Thursday 5 October 2017

Diary of an Average Painter: Confrontation - Dirz

I tend to have an eclectic mix of minis.  I tend to be rather gadfly in my interests: hopping from system to game system and collecting a smattering of everything.  As I never do "big battle" games and tend towards skirmish, my collections tend towards dozens at most, rather than hundreds of models.

But I do have an improbable amount of minis for three game systems: Lord of the Rings (due to a few large eBay purchase when the market was slumped before the latest Hobbit movies I can probably refight Helms Deep at 1:1). Another is Infinity (I love the minis: before the rules got to complicated I actually played it as well - I have hundreds of minis - probably have ~20 from every faction at worst, and 50 or so at best - though how you define worst depends on if you are me or my wife)  The other big collection of minis is Confrontation: I didn't get the huge bargains some did, but most cost 1/2 to 1/3rd of the RRP as the game faded out - the beautiful metals being replaced by pre-painted-puke plastic.  I've never played Confrontation though I have the rules - no one wanted to put effort into a "dead"game (this always annoys me - a wargame is only "dead" when you decide it is - it's not like pewter minis suddenly become incompatible with Windows 10). 

Anyway, whilst cleaning my shed I found some minis I haven't touched for 5 years - broken in a box, I rebased them and touched up any missing bit of paint. I resisted the urge to "improve" the paintjob as they were functional and tableworthy:

The red flesh paint scheme predates my Orcs by 5 years or so; but it looks similar, though "wetter" and more fleshy. I don't mind the effect but have no idea how I painted it.

These Alchemists of Dirz could really do with better highlighting and perhaps a bright colour to make them "pop" - red glowy eyes perhaps.  Ah well, they work on the table OK as it is.

The sinister mantis claws make these my favourite models.

Hmm perhaps I will add some highlighting. Glowy eyes and brighter bone contrasts might be worth the effort.

Hmm I probably WILL end up touching these up. A splash of colour will bring them to life a bit more with little effort.

I notice I tend to methodical when I buy random minis: I always have ~10 line infantry, ~10 archers, and then a handful of heroes and monsters - it always looks like a plausible platoon/warband.

 Some "elites" - man I really need to touch up their cloaks at the very least. Hmm I thought I was cool with my old paintjob but even my "get em on the table" approach has limits. Apparently my dull painting style from 5 years ago has cracked even my laid back approach.

More elites. They are subtley different from the others. Probably should emphasize that with the paint scheme.

As usual, a decent warband. It doesn't seem that much until you realise I have equal or larger amounts of Alahan, Orcs, Daikinee Elves, Wulfen, Sessairs, and Griffins, plus a whole bunch of miscellaneous character models.  Man, it makes me remember back to what it was like with lots of disposable income (i.e. no children!)

Speaking of other factions, I found these in a box as well. I think they are both Alahan? Anyway, it was a quick half hour to paint the up. The feeling of progress is addictive! Only the Wulven and Sessairs and Daikinee to go...

5 comments:

  1. You got quite an impressive collection for Confrontation indeed. It's "strange" to see TMP on them, but it work really well.
    Do you have any suggestions of manufacturer which sell similar miniatures? I need to expand my Dirz force a little bit (got only about 15 minis...).
    If I may, I'm curious to see your others warbands, COnfrontation really had a specific design which was really beautifull (especially for their era)

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    1. I haven't checked for ages (I got mine 6+ years ago) but CoolMiniorNot often re-release them

      https://www.coolminiornot.com/shop/miniatures/confrontation-miniatures

      ...but if you wait, it may make a comeback:

      http://www.beastsofwar.com/confrontation/resurrected-tabletop-soon/

      Right now, the Wrath of Kings are VERY cheap and really channel (or blatantly rip off) the C3 style

      https://www.coolminiornot.com/shop/miniatures/wrath-of-kings

      ...which I coincidentally discussed in a blog post last week - the game itself has several interesting points...

      CMON seems to be a ripoff though, I see Wrath of Kings boxes elsewhere for cheaper- it's about $55USD for 20 or so minis which seems decent.

      My 10c = check out Wrath of Kings from your favourite online wholesaler and get their 20-mini starter box

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    2. https://cadwallon.com/rackham-confrontation/kelts-sessairs-clan

      ^ seems to be offering a wide range of Confrontation originals?

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  2. I can't agree with you more about the idea of "Dead" games. To me, that is when they get interesting!

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    1. They're only dead when everyone stops playing with them... also means you can often get models discount (I reckon I have 500+ LOTR models I got for about $300, and those C3 models were 1/2 price to 1/3rd)

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