Torge's Tigers arrive in Powered Armour.

After seeing some excellent jump-packs over at Puppetswar Miniatures, I decided that I would add them to some Grymn wearing powered armour.

Here they are in their primed condition:

And here they are once they have had their stripes added; Torge's Tigers:

I think that the jump-packs work perfectly and actually look like they have the oomph to lift the extra weight of the armour.

A new year and new plans.

It has been a while since I last posted on here but the reason for that is I have been focusing on other projects that aren't particularly Grymn in flavour.

From a Grymn perspective, I have been busy trying to finish the Tunnel Fighter army and have now got just one unit and two vehicles to go (before varnish) before I achieve that. My current Tunnel Fighter list runs at:

Complete:

11 mechs
11 tracked APCs
2 wheeled transports
6 tactical squads
4 close combat squads
1 command squad
1 special command squad
1 medical squad
1 K9 squad
1 drone squad
2 Clanker units

To finish:

1 Clanker unit
1 Medical transport
1 specialist command transport

Apart from the troops and the mechs, here are a couple of pictures of some new things that have happened:

Obviously, once the last three elements are complete, I will take some proper army pics but that may not be for a while. The end of this project is a double edged sword... first of all, I will be sad to see it finished because I have really enjoyed putting all of the elements together but secondly, I will be glad to have it finished so that I can get on with other things... namely my Urban Army.

With the Urban Army in mind, I have already gathered all of the troop uints and most of the vehicles together but last week I also got hold of a squadron of Grymn Walkers... just like this one:

I am hoping that amassing 14 of them will provide the impetus I need to get back into the Urban project in full.

Here's to a positive and productive new year of Grymn goodness.

The scientists have been busy.

The Grymn super-soldier program is continuing apace and now the small group of characters has been joined by Beast:

He brings additional combat prowess and scientific expertise to the group. The next soldier is one who is a little different. When the scientists started the program they worked on Grymn volunteers and never in their wildest dreams expected one of the revered OGrymn turning up to try the super-serums that were on offer. Well, one did turn up and after taking the serum the already large OGrymn took on giant proportions so he took Goliath as a name and here is a WIP of him (he's the one on the left):

There are more super-soldiers planned but at the moment, I am not racing ahead so for now I just want to finish Goliath.

If you want some reading to keep you entertained, here are two stories for you. The first is finished:

The Duplicate Adventures

The second one is still being written so stay tuned for further instalments:

Rebirth

Both are tales of a space-faring crew of Grymn and a selection of aliens. I hope you enjoy the read.

Walkers on the way.

I just thought I'd share some news from Hasslefree Miniatures' Facebook page and that news is...

...The Grymn Walker is now getting production casts made and there will be stock for Salute. That is excellent news and I am looking forward to getting a few more to add to the platoon.

Speaking of walkers... I dug my old Macross Regult Pods out of the loft the other day and have converted them to go with a small group of troops. The troops were converted an age ago and they were destined for a mercenary desert force but things stalled and now, I've found an alternative role for them as part of a little jungle patrol. Here are a range of pix:

The beginning...

Converting in progress...

All converted and troops selected...

A close up of the WIP troops...

So there will be eight walkers and eight troops. The walkers will be green and will match the troops. It really makes a change to paint something that isn't grey!

Grymn News form Hasslefree.

I thought it was going to be quiet but it seems that Kev over at Hasslefree Miniatures has triumphed again with his latest offering:

You can see the whole thread HERE (but be warned, there are some miniature Breasts on display).

She is a female, Grymn Walker pilot and she is pretty awesome and as a result I thought I'd better share her QUICK!

Let's take it back to the start...

I had a less than productive shopping day yesterday and as a result, was unable to find a can of spray Matt varnish. That means that the vehicles for Number 6 Platoon will have to remain shiny until I can find some. The troops, however, will be getting a brush-on, Matt varnish this week while I am on a week's holiday (YAY!).

I am not a fan of varnishing but it is one of those jobs that have to be done...a bit like preparing miniatures for paint. Fortunately, I had a productive day on the preparation front yesterday and have managed to achieve this:

Yes, the next platoon is ready to start receiving their paint. I haven't started on the vehicles because they will distract me...and I won't be doing so until these are glossed, ready for decals so it is a fair way off. I have chosen the 8th platoon because I have enough decals for the vehicles. I expect that the next one will probably be the 5th platoon for the same reason.

On another note, I have finished adding all the ranks to the 6th platoon and here is an example of what they look like:

Nice and easy to see and nice and easy to paint.

I have a feeling that things will be fairly quiet here for a while as I paint up the sections for the up-coming platoon but fear not...if anything else turns up, I will let you know.

New Model Army... News!

