Off the Workbench - Mike W

Not to be out done by John, I took the time to re-base my 28mm Highlanders for our forthcoming game.

15 x Musketeers, 12 x Pikemen, 12 x Warband and 3 x Chieftains

Highland Pike Block of 12 men. Warlord Games figures.

Highland unit of Shot, with 12 men. Warlord Games figures.

Highland Clan Warriors, again 12 men. 
Unknown figures but including 2 x Warlord GAmes figures.

3 x super fit / hench Highland Chieftains,
manufacturer unknown / forgotten!

Off the Workbench - 28mm VBCW Infantry

What can you do with yourself when the temperature outside is hot enough to fry an egg on the pavement?! You stay inside and do some painting!

Its currently 34C here in this part of teh UK, so I'm sitting at my workbench with a fan blowing and feeling reasonably comfortable...

The heatwave has given me a chance to complete a batch of 28mm VBCW Infantry, mostly sourced from eBay at a very reasonable price and painted up to be presented here.

There are 18 x metal figures and 2 x Wargames Atlantic WW1 British INfantry kitbashes.

The group of freshly painted and based figures

Three guys wh will likely be used as Worker's Militia, hence the red scarves or armband.

Three new Fire Brigades Militia plus th eone I did for last week's post.
Figure on the right is a metal guy, the rest are WA plastic Kitbashes.

The only fascist in the village (so far!), a BUF ruffian.

Two guys inraincoats, they could be detectives, civilians or
BUF Secret Police, who knows?!

A group of 7 generic militiamen, suitaboe for any faction

And another view, with back row moved to front

Finally, four odds and ends, (L to R), an Army Deserter, Militia Officer and
American Volunteer and  a guy with two stick grenades.

Off the Workbench - Mike W

It's been a while since I put an 'Off the Workbench' post for myself, it's not that I haven't been painting, I've just busy with real life!

Here is a quick summary of my latest output, eclectic as ever...

Firstly,  19 figures for the club's ongoing Marian Wars campaign. 12 pikemen are Wargames Atlantic Conquistadors configured as Scots  there are two Warlord Games ECW pikemen converted / press ganged into use for the same project.

Then finally 5 x GW Empire figures who will also be utilised in the campaign.

Sharp end of the pike block

I have painted most of these figures to have a wool quilted jacket that would offer some protection to the wearer from pike thrusts and sword cuts, apparently common in Scotland and giving a distinctive 'white' look.

Final view of the pikemen

Three GW scoundrels, a musketeer, bowman and someone to lead the Forlorn Hope!

Two more GW figures, and artilleryman and a crossbowmen.

Then the two converted Warlord Games ECW pikemen, the guy on the right has had a buckler shield added and his left arm changed for a Wargames Atlantic pointing arm....

After taking the photos for ths post, I realised that I'd forgotten to add the pike block's banner to the group, so here it is a generic Stewart Banner. (In reality that of John Stewart from about 150 years earlier!)

Next a selection of figures that I an putting together for a 28mm VBCW game.

A Rolls Royce, pressed in to service and 5 Infantryman from a generic British Infantry Regiment. There is also 1 x Firefighter who has joined the fray.

Figures are Wargames Atlantic WW1 British Infantry but the Firefighter is a kit-bash, US Rangers torso and legs from a Warlord Games kit and arms, weapons and head from a Perry's 8th Army kit.

I have yet to figure out a setting / background story for such a game but would envisage the regulars to split support between various faction's forces, whilst the Fire Brigade militia would (in my mind) side with a Worker's militia as elite troops....

Setting is likely to be either London, Liverpool or Glasgow. 

The Rolls Royce is a repurposed diecast model, the 5 x Infantry men it's crew.

Another view of the Infantry men

Final view, showing the Lewis Gunner!

Maybe the the LFB Militia - maybe Liverpool or London Fire Brigades.
Crack militia for the Socialist Workers.

Next are some Sci-Fi figures,  all bar one, Wargames Atlantic. They represent various ground forces, the coloured tabs on uniforms representing Arm of Service. Yellow for Assault Troopers, Red for Mercenary/ Axillaries and Green for the regular Grunts. This is a work in progress so colour assignment may change or be added to! BTW Navy is Blue and Merchant Navy is White.

There are also two figures painted to represent Spectrum forces for a Captain Scarlet game I am toying with....

Two mercenaries and an Assault Trooper on the right.
The central figure carries a 'Blooper' grenade launcher.

Two more mercenaries to the fore and another Assault Trooper on the right.

A Spectrum Infantryman, with Captain Brown accompanying him.

Another view of the Spectrum Infantryman, all other ranks having the same olive drab jacket colour and uniform trim

Close-up of Captain Brown, a figure from an old 1960/70s boardgame.

AHPC XVI: From Mike W - My last post of the Challenge or Odds & ends on my Workbench (45 Points)

 Well this is my last post for this challenge, as ever it had been fun and as the name implies - challenging!

I'd like to take the opportunity to thank everyone involved in running the challenge, great work! And let's all join the two wee guys below and raise a glass to all our beloved minions...

