New Pig Iron Heavy Infantry

Following their first outing on the games table, where their commander led them to glorious annihilation against an inferior force of Kolony conscripts (well done Stu!), I decided to add another SAW. I ordered a packet of Pig Iron assault troops that contains the SAW and, in order to give a little figure variation, a packet of backpacks and belt gear. When the packaged arrived, only two days later, Pig Iron had mistakenly dispatched the HQ pack instead. To their credit, after contacting them by email, the correct packet arrived free of charge two days later.

The heads are not separate heads in the Assault troopers packet so to increase variation I chopped the head off the SAW gunner, replacing it with a helmetless head off an alternative head sprue.

I used the same paint scheme as before (see earlier post) but with one difference. Having spent a little time playing the PS3 game Killzone 3, I noticed that the uniform lights and optics of the ISA troops are light blue. Dutifully I painted the optics on these figures in Citadel Regal Navy followed by a smaller dot of Ice blue... now I've got to go back and repaint the others!

The optional backpacks make the figures stand out from the original group and give them a real 'on campaign' look.

The poor SAW gunner now has to contend with male pattern baldness and a ruddy great backpack, as well as his cumbersome firearm!

I used three of the figures from the command pack; I swapped the heads of the sniper and the officer and added backpacks for further variation.

New Kolony Militia Squad

Now the SATs exams are out of the way, I have been able to put brush to figure! Below are the results, a second squad of Pig Iron Kolony Militia.

To distinguish them from my existing squad, I opted for the winter headgear alternative head sprue. Basically the figures are wearing Soviet style, fur Ushankas and side caps.

The pictures below show the squad defending a heavily bomb damaged factory unit (an old Snapdragon miniatures piece).

On Sunday I will be trying them out for the first time using a set of free rules I downloaded called FAD - Fast And Dangerous. A battle report will follow.

Completed 'Kindle' Sci- fi Bunker

In my last blog entry I mused on the possibility of converting the cardboard liner from the box of my Amazon Kindle into a Sci Fi Bunker... Here it is... The model was painted using a mix of Vallejo, Citadel and B&Q paints; it was 'dirtied' and 'worn' using citadel washes.

The Helghast logo was copied and printed off the net and glued in place, the lettering was hand painted from a Helghan Alphabet (also found on the net).

The steel pipes are made from large bore drinking straws.

The ladders were made from 'granny grid'. The pipe leading into the bunker was made from the flexible part of the drinking straw. The slogan reads 'Victory or death' in Helghan.

To give access to miniatures (Pig Iron Kolony Militia - see earlier posts) I cut the card structure at the base so that the whole top half lifts off. The boxes and cases are from Fenris Games.

I felt that the bunker stood a little too high. I couldn't make it lower, so decided to justify the height by cutting into the roof and forming a rooftop observation post. Here an Helghan Officer consults with an Technical NCO.

A birds eye view shows off the whole model nicely.

Another scratch built Sci-Fi Bunker

The first thing that struck me when I unpackaged my new Amazon Kindle was, 'oooh... gadget!'

The second thing that struck me was, 'hey that packaging would make a superb bunker!'

Take a look... if you can't see the potential in the picture above, you shouldn't be in the hobby!

Sci-Fi Bunker/ Observation Tower (Part 4: Interior)

This final set of images shows the completed model and the interior detail. I built a fire step around the the entire edge using foam core. I then covered the step with pva glue and fine sand. I cut a square entrance hatch out of plasticard. To finish it off I added scaled down Helghast propoganda posters that I copied off the internet.A Helghan officer confers with a technical NCO whilst two troopers watch on. The figures are Pig Iron Kolony Militia, the crates are from Fenris Games.

Sci-Fi Bunker/ Observation Tower (Part 3: base)

The images below show the detail of the base prior to painting. The steps are made of foam core, I made small hummocks out of poly filler; this was then covered in a mix of sharp sand, gravel and small stones. To add a little more detail I have included a discarded coil of barbed wire (I don't recall the manufacturer) and a couple of girders cut from lengths of plastic girder from a model railway store.
The following pictures show the final painted base. The whole thing was base coated in Burnt chocolate Weatherex masonary paint. This was then dry brushed with Citadel Graveyard Earth and Bleached Bone.

The figures shown are Pig Iron Kolong militia.

Sci-Fi Bunker/ Observation tower (part 2: painting)

I am aiming for a dark, rusty and stained metal finish - something that looks like it's been well used (and abused). Having first sprayed the model with a base coat of Citadel Chaos Black; I then painted the whole thing with Citadel Boltgun metal. At this stage the bunker is not yet attached to the base; the detail of which I will cover in Part 3.

The next step was to liberally wash the whole model with Citadel Badham Black wash, one again the model has yet to be glued to the base.

I am a great believer that it is the small touches that really make a scratch built model; in this case I downloaded the emblem of the Helghast, reduced it in size, printed it, cut it out and glued it to two sides of the model using PVA glue.

The Killzone series of games seems to have produced a huge community of online fans, and it is from one of these that I found the full Helghan alphabet. I hand painted a couple of the 'letters' onto the sides on the model that didn't have the printed logo on.

The next step with the exterior was to wash the entire model with Citadel Ogryn flesh - this gives a nice rusty finish.

The final piece constructed was the roof - no guesses for the materials used...

Part 3 will cover the interior and the base.