Kraskian Marines

*Warning very picture heavy.

I've finished everything bar the Micro Panzer battlesuits and the Old Crow gunship.

I'm quite proud of these guys and how they turned out, though I plan to add some stencils to the tanks to mark them.

First up is the Company commander:

You can see the camo scheme clearly on the back of the model, it took a while but I am happy with how it appears.

Next is an engineer assigned to the company to repair the vehicles:

Here is the company medical technician:

The company snipers:

Here is the attached Recon team with its Puma IFV (Khurasans Caiman, renamed).

1st Platoon with its attached Jackal heavy APC's.

2nd Platoon in all it's glory:

There are two Leopard medium tanks assigned to the company:

The company currently has one Raptor main battle tank, this tank is the mainstay of the Kraskian Marines:

Because of the requirements placed on this company in its retaking of Oriel II they have been granted the honour of taking a Vulcan heavy tank into combat with them.  These tanks are incredibly rare as the process to make them is long and some of the materials are scarce since the war began.

I'll be adding a background and some information on the marines shortly, but in the meantime you can view more pictures here.

As always please let me know what you think.

Looking recommendations

I have just finished the Kraskian faction (pics up shortly).  However, I'm looking at a 3rd faction, a Russian themed army so I ordered a pack of Armies Army RUSK troops.  They're lovely models and I aim to build an army that is troop centric.  Lots of infantry, 6 x 8 man squads and 2 x 6 man squads, tanks will be medium only provided by the excellent Khurasan Red Eagle tanks.  I'm looking to add some tracked transport, something that looks future Russian, preferably an APC of some kind.  I would like to add some small humvee style vehicles for scouting and some kind of armoured truck for the remaining troops.

Any recommendations?

New shiny

My order from Micro Panzer arrived and boy are they gorgeous.

They may not have the same level of detail as a space marine but they are perfect as a 15mm mech.

                                                          *next to a Khurasan fed for scale


As with any metal model there are going to be mold lines and excess flash which cleaned away easily enough.  There are some gaps at the back where the hood joins the body which will be tidied up once I find my green stuff (mental note never tidy things up you lose them).

These are gorgeous models and will look great painted up and part of the Kraskian Marines.

I've finished all the old crow vehicles and once I get access to a decent camera I plan to stick some photos up.

New shiny stuff

After a bit of a wait (almost 4 weeks) I finally received my Old Crow models.  I have a couple of APC's and tanks along with a gunship.  They're really nice models and I had planned to use them with the Khurasan federal troops I own, but since they are releasing new vehicles soon I'm going to have to get a third army to go along with the Old Crow stuff and I can't decide what to get.  I'll have to let my wallet do the talking, which means very little.

I finished the first platoon of Khurasan feds and after receiving a second platoon Jon did a very heinous act.  He released the Caimon.  I had to have it, so it's currently on the way to me.

One of the big problems I face (as I know most gamers face) is lack of motivation.  Yes I just spent X on a shiny new army and it's arrived but I didn't realise just how many figures I'd bought, oh and the paint scheme shall be overly complicated just cause I hate myself.  I've based 30 figures and gave them their first coat of green, but they've sat on a shelf since Monday gathering dust (damn you Bioware for making me replay ME1&2).  Then you go looking on a forum for inspiration and you see a brand new set of figures or something that just tickles your fancy.  Take for example Micropanzer Russians, I'd originally planned to order some at the start of the month but the store was closed but decided against them telling myself I don't need walkers.  But the more I look at them I think that they are gorgeous models that deserve, nay need to be in my collection.  I just fear that they'll sit unpainted gathering dust.  It's an issue I had in GW, I think in nearly 3 years with them I manged to finish 6 armies.  One for Gothic, one for epic, two 40k, one LOTR and one fantasy undead army.  I had at one stage one company of Steel legion and a company of Praetorian Guard in various stages of painting, basing and filing that eventually was sold to free up space (I regret selling the Praetorian Guard, oh the plans I had).

I guess I suffer from the must have it and not think about the painting till after the shinyness wears off.  With getting back into gaming I realise that this is something I need to combat and only order something new when I need to paint and in the last few months have been quite good its just been the arrival of stuff I've waiting on and the release of new items I want to complete an army.  Basically what I'm asking is, what do you guys do to keep motivated when painting?  I do all the usual stuff, lock myself in a room and play music/watch tv.  Should I hire a dominatrix and tell her to slap me about if I fail to complete a unit/tank within a timescale?  Or should I just throw my cash at someone who can paint and needs extra money?  But does that not defeat the purpose of being a gamer/modeller?

Been far too long

Jeepers I hadn't realised that it has been a month since I last posted.  With ME3 being released and replaying ME 1&2 I've lost track of time.  I have managed to do some painting, mostly its been messing around with my new airbrush and working on some Old Crow/CMG buildings.  After watching a video showing the Tamiya weathering kits I bought a few and tested those out on some GZG tanks.

