12 Civilians? No, 13!

 I finished a baker's dozen of figures for my modern collection last night after about a week's worth of evening work. Even better, most of them had large, well-sculpted faces and I was able to go in and paint eyes on them! 

 First up, a short order cook and a carhop waitress, complete with a tray of fries, shake and burger, from Killer B Games (purchased through Recreational Conflict here in the USA). Maybe slightly anachronistic for a "modern" game, given that carhops on roller skates seem to really be a thing of the 1950s, but my table is pretty consistently a blend of the second half of the 20th century up into the 2010s or so. My home city of Buffalo is often used as a shooting location for early 20th century films because so many local buildings haven't changed in a century; it's the Rust Belt, things hang around because we can't always afford to replace them. 

 A few more Killer B figures - a slobby guy in an undershirt with a newspaper, scratching his ass; a clerk I'm interpreting as a pharmacist or even a barber; and a "Sporty Girl" in shorts, high socks and a tight T-shirt with a Farrah Fawcett cut. I'm pretty pleased with myself for the piping on her shorts and the blue stripes on her socks. I gave her a grassy base versus a gravelly one because I can see her showing up in non-urban games as well. 

 Something a little spicy - a pimp and his stable of girls. Everyone but the rightmost figure here are from Reaper Miniatures, while the black madam in a red jumpsuit and white coat is another Killer B figure. I took some color cues from "A Pimp Named Slickback" on the animated show "The Boondocks" for him:

"No,no, not 'Slickback,' I'm 'A Pimp Named Slickback,' you have to say the whole thing."

 One of the guys in the group I hang out and paint with on Monday nights saw the feather in his hat the and the hook of his cane and said, "Oh cool, a pirate!"

Not...not quite, Darryl. You got the "pi" part right. 

 I am really pleased with the sheer stockings effect I got on the blonde, as well. 

 Pushing the bounds of "civilians" quite a bit, these two armed ladies are from Copplestone Castings. Not a whole lot to say here; I realize now I forgot to go in and put a dark wash over the metallics for their guns. 

So that's 12, but I promised you 13 - who's still to be shown?

 I'm a little bummed - I painted this Reaper Miniatures cat on the sprue (I've got three more cats left), so I wasn't able to test-fit him to this 3D printed cardboard box. So he's more concealed than I really would have liked, but it is what it is. Once varnished he's going to be glued to the sidewalk in front of one of my modern buildings.

 So let's update that tracker:

 

Miniatures Acquired: 149

Miniatures Painted: 126

Terrain Acquired: 4

Terrain Painted: 6

Scatter Acquired: 0

Scatter Painted: 8

 

Here's Your Sign

 Another piece of terrain for my modern tables, this one has been sitting awaiting attention for a bit. This is a straightforward roadside billboard from Atomic Laser Cut Designs, that went together a treat, without too much sanding. 

 The base was sprayed cement gray and the sign itself a dark brown, before getting a dusty drybrushing of tan craft paint. The actual advertising was what I could knock out with my slightly-busted black and white inkjet printer at home; I'll probably end up doing at least two more of these and I'll make the trip to Office Max for color printing for those, with billboards for local defunct ambulance chasing lawyers and a used car salesman who had omnipresent ads and slogans for years.  

The base got some glue painted on it and dipped in some gray "fine ballast" from Woodland Scenics before getting tarted up with a few tufts and a 3D printed cardboard box. I've got a bag full of assorted little cardboard boxes a friend printed up for me and I think they add some visual interest.

My friend Chris and I are looking at getting some Fistful of Kung Fu in this month, and martial artists are actually something I don't have much in the way of; so I've ordered some street fighters and ninjas from Crooked Dice to flesh out life on the mean streets of Tabletop Town. And speaking of fleshing things out, I've got a dozen civilians (well, mostly civilians) on my painting bench at the moment, with most of them nearly at the point of just needing their hair painted. 

Time to update the tracker - and I've been going back and forth as to whether the billboard counts as scatter or full-blown terrain. I'm going to count it as terrain.

 

Miniatures Acquired: 149

Miniatures Painted: 113

Terrain Acquired: 4

Terrain Painted: 6

Scatter Acquired: 0

Scatter Painted: 8