Showcase: Infinity: Nomad..... REAKTION ZOND (HMG)

Last week a friend of mine told me about a group of Infinity players that were meeting up at a local brick and mortar store. He said he was going so I said what the heck I'll go too. There were only a few people of about a dozen or so of the group that evening, but who I met seemed like pretty good Joes. So I sat down and watched two of the veteran players play a game to learn some things, and to google at their finely painted miniatures.

It ended up being a pretty good evening and my friend and I are excited about the potential of gaming with some friendly guys that share our interest in Infinity. 

Soooo..... that brings me to my post today. My friend and I are meeting the group tonight and bringing our little collection of cool looking mini's with us. We both know we are going to get our asses handed to us, but we don't mind as long as we are learning and no one is taking it too seriously. I think we will be fine. But I'll report on our adventure in the coming days to let you know how it went down.

So going over my list I decided to paint a remote (robot type thing) for my list as I felt it was necessary to have him, well maybe not a winning piece to place on the board, but it looks soooo pretty. Pretty can win can't it?

Here are a few shots of my new lad joining the Nomad hordes.

Below the deadly Reaktion Zond that has superior reaction skills paired with a deadly HMG (heavy machine gun)

As always thanks for looking.

Cheers

Kevin

Showcase: Commissioner Gordon (The Batman Miniatures Game)

Well I finished Commissioner Gordon today and I am happy with how he turned out. Didn't go to fancy, but I did change one thing after a friend commented he looked like he was wearing bluejeans. He may wear those at home relaxing with the family, but as a detective I am sure he wears a decent suit or at least dress pants. I was trying to go for a blue, but changed it to grey instead. I think you will see by the pictures below that he at least looks the part of a detective... dress wise.

Hope you enjoy the pics, and I am one more model closer to having a batman game go down.

As always thanks for looking.

Cheers
Kevin

EDIT:

The comic book man himself

SWAT team and Commissioner Gordon (The Batman Miniatures Game)

Well I finally finished up three more good guys for Batman. Three SWAT members, though I am still working on Gordon. Man I am chomping on the bit to get enough figures and buildings done so I can finally sit down and play the game.

I sprayed Krylon's Crystal Clear on first. This is a gloss varnish type, and when dry, I used Testor's Dulcote to take off some of the gloss so there is just a bit of sheen to it. I was going to hit it again with Dulcote but decided against it for now. One thing I have been doing lately is not letting the dulcote get on the base of the figure so it is glossy. I like the look.

You'll note I painted SWAT on the back of their bullet proof vests. It's the best my shakey hands could do. I was going to paint big block SWAT letters on front of shield one was carrying but it came up so crappy I gave up and wiped it off and painted over it. Sigh. I'll need to get some decals or make a template. I will do this, but it will be another day.

Last picture is of my work in progress with Gordon himself.

Alpha SWAT member 

Bravo SWAT member

Delta SWAT member

Batman's right hand man, Commissioner Gordon

Thanks for looking
Cheers
Kevin

Semper Fi... R. Lee Ermey

Another one of my hero's passed away today. His name was R. Lee Ermey. I think like a lot of people I was taken by storm in his performance as drill instructor Gunnery Sergeant Hartman in Stanley Kubrick's "Full Metal Jacket".

We lost him today (April 15th, 2018) due to complications from pneumonia. He was 74.

Before he got into the acting business, he actually served as a Marine. I pulled the following from his wikipedia page.

U.S. Marine Corps

In 1961, at age 17, Ermey enlisted in the United States Marine Corps and went through recruit training at Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego in San Diego, California. For his first few years, he served in the aviation support field before becoming a drill instructor in India Company, 3rd Recruit Training Battalion, at Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego, where he was assigned from 1965 to 1967.

Ermey then served in Marine Wing Support Group 17 at Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Okinawa, Japan. In 1968, he was ordered to Vietnam with MWSG-17, and spent 14 months in country. The remainder of his service was on Okinawa where he was advanced to staff sergeant (E-6). He was medically discharged in 1972 because of several injuries incurred during his service. On May 17, 2002, he received an honorary promotion to gunnery sergeant (E-7) by the Commandant of the Marine Corps, General James L. Jones.

Not only did I love him in "Full Metal Jacket", another little known movie he was in that I enjoyed was called "The Siege of Firebase Gloria". Lastly he was well known on History Channel show entitled Lock N' Load with R. Lee Ermey, which discussed the history of various weapons used by militaries of today.

He will be missed. Rest in peace Gunney.

WIP: Commissioner Gordon and SWAT team and Harley Quinn Thug (The Batman Miniatures Game)

Work coming along on another Harley Quinn Thug for her crew, and I put together Commissioner Gordon and SWAT team set. For the SWAT member with shield and Pistol I decided to pin the arms. While not hard putting these together it was still not easy. The arms on the other two SWAT and Commissioner Gordon were molded as a set and you had to glue them onto the miniature. While at first I thought this was a good idea, it ended up not. The metal is pretty stiff so once you slipped the arms over the body it was a bitch to pinch them together to fit properly on shoulders. But I managed it and I must say I like the Gordon set. Good poses and nice sculpts. Knights Models has released their new resin line, but I have to say I like metal better.

Here's where I am at the moment.

Cheers

Kevin

Harley Quinn Thugs crew (The Batman Miniatures game)

Got a chance to paint up a couple more Batman miniatures. I completed two thugs for Harley's crew and have two more to paint. Then I will work on Commissioner Gordon set that has some SWAT dudes in it. This will give me enough models to play a game with a buddy. That's the plan anyways. I got a couple of 3 X 3 mats from Mars and am pretty pleased with them. Now all I need to do is build a few of those MDF buildings I've been collecting.

First dude up is a muscle man carrying a Jackhammer. When I first got the mini I had no idea what it was. I thought it was some sort of missile launcher. Hmmm, to my surprise that was not the case. Hopefully it's painted in such a way that you will recognize that is what it is.

The next one here I really like and I posed him holding up his double barrel shotgun. Though I wish they had put a little more beef into it to make it look more like it.

Well that's it for now.

Cheers
Kevin

Harley Quinn (The Batman Miniatures game)

Today I gave myself a migraine. How did I give myself a migraine? Easy, I pushed my painting skill level beyond my current ability. Now I know I paint pretty good, and I've been doing it a long time, and the thing is you don't get better unless you paint... a lot. 

On Harley I know what I wanted to achieve. I could visualize it in my head. My problem with doing that was I simply didn't know how. I never really painted faces but on these 35mm models you kind of have to if you want to give them some character from the comic books. These last few years I have picked up my game quite a bit, with glazing, blending, etc. But I know I have a long way to go. I spent most of yesterday preparing her, and all of today just trying to get the face right without screwing it up. 

In the end I am happy with it. It will look beautiful on the gaming table, and I can't wait to see what kind of tricks she can pull off facing Batman.

I painted her face up to look like she had that white pasty clown makeup on. I need to get a lot better at making stuff look more translucent. But I will say I am happy with what I did do, and in the end that's all that matters.

I am finding that I like pushing myself a bit more when it comes to painting, and enjoying it just as much if not more than actually gaming.

Here she is in all her glory, and I hope you like what I created. 

Cheers
Kevin