Tag Archives: GZG

Ground Zero Games

What’s on my Table – June 2013 Edition.

I’m taking a break from painting Dreadball to work on some 15mm stuff I got from Rebel Minis.  I’ve got a Monster Hunter International RPG campaign starting next month, and I want to get some monster minis ready for it.  To that end, I ordered a bunch of werewolves, zombies, cops, FBI agents and more from Rebel Minis and Khurasan.

all_clean

This first batch is from Rebel Minis, since they arrived first.  In fact, I ordered on a Sunday night and they arrived on Thursday.  Now that’s quick service!

There’s a some shipping containers, some sci-fi troops to round out my Earth Force, some “mall cops”, who all have awesome mustaches, werewolves, and government agents.

Here they are after cleaning.

 

primed_and_ready

Here they are primed and ready for paint.  In the back are some minis that have been hanging around my work table waiting for paint for a while now – 2 from GZG and 1 from Khurasan.

 

rebel_minis_15mm_shipping_containers

The finished shipping containers.

 

rebel_minis_15mm_werewolves

The finished werewolves.  They are kinda boring, I think.  Brown on brown.  I tried to get some red on the eyes, but they are too small – I just made a mess that I had to go back and fix.  Same for the teeth.  Anyway, you can tell what they are.

 

In the back of those last two pics, you can kinda see a special order I just got from Khurasan.  More on them and the rest of what’s on my table in a future post.

Happy gaming!

GZG’s Spider Drones

Over the last 2 weeks I’ve been working on 12 of GZG’s Spider Drones – 2 packs each of the standard and rotary canon.  I paused in the middle and painted some other stuff, then my bases finally arrived from Litko, so I finished them up this weekend.

I painted them all the same, except for the top, which I painted in a similar style as I did the Grav Drones a while back.  Then I based them using Green Stuff.

raw

Cleaned and assembled.  There’s a bit of flash around the leg joints that I just left – it was going to be very time consuming to clean, and leaving just added to the “spider legs” effect, I think.

 

primed

Primed.

 

stages

Various stages.  Here’s was my process:

  • Do the bottom parts of all of them with a rough coat of metallic silver.
  • One at a time, do the metallic brass parts, then the black guns, the red lens, and highlights
  • Wash the bottom in heavy black
  • Paint the top

 

bases_raw

Here’s the bases in various stages.  Litko 0.8mm thick wooden bases, 30mm in diameter, with a Litko heavy duty magnet bottom under it.  Then I pre-cut the bits for the top of the base. That’s some metal mesh from the hardware store – I also use it to make chain link fences – and some square plastic mesh I got at the craft store in the knitting section.

 

bases_pre_paint

Here’s with the Green Stuff – ready for primer.

 

bases_in_progress

There’s the Green Stuff, rolled flat.  I put the base on it and use the razor blade to cut it to fit.  The copper pipe fitting I use to make the circular indent.  I have a smaller one, also.  The mesh I just press gently into it, and it sticks.  No glue needed.

 

bases_primed bases_primed_with_drones

All primed.

bases_done

All painted.

 

bases_and_drones GZG_spider_drones_all_based

A coat of shiny varnish, and then I glued the drone on to it.

 

GZG_spider_drones_all GZG_spider_drones_black_red GZG_spider_drones_blue_yellow GZG_spider_drones_green_tan

 

Making the bases was fun, but I don’t think they look as good on the Spiders as they did on the Grav Drones.  It’s too busy and dark.  Lesson learned.

 

This Is What $85 Buys You In 15mm Sci-Fi

One of the great things about 15mm Sci-Fi minis is that they are so inexpensive.  An infantry figure costs around 60 cents. A tank or wheeled vehicle around $11.  Compared to some company’s 28mm figs, that is super cheap.

Here’s what $85 buys you:

full_frontal

This is my 15mm Sci-Fi army, which can  be used to play Gruntz, Tomorrow’s War, Stargrunt II, FUBAR, etc. I ordered from Ground Zero Games in the UK  and Rebel Miniatures in the USA. Total cost was $85 US, not including shipping or tax. 65 infantry, 4 big guns, and 5 wheeled vehicles.

