Unboxing Gundam Iron-Blooded Orphans Loot Crate

 It's here!

The third of the Gundam Limited Edition Loot Crates, with Iron-Blooded Orphans as it's theme.

Now normally, this was supposed to be the fourth in the line, but alas it switched places with the ONE series of the franchise I actually took the subscription for, SEED.  Oh well, saving the best for last we shall say!

So, that means I will now be opening this box, which is of the four sets the one that intrested me the least (the other two earlier ones where Wing and 00), but being the completionist that I am... I just wanted all four of them!

And here is a stack of the contents.  

 

 

To be honest, the weakest of the boxes so far for me, and a pity it didn`t have a mug in it like the previous two.  But that sweater is ubercool!

Unboxing Gundam 00 Loot Crate

 The second of the four limited edition Gundam Loot Crate's series, this time the theme was the 00 series.

So I hoped there was something Lockon / Dynames related in it!

After the first box, which more can be read about HERE, I followed through for the whole series of special crates, and the second one was shipped out to me on the 14th of july.  Arriving on the 3th of august (and free of customs!), it was time to open it up and discover the goodies inside.

Okay, so that is a really good crate, for me definitly better then the Gundam Wing one.  On the plus side, it has something Lockon related with the Haro cup, and it has nothing main gundam in it, something I feared would happen.  And actually HOPE it will be with the next one, as that is the SEED one for some more Freedom stuff!

But for this box, it was just one pile of really cool thingies to have, the mug, the slippers, the bag... really awesome stuff.

Well worth the money in my opinion!

Unboxing Gundam Wing LootCrate

 I have always been held back with LootCrate or other mystery boxes due to the shipping and import costs, but now LootCrate has started a 4 ebox limited edition series based around Gundam.

I doubted for a LONG time, but heck, I did give in...

And the first one arrived, based around the Gundam Wing franchise - a bit of nostalgia for me as well, as this was for me the series that brought me the love for the franchise when it ran on Belgian television.  The other crates will be centered around 00, Iron-Blood Orphans and praise hallelujah, and why I actually subbed to the series, is SEED Destiny!!!!  Needless to say, that is the box I truly look forward to receiving!

The crate costed me 42.95 euro, and the shipping was slightly under 9 euro, so that was okay.  Sooooo taxes...

 

Now, actual shipping was listed as for May '21, and I got the email on the 12th of May.  A quick look on Trustpilot had me panicked a bit, but it arrived safe and sound on the 9th of june, and without any taxes charged.

Now, taking a look at what is in the crate, the complete unboxing is here on my YouTube channel:

So, the loot all together: yeah, I`m happy about it, only one item in there that didn't rock my boat, so that's good stuff and worth the money.

2.11.0.0

Silvius Brabo, 2018 Crisis limited edition figure

The latest of the series of the Crisis wargame show figures I painted up for the The Vault showcase, is our very own Antwerp figure of myth.

While his story is a fantasy tale, immortalised in a statue on the Grote Markt in Antwerp, there was actually a Roman steelement here in the old times, and he is told to be a soldier stationed there.

But the legend tells how he fought the giant Antigoon, who blocked the access to the port of Antwerp on the river Schelde, and after defeating him tossed away his hand.  Which is the tale of how Antwerpen came to be, "Hand-Werpen" or translated "Toss-Hand".

The figure was sculpted for the show by Paul Hicks, and represents Brabo in his Roman armour (on the statue, he is standing butt nakes...), and with the cut off hand lying at his feet.  His pose represents him moments after his victory, as he has just taken of his helmet and still clutches his sword.

A lovely figure, and this was also entered in the Lead Adventure Forum "Modern Fantasy Panting Party" club, granting me the badge from there (the first one I ever earned tbh).

Oh, and for those intrested, my painting "recipy" for Brabo:

AHPC10: Flying to Fran's Fjord

One of the fun things of Challenge Island this year, is you can get to any grid by making use of Lady Sarah's Balloon Service.

