Stop the presses! Nearly four full months into 2022, I finally finished some figures! While I have several started with base colors, I just lacked the wherewithal to cross the finish line. After reading through the fantasy board on Little Wars Revisited and Lead Adventure Forum, and the VSF forum on the latter as well, plus a perusal of my back issues of Lone Warrior, enthusiasm shattered whatever mental resistance there was from having survived the Christmas game painting marathon.
The figures had been primed weeks ago, but Friday night I started the proper painting and by this afternoon the figures were sealed with Mod Podge and acrylic varnish:
To be fair, one of these had been painted months ago, but the other three were just completed. Because they lack scales, unlike the Reaper figures, they seemed the perfect candidates for the toy soldier gloss - I am rather pleased. The full unit of either ten or twelve will be quite the sight, I hope.
For the record, their color scheme is based around the Marine Iguana. As such, they'll fill a similar niche on Venus or in other fantasy type worlds. The figures themselves are from SCS Direct - part of their Fantasy: Series II box set - there are six of these figures per box, along with a ton of other figures. These are the cheapest lizard warrior figures for 1/32 that I am aware of, short of making conversions of humans with dinosaur heads. You can find these boxes on Amazon and eBay for around $20 usd. If you see someone selling them for $30something, move along.
Also finished this weekend, though perhaps less noteworthy, was another ruin. That makes 1 complete building, 3 ruins, and 1 stone wall (with still enough to make at least one more stone wall 8"-12" long) from a single piece of foam core/foam board that cost $1.25usd. I still have three sheets!
The figures are Toy Soldiers of San Diego US infantry painted a number of years ago (a number I don't actually know). They haven't seen use in quite some time. However, as I find myself less interested in gaming on the Eastern Front these days, their time may be coming again. In particular, I think I may revisit the Skirmish Campaigns Normandy: Heroes of Omaha and Panzer Lehr for a D-Day game this year.
A really excellent paint job on the lizard warriors John! They look awesome! You are getting quite good at building ruins and the money you are saving is significant! Very well done!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Brad! The best part about ruins is if I mess something up, it still looks like a ruin! In fact, this one was build from pieces I hacked away from one of the previous builds.
DeleteI like them lizards, great work. The ruined building looks spot on too.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Paul! I'm very pleased with the lizards.The lack of fine detail makes them very "toy soldiery". It has me looking closer at the other figures that came in the box that I was unsure of using.
DeleteThe lizards look excellent. I look forward to seeing them in action…
ReplyDeleteThank you! Me too! I plan to get them on the table as soon as possible using Fistful of Lead (5-7 figures per side is about right, so another batch of 3 will get me there) or a set of very small skirmish rules I like called Two-Page Skirmish.
DeleteAlways good to have foamcore on hand. The ruins are excellent btw and the lizard-warriors look just right to me..
ReplyDeleteThanks, Ross! I like to use foamcore as a photo backdrop so I usually try to keep one whole sheet around. Still, that leaves me with two to make more walls and buildings - although there comes a point when storage becomes an issue.
DeleteThat is a spectacular finish on the aliens. I like the white spots on the black. I decided that my ones were amphibians and so lurked in convenient lakes and swamps or seas. They would emerge on a certain dice role to menace anyone approaching their spawning areas. They were, in my game, among the creatures of Ozzz. They charge the invading Amerigans' Gatling gun which did put some holes in their numbers. I also added small shells to their bases.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much! Your figures were the ones that inspired me to get them. I like that idea of having them emerge on a particular die roll if anyone gets into their spawning areas. May have to borrow that!
DeleteThe Alien Lizards are great, as is your ruined building. You have been busy
ReplyDeleteThank you, Maudlin Jack! I was in a bit of a lull to start this year - I burned out preparing figures for my Christmas game. The idea of picking up a brush to paint figures didn't appeal at all, and forcing it, for a hobby that is supposed to bring joy, didn't seem a good approach. Leaving the Eastern Front WWII behind for now - due in no small part to Russia's invasion of the Ukraine - forced me to look at the rest of my collections. I decided I wanted someone I could root for (there's no one to root for when you're talking about the forces of Hitler and Stalin). Rethinking my focus and getting excited about British para and glider troops was the first step in coming back - that led to a desire for some buildings for small skirmish games. And it turns out, the buildings were a nice way to ease back into making something for my games.
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