POWER ARMOUR!

Well hello everyone for what is certain to be the last post of 2019 by me. This one has been a long time coming so I hope you enjoy what I have to show you today/tonight. Let me introduce El Grupo de Contención (Containment Team) who are the final set of miniatures for el Ministerio de Investigación Burocrática (Ministry of Bureaucratic investigation). These miniatures are also from Elhiem Figures just like the last couple posts. Let's take a closer look.

Iron Man's somewhat more subtle cousins.

While the men and women in black make up the bulk of the MIB there are others who are trained and equipped to deal with those really, really persistent gas leaks. Most notable are El Grupo de Contención (Containment Team). Wearing the most advanced individual protective gear available to any Oronegrean forces, they fall somewhere between infantry and armour.

Group photo. Somewhat ruined by the shadow of the Camera.

In terms of protection they can easily shrug of most assault rifle rounds up to 7.62mm. Protection does extend up to 12.7mm (the 50 cal) however only for the torso and thighs, which are covered by the densest and thickest plates. Resistance to higher calibre rounds is limited to shots from long range and glancing blows. Chemical, Biological, Radiation and Nuclear protection is a central feature of the armour as is resistance to explosives. In short it can take a punch, the same kind of punch a light tank can take.

Another photo of the platoon

It should be noted though that protection is not even across body. The rear of the legs do not have any armoured plates to protect them and there's gaps on the underside of the arms too. This is mitigated by their advanced optics, digital battlefield awareness system and HUD prevent any threat sneaking up to attack these vulnerable locations undetected. Much like a tank it is important to consider the balance, in a triangle, between armour, mobility and firepower. So let's move onto the second factor of mobility. 

The platoon splits up into three fireteams each of four troopers.

Unsurprisingly given the level of armoured protection the armoured suit is significantly heavy. Even individual plates are hard to lift and a whole suit cannot be moved unaided. That's where the power aspect of the power armour comes in. Each suit has a basic internal mobility system, which prevents the suit from crushing its user. However, the primary source of mobility is the large exoskeleton which enables the wearer to run, jump and roll as if they were wearing gym wear. This exoskeleton is somewhat vulnerable due to being exposed but failure of the system is uncommon even when it received fire.

Some individual shots. This one shows off the wasteland theme of the base with dead grasses. A homage to Fallout the classic post apocalyptic game, which also heavily features power armour.

Finally we turn to firepower. Here things become less extraordinary. Usually it's just your basic selection of infantry weapons. There's some more exotic weapons, such as miniguns, available but these are rarely used. Assault rifles and general purpose machine guns are the norm. Light anti-tank weapons are sometimes brought out however the troops also carry a selection of grenades, which given the exoskeleton can be thrown over long distances accurately. This provides an alternative to rocket launched grenade systems.

Oddly for top secret forces these troops often wear Oronegrean flag patches. Although if you see them you are unlikely to be able to tell anyone after.

Overall then these forces are not the kind of people you as an extraterrestrial, or supernatural individual really want to encounter. Far less so if you are just a run of the mill human being. Which is a distinct and horrifying possibility. Despite belonging to the MIB these units are called into military operations. They are one of the very few groups who have the privilege to work with Los Angeles Negros, Black Angels, in combat operations. However, this only occurs when explicitly invited by the angels. Who, much to the horror of the MIB, are somehow able to contact the bureau but cannot be reached by the very agency which is able to locate a rogue alien slow gas leak, in a cave, in the jungle, at midnight on the other side of the globe, have never been able to track down their even more secretive allies.

The lighter green exoskeleton clearly visible in this shot. It is linked into the large "backpack" which serves as the power unit for the armour, a storage compartment, the battlefield computer and communication equipment.

Moving onto the miniatures themselves I must say that I am rather impressed. There's some areas where detail is lost and some holes not fully filled. However, the proportions are very good and detail is, upon the whole, excellent. 7.5/10

Heavy weapons troopers wear a slightly different variant of the suit. Notably the smaller "backpack" and larger helmet

In other news I attended my first meeting of the Auckland Wargaming Club. Watched a few games and got to show off these figures who were as yet unfinished. Wish these figures see any action on the miniature battlefield sometime soon? Well let's see, watch this space.

Ammunition belts unroll from within the "backpack". The heavy weapons version is easier to open to allow resupply of the internal ammunition magazine.