As the title of this post suggests  I have literally looked to clear all those stray items on my workbench that have stalled and hit a backwater in the last few months.

First off are two Warlord Games ECW Highlanders who along with their compatriots are being readied for a potential future game. These two seemed to have been waylaid at the pub and were missed when I completed their friends last summer.

Two Highlanders celebrating the end of this year's challenge!

Although the figures give a sense of wearing tartan, actually bottled out trying to paint full tartan on these guys. instead after doing a base colour of green or blue, I used marker pens to draw lines in a chequered pattern over the base colour. I tried to make the lines follow the flow of eth cloth but didn't worry too much about making them too accurate.

A couple of spots in contrasting colours before applying a varnish - the important thing here being it was an oil based varnish as the markers were water soluble and using water based varnish literally wipes the lines out! Once the varnish was dry (overnight) I was then able to apply Army Painter washes & Inks to add shading to the cloth and it turned a dodgy child like tartan into something that is in my opinion tabletop passable!

The reverse view

Below is a test figure I did based upon a sprue of figures on the front of a magazine some time ago, I forget now if it was a Perrys or a Wargames Atlantic product....

Later War MP34 infantryman

Finally painted and based!

Another view

At my Wargames Club we are gearing up for a campaign set in the Marion Wars (Mary Queen of Scots) period of Scottish history. The crossbowman below us another figure that got separated and lost from his parent unit on my workbench...

.... yes, my workbench can get quite chaotic at times and usually only gets sorted and cleaned when my wife puts her foot down!

Completed Crossbowman

He could be on either side of the conflict

These Zombicide Invader Survivors have finally been completed, I started these when I was doing my Xenos earlier in the challenge.

Five more Zombicide Survivors

For some reason, I always struggle with doing the survivor figures in these post Apocalyptic games - the monsters always seem more fun to paint. That said I'm almost decided to use North Star figures to provide the Survivors for scenarios I put on as I will develop stats cards for them to be Mining Corporation Marines, providing security for the Corporations mining sites - I like the figures better and I find them more fun to paint!

In case you wondered, Commander Amadi in the Yellow Power Suit
and Madame Singleton to his right

Left to Right: Cloud, Emma & Val

AHPC XVI: From Mike W: More 28mm Skaven Plague Monks (55 Points)

 As mentioned on Monday here is my follow-up post showing the balance of the GW Plague Monk Unit that I was working on, trying to get it finished by the Challenge Deadline...

The completed batch of 10 x GW Plague Monks

There are 10 x figures in this batch, half of them being 'regular' Plague Monks whilst the other 5 are a little more exotic - being leaders, musicians & Champions etc!

A view from the left of the line...

Again the recipe I used to paint these has been laid out elsewhere in my posts, I wanted to take more time getting the banners just right for these little guys - trying to balance the look an feel in other units in my collection and reflect the rough and ready 'scrawl' that these rat men might use to daub their banners....

And a slightly different head on view

The 5 x 'Regular' Plague Monks, showing their right hand side

So I still have a few odds and ends left on my workbench, so we'll see what I'm able to get completed for  final post on Friday night (UK time) hopefully still within challenge deadlines!

And their left hand side, each is armed with two hand weapons

A close-up on the Plague Monk's unit banner

A close-up on another of their banners

And finally their musician and a couple of guys carrying scrolls and bells!

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SKULLS

+9 Skulls

POINTS

10 x 28mm Skaven Plague Monks  @ 5 Pts ea.            50 Points

AHPC XVI: From Mike W - 13 x Skaven Infantry (65 Points)

 Well we're now into the Free Fire section of this year's challenge - I can't believe how quickly the time has passed!

In this post I am presenting 13 x Warhammer Fantasy Skaven figures, 10 x Plague Monks and 3 x Clan Rats, I have 10 or so more Plague Monks to complete as well as some other odds and ends but decided to submit these figures as I complete them as I remember being too late on a posting either last year or the year before and missing out on the points! Sorry if this is creating extra work for our beloved minions....

So these guys follow my existing recipe for Skaven, as previous discussed but they are bigger and slightly better attired than their Clan Rat brothers, that said they are still pretty scruffy & dirty!    

Completed group of 13 x Skaven

To maintain the look and feel of the army, they have the same dirty green & rat grime robes, the distinction of being Plague Monks comes in their decoration by bells, religious scripts and rather nasty boils on their bodies....

Another view of the group

...and another!

Amongst the Plague Monks are also to be found a couple of Clan Rats that I missed for the last post and a venerable old Rat from the first edition of GW plastic Fantasy figures!

You can see the boils on the right hand figure,
painted in light flesh with a red ink wash and then highlighted yellow.

More boils on the middle figure here

Hopefully I can get the second batch of these guys completed in the next 3 days - these will have many more bells & whistles on them and hopefully give the whole unit some additional visual umph!

The 2 x Clan Rats leftover from the last submission

'Old Ratty', found in the depths of my spares box!

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POINTS

13 x 28mm Skaven Infantry @ 5 Pts ea.                                                65 Points