Tuesday 27 February 2024

Starport scum pt 6 - more Fatties

Hello and welcome back, 

Time for another issue of Starport Scum. My Fatties Crew was a little thin on the ground and as Warlord Games has brought out the Block War Fatties, it seemed a good opportunity to expand the crew.



The Fattie on the left is Lardie McDoughnut. This guy is the Fatty of Fatties. Lardie is the guy (or the size at least) the other Fatties aspire to. He is another Fattie that fled the world of Megapolis (link https://mattblackgodsworld.blogspot.com/2021/12/starport-scum-3-fatties.html ) due his involvement in the failed "Fattie Coup". Lardie is so large that he needs some help moving about from a couple of goons hired in the Starport. Being the size of Fattie means he is a bullet magnet and body armour in his size is difficult to find. So he made his own improvised armour looted from the last kitchen the Fatties rumbled into.

Johnny Spambo is the Fattie on the right. Unlike other Fatties, Spambo has a second interest besides gorging. After watching an ancient Earth holoflik (re-re-re mastered) series uncountable times, Spambo believes he is a living incarnation of the main character of those movies even mimicking the accent and speech patterns of the main character. He dresses in a similar old earth military fashion and trains, as far as a Fatty can or wants to train. Spambo has read any special forces manual he can find further building his self belief that he is a one man army.


The Fatties are fun to paint and I hope there will be more Fatties released by Warlord Games in future. Part of me is thinking that building a special space ship for the Fatties would be a fun future project.


Now for another character for my growing Starport Scum collection.

Pesha Zil

Pesha fled her homeworld of Iyo looking for adventure. Currently she is hanging around spaceports looking for work as a ship's crew member. Rumours of adventure and riches to be had on Maddans world have reached Pesha. She is hoping to find a ship heading in that direction.


The Pesha figure is from the old OOP Grenadier Future Wars line. The colour choices for this figure came from what ever was going on the pallet at the time. I plan to use this figure in games of Five Parsecs from home or Stargrave (if I ever get around to playing them). One of my future plans for Maddans world will be for gangs of adventurers looking for the precious Sol Stones or the rumoured wreckage of the Maddan Expedition. So there is a chance she will turn up there. 

Thanks for looking, stay safe out there. 

The Lady!

 Hello and welcome back


I finally got around to some more denziens of Mattblackgod’s world.

The Lady.

Deep in the Strontium Swamps the Boglanders whisper about the legend of "The Lady". They say she is a immortal terror and judges all who wander into the centre of the swamplands. Some Boglanders worship the Lady and will carry out her orders.


The Lady is from the Dark Brexit set by Ramshackle Games.


This here is a typical nomaic denzien of the deep wastelands. Clad in homemade hazmat suit and wearing a home hat to keep the sun off, this soul can be found guarding nomad camps. An old Rifle and sword is a typical armament for nomad guards.


The figure is a wastelands shaman by Anvil Industries.


Thanks for looking, take care out there! 



Tuesday 20 February 2024

Nu Terra Marines and the Baddawgs landing mob.

Hello and Welcome Back, 

Time for another look at the Warriors of the Wild Galaxy. 


The Space Marines of the Nu Terra Empire's Navy. The Marines wearing red armour markings are veterans of Nu Terra's campaign to capture Mars from the renegades, bandits, pirates and criminals who moved onto Mars in the years after the destruction of Earth (which lead to the collapse of the Old Earth "Terra" Empire). (History of the Wild Galaxy)

There are some Marines sporting yellow markings are veterans of the campaign to secure the world of Sabius Prime. 

These figures are old 40k Rouge Era plastic Space Marines that I picked up as part of mixed batch from ebay. I touched up a few figures and based them. These figures will see action in the anarchistic melting pot that is Maddans world. 

Back in the days of chaos and anarchy that followed the collapse of the Old Earth Empire, a small group of Space Marines survivors lead by Sergent Baddawg decided to head out of Human Space taking a small group of civilians they were protecting with them. In time they found a small unchartered Jungle planet and settled it. They named their world "Baddawgs Landing" after their leader. Today Baddawg's Landing has a small scattered civilisation on it. The warriors maintain their now generations old power armour and equipment. They also maintain the codes of honour instilled in them by the legendary Baddawg and their ancestors. 


Again these figures came from the same mixed batch of figures as the figures above. All I have done is rebase them. I hope to try painting a couple more old Marines to match the paint scheme these figures have.

Those who are long in the tooth will recall a very vibrant character who visited various Wargames Yahoo groups and forums years ago with the handle "Baddawg". Old Dawgie (for that was his name) was a retired long serving US Marine and served in the Vietnam war. The jungle camouflage on these figures made me think of my old Internet freind and I had to create a world in my "Wild Galaxy" setting in his honour. Baddawg's landing was the name of his Yahoo group dealing with his wargames scenarios and batreps, it seemed fitting to use it. RIP Dawgie, you are missed but not forgotten. 

Thanks for looking,

Take care out there. 

Reaper Immunocytes

Hello and Welcome back,

Its been a while, a bit of hobbying has been going on in the background but its taking time to get things finished. For a while I have been looking for suitable figures for Reaper Immunocytes for the Matrioshka setting in the Zone Raiders game. I finally settled on these figures.



