ROBOTS!!

I've been bouncing around back and forth on a number of things the last few weeks and one of the things I had started in earnest a while back and recently came back to was a robot gang/crew/force.

Judge Dredd currently has rules for renegade robots as a playable action and the dialogue on the This Is Not A Test Facebook page would also indicate that an all robot band may be in the works.

So far I've got my first six retro sci-fi robots done.  Three were previously finished, one was a re-basing job late last night and two got painted yesterday during the baseball game.

First up Junk-Bot had previously been based on a lipped base and I just wanted to put him on an unlipped textured base with some light rubble.

Next up is Mr Doc-Bot.  Mr Doc-Bot is another Fallout inspired pseudo Mr Handy this time re-imagined as a medical robot.  I  had always intended to do a medical robot but the timing is ironic because about 5 hours after I finished painting him I got the model that  will probably end up replacing him.  So Mr Doc-Bot may or may not ever make it to the gaming table.

Last but not least is the first figure I've gotten painted from the Robot Townies line by Armorcast.  Robot Townies is a line that is 90% robots and characters inspired by Futurama.  I expect to get all of the Robot Townies line painted before year end (I think Santa-Bot might be next).

That's the current state of things.  I expect more robots this week and then I might detour back to Frostgrave for a bit.

-Jay

Mr Fixit-bot

I'm back and closer (always inching closer) to having a semi-permanent space for gaming and game related mayhem in my home.

I've actually gotten a fair bit of painting done over the past 3-4 week but I've been super-slack with taking pictures so hopefully I'll be able to post a bunch of stuff over the next week.

Tonight's contribution is a medi-bot from Aberrant Games Rezolution sci-fi minis game.  The truth is I haven't played Rezolution in years but I keep digging out their models to use for other games.  The medi-bot has been hauled out and re-purposed as a light duty construction robot for post-apocalyptic Fallout themed gaming.  Basically he's a Mr Handy if Mr Handy was less round and a bit more industrial.

My initial plan is to use Mr Fixit in games of This Is Not A Test if and when my mutants start adding members and if the long suffering Walter The Wobot shuffles off his mortal coil.

I have a second medi-bot that will actually be getting painted up as a medical robot but before I got around to him I got tons of awesome new figs (you'll be seeing over the next 10 days) that jumped the line ahead of it.

-Jay



 

I'm Mad Maxing!

With the imminent release of Mad Max: Fury Road myself and many of my hobbyist friends across North America seem to be frantically chopping and swapping car parts to come up with models for some cool car games.

I want to preface this post by saying that although I have been enjoying this genre for more years than I should probably admit I got motivated to drag everything back out by my friend Dave Taylor's post on his awesome blog.  So thanks Dave for re-stoking the fire!
http://davetaylorminiatures.blogspot.ca/2015/05/vroom-vroom-cracking-open-car-wars.html

So without further ado I decided to haul out what's in the motor-pool so far and then decide on a new project from there.

I started off vehicle combat gaming with Car Wars by Steve Jackson Games which is still to this day my favourite system for this particular type of mayhem.  Having said that my first foray into gaming the genre with models came courtesy of Games Workshop and their under appreciated Dark Future game.  years ago I lost all my Dark Future stuff in a move but a couple of years back my friend Andrew generously gave me 2 of his Sanctioned Ops Interceptors to paint.  These vehicles were the result.

I've got to say I still really like the Dark Future models and I would desperately like to get my hands on another box set if I can ever find one!

Next up I started a collection of gangers from the Aberrant Games Warlands line.  To be completely honest I've never played the game but I've used their models for an assortment of other vehicle combat games.  What's also handy is that they offer an accessory pack you can use to modify existing vehicle models you have (like Hot Wheels or Matchbox) to arm and armour them.

I felt the buggies in particular really captured the feel of the second and third Mad Max movies.

It wouldn't feel like Mad Max if the Main Force Patrol wasn't represented so here are my three MFP Interceptors.

If I needed to bolster the bad guys I'm sure one of these could be "borrowed" by The Nightrider.

And finally from my pool of existing models my collection would feel woefully incomplete if it didn't included Mad himself and his dog (I believe named Dog).

Onward to the future!  Although I've certainly got an adequate amount of vehicles to game with I don't feel like I'm participating unless I paint something new.  I decided to go off-book (for my anyway) and rather than build and paint a gaming model I've gone with a modified Hot Wheels car.

Basically I started off with a Ford Model A and removed the roof and windscreen.  I added off-road tires from a different Hot Wheels buggy and then bolted on a supplemental fuel tank from the Warlands accessory pack I referenced earlier and an extra machine gun I had from a Flames Of War tank.

I'll be priming this before I leave for work today and then if everything goes to plan I'll paint and assemble when I get home tonight!

Drive offensively!

-Jay

The biker boss

The last (for now) of my 20mm combat vehicles is now painted.  This time around it was my biker boss.

This was probably one of my favourite vehicles to paint from the Warlands range.  The detail level was excellent, the proportions were good and the rider himself seems like a great character.

That exhausts my supply of figs for these games until I find some more (any suggestions guys?), and I did get a game of Dark Future in (which was fantastic, much better than I remember it being, so it's back to my lingering projects for me....

-Jay

This portion of the apocalypse is brought to you by; KAWASAKI

I got 2 of my 3 bikes done last night.

These guys will basically be outriders for my raider force or cycle gang members for a big (Midville?) game of Car Wars.

Fairly basic paint jobs but I think they provide a splash of colour and flavour to the mostly drab vehicles I've done so far.

-Jay

The last of the V8 Interceptors

At last Max and his dog have a stylish vehicle to ride around in!