And as I have completed the Path of the New Shiney, I`m doing just that, and taking an airlift to Fran's Fjord.

But to make use of the Balloon Service, there is a fee: paint a female figure entry.  My first fee, as I`ll be making use of the balloon quite a bit, is one of our Crisis wargame show entrance figures: Queen Mathilde van Vlaanderen, wife of William the Conqueror.

Sculpted by Paul Hicks, she was handed out to the first 1000 visitors during the show's 2016 edition.

Now, for those intrested in obtaining a copy of her, she is still available on my ebay page, as the responsibel board member of TSA, tasked with selling the older figures to help pay for the new editions, and can be found HERE.

And so we take to the skies, and prepare ourselves for the next Path of entries in the challenge, adding these 5 points to our tally for a single 25mm figure, as well as the 30 points for making use of the service for the very first time.

CRISIS 2019 limited edition model: Lippens and De Bruyne

Today, I can bring you the exclusive first review of the entrance model we will be handing out at the Crisis show the coming saturday.

Sculpted once again by the talented mr Paul Hicks, this year we present a daring duo that fought valiantly during the Belgo-Arab war of 1892-94 in our former colony Congo.

Lieutenant Lippens and Sergeant De Bruyne where stationed in the centre of slavetrade, Kasongo, ruled by Sultan Sefu to end the trade.
But unfortunatly, Sefu resisted this and led an attack on the forces of the Belgians.  Both where captured, but a deal was struck for their release.  Lippens was in bad health, and while De Bruyne could have escaped at his expense, he refused to do this and stayed at the side of his comrade.
Eleven days later, the Belgian forces invaded the Arab zone, and over 3000 people fell in the bloodbath.  Out of revenge, Lippens and De Bruyne where executed in a gruesome fashion.

The models this year represent Lippens and De Bruyne taking a stand, with Lippens lying on the floor barely able to stand due to his bad health at the time.

Once again cleanly cast, these models are in scale 28mm, and lend themselves excellent to any games in the Darkest Africa period, as they where made in their stripped down clothing from their time of capture, instead of their formal military uniforms they are honoured in with a statue in Blankenberge.

Hope you enjoy your figures, and be sure to share your painted examples on the TSA Facebook page!

Sylvius Brabo, Crisis 2018 give away figure

Here he is, the limited edition model the first 1800 paying visitors will find in their goodie bag at the Crisis wargame show next saturday, 3rd of november, at Waagnatie Antwerp.

With our show growing every year in both traders, clubs and visitors, we (finally?) made the figure of the legendary founder of Antwerp (at least, in folklore).

Brabo, who can be seen on the city hall square in Antwerp tossing a hand in the direction of the Scheldt river, was a 3th to 4th century roman officer.  When the giant Antigoon terrorised the waterway, he fought and defeated him.  He next cut off the giants hand and tossed it in the river, hence the name "Ant-werpen" of "hand-throwing".

Hey, it's a legend of course, but definitly a good sounding one.  

The figure has been sculpted once again by Paul Hicks, who has now done all over figures apart from the very first two (Ambiorix, by Pro Patria, and Leopold II, by the Perry's) and cast by Griffin Molds.  The figure comes dressed in late roman armour, and the famous hand lies at his feet.

A great looking model, for what will hopefully once again become a great show!

See you on saturday at Crisis 2018!

Jean-Baptiste Decoster, Crisis 2015 LE figure

The next of the entry figures I finished for our Crisis wargames show, Decoster was given out in 2015.

Being the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo, it was only fitting a Napoleonic model was chosen, and who better then the unwilling guide of Napoleon.

Decoster was a flemish farmer, forced by Napoleon to guide him through the terrain to the well known battle.  Unwilling to do this, he wasn`t in a hurry to lead the french around.  After the battle, he bacame a battlefield guide at Waterloo.

The model was once again sculpted by Paul Hicks, and is shown in his regular farmer clothes.  i went for blue as one of the few remaining paintings of Decoster showed him in a blue outfit.

