bluegargantua

Hey,

 So back in the mid-90's, we got into a game called Legions of Steel by Global Games. You played a team of space marines who invaded an underground complex to take out malevolent AIs from another dimension. In the process you had to kill off a bunch of Terminator-looking robot enemies. We all enjoyed the game and we thought it was quite a step up from Space Hulk (which we loved so that's saying something).

 Like all good game companies, the line of miniatures was expanded to include other alien races that were hoping to stave off the Machine invasion. One such race was the Fantasians. They were straight up Soviet Aliens. They lived in a Communist dictatorship and it was even hinted at in the fluff that they'd visited Earth and inspired Lennin. I really liked the figures (I liked pretty much all the figures for this game) and I liked their panache and so I had a small squad painted up. Later on, when the game expanded to more wargame-y open terrain skirmish battles, I got a number of their regular line troopers and painted up a force for them.

 Then Global Games disappeared down a black hole and were never heard from again -- or rather there were rumors of a reboot that never happened. I was very pleased to see that Legions of Steel was released as a game for PC, Android, and iOS.  The implementation is quite good, but there's been almost no support for it since release and they only have Humans vs. Machines and not my beloved Fantasians.

 So I'm going through the scree of Lead Mountain and I came across a few packs of Fantasians that I'd purchased but never actually painted up. So I decided to rectify that:







Rejoice, Brave Soldiers of Fantasia! The Mobile Artillery Squad has arrived to help you win the day!

I don't believe this is an "official" formation for Legions of Steel, but it's what I had on hand and it makes for a fun little group. You've got three heavies in power armor backed up by a pair of troopers who act as a security detail or forward observers. Definitely a group for open battlefields and not underground bunkers, but they provide much-needed support in the field.

We'll start with the power armor:






Above is a T85/36 with AT-4 (you might notice a Soviet flavor to their weapon system names). The AT-4 is an anti-armor cannon and the main weapon carried by this unit. It's got a machine gun on the other arm for softer targets, but its main job is to kill tanks dead.





Here's a side view so you can see the AT-4 a bit better. Also, you'll notice the design on the shoulder pad. This was part of my "try something new" task when painting these guys up. I decided to experiment with water-slide decals. In this case, I had some 15mm WWII Soviet tank decals and couldn't imagine a better subject. I put markings on both shoulders of the power armor guys and put a star on the helmets of the troopers. I was a bit worried that this was going to turn into a frustrating chore, but I was pleasantly surprised and how smoothly it all went. It was a little fiddly getting the decal properly sited on the mini, but eventually it got where I wanted it and then I carefully removed the excess water and everything turned out ok. I'm not looking to do this for every mini, but I can see where it'll be helpful for some projects and I'm happy I got a chance to practice it.

Now for the big boom-booms:




This is the T85/43 with K2-Shaw rocket racks. Yeah...the designs are very heavily influenced by WWII Soviets. What else can I say? Power armor with rocket artillery and the arm-mounted machine gun. I don't have the rulebook in front of me so I have no idea how good those rockets actually are. The Fantasians generally worked off a "quantity has a quality all its own" so high rates of fire, but less effective at actually killing things. I suspect the same would be true here, but if you caught the enemy out in the open, this would do a number.

Rounding out the squad, the troopers:





Standard Fantasian troopers armed with spray-n-pray PPSH and a bandolier of Gauss Grenades. Not as heavily armored as the troopers of other races, the Fantasians are faster and they do get the lead down-range in a hurry. Honestly, they're probably better suited to open battlefields where they have more room to maneuver. Still, I love my little alien Commies.

Finally a couple of photos comparing paint jobs:










So we have power armor and troopers. The figures on the far right were painted by my friend Chris who got me (back?) into miniatures gaming in college. I don't think Chris actually won a Golden Demon, but he has placed in several GD competitions so he was the gold standard of painting we all aspired to emulate. Eventually I figured out that was a mug's game and that I should be looking to paint figures well enough to please me and get stuff rolling on the gaming table.

The figure in the middle were all painted by me a year or two out of college I believe. A basic three-color scheme with a hint of inking and that was pretty much it. Still, I've got three squads of those troopers waiting to prove Fantasian superiority.

And obviously, the figures on the left are the ones I just did. I went all in on the Russian theme and used appropriate colors. There were washes, highlights, and decals. The overall effect is more muted (though I'm not opposed to more colorful sci-fi minis), but I do like how everything came out. I was even able to do a bit of detail work that didn't leave splotches all over everything.

So that was my little Legions of Steel project. It was a lot of fun and I'm kinda hankering to see if I can score any more figures off eBay or something. I am also reminded of just how nice those minis were. Not too much flash, weighty metal, fun designs...it's really too bad those designs went out of print. Nothing new on the horizon, although I've got some small projects left in lead mountain. I also have a heap of plastic WWII vehicles that need some sort of paintjob, but I need to track down some Army Painter spray paints in appropriate armor colors. We'll see what happens.

later
Tom

Hey,

So I've been collecting and painting RAFM's "Shadows and Steel" boxed sets. These are boxed sets of adventure parties with a module and some background fluff. Clearly set up for D&D although not directly referenced (back when TSR was serious about their IP). Anyway, there were four sets and I finally put together the last one.

Presenting: The Conquistador Dwarves!



These guys may not be the sharpest axes in the woodshed, but they make up for it with enthusiasm.



Pascale is their fearless leader with sword, shield and classy helmet. He is ably assisted by Torquemazda who will bring the Holy Word to heathens everywhere.




