{"id":10350,"date":"2018-06-08T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-06-08T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/?p=10350"},"modified":"2021-10-29T02:59:32","modified_gmt":"2021-10-29T01:59:32","slug":"empress-mercenaries-pack-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/2018\/06\/08\/empress-mercenaries-pack-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Empress Mercenaries Pack 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

Although most modern wargamers take inspiration from current events, it’s fair to say it’s not the sole jumping off point. Games, TV, books and film all play a part in whetting the appetite for wargaming. Empress have noticed this and decided to give us a group of four mercenaries inspired by a certain group of films focused. As someone who plays really small scale games, adding a few outlandish characters was something that just had to happen and I picked them up.<\/p>\n

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Of course, when painting up more characterful figures, you really need to find a way to fit them into your games in a bigger way than just some standard profiles. Seeing as I’m already writing a setting with multiple PMCs, adding a few hired guns to be hired when things go wrong made perfect sense. I also decided to change up their pant schemes – although all kit black looks classicly cool, and Typhoon camo is a neat design I really didn’t feel like painting them in the same style as their onscreen counterparts. Instead, I went for the same plan as my other mercs – solid colours.<\/p>\n

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This rear shot shows off some of the extra kit each of these guys is wearing such as various knives and sidearms. A great bit of detail and possible jumping off points for ingame rules to make these guys feel like real heroes.<\/p>\n

\n

Kruger<\/h2>\n

Ex-American Special Forces, veteran of several operations in Val Verde. Keen interest in politics.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

I really like this guy – but then again, I say that about anyone wielding an AA12. Combine this models height with the calm, shotgun held at the waist pose and you’ve got the perfect merc to slowly advance down the street while you make the slow “CHUNK CHUNK CHUNK” sounds of the automatic shotgun.<\/p>\n

Cortez<\/h2>\n

The polite term for Cortez is eccentric. But he brings a surprising\u00a0amount of agility\u00a0and luck to a team despite his ways and advancing age. His other nickname is Zorro.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Another cool sculpt of someone not quite wearing the usual amount of kit. I could see this guy ending up actually with the various insurgents or pirates thanks to his slapdash and low profile look. Obviously his 416 was “borrowed” from somewhere.<\/p>\n

Weaver<\/h2>\n

American Special Forces veteran, recently returned from a contract in Myanmar. Keen boxer.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Well you couldn’t do the team without the big boss. AS well as the pimped M4 in his hands, he has two pistol holsters on his legs and a big old knife behind his back. The crest on his beret showed up really well despite only painting it in the single colour and then washing. Much like Cortez, I could see this guy being used among the pirates\/insurgents as a leader figure.<\/p>\n

Bishop<\/h2>\n

Former Royal Marine, expert in knives and guns. Weaver’s right hand man.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Probably the most useful of the figure, thanks to his uniform – paint it in camo and you’ve got a great figure to act as a trainer for the ANA or other forces. Not sure how you’d explain the knives to the CO but it could be useful when trying to mentor troops on the table top<\/p>\n

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Commando Global Solutions contractors and local support in Bazi City during the Marketplace Incident<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As you’d expect from Empress, these are some really nice sculpts. You can easily see the inspiration when you pick them up and the level of detail is great as usual. When you spot the double holsters or the pair of knives, its obvious that the sculptor really did study the inspiration well and brought over the kit that makes the characters stand out.<\/p>\n

The real question now, will we be seeing any more of the crew? Perhaps a Swedish Grenadier or an American with half an ear and a SAW. Heck we might even get the young bloods seeing as this group are all wearing kit from the finale of that film. I’m excited to see what else Empress releases that isn’t quite 100% historical.<\/p>\n

