Mayday! Mayday! We need heavy support! Counterblast Heavy Support Kickstarter!

Counterblast Heavy Support Kickstarter

Counterblast Kickstarter Fullfillment

Bombshell Miniatures started the Counterblast Heavy Support Kickstarter campaign on May 4, 2015 and it concluded on May 15th, so not much time to get funded but they were successful once again.

The Kickstarter had three levels of support, the Cadet ($2), Digital ($5), and Ultonium ($100). The Cadet was designed to allow you to get into the Kickstarter and purchase any add-ons separately. The Digital level was to allow access to the digital version (pdf) of the Counterblast rules ($9.99). The Ultonium level, which I selected, gave you the any selection of reinforcements and add-ons and the Bomb Kit.

The Bomb kit was the package of "freebies" that were unlocked during the campaign, which ended up including a set of equipment and tools, Edo arc weapons, Neiran weapons, and a lovely Bombshell Babe.

To complete my selections, I decided the Lancer Barracuda Rocket Bike was just too fantastic, so I got two of them. (There is an alternate version, the HS38 Rocket Bike ($16.99) which you can also get if you wanted some different options/looks.) Now while it is great to have a cool set of rocket bikes, you need a faction/warband to play the game, so I went with the Lancer Heroine Crew Set. These will also be used to lead up a new all female warband for This Is Not A Test. As I develop this new warband and paint through them, blog posts will be developed for them. Keep an eye out, those will hopefully get started in December. Just a note, when the models go live on the Bombshell web store, I will update this post with links to all of the Counterblast models.

I picked up a few little helpers/assistants, because who doesn't need support. For me it was the M.i.N.E. bots ($2.99 each) and Shrapnel ($2.99) (twilight zone-style goblin). These are all great sculpts as everyone expects from Bombshell. Glad I was able to get in on the Kickstarter and now let's paint some M.i.N.E. bots.

M.I.n.E Bots

MinionTM

As you can clearly see, these little guys make the perfect, um...what's the term, minion for all your evil scientist needs. There are a few options for M.I.n.E bots from Bombshell. You can get the individual models or you can get a set of three ($14.99). The set of three include two bots with double sets of visual components (eyes) and an array of arms that can be added. I don't have these yet, but it is another on the list of things to get.

Originally, I was going to paint this in a distinct color scheme, but once the kids saw them; it was apparent what color scheme I was going to use. So, let's start with the primer. Since I wanted to paint these yellow, I went with Army Painter Barbarian Flesh primer. This gives a nice mild brown color which makes the yellow a bit deeper. I used a few layers of Vallejo Model Color Flat Yellow. The first was to cover and as the layers progressed, the yellow became more thinner to allow for a smoother finish. The pants were painted with Vallejo Model Color Flat Blue. The belt section between is Vallejo Model Color Blue. This is a little deeper and breaks the yellow and blue pants. For the surrounds to the optics, the shoulder mounts, and the attennae mount, I used Citadel Leadbelcher so it was metal but not too shiny. For the optics, I started with Vallejo Light Grey. This includes the interior of the surround. I mixed up a 50:50 mix of the Light Grey and Reaper HD MSP Spectral White and added a smaller section of the optics center. The next layer added some Vallejo Model Color White to the mix. This made for a very near white. To give a small area of light to the optics, I used a small area of pure Vallejo White.

Finished MInE bots

With the highlight to the optics, I decided it was now necessary to add some highlights to everything else. This required an addition of Vallejo Model Color Fluo Yellow to the top left side of the body. To the optic surrounds, I added some highlights of Citadel Bolt Gun Metal. Looking at pictures of actual Minions, the boots and hands (Minions where gloves) were painted up with Vallejo Black Grey. The Minions where black boots and gloves, but this usually comes out too shiny. The boots and gloves were washed with Vallejo Dark Grey Wash. That gives enough depth to the boots to make them look like actual black boots. The antennae were also painted with the Citadel Bolt Gun Metal so they were different than the antennae mount.

I decided to keep these really clean, mostly because the kids will love them looking much like the actual Minions. I'll have to pick up some more so that I can make a couple of little rust buckets with bent antenna. These are some great sculpts and were a lot of fun to paint up. Next will be to figure out how I am going to base these. Thinking of some tech deck for something industrial or lab like.

Movember 2015 Campaign 

While Bombshell is well known for the Bombshell Babes and now Counterblast, I want to remind everyone that this is Movember. I am again doing what I can to raise awareness and donations for men's health and research. If you are willing to make a donation, you can do so here: http://mobro.co/chrislayfield. There you can find the link to donate, can find updates that I post regularly, and more information about men's health. So please donate and don't be a dick, save one.

Thanks,
Chris