The Water Merchant.

Hello and Welcome Back, 

A common site in Last City's Barta Square, the water seller trades water from his cart. To stop the locals from just mugging the Water Seller, a couple of hefty guards protect him and his assets. 

All these figures are by Macrocosm miniatures and are based on the Carl Critchlow drawings in the Helsreach section of the old 40K Rouge Trader rule book. 

I found these figures really fun to paint. While they fit the Post Apocalyptic setting perfectly, they could equally be seen wandering around a dirtside space port. I am tempted to pick up a lot more guards as they could be used in a lot of table top factions. I also think I need to make the Water Merchant a cart at some point.

Thanks for looking, take care out there. 

Igorts..meet the Igorts!

Hello and welcome back,

The Igorts are a mutant clan from deep in the wastelands who now live in Last City, running a very successful vehicle building and repair business. Orginally discovered by a long range Last City Scout who was returning from a mission, after breaking down several days march from home. As he settled down in his vehicle for the night (crossing the wastelands in the dark is incredibly dangerous as there are many "things" looking for food) he heard noises. Upon seeing a mob of mutants flocking around his vehicle, the Scout fled to a safe distance fearing they wanted it for themselves. He was amazed to see the mutants fixing his vehicle up. After a while the mutants gingerly approached the scout. The Scout was ready to run, as the mutants appeared to be augmented and huffed on horrific looking pipes inserted into their mouths. Speech from the Igorts was largely unintelligible being muffled grunts and gargles, but the Scout eventually figured they were friendly and gesturing to his vehicle. 

Taking a risk and trying no to show any fear, the Scout sauntered up to his vehicle. Upon inspection (followed by excited, if somewhat muffled whoops from the Igorts) he was amazing to find his vehicle not only repaired, but serviced and improved somewhat (although the Scout wasn't sure about the addition of the pink fluffy dice). The Scout realised that these unconventional mechanics would be an asset to the Last City. He explained (somehwat slowly) that his home had lots of different vehicles and machinery to repair and maintain, news which seemed to excite his mechanic saviours (there was a lot of hooting of the word "Igort" from the mutant Blackthumbs). It took very little persuasion to get the Igorts to return to the Last City. 

The Igorts seem to love working on anything mechanical with a feavour that looks to be the reward itself. If you point them at a pile of scrap they happily dive in and start building or repairing. These mutants have proven to be cheaper than hiring Squats, more stable than Trog Mek Boys and far more honest & relaible than using Grots (who usually steal everything not bolted down before vanishing into the wastelands). Igorts seem to have no names and refer to each other as "Igort", leading to speculation that that is their word for themselves or possibly they are some sort of hive creature. In fact "Igort" appears to be a word that has hundreds of different meanings. They seem to randomly hoot the word. The Igorts have built, maintained and repaired all manner of machines across Last City and have received freedom of the city from Mattuis Black himself (which means no taxes upon entering or leaving the city and they can enter the Black City) for repairs to old power armour, weapons and vehicles. This doesn't mean he won't have them shot if they appear to be a threat to the Last City in any way.

Today the Igorts have a workshop and scrapyard on the edge of the Mutant (shanty) District of Mootle. They receive payments of scrap, junk, fuels and gases in return for their services. Despite the Irgorts disturbing appearance, thier mechanical prowess has made them popular figures in the Last City.

The arrival of the Igorts at the Last City seems to be the first occurance of them arriving in the wastelands. Reports have come back to Mattuis Black that the city of Hamsterdam in the Freepeoples Wastes (to the North) now have a Igort working for them. The question is, is there more Igorts out there? If so where are they coming from? Questions to the Igorts about thier origin just leads to blank looks, as if they do not understand the question or concept.

The Igorts are Mechanics figures by Macrocosm miniatures and were a lot of fun to paint.

Thanks for looking, take care out there. 

Minimus Squat's goons.

Hello and Welcome back,

These four squats roam the Wastelands looking for people to enslave, who they then trade to the less scrupilous wasteland settlements. 

All three figures are part of Minimus Squat's slaver team by Ramshackle Games. I love these figures as they are really characterful. 

Thanks for looking. Take care out there.

Helsreach Walker

Hello and Welcome back, 

Ever since I was a spotty kid, I have admired the slaver walkers in the Helsreach art in the first edition 40K rule book. 

