Catching Up

Wow, I have been slack here. No new posts since February. But I have done a ton of painting and completed several projects, not least of which is my Tallarn army for 40K. This is basically going to be a big photo dump of all the things I’ve been working on since then, with a few comments about what you’re seeing.

 

First of all, I finished my Tallarn army! I’m really happy with the way this army turned out. The detail and character on the minis is great and the theme (LRDG) fits it perfectly. The Rough Riders are the centerpiece models. Unfortunately, their in-game performance does not match how awesome they look, but whatever!

I have had a couple games with my Tallarn. So far, I have lost every single time. Heh! But again, oh well. It’s 40K so what do you expect? These pics are from a fun narrative scenario where the Tallarn were accompanying an Inquisitor on a doomed archeological dig. The Tallarn defended their outpost to the last against the Necrons (who pretty much just plowed them under).

Now, if there is any game that I have played a lot of this year, it’s the excellent Dropzone Commander. I can count the number of games of 40K I’ve played on both hands. I’ve lost count of how much DZC I have played! The game has really taken off at the store and the community is vibrant and growing. We’ve expanded our games beyond the default urban setting as you can see. My UCM army is big and getting bigger! I love the UCM air power! Dropzone Commander scratches an itch for me that was once fulfilled by Epic Space Marine. It seems to be doing the same for a number of other folks.

Round about when I finished my Tallarn, I started painting some of the Knight Models Batman miniatures. Still haven’t played yet but I love these figures. Since it’s a true skirmish game, I’ve tried to do my best on these models and make them look as good as I can get them.

In the summer, I started playing Bolt Action. This game is super fun and I’m hoping to play more of it in the future! I’ve had an American infantry force sitting around for a while, so it was good to finally play!

And pretty much the last thing I’ve done recently is paint up the ships for the HALO Fleet Battles game! Spaceships are super easy and fast to paint. I knocked two fleets out in a week! The game is fun too!

That’s what I’ve been up to since February! There’s much more to come!

WIP Tallarn Rough Riders

Disassembled, old primer stripped, much cleaning (including time in an ultrasonic cleaner), re-based, new primer (Dupli-Color). I took pictures of each one before I pulled them apart, so I can put them back together the way Greg originally had them. Now for paint!

Tallarn Veterans

I have finished the core infantry squads of my Tallarn force. Three squads of Veterans and a Command Squad. I still need to build out three more Tauroxes for their transport, then it’s on to the supporting units. Much more to come!

Tallarn!

Here’s a nice big photo dump of my first few Tallarn minis. I am finally starting in on my long-standing desire to build a Tallarn Desert Raider force. They are going to be a light, fast raiding force, modeled on the historical British Army Long Range Desert Group in WW2. The infantry will all be veterans packing as many special weapons as I can on to them. Like their historical counterparts, they will roll in trucks. In 40K terms, I’m mounting them up in the Taurox, converted into 4WD with some Zinge Industries wheels. I plan to fill the FA slots with Sentinels and a squad of Rough Riders – these are some amazing conversions done by the guy I bought the minis from. He put the riders on WFB Cold Ones and they look fantastic. All this is going to take me a while, but hell my Space Marines took 2 years and my Daemons almost the same. I’m not in a rush either.

All Quiet on the Martian Front…but not for long!

I have finished painting all the minis in the AQotMF starter set! Yay! The Tripods came out pretty nice. I just need to hit them with the semi-gloss.

As you can see , the Tripods can switch weapons, so I can equip the Black Dust launcher and the Green Gas grenades to flush the pesky humans out of their fortifications.

Looking forward to playing now!

Martian Tripod – The Original Xenos

Finished my first Martian Tripod for AQ. Very easy to do, and now that I have the paint scheme down, I should be able to bust the other two out quickly. Then it’s game time!

Just sayin’ ‘Hi!’

Before…

After…

 

All Quiet on the Martian Front – U.S. Army

Once I got going on the U.S. Army units in the AQoMF starter box, I knew they wouldn’t take too long. Minis at this scale (18mm) go much faster than 28s. Also, I had promised myself that when I finished them, I would paint the Martian Tripods. I’ve painted I don’t know how many G.I.s and Doughboys over the years – a lot. But I have never painted a Martian Tripod, and I am now really looking forward to it. That and getting some games in when I finish!

Here are the Rough Riders I finished today. These guys are like a suicide squad – they race into contact with the Tripods, fire those grappling hook guns and then ride around the ‘pods playing out a cable to tangle up their legs and bring the alien war machines down! Awesome!

And here’s the painted U.S. Army force that comes in the starter set.

Now, on to the Martian menace!

Feeling Productive

Somehow, I have three projects going on at the moment – All Quiet on the Martian Front, some 40K and something for Chain of Command. Working on multiple projects at the same time is not too unusual for me, though I had sort of thought when I finished my Daemons I’d throttle back some. Obviously not!

First up, a Warlord Games M8 Greyhound armored car, which I am painting for use in Chain of Command. Chain of Command is a very good game and one that delivers a very satisfying experience. If 40K is the blunt baseball bat of rules systems, Chain of Command is like a rapier, capable of reproducing real-world battlefield tactics on the tabletop. I don’t have the time to play all that often, but when I do, I hope to get this M8 in the game. It’s a decent model with a resin body and metal parts. Not much cleanup but the smaller fittings are fiddly and a bit difficult to attach, but I got them on. The kit has no instructions, but it’s not too hard to figure out. The only trouble I had was how to place the ring on top of the turret. But google image search turned up several good shots of this part of the vehicle, so I got it on there right.

Next, Heavy Machine-gun teams for All Quiet. These need a bit of flock and some grass on the base but they are done.

Finally, this is the first squad of what will become my Tallarn Imperial Guard army for 40K. I don’t have a lot to say just yet. After I get this squad done and see how the colors shake out I will comment more. This is basically my big 40K army project for the next year or so. I’m trying to make a fast recon force, with lots of Sentinels and Rough Riders!

Infantry, forward!

Finished my basic infantry for All Quiet on the Martian Front. I like the way these guys came out, and I like that for the most part, they are charging forward (probably to certain death) to fight the Martian invaders! Decent sculpts overall for this scale. The rifles are a bit blocky but at tabletop viewing range, it’s fine. They do look good alongside the Steamer tanks. I have the machinegun teams done except the bases, then I do the Rough Riders on the Harleys and then it’s on to the Tripods!

Steam Tanks Roll Out

More progress on the All Quiet on the Martian Front starter set. Got all the tanks done. I need three more MkII’s to make a company. Also finished my test stand of infantry. Now to get those done and then paint the Tripods!