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Miniatures Adventure => Future Wars => Sci-Fi Small Skirmish Games => Topic started by: Idle Doodler on October 07, 2021, 04:18:05 PM
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I've been bitten by the sci fi bug, but am bereft of sci fi miniatures (apart from a literal handful of 40k guards). Fortunately I've a number of modern-ish miniatures who work as decent stand ins for much of the enemy factions
The crew deserves a bit more attention, though, so I ordered some Stargrave crew and, with some very elderly green stuff, have been mixing & matching them with the large number of fantasy / historical plastic sprues I've been hoarding for the last few years.
If memory serves, the first trio include parts from a Perry War of the Roses sprue and Frostgrave male & female warrior sprues.
(https://therecouldhavebeensnakes.files.wordpress.com/2021/10/sci-fi-crew-001.jpg?w=2000&h=)
The painting is a little rusty after a hobby hiatus, and I'm aiming to get these minis game-ready rather than spend too much longer striving for not-that-much improvement. I'm trying to get the knack of these contrast paints too - I'm having mixed results at the moment.
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Looks fine. You're doing better on those damn tiny little wrist-screens than I am. :)
Blasted FLGS still hasn't gotten 5 Parsecs in. Only got my physical copy of Quarantine 37 yesterday. Insert usual rant about lousy uS distribution here. :?
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There was much pre-attempt varnishing and post-attempt frantic wiping away of those wrist displays. And much cursing my innate fussiness with regards to eyes; having done it on the modern models, I can't not do them on the sci fi ones 'cos that would just look off.
I sympathise on the book front - I feel the same when looking at RPG goods, all of which seem to have to come across the pond from the US! I've been working from a print out of the Parsecs PDF courtesy of the office Xerox, but have just received a notice of shipping on the physical copy. Looking forward to it.
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I feel the same when looking at RPG goods, all of which seem to have to come across the pond from the US!
Well, you've got Pelgrane Press in the UK and Free League right across the North Sea. I'd trade WotC and Paizo together for either of them any day of the week. :)
Although admittedly, a lot of the more interesting small publishers seem to be in the Western hemisphere lately.
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Great looking crew
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Thanks!
Well, you've got Pelgrane Press in the UK and Free League right across the North Sea. I'd trade WotC and Paizo together for either of them any day of the week. :)
Although admittedly, a lot of the more interesting small publishers seem to be in the Western hemisphere lately.
It's the small independents I was thinking of - Zinequest is very much a PDF-only event for me!
Second batch of crew done:
(https://therecouldhavebeensnakes.files.wordpress.com/2021/10/sci-fi-crew-002.jpg?w=1400&h=)
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Funnily enough my copy turned up yesterday, agreed the text could be a bit bigger and easier to read, but it is what it is.
I am just looking through my painted sci-fi mins and I will be picking a crew immently. I am going to start with 5 humans and a bot, why not lol
Take care people and remember in space no one can hear you scream ;)
Glen
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:D crew looks sweet!!!!
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It's the small independents I was thinking of - Zinequest is very much a PDF-only event for me!
Yeah, they're hard to get efficiently in hardcopy, especially outside of the US. Maybe try to find a US friend to have everything shipped to and then have them send over a bunch of the zines at once? Usually cheaper to do multiples of the darn things than individual copies IME, I usually buy several issues at once for that. Does require waiting a while though, since the Zinequest stuff is wildly scattershot about when (or if, in the bad cases) each thing actually ships.
Sure has grown a lot the last couple of years. One part of the hobby that's doing well, anyway. Kind of wish minis rules writers did something similar - zines of scenarios or optional rules or new troop/army types, that sort of thing.
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I make good use of the office printer's booklet function, and it makes me feel a little less guilty by utilising a stack of recycled paper. They're not as pretty as they could be, but are perfectly serviceable.
Dead tree guilt aside, my 5 Parsecs copy came in the other day. Very nice and crisp, though I think I'll keep my printed-and-display-booked copy handy for ease of reference - the pages flip across a lot faster, and weathers tea stains more easily!
