More 1/72 Sci-fi

Finally, I'm back on 1/72 scale miniatures!  For this year's Mayday, I'll be hosting another Ambush Alley/Tomorrow's War game, and I've completed a few vehicle models for it.

These are the left and right sides of a Revell Fennek reconnaissance vehicle.  Like a lot of ultramodern vehicles, it looks very sci-fi, and I'm using it as an advanced scout vehicle in the game.  I've painted an urban camouflage pattern similar to others I've seen online.

Here is a 1/72 scale Caesar modern special forces soldier for size comparison.

To accompany it, I've built this old ESCI Morris Quad tractor.  For a WWII vehicle, it sure looks futuristic when it's painted in an appropriate camouflage and has bits added to it.

The same Caesar soldier showing the size of the truck.  It's a good size for a Humvee-style utility transport.

Finally, I've painted the mechanical mules shown previously.  They can act as fairly large transport robots for 1/72 scale miniatures.

I've got more stuff coming too, some infantry and various terrain and markers, so stay tuned!

Assembled Storm Troopers

I've assembled some of the storm trooper models from the other day, and they look great so far.  There are a lot of pieces to put together, especially with the mechanical mule, but the results are excellent.

This is the front and back of a standard storm trooper.  You can see that there's a lot of detail all over the model, and I especially like the helmet and mask.  It looks like the standard storm trooper rifle is some sort of MG-42 derivative.

This is Ada, the female storm trooper that came as a bonus for the Kickstarter order.  Again, there's excellent detail matching the regular storm trooper from above.  Plus, there's a ridiculously large gun involved. :)  At least that's the only thing big on her, and she doesn't have her own floatation devices that are all too common on sci-fi/fantasy female figures. :P

One of the cool pieces of equipment that came with the accessory pack is the mechanical mule, which is a Big Dog style walking robot cargo carrier.  There are three of them in the pack, and although there are some fiddly pieces, they add to the sci-fi atmosphere quite a bit.

I immediately thought of using the mule for 1/72 scale sci-fi, so I took this picture with two figures from that scale.  It looks like the machine can definitely fit that purpose.  It's just more of a robotic ox instead of a mule, being quite a bit larger.

Here's a comparison shot of the two storm troopers with a converted Games Workshop Cadian trooper.  Dream Forge's sculpting style is much closer to actual human proportions than GW's "heroic 28", so these models are taller and thinner compared to the Warhammer figure.  They're probably better off used separately from the GW stuff in 28mm sci-fi games.

All in all, these are great models that can really add to any gaming experience.

Painted Resin

Well, I managed to paint the resin vehicles to a gaming level pretty quickly. The resin material seems to have taken Gesso (which I use to prime) and paint fairly well.
Here is the AMX-10RC from its left, rear, and right. I used the same camouflage pattern as the Sagaies and the APCs. The vehicle is a very solid piece of resin, quite a bit heavier than plastic kits. I hope the paint job will hold up well against bumps and bruises. The vehicle is in 20mm (1/76) scale, but looks fine enough compared to the 1/72 plastic kits, and is suitably intimidating.
Here are the VBLs. I painted the windows a dark blue colour to represent the glass, since this is what I've seen other people do for solid resin vehicles. The effect seems fine enough.
Here's a close-up of one of the VBLs. The kit is quite functional, probably with less detail than a plastic kit would have, but it's good enough for me and builds up a lot faster. Hopefully it will also turn out to be more durable in gaming.

Overall, this is has been a very positive experience for me. I'll definitely be getting more resin vehicles for gaming.

Into the Unknown

Frustrated with plastic kits that have too many parts, I recently purchased some resin vehicle miniatures from S&S models. These are designed for wargaming and have very few pieces. Although marketed as 20mm (1/76) scale, they seem close enough to fit well with 1/72s too. Since I've never worked with or painted resin models before, I'm in unknown territory.

These resin models have flash and excess bits that need to be trimmed, but because of the very few parts, the overall preparation time was far less than plastic models.

