Saturday 8 October 2011

Oddzial Osmy Spaceworms - Review and Paint Test

Earlier this month, Fighting 15s released the highly-anticipated Oddzial Osmy 15mm Sci-Fi Range.  I placed an order as soon as they were available.  While I don't have a purpose for the mid-tech human infantry (yet), I quickly grabbed a pack of the civilian reporters and a few packs of the Spaceworms.

Well, kudos to Fighting 15s for great international shipping times - one week from their shop to my mailbox.  More importantly, I was impressed with the quality of the minis.  Other than a few easily-removed strips of flash, the minis were extremely clean and detailed.  I also like the bases - they are very thin, and perfectly rectangular.  They don't look like a giant boulder or mount on top of a normal troop base.  In fact, the rectangular shape might let you use some kind of detailed base with these, like SpaceJacker's starship decking (see link).  I set the reporters aside for now so I could get started on the Spaceworms.

I had two different paint schemes in mind for the Worms.  Since I couldn't choose between them, I decided to try a test mini of each.  I hit two "trooper" worms with white primer and set to work.  My first idea was a simple, organic paint scheme.  These worms would be used as living support weapons for a more advanced race - maybe they are sentient enough to fight on their own, or maybe they are controlled by telepathic commands or electronic signals.  The helmets of the minis certainly leave both possibilities open.  Here is a picture of the worm creature with a Critical Mass Astagar:


I liked it well enough.  Worms like this would be a fun addition to an alien imperial force. But I still wanted to try my other idea - robotic worms.  I've been working with colored-wash-over-bare-metal quite a bit lately, so I decided to go back to my roots and paint a basic gunmetal robot.  Here's the result, next to a similarly-painted Rebel Minis Scourge:


Robotic worms with small lasers on their backs... also very useful.  They could be in a mixed force of assorted robotic invaders, automated or remote sentries at a sentient alien fortification, or even part of a large starship's intruder defense system.  

So which scheme should I go with?  I still haven't decided!  I'm not even sure if I'll keep this single-based for games of FUBAR and Gut Check, or if I want to multi-base some for use in my Alien Squad Leader games.  I may have to pick up a few more sets to try both options.  They certainly don't take much time or effort to paint. 


Either way, if you're looking for something that doesn't resemble a "man in a rubber or robot suit," you could do far worse than the Oddzial Osmy Spaceworms.

Cheers,
Chris

3 comments:

  1. Earthworm Jim meets bionic commando. I like it!

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  2. I'd go with the organic look. There are enough robotic baddies out there, even though they do look good painted as robots.

    -Eli

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  3. I'll take the man in the rubber suit. At least he's able to make armour and weaponry, and then figure out how to use them. :-)

    Worms in armour and carrying weapons do not allow me to suspend my sense of disbelief, ymmv

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