Tag Archives: wargaming

Spruance Leader

A couple of years ago, I backed the Kickstarter for Dan Verssen Games’ Spruance Leader (I’m linking to the Boardgame Geek page rather than DVG’s product page because the company… um… doesn’t have the greatest web site). We promptly adopted a pair of kittens, which are not really compatible with big boardgames that need to stay set up for days for protracted campaign play. Between that and mental health haze, the game’s been sitting around unopened for the year and a half since the Kickstarter delivered.

I’m currently living alone while the girl and the cats and I work through the phases of our cross-country move, and I had the foresight to bring my DVG solo games along with me. After watching a couple of actual-play videos, I broke out Spruance Leader this afternoon and set up a first campaign and mission.

Things were getting hot in the North Atlantic. My task force’s first assignment was to go after a Soviet ASW task force operating off the Norwegian coast between Ålesund and Bødo:

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WIP IX

On the workbench this week: a batch of samurai from the Clan War starter box (anyone else remember AEG’s twenty-plus-years-ago attempt at a wargame?). These guys and their friends are getting done up as a collection of scruffy ronin for a friend’s Legend of the Five Rings tabletop campaign:

Once again, Army Painter Speedpaints FTW. Despite rattling around in a box for a couple of decades, the sculpts are still crisp enough that the texture on the armor really pops when the self-shading compounds do their thing.

I’m trying to decide if I want to try to do eyes and risk fucking up the whole face.

WIP VIII

On the workbench: a few more BattleMechs from the boxed set and a couple of Salvage Boxes. I’ve been continuing to use Speedpaints on these because of the ease use, but they may be a bit too large for the intended use of those paints. Large flat armor panels tend not to have a lot of detail to draw in the pigment, so the result is a bit lackluster at times.

Battlemaster in something that’s only camo in very odd biomes. It doesn’t show well here, but I gave this one a three-color red gradient from front to back.
Mongoose with a slightly more obvious gradient. The plan for this one is to try to freehand a starscape on the darker upper half (and hope I don’t screw up something which, at the moment, looks halfway decent).
Marauder II in an attempt at Berlin Brigade camouflage. This one’s likely to need a lot of detail work despite using Speedpaints for the primary coat.

WIP VII

On the workbench: a CPLT-C1 Catapult from the current Battletech boxed set:

I’ve had mixed results with Speedpaints on figures with limited texturing, but they did okay on the panel lines on this one. Less success with the attempt to freehand a peacock pattern. That might have gone better if I’d used some of The Girl’s iridescent nail polish.

WIP VI

On the workbench, still needing some detail work: Reaper Miniatures’ Cassiatta:

This was a free promotional figure from Main Street Magic, Miniatures & More, a reward for buying $40+ of Reaper product (more on that later). The sculpt and Reaper’s page make it clear that Cassiatta is supposed to be eeeeeeevil, but I wanted to be deliberately obtuse. The foliage visible out my window suggested a palette. Now she’s something like a spring-aligned eladrin fighter.

WIP V

On the workbench: Spectre Miniatures’ Russian Juggernaut (a Salute 2016 convention limited run, snagged from a Spectre “covert pack”). Figured I’d post this one for all my friends who are celebrating Pride Month:

I giggled the entire time I was working on this, but most intensely while putting the trans flag on the armor’s groin panel.

33 colors of paint on this one. Mostly Army Painter Speedpaints, with a bit of conventional stuff for detailing.

#BorisTheRussianLoveHammer #LoveComesInShortControlledBursts #LGBTCQB #RainbowSix #BeltFedLoveMachine #Russia’sGreatestLoveMachine

WIP IV

On the workbench: Spectre Miniatures Task Force Operators SMG Charlie:

This angle does a good job of capturing the different greens I used on the gear. Helmet and body armor (cummerbund visible) in Gunner Camo, holster and backpack in Desolate Brown, buttpack and war belt in Algae Green. The edge of the mag pouch visible on his right side is in Camo Cloak.
Not the best shot from the front, but the best I could get at the time. Fighting with iPhone focal length here means that if the face and legs are in focus, the hands and weapon aren’t. I’ll deal.

Still working with Army Painter Speedpaints, with the exception of tiny dots of Vallejo metallics for the weapon optic and tac light. This guy was a test job for a squad I want to do for [redacted]. The Girl suggested the mixed greens (so to speak) for the armor, helmet, and nylon gear, and I’m quite pleased with the result.

WIP III

On the workbench: Spectre Miniatures’ U.S. Covert/Overt:

Early stages. The creases in the jeans do a nice job of showing off the auto-shading from Army Painter’s Speedpaints (specifically the Tidal Wave light blue).
Completed paint work. I could touch up some ragged edges, especially the red banding on the camera lenses, but that’s approaching the limits of my brush control and might not yield a net gain.

This completes my paint work on all six of the covert/overt pairs. I need to seal this one, base her and the U.K. agent, and then there’ll be some better and more-contextual photography in the Flickr gallery. I may throw a spot of black wash on her shoes; as it is, they’re a bit too monocolor for the “women’s casual hiking shoes” look I was seeking.

I’ve seen some complaints levied against Spectre’s newer sculpts – some consumers feel that the computer-rendered figures are too “samey-samey,” and I certainly can see how the sculptor might feel a temptation to reuse elements. However, in terms of paintability, the consistently clean lines of a CAD-derived figure coming out of a new mold are a joy to work with, especially when I contemplate some of the melty-edged 30-year-old Ral Partha minis that are still in the stack of to-be-painted boxes in the basement.

WIP II

On the workbench: Spectre Miniatures’ Criminal Element Heavies Squad.

I agonized quite a bit over the paint scheme. I knew I wanted to do the masks in white, both for a cyberpunk vibe and as a nod to Legend of the Five Rings‘ porcelain-masked zombies. Everything else hinged on making that color choice stand out. The Speedpaints Tyrian Navy may be just a tad too dark to show detail, but I think any lighter blue would have looked too cartoonish. It also sets off the Ashen Stone of the nylon gear pretty well.

Still need to add a bit of detailing to the weapons, paint the bases, and maybe risk a bit of white touch-up on the masks, but they’re 95% done. I was going to do the masks in gloss white but I think it’ll work just as well to leave them in the white primer.

WIP I

Currently on the workbench: Spectre Miniatures SAS Response Squad, plus marksman and K-9 handler add-ons.

Aside from a tiny bit of detailing (black on rifle muzzles, metallic red and silver on rifle optics and lights, ivory and black for the dog’s eyes, fluorescent yellow on chemlights), this was all one-coat work with Army Painter’s Speedpaint range. No wash, drybrushing, or other technique. They aren’t gonna win any contests, but about three hours’ total work yielded nine table-ready minis.

I’m particularly happy with the green on the pants of the two guys at left-front (Algae Green), the blue for the denim in back (Tidal Wave), and the tan/khaki that I used for the armor, war belts, helmets, and face protection (Bony Matter). All three colors showcase the automagical shading that Speedpaint provides on well-textured sculpts.