Billy the Kid?

 Another figure from the Ainsty Castings Weird West range. This figure is supposedly "Billy the Kid" but it really could be any character you wanted it to be. Again sculpted by Ian Mountain who has a nice understated style. No deep folds in the cloth and a very clean looking face, and not to much of a caricature. I only found out today that these figures were "crowd funded" so I would like to thank everyone who made the pledges and bought these figures into being.  As you can see I have painted in mostly browns but with a very dark grey (almost Black) shirt, although this could be a waist coat Black boots and a blue neckerchief. I Like the fact that the two pistols are quite small it makes them look more realistic than some of the big clumpy guns you see on some figures.
 Overall I am happy with the result although I did muck up his eye and had to repaint it. I will be the only person who worries about it, so no biggie.
 Only two more to go from this pack so I will have them finished I hope by Wednesday. It's a club day tomorrow so I should have some kind of AAR on Monday. No idea what we will be playing as yet. I had hoped to carry on with my Caen Campaign, but two of the key players may not be able to make it, so I have postponed that game for now.

Anyway it's a long weekend for those of us in the UK so the weather is bound to be horrid! However enjoy the extra day off of work if you can and chat again on Monday. Best Wishes Clint.

Power Armour

My Federal States Europa (FSE) force has just had a very slight upgrade with a squad of Power armour troops. The FSE has a tendency to use what many people think of as Light infantry as opposed to the heavy powered battle suits of many Stargrunt Nations. However as a player I did think that one squad of power armoured troops was a good idea as it rounded out the force a little more. AS you can see this 6 man squad is equipped with 3 heavy weapons (2 Mistral Guided missile systems on shoulder mounts, and one FM77 Squad automatic weapon, as well as an ECM suit mounted on one troopers back.)

I have painted the figures with a white band on their helmets (the squad leader has a thinner red stripe flanked by white stripes) this is to match the Kepi Blanc which is worn by some of the light infantry. There shoulders also carry the Tri colour which should help them to keep identity on the battle field. I added this emblem because these versions of power armour are also exported and used by a couple of other nationalities, for example, the Islamic Federation. It was therefore important to me to keep them as distinctive.

Only 6 15mm figures to share with you today I have no excuses for not doing more. But that is all I have managed to complete since last post. With luck I should have something ready for Saturday and my next blog post. Until then have a good couple of days and talk soon.

All the best Clint

Western Undead

Here are my two latest 28mm figures. Both from different companies, yet both wild west zombies. Starting on the left we have another figure from the AINSTY CASTINGS Villains Weird West pack. Two days ago I finished the werewolf from that pack so only 1 more from that pack to paint. I will undercoat him this afternoon so maybe over the weekend. The figure on the right is from Reaper Miniatures it is less versatile as it is totally in western dress from head to toe and even carrying a pistol.

 While I have no use at the moment for wild west zombies I did like both figures so that moved them up the painting schedule quite swiftly.  Maybe I will sort a game out featuring western zombies sometime in the future.

That's it for today thanks for tuning in and I'll post again on Thursday. Until then take care all the best Clint.

Weird West

Here are two figures from Ainsty Castings sculpted by Ian Mountain. They come from the Weird West range. When I say range they only do two packs at the moment (Heroes and Villains). Each pack has 3 figures, either good guys/girls or the baddies. Each pack retails for £7.50, but at Salute they did a deal of both packs for £10.00.  Here we have a werewolf from the Villains pack and a female Indian from the Heroes pack. Neither of these figures were why I bought the packs but I really do like them now. Both figures are single piece castings with no flash and only minor mould lines. Overall very nice castings and In my opinion well worth the money.

Ladies first, I have done a close up so you can see just how nicely sculpted the figures are. Other than the blue in the hair I have kept to very natural colours. If anyone asks I'll just say the blue came from an army uniform, so don't question it as I tried red first and it looked unbalanced on the figure. I have used red as an accent colour contrasting against the buff base colour on her wrists. I do not think her clothing is authentic and that really is my only criticism of the figure. As she's next to a werewolf I can suspend reality for a while and just enjoy her as a very nice figure sculpt. She carries a "Bowie Knife" very openly but no sheath for it and no other weapons. But the knife, expression and stance lead me to believe that she's all ready for action. You can probably tell that I have really enjoyed painting her.

The werewolf was a struggle for me. Again he is nicely sculpted and cast but I had to paint him twice as I was not happy the first time. I think I tried too hard the first attempt to make it look like a "Real" wolf. Once I accepted it as a fantasy figure and stopped looking at pictures of real wolves it pretty much painted itself. Other than the skin tones it is just a simple dry brush. I used 4 different greys and worked quickly so that they would all blend on the model. It's no where near perfect but as a fantasy figure I think it works well enough. I won't dwell on what I don't like or have done wrong as I am happy with it and would be prepared to paint another one. That's one of the tests for me, if I would be prepared to paint another. So no more whining about it and as you can see in the close up picture the skin tones and claws have come out well and I am very pleased with the orange eyes.

That's todays post. More again on Tuesday. Thanks for reading I hope it's warm and sunny where you are and that you have a great couple of days. All the best Clint