies. But hey, I actually did some work on my Mercs: Recon pledge! I think I might work on the Lost Margin Raiders next. They'll be good for practicing camo on.

The last little update tonight is that I got the second of three Icarus Class Medium Flyers finished.



Work shall commence on the third ship this weekend and, with luck, I'll finish it before Monday. Then it's on to the Daedalus and some Tough Girls.

Woohoo progress

Banged out a couple of the Lost Margin Raiders from Mercs: Recon over the weekend while working on other stuff. The Lost Margin are supposed to be areas where the megacorps have pulled out and governments have collapsed, resulting in Mad Max-esque anarchy. Six Lost Margin Raiders were included as freebie stretch goals. There's an expansion for them, but I didn't get it. There's two sculpts, one of which was actually a pre-existing metal figure, but as far as I know, that guy was only available direct from Megacon's webshop.

I'll start with the guy that was based on the old metal.



I wanted to have some graffiti on the shield, but I couldn't think of what to put, so I used a Chaos decal thinking that it fit the bill pretty well. It did, but as you can see, it was oddly trasnparent. Oh well.

Here's the second, which as far as I can tell, is a modification of the other sculpt and is new to the Kickstarter.



An interesting thing about these guys is that they're using Sefadu gear. I thought that was an interesting touch. As you can see, I went for a Tacti-cool look for these two. I think I'll try camo uniforms for the next too. I would've loved to have placed a big 'ole Umbrella logo on them, but aside from the shield, there wouldn't really be any room for one. Bummer.

Neat. Don't want to run into them in a back alley.