They are multipart 3D prints found on Etsy. I found this figures very fiddly to assemble. To make things worse the figures are incredibly fragile. They have lost many arms already, I suppose it is expected to see ancient killer robots with some damage. These are huge figures, take a look at one next to a 28mm figure.

In addition to causing trouble for Zone Raid crews in the Matrioshka, I am planning on these killer robots to turn up as a hazard in a bunker for the poor folks surviving on Mattblackgod’s World.


Thanks for looking

Take care out there. 

Sunday 31 December 2023

Happy New Year and 2023 review

As 2024 looms upon us like a gaint looming thing it is time to look back on the hobby progress over the year, including a couple of bits that didn't make into my blog.



March saw these Ramshackle bits finished and this old converted 40k Dreadnought found on ebay touched up for my tabletop.

For me it felt like my hobby output was quite low but looking back I achieved a fair amount of hobby work.


April saw me finish this Grauncher by Ramshackle games and this mysterious old cargo crate. 

There was a few months when nothing happened. Throughout the year there has been a lot problems with my wife's home dialysis. Water supply failures, diaylsis machine breakdowns and medical supply issues have caused a lot of stress for us both. It was surprising how much of a impact these issues have had on my free time and energy.








July saw me post up all the work I got finished in May, June and July by various manufacturers. Included is a unposted 40K Walker which will serve as support for the Delijellbi forces in my Wild Galaxy setting. 

Work also ramped up to insane levels with people leaving suddenly and work load increasing massively. Looking back my hobby output increased during my holidays. Sadly toward the end of the year I was so burnt out that my hobby mojo had vanished. Thankfully the Christmas holidays has seen my hobby interest return.








August saw me finish rewilding some ruins and even get a couple of games in. I also managed some Necron terrain bits for Zone Raiders. The game pictures and Zone Raiders terrain haven't been shared on this blog.





September saw the miners of Maddans world posted.

Another issue effecting my hobby output was these three furry helpers who have all decided that I am the best place to sleep. I can't complain too much as they are so affectionate.

Joey the Elder

Dixie the thief and Toffee the cuddler. 


Another unposted model. A signal tower for Zone Raiders built from pill bottles and assorted junk. 

Some other things I have been working on is the background fluff of my Zone Raiders setting and Maddans world (along with a few other planet ideas) and my own ruleset. 

It's been a good year of hobby despite the time consuming issues and stresses. I hope 2024 will be much quieter and easier.

I hope you all have a wonderful New Year. I wish everyone a healthly, happy, peaceful and prosperous 2024.

Happy New Year!

Thanks for Reading. Take care out there.






Saturday 23 December 2023

Happy Christmas from the Wastelands

 



Ho Ho Hooooo!

Wishing all my wonderful readers a very Merry Christmas!

May Post Apoc Santa bring you and your families good loot and may the wastelands bless you with peace and good health.

Hopefully I will get a New Year post out next week with a look back at this year's progress.

Have a good one and thanks for reading.

Cheers.


Thursday 2 November 2023

Introducing Maddans World

Hello and Welcome back,

In recent months I have been working on a background for my wild Galaxy setting that will allow my collection to get into trouble with each other. Introducing Maddans world.

Maddans world exists on the frontier of GELF space and has only been recently colonised.

A few standard Earth years ago an exploration probe from an vanished independent exploration company began transmitting information about the scanned world. The probe belonged to the Maddan Expedition which gave the world its name. As the Maddan Expedition vanished over 100 standard Earth years previously the world lies unclaimed. 

Tengun forces try to force independent miners out of a typical colony.

The data transmitted from the probe included information indicating that the world was rich in rare minerals, mainly Ultesium crystals which are used across human space in high energy batteries and the manufacture of high density pico electronics. Upon arrival on the world of the first colonists soon discovered that traces of the very rare Helostone gemstone were present sacttered across the surface (Helostones are very rare and created in the early stages of the birth of a certain type of star). These stones fetch a fortune on the market, with even small fragments allowing the seller to be able to retire in luxury. 

This information caused the galactic nations and corporations to scramble to get colonies to mine this exceptional world before a legal owner was found or came forward. Soon prospectors from all over human space arrived hoping to get rich quick. Meanwhile the space nations spent huge amounts of energy to try to find the descendants of the Maddan expedition in the hope they could convince them to sign it over to a particular nation or corporation. So far there has been no luck and Maddans world is pretty anarchic as a result.


Miner's firepower keep the Tengun forces back.

Maddans world is a largely arid world with the polar regions becoming semi arid towards the small polar caps. There are a few small salt water seas and fresh water lakes allowing some plant life to cling on in the harsh conditions. The wildlife is dangerous and numerous. The main wildlife hazards are the Greater and lesser sand worms, a couple of species of Ambull and the Sandtreader (a large reptile that can be tamed as a beast of burden). 

