Can't Stop Playing With It

I can't stop playing with it.  My work bench that is. It's been a while since I have made any major modifications to the bench do I guess the time had arrived. Sorry if there is aquality issue with the post as I am still blogging from my phone.

I hhad run out of space again so I added some more shelf space and some plastic draws. I guess tidying might also have help a bit. K if you happen to read this think of kittens.  Maybe my other half was right.

Situational Normal - Embracing The Suck

I am using my other half's laptop. Pretty much identical to mine. Aside from the pink cover and the absence of a battery. Starngly it was right next to mine when we were burgled earlier in the week. But I'm not bitter. Much. I am now glad I have a Samsung phone with a big screenand not my iPhone which I lost at the end of last year.

 I have been trying to come up with some more ideas for the game I am running as the plot has gone along with most of the work I had done for it. The game is set to end on Monday so I am not feeling to great about the start of next week. I am guessing that all the work I have done in the last two weeks has now gone for good. Sniff.

Still on the plus side. I have finished some more bad guys. I now have some suoer mutants and some Mexicans. Mexicans? Well it seemed like a good idea at the time and I have had some 15mm Mexicans sat in a box for a while. It occured to me that Arizona (where the game is set) is on the Mexican border, so why not. I'll just have to resist the line "We don't need no stinking badges."

I have some more stuff on the workbench. Some more Vault types amd some scenary. I have been working through some more GZG vehicles I got with my Christmas freebie order. I am waiting for some stuff from Peter Pig and TheScene. I am kinda naffed off that I ordered it a few days ago and it hasn't arrived yet. I've paid for first class postage but seem to be getting second class service befoe it goes into the post. I was hoping that it would have arrived by now because I wanted if for the game. Still I maybe able to get to it before the final battle.

Enough bitching for one day.

Life Mocks Me

Much like it did Frankie Howard. I got burgled last night. My laptop has gone. Updates Might be a bit Of a problem. still maybe I'll get a new lap top Out Of it. Thea Chancesof me getting it back look smaller than a pixies right nut after a cold bath.

still, looking on the bright side. I just saw a trailer for unicorn city on youtube. It's worth a look.

Pound Shop Find #2

I found these last month and I've had a chance to play about with them. I think the pack cost about £4 in total and there were six vehicles in the pack. These have been distressed a little to give them a bit of texture. I could make them into something a bit a bit better but this would have required a lot more effort.  The truck is a little on the large side but looking at it, I can see it as a big industrial truck. This might be typical of the big earth moving equipment especially on colonies.

One of the vehicles that isn't all that great and has been broken up already and used for scenery. there is another that isn't scenery yet but will be soon. There is a steam roller on it's side in the background. I have seen vehicles this large but to be honest I have no use for it so it's going to be scrapped and turned bits for scenery.

The last pic is one that compares them to the other vehicles in the post from a few days ago.

Vault Characters

I will start out by saying that these were some figures I knocked up over the course of an afternoon as I needed the figures quite quickly. These were always going to be a bit rough and ready and are not my best work.

The Fallout game I am running needed some appropriate looking characters. As this is a game aimed at mass combat I thought I would start with some guards. The figures are some left over NAC troopers from GZG that I had lying around. The trooper are the core of the army so a nicely sized force seemed about right.

I wanted some civilian types for the players to use and as some NPCs. Medics, security scientists and the odd alcoholic. These are some GZG civilians and colonists. If you use 15mm sci figures, you can't beat GZG. I've recently had another big order from them and will post some more about that later.

Finally, these are another techie and some kids from GZG and the new leader of the vault from Peter Pig which was posted a few days ago.

Fallout (ish) Robots

Just another quick post. This is some more stuff from TheScene. I got these in the run up the game and actually painted them weeks ago. These are doubling for protectotrons. I wanted some more but they appear to be so popular that they are almost always out of stock. There is a bit of close up below.

I guess that these are meant to be robo brains. These are the robotic heavy artillery. These are also from TheScene. They have yet to have an appearance on the tabletop. I suspect that they might have a big impact on the players when they roll on the board. Will they be good guys or bad guys? I don't know yet but whatever, I am sure they are going to make someones day.

