The July 2018 session of the Mass Pikemen Gaming Club was fun time for all. We had an epic battle using the Combat Patrol™ gaming system. The battle (called “Get The Data!”) was between the attackers (an alliance of the Texican Space Rangers and the Hurraku Space Phraints) and the combined forces of the Robot Peacekeepers and the Space Dwarves. The objective for the attackers was to seize weapons design data from a computer in an abandoned and ruined factory/research facility. The defenders mission was to exact a high price in casualties from the assault force.
So why did I align the Texicans and the Hurraku? One picture in the Star Rovers game shows them having a drink at Moondog Maude’s Cantina – so I went with that.
Hey, after this drink, let’s go to battle!
I assigned points differentially for the attackers and the defenders based on the mission. The Hurraku attacked on the defenders’ left, and the Texican Space Rangers attacked from the defenders’ right. The defenders also had Robo-Sentry guns deployed run by RT22. I also gave them Roberker, a flame-throwing giant robot to help with their defense.
Will prepares to defendThe Texicans destroy a Robo-Sentry gun, then take cover. You can see the defenders in position in the building. If only the defenders had mortars!Two Texicans are dispatched by automatic weapons fire. I use casualty cards to designate fallen figures and to help score the battle at the end. Plus I think it shows the battle’s progression without having a bunch of minis tipped over. Chris Comeau (Texican commander) made a bold move and had his gray squad jet pack directly into a bunker filled with one of Will’s Robot Peacekeeper team. The bots passed a reaction test and the Rangers took massive fire and three dead before they could fire. The red beads mark morale checks for them, the blue for the bots. This sacrifice was to prove worthy, as follow on teams of Space Rangers were able to clear the stunned robots from the bunker.Another of the 5 Robo-Sentry guns is cleared by the Space Rangers.On the other flank, Jared Burns and Mike Morgan were able to use the long ranges of the Hurraku blasted to keep the defenders’ heads down. They maneuvered to flank the defenders.One of the Agribot automatic weapons did hit a team of Hurraku for one wound. Unluckily, the team promptly failed morale and became pinned behind a boulder. They were eventually able to rally.Back on the right flank, Will and Dave decided that it was time for Roberker to counterattack with his dual flame throwing arms. Roberker successfully roasted a number of the purple-sombreroed Space Ranger team. However, he put himself in the open……and he took automatic weapons fire from multiple Rangers. The plume from his smoking hulk is next to the bunker…Chris Comeau smiles…he also killed Roberker in his last game BTW!The Robot Peacekeepers in the bunker then drew an unfortunate morale result that caused them to perform a banzai charge (I have robots use the WWII Japanese in the Pacific cards for morale). Thus, they left the nice safe bunker and got mauled. Note the large number of blue morale checks to be performed after the banzai charge.By this point, Will and his dad Dave had to leave, so I took over. The defense was collapsing, so I withdrew the front line defenders as best as I could.The sacrifices of the Texican Space Rangers allowed the Hurraku to penetrate the defensive position. The first in was their Sith warrior, who used the powers of the Force to smash two robots (RT22 and a Robot Peacekeeper) with a Telekinesis attack by sending them into the factory walls. This destroyed them. As you can see, the morale checks were piling up……so why not add more to the carnage with a satchel charge thrown by a Hurraku Space Phraint into the Space Dwarves (the smoke plume here)! Meanwhile, the Hurraku Space Phraints swarmed in.The attackers swarm the compound. Game over.
The game was fun, and when the tide turned, the attackers did a good job of exploiting the openings presented. I love it when maneuver is executed well. The Texican Space Rangers aggressiveness resulted in nearly 50% casualties, but helped the Hurraku press their assault on the other flank. The defenders did get some very unlucky morale results, but so did the attackers so it was a wash there. Next time I run this scenario, I probably will include some defensive indirect fire support as well as some time constraints on the attackers.
Still, it was a fun session, and I am appreciative to the players! It was nice to meet everyone, and I’m glad that they got to learn the system so quickly. Our next session is tentatively scheduled for August 18th.
The Power-Armored Frinx are back, and this time as cavalry riding glyptodons into battle! The Frinx were a creation of Archive Miniatures back around 1977 or 1978. They are a smallish lizard-like race, often wearing power armor.
