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