15mm XCOM - Sectopod (Heavy Gear Naga)

Another contribution to the XCOM project. I feel like this is the 'avatar project' in that it veeerrrrryyyy slowly makes progress....and then is knocked back a few steps. The model has been sitting in my boxes for far too long (do we detect a theme here?) so I'm pretty chuffed it's finally painted.




The sectopod is a tough enemy in the video game, being a walking tank. It uses some faster firing weapons, but can power up for a big area of effect devastating attack. I find it a bit more tough than dangerous....I suppose this would be true for a tank vs infantry.
 

Fortifications - earthberm wood reinforced

A set of fortifications (unknown manufacturer) that have sat in a box for years. I think this may have come from a bartertown swap.....maybe. I know for sure I didn't select them directly to order. Maybe a lot of terrain?
Anyway, having done some vietnam fortifications in the past I had an easy paint recipe, so on the table they went to be worked on when I am burnt out on batch painting.

I'm pretty happy with the effect and amount of time it took to bang these out. It's a bit unfortunate there are sandbags as that makes them less useable for a wide range of time periods.

28mm Vehicles #2: Marx and ZombieSmith

 Another set of cars to add to the tiny carpool. I'm hoping to eventually get enough 'traffic' to make a small urban table look reasonable. I suspect this will take some time. This time we have one car from Zombie smith (they have a set of 3 resin vehicles for very reasonable pricing). I tried a newer type of window effect. I'm not sure I'm sold on it......though I may just have to fill in some of the white better next time before inking. Ideally the idea is that it's reflecting some of the inner lighting from a dark car interior.

The marx future car I'm not entirely happy with. Orange is a bit of a beast for me to paint, I have trouble with coverage and smoothness. The turqoise seating I like, and the mirror effect. The metallic detailing is quite what I'm happy with. Probably it's too uniform and either needs to be dirtied up a bit, or heat modulated (which sounds challenging) or something. I doubt I'll get to it any time soon as other projects beckon....

Dutch Red Lancers - Perry Miniatures

These guys are colorful and actually a treat to paint. As much as napoleonics are generally considered bright and finicky, sometimes you hit paydirt and get a unit like this. What a color explosion!

I know essentially nothing about these troops. They were part of the imperial guard, so obviously are  fairly elite. The nationality is not totally unusual as there are a number of formations in the Grande Armee that Napoleon simple ported over from their parent army and occasionally redressed. Why ruin a crack unit when you can 'borrow' it? The benefits of empire I suppose.

This jpeg I managed to find online and was totally invaluable in painting the unit. I wish it was easier to find stuff like this, as napoleonic uniforms can be confusing at the best of times.

Russian Dragoons & Officers - Perry miniatures

And now for a big change...more napoleonics! Russians at least. I was 'short' some Russian cav, so I ordered and painted up some more dragoons. The officers I believe were moldering away half finished for quite some time, so I finished them at the same time.

I suspect the officer with the sword high is actually a warlord figure, but I might be confused.

French Headquarters - Perry Miniatures

As part of a larger Perry order I grabbed the 'Napoleon and Staff' collection. It's fun to have some recognizable figures/personalities on the board. I actually had already painted a napoleon I grabbed out of a box at a convention, so I handed this new one off to a local gamer who didn't have one (and therefore *needed* one).

I probably could have crowded more figs onto one base, but I figured this was good enough. 

French Imperial Guard Cannon - Perry Minatures

More Imperial Guard on parade today. I need two bases for Enfilade but decided I might as well finish the requirements for Waterloo (4). I'm not sure that I will use the horse artillery as horse artillery, but we'll see. I have vague plans to have different colored dice (there's a dice frame on each base to track strength) for horse artillery.

 The horse artillery always looks a bit more glamorous with their extra lace and curved swords.

 My picture setup is a bit lacking right now. So apologies for the terrible 'background'.