Why
Things can get a little emotional for me when watching the miniatures from Brigade Models. Along with those from Ground Zero Games, they were one of my very first 6mm sci-fi miniatures to see and paint. In fact, you will see some miniatures on a green background and this is how I took photos in the beginning which is a couple of years ago. It took years to be able to collect and organize all these miniatures, so once again, I really wanted to do this for some time now.
So let us go together in an adventure and explore the incredible and well developed range of 6mm SF miniatures* from Brigade Models, one of their 6mm range of miniatures, along with Hammer's Slammers**.
* mainly, inspired from Iron Cow 2103 AD game and universe, designed by Steve Blease from Wessex Games, and some other miniatures, for example, those created by Jeremey Claridge from Germy.co.uk
** based on David Drake works and playable with the game Hammer's Slammers: The Crucible, rulebook by John Treadaway and John Lambshead. See a review of Hammer's Slammers 6mm miniatures here.
3...2..1.
* mainly, inspired from Iron Cow 2103 AD game and universe, designed by Steve Blease from Wessex Games, and some other miniatures, for example, those created by Jeremey Claridge from Germy.co.uk
** based on David Drake works and playable with the game Hammer's Slammers: The Crucible, rulebook by John Treadaway and John Lambshead. See a review of Hammer's Slammers 6mm miniatures here.
3...2..1.
ignition!!!
How
All of the miniatures come unpainted and require some assemble. Some
need a little bit more work. In general, the miniatures need little
prepare time - assembling, removing unwanted parts and washing. Applying black primer and some coats of paints followed. Depending on the factions/sub-ranges of miniatures I have applied many paint schemes, camo.
* For the American Republic I have used Flat Earth 983 and German Grey 995 for one paint scheme, and for the other, Bluff 976 and Beige Brown 875. For MG, rockets, turret parts I have used Gunmetal Grey 863.
* In painting the British I have employed: Dark Blue Green 904, White 951, Sky Grey 989, and in the other scheme Russian Uniform WWII 924 and Cam. Olive Green 894.
* Chinese Democratic Socialist Union: Bluff 976, Dark Blue Green 904, Beige Brown 875.
* Cimexian Bugs: #1 Lime Green 827, Brass 801; #2 Flat Flesh 955, Violet Red 812.
* European Federation: #1 Retractive Green 890 (I use many green nuances, I hope I am not confusing them) and Deep Green 970, #2 Bluff 976, Flat Earth 983, #3 Light Grey 990, Sand Yellow 916.
* German #1 Flat Flesh 955, Bluff 976, Retractive Green 890, Beige Brown 875, #2 Cam. Olive Green 894, Retractive Green 890, Flat Earth 983.
* Indonesian Republic: #1 Gunmetal Grey 863 (not well mixed...), German Grey 995, Flat Red 957, Andrea Blue 841, #2 Khaki 988, Russian Uniform WWII 924.
* Mercenaries: #1 Flat Yellow 953 (multiple coats, not well mixed, not well end results), German Grey 995, Deep Green 970, #2 Russian Uniform WWII 924, Flat Red 957.
* In painting the British I have employed: Dark Blue Green 904, White 951, Sky Grey 989, and in the other scheme Russian Uniform WWII 924 and Cam. Olive Green 894.
* Chinese Democratic Socialist Union: Bluff 976, Dark Blue Green 904, Beige Brown 875.
* Cimexian Bugs: #1 Lime Green 827, Brass 801; #2 Flat Flesh 955, Violet Red 812.
* European Federation: #1 Retractive Green 890 (I use many green nuances, I hope I am not confusing them) and Deep Green 970, #2 Bluff 976, Flat Earth 983, #3 Light Grey 990, Sand Yellow 916.
* German #1 Flat Flesh 955, Bluff 976, Retractive Green 890, Beige Brown 875, #2 Cam. Olive Green 894, Retractive Green 890, Flat Earth 983.
* Indonesian Republic: #1 Gunmetal Grey 863 (not well mixed...), German Grey 995, Flat Red 957, Andrea Blue 841, #2 Khaki 988, Russian Uniform WWII 924.
