Metal Nostalgia Force painted models

[symphonicpoet]

^^On the positive side, elves and bugs also look good in blue, so you don't necessarily have to change your pallet all that much.

I understand the need to bounce around between models. I used to paint by the army, but now I paint the way you do, a little of this and a little of that most of the time. It's just too easy to get bogged down and bored these days, and most of the time I think gaming with a sort of random assortment of adventurers is more fun than gaming army versus army anyway. Both can be fun, mind. Don't get me wrong. But given my druthers skirmishes and adventures are more my speed than big, pitched battles.

Great stuff! Keep it up. And I really look forward to the elves.

 

[Machen]

Really enjoying your boys and girls in blue, angrygriffon. I can completely empathize with you and symphonicpoet about jumping around a lot rather than painting squads. (When symphonicpoet spoke about prefering skirmishes and adventures to massive armies colliding, he was speaking for me as well.)

It's nice to know I'm not the only one who finds it hard to stick to one squad at a time. I haven't yet painted a five-man squad in my life! (The furthest I've managed so far is four.) I have a bunch of little 2 and 3 person squads who are all patiently waiting until I eventually cycle back around to add their final members. (I'd like to have a few five-man squads by the end of this year, when I'll be receiving a kickstarter game that uses them that I'd like to try out.)

My problem's the same as what you guys describe: When I set out to try and paint five troops of the same type in a row, the fun evaporates and its starts feeling like a chore. And since I only do this for fun, when it feels like a chore, it grinds to a halt.

 

[angrygriffin]

I do rather like the idea of more scruffy forces thrown together in a small narrative based skirmish rather than a huge pitched battle - I'm currently kicking around the idea of running 1995 Necromunda rules with very small 40K forces to kind of get the feel I'm after but it's all theorycrafting at the moment as I'm not likely to get any games in until later this year at least. Perhaps I just need to learn the RT ruleset instead... but I honestly rather like the 2E/Necromunda rules and found them to result in some very fun games.

I think I might cheat somewhat with the 5-man squads and just re-paint some of the squad numbers on my already painted minis and then I shall have some completed squads!

I got Brother Harris done last night:

Forgot to take a pic from behind, I'll have to do that next time I bust out the camera when I finish a mini. Not sure if it was Aly Morrison or Mark Copplestone who sculpted this guy but he was good to paint - I really like the little band-aid on his nose as an added detail.

 

[symphonicpoet]

One of the things I most dislike about 40K is the rules. I ought to take a look at Necromunda, since I have it lying around anyway. (Would you believe I bought it when it first came out in the 90s and never, to this day, even once played a game?) Is it the same I go/you go as 40K? I really think that's the single biggest problem, but I'm deeply in danger of getting off on a rules sidetrack, which probably belongs elsewhere. Love the miniature! The bandaid really looks great. I also like the dust on his boots. (Which, to be fair, you've done on pretty much all of your miniatures lately. Makes for a nice touch.) Very nicely done.

 

[Ramses135]

You know, these models are so inspiring, I'll probably change my attention from my Alai Mercenaries project to my White Scars very soon

 

[KingOfTheLeadPile]

Is it the same I go/you go as 40K? I really think that's the single biggest problem, but I'm deeply in danger of getting off on a rules sidetrack, which probably belongs elsewhere.

Yes it is. The rules are basically 40k 2e, with more details like jumping falling, but otherwise pretty similar.
I always liked the campaign system very much.

 

[symphonicpoet]

^The campaign system gave a way for characters to advance, which was nice. Yeah, as I think back I at least skimmed through them and I recall some of the stuff about jumping and falling. (And pushing?) I should give it a go one of these days. Even if I don't care for the activation system, that's an easy enough thing to replace. I enjoy playing Rogue Trader with a friend using the activation system out of Bolt Action, more or less. Or activating by unit in an initiative order based on the unit stats could work as well. Lots of possibilities, but I'm off on that sidetrack now. Ignore me and back to the beautiful classic goodness!

 

[angrygriffin]

One of the things I most dislike about 40K is the rules. I ought to take a look at Necromunda, since I have it lying around anyway. (Would you believe I bought it when it first came out in the 90s and never, to this day, even once played a game?) Is it the same I go/you go as 40K? I really think that's the single biggest problem, but I'm deeply in danger of getting off on a rules sidetrack, which probably belongs elsewhere. Love the miniature! The bandaid really looks great. I also like the dust on his boots. (Which, to be fair, you've done on pretty much all of your miniatures lately. Makes for a nice touch.) Very nicely done.

Thanks! I feel in some ways like I'm a bit repetitive with the basing but it's also quick and easy and I don't want to detract from the mini itself, so I'm kind of leaving it for now. Mostly. This particular guy I did a bunch of drybrushing on the base and only used a single pigment colour but I'm not as happy with the end result so I may just go back to the previous recipe and revisit basing down the track.