The last picture is of former Vault Overseer Johnson (aka Robo Johnson). He is an NPC from the Fallout game. I can see some other uses for him as time goes by. This is a minor conversion of a Black Cat Bases miniature. I normally like to say a little more but as I have said previously, time is tight at the moment.

Pound Shop Find #1

Well in this instance I guess it is not technically a pound shop as what is on display actually cost £4. They are cheap made in China mouldings. I have had better but then never mind the quality feel the width. Some of it is junk. There are a couple of jeeps that I can see no use for at the moment but I might be able to make something usable when I have had time to think. The traffic cones are massively over size. There is even a plastic wheel barrow. I can see this going into the junk box and staying there for a while.

 

The first thing that caught my eye were the lorries. There is very little out there that can be used for articulated lorries. Khurasan do one that is a little bit car wars but there is nothing really suitable for modern.variable but more or less.   

 This is a sporting looking car and I am not really sure what it is doing in a construction set but there you go. The pick up it's next to is from Peter Pig. It looks a little long but the height, which is normally the bigger problem is about okay.

I could see this in a car wars setting. Some of the classic counters don't look too different.  That said I think I am going to take the wheels off and turn it into a Traveller style grav-speeder. One of the 15mm figures have bases which give them a little of a height rise but it kind of works.

I was less sure about these. they are definately out of scale for what they are. The one on the right could be turned into some sort of G truck or maybe a transit style can. The one on the left kind of looks like a candidate for the bits box. Behind it is a skip that came with the set. I have skips from TheScene so suspect that is heading for the bits box too.

I got two mixer trucks for my money. I can see one being dismantled. Next to some older style WW2 vehicles they look a little taller but that is to be expected.

Another articulated lorry. The storage container on the rig is pretty good. It could be detached with a little effort. The set it came from cost a pound so it would still work out cheaper than buying something from a mini manufacturer.

The last of the articulated trucks. I'm not sure what they were thinking in the trailer design team but I guess there is plenty that can be made out of what's here. Compared to the other big trucks I have seen, I'd take these.

Last but not least a couple more trucks. The ecovery truck is an odd construction but I guess it will turn into something if you think about it long enough. For £4 I thought this was a pretty good deal.

Peter Pig Stuff

After my recent spurt of activity for the Fallout game, I spent some money with Peter Pig recently. I know I seem to be painting corpses at the moment but there are two reasons. the first is that I really, really want to and secondly, I only have to paint half a figure which means the lead mountain will disappear quickly.

A lot of the dead are modern US figures so I thought I might as well paint up the Peter Pig Snipers and some odds and sods whilst I was at it. I'll publish those soon. The dead soldiers are done in the same way as I did my American's previously. Who needs a painting log book when you can blog it and go and look at what colours you used back then.

There were a few GZG NAC casualties lying around. I wanted another Fallout Vault Guard casualty and painted a couple of NAC casualties as well. The NAC will be doubling are troops from the New Californian Republic in the Fallout game so it seemed like a good time to get them over and done with. I'll publish the NAC/NCR models when I get chance to take some pics.

These are modern US troopers and the odd Vietnam era figure. I like the normal sniper figure but I am not so keen on the Barret rifle. Still, it's better than the competition. There is a figure which I assume is meant to be Rambo. I wanted a figure with some character for Force on Force, a positive leader perhaps. I know it's Vietnam but looking at the figure I don't think this will make any difference. I feel that I will play with this one a little but more before it is done.

Finally, I have a military leader for the Fallout game. I know this is a fairly iconic pose dor a fairly iconic character, Whilst he isn't in a jump suit it does not look that far off.  I just could not resist this one. I'll use the other one  in the for something proper I promise.Well maybe a zombie. The player who this model was done for believes in the power of the tash. I was tempted to raise the angle of the arm just a little but perhaps this would not gone down quite so well.

RIP Battlegames

I subscribed to Battlegames and Miniature Wargames back in October. Warners, the company who distribute both have kind of buggered me about a bit. I have had two copies of MW and I've yet to have a copy of Battlegames. After three months of waiting four e-mails, and three phone calls to the distrubtor Warner Group Publications, I got my subscription started. I even got a bonus two issues of each magazine to make up for my troubles. A little bit of a trauma but I was more than happy with the solution. I am expecting one in March. I have a few of them and quite liked the style of the magazine and eventually decided to subscribe.

