In the spirit of bringing more miniatures back from the commercial grave, I happily share with you my latest project – a F.R.O.G. Commandos platoon. This unit consists of 40 figures. All of them except 1 figure were made of metal. In the Critter Commandos universe, F.R.O.G. stands for “Federated Republics of GreenEarth”, one of several cartoon nations created by the Team Frog founder, Paul Arden Lidberg. None of these are currently available commercially.
The unit also includes a Frogbot (Crittertek). This project also enabled me to participate in a painting challenge “Squad March” put out by Azazel on his blog. This contest required a unit of at least 3 figures, and I am sure that this one qualifies! It did take up the month of March for sure.
I was able to do this because I managed to get another box of F.R.O.G. Commandos from Chris Palmer at BARRAGE in January. Originally, each box (a re-purposed VHS tape box no less) came with 8 figures and a d10. I had been slowly collecting many different figures from the line, but Chris’ addition of 8 frogs allowed me to create a platoon for Combat Patrol™.
I managed to successfully finish my project just in time for the end of March. I had come across figures from the Critter Commandos line, which was initially put out sometime between the late 1980’s and early 1990’s by the Team Frog Studios company. Later, the figures were also marketed by Nightshift Games. The figures are all creations of the late Steve Lortz, who also made the Star Ducks and other figures for Archive. I just love his stuff, they are a lot of fun. Also, when I was at West Point, I was in company F-4, whose mascot was a Frog (GO FROGS RIBBIT! was our cry). So I had another motivator here as well.
The photo below is what I had assembled for the project. On the top you see the Frogbot, but he was definitely not together as I will discuss later. The miniatures are around 28mm in scale.
So I needed a plan – I decided that I did not want more than 1 figure per fire team to be the same figure, but as you see above, I had a hodgepodge collection. I worked it out as follows – this unit consists of 40 figures:
- Command section (2 each – platoon leader and platoon sergeant)
- Three full squads (11 each) led by a squad leader each consisting of:
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- Two teams of 5 (Team Leader and 4 F.R.O.G. Troopers)
- 1 Heavy Weapons/Recon section consisting of a Section Leader, 3 F.R.O.G. troopers, and a Frogbot.
It took a bit to clean and file all of these figures. They had some casting issues (mainly cracks) that I repaired with kneadatite (green stuff). I then moved on to the Frogbot, which was not a Lortz creation. I had bought it on eBay with a number of other Critter Commandos, and it deserves a few notes.
The kit was incomplete. There was no main gun, but there was a small hole in the front of the main body. Pinning was not possible because the legs were made of some kind of tubing., and the plastic “googly eyes” you see above would not meet my standards. Clearly, there needed to be some changes. First, I filed the main chassis down to remove as many casting crevices as possible. I then got a short bolt extender, and patiently reamed out the small hole to affix the extender as a main gun for the model.
Then I needed to make it look, well, froggy. The eyes were an issue, so I bought some cheap beads at Michael’s. Using some dollhouse hinge screws that I drilled into the Frogbot chassis as mounts, I affixed the beads as sensors/eyes after reaming them out slightly. Then I carefully glued the rest of the model together.
While I really was happy with the figure, the engineer in me thought that it was too structurally weak. So I used green stuff to reinforce the legs and chain guns, as well as to fill in around the eyes and create a mantlet for the gun.
I was now ready to prime the lot. I used my airbrush to prime the figures. Without going into painting detail here, I will show the figures and the progression of the project. I list the paints I used at the end of this post for those interested.
First, the lot before mounting on 1¼” washers and priming
I decided to give each sub unit its own different amphibian skin color and color for accouterments, while keeping the majority of the uniforms the same. This was to help with tabletop identification.
- Command group got greenish skin and red for accouterments
- First squad got greenish blue skin and dark blue for accouterments
- Second got yellowish green skin and yellow for accouterments
- Third squad got bright green skin and purple for accouterments
- Heavy Weapons/Recon Section got grayish green skin and orange for accouterments
Once the painting was complete, I used Army Painter “Quickshade” (strong tone) to shade the models, followed by a coat of Vallejo “Matte Varnish”. I then highlighted the models, and then added another coat of varnish with my airbrush. I used Army Painter tufts (Jungle, Swamp, Woodland, and Meadow Flowers) to further assist in tabletop differentiation.
