Tuesday 17 January 2017

Wasteland Wondering - Brittannia


Rule Brittannia, Brittannia rule the wastes. 

Welcome back to another Wasteland Wondering. In this issue I will look back at an early creation in Mattblackgod's world. So early it was before this blog began and never really got featured. The forces of Brittannia Bunker City. 




The bunker city forces started life as a Corporation force I had created for the Combat Zone game. The figures where bought off eBay around 2004 for buttons and combined cost less than the officer figure I got a couple of years back. 


Power Armour was good enough for Fallout so Brittannia got some. The Power Armour figures are my old 40K RT Beakie Space Marines. It was good to give them a second life.



Not long after I decided to create a post apoc world inspired in part by the film Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone and 2000AD's Cursed Earth. Mattblackgod's world was born. I wanted to use my Combat Zone collection. After some thought I created the SOS bunkers which was inspired by the Redoubt bunkers of the Deathlands novels mixed with a bit of the Vaults from Fallout. 

I had the bunker open up, then use its personal and equipment to dominate the wastelands around. As the faction wore colours inspired by the Colonial British army they became Brittannia Bunker City ruled by a elite class of Lords and Queen Miranda. 

I ran the faction satiring the real world with a few fictional twists of my own such as Lord's Brown and Blair robbing the city and fleeing. The old game reports can be read on the Post Apoc Wargames Forum in the links below:

Later I created another faction in the Bunker City. The forces of Lord Blackdagger which are converted warzone imperial trenchers.



This force was largely inspired by the Blackadder Goes Forth tv series. 

I grew bored of small high tech factions ruling the wastelands. So I had a orbital satellite malfunction and drop nukes on Brittannia and it's rival bunker city Aryanriche. Isn't playing god great?

I now lament the loss of the city. In the last couple of years or so the UK has provided a lot of inspiration for breakaway factions, mutant outbreaks (such as orange skinned mutants with strange thick eyebrows for instance) and possibly civil war (Brexit war?).  I had a lot of fun lampooning the real world in miniature it seems a shame to miss some great opportunities to do so again. 

I could resurrect Brittannia...but what happened to the survivors of the Bunker City?  

One group stayed near by the bunker city ruins and formed the town of Nu Albion. The place is a dystopia and has many troubles. There are mutants in the Nu Londioum ruins and rad ghouls in the bunker ruins to the east. To the west the Skrap Knights of King Arty and to the North the Fatal Floozies gang. 


Skrap Knights of King Arty.

Another group of Brittannia headed across the sea to the Confedracy where they mingled into the townships and farms. Two groups headed north. One went into the Nukadonia mountains never to be heard from again. The other set up the town of Nu Calidonia on the borders of Pictiseland and has constant trouble with Pictise tribes men. 

Blackdagger's company was deployed to a colony before the nukes and survived. They now have thrived in the wastelands. 

When Utopia City began evacuation of the wastelands a few people from Nu Albion, Nu Calidonia and Blackdaggarland where "saved" and now live in Brittannia block within the megacity. It would seem that they are my best bet of restarting a Brittannia faction. 

Living in the megacity isn't what the survivors of Brittannia expected. It is worse than life in the wastelands. I can see them aquiring the equipment, technology and supplies to return and reclaim their lands. 

Now all I need to figure out is how and where?  The Blackdaggers are well equipped and will not bow to a new leader easily. The other two factions are weaker. Or maybe the new faction should look for another lost SOS bunker to set up home?

Thanks for looking.

Sunday 1 January 2017

2000AD's Cursed Earth

Hello and welcome back. One of my ambitions for 2017 is to get more blog posts up, so this is a good start. 

Part of my Christmas haul was a copy of 2000AD's Judge Dredd, The Cursed Earth uncensored book. 

This is from a Judge Dredd story 2000 AD ran back in 1978. In the story Mega City 2 is hit by a terrible virus. Mega city 1 has a vaccine but can not deliver it to Mega City 2 as the infected hold the cities airport. Judge Dredd volunteers to cross the 3000 miles of Cursed Earth to deliver the vaccine. Or as I like to think of it, Judge Dredd does route 66! 

Reading this graphic novel/comic book took me back to being a child. It was 1979 and I had chicken pox. My Aunty left a pile of old comics belonging to a cousin for me to read. In there was a pile 2000ADs. The issues with this story line or most of it was in the comic pile.

Looking back it started my love for the 2000AD comic, my interest in Science Fiction/Fantasy genre and most importantly my love for the Post Apocalyptic Genre. 

The Cursed Earth isn't just a hellish wasteland like those of Mad Max. It is filled with towns, ruins and wrecks. The art work in the graphic novel is enough to inspire the terrain builder. 

The tales are typical 2000AD with some parodies of the modern world and a little bit of wackiness. It fits my style for Mattblackgod's World. 

If you are stuck for ideas for gaming the post apocalyptic world then The Cursed Earth is worth a look. If you game Judge Dredd then this is a must. There are mutants, cultists, mutant beasts, bio engineered beasts, insane robots, aliens  (the 2000AD world made it to space before wasting the world), warbands and many more ideas to inspire. Ideas as such as the burger wars story may inspire similar warbands maybe with a more modern or localised slant. 

In short, Judge Dredd The Cursed Earth is chock full of ideas and art inspiration for the post apocalyptic wargamer and modeller. It isn't for the gritty or modern setting but fits any sci fi one. It's well worth a look.

That's all for now. Thanks for reading. Take care out there!




Happy New Year 2017!

Happy New Year for 2017! I hope your hangovers are not too bad.

Phew, what a year 2016 was. We lost a lot of talent. I hope 2017 lays off our remaining talent and concentrates on people we don't need or want like Politicians or bankers.

I didn't get to look back at my hobby stuff for last year as there was too much going on. My hobby stuff concentrated mainly on 20mm post apoc cars and miniatures from various lines. Sadly my hobby ambitions tailed off thanks to the arrival of these two loons.

The tuxedo is called Toffee and the black one Dixie. They are brothers.They are a fair bit bigger than when this picture was taken and at 9 months are larger than our poor suffering 13 year old cat, Joey. These horrors are slowing down but are into everything still and want to play with everything. They devistated our Christmas Decorations. Two live wire kittens makes hobby time difficult. 

Still one of my hobby ambitions for 2017 is to start hobbying again. I want to get my 28mm post apoc figures painted (there is a fair few of them), get my Ork/Trog mobs started and get my 15mm post apoc started. I also intend to get my wife to try a game or three. 

I wish all my readers and their families a happy, healthy, safe and prosperous 2017!

Stay safe out there!