The model is also one of the very few we released with the word Crisis sculpted on it's base, together with the year the figure was handed out.

That now means I completed 11 of the 15 models we've done so far, time to move on to the next one it is...

Gerardus Mercator

Famous mapmaker, Mercator was one of our Crisis entry figures of the past.

In 2011, he was as such found in the goodie bags, and once again sculpted by Paul Hicks.

A gorgeous model, and very suitable even as a wizard or scholar in fantasy games, Mercator comes holding a globe to represent the map style he made 1569, using straight lines to represent constant bearings, which is still in use today.

And as such he is the 10th of our figures I finished for my Vault page on this blog.  Next up will be a Napoleonic figure...

King Albert I of Belgium, the "warrior king"

When Leopold the second died, the Belgian throne passed on to his nephew, Albert I.

While the previous monarch became infamous for his role in the Congo aquirement, this king would become famous for completely different reasons.

When the First World War came to Belgium, our troops retreated behind the Yzer river.  Our governement went into exile in Le Havre, but Albert I stayed near the troops at the front, a few measly kilometres away from the lines in De Panne.  As a result of this, he went into history as The Warrior-King of Belgium.

Come 2014 and the 100 year anniversary of the First World War.  What other choice did we have then to give Albert I as the entry model for the Crisis show here in Antwerp, once again sculpted by Paul Hicks.

After Leopold II, he is the second king we released as such in miniature form, and he is a fantastic addition to any collection of World War 1 models, especially if you field us Belgians.  Armed with a rifle, perhaps the only thing is that it was hard to include his spectacles, though on that scale that`s rather normal of course.

Albert I died during a rock climbing accident in Marche-les-Dames, in what are to this day still suspicious circumstances.  But he will live on forever in our Crisis miniatures series...

King Leopold II, that one by the Perry's

The second Crisis entry model we did, waaaaaaay back in 2006, was one of two (the first year Ambiorix wasn`t either) miniatures not sculpted by Paul Hicks for us.

No, he was sculpted by none other then the Perry's, you now, those (in)famous twins ;-)

Leopold II was the second king of Belgium, ruled our country from 1865 to 1909, and he was the one that gave Belgium his colony, Congo.  He is to this day still the longest reigning monarch we ever had.

Now, the Congo story was one of his very own, private initiative.  He became as such the sole owner of the country, and had enlisted Henry Morton Stanley to lay claim to the lands.  He used it for his personal enrichment, not tacking into account any "colonial rules", and eventually he was forced to relinquish control.

Now, the model itself comes with his typical squared beard, as he is depicted on most pictures of the colonial era.  It also has a nice touch in that he is holding a "Bolleke", a typically Antwerp beer (when at Crisis or in the city, taste it instead of all that Blonde Leffe, you won`t regret it!).  he wears the Grenadiers uniform, and I went to try and represent it as good as possible.

It`s a fantastic miniature, and as a lover of the Bolleke (my own favourite beer btw) it`s a nice touch that one is included.  And yes, to this day, it`s still my personal most favourite miniature we ever did...

BTW, this is the Bolleke:

They where the terror of the woods...

So this is it, the final wednesday entry for the AHPC8, and what a journey it has been!

This challenge is great fun, and very, very motivational on the painting front.

As has become a bit of a habbit for myself the past weeks, I've been painting up one of our Crisis entry models as the 'post opener' every time, and this time it's our Bokkenrijder (buckrider) we gave as entry model in 2010.

The Bokkenrijders where folklore figures that rode through the sky mounted on bucks, but also the inspiration for a band of ruffians operating in southern Limburg (a province in Flanders) during the 18th century.  They took the iconography like leaving a buck head sign on doors of raided farms to inspire terror in the local farming communities.  This link to the occult also resulted in many innocent men being trialled and executed as being a bokkenrijder.

The model was sculpted by Paul Hicks as usual.  Now, to see the other Crisis models painted up when I get round to it, just glance at my little corner of the internet once in a while under The Vault tab of my page, or feel free to add me on Facebook or such.

