Wednesday, July 16, 2014

25mm Scruby Mexicans

Having never painted any of the Scruby figures, I dipped my toe into the Old School waters and ordered two dozen figures from HistoriFig.com to give them a try.  Ordered were enough figures to field two, 12 figure Mexican battalions.  The figures arrived quickly and figure clean-up was minimal.  The first thing I noticed was that detail found on more modern figures is lacking or very slight on the Scruby figures.  Some detail will have to be painted on.
Scruby 10th Line Regiment
I have been enjoying Regimental Fire and Fury games using a Mexican-American War variant at Terry's on a semi-regular basis.  Well, he holds the games with great regularity.  It is I who attend on a "semi" regular basis.

As I have noted before, Terry uses his old, 25mm (or one inch) Scruby collection from the mid 1970s for his Mexican-American War gaming.  His collection is painted in what I would classify as an Old School, Toy Soldier style as seen in the photo below.  
Scruby figures from Mexican-American War line
Notice in the photo above that Terry fields commanders in a larger size than the one inch, Scubys.  That way, the "Big Men" can immediately be identified on the field of battle.
At our last game, I mentioned that I picked up a few Scrubys and was entertaining the notion of painting up a couple battalions of Mexicans.  After looking through his Mexican-American War books, Terry picked out two Mexican battalions that he has yet to field.  So, these figures will muster out as the San Blas militia and the 10th Line.

The first battalion off the painting desk is the 10th Line Regiment.  The 10th wore a dark blue jacket with purple facings.  In the photos below, the dark blue and purple are very similar so no dynamic contrast is present.  The figures remain unbased in order to confirm Terry's basing scheme.  A matt finish was applied as a top coat rather than my usual Dullcote finish.  The matt finish produces a sheen and provides an Old School feel, doesn't it?

The second battalion, San Blas, is seeing action on the painting desk.

21 comments:

  1. Nice old school work on these, Jonathan. I actually like the look - and I think the glossy finish holds up well for gaming.

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    1. Thanks, Dean. The vintage figures and OS painting do have a certain charm, don't they?

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  2. I really like the look of these figures, Jonathan, excellent!

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    1. Thanks, Phil! They turned out better than I expected given the scant sculpting detail.

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  3. Now that is truly Retro - makes my Foundry collection look almost si-fi modern. Cool that you chose to go all the way with a glossy finish too!

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    1. Retro is right! I somewhat like the glossy look. I used matt to give a modest sheen to the lacquered armor of my samurai and it worked well for them too.

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  4. Nice looking figures. I've always wondered how they scale with 1/72 plastics. That is also an interesting observation about matte versus dullcote. I have Liquitex Matte, which is shiny, and Vallejo Matte that is quite dull. I am now trying to use Liquitex on the metal bits and Vallejo on all other surfaces.

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    1. Thanks, Sean! Since these are closer to one inch top of headgear to toe rather than eye-to-toe, 1/72 should match closely. I measured these Scrubys and they come in at 22-23mm bottom of foot to eye.

      Matte for me never seems to be flat but always has at least a slight sheen and often more. Perhaps matte is different in liquid form vs spray? I use spray.

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    2. I found the same with mattes, until I was directed to Testors matte/flat in spray. That is the only one that doesn't have any sheen to it.

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    3. For a flat finish, Testors'/Model Masters' Dullcote are the only ones that consistently work for me.

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  5. These have a lovely old school charm to them. I'd love to see an AAR on this. The US rolled so easily in the campaign that I'm curious how it might play out on a tabletop.

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    1. I agree, Monty! OS charm!

      As for AARs, I have one from a game in FEB2014 and have another from a recent game. The recent game has not made it into a BatRep yet. Still need to collect my notes and photos.

      I have participated in three or four of the Mex-Am War games and the Mexicans are yet to win. Maybe history DOES repeat itself?

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  6. So how does one get ahold of the Mexican War variant?

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    1. The 15mm QRS can be found at:
      http://www.fireandfury.com/rffsupport/rffmexwar.shtml

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  7. Well done Jonathan and old school indeed.

    Christopher

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  8. I just saw this, and am a bit nonplussed. I also have a mid-70's Scruby MAW set-up, also painted glossy old school, and also use larger-sized commanders! The painted figures in the photos look EXACTLY like mine. [cue the Twilight Zone music...]

    Best Regards,

    Chris Johnson

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    1. Glad you found them, Chris! If you do a search, the other Mexican battalion I painted will turn up. I would enjoy seeing your Mex-Am Scruby figures.

      Quite a coincidence that we paint them the same and game with them in a similar fashion. It is a small world.

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  9. Really nice, Jonathan. It was great seeing your name again. Love the Old School figures. Your painting gives them life. Kindest regards - Hal

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