My Adler Napoleonic and ACW Samples Finally Arrived!

Four weeks ago, the fine folks at Adler sent me a packet of ACW and Napoleonic samples. Just when I had given up hope that I would never see them, consigning the figures to customs purgatory, the packet arrived yesterday.

I was excited and nervous to see these little guys in the flesh. I've seen plenty of photos online, but I've never handled them in the flesh. Dumping them out on the table and then looking at them under my optivisor, I was impressed with their detail and character. My son, who proudly proclaimed he didn't need to wear a goofy optivisor, said: "Oh, they're not as small as I thought. They're really cool looking! But what's up with their heads?" Yeah, the "Adler head" issue quickly reared its...uh....head.

Let's Get to the Details, Shall We?
Overall, I love these little guys. I'm amazed they get so much detail on something so small that's cast in pewter. Because Alder exaggerates some key details like GHQ does with their micro-armor, the figures really pop, making them look more detailed than they really are. Same with the heads, which is kind of like a reversed forced perspective at work when you see the figures on the table. I think the heads look fine. (IMO 28mm gamers should be the last people to complain about larger-than-normal heads! Ever look at a 28mm head compared to a real head? I rest my case!) So a 10/10 for detail and character, that's for sure!

Cue the Flash Gordon Move Theme Song!
Even people just quickly glancing at the photos below can see these figures have a lot of flash. I was surprised how much flash some figures have. Honestly, I didn't notice the flash until after I snapped the photos. To be fair to Adler, not all the infantry strips were as bad as some of these. On a positive note, the flash on the infantrymen cleaned up very easily, even between the legs. The downside, is that cleaning up several 100 tiny figures can take just as long as cleaning up a few dozen larger figures. Another downside is that some of the cavalry were really badly flashed. Oh well. It seems that cleaning flash and mould lines is part of the hobby regardless of scale or material (metal or plastic). So a 4/10 for mould quality but an 8/10 for ease of clean up.

You So Tiny...And Cute
Wow, these guys are tiny...and fragile. I think every time I picked up a strip, I kept bending the rifles and sometimes an entire figure. Still, these Adler figures are more robust than the Baccus sample I got a couple years ago. I don't see these Adler breaking easily at the ankles like my Baccus did. With proper care, I don't think their fragility would be much of an issue. After all, anything this small will be fragile no matter who makes it.

Basing
I would only use Adler figures for grand tactical gaming, placing them on larger bases and far away from base edges where bulging fingers like mine wouldn't damage the figures. I would think that 60mm x 30mm or 60mm x 60mm would work best for my hands, though I know fellows with better hands than mine use smaller bases.

Bottom Line
Would I recommend these figures to someone looking to game horse and musket wars in 6mm/8mm? You bet I would! Will I actually paint at least one French and one Prussian Napoleonic army in this scale? I'm still not sure. I need to mess around with these guys a bit more before I commit any time and money to such a project. Plus, I've been talking with a buddy about starting a Prussian army in 18mm using AB Miniatures to fight his 18mm AB French. (You know, I tend to talk a lot about buying and painting Napoleonic figures more than actually buying and painting Napoleonic figures. But that topic is another post for another day.) Still, these little guys really are pretty neat. I can see why people enjoy them so much.

Many of the infantry have flash along the mould lines as well as between the legs.

I love the detailed backpacks. I could even paint the straps without problems!

I didn't clean up any of these strips. This is how they look fresh our of the pack.

Oh my. The flash on this strip was horrible and a bear to remove. The moulds must have been slightly off as well.

I got some ACW samples as well. Lot's of character, but I think I'll stick to no smaller than 10mm for ACW.

Assault Girls: Worst Sci-Fi Movie Ever

In nearly 50 years on this planet, I have never proclaimed a sci-fi movie to be the worst sci-fi movie ever made until I watched the unwatchable Assault Girls on Netflix the other night. Sure, over the years there have been some bad science fiction movies. The series Mystery Science Theater 3000 made a living poking fun at such bad movies. But even they would be hard pressed to find anything to poke fun of in this movie because there just isn't anything there! Acting? What acting? Characters? What characters?

Synopsis:  "In the aftermath of global thermonuclear war, three battle tested women wage war in a virtual reality videogame against giant mutant sandwhales. All of them seek to kill 'Madara Sunakujira' the game's end boss but find that despite their high levels, are unable to engage it alone as they wish, forcing them to form a party to defeat it together."