But that isn't everything that I painted up this week, as I'm breaking through the 1500 points mark this week.  Like, just in time to double my target.

One project for this challenge I as such finished in the nick of time, is completing all those Gripping Beast plastic Dark Age warriors I had lying around, in the form of another two partial units of Bonnachts: one armed with swords and shield, the other with spears.

A small 'in between' entry are these 15mm Dark Dwarf cultists, produced by 15mm.co.uk and which I picked up years ago at Salute when I still planned to play HOTT (it never got 'launched' at the club though, so they just lingered around on the stack).

Another base of Shang chinese spearmen has also been completed.  Nothing to impressive and I still don't know if I'm going to continue building on this force for the Mortem game, I will first have to see if the people at the club are convinced to try those rules.

And finally another small expansion for my 40k Slaneeshi legion, because a week without pink power is a week wasted.  The model is from the Raging Heroes line of figures, and I thought she made an excellent Herald for the deamonic compartment: both sexy and gruesome blended together in one vicious looking lady...

So for this week, that grants me the following points:

Bokkenrijder 1 x 28mm = 5 points
Bonnachts 8 x 28mm = 40 points
Cultists 4 x 15mm = 8 points
Shang Chinese 4 x 28mm = 20 points
Herald 1 x 28mm = 5 points

For a nice total of 78 points

And that is it, the final time I got to badger... I mean, bugger, Ray with my weekly entries.  Now all that is left if the very last entry on the final day, which for 'cycle completeness' will of course be 6mm epic forces for my Emperor's Children.

Dulle Griet marches onwards!

The next model I completed from the line of Crisis entry figures to kick off this weeks entry of mix and match figures, we have De Dulle Griet.

She was the first "non real" person that was released for the range, as she is based on the figure from the painting by Pieter Breughel de Oude from 1561.

The figure is a woman whom behaves as a man, focussed on greed.  She marches to war against the setting of hell where all the sins run rampant.

The model was the 5th entry figure made for our wargame show, and was the 2009 entry figure as such, once again sculpted by Paul Hicks, who would do all our models except the very first two... which you`ll find on my blog at later dates as I get around to paint them :-).

But of course, I did some more models this week from a variety of ranges and sources.  Now to be honest, for me my challenge is slowly dwindling down, as I long reached my objective, and in large thanks to the bonus round points probably even end up doubling it.  So that means the past week I`ve been working with foams and hot glue guns to work on some cosplay gear instead...

Never the less, most of the things I painted this week have been for completing units, like some more Mutant Rabble with their squad leader, to serve in my Heretical Guard force.  Together with those 4 from the previous round, this makes the first 10 man squad of the little side project, which only goal is actually to put a bright pink Leman Russ tank on the table and enjoy the hibbiejibbies out of opposing Astra Militarum opponents.  The models are simple weapon swap conversions of poxwalkers, with bolt pistols added (though they count as autopistols ingame).

I also began the process of 'filling out' some of my squads to their 10 man number, an amount I find the most flexible (for Marines forces) on the table, so some odd and end blokes join my collection this week.

Next up in this pink assault are two more Noise Marines, allowing me to field the 3 guys I already did for the bonus round music now on the table as a true, albeit minimal, 5 man squad, ready to be expanded on over time.

Talking about expanding bonus rounds, I did the remaining 5 daemonettes of Slaanesh from the Monstrous round as well this week, as I didn't get them finished in time for the actual bonus round.

So that means for this weeks total, I have:

Dulle Griet 1x 28mm = 5 points
Heretic Marines 3 x 28mm = 15 points
Noise Marines 2 x 28mm = 10 points
Rabble 6 x 28mm = 30 points
Daemonettes 5 x 28mm = 25 points

For a modest total this time round for 85 points

Yups, that's a lot of pink again for this week, now as we are going for the push for the final "regular" week entry next wednesday (how does time fly when you're having fun!) I'm going to try and reach that final stint to the 1500 points total... time to fire up those brushes!