I've painted some UN troops to game in Africa with the same box of figures I used for my mercs, the Esci NATO troops.
They are painted like previous ones with just block paint and wash, but I think this time they are a little less dirty and with some extra lights that I did by wiping excess of wash with a clean wet brush. I think their uniforms are good, and although the blue on helmets and berets should be lighter, I'm happy how they turned out in the end.
Taking advantage of Xmas holidays I've hastily painted one pose of each Ranger from this Dark Alliance box. I've painted them as latest ones, just block paint and wash except the wolf fur on the captain. The white parts you can see is from paint off by me grazing the miniatures with my fingers.
Happy New Year!
Here it is the final batch of mercs. I painted these ones exclusively giving them a base colour coat and then a wash with no lights at all except for the soil of the base and the metallic shine in the guns.
They would be better with some lights on berets and helmets as well as on flesh, but I wanted them just after the wash and varnish to compare them with highlighted ones.
I think they turned out quite good but I fell I can still improve results as I was trying right proportions in the mixture. Rougly, I used 3/5 parts of Mercadona floor wax and 2/5 of acrylic Betumen of Judea. I also used lighter colours on the figures to prevent too much darkening from the wash.
I used to wash directly with Mercadona wax and ink, but the mixture got to watery and run so fast on the figure that some details weren't properly covered by the wash. However, now the Betumen of Judea is so thick that allows the wash to work similarly to the oil versions, and it gets a better coverage and result.
This picture is to show you the difference between wash and no lights at all (left) and wash and lights (right). The details in the figure are so thin and small that I cannot highlight them properly so they get better without lights IMHO, and get done in half the time! Plus the miniature gets a hard protective cover from the wax, so it is a win win situation.
If you observe the webbing in both figures below, you will understand what I am saying.
Here is another example.
This technique is fast and it gets good results, but I suspect it works better for WWII than for Fantasy or Sci-Fi if you want brighter colours.
These four are the first mercs I paint and they are supposed to be the first to start a campaign in Africa as well. My idea is to start playing like in the computer game Jagged Alliance 3. That is, with low status and basic weapons and equipment. They are armed with a pistol, a SMG, a shotgun and a rifle.
Also, this time I only gave them basic colour and brown wash, and only highlighted skin and hats, so I could paint them very quick and almost with same results as full highlighting. I am pleased how they turned out overall and I think I am going to explore a little more this way of painting.
I wanted to start a project in 1/72 with African wars, using Insurgency Wars, AK-47 or FUBAR rules, but I couldn't find any 1/72 soft plastic miniatures to represent them. Then I saw somebody who used the Esci's North Vietnamese soldiers and Vietcong and some Esci's US Elite Forces as African regular troopers and I stole his great idea.
I also bought Esci's NATO troops that I'll use for, well NATO troops, but also to make some soldiers of fortune with them. Finally, I ordered 20 militia 20mm metal figures from S&S model, together with some civilians and a technical.
I want to have a group of regular militar African soldiers, a group of militia, a group of NATO troops and one last group of mercenaries.
Here is the first group, the African soldiers. They were painted in a bit of a rush and also the pictures are not very good as the day is cloudy and the light poor.
The whole lot, 22 figures. Maybe I'll paint some more later.
Close ups. The first RPG on the left has his head swapped, and the next his Asian hat removed with a knife and hair sculpted with same knife.
The first guy on the left has got the same hair cut, and the one in the middle his head swapped.
More FUBAR skirmish, but this time with Fantasy elements in it plus a little solo experiment. Enemies are not on the table and they are coming out from different places and they are not always enemies.
I went for the typical four with a Barbarian, a Dwarf, a Wizard with the spells Heal, Magic Bolt and Light, and an Elf archer; all of them with Veteran level and with one Command Point each. Dwarf with armour 4+ and the rest with armour 6+.
First enemy sighted! An Orc Elite level with armour 3+.
He charges and wounds the Dwarf but then he is quickly dispatched.
And then the Barbarian.
On the other side of the village some Green armed militia show up and behind them another Elite Orc.
The archer shoots him to no effect and the other man valiantly charges him and gets wounded.
Meanwhile, the Orcs at the firest house are finished and the Barbarian and the Wizard run in aid of the Dwarf and the Elf, who get in trouble checking the second house with two Veteran Orcs.
But they are stopped by another Elite who suddenly appear from the West, and they can't assist their comrades. The Elf is down and the Darf runs for his life, but he is pursued and attacked again in the ford. Luckily for him, this time he is the winner.
He casts "Swarm of skulls" and destroys his magic opponent in one go. More militia come in support.
On their way to the third and last house our heroes meet three Seasoned Orcs who got lucky on their rolls...
And slay the last two remaining heroes of the party.
The militia kills the Necromancer with arrows and stones while the rest run to help our heroes but it is too late for them, and possibly for the village as there are only a few brave souls to defend it from the Orcs.
Well, this little adventure didn't end too well. The Barbarian rolled awfully during all the game but there could also have been more Orcs and less militia. In the end, there are still a few things to tweak, but I think that already designed scenarios would suit better for small skirmish games than this little solo adventure.
Now I think I will set apart for a moment this FUBAR fever that caught me and resume my Lord of the Rings campaign, but I will can back to FUBAR for some modern action.
FUBAR can also be played with single model units but their numbers should be restricted as they need activation like any Warband in a standard FUBAR game, which means it not a good idea to have more than say, ten members per side.
On this game, Norman tax collectors are being ambushed by some Saxons in the most Robin Hood fashion. Normans are seasoned and have save 4+, except one knight on foot who is veteran and another on horse who is elite, save 3+ and with two command points. The horse cannot enter into the woods.
Saxons are all seasoned with save 6+.
Saxons activate first and also have +2 on the Activation roll in the first turn as they are ambushing.
Archers wound and even kill some Normans who barely react in the first turn.
Seizing the initiative, the Saxon make numbers against the knight on horse who wounds some of them but he also gets wounded twice and have to spend his two command points to nullify them and survive.
Next turn, and Normans still doing little except for the knight on foot who dispatches two Saxons in the forest. The crossbowman shoots and wounds and archer but then he is overun by enemies. A Norman spear rushes to help his lord but he is slained. Things not looking good for Normans.
The crossbowman and another Norman infantry are down and so are some Saxons, who also have many of them already wounded. Will the Normans be able to escape in the end?
Well, no. The Norman knights cannot no longer resist so many Saxons swarming upon them and they are both killed.
The last two Normans at the back of the convoy try to escape but only one barely escapes to tell the news, with a few Saxon arrows stuck on his chainmail!
As I said, FUBAR is a great ruleset and it has many possibilites. Now I'm thinking on doing some solo skirmish adventures with my Fantasy models.
.JPG)
