Troops That Battle - Draconis Combine Officer

Another quick slapping-on of paint - this time a teeny-weeny Battletroops miniature from Ral Partha. Way back when the game came out (1989 or so), I bought into it pretty hard; the original rules, the Clantroops (Clans, *puke*) expansion, and both boxed sets of miniatures, Kurita and Steiner. Well, my group and I played about three games and decided we didn't like it, so into the footlocker of shame they went.

Nostalgia being a thing, I recently dug the miniatures out and decided to actually paint one, just to see how the uniforms as presented in the sourcebooks look in 3-D. The Draconis Combine (House Kurita) being my absolutely favorite successor state in the Battletech is what pushed to choose this guy. That, and the Steiner uniforms are hideous.

Officer with SMG. Three blue stripes
denote a Lieutenant.

Now, the descriptions in the sourcebook describe the undersuit as being tan, but the pictures all show it as being a closer-to-orange color. Interestingly, I have an old Ceramcoat paint that is almost an exact match.

From FASA's House Kurita Sourcebook, circa 1987

It has been a good long while since I painted something with the tiny scale/proportions of a Ral Partha mini. Going from chunky Citadel to this was a great challenge to my poor old eyes - needless to say, the paint job is a bit, er, abstract, and I didn't even think about HIS eyes.

How 'bout that scale creep?

One thing we never tried in the three games we played was to use the rules for 'Mechs in Battletroops. Yes, 'Mechs. In an infantry game. Not too sure if we were worried about how hard that would be, or if we were just bored by the fact that the 'Mech is represented by a flat, square templare. Yaawwnn. Me being a dumb-assed kid at the time didn't realize that I had a few 'Mech models at my disposal in the form of Robotech toys (which I e-bayed off quite a while ago ;/). Nostalgia still continuing to be a thing, I recently bought a little buddy to go with my Battletroop miniatures, should I decide to continue with them:

"It's behind me, isn't it?"

Extreeem zoom-out! Ignore the minis
behind the curtain.

Yay! Another large-scale painting project! D:

;)

Thug Lyfe - Bob and RAEG

Next up are a couple of old Citadel Chaos Thugs from the 80's. I didn't actually own them back then - they are both somewhat recent acquisitions from Ebay lots. Naturally, they have ropey proportions and just an overall odd feel to them, and that's probably why I like them so much! So here you go, Bob and Raeg (spelling intentional) - Chaos Thugs for lyfe.

Bob on the left, Raeg on the Rihgt.

Butt shots - my pics show me SO MANY mistakes!

Shields. Raeg is a full-on Khorne fanboy. Bob is still uncertain.

RAEG

Oddly dramatic shot courtesy of my dumb phone camera. 
Yes, I see the missed lock of hair.

Both thugs have the appearance of "just joined Chaos and got our first attributes" recruits. Raeg here obviously got "Brightly-Patterned Skin" for his, and boy-oh-boy is he pleased that it's RED. This miniature's cartoonish, over-exaggerated ANGERY (spelling also intentional) pose could only land him in a Khorne warband (that, and I am also a big Khorne fanboy). I mean, he's screaming at the ground for fuck's sake! It's like he saw a spider on his foot, and now he's all, "DO YOU CHALLENGE ME TO A DUEL SIR?!?!" Being a worshiper of the Blood God, he won't miss a few absent toes; especially if he rolled a couple Personaliy Losses too.

Bob

Smug old Bob.

Bob also has his first attribute - Horns. He's probably worried that they'll affect his chances with the ladies. Unlike Raeg, he's not sure that Khorne is right for him (he probably joined just because Raeg is his drinking buddy/frat brother), so he just has a Chaos Undivided star on his shield. Come on Bob, commit! You know how everyone sees Chaos Undivided types:

Blood, Sex, Disease or WTFBBQ. Choose one.

Bob is hoping that he can sneak away from Raeg to join a less noisy (psychotic) warband. "Didn't I hear about a god of excess or something? That would be cool." 

Up next on the painting desk? Who the hell knows? I'm pretty much going as my fancy takes me until I make myself work on one of my aforementioned projects (you know - I mentioned them last year :/).