If not the long arm, then the scatter gun of the law...

As part of my slow build on some dark and gritty for This Is Not A Test I got my first Peace Keeper Officer done.

Officers are the rank and file troopers on the Peace Keeper force list.  There will be a few more coming to the wasteland with a variety of gear but my first officer is wearing body armour and armed with his trusty pump action shotgun.

One of the things I like about the Peace Keeper models is that they do a really good job of blending the look of pre-war clothing (in this case a State Trooper uniform) along with some post-apocalyptic elements that make them feel like they truly are part of the setting they live in.

I'm really stoked about these figures and when Worlds End Publishing releases some more of the Peace Keepers they offered during the Kickstarter I'll be putting another order in.

-Jay

The law is coming to the post apocalypse!

One of the things most miniature gamers experience at some point in their hobby journey is the moment where they want to play a game and when deciding on a force a single model makes the decision for them.  That moment where you find the miniature that on its own makes you want to play the game and collect that particular faction.

I mentioned in my previous post that part of my plan for This Is Not A Test for 2017 for for not every figure I paint to be a funny mutant animal and at some point to be able to field a 'serious' force.  I've really been enjoying the funny/scary animal mutants because as I've referenced time and time again I really enjoy the imagery of Gamma World, but now I want to get into the down and dirty of This Is Not A Test and immerse myself in the game's background rather than shoehorning my tastes into it.

Luckily for me when trying to decide on a faction as I eluded to in my intro there was a single model that made the choice easy for me; the Road Marshal.

How amazing is that miniature?  Look past my mediocre paint job and really look at the sculpt itself.  It's (in my opinion) the perfect symbol for the game it comes from; it has ample detail to excite and draw you in, but isn't so overly busy it gets tied up in style over substance.  From the gas mask, to the chaps, to the spurs this figure has piles of little details to make it feel like a real person without being cartoonishly over adorned with extra pieces.

The funny thing is I've loved this figure since I first saw This Is Not A Test over a year ago but I specifically stayed away from it and the Peacekeepers out of the mistaken impression that I would be playing a lot of games against these exact miniatures.  Its a weird path that leads you back to where you either started or meant to start sometimes.  When I originally back the Kickstarter for This Is Not A Test I did so at the 'rulebook only' level, then as things went on and I immersed myself in the community I simply decided I wanted to increase my pledge to provide more support to the project.  I already had the mutants so my choice was pretty much made for me.

I do have and do plan on painting the rest of the original Peacekeeper models to fill out my collection but I have a few other models from some other ranges I think should blend in as well.

I'm definitely looking forward to bringing the law to those who have it not.

-Jay

Not all animals I paint for the post-apocalypse are my warband members

I took a break from Ravenloft/Zombicide today to go back to work on some figures for This Is Not A Test.

This year I'm planning on doing 3 separate projects for This Is Not A Test.  I'm going to do a new Gamma Worldish warband of cat-people to scrap with some Alfs at some point this year.  I'm also planning on doing an actual gritty looking 'normal' warband.  And I'd like to get a bunch of the wasteland creatures done for use in scenarios as I go.

I backed the Kickstarter for This Is Not A Test (the first Kickstarter I actually backed!) and as part of their successful funding each contributor above a certain basic level got 3 free giant rats.  I already have quite a lot of giant rats from D&D and some from Malifaux but it was nice to get some that are mutated and fit more with a sci-fi feel.

At this point I don't have any specific plans to use these figures for any games outside of This Is Not A Test but could easily see them on the table for Necromunda or any of the assortment of post-apoc RPGs I keep meaning to get around to.

The goal was to get a fourth figure done today but I came up a bit short.  Hopefully tomorrow my Road Marshal will also make it to the finish line and I'll have the start of my first non-mutant warband done.

-Jay

The rising tide of post-apocalyptic mutants

I managed to get another Fallout-style Super-Mutant done tonight, this time Brother Vinni's take on the model.

This is another fantastic take on bringing the creatures of the Fallout gaming universe to the tabletop.  My one regret is as I was looking at the figure AFTER I finished it I found myself wondering if Space Ork arms could have fit on the existing torso?  Of course if that had occurred to me ahead of time I could have just dry-fitted it and figured it out.

