New Gang: Sons of Thor (German Village chapter)

The Sons of Thor (German Village chapter) are the next of my fictional gangs in my urban warfare project

 When I first decided to go ahead with this project, I had my eyes on Foundry's Ancient German line of 28mm miniatures. I had one or two for my Dark Ages project and new that a number of them were simply bare-chested guys with pants. Since both hands were empty for most, there was nothing overly Ancient about them. I had my friends Tim and Don, who were heading to Fall In 2018, pick up some from a vendor who I knew would be in the flea market selling them.

28mm Foundry Ancient Germans were the figures I used for this gang, with scratch-built weapons

I picked out twelve that I liked the best, and then sat down to make weapons for them. I decided to make some sledgehammers, pipes, clubs, and chains for them. For the chains, I decided to do an experiment with a metal handle with a length of chain attached. The handle was just brass wire, and the chain was a leftover one from a broken piece of jewelry. I had done this with one of the Bexley Blockwatch, but left the chain handing straight down. For these, I decided to paint them with the chain arranged as if it were swinging through the air. I liked it MUCH better this way. For the hammers, I took tiny little pieces of MDF leftover (punchouts) from the 28mm buildings I have been making. I drilled them with a pin vise, holding onto and squeezing the MDF firmly so it didn't split while it was drilled out. I epoxied in more brass wire, then wrapped a tiny bit of duct tape around the wire for a thicker and somewhat textured handle. I should probably have shaped the hammer head with an X-acto knife some, but I think they turned out okay, too. The pipes were aluminum tubes from the craft store, and the clubs were pieces of craft sticks trimmed up with an X-acto knife.

I like the chains whipping through the air much better than simply hanging straight down

The figures were done with my usual, brush-on white prime base coat. I then painted a craft paint flesh on them, followed by a ruddy orange wash that I have premixed. It really gives definition in the muscles. The jeans were painted with Denim craft paint color and dry brushed a Howard Hue light blue. Some jeans were done in a darker blue, and a couple in black. I gave them dark brown or black belts with highlights. For their hair, I went with a number of blonde or light hair colors as this was to be a gang from German village -- which used to be where many German immigrants lived in Columbus on the south side many years ago. I chose the Sons of Thor as a gang name, and postulated they are the local chapter of a nationwide, Teutonic gang. Thus, the proliferation of blondes, auburns, light browns, with a few darker mixed in. Each was dry brushed with a highlight color. The shoes were done as sneakers, mostly white but with a few blue and red.

The big auburn-haired dude is the only one with cast-on weapons that I used in this gang

The tattoos came last. I did a Google Image search of Viking+Tattoo and picked out ones I liked with elements I thought I could recreate with a brush. My efforts were so-so -- not stunning, by any means, but not embarrassing, I hope! I chose to do the tattoos in dark blue, dark red, and black to give it some variety. Some turned out better than others, some more clumsy than others. All in all, I am pleased with this gang - my fifth for the project. I think I will paint up two more before I start playtesting my rules. So, stay tuned!

New Gang: Bexley Blockwatch

The Bexley Blockwatch - a fictional gang of suburban men fed up with gangs preying upon their middle class streets

One of the cool parts about getting into gaming modern urban gang warfare is that I could scrounge through my collection and use all those cool 25mm-28mm figures I picked up over the years but had no real use for. Rooting through my trays of unpainted lead, I found I had a lot of 20th century types that looked nothing like what you would consider gang members. So, I came up with the idea of a neighborhood of ordinary, middle-aged folks who were fed up with the crime on their streets and decided to do something about it. Thus was born the Bexley Blockwatch!

The figures come from a variety of periods/sources - including the posh gentleman in the center armed with a golf club!

Bexley is a relatively high to middle income suburb surrounded by a sea of low income neighborhoods in Columbus. So in my fictional gang warfare Columbus, the residents react to an inner city gang moving in on their middle class streets and preying upon their families. All the hotheads and ex-rugby and football players meet to hash out a plan. The next time the gang wanders through the neighborhood, they are surrounded by a growing mob of angry, middle class men. Before long, the men wade in with walking sticks, pool cues, golf clubs -- whatever they had handy, and beat the snot out of the gang. A few weeks of quick reactions to gang members coming in trying to get payback, and the Bexley Blockwatch has control of its neighborhood. The more hot-headed among them decide it was fun busting some heads again, and agree to export their protection services to other neighborhoods in exchange for compensation (of course).

The leaders of the Bexley Blockwatch - from left, The Captain, Cueball, and Wilberforce

The miniatures are from a wide variety of manufacturers, of course. There are few that I actually know where they came from, so I'll mention them in the closeups. For example, the imposing green-suited guy in the center above is a Reaper Henchman -- I think supposed to be Odd Job, the hat-throwing villain from James Bond movies. I don't know where I got The Captain, who dresses in his old ship captain's uniform, or Wilberforce, who looks like a wealthy gentleman out for a stroll with his walking stick. Since the figures come from a number of manufacturers, they are of different sizes. These three are the tallest, so I decided to make them my leaders.

