Wednesday 12 December 2012

Black Cat Bases Hispanic Gangers 02

As promised last time, here is my review of the Black Cat Bases 28mm scale Los Nortenos Hispanic gang, which comprises five male gang members and their canine mascot, Carlos. As with the female gang, Las Chicas, I have named all of the gang members myself, apart from the dog, who was named by the staff of Black Cat Bases.
Starting at the far left is Eduardo Jimenez, one of two bald-headed members of the gang. He is holding his 12 Gauge pump-action shotgun in a casual pose. All of the gang members are dressed very casually and they all wear designer-label training shoes. Eduardo is dressed in a baggy shirt over a white T-shirt and cropped baggy trousers. He also has a rolled up grey bandana tied around his head.
Standing next to him is the figure I have nominated as the gang's leader. This is Guillermo Aquino and he is armed with an Ingram MAC-10 Machine Pistol. Note the sunglasses sitting on top of his head. He is dressed in an identical manner to Eduardo, apart from the bandana. His beard and moustache make him look slightly older than the others, which was one of the reasons that I chose him as the gang leader. Plus, he is wearing a gold wristwatch, gold bracelet and gold-rimmed sunglasses, so he is clearly richer than the others.
Third in line is Oribe de Jesus Torrado, the second bald-headed gang member. At first glance he appears to be armed with nothing more than a metal baseball bat. But if you look at him from the rear you can see he is about to draw a pistol that was tucked into the back of his trousers. Sneaky devil!
Moving on, we come to Ramone de Nigris, the least well armed member of the Los Nortenos. He is armed with nothing more than a knife. Presumably, he must be very good at melee combat for him to shun a firearm. He has a crazed look in his eyes and I'm guessing he is a psycopathic killer.
Javier Lugo is the fifth member of the gang and he is armed with a Big Ass Pistol. He wears a baseball cap, back to front, naturally. The reason that he is bending down is that he is supposed to be holding a leash that is attached to the collar of the dog. I took one look at the leash and decided that I didn't want to use it. I'd rather have the dog and his handler as two separate figures. You may feel differently and the option is there to combine the two figures into one unit.
Speaking of the dog, Carlos is the name given to the gang's mascot. Carlos is a Staffordshire Bull Terrier, or as they are often known as, a Staffie. He has been sculpted in an aggressive pose, leaping at someone with his teeth bared menacingly.
One of the reasons that I particularly like this set (and indeed all of the BCB gangs) is that they are not excessively armed, like for example, many of Foundry's Street Violence gangs. Just look at this gang's weapons. They have a shotgun, a machine pistol, two pistols, a baseball bat and a knife. That, I think, reflects the real life of many of the gangs found in the inner cities of America.
You can purchase this set of six figures for £12.00 from the BCB webstore. Alternatively, the figures are all available separately, retailing at £3.00 each, apart from the dog, who only costs £2.00. Finally, a word about the scale of these figures. All of the BCB gang figures are described as being 28mm scale and for once, they are. No sign of "scale creep" here. I highly recommend every one of them.

23 comments:

  1. A nice review my friend, I really like the way you've painted them. Javier and Carlos are my 2 favourites! :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Gnotta. I like the way that the dog has come out.

      Delete
  2. Good Job I have more overtime tommorrow. Once again very nice job. I may have to stop looking at your site just too many temptations.

    ReplyDelete
  3. All waiting in my painting line since that last BCB-sale. Nice paint job, as usual. Maybe I'll copy some of it :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Please feel free to copy my painr schemes, Stefan. No copyright here!

      Delete
  4. Great work on this set also Bryan. I will have to fill out my own gang with the missing members at some point. Though I may just get the complete set and convert the duplicates a little.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's the beauty of BCB, Simon - they do allow you to buy the figures individually. Great for filling gaps if you already have some of them.

      Delete
  5. Very nice figures Vampie! I was looking art these fine fellows the other week!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Ray. They are well worth checking out.

      Delete
  6. Great to see the male counter-parts and equally well painted.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Joe. It made sense to post the males right after the females.

      Delete
  7. As usual very good painting Bryan, you give me idea for my gang. For ATZ i use figures and zombies from Last Night on Earth and addons. I have many survivors from Hasslefree too but i don't have any gangsters. I just bought this set, price is very good. Good work!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hey, Pandafurtif. Gangers are almost important as zombies in ATZ. You just can't escape from them. This is definitely a good starter set to choose.

      Delete
  8. Great set and amazing paint job Bryan, the dog is a Nice touch

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Many thanks, SK. The dog is quite popular. I like the variety of dog breeds with these sets.

      Delete
  9. Like the females these are awesome! So how do you paint the skin? I cannot get ethnic skin to work very well.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. For these and for the females, I used the Foundry Native American Flesh 120 triad of paints. For Hispanics, Tan 14 or South American Flesh 119 are alternatives. I find that the Foundry triad of shade, base colour and highlight works extremely well and I can highly recommend them.

      Delete
    2. Cool thanks, I wouldnt mind expanding my foundry paints a little.

      Delete
  10. Hey, I haven't seen this yet, but better later then never, right?! Great review and painting on all BCB gangs, specially the Hispanics! Those Latino boys and girls have much more character and personality than my Spectre's Cartel gangers! Now I'll HAVE to get them for my soon-to-be-resurrected ROADKILL games! Thank you very much for the info, inspiration and eye candy, pardner! :O)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. P.S.> I totally agree with you that dog companions are a nice touch to any set of miniatures! Take a look: http://studiomcvey.com/portfolio/siouxsie/

      :O)

      Delete