Fast forward to 2014 and Mr Papafakis's awesome Helsreach Walker kit bash inspired me to build one for myself. After a good while scouring the Internet I ccouldn't find a suitable toy to cut up but I discovered a Ban Dai Destroid Spartan kit which I acquired. Work started on this during the late covid lockdowns here.

These kits are well detailed, each part of the leg and foot are fully mobile making posing it interesting. I only needed the bottom half so the rest of the model now lurks in the bits box. 

Things stalled as I waited to find a suitable item to make the platform, in this case a plastic individual dessert tub. I tried several glues before I found UHU managed to bond the two different plastics. Learning from that the tub was lined inside & out with standard ink jet paper and PVA glue. This not only reinforced the tub but allowed all the various gubbins to be added. 

The tub was a little deep for my 28mm figures to peep over so a piece of foam board was added to lift the deck. Granny grating/embroidery mesh was laid on top of it. The machinegun coupla was made from a kinder egg pod added to the side. Lots of milliput filled the gaps around the bottom. Card was wrapped around the outside to disguise the shape of the pods. The floor was then added. The gun rail is a bit of plastic rod warmed up (by holding against a mug of tea) and formed around the coupla shape. The gun was salvaged from the bits box, the handles came from a mantic vehicle heavy weapon and the ammo box is a 1/35 scale WW2 item. 

The metal posts for the ropes are made from plastic rod. The ropes are made with twisted wire from the inside of a electrical cable.

Various bits make up the controls and gubbins. The exhausts are from the Bandi walker kit and the water tank is a Ramshackle Games resin item. The light array posed a problem. It was eventually made from a small electronics component box lid (found in the bits box) and a bunch of stick on googly eyes. The ladders are 3d printed items which were cut up to look like they are retractable. A chain was added so the crew could pull it up or drop it as needed (it doesn't work on the model!). A spotlamp from a 40K Imperial Guard tank was added. 

Paint was reasonably quick once the front "toes" were painted with industrial hazard stripes. Lots of washes followed the base colours to make it look worn and weathered. The model was based on a CD. It's taken me 3 years to finish but I have learnt a lot. Who knows, I might make more walkers in future if suitable donor bits are found. 

The Walker will see use with my Orks on Maddans world when they come a raiding. On Mattblackgod’s World the Walker will get used by my Slaver gang "Tox's Blackhearts". 

Thanks for looking and stay safe out there.

The Crew of the SS Star Wanderer

Hello and Welcome back, 

Here is a new crew for Wild Galaxy that I have been working on for a while (real life has kept me busy this year). This is the crew of the Exploration Ship SS Star Wanderer. Exploration involves long boring missions beyond the edge of Human Space, scanning stuff. Unless you find something interesting out there which can bring great fortunes to the crew. Crews are often paid bonuses that are a percentage of the royalties or profits from the finds. Things can get really interesting (often terminally) if you stray into GELF space or some secret corporate deep space facility. It's surprising just how often that seems to happen. There are other perks for those making big finds, with explorers gaining fame or having worlds, phenomenons or systems named after them.

Captain Berk was a Naval ship captain in the Nu Terra Empire. As retirement approached Berk decided to apply to become the Captain of an exploration ship. Not only was the pay better but he gets royalties from any of the worlds he claims. Berk fancies himself as a fearless, cunning and charismatic swashbuckler with a crew that loves him. The crew regard Berk as delusional narcissist who is probably going to get them killed. Berk wears a red coat and has gold shoulder pads on his armour which he feels will impress any Alien civilisations the crew may encounter. In addition to this Berk fancies his chances of seducing the Alien ladies...yup Captian Berk is one of those Captains! 

Commander Milla Samberg is the SS Star Wanderer's Exploration mission's second in command. Commander Samberg is a very competent no nonsese kind of officer. She had the misfortune of serving under Captain Berk in the Nu Terra Navy. No, not that kind of under. He should be so lucky. There is a unspoken of incident were Berk once tried his luck and it nearly cost him dearly. The details are very sketchy and its best not to ask about it, but it doesn't take too much imagination as to what happened. Still despite the unpleasant incident Berk trusts and relies on the Commander. Samberg on the other hand has the unpleasant duty of tidying up or fixing Captain Berk's messes. She half expects to have to take command of the ship when Berk gets himself killed pulling some stupid planetside stunt.