Near the ice caps there are swathes of strange alien forests which provide the world's oxygen. In these forests there are the strange Maddan pod trees. These trees sprout large fruit that can explode lauching spores causing anyone nearby to enter a hallucingenic psychotic rage. The Maddan pod trees are valued by narcotics dealers and make the illegal drug Pong from it. There is a secondary trade from Maddans world in Pong and the Galactic powers raid and destroy any Pong production facilities on world. 

Due to the scramble to grab land, the world is largely Anarchic with no official government. Around 350 self governing and independent colonies currently exist on world exploiting the natural resources. The Ultesium crystals are not as abundant as first indicated but there is still a decent wealth to be mined. The few Helostones discovered so far appear to be scattered over the surface of the world and they strangely appear to be cut and polished. This has lead to many wild stories of where they came from including some theory’s that they were planted as bait, or that they are cursed.

There is some speculation that the missing Maddan expedition lies wrecked someplace on the world and the Helostones presence are the cause of why the expedition was lost. There is a theory that the probe was launched from the wreckage by a fault. Unfortunately the probe was destroyed when a Tengun battle cruiser, upon arrival in orbit did the space travel equivalent of a hand brake turn smashing the probe to tiny pieces. 

Currently the galactic powers watch each other waiting for someone to blink. They cant claim the world and can’t drive the independent colonies out, then claiming them without attracting the attention of the other power’s colonies. Going head to head could spark another costly galactic war. This has lead to the use of Mercenaries by the Galactic powers to drive out colonists and seize mined Ultesium ore while maintaining deniablity. 

Tensions are mounting between the colonies. The remoteness of the colonies from each other means that that they are largely independent. Several colonies have been lost leading to the galactic powers and independent colonies are pointing fingers at each other. Some detailed investigations have shown Sandworms, Ambull or other Maddans world wildlife have caused some of the lost colonies. There is some evidence that some of the destroyed colonies point to Bandit or GELF raids (most likely ORCS or Fae GELFs). Some colonies are now reporting trouble with Verman subterranean raiders. It is not known how or when the Vermen arrived or if they have always been on the world.

The colonies are village or small town sized, usually placed close to a mine. They are usually built from mud buildings or what materials the colonists brought with them with a ramshackle wall around the town. Recycled old star ship hulls also common sites in some colonies. Some richer colonies belonging to the Galactic Powers have pre fabs or imported stone and other materials. 

Unlike other worlds not all colonies have space ports, this is largely due to the land being too soft to land ships on large parts of the planet. This means that the crystals and supplies have to be hauled across the desert world to the nearest space port, which access to usually comes at a premium cost. The richer colonies use grav trains to haul their ore and supplies. Many of Independents make use of land trains or vehicle convoys with the poorer colonies making use of Sandtreader lizard trains. This has lead to convoys being lost to bandits (possibly covert raids by opponents) and Greater Sand Worm attacks.

I need to draw up a map when I have trashed out the various colony details. It might be fun to add some GELF colonies too, although Orks would operate more like off world raiders. Vermen are subterranean raiders living in or under colonies. 

Thanks for reading

Take care out there
































Sunday 24 September 2023

Maddans World Independent Mining Crew

 Hello and Welcome Back,


Time for a visit to Maddans world in my Wild Galaxy setting (world background fluff to follow).

Maddans Independent Mininig was set up by a gang of miners from across human space who arrived at Maddans world hoping to make it rich before the world was claimed.

MIM is lead by Big Albert (the bald bearded guy in the centre) a miner from the Brittannia systems.


The gang. The Miners are armed with old autoguns and whatever protection they have managed to cobble together.

These figures are a limited run of the RT666 set of Space Pirates by Mark Elster, which I picked up from Facebook. I liked them as they have a old 40K Rogue Trader charm to them. I chose a yellow theme to tie them together and fitting for a mining crew.


This crew got a 40K Ridgerunner as a convoy guide (Maddans world is largely desert and convoys get regularly attacked by Bandits, offworld raiders or the local wildlife). I got this model as a birthday gift from my wife (I told you she was a keeper!). It assembled easily which feels unusual for recent GW 40K kits and I think it is a kit that could be a good donor for conversions.


I sprayed it yellow with Army Painter rattle cans. The stripe and striped top hatch was done with masking tape and sponging (taking a little inspiration from the Mad Max Pursuit cars). Lots of weathering was added using grey and brown paints stippled around the edges of the vehicle.


Thank you for looking, take care out there. 








Saturday 23 September 2023

Some more overgrown ruins.

 Hello and Welcome Back, 

It's been a few weeks since my last post, life has been busy and hobby blogging had taken a back seat as a result. 



For a while I have been slowly reworking my old ruins collection to make them look older and overgrown. 

Years ago I made a terrain set of crumbling ruins on CD bases so that a table of ancient post apocalyptic ruins that could be put out in different configurations. This ruin is a part of that set. 


This ruin got a few extra details, a white dry brush, some dark washes and lots of plant life. Oh and a random skull.

Also years ago I built this ruined house. This is the third rework it has had during its lifetime. The second one featured adding a door frame from a toy dolls house, interior details and rubble. 


Now it has had extra dark brown washes, a white dry brush, green washes and then lots of plant life added. Oh and some happy little rats. 






Thanks for looking, take care out there!