* Mercenaries: #1 Flat Yellow 953 (multiple coats, not well mixed, not well end results), German Grey 995, Deep Green 970, #2 Russian Uniform WWII 924, Flat Red 957.
* Neo-Soviet: #1 Medium Sea Green 870, Light Grey 990, Dark Blue Green 904, #2 Deep Green 970, #2 Russian Uniform WWII 924, Gunmetal Grey 863.
* Pacific Federation: #1 Purple 959, Violet Red 812, Violet 960, Flat Red 957, #2 Sky Blue 961, White 951, Dark Blue Green 904.
* Polish: #1 Cavalry Brown 982, Sky Blue 961, Violet 960, Bluff 976, Gunmetal Grey 863, #2 Bronze Green 897.
* South African Federation: #1 Khaki 988, German Grey 995, London Grey 836, #2Bronze Green 897, #3 Khaki 988, Retractive Green 890, #4 Sand Yellow 916.
* Yenpalo: Andrea Blue 841, Flat Blue 962.
* Pacific Federation: #1 Purple 959, Violet Red 812, Violet 960, Flat Red 957, #2 Sky Blue 961, White 951, Dark Blue Green 904.
* Polish: #1 Cavalry Brown 982, Sky Blue 961, Violet 960, Bluff 976, Gunmetal Grey 863, #2 Bronze Green 897.
* South African Federation: #1 Khaki 988, German Grey 995, London Grey 836, #2Bronze Green 897, #3 Khaki 988, Retractive Green 890, #4 Sand Yellow 916.
* Yenpalo: Andrea Blue 841, Flat Blue 962.
Results
Under each photo, that can be enlarged so you can observe the details
more easily, there is the name of the painted
miniature in alphabetically order and a
link that leads you to further images if you are more interested in a
respective miniatures. For each miniature I have taken
photos from different angles. You can
you use the search function to
find out more easily when you want to find something in particular.
Review
The range is fantastic. First of all, it's very huge with over 200 miniatures and very complex in terms of types of miniatures. It comprises vehicles with different methods of moving - grav, hover, wheels, tracks, flying; or functionalities - tank, tank destroyer - anti-tank, self-propelled gun, artillery, ARV, bridgelayer, command, anti-aircraft, missile - rockets, reconaissance, trucks, MICV, IFV, APC, jeep, armoured cars and other light vehicles, VTOL, combat walker.
Most of the vehicles are land vehicles, a few are air vehicles and quite a few are sea vehicles, the latter being quite interesting and rare for a sci-fi range of miniatures, and of course more than salutary. There are also artillery, support weapons, infantry, mounted infantry (Lizard Rider for Yenpalo or Mounted Infantry for South African Federation). Some of the miniatures had old design and look good now with the new design (Pacific Federation is one good example), some desperately need a redesign, because some vehicles looks rather cluncky and uninspired, or from the Age of Steam or from sci-fi dating back to '80. Some vehicles are inspired from WW2 or modern real vehicles (Kunitsa of the Neo-Soviet looks like an M-113). For some vehicles I do not think the redesign is better, at least for my taste. I liked better the old design of M-41 Baumann Infantry Combat Vehicle and also, although a little bit old, I think that some of the Pacific Federation vehicle looked at least better than new ones, like Koala Heavy Attack Vehicle (or they had more personality, more sci-fi feel). No matter, is good to see in general improvements to miniatures.
Many vehicles are in the shape of squares or rectangles or something similar (Chinese Democratic Socialist Union or British or German). It may be as desired for some of them, but mostly they look somehow poor or lazy from a "modern sci-fi envision", but who can say how the future will look like. Infantry is good, especially Polish, South African Federation, Pacific Federation and Yenpalo or in other words, not the general infantry, though power armour looks way better (see the general Infantry range), flying vehicles are ok, sea vehicles look good, and the same for artillery or support weapons.