I got a letter from Henry Hyde who is the editor of Battlegames which lead to me ringing him up. Nice Bloke. He's in a bit of an awkward situation I guess so I don't envy his position.

Basically it transpires that the next issue of Battlegames will be the last one. It will continue as special editions but sporadically. They will be releasing a magazine to help the charity Combat Stress, one of the few charities I feel that are not trying to mug you.

I have been told that I will be getting a copy of the improved MW to replace my subscription, which would be great as long as they don't send me out two copies of the same magazine which seems to be where it is going.

Desert Wanderers

I wanted some desert type characters for when I got around to playing a Fallout game. The game happened quicker than I was expecting so I thought it was time I got round to painting the figures. Time is tight (according to Booker T and the MGs anyway) so a quick and dirty paint job was called for. The minis evoke what I think that something from the planet Arakis would look like so just about perfect for the post apocalyptic desert wasteland of Fallout.

As is my want, this is more work in progress. A vermin brown base coat picked out out with a darker shade of scorched earth for deep creases in the outfit and for boots. The weapons and goggles are gun metal. Although fairly shiny, this will be toned down when the spray matt varnish is applied. A couple of lighter beiger browns have been used for the face masks. Topped of with some sepia ink to give it a bit of texture.

The Fallout game is set in Arizona which gives me a bit of a free hand when it comes to game design. There guys have become the Yuma Private Military Company. I am not sure if they are good guys or bad guys yet. I'll see how much the players wind them up.

I think eventually they will end up as a unit for Tomorrow's War and a general RPG bad guys.

The Dead Walk, I Mean Lie Down

Well it's been a slow time on the blog but this is mainly because the real world has been fairly busy. Paperwork and training were things I had thought I had left behind but perhaps not. The painting table hasn't been especially busy but some stuff has been going on. I now have a phone with a decent camera again so I can take some pictures. There is plenty of stuff but I thought I'd start with these as they are on the tabletop at the moment.

The Not Walking Dead

I had felt I needed some dead bodies and Peter Pig seemed the obvious choice. As my previous background project is over I thought it was time for a new one and corpses seemed like a good idea for something to keep me occupied.

I got a chance to go to Vapnartak wargames show at York race course last weekend and spent some cash. Mainly with Peter Pig who I haven't seen at a show for a while. York is a bit of a trek from Home but it was a nice show if a little bit cramped. I've never been before but it's had a few good reports from friends.


I had a few ideas for Peter Pig minis after seeing a blog called the Special Corps. Sadly it's not active anymore but it is well worth a look. He had been using Peter Pig "Hey you in the Jail" minis for sci fi including some nice conversions. This blog had been a major influence on me when I started down the road of 15mm gaming and I have been planning on buying some minis.

So I went to York to get some corpses, some western figures and plenty of odds and sods. Sadly they don't take the western figures to shows so I had to settle for corpses, scenery and some vehicles.

I had a few corpses and casualties from GZG in their NAC range and some body bags from TheScene which I had painted already but wanted a lot more (which I will get round to posting but it will be a dull post). I have painted some live NAC troopers and a corpse as Vault Dwellers for my current RPG endeavor  a couple of weeks ago and wanted to paint some more bodies. This is not because I thought the players would be intimidated by them. Honest. No, I really am being honest but it would have been a good idea.

I wanted some corpses for several reasons. Firstly mass combat games leave corpses behind so a few bodies for markers is a good idea, particularly for force on force and stargrunt. Secondly I wanted corpses to be proto zombies for a zombie game. It's always nice to have some corpses for RPG games. Finally I wanted some bodies for scenery purposes. The scenery pieces aren't here, they are still in a bag. I perhaps went a it crazy as I now have well over fifty bodies to paint. This is one of the nice things about gaming in 15mm, you can have lots and lots and lots.

Armed porters

I wanted some unusual figures for my Fallout game and I happened to have some armed porter figures from a manufacturer that I am not currently mentioning because of their appalling customer service. I was planning on moving into doing some 1920s figures at some point so got these a few months ago. As they were an easy paint job I thought I would give them a go. They still need to be inked and based but that won't be too hard.
I have some more stuff to go up so I will hopefully be posting some more over the next couple of days. It feels kind of nice to be posting again.