Lieutenant Commander Hugo Crimple is the SS Star Wanderer's third in command and was also recruited from the Nu Terra Navy. This is his first time serving under Captain Berk and he now wishes that he didn't. Crimple also serves as the ship's science officer, although the ship's computer grumbles that it does most of the work.

Berk and Crimple are Alternative Armies Ion Age "Balthizar and Jerome" figures. Samberg is also an Ion Age figure (female retained Knight). These figures are large compaired to the rest of the crew which are largely old 1980's 40K Rouge Trader figures. The cast bases were amputated and figures mounted on slimmer bases. Sadly the Balthizar figure lost a leg in the process which couldn't be saved so I have sculpted another leg. The Jerome figure also lost a foot during the operation but I was able to pin and glue it back on. 

Lt Payne is the SS Star Wanderer's chief Security officer. He is also ex Nu Terra Navy who worked as a Mercenary for a short while. Lt Payne is somewhat bemused at Captain Berk's wild nature but doesn't like the fact it is costing him vital security personnel. 

Lt Payne is a Arty Severn figure by MrBigTong (from Facebook).

This pair is the SS Star Wanderer's pilot and co pilot. Although the SS Star Wanderer's computer does most of the flying both the Pilot and co pilot are needed to plot courses or for finer control such as docking or combat manouvers (despite the ship's computer's protests). One of the advantages of being a pilot or co pilot is that you rarely have to leave the ship to explore. 

Both figures are old 80s GW 40K RT figures which I have had in my collection since back in the day. 

The Security detail. These guys are there as muscle should something hostile be encountered out there and have been recruited from various Space Ports often with chequered pasts. They are regarded by Captain Berk as some what disposable. They have other thoughts about this matter. Berk has never bothered to learn any of their names, usually referring to them as "you". 

These figures are from various sources. There is a (L to R) Void/Metropolis Traid figure, an 40K RT figure (another olde one from my collection), a 40K RT pirate/adventurer (ebay find) and a GW/Citiadel Chainsaw Warrior figure (a late 80's GW bargain bin find).

The Security detail are backed up by Killbot 3000, a warbot kept in the "In case of hordes of nasties" locker. Killbot 3000 is armed with two multi lasers for cutting down large groups of hostiles. The crew only break out Killbot 3000 when things look desperate as they regard it's AI as somewhat psychotic and as potentially dangerous as any hostile horde they might face.

The figure is a AS028 Warbot 2 resin robot I got for free with an order from Alternative Armies. 

Ship's Engineer Lieutenant Crabster and Dr Tato. Lt Crabster isn't too happy that Captain Berk seems to live to try and break his ship, but like the pilots he rarely has to leave the ship. Dr Tato finds that he has his hands full dealing with the injuries the security detail usually return to the ship with and often berates Berk about his reckless attitude towards the crew. 

Both figures are old 40K RT era Adventures/Pirates. The Left one is a ebay find and the right one has been in my collection since I was young and spotty.

Hans Lipper and Lave Dister are the ship's dog's bodies. They tend to do all those jobs the rest of the crew loath and avoid. These guys are the lowest ranks on the SS Star Wanderer, they rank even lower than the service bots (they have a better union). Captain Berk never gets their names right and these guys are often deployed alongside the security detail if extra numbers are needed.

Both figures are old 40K RT adventurers/Pirates. The Left figure (Hans) is another figure from my 80s collection and the Right figure (Lave) I picked up from ebay.

I have tried to group the figures into colour codes for their functions. Blue = Engieering/medical & scientific, Red = Security (what else would they be?), Gold = Command, Orange = Pilots & Navigation and Green = General maintenance/cleaning/dogsbody/drooling alien bug fodder. Although this crew is primarily intended for my Wild Galaxy setting, it can happily be deployed for games of Stargrave (minus a few figures). I could also hand pick a few crew members for games of Alien Zoology. 

There maybe future crew additions if I stumble across suitable figures. One voice is whispering to replace the Ion Age Command figures if something catches my eye. I feel they are still a little large compaired to the rest of the crew.

Thanks for looking, stay safe out there.

Starport Scum 7

Welcome back to another installment of Star Port Scum. 

