1st Corps colonial marines

 Well after a few hours painting I managed to get 12 troopers done. My main drive for these guys is a long time dream of doing a future American Civil war. These guys are future Confederates...the south will rise again!

 To that end I have used confederate colours from Foundry to paint them.

These figures really came to life once the flesh colour was added. I had to stop myself from getting carried away with painting different colour pouches on the belts etc. I used Star ship troopers from the movie as a guide and painted all the equipment black. This helped to give them a future look. I still have the second half of the Platoon to do and I'm tempted to put a few butternut colours in there for the tunics.

Foundry Confederate grey was dry brushed over the armour leaving black undercoat showing in some of the gaps. Foundry Rebel grey 'A' was then used to paint the tunics. The camo was Rebel grey 'C' and then a lighter grey/blue. All this was then washed with dark brown ink to tie it all together. For speed painting you can't beat a bit of quick dry brushing...

 A line up shows how they measure up to 15 and 28mm. The smaller size is a little disappointing but the price more than makes up for it.

 I have noticed that Gripping Beast (woodbine company) do a range of Colonial marines and It looks like they may be sculpted by the same guy. The rifles are exactly the same, which is a real bonus for collecting a larger range. They are however true 28mm so they may be a little larger than this lot, however with it being the future they could be genetically altered or something, you know the score. They are armoured so already I have a few ideas about the Iron brigade.

Quick! A speed paint challenge!

 My family went away for a day which gave me a window to get some paint down and go crazy.
I ordered these 25mm colonial marines from 1st corps last year. I thought they were 15mm so was quite surprised when they turned up, however my motto of never get rid of anything really helped out this time. I’ve been rereading the classic 25mm sci fi game Star grunt 2 and thought it would be great to create a platoon. These 1st corps figures are really quite nice and go with the Star grunt very nicely. The figures are a nice blend of Starship troopers and Colonial marines from Aliens.

 There are also some different types to add to the mix, with the Recon troopers above, they also do other variations on the standard trooper by changing the heads and helmets to make different factions. So quite a lot of variety in the range, but the best thing is the price. If you buy them in the platoon deal they are a £1 a figure. Lovely I thought, being 25mm they are on the small side with other ranges but there is enough of a range that you probably won’t have to mix them. So I had a day to get some paint on these guys quick, just one colour then ink wash or even Army painter I thought.

Sarissa precision Zulu wagon

 Well the new wagons from SP arrived and the answer was yes they were easier to put together than the 4ground ones, however part of this kit is in fact cardboard. This didn’t seem to cause any real problems until it came to painting. I use a lot of washes in my quick style and this started to warp the cardboard side planks. So be a little careful with your wishes on this one.

 This kit was a slightly higher price than the other two but does come with ammo boxes. These are a real arse to make and a different glue should be used from wood glue. Although it is really tempting to leave these out and use sculpted cargo, they actually are worth the trouble when finished. They also make great cover when taken out of the wagons.
So all in all nice kits and worth getting.

 I sprayed one wagon with French blue and this matched exactly some reference I had found one line from a collectors range of Anglo Zulu larger figures. The other will be brown with red wheels.

Zulu Wagons

 I was really impressed with these MDF wagons with the way they turned out. They were quite quick to build and almost fun... almost. The SP kit popped together really well as it was such a simple build, the 4ground flat bed wagon took longer but has great detail. I especially like the iron rims on the wheels. I have ordered two more flat bed wagons this time from SP so we will see if their simple design carries through to bigger designs. Yeah a worthwhile purchase from EBay and should add some more drama to the battlefield.

Hold them...hold them!

Anglo-Zulu MDF Wagons

Federal Flocking Fun

 It took me long into the night with a cracking headache, but the men pushed on and finally the job was done. Hard work but totally worth it! Everything up to date and looking better for it.

 This is the proud moment when I introduced my new four bases to the rest of the corps, lots of cheering and hats in the air. I have many more to base up and intermingle with my very old stuff. These new bases brings the tally up to 50, loads I hear you say but the army lists I’m looking at have 100+.
 Even my rules of choice ‘Bonny Blue Flag’ have lists of 71 bases (Confederate) and 64 bases (Federal) for their bigger scenario game. Well we all need goals in life now let’s get the flock out of here. So really I'm almost there for my Federal forces.

 I started basing these figures for Regimental Fire and Fury, until I played them and found them quite complicated, Kevin Calder’s BBF came to the rescue. The rules seem great but they lack scenarios, this is where RFF comes back in with their many scenario books. Using these scenario books will allow me to play games using correct unit strengths and accurate maps of high detail, while using strong simple rules. Best of both worlds! Each of these three figure bases equal 40 men.

 The new grass (6mm-4mm) looks great on these Union troops. A mix of different lengths really adds to the natural look.

Here is the Corps before the great flocking, they were okay but I think the extra work was worth doing.

The Troops Go Back For More

A mix of grass colours help give the right blend for the African grasslands.

 New improved long grass base, I think It looks a lot more like the African Velt than before.

I found some rubber gloves to wear from a garden store, not really needed but I think they help cut down on the static to your hand and arm.

New flocked British Infantry look a lot better standing in long grass, the stones on the base look better covered in light grass.