After a couple of evenings of cussing and swearing, I have managed to add decals to all of the troops and vehicles for the first of the platoons. Here is the 6th Platoon of the Third regiment of the Grymn Army:

Each of the sections are placed in front of their transport vehicle and for the infantry squads, Charlie fire-team has a white number and Delta fire-team has a black number.

I have changed the marking of the helmets so that the platoon number is on the same side as the section number. It means that the numbers match the vehicles better and also they don't obscure the Regiment symbol.

I still need to paint on the ranks but I have, at least, come up with a range of markings that I can paint on to represent the rank structure that won't be too difficult:

The markings will be on the front of the helmets over to one side. I have only decided on the field ranks...because they are the only ranks I am going to be putting in the army.

Finally, here are a few pix of the Grymn Walker for scale purposes:

The miniatures are a Void Syntha Marine, a Dark Eldar, a Vulkan Battlesuit (Clanker) and a converted Critical Mass Games Arc Walker.

A small group of Grymn ready for fighting!

All these need now is a good coat of matt varnish after adding rank to the NCOs and Officers.

Grymn Walker arrives.

This week I received a very nice surprise from Kev and Sally at Hasslefree Miniatures...I was sent the Grymn Walker along with a seated and standing pilot:

This appears to be the one that was used for the various photos on the Forum of Doom because it arrived in a partially assembled state.

When I took it to pieces (a simple task of breaking the super-glue joints) I had a few minor repairs to carry out but it gave me an overall appreciation of how the kit will assemble when it gets released.

Components:
2x weapon arms
2x identical gun shields
1x pelvis
2x legs
2x feet
2x leg shields
1x body rear
1x body front

Everything has idiot proof joints so it was easy to assemble. both of the weapons can fit either side on the ball joints on the sides of the rear body. The legs are handed (so the right leg will go on the right side and the left on the left side - no mix and match) so there is only a small amount of pose-ability but enough for a little variation in a unit... the ball joints at the hips and ankles will further add to the range of poses. The body can be fitted to the pelvis through quite a range of rotation (only limited by a beam that projects from the rear of the pelvis). The guns are on ball joints as well so they have a huge range of positions.

From a model making perspective it is a lovely little model and would look great painted up by a professional and mounted on a scenic base. As a war-gaming piece there are a couple of things to be aware of:

1 - The leg shields have a very fragile join that will need some form of beefing up. I used some Green Stuff.
2 - The front cover would be awesome if it could open and close but the hinge is not quite large enough to drill a pin into. I have put magnets in the front so that I can remove/fit the front cover instead.
3 - The gun shields are also quite fragile but I fixed that by gluing a small piece of sprue between the shield and the gun to add an additional connection point...now it is solid.

I love the kit (I always knew I would) and will be buying more when it gets released. I doubt if I will be making too many with a pilot on display so the hinged front cover won't matter to me. It is easy to carry out the small additions to beef up the gun-shields and leg shields so I am not worried about that (and I expect a bit of careful gluing would probably work just as well as my ideas).

Hopefully, at some point more weapons will be designed (a missile pod for one) but there is no reason that either of the existing weapons couldn't be converted.

As it stands, I have received a wonderful gift that will sit very well with my Grymn forces... and I look forward to being able to purchase more when they are released.

Thank you Kev and Sally at Hasslefree Miniatures.

Armoured might.

I have been working, feverishly, to finish off the transport vehicles for the 1st platoon and have managed it!:

These just need a gloss varnish, the decals adding and then a matt varnish to finish them.

The next stage is to gloss varnish them and then add decals to the entire platoon, ready for the matt varnish to be applied to the whole platoon as well. It also means that I am very close to the most daunting part of the project...adding decals to everything.

I have all the decals I need (for this platoon) and will have to spend a lot of time trimming them to fit partially obscured helmets. I will also be using some 'decal soft' for the first time so I will have to learn how to use it...interesting times.

With regards to the decals on the tanks, I will have the regiment badge on the front and rear (the roundel), the regiment symbol on the right of the turret and the platoon/section numbers on the left of the turret.

I have decided that this will be the sixth platoon so the numbers on the turret will be: 60 (command) 61, 62, 63 in white lettering. The troops will have the roundel with a white six on the right of their helmet and a 1,2 or 3 on the left (no marking for the command squad).

So... an awful lot of decals. On the bright side, they should look cool once they are marked up though (hopefully). Then all I need to worry about is rank insignia... but I haven't got that far yet (I am thinking that they will be painted on at this stage... but I may change my mind after Salute because I will be able to check out small scale decals there).

With all the focus on the vehicles lately, I will be glad to get back to the troops again.

What about powered armour?

I thought I'd look at some of the more unusual bits and bobs I am planning to add to the army today.

I am a bit of an eclectic collector and have bought all sorts of interesting miniatures that I think may fit in with the Grymn; whether in this army or other ones and that includes some powered armour.