 

full_off_center

The big list:

— Vehicles: —

Right side

  • GZG V15-42A Bulldog 4-wheel HMTV closed-back Troop Carrier version
  • GZG V15-39A Bobcat 4-wheel HMLCV (High Mobility Light Combat Vehicle) with autocannon turret

Left Side

  • GZG V15-42B Bulldog 4-wheel HMTV closed-back Command Post version (with left over Rebel Mini’s gun)
  • GZG V15-41A Bulldog 4-wheel HMTV (High Mobility Transport Vehicle), open, with tribarrel autocannon mount (+ crew) (I didn’t use the crew)

Center

  • Rebel Minis RMEFG1 Earth Force ATV Buggy.

— Big Guns: —

Right side:

  • GZG V15-25A GAWP – Groundmount Autonomous Weapons Platform with Rotary Cannon

Left side:

  • GZG V15-73A Heavy Autocannon (with NAC gunner)

— Troops: —

Black “Command” and Black 1:

  • GZG SG15-SFE5 Assault Team (human troops in fatigues) – 4 character figures and four line grunts

Black 3 & 4:

  • GZG SG15-F03 FSE POWER ARMOUR

Black 2 & 5

  • GZG SG15-E03 ESU POWER ARMOUR

Green 3 & 4:

  • GZG SG15-A23 NAC Power Armour & SG15-A21 NAC Assault Power Armour pack A

Green “Command”, 1 & 2:

  • Rebel Minis MAEF1 The Earth Force Marines Infantry Pack

full_off_center_lower full_side wheeled_from_side wheeled_and_plants command_flag sunglasses_in_center armor_manned_guns_and_buggy

auto_guns

in_the_tin

 

All 65 troops fit in a cookie tin.  Magnetic bases keep them in place.

What’s On My Workbench – Right Now

Hey all.  It seems like I have a lot of stuff “in progress” at the moment.  Some of that is because I’m waiting on 30mm bases from Litko.net for my GZG Spider Drones, so I decided to move on to something else while I wait – some Khurasan and GZG minis I had waiting for paint.

all_in_progress

In the front are Khurasan’s Little Green Imperialist Warriors.  I painted them last night, dullcote’ed them this morning before I went to work, and tonight I started the basing process.  I use vinyl wall spackle mixed with water, sand and very small rocks (more like big sand).  As you can see, it’s still wet.  If it’s dry enough before I go to bed, I’ll get a coat of paint on it.  Then a nice wash, and maybe I’ll glue some sand on.

 

left_side

On the left in the back are what’s left of GZG’s Ravagers pack A – their brothers and sisters are already done.  In front of them are 3 of Khurasan’s Scientists.  The 4th is a dead scientist, and I’m not really interested in him, so he’s in a box somewhere.

Finally, in the front, is Khurasan’s Cyborg Supercop.

 

right_side

Last, but not least, are the 12 GZG Spider Drones.  As you can see, 8 of them are painted, waiting for their bases, and the other 4 are partially painted.

 

Well, that’s where I’m at today.  I’ll feature each of these models in more detail when they are complete.  The  Little Green Imperialist Warriors should be up tomorrow or Friday.

 

Happy painting!

GZG’s 15mm Fuel Drums

I painted up GZG’s 15mm fuel drums (type A) the other day.  They were easy to paint.  I primed them black, dry brushed on some gray, then a smaller dry brush of red-brown for rust.

I based them on some small wood rectangles, then glued some sand on the bases.  Then I washed the sand a sepia color, then dry brushed the sand with a tan.  When that was all dry, I brushed on some very thin PVA glue-water mix to hold it all together a bit more permanently. The I dry brushed some more tan, as I felt it needed a bit more.

GZG Fuel Drums GZG 15mm Fuel Drums

 

That makes for some cheap and easy terrain. 🙂

In the past, I had assembled a card stock “print-and-fold” barrel, and it took a lot of time to cut the small bits out, and gluing such a small thing was tricky.  I think these metal barrels we easier, quicker, and much more durable.