One final comment before leaving it to the photos and captions. Deciding upon the camouflage was quite a fun exercise. I decided to take that ambiguity between whether these units were infantry or armour and represent that through camouflage. The choice was for a four tone pattern, dark green base, with khaki patches bordered by sand on top and black below. This was influenced by some cold war tank patterns altered to work on the smaller plates of the power armour suit. 

Front on view highlights the different helmet design with wider visor. This allows a wider field of vision without use of a HUD.

Despite the weight of the suit these soldiers are highly mobile. Their operations require rapid response. Armour substitutes subtlety. When you can't take the time to sneak in you must instead survive inevitable fire coming your way.

So I have paid homage to the Fallout franchise but I will also mention the classic novel Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlein. Have to say I prefer the mechanical look to the naturalistic one described in the books.

Have to say that I probably wouldn't have had so many photos of so few figures but my camera ran out of batteries after photographing three. So instead of deleting some and using more of others I went with what I had.

This figure I particularly like for the pattern of the backpack. The "logic" of the pattern is clear to see. Whereas on other figures it is harder to make out after the washes were applied, the four tones stand out here.

Final photo, gun and helmet mounted flashlights are clear to see.

So that was quite a long post. Included many things that would previously been included on a post on the Oronegro blog, which usually focuses on the "in universe" aspects. However, I am still thinking about how to approach the story so before that's clear I am going to hold off posting there.

Also time to say greetings to the blog's latest follower Miguel Angel Martinez hope you enjoy what you find here. Welcome.

Now to you all I shall wish you all the best for the holidays and the new year. I look forward to bringing you exciting and varied content. Until then have a good day/night.

End of University Purchases.

Well to celebrate the end of university I bought a whole load of models. Over the course of a few months admittedly. I have done a rather long post on my second blog for this. So instead of doing a repeat of that post I shall instead post the pictures and leave the comments to a minimum. I hope that you find this interesting.

The entire haul. What a mighty collection.

Here we have the S-Model 1+1 sets and the Caesar Infantry

The Plastic Soldier company T-55 tanks. These are really high quality. I hope they add more to this range.

ModelCollect tanks and two big box sets. The Revell set was 48% off! A real bargain.

A Dutch unicorn Boxer and two exciting Italeri reissues of the Esci cold war sets.

Another box set, a Zcvezda tank and some Trumpeter tanks.

To finish off we have some more infantry.

Well I am going to leave this here. I hope that you have a good day/night and I look forward to slowly bringing you these miniatures in a completed state.

A preview. Unclear images

Usually when the lighting is so bad that I get images like these I just discard the photos. However, in this case I want to keep you guessing as to what it is I am doing. So here's some very grainy photos of what I am currently working on. These should be done in the next couple weeks (I am not setting myself an even more ambitious target, too busy atm). So I will move straight onto the photos.

This one here is the only one so far completed. Behind you can see the others, in various stages of completion.

Any guesses on what this is? I think this view gives it away more so.

Now, there will be points! I will be granting points for the following:

• Correct guesses of the troop type.
• Correct guesses of the manufacturer.
• Double points for guessing the correct set this is from.
• Creative ideas for the purpose of these troops!

So get your submissions in and earn yourself some points. What are the points for? I have no idea. Surely the point of points is just to earn them. Why would you want anything for points? I might think of a reward but otherwise just enjoy having the most points. I hope you have enjoyed this post and I look forward to adding more in the near future...... May have been a few hits in this post itself.

The end of an era. The start of another.

Well my consistent post a week streak fell apart. This is the first post in three weeks and it isn't even about models. Not that I have anything to show you yet. However, there's a very good reason for that. As many of you are aware I have spent the last six years at university. Well last Wednesday I handed in my dissertation. The final piece of coursework to be submitted and all going well the last thing I need to get my degree.

Yes this is me. I think I have shown pictures of myself here before, many, many years ago.

Understandably those final weeks were all go so I haven't had much time to sit down and paint models. Have had time to buy them though and there was there was of course quite the splurge in celebration of handing in my dissertation! So there is certainly no shortage of models to paint for the foreseeable future.

So one era of my life has come to the end, provided I pass of which I am quite confident. A new era begins. I have already got a job in the field for which I have studied and tomorrow I begin full time employment. There's a good work/home separation. Which I hope means that the free time I do have can be dedicated to hobbies and other good things.

