The rest of my completed figures, six in total.

All rephotographed in better light. First, two Copplestone female archaeologists (yes, I know I already have these, but I wanted them in more tropical attire;

And here are their armed companions (who I also already have);

Next up is a Bad Squiddo Community mini, Queen Zenobia of Palmyra. You can read about her HERE;

And finally, here is a Steampunk version of the Marvel super baddie, Doctor Octopus. He is from Ironclad Miniatures;

He is a suitable colleague for another Ironclad Miniatures bad guy, who I pained ages ago and called The Mad Inventor. I'm going to assume that this chap has been given these extra limbs by the former. The pair of them, plus their Automata should be a real handful in Steampunk, In Her Majesty's Name and Pulp games.

So, that is me finished with painting until I get back from holiday.

Copplestone Back of Beyond British infantry

Well, I've done the officers, so here are some rank and file for them to command. There are ten figures in total.

The group above are led by an NCO (with raised arm). The following two groups make up the rest of his section of riflemen.

As with the officers, I think that their KD tropical uniforms are slightly too green, but I don't think it matters that much. One thing that I think does matter is that they are wearing shorts, which I don't think were introduced with the tropical KD service dress until the mid-1930s, so these infantrymen might be a bit of an anachronism in the period immediately after the First World War and in the 1920s. Still, these are intended for all manner of games, some of which will involve Egyptian mummies that walk, unspeakable eldritch horrors and all manner of other weird things, so nit-picking over uniform details seems a bit pointless.

I bought a blister pack of Lewis gunners to add some firepower to this rifle section, hoping that I might get two gunners and two loaders/spare magazine carriers. Sadly, the set only comes as pictured, three gunners plus one loader. I enquired from North Star as to whether it might be possible to buy two loaders alone but apparently this isn't possible, which means I have one Lewis team and two extra gunners that I doubt I'll bother painting up, which is a shame. I'm not sure what I'll do with them.

Copplestone Back of Beyond British officers

Following on from the archaeologists, here are four British officers from the excellent Back of Beyond range, available from North Star. 

These four are (obviously) fine upstanding chaps, complete with stiff upper lips, an inherent sense of fair play and are from good schools and families with military backgrounds. All of them have survived the horrors of the Great War and now serve somewhere along the southern fringes of Central Asia or the Northwest Frontier.

Clearly, they must all be named, so left to right, we have; Maj. George Huntley-Palmer (on the staff of the Surveyor General of India), Capt. Hugh Andover-Fiste (twin brother of the notable archaeologist Giles Andover-Fiste), Capt. Oliver Marchmain and Lieut. Archibald "Archie" Walton.

My next post will cover some of the rank and file infantry I have planned.

I really like these chaps, but I'm not sure that the Vallejo khaki drill colour is really right for early- to mid-20th century British Army tropical uniforms. I think it is too green. Of course, we all know about the variations between uniforms from different manufacturers and the effects of weather and wear upon fabrics, so I'm not particularly bothered about this. They'll look fine on the table.

Copplestone Archaeologists

Ages ago, back in 2017, I painted the female archaeologists from Mark Copplestone's excellent Back of Beyond range. Now, much later, here are the male ones, available from North Star;

These guys are quite well tooled-up compared with their female counterparts and I see the two outer figures being more as adventurers and minders than actual academics. Still, all that firepower should come in handy when the inevitable nasties and horrors turn up.

Unlike the female ones, who I gave detailed biographies, I've only got as far as giving these chaps names.  From left to right they are; Giorgi Dolidze, a Georgian soldier of fortune, Giles Andover-Fiste, a member of the MCC and a gentleman amateur archaeologist, Doctor Petros Sarkisian, a famous Armenian archaeologist working at the Sorbonne and Hans Jansson, a Swedish explorer.

They seem a suitable bunch to pitch up almost anywhere looking for rare and arcane artefacts, scruples optional, no doubt.

Clearly, these are highly suitable for Pulp, Cthulhu Mythos, eldritch horror and other similar settings. They were huge fun to paint, because they are such nice figures. 

My last 15 figures for Black Ops games

Well, the last for the moment, who knows what the future holds? 

First, here are three somewhat ambiguous "good guys";

The two on the left and in the middle have a definite Royale With Cheese look about them, but I'm not sure who the guy on the right reminds me of at all. Still, they could quite easily be detectives with an unorthodox way of investigating things or maybe unscrupulous operatives of a secret government agency. They could fit in with these two I painted back in 2020.

Next, I have police officers from some kind of authoritarian one-party state who will make suitable opponents for Special Forces or clandestine intelligence operatives. There are five with pistols and batons and four with shotguns.

They could be border guards, security police or maybe just even your average jackbooted street cops.

Here are some leaders for these police. One uniformed officer and two plainclothes ones, who might equally work for the State Security Bureau. The guy in the middle is definitely the Big Cheese.

