Plastic Prefecture

Hi all, happy Halloween!

Sadly I've been working over the Halloween weekend and have missed all the celebrations and have been too tired to put together a suitably Halloweeny style game (being a shift worker sucks some times!) so instead I've just got a post that was due to go out on Wednesday instead....sorry.

following on from my recent series of plastic Bushido Pirates of Jung sourced from Damon's purchase of the GCT Studios boxed game "Rise of the Kage" and its expansion set "The Docks of Ryu" I've managed to "steal" a few more of his figs for my own Bushido faction.  This time though I've taken some from the main game, they are duplicates as Damon was able to purchase not only the game but loads of additional minis (it worked out to about 75p per mini!).  As I've said in previous articles the plastic minis for the game have now been made into metal versions for Bushido - New Dawn i.e the tabletop version and although the detail is a little soft they actually look very good even alongside their metal equivalents.

First up we have Kenta Takashi from the ruling clan of Ryu

Kenta is a true samurai in every sense of the word. As a boy he knew his path, the one he has walked for many cycles in service to his family and the name Takashi. A veteran of countless battles and campaigns, he is a master swordsman, no foe able to outflank him due to practised footwork and deft movements. Many times enemies foolishly thought they had struck the killing blow but the ancestors favour Kenta amongst all others. Though quietly spoken his presence in battle banishes any fear in his troops, steeling their hearts for victory.

This is my version of him, not quite so polished as the metal version painted up by the Studio, but I'm happy with him.  I thought I would also try out the new basing idea for showing LoS in the game that I used for the Pirates.  Let me know what you think.

Next up is Iiijo Makato...

A ward is a member of a noble clan who has been taken in by another clan to be raised for a time. The practice varies, with it sometimes being undertaken voluntarily - to help prospective heirs learn the customs of other clans as part of their education. It can also be involuntarily, with the "ward" actually being a "hostage" for his or her clan's good behaviour or until a ransom is paid. Sometimes, as part of marriage alliances, one of the betrothed is taken as a ward so he or she can get to know his or her future spouse.

and my version, although he is a ward and not a member of the Takashi family, he has been equipped by them.

and finally for today we have Bachiko Takashi....

and my version of her

Use wise the two men are particularly good in combat as reflects their samurai status, heavily armoured they can go toe to toe with most opponents, with plenty of bite.  Iiito's "Inspiration" is particularly useful as it boosts other warriors around him.  Bachiko is of course still an excellent warrior but the best thing that she brings to the party is "Sixth Sense" allowing her to defeat the camouflage of the sneaky ninjas which causes a lot of trouble for most factions, this means she can act as a ninja radar!!

That's it for this time, I have some guards of Ryu and a generic Samurai to go from this set, there are of course hundreds of these figures that Damon has and I have left him to deal with them all!!  I will post them up here when I'm done but for now.

hope you enjoy
dGG

Zombtober 2016 - week 5

Hi all

As another Zombtober comes to a close I have the last of my Wargames Factory zeds and a few survivors from the Male WGF box that I've had time to finish in a rather busy month for me outside of hobby work, so I do apologise for the lack of quality Zombtober entries.  Next year I should be qualified so I'll hopefully be able to do something a bit better.  Anyway we have the last 5 zeds to be finished in time....

I also managed to put together three survivors to fit in with my ATZ - an English Adventure campaign. These are the last of the WGF male box set, although I still have quite a few female survivors to put together at some point. As they were the last three I wanted them to be a little special but they still needed to fit in with the English theme so there were no firearms on display!

First is "Charlie" an escaped prisoner from HMP Elmley, one of the three detention centres on the Isle of Sheppey.  Following the explosion of the SS Montgomery and the subsequent tidal surges, Sheppey was completely flooded, thousands were evacuated from the main towns and villages off of the Island and relocated to nearby evac centres on the mainland.  Not so the prisoners of the "Cluster" - HMPs Elmley (used for category B/C prisoners), Swaleside (B) and Standford Hill (D), located near the town of Eastchurch.  The prisoners were left to their own devices and hundreds were trapped in their cells, left to drown.  Charlie was a Cat A prisoner, inside for various gang related offences including assault and firearm offences (murder had never been proven), he had been transferred to Elmley temporarily so he could appear before a local Crown Court on Manslaughter charges when the tidal wave hit.  Out in the open between the transport truck and the cell-block he was quite literally swept over the wall and out into the open land surrounding the prison.  Charlie spent an exhausting night clinging to the heaving deck of a small fishing boat that had broken free along the coast and ended washing up on Margate Beach.  Still clothed in his prison blues, he was set upon by the local "infected" population and fell back on the particular skill set of his past, grabbing a nearby tire iron and constructing 'molotov cocktails' he destroyed a dozen zeds before disappearing into the Old Town.

Unlike their US counterparts, British prisoners are more likely to be clad in blue, hence the colour scheme.

Next is "Steve".  Steve is a local archery enthusiast! Captain of the Thanet Archery Club and 3 times County Champion he has mastered his craft with the compound bow, is currently practicing with the long bow and actively scorns those in the club who use the lowly crossbow.  Following the passage of Daenerys and the subsequent "Troubles" Steve made sure that his compound bow was never far away and a plentiful supply of arrows to hand.

Steve is sporting the club uniform of salmon shirt with red power tie and chinos.  Making sure he has safety glasses on at all times.  Steve was heavily converted as i needed to equip him with a bow which is from the female boxset.  Essentially I chopped off the hands of the cricket bat wielding model and the hands off of the female bow carrier and attached them with a bit of plastic glue, as this left a bit of  a seam I painted Steve's hands as "shooting" gloves which worked really well.  The torso's positioning actually lent itself really well to the dynamic posing of the archer as it looks like he is placing an arrow on the string.

