Or the whole Major Mike Tyson thing?
Well, this is the internet, and we are talking about thumb-sized science fiction miniature wargaming. So the rule as it seems to be tends toward the ridiculous.
I am a Mike, one of the 2,351,691,914 or so on the planet (I completely made that number up...)
So I needed something to go with Mike, a name for what will hopefully be a hard hitting series of little miniatures campaigns, not just science fiction although that is the current flavor.
As I am a child of the 80s, who could possibly provide better inspiration than Mike Tyson? Remember by definition we are talking about the ridiculous. I make no pretense as to defending Mike Tyson as an individual etc or admiring him as a person.
Imagine my further entertainment after reflecting on Tyson Fury. Talk about colorful characters! Again, no comment regarding him as an individual.
That's the background for the naming of Tyson's Furies.
But wait, there is further color to this story, literally.
As I'm painting up my latest batch of minis, basically aircraft (transports and attack aircraft) and a few mechs, with a couple of wheeled armored command vehicles thrown in, I wanted to go for a very neutral color scheme. Think camouflage, so olive drab or what have you. Except in the sci fi realm, we have no idea where these troops will be showing up. What planet? what part of what planet?
Grey seemed the best solution. suitably drab no matter where they land. preferably a darker grey, but not so far as charcoal/slate. I found that color and was very happy with it - field gray.
Heaven forbid but after painting them up, I learned the Tamiya field gray I was using was basically German gray during the war. So as a Jewish guy I've just painted up my sci fi minis in German field gray from the war. Not appropriate at all!
I did try to minimize the field gray on some of the minis after the horrible realization, by painting over them with a lighter gray. 2-color scheme camouflage. I think that works reasonably well, at least until someone points out matching patterns of German armor from the war!
Other notes re the minis. The large freighter (had been intended as an airborne command vehicle, like an AWACS, but apparently not allowed in Horizon Wars), the Kirin combat walkers (not pictured at present but likely to surface in future games), and strike fighter (not picture at present) are from Brigade models. Very happy with the level of detail and design of these minis.
The rest of the minis, at least the aircraft, are from ground zero games. The AV9 VTOL gunship, and troop/medium transports.
The cockpit glass is black with a little silver/metal mixed in to give a shine effect. it looked really good after painting, but the dull/flat coat i sprayed has toned it down too much. Gary liked it though! And the engine exhaust from the large freighter/airborne command is orange (actually yellow and red mixed) with a little bronze thrown in. I thought the bronze effect would add nicely to the color mix, but also again give it a little metallic shine like the glow of an engine. pretty pleased with that i was.
Note the color coding, little flashes of color discreetly painted on to panels of any duplicate models. As there is some amount of record keeping for Horizon Wars, I wanted a way to tell the individual models apart. Hence now I can actually have a "gold leader" leading my attack wing for science fiction minis!
No comments:
Post a Comment