So, that it it for the Black Ops scene for now. It has been a lot of fun painting them.

I shall be looking again at the Copplestone range of figures to see what else might be useful in the new year.

A detour into Black Ops

 I've been working on painting Austrian Napoleonic Grenzers, but I am waiting for their bases to dry. While working on them, I've also been painting some Special Ops troops on the side.

First up; three unit commanders;

And then two Fire Teams. First, one with a Designated Marksman;

And the second with a grenade launcher;

Both teams have a leader with a PDW, i.e a new generation sub-machine gun, two grunts with assault rifles equipped with UGLs and one with a Minimi-type LMG.

These are all Copplestone figures from the Future Wars range of military types.

I decided to go for a fairly muted, grimdark colour palette and also give them gravelly bases. They will make a good backup for my Infiltration Team I painted a while ago.

Like my Grenzers, these still need to be spray varnished but the weather is pretty damp so I don't want to risk fogging, so the varnish will have to wait until we get a dry day.

It will be nice to see them on the table at some point. I just need to paint their opponents.

Black Ops Special Forces

This was a rush job, because I wanted to be able to use them at the club tomorrow (31st July).

 These are from the Copplestone Future Wars range. Five of them, the ones with hoods are the Hostage Rescue Squad and the other two (the commander with a cap and the trooper with a helmet and assault rifle) are from the Assault Troopers sets.

I want to use these as the kind of Special Forces stealth operatives who can infiltrate secret bases, armed compounds or clandestine installations, do the job and get out quickly. 

Their paint job is essentially all about shades of grey which make them hard to see in the dark or in the kind of tunnels and passageways beloved of film and TV whenever Black Ops are part of the plot. Even their weapons are matt grey.

Anyway, I hope that they will work for the game that Clive, one of our club members is running tomorrow. 

I will also be able to use these for the Black Ops rules written by Guy Bowers, which are published by Osprey.

Some more finished minis!

Two more figures painted. This time from the Copplestone Future Wars range. 

These are listed as Power-armour troopers but I see them as armoured combat droids for my ROTOR rules. They could, of course be suitable for any science fiction rules you might have. These guys are pretty big, around 4cm tall and have heavy weapons and powered fists, so a tough nut to crack.

My idea for these, apart from having one as a heavy hitter in a ROTOR Reiver team is that they have been hanging around for a long time, maybe as heavy security for an industrial complex or perhaps a scientific or mining location. Therefore, I wanted them to look a bit battered and battle-worn. So, lots of small areas of raw metal and a bit of rust around the lower legs. I also wanted them to look like decommissioned military droids so I painted on a ghosted dark green area where military insignia had been in the past.

You can see the rusty areas quite nicely on the rear view of the two droids above. When I painted them, my aim was to bring out as much contrast as possible, so plenty of dry-brushing and darkening the recessed parts of the figures.

To do this, I used some Army Painter Strong Tone (the stuff in the dropper bottles, not the tinned version) painted all over the models after an initial priming coat of PSC US Olive Drab spray before adding in the bare metal areas and the layers of dry-brushing with Vallejo Olive Green, Desert Yellow and finally Iraqi Sand, finishing off by adding on the rust glazing, using AK Light Rust Wash.

Finally, I finished the bases off with Gamer's Grass (available on the Bad Squiddo website) dry vegetation tufts and a mix of sandy and rocky ballast.

I am really very pleased with how these have turned out.

And now, I really have run out of Bordurians ..............

.......... well, for the moment, at least. These are my final four Bordurian clandestine agents, dressed as ordinary dock or factory workers.

Nothing new to add. Like the rest, they are Copplestone "Back of Beyond" Bolsheviks and I'll be using them for  In Her Majesty's Name and pulp games.

I've really enjoyed doing these. They are terrific sculpts and casts, lots of crisp detail and they take paint really well.

Now, on with the Syldavians!

Almost the last of my Bordurian agents

So, I am coming to the end of my late-19th century Bordurian active service unit. As well as the assorted intelligence agents and military and security operative, any unit operating undercover in a foreign country will have agents and operatives working as agitators, agents provocateurs and saboteurs. These will often be drawn from the ranks of the Politzya Militar, as well as from the Sekuritat and will usually be living in working class areas and working in factories, ports or on the railways. Here are four typical clandestine operatives;

Living and working in the industrial areas of Syldavia, their main role is to spread revolutionary ideas amongst the workers of the Syldavian proletariat, create dissent and organise strikes. Their secondary role is to fight as required to further the political ends of the Informat. They can also be found operating secretly in the forests and mountains along the Bordurian/Syldavian borders as smugglers and saboteurs.

They will be used for Pulp games as well as for  In Her Majesty's Name.

