Beakie Marine Flashback!

Back in the 1980s, while I was stationed at Fort Irwin, in the Mojave Desert, my buddies gave me a new science fiction RPG rulebook for Christmas, the game "Warhammer 40,000, Rogue Trader" featured a miniatures skirmish rules system that later became a miniatures gaming system, now popularly known as Warhammer 40k, or just "40k".   

Soon after, on a visit home, I picked up some miniatures for the game at Games of Berkeley, including my first RTB01 box of multi-pose plastic "Imperial Space Marines" - the first of many (but how I wish we could still get 30 GW plastic multipose minis for just $15.99!).  This style of space marine miniatures are commonly referred to as "Beakies", due to the pointed helmets included in the set.

Back at the Fort, I put some of the models together, and tried painting them, using the only model paints I could find at the Post Exchange - a set of Testors paints with that plastic brush...    And my first attempts at painting the minis were terrible.   The memories are still painful!

I never finished painting those minis.   I handed most of them over to my friend Mike M. when I got stationed in Greece.  He painted them up beautifully, with a  rising sun motif, as the "Reptile Death Korps" (the name of my Battletech unit), and took them with him when he moved to Japan, just before I returned to the USA.  A few years later, he sent them to me.  They were the  models I used in my very successful  "Everybody Walks" space marine army for 3rd edition 40k.  That army had 51 models, all but one with a single wound (HQ Squad, Assault Squad on foot, Vet Squad, 5 Tactical Squads, each squad with 6-8 minis), and was put together so that the entire army fit into a Chessex miniatures case, so could fit in a backpack along with the rulebooks, templates, dice, and a sack lunch, so I could ride my bike to games, or easily bring the army with me when I went TDY - I didn't expect it to be a powerful army, with no vehicles, dreadnoughts, etc., but people weren't used to having to kill off that many space marines, so it was surprisingly competitive (some even claimed it was "broken"), unless up against an opponent with a lot of template weapons. I hope that I handed them back to Mike a few years ago - because otherwise, they were casualties of a move, along with several of my "RT era" rhino conversions (including the only mini/model that I ever won a painting competion with).

Thirty plus years later I am still building models for 40k - and other games - but I am using better paints and brushes, and - thankfully! - my painting has improved.

Over this Thanksgiving break, I have been doing a bit of a "Thanksgiving Throwback" focus on some older miniatures, and dug some out of the Plano boxes in the storage area, and went to work on updating some older "Beakie" marines, as well as assembling some new ones from parts in the aforementioned Plano boxes (and I swear that I am missing a Plano box with a bunch of RTB01 parts...   possibly another casualty of the last move - because I seem to recall having dozens of unassembled torsos and legs, and now can only find dozens of arms and heads).



Here is a tactical squad that I originally painted up in the mid-90s, that I have touched up a bit, overpainting the original colors with the newer "Contrast" paints. 

Unlike the rest of the army, this squad is all in red.   It also features a slightly later metal melta gunner.  The Heavy Bolter is from the "Squat" box set that was available in those early days.  The melta gunner is the only one with rimmed shoulder pads, so is the only one with gold trim on the shoulder pads.

 And here are the rest of the "beakies" I have been working on this week.

Another tactical squad.  This one with the classic Missile Launcher and Flamer Heavy and Special weapons options.  The Sgt has a converted combi-weapon (bolter/plasma).  The slightly taller legs are from a Metal Magic "Spacelords" (iirc) two part miniature.

Another of the "Squat" heavy bolters, another flamer, and a Sgt with power fist and a slightly more modern (mid-90s?) bolt pistol.  The tall rifleman is a space marine vehicle crewman torso on Metal Magic "Spacelords" legs.  One of the marines is armed with a rifle and bayonet from the Alternative Armies "Firefight" miniatures line.

An incomplete tactical squad, waiting for three new "riflemen" from the replacement depot.

Members of this assault squad have chainswords and bolt pistols.   One squad member is giving the enemy the "universal one fingered peace salute".  Some have the pistol arm from the "old school", "Advanced Space Crusade" style (iirc) space marine scouts.

Special weapons troops at the replacement depot.  Two more of the uniquitous RTB01 flamers, a plasma gun (from the plastic Orks boxed set from the early 90s), a melta gun (metal mini), and a few grenade lainchers - one is a conversion based on an Ork shoota, the other two are from the Metal Magic "Spacelords" line.  Several of the backpacks in this squad are from the RAFM "Reaction Marines" line.