Many of the figures required modification, such as taking the guns out of the hands of the two on the right

A lot of the figures I culled from the unpainted bins for this gang were armed with pistols, including the two on the right. I did my best to trim away excess metals so that it isn't noticeable, but I never claimed to be the best modeler when it comes to that skill! I really like the guy in the center, and think his color combination came out great. He stands ready to wade in with his fists should any young gang punk show his face. The guy on the right has brought a fire axe to the fight, and looks ready to use it! And finally, the civilian on the left is modeled on my friend (and Bexley resident) Allen. I added the bushy gray beard and hair (and the pool cue as a hastily-snatched weapon). Allen does wear glasses, and was an architect at one point in his career. So, the briefcase has his last name on it in tiny letters!

Three more upper crust, middle-aged men keep watch on their streets, ready to deal out a thumping to any miscreants

The figure in the center is one of my favorite. I chose a number of these figures for this gang because they had no obvious weapons other than walking sticks. This guy leans on a golf club driver. What with his baggy golf pants and suit jacket and tie, he personifies Bexley's reputation in Columbus as a wealthy suburb. His jaunty pose and arrogant stare really make the pose come to life! The one on the right, I believe, is a 25mm Ral Partha model because it is noticeably shorter than most of the others in the gang. Speaking as someone who has been noticeably shorter than most other males throughout his life, I can vouch for the realism of including bigger and smaller figures in a unit. He is obviously meant to be a private detective model, and it is hard not to like the flinty stare as he sucks on his cigar. He's unarmed...unless that left hand is reaching for something in his pocket? The left-hand figure was armed with a pistol, as well, and looks like an Indiana Jones type miniature. I kept in the overall brown scheme of Indiana Jones, but added in a more colorful straw yellow vest and red tie. I also added in a brass rod painted to resemble a pool cue.

The final three members of the gang epitomize the variety of sources I gleaned the miniatures from

So, these last three somewhat epitomize the variety of sources I pulled figures from for this gang. The one in the middle is an Old Glory figure from its newspaper reporters pack (from the Spanish-American War, I believe). Thus his campaigning boots, shoulder bag, and cowboy-esque hat. I think he was supposed to be holding a microphone in his left hand, but I switched it to cigar. His rough and ready look shows he would be one of the first residents to volunteer to smash some heads to protect the neighborhood. The one on the left looks like a genteel Victorian gentleman, but his glare shows that he's quite ready to use that cane to thrash any insolent punk that shows his face. I really like his hairstyle, too, the mutton chops giving the look of someone immersed in his bygone age or respect and proper treatment for society's "betters"! Finally, the slighter figure in the suit jacket and tie on the right originally held some sort of electronic device (flashlight, maybe?). I changed this to a steel rod with a nice length of chain attached. I plan on arming a number of gang members in this project with chains, as I have a nice length of it I scavenged from some broken piece of jewelry.

I'm really enjoying painting figures for this project! Already primed on my desk is the next gang from the south side of Columbus, German Village. Stay tuned to see what their theme is...!

New Gang: Grandview Gurkhas

The Grandview Gurkhas - a fictional Nepali gang protecting their home turf of Grandview Heights in Columbus

Another gang is painted up and ready to fight for control of my fictional mean streets of Columbus. This is a gang composed of Nepali immigrants (my city actually has a very high number of recent immigrants from Nepal, so it seemed appropriate). I decided to reflect the colorful traditional garb of Nepal, those these figures are actually not meant to be Nepali. They are from an Old Glory 25mm bag of (I believe) Moros from the Spanish-American War. I did my best with the brush to make them look the part with color choices, vests, etc., though the turban is not exactly a Nepali Dhaka Topi!

Fists ready to pound intruders into the pavement, these gang members were originally Old Glory Moros, I believe

Each fictional gang is given an actual Columbus neighborhood as their home turf, and so I chose Grandview Heights, as it is close to downtown and the alliteration fit to call them Grandview Gurkhas. As most History buffs know, the Gurkhas were elite British army units recruited from people of Nepali ancestry. So, it made sense that a gang would hearken back to its past for a name. My gang symbol painted on the backs of the vests didn't turn out as nice as my sketch of it did (a 6-pointed red star with a black scales of justice inside). Oh well...maybe I should have chosen white on the red star, instead of black!

I thought the leaders came out pretty well - they were the only ones I got fancy with, adding stripes on the pants

There were five basic poses I had to choose between. One leader pose with a staff needed little modification, though I did try to bend the arms of one of them a bit to make it look different. There were two sword armed poses. I did my best to bend the swords sharply to make them look more like Gurkha knives, which have a backward curve. I was fairly happy with how they turned out. The remaining two poses were supposed to be spearmen. I bent the arms around to make them look less like spearmen without a spear and hopefully more like guys with their fists up in a boxing pose.

The swords of these figures were bent backwards to make them look more like Gurkha knives

For the colors, I did Google searches of traditional Nepali costume, and saw that darker vests with lighter shirts seemed fairly common. The headgear tended to be very brightly colored, so I painted the turbans in a variety of colors, as well. Each figure has its own color combination, what with the vest, shirt, pants, sash, and headgear. I find it helpful to temporarily base miniatures on stiff cardboard, which allows me to write notes on the base to remind myself of what colors I'd picked out for that figure.

