Zone Alfa - New Blood - Eureka Minis - Contractor Crew

I was a bit naughty after seeing some pictures up for a company called 'Eureka Miniatures' which seem to cater perfectly for the stalker/chernobyl aesthetic. I discovered they're an Australian company located in Victoria which made it far easier to commit to.

The models i printed were always intended as stand-in proxies until i worked out what i really wanted for this game.

While i generally hate metal, it does create a detailed and robust model, and if they're in one piece and need no glue-up (though a minority of these do) then i'm fine with them. 

Picked up a large squad of american style marines, some military contractors, seal team 6, a barrett sniper, an svd sniper... and a dog (? - i think from the marines as one of the guy seems to have a 'snack bag' on his belt ?? [ed: still haven't worked this out and the pictures on the site don't help either]).

Given my zone is not specifically meant to be Russian these should all be fine... for starters.

For an Australian audience i can't recommend these highly enough even sans-paint. Especially for the price and convenience, i.e. no hefty currency conversion and moderate shipping, they're brilliant. Will hopefully deal with them again.

I have a bunch of mdf round bases in-bound for basing. not bothering with clear acrylics, and even plastic bases are expensive compared to $0.17 mdfs from battlefield-accessories.

update 2020-08-14

Now with added baseness. they no longer tumble over all the time which is nice. Basing will cover the blobby glue work. 

I still have absolutely no idea what i'm going to do with them... i'd prefer not to necessarily break the groups up as a unified 'contractor' or dedicated 'military' faction would make a good AI group... grrrr confusing. 

So for now the project is getting shelved i think...

Slightly later: i think i've decided that the contractors will form the core of my own new/main crew. there's enough of them there in acceptable poses that i can use 3-4 of them as is - which is more than enough for a start.

i also chopped up the svd guy to get the gun. this will be grafted on to one of the contractor (the tommy-gun guy).  

left to right:

selection criteria: anyone not looking down the barrel is dubious, unless they're running. Anyone with an ar15 (assault rifle) is in the running. 

A)  (front) perfect - aiming and gunna shoot someone. you're in.

B)  (back)  new svd guy  worked out well. will need to greenstuff/epoxy the front hand but otherwise perfect. that's my sniper dude sorted.   was previously running 'battle rifle', this may sub in. 

C)  (back) running dude, yeah, dynamic modelling, is don is good.

D)  (back) not an ar15, more like an fn-fal. kind of ready and looking the right way. 1/2 a vote

E)  (front) looking forward, has an ar15... looks interested. 1/2 a vote. alternate for leader.   [this guy never made the initial cut]

F)  (front) hand signal guy, obvious candidate for the verteran/leader as he'll be cheerleading on other models for most of the game.

G)  (back) seems to have a heavier gun, looking the wrong way. only on there at all cos he's got a heavy weapon.  [this guy never made the initial cut]

so yeah, given the game only needs about 6 models max for a crew this is a goodly start.

update ends

update 2020-08-18

This was finished days ago, i just don't get around to updating immediately some times...

Getting a good pic was actually quite tricky. the caps make the faces really dark from front on (fulfilling the purpose of a cap of course). this was the best i could come up with. slightly better in real light but more or less this.

just reviewing the prior picture. i might do up those other two models to have some options for a bigger points game. a heavy weapons (hmg) guy might be a handy option too. future project.

update ends

update (sometime between 2020-08-18 and 2020-08-24)   -  the extra contractors

still the same batch as before, but the 'less dynamic' looking ones. with the other ones completed i happened to set my eye on these.

the guy on the left just fell short of the original selection.

the guy on the right was formerly looking to his right. i figured i could cut the head off and reposition it. i then tried clamping it between two pieces of wood and twisting gently, worked ok. would have fatigued the metal a little, but it's tin and not in for large stresses anyway.

anyways, they're both now acceptable, if only as guards or extras.

Base coat on. i figured that i should probably get paint on them while the formula is still fresh in memory.

one one guy didn't make it at all (kneeling guy).

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Update 2020-08-24

Just finished these guys.

The guy on the right didn't have a pistol, and neither did the sniper from the previous batch. i press-moulded pistols from one of the other models. these turned out not so great and i ended up mainly sculpting them into shape. Not perfect but ok from a distance.

This guy probably has a magnum revolver just for something different (cos that's how it turned out).

So that's definitely it for these guys. Overall... pretty damn happy with the project.

update ends

Until next time...