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!

Wasteland Warriors - Thundarr the Barbarian

Greetings Fellow Grognards and Young Guard!

As promised, it's time to get some blogs posted on what's been keeping me busy on the wargaming front.  I thought I'd start out with a little something different.  Having been on the painting warpath, trying to get my 54mm AWI ready for Siege of Augusta became a long and arduous task, rather than a labor of love.

After having to have left Siege early due to a pending freakish snowstorm in the South, I ended up not putting on the game after all of that work.  Before pressing on into more regiments, I was able to make some purchases and find some old friends from 80's Saturday Morning Cartoons.

Crooked Dice Miniatures in the UK puts out some amazing (and costly) models for their 7TV games.  For those not familiar, 7TV is a game with flow and mechanics based in a typical TV show or movie from the 70's and 80's.  With models ranging from Knight Rider, Battlestar Galactica, V - The Final Battle, Omega Man, Road Warrior, Planet of the Apes, James Bond, Austin Powers and such, you can relive all of your favorite movies and shows on the table top.

I was stunned to find two models, in their Atomic Age Savages range, that hold a special place in my 80's heart.  It was none other than the Sunsword wielding hero, Thundarr the Barbarian and his companion, Ookla the Mok.  But, sadly, there was no stunning Princess Ariel!  After contacting Crooked Dice about the errors of their ways to no avail, I figured my only hope was to find an alternate model or get lucky and hope some like minded wargamer had designed a 3D print of the Princess/ Sorceress.

Having searched high low on the 3D print market, I was able find a princess (other than some 'unique' versions of the Disney princess of the same name), I set my sights on find a manufactured model that fit the bill.  One of my recent tricks has been to recycle Heroclix figures for use in other games.  There are many models in their ranges that work in other wargames.  Just cut them carefully off their clix base, glue them to a new base, touch them up or paint them as you wish and off you go!

In this case I found too models that seemed to fit the bill.  One was Vertigo; having her hands forward almost as shown on the DVD cover above.  The second was Donna Troy, who had her hands above her head yielding some type of force power.  After rebasing the models, using internet and the cover images of Princess Ariel, I repainted the minis in her likeness.  I don't think I did half bad!   You can decide.

Below is the fruit of my labor!  I will be using them in upcoming games of 'Wasteland Warriors' Fistful of Lead by Wiley Games.   I'll be sure to share the AAR report.

So until next time...Ookla, Ariel.....RIDE!!!!!

And GAME ON!

PAINTING SCORECARD:

2021 Painted Models: 169

2022 Painted Models:  3