Not too much new under the sun here, another combination of parts to make up a Warlands duel car.  I'm pretty happy with how this turned out in the end, having a lighter colour on the vehicle also helped the dirt and dust pop a little more.

Looks like my surly bikers are next!

-Jay

A boy and his dog

....actually that's a different post-apocalyptic movie from the 70s....

The last of the V8 Interceptors is still in the shop getting a last few licks of paint, one day I will abandon the desire to paint white on large flat surfaces and my painting speed will improve greatly, but in the meantime I decided to paint the figures no post apocalyptic vehicles combat game can live without "Mad" Max Rockatansky.

I'm very happy to have figs for Max and his dog, but I have to confess, on the few occasions I have painted 20mm human-sized models I always end up feeling like a pilgrim in an unholy land.  I know at 20mm I should put in a bit more detail work than with say a 15mm model but somehow (maybe just bad luck on my part) all the 20mm models I get seem to be sculpted worse than the 15mm models I get.  Max's dog is great, the figure has the exact right amount of detail and texturing to get a satisfying effect...Max on the other hand is definitely not a great sculpt.  Don't get me wrong the figure is perfectly serviceable and on the tabletop he will look great but upon any close inspection (like say a photo for instance) you can see that his hands are horribly sculpted.  His gun hand is at least twice as long as it should be and his other hand is more claw than hand.  In spite of this I expect the 'cool' factor will distract my opponents from any imperfections in the figure itself.

I've got the Interceptor and 3 bikes to do before calling it quits for this stuff until I find some more good models for the genre, but I'm looking forward to the search!

-Jay

Incidentally I had to postpone my Dark Future game today due to a family issue but hopefully I'll reschedule for next week and then I can show off some gaming pics from the grim "future" of 1995!

Car Warriors

Got my first 2 actual combat cars for Warlands done this morning.

I'm playing my first game of Dark Future in (I'm guessing) 20+ years tomorrow so it was a good excuse to paint up some new cars.

These are definitely the best Warlands models I've gotten so far.  The cars a cross between the Interceptor from Mad Max and the Interceptor (funny they both have the same name) from Freeway Fighter (one of the original Fighting Fantasy game books).  At 20mm the detail level is serviceable, you get all the bits and pieces you need without any superfluous details.

I'm looking forward to painting my last interceptor and it's driver and his faithful hound tomorrow.

-Jay

The longcoat of the law

I can always tell when I'm getting manic about a project because I start cranking stuff out faster than I need it and before I've even figured out whether I need it or not.

This morning while I was taking short breaks to let paint and washes dry on my Orc Hacker I used the time it freed up to paint another figure for a potential Shadowrun game.  This figure will make a great detective NPC and I had him laying around with some Rezolution stuff I bought a few years ago.  He's a fairly basic looking guy in a long coat with the exception that he has what looks like some sort of body armour fastened to the front of his coat.

I'm not sure whether I'll need him or not but he seemed too cool not to paint.

-Jay

Looks a little lightly equipped to stop a group...maybe he needs some friends.

 

Same guy from the back.  I definitely think the cargo pockets on the coat add a sci-fi feel.

 

 

More road warriors

Tonight I got my second buggy for whatever vehicular combat game I decide on done.

I have to say I've gotten 5 vehicle models from Aberrant for Warlands and these 2 buggies are by far (I'm sorry to say) the worst.  The components did not fit together very well, even though the entire chassis and all 4 wheels are cast as a single piece they don't sit even on all 4 wheels and there are tons of flaws in the casting.  I generally pride myself on always having a positive outlook on my hobby projects and although I highly recommend the rest of the Warlands vehicle range I would have to give these buggies a thumbs down.

Having said all of that they do a good job of representing Road Warrior and Beyond Thunderdome style attack buggies and I'm sure I will get alot of use out of them.

I'm looking forward to showcasing the 2 sedans I got from the Warlands line which thus far appear to be by far the best models in their range.

-Jay

Rocket Buggy!

 

Do 2 vehicles count as a "gang"?

 

 

Here come the bad guys!

This morning I was able to finish the first of the warbuggies for my soon to be bad guy force for post-apocalyptic vehicular combat.  Right now the buggy looks pretty basic, I also have a second one to paint and I think when that second buggy is done I'll go back and add some dirt and distress to this one.

I also just got the new Zombie Vixens from Wargames Factory in the mail yesterday and I'm hoping to get a few of those done after work today to show off so you may see a second post late tonight.

Cheers

-Jay

Pull over, we just want to talk!

The first of many (I hope)

 

 

Vroom!  Vroom!

So yesterday I dug out all my unpainted Aberrant Games Warlands stuff and started prepping it for painting.  Before I got stuck in with any projects which are likely to see alot of use I wanted to practice a few techniques on a model which doesn't fit that much into my gaming plans.  Enter; The Utility Truck.

In Warlands gangs take on many forms so the Utility Truck exists to fill alot of different roles; troop transport, supply point, rescue & recovery vehicle, etc.  It's a cool model and if I end up actually playing Warlands I'm sure it will be vital but otherwise it just doesn't quite fit.

The Warlands vehicles scale with 20mm miniatures which means they work fairly well with my Sanctioned Ops' vehicles and they blend in reasonably well with alot of die-cast toy car lines.

I've got 2 dune buggies and a Maxwell V8 Interceptor on my painting table now as well.

Keep watching this space!

-Jay

From the front it looks like a supercharged Brinks truck.

 

But from the back it's true heritage is revealed.

 

Cool looking, but more 'combat resistant' than combat vehicle.