Jaka Walsh - Khurasan Bounty Hunter

Decided, just for a change of pace, to paint an individual figure. I spent a little more time and effort on this guy than I would for a figure that was part of a unit. Quite happy with the result and think I may do some more, but I'll need to find more coins the same size as this Euro 1Cent. UK pennies are too big and 5pences are too expensive.
The figure is Jaka Walsh from Khurasan...

GAK Armoured Personnel Carrier

With continuing attacks from the insectoid invaders throughout the central regions of Forsey, local militias are being activated. The 1st, 2nd and 3rd Eastway Motorised Rifles were recently formed amid speculation that the "Friendlies", a group of extreme militant Christian settlements to the south, were also arming large quantities of troops.
The combined Federal forces have urged calm, stating that the imminent arrival of the 23rd and 27th New Vistula Hussars would be enough to ensure the safety of colonists and natives alike in the troubled area.

The Eastway City Governing Council has stated its intention to continue arming and training troops with the expectation of having a full time professional armed force in place within months. The introduction of the GAK apc is the first step in motorising what had previously been a mostly foot infantry unit.

Heavily armoured and well armed, this apc is capable of carrying a squad of eight lightly armoured infantry and it's six-wheel configuration allows it to easily traverse the rugged Forsey terrain.

I picked up two of these APCs yesterday from Poundland for... yup £1 each. Not sure what they're supposed to be, whether a real vehicle or just a fictional vehicle, but they're perfect sized for 15mm and I'm sure the existing turret weapons could be removed and replaced.

The pics show a before and after with the vehicle on the left being the repaint and the one on the right the original out-the-box toy.

I'll post more pics once they're both painted and based. These will be transporting some old 15mm Citadel Traveller figures I've had for many a year and that I'm only just getting painted.

Chewke Attack!!

Report: 25739-656
Date Ref: 311.56/45 (ED 22/11/2311)
Unit Ref: Ind.Recc.Squad 2, 58th Infantry Special Forces Brigade, Federal 2nd Army Forsey.
Subject: Mid Sector Fyodor Water Mine 378 Defence

Reporting: Sgt. Artur Meade (Marksman 1st Class)
"On Nov 22 ED, Independant Recon Squad 2 were tasked with scouting the area around a Fyoder Industries water mine 49 clicks north of the temporary station midway on Highway 7. Reports of attacks on Fyoder facilities in this area by seperatist forces suggested that this would be the next target. The main 8 man patrol, led by 2LT Weihagan, left on patrol of the area leaving myself, Sgt Meade, in a covered position."

"I then contacted the group to say he was under attack from hostile forces. I must also report that the hostiles were not seperatists, or even one of the low tech local tribes, but small insectoid aliens of a previously unknown race."



"I defended my position for as long as possible then withdrew with a full report of the enemy forces composition and strength. The small creatures were well armed and had the support of various large insectoid creatures. The full data has been passed to Intel for analysis but confirmation of this enemies existence will reshape the military planning of this sector. (Deleted as opinion only). 

NOTE: One interesting image that Sgt. Meade supplied suggested that these small creatures were actually an advance force to a larger insectoid species. 

Fyoder Industries Construction Vehicles Pt2

I picked this bulldozer up from eBay. It's 1:109 scale, so perfect for 15mm. It's a good quality metal and hard plastic toy from Takara Tomy. They do a large range of modern construction vehicles that are perfect for this scale. I'll post more pics of this when it's re-painted and based...

15mm Scifi Miniatures Comparison Pt2

Last week I posted a comparison image of the new Vistula Legion figures from Odzial Ossmy. This week I've received some of Khurasan's Sepulvedan Resistance fighters plus the new DPLS Passenger set, so here's a comparison shot of those with some other figures...

The figures shown above are, from left to right:

1. Arc Recon Trooper with sniper rifle from Critical Mass Games

2. Sepulvedan Resistance Fighter from Khurasan Miniatures

3. New Vistula Legion trooper from Oddzial Osmy

4. Jaka Walsh from Khurasan Miniatures

5. Muster Troops Command from 15mm.co.uk

15mm Scifi Miniatures Comparison Pt1

I've always found it useful to see comparison shots netween different ranges and manufacturers of miniatures so when I received my new 15mm Vistula Legion from Oddzial Osmy (fighting15s) I thought I'd let you see how they compare to some other minis. I've also included some Spugs and Chewks as I'm using those in a new faction. I'd wanted to include some Khurasan Federals but I didn't have any that were unbased.

These are:

1. Arc Recon Trooper with sniper rifle from Critical Mass Games

2. New Vistula Legion specialist from Oddzial Osmy

3. Spug drone from Spriggan Miniatures

4. SAS Infantry with plasma rifle from Micropanzer

5. Chewke from Khurasan Miniatures

I hope you find this helpful.

Federal Army Cougar APC - More Pictures!!

Just because I forgot to upload these in my last post, here's more pics of the Cougar (Kabardin) APC...