I bought 2 VBL models. As you can see, these are a combination of resin and metal, but they do seem to take super glue well enough. I'm thinking of making removable upper torsos of crewmen for all my vehicles to indicate buttoned/unbuttoned status in Ambush Alley games.

This is an uparmoured AMX-10RC, and it will be the heavy hitter in my games. It's got the same resin/metal combination as the VBLs. I'll have to see how well these materials take paint.

Well, on to priming.

Painted Armoured Cars

In the last while I was playing the Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2 video games, so I didn't have much time to paint or update. (I blame Kevin's company for this)

Now I've managed to put some camouflage onto the two Sagaie armoured cars from the previous post. So here they are:

It's interesting to see the middle pair of wheels suspended in mid-air like that. On the real vehicle these are in a retracted position normally and dropped down for extra mobility.
The pair of vehicles from the back.

Overall I liked the vehicle models, but for something bigger I think I'll get resin kits with fewer pieces. That is, after I finish the Ace T-72s on my plate. Those are nightmares.

Little Armoured Cars With Big Guns

I've been building a couple of ACE models 1/72 scale Sagaie armoured cars. These are interesting modern French vehicles that look like they can be used for a low-tech sci-fi setting. However, design-wise ACE models are almost the exact opposite of the Heller VABs. Even for small models like these, there are many pieces to glue together, along with tiny etched-metal fittings. Taken together, they produce excellent detail, but are often not suitable for wargaming. I've left off many small plastic pieces as well as most of the etched-metal fitting, otherwise they'd come off the first time anyone moved them around on the gaming table.

The two armoured cars, showing their long 90mm guns in proportion to their bodies.
The front of the Sagaie, showing the detail of the turret mantlet.
The back of the Sagaie, showing the detail of the amphibious propeller housings.

Now I just have to paint them in a similar camouflage style as my VABs.

Trucks and Trucks

I've been building and painting some more vehicles recently. I'm aiming for models that will be generic enough to be useful in several settings, so I can get the most out of them.

For all guerrilla/insurgent forces modern and futuristic, they need cheap transports and weapons platforms - enter technicals. I tried doing it the cheap way by starting from some Matchbox pickup trucks, and the results don't seem bad.
I repainted a couple of Matchbox Honda Ridgelines and added Liberation Miniatures DShK heavy machine guns to them. The result looks haphazard and threatening at the same time - which is good for the intended effect.
The Matchbox die cast model has a full gray plastic interior, including cup holders, (!) and I left that all untouched.
The truck beds have boxes and packs in them, so I painted these to give the technicals a lived in look. The beds are also big enough so 1/72 figures can be placed in them to give them more flavour. All in all, this is pretty cheap and effective, considering that the trucks were $1 each at Wal-Mart.

I also built a pack of 2 Pegasus quick-build WWII US Army GMC trucks. These are very nice models, quick to build but with good detail at the same time. I painted them in a generic olive green colour that's suitable for many wars, settings, and factions.
These trucks are quick and easy to get to a gameable state, and are yet another Pegasus offering aimed at wargamers.
You can see the detailed folds of the canvas top, which I painted in a khaki colour.
The trucks also include a driver each, and I gave them a quick paintjob too.

I'm very impressed with the Pegasus trucks, and will probably get more. These will be good as both transports and objectives in gaming scenarios.

Mostly completed sci-fi faction

I've done a bit more painting and now have a mostly completed force for one faction in my planned sci-fi campaign. The only thing left is painting the bases.

My science fiction setting involves a civil war in a colony nation called San Carlos, and I use the modern French troops to represent the militarist faction that has the loyalty of most of the regular army. This is the faction that has the most modern equipment, (San Carlos is a relatively "third world" nation in my setting) with toys like UGVs and UAVs, as well as alien auxiliaries.

Below is a full section of the Falangian Guard, the elite infantry of this faction:

The section consists of a section leader and two fire teams each with three men. The first fire team has a multi-purpose missile launcher and two men with assault rifles, and the second fire team has a SAW and two men with assault rifles. In Ambush Alley, each fire team will be one unit, with the section leader attachable to either one.