You may have noticed I’m trying something new with the images – doing some post production work on them (i.e. trimming off the excess around the photo). I think it shows the models off better but does reveal all the little bit. What do you guys think – prefer images this style or the wider shot? Tell me in the comments below!<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Although most modern wargamers take inspiration from current events, it’s fair to say it’s not the sole jumping off point. Games, TV, books and film all play a part in whetting the appetite for wargaming. Empress have noticed this and decided to give us a group of four mercenaries inspired by a certain group of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":10376,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1093,958,951,903],"tags":[940,929,954,955,926],"class_list":["post-10350","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-figures","category-impressions","category-wargaming","tag-empress","tag-empress-miniatures","tag-modern-wargaming","tag-ultramodern-wargaming","tag-wargaming"],"author_meta":{"display_name":"Michael Charge","author_link":"https:\/\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/author\/chargedog\/"},"featured_img":"https:\/\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/IMG_20180606_232033-e1528324968860-scaled.jpg","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/IMG_20180606_232033-e1528324968860-scaled.jpg","coauthors":[],"tax_additional":{"categories":{"linked":["Features<\/a>","Figures<\/a>","Impressions<\/a>","Wargaming<\/a>"],"unlinked":["Features<\/span>","Figures<\/span>","Impressions<\/span>","Wargaming<\/span>"]},"tags":{"linked":["Empress<\/a>","Empress Miniatures<\/a>","Modern Wargaming<\/a>","Ultramodern Wargaming<\/a>","Wargaming<\/a>"],"unlinked":["Empress<\/span>","Empress Miniatures<\/span>","Modern Wargaming<\/span>","Ultramodern Wargaming<\/span>","Wargaming<\/span>"]}},"comment_count":"0","relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 8 years ago","modified":"Updated 4 years ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on 08\/06\/2018","modified":"Updated on 29\/10\/2021"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on 08\/06\/2018 12:00 pm","modified":"Updated on 29\/10\/2021 2:59 am"},"featured_img_caption":"Maker:0x4c,Date:2017-10-29,Ver:4,Lens:Kan03,Act:Lar01,E-Y","series_order":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pvEn5-2GW","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4750,"url":"https:\/\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/2016\/05\/09\/on-the-work-bench-09052016\/","url_meta":{"origin":10350,"position":0},"title":"On The Work Bench 09\/05\/2016","author":"Michael Charge","date":"09\/05\/2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Not much progress as last week was a bit mental but I did manage to paint up two of the US Army figures which will form the EOD team. The guy in the bombsuit is great but I was more interested in getting the test models painted in UCP. My\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Features"","block_context":{"text":"Features","link":"https:\/\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/category\/features\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"IMG_20160509_225638","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/IMG_20160509_225638-1024x768.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/IMG_20160509_225638-1024x768.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/IMG_20160509_225638-1024x768.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8970,"url":"https:\/\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/2018\/03\/05\/wargaming-week-05-03-2018\/","url_meta":{"origin":10350,"position":1},"title":"Wargaming Week 05\/03\/2018","author":"Michael Charge","date":"05\/03\/2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Let\u2019s start this Wargaming Week, covering the 26th of February through to the 4th of March. BLOG\u00a0STUFF Last week saw an exclusive first look at a new product on the market, Supreme Littleness Design's new Tower Block setup. Its been really cool seeing the prototypes come out of Mike's lab\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Wargaming"","block_context":{"text":"Wargaming","link":"https:\/\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/category\/wargaming\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/White-Dragon-Miniatures-Courage-In-Combat-British-Soldiers.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/White-Dragon-Miniatures-Courage-In-Combat-British-Soldiers.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/White-Dragon-Miniatures-Courage-In-Combat-British-Soldiers.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/White-Dragon-Miniatures-Courage-In-Combat-British-Soldiers.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4646,"url":"https:\/\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/2015\/12\/29\/lead-mountain-update-16\/","url_meta":{"origin":10350,"position":2},"title":"Lead Mountain Update 16","author":"Michael Charge","date":"29\/12\/2015","format":false,"excerpt":"However, with the upcoming holidays and having two weeks off I should be able to sit down and get painting! -Past Charge, 2015 HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. That didn't happen, too busy enjoying Christmas with my family. On the other hand, I got a tank! Painted, varnished and based \u2013 185: 38\u00a0Empress \u2013\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Features"","block_context":{"text":"Features","link":"https:\/\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/category\/features\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"IMG_20151226_180730-01","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/IMG_20151226_180730-01-1024x766.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/IMG_20151226_180730-01-1024x766.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/IMG_20151226_180730-01-1024x766.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4649,"url":"https:\/\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/2016\/01\/03\/lead-mountain-update-17\/","url_meta":{"origin":10350,"position":3},"title":"Lead Mountain Update 17","author":"Michael Charge","date":"03\/01\/2016","format":false,"excerpt":"*Gently sobs into pile of models still to paint* I didn't get anymore painting done so expect a mad rush this month Painted, varnished and based \u2013 185: 38\u00a0Empress \u2013 Modern British Infantry 14\u00a0Spectre \u2013 UKSF (of various types) 6 Spectre \u2013 Task Force Operators (painted as SAS) + 1\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Features"","block_context":{"text":"Features","link":"https:\/\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/category\/features\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4516,"url":"https:\/\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/2015\/09\/14\/lead-mountain-update-1\/","url_meta":{"origin":10350,"position":4},"title":"Lead Mountain: Update 1","author":"Michael Charge","date":"14\/09\/2015","format":false,"excerpt":"(For an explanation of Lead Mountain, see this post) So I messed up slightly - I decided to start this challenge a week before Colours, one of the great wargames conventions that the UK is host to. 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