Miniatures: Dropzone Commander - Scourge:Intruder Alpha

So as part of trying to clear some of my DZC backlog before Christmas I have also built the last item from my recent scourge reinforcement purchases. This is the Intruder Alpha, which is one of Hawk's older models (comparably) but as I've not personally reviewed it I thought I would do so.

The Packaging

As per previous posts these models come in a blister, which contains the models, firm foam and a card inlay

The model

Each Intruder consists of 6 parts: Main body, Transport cabin, Flight stand, Flight pole and Fight widget

They are a beautifully detailed model

Building the model

As you can see from the pictures in "The model" section these had some tags protruding from the back of the model, but as mentioned in previous posts these were easily removed thanks to the resin. There was then a little tidying elsewhere before they were ready to build.

Next was adding the transport cabin to the bottom of the body; although not difficult it was a little problematic, with the sides slipping during gluing, I thinking this is because the sides are flat and could do with some pegs and hold, but that's just my opinion. Then once glued they didn't look quite right with the bay door of each side the transport cabin not really lining up. I can live with it but it is a little disappointing, especially for a Hawk model.

Despite these very small - almost insignificant issues - these were built very quickly and are still lovely models.

These are now ready to rapidly deploy my Destroyers with a 30" full move/15" deployment move these are guaranteed to be in my opponents face/on an objective or focal point in no time...thank you very much :)

Due to the Christmas holiday this will be my last post of 2015!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Miniatures: Dropzone Commander - Scourge:Ravagers

So what with it being Christmas Eve who know what other goodies I will be receiving so I need to work on my backlog. As such here is my review of one of my recent purchases - the Ravagers.

The Packaging

As per previous posts these models come in a blister, which contains the models, firm foam and a card inlay

The Model

Each Ravager consists of 7 parts: 1 body, 2 guns and 4 legs

As with most Hawk models, this are extremely detailed, especially for their scale.

Building the model

The beauty of resin models is how easy the flash/excess comes off, this is particularly important s the legs were attached to a length of resin so need to be tidied/smoothed off to allow the ball joint to fit correctly.

Once all the flash and excess resin had been removed it was a simple case of gluing the legs into the relevant holes with a dab of superglue, making sure they were aligned so when they stood they weren't wonky. After-which I glued on the guns, which, thanks to the ball joint can face a multitude of ways, some of which are shown in the pictures above.

There we have it, 3 aircraft shooting, better armoured, big brother of the Prowler.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Miniatures: Dropzone Commander - Scourge:Oppressor

As you can't/shouldn't only build the new transport you specifically bought to transport your new commander unit, I built the oppressor shortly after the Harbinger.

The Packaging

So as mentioned in previous posts the model comes in a easy to open blister. Inside the blister you'll find the model, some firm foam and card inlay.


The model

Top

bottom

The model consists of 11 parts: Body, 6 legs, 2 plasma carbines (2 on right in picture) and 2 electroweb casters (attached to strip of resin)

Once again Hawk doesn't disappoint with this model, as it beautifully detailed. Both the top and the bottom are very detailed, bringing excitement at the painting potential.

 Building the model

Top down 

Underneath

At first glance I thought this model would be difficult to build what with all the parts however it was actually really easy.

Firstly I had to tidy it up and remove the flash. There wasn't too much, granted more than the Harbinger but as the excess is resin it cuts of easily and quickly.

I glued the legs on first using superglue, making sure that they aligned so when it's placed on the table it doesn't wobble, fall over or look stupid. After that I admittedly had to consult the internet to check where the plasma carbine and electroweb casters went. After a quick google image search I find the picture and applied the weapons correctly.

That was it! from blister opening to fully built in less than 10 minutes! 

Miniatures: Dropzone Commander - Scourge:Harbinger

As elaborately mentioned in my last post I have purchased some reinforcements for my Scourge in preparation for Invasion 2016.

Here is my personal review of the Harbinger

The Packaging

As with most Hawk products the model comes in a blister pack, which is easy to open by simply pressing on the front until the back opens. Inside the blister with the model is some firm foam and the card inlay.


The Model

As you can see from the pictures above the Harbinger only consists of 6 parts: Body, Tail, Arc caster, flight widget, flight peg, and flight stand.

The model is made of resin and is very detailed.

Building the model

The model was very easy to build with very little flash/excess resin. Once cleaned up it went together easily and quickly using superglue. That said I found that when I went add the tail I was either left with a gap in the join underneath or a miss-align of the "spine". As such I went for the gap so the model looked correct from when on the battlefield.

Within minutes my Harbinger was stuck together and ready to battle....which it was featured in only a few days later, where, unfortunately it was blasted out of the sky by rapiers; thankfully after it had deployed it's cargo!

++Reinforcements++

"Your reinforcements have been granted" came a voice over the radio. A voice within voice, and yet echoing the screams of a billion souls.