These are also figures from the  Copplestone "Back of Beyond" Bolshevik range. I have four more of these guys to finish and then I shall be starting on their Syldavian opponents. 

Four members of the Bordurian Military Police

The Bordurian Army also has a security unit, one that is dedicated to rooting out counter-revolutionary activities among the troops, in both the officer corps and the rank and file. That unit is the Politzya Militar, the Military Police. Here are four members of this unit. First an officer and an NCO;

Next, two rankers (known as "specialists") from a military police company.

These figures are once again  Copplestone "Back of Beyond" Bolsheviks.

The uniform of the Politzya Militar is the same as that of the rest of the army and you will note that the army conscripts both male and female soldiers.

Each infantry, artillery and cavalry battalion has a company of the Politzya Militar attached to it. In addition each company, squadron or battery has a junior officer, an NCO and a section of 10 specialists imbedded.

At higher levels. i.e. Brigade or Division, there are additional units of the Politzya Militar, led by experienced senior officers. These higher level units also contain officers from both the Sekuritat and Informat.

In addition to the anti-subversion role of the Politzya Militar, they are also tasked with ensuring that correct revolutionary discipline is maintained by the regular officers and NCOs and  that infractions of military regulations are identified and punished. In combat, the PM has a political role, ensuring that orders are obeyed and that deserters are executed. 

Unlike the rest of the Army, whose ranks are filled with conscripts who serve a five year active term, followed by a further 20 years as reservists, the PM is made up of volunteers. Anyone who has served at least six months as a conscript may volunteer for the selection process, which consists of a rigorous political screening as well as physical and aptitude testing. Anyone who passes this process joins the PM for a minimum of 10 years, starting at the rank of Junior Specialist. In practice, PM officers identify possible recruits early on and after the appropriate period suggest that putting themselves forward might be a good idea. The officer cadre of the PM is around 50% seconded from the Sekuritat and Informat for a period of two years and 50% promoted from the ranks. All NCOs are promoted from within.

As an aside, all Bordurian army officer cadets, since the end of the revolutionary wars have been selected from the most able conscripts within their first year and sent off for assessment. Therefore, it is generally considered to be more prestigious to be identified for the PM than it is to be chosen as an officer cadet.

Trusted PM officers, NCOs and specialists are often seconded to serve alongside Informat and Sekuritat agents in active service units. This is considered a great honour for those involved and is often a stepping stone to joining the ranks of the Second and Third Directorates. Veterans of the PM who have completed their  mandatory minimum 10 years service may opt to leave the PM and apply to become Political Commissars of the Watch, the local militia-based police whose patrol units are found all over the country.

As with the rest of my figures, these are intended for In Her Majesty's Name and Pulp games.

More late-19th century Bordurian Secret Police

Following on from my last post, here are the next two recruits for my Bordurian Active Service cell for In Her Majesty's Name.

These figures are also Copplestone "Back of Beyond" Bolsheviks and the tufts are, once again Gamer's Grass from Bad Squiddo.

These are two officers of the Second Directorate, also known as the Sekuritat, responsible for domestic State Security, although Security Police are known to work closely with the agents of the Informat, the infamous Intelligence Services of the Third Directorate.

The figure on the left is Leitenant Eirena Karras, whose fame comes from her loud singing voice, which she frequently uses to urge the troops on to great feats of revolutionary fervour. Her power as a revolutionary orator is another of her assets, although she is also a good shot and a dedicated and thorough investigator.

Accompanying her is Inspektor Pyotr Mavros, nicknamed "The Priest", because it is said that everyone always confesses to him in the end. His family were exiles under the Autocracy, living in the slums of the Syldavian city of Bellicosow, constantly under the surveillance of the Syldavian Königliche Gendarmerie. The young Pyotr was recruited by the local undercover cell of the Proletarian Alliance and returned to Borduria when the last Autokrat, Constantine IV was overthrown.

Incidentally, my chosen map of Syldavia and environs is a wonderful thing that I found on the http://syldavianchronicle.blogspot.com/ blog, which unhappily no longer seems to be active. It is a terrific piece of work and I hope that I am not infringing anyone's copyright by using it.

The Bordurian Secret Police in the 19th century

In an earlier post I brought the history of Borduria up to the end of the 19th century. In that post, I wrote about the Bordurian Security agencies.

In that earlier post, I introduced two Bordurian Secret Police agencies, the Second Directorate (also called the Sekuritat), which controls the press and oversees state security and the Third Directorate or Informat which is the secret intelligence arm of the Bordurian state.

I should also have mentioned a further arm of the Secret State, the Military Police, but I will leave them to a later post.

These two characters are officers of the Third Directorate in uniform, although agents are commonly found in plainclothes for many operations.

These figures are both from the excellent Copplestone "Back of Beyond" Bolsheviks range. The tufts on the bases are Gamer's Grass from Bad Squiddo.

