No I am not talking about the Scots Covenants, supporters of the Presbyterian Church, who signed a covenant in 1638 at Greyfriars Kirk, or any Ark of the….., but rather those pesky varmits taking on the Spartans, the protectors of mankind.
Chris has very kindly printed off some more “Halo” Covenant figures for me again. These follow on from those he did for me way back in July this year.
As you would expect these were all of the “good guys” that could take on the Spartans.
The lot I picked up this time included more of the grunts but also some big shooty things!
Shade Turret
Elite Honor Guard
Elite Honor Guard
Rtas ‘Vadumee – Spec Ops Commander
Yapyap “The Destroyer”.
Injured grunt (failed print on the leg)!
Grunt
Grunt
Grunt
Grunt
Grunt
Grunt
Grunt
Covenant reinforcements.
I will now have to get off my backside and start painting the Covenant figures so my two teams of Spartans have someone to fight
The weird war is a priority project for me once I finish what is currently on the table. However, I couldn’t resist these guys. Reminds me of the movie and TV series “V” which scared the hell out of my kids. Our youngest daughter wouldn’t look at a baby for ages following watching the birth of Elizabeth and her twin!
The Third Reich is at the height of its power with its vampires and totenkopf zombies taking all before them. Their scientists love creating endless amounts of goons, and this time they have been experimenting with human and lizard DNA to make their own creation. As you do!
The abominape fits the yeti genre as they are described as “An irritable simian whose pelt and skin have taken a similar coloration to its snowy environment. Unlike its rowdy comrades, the abominape is less close-minded and more willing to attack the whole party than singling out a member. Despite this, it’s awfully absent-minded and will sometimes space out in the middle of combat.”Dragon quest wiki.
The Zombicide “Undead or Alive” Abominape.
I would normally undercoat a project like this in a matt white but given the plastic of the model was bright red this would “bleach” through. I decide to use my normal TS3 undercoat and then do a second coat in matt white.
The model with white undercoat.
Next I washed the entire model in a Reiksland Earthshade from GW, At this stage I was following the same process that I was using for the Yeti I had painted earlier in the month.
I then dry brushed her a medium sea grey, lotherian light blue and corax white ready for her final blue wash and white dry brushing.
A watered down blue wash.
This close up shows how the individual dry brushing and washes have blended to provide depth to the fur and highlights to the flesh.
A final white dry brush.
The completed model with all of the “fiddly bits” done and a matt varnish for protection.
With the rest of her clan.
A size comparison. The “explorer” is an exaggerated 28mm (closer to 32mm) in height. He is dwarfed by the Yeti let alone the Abominape!
Not sure what to call her other than Mame! Maybe really big foot, maybe Sasquash, but probably just Abominyeti! Any ideas?
PS At least I can now say I have started painting my Zombicide “Undead or Alive” collection! The rest! who knows?
The Australian Model railway Association of Victoria held their annual open day today and I promised to take the Grandchildren along. Little did I know that they would be at a birthday party in the morning and would come to me full of lollies and red soft drink!
Solution?
At least they were in seatbelts on the drive but clearly needed straight jackets and gags as well. I do love them dearly! Really!
The place was a lot weirder than a 40k or Cosplay convention with ancient ferroequinologists everywhere! I swear they had their hands on the controllers drooling and whispering “my precious” as we walked by.
Eric if you do not watch out, you will be turned to the dark side and this will be your future!
The clubs layouts were extremely impressive. As always I do not like the clean pristine look that is the product of most railway model enthusiasts but that was the only criticism I had on the outing.
I will let the pictures speak for themselves.
Great scene and lighting but look how clean it all is. My eight old Grandson was also keen to point out their were no passengers or drivers in the cars or the trains. “It looks like everyone is gone except from the stations” – remember this one Eric!
I took this pic as these silos are common in Australia and it was an easy model to make. Maybe for SofS Challenge next year!
A huge layout with geeks everywhere. I hate that smell of rail enthusiasts in the afternoon!
Typical early Australian homestead.
A great refinery oil distribution kit.
There was also a second hand stall but it had nothing I was interesting in as it was mostly rolling stock.
At this stage the rain was pouring down, but they children wanted to go outside to see and I quote “the big train”. This was your typical garden train set – not sure what gauge,
The eldest loved this because rain was pouring down over the trains and it looked “realistic” (listen to video later).
Tramway shooting by.
At last! Something about wargaming.
This was their favourite train because it made a huge sound as it chugged past and blew its whistle. More importantly it had a carriage with “yellow arches” advertising. Guess what I had to buy on their way back home!
