Thursday 25 September 2014

Elevated Living accommodation WIP2

Just a quick update on my Elevated Living Accommodation piece for the Building UP competition over on the Post Apoc Wargames Forum

I have done some work on the base trimming the duct tape so I can attempt a frayed mat look. My standard mix of sand, grit, kitty litter and cork covers the rest of the base. 

As you can see from the pictures I have added cross pieces and supports to the posts. These are balsa wood that has had grain added with a pencil (a little tip picked up from Dampf's excellent terrain making books). The nails are punched card. 

The remains of the drain pipe was also added. 

I have done a little filling with good old fashioned cheap and nasty wall filler available in the DIY section of all good cheapo stores. 

The flooring has been made from scraps of balsa I had laying about. The planks, grain, nails and rough ends has been added with a pencil. They need a little more work before painting. The flooring will not be added until I have painted the base and walls. I find it a pain to try to paint detail when there is limited room. 

More to follow. Keep watching....

Wednesday 24 September 2014

A couple of more Post Apoc gangers

I have got a couple of Post Apoc gangers for my Post Modern Post Apoc setting:- After the End. 

The first guy is another member of the Rusties gang, who live on a rusting beached ship wreck. 


The figure is a Copplestone Scavenger. 

Toffee's Crew are a gang living in a part  ruined sports stadium and have control of some of the old parklands near by. However their rivals - the Kopheads gang in the other stadium on the other side of the parklands dispute the park. The two gangs cannot be close to each other without a fight starting. They are banned from trading at Boxfort if the other gang is there. Such is the friction between them. The Toffees are easily distinguished by the thick blue line tattooed down the center of the face.


The mini is a Neutron York 3000 militia figure. 

Dr Ted's Surgery and a Hab. 28mm Sci Fi buildings.

Last year I knocked up a couple of 28mm Sci Fi buildings from junk aimed at Frontier Type Worlds. Then the Christmas Season landed and they where put to the back of the production line. I got into the mood to finish them this week. 

First up Dr Ted's Surgery:- 

This build started life as a cheap plastic bowl you usually by in packs for picnics. I liked the shape of these bowls and I have a few more for future builds should I be inspired. 

I started by coating the interior of the bowl with PVA glue and newspaper. When dry this was added to with more coats of glue and more newspaper. Keep going until you have a few layers. This reinforces the plastic. The door was cut out and then plastic card used to make a door. The door frame is good old model kit sprue. Various odds and ends from the bits box was added to the top. There is pen tops and bottle tops on there. 

The rear of the Surgery. The windows are M6 Washers glued on. The whole building was painted with textured paint to give that sandy look. 


Dr Ted is inspired by a character from the Borderlands computer games - Dr Zed and the other Dr, Dr Ned (who is Zed with a false mustache). Various other Borderlands inspired graffiti was added. The wanted poster was made up on my computer. 

Well not all the graffiti is Borderlands inspired. 

The next build was a creme rice type dessert pot that was destined for the land fill until I salvaged it. This is intended to be a domicile.

 Like the last build I coated the interior of the tub with layers of newspaper and PVA glue. I made this quite thick on this tub as it was quite flimsy. I cut up a plastic container that mini eggs came in which made the door. Some plastic conduit fittings make up the windows. The door way was cut out. I folded bits of the tub back and pushed the fittings/mini egg tub in. I filled any gaps with poly filler or hot glue. Bits and bobs from this build along with scraps of corrugated card to the outside to give a ramshackle look to the building. 

The windows are covered with embroidery mesh. The roof was adorned once again with bits of pens. The exterior of the building was given lots of textured paint. 

 The door itself is made from plastic card. 

Once again I adorned the building with Borderlands inspired graffiti. 

The building looks okay for 28mm but it also looks like it may make a good building for 15mm scale too. 

Saturday 13 September 2014

New minis for the Liverpool Wastelands

Here are some newly painted minis for my Liverpool Wastelands. I also hope to outline some of the factions for the new setting which will give you all a better picture of my new setting. 

The Sniffers: 
For some life after the end is too much. They need something to remove them from the harsh realities around them. Drugs, alcohol and solvent abuse is how some deal with this. Some reach a stage where old solvents found out in the are the only fix they can get. These unfortunate folks are called the Sniffers. 

Sniffers are chemical addicts found in the ruins usually out of their skulls from sniffing the solvent goo found in the petrol tanks of the old wrecks. Other places such as old airports or petrochemical plants also attracts them. Sniffers are easy to spot. Their eyes and noses are often running and drool runs down their faces. Sniffer's clothes are often ragged and they are covered in their own filth. They use tin cans or old plastic bags to hold the chemicals they love too much. Sniffers move in a staggering way like they are drunk. This changes when they are riled when seem to become tireless and deadly quick. They are often starving and will attack anyone they see for supplies. Sniffers often live on rats and are not beyond cannibalism turning on their own for food. Luckily Sniffers are unoften unarmed as they lose them and are easy to fool. 

My first sniffer. One of many. I will need lots of figures as they may not hold out against a small group armed with automatic weapons. The figure is a Mongoose Cursed Earth Wastelander. 



The Kopheads: 

The Kopheads are a gang that live in the ruins of Anfield stadium. They use the pitch to grow crops. They also control a portion of nearby parkland. They try to survive like most in these times in any way they can. Toffee's crew live in the Goodison stadium on the other side of the park and hold a portion of the park. The Kopheads hate the Toffees and want to expand into their turf. Their objectives are to survive, to control all the parklands, get one over on the other factions in the ruins especially the Toffees. 