So, who are they?

Well, the female officer is Kapitan Anastasia Dimitrovna, a cold and calculating figure in the Service, whose speciality is running female agents in the decadent bourgeois societies of the West, but who is also feared as an assassin and expert interrogator. Although her background lies in the minor rural boyar families of the 18th and early 19th century, Anastasia is the daughter of a prominent revolutionary general Michaelis Demetrios (who slavicised his name to Mikhail Dimitrov) and committed supporter of the present regime.

The male officer is Commissar Evgeny Petrov, born Eugenios Petros in the industrial city of Peshod. As with many members of the new regime, he has also slavicised his name. Petrov fought as a young soldier in the battles following the coup that overthrew the original Republican Provisional Government. His revolutionary fervour in denouncing secret opponents in the ranks of the Army of the Proletarian Alliance government brought him to the attention of the Second Directorate, where he quickly rose through the ranks. He subsequently transferred to the Third Directorate to oversee the section whose responsibility is the infiltration of anti-revolutionary emigré groups elsewhere in Europe.

I am really pleased to finally find a use for these terrific figures. They will be part of a Bordurian company for In Her Majesty's Name, but they will also be really useful for Pulp games using the Crooked Dice Pulp rules.

More painting! With robots!

I bought these a while ago to add to my collection for my Reivers Of The Outer Rim science fiction skirmish rules. They are all Copplestone figures from the Future Wars range. I bought these from North Star.

First, here are five Terminator Robots, which I really like a lot. They certainly have the right vibe for the Terminator film series but also have lots of other uses. I first thought of these as robot NPCs for my rules, but they could also be Combat Droids for the bands of Reivers to use. I've tried to give them a slightly battered appearance, maybe ex-military droids bought up by arms traders or perhaps robotic sentinels who have been guarding a lost installation for decades or even centuries after the owners have departed? Anyway, the muted metallic colour palette is nicely lifted by the red casings of their weapons. This was a deliberate nod to classic Warhammer 40K weapons. "Assimilated? Not a chance, puny humans. You will be exterminated. With extreme prejudice, of course".

This next figure is huge. It is described as a Bio-mech Alien, and there could clearly be something organic lurking inside that armoured carapace, but equally it could be the creation of a crazed scientist or an evil alien mastermind, who is represented here by one of my Bob Murch Radon Zombies.

I love the retro look of this figure. That huge gun is pure 1940s alien menace stuff. It really says "Saturday Morning Pictures" to me, so this clearly has possibilities for 7TV Pulp as well as other Sci Fi settings.

I decided to keep the colour palette simple. Brooding metallic threat is what I wanted to achieve here, and I hope that I've managed it.

Another day, another group of figures.

I've been working on these since yesterday morning and now they are done. These are from the Copplestone Castings "Back of Beyond" range. I bought them from North Star.

They are listed in the catalogue as "American Adventurers", which I'd say was a pretty accurate label for them.

The guy on the left with the bullwhip and automatic pistol is, I have decided the famous archaeologist and treasure hunter, Dr. Jackson "Idaho" Smith. Next to him is grizzled former Texas Ranger Captain Ezekiel Hardiman, with his sidekick, ex-Agent Wes "Browning" Westerley. Finally, on the right is Jimmy "Hot Rod" Lincoln, so-called because of his love of fast motorbikes, automobiles and aeroplanes.

These are going to be great when I finally get a chance to put them on the table in some actual games of 7TV Pulp.

I must admit to being increasingly drawn to the Copplestone Back of Beyond figures. They offer up lots of possibilities, not only for Pulp gaming but also for In Her Majesty's Name scenarios, especially those from the "Sleeping Dragon, Rising Sun" supplement. The Chinese Bandits are particularly appealing.

Female characters for Frostgrave

In between painting my new Saga: Age of magic warband, I have also been working on the North Star female characters for Frostgrave. I bought these last year as part of the massive Maze of Malcor Nickstarter (via Bad Squiddo), and I will be using them as upgrades to my current Frostgrave warband as existing troops get killed off or I can afford to replace them with stronger members. There are eight new models in total; an Apothecary, a Thief, a Barbarian, a Knight, a Templar, a Markswoman, a Tracker and a Warhound.

So, these are all now finished and here they are.

First the Apothecary and the Thief;

Next, the Barbarian, Knight and Templar;

I have tried to give the Knight a shield with a magical sigil as its device, a kind of irregular-shaped flaming multi-pointed star. I think that it works OK. Also, I have tried to make the Templar look a bit like a female version of Marvel's Thor with her red cloak and blonde hair.

And finally, the Markswoman, Warhound and Tracker. I really like the armour on the hound.

These are lovely figures, sculpted, I believe by Mark Copplestone. They have lots of personality and nice details. The castings are really crisp and paint up really nicely. I am very happy with how they have turned out.