Now with added Sterlings
Living in Ireland is generally lovely, I like the architecture and the company is excellent, which will almost certainly distract you from the weather. However, it does have some drawbacks; one of which is that figures can occassionally be difficult to get your paws on. This can occasionally be a concern even in these days of the internet. Fortunately, my good buddy Mike picked these up for me at a UK show and got them to me, proving that he is as able a smuggler as ever did the Kessel Run in twelve parsecs.
The figures themselves are Liberation miniatures from their Urban Meltdown range which arose out of the Winter of '79 blog by Mark and the boys, which I have written about before. I should note that they have just published a new ruleset. These are 1970s partisans/civilians armed with era appropriate British army kit. During our last Black Ops game, I had to use some VBCW chaps in flat caps and such to bulk out the Resistance. That shamed me into painting a few more of these fellas.
The top two are armed with Sterling Submachineguns, I'm particularly pleased with the fella in the yellow plastic mac.
Footage of the Sterling from 1955
GPMG gunner
The second two additions are a chap in head to two denim, which always reminds me of the 1970s as I remember it from television, and a GPMG gunner. Because of the size of the weapon, I painted this slightly differently, painting it black, then adding highlights of grey and then pure white. The figure itself is in jeans and one of the those West German jackets with a hood that older brother used to wear when I was small.
Silent, but deadly
Last amongst the figures is this lethal gentleman, a sniper in a ghillie suit. It occurs to me looking at the figure that I've painted the figure incorrectly. The ghillie suit was painted in Vallejo Reflective Green and then highlighted with the same colour fixed with increasing amounts of yellow.
The rifle however, should be an L42, an adaption of the famous Lee Enfield. But, I was actually painting these in bed and didn't bother consulting my sources, so the rifle is painted like an L96 that I got my hands on briefly while but a callow youth. The bright green plastic of the stock stuck very strongly in my memory.
Rashers
Lastly, I met this chap out and about the other day. This is Rashers, a distinguished looking older gentledog of fourteen. His mother was a black labrador and his father was an extremely persuasive basset hound.
For an older dog he moves around quite a bit and this was the only picture I was able to get when he wasn't a blur of movement,
Those first two look like they've stepped straight out of the Man from UNCLE!
ReplyDeleteThank you very much Rev.
DeleteMy copy of the Winter of 79 rules arrived yesterday and jolly interesting they look. I too will look out/get some 20mm stuff and have a wee go...
ReplyDeleteYour figures look great btw.
Thank you very much Alan. I like the vibe of the winter of 79, but I rather prefer a Soviet invasion to civil war.
DeleteGreat work on those figures. When will their outing on the miniature battlefield be?
ReplyDeleteCheers,
Pete.
Already done Sir, I just haven't posted it yet.
DeleteI look forward to the pictures and write up.
DeleteCheers,
Pete.
Nicely done Sir.
ReplyDeleteThank you Michael. From you high praise indeed.
DeleteNice dog, great figures very 70s yellow mac especially,the Stirling is a particularly distinctive piece from the 1950s to star wars
ReplyDeleteBest Iain
Thank you very much. I've always thought it looked the business.
Delete