Must... stop... putrefying... (more Nurgle painting)

On a roll with the Nurgle theme, the other night I painted another Nurgle Lord for the 40K army. This one is based on the new GW plastic Nurgle Lord multi-part model and "40K-ized" by adding a plasma pistol.

I really like how this model came out - I used copious amounts of the excellent Modelmates "Rust Effects" product in various ways - ranging from layering it thickly on the axe blade, to drybrushing it onto the armour.

Holstered plasma pistol as a nod to 40K usage.

Shiny entrails mandatory.

The other models I painted were a couple of the old Grenadier "Imperial Space Marines" they made for the Traveller game back in the early-mid '80s. I had the boxed set but foolishly parted with it years ago, and thought they might be a neat power-armoured supplement to my true-25mm "Hammers Slammers" infantry (actually GZG NAC).  

This guy is a heavy weapons gunner with a neat-looking missile set-up.

The other is a casualty model that will do nicely for a game objective.

I have about 9 more of these models on the way from various sources, but if you have any going spare please let me know in the comments and we can make a deal :-)

Hammer's Slammers vs. Zaporoskiye Brigade!

Last Thursday we played a 28mm sci-fi game set in David Drake's "Hammer's Slammers" universe, using my 28mm Slammers blower tanks and new infantry models, and some Pig Iron Kolony Militia and vehicles as the Space-Russian mercenaries of the Zaporoskiye Brigade.

The scenario was simple - Maximum Attrition - basically a kill points mission with VPs awarded for destroying enemy units. I laid out some suitably futuristic looking terrain, I have to say that the small buildings particularly suit what my imagination tells me is the setting for the Slammers stories.

Col. Alois Hammer's Frieslandian mercenaries - two blower tanks, three sections of infantry, a buzzbomb AT team, lead by a lieutenant and his ADC. All rated veterans.

The Zaporovskiye Brigade - two medium tanks, a heavy assault gun, an armoured car with AT missile, and four infantry sections (one not shown here) led by an officer with ADC and bearer bot. All regulars.

Conscripts Mike F. and Greg took command of the Russian mercs and Conscript Nathan lead the Slammers. Here we see the Z.B. infantry entering the battlefield, this is at top right of the first picture.
 

More Z.B. infantry and armoured car enter on the Z.B.'s other flank.

A Slammers infantry section enters near the road.

Z.B. moves up in a wide pincer :-)

First blower enters play supported by the buzzbomb team, drawing a bead on the armoured car outside of shot.

The buzzbombers had to run across the road to get LOS to the armoured car.

Z.B. heavy assault gun supports Z.B. infantry.

Some buzzbomb shooting at the armoured car deals out Pin markers. The Slammers infantry was engaged in a firefight with some Z.B. troops in the building at top left but wiped them out, taking the position.
 

High noon! Blowers square off against two Z.B. tanks on the road. Some epically poor die rolling kept this confrontation going for several turns, ending with one immobilized blower and one destroyed Z.B. tank.

Slammers infantry takes cover behind a building, but too late. They were wiped out by concentrated infantry fire.

One knocked out Z.B. tank; the other takes evasive action!
 

Slammers section is wiped out; assault gun maneuvers to engage immobilized blower from the side.

Engage target at three o'clock! Gun duel with the Z.B. assault gun.

Blower moves up in pursuit of the Z.B. tank...

... which has cleverly moved to hose off infantry while presenting its front to the tank threat.

The game went for six turns, and frankly I expected more carnage, but some die rolling got in the way, as it often does ;-)  As it happend, the Slammers eked out a 4-1 victory by destroying the Z.B. armoured car, a tank, the command group, and an infantry section, for the loss of one infantry section of their own. We used the Bolt Action rules for this one nut I think I prefer our home-grown "Future Krieg" rules for SF - much bloodier. Certainly we'll see the Slammers out again soon, perhaps against the GunSchwarm?

Hammer's Slammers - Now with Infantry!

It's been quite some time since I finished painting my Hammer's Slammer's blower tanks from Old Crow, but we haven't gamed with them yest as I lacked any infantry to go along with them. Yes, I'd painted some test models, but once a platoon's worth of GZG NAC Royal Marines had been acquired, the project stalled...

Well, with a burst of energy I completed the platoon this weekend and turned them out for a celebratory photo shoot!

Lots of heavy-weapon toters but that's what I got in the mix of models I bought second-hand ;-)

Note two-tone static grass... embarrassing. I'd done the first group of six using a railway-brand "dead grass" static grass mix which looked fine. But when I finished this group of 26 models I mistakenly grabbed (and used) GW's dead grass mix which is noticeably lighter in colour... [insert curse words].

Solution: go back to the original group and add some lighter grass to their bases; them add some darker grass to the 26 I'd just finished. Sorted! (and I kind of like the mixed colours too)

A couple of sets of missile launcher crews to make opposing vehicles uneasy.

Love the guy checking his iPhone at front right...

I painted the berets red/orange as nod to the Slammers' Dutch/Friesian heritage.

The real power behind the Slammers is, of course, the blowers...

...but there's no reason why these guys can't help out a bit too.

Looking forward to seeing them in action in the near future!

Some more photography - Rogue Trader and Stargrunt

 

This afternoon I thought I'd break out the Optex portable studio again (this time using the white background) and take a few pictures of some recently painted stuff. First up are some Imperial Space Marines from the Rogue Trader era.

I reckon the chap on the left will make a decent force commander for the 30-odd metal Space Marines I've got painted up as Howling Griffons. I just love the character of these old RT Marines - when I look at them I see something quite far from the current fluff of 8-foot tall death machines - I see hard nuts in power armour, but human hard nuts. Someone pointed out that most of the illustrations of Space Marines in the original Rogue Trader book featured them dying horribly, and I think that is so cool. These guys are out there fighting for the Imperium and knowing full well that the odds totally favour them dying in some terrible way. That, my friends, is grim darkness!

Here are some more GZG NAC Royal Marines for the Hammer's Slammers project. These are some heavy weapons troopers with command.

I reckon I'll add an aerial to the comms trooper on the left. This makes six troopers painted and I'm anxious to reinforce them and get the Slammers onto the battlefields of Spacekrieg.

Hammer Time (part 3)

As previously detailed here and here, a project for me this month has been painting some Hammer's Slammers 28mm blowers from Old Crow. When last I left the project I was waiting for lion rampant decals to finish the Slammers livery... unfortunately when they arrived they were unsuitable, as the lion was stretched out horizontally rather than rearing up vertically... no, that would not do at all.

So I ended up doing what I should've done in the first place, which was paint the insignia on freehand!

 I think they turned out acceptably well. The yellow shield was painted on in GW Iyanden Darksun (a great golden yellow from the Foundation range) and the lion with Mechrite Red highlighted with Blood Red.

Paint chips were added in Boltgun Metal to match the turret. I think these tanks are done now - ready to face whoever their employers deem appropriate!