Review of Blue Moon Egyptian Agents.....

As promised in an earlier posting, dear readers, I was concerned about the issues with Blue Moon figures, and perhaps some "differences" in them.

Last year at Little Wars, I bought some of their Hillbillies and they really haven't been pleasurable to paint. They seem to take more primer and paint than most other 28mm figures.  The primer seemed to gritty out some also, (but I think I am blaming this more on the humidity than the quality of the figure).

But I did promise that I would do reviews.

So this year at Little Wars, I bought the following Blue Moon Packs:

1: Egyptian Agents

2: Russian Agents

3: German Agents

4: Lord of the Manor and his Servants

5: School Days

PART 1: Examining the figures.

This review is on the first pack; The Egyptian Agents....

The Agents packs seem to come with five figures per pack, (the same as Bob Murch's "Pulp Figures").

Each pack is in a plastic baggie stapled to a back-card with an easy to read Identifier, so you aren't confused with what you are getting by reading some obscure code number that some companies put there.

Russian and Egyptian Agents Packs

Removing the bag from the card...so far so good....

Laying out the figures, from L to R, #1, #2, #3, #4, and finally #5... You can see some of the flash on the bottom of the bases already...

Setting up the figures to get a look at them....hmmmm.....

Okay first off....

The metal is shiny....really shiny....which seems to indicate a different type of alloy used than that of the other 28mm figs I am used to, (Murch, Foundry, Artizan, Rafm, etc...)

Each of the figures seems to have a ground base already on it...which might not be what some people want. It can be easily fixed by being covered with groundwork though....

Now lets take a look at the figs up close and personal like shall we?

First off is Figure #1:

Yes you can definitely see flash and mold break marks on the bottom bases of this one, (and the others), and there is some light flash around the cuffs and hands of the figure. Nothing that an X-Acto knife can't handle....

Now onto figure #2:

Usual flash on the bottom, and some flash around the hands arms....

Figure #3:

Not as much flash on this one as the others....

Figure #4: The "Dancer"....

This one has very little flash but oddly enough has the most detailing of them all...Body proportions are "okay"...looks like she could use a sandwich or a gyro or two based on her waist/hip ratio....

And Figure #5: aka "Burkha Betty"....

This one has the least flash of them all, and also seems to have the least detail. I see this one and for some reason I keep thinking of some of the old 1980's Ral-Partha/Grenadier D&D "Ghost" figures....

Okay so after looking at this pack, I noticed very little undercuts (as opposed to the hillbillies I have). There is a standard amount of flash and production break tabs. Very little in mold/casting lines, and the details varies in the figures. The paint jobs on these are going to go from "easy" to "kinda challenging"....

Next Installment...PT II: Priming and Basing Them....

Stay Tuned!!!!

Update...stuff, worktable, Blue Moon figures, etc...

Well a long overdue update to this blog o' mine.....

I've put aside my 15mm worlds for a while, and lately have been working on trying to reduce my 25-28mm lead pile by working on some of the numerous pulp figs. Each weekend, when work, or life doesn't take a domineering chunk of my so called "off time", I try to get some painting done. My current goal as in TMP's "The Pledge" is to "Paint more than I buy". That way I can get figures done, control my spending, help reduce my lead pile to a more manageable level and of course, get stuff ready to game.

In the meantime, I've been doing other "gaming related" things....read on dear read....

1: Weekend shopping:

Ahhhh...the fall season. It's the time when the Halloween stuff is coming out, and some places are putting the Christmas stuff out.

And you know what that means dear miniature gamer?

Yes, Lemax and Department 51 accessories!

So this past weekend, my wife, (Gawd bless her!), and myself did the weekend shopping errands. 

We stopped at The Dollar Tree to see what was there, and I noticed a set of cheap Halloween stuff in the tradition of Lemax/Dept. 51, called "Tombstone Corners".  Very poorly painted, but still.

They had a "Skeletal Gazebo" there that would've been nice but needed some work, and I don't have time for any more conversions.

With that, the only thing I did buy was two of their scenic "trees".

Hey...every cemetery has to have dead trees in it, right?

