Saturday, February 18, 2023

2023 - Playing Catch-up - Planet of the Apes

 

Welcome back fellow Wargamers!  It has been some time since my last post.  The good news is that I have been busy painting and hitting some conventions, so have much to share.

I've made and executive decision and have decided to count any of my un-blogged miniatures in late 2022 in my painted miniatures for 2023.  I feel like getting them posted is part of the deal.

One of the late entries is something I had hoped to find and be able to put on the wargaming table for a long time.

Planet of the Apes!  Not the remake of course, but the classic!  Charlton Heston (Taylor), Roddy McDowall (Cornelius), Kim Hunter (Zira) and, who could forget, Linda Harrison (Nova)!

Finding miniatures has been a challenge to say the least.  I finally stumbled across three sources.

An ebay seller, 'batval' has a large collection of Gorillas on foot, Mounted Gorillas and some character figures that seem to represent Cornelius and Zaius.

The second, is from Crooked Dice 7TV and they also have foot and mounted Gorillas but also offer more character figures for Cornelius, Zeus, General Ursus and Zira.

The third is a British company called Aintsy and they too have Gorillas on foot and mounted similar to those sold on ebay by 'batval' but have a variety of weaponry.  Also, the mounted sculpts are different poses, although all appear to be the same size.  They also offer a command groups of General Ursus and his lieutenants, but they also offer a mounted General Ursus and lieutenant and a groups they call 'Smart Apes' which look like Cornelius, Zira, Zaius and other orangutans.  Since they are UK, I have not yet been able to find a US stockist (that actually has stock).  Noble Knight Games shows they had once carried them in 2022, but has not restocked them since.  Whimper...

Enough talk and now for some images of the Apes!

First up, Zaius and Cornelius with some Gorilla Soldiers.


Next, a squad of Gorilla soldiers!  I have actually painted a few squads, but all are similar scuplts.


Next up, 6 mounted Gorilla soldiers.







Finally a few shots of the entire Gorilla Army!




30 models in all, and ready to fight!  I'm looking to use these in Xenos Rampant as well as Fistful of Lead Wasteland Warriors or Galactic Heroes.

You might notice there is no Taylor, Ursus, or Nova in the pics.  I have found Ursus model and a few others from Crooked Dice 7TV and will hopefully have them painted up soon.  I have found a stand-in for Nova, as no one seems to have made her in miniature (why, I can't fathom!)  That leaves Taylor.  I have scoured the mini manufactures and haven't found anything I can use, either in his space suit or in his tattered rags.  Any idea, I'd appreciate letting me know.

So, the race has officially began for 2023!


PAINTED MINIATURES SCOREBOARD:

2021 Painted Miniatures: 169

2022 Painted Miniatures: 214

2023 Painted Miniatures: 30


Spoiler alert!  Upcoming armies to add to the painted list for 2023 include a run of fantasy armies for Dragon Rampant and Fistful of Lead Fantasy.

Orc Army

Goblin Army

Vampire Army

Arachnid Army

And currently on the painting desk is an army I wanted to put together for a long time...

Army of Anubis (including the Scorpion King!)

Also, I will be adding some pics from 2022 and 2023 Gigabytes Historical Days as well as Siege of Augusta 2023!

Until next time fellow Grognards and Young Guard, may the pile of unpainted plastic and lead never blot the sun from your sky...and Game On!

No comments:

Post a Comment