Snakes - Or A Coincidence Of Needs

I am currently short of things I want to paint. I thought going to a show last Sunday would change that but to be honest...not really. Half of what I have painted is now done and drying off so I'll post a few pics of that soon. So I have been fiddling about with there projects that are not really what I want to do. I have been going through storage trays I can find at the moment and I am amazed at what I have been dragging out. I'll put some pics up as I start to finish things off. The oldest was got from a shop that closed down twenty years ago but for most part, they are a lot newer. As I am sure you will see, not the most challenging of subjects.

I'll finish the details off when I find my magnifying lamps base

So I found these snakes from Critical Mass Games. They have been stuck on bases for a well over a year, so that constitutes being in the paint queue. At one point, the plan had been to do a 15mm X-Com game. I think I have given up on this idea now in favour of doing something in 28mm. Snakemen don't make an appearance in the new X-Com games but they were a staple of the original. They were the easiest of the races to over come. They weren't especially tough and they had no psychic powers.

The main crux of the argument is, well they were really just there. So the thinking goes, snakemen, eh? Aren't they a bit lame. So I thought I could use them as a really weak opponent race, just ensure that there are lots of them. So I will probably get some more when I next see Critical Mass Games at a show.

Another Bits And Pieces Post

Well I didn't get much feedback about the colour scheme so I plodded on with it anyway. The plan was that this would end up looking like WW2 US marine camo. If I can't have what I want then I get something tenuously close to what I want. I am really not sure that I have got the colour balance right on the pictures. Hopefully it is sandy enough that it won't stick out like a sore thumb on the table top.

So these are four of the twenty not colonial marines.  I am hoping to use them for tomorrow's war and maybe some RPG game stuff. i was thinking that they could be a moderate tech post apocalyptic force.

Whilst waiting for inks to dry on the marines I have had a play about with some x29 blockhead suits from Critical Mass Games. Nice figures and look like beefier cousins to the jaeger robot from Khurasan. Unlike the marines, I want these to stand out and be seen. there seemed to be a lot of robots in Fallout so maybe these would work for PA too.
 
Now for a taste of what is coming next. The two police figures on either side are zombies and all four are from Rebel Minis. The next thing on my mind is the zombies. I want the uniforms of the police officers to match their dead colleagues so I thought that I would start here. Most of the RPG stuff I run in modern America I run in Washington D.C. because I have a fair bit of background stuff for it so I was planning on using D.C. uniform colours, powder blue shirts and black trousers. I might paint some more figures in a different uniform colour. Just a thought if anyone is reading this, it would be good to be able to get some figures that look like state troopers..

Working On A Building

Gaming and modelling, as with life, never really finishes. Projects are not completed but are merely left to one side for a while. I had a play about with one of the building I put together a few months ago.

I have added a few touches and glued a few bits here and there. The bits are fom critical Mass Games, Scotia Grendel and random bits of flock.The bits from Critical MAss I got at a show and haven't seen them for sale on the web yet.

15mm building for modern post-apocalypse and sci-fi

There is still more work to do on it but maybe I will leave it for a while and work on some of the other buildings or maybe something else entirely.

And the rear of the above

The poster on the rear is a print out of an RDA poster from Avatar I think just to give the games a little bit of flavour.

Phalanx

I've been to St Helens today for the Phalanx show. As a Widnesian I feel somewhat soiled by the experience and had to have a shower when I got in. Only joking. Phalanx is a good little show. I went with some of my mates (that's actual mates not "people I met"). One of them being Martin. I have passed the URL for this so I expect sudden sarcasm.


Critical Mass Games was in attendance so I spent a bit of money there and even took some pictures. i wasn't there long enough to play a game but did chat with a few of the people. I like their stuff and if you like Halo then the Arc troopers are for you.

 

 

I am still after some bits and pieces to dress up the tabletop. I have been after some lamp posts for a while but have always put off buying them because the tend to be really expensive. Critical Mass have some new terrain bits which had some and some few other bits and pieces. For £4 I thought it was a very good deal. They will work for all the genres I am working on at the moment.

  

I also got some laser cut terrain. For £8 I got a 1.5m of fencing which seems like a good deal. This is the first laser cut terrain I have purchased. I have some laser cut bases which were pretty good but I was mightily impressed. The only drawback was the smell. the smell? Imagine rancid burnt mackerel. When you get it out of the bag do so in a well ventilated room.

 There is a nice range of types. Short and long fences as well as small and large gates. I wish I had got some more now.

I will post more pictures as I get them painted up.

Alien Plant Life From Critical Mass

Most of my alien plants are plastic fish tank plants trimmed to fit the part. There isn't much out there. This stuff from Critical mass is a nice change.

At £7.50 for 18 pieces of Alien Jungle Flora it's going to cost a lot to cover a large area but I guess it compares well to conventional trees.

Mecha, Mecha Everywhere

I have never been a big mecha combat fan. BattleTech largely passed me by when it came out and don't get me started on adeptus titanicus. I think what put me off was that a lot of them looked fairly absurd. This is a review of what is out there. I may well amend this with a few more models as time goes by.

It seems that there is a fair bit of interest in mechs in 15mm at the moment. GZG released some for Salute. Big mechs that look like the mean business. A fair range of parts that can be played about with to get what you want. I can't put a link in here because they are not formally on sale although there are some details on the GZG website.

GZG mecha

Critical Mass have had a few mecha out for a while. This one is the Combat Support Walker. This was has the feel of the AT-ST from Star Wars. Somehow it lacks the vibe of the GZG suit which seems to have the combat walker vibe but hey I am no fan of the BattleTech style which this seems to have.

Critical Mass combat support walker.

PA 3 Python Combat Armour

The most recently released of the three and a bit smaller than the others is from Khurasan. It's closer to the mech from Avatar than the full battle mech. A nice mini with a lot of choice to make up variety of poses. It reminds me of the first dreadnaught armour that GW produced during the 1980s but with a lot more attention to detail.

Rebel Minis have been producing small scale mech for a while. I look at them and think that they are a manned version of ED-209. I have seen some of these in the flesh and they are pretty good minis.

Rebel Minis Viper walkers

I am still not convinced that mecha/walkers are something I want to game although the GZG models and maybe the Khurasan combat armour may get some interest from me. These do seem to be the latest thing so expect to see some more of them on the web and on a tabletop near you soon.