Oh and I also got a small car for my 15mm world, and a Batman figurine, with some odd notion that I am going to work on it and make it a statue..perhaps for said cemetery?....

After that it was a side trip to the local bookstore, (Half-Price Books), in which I picked up a hardback Ravenloft campaign guide and a copy of GW's "How To Make Wargames Terrain"

The GW book was a good find, and I look forward to seeing how I can use the ideas in it.

A nice little haul if I do say so myself....

And returning to that I decided to get down to work.....

At a messy desk.

2:  Now granted, I, (like so many others), have numerous projects in various stages of completion. I sometimes think out hobby is a form of ADD treatment, or perhaps an easy way to diagnose the affliction. 

However it had simply gotten to the point where I had NO real open workspace, and a lot of clutter on my desk.

So I cleaned it...(mostly).

And here is where I sit and do my madness.....

My mad scientists lair...muah hah hah....

I took some sectional photos so you could get an idea of what it does look like close up.....

This is the "left flank"....

My glues, tape, green stuff, Litko bases, wire, epoxy, etc...are all there, along with a photo of R.E. Lee, and a 1989 Citadel Hill Giant that a friend of mine got me when he came back from England.

The left flank....that which holds it all together, (well the glue and stuff actually)....

An old figure.....from an old friend....

And on the right flank, I had "the groundwork"; ie: "turf"...Woodland Scenics, GW "Sand", cat litter, (clean cat litter I might add to those that were curious), GF9 groundwork, baby powder, some pumice and sand spackle, etc....

This is OUR turf! Get it?....Oh and please disregard the padlock...I have no clue why it's there....

And finally, that which holds it all together and is where all the action is....the center, (aka "Amidships")....

Here we have my paints, pallet, brushes, tools, etc; Most of them are being held in "Commemorative" Froo-Froo Drink Mugs that I got while in Las Vegas back at the Excalibur Jousting Show, or Back when "TI" was actually "Treasure Island" and had the "Pirate Show"....sigh....that's gone now, and well....it's sad...

Also on the wall is a photo of Col Horatio H. Mustard and his hunting party in Africa in the latter half of the 19th Century, after a successful lion hunt. 

In all reality this was 2006 game run by Jason Coffey as part of his annual "Big Hunt" games, and the good Colonel easily bagged his lions by having his hunting party (consisting of Texas Cowboys and Mexican Banditos), simply ambush the Russian Players Hunting Party, gun them down with some of Colonel Colts best wares, and "claim" their lions....
Dastardly, but it won me the game....

Next to it is another prize....a page from a Coloring book, lavishly colored by my son when he was four years old and I was stationed in Korea....That means a lot to me....

Yeps...this is where I sit and where it's allllllllllll created.....

 Above my work table are some framed items including a copy of "Fiddlers Green"....

And a piece that explains Cavalry...

And my autographed photo from Adam West...Batman keeping an eye on things....

As well as my pic of Linda Blair...*ahem*....


3: Blue Moon Figures....
So this past weekend in a recent discussion with a TMP member ("Wyatt The Odd"), he remarked that he was going to be getting some Blue Moon Figures soon. I had told him that I think that there is a remarkable difference in them as opposed to other figures. My wife has said that it looks like the sculpts and productions are "cruder" than some other figs, (She's a big Bob Murch "Pulp Figures" fan), while I tend to agree. I have also noticed that they had a lot more deep, angular cuts in them as opposed to some other figs, as well as what seems to be an obvious metal composition difference. So the next batch that I am going to prime up will be my second batch of Blue Moon Figures. This batch will consist of "Russian Agents, German Agents, Egyptian Agents, School Days, and Lord of The Manor and His Servants"; five packs in all.
My first set was one of their hillbilly packs and I do believe that in a previous post I had discussed how much primer they took as well as the grit feeling. I do believe it has to do with the primer and the humidity, so this next batch should be better. We will see, as I will be reporting it when I get onto painting them.

Let's see how this works out.....stay tuned!

Well, that is about it for now...I will be posting some of my projects (including the "de-skulling" of a GW "Gardens of Morr" set) here in the future, as well as some other figures recently painted.

Comments are always appreciated....

Thanks for reading!!!