Malice Stardeath is a fearsome sight hanging around the Space Ports looking for work as a gun for hire. Her metal armour, multi laser, animal skins and hair does a lot to create a atmosphere of fear. Malice is a mercenary from Wimera, a backwater world. It is said that Malice killed the creature with her bare hands (and teeth!). Anyone attempting to chat to Malice gets greeted by angry snarls. Malice is a very angry woman and no one wants to find out why. Rumour has it that she is a retired space pirate which is another reason Mailce struggles to find work. No one wants to risk a potential pirate on board. 

Malice is a Abra figure by Bad Squiddo games. 

Thanks for looking and take care out there.

Wasteland Nomads

Hello and Welcome Back, 

I managed to get some figures finished. Some Wasteland Nomads.

The Shaman.

The deep Wastes tribes are often guided by wizened old Wasteland Shaman. They have a mental map of where safe resources may be found, where the hunting is good, what uses various plants have and what places to avoid from many decades of walking the deep wastelands. In addtion the Shamans also perform healings and make medicines to keep the tribe alive. The Shaman bears a techno staff which has been handed down from Shaman to Shaman over many generations. The Shaman spends his life working out the workings and mysteries of the staff they have inherited. The staff is a recorder and a Shaman can discover what previous staff owners have learnt. There is also a toxicity sensor which helps guide the Shaman to safe places. Like the other Nomadic Tribes folk the Shaman wears a homemade haz mat suit and a scrap sword. This is a Desert Nomad Commander/Shaman figure by Anvil Industries 

The Hero.

Every deep wastelands nomad tribe has a Hero, a champion warrior who leads the charge in a battle and leaves last when the tribe has to retreat. Xan Blunt is such a Hero. Hero's get the best food and pick of sexual partners within the tribe. Xan sports a massive junk hammer which is his peffered weapon. This figure is a Wasteland Raider Brute by Anvil Industries.

Both of these figures are resin. I am happy with how well they went together. Anvil's Post Apocalyptic figures will be going on the future shopping list. 

Thanks for looking and stay safe out there.

Beadbot and the Bangarang

Welcome back, 

No, the post title isnt the name of a fancy band! 

A few weeks back I was sent the link to the Gutterlands website https://www.thegutterlands.com/ which is a bunch of background fluff around the models by the Billmakesstuff YouTube channel. The trash bash nature of Bill's models has really inspired me, and is the reason why there have been a few trashbash terrain posts of late. For me making models from stuff destined for landfill has always been a very rewarding aspect of the hobby. I blame the old 40K RT rule book model making section and possibly watching Blue Peter as a kid. 

I digress, inspired by Bill's models I had to try my hand at building Beadbots and picked up the Bangarang rules by Apocrypha_Now. Bangarang is a game to battle Beatbots in a Arena on the world known as the Tapu (also the Gutterlands). 

So what is a Beadbot? It is a robust style of generic robot that looks like they are built from beads, mainly because the tabletop model is built from beads. Part of thier popularity is the ease of repair and interchangeability of parts. AIs are easily swapped between bots. Bangarang rules also include rules for Scrapbots, Biobots and fancy uppers bots (rich folks' bots). 

Introducing Beadbot 01Buggi22. 

This is my first Beadbot following the basic instructions in the Bangarang rules. Some bits box delving found some extra bits such as 40k shoulder pads as hip joint covers. The weapons and back gubbins also came from the bits box. The colour scheme was chosen to appeal to my wife and I hope we can get some Bangarang games in future. I have found building the beadbot very therapeutic and there are more planned. Not just for the Bangarang.

Bangarang in the Wild Galaxy 

Robots of all styles are common across human space. As Beadbots are cheap and robust they are quite common. Scrapbots can be found too, usually on frontier worlds or in service in poorer communities. 

I quite fancy the idea of making a couple of beadbots as loaders in Spaceports (Dockerbots?). Bangarang arenas are common in frontier worlds where older Beadbots and Junkbots are pitted against each other for entertainment purposes of the masses.

Bangarang on Mattblackgod’s World

Beadbots still exist on Mattblackgod’s World but they are now symbols of wealth. Those factions lucky enough to own a functioning and surviving Beadbot would not risk damaging it in the Arena. Those few that do are usually showing off how wealthy they are, that they can happily wreck a functioning beadbot (which is the MBW equivalent of burning a million dollars). Junkbots are more common and often feature in the Bangrang in Last City’s Mars Arena. Meatyones occasionally feature too, captured mutated lumps of flesh dragged from deep in the wastelands. Uppers bots do not feature on MBW.