I really like many of the miniatures'designs, look not far than those half-tracks from Polish faction, like Suwalska Half-track APC. This Suwalska is quite a universal vehicle since it is used with many features (mounted on this chassis), for combat or combat support. This comes in aiding the quantity of the miniatures, is done also for other faction quite heavy (i.e. Catroux and Tassigny from European Federation or Lynx and Thor from German faction), but also is good for us, players or collectors, since we can see and employ the vehicle we like in all sorts of uses and capabilities.
Neo-Soviet, Pacific Federation and Mercenaries factions are the ones with the most new redesigns, and I think as a new faction, Neo-Soviet is the newest. Some of its vehicles look very good, like Vombat, Terminator, Bars or BMP. In general, redesigns and totally new developed vehicles are hitting all the ranges, which is a good indicator for how Brigade Models does business and cares for its ranges of miniatures and clients.
Some miniatures are rare for a sci-fi environment and it is a plus for the sci-fi miniatures produced by Brigade Models: Hippo Heavy Truck - Bowser version, River Gunboat, Fire Support Boat (the last two are the only sea vehicles), Catroux Ambulance, M-824 Boyd ARV, among many others.
There are some "little" beasts and I need to mention Helheim Urban Assault Tank, Komodo Heavy Grav Tank, Mammont Super-Heavy (this tank reminds me slightly of the Mammoth Tank from Command and Conquer: Red Alert), combat walkers from Mercenaries faction, Sohei Tanks from the same faction, Garibaldi Heavy Tank, Rhino Heavy Tank, M-83 Curtiss Heavy Tank and the list of examples could easily get even longer. Some other vehicles are quite little like Polevka, Homon or Springbok. And speaking of measure, the miniatures are "in range" of 6mm and look good one next to each other, but also next to other miniatures from other manufacturers.
Some sub-ranges are very well developed, other seem like they miss some types of vehicles (i.e. British or Yenpalo). This may come from the Iron Cow setting, but since many of the miniatures done are developed well outside of this universe, we should praise the producer of miniatures, but also ask for a balanced development. I like to make a special mention to the alien faction, which is Cimexian Bugs. It is not really the only one (see Yenpalo), but is a particular well developed one, with infantry, tanks, walkers and many other vehicles, that look "realistic out of this world".
I like all the factions, but these days I tend to enjoy painting and playing South African Federation, Neo-Soviet and American Republic. I like many miniatures, but to name just three: S511 Sibayak MRL, Suwalska Half-track APC and Mammont Super-Heavy Tank.
The range is fantastic. First of all, it's very huge with over 200 miniatures and very complex in terms of types of miniatures. It comprises vehicles with different methods of moving - grav, hover, wheels, tracks, flying; or functionalities - tank, tank destroyer - anti-tank, self-propelled gun, artillery, ARV, bridgelayer, command, anti-aircraft, missile - rockets, reconaissance, trucks, MICV, IFV, APC, jeep, armoured cars and other light vehicles, VTOL, combat walker.
Most of the vehicles are land vehicles, a few are air vehicles and quite a few are sea vehicles, the latter being quite interesting and rare for a sci-fi range of miniatures, and of course more than salutary. There are also artillery, support weapons, infantry, mounted infantry (Lizard Rider for Yenpalo or Mounted Infantry for South African Federation). Some of the miniatures had old design and look good now with the new design (Pacific Federation is one good example), some desperately need a redesign, because some vehicles looks rather cluncky and uninspired, or from the Age of Steam or from sci-fi dating back to '80. Some vehicles are inspired from WW2 or modern real vehicles (Kunitsa of the Neo-Soviet looks like an M-113). For some vehicles I do not think the redesign is better, at least for my taste. I liked better the old design of M-41 Baumann Infantry Combat Vehicle and also, although a little bit old, I think that some of the Pacific Federation vehicle looked at least better than new ones, like Koala Heavy Attack Vehicle (or they had more personality, more sci-fi feel). No matter, is good to see in general improvements to miniatures.
Many vehicles are in the shape of squares or rectangles or something similar (Chinese Democratic Socialist Union or British or German). It may be as desired for some of them, but mostly they look somehow poor or lazy from a "modern sci-fi envision", but who can say how the future will look like. Infantry is good, especially Polish, South African Federation, Pacific Federation and Yenpalo or in other words, not the general infantry, though power armour looks way better (see the general Infantry range), flying vehicles are ok, sea vehicles look good, and the same for artillery or support weapons.
