Griffin Miniatures Greys - WIP flying bases

[voltan]

I'm glad you went with the greys and cyberdisks, if it had been Snakemen the flashbacks of chrysalids would have been heavy.

[mikedemana]

That is some serious work and dedication to your modifications...!

I love how that pilot at the controls turned out...!

Mike Demana

[Daeothar]

Thanks guys; much appreciated

And Voltan: I'm afraid a Chrysalid or two is indeed on my wishlist. I just have to find a suitable miniature (although 'Nid Genestealers would be an obvious base)

[anevilgiraffe]

whatever the aliens in Void were called would be close maybe?

[voltan]

Koralon, I don't think there's anything suitable for the Chrysalid though, could be wrong as I never really kept up with the urban war stuff, just Void.
Was planning to use them as snakemen when I was planning a x-com inspired set up, even made terrain tiles in the style of the game (long gone now) all I've left is the UFO that GZG did and was about the right size for a scout saucer, well also the Koralon minis somewhere in a box.

I shall stop derailing this thread and go back to having flashbacks of my squad getting turned into zombies, then spawning into new Chysalids..

[Malebolgia]

Damn, what an awesome project man!! Love what you're doing with this. An oldschool X-Com sectoid army sounds so cool. Are you doing the human soldiers and Skyranger too? And of course you will need Ethereals too right?

[Daeothar]

Cheers

Yes; I've already been low key searching for the right miniatures for Ethereals, but so far nothing has stood out to me. I want a robed and hooded figure, basically standing straight up and still. But that apparently makes for an uninteresting mini, so nobody is doing any of that, even though I thought there would be plenty of choice…

And I've had a couple of squads of Heresy scifi troopers lying around for this very purpose for almost as long as you've been working on your cyberpunk collection

They should fit the bill perfectly, even though their asethetics are more akin to the starter soldiers in the reboot game. Then again; my Sectoids are also a far cry from the originals.

So let's say I've been very loosely inspired

As for the Skyranger: I've always wanted to do a (slightly) scaled up version of the Chickenhawk paper model in polystyrene. Now, I know there is a sculpted resin version out there, but I like to do this kind of stuff myself; I love working with styrene.

But for the time being, I can use my Lightspeed shuttles, because I've got plenty of shuttle sized craft built and painted already

Also; I've now received an additional UFO model kit: the Polar Lights Area 51 UFO in 1:48.



It's approximately 30cm across, and has plenty of room inside for a playable interior with some rooms. It will function as a large scout in X-COM terms. I'll probably create a ramp for in- and egress, as I want it to stand on landing legs similar to those on the small scout saucers.

Loads to do, but I'm having a blast with them so far

[Malebolgia]

Cheers

Yes; I've already been low key searching for the right miniatures for Ethereals, but so far nothing has stood out to me. I want a robed and hooded figure, basically standing straight up and still. But that apparently makes for an uninteresting mini, so nobody is doing any of that, even though I thought there would be plenty of choice…

Checking the old images, the Ethereals are so generic (robed figure with a huge empty cowl), you would indeed think there would be ample choice with all the stls around. How odd!

And I've had a couple of squads of Heresy scifi troopers lying around for this very purpose for almost as long as you've been working on your cyberpunk collection

They should fit the bill perfectly, even though their asethetics are more akin to the starter soldiers in the reboot game. Then again; my Sectoids are also a far cry from the originals.

Thought of the Akula Dune soldiers? They are almost spot on for the XCOM/UFO starting soldiers in terms of armour.

[Daeothar]

Checking the old images, the Ethereals are so generic (robed figure with a huge empty cowl), you would indeed think there would be ample choice with all the stls around. How odd!

That's what I figured, but really; the kind of mini I'm thinking of is really hard to find, as it turns out. I'll find some eventually though

And I've had the idea of starting an X-COM force several times before

I even thought of representing the 3 different types of armour in three different squads, using Copplestone troopers as the starters. The second type I would base on Eldar Guardian bodies and the third one I was still looking for, but the best candidate would have been the (now Warlord?) Starship Troopers Grizzly Suits.

I have Akula's generic Scifi troopers (the ones with the fatigues, field caps and SMG-like weapons) and they might indeed be an option for the starter squads too, if those are the ones you mean…

[anevilgiraffe]

Koralon, I don't think there's anything suitable for the Chrysalid though, could be wrong as I never really kept up with the urban war stuff, just Void.
Was planning to use them as snakemen when I was planning a x-com inspired set up, even made terrain tiles in the style of the game (long gone now) all I've left is the UFO that GZG did and was about the right size for a scout saucer, well also the Koralon minis somewhere in a box.

I shall stop derailing this thread and go back to having flashbacks of my squad getting turned into zombies, then spawning into new Chysalids..

I may be misremembering chrysalids

[anevilgiraffe]

Thought of the Akula Dune soldiers? They are almost spot on for the XCOM/UFO starting soldiers in terms of armour.

they're not out anywhere are they?

[anevilgiraffe]

It's approximately 30cm across, and has plenty of room inside for a playable interior with some rooms. It will function as a large scout in X-COM terms. I'll probably create a ramp for in- and egress, as I want it to stand on landing legs similar to those on the small scout saucers.

Loads to do, but I'm having a blast with them so far

I hollowed out a 25mm rim/display base and used a length of 25mm clear perspex, with the ramp down, surpisingly stable

[Battle Brush Sigur]

@Ethereals: That's the thing - generic figures are often surprisingly hard to come by these days since a third of the fantasy/sci-fi people want to 'do their own thing' (or fall victim to contemporary fashions) and two thirdy painfully adhere to 40k things. Looking at Ethereals, I realized I'd forgotten that they didn't even have any arms (when robed)! They're tricky ones to do.


Anyway, this is a great project. I've dreamt of doing an X-Com tabletop wargame for many years, never pulled the trigger. Great to see you doing it, and doing it right. Looking forward to seeing more!

Taking 40k genestealers as the basis for Crysalids is a sound idea. Take the tail off, remove the fingerly pair of arms, remove one of the claws from each of the remaining arms, sand the face down smooth and give them a big, lovely smile. Somehting along those lines, I suppose.

As for the Skyranger - for a while I've had my eyes on the Marvel Crisis Protocol airplane there: https://www.atomicmassgames.com/character/quinjet/, not sure about its exact dimensions, and of course it's closer to the new X-Com stuff in design.

[Malebolgia]

I have Akula's generic Scifi troopers (the ones with the fatigues, field caps and SMG-like weapons) and they might indeed be an option for the starter squads too, if those are the ones you mean…

No, these ones in the second photo:
https://wargameterrain.blogspot.com/2013/12/akulas-galactic-armies-science-fiction.html

They look really close to the OG art:

[Daeothar]

I may be misremembering chrysalids

 

...No, these ones in the second photo...

I see; they do look like the second tier armour! FYI; I was referring to the ones in the top picture there.

...for a while I've had my eyes on the Marvel Crisis Protocol airplane there: https://www.atomicmassgames.com/character/quinjet/...

I very much like that one too! 

I hollowed out a 25mm rim/display base and used a length of 25mm clear perspex, with the ramp down, surpisingly stable

Do you have any pictures? Sounds interesting