Re: My armies on Mars - update March 16 2022 High Martian Kraag pg 7

[leadfool]

VonAkers
You can do a Parroom Station game.  Sort of a Chinese Boxer rebellion.  All the earth forces have to hold up in a single location and are attacked by all the various Martian forces.  We do that to allow the players to bring all their units ant so what if there are Prussians and English on one side and the Martians come in various "flavors." 
All the toys get to be on the table at once. 

[Menelduir]

Menelduir
Those Cav look very nice ..( so jealous .. must order more Gashants )
I am currently working on a Martian Siege Game  ...With a patched up General Gordon no less .. sort of a Khartoum on Mars .. stand by .!!
Cheers

Thanks, they are bright!
Khartoum on Mars sounds good to me! I have several bits of styrofoam that I have been wanting to convert into city walls and some heroscape buildings for towers I shall be following your progress, which will be posted right(?) so as to steal, er borrow ideas.

I have picked up the French Foreign legion fort [from 4ground] and two flyers [from Things from the Basement], so I am planning(?) thinking about a garrison in a desperate defense with ships arriving to save them...Just a bare glimmer of an idea at this point.

I am also building an 18" tall High Martian Kraag which needs to be done for this Tuesday and which will eventually get assaulted by someone.

[VonAkers]

Menelduir
Mate now this is getting creepy ...!!!
Guess what I am using for the Walls of the Canal Martian City .... yep  2 x Foreign Legion Forts ..!!!
Great  minds ... and all that , although mine are not (4 ground ) but  old Foam ones Oopnow .. from Old Glory I think ...

The gist of my  Scenario , is thus .

Mars 1889 ..( in this rewind to 1882 )a bit earlier  ...The British have sent in an Expedition Force to Support a local Canal Prince in the  fight for his right full succession with his uncle .
The fact that the new "Ruler " "would just be a mere puppet to to the machinations and aspirations of the British, and give them a perfect foot hold on Mars ..did not come into the equation at all ..its really "Just the right thing to do Old Boy" ...
 
However the Üsurper ( the Uncle ) has recruited numerous allies to help secure his "rightfull"position , including a large force of the Fanatical Deimos"Martian Ground Cleansing Cult " , quite set on eradicating ( Sacrificing or killing ), any or all of the "Red Menace ".. that is um er ...Earthmen ...!!

The British Commander is sent, in with Very Limited Resources ,against what turns out to be an overwhelming numerically superior enemy , and must use technology and cunning to win the day ..

A full load out of pics coming soon.
Cheers

[Grumpy Gnome]

Lots to love in this thread! I especially like the converted Kroot and the round ball like Japanese tank.

[LCpl McDoom]

Love seeing all those gashants and gashant-proxies.

If there was just one thing I could commission as a plastic range it would be them - the conversion possibilities would be wonderful 

Inspiring stuff sir, well done!

[Menelduir]

And now for something a little different...
Blue Martians



I tried to do these in the 'traditional' yellow/ochre colours but it just did not gel. I started off with too light a shade of yellow and could not get the ink/wash to work for me. These figures have been primed a few times as I tried different colours, different paints including contrast, none of these worked.

So for good or bad I had to change my plans. I looked at the old Parroom Station pictures, in some of those pictures some very atypical colours were employed from reds to blues to yellows. I asked the missus what colour to use, she suggested the typical green Martians, which I tried. In the end I decided to go with contrast paints as they could provide quick full coverage, well some of them. I tried a couple of paints but not all of them gave me the coverage that I wanted, but contrast Akhelian Green which came out more blue than green did cover well. 



Contrast, at least in my hands, often comes out blotchy, this time was no exception. I used a P3 blue to cover over some of the really dark patches, and well they came out blue, natch. The wings are Contrast Guilliman flesh for the most part, some were done with a 'traditional' GW paint. At any rate, they are blue, but they do stand out in a sea of yellow figures and red sand and rocks.

[The_Beast]

I really do find myself wanting to shout both 'Brilliant!' and 'Heresy!' at the same time. 

'Oh, Doug, don't you realize they are ancient Celt flyers?'

Reminds me of when I found the old Mage Knight not-Tharks, which look to be about the same shade. Tower over 15mm humans quite satisfactorily, though...