Glyptodons on the other hand were very real and existed from the Ice Age until about 11,650 years ago (give or take). They were prehistoric cousins of the modern armadillo, only they were mega fauna – and were as big as a Volkswagen bug. Plus, there is that massive spiked tail to consider. Why Archive put these two together is anyone’s guess, but the combination is indeed quirky and fun.
Artist conception of a glyptodon – as big as a car
For you non-US folks, this is an armadillo. It’s about the size of a cat or small dog. None are around me in New England, but I saw plenty as road kill when I lived down South.Sketch of Power-Armored Frinx on Glyptodon from page 3.10 of the Star Rovers Module 1 rules
As a Frinx backgrounder for those interested, I have previously written several posts on the venerable Frinx, going back to my casting of their infantry in February 2016 (here), my painting and figure conversions of my Power-Armored Frinx infantry platoon in February 2017 (here), my May 2017 discovery and acquisition of an original Star Rovers RPG (here), and my casting of the Power-Armored Frinx on Glyptodon (Archive #2042) in July of 2017 (here). So this journey has already been 2½ years in the making. Phew!
Interestingly, the 1981 Archive catalog that came with my Star Rovers game does not have the #2042 listed, despite the drawing shown above being in the rule book. My guess would be that the kit was uneconomical to produce and/or difficult to produce well. I document several these issues in my casting post – but originally the kit contained no less than 11 pieces as shown below. As reference, the scale of the set is 25mm to 28mm.
Original Power-Armored Frinx on Glyptodon kit
I made my own modifications to this particular set and made molds to recreate the kit. It is indeed rare and given that it was already OOP by 1981, there cannot be many of these around. I thought they would serve well in a traditional cavalry role for my Frinx platoon. I cast several and shared with Buck Surdu (who graciously provided me the original you see above so that we both could have some). Buck did a great job painting seven of my recasts of these back in 2017 which you can see here.
This month to add to my Frinx forces I managed to finish 5 Power-Armored Frinx on Glyptodons (let’s call them PAFOG for short!) models. As shown above, each set has two Frinx riders on a glyptodon. I chose 5 because I felt that 10 Frinx riders would be a good number for a cavalry squad in either the recon or screening role in my Combat Patrol™ games. It also would give the unit enough punch if deployed as a mobile counterattack force. I sorted out what figures that I had, and chose the ones I would use for the cavalry squad. Some of the riders’ weapons were not very well cast, so I converted these weapons. I used Bombshell Miniatures sprues of Arc Weapons (#36013) to replace six of the blasters. My initial plan is currently to give these weapons better capabilities versus robot foes, which should prove interesting given that I have a lot of robots now.
My initial assortment of PAFOG before I cleaned the chosen 5 – you can see that I still had modeling clay on the original on the bottom right.Boot camp time – must select the best for the cavalry!The final five plus the Bombshell Miniatures Arc Weapons. I decided to use the largest arc weapons that you see here as their sizes worked well.Washed and ready for priming. As you can see, the details are much less crisp than I would like. His weapon was replaced with an arc weapon. This is the front rider (recast).This is the back rider (recast).
In order to make these Frinx “pop”, I needed a plan. Clearly, my painting was going to do a lot to overcome the plainness of the riders. I also needed to figure out how I was going to base them for painting and handling – unlike other Archive Miniatures these had no bases. These are also very heavy (solid lead/tin). The feet of the glyptodons were not level, so choosing the right basing was a big quandary for me for several reasons. I tried several approaches in my mind, but eventually chose to emulate Buck’s choice and use washers. I did choose smaller ones than Buck did – using #8 steel washers and E6000 epoxy under each foot, allowing for hardening overnight.
On their washers for an overnight set.
Once they had set, I began by priming the bottoms, letting that cure, and then doing the tops. My goal was to make the bottoms reddish brown, leading to a more brownish top as the drawing of the glyptodon above shows. It was not easy! I had to do a lot of handling of the paint jobs and eventually I moved them to popsicle stick frames with poster tack, which was good for a temporary, if imperfect, solution.
Early stages of priming and base coating of the glyptodons.Eventually I mounted the glyptodons on these temporary frames for painting – still not ideal.
