The war of tomorrow in 28mm..... Part 2

Some of of you may recall my first article on aliens/villains for Ambush Alley Games' Tomorrow's War (if not, find it here). I promised then that this would be the first in a series, and here's the continuation. This time I'm looking at minis mostly from the excellent Hasslefree Miniatures, the Druusch and some other odds 'n' sods.

HFSA004 Druuschan Drones (pack of 2) 

The Druusch: Zombie soldiers and cyber zombies. Not very alien, but plenty Sci Fi, right? Here's where I mix it up a bit. The Darghaur (again, one of the big movers and shakers of the 'Tomorrowverse' select susceptible individuals from each race they conquer to 'uplift' as liaisons. I've got a bunch of human psychics already painted (of whom pics below) who can act as leaders for my units. The Druusch will effectively be irregulars under the TW rules, low quality, high morale troops (not unlike Synthetic Humans) who rely on their leaders being alive to act properly. My thinking is that the Zombies are the products of an unscrupulous scientist cadre on an outlying (and isolated) human world, who were made a simple offer through a Darghaur liaison – turn your weapons over to Darghaur service, and be freed from all ethical constraints by your new masters!

Naturally, this provides all sorts of scenario opportunities – kill the scientists, destroy the 'conversion' chambers, free the prisoners awaiting conversion etc.

The Druusch are also a much more flexible race than the Sharclons, with 3 different troop types:

The large 'Jotuns', the smaller 'Strykers', and the regular 'Drones'. 

The Drones are clearly light infantry, no better than D6 quality with TL2 weapons and maybe TL1 armour (hey, they're wearing helmets. Safety first, kids!).
The Strykers are also light infantry (no pics as yet, they're still on the bench) but I'd give them slightly higher quality and each one comes with a SAW or other light support weapon. Probably best used as specialists, 1 per drone squad.

HFSA001 Druuschan Jotun #1

The Jotuns are the big boys (These guys are on 40mm bases!). Heavy weapons, some armour, pokey little brain cases though – high firepower weapons with similar troop quality to the Strykers.

Of course, these are another unit who will be hard going to break down. Very high morale, but easy to kill, unlike the Sharclons. They could certainly have Intimidating as a quality due to their size and their heavy firepower (I'd make that cannon a 4D weapon myself.

I mentioned Psychic leadership earlier. Essentially they'd function as bot controllers in Tomorrow's War, with a limited range and disruptable only by other psychics or the controller being hit by a weapon capable of targeting them specifically (such as a sniper team) or a weapon designed to disorientate like a flashbang. I've got a few minis earmarked for this but I'm always on the lookout for more suggestions. Here they are:

Wyrd Games' Bishop

 When I was painting this guy I decided he was a convict, possibly one of the scientist's original subjects (maybe sold off by the privatised prison he was held in once his government stopped paying the holding bill - a la Mass Effect 2), hence his prison orange jumpsuit trousers, chains, and olive drab gear looted from dead jailers. As such the guy was probably revelling in his new-found power, despite the horrific experiments he had to endure to get there. Sadly, his mind did not survive the process of gifting him mental control of his new undead minions. Room in there for a sub-plot scenario pitting him and some zombies against some lightly-equipped security and the Prison Warden who sold him off?
Painting wise he's quite a simple job, but some of the fiddly details made him take longer than he should have done; a common finding with Wyrd minis. Still a solid mini, one piece and full of character and storytelling potential.

Mongoose Publishing Zombie Mistress

With a name like 'Zombie Mistress' how could I resist this one? From Mongoose Publishing, I think this is a very solid mini. She is clearly posessed of great psychic (and probably telekinetic) power but is likely to be unhinged. She'll probably have Frenzy as a special rule. I envision her as a victim of the scientist cabal, taken prisoner during the initial Darghaur invasion. Possibly not as old as she looks, prematurely aged by the psychic 'enhancement' process. I forsee a scenario with a bounty-hunting team or US Marines headhunter unit out to capture/kill her and her warparty as they try to seize more captives to add to their ranks.
Another mini with loads of scenario building potential. Paint wise, quite simple, the body suit is a more generic pale brown than the Mongoose version (which I suspect is supposed to be made of patches of human skin) using a Vallejo Model Colour English Uniform base, lightened up to GW Foundation Khemri Brown. The cloak is VMC Black Grey highlighted up through GW Mechanicus Standard Grey to Codex Grey. The hair started black and was harshly highlighted up to white, and then a coat of Devlan Mud made it look lank and grimy. The claws (and the greaves) are a Reaper gold I got as a sample pot some years ago, and the blood effect is a mix of Vallejo Game Colour Charred Brown 1:1 Tamiya Clear Red, highlighted with pure TCR.

The last mini is this, formerly from Masq-mini (I think):

Edited for those at work!

