The Vacation Squad

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Liberating yet another vacation destination from the Empire!

Last week we went on vacation for the week, spending part of the week with family in North Carolina and then a few days in Washington DC. As with our trip to Tennessee earlier this year, I figured that there would be some down time in the evenings, and so brought my paint box and some minis (or 'dolls' as my wife's aunt called them) along for the trip. 

A few token vacation pics. 

A USMC M-60, my favorite tank of all time!

The lighting in NC left a lot to be desired for painting, but was much better at the Airbnb in DC. That said, I was able to get all of these painted to a state where they were ready for inking. We had the weekend at home to recover from the trip during which I was able to finish these minis off. 

Yes, I really mean recover! It was 100 degrees every day in DC by the way...

MPL-57 Ion & Z-6 support weapon specialists.

They both have backup blaster rifles, neither of which will ever be used.

A basic trooper and the squad's token alien, a Duros. I just saw on Wookiepedia that the Duros' eyes are red, so will touch that up here shortly.

The Duros will be the squad's leader, as he (?) is the easiest to distinguish from the others. 

Two more basic troopers, the guy on the right is still my favorite sculpt out of this old set. 

I went with a motley assortment of colors on this squad's kit, unlike those squads that I've painted in the past. 

Lastly, another R2-FU Astromech to repair the AR-RT.

Edit: looking at these pics, I wonder if I should go back to using the camera on my old phone...

Winter is coming...

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Stay frosty...

Well, not here in South Carolina. Despite being November now, the air condition is still running and I haven't stopped wearing shorts every day. So winter is coming somewhere else. But hey, why not make a winter themed army? Our son Frankie has already noted the irony of moving south and painting a wintery themed tank.

Take note of the pinup art on the turret side, its pretty much indecipherable on the finished tank.

I just bought another one of these from the same seller to ensure the same print quality and scale. 

I bought this on a whim way back when I was still working on my former Sikh army. It has survived the purging of that force when it failed to generate any momentum in the game locally. Long before I had even started the Sikhs, Bolt Action had died a quiet death in our end of east Tennessee. However, after buying the rulebook here recently, there seems to be some local interest in starting up some Bolt Action.

Pinup? What Pinup?

The problem with 3D prints is I'm now going to have buy some white star decals.

($6 on eBay, done!)

The FLGS' owner was told by the rep for Warlord games that his store is the only game shop within hundreds of miles stocking their minis. So uh yeah, we're an isolated bunch. How gamer like. I posted the finished pics in the local discord and immediately received several compliments as well as my buddy Nick 2.0 mulling starting an army now. This evening when I go to play some Battletech, I'm planning on picking up a platoon of the new plastic winter American infantry. Those along with the 2 Chaffees will give me a 750 point force to get started with. 

To battle once more!

 

Not sure what's more ominous, the approaching Deathwatch marines, or Neverness himself looming above them!

There's been VERY little hobby time here of late. Indeed, I didn't stop working around the yard/house, and on packing stuff up last night till I realized it was a quarter to 10pm! That's been about the norm here of late. 

The closet of doom, normally so loaded with gaming paraphernalia that even my long arms can barely reach into its depths, is almost entirely boxed up. Found all sorts of junk in there i didn't know I even had...or wanted really. 

Note his eyes, glazed with confusion....

That said, I did skip out on my real life responsibilities to play a game of 40k with both Mike and Neverness.  Also of note, this was my GF's son Frankie's introduction to 40k! Which slowed things even further down than just 3 players who are always very rusty on the actual rules to the game. 

Much like Screech was at that age, Frankie's inclination was to sit back and snipe. As such the pulse rifle equipped Fire Warriors in the tower were his favorite unit.

Neverness will have a battle report forthcoming, so watch his space for that!