After carving away 6 defective metal weapons, I mounted the riders on poster tack mounds on specimen jars. The saddles really did not present me with many other options for mounting them for painting.
As for a color scheme, I decided to go with the branch color of the US Army Cavalry (now Armor), that being yellow. Besides, yellow is a difficult color to pull off, so I thought it would pose a nice additional challenge. I primed them, and subsequently airbrushed the riders with Vallejo Game Air “Moon Yellow” as a base coat. I then used Reaper MSP “Grey Liner” over the riders to help show me what parts I could paint to bring out the best details. This step really was useful.
Frinx riders after airbrush the primer and base coat.Early stages of painting the ridersAdding some metallics to the riders and inks to the arc weaponsPainting completed for riders – awaiting a wash applicationThe 10 riders washed and waiting for their weapon conversions. I converted 6, and yes, I painted an extra arc weapon just in case! I primarily used inks on the arc weapons over a chrome base coat for a retro sci-fi look. After this, I applied a gloss varnish to them.
It was time now to return to the sturdy mounts – and I had gotten to the point that I was happy with my painting on them. However, what was missing was a set of reins for each glyptodon. When I cast them, I did use the original bits in their mouths, but the original reins were totally inadequate in my view.
I decided to make reins from the smallest jewelry chain I could find. Figuring out how to affix the chains was a lot of trial and error on one of the extra unpainted glyptodons that I had. I tried using wire, thread, as well as just hooking the chain to the mounts – all for naught. Then, a light bulb went off – toothpicks!
I determined that I needed 27 links for the main chain loop for the reins. I threaded the last chain link through a wooden toothpick. I then inserted the toothpick into the bits by the mouths. I used a push pin to slide the link into position on the toothpick, and applied a very small amount of Gorilla Glue on the wood/chain/bit connection. After the glue dried (often with the assistance of a hand held hair dryer), I snipped the toothpick with a sprue cutter as close as I could to the bit. The net effect was like a tent peg and a rope, securing the chain to the glyptodons’ bridle bits. I repeated the process on both sides, then tack glued the chain at the top and above the ears to make a loop. Then I dry brushed the chain with Tamiya “Gun Metal X-10” and let it dry. Lastly, I applied Citadel “Nuln Oil” to the chain.
Painted glyptodons before final wash application and addition of reins.I applied Citadel “Agrax Earthshade Gloss” on the back, expecting the later matte varnish to dull it down. Still need reins!These are the original reins – not acceptable!Time for some jewelry making, I mean rein making (sounds weird huh!).27 links, no more no less!He looks a bit like he needs an orthodontist. This is how I mounted the chains into the bits.Main chain loop mounted, before painting it and the bits.
After this, I removed the glyptodons from the frames in order to give the mounts a matte varnish airbrush treatment. Then I mounted the riders to the mounts with E6000 epoxy, and let it harden. I wanted to connect the chains to the front riders hands. For this I needed a massive 4 links of jewelry chain per model, push pins, and patience. I used Gorilla Glue, push pins, and the blow dryer to get the additional chain segments in place. I then applied the same painting and wash techniques to the 4 links.
4 links, no more, no less! I used push pins to help as I cut the links.
The glossy riders on the matte glyptodon with the new chain attachment which has not yet been painted. Subsequently, the whole PAFOG got a couple of matte varnish coats.After final varnish of an airbrush matte coat.For you metric system users, an idea of the weight and size of the model as completed.For us in the USA, its a mere 4.64 ounces of heavy metal goodness…not a quarter pounder I’d eat by the way…
The PAFOG squad project was now complete – except that I needed to make corrals for them as they are so heavy as to slide in my other Frinx box. No worries, as I want them to survive for many future games, and I’ve done that for other outsized figures
This project also counts for me in a community painting challenge that my Australian friend Azazel has sent out for July 2018. It is for a “Jewel” project – and given all the work that went into these from acquisition to casting to conversion to final painting – I’m confident that these will meet the requirement!
The eye candy follows, and hopefully you will find these as cool as I did. I always appreciate your feedback dear readers – let me know your thoughts and suggestions. Thanks for looking!