But Dwarves are better in short sprints, for long-distance, the team counts on Guernica, the monster lizard. Riding atop in the box we have Salvidora (with the spear) and Paulo covering the rear with his crossbow.



Finally, to help them punch above their weight we have Crandall with his steam cannon.

These guys were fun to paint up and they weren't much bigger than the 15mm stuff I've been doing earlier this year. I'm sad the project is at an end, but I wanted to put together my own adventuring party. I've purchased the figures (from Reaper rather than RAFM) and we'll see how they turn out.

later
Tom

Hey,

So back in the Spring of last year, I painted up a mess of Soviet troops in 28mm for Bolt Action games. Since then, they've never made it to the table and I've fallen in love with Chain of Command for small action WWII games...and the scale of choice for the guys who play that is 15mm.

BUT! Last Saturday my gaming group had their belated Holiday party and ran Bolt Action games all day. In the morning, my Soviet soldiers made their tabletop debut...

( We hold them here, Comrades! )

So it was a fun game and although I'm shifting away to another system/scale, I think those Soviets will hit the table again in the future.

Ura!
Tom

Hey,

More little dudes that I've been painting up. Once again, these are all from Odzial Osmy's New Vistula Legion, a 15mm sci-fi range. These are all mostly groups of one type of specialist so there's not a whole bunch to say about them, though the last group is pretty interesting.

( They strike from behind the cut )

So that lot is finished. Next up are the heavy weapon teams. I'm hoping these should go up rather quickly and then this project will almost be finished.

later
Tom

Hi,

So I've been remiss in not updating my various miniature gaming projects. So let's take stock of what I've been doing this summer. There's two parts so there's going to be two posts. First up, more terrain.

( pics of tiny buildings )

So I've greatly expanded the range of buildings and urban terrain I have available for my games. I can probably do some of the denser urban scenarios which should be a lot of fun. Hopefully this will all get to the table soon.

later
Tom

Hey,

So I've finished up the WWII Soviet project for the Bolt Action games down at the store. And the best is saved for last:





A T34-85 tank to provide some armored support and put those Panzers on the run. Actually, it's going to have to sub in as a T34-76 since that it keeps me just under 1000 points. This was another one of the few good pieces from the Warlords boxed Soviet Set. The model is mostly resin except for the commander and the front hatch and co-axial MG. The turret didn't fit into the body very well, but a friend down at the shop took a dremel to it and got it into shape. It was a fast paint-up and now I'm ready to roll.

later
Tom

Hey,

So my recent return to miniature painting was sparked by the Dark Ages/Viking campaign that the club I regularly game with wanted to run. I got a bunch of minis, painted them all up and had a horde of Saxons ready to go.

I believe we played one game.

I knew we had a bunch of guys with figures and I had an interesting set of Viking rules called Strandhogg that I'd been meaning to try out. So I put out the call and a couple Saturdays ago we had a fight.

( An Odin's Eye view of the game )

Everyone seemed to have a good time and was keen to try out the game again. I need to come up with some sort of fast movement rule to help folks cover ground or deal with chasing down heavily-laden opponents and such. But once combat was joined things moved at a fair clip and combat was a real roller-coaster. So hopefully we can get in a few more sessions and my little dudes were not painted in vain.

later
Tom

Hey,

So you may remember, I had a guy paint up a nice set of 15mm sci-fi troops. This weekend, I finally got a chance to get them on the table. Unfortunately, I forgot my iPad so I could only take photos with my camera phone...which isn't the best, frankly. However, some of the pictures came out OK.

( See our tiny fighting men in action! )

In the end, we were surprised at how close the game had been. The low tech side died and died and died, but they delayed long enough to eke out a win. I am pleased to discover that my professionally painted guys appear to have escaped the "too pretty to win" curse that often afflicts well-done miniatures.

Among my various gaming projects for the new year, I want to paint up a few more 15mm Sci-fi forces so my guys have something to fight against. Specifically some alien armies to deal with. Should make for games that feel a bit more sci-fi.

later
Tom

Hey,

If you want to pick up a swath of fantasy minis and are willing to wait a bit to get them. Reaper minis is running a Kickstarter. A $100 pledge gets you over 60 minis. Half of them are low-level hordes (kobolds, goblins, rats) and the rest are characters, signature monsters and stuff. The minis are made out of this new polymer material. I haven't worked with it, but Reaper minis are consistently good stuff so it's a fairly safe bet.

The Kickstarter has funded so those are sure to come out. Now it's all about tasty stretch goals where you'll get extra characters and larger figures (giants, dragons, etc.). The only downside is that nothing shows up until March. Still, it's a pretty good deal as-is and if the stretch goals open up, the project could stock a good-sized dungeon.

later
Tom

Hey,

This weekend I ran a game of Force On Force for my usual gaming group down at Hobby Bunker. The scenario came out of the Enduring Freedom source book and was supposed to represent the fighting that took place in the early days of Operation Anaconda in March of 2002. That operation was marked by a number of snafus and screw-ups that could've spelled disaster for the Americans and it was only the bravery and determination of troops on the ground that got them home safe again.

( In our game, the Americans were all out of luck )

I apologized about the one-sided-ness of the game, but everyone did seem to have a pretty good time and they're interested in trying other scenarios so I guess that's a win. It's too bad, I was hoping to use this scenario later in August for the club's game day, but I might have to change it to something else. I really need to get more terrain put together. Being out in the open like that is killer, especially between two evenly matched opponents and most scenarios are a little more urban in nature.

Ah well, chalk one up for experience.
Tom