Federal Army Cougar APC - Antenociti's Workshop's NRF Kabardin APC

The Federal Army has responded to calls from it's Force Commanders to provide a heavier armed and armoured APC for troops on Forsey. Federal troops had been up-armouring their Racoon ARVs while using the aging Bobcat 4-wheel HMLCV as support, but the situation and terrain on Forsey was such that a specialised vehicle was required.

The Federal High Command quicky aquired a contract with Antenociti to supply their Kabardin APC to Federal Forces. The Kabardin, originally produced for the Novaya Rossiyskya Federatsiya (NRF), is a six-wheeled APC capable of carrying up to 8 armoured soldiers and comes in two variants - the GP (General Purpose) and the AT (Anti-tank). Both variants are designated Cougar by the Federal Army.

Antenociti's Workshop has just released their first 15mm scifi minatures and I'm massively impressed to say the least. I had quickly placed an order as soon as the APC appeared on their website and only a couple of days later I had received my order. Opening the package I was surprised to see that the main APC body was a single piece resin cast (I had assumed the wheels would be seperate) with a small zip-lock bag containing the turret and a small seperate weapon. The quality of casting on both was extraordinary. The design and casting are both sharp and smooth. There was absolutely no clean up required. So a quick wash with warm water and then I got my vehicle painted. I'm sure there's a lot of people out there who'll do a better job of painting this, but I'm really happy with how it came out. Let's hope Antenociti bring out a lot more in 15mm.

Fyoder Industries Construction Vehicles

Back from holiday and I really need to get the blog updated. I've got some Oddzial Osmy Vistula Legion on order, I've got a great new 15mm APC from Antenociti's Workshop getting painted, and I need to get more Spugs painted so I can post them up.

I've also been wanting to make some construction vehicles for my scifi project - nothing hi-tech, just some diggers/earth movers - but I really didn't want to steal my little boys toy cars. So it was lucky when I was in the local Poundland discount store that we saw a set of really cheap construction toys for £1. They weer of particularly poor quality but I thought that this little digger would maybe have som potential. Purchase made, I cam home, undercoated it black, and got painting. It was great fun and I think it came out really nicely. It's slightly big for 15mm but that's okay as I can justify it as being "scifi big". I need to work on a driver, or I could just use this as a terrain piece. The mini-mule is from Ground Zero.

Holiday time

It's been a while since I posted anything on here. I've been distracted with a large commision and getting a few bit's onto eBay. Now I'm heading off on holiday with the family. Hopefully when I get back from Italy I'll still have some money in the bank and I may order myself some new figures - possibly some of these... http://www.fighting15sshop.co.uk/new-vistula-legion-788-c.asp

Federal Army Combat Droids

As part of the Federal Army's Droptroop Assault Group (DAG), combat droids form a separate unit. Each section has three droids, one armed with light automatic weapons, one with a heavy laser, and the third with a heavy plasma weapon. Although able to act independently droids are always led by a human command group, consisting of an officer, communications specialist and a control droid.

The droids are Games Workshop epic scale Imperial Dreadnaughts. These metal figures were released way back when GW first started the Epic range and have been sitting unused ever since. I think they make perfect 15mm droids. Since finishing this unit I found another two of these so I've added one of the epic scale Imperial Robots that I have as an Autocannon Gunbot.

The Communications Specialist is a slightly converted ARC Droptrooper from Critical Mass while the officer is standard from the same range. The helmet has been modified on the comms trooper,and a larger backpack added using greenstuff.

Alien Plant Life Part 2

I need more scenic pieces so every time I'm out and about I keep an eye out for suitable bits of plant or twigs. These bits are made from pine cones and sticks with added green stuff and bits of dried tomato stalks...

Attempts at Sculpting - Part 3

After sculpting the vitrinid snailien, and getting some great feedback, I decided to try again. Here's the works in progress so far. One is a power armoured version of the Hhurrk low-tech reptilians I posted earlier, and the other is an insectoid. Not sure if either will be castable(?). I've also gained a greater appreciation of the professionals ability to make a range of figures that look alike - I doubt I'll be able to make more that look the same.

The insects still have the arms to get added, and I think I'll add some sort of staff to support the spindly legs which still need trimmed down a little.

The Hhurrk

The Hhurrk are a species claiming to be native to Forsey, though Federal scientific reports have been unable to identify which of the sentient species calling Forsey home are actually originally from this world.

Hhurrk are large, 7 to 8 foot, reptilians. They prefer close combat and seldom use modern equipment, so tend to ambush their enemies in forested or mountainous terrain. Hhurrk Lords are usually seen wearing hi-tech power armour, so it seems that the use of low-tech weaponry is a matter of choice for Hhurrk soldiers.

The Hhurrk are actually 25mm Kobolds from the old Citadel/Chronicles range by Nick Lund. These were part of a 15mm fantasy project I started way, way back.... They make nice 15mm low-tech creatures, and I'm trying to sculpt a power armored leader to go with them.