Frinx, form up!Move out!This is the section leader’s mount. The section leader has blue markings. These figures are the originals and have the original weapons. In a Combat Patrol game, they will draw two cards for movement. Between the power armor and the glyptodon’s armor, they should have some ability to take damage.A good view of the back ends where the bony spiked tails are found. Here, on the right is the section leaders mount, and on the left is a mount with one Frinx armed with an arc weapon and the other with a blaster.Nice group shot – note the conversions with the arc weapons.Close up of the right side.A conference with Lt. Ma’k (the Frinx platoon leader in red), some Frinx Amethyst Squad infantry, and the Texican Space Rangers.Surrounding the Space Dwarves in a final charge!
For those interested, here is the list of the paints, etc. that I used in this project.
PAINTS, INKS, GLAZES, WASHES, AND FLOCKING USED:
Citadel “Imperium Primer”
Vallejo “Surface Primer – White”
Vallejo “Flow Improver”
Vallejo “”Airbrush Thinner”
Testors “Universal Acrylic Thinner”
Vallejo Game Air “Beastly Brown”
Vallejo Game Air “Dead White”
Vallejo “Red”
Vallejo Game Air “Moon Yellow”
Vallejo “Black Grey”
Citadel “Agrax Earthshade” (wash)
Reaper MSP “Grey Liner” (wash)
Vallejo Game Air “Black”
Vallejo Model Air “Black (metallic)”
Vallejo Mecha Color “Yellow Ochre”
Vallejo Mecha Color “Brown”
Vallejo Model Air “Rust 080”
Citadel “Ceramite White”
Tamiya “Chrome Silver X-11”
Tamiya “X-20A Thinner”
Vallejo Mecha Color “Turquoise”
Vallejo Model Air “Medium Gunship Gray”
Tamiya “Copper XF-6”
Tamiya “Gun Metal X-10”
Vallejo Game Air “Wolf Grey”
Citadel “Hexwraith Flame”
P3 “Green” (ink)
Citadel “‘Ardcoat”
Secret Weapons Washes “Just Red” (ink)
Citadel “Soulstone Blue”
Vallejo Game Air “Fluorescent Red”
Citadel “Nuln Oil Gloss” (wash)
Secret Weapons Washes “Purple” (ink)
Vallejo Mecha Color “Yellow Fluorescent”
Vallejo Mecha Color “Sand Yellow”
Citadel “Seraphim Sepia” (wash)
Polly Scale “WWII British Aircraft Gull Gray Light”
Archive Miniatures Star Rovers game and miniature range had a lot of very fun figures, many of which I have painted and discussed in past entries in this blog. A couple of the line that caught my eye were “Long Gone Jones” (Archive #2211), a space dwarf, and “Agribot S1L1” (Archive #2204). Both were sculpted and put into production around 1977. I’m not exactly sure of the name derivations, but methinks there was some degree of Archive humor there based on the late 70’s – and I leave it to you readers to make your own guess!
I had previously acquired one Long Gone Jones (let’s call him LGJ) miniature on eBay, but had not found any others. However, Michael Thomas at classicminiatures.net (who produced the Robot Peacekeepers I previously described here) also had the molds for these figures. So I placed the order from him, and got ten LGJ’s to add to my original one in addition to three Agribots. I thought I would now have enough to build a squad for sci-fi games using Combat Patrol™ .
Each LGJ is in power armor, has a jet pack, and is armed with an automatic weapon coming out of his right arm. The Agribots look like they have a hovering mechanism, and are armed with what looks like a machine gun.
For the unit’s organization, I decided to have a LGJ squad leader with a dedicated Agribot as the squad headquarters. He would lead the squad’s two Space Dwarf Assault teams (A and B). Each team would have its own LGJ team leader, 4 LGJ troopers, and an Agribot. I’ll probably treat the LGJ weapons as analogues to sub-machine guns, and the Agribots as mobile medium machine guns. This made a total of 14 figures for the squad. I was thinking about the organization of Soviet Machine Pistol squads in WWII as inspiration. My numbers aren’t exactly the same, but we are talking about Space Dwarves here! To round out the end of June, I finished off the Space Dwarf Assault Squad.