The other thing I wanted to check once the model was complete was how it scaled against my earlier Reaper Super-Mutant.  Obviously at this point I have both so it's not terribly relevant to me but I thought a side-by-side comparison might be helpful to other people.  The Brother Vinni model is noticeably larger but not so much so that I couldn't image the Reaper model being a Super-Mutant and the Brother Vinni version simply being a Super-Mutant Boss.

Thoughts?

In addition I thought I'd show my entire "non-critter" mutant warband as it stands now.  In addition to the two Super-Mutants the other six mutants are Worlds End Publishing's own mutant models for This Is Not A Test.  

I feel like by using a reasonably coherent colour scheme it feels like they all tie together.

I'm pretty pleased with how this is shaping up.  I think I'll be looking to the Judge Dredd line for a few more mutants but overall it feels like a tidy little group to me.

-Jay

A boy and his dog....sort of, but not really

Back to post-apocalyptica!

With the shipping on the horizon for This Is Not A Test I wanted to get the last of my official Worlds End Publishing  models done before the next batch shows up in my mailbox.
Today's addition is Johnny Atomic wasteland-DJ (which is officially the coolest job title I've ever heard in my life!).  I mentioned a while back when I painted Gas-Mask Girl that she was "one" of the semi-official mascots for This Is Not A Test, Johnny Atomic is the other.

As a rule when I buy models from a smaller company (not to mention at a totally reasonable price) I'm really looking for 'good enough' in terms of the depth of detail and the textures and details in general.  Johnny retails for $6.50 US and I have to say he has a level and crispness of detail that is on par with the best metal models I have ever bought.

As part of my ongoing collection of animal-human hybrids for This Is Not A Test and Gamma World I found a bunch of Rifts models at a flea market my friend Spencer turned me onto.

I'm currently weighing three different options for additions to the Colonel's Revenge and a psionic golden retriever is one of the choices I'm considering.  I'm not sure if this figure will get used soon or not but regardless I'm super happy to have it done and it scratched a real nostalgia itch for me painting a Rifts miniature.

-Jay

Please state the nature of the medical emergency

My small but growing force of robots got a new member last night; the Heal-O-Matic for This Is Not A Test by Worlds End Publishing.

The Heal-O-Matic is a medical variant of the Depend-O-Bot that I did a few weeks back and I have to say I'm  very happy with how it turned out.

One of my biggest struggles in the hobby has always been painting things white and after how this went I'm tempted to circle back to my Peace River gears for Heavy Gear.  This time out I primed black and then basically lightly (very lightly) sprayed multiple coats of white on over top, giving each layer time to dry before applying another coat.  Once that was done I thinned down Nuln Oil with Lahmian Medium and went over the whole thing, overbrushing with a dry paint brush to make sure there were no puddles on the surface.  After that I highlighted the original white back up and voila!  It was a lot less work and a lot less frustration than I typically experience painting white, the only downside is that it only works if 75%+ of the model will end up being white, if I wanted to use a similar technique on a model with some white on it I'd have to finally get around to learning how to airbrush.

Next up are some figures for a new game (new to me anyway) set in a steampunk fantasy universe (but don't worry, it still has robots).

-Jay

Return of the hobby grab bag!

Hobby A.D.D. is back in full effect!

This week I have six different projects on my desk for five different games.  Two of them I MUST finish before the end of the week because they are for games that are looming on the horizon, the other four I really need to get done before I can move on and do some other things.

First up, I have got to finish my Imperial Trenchers for WarZone.

The Beta just got released for Prodos' updated version of WarZone so my buddy Ash and I are going to try to get a game in this month.  To do that I need to finish these ten figures and then get three more done from scratch.

Next in terms of priority is four Brahmin for This Is Not A Test.

There is a caravan scenario I want to play and if you've played the Fallout games the Brahmin is very distinctly Fallout-ish.  The Brahmin miniatures are from Armorcast under their license with Lance & Laser.

After that I need to get started on my Black Squadron security forces for Broken Contract.