Here is a close-up of the section leader:

For transport, the infantry have wheeled APCs, and I use VAB models.
Here is a fire team exiting the rear doors of an APC:
For dedicated anti-tank duties, UGVs (Unmanned Ground Vehicles) with missile launchers are used:
Here's the full force I have so far, with two sections and transports, and an anti-tank UGV section:
Just for interest sake, here is a size comparison between a VAB and a BTR, which I will use for the military of New Harmony, a nation bordering San Carlos:
I guess I still have some more units to do. I still have UAVs and aliens (the GZG Ixx) that need painting, then I'll be going on to the Anarchists...

New Vehicles

I've been doing some more vehicle work and here are the results.
Here's a French VAB model by Heller. This is actually a very nice model, with only 39 parts and very easy to assemble, but also with quite a bit of detail. I just finished a base coat and camouflage colours, but for now it's fairly serviceable. I've got 4 of these models and they'll serve as the APCs for my sci-fi troops.
This is the view from the top of the same model.
The BTRs from the previous post have also had a basic paintjob done. I've got three prepared this way now, enough for a motorized rifle platoon. Now I just have to paint the troops...
A closeup of one of them.
A view from the back.

I've decided to actually use Ambush Alley: Force on Force rules for now, even for the sci-fi games. I'll be posting stats for my vehicles soon.

1/72 Sci-Fi

One problem with 1/72 scale plastics is the lack of science fiction models. However, there are good miniatures of very modern armies, and these can be used for mid-tech science fiction forces. Also, there is a wide range of sci-fi minis available in 15 mm metal, and the aliens in many of them can work well with 1/72 scale. I'm currently trying to create science fiction forces with 1/72 plastics, and here are some examples of what I have so far.

Here is a 1/72 scale Caesar modern French soldier and a Ground Zero Games 15 mm alien, the Ixx. Due to the massive size of the Ixx (for 15 mm) they can be used quite nicely together with 1/72s. In this case, they are for my force of alien tribesmen (tribesaliens?) led by human officers who sort of have a French Foreign Legion vibe. The FAMAS rifle looks pretty futuristic too.
More 1/72 scale Caesar modern French with FAMAS rifles. These will form the backbone of a mid-tech sci-fi army.
This is a Ground Zero Games missile launcher drone along with another Caesar French soldier with an APILAS missile launcher. The UGVs (unmanned gound vehicles) will be a nice sci-fi touch to the heavy weapons teams.
Now here's something for them to blow up. These are Trumpeter 1/72 scale BTR-80 models. Modern wheeled APCs can be used in a variety of sci-fi settings. Wheeled APCs make a lot of sense, even on alien worlds, since they're cheap and low-maintenance, and sure beat walking when nothing higher tech is available! These will be used in an opposing force to the Caesar French.
These are Orion 1/72 modern Russian soldiers. When I first got them, I thought they looked horrible and were extremely poor quality. However, after a primer undercoat, they don't look so bad. A simple paint job and a wash can bring out some good detail. Again, these will be used as the enemy for the Caesar French. Those poor Russians, they never get a break!

I will probably use Fast and Dirty 4 for the ruleset for now. When Ambush Alley's sci-fi rules come out, I'll definitely get that.

Painted Humvees

Here are pictures of two painted Humvees. Like I said before, these are painted with a simple base coat and are "game-ready." I'll put in washes and highlights later. These models are from Dragon and are one of their easier kits. The Humvees come two per box and are relatively easy to assemble. I also skimped on the details inside the driver's compartment since you can't see anything inside anyways.
The two of them together.
You can see the nice detail from the back.
The following is one of Dragon's more complex kits, an Amtrack (AAVP7A1) with reactive armour. The thing has over 170 pieces (for a 1/72 model!) including photo-etched parts. I actually left quite a bit of detail off so it can be usable as a gaming model - too many small pieces can break off easily. It still looks very impressive even with only a base coat right now. I still have to paint the tracks and other detail.
You can see its size through a comparison with a Humvee.