At last a figure on a train.
Train speeding through the rain.
Grandson driving “Thomas” through the tunnels as “Percy” roars past.
I generally go away from these displays with at least one idea and this was no exception with the grain silo idea for a project.
A great day was had by all, including Grandpa, with the highlight of the day being the “yellow arches” on the return home!
Connections is an international affiliation of professional and serious recreational wargamers. The aims are to share experience and knowledge of wargaming, develop it as a discipline, and foster and improve it as a technique.
Initiated in the USA in 1992, Connections has now spread to the UK and Netherlands as well as Australia.
Connections Oz began in 2014, in part because it is difficult to get to the international events. One of the goals is to build a community here in Australia, to share our experiences and provide a forum so that those who are able to connect with our global colleagues can share what they learn.
In the context of Connections Oz, “wargaming” (or “war gaming”) is a broad term in both style and scope. That is, we are open to different types of wargames (demonstrations, education, training, exercises, experimentation, concept development, mission rehearsal, etc), different media (board games, card games, seminar games, computer supported games etc), and different content including military and non-military topics (business strategy, emergency and disaster relief scenarios, intelligence analysis, operational concepts, diplomacy and peace building etc).
At its core, wargaming is an exploration of the possible and a driver for deeper thinking.
I am putting together some building and terrain for Battlesuit Alpha, a figure size and manufacturer neutral set of rules for Battlesuit fights in future wars.
I intend using my 6mm “Battletech”, mechs, tanks, infantries and fliers for these rules but need to build some terrain for them. As I have 6mm Zulu Wars figures I decided that African Savanna/desert terrain would do for both.
I found only two really price competitive 6mm buildings. Empires at War had some very nice ruined city blocks but these did not suit the concept I had in mind. Knights of Dice have 6mm Desert Building pack in their budget range which I decided on. Viv even dropped them off to the Axes and Ales club meeting for me.
The two packs I purchased took a little under an hour to put together. A nice touch was that each building had lines separating them on the punch out board, which made it easy to work out which walls went with which building. Warning: punch them out one building at a time and they go together quickly and easily. For most of the buildings I did not even need to glue them as they fitted together so well.
Some of the 16 building put together.
The second step was to lightly “paint” the walls, but not the roof with PVA glue, and coat them with a very fine sand.
I then sprayed them with Tamiya TS3 to provide both the undercoat and main coat.
They were then dry brushed with raw sienna, and burnt sienna poster paint and then dry brushed them white white to finish them off!
I will eventually base them as individual compounds like I have for my Zulu wars above, and provide a few ruined buildings as well.
A Battlesuit Alpha “Lance” (Team) of 3 Mechs a tank and a group of 3 grunts.
Mech using a building as partial cover.
Heavy infantry on the roof of a building.
I am really looking forward for the rules to arrive from Wiley Games.
These great miniatures are from Slave2Gaming an Australian manufacturer of a significant range of figures across a number of scales. As well as their aliens I have a selection of their Elvis Impersonators and will shortly purchase some of their WW2 Bardia Australians.
Scorpion attack vehicle, 2 infantry squads and a heavy weapons squad.
There are not many Roswell grey type aliens out there and the Slave2Gaming are the only ones with attack vehicles and troop transports that I am aware of.
Aliens disembark from their spaceship following their aerial bombardment.
Alien heavy weapon.
Squad with commander, support weapon and three squad members.
Scorpion attack vehicle and crew.
Scorpion with alien supreme leader (supreme leader from Crooked Dice games).
Alien company leader or “Alien Hunter”
Alien company leader or “predator hunter”.
Alien Supreme Leader, or psycher (“telekinesist)”.
Aliens advance through the ruined city.
Supreme leader in Scorpion .
Alien squad.
I have ordered transports, which look the same as the scorpion but without the rail cannon.
I have also ordered more troops to add some more squads. I am very pleased with the figurers and the service I have received from Drew at Slave2Gaming. He has been very accommodating with my demanding requests!
The Slave2Gaming range includes Australians at Bardia and in Korea and an excellent 15mm fantasy range and interesting set of rules which I will review in a few days time. I can wholeheartedly recommend them and would suggest that you have a look at their range –Slave2Gaming .
In 2007 the United Nations General Assembly resolved to observe 15 September as the International Day of Democracy with the purpose of promoting and upholding the principles of democracy.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights enshrines a host of political rights and civil liberties underpinning meaningful democracies.
The link between democracy and human rights is captured in article 21(3) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Quotations on Democracy:
The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.
