Application of Experience
I (Steve) recently attended a firearms training course run by KnightRose Resources Limited, with the Training Delivered by Jay from GBRS Group. I'm a fairly active shooter and being able to better my shooting ability and my design ability was something I didn't want to miss.
I thought some of you would be interested in some of my reasons for doing so and how it relates to Spectre and miniatures design.
I've been fortunate to have been taught design and given advice from many talented designers. Something that has always stuck with me is the advice given to me by Michael and Alan Perry. They are both known for their extremely natural and realistic posing on their models, which they explain as coming from their experience in handling and using a large variety of weapons, as well as wearing the clothing and armour from the period.
By doing this, you very quickly realise how weapons should be held, and more importantly, how they should, and cannot be held.
Having hands on experience and knowing how to correctly hold and use a weapon, as well as being able to apply that knowledge to a miniature is invaluable for making realistic and believable models.
We've always prided ourselves on our realism, and I personally have always taken the opportunity to handle and shoot as many firearms as possible (some of this has been facilitated by our amazing customers across the pond). It's always worth that effort when professionals comment on the accuracy and posing of our models.
So, with this in mind, I jumped at the opportunity to get some in-depth training from one of the best the world has to offer - Jay. You can learn a little more about his experience here, but in brief, he's served around the world, first with the Royal Marines and 22 SAS, deploying alongside and delivered training to the absolute best the world has to offer.
A varied bunch of guys were training alongside me, all with varied backgrounds and levels of experience - all with incredibly interesting stories. We all bonded quickly, mainly due to the relaxed and welcoming environment from our hosts at Knight Rose Ltd (both of whom also had very distinguished careers).
We set up our rifles before the course. Being a UK Firearms holder, I was fortunate enough to be able to bring my own .22lr L119a2. GBRS provided us with extremely high end straps, grips and optic mounts. Sig Sauer provided the excellent Romeo 4 optics. I stripped my Unity mount off and decided to give the GBRS Lerna mount a go - which I liked so much, I immediately bought one for myself.
The training mainly focused on weapons handling - good stance, grip etc. At this point I was already working out how to implement this into our designs to improve our models. We also went through Low Ready, High Ready and Compressed Ready, focusing on being able to place shots accurately on target in around 1 second. You can see some of this in the great GBRS universal shooting standards video (delivered by Jay)
At this point, in the back of my mind I had already started to visualise new models. Jays explanation on where and why different ready positions would be used really got me thinking about what models should be standing in what way. For example, a set of CTFO, or UKSF CT models in high and compressed ready stances would really look the part.
There are other little things that all aid in design too - where mag pouches are worn, different ways to sling a weapon and the frustration of the gun stock getting caught on baggy clothing all speak to improving design.
The flip side of this is, having a better idea of what the professionals do, really helps with making irregular fighters. Small details can be added to highlight incomitance. Improperly mounted optics, grips etc - paired with poor stances and grips can really highlight the ability of militia or irregular forces (and some 'professional') forces...
I hope this has given a little insight into our design process, if you would like to see more of this kind of thing, let us know!
Lastly, if any of you have an interest in shooting, I highly recommend attending one of the KnightRose Resources courses. They are setting up a website at the moment, but you can keep up to date via their Instagram page
Photos all taken by Raven Media Group