Lastly we have Andy "Gobbo" Wosa, star of the show.  Gobbo's background is covered in my earlier posts so I won't repeat them here.

Although I love my current paramedics minis I felt that the male one lacked the gravitas of the lead in this adventure.  So the very last of my box-set was converted over.  A fairly easy conversion I simply made a belt and pouches out of miliput and an Oxygen cylinder that originally he was going to be swinging but ended up on the floor in a kit dump with his response bag.  He is actually holding a large butchers knife as a nod to a former career (I used to be a butcher many moons ago!).

And here is a couple of WIP and a group shot of the survivors.

 As you can see I've added some newspapers to the bases of Steve and Charlie, these were a very kind gift from Bryan "Vampifan" Scott and have really enhanced what were very boring bases.

and finally to draw Zombtober to a fitting close, a group shot of all the Zombtober entries just to see what I've managed to achieve - 21 (although one has mysteriously vanished) minis in 5 weeks (not including my Bushido minis). Not too bad considering!

Zombtober, Class of 2016

this time next year....

hope you enjoy

dGG

Koji and his pack and Secret Santa time too

Hi all

It's the most wonderful time of the year! This is my first year participating in the Willey's from the 'Blog with no name' "Secret Santa"  project which is to purchase a gift worth £15 and send it to a fellow blogger. I have been given my blogger and I'm frantically scanning the blogosphere for inspiration, we are also asked to put up a couple of ideas for our secret Santa to consider, so here is my list. And yes I have been nice, definitely not naughty (not through lack of trying...).

To be fair my list is fairly simple.....

Anything you like!!

Told you, nice and simple :-)

Sorry, is that not helpful? Ok tbh I prefer 28mm (or 32mm for Bushido), that said Team Yankee is on my radar and I'm thinking I'm gonna go USA. I absolutely love Bushido and have Temple of Ro-Kan, Prefecture of Ryu, Cult of Yurei and Pirates of Jung factions all of which I have blogged about so you can see what I already have. Oh and I adore Hasslefree Miniatures, again I have blogged about all the ones I own.

Hope that's helpful? But as I said really, it's anything you like, I would find a place for anything ;-)

Anyway back to the post, I recently added Koji and his pack to my Temple of Ro-Kan faction.  I really liked the look of these models and couldn't resist anymore.  There is a great story on the GCT website regarding Koji and his monkeys that you can read here.

Koji has been waiting as patiently as he could for his time to protect all he holds dear. Since he turned away a lone ninja Koji has finally been allowed that chance by the temple elders. Individually Koji and his macaques would fall quickly but united they stand. The shared love and loss of Kita has cemented the bond between boy and monkeys to something akin to brotherhood, each willing to fall in place of the next.

Now none of these guys have got any real muscle individually but together they are really good, I use them to burn through my opponents activations and wearing them down in combat before a more destructive fighter can come in a deliver the coup de grace to an exhausted and surrounded enemy! Also the monkeys are great at countering the camouflage skills of ninjas and other lurkers with their ability to give sixth sense to friendlies within 2".  Because of this they will now be a really important part of my Temple warband.

As for the painting of the minis.  The bases were really important in this group as the minis are all a little small - Koji is a child and the monkeys are Macaques so I decided to pull out the stops and recreate a ruined temple for them to clamber over....

hope you enjoy
dGG

Korusea

hi all

The last of my Bushido posts from the plastic minis I nabbed from Damon 'Rulez' Carlton's "Docks of Ryu" - the expansion set from GCT's successful kickstarter boxed game "Rise of the Kage".  Last pirate post at least for a while and at least until Black Friday brings some more Piratey goodness my way.  But to round out this series of minis and to give me a usable faction until reinforcements can be raised I give you the Korusea....

The Korusea make up the bulk of the veteran seaman of the Jung, skilled sailors and warriors, armed with wicked curved blades which gut a man as easily as a fish. Their secondary weapon is a web woven from light but very strong twine, used to subdue an enemy up close or at range.

another dual track model so again I painted up two!

These guys will be damned useful with their immobilise attack slowing up the enemy and making it easier for my front line fighters to pour on the pain.

and finally a group shot with the boys so far...

hope you enjoy 

dGG

Kohanin

hi all

sorry but it's another Bushido post for my new faction the Jung Pirates, again taken from the models the boxed game "Docks of Ryu" and expansion of the Bushido Board Game "Rise of the Kage". These games I'm sure will be showcased by Damon 'Rulez' Carlton at a later date (hopefully on this blog if I can persuade him!).

Next up is the Kohanin....

A life on the waves makes you hard, bodies muscled and lean, the sway of the ocean becomes as natural as sitting under a tree. This is the life of Kohanin, their lives before swearing loyalty to the captain forgotten. Their crimes washed away as debris from a beach at high tide. More comfortable on deck than land, they are capable sailors and fighters, turning their weapons of labour into deadly instruments of battle in an instant.

These guys were also released as metal versions following the release of the board games so I post up, as previously the GCT version and special card followed by my own.

As a dual track model I can field more than one so I painted two!  They will be my workhorses, turning Idols and completing scenario objectives.

base colours, slightly different for one of them now

shading 

highlighted, although without tattoos

I added tattoos to each of these guys to further tell them apart

you can also see the basing better on these two models

as the sun goes down they're still working hard

hope you enjoy

dGG