The fun of Bangarang has had me thinking of making all manner of Bots with different utilities for various factions in both the Wild Galaxy and Mattblackgod’s World. A Nth gen faction (robots) could also be created for Zone Raiders. Using similar beads keeps things in line with that faction's motif of all descending from the blueprint of a single ancestor bot. As a plus all this gets down on the contents of the bits boxes. 

I will also need to build some terrain for the Bangarang. It need 4 off 2x2x2 inch cubes, 4 off 2x4x4 inch cuboids and 2 off 8 inch bridges. These will have a junk look to them. My thinking is that I will also be able to use them as terrain for Mad Dan's Scrapyard (a future Last City location) and Zone Raiders. 

Thanks for looking, take care out there. 

More Starship Wreckage

Hello and Welcome Back,

Some years ago I put together a multiversegamingterrain star ship wreckage terrain set. For some time I have wanted to add to it.

A few weeks back I was tasked to replace the taps on the bathroom basin. I picked up one of those cheap plastic back nut wrenches...totally useless as a tool. After lots of swearing I was going to chuck it away but I thought it might be useful. After hacking it in half I thought it would make a good bit of starship wreckage.

A base was cut from poster board and then extra bits made up from the bits box. Some extra bits were added from the depths of the bits box. The engine bit was various bottle tops and a kinder egg pod. A quick paint job, some tufts and boom....quick cheap terrain. 

Thanks for looking. Take care out there.

I saw the signs...

Hello and Welcome back, 

I saw the signs.....well made them anyway.

It's more terrain made from junk, this time for Mattblackgod’s World. The idea to make this couple of models have been rattling around my brain for some time. They are intended to add a little more colour to my post apocalyptic township table. 

The Last City Sign. 

This idea has been lodged in my head around since I saw Curtis' from Ramshackle Games Helsreach sign at a Bring Your Own Lead 2018 show a few years ago. It finally came into being when a small card packing peice salvaged from an replacement electrical item fell into my grubby mitts. 

It was glued to an old CD as it resembled a large crumbling lump of concrete. A hole in the bottom of the peice was filled with some off cuts of drinking straws to resemble old pipes. Rooting around I found some off cuts of blue foam which I scattered around the base to resemble lumps of broken concrete. 

Bamboo skewers made up the frame for the sign and the sign was constructed from an old gift card. The letters are the only bought item, they are mdf letters intended for card making. The fungi was made from scrap green stuff putty. A bit of wing from a old model kit was added as a extra bit of detail.

The base was covered in sand/grit/bits from my basing box. The rest of the model had a couple coats of textured paint and painted grey. This was followed by a heavy white dry brush. The base was coated in Beastial Brown, then dry bushed in medium grey and bone. Several dark washes toned the model down. A final light dry brush finished the model off. 

The sign was painted bestial brown and then had several rust colours dabbed on with browns and oranges. It was dry brushed with silver and given several thin brown washes. Some extra orange specs where then added to give that rusty look. Some thinned green paint was added to look like dried chemical flows from the broken pipes.

Lots of tufts were added to tie it into the rest of my overgrown world. Some bits of graffiti were added to finish it off. 

The Bounty/Jobs board. 

I have fancied building the job board since I first played the Borderlands Computer game, a long time ago. 

This was quite a simple build. A couple of scrap plastic rods, glued to a gift card base. The back board was also a old gift card. A little roof was added from bits of corrugated card. The oil drum was a spare made by pressing milliput into a mould. A couple of skulls were raided from the bits box. The Ogre skull had a bullet hole added to it.

The notices were hand drawn and added with pva glue. A brown wash was added to age the notices. The notices needed a touch up to redefine the notices as the wash had smudged them.

A bit of extra graffiti was added to the back of the job board.

This was a simple and quick model.  Speaking of easy models I knocked up a gun turret for Zone Raiders.

A Las cannon from a 40K kit was glued to a peice of card tube to make a pillar. A couple of shields from some plastic fantasy skeletons over the usual 40k skull gubbins on the sides of the Las Cannon. Lots of thin card squares was glued to the pillar and the whole thing was glued to a old click base. Under coated in black and painted in gun metal silver. Lots of washes and stippling in browns and oranges gave it a grotty look.

Thanks for looking, take care out there.