Thursday 25 December 2014

From Millsy - 15mm Sci-Fi 'Herbie Network' Army (194 Points)

This is one of those entries that makes Curt shake his head when I submit them. Firstly, there is the size of it (not so much points but what it entails). Then there is the fact it represents yet another significant change of direction from previous entries. Curt commented recently I just about gave him whiplash so with any luck this one will net me a full 360 Poltergeist-style head rotation. Here's hoping!


So what do we have here then? 54 x regular infantry, 2 x mortars, 9 x battle suit infantry, a mech, a command truck, 2 x missle carrying APCs and 4 x recon jeeps. Yeah, that's all of it. I present to you the Titan Marines Rigel 7 Desert Campaign Force of 3012NC... aka "Herbie Goes to Rigel 7". The army is designed for the Gruntz 15mm rule set but could be used for pretty much any future skirmish rules I guess.

First up is a Rebel Minis mech with missile pods and twin laser lances, perfect for chewing up enemy armour. He's supported by 9 x Khurasan battle suit infantry armed with a variety of hand weapons. Both absolutely wonderful models in their own way and a joy to paint.



Next up is a lot of 36 infantry in 4 units of 9. They are Rebel Minis "Titan Marines" and I love the models and theme so much I stuck with them, including their palette (something I very rarely do!). Heck, I even carried the name through to the whole project.





From here you'll want a little explanation before I start showing things off. All of the vehicles are actually Matchbox models. Yes, really. I've drilled out the rivets holding them together, pulled them apart, repainted, re-assembled and "tarted up" each and every one of them as something of a change of pace. I also made the "official" Titan Marines logos and vehicle ID artwork myself.

It all took FAR too long but was pretty darn good fun and the result is not bad I think. A smart man would have done it before the Challenge, but hey, this is me we're talking about. Here's what they looked like beforehand...

Argh! My eyes! The yellow! All the yellows! So many yellows!
OK, now we can move on. Next we have the force commander and his transport, complete with some sort of electronic surveillance gear (provided by Old Crow Miniatures).



Supporting the ground pounders are 2 x missile-pod armed APCs (some of you may recognise the pods as Battlefront Miniatures German rocket launcher bodies). These also carry troops armed with a mixture of shoulder-launched missiles and medium mortars for a little extra fire power.




And lastly there is 4 x 4x4 dune buggies armed with a mix of light projectile and light missile pods (again Old Crow). These dudes cruise the dunes and alert the units behind of incoming trouble, before firing a few shots off and then bugging out.





So all up that's 46 x 15mm infantry (92 points), 2 x 15mm mortars and crew (16 points) and 9 x 20mm infantry (36 points) which totals 144 points. I have no idea what the mech or the 7 vehicles are worth so I'll put that in Curt's hands and hope he's not too annoyed with me :-)

OK, one last group shot to finish off...


Hey Tamsin, maybe one day I could bring these lads round and go bug huntin. Nah, they'd probably prefer a stand-up fight I guess...

PS. Merry Christmas to each and every one of my fellow challengers and most importantly to Curt!
From Curt: Okaaay! Yes, this is a bit mental to be sure... Millsy, buddy, I think you need some meds to help you focus. You've been ALL over the place these past few weeks. The only saving grace is that you actually finish these crazy little side projects whereas most of us would get a few figures done and the rest would collect dust in the 'to-do' box. 
The Herbie the Love Bug scout car troop is completely cracked, but I still think they're awesome. So is your custom force insignia, though it does make me think that they're somehow fighting for an intergalactic TV network... 
I'll give you 50 points for the modified vehicles and the walker, so that makes it 194 points total. Wicked. Awesome job Millsy!

30 comments:

  1. Great stuff and yes you do appear to be mental. I recommend doing the same thing over and over again to see if you get different results

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  2. Well what can one say. Bonkers mate! So many points and such short a time. I am having a love/hate reaction to the love bugs. Not something I would do for sure but as long as you like them how can I complain. Awesome speed without loss of painting technique.