This girl is clearly not a willing victim. Brainwashed, probably drugged, maybe a natural psychic, she is held in place by chains and is clearly wrestling with the forces coursing through her mind, trying to break free. I will likely use her as a prisoner/control node of some sort in a base defence scenario, with the guardians being under her control - neutralise her and cut resistance significantly. Free her, and she could be a powerful ally in a later scenario!
I painted her as an exercise in flesh tones. She was clearly designed as a more Fantasy setting mini, looking at her clothing, so I gave her blue hair to make her a bit more punk/SF. I have deliberately left her eyes pure white to emphasise the unnatural forces she is channelling. The chains were a bit fiddly to do, being actual loose chain link, but she was a fun little mini to paint. Pick one up if you can find her!

So how do they look as forces?

Family photo - Say Cheese! :)

 Well I've got to say I'm pretty happy with them so far. I've got a trio of Strykers and a pair of additional Jotuns to add. I'd also like to add some crazed scientists as VIPs. I'm thinking Moonfleet Miniatures' and Crooked Dice's offerings here may suffice. I want looks-good-but-easy-to-paint, basically.

Forward!

 So that's some thoughts on the Druusch.

I have some thoughts on Hasslefree's Grymn to come next. These are very flexible, as we shall see....

Posted by The Doc.

The Word of Lorgar; a journey into painting an Arch-Heretic.....

When Codex: Chaos Space Marines came out I was struck by the appearance of this guy;

The Dark Apostle. He seems to embody all the fluff surrounding the infamous Word Bearers legion. A dark parody of the grim-faced Space Marine Chaplains, this guy preaches the word of the slavering beasts of the Warp.

I picked him up the week after he came out, and then he joined the lead and resin mountain. I got to talking with Sgt Longbeard a few weeks ago, who while mainly known for being a Warhammer Fantasy collector, mentioned that he liked the look and feel of the Word Bearers after reading the trilogy of novels by Anthony Reynolds sometime last year. He also mentioned he had been thinking about picking up a 40k army, but this wouldn't happen till next year.

Off I went to the miniature mountain with a gleam in my eye....

I wish I'd taken on-sprue pictures, but after the horror stories of Finecast (possibly more on which in an upcoming post by SabbatWolf, if I can get her out of the catatonic state that cleaning and straightening 10 Incubi has put her in) in the early days, I was a bit surprised by how well this guy was cast, on the whole. There seem to be tonnes of feeds (to ensure the resin feeds into the nooks and crannies properly, for the uninitiated), and I'm sure that's overkill, but relatively few airbubbles to speak of.

There are some gaps here and there when assembled, but probably less than if he'd been a metal cast.

I have two big issues with the material;

• Flexibility – normal, real, unfilled resin does not bend the way this stuff does. I suspect the use of a filler is the main reason for the masses of feeds, and also the main reason for this aspect. The icon to mount on the guys backpack wilts in a stiff breeze. Not good. This may have to be replaced.
• Use of triangular blocks in places to ensure filling – now for the most part these aren't a problem, they slice off easily, but in a couple of spots they are across detail, particularly the cuneiform symbols etched into his greaves. Irritating, especially when you've airbrushed the basecoat on and spot one you missed!
  All that aside, he's a great mini. Loads of character, and some really nice touches to tie him into the cultist models he'll eventually lead (the chaos star pendants and similar).

Once I'd done with the assembly, it was on to the painting!

I used my trusty airbrush (just a cheap chinese-made Badger copy I bought for basecoating) and these colours:

Vallejo Model Air. Love 'em :)

I applied a solid basecoat of the surface primer straight over the resin. It's what it's designed for!

I followed this up with a roughly zenithal highlight of the Fire Red, followed by the Ferrari Red, giving particular attention to the chestplate and shoulder pauldrons. I want the legion symbol to pop when I get it on there.

We end up with this:

 

Total time so far - probably less than 30 minutes

A note on basing; he's pinned onto a bit of spare sprue. This is a tip I got from a Youtube video (by Buypainted, I think) as a cheap and easy way to avoid handling an unbased figure. He'll eventually be based on a nice scenic base (of which another article soon) but for now this will do.

Next job, block in the areas to be dark colours in black. For this I prefer Vallejo Model Colour black. It's the flattest consistent finish I have found, and I will travel out of my way to buy more. The face I blocked in in Privateer Press P3 Midlund Flesh. I've been looking for a replacement for Cadian Fleshtone, and this is it! He's going to end up pretty pale, so this is a good start.

Next step – Ink wash with an old pot of GW Baal Red. I could have used Carroburg Crimson, but I had this to hand. You can't see much of a difference in my dodgy pictures, so I didn't bother uploading one one.

Once the ink was dry (I left it a good 2 hours) I picked out all the areas to be metallic in GW Chainmail. Sadly departed and replaced, but still available from Coat d'Arms. Try Black Hat Models for yours. I tend to get mine from them at shows - great range, and good quality too.

So this is where we stand. Still to do – details! Books on the ground will be dark brown, the Book Of Lorgar at his belt will get some special treatment (maybe it's bound in Space Marine skin?) The parchments will be the traditional off-white and I haven't quite decided what I'm doing with the staff/dark crozius yet. First I need to bend the parchment streamers on his pack into shape (ironic, as Finecast is most often out of shape) as they currently try to occupy the came space as his right leg. The pack will probably just end up black with sharp edge highlighting. Who knows, if I'm feeling really brave i might do some tattoos on that nice big bald pate of his.....

Posted by The Doc