I really like many of the miniatures'designs, look not far than those half-tracks from Polish faction, like Suwalska Half-track APC. This Suwalska is quite a universal vehicle since it is used with many features (mounted on this chassis), for combat or combat support. This comes in aiding the quantity of the miniatures, is done also for other faction quite heavy (i.e. Catroux and Tassigny from European Federation or Lynx and Thor from German faction), but also is good for us, players or collectors, since we can see and employ the vehicle we like in all sorts of uses and capabilities.
Neo-Soviet, Pacific Federation and Mercenaries factions are the ones with the most new redesigns, and I think as a new faction, Neo-Soviet is the newest. Some of its vehicles look very good, like Vombat, Terminator, Bars or BMP. In general, redesigns and totally new developed vehicles are hitting all the ranges, which is a good indicator for how Brigade Models does business and cares for its ranges of miniatures and clients.
Some miniatures are rare for a sci-fi environment and it is a plus for the sci-fi miniatures produced by Brigade Models: Hippo Heavy Truck - Bowser version, River Gunboat, Fire Support Boat (the last two are the only sea vehicles), Catroux Ambulance, M-824 Boyd ARV, among many others.
There are some "little" beasts and I need to mention Helheim Urban Assault Tank, Komodo Heavy Grav Tank, Mammont Super-Heavy (this tank reminds me slightly of the Mammoth Tank from Command and Conquer: Red Alert), combat walkers from Mercenaries faction, Sohei Tanks from the same faction, Garibaldi Heavy Tank, Rhino Heavy Tank, M-83 Curtiss Heavy Tank and the list of examples could easily get even longer. Some other vehicles are quite little like Polevka, Homon or Springbok. And speaking of measure, the miniatures are "in range" of 6mm and look good one next to each other, but also next to other miniatures from other manufacturers.
Some sub-ranges are very well developed, other seem like they miss some types of vehicles (i.e. British or Yenpalo). This may come from the Iron Cow setting, but since many of the miniatures done are developed well outside of this universe, we should praise the producer of miniatures, but also ask for a balanced development. I like to make a special mention to the alien faction, which is Cimexian Bugs. It is not really the only one (see Yenpalo), but is a particular well developed one, with infantry, tanks, walkers and many other vehicles, that look "realistic out of this world".
I like all the factions, but these days I tend to enjoy painting and playing South African Federation, Neo-Soviet and American Republic. I like many miniatures, but to name just three: S511 Sibayak MRL, Suwalska Half-track APC and Mammont Super-Heavy Tank.
Brigade Models also has complex ranges of miniatures for sci-fi buildings. Their speciality is for desert terrain, but the ranges keep expanding, so you may find passenger and freight trains and accessories, infantry (Astronauts in the Moonbase range of buildings) or fortifications. I like many of their buildings, too many to name them here. Have a look for example at the underground structures and you will understand what I mean. I think the buildings of Brigade Models are the staple for any sci-fi environment that you want to represent.
In terms of painting I like what I have painted and what I have achieved. Many of the painted miniatures may not look that good, and it may show the beginnings of my painting "career", the (little) time invested, while others show my general limits. Other look more good. In general, I want to comeback and if not repaint them, at least correct them, or buying new ones to see what I can achieve now with them. I like the way Cimexian Bugs look like painted. This is the pleasure of improving day by day. I decided to put all the painted minis to give courage for others to paint in general, and especially to paint 6mm minis. It's not hard, and miracles can be done with care and exercise. The range of minis gets new add-on so it is fun to have new models to discover and paint. It is also complex and with so many options that you will quickly learn to appreciate it and disregard its shortcomings. For all these written and for many more, Brigade Models will always have a special place in my mind and heart.
Feedback
Hope you like it, hope you share it with many friends and leave a comment or two!
Click on the links to access the faction galleries, totalling well above 200 miniatures and hundreds of corresponding images.
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