We interupt this broadcast, pt2

Here's some more things I picked up from Trench 2114, his new 3mm scale power SciFi.  I love these little guys. As this his first foray into the tiny, detail is not quite, say, O8 level, but better than most, and the castings are nice and crisp. This may be because he has used what seems to be a slightly harder pewter than the usual. You can just make out in the first image that the middle trooper's heavy weapon barrel is actually hollowed out enough that it caught the ink. They come one of each of these three poses to a sprue, five spruces to a pack.

3.5mm of tank-busting firepower

With Oddzial Osmy 3mm VC/NVA

I can think of several uses for these besides just the missing link in my 3mm scifi plans.  OGRE power armor, for instance, or even a diminuitive yet heavily armed race in 6mm.

We interrupt this broadcast...

In the midst of trying to get all the Scotia pics up and running, a couple of new items arrived.  I placed an order with Trench2114 for some of his smaller stuff and a fairly random order of 15mm SciFi from Noble Knight.

Trench2114 has a small but growing line of 6mm called Alpha Forces if I'm not mistaken. So far it consists of some power armor infantry, the Huzerkers, and these villainous space slugs:

These are the basic man sized 'worker' slugs. Each pack also includes a couple much larger 'warriors':

As you can see they're fairly simple in design overall but have some interesting details including a pair of small facial tentacles and some raised plates, one on the chest and two on the back, which are clearly visible on the warrior pic.

Now what, you ask, is so terribly threatening about space slugs? I haven't worked that out yet exactly. After all if you don't feel like outrunning them, which doesn't seem overly difficult, you could easily defeat them with the salt packets from your ration pack.  Honestly, I just can't resist exotic alien lifeforms, especially in 6mm.  There's no reason to suppose that just because they're visually slug-like they actually have anything in common with earth slugs. There's also nothing tying them to any specific scale so you could, for example, base the small ones in multiples as swarms for larger scales while the warrior is approximately the size of a O8 3mm sci fi tank. "Escargantua is slowly making his way to Paris..."

Ground Zero NAC Power Armor, Warrior Slug, CinC Solar Empire Marine

Because they're apparently unarmed, they could also be used as alien civilians which need protection from the more unpleasant sort of alien visitor.

Also picked up these Huzerkers which, in Trench2114s universe, are apparently mutated humans:

Whatever you want to use them for, they're some pretty decent 6mm power armor troops. There are three rifle poses in each pack plus one leader pose and one light support weapon which reminds me of a brute-shot being fired from the hip. They come ten to a pack with two of each pose.  I think I'll be painting them a dark grey/black with a white helmet which should leave them looking suitably threatening, kind of Chaos Marines meets Traveller.

 Leader & support weapon

Huzerker, SEM, Huzerker, GZG NAC PA, Huzerker, GZG UNSC

Scotia 6mm sci fi infantry, pt3

First up the basic power armor figures from SFI003-Power Armour Troops:

These guys are quite tall and spindly with rather long arms. The legs together pose is somewhat awkward looking, but downplays the thinness of the legs in this range and strengthens the figure. They have lots of cool curvy armor detail, but I like the smooth faceplate/helmet piece and the nicely detailed backpack most of all.  He is equipped with a basic blaster carried in the right hand, a fair number of which are miscast, as are several of the left arms.  With some trimming and painting, these will be used to represent officers or some such.  Again, Scotia have included an extra strip to account for these issues. The figure's height unusual anatomy would make them perfect for some kind of tall alien race with fairly advanced tech.

This next guy is present apparently as a heavy weapon trooper:

 He's actually slightly smaller than the basic trooper, but with a big-ass gun and a heavy pack. The weapon has one central barrel surrounded by several smaller barrels, all within a cowling that encloses the troopers forearm. I'm thinking jump-pack assault troops.

Last but not least, the command figure:

This guy has some of the worst issues.  The right arm detail is almost entirely absent and the back and sides of the helmet kind of 'blur' into the backpack mounted antenna. The figure is probably a resculpt of the basic trooper which, while a nice concept, has been poorly executed here. Perhaps with some clever painting, these deficiencies can be overcome.

Despite the aforementioned problems, I really like this set. I'm planning to use them individually based for 6mm skirmish as the aforementioned advanced aliens.  My 6mm skirmishverse needs more variety as our GZG NAC marines get tired of fighting bugs and always get their arses kicked by the CH centaurs, adeptly handled by my son...

Scotia 6mm sci fi, pt 2

Okay, next we've got these guys:

SFI002 Strike Troops

These guys are the smallest of the bunch although, as you can see, they're actually spot on 6mm to the eye, 6.5mmish tall or about the same size as most of the historical Heroics & Ros I have around. The detail is wicked fuzzy but it's there; a sort of ribbed effect to the figures body and legs gives the impression of an environment suit which is reinforced by the small square pack with the hose running out to the helmet.  All of these figures have really thick bases, having apparently been rearranged on their strips at some time since older rectangular blocks are evident in the strip and it generally gets thicker towards one end. These two come from different ends of the strip and the greater thickness of the right hand base is apparent- almost .5mm. Oh well, no big...