There were 8 different poses plus the Frogbot, so here are some front and back poses. You can see some of the differentiating features here as well.
I am very happy with this project, and hope that you enjoyed it as well.
Thanks to:
- My wife (for putting up with me during this project – again)
- Chris Palmer – for the box and inspiration!
- Buck Surdu – for the inspiration and some old paints from Polly S
- Dave Wood – for starting me on this hobby back when we were roomies
- All my readers – for inspiring me and sharing their feedback!!
PAINTS AND FLOCKING USED:
- Vallejo “Surface Primer – White”
- Vallejo “Camouflage Olive Green”
- Vallejo Model Air “Aluminum”
- Vallejo Mecha Color “Light Green”
- Vallejo Mecha Color “Deep Green”
- Vallejo Mecha Color “Yellow Fluorescent”
- Vallejo Game Air “Sick Green”
- Vallejo Game Air “Beastly Brown”
- Vallejo Game Air “Black”
- Vallejo “Dark Blue”
- Vallejo “Neutral Gray”
- Vallejo Model Air “Steel”
- Polly S “Interior Green”
- Vallejo Model Air “Black”
- Citadel “Retributor Armour”
- Vallejo Game Air “Sun Yellow”
- Vallejo “US Dark Green”
- Citadel “Yriel Yellow”
- Vallejo “Red”
- Citadel “Imperium Primer”
- Vallejo “Glaze Medium”
- Vallejo “Thinner medium”
- Testors “Universal Acrylic Thinner”
- Citadel “Waywatcher Green”
- Citadel “Coelia Greenshade”
- Citadel “Athonian Camoshade”
- Citadel “‘Ardcoat”
- Citadel “Fire Dragon Bright”
- P3 “Sulfuric Yellow”
- P3 “Red Ink”
- Vallejo “Yellow Green”
- Vallejo “Sunny Skin Tone”
- Vallejo Game Air “Moon Yellow”
- Vallejo Mecha Color “Purple”
- Vallejo Game Air “Escorpena Green”
- Vallejo Mecha Color “Green”
- Vallejo Mecha Color “Purple”
- Vallejo Mecha Color “Green”
- Vallejo Mecha Color “Green Blue”
- Vallejo Model Air “Copper”
- Vallejo Model Air “Gun Metal”
- Vallejo Model Air “Medium Gunship Gray”
- Polly S “WWII German Armor Dark Brown”
- Vallejo “Japanese Uniform WWII”
- Citadel “Nuln Oil”
- Polly S “Venetian Dull Red”
- Vallejo Model Air “Wood”
- Army Painter “Quickshade – Strong Shade”
- Vallejo “Matt Varnish”
- Citadel “Stirland Mud”
- Citadel “Lustrian Undergrowth”
- Polly S “British Brown Drab”
- Army Painter “Woodland Tufts”
- Army Painter “Swamp Tufts”
- Army Painter “Jungle Tufts”
- Army Painter “Meadow Flowers”
Thanks again – please share your thoughts in the comments section!
Mark A. Morin 
Great stuff. Must have been fun to do.
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Thanks for looking! It was a bit massive of a project, but glad its done and ready for play. I was worried I would be able to get this completed in time for Azazel’s March challenge, but I made it.
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Love them, it’s always nice to see an army of miniatures that I didn’t know existed. Thay do reminds me of the bad guys in “Bucky O’Hare and the Toad Wars”.
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Thanks miniaturepopcorns! See, all you have to do is go inactive in the hobby for a couple of decades (ok about 3+) and bam, the stuff thats new to you is from defunct companies. I’ll have to check out the Bucky piece though!
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That’s great, Mark – and very impressive to boot. You’ve certainly gotten a unit together here – a section would have qualified, but you’ve brought the whole bloody platoon! I foresee battles between the F.R.O.G.s and the StarDucks for domination of a few Aquatic planets in the future. Watch out, Dagobah!
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Thanks Az, and it looks like they will make their debut fighting Bugs (not the bunny, insects). I signed up to GM a couple of games next weekend at a local con. The scenario I am proposing for this platoon is they defend against attacking Space Phraints and Aphids. So insectivores fight insects!
