Jagannath's 15mm Sci Fi (More additions to the space opera cast! 7/4/20)

[sonicReducer]

I'm also playing solo. I have 2 squads from Armies Army that I funnily enough used for FiveCore. I like the rules a lot but the games were taking me 20 minutes or so solo, and instead of expanding I just kinda moved on. I picked up Pulp Alley quite a while ago but never played, ordered some lovely character minis from Ion Age but those need painting up.

My other 2 collections are 6mm WW2, 2 platoons and some 10mm AWI for Sharp Practice. My thought process jumps from one to the other - minis too small, too much to paint, game too small, etc. and I've not pushed myself to settle on one thing.

I spent quite a long time building foamcore terrain for 15mm sci-fi that I was honestly very happy with. Bookmarked this thread as it's a great impetus for me to just get on with my 15mm collection. I think I'll order some things I've had in mind for a while, a few vehicles / mechs, maybe a flyer, some more scatter terrain. I should post pics too ...

[Jagannath]

Ah I know that feeling - I jump around a lot too. Things take a lot longer but as long as i'm having fun and not stressing it keeps me happy!

Thought I'd better post as I haven't for a while - nothing finished this time though. I've got 20 or so of GZG's Brethren of the New Light on the painting desk at the moment. They're still intended for my more 'RPG' style games but I a) wanted to paint a 'military' unit for a change again (I'm regretting that grind already!) and b) wanted some checkpoint guards/'imperial' style troops. Hence the colourscheme.



The purple's finished on all of them, but the off-white has 2 more layers of highlight to go.

Of the 20 odd I'm painting I tried to pick half static and half dynamic poses - I'm envisaging a game where someone sneaks or approaches a less hostile force (the static 'guard' poses) but if it all kicks off I can replace them with the dynamic 'fighting' poses.

Now that I can really see the colourscheme though, I'm half tempted to make these the first group of my 'arctic' project I'd like to do - still sci-fi, but a bit more 'military' focussed (so less RPG characters and space-goats, more checkpoints and bunkers) with a definite COBRA/80's action movie vibe. A secret base, infiltration, missile silo type world. Don't really need to decide until it comes to basing, though if I 'go arctic'* I'll need to repaint all the hands as gloves!.

*'go arctic' has to be said in the voice of Alan Partridge saying 'go nuclear'.

[Ockman]

As always - great stuff!

[Inso]

It always amazes me how well some people can paint at 15mm.

I just see a nightmare when I look at a 15mm in bare metal, waiting to be painted. I just don'r have the patience for it so I don't bother (I used to collect Laserburn 15mm in the 80s so I did my share of painting 15mm back then).

The 15mm miniatures in this topic are fantastically painted... it is a marvel to behold .

Keep up the wonderful work.

[Jagannath]

Ah, thanks very much.

I've definitely got a few tricks down which help - black lining, extreme 'impressionistic' highlighting (I ignore the detail sometimes and just paint highlights where I 'want' them), washes (I don't know how Deano manages it using a layering system) and bold colours. My issue has become 28mm - I paint it so infrequently that my highlighting is way too bold and loose.

The improvement in sculpting and slight scale creep helps - There's some laserburn minis that I'd struggle to pick much out on. Equally, too much detail in the sculpt is something I try and avoid - I'm personally not a massive fan of the Daemonworld range - they're absolutely beautiful, but way too detailed to not look like absolute colour blobs with my painting style. Horses for courses I guess.

Having said that - your work on the HF 'squats' (can't remember the names) is fantastic - aren't those pretty much 18mm minis?

[Jagannath]

Hullo all,

I've had very, very little time to paint recently - what hobby time I have had has been spent sculpting space shrubs and beginning to get to grips with trying to sculpt my own minis 

I have done a bit more basecoating on the purple jacketed chaps from earlier but to get back on the wagon I rattled out a really simple rusty robot



Here's from this range: https://theionage.com/collections/15mm-ion-age-universe-characters - some of the minis in this range have really grown on me recently (though the adventurers are still spoilt by their guns). Anyway, only a quick post... as you were.

[KONNOC]

Great job on that GZG Brethren of the New Light model.  The colors really work well.

How tall is that mini head to toe?

I may have to pick some up.

[Jagannath]

Thanks very much.

The robot? About 17mm to top of his head, slightly thick base. Personally (though I'm not a massive scale stickler) he fits in fine well with other ranges.

[KONNOC]

Sorry no, I had meant the Brethren of the light model.  I know its a 15mm fig... but curious on the exact head to toe height.

[Jagannath]

Oh right - I guess 17mm too, I'll measure tonight. So much of my collection is GZG, which usually sits perfectly in the 'middle' of the 15mm scale-range, that I rarely worry about size disparity. I'll measure some shortly.

[KONNOC]

That would be great thanks!
I'm hoping I can shoehorn those brethren into a project I've been working on..

[Ockman]

Really cool robot, looks as if it would fit perfect in a Star Wars-inspired setting...

[Jagannath]

Funnily enough.... https://bladesandblasters.com/2017/08/14/the-sci-fi-universe/

[Ockman]

Funnily enough.... https://bladesandblasters.com/2017/08/14/the-sci-fi-universe/

Heh, I might have read that blog post before...

The robot reminds me of a mashup between Boba Fett and HK-47.

[Grumbledook]

Very cool. I quite like the Ion Age miniatures, they can be a bit chunky but they’re pretty characterful (and unashamedly old school I think).

Doing some of your own sculpts? This I must see!