WWW1 British Trenchers out of Warzone plastics - block painting continues

[Daeothar]

Right,

Well,  just before Crisis this year, I caught wind of the 80 minis for €19,95 bag on the Prins August site ( http://shop.princeaugust.ie/warzone-mutant-chronicles-wargame/warzone-games-expansion-sets/tg2420-1-warzone-mutant-chronicles-bag-of-80-plastic-soldiers/ ).

I had no idea what to do with all that plastic, but it was tempting. So, at Crisis, a friend and I stumbled upon one of those very bags at the Bring and Buy. I negotiated the price down to €15,-, and my friend and I split the bag between us. He got the Bauhaus troopers, and I got the Imperial ones. €7,50 for 40 minis each; best deal of the day I figured.

My motivation to go for the Imperials being that everyone seems to be doing Germans in Space these days, and I kind of liked the ominous look these Tommies in Space carried off so well.

Anyway, I needed a break from several other projects and the all too hectic real world, so I spent a couple of hours yesterday afternoon and some more this evening to build my first out of 4 squads of these guys.

Why so long? Because they're cast in frickin' hard plastic, that's why...  There are not many mould lines, but those that are there are really, really tenacious, because of the hardness of the material. I also needed to use a glue normally used for ABS and PVC, because my trusty Revell model glue failed to even slightly melt the stuff.

And because there are only 4 different poses (trooper1, trooper 2, heavy and officer), I also wanted to do the inevitable reposing/converting, to keep the squads visually interesting. They will be functioning as generic Scifi and/or WWW troopers, but might even work in a pulp setting. So they will see a lot of use, and need to look their best, even when subjected to a rather streamlined building process...

Here is the squad, after just receiving their basing material:



And here they are in pairs, for a more detailed look. Don't worry about the particles and glue threads; they've already been taken care of. Also, the glare of the plastic shows you just how hard this plastic is. No cutting these bad boys; I had to break out the jeweler's saw to get through it. The glue does take to it very well though, and its properties make that it also works as a filler, which is practical...











They are drying from their first coat of spraypaint right now. I went with a brown, which I hope will also function as the basecoat, to keep the process moving. These will not be award winners, but they will be quick, tough and versatile.

Oh; and I'm already thinking about a Mk1 Male inspired tank to support them...

[Roebeast45]

You've done a great job with these. Looking forward to seeing the paint.

[Red Orc]

There are a few of us who are using these for WWWI or similar - I'm working on a project loosely inspired by 'Scarlet Traces' and set on Mars between 1910-1920, there's a few shots of mine and other's work (and links) on this thread - http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=46361.15

[Blodwin]

Like the figures – quick question is the bed roll on the back pack moulded on or fixed on afterwards?

If the plastic is that hard wondering how easy it would be to remove.

Also looking forward to the painted versions.

Blodwin 

[robertsjf]

Bedroll is molded. You could get it off with a saw w/o too much trouble.

[Blodwin]

Thanks for that, next project!!!?

Blodwin

[Bubbles]

I like these, makes me want to do Weird WW1.To the back of the Projects list I suppose. Who is the company that makes these by the way.

[Red Orc]

Prince August.

http://shop.princeaugust.ie/warzone-mutant-chronicles-wargame/warzone-games-expansion-sets/tg2420-1-warzone-mutant-chronicles-bag-of-80-plastic-soldiers/

You get 40 'Imperials' - these 'British' guys - and 40 'Bauhaus' - who are Pickelhaube-clad 'Germans'.

[Daeothar]

Thanks so far guys.

Just to show this project hasn't stalled, here's a progress shot of them:



Undercoated with a cheap brown spraypaint, which is slightly glossy, making this stage look rather cruddy. I'm block painting the entire squad in one go, before shading them with a dip/wash en subsequent one stage highlighting and detailing.

I have precious little time at the moment, so doing it like this hopefully keeps enough momentum to see them finished before my limited attention span makes me switch to the next shiney thing...

[The Dozing Dragon]

Looking good.

[Sangennaru]

great reposing, and promising start. I'm curious to see them finished!

[The Voivod]

Looking good there.
Excellent colour scheme.

I'll have to start on my half of the bag soon.
Think I'll take the same approach of blocking and washing. Maybe use ap quickshade on them.
I really need to finish something these days.

[Daeothar]

Another small update; the blocking continues, one colour a day it seems, but forward we crawl still...



V; about time you started on them. But what the blazes will we do with 80 WWW1 troopers once they're finished? We will need trenches, barbed wire, craters, bunkers, tanks, yet another game system...

[Red Orc]

What systems do you play, chaps?

My plan is to use mine in a dieselpunk version of GASLIGHT, about 20-30 years later than the classic VSFery that most GASLIGHT players use as a setting.

But, yeah, you definitely need tanks.

[Daeothar]

Hi Red,

As it is right now, we do not have any gaming system for these guys. When I caught wind of the Prince August deal, I knew I had to get them, even if I did not know what to do with them just yet.

Like I said; I needed a break from some other stuff and basically was looking for something I could finish relatively quickly, without too much involved work. So that's why I dug these guys out, with the plan of finishing 10 of them, and then to return to my many other projects.

Truth be told, these guys are most likely to end up as Imperial Guard in 40K games and cannonfodder in our roleplaying games (homegrown combat rules).

And come to think of it; they could even work as Trenchers in a Warmachine Cygnar army...

But I must admit that I'm rather taken with the humble little guys, and it is entirely possible that they will grow into a project of their own. As I was musing; a tank to support them would be nice. I checked the kits and bitsboxes, and I think I have everything I need to actually make one...