I originally bought a set of five 'Russian heavy combat armour' troops from Micropanzer but had always had it in mind to send one of them to a mate...so I was left with four (obviously). Now five would have been awkward but four makes a perfect little building block for the Urban Army...but where to fit them? I decided that they would make a good army HQ squad so that is where they are likely to go. My reasoning is this:

1. They are twice the height of a Grymn so wouldn't mix well in a Grymn squad.
2. There will only ever be four of them.
3. They look expensive so only the most important Grymn would get one.
4. They are imposing miniatures so would be easy to see for 'command' purposes.
5. I can have them individualised a little.

I am still open to suggestions but feel that they would be good for the top job.

Alternatively, I plan on adding a bunch of these to my army (once they get released):

Maybe I should keep the powered armour to act as a command group for those?

Either way, they will be sat for a while because my focus is on getting my platoon finished and that means finishing the transports, varnishing them, adding decals to everything in the platoon and then matt varnishing everything!

...but it doesn't stop the cogs turning.

The production-line continues

I have been busy working on the first platoon's transport this week and after assembly, filling and a spray under-coat on the four armoured vehicles, I began painting them. Unfortunately, life got in the way of as much progress as I would have liked but I managed to get one finished. It also meant that the colour-scheme had chosen itself:

In addition to painting the command transport, I also managed to put together an updated markings picture and an idea of how it would look on the troops:

Now that I have a set idea of what I want to achieve, I will finish off the vehicles and gloss varnish them. After that I'll have a 'decal day' and mark the whole platoon up at once. I have now got all of the decals I need for this job (with more on the way for additional platoons) so there will be no excuse not to finish them.

The slow conversion job on the four recon-bikes continues...

Vehicle assembly line.

I just thought I'd post pix of the assembled vehicles for the first platoon. I still need to tidy them up and fill the joints a bit (if I'd used super-glue there would be no gaps...I just used epoxy and that doesn't compress as nicely). So here are three Glaive APCs and a Slingshot AFV:

They are lovely vehicles that are beautifully cast. Here are a few pix with some miniatures to compare them against:

Over the next couple of days, I hope to get them cleaned, filled and ready for paint at the weekend.

First platoon painted.

The first platoon for the new model army is now fully painted and waiting for the next step:

The next stage in the process will be to apply a coat of gloss varnish. That will provide a protective coating and will make applying decals easier, helping them to blend in better. I will varnish these before I start the vehicles so that I get the boring bit out of the way and have a 'prize' when I am finished (vehicles to sort out).

Speaking of decals, I am still waiting for most of them to arrive so I will continue to paint the troops and vehicles until I am in a position to add markings.

I have been looking through my boxes of miniatures and have found a bunch of snipers that would make a cracking recon platoon. I was thinking that I would have 4 sections (a command section and three troop sections) with each one having four troops in it. I haven't decided on vehicles yet but am veering towards the Old Crow GECKO PICK-UP with some seating and covers fitted to the rear. I am also planning on adding a bike to each of the sections and after a good search, I found these bikes and a few riders ready for a bit of conversion:

I think that the addition of a bit of stowage, comms equipment and an SMG would make these perfect out-riders for the recon sections. The bikes are from Eureka Miniatures 'Boilersuit Apes' range and the riders are   from Hasslefree's Grymn range and are GUSTAV without his rail-gun. Obviously, I have a lot of work to do on these but I think the end product will justify the effort.

The recon platoon will form part of a support company along side formations like heavy infantry and air assault units.

Army painting update.

To follow on from the structure post this morning, I continue with a little progress on the army painting front. This week, I have managed to paint a further twelve troops and re-arrange the support section to fit in with the rest of the basic units (because I won't be using support sections as part of a platoon any more).

Here is the first platoon as it stands (all nicely grouped onto GW's Lord of the Rings movement trays):

I still need to add a further eight troops and the vehicles but I am getting there. While on the subject of vehicles, I decided to unpack some vehicles from storage and here is a picture of the vehicles for this platoon:

From left to right are three Glaives and a Slingshot. The turrets are neatly tucked underneath for storage so can't be seen. I have a further three Glaives and three Slingshots so a purchase of three further Glaives would complete the vehicle selection for the entire company.

I hope to have the last section ready by next Sunday so I will be able to show off the first platoon with finished paint. Hopefully, some decals will start showing up soon and then I can worry about adding some insignia and markings to them. With that in mind, once the final section is painted, the platoon will receive a coat of GLOSS varnish. This will help with adding the decals and will give them a nice elastic varnish coating to protect them. Once the decals have been added they will all get a MATT varnish to take away the shine.

You see? Everything is planned!

Having an Identity..