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Here comes the blue phase.
(https://therecouldhavebeensnakes.files.wordpress.com/2021/10/sci-fi-crew-003.jpg?w=2000&h=)
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Dang, now I got that. "I'm blue" song stuck in my head.
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Dabudi dabuda!
Recently finished watching The Mandalorian and figured it would be appropriate to have something ready for when I roll up the Bounty Hunter class in 5 Parsecs - the only figure I've put together so far with any real intention.
Love the versatility of these [something]grave kits. Allows one to lean into the grubby sci fi aesthetic.
(https://therecouldhavebeensnakes.files.wordpress.com/2021/10/sci-fi-crew-004.jpg?w=2000&h=)
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I hadn't thought about using the female soldier sprue before, but these look really good.
I bought the female wizard sprue to build some Jedi type figures, but I'll take a second look at the soldiers now as well.
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Nice Mandolorian there. Barbarian body as a base?
I hadn't thought about using the female soldier sprue before, but these look really good.
I bought the female wizard sprue to build some Jedi type figures, but I'll take a second look at the soldiers now as well.
The one on the right looks to be a female wizard body, sans the separate optional bit of cloth that hangs down in front.
(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgcWa9YF1C33FYhYKNl-8IPrc-e_ee55oulFTbCdwt3AXCGFHpyg1QtaoetqYhc8RBdCxAVr4NdRUbRZOgAQupkd8KyyN8m7CK4JSjZT1EJyLCiJ0FwKNgpwLP0wpBketDZl-DZx5qhusmBkfs4Vxw8kU59fRI8lwl3eZKJrXXS1WNK2Dt8iIUJuHMh9A=s1477)
The Soldiers 2 kit works just fine as well, of course. Cultist bodies work a charm as well.
(https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9aPYz2xvOY8/YPHa6Ys8ZYI/AAAAAAAAAR4/rinZt6yw2zYjuxiF3pj68z2iqtkX7My8QCLcBGAsYHQ/s2833/Ruffians%2B1.jpg)
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Diving the bounty hunter and friends, along with the sun cultists.
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I'm sure I've seen somewhere that there may be a female crew box in the works - if that's true, then I will definitely be indulging. Until then, the Frostgrave sets work well enough for sci fi women. I do have a fair stock of metal minis, but plastic's so much easier for kitbashing.
Barbarian body as a base?
Cultist bodies work a charm as well.
I've got one Parsec-ed cultist on its way. The fantasy sprues are great for leaning into the grubby sci fi aesthetic, and the surplus arm options on the Stargrave sprues help avoid that niggling voice whispering that I'm 'wasting' figures as I experiment.
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Nice work and very creative.
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Cultist bodies work a charm as well.
(https://yaktribe.games/community/media/cultist-gangers.54138/full)
(https://yaktribe.games/community/media/cultist-juves.54141/full)
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If you are still trying to get the knack of GW’s contrast paints can I recommend a couple of things.
1/ paint the lowest layer first and then touch up the higher layers with whatever colour you have used as the undercoat. I often find that if you leave the lowest layers till last you end up leaving white spots in the corners and mucking up belts and sashes.
2/ try to do higher layers in darker colours. So sashes and belts usually end up in dark brown, black or dark blue. This helps hide some of the over painting you need to do with lower down (and usually lighter) colours.
3/ have a play with putting contrast paints over different base colours, including silver. You can get some very cool coloured metallic effects by putting bright contrast colours over shiny silver, and can get a very nice dark oiled metal look with black contrast over bright silver.
My hobby plog over on Yaktribe covers my pretty basic attempts to paint Necromunda gangs where I had started with pretty bad ink painting and have ended up with a bit of a hybrid model or traditional and contrast painting that works.
https://yaktribe.games/community/threads/almic85s-general-hobby-plog.8882/post-266000
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Thanks for the tips! Been practicing more with some of them, and more recently with drybrushing an off-white layer over a black basecoat which helps quite a bit. Even daring to venture into mixing my own colours with inks, matte medium and flow aid.