Of Dice and Army Men: March 2024

Sunday, March 31, 2024

Dragon Rampant - Orc Armies swells!

Hello fellow Grognards and Young Guard!

Welcome to another installment of 'Of Dice and Army Men'!

In the past, I posted pictures of my Dragon Rampant Orc Army consisting of a large number of Chronopia Assault Orcs. Well, the ranks continue to grow. I just really love these Assault Orc models, so when I see them on ebay, they are rare to come by and like to rescue them (for the right price of course!).

I have added the 10 Assault Orcs below to the ranks.

The trick is adding minis to an army you painted a while back to keep colors consistent and in the same style. I do keep a project book of color used. Unfortunately, that army was not recorded in the book, but I did remember the limited number of paints used on these models, so off I went. I highly recommend keeping a paint log for your projects.

Next up, in Jan 2024, I was able to finish painting my Ogre Kingdoms Army for Warhammer 6th/ 7th Edition, but not able to take pictures for posting. I hope to have those taken and the army posted soon!

Until then, gather the forces and GAME ON!

PAINTED MINIATURES SCOREBOARD:

2021 Painted Miniatures: 169

2022 Painted Miniatures: 214

2023 Painted Miniatures: 544

2024 Painted Miniatures: 59 (more to come...SOON!)

Brotherhood Army Grows!

Welcome fellow Grognards and Young Guard!

Where has 2024 gone! First Quarter of the year is already over! Some much to do.

Painting continues and the growth and reduction of the pile of shame continues.

This installment covers the addition of a large amount of Brotherhood troops for a Xenos Rampant Army or Galactic Heroes use.

The Brotherhood Army now includes:

3 Squads of 7 Troopers

2 Elite Squads of 4 Elite Troopers

1 Mystic and his Acolytes

1 Cardinal and his three Pilgrims

1 Brotherhood Commander

Now I'm on the hunt for some unique vehicles and walkers/ dreadnoughts that will fit the army look.

Hope you enjoy!

PAINTED MINIATURES SCOREBOARD:

2021 Painted Miniatures: 169

2022 Painted Miniatures: 214

2023 Painted Miniatures: 544

2024 Painted Miniatures: 49 (more to come...SOON!)

Cybertronic Attilla III Cuirassier - Rounding out the Squad!

Welcome Grognards and Young Guard! Welcome to any new readers out there as well!

I'm still playing catch-up on my 2024 finished project postings, so below are some recent additions. I was able to pick-up three more Attilla III to round out the squad. Working these into a robot army for Xenos Rampant or some troops for Galactic Heroes.

There is something about these models I just really love. Tried to keep them simple, yet enough details to make them interesting.

Hope you enjoy!

Until next time, may your pile of shame grow ever smaller...and GAME ON!

PAINTED MINIATURES SCOREBOARD:

2021 Painted Miniatures: 169

2022 Painted Miniatures: 214

2023 Painted Miniatures: 544

2024 Painted Miniatures: 18 (more to come...SOON!)

Side Projects - Expect the Unexpected - Avatar AMP Suits

Greetings Gronards and Young Guard!

Hope your 2024 is going well! I'm catching up on posting some projects I have finished this year so far.

This was a little side project that found its way into the line-up and to the top of the pile of shame.

I always take a trip through the clearance aisle at Walmart to see what I find. The other day I found 5 Avatar AMP Suit toys in a local Walmart for $3.50 each. Looking at the size of the drivers, they appeared to be a good fit for 28-32mm miniatures. There were two versions. One of the versions is pictured below.

Using some wooden circle bases I had on hand, I quickly mounted and positioned the 5 AMP suits on individual bases. The paint job on them was pretty good, so didn't want to go overboard and repaint the entirety of the suits. I looked at some Avatar video and images of the larger versions of these McFarlane produced suits to see what details might be added. I repainted all of the suit numbers, adding them to the backside of the suits, which had been on those at the large size and in the movie. I also picked out some metallic details and blacked out the canopies from the inside as I would not be using the drivers.

Prior to painting, I had positioned the arms and glued the rifles in their hand for a marching pose. The construction of the toy doesn't seem to allow the off hand from reaching the weapon, so it is what it is, and I positioned it the best I could.

Before washing, I gave the unit numbers I painted on a coating of flat varnish to protect them. I did the same for the details of the maker on the weapons as well. I then applied GW Nuln Oil to the entire walker (minus the canopy glass).

After drying, I then finished each model by doing the bases. These walkers will end up in my pending Warzone Capitol troops army for Xenos Rampant.

Very cheap and quick to do use of toys for wargames dreadnoughts/ walkers/ mechs.

I did not picture all five completed and I have one more on the way to round out the forces.

Until Next Time fellow Grognards and Young Guard, lock and load....and GAME ON!

PAINTED MINIATURES SCOREBOARD:

2021 Painted Miniatures: 169

2022 Painted Miniatures: 214

2023 Painted Miniatures: 544

2024 Painted Miniatures: 15 (more to come...SOON!)

Monopose Marine Miniature Mumblings Challenge (That's a lot of M's!)

Welcome Grognards and Young Guard to the first posting for 'Of Dice and Army Men - 2024'!

I'm long overdue to post paintings for the year, but that's not to say I haven't been busy...or something like that...

Anyway, below is a long pending post of my new Tiger Claw Space Marines that I put together in response to Kevin Dunne, of Miniature Mumblings, throwing down the gauntlet to the Facebook group.

For those Grognards who remember the Warhammer 40,000 Compendium or "Red Book" as many call it, it had panels of "beakie" space marine chapter space schemes.

Warhammer 40K Compendium 19891 Games Workshop

I had always wanted to do a chapter of Tiger Claws. The Tiger Claws are from the 21st or 'Cursed Founding'. Their main scheme replicates tiger stripes over a black base armor.

Warhammer 40,000 Compendium 1989 Games Workshop

At that time, my painting abilities were nowhere near capable of attempting the chapter pattern, let alone trying to freehand paint the Tiger Claw chapter badge on every marine's armor. I defaulted my beakie marines to Blood Angels. They are due for a revamp...maybe in 2025.

Fast forward something like 25 years later and we are at the Monopose Marine Miniature Mumblings Challenge - 2024! The site owner/ Emperor, Kevin Dunne, challenged the group to paint up a monopose marine. I thought I'd give it a crack! Unfortunately, it has taken a lot longer than originally anticipated.

I attempted to create water slide transfers for the Chapter Icon (ie. Tiger face) and the Marine function/ squad badges (ie. Tactical, Assault, Devastator), but it just didn't work out.

SOOOOOO....I had to default to hand paint consistent sized chapter and functions badges. I worked out a Tiger face scheme that would 'look like a tiger' from a reasonable distance and have enough detail.

Of course, unfortunately, my inner army building nature just couldn't stop at one marine...so I built a squad! Of course, I can't just stop at a squad, so I have a second Tactical squad in process. Of course (this is where the inner madness takes over) could not stop at two squads so I'm now working on pulling together a 2nd/ 3rd Ed Tiger Claw Space Marine Army (including two Tactical Squads, Two Devastator Squads, Two Assault Squads, three Attach Bikes, Two Squads of Bikes, Two dreadnoughts, Rhinos and Predators. MADNESS!!!!

Well, hope you enjoy! I really like these guys and can't wait to get them on the table, some day...

TIGER CLAWS - 6th Company, 5th Tactical Squad