Heavy weapons troops await assignment to tactical or devastator squads.  Along with the standard missile launchers, there is a Chaos missile launcher from the Chaos weapons sprue available in the early 90s, a space marine scout heavy bolter (much larger than the one the Squats used), and a converted 1/35th scale modern missile launcher.

Command team members are also waiting for assignment to squads.  A mix of metal and plastic minis, the one in front has had a weapons swap to a plasma pistol fromt he early 90s Orks plastics (and is, himself, a 1990s era metal mini).  The one at the center of the rear rank has an Alternative Armies "Firefight!" backpack.  The one on the far right has a mid-90s power fist.  The four metal minis (on the left as you look at them) were overpainted, the three plastic ones were newly painted this week.

This is the space in the closet where most of my Sci-Fi infantry and infantry bitz boxes live.   There are a half dozen or so that have been removed, and are at my work table.  I have opened each and every one of these boxes at least three times, checking over and over for "beakie bitz", this Thanksgiving break.

Finding myself short of "riflemen", I searched high and low for the mythical Plano box with RTB-01 parts in it.   I found a few bits and pieces, here and there, but so far, "the motherlode" has eluded me (or was left in CA, or is just a misremembered exaggeration of the half dozen unbuilt sets I did find).   Although these are not as detailed as more modern GW minis, they are still a joy to build, and I wish that they were still in production.

These new recruits are so fresh, they haven't been painted - or even primed yet. Some are built from "new" parts, while others had to have Testors paint from the 1980s stripped off of them before I could work with them.  The cold, damp weather has made spray priming somewhat "iffy" so I am waiting on priming these guys.  They are a mix of the blue plastic minis that I got in the 80s, and the tan plastic ones I picked up in the 90s.   And yes, one of them does have a mid-90s (grey) bolter.

When I finish up the minis, and put them into squads for play, I will paint the rims of their bases so that each squad has its own color, to make them easy to identify on the tabletop..

Black Friday - More Minis for the Mob - and finally some painted Enforcers

We've had some snow here in NW Nevada, so while the roads are a mess, it makes sense to stay home and assemble and paint minis.

The one problem with the plan is that the spray primer doesn't like the cold, but I was able to get some primed before it got too cold and wet.

On my project table this week, I have had some Spellcrow torsos that are cast with the arms and weapon.   On one hand, they are resin, require cyanocrylate glue, and are not that fun to work with.   On the other hand, I don't have to mess with gluing arms, and trying to make sure that the arms and weapons match up, and attach properly to the torso.  I also had the cyanolcrylate glue out to attach the variety of resin heads I have collected from various manufacturers (Anvil and Victoria, for sure, maybe others as well).
I have also been working on some space marine scouts, to get ready to play Lost Patrol.  Most of them didn't get primed before it got cold, so will appear in a later blog post, along with the dreadnoughts I have been working on.

This Space Marine scout has evidently been loaned out to the Praetorian Imperial Guard.  That, or he's been watching "Gunga Din", "The Man Who Would Be King", and "Zulu" again

A few more soldiers in turbans to flesh out the squad I completed earlier in the month.

Hey L-T!   I think you'd better check on that one guy in the rear rank - he looks kind of sketchy to me.

A Genestealer Cult brood brother tried to infiltrate the unit!

The blue beret is because I am a retired "Defender" - USAF Security Forces.

I finally got some of my Palanite Enforcers painted up.   I started out by going with the khaki trousers and green tops that the rest of my human army has, as the cops would be scooped up into the militia pretty quickly, but then decided to give them blue tops.

That militia unit called in a  report about a possible alien infiltration, better take a team and check it out.

I hope to get some more finished up and photographed before the end of the weekend.

As always, I hope that this inspires you to work towards your own hobby goals, and your feedback (especially encouragement) is welcome.

Hobby Therapy 11/17 More Human Minis and "Spring Turbans"

This week I decided to continue working on my varied, "mixmaster" human miniatures for science fiction gaming.

I did something that is completely unnatural to me - I repainted minis I had already painted!   You may want to ask how events led up to this tragic occurance, so I'll explain.   I am working with GW's new Contrast paints, and the primer color has a huge impact on the final product.   Some of the minis I painted last week were primed with the new Grey Seer primer, while others were primed with an older grey primer that is significantly darker (a "Codex Grey" level of darkness).   This caused the finished miniatures to look very different from each other, so I reprimed a batch of the darker minis, so they would fit in with the others.

Some of the minis I've been working on over the past  couple of weekends.