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Really like these! You’ve thought this lot out well with the different skin shades, squad colours and avoiding duplicate figure positions! I think the Frogbot is great and all your little tweaks work well (I think I want one for alternative WW2 Japanese)! Definitely been a good achievement getting them done in March! Am looking forward to reading about their first combat outing at some point in the future!
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Appreciate the kind words JNV. I can’t believe how long it took, but those are the most worthwhile projects. I did use Zaloga’s work as inspiration on the camouflage for the Frogbot. I was going to airbrush it but decided not to because of its small size. I just fiddled with it until I was happy, but camouflage is hard!
Their first combat will be next week at HAVOC, a local con, where I will pit them against insect races (Space Phraints and Aphids), so I will have a post about that I am sure!
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Agree with you on the camouflage being tricky, but it does look really good (and I zoomed in to have a good look)! Looking forward to reading about Frogs zapping bugs!
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Wow, great stuff Mark, that is an awful lot of figures and all wonderfully painted my favourite has to be the Robot though you have really gone the extra mile on that one so pleased you didn’t go with the googly eyes, your bead ones are vastly superior! This did however remind me of the evil frog empire from the “Bucky o’Hare” cartoon of the eighties. Remember that?
Cheers Roger.
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Thanks Roger, I do like the Frogbot a lot, especially as I had to strain my creative juices make it work. I’m thinking the eyes would be akin to 360 degree sensors, and look froggy, so its a twofer. You’re the second person to reference the Bucky O’Hare cartoon, of which I was totally ignorant. I looked it up and in the US that was 1990-1991 for the cartoon, with graphic novels in the 80’s. Of course, I was busy during that time deterring the Soviet Horde (in my own small way), so I did not know of it, but you are spot on as to the resemblance!
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There was a toy line too as I recall, though I don’t think it was as successful as they hoped. I think they were trying to jump on the success of Star Wars and TMNT, and missed the target on both. It was reasonably entertaining though as I recall, if you are ever really bored (though with the amount of figures you turn out I don’t think that ever happens to you!).
Cheers Roger.
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Great stuff Mark. Such an unusual, and quirky, range of miniatures which I had no idea existed. And also; ye gods man…… how many different paints were used?!?
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Glad you like them and thanks! I do enjoy the eclectic. As for paints, yes, well over 50. Keeping Vallejo and Citadel happy, plus some others. I wanted to enter my first painting challenge with a worthy effort.
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wow, dude – that is mighty impressive!! Go Frogs!!
Sharon (Roberts) Westergreen
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Nice to get the feedback from you Sharon, very cool! Glad you enjoyed it.
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You are the most obscure hobbyist I follow haha. Love your quirky miniatures and ramblings hehe. The frogs are so ridiculously cute! Haha
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I try! 😎👍
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Another fantastically obscure project, I like those space frogs! Very impressive how you always go the extra mile with conversions etc.
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Very kind Subedai. You all set the bar so high, I need to go the extra mile (or kilometer for the metric folks..)
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Really nice work! I like how the skin shades turned out. I was skeptical about the Frogbot, as it looked like it would end up being too goofy. But I had to take it more seriously with that awesome camo paint job. Kudos on completing your superb March Challenge!
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Thanks Faust – I also had the same issues with the Frogbot, especially when the model was incomplete. It was my first try at a camouflage job, so I am please that you liked it. Now that it has a cannon and two chain guns, its a bit less goofy (but goofy enough). Glad to finish my first painting challenge!
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Agreed, it has a funny vibe, but not over the top. Yea, it’s a like a good cartoon. Smart enough that adults will like it, but cute enough that kids will love it. Great balancing act! 😀
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Great project! Did not know these minis. Thank you for sharing.
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Thanks!
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Wow, these are superb mate – I wanted to take a look last week, but was restricted to crappy hotel wifi – it was well worth the wait. I really admire the work needed to get these venerable amphibians assembled and ready for battle – nice job sir!
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Thanks Alex, I wanted to do these right. I just was at a con where they made their debut. They were quite popular and will be posting about that next. Glad you like these frogs!
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I recently discovered 6 boxes in the VHS style a few days ago and stumbled across you page while researching their value. You done a really good job on these. Are you still collecting?
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Yes!
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I sent you an email – if you are interested in selling, let’s discuss?
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Hi Mark – not sure what I’ve done or how but I think I’ve deleted your from my followers list, apologies!!!
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Thanks and I did not know that, but have jumped back on yours!
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