So what now?

Things might be a bit quieter here than they were pre-Salute, but there's still plenty to do.

Painting wise I'm going to be focusing on other projects for a while, mostly Flames of War, 6mm modern, other Post apocalyptic stuff and misc. RPG models, but I'll get back to the coalition after the break. I've got extra figures for the Cartel, to bulk out their squad and I want to put together a second rifle squad for the Manchester Guard - after finding a less labour intensive manufacture process of course!

I also want to expand the HQ selection for the guard.I've got a flag for a standard bearer all lined up, and one of the takeaways I forgot to mention in the last post is that you need a robust command structure or a good counter-sniper setup. Otherwise your going to have a bad time.

The obvious goal for now is the rules. I think I'm going to need another two months or so.

I will, however, be uploading a pdf of the Fog of War cards this weekend.

Nomad WiP

The WiPs

The nomads muster

I'm here too!
Sorry.  The last few months have been mad... but the nomads (mark I army, pending mammoths at a later date) are getting there. I  have another 20 or so part finished in the work bench, but the current plan is to get everything finished by the end of the weekend.
Alas, you won't be seeing me at Salute as I am likely to be moving house that day.
Still, enough of that...

Here is the painted force as it currently stands - 3 squads, a cannon and most of a command squad... still on the paint desk are another squads worth (a bit more multicultural with a few nods and winks on the shield designs ), the warlord, the rest of the command squad and a sniper team...

Left for Lead 2: Electric Boogaloo

Here's a photo of the final (entirely) unpainted unit for my forces.

Something tell me they're going to be a royal pain in the ass... It's nagging me...

I can't believe I let Xander bully me into adding mounted forces to the game, and then into adding them to my force, and then giving me some cavalry...

Seriously though, I hate painting animals, although I've found a great - but extremely involved - tutorial for painting horses.

Left for Lead

Just a quick picture of the Manchester "line infantry" for lack of a better word.

They're made of half Warlord Commando! half Redoubt enterprises ACW dismounted cavalry. I hope once they're done that they will look like the sort of troops a pre-industrial but wealthy post-apocalyptic city might be able to put together.

I also hope once they're painted that they wont look like:

• Normal ACW troops
• Normal British or German WWII troops
• A bunch of clowns

You cant see them in this picture, but a couple are carrying swords (including the Leadership 0 officer, front right) and the one at the rear right has a motorcycle helmet greenstuffed onto him. I decided quite early that uniformity would be the true dead of the post apocalyptic aesthetic, so while these men are the standing, standardised infantry of a city state, they are still working with post-apocalytic resources and have brought some of their own equipment to the fight.

To be honest, I'm pinning a lot on the paint job. The manner in which I chose to produce they was expensive, time consuming and I cut the tips of my fingers to shreds in the process.

Lead Poisoning

I've put together the four man squad of veteran Manchester infantry.

I think it's fair to say that I have mixed feelings about these figures. I originally bought them off Xander (in fact I think I'm responsible for a significant proportion of his sales). They're apparently Westwind neo-soviets (apart from the 40k Corbec, obviously) and they have issues. From a structural standpoint I had to put brass rods in their feet to get them to stand up. Aesthetically, none of them are holding their weapons by the grips, preferring to hold them by the butt. The guns themselves look ridiculous, like PPSh-41's with delusions of being assault rifles. I clipped the ridiculous bayonets off two of them. All in all they look almost as derpy as that one Across the Dead Earth figure who is in the process of dropping his rifle.

Head wise, I went mostly with the hooded heads that came in the same baggie - I don't know if they're from the same miniatures. It's certainly given them an otherworldly look. Unfortunately that look is "cultist" or "elf ranger" rather than "post apocalyptic SAS". But no matter, they'll do the trick. The third figure got one of the aggressively ugly heads from the Warlord Commandos box. I'm currently sourcing a range of helmets as I think equipping the Manchester regulars exclusively with broddie helmets might make the look a bit Dad's Army.

The only real conversion work (apart from swapping out Corbecs instantly recognisable Lasrifle for a G36) was slinging an AT4 (Mammoth hunting, for the purpose of) on this guys back.

And finally, I cut off the faintly alien (they are steampunk Martians afterall) spherical respirator on the Highland Spring Leader and replaced with with a cylindrical one.

These may seem like tiny alterations, but for me, it's ground breaking.

I've also managed to put 6 of my line infantry together, using up all the ACW torsos I got. They are taking several hours each, but I think the end result is worth it. These guys are definitely looking like they could be produced by a PA city.  But more on them when I have the whole unit finished.

WiP: Preping more nomads...

I've not finished painting the other  tray full of nomads yet, but on Saturday Seb kindly helped me get a pile of figures preped and based, so I am cracking on with doing the weapons and shields... The figures on the left all await GSing (mainly straps on muskets and holsters) while on the  right they are all done. I have also taken some more pics of the  archeotechologist as a couple of folks were asking about him...

-Xander

WiP: Team ATR project day

So we thought that things might come together a bit faster if we had a joint work day - I'm  busy with a paint brush, Seb is ordering scenic supplies and  Emma is busy cutting out bases for scenery...

-Xander

WiP: Northern Nomads

A few WiP snaps from my desk - please ignore the part painted Valkyrie crew and the horde of  grey-primed dark-ages types on the paint station in the background!

-Xander

 From L: A scav/archeotechologist, nomad warrior, Carn Ikea Torsson, a selection of pack mules and part of a hunting dog. The building in the background will be the 'traders hut' in the display game... Yes, it does have a sofa and a washing machine outside it. No... I don't know why either!

From L; Hunting dogs, light cannon 1 (Warlord Frame gun), light cannon 2 (Boot Hill 'come take it' gun), 2 part-converted Warlord gun crew (ECW Scots -> Northern Nomads) & a part built cart as scatter for the village in the display game.
The gun crewman hunched over will be getting a slung shield and will have some GSing done on his coat. The chap leaning forward with the fuse needs some work done on his trousers, and may well get a belt...

Assorted part painted Northern Nomads
(Note: angry northern lady!)

More assorted part painted nomads....

Close-up of Carn Ikea Torsson, my commander for the display game
(Ancestral shotgun for the win!)

Lead Space - The Highland Spring Water Clan

So these guys are now filling up my paint queue.

The Highland Spring Water Cartel are providing support to the City of Manchester's forces. The nomad marauders activities are bad for business and the Highland Spring have been busy putting together a coalition to head them off. In practice this means that Manchester is doing a lot of the heavy lifting, but the Highland Spring have been making their presence known, to let the minor factions know that Manchester can't take all the credit, if nothing else.

A Highland Spring NCO and banner bearer

The full Highland Spring contingent

The only real conversion I've had to so far; he now has an FN MINIMI.

WiP: Northern Nomad Warriors

Just to say that I have made a start...
Currently on the table are:
3x 'nobles' (heavy infantry)
1x standard bearer
2x musician
2x gun crew
1x animal handler
27x warriors
3x captives (will become objective markers)

I've got lead!

The postman brought goodies!