I grew up with my Dad explaining the Mercury-Gemini-Apollo missions and tales of him watching the moon walk (he still has the newspapers). In the middle of the night in April 1981 he roused me from bed to watch the very first Space Shuttle mission with Columbia, so I've been a space nut ever since too! I also had a 6 Million Dollar Man action figure - because, well, Steve Austin was an Astronaut! So this Toy Story theme round (and its Buzz Lightyear linkage) was the perfect excuse to build the Moon Walkers of my childhood imaginings, and here they are:
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| My game mat didn't arrive in time, so I made an AI background to put my figs in context |
To be honest this has been a project I have long wanted to do, so this entry was just the excuse encouragement and push in the right direction I needed, and I had a ball with them.
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| The Right Stuff! Team USA |
The models are 32mm scale Astronauts & Cosmonauts by Black Site Studios for their game Lunar. These are the new (2025) plastic models and very nice they are too (the old ones were resin). Decals are from District Miniatures, and the flags and logos really finish these guys off beautifully with splashes of colour. Each model is equipped and painted a little differently so all are unique.
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| Roscosmos Cosmonauts: Heroes of the CCCP! |
Notably, this game is not a full blown Lunar War context and more a Cold War skirmish on the moon. Accordingly, guns are rare and most weapons are improvised but no less deadly in a vacuum. I particularly like Comrade Vasily's enthusiasm for "re-educating" Western Imperialists with velocity infused moon rocks!
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Vasily cleverly redefines the phrase "We will bury you!".
Comrade Commissar is proud of him.
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Between work trips I ran short of time to get to the cratered moon crater and lander. Regardless, I'm pretty happy how these guys turned out!And finally, to verify my Space Geek credentials, today I'm visiting ARTEMIS II at NASA's Kennedy Space Centre at Cape Canaveral! Pity today's launch got delayed but it was great to see her standing proudly at the LaunchPad 39B |
| Safe travels to the Moon ARTEMIS II! |
So thats 10 x 32mm figs (70 points) plus the Bonus for a 120 points in total
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| Maybe I need to paint the next Lads in these colours! |
Great work on these Astronauts Paul, I've only played Lunar the once and recall having a good time of it.
ReplyDeleteThanks Paul - it sure is!
DeleteWe are working on some house rules at the moment and will ost on my blog in due course
Marvelous looking astronauts Paul. Fighting in spacesuits is definitely only for the truly fanatical.
ReplyDeleteThanks Tom! Yes indeed, even a minor wound leaves a big hole in the thin plastic keeping you alive!
DeleteFabulous brushwork, Paul. Dallas ran us through a game of Lunar at PrairieCon a few years ago and it was good fun.
ReplyDeletePS: I had the Steve Austin figure too, back in the day. :)
Thanks Curt! Yes, his blog has some pics featuring you enjoying yourself during said game! Dallas's collection was quite an inspiration for me to start mine in fact.
DeleteBrilliant Paul - to infinity and beyond!
ReplyDeleteHaha! Thanks Kerry!
DeleteSplendid looking astronaughts!
ReplyDeleteBest Iain
Cheers Iain!
DeleteExcellent work Paul. Good shot of you geeking out at NASA. To infinity and beyond!
ReplyDeleteThanks Peter! Always good to get immersive with your Hobby :-)
DeleteGreat painted astronauts!
ReplyDeleteNow where do I have my Airfix ones hidden?
thanks Peter!
DeleteVery cool- one of the earliest toys I got was a die-cast space shuttle. I really enjoy anything space.
ReplyDeleteCheers Barks!
DeletePaul, I was fascinated when you showed the figure on the call last week. They look superb all together and wonderful coincidence yo got to the Cape.
ReplyDeleteThanks Richard! Yes it was a great tie-in!
DeleteMoments in time create our most striking memories- nice to see some spacemen on show and of course white is never an easy paint so these are very nicely done
ReplyDeleteThanks Norber! White is indeed challenging to make look realistic and still be interesting
DeleteLunar seems like a fun game, these models are ace!
ReplyDeleteThey are indeed a lot of fun to do!
DeleteAbsolutely smashing! I’m sad you weren’t able to get to the crater and lander (I’m a huge LEM fan) but what you have submitted is spectacular.
ReplyDeleteThanks Robert - posted a small lander in the main challenge this week :-)
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