Broken Contract is a new sci-fi miniatures game that went through a successful Kickstarter last year and has some really awesome models.  In addition thematically (big corporations vs the little guy) it seems very in the now.

After that will be Johnny Atomic for This Is Not A Test.

Johnny is a wasteland radio DJ and alongside Gas-Mask Girl is one of the semi-official mascots for the game.  It's impossible to tell from this picture (sorry) but he's a fantastically detailed model that is covered in cool post-apocalyptic survivor bits.

My final two projects are definite maybes because I don't need them for any game soon.  So if they're not done by Monday they'll be moving to the back of the line again.

First up on the B-list (actually that's really appropriate in this case) is Catman!

Catman is one of my favourite DC Comics characters and is the alpha if not the actual leader of the Secret Six.  I'm super-stoked about finishing Catman and playing with him at some point but I don't have any Batman games planned so he's not a priority right now.

Next up is Sophia Illmora for Anima Tactics.

I've never actually played Anima Tactics but my plan was to use Sophia as a replacement for my apprentice in Professor Vitale's Frostgrave warband.  I may be changing plans and starting a new warband so I may or may not need her but I'd like to finish painting her eventually.

So that's what this week looks like hobby-wise.  I have a track record of NEVER completing all the things I lay out in these WIP posts so hopefully the fact that there's a couple things in there I don't really need means I can at least get the relevant stuff done.

-Jay

Raider Robot

Another retro-sci-fi robot got done up tonight.  This time it's the Raider Robot for This Is Not A Test.

The Raider robot is both a super-cool looking fig and it also shows its heritage as a Depend-O-Bot that has been salvaged and then had some improvised weapons and armour bolted on.

I can't say enough about how this awesome figure captures the feeling of a futuristic society in decay.  I mean, who wouldn't want to strap an axe and a tire onto a robot if they had one?

I've got one more robot on my desk and then the future of the robot project lies in the hands of Canada Post as my next batch of figs is in transit and a strike is looming.....

......but to be fair if those miniatures get held up I may still have one or two unpainted figures in my backlog.

-Jay

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

Gas Mask Girl

During my lunch today I finished my last Worlds End Publishing model (until September I think); Gas Mask Girl for This Is Not A Test.

Thus far Gas Mask Girl has been the unofficial mascot/pin-up for This Is Not A Test and I've got to say I think they did a great job on the model execution.  She has a few extra bits and pieces (pistol holster, duffel bag, goggles, gas mask) but she isn't overly cluttered with unnecessary clutter.

I still need to get a few weird animal-mutants done but Gas Mask Girl will also represent me starting to go off in a different direction and do some more realistic or grounded post-apoc miniatures.

-Jay

The Kill-Joys

Last night I finished the 6 "Old School Mutants" figures for This Is Not A Test in preparation for playing through the demo rules against a Peacekeeper force.

I've got to say I really enjoyed painting these figures as the mutants themselves have tons on neat little bits and pieces you may not notice at first (it looks like Snake-Eyes has a partially formed conjoined twin growing out of his side!).  I decided to go for a slightly jaundiced skin-tone with the idea that these guys should match any Fallout -style super-mutants I'm able to lay my hands on in the future.

                                            (Left to right)  Davey - Kill Roy - The Twins

                                                 (Left to right)  ? - Snake Eyes - Pokey

Although I painted these guys for This Is Not A Test I could also see them making it to the tabletop as mutants in Judge Dredd or Necromunda as well.

More from the wasteland coming tomorrow!

-Jay

Depend-O-Bot

Tonight I finished my first "official" This Is Not A Test miniature from World's End Publishing, the Depend-O-Bot!

The Depend-O-Bot is a multi-purpose humanoid robot chassis that can be equipped for multiple different needs.  It is one of the standard commonly appearing robots of the This Is Not A Test game universe.

I really appreciate that This Is Not A Test is a system usable with any and all of my existing post-apocalyptic miniatures but at the same time they make some really cool stuff that I'm looking forward to painting as well.

I've currently got 6 more World's End models to get done this week and then I'm on hold until my Peacekeepers arrive in September (unless I break down and order more stuff before then).

My apocalypse is getting a bit robot-heavy so we're on to some mutants tomorrow.

-Jay