Thank you all who have kept following me all these years. My time at university has meant that I have posted very infrequently. I hope to change things now. Here's to a new era and all the excitement, turmoil and adventure it brings, especially in the miniature way. A great day/night to you all. I promise to at least post a sneaky preview of what I am working on, before the end of next week. ;-)

Women In Black

Last week I presented to you the Men In Black from the Ministerio de Investigación Burocrática now I present to you their companions. These figures even more than those before benefit from a Vallejo face painting set kindly sent to me by Michael Koopman. Took the chance to experiment with some darker skin tones and as I was in an experimenting mood I experimented with some hair styles too. Including the first attempt at representing dyed hair. These are more 20mm figures from Elhiem. These are more recent than the previous figures and the sculpts are much nicer. Keen to learn what you think. On with the pictures.

Obligatory stylish edited photo to start! Meet our heroes the women of the Ministerio de Investigación Burocrática.

No indoor shots today. The sun was wonderful. Probably should have spent the time outside rather than indoors painting and writing blog posts.

Rear shot. Far less interesting colour wise without the dashing white of their shirts against the black suits.

So now moving onto the individual shots. These are going to be... a little strange. Once again the light and my camera was just not playing ball. So these photos are going to be taken in a variety of places, at a variety of angles with the figure at a variety of distances from the camera. So enjoy and I apologise in advance.

First up we have the figure with my favourite post. True bad-ass look. She looks like she has just withdrawn her pistol from within her suit and is advancing to engage the threat. Really like it and far superior to the older men in black poses shown last week.

This post is hands down excellent, the movement the style I love it.

Another angle and taken in another location. I once again tried to paint some multi-shade blond-brown hair. Similar to the last figure I sculpted. Didn't turn out as well but still like the effect.

And a third for good measure.

Next up is the other pistol equipped figure. She was very fun to paint. Darker skin tone with a lighter dry brush. The effect works quite well in my opinion. This face painting set is such a step up from random art acrylic who's strange shade of beige labelled "flesh tint" was all I had with mixing a very hit or miss exercise. Also incidentally the only one of the figures to actually have glasses sculpted on. Initially I was just going to have her wear glasses but then I decided that in true MIB fashion all needed sun glasses!!! Hope you like her too.

More of a classic spy movie pose this time. Can imagine her about to turn around the corner and surprise the unsuspecting henchmen of an evil volcano lair residing super villain.

The shadow effect on the trousers took quire a while to get right. Quite amused my friends to learn how much effort I put into ensuring that I paint a suitably defined and aesthetic butt.

Onto the carbine equipped figures. Not 100% satisfied with the way the carbines came out. Something to try and improve in the future. These two were harder to photograph. Mainly due to the poses and how the light interacted with them. Still very nice figures even if the camera hasn't treated them very well. First up a woman with her M4 raised and on target, appears to be moving as well. I painted her hair to have a blue black look. Not that obvious in the photos I am afraid, however it is very, very subtle even when you have it in your hands. So see if you can detect the blue.

This figure is my least favourite. If only because the suit is closed. The contrast of white shirt and black suit adds so much to the minis. Nothing wrong but room for improvement.

That white spec on her pans is a tiny bit of dust. The camera once again shocks me with what it picks up.

Final figure and another one where I have tried to do something a little different. Wanted to try dyed hair, something to stand out, decided on blue. Did a dark glossy blue base with a lighter blue drybrush. I am quite pleased with the look and I hope you will like it as well.

Given that the colour pallet has up until this point been rather dull I thought why not change things up with a dash of blue!

Sadly a little out of focus but gives a better perspective on the hair. Might seem a little inappropriate for a super secret organisation. However, perhaps it helps give the impression of these people being not abnormal at all.

The Ministerio de Investigación Burocrática includes other branches than the classic men and women in black. However, these are a classic and can be used for a wide variety of other purposes. Within the Ministerio de Investigación Burocrática they are the first line in.... errr... ensuring that other ministries are exercising their duties efficiently... nothing to see here. Those blood curdling screams are just some loose monkeys. Certainly not anything paranormal. The pest control department has been slacking quite a bit recently haven't they?

