Last Painting of 2022

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Too late to start a new project, so a couple of bits and pieces rescued from the slopes of the lead mountain.

First up are some more Brute. These are technically 15mm sci-fi figures from Nuclear Shrimp. I say “technically” as they are post-apocalyptic wasteland mutants…so the figures are far more like 25mm than 15mm.

These are a couple of field guns carried on the backs of gorusk beasts of burden. You can see from their eyes and teeth that the poor gorusks are vegetarian herd animals pressed into service by the Brute!

The gorusk were painted with GW Contrast Paints, with the platform and gun painted a base black then dry-brushed in steel and then either a bronze/gold colour (the platform) or a metallic blue (the gun). I then did the chains forming the harness in a bright steel colour to make them really stand out. Fun figures, although I’ve no idea when I’m actually going to use them.

The second bit of painting was a couple of command stands for the Crimean British. You don’t actually need command figures under the Neil Thomas rules that I am using, but I always think it’s nice to have them on the table top, and we will probably come up with a house rule to make them significant. Perhaps having a unit to which a command stand attached always activating at full effect, and having an officer attached to a command stand vulnerable to enemy action in some way. Something simple like that.

So that’s it for painting in 2022. I’ve exceeded my previous record in the Painting Challenge, so I’m happy about that…except, of course, that I now have to do even better next year!

I’ll post the last Painting Challenge update for 2022 on New Year’s Day (I have a handful of entries already in, so don’t hold back submitting your last efforts) and then it’s on to 2023!

Brutal Artillery!

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With half the Brute (wasteland mutants from Nuclear Shrimp Games that are 15mm scale but, because of their mutant nature, are more like 25mm tall) infantry now painted, I thought I’d give myself a break and tackle some of their heavy equipment.

First up were the field guns. These come in two variants, all based on the same model. If you use the kit without the extra bit on the barrel, then they become howitzers:

Pop the extra bit in the barrel, however, and they become anti-tank guns or field artillery:

These are huge models that, whilst fitting with the Brute, are going to look a bit odd on a 15mm table…but then perhaps that’s the point. They paint up easily, though, and are unusual enough for a “recommended” from me.

A Few More Brute!

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Still horribly busy at work in the real world, so posts still thin on the ground.

I have, however, managed to finish off another section of Brute wasteland mutants: 15mm sci-fi models that are actually more like 25mm high.

These are lovely models that paint up really well…even if I do find painting 25’s much more difficult than painting 15’s!

Clearing the Lead Mountain

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Still on my quest to bring down the Lead Mountain before allowing myself to open any new package…although in this case it is more like the Plastic Mountain.

Many moons ago I invested in a decent size force of 15mm Brute from Nuclear Shrimp. These post-apocalyptic, wasteland mutants are actually more like 25mm in size, so make a formidable enemy for any 15mm figures.

I’d only painted a few command figures and a single stand of infantry to date, but needing to attach the mutant bulls (see previous post) to an army gave me the boost I needed to search the cupboards and paint a few more. This is squad two, and I have another four squads, four guns and some specials to do.

A Load of Bull!

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For some time now I have been trying to follow the rule that if I want to buy more figures then I have to earn the right to do so by clearing something from the existing Lead Mountain.

As I wanted to buy some more Soviet village pieces and a set of 17th Century Swedish command figures (I reckon that if I have them, then I can field my existing ECW troops as early 17th Century Swedes, instantly creating another opponent to friend Bevan’s Poles, saving lots of time and money which can then be spent on something else) I needed to find some already-purchased figures to paint.

A few months ago, one of my favourite sci-fi designers, Loud Ninja Games (available through Alternative Armies) added a range of large (about 25mm tall) mutant bulls to their Wasteland post-apocalypse range.

I didn’t need them, but they were shiny so I bought a set: they would do perfectly as it wouldn’t be too arduous to paint nine 25mm figures…and so it proved:

Nobody moooove!

These paint up very nicely and will join forces with my Brute mutant humans, only one squad of which I have painted so far (candidates for my next purchase-must-paint I think!)

My only criticism, as always, is the lack of variety: just two poses and a command figure. I understand completely why that is so (platoon- or squad-level sci-fi being much more common than the company-level game that I play) but it does mean that I will limit my purchase to just one squad for the moment.

Last Painting of 2019

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Here’s the last painting of 2019: a couple of things I haven’t had time to photograph until now.

First up is another unit of “Swedish” horse for my English Civil War army:

These are 15mm Peter Pig figures painted with GW Contrast paints. I do like the Peter Pig figures - they have a lot of character and paint up nicely - but I do wish you didn’t have to spend so much time getting the horse stands to actually stand up.

And here’s a close up:

And finally here are a couple of figures that I painted up literally to hit the 2,000 point mark! They are two Onslaught Beserker figures from Nuclear Shrimp Games’ Brute range. Although the range is technically 15mm, the idea is that they are huge mutants, so the figures themselves are a good size 28mm.