The sky was suddenly filled with a thousand small fireballs burning up in the atmosphere, as something much larger descended through it.

The craft landed on the edge of the city; it's bay doors opened releasing the requested reinforcements. Firstly the manta-ray like Harbinger drifted out, with three ravagers underneath connected by an electro-magnetic field. The Harbinger lowered itself further until the legs of the ravagers touched the ground, released them and floated up hovering in the sky. The ravagers faced the ground commander and then strode off into the city as if following some unmentioned command.

Next two intruder light dropships flew out of the bay doors and hovered in the sky. Before shooting off into the city at a blinding speed.

"Thank you, my lord..." came a voice from the ground commander, which was cut short as a huge hulking crab like beast crawled out of the landing craft, it scuttled up to the slayer tank the ground commander was in. It's optical sensors widened as it watched the ground commander.

Suddenly alarms started bleeping, and everyone's attention was drawn to the sky as two enemy interceptors started their approach at incredible speed, their weapons glowing ready to fire. Before they could get any shots off an arc of lightning ascended from the ground slicing them in half; their wreckage tumbled to the ground creating a small explosion followed by several fires.

The alarms were silenced and the ground commander turned to face the imposing crab-like machine in front of him.

"I am an oppressor" boomed a voice from within the crustacean as a razor sharp claw descended and pierced the crew compartment of the slayer in front of him, causing it to explode.

The Oppressor then turned towards the city and scuttled off.

As it turned and moved off, another craft began it's decent through the atmosphere, a craft unlike their own, a craft carrying something else....

So the story above provides a little flare to my recent purchases which include some reinforcements for my scourge and a new army - the Shaltari!

I bought these from a company I have just discovered called Asylum Wargaming (http://asylumwargaming.tictail.com/), and I cannot fault their service!

On Black Friday I ordered:
Oppressor
Intruder Alpha
Ravagers
Two Harbringers
Shaltari starter set
Shaltari command cards
Jaguar Warstrider
Coyote Warstrider
and a Ocelot Warstrider

As the order was over £80 I got free shipping, and because it was "black Friday" I got a further £10 off their already discounted products! Happy days!

None of the items were in stock when I ordered them in the evening of the 27/11 and yet they were delivered to me on 07/12! a brilliant turnaround in my opinion!

I cannot recommend these guys enough....now to get building my scourge reinforcements ready for Invasion 2016!

Miniatures: Dropzone Commander - Scourge: Destroyers

Still riding on the high of running the dropzone tournament at Warfare and buying my ticket to Invasion 2016 I thought it was time to improve my scourge force. So I dug out my destroyers that I bought months ago.

Here is my review:

The packaging:

As with most Hawk products these destroyers were packed snugly into the blister pack.
The pack opens very easily after a quick removal of the top with some scissors and the rest just pops open.
I really like Hawk blisters as they close nicely once opened and can then be used for anything you wish, personally I use my as a pallet when painting or to store bitz from other products.

The models

This blister contains 12 destroyers in 3 different poses and 3 bases with 3 holes in each.

I must admit I was a little disappointed in these when I first saw them as, despite them being detailed overall, they seem to lack detail in certain areas like the head. I find it difficult to decipher what is what. Now you could argue how much detail can you have at 10mm, which is where I point you to the original metal scourge warriors which I feel were detailed.

I am hoping that when I start to paint them the detail will come out, and it's the shine of the bare metal is obscuring the detail

The building of the models

The models were removed easily from the excess metal they were attached to, some had even come off when in the blister.

Each model needed some tidying from flash and excess metal, some more than others. Thankfully there wasn't too much as removing flash at this scale is fiddly.

Once all the flash was removed I applied a small dab of super-glue to the hole in the base and on the foot that didn't have the hole nub. On some occasions the models seemed a little weighty, resulting in them falling over, so I had to hold a few in place until the glue dried. Also due to their bulky size I found that some hung over the base, I know that doesn't matter in game terms but it matters aesthetically to me.

All in all they didn't take much time to clean up and build, and I'm reasonable happy with them as models.
I know they are good in game terms so will probably buy more. I just hope painting them resolves my concerns about the detail

Painting: Lion Rampant - Foot Sergeants

This weeks painting post is for the Billmen from the Perry Miniatures War of the Roses box set which has actually taken me quite some time, I think it because I used a multiple wash process, but I feel it's paid off.

As ever all paints used are Vallejo unless otherwise stated

I started with basing them on 20mm Renedra bases, then covered the bases with sand, and undercoating in Halfords Matt Black.

                          
 Next the metal armour and Bill heads were painted with gunmetal (72.054)

 Then I painted the leather armour, belts, some shoes, hair and bags Beasty Brown (72.043)

In this picture you'll see that I painted the flesh with Bronze Fleshtone (72.036), and the cloth with Enscorpena Green (72.032). I painted the cloth green so that when I use them for my KoW KoM they work as a filter army for my undead - all based around the fluff in the KoW rulebook.

