11NOV2019 Fire Giant

I took work off today and spent some time doing Veteran stuff (like going to the local Strategic Air Command Museum in Ashland NE) and listening to a fellow Iraq veteran share their experience (in this case, Nick Rucker creates country music informed by such experiences).

Earlier in the day however, as my kids got me up early, I got a chance to work on my Reaper Bones Fire Giant:

I purchased him at The Game Shoppe in Omaha a couple of weeks ago during my local game group's Necromunda campaign.  His purpose is to stand in for Narthak the antagonist of the very first delve in my copy of Descent 1st Edition by Fantasy Flight Games (which sadly is out of print, but has been superseded by a very solid 2nd Edition.  Why might I replace the FFG miniature with this one?  Well, my kids are playing, and a painted unique Giant certainly looks better than the red unpainted boss monster (yeah, I haven't painted my Descent miniatures, yet...). 

He was just sitting on my desk with some 3D printed bases and other sundry unfinished (or I should say, under-finished...) models.  I decided to paint him first.  As a base coat, since this is Bones, I just went strait to the acrylics (Delta Ceramcoat) with plain black.  For the areas I intended to have lighter colors, I painted Ivory (an offwhite light earthtone/bone color).  He stayed like that the first game.  Fast forward a few days, to today.  I finished developing my color palette for my non-metalic gold and steel.  I have been particularly inspired by the Glass armor (upper tier light armor) from Elder Scrolls: Skyrim (the computer game, one of the best CRPGs in the last decade that is still played avidly by the fan base to this very day almost 10 years later from release).  Yes, glass armor, look up tank armor where they laminated two sheets of steel over glass and got better armor than similar thickness steel...  It works (well, prior to doing the same with depleted uranium and other exotic hyper-dense materials).  

I set up my handy wet palette (a food container with airtight lid, paper towel dabbed in water, and parchment paper on top) with the above colors.  Typically, I start dark, and blend a highlight, and then move into the lighter color.

Today I spent about an hour painting the arms with the sword and almost got it done today.

I am not certain I like the look of the sword blade yet, however the palette looks outstanding on the arm bands and the sword hilt.  Well, until next time.

2017 Welcomed in the Dungeon, SEAL Direct Action Team with JTAC painted

New Years was spent playing the WotC boardgame Dungeon (the 2012 version anyway) with the boys.  Instead of playing with the cardboard pieces WotC uses, I pulled in some of my Khurasan Miniatures Tom Meier Collection Fantasy Master Pack 15mm Miniatures.  Not only are they top notch sculpts, with penny bases, they worked out great on the Dungeon board as well as adding excitement for a 6, 8, and 10 year old boy.

15mm Tom Meier Sculpts from Khurasan Miniatures taking on WotC's 2012 Dungeon

To match the cardboard pieces, I've painted the penny bases with the colors of each class based on the color of the cardboard counters.  Red for Wizard, Green for Rogue, Purple for Fighter, and Blue for Cleric.

I also finally finished my SEAL (or other SOCOM) 8 member team.  I decided to keep it simple and do desert colors.  This reflects the use of camo by the Dept. of Navy, be they SEALS or MARSOC, or even Army and Air Force from tri-color DCU days.  At any rate, this eight member team includes one sniper with M-14, an M-249 SAW gunner, a JTAC with radios (and whatever might be flying in a few hundred mile radius that can drop something...) and 5 members with M-4 carbines.  Given rules for most games (for example, Osprey/Ambush Alley Force on Force), even those 8 members, properly utilized, are a force to be reckoned with!

I was very pleased with the acrylic ink wash I used instead of wood stain this go around.  For one thing, drying time is minutes, not hours!  Once again, on both sets of miniatures, I mixed used, dried, coffee grounds into the burnt umber paint for the bases.  Perfect 15mm ground texture for a rocky arid environment!  I'll have to find the link of the guy who got me into doing that... 

30DEC15 ACU in 15mm Followup Comments

Here were my first choices for replicating ACU using acrylic paint.  My cover, with SFC rank (a rank I obtained with the Alaska State Defense Force, I only ever made SSgt. in the USAF on Federal Active Service) was worn a lot and reflects a bit of the UV light exposure and field conditions with some cleaning done on it.  Obviously, it was nowhere near as bad as the cover I wore in Iraq that I sent to the USAF Museum along with my ACU's....  

Delta Ceramacoat Ivory, Dark Forest Green, and Hippo Grey mixed best to replicate the 1:1 scale reference source.  Ivory was the best base coat, mixed in with drops of grey or green as looked good at the time under a full spectrum Ott Light I use at my desk.

Here is the Khurasan US Army 15mm miniature that I have painted to be a USAF TACP (Tactical Air Control Party, AFSC 1C4X1 or the old 275X prior to 1994 or so) to fulfill Force on Force game role of TAC (terminal air controller).  Base coat was Ivory with some Dark Forest green (I'd venture to guess 15 parts Ivory, 1 part or less Dark Forest Green).  I used strait Trail Tan to paint the Interceptor Body Armor (IBA), boots, and backpack along with any web gear pouches.  Why?  Well, in 2005/2006 when I deployed with the 172nd Stryker Brigade, we had ACU uniforms and DCU or Coyote Tan everything else.  That means IBA covers, backpacks, web gear, and PPE (personal protective equipment like goggles and knee pads) hadn't caught up to the new ACU Universal pattern.  Boy, was there ever a mix of uniform camouflage schemes.  Wargamers simulating the "Surge" era and just prior shouldn't feel compelled to make US Army forces all wear the same gear types.  Depending upon when a Brigade Combat Team arrived in country, there were huge variations in uniforms.  Black, woodland, and DCU components can be spread liberally along with ACU Universal pattern for that period of 2005 through 2007.  Marines even had variations in uniform types, our ANGLICO counter parts wore desert pattern Marine uniforms with Coyote Tan IBA and web gear, but had the usual Marine camo backpacks as per 2nd MARDIV SOP at the time.  They go special permission, with their critical mission, to wear Coyote Tan assault packs to carry radios.  Uniformity has its limitations and disadvantages.

On my foreground mixing palette, you can see my base coat of the Ivory and Dark Forest Green.  I also tried, and I emphasis TRIED Foliage Green and found it mostly useless for the time being for ACU.  However, the gloves on the other hand might be painted with this color as it matches the Nomex or Kevlar gloves a lot of guys wore.  Gloves can vary even more so than other uniform components.  I've seen crazy mechanics gloves on Infantry grunts before.  Have fun!  

When I painted equipment, I added black to the Hippo Gray until I was happy with the color.  I figure I shouldn't use strait black on the miniatures themselves, and this will help with highlighting later.  I obviously opted for NVG's on all but my heavy weapons guys (who fires and AT-4 or Javelin with NVG's up anyway?  Well, I never did, so if you did, sorry, I ran out of NVG's and didn't put them on the Javelin guys or Sniper/Designated Marksmen).  I think they add a bit to the miniatures along with getting the point across that most, if not all, US units went out with NVG's when I was in Iraq (a result of lessons learned in Mogadishu, yes we ALL watch "Blackhawk Down").  Pardon the Transformer toy in the background.  Optimus Prime is watching over these fellas.

So far I'm pretty pleased.  I might use more green in my base for future ACU miniatures, or hit these guys with more of the green.  You really cannot see my efforts to put some of the light foliage green using a higher percentage of green in my Ivory base.  That is a problem.  Right now, they look like DCU's or Marine Desert more than ACU universal.