Oops I did it again!

No this isn't a homage to the song released by Britney Spears in 2000, it's a new game I have purchased!

Despite saying to myself I wouldn't buy into any more game systems until I had cleared (or at least made a significant dent to) my "to do" pile, I have purchased the rules for Lions Rampant.




And some Perry Miniatures War of the Roses miniatures to accompany it



This all started from a picture of a warband as part of this game posted on a facebook group I'm part of, after which I had a conversation with a friend of mine and before I knew it I had purchased the rules...whoops (Although at £11.38 from Amazon I don't think it's too expensive) and well you can't have rules without suitable miniatures.

My name is Turno and I am a wargamer.....

Miniatures: Infinity - Nomad Moderator with Spitfire

So following on from my Alguaciles post I thought I would do a review for the Nomad Moderator with spitfire.

This model comes in three parts: Left arm, right arm and body, all in a handy little blister and best of all his head is molded to the body! so no issue with gluing the head to the body!!

So buzzing on the excitement of not having to glue the head down I started to glue the arms; this is where the fun started.

The peg and shape of the shoulder on the right arm seemed to show it to go in one way, but that then didn't align with the left arm which needs to connect to the hand on the gun.
After much turning and twisting I finally get the two arms close, however they don't fully connect. The wrist touches but doesn't actually insert into the hand, I assume that it should and that a little more effort on my part would allow it to do so however, I am happy with the end result and if it becomes a concern I will just plug the gap with green stuff.
                                     

Miniatures: Infinity - Nomad Alguaciles special weapons

So this week I am looking at and building the Infinity Nomad Alguacile Special Weapons box set.

I know I'm not the first and I expect I won't be the last to review this; so here are my views.                                  

As you can see the box set consists of two men (Missle Launcher and Sniper rifle) and two women (HMG & Combi rifle with light grenade launcher). The two male bodies are identical as are the two female. So there's no confusion as to which heads & arms fit which bodies, which is good as the heads and arms are in one bag grouped by sex.

Each model consists of 5 parts: body, head, left arm, right arm and backpack

What will you need to put these together:

• Clippers
• Craft knife
• Superglue
• and patience: the likes of which hasn't been seen since before the invent of broadband

So lets look at each type:

Missile launcher

As you can see, a little bit of flash but nothing my clippers and craft knife would struggle with.

Once cleared of flash I decided to start with the head. The head has a hole to fit the "peg" that's on the neck, so after a quick dry fit (and by consulting the picture on the box) I understood which way it was to go (there is only one way) and applied superglue, then ensued several minutes of annoyance and pain as the head refused to stick, rolling off, sticking to my fingers etc. Eventually it stayed where it was supposed to. 

Following the experience of the head I expected the multi-part arms to be a lot more painful; so I was pleasantly surprised when the arms just popped into place and glued nicely. As did the backpack

Sniper rifle

As per the missile launcher there wasn't much flash, again a few clips and cuts removed it all.

Learning nothing from the missile launcher model I started with the head, and I experienced the same issue of it not staying in place, for what felt like several minutes before it did.

Next was the arms, they were a little fiddly as I tried to position then as per the slot in the body with the peg on the arm and the picture. After a few sticky moves the arms fitted, which again was less painful than the head.

Then I just popped the backpack on.

HMG

The flash was again minimal and took no time in removing. 

Looking back at the picture of this innocent model sitting casually upon my cutting mat I can now see the pain it was going to cause me...

Aaaaaagh! Aaaaaaaaaaagh! and Aaaaaaaaaaaaagh! some more. This model was a pain in the posterior! 

Firstly the head encountered the same issue as above but it took longer, a LOT longer! rolling off, not fitting snugly, sticking to my fingers (both with the glue applied and because the "buns" compress into my skin) not co-operating at all! So when it did finally fit it was a minor victory, but little did I know that the battle may have been won but the war was far from over!

Next the arms, fiddly thin, pain in the backside arms! They wouldn't fit in the slot correctly, when they did fit they wouldn't stick to anything but my fingers! After almost rage quitting, I took a minor break and came back to it, where everything just fitted perfectly and the result it a beautiful model. The pain before still haunts my dreams.  

Even the backpack fell off a couple of times!

Combi rifle with light grenade launcher

I would say that this model had less flash than the rest.

Like before, I experienced a little issue with the head, but more with the position as it never looked right, but it stuck and I settled for how it stayed.

The arms where a little fiddly, but nothing, NOTHING like the HMG <shudders> again the only issue I encountered was getting the position correct.

Then, like the men, I just popped the backpack on.

So here we have it, the four special weapon teams for my Infinity Alguaciles.

So what have I learnt from this experience

• I don't like multi-part models without the option of multi-position, what's the point? Or maybe I just lack the skills to make them multi-position
• I need modelling tweezers to prevent my fat fingers causing any issues.
• The end justifies the mean: the pain I endured has resulted in these lovely models

At least this is something to strike off my "to do" list...

Painting tip: Painting flesh (28mm)

Daniel Morgan posted on Facebook some beautiful models on the Necromunda group, with wonderful flesh tones and this is how he did it;

"I use bugmans Brown (Tanned Flesh), then reikland flesh wash (Ogryn Flesh wash/flesh tone shade wash (73204)) then cadian flesh (Tallarn flesh/Heavy Skintone (140))  then kislev (Pallid flesh/Pale flesh (003)) then highlight with Ushabti (Bleached Bone/Bonewhite (034)) and finally screaming skull then another flesh wash in deep recces again"

Key: First name in brackets dictates previous GW paint, second name after the slash is Valejo: source: http://www.dakkadakka.com/wiki/en/Paint_Range_Compatibility_Chart

Painting: Pike & Shotte/Pikemans Lament - English Civil War: Firelock storming party

Following on from the Pike & Shotte post I made the other day here is how I painted my firelocks.

I have two different schemes (even though I can only have one unit of firelocks in my army) so they can be split for any intro-games.

Scheme 1
Undercoat Camo green (Halford)
Straps: Leather
Flesh: Bronzed flesh
Metals: Gun metal
Gun stock: Bestial Brown
Boots: Bestial Brown or Black or Leather
Wash with AP strong tone

Scheme 2
Undercoat British Battle Dress (Bolt Action - Warlord spray)
Straps: Leather
Flesh: bronzed flesh
Metals: Gun metal
Gun stock: Bestial Brown
Boots: Bestial Brown or Black or Leather or left as undercoat
Wash with AP strong tone

I then glued sand to the base using PVA, once dry I painted it with graveyard earth, drybrushed with khaki. Once the paint had dried I glued on static grass.

Now it could be argued that the sand phase is unnecessary if its going to be covered with static grass, but I did it so if the static grass falls off then is not just a flat brown base.

Hope this helps/inspires