I then tidied up the models using Abaddon Black (GW) for the black sections and liberally applied Dark tone (Army Painter) all over. This is unusual for me to apply the tone before I've finished painting but I wanted to try something different.

                            

Once the dark tone was dry I drybrushed the flesh with Elf Flesh (GW), and painted the metal areas with Chainmail Silver (72.053). I then applyied Nuln Oil wash (GW) to the armour and bill heads.

Billmen

Command

Next I applied Leather Brown (72.040) to the leather armour and some shoes, (leaving some shoes beasty brown) these were then drybrushed with Plague Brown (72.039). I painted the belts and bags with Plague Brown (72.039), which was then drybrushed with Bonewhite (72.034). The metal armour was drybrushed with Silver (72.052), as were the studs on the leather armour.

I decided I didn't like the green cloth after all so I painted it in British battledress (Flames of war paint set), washed it with Strong Tone (Army Painter) and then drybrushed with Earth (72.062) when the strong tone was dry.

The bases were then painted with Charred Brown (72.045) and then static grass was applied. After the glue had dried I used Matt Varnish (70.520)

There we are; 2 foot sergeants/Billmen ready for battle.

In the pictures below I have laid them out according to relevant game system:

KoW - Regiment of Billmen for KoM

Lion Rampant - Foot Sergeants

Warfare review

So last weekend was Warfare, and I was a stand-in tournament organiser for the dropzone commander tournament. I met some great people and saw some beautiful models.

Unfortunately I didn't use my laptop to record the results so I need obtain them to be able post those results, so watch this space.

As with any good tournament lessons were learnt so to improve on next year - the most important one is to document what armies everyone brings!

Watching and running the tournament inspired me to take part in a DZC tournament and as such I'm now signed up for Invasion 2016!! So straight in at the deep end.

With this in mind December and January will be Invasion practice; I'll try to post the details of my games along with any painting/building I under take.

Now despite being surrounded by loads of great trade stands, and vast selection in the bring & buy I restrained myself and only bought:

• Perry Miniatures - Light Cavalry
• Reconquest Phase 1
• DZC Scourge Minders
• DZC Objective markers
• Blast wall external corners from Ainsty-Castings
• Some D20

So not many models to build but it was stuff I needed, so I'm happy, although I do need more scourge to create a competitive list for invasion.

Warfare: Wargaming convention - Reading

Well it's that time of the year; time for Warfare: the local wargaming convention held by the club I frequent.

As such there is no update as I'm busy preparing for that.

Hope those of you that visit enjoy it as much as I usually do.

Painting: Pike & Shotte/Pikemans Lament - English Civil War: Musketeers (Scheme 2)

What follows scheme 1....scheme 2 of course!

So like scheme 1 below is a basic overview on the scheme, originally described in my Firelock storming party post. I will go into more details in this post as to how it was applied and what paints were used, most of which were from the Vallejo Game color range, unless otherwise stated.

Scheme 2
Undercoat British Battle Dress (Bolt Action - Warlord spray)
Straps: Leather
Flesh: bronzed flesh
Metals: Gun metal
Gun stock: Bestial Brown
Boots: Bestial Brown or Black or Leather or left as undercoat
Wash with AP strong tone

So I started with an undercoat of British Battle Dress (Bolt Action - Warlord spray), then painted the skin in Bronze Fleshtone (72.036), as you can see its rather messy but I won't worry about that at this time.

Next I painted the guns, bags, powder holders, boots, hair etc Beasty Brown (72.043), then painted Leather Brown (72.040) on some of the boots, some hair, and all of the bags, powder holders etc.

Then I used Abaddon Black (GW) on the gun barrels, boots and hair. Then Gunmetal (72.054) was applied to the gun barrels.

In this picture I'm showing the different hair colours, I've already described the browns and blacks used above, the other colours are Cold Grey (72.050) and Hot Orange (72.009)

The collars and cuffs were painted Ceramite White (GW), then the models were tidied up. The coats and trousers were tidied up using British Battle dress from a Flames of War paint set. Then Army painter strong tone was liberally applied

Once the strong tone was dry, I drybrushed the coat and trousers with Earth (72.062), the leathers with Plague Brown (72.039) and the flesh with Elf Flesh (GW). I then applied a Matt Varnish (70.520). Next was I covered the base in sand and once dry painted it Charred Brown (72.045) then covered in static grass.

There you have it, like the previous post, 16 musketeers ready for ECW or KoW.

Regiment layout for Kings of War

Painting: Pike & Shotte/Pikemans Lament - English Civil War: Musketeers (Scheme 1)

I decided it was time to paint something different to Kings of War undead, and thought I've overlooked my "For King and Country" box set for too long. Also by painting up something from that box set I have a painted unit for my Kings of War Kingdom of Men army - Double win.