One of the Agribots I got from Michael Thomas. It has the typical crispness one would expect from a 1970’s mold – clearly I needed to be creative to make this one look good. The other side cast better as you see below.Agribots better side
First, I cleaned and washed the group. Then I filed off the mold lines and flash on the figures. After this, I mounted them on ¾” steel washers with Gorilla glue, and affixed the washers to poster tack on top of specimen bottles. I primed the squad white with Vallejo “White Surface Primer” with my Iwata Eclipse airbrush, and let that harden.
I wanted to give these figures a totally retro sci-fi look – so I again used the Createx paints to airbrush even more colors (added Pearl Blue, Pearl Lime Green, and Pearl Green) onto the squad than I had done with the Robot Peacekeepers. I figured the dwarves would want more individuality! For ease of play on the tabletop, I did plan to similarly color coordinate the lenses on the LGJ’s and the Agribots with Vallejo Mecha Color fluorescent paints. On the optics/lenses, the squad leader and his Agribot would get Vallejo Game Air “Fluorescent Red”, Team A got Vallejo Mecha Color “Green Fluorescent”, and Team B got Vallejo Mecha Color “Green Fluorescent”. These would take multiple light thin coats to get the desired effects. And of course with so much metallics, I needed to use a lot of Citadel “Nuln Oil Gloss”. I list the paints and materials I used at the end of the blog for those interested.
The squad awaits mounting and primingAnd here they are primed and mounted! I labeled the specimen jars to keep track of which one was in which squad, and what the color plan was for each figure.After airbrushing the base colors.Pearlized Createx colors used (bottle backs)Createx bottles fronts – I love that many of them are designated “Wicked Colors”. “Wicked” is a common term here in Massachusetts to designate much more than “very”.After a painting the small details and using multiple washes, I detailed the optics/lenses with white to help with the adhesion and look of the fluorescent paints.Awaiting the first coat of gloss varnish
My plan for varnishing the group and the bases was to initially apply an airbrush coat of Vallejo “Gloss Varnish” before working on the bases. The bases would then get a treatment of Citadel “Astrogranite Debris”. I like it better than “Astrogranite” – it sets up better for dry brushing later. Once that was dry, I washed it with “Nuln Oil”, let that dry, and then dry brushed the bases with Vallejo Game Air “Wolf Grey”. To give the bases a nice lunar look, I added Citadel “Gulliman Blue” glaze and let that dry. Lastly, I gave the entire squad a second coat of Vallejo Mecha Varnish “Matt Varnish” for protection and to dull the shines down to an acceptable level.
After application of gloss varnish – shiny new space dwarves…Squad leader close up after gloss varnishSquad leader’s Agribot after gloss varnish
I think you’ll see below on the finished figures the difference that the matte varnish adds, while preserving the metallic look of the power armor that I was attempting to capture.
Finished Long Gone Jones squad leader and Agribot. Their base color was “Pearl Red”.Team ATeam BSpace Dwarf Assault Squad leadership – the team leaders are in “Pearlized Copper”.The three Agribots, arranged to see the side and back details.Front and back details of the team leaders.Front and back details of the Space Dwarf troopers in “Pearl Tangerine”Front and back details of the LGJ troopers in “Pearl Plum”Front and back details of the LGJ troopers in “Pearlized Green”Front and back details of the LGJ troopers in “Pearlized Blue”Space Dwarf Assault Squad moves out for action!
I am pleased with the final product – and I can see them being on one side or the other of many future tabletop conflicts. Whoever is paying them the most of course! That’s the nice part of not needing a Codex! I do think that they are colorful enough, but power armor covers them nicely.
I hope that you enjoyed looking at this – and this was my most productive month ever in terms of painting – 57 figures in total (3 units) for “Junit”, a community painting challenge run so very well by our Aussie friend Azazel. If you’re reading this and are not familiar with his blog, it’s well worth the look.
June’s production – 32 Archive Texican Space Rangers, 11 Mega Miniatures Robot Peacekeepers, and 14 in the Space Dwarf Assault Squad.
I always read your comments and feedback – and as the goal of this blog to entertain and bemuse you – let me know if I did (or did not). So let me know your thoughts – and as always, thanks for looking!
Mark A. Morin 