That's all for this week. As an update on the university situation I have just got my dissertation to go now. Very close to completion now. Talking about completion I don't have any figures near completion which means that there's a lot of uncertainty with regards to getting another post out next week. Do have some stuff on my workbench/desk. So we'll see. But one post a week for five weeks is quite an achievement for me. Finally I will take this moment to say a very warm welcome to Ross Macfarlane. Good to have you here hope you enjoy what you fine.

Anyway until the next one I wish you all a very good day/night.

Men In Black

Well so far I am just about keeping my promise of one post per week. These figures can find a vast range of uses from bodyguards to businessmen. They also work quite well as members of the MIB, or Ministerio de Investigación Burocrática (Ministry of Bureaucratic investigation). The MIB's claimed role is to investigate how well other ministries are doing their job. They specialise in resolving those odd pest control matters for nondescript organisms, sealing those undetected gas leaks causing hallucinations and putting a stop to unscheduled tunnelling that causes strange roaring and rumbling from below ground. All those slip ups caused by other ministries and bureaucratic institutions these are within the purview of the MIB. Lots of pictures today so let's get on with it.

Black suits, black ties, black shoes, black glasses, hmm anything else in the uniform? Ah yes black underwear (not shown)

So the reason I have so many photos for you today is that I originally took a set using my nice black blanket indoors using a mix of natural and artificial light. As is always the case these didn't turn out as I would like. So I took another set outdoors with full natural light. These turned out much better. With one exception. So when it came to doing my usual editing I had a bit of an issue. I could simply reject the first set and go with the second. However, I am not one to do anything that simple and sensible. So instead I heavily edited the first set with filters and other magic settings then also kept the second basically as is. These first photos give a cool stylistic look but aren't a very good representation of the models themselves. The second is much better except for the final one which was so fuzzy I made it blue in rage.

After all the filter work the problem with this first set is still clear. Despite my best efforts the light washed out the guy on the right.

Like to think this one has a film like look. Perhaps some old school buddy cop?  

Two agents explore the forest at night.... or something, the blanket texture is very good for mysterious backgrounds

So the MIB, you may have guessed by now, doesn't really investigate the slip ups of other ministries, at least not as claimed. Really they deal with the supernatural, extraterrestrial and other things best not allowed to run amok.

Last of the first set. Now onto some more unedited ones.

Moving onto the second set. These were taken in a brief gap in the clouds. Sadly this gap only lasted for so long. The final figure was very out of focus, I believe this was probably because it was taken as the clouds once again blocked the sun and the difference in light level was enough to upset my camera's macro focus.

As you can see more clearly I dry brushed these to an extent just to give a sense of depth to the suit.

Decided to go with a simple black base. Could be tarmac or dirt at night. Both appropriate settings for the MIB

Poor guy on the right is showing the signs of stress induced from this line of work.

A nickname for the MIB is the Ministerio de Innatación Burocrática, ministry of bureaucratic inaction. After all to the public this ministry doesn't seem to do much at all. Plenty of gas leaks around. Why just the one causing Juan to scream about martians?

Did I really take this many photos of this specific pose? Guess so.

When I first started painting this was perhaps my least favourite of the two poses. But now that I am done I kinda like it.

Of the two he is the better sculpt. The collar being far better on this sculpt.

Anyway here's the one that refused to focus and so got the extreme filter treatment. This concludes the pictures.

These miniatures are from Elheim Figures. These two are some of the older sculpts they stock. Not as nice as the newer ones. Which is what is the likely post for next week. This week has been the Men in Black, next week will hopefully be the Women in Black. More Elheim miniatures and newer ones too. Having a lot fun painting them. I hope you will like them too.

Although I will also put a proviso here, in case I don't get out another post for next week. Have the last assignment for one of my papers due next Wednesday and the due date for my dissertation is coming up. The end of university is very close but lots of work to get done first. I have to knuckle down and finish up these last pieces of coursework.

Well I will leave this here. Haven't really thought out what I will do with the Ministerio de Investigación Burocrática just yet. Obviously they are based on the Men In Black, which has been oddly popping up recently. Must go back and watch the original sometime.

However, that's something for me to do. For the rest of you I wish you all the very best and have a good day/night wherever you are. Just remember, that strange howling on full moon nights. Just strange local traditions. Don't go outside on these nights.