Also different was working with resin parts, since I usually avoid them.   I do not like to use super glue (sinus problems result), and prefer liquid plastic glues, or the old standby - Testor's model cement - so I prefer working with plastic kits if I'm doing any assembly.   I generally use Testor's when I need to do a bit of filling, but it also seems to work with most (but not all) of the resins, while it appears that plastic glue sometimes works to glue resin to plastic (but only temporarily).

My hobby table (aka "kitchen table") has developed a Bermuda Triangle effect - I keep losing items that I swear I was just working with.  Today I couldn't find my GW basing "sand", so used
"play sand" from the hardware store as my basing material.  This batch is much finer and regularly sized than the last batch of hardware store sand I used, so doesn't look as good - especially in the close up pictures. 

This is one of the minis I had to repaint.   Sisters of Faith body, Stormtrooper head, Cadian weapons.

Another Sisters of Faith body with other (resin) parts.

Another view of the last mini.

Another "mixmaster", stormtrooper body and head, arms from Victoria

Spiral Arm or Warlord legs, Cadian torso, Cadian and Raumjager arms...

Another repaint - Cadian body, Raumjager arms.

I wanted to try out one of the pith helmet heads I picked up...   This is an RJ body with GW arms, and is a color test for "pith helmet troops" - in case I dig out my Praetorian Guard minis and finally paint them.

I decided to do up some troops in turbans.  I went with pink to add some color.  Looking on the internet, a pink turban represents spring, or weddings.  Maybe this regiment comes from a planet where young men must serve in the military before getting married - so they wear "wedding turbans" with their uniforms.   I really hope that doesn't offend anyone.

Here's another look at those first three.

And three more...

And the last four to finish up that squad.  I suppose that a really great converter would have scraped together some kukri knives for them, instead of standard bayonets, but I'm not that great a modeller.

This Garn Warrior somehow managed to miss getting primed and painted with the rest of his brethren, due to being in a mixed mniniatures box.   I found him last week, while looking for some other things, so I added him to this week's project tray.  This is the first metal mini I've worked with in a while.   It may be the Warmachine style base, but does the basing material on this one look swampy to you?

This week's pictures contain minis or parts from:
GW (IG and other minis),
https://www.games-workshop.com/en-JP/Imperial-Guard-Cadian-Shock-Troops-2017

Wargames Atlantic (Raumjager),
https://wargamesatlantic.com/products/raumjager-infantry-box-set?variant=20081465917538

Victoria Miniatures (Heads, bodies, arms),
https://victoriaminiatures.com/

Anvil Industries (Heads, bodies, arms),
https://anvilindustry.co.uk/Regiments/Regiments-Range-Guide

Warlord (Beyond Antares minis),
https://www.warlordgames.com/gates-of-antares/

Spiral Arm Studios (Maelstrom minis),
https://www.maelstromsedge.com/medge/store.jsp

Dream Forge (Stormtroopers),
https://dreamforge-games.com/

Shieldwolf (Sisters of Faith),
http://www.shieldwolfminiatures.com/index.php?dispatch=products.view&product_id=163

Khurasan (Garn),
http://khurasanminiatures.tripod.com/28mmscifi.html

and possibly one or two others.

As always, I hope this inspires you.   Also, your feedback is welcome, and will (hopefully) help motivate me to continue building and painting.

Hobby Therapy 11/9 Sci Fi Human troops

Kitbashed Sci-Fi humans.  I'm not happy with the signal light on the comms specialist yet.

Life has continued to steamroller along.   Seems like forever since I got out the cutters, glue, brushes and paints, but it's a three day weekend, so I felt like I could take some time for some hobby therapy.

This session continues with the previous project - working with humanoid figures from a variety of heroic 28mm science fiction ranges.

I kitbashed together some more minis, got them primed, and even painted a dozen of them.  My motivation this weekend was Wargames Atlantic's request that customers share pictures of some of their Raumjager builds.   I didn't do many straight RJ builds today, but RJ legs, torsos, heads, and weapons were used for a number of these builds.

A couple of leaders.  The running one is an Orlock from the current Necromunda line, while the other is a Raumjager with GW Cadian arms.

Another view of the leader with the power sword (and bionic arm).

A random GW fantasy mini (he's carrying an hourglass on his belt) with a Raumjager assault rifle, and a few extra bits next to an Orlock ganger with a Raumjager head.

A mixmaster mini with a Raumjager assault rifle and an Orlock ganger with a Cadian helmeted head.

A Necromunda Palanite Enforcer with some non-GW bitz ("Heresy!" - I'm sure) and what might actually be a straight RJ mini.