Winston Churchill
Dictatorship naturally arises out of democracy, and the most aggravated form of tyranny and slavery out of the most extreme liberty.
Plato
Democracy is a device that ensures we shall be governed no better than we deserve.
George Bernard Shaw
The difference between a democracy and a dictatorship is that in a democracy you vote first and take orders later; in a dictatorship you don’t have to waste your time voting.
Charles Bukowski
Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.
John Adams
Democracy is the process by which people choose the man who’ll get the blame.
Bertrand Russell
Guru’s Comment
Whilst the above are funny and quite true democracy is under threat.
The COVID-19 crisis has resulted in major challenges globally, and the Ukrainian conflict and the rumblings of China are reminding us that our democratic principles are constantly being eroded.
This year, Democracy Day is focusing on the importance of media freedom to democracy, peace, and delivering on the Sustainable Development Goals. whilst this is laudable it is the media in democratic states that is full of misinformation and disinformation and peddling the what Western oligarchs want us to hear. If the press is so essential to democracy then journalistic freedom and more importantly integrity needs to change drastically.
In fact, now more than ever Democracy is backsliding, civic space is shrinking, distrust, mis- and disinformation are growing while threats to the freedom of journalists and media workers are expanding by the day.
I agree that when media freedoms are under threat – the flow of information can be stifled, skewed or cut off entirely. Increasingly, journalists around the world face limits to their ability to operate freely – with a grave impact on human rights, democracy and development. But please as a group improve you own professional integrity.
In addition we need to take responsibility for our own democracy. It has never ceased to amaze me that the people of the United States are very quick to respond to countries whose democracy is under threat but at election time cannot be bothered to cross the road to vote.
In Australia we see our compulsory voting as a chore and at our last Federal voting the increase in the “donkey vote” and ineligible ballots was very high.
Michael Moore once said Democracy is not a spectator sport, it’s a participatory event. If we don’t participate in it, it ceases to be a democracy.
The character models are specifically for the Death and Taxes supplement but the figures are generic types and can be used in any medieval system.
The priest of Wimentum
A typical village priest with a blunt weapon, traditional so that they cannot spill blood (sine effusione sanguinis). The figure comes mounted and dismounted.
The Arcbishop of York
A medieval Bishop was someone who enjoyed considerable authority and power. Walter De Gray, the Archbishop of York was a favourite of King John and was at the signing of the Magna Carter. He would be in strict opposition to the breach in law and order provided by Robin Hood and his outlaws.
The Leper
Another accurate figure with the leper carrying his bell to warn anyone approaching. Leprosy was one of the worst afflictions you could have in medieval times because they were believed to be unclean by the church and outcast from society. In the Death and Taxes campaign is adopted by the kindly Priest of wimentum and features at the centre of the first scenario.
The Outlaw Spy
Where would a campaign be without a spy.
The outlaw spy is their eyes and ears and appears in the first scenario. If he survives he can be used in later scenarios. A great little model.
The Poacher and Gamekeeper
Poaching was still a common offence at this time with many of the large woodlands owned by the crown. King John was ruthless in the protection of his interests. Game Keepers were put in place to protect the King’s deer and pheasants.
The Poacher
The Game keeper armed with the Norman crossbow. This signifies his allegiance to King John.
King John the Arch Protagonist.
Falconer
Falcons were excellent at hunting small mammals and birds.
Despite the falcon looking a bit like one of those wooden ducks the figure covers an interesting subject not often seen in 28mm.
The finishes the figures I have painted, but before I end this post I should say something about the Death and Taxes campaign supplement itself.
It is a very well produced booklet that provides all of the Footsore “Baron’s Wars” rules and statistics to use the figures within that system. The campaign leader generator, rules and maps are excellent. If you do not use the “Baron’s Wars” rules the booklet is still well worth the purchase if you wish to run a dark age or medieval small skirmish style game.
This post is about the outlaws (the good guys), and bandits and cut-throats who are generic neutral bad guys.
Bandits and Cut-throats.
I like the variety in these bandits who in desperation have grabbed any weapon they can to survive in hostile times.
Outlaw slingers
The variety of poses makes these some of the best in their range. So often not much time is put into light infantry when in fact they are the ones not fighting in formation and should have the most variety. Unfortunately often design decisions are based on economics.
Outlaw Bowmen
The heart of the Robin Hood myth are the outlaws of Sherwood forest.
Again, lots of variation in pose and clothing.
A great pose.
A great “don’t mess with me” pose
Tomorrow of will finish this series of posts with a series of “Death and Taxes” characters.
