Xmas Painting Updates

 Merry Christmas Eve all! Having a pretty quiet evening, so I decided it was time for a random update of what's on my painting table. The most accurate answer would be, a chaotic mess. But paring things down to just the main projects, there are three things on the go and one recently finished. 

Completed - The Neo-Tasman Sector Fleet

The completed project (which has been my main focus for the last couple of weeks) is the Neo-Tasman Sector Fleet. These were from Ground Zero Games' Federal Stats Europa range for their Full Thrust system. These were already painted, but with a very unimpressive job if I'm honest. So this was a touch-up and improvement project. Having the models already painted (even if with piss-poor shading and highlighting) made things easier as all I needed to do was apply a wash and some drybrushing. The plain gray scheme is very simple, but it's a sci-fi classic and it works.

GNS Goliath, flagship of the sector fleet

GNS Laertes, primary assault transport for the Enforcer 75-Long Range Drop Group

The complete sector fleet

Transport Division I

Cruisers and destroyers of the Medium Divisions

So all painted up and looking good. Now I do not actually have a game system in mind for these ships, so for now this is purely a painting/modelling project. The GZG Full Thrust system is decent (and I do have a copy, including the official stats for the FSE fleet) so I could use them for that. But the fluff I've written assumes these ships are part of Mantic Entertainment's Warpath universe. Mantic does not currently have a space combat game for that universe, so these will probably just go into storage for now.

Primary Project 1 - The 75 Long Range Drop Group

The main project I have on the go right now is 75 Long Range Drop Group (75-LRDG). This is a 28mm scale Enforcer army within Mantic's Warpath setting. It can be used for either Deadzone (squad level game, Mantic equivalent of GW's Kill Team) or Firefight (the full sized game). The Enforcer's are an elite infantry force of augmented humans with the best high-tech gear, heavily inspired by the Adeptus Astartes. 

I'm aiming for a 1000 point force, which is a fairly common size for Firefight, easily playable on a 6 x 4 table in a couple of hours. For the Enforcers an army of that size would consists of around 25-30 models (depending on upgrades, special characters, vehicles, etc.) which is not too bad. One reason I'm aiming for this sized force (apart from it being a common standard) is that there has been mention of a Firefight tournament over in Michigan in February next year. That's an easily drivable distance for me (roughly 6 hours, and I know a couple of good places to stop along the way) and I haven't been to a gaming tournament in a couple of years. 

Primary Project 2 - The Lost Temple of Xhi-Rathor

The second main project I have on the go is continuing to expand my Zul-Farrak inspired Mesoamerican/canyon themed terrain layout. The ground level of the main temple has been fully completed. 

I'm hoping to get enough terrain pieces done to layout a 6 x 4 table, and I have my eye on a couple of desert themed battlemats as well. This is again looking towards the potential tournament in Michigan - I'd love to be able to show up providing a complete and awesome looking table of terrain. The classic terrain for both Deadzone and Firefight is urban ruined-industrial, so a desert temple layout would be something a little different. But it's easily enough explainable within the setting (there will be planets with all Earth biomes, plus many alien ones) and would add a bit of variety. 

Secondary Project - The Bo'Obaneyth

The third project I'm chipping away at is the Bo'Obaneyth - an army called the Nameless, still within the Warpath setting. The Nameless are a collection of Lovecraftian Cthuhlu-inspired species with many tentacles and semi bio-organic technology. 

I have purchased enough models to make a similarly sized force to the Enforcers, and I'm planning on painting these up as either an op-force if I want to try and introduce new players to the game, or just as an alternative if I feel like a change from the Enforcers. Sadly there is not currently an official Nameless force list for Firefight, only for Deadzone. However the stat-lines and points values for the two games have a lot in common. Improvising a Nameless list for Firefight would not be difficult if an opponent was OK with playing something unofficial.