Ok, sounds kind of stupid and bad, but this is a movie from the director of Ghost in the Shell, a far superior product. Yeah, Assault Girls gets horrid reviews on Netflix, but I have enjoyed many supposedly bad movies. And sometimes they can be so bad that they can be fun for me to watch. Boy was I wrong!

I should have known it was going to be bad when the movie starts with something like 15 minutes of exposition explaining what the future earth and its society will be like. Unfortunately, its rambling mess of exposition lost me within minutes. Then the movie (and real pain) begins. Just take a look at the trailer, which I did not see until writing this post. I think it speaks for itself. I had to stop the movie after half an hour--I just could not take it any longer. Come on! Even Battleship has to be better than this movie!

Safari Ltd Toys for Mighty Joe Young Pulp Gaming

The local Jo-Ann Fabric craft store in their clearance section has been blowing out toy figures from Safari Ltd. I left the fairy princess, sorcerer, and other such human figures for kids who would appreciate playing with them, but I did grab the two Lowland Gorilla Males they had, paying only .99 cents each instead of the $7 retail for each.

Being a fan of everything pulp I right away thought of the classic 1949 Ray Harryhausen movie, Mighty Joe Young. I figured the size of the gorillas would work well with 25mm-28mm figures and was right. The photo below shows the toys with some of my figures. Ok so the Soviets are not in the film, but the film sure does have enough cowboy explorers in it. (A nice part of Western gaming is that you can use many of the figures in Wild West shootouts, Africa exploration, mummy hunting, and more--something people overlook.)

I'm thinking about repainting the gorillas, but they look pretty good as they are for now. However, they are glossy toys. I've thought of shooting them with some Dullcote, but I've heard on other forums that Dullcote can have a bad reaction with vinyl figures if the Dullcote contacts the vinyl (A while back I sprayed some Star Wars miniatures with no ill effect, so take that for what it's worth.) Perhaps brush matte varnish would be just as good?

Oh yeah, over the weekend I also picked up a toy elephant from a local thrift store, paying only $1, which at the moment seems to be my favorite price point! Now all I need are the Sergeants 3 pack and some Thuggees from Pulp Figures, and I can game Gunga Din, which I watched for the first time a few weeks ago on TMC. (BTW that project is on the burner.) So keep your eyes out for cool and cheap toy animals, monsters, dragons, and the such for gaming.

I think these scale great. With 15mm pulp figures, you can use the gorilla as King Kong.

On the Workbench: West Wind London Thugs

I'm also working on West Wind's pack of 28mm London Thugs, another generic pack of disgruntled Victorian workers and street folk perfect for Victorian science fiction and horror. Some also work for Western games, though the trousers can be a dead giveaway that these are more Victorian than American Wild West.

Again, variations of the bloke on the far left appear in at least one other pack, the Lady Doctor.

Hey, didn't I see the fellow on the left in another pack? Hmmm....Cousins?

On the Workbench: West Wind London Mob

Ironically, I've been complaining that I'm tired of painting 19th century and WWII figures, so what do I do? I start painting more 19th century figures! Someday I'll figure out how my brain thinks. Anyway, I mentioned on Brummie's excellent blog that I'd post some photos of the pack of West Wind's 28mm London Mob, because WW and Old Glory only have a photo showing one of the eight figures you get.

I love nearly all the figures in West Wind's horror lines, having bought many packs of them years ago when Old Glory said they would no longer be casting them. The West Wind figures have great, often exaggerated character, making them fun to paint and put on the table. Unfortunately, some of them look like they were sculpted after the artist came home from an all-night bender. *cough*GHZ-5 Lady Doctor and Her Staff*cough* Thankfully, those seem few and far between.

Oddly, the head on the far left fellow gets repeated in other packs, a common WW practice.

Priming Miniatures: Gesso Update 2

Well, several days have passed along with three evenings of power outages since I primed the latest batch of figures using black Golden gesso and the results are in.

The Golden gesso adheres great to the miniatures, not blocking details too much. The gesso doesn't rub off with normal pressure, unlike my last batch of Liquitex gesso.

Some of the figures have bare spots, which can be typical of any gesso. You can see the Blue Moon Zorro doesn't have any bare spots front or back, but the Blue Moon cowboy does. I'd say about a third of the 20+ figures I primed have some bare spots. I've never been able to figure out when, where, or why this happens. If anyone knows, please post it in the comments section! I'll just brush black over these bare spots. When the figure is sealed, the spots will be fine without any paint rubbing off in those areas.

All in all, I like the Golden brand much more than the current Liquitex.