Empress USMC, the specialists

Ok,

I am slowly chronicling my efforts to complete my small group of Empress USMC that I got as just reward for my kickstarter last January (ugh... so long ago how time flew... it is starting to look cold and gloomy again here...). I called them the specialists because they are not a a fire team, it is just random mix of Marines with specific weapons, a M240G, a M249, a M39, and a vanilla M16A4. Now do not get me wrong, they are lovely sculpts, but I find the mix quite useless... well I can even complain on the lack of a SMAW pack while we got an 81mm Mortar... lovely sculpt again, but what is its usefulness in a sensible 28mm table (except in some adaptation of that pathetic excuse for a rule set called  Bolt Action an 81mm mortar minimum range is more or less your average gamin table) ?

Anyway back at the miniatures. Here we have the group shot:

Well sculpted as we are now used with the team at Empress with lovely details. The flash suppressor of the M249 was bent out of shape and while trying to bend it back I broke uit, but I was able to repair it (more or less, I am more worried with some damage to my Chinese rifles... again finally scaled miniatures have some problems, problems that I aggravated in storage...).

Now let's talk of the guys in detail. The Machinegunner is prone, and it was quite nice to paint. I reminds me of the nice one I did for the US Army set.

The SAW guy, the Automatic rifleman, is also nice. I am not realyl sure it is a good firing pose too. I had dealt with the SAW in the past and just one year and half ago I was physically reminded of its weight (and seeing girls trying to lift one of them and assume a proper firing position was... well I was looking at the girls and not so much at the SAW... but they complained a lot).

Well, the barrel does not even look too bad. The knelling rifleman is one of my favourite, I like his face.

Finally we have the marksman. Another good pose with a nice feel.

Now... they were a joy to paint even if the pack seems a bit thrown together.  The range lacks a Javelin and a SMAW for sure... and maybe even a ground mounted TOW.