"Contrast, at least in my hands, often comes out blotchy, this time was no exception."

Early pre-general release reviews of Army Painter's new line, which may or may not be available now, suggest somewhat less of an issue. I think they will be going by 'Speed Paints' or something similar.

Feel free to drop me a PM of castigation if I've steered you wrong. 

Doug

[Menelduir]

I really do find myself wanting to shout both 'Brilliant!' and 'Heresy!' at the same time. 

'Oh, Doug, don't you realize they are ancient Celt flyers?'

"Contrast, at least in my hands, often comes out blotchy, this time was no exception."

Early pre-general release reviews of Army Painter's new line, which may or may not be available now, suggest somewhat less of an issue. I think they will be going by 'Speed Paints' or something similar.

Feel free to drop me a PM of castigation if I've steered you wrong. 

Doug

I have already pre-ordered a speed paint set, due in around March 26th, so no fear of castigation from me sir, I will be the author of my own painting fate.

I am torn by the blue High Martians myself, they are growing on me and given the large number of yellow Martians that I will have, once they are all painted, it will be nice to have some variety on the tabletop.

I like the Celtic idea, think I will go with that for any naysayers.

[Menelduir]

So, this year I participated in the Analogue painting challenge, this is the 12th such challenge, my first appearance. It is the reason that I have anything to post on the VSF board, or any board really. As the name implies it is intended to inspire the participants to get cracking on projects, to get stuff painted! It lasts all winter that is December 21 to March 21st.
One week, I decided to paint up the High Martians. Naturally I foolishly thought, maybe it would be nice to give them a home. So out to the garage I went in search of the styrofoam that I had cut up a dozen or so years ago for just this project. You know it really should not take this long to do a project At any rate I found the dust encrusted pieces and fleshed them out with some fresh cuttings and, amazingly, went straight to work on the project, finally.
The thing stands 16" tall, with a base that is 14" x 12" followed by a mid section that is roughly 10" x 10" an a top that is 8" x 8".


Each of the three sections were hollowed out, the lower section in rough rooms, the other two sections into open areas ready for dividing walls. The exterior was a compromise between looking like a vertical rock wall, while still giving places for troops to cling to.

[MaleGriffin]

Very nice! Unique take on the High Martians!

[The_Beast]

Again, love being able to say 'beautiful' and 'monstrous' at the same time!

"You know it really should not take this long to do a project"

Oh, that's a sentiment I've NEVER heard voiced on this forum before, including several times by myself. Is there a 'dripping with sarcasm' emoji?

Given the number started, lost, started again, submitted, put in a compost pile... *gag* Now I'm channeling Douglas Adams.

Bask in our admiration for completing SOMETHING, and stunner at that! My High Martians are green and ocher with envy. They had played on some repaint Guns of Navarone Playset peaks at one point, but those are waiting to float to the top of some compost heap... Okay, I'll try not to use that image again.

Leave it at, looks decidedly playable and 'me likee very much.'

Doug

[Easy E]

Wow, that is a very nice spire/fortress.   

Great looking stuff in this thread, very inspirational!   

[Cacique Caribe]

Truly stunning!  I really like it.

Dan

[VonAkers]

Menelduir
Mate That is the best thing I have seen for ages 
Including an Internal Cave system ... really ..Genius

QUITE SIMPLY BRILLIANT, BRAVO OLD BOY 

Cheers
Ps the Blue High Martians look quite ok as well ..!!

[Menelduir]

Menelduir
Mate That is the best thing I have seen for ages 
Including an Internal Cave system ... really ..Genius

QUITE SIMPLY BRILLIANT, BRAVO OLD BOY 

Cheers
Ps the Blue High Martians look quite ok as well ..!!

Wow, I think you like it better than I do...
Thank you for the compliments!

and thank yous go out to The Beast, Easy E, MaleGriffin, Cacique Caribe I appreciate the feedback it keeps me going.

Not necessarily what I will do next, most likely that will be some figures and a big robot but my next big, long put off project, is a series of walls for a city or fort. Again I have had the materials for years consisting of pre-cut plexiglass rectangles for the base and some funky styrofoam packing material. The styrofoam has been with me through a number of moves and has been shifted around, dropped, buried and generally ill used. If I do not use these soon they will get destroyed!

Thanks again everyone!