With the first one I brushed orange rust over some OD Krylon I had lying around and with the second one I used the snow weathering as a test to see how OD would look frosted/iced.  Despite the dark pictures I am happy with it.  A word of advice to any who read this do not use Krylon Camo spray on your models.  It is far too thick and can obscure detail, I only bought the GZG tanks to see what they were like and disliked the small size compared to Khurasan and CMG tanks.

I have also painted the Khurasan Siler tank and I'm very happy with how it turned out.  I followed the guide by Robin from Gruntz and it was really handy.  I definately wish youtube had been around when I was a kid, just imagine the models I would have saved!

Based using Chaos Black spray, then with several light coats Vallejo Tan Dark Earth.  Following Robins method I then put blu-tack in various random patterns then I lightly went over it with Vallejo Olive Drab.  I went over it with the sand colour from the Tamiya weathering kit.  It's basic but it looks like a lot more work went into it.

I also have a platoon of infantry done in camo with a second platoon almost completed.  Once they are done I'll stick up some (better lit) photos.  Just waiting on some Old Crow tanks and APC's to arrive to complete the Kraskian faction.  I couldn't resist it and ordered two more CMG grav tanks for the Exosus just for completion sake.

Once thats complete I'm thinking about Flames of War for my next project.  However, I can't decide about whether to go the popular route and build a German army or do a British one.  I'm very tempted by the stuff that the Plastic Soldier Company is putting out German wise.  Lots of cheap Panzers, half tracks and troops.

Will have to see where the dice take me.

Exosus Empire completed (well almost).

Finished the troops that I currently have for the Exosus Empire.  These are from the gorgeous CMG ARC troop range and GZG spider drones.

First up is the Grav APC platoon and troops.  There are 3 squads in the platoon (a theme I stick to for each platoon) and one officer leading them.

I've kept it quite simple, to differentiate between troop/NCO/officer I painted the left shoulder a different colour. Orange for NCO, red for platoon commander and blue for company commander.

Next up is the infantry platoon.  Again, these are similar to the first platoon minus the APC's.

Up next is the 6 GZG spider drones in two teams.  Again they are quite simply painted, I'm not nor have I ever been a golden demon painter, I prefer to keep it basic for the games.  I've added 25mm GW round bases in a simple bright colour to represent the shields on each drone.  I've kept them different colours to represent the 2 squads of drones.

The CMG jet bikes are excellent models and I wanted a squad of them to represent the Exosus' technological superiority.

I don't think one grav tank is enough and now plan to buy one more medium tank and a heavy tank from CMG later in March.  I love how they used the same hull as the basis for most of the ARC vehicles.

Finally up is the company officer and the two snipers.  I'm debating about getting/converting a medic and engineer from the models I have left over but I don't know if having a medic would fit into the theme of the Exosus Empire who use conscripts/volunteers like cattle.

Here is an overview of the two platoons and support.

The Revell Star Wars shuttle I got on ebay dirt cheap (at £3) so I plan to use it as a prop in some games at a later stage.

Now onto starting work on the Kraskian Federation Marines.

See you on the other side.

A quick update

I'm not very good at updating these things, but I haven't had a chance to do much painting due to work and catching the dreaded manflu.  A couple of new things arrived, some terrain from Wargames Tournament on ebay which is some very nice North Africa buildings and they'll be painted to look like slums/old buildings for my new board.  I also picked up (on the cheap) a KR Cardboard model case.  It's made of a hard cardboard and holds around 200 28mm mini's.  It comfortably fits the minis and the soft foam doesn't appear to scratch the models.  I'm quite impressed with it and with their range of cases, I'll definitely get one of the cases for a bloodbowl team or Necromunda gang.

I did manage to finish a CMG medium grav tank along with 4 CMG ARC jetbikes.  Again I kept them simple as I'm not a great painter.  But I'll stick photos up later.

With the Exosus troops practically finished (only 2 officers and 2 walkers to complete) I started to file and base the Khurasan Federal troops.  These will be playing the role of the Kraskian Federation Marines.  Much like the US Marines of today they put an emphasis on manoeuvre warfare.  With highly trained and motivated troops using the latest in technological advances they carry the fight to the enemy, attacking and harrying them before their fearsome heavy tanks and gunships pulverise them.

With my love of 2nd edition 40k I started to collect the codices (codexes?) and the 2nd ed box.  What I'd love to do is use the rules for 15mm combat.  Obviously certain things will either have to be toned down or removed, like psychic powers, characters and the abundance of wargear along with the insane 90% fire arc for troopers.  I'll have to wait for them to arrive before I start making plans.  I just wonder if anyone else would be interested?

CMG Grav tanks

I typically do 10+ hours a day in my job so I only get to paint on my days off.  I managed to get the CMG Grav APC's done and thought I'd stick a few photos up of them plus the CMG ARC Fleet Recon troops.  I've started the spider droids and should have them finished shortly (oh the joy of night shifts).

I sometimes hate doing vehicles and I'm always wary when it comes to lots of flat areas.  To fix this and to attempt a weathered look I drybrushed the APC's.  Building up from a dark grey to a lighter grey then adding some splotches of watered down brown paint to represent mud or obstacles that the forward ramp hits.