Urban War: Oni Class Shogun Battlesuit with Katana

After completing my Triad Boss, and reading through Rogue Stars, I figured I really need some kind of Robot to go with my gang. To this end, I pulled this Oni Battlesuit out of storage. This is supposed to be a battlesuit, but looking at it, there's not much space for anyone but the smallest of pilots to go, so I'm calling it a Robot.

Pictured with the Triad boss here to give an idea of scale.

In the original Void 1.1, the Shogun was a battlesuit, armed with katana and shield, but of the many versions on the VASA battlesuits, I liked it the least. However in the Urban War iteration, this name was given to this melee orientated battkesuit, with some small range capabilities (there's a small gun in the battlesuits's mouth.

I'm not a fan of the back of the shield. It is really plain, which is unfortunate since you see most of the back of the shield after it has been attached to the miniature. I'm going to have to go back and do something with that.

Urban War: Viridian Colonial Veteran HMG Team

Yet another miniature for Urban War, a Viridian HMG support team. Painted and repainted a long time ago, finally got round to finishing the base.

Quick post to get this up there. I'm not sure if this is much use in any games I have planned, as it has two minis on the same base, but we'll see.

Urban War Triad Boss

So after 2 hours at the pant table, give or take, I've squeaked out another of the minis I wanted to finish off for my Cleaning out the closet challenge for the end of the year. Ideally, I should have dropped the 2016 from the logo I made, as I had originally wanted this to be a winter event, but you live and learn.

This is the Triad Boss for Urban Mammoth's game Urban War. This was a limited edition release that came when you bought one of the original magazines that were the rules for the 1st Edition Urban War (issue number XX). He has his katana in hand, which I always thought a little cooler than the pistol wielding general release version.

In the end, I didn't paint over the cherry blossoms, as I previously planned to, but I do think they are looking a bit better than they were, if still not perfect. He also looks like he's leaning a little, which is kind of annoying, but is down to how he was placed on the scenic base I had already prepared. Good enough to get on the table at the head of a Triad gang for Rogue Stars for sure, though now I like the idea of fielding my Oni class Shogun battle-suit as a big ass robot to stomp on the other side. Either way, my growing Triad force has already gotten too large to be played as a Rogue Stars force, and will have to find another way to make it all on to the table at once.

I'll post a run down of what I have managed to complete for my challenge in the New year, but after finishing off this guy, I based up the last of the Viridians I had previously painted, leaving not so much to complete. 

Anyway, Happy Hogmanay to you all, see you on the flipside!

Urban War: Triad Retainers

The third batch of minis from the list I have made myself is now complete.

I've recently finished off two 'units' of Urban War Triad Retainers. I hesitate to call them units, as in Urban War all figures are individuals, but the paint scheme certainly splits them into two definite groups, as do the paint jobs. The first, the red and white, were initially painted in 2004 (with the details being finished recently), and the second group, the green and orange, being painted in 2016.

These miniatures were originally released in 2004/5 (I know because it said so on the tabs, not because I could actually recall when I bought them) by Urban Mammoth, and are now available from Scotia Grendel. I bought these guys from Urban Mammoth's brick and mortar store in Edinburgh, and they finally made the trip over here a couple of years ago.

As you can see, the shading technique I used on the first batch was very rudimentary. The 2016 group has some quick and dirty 2 brush blending, so looks a bit smoother, I think.

The bases are the ones that I spoke of earlier, with the last two that I painted in this batch being put aside for the Triad Boss and a Kabuki doll, both of whom have languished in a half painted state for about as long as these guys.

As much as I would like to use these guys in a game of Urban War, it is more likely that these will go with the Viridians I have also finally put some finishing touches to (i.e. based) to be played with in some of the SciFi games I am trying to get set up.

Finishing some Viridians

In the first painting session for about 2 weeks, pulled out some old Viridians, with the plan to finish off some paint jobs that had been sitting around for far too long This was inspired in part by the Viridian Wars blog, and partly by Colore ton Monde ending, which has made me go back an complete old stuff for some reason, rather than starting any new projects.

This may also be inspired by the spring clean going on in our house this weekend too.