One of the important parts of being in the military is a sense of belonging and the best way to belong is to build up a unit identity. The Grymn Urban Army is no exception and must have an identity so in a bid to get the ball rolling, I have started to think about how the platoons of the army will be marked up. Here is what I have come up with so far:

There are a number of reasons that I have chosen the system above but the most important one is availability of decals. The yellow markings are the same as WWII British armour markings and the the regiment markings are the same as those on Royal Air Force aircraft. The beauty of choosing these is that they are available in a range of scales so I can choose the right decals for both marking up they helmets and the various other bits of kit for the army.

As a result, I have just ordered a selection from Dom's Decals so when they arrive, I will be able to review them. I still need to source some numbers but I can do that at a later date (because I may need to make further orders to get exactly the right sizes).

Thinking of platoon markings has kept me busy in between putting together the units. I have been building units in line with an earlier POST that details the break-down of each section in to its component parts.

Here is the Command Section for the first platoon (the first platoon in build, not necessarily the actual platoon number):

It consists of the Platoon Commander, a Communications Officer and a couple of light infantry troops that will have leader ranks (a Staff Sergeant and Sergeant...probably). I am yet to decide upon a set rank structure at the moment so I will be using a few army ranks to represent the ones I haven't thought of a name for at the moment.

To follow, here is the Support Section for the same platoon:

It consists of a Sergeant, a light infantry soldier with a one-shot rocket launcher and a pair of light machine gun (LMG) gunners. This unit is designed to work in unison with the Command Section and act as the second fire-team if required. Although there is a one-shot rocket-launcher in the team, for game purposes the support section's weapon will have unlimited shots because they will have extra loads aboard their transport and would be aided by the Command section when reloads are required.

As you can see, I have not added markings (they haven't arrived yet) but the army is well and truly started. I have two more fire-teams on the table (for the first infantry section) and in the process of paint. I will be using the test models as part of the teams so I only need to paint six troopers to finish the section. Remember that an infantry section has eight members (two fire-teams of four) instead of the four members that the Command and Support sections have.

I will be trying to decide upon rank structure next.

Tweaking the colour scheme

After posting up the previous picture of the test Grymn for the Mechanised armour, I decided that the brown areas were lacking something so I went and had a look through my paints and existing miniatures and thought that Dark Flesh would work better on the boots and gloves with Calthan Brown making for darker webbing.

Here is what I have changed:

So we now have this:

I am much happier with the darker look to the boots,gloves and webbing with the overall look of the miniature being darkened a little. Here is a comparison picture:

I think you'll agree that the darker look improves things.

Now we have the paint scheme sorted, I will look to be adding the insignia to the helmet. At the moment, I don't have the required decals but I will try to provide some sort of pictorial device to show my plans.

The New Model Army

I have finished the first test model for my new Grymn army and here is what I have so far:

After finishing the first one, I think I need to darken the boots, gloves and pouches so I am thinking that the gloves/boots will be either Calthan Brown or Dark Flesh with the pouches being Vermin Brown (the colour the boots are at the moment). I am planning on trying a further test model to make sure I am correct in my assumptions before I launch in to a full army.

Even if I alter the basic colours, if I paint a few in a similar fashion, I can sprinkle them throughout the units as older style kit so the test models won't go to waste.

I want to get the scheme right so I am hoping that the second one works.

More to come.

Hasslefree News.

Hasslefree Miniatures have just released finished pix of their latest Grymn Walker model. I can't say anything more about it than the picture will tell you:


There are two versions of the walker, the closed version above and the open version below:

To go with the walker, there is a seated pilot and a standing pilot that are shown below:


Here is a better pic of the standing pilot:

As you can see, these are some top Grymn miniatures and they will be an excellent addition to any Grymn army. Add these to the recent Grymn Officers that were released this week and all things Grymn are looking up.

Iron Man and friends.

It has been a while but Iron Man has joined the Super Team:


He has further been joined by Captain Britain:

Both of these new heroes continue the super-soldier ethos with Iron Man gaining all of his powers from his armoured suit and Captain Britain being an acrobatic brawler with super strength and endurance.

I still plan to add a few more but sculpting has slowed for the time being so I can't say when the next member of the team will arrive.

On to different news and Hasslefree Miniatures will be releasing the long awaited Grymn Officers tomorrow. I have been waiting a long time for them and will be placing my order tomorrow. If you also take into account that they have their December Bonus time starting tomorrow then it is, indeed, a great day!

She Hulk joins the team

This week, the super-soldier program gains another member and that is She-Hulk:

This is a slight departure for the Grymn scientists as they have been experimenting with a mix of super-serum and radiation to try and enhance their volunteer. Fortunately, the experiment worked and there have been few side effects...apart from a change in skin colouring! She-Hulk is super strong, super resilient and very agile as well.