This pack also includes several of these heavy weapons teams described in the last post:

Next up,  power armor from SFI003..

Scotia 6mm sci fi, pt1 (finally)

Apparently the stars in the correct alignment this time of year since I see this is when I last managed to post to this blog last year. Anyhow, a confluence of events has finally allowed me to take the long promised pictures and post them.  Without further ado:

SFI 001 Marines

These guys are fairly small for Scotia. Obviously older sculpts and a bit weak at the ankles. Most packs include an extra strip to account for breakage.  These guys are nevertheless pretty cool. The pose is kind of classic and the armor is very distinct but the details are ambiguous enough that you could paint them up several different ways. This pack also include several of these prone heavy weapon/missile teams:

Again, although they match the marines quite nicely, they could easily be painted up to support tons of other figures. The weapon could be anything from a missile launcher to some sort of energy cannon or target designator. Their versatility is such that they are also included in SFI002 Strike Troops and probably are found in SFI004 Heavy Weapons as well.  One final note, these guys are VERY prone (read 'flat') The base is rather thicker than the figures.

This guy with an enormous gun is the final figure type in this pack. I don't know what it's meant to be but it could easily pass for an LMG/SAW or a heavy sniper rifle. His headwear could be virtually anything, again, depending on how it's painted. Like many of these figures, his legs are tiny, not a strength issue here because of the prone pose, but it does look a little odd. The major shortcoming is the fact that he's a single prone figure, which looks a little silly if he's supposed to be representing a weapon team, but might be acceptable for a lone sniper. I'll probably cut the loader/spotter off of some spare missile teams above to provide a loader. 

[edit: I somehow forgot to ink and photograph the command figure who I believe is also found in more than one pack. I'll have to make him his own special post at a later date.  Officers like that sort of thing]

 More pics in next post.

Baccus 6mm infantry

Well, I'm still waiting on Scotia for the big project so here's some stuff from Baccus 6mm Command Horizon range I picked up, although I understand the line is in the process of being sold. Went with one each of the sci fi infantry but Scale Creep was out of the standing Human Infantry & the Human Support Weapons. First up, the Centaurs:

Centaur Infantry

These guys are BIG as you can see in the following picture. They have a sort of carapace down the back and apparent at the 'knee' joints, though this could be interpreted as some sort of hard armour that they are wearing. They also feature a backpack which is apparently the power pack for the heavy energy rifle they carry as they are connected by a visible cable. At first glance they seem insectoid but upon further inspection I'm thinking they look more reptilian, particularly their heads.

GZG UNSC, Baccus Centaur, Brigade Power Armour, CinC Marine

 

Human Infantry, Kneeling & Prone

These guys are pretty cool. They have visored helmets similar to GZG NAC marines, short ambiguous weapons and little or no body armour.  These poses in particular are very realistic for men in combat. I think their generic nature makes them extremely versatile scifi infantry since there is little to tie them to a specific tech level.  They even have twin cylinders on their backs which are probably meant to be air tanks of some sort so they could be painted up in enviro suits, yet these could easily be interpreted as simple backpacks or power supplies, or even jump packs if your feeling saucy. I plan to paint up two forces, one in Slammer's khaki in one in O.D.

Worm Infantry

Highly unusual subject.  Segmented worms with guns. They have four part mouth pieces which I envision as covers for some form of manipulative feeler tentacles which they use to construct their technology. As you can see, they don't have integral bases which will actually help when basing them. Small backpack (do worms have backs?) mounted weapon. The guy on the left in the first shot is actually meant to be more upright but he slumped over as the glue was drying. These shots didn't come out the best, I suspect because the FOW base was messing with the focus and my light was failing but you get the idea. I'm fixing to use O8 15mm armored worms as light mecha for these guys. Baccus also make 'sapper' worms which look just like these but much larger.

That's all for now. Still need to find a good ruler for my scale shots but I think the photography's coming along well.

A new post! And it only took six months...

Really just to throw up some test shots I did for my new project: photographing Scotia's 6mm sci fi infantry.  These are dark realm Kraytonians, bought on a whim.  Pretty much the only bare metal in 6mm I've got lying around except for some C-in-C Marines which I'll use for the next test shots. I'm having a little trouble getting a satisfactory level of dilution with the acrylic ink that I'm using and I suspect the levels of both dilution and application are going to have to be varied based on the depth of detail. No scale indicator yet; going to have to buy a new ruler as all mine have a 8-10mm blank at the end.

DRM Kraytonian Monitors - Basic pose from all three packs.

 One of the troopers from the Medium Monitors pack.

The kneeling trooper from the Medium pack.

GZG UNSC infantry

 - SAW gunner & missile trooper