Sci-Fi Scatter & a HUGE Purchase

    I picked up this 3-D printed Sci-Fi scatter from Garrison 3D - look like they belong on a flight line

Well, there goes the Acquired vs. Painted in the Miniatures category...for at least a few more months! I know I have been telling people that 28mm Fantasy is next year's project, what with the scheduled October release of the second edition of Dragon Rampant rules. I had made a couple small 28mm Fantasy purchases, but was holding off on a big one until next year. You know what they say about the best laid plans of mice and men, though...!

    Not my paint jobs -- these images are from the Gripping Beast website to show you what I purchased

Jeff from Shieldwall Miniatures decided he not only was going out of business, but also wanted to sell a lot of the stuff he bought for himself. He reached out to me because of my purchase of the 16 Orcs during his final 50% off sale, and because we've kept in contact for a good four-plus years now. He was selling a boatload of Gripping Beast metal 28mm Orcs. He kindly sent me the breakdowns and some pictures. I reached out to my friends and got a lot of, "Sorry, not interested" replies. However, one friend stepped forward and was interested in going in with me. He was very flexible, and said he'll take as much or as little as I wanted from what Jeff was selling.

    A big chunk of my purchase were armored Orcs & Goblins, but it is hard to tell them apart

In the end, we decided to split the Orcs down the middle, pack by pack. When Jeff mentioned he also had metal 28mm Dwarves, my friend jumped all over that, too. I was good with just the Orcs and Goblins, though. In the end, here's what I ended up adding 87 Gripping Beast Uruk Orc, Snaga goblins, and Troll miniatures to my collection of "Miniatures Acquired" category. 

    Another look at the scatter pieces alongside my 3-D printed Imperial Stormtroopers

Even though this is next year's project ("Keep telling yourself that, Mike..."), there's a good chance that I'll be painting some of these up between now and the end of the year. Painting my Vietnam project went much faster than I anticipated. I have some other odds and ends that I want to do in the meantime, but I will likely start working on these guys this Fall. One of the things I want to mix in are some 28mm Sci-Fi civilians. Lead Adventure Forum member Simon (Nozza) does an amazing job sourcing various Star Wars civvies and I have a serious case of "Monkey see, Monkey do" when it comes to his Star Wars project. I will likely just use some of the Stargrave plastic figures for them, though. We'll see...that's after I finish off my Viet Cong and U.S. soldiers for Vietnam.

    These creepy looking dudes with little modesty are labeled "Uruk Trackers"

Speaking of Sci-Fi and Star Wars, I did finally finish these six pieces of scatter this week. I picked them up early this year at Siege of Augusta from Bryan at Garrison 3D. I painted the first one up nearly a month ago, and really liked how it turned out. However, all those metallic blue bands and turquoise glowing bits take a lot of time. I think each one takes a good hour to do, and that's after they've received their base coat of Gunmetal Gray craft paint! I plan on using these in my next Star Wars scenario using Space Weirdos rules. I think they 'll make good "flight line" arrays.

    28mm Uruk archers from GB -- these Orcs are the way I picture them instead of GW's cartoony style

So, what else is on my painting table, now? The last batch of Viet Cong is nearing completion, and the last and next-to-last U.S. infantry is also underway. I did the 50/50 black paint and water final step of priming for three Buddha statues of plinths, more than a dozen oil barrels, and the MDF ruined building that I will be taking to the Historicon flea market. So, hopefully you'll be seeing those soon! In the meantime, I have to finally record that big 28mm Fantasy purchase below in my calculations. So...much...lead...to...paint!

    GB has a lot of cool descriptor names for their goblins, like "Night," "Forest," and "Mountain"...

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Miniatures acquired in 2025: 232
  
• Miniatures painted in 2025: 117 

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Terrain acquired in 2025: 21
  
• Terrain painted in 2025: 39

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Scatter acquired in 2025: 93
  
• Scatter painted in 2025: 78