I decided to paint these differently than my "Brodie Helmet" themed Cadians, but not as Chaos or GSC Cultists.   I thought that the mix of standard IG and "off-brand" weaponry and equipment would work for a Planetary Defense Force or Imperial Citizens Militia.  I'm not building these to match a list, just playing around and kitbashing some minis to help me relax.

I went with the GW Grey Seer primer, and used GW contrast paints for the major work - Militarum Green for the smocks and LBE, Nazdreg Yellow for the trousers, and Black Templar for weapons and boots.

Probably the two most lackluster of the bunch.  The power fist didn't want to glue into position the way I was hoping it would.

Hope that this post inspires you to do some hobby therapy of your own.  And, as always, feedback is appreciated - particularly if it is positive and/or constructive.

Hobby Therapy 9/28

It has been a busy month - teaching at a new school, rehearsals three nights a week, and a 2 hour + commute every day.   Weekends have been about catching up on chores and sleep, and a quick trip to visit mom.

This is the first time in three weeks that I have had time to do some "hobby therapy".    I did some clean-up and organizing in my work area (still a disaster zone) and put together a few models.

One thing I was doing, to relax, was to fiddle around with a variety of miniatures, doing some simple "kitbashing" experiments to see what looks good together.

These included quite a few of the humanoid factions from Warlord's Antares game, some Wargames Atlantic Raumjagers, and some Dreamforge infantry, as well as the ever-present GW bitz.



No painting today, but I did manage to get some minis primed - including one SM that had fallen off the tray three weeks ago and was waiting patiently on the ground next to my priming spot.

My other recent hobby activities included listening to a few episodes of my friend Jim's new miniatures gaming podcast.

https://daysofhighadventurepodcast.podbean.com/

While listening to Jim, I did a few more hours of work.  Here are the results.

Some mix and match with Raumjager and Cadians.   The one on the far right is an Antares body with Cadian arms and a Dreamforge head.

GW Cadian with Raumjager rifle, and a "pure" Wargames Atlantic Raumjager. 

Raumjager and Cadian mix, SM head on R, Dreamforge head on L.

The taller one is a Shieldwolf "Sisters of Faith" body, the Cadian and Raumjager are shown for scale..

More mashups.

A small horde of Ghar from Warlord Games Battle Beyond the Gates of Antares

The Ghar support section stands ready to lay down some cover fire.

The first Ghar assault section - I put these together first, and was still figuring out the legs.

The second Ghar assault section.

Simple Hybrid Conversions for Genestealer Cults (GSC)

Genestealer Cults have been yet another victim of my ADD - an "I'll finish this army later" project for me for decades.   I had genestealers and hybrids from the original Space Hulk expansions, assorted Imperial Guard and other early GW Rogue Trader minis, Necromunda minis, and a scattering of Chaos Cultists, and thought that a Genestealer Cult (GSC) army would be a good way to get use out of them.

These minis have basically been in a couple of boxes that they were all dumped into back in the mid-90s.   Partly this was due to moving, partly due to Genestealer Cults not being well supported by GW, and mosly because I got out of 40k for over a decade.

Last summer, as I was pulling minis out of the storage unit and building and painting them, I noticed that GW  had been doing some GSC releases (they were included as starter armies in Deathwatch Overkill, the Kill Team box, and in the 40k Tooth and Claw starter, as well as being released as a line of unit boxes), so picked up a few boxes, just to play around with building and converting these fun models.

I haven't purchased the Codex, or designed an army list, but have been having fun putting together the models.    While I have some older, metal GSC minis, the bulk of my GSC models are plastics - which I enjoy building and converting.  I have avoided the resin minis, partly due to cost, but also because I don't enjoy working with resin - which tends to be brittle and difficult to work with.

 Recently, while going through my Space Hulk minis, looking for Genestealers and Terminators, which I have been painting up recently (after owning them since 1991), I found several Genestealer Hybrid bodies.    This week's hobby project has been working on those hybrids.

Here are the six I completed and primed.   Hopefully I will be able to paint them up next week sometime soon.

The hybrid on the right has arms and an extra multi-handed weapon from the new GSC line.

The center mini in this group has a multi-handed weapon form the new GSC kits.  The one on the right has a shotgun from the 1990s version of Necromunda.

Some updates on 29 Sept, as I have started playing around with paint schemes - going with a light purple for the skin, and thinking of blue for the uniforms (or at least for some of the units).

The standard bearer in the center uses the body of a "Sisters of Faith" mini from Shieldwolf.