Something completely different - Nuclear Renaissance gang Leader.

Having totally failed in completing any of my self appointed painting goals...

 (I'm conveniently blaming the somewhat underwhelming astra militarum codex for not inspiring me to paint up guardsmen )... I decided to finish up a random post apocalyptic mini I've had part painted for ages.

Sold by EM4 miniatures as 'gentleman scavenger with stun'brella in tattered morning suit' he's also armed with a holstered pistol and hand grenade.

I'd admired this little guy over the internet for a couple of years before picking one up on a whim, he's a great sculpt that could fit into a number of genres/eras from zombies to fallout and is packed with little details that would really reward a better painter. My only, slightly petty complaint is that he's a little on the small side, more 25mm than 28mm.

 In my opinion he definitely has a real british caricature about him with the bowler and umbrella; like something out of doomwatch or quatermass (no I'm not that old, I just like bad old tv!)

Paint job is very simple - adeptus battle grey and codex grey for the suit and umbrella, elf flesh for a pale, unhealthy pallor, details on the backpack were picked out in a variety of random shades in an attempt to recreate a rag tag scavenger appearance, albeit one with a certain raffish class.

This chap is the first tentative step towards a gang for the skirmish game 'Nuclear Renaissance' by ramshackle games, it's a free pdf from their website, so download it and have a peek, anyone with a dozen random miniatures can pick it up and play a game. It's a bit like a slightly goofy remix of gorkamorka, it's great fun and well worth a go with a couple of mates or down at your gaming group, it's well worth noting that your gang could consist of only a single mini (although he'd / she'd / it'd be one scary Death Star mother!) so no need for a massive outlay to start a new system!

Ramshackle do some awesome looking and pretty cheap stuff including cool looking vehicles as well (although I've not bought owt from them yet, so I can't vouch for quality)

It was also really nice to paint up something different than GW products/systems for once.... To coin a 'car' term I've always been very OE Games workshop throughout my hobby days but the fast, loose, random and freewheeling nature of Nuclear renaissance is really drawing me in along with the limited number of miniatures needed to play.

I'm thinking of this chap as an educated, raffish, ruthless, silver tongued rad-age businessman with a crew of fearsome well paid muscle. Their business is business, although they specialise in the discovery/recovery (or just plain old acquisition by violent means) of rare and valuable items, often priceless relics of the pre apocalypse, for an indecent profit margin.

Dr Rupert Botherington-Smedley.

CEO, B.S Excavation & Acquisition.

Archeologist. Adventurer. Mercenary. Bounder.

Reinforcements Inbound - Delayed in transit - 12th Kieler Armoured Pioneers

Sifting through the still boxed remains of moving house nearly a year ago, I recently unearthed the box containing several painted and half painted units of my Armoured Pioneers regiment, long feared lost in the warp of home removals. A lot of these guys were painted six or seven years ago, and it was this stark fact that made me realise I really need to start finishing projects before starting new ones.

I know it's a problem a lot of us face.... You lose momentum for one project, gain inspiration for another....shiny new things are released and so stuff gathers dust, looking at all the half finished squads  has made me a bit guilty though.... I really need to get this stuff painted up....

I have a half painted company command squad, a (painted) Primaris Psyker; veteran squad in chimera requiring only two minis painting; Stormtrooper squad (painted) two special weapon squads for the infantry platoon (one dude to paint) and finally half of the required models for the platoons second infantry squad (unpained bar the sergeant)

So here are the finished units, I'd like to hope my painting has improved a little in the years since I did them, but I think they're still just about acceptable as tabletop quality. 

First up, six man Stormtrooper squad with plasma gun and meltagun, the sergeant is rather crudely converted from a metal Cadian sergeant with the powerfist and las pistol cut off and replaced and a Stormtrooper backpack added, I'm well aware Stormtrooper squads can't take vox operators but I needed the backpack for the sarge so it's visual only. I would have thought specialist troops like storm troopers would have communications equipment even if they aren't taking their orders from the 'regular' officers so it's not too much of a stretch.

Primaris Psyker - definatley not one of my better paint jobs! This dude really is a bit crude. I remember being at a loss about what colours to use without him looking like a rainbow mess so he ended up rather drab and uninspired. Still, it's a valid HQ choice....until the new codex arrives and downgrades him to an advisor!

Special weapons squad no'1 - a team of combat engineers with a melta, flamer and demolition charge, lots of forgeworld bits and bobs and backpacks from the heavy weapons teams, I really like these, despite the simple paintwork. I think they (along with the king russ Demolisher) sum up what the Kieler regiment is all about background wise.

Hopefully soon I'll get a couple of hours of free time to finish up the last couple of shotgun veterans and get another unit complete and ready for the tabletop.

Badab war - Tyrant's Legion Corpse Taker.

Adding to the ranks of the Tyrant's legion is this Corpse taker unit consisting of apothecary vivisector and two dissection Servitors... First up is the apothecary,

When it came down to painting him, I decided against the full white armour of the traditional apothecary and gave him a 'standard' claws paint scheme with a few relevant bits picked out in white....I wanted something darker and more in keeping with his role as gene-snatcher, I didn't see my corpse taker as being part of the astral claws chapter apothecaron; but instead as perhaps a particularly fanatical Follower of Huron promoted to the role. The oversized chainsword is from a sentinel walker and I reckon the rebuilt cyber-face adds to the whole mad doctor/butcher vibe.

I had originally intended to get some of GW's servitor minis, but spurred on by building the sentry gun recently and as at the moment, hobby funds are hard to justify (plus Servitors are quite pricy whether new or on ebay) I decided to try and knock a couple together out of the contents of my bits box.

Sifting through parts I was initially sceptical about being able to make anything remotely convincing from the limited parts at hard but often find that the best method is just to start cutting things up and sticking them together, and see what you end up with.

Both started off with a pair of space marine legs with sentinel parts for the torsos and then a whole bunch of random stuff thrown on top. Lascannon power feeds were used for thick bundles of 'mechandrites', imperial vehicle and space marine accessories, a chaos terminator chain fist, the barrel and pipe from a meltagun, several flamer tanks and a fanatic Van saar gangers head also found their way into the mix. Admittedly neither are going to win me any awards but I think they're both recognisable as Servitors with chain blades and it's always quite satisfying to make something individual for nowt' 

Elites choice no2... 'Corpse Taker' - Apothecary Vivisector & x2 Dissection Servitors - 50pts