Hunting Party

Bounty Hunter and Enhanced Raptor

28mm

Artemisia Kian doesn't use unnecessary violence. But she did choose a career where a lot of violence is usually necessary. Hunting down the scum of the solar system on the run from the law, or their creditors, is just violent work. Fortunately, she doesn't have to do it alone. Her cybernetically-augmented neoraptor partner Belinda is fully equipped both naturally and technologically to track down the most evasive prey.

Artemisia is a Starfinder figure, Belinda is a converted D&D figure.

Claw Patrol

Hell Divers theropod rider
15 mm

As intelligent and loyal as dogs, fast and immensely powerful; large predatory dinosaurs from the Chuhuac home world are used by some human allies as mounts for military expeditions.  Though vulnerable to weapons, their trainability and versatility make them ideal mounts for elite scouts in challenging environments.

Converted, as mentioned here, from a Schleich toy dinosaur and a Clear Horizon infantry figure.

Patrolling on a lush jungle world... beautiful, but hidden threats await.

Sneak peek (theropod rider)

As summer winds down, I'm finding a little more time to paint, and at the top of my queue is my dinosaur rider!  I'm still amazed at the detail on the Schleich models...

Also, I was recently surprised with a lovely birthday gift: a couple of Reaper Bones figures personally selected by my 4-year-old daughter.  That's never happened before!  She made good choices too: 77050 Lizardman Soldier, and 77092 High Elf Adventurer.  I don't paint much 28 mm any more but I'll have to have a go at one of those soon.

Riders of the saurian age

Hell Divers theropod rider
15 mm

Anyone on the 15 mm sci-fi Facebook group has already seen this, but I just started a fun little project.  I adapted a Clear Horizons "Hell Diver" figure to be the rider and sculpted a saddle out of putty.  There could be various explanations for soldiers in the future riding dinosaurs, but I can think of at least one based on fluff I've written in the past...

I mentioned the high-quality Schleich toy dinosaur in a previous post but never had a good idea what to do with it.  With a bit of putty added to cover up the embossed text on the belly, I think it's at least as good as most dino sculpts intended for gaming.  As oddly good as Schleich's paint jobs are, for some reason the primed model really gets my creative juices flowing...

Daring Deep Space Dinos

Chuhuac Space Marines
15 mm

Like most spacefaring species, the Chuhuac have a strong interest in exercising sovereignty over their home space; this includes aggressively suppressing elements such as pirates and smugglers.  Crew and troops on the corvettes Wingfinger, Talon, and Far-Seer are experienced in intercepting and boarding criminal vessels.

Another trio of Loud Ninja Games' fun space dinos here.  I used the "Chuhuac Troopers" pack from 15mm.co.uk for my ground forces in the previous post, these are "Chuhuac Special Forces".  Giving them a higher-tech space-suited look completely changes the feel; I definitely like how these turned out.

Raptors in Spaaaace!

The Chuhuac
15 mm

A boisterous race of social carnivores who appreciate a good hunt or aggressive play more than anything, the Chuhuac had long been troubled by the suspicion that something was amiss with their origins.  Only once they developed the paleontological sciences were they able to confirm what several major religions had long argued - that while their species had inhabited their lushly biological world for eons, they did not originate there.  Their fossil record began abruptly about 65 million years ago, preceded by faint traces of a previous, unrelated early ecosystem.

Though first contact between humans and the Chuhuac was initially distrustful, it was still existentially stunning for both species to discover blood relatives across the vastness of space.  As relations improved, both species' scientists eagerly began to work together to learn how an entire ecosystem descended from Cretaceous fauna and flora came to exist on a world dozens of light-years away from Earth.

Although individually aggressive by nature, historical interludes of catastrophic internecine conflict have left the Chuhuac with a distaste for actual warfare.  Their military forces, like this pack leader and his troopers, exist largely for self-defense and to assist allies in ventures deemed ethically justifiable.

Dino Discovery

So I found these plastic Schleich mini dinosaurs at the local toy store the other day.  I think they have interesting 15 mm possibilities.  The raptor and the pterosaur are a tad off-scale but the others seem pretty bang-on.  And, at only $4 each, you could put a herd on the gaming table for the cost of a few pints...

"Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal!"

They do have a bit of molded text on their bellies that someone like me would feel compelled to remove and putty over, but otherwise they're pretty awesome as-is.  And scale is at least credible; here they are posing with a (largish) 15 mm humanoid:

"Come at me, bro!"

Khurasan "Huntarr" figure for scale.