The mini is a Mongoose 2000AD Cursed Earth figure. 

The Loonies: 
The Loonies control an old Secure Mental facility for the Criminally Insane on the northern Liverpool ruins. They run raids into the surrounding areas and city for supplies. 

Mad Maz of the Loonies. 

Mad Maz is another figure from the Mongoose Cursed Earth set. This figure is one of  my favorites as he has lots of character. 

The Rusties: 

The Rusties are a gang that lives on a ship wreck that was found adrift by Boxfort and they ran aground so they could remove the vessel's cargo of machine parts that had a old Russian arms shipment hidden in it. After Boxfort abandoned it the Rusties moved in. Due to the proximity of Boxfort's lands the gang are endorsed by Boxfort which uses them as extra muscle when needed. The gangers are also allowed to work in Boxfort's factories. 

The figure is a EM4 plastic with a limited edition metal torso. Its not the best casting but it was free so I am not complaining. It had a rock and a placard which wasn't much use for Post Apoc. I switched the arms with Wargames factory female survivors plastic arms. 

I see the Rusties in military fatigues and get some good loot from Boxfort such as automatic weapons.

The Stonies: 
The Stonies are a strange mob of cultists who live in parklands in the south of the Liverpool ruins. They worship a set of stone age standing stones that reside in this old park. The Stonies capture folks and sacrifice them to the stones. It has not been established if they resort to cannibalism. The Stonies have a problem. The Scouseland enclave in the Southern part of the city ruins wants the Stonies gone and they covert the parklands they live in. 

This Stonie has the standing stone's carvings painted upon his shield. The figure is a plastic LOR Urk Hai with a gas hood head, a tyre shoulder pad and a plastic sword from the bits box. 

Building Up Competition:- Elevated Living Accommodation - WIP

 As a regular over at the Post Apoc Wargames Forum I decided to have a go at the Building UP competition. I always wanted to make some elevated shacks. It occurs to me that living in the end of times it would make sense. Keeps you above all those nasties creeping around after dark. 

Me being me, I have hundreds of ideas running around my skull. I will try to build one but I know I will probably get carried away and end up making a few. 

So on with this WIP. My vision for this one is a shack built on top of a ruin. 

Basic building materials. 5mm thick blue foam and our old friend the old CD. 

I painstakingly drew the bricks on using a pencil. The trick to this is to go over the bricks a couple of times with the pencil to get that worn brickwork. I also distressed it with various items (read as whalloped it) to make the bricks look rough. The posts are there to support the shelter that will go above the ruin. 


Still a fair bit to do on this one. Keep watching. 


Post Apocalyptic Wargames Forum Elevated Terrain Competition 2014


For those of you that don't know Eilif from the Chicago Skirmish Wargamers is running a Elevated Terrain Competition over on the Post Apocalyptic Wargames Forum. The prize is a selected box of stuff to make terrain with. This competition runs up to the 1st December 2014. 

The Rules are as follows: 

"Welcome to "Building Up!", the 2014 Terrain Competition. Read on for details regarding entry, documentation and prize! I'll be starting additional competition related threads over the next couple days, but here's what we know so far.

The task in this competition is to build a piece of terrain where height a factor. This does not have to be a skyscraper or even a large piece, but height or elevation should be an important part of the theme and/or execution. Extra weight will be given to creative interpretations of the theme and for structures where the top of the construction is notably larger than the base. As you would expect, much of the judging will be based on the quality of execution.

As for the content of your creation, stock commercially produced terrain items can be part, but should not be the majority. Some preference in judging will be given to creations making more use of scratchbuilding, kitbashing, toybashing, creative use of found items, etc. The Judging will be handled by myself (Eilif).

What can I win?

The winner will receive a box of terrain making supplies. What's in the box and how big? Not sure of the size or contents yet, but it will be a mix of my favorite bits and materials from my own personal stash of terrain making supplies. Further it will include at least one miniature and a vehicle. I will converse with the winner to find out what kind terrain they like to build and will endeavor to adjust the contents, but NO guarantees will be made regarding specific content or volume.

Regarding the "In Progress" topic.
All entries must have a work-in-progress thread. This can be as simple or complex as you want, but you must supply some pictorial evidence that you built this thing. I hope that folks will take this opportunity to share their creative process with the community, but I won't issue more detailed requirements and you will not be judged on your in-progress topic.

Submitting your finished Project.
The Finished Project will be displayed in a single post on a topic that I will create for that purpose. The post will have at least 2 and no more than 5 pictures of the finished project and may include a one paragraph description if you wish. More pictures can be posted in the WIP thread for the community to enjoy, but that single post will be what the judge uses to evaluate your finished project.

Other Official and procedural rules:
1. The comp is for members and moderators only
2. It's open to members who have been registered from the start of that month.
3. Members with a post count of less than 10 cannot enter, but those posts can occur after the start of the competition.
4. Members cannot enter unless they have introduced themselves in the bar as per forum rules.
5. The forum owner has the authority to pull the competition if the competition runs into chaos.
6. The moderators are fully endorsed to block or ban members/posts who break the rules.
7. The competition owner (Eilif) can pull the competition at any time or change categories at the last minute.
8. Eilif is the organizer for Chicago Skirmish Wargames. Members of that club are welcome (and encouraged) to participate, but the prize box will go to the best non-CSW-affiliated entry.
9. The comp will start September 1st 2014 and conclude December 1st 201410. All participants will open an "in progress" topic as noted above.
"

So if you want a chance. Sign up, Introduce yourself at the Bar and get posting. You need to have a post count above 10 to enter. After that you are free to have a go. If you do enter Good Luck!