Post-Apoc 'Bad Guys' - the Barbarozas!

    My final (I swear!) Post-Apoc gang, the Barbarozas -- the classic movie bad guys

A staple of every Post-Apocalyptic movie are the period equivalent of the biker gang. These are the badly-dressed savages who murder and pillage their way through the film until the hero of the movie gives them their comeuppance. That's what I painted this gang up to be. Their bits of improvised armor, raggedy clothes, fur, and flowing hair made them look the part for me. Even their name in the Battle Valor Games catalog, "Space Cannibals" implies that savagery.

    Three of my biker gang-like Barbarozas - the one with the machete/sword and gun may be the leader

These miniatures were part of the line that Battle Valor Games purchased from Sgt. Major Miniatures. My friends and I put together a huge order back in 2021 and these were from that order (see how quickly I paint?). They looked cool on the website and in the ziploc packs when I received them. However, once I began to paint them, I became less enthused with them. The casting was a little rough in some places and it was actually hard to tell where the shirts ended, for example, and the pants began. I repainted portions of about half of these once it became clear what I thought was the pants was actually fringes of a tattered shirt hanging down. I actually gave up on painting these for awhile after I had done the flesh tones. They looked a mess and I was struggling to find the motivation to paint them up.

    I love the improvised bits of armor these 'Space Cannibals' (Battle Valor Games) were sculpted with

Once I finished a few other batches of figures or terrain that apparently I wanted to paint more, I sat down one day and wrote the colors for the shirts and pants on each cardboard base. I painted the base colors for these, then did a dry brush over each. That was when I discovered, as the dry brushing revealed faint details, that I had to go back and fix some of the figures. Still, by this time, working on them had created a momentum of its own. I chose faded clothes of various colors, including jeans, black paints, etc., figuring these disorganized thugs wouldn't have any noticeable uniform.

    The final two gang members with their dirty clothes and long, flowing locks of 'metal band' hair

Next up, I did the various bits of armor they had festooned all over them. Inevitable, I missed a few pieces here and there and had to step back in this stage, too. I did the armor with a metallic gray craft paint, with highlights in pewter and silver. Then I did the various leather bits in a two tone rust color and ruddy leather. I picked out the various pieces of wood next (mainly on the melee weapons), and then finally their flowing hair. By this time, I had come up with the name for the gang, the Barbarozas. I chose this for the sub-conscious sight clue of the word root "barbarian" in there, and for the reference to the medieval German king, Frederick Barbarosa. I mention this because I know the his name technically means Red Hair (Rosa = red, and Barbar = Hair, "Barber Shop"). I thought about painting them all with flowing red or auburn hair, but figured that worked against the disorganized, non-uniform ethos of this gang. So, I used a variety of hair colors, all dry brushed a highlighting color.

The guns were next, and I used Iron Wind Metals Steel as my base coat with Silver or Pewter for highlights. A dirty black wash over all of them made them look like the unwashed savages that their inspiration in the movies would have. In the end, I was happy with how the Barbarozas came out. I know that I said that I was done with painting Post-Apocalyptic gangs earlier this year, but technically I did need one more as we had an additional player over what I'd originally planned. So, NOW I am done painting Post-Apocalyptic gangs...right?? Oh wait...and my friend Jason just emailed to say Battle Valor has another 50% off sale! Uh-oh...