Dystopian Legions French Legionnaires painted

The first batch of the Dystopian Legions figures painted, though it took me a lot longer than I expected. I suffered a major dip in motivation at the beginning of the month which has put a real dent in my plan to have all the figures from the starter set painted by xmas. I do think these are the most complex of the figures in the set to paint, hopefully the next lot will be progressed at a better pace.

Now that they are fully painted, you can better see the quality of the figures. The casts are good and the sculpting detail is very fine - one of them has a tiny cigarette dangling from his lip. The faces in particular have very shallow detailing, though excellent facial hair. The bayonets are a little clunky, I should really have filed them to a finer point before I painted them, but that's a minor quibble. For me, they are a lovely mix of realistic proportions, fine detail and steampunk flavour.

Enough waffle, here's some more pictures so you can judge for yourself.

Iron Scorpion: a little progress

The French Legionnaires are underway proper now. I have painted up a test figure. He's stood at the back checking his (unpainted!) rifle. With my recipe scribbled down I have started to base coat his comrades. It's not much to show really, but it does illustrate the direction I am headed.

The weapons and metals still have to be finalised, but these should not cause too many problems. I might tweak the red of the shoulder pads. And I have still to decide on a base - desert as per the starter box, or my more usual grassland. I am hopeful of a more substantial update in the next few days.

Iron Scorpion under way at last

Progress has been slow on the Iron Scorpion painting and assembly, not helped by a week's holiday. But now that I am back at home I am raring to get underway. A squad of French Legionnaires is my first painting project. As usual, I started with a white primer, then washed so I could see the details. In this case, the palette will be predominantly blue so I have washed with a blue/grey colour, but wiped it off the trousers and flesh with a damp brush. This really shows the level of detail on the figures, better than the renders on the back of the box. I love them even more now.

For the palette I have narrowed it down to two sources. The first is a purely historical picture, from the Putty and Paint website. This is a French Foreign Legionnaire and you can clearly see the influence it has on the sculpts, and the reason I removed the blue wash from the trousers. This pretty much nails it for me - blue coat, white trousers, grey boots, with small flashes of red trim.

However, just to muddy the water a little, I have also been looking at some concept art for the upcoming PS4 game The Order 1886. There are plenty of trailers on youtube, it looks visually quite stunning and I have been looking at this image, wondering if I should go along this route. The female on the right is of most interest, again blue coat, white trousers but with a darker red as a lining of the jacket. Maybe flashes of gold trim, the epaulettes of the shoulder pad and other brocade could be painted this way.

For the weapons I want a steampunk feel rather than historical, and this fits the bill perfectly. The soft gold and copper trim should contrast very nicely with the blue of the uniforms. More updates soon, I am really fired up for these figures. It would be nice if I could get the majority of the French and Antarctica troops finished for xmas, but at the same time I want to take my time and paint them to a high tabletop level. The first test squad will give me a better idea of how long it will take.

Dystopian Legions Iron Scorpion Arrives!

The box in all it's glory

Christmas has come early this year. You may remember my preview post about the Iron Scorpion boxset. The delivery was a little late, due to a Spartan delay and  by me always seeming to be out when the postman arrives, but finally I have got it in my hands. Or rather, on to the table for a quick contents photo shoot.

I have to tell you that this is my official xmas present, so there's not going to be too much detail in this post. I have flicked through the booklets and will be checking the contents, and maybe even painting some of the figures, but I am trying to save it for the holiday season. With another 77 days to go, I will probably be at bursting point by the big day. Just a few photos to give you an idea of what's included, I will be looking at the contents in more detail in the coming weeks.

The contents when you open the lid

The contents laid out on the table

Starter booklet background story

Starter booklet scenario

Dystopian Legions Starter Set

Has there ever been a better time to be in this hobby? New releases seem to have gone into overdrive in the past few weeks, it's almost impossible to keep up with all the developments. Hobby blogs and forums are frothing with news about Star Wars expansions and skirmish games, Infinity, Dropzone Commander, Bolt Action, and of course the return of Nagash. And that's just from the established big companies, there are dozens of new demands on your wallet all the time from kickstarter projects. Phew!

We all have our own favourites, there is something out there for everyone. I have looked at Dystopian Legions by Spartan Games several times in the past couple of years. I tried to get my gaming buddy interested but he's more of a historical chap, so I always resisted, not much point in collecting an army if there's no one to play eh? But now I can resist no longer. The newly announced Iron Scorpion starter set looks to be just my thing. Here's the official blurb and some renders. Spartan Games have a good record of faithfully reproducing in metal what they show, so I'm confident they will look pretty much as these images show. Metal is not my favourite medium, but it's a price I am willing to pay to get my hands on a good quantity of decent steampunk figures.

The set is available for pre-order on the Spartan Games website. Some have complained that the price is high. It retails at £90 plus postage, though you can also pick it up from Troll Trader with a discount and free postage, which brings the cost down to a shade over £80. That works out at about £2 a figure, with scenery, tokens and rules for free. That seems reasonable to me, cheaper than some systems and about the going rate for starter sets. September 24th cannot come around quickly enough!