So, a triple whammy of reasons to go back and fill in some blanks that have been staring at me. I hope there'll be some more of this to follow in the rest of the month. In fact, this month's mini for the Khador Caster Challenge fits this bill too, as I have an eButcher sitting around base coated that I plan to do next.

So let's call May the spring cleaning month, and use it to our advantage shall we!

These guys were painted for a Colore ton Monde back in April 2014, but have been sitting on whote bases ever since. No more! Now they are based to fit the scheme of the rest of my Viridians. Although, there are another 4 or 5 of these bases to go, but they will be completed soon. These bases are from a discontinued line by Secret Weapon. The other 5 are from a similar line, but are different enough, with none of the large modelling of these bases. Hopefully keeping the palate the same should make them all blend in seamlessly.

 

Looking at them I the harsh light of a close up photograph, there's a lot of things about the way I painted these that I would do differently now. Only a year's difference, and still so much to learn and master.

Colore ton Monde: September, New Tech

This has been a slooooow month, with real life getting in the way of hobby time to a much larger extent than normal. I won't bore you with the details, but I will excite you with a painted mini. One whole big fat painted mini, that is the grand total of this month's gaming output. Go me!

The theme of this month's challenge can be found here, and the rest of the minis are posted on facebook here.

He is rather fat though, that much is true. He is a Sumotori, a heavy (literally) for the Triad faction in Urban War. There are another two just like him to be finished off. In the end, the paint job really doesn't live up to close inspection, but he's done.

How I spend month's gaming time will be entirely determined on which of the products I have ordered arrives first. I am awaiting the Iron Scorpion box set from Spartan, which has been already delayed at the printers, and there's usually about a month's lag in me getting things from them over on this side of the Atlantic. I am also close to receiving two Kickstarters from Chaosium. Horror on the Orient Express, and 7th Edition Call of Cthulhu. Both of which are currently scheduled for a mid-October release. If these arrive, I intend to put together a gaming group for that, which won't necessarily compete directly with my gaming time, as that's likely to be a weekend evening event, however, prepping it is highly likely to eat into my time at the painting table.

Colore ton Monde: Mars/March, The Masked Ball

Enough of the Oldhammer minis, back to the present, or indeed the near future...
 
March's challenge was to paint a figure with their face hidden. Really not to taxing at all to find, as there are a lot of near/far future games that stick a gas mask on their minis, and many many other ranges that have at least a few figs with full face helmets. In the end, I went with the Viridians I brought back from the UK, as I seem to be on a roll with them. I have five Special Forces minis, and four of them are wearing gas masks. Easy peasy. They also fit into the stealth motif of this months challenge.

 

So, there you go, faces all hidden, and stealth theme too. I have also had the call to say the bases for these guys have arrived, so they will be based and done very shortly.

I love the fact that of the five minis in this squad, three are female.

Urban War: Viridians Commander

This is the next of my Viridians to be completed. I did her with a batch of Viridians Special Forces, but they're for this month's Colore ton Monde, so will be revealed at the end of the month. There was nothing like working with a restricted palette to make sure I got these done. It really sped things up to not have to swither over what colour the boots or coat were going to be, and it helped me to get over the painting block that stopped me mid way through last months Challenge minis.

Also, I really love this figure.

Urban War: Viridian Sniper

Inspiration has been running hot already this month, and I'm half way through the unit of Viridian Special Forces I decided to paint, which will also count for my Colore Ton Monde challenge for this month. Whilst I have the palette for these guys, based on my original Marines force, I have been painting up another couple of minis for the force, a commander mini and a veteran sniper. I'll post the Commander when she's done, and the Special Forces when I have completed the unit, but the sniper is ready to be displayed.

This was my first attempt at any kind of camouflage, and I'm not sure it entirely works, as the colours I chose, whilst fitting well with the rest of the force, are possibly a bit too muted to be visible on the tabletop. Perfect camouflage then I suppose!

I have always loved the sniper minis from the Viridian faction, and this one more than most. I'm rather pleased with the way she turned out. And of course, bieng a near future mini, she will work well if I4 ever want to play Infinity.

I am awaiting a new order of bases before I can base this girl, as the set I used for the rest of my Viridians has been discontinued. I have ordered a couple of sets from Sectret Weapon to see if they match up.