Gonzo History: Gaming Edition: Space ruffians

So, this week's painting challenge over at Oldhammer on a Budget is sci-fi. Now, I paint a lot of sci-fi minis already, but nothing on my painting table was really calling to me, so I had a rummage through the unpainted bins and found these Reaper Bones marines. According to the Reaper website, their names are Nick Stone, Torch McHugh, Reggie Van Zandt, Jazz Jenkins and Erik Proudfoot. I also have the sniper, Sarah Blitzer, but she needs to be straightened in hot water so I haven't painted her yet. These models were part of a very generous gift from a good friend, and they're among the only ones from that gift that I haven't painted.

I have a bad habit of picking up a squad's worth of sci-fi infantry guys from all different manufacturers: I have teams from Metal Magic/em-4, Copplestone, GW, Reaper again, Alternative Armies, Grenadier/em-4 and probably more that I'm not thinking of. They can look a little bitty -- and also I paint a hell of a lot of tan, browny-green and grey. I decided that I wasn't going to do that this time; I would make them a little more colourful.

I started these models on Tuesday morning, and decided to do them as fast as I could in between work projects. After removing the mould lines and washing them in dish soap (removing mould lines on Bones models is a giant pain in the ass, and I always miss some), I gave them an all-over coat of VMC Chocolate Brown, then drybrushed with a mixture of that and VMC US Field Drab, then straight US Field Drab. I then went over the armour plates with a mixture of US Field Drab and Ivory. I did the weapons and equipment with VMC German Grey, then a highlight of German Grey mixed with London Grey. I then blocked in the faces.

Time for washes! Face and hands got a flesh wash appropriate to the skin tone, then a couple of brown washes (Army Painter Strong for the cloth, followed by a re-highlight and a layer of Army Painter Soft), black washes (for the under-layer of armour and the boots as well as the weapons and kit).

In my mind I had decided that these guys were going be sort of Chaos-y characters in the Warhammer 40,000 setting, I guess because the Gears of War knockoff symbol on their chest armour made me think of the Chaos star. I wanted their armour plate to be reddish, but I didn't have a good red wash, so I picked up a pot of GW Carroburg Crimson while out yesterday. It turns out to be quite purply, but I think it actually looks OK. (I added a second layer of 50/50 that and a brown wash to tone it down a wee bit, although I don't know how noticeable it is.)

I think they look not bad; there are some things I would do differently the second time around, and there are some areas where I could add more detail but just couldn't be bothered (the hero's headgear is somewhat underdefined) and of course there are %@$*! mould lines everywhere, but hey! I painted five of 'em in two days while doing other things, and I think they look not too bad. If I get time I will add the sniper, just to make poor Jazz Jenkins, the only ordinary rifleman of the bunch, feel like even more of a chump.