Gang members keep watch from the roof of a three-story Sarissa Precision MDF building

I was pretty happy with the look of the bases on the Linden Daos (my first gang painted up for this project). However, I thought the ballast I used was a little big, so I went to the store and bought some Gray Blend of medium size. This turned out much better, I thought. And my black wash wasn't as dark, which also makes it look like good city flocking, so to speak.

The exterior of the three story MDF building - I like how the gray dry-brushing turned out

The figures are posed against one of my Sarissa Precision City Block buildings. One of the cool things about these Sarissa MDF buildings is that you can buy extra floor sections of most of the city block styles to make them go from 2-story, to three, four -- whatever you want. This one I painted gray with dry brushing on the stones to give it more of a three dimensional effect. I added a structure atop the roof to be where the roof entrance lets out, and added more of the coarse Gray Blend Woodland Scenics ballast for the roof. 

I also like the printed paper floors I added to these buildings - they give them a nice touch, I think!

I have a few more gangs in the pipeline, so stay tuned for more posts about this project!

"Can you dig it, suckas...?" The Linden Daos, my First Gang

The Linden Daos, the first of my 28mm modern urban gangs inspired by the movie, "The Warriors"

The quote, "Can you dig it, suckas?" is from the cult classic 1979 movie, "The Warriors." Cyrus seeks to unite the gangs of New York City into one force and take over the city. This world, with its bizarre-uniformed gangs is the inspiration for my latest painting project. If you read my earlier post, "What Project Next?", you now know it was the winner of the two choices. I've decided to run games of modern gang warfare in the city using the Tribal rules with their Brutal supplement.

Most of the figures come from a Mega Minis blister pack, Kung Fu fighters, including these four

Here is my first purposefully painted gang for this project: The Linden Daos. Loosely modeled on the The Riffs from the movie, they are a black gang devoted to Kung Fu martial arts. I have chosen to set my games in my hometown of Columbus, Ohio, using various actual neighborhoods for each gang's home turf. Since the movie was set in the 1970s, I've given this gang a very 1970s color scheme -- yellow and purple. I chose yellow because I thought it would be a good contrast for African-American skin tone, and purple because it would look like something from the 70s.

Three more Linden Dao gang members posed in front of their turf - my newest 28mm Sarissa Precision MDF building

Nine of the figures for this gang are what I had left over from a blister pack of Mega Minis Kung Fu fighters. Mega Minis is no longer in business, which is a shame. They always had a wide variety of some pretty unusual miniatures. They weren't the highest quality figures, but they hit niches that other better quality figure lines miss entirely. Plus they were always a good deal, price-wise. I used the rest of the blister pack earlier for my secret martial arts society for my Pulp games, The Order of the Fire Coral. I think those boys will make an appearance as a gang, too. It just so happens I painted up exactly 12 Fire Coral figures, which is the size I am painting each gang to -- at least initially.

These three figures are from Bob Murch's Pulp Figures (I believe) and are meant to represent the leaders of the gang

All nine of the figures for the Linden Daos are unarmed, using only their fists for weapons. The Brutal rules accounts for this, and units are not really be penalized for brawling only with their fists. The other three figures in the unit are from (I believe) Bob Murch's Pulp Figures collection. The woman was supposed to be holding up a pole with a large parasol attached. However, I felt her hands were in a nice Kung Fu pose without the pole. So, I left her that way. The other two figures, the one with the sword and the other with the walking stick and pipe, are meant to represent that bad-as-Hell elderly master of the order. The cane-using gentleman will be the main leader, with the other as a hero.

Two gang members on lookout atop the roof of my new storefront building - note the darker flocking after a black wash

I decided to have their uniforms emblazoned with a gang symbol on their back. I Googled "Kung Fu symbols" and over and over, the Yin Yang symbo popped up as the response. The more I thought about it, the more I believed it would be relatively easy to paint. As it turns out, it is harder than it looks! Some of my Yin Yangs look good. On others, you probably can't tell what it's supposed to be...ha, ha! I also felt the black would complement the black sashes they wore. I think they turned out okay, but I really felt they would look better.

Street level view of the Linden Daos gathered in an alley, ready to go on a raid - note the funky 1970s colors!

Since most of the battles will occur in the city (cue the Joe Walsh song here), I gave them a different kind of flocking. I painted the basing a medium gray, then flocked them with Woodland Scenics Gray Blend Ballast. I used the coarse size, but will likely go up to the store and buy some Medium to make it look a bit less rocky and more gravelly. Once dry, I gave the ballast a black wash -- probably too dark on this first attempt. Later, I added a couple patches of grass and green tufts to break up the all gray appearance. I like how the flocking looks -- urban, but not too jarring. It should blend in well with the tabletop.

The figures are posed around my latest 28mm Sarissa Precision MDF building. This is meant to be a mini market, or some similar storefront. I haven't decided to do it as a convenience store, or diner, or what. When I do decide, I intend to add some posters to the exterior walls to jazz it up a bit.