New Project: Conflict in the USA

My process of beginning a new project works something like this:

1. Accrue inspiration from various sources - in this case; the graphic novel series DMZ, the computer games Modern Warfare 2 and Homefront and the film Red Dawn.
2. Search for miniatures that may be applicable - consider what terrain would be needed and what kind of costs I would be looking at. I settled on 15mm for the scale and squad-and-light-support-level for the game size. 
3. Start to build up resources for it - for this project I ordered various packs from QRF. I wish they did some mixed packs, but I now have spares if I decide to build the forces a bit bigger.
4. Begin modelling...
5. Start playing? Heh, like that ever happens...

I'm finally at Stage 4 on this project - it's been in my head since the end of last year, when I was reading a lot of DMZ. The basic storyline is that there is a second US civil war, with the Free States of America rising up against what they see as a tyrannical government. The series is set in New York City, which becomes the DMZ/No Man's Land between the two main sides. The city is given the "Beirut" treatment - split into numerous zones by the main opposing forces, neighbourhood militias, the UN, the private corporations (one in particular - "Trustwell" - think Blackwater meets Halliburton) and so on. 

I imagine the gaming side of this to play very well into a map-based campaign, with the various factions fighting for control of a particular neighbourhood. To begin with I plan on building squads and transportation for the USA, FSA and "The Ghosts" - an ex-Special Forces faction who are based in what used to be Central Park. To that end I ordered various packs from QRF's US infantry (with troops in Arctic dress for the Ghosts) and a couple of packs of Spetznatz, to possibly act as one of the militias.

I've also picked up various vehicles from a local £1 shop. Unfortunately, I didn't have the troops at the time to compare the Humvees to, so they are too large for the project. The deuce-and-a-halfs seem fairly perfect though and should be great once repainted.

These vehicles were also from the £1 shop. Again, these seem to scale great alongside the 15mm troops. The Ford pickup would make a great Technical and the Lincoln Navigator seemed like the perfect vehicle for a protection detail supplied by the Trustwell PMC.


I have yet to decide whether to keep all of this in NYC or branch out into the rest of the war. A recent post over on the great Winter of '79 regarding some new smalltown US cardstock terrain that is in production was rather intriguing. I also need to order a pack of the great looking troopers from Armies Army to fit the role of PMC. 


If you have any thoughts or suggestions on this, please feel free to leave a comment! It feels nice to finally take the plunge into 15mm, which is a scale that has seen an amazing amount of growth over the past couple of years! I also have a pack of the alien mercenaries from Ground Zero Games that I plan on working on sometime soon - it could be good if I proxy the USA troops as early Colonial Marine-sorts...

So many ideas, so little time!

Company Spotlight: Warploque Miniatures

I've been meaning to order something from Warploque Miniatures for a good while now - WarplockMonkey has some real skill when it comes to anatomy.

I love the monster-hunting not-Van Pelt (from Jumanji), the heads for the future Minotaur (available as a bits pack, with a boar, elk and classic bull), the brilliant giant and in particular; the halflings! 

I've been on a real hobbit/halfling fix recently, as I've been listening to the audiobook version of Fellowship of the Ring whilst painting - I'm very much looking forward to Warploque releasing the halflings they're currently on with - the Poacher and Trollhound in particular! You can see what's coming up next on the WIP Warploque thread on WarSeer.

Brilliant!

Poster no.5

One of my favourite films ever - it's difficult to choose between this and Escape from New York. This is another brilliant striking design - I love the tagline that states that they were unable to use photographs from the film on the poster, as it was too graphic. I can imagine the reaction of teenagers to that sort of declaration - must see this movie!

Seen on the Forums: Mercenary Ogre

Saw this the other night and just had to post it - the absolutely brilliant Clint the Mercenary Outrider on Lead Adventure. Go check it out for more lovely pictures. I've had some thoughts bouncing around recently for a small (to begin with) Empire force, heavy on the mercenaries and unit fillers - this is exactly the kind of theme i want to go for!

Basing 101

I've recently discovered that there is a fairly active Wargames club in the town I moved to a year ago, held every Sunday in the rooms above a cafe/restaurant - there seems to be a good mix of different players, with a focus on Warhammer 40k and Warhammer Fantasy, but with other games played. This is exactly what I've wanted for years, so I have started to knock my horde of Space Marines into some semblance of an army that stands a chance of winning the odd game...


Part of this is going over the models that I painted when I re-entered the hobby around 5 years ago. My painting style has changed slightly since then, but I'm still fairly happy with the paintjobs and the conversions - I'm planning on going back over the army unit by unit, fixing some small bits and pieces and adding some additional detailing to their bases...


This was spurred on in a big way by Ron's post over on From The Warp - Rebasing models with new materials. This is something I've done before and the post spurred me on to order a couple of new modelling materials from eBay:

- Modelling leaves - I've been meaning to pick some of these up for a while now. I've used them a couple of times since receiving them in the post last week. They're very nice - rather fiddly, but they're adding a little bit extra to the Chaos Warriors.

 - "Blighted Marsh" Static Grass - a darker mix - I thought this would be useful when mixed with the flock that I currently use on a majority of projects, as such: 

The flock on the right is the one I have been using for a good few years - the flock on the left is a mix of that and the newly purchased "Blighted Marsh".


Time to dig out the Marines...

Poster no.4

The other framed poster that can be found in my bathroom - Forbidden Planet. This features rather nicely with the retro King Kong poster.

Thought I'd pay homage to classic sci-fi (this) and classic pulp (King Kong).

Chaos Sorcerer - Work In Progress

I converted this Chaos Sorcerer when I first started buying bits and pieces from eBay for my Chaos Warriors - this was the first miniature put together for the force. 

The idea was for a sorcerer who had made a number of mistakes in his service to the Dark Gods - betrayed the patronage of God X for the patronage of God Y etc. and suffered the consequences. His form is distorted, one arm replaced with a hideous claw, his skull stripped of it's flesh and permanently aflame...

Sometime in the past few months, the conversion has lost his head... the flaming skull from the Empire Wizard kit. Thankfully, I've managed to find a generous fellow on one of the many forums I frequent, who has posted a spare on it's way to me! Phew...all of the bits sites were bereft of this lovely piece!