Rules-wise... I never liked the whole-team-at-once approach of the GW games but I haven't ever played a wargame that didn't do that, so it's familiar I suppose. I have been theorycrafting for a couple of years planning a campaign using a homebrew mix of rules and have considered alternating activations or folding in Reactions from Horus Heresy 2.0 to reduce swinginess and increase both player's engagement... but it's all just theories at the moment.

I always liked small, narrative games and the Necromunda granularity appealed to me back in the 90s and still does - the stories you'd read in the books so often involved individuals or squads doing things that made a difference and I think that kind of gets lost in the scale of the current 40K with massed battles; I like all the minis having their own name and story and with the amount of zany stuff that happens in 2E/Necromunda with the ruleset it makes for some great moments.

...which leads me to trying to incorporate some of the Urban Conquest campaign expansion in to the N95 campaign ruleset to make it fit 40K a little bit more and who knows what that would end up looking like. I really need to just get some games in, get to grips with the rules again after a long break and then figure out what I want to change. It is somewhat fun just mentally exploring the idea from time to time until then, though, and it's always interesting hearing other people's take on rules and things like alternate activations being added in.

You know, these models are so inspiring, I'll probably change my attention from my Alai Mercenaries project to my White Scars very soon

Well that's humbling! I always liked the idea of seeing some oldhammer minis painted up in the lesser-seen (or not-at-all-seen) chapters of the time - and seriously considered Raven Guard and White Scars for this particular project before deciding on Ultras.

 

[symphonicpoet]

Rules-wise... I never liked the whole-team-at-once approach of the GW games but I haven't ever played a wargame that didn't do that, so it's familiar I suppose. I have been theorycrafting for a couple of years planning a campaign using a homebrew mix of rules and have considered alternating activations or folding in Reactions from Horus Heresy 2.0 to reduce swinginess and increase both player's engagement... but it's all just theories at the moment.

I always liked small, narrative games and the Necromunda granularity appealed to me back in the 90s and still does - the stories you'd read in the books so often involved individuals or squads doing things that made a difference and I think that kind of gets lost in the scale of the current 40K with massed battles; I like all the minis having their own name and story and with the amount of zany stuff that happens in 2E/Necromunda with the ruleset it makes for some great moments.

...which leads me to trying to incorporate some of the Urban Conquest campaign expansion in to the N95 campaign ruleset to make it fit 40K a little bit more and who knows what that would end up looking like. I really need to just get some games in, get to grips with the rules again after a long break and then figure out what I want to change. It is somewhat fun just mentally exploring the idea from time to time until then, though, and it's always interesting hearing other people's take on rules and things like alternate activations being added in.

Getting more games in is important, but it can be a challenge.

As to the rest, I really am going down a rabbit hole, as using my GW toys with rules not penned in Nottingham (or London) is one of my favorite activities. I wrote a rather lengthy response talking about activation in other games I've played and how it can be paired with 40K, but I really think it's probably best in a thread elsewhere. I can PM you, if you like. Or I could, I suppose, start that thread elsewhere. Alternately, I can just leave it lie, as I'm not sure how "Oldhammer" things like Pulp Alley, Bolt Action, and StarGrunt II really are. (That last one might have been penned in London, come to think of it.)

 

[EricF]

Or I could, I suppose, start that thread elsewhere. Alternately, I can just leave it lie, as I'm not sure how "Oldhammer" things like Pulp Alley, Bolt Action, and StarGrunt II really are.

Well a thread in general about alternate rule sets in rules could be interesting. I know we've touched on a few other rulesets over the years, but a dedicated thread might be interesting (especially given there are a few "in the spirit" rulesets out there)

 

[ManicMan]

There are a fair number of rule sets for the same style or kinda thing from more modern companies.. though where is the limit to a rule set? I mean, do stuff like HQ and AHQ count as rule sets? cause.. while you need a board in a way (or tiles), that's not really too far out of it (and even very easy to convert over.. I mean, think about it.. HQ has 25mm squares.. roll dice, convert to inches (so, 1 inch), and you have a boardless Dungeon Crawler ^_^

 

[twisted moon]

I got Brother Harris done last night:

very characterful sculpt.

 

[twisted moon]

Or I could, I suppose, start that thread elsewhere.

yes, please.

 

[symphonicpoet]

^All right. Will do. I wrote a bit on unit activation, so I'll post that in the rules discussion forum.

 

[angrygriffin]

I got Brother Meredith done last night:

Not a heap of painting time available at the moment, I got him mostly done last month and only just managed to get him over the line nearly three weeks into May. Now to decide on whether I push on and pick and paint a sergeant for this combat squad or try something totally different like a Tyranid or Eldar model...