As some of you may remember (or can easily reference by looking back through my blog posts) I painted my Firelock storming party first and from that I came up with two painting schemes - this was so I could split my army for intro games.

So below is a basic overview on the scheme, originally described in my Firelock storming party post. I will go into more details in this post as to how it was applied and what paints were used, most of which were from the Vallejo Game color range, unless otherwise stated.

Scheme 1
Undercoat: Camo green (Halford)
Straps: Leather
Flesh: Bronzed flesh
Metals: Gun metal
Gun stock: Bestial Brown
Boots: Bestial Brown or Black or Leather
Wash with AP strong tone

So I started with an undercoat of Camo Green Spray from Halfords, then painted the skin in Bronze Fleshtone (72.036), as you can see its rather messy but I won't worry about that at this time.

Next I painted the guns, bags, powder holders, boots, hair, belts and straps with Beasty Brown (72.043), then painted Leather Brown (72.040) on some of the boots, some hair, and all of the bags, powder holders, belts & straps. You'll also notice I found a stand of 3 more, so I quickly got them up to the same stage as the rest.

Then I used Abaddon Black (GW) on the gun barrels, belt buckles, boots, and hair (Left picture). Then Gunmetal (72.054) was applied to the gun barrels, firing locks and belt buckles (Right picture).

In this picture I'm showing the different hair colours I've painted, reflecting the different ages in a musketeer unit. I've already described the browns and blacks used above, the other colours are Cold Grey (72.050) (Darker grey of the two), Stonewall Grey (72.049) (Lighter grey of the two) and Hot Orange (72.009)

The collars and cuffs were painted Ceramite White (GW), then the models were tidied up. The coats and trousers were tidied up using Yellow Olive (72.064). Then Army painter strong tone was liberally applied

Once the strong tone was dry, I drybrushed the coat and trousers with Camouflage Green (72.031), the leathers with Plague Brown (72.039), the musket fuse with Bonewhite (72.034) and the flesh with Elf Flesh (GW). I then applied a Matt Varnish (70.520). Next was I covered the base in sand and once dry painted it Charred Brown (72.045) then covered in static grass.

There you have it 16 musketeers, all ready to fight; Be it during the English Civil War or in the fantasy world of Mantica for the Kingdom of Men (As a unit of arquebusiers). But 16 is such a horrid number for Kings of War (although perfectly legal for a regiment (1/2 unit size +1)) I prefer the whole 20 so 4 more are to be built soon.

Thanks for reading.

Regiment of arquebusiers for KoW

Miniatures: Pike & Shotte - Ordnance battery

So back in May I bought the Pike & Shotte Ordnance Battery, which has been sitting in my cupboard gather dust until now!

Now I've decided it's time to come out, be built and taken to the fields of war!

The Packaging 
So the box has some great artwork on the front and a great picture on the back of the models built and painted, as well as a list of what's in the box..sort of, we'll come to that later.

The cardboard itself is a little flimsy for the contents as it's packed full of resin and metal.

The resin scenic bases and the barriers are wrapped in bubble wrap and the artillery & crew are split into two blisters: One contains a Saker cannon, the other a Mortar and Demi-Culverin

The Models

The scenic bases are beautiful and highly detailed. However mine came out of the box warped which annoyed me slightly until someone online pointed out that if I dropped them in warm water they would bend into the required position and as it turned out it was better than that: once removed from the hot water the bases flattened.

Saker cannon, crew, master engineer, sentinel and master gunner. The cannon lacks any real detail, other than the wood frame, but then it's a cannon, does it need any? the crew and other models a beautifully detailed.

The same can be said the Demi-Culverin, mortar and crew.

The building of the models

The cannons had the most flash, which in most cases was quickly removed, however there was some more difficult pieces on the holding bar of the wheel, which took a little while to remove (compared to the other bits). But as the models only consisted of four parts they went together quickly and easily.

The mortar fits straight into its scenic base, then two little metal straps are placed over the arms, holding the mortar in place.

The crew and other models had excess metal and flash, but again this was quickly removed. However on some models the part the flash was attached too was a little flimsy so when the flash was removed it bent the part, resulting in a wobbly, rather than straight, item.

I was torn whether to glue the cannons and crew to the scenic bases but I have decided not to for ease of storage. So the crew have been mounted on 20mmx20mm bases.

All in all it took no more than an hour to unpack, clean up and put together. It has made me realise how much I prefer plastic models over metal, as metal chippings cover my desk or ping off across the room. But now I have artillery for my Parliamentarian force or my Kingdom of Men: One box of miniatures, several uses - now that's resourcefulness.

Demi Culverin, mortar and crew on scenic bases