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  3. Great work mate! Especially on the Matchbox cars and trucks. Hard to believe it's the same stuff now

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  4. Mills, they are absolutely bloody brilliant ...

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    1. Extra 50 points! It did not even involve a soldering iron... Phssh!

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  5. Ridiculously brilliant. I'm with Curt - if I ever had the inspiration to do this, it would be half done and then packed in a drawer of shame for a few years!

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  6. Wonderful, all of them. Great work!!!

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  7. Simply excellent creative project! Well done I say!

    Christopher

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  8. Excellent, you get done in a few weeks mere mortals would do in the whole challenge

    Ian

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  9. Great entry Mr Millsy - the VW bugs are hilarious "Herbie goes to space"

    Nicely played

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  10. Outstanding! Excellent! Marvelous! Another Challenge entry that I'm in awe of.

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  11. Russian poet once wrote: anyone knows of any debris flowers grow. I never thought that children's cars are so good looking.

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  12. This is a fantastic entry - enough to overcome my aversion to SF gaming. Brilliant stuff.
    So many details to admire - the red shading on the missile tips of the big walker thingy, the basing is amazing, and are those logos hand painted? OMG. Extra points well deserved, I say.

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  13. You're a loon, Millsy but it's very week executed. Whatever next?!

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  14. extraordinary! fantastic! hats off!
    they are combining the quality and quantity!
    the transformers are nothing compared to your modifications on the Buggies!
    when are you sleeping? ;-)
    a well deserved count!

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  15. These are wonderful! I really love them all! I was going to ask who made the Vicks too! Awesome a buck each in the toy aisle, or a stealthy search through my son's stuff! Nah, toy aisle will be safer! ;)

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  16. Great looking army! These Käfer look alikes are simply great. Where did you get all that inspiration from?

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  17. Thanks everyone for the comments, I'm glad that you like them! Now for some answers...

    Inspiration is something I find all over the place, often on other people's blogs. There are a few bloggers like myself who do repaints of diecast vehicles so it's nothing new. Once you get into the habit of it you can look past the intended purpose of something and just see the shape or the potential for it to be something else. Sometimes you have to persevere with a project that looks lost. These cars nearly went in the bin twice...

    The insignia I made in Photoshop and printed on my home printer. I used an icon of Saturn I found on the web and added Titan's moon and the numbers in Eurostile Bold Extended. Read this is you have spare 30 minutes, it's brilliant - http://typesetinthefuture.com/fontspots-eurostile/

    Regards getting stuff completed, I just keep going until its done. Many people get bored and can't paint for that long. I'm not immune to that and I certainly get bored too. As Peter O'Toole would say, the trick is to not mind being bored. Good music always helps!

    And I mostly sleep at night. Mostly. :-)

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    1. Yup, that's the trick,,, work on through the boredom bits..

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    2. And the man is a librarian by training. When it comes to organisation, we lesser mortals can merely watch in wonderment.

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    3. But not by vocation. Upon graduation I immediately turned to the dark side.

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  18. Astounding!! :O Wonderfully done.

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  19. I'm not sure if Ritalin is cheaper than figures? But the quality of your output is doubly impressive.

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  20. Incredible submission. What a very cool collection as a result of your effort. So productive. Sleep much? Cheers :)

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  21. Lovely stuff Millsy and very creative use of Matchbox vehicles.

    As for taking on my bugs, I think your boys would rather go with Ripley's suggestion to take off and nuke them from orbit ;)

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  22. Well done Millsy! This is fabulous stuff!

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  23. Oh hell yes. I don't do 15mm sci-fi, but I love everything about this post. Very inspirational for my upcoming Epic 40K project that I'll be tackling in January/February...

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  24. I'd need to know the "Matchbox Name" of the Six Wheeler you turned into your command center vehicle...I'd like to buy a few on Ebay but I need to know the 'exact' name (like 'Armored Response Vehicle', 'Jungle Explorer', 'Sahara Survivor' or other stuff like that...)

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