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

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. 

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! 

The Bloody 40!

Hello and Welcome Back, 

Time to take a look at more starport scum. This is the crew of the Bloody Vengeance, a pirate vessel that is the flagship of the Bloody 40 pirate fleet. 

The Bloody Vengence is crewed by an oddball mix of Humans, Splitters (Humans additcted to Gene Modification), self aware rogue robots, a cyborg and a Squat. Typical Starport scum. 

The Bloody 40 began as a mutineer crew. In anger at the abuse of the crew by the captain and first mate the crew rose up. They beat the ship’s officers, stripped them and launched them in a life pod towards the nearest populated world. They then took the ship and upgraded it, remaining it the Bloody Vengeance. 

The rest of the Bloody 40 hang around space port bars collecting information and rumours on ships with abusive officers and captains. They then join the crew of the ship. It is fairly easy to join such a vessel as they tend to have a high turnover of crew. Some of the vessels arrive with less crew than they set out with. These hardened pirates wait until enough of the 40 have joined the ship. Then they lead a mutiny aboard the ship with the Bloody Vengeance lurking nearby to assist if necessary. 

The captured vessel is then stripped of cargo. The remaining loyal crew, officers and captain serve a similar fate to those of the first vessel the Bloody 40 rose up against. The remaining crew are given the vessel or asked to join the Bloody 40. 

The Bloody 40 are regarded as heroes by the abused ship’s crews around frontier space. Captains hate them and whisper their name in fear. Since the Bloody 40 attacks, crew treatment and conditions has improved vastly across the sector. 

Security chief McGroober, Captain Amos Fury, First mate Lino (splitter*)

*Splitter is a slang term for people who have willingly undergone Human Gene Manipulation. 

Gene Thugsbury, Amy Clunk (Cyborg) , Crew person Jane Nasty. 

Turtleo (splitter), assassin Trarg (splitter), Wez Vernons 

Krocadude (splitter), Trooper Gax Morgan, Sideeyes (splitter)

Bullet (gunslinger & sharphooter bot), Grimli (armoured squat), Trooper A3D3 (tactical military bot)

All figures are a mix of Rougestars (copplestone sculpts available from Northstar Miniatures) and Antediluvian Miniatures. 

The Bloody 40 was inspired by a weird bit of local history. "There is a reference in local history book from 1850s which details the Bloody Fourty's activities. Bloody Forty: forty seamen who together would ship as a crew aboard hell-ships, in order to turn the tables on rough bucko mates and masters (Hughill 1967: 89). 'A gang of feared Liverpool seamen who went by the name of "The Bloody Forty" (Lees 2013: 74)."

There is no other details about the Bloody 40 to be found. It makes me wonder what happened to them. I have found some sea shanty/folk music songs about them. Still this is my salute to the original Bloody 40.

Thanks for looking and stay safe out there.

Tengun Renforcements.

Hello and Welcome Back.

 Some time ago I ordered the Void 2 starter set from Seb Games. The set was in a case with the rules to run a small skirmish using the Void rules. In the boxset was a Junker force and Viridian force.

As I already have a Junker force (used for the Tengun Empire in my Wild Galaxy setting) I decided these extra figures would be painted in the same colour scheme.

Exosuit is a nice addition, providing a power fist and chain gun. It should add some punch to the force (or become a bullet magnet).

The whole force so far.

In my pile of shame is a few sprues of original plastic Junkers. When I get to it I will add them to this force. Part of me is tempted to ditch the shotguns for assault rifles on a few, just to give the force more ranged and suppression options. Maybe a sniper would be a useful addition. So far due to weapon range limits (note not the Void rules but Skank or 40k RT) means the force has to hug terrain to get close. A couple of rapid fire weapons and a large empty table space will keep them at bay.

Thanks for looking, take care out there. 

Fogou's Stackable Shacks.

Hello and Welcome Back, 

Sometime last year I backed the Stackable Shacks kickstarter by Fogou Models. I thought they would fit perfectly with the Fogou Wasteland Fortress.

The Stackable shacks would work nicely for a Starport or futuristic mega city slum. Or real estate in a post apocalyptic city. To my mind such tall structures in a wasteland town would be for public utility or the wealthy. You need some way to show off an excess wealth of scrap.

The Stackable shacks come in one story blocks which can be stack to make No Where Near skyscrapers. Each level comes with a roof, so the towers could be broken down to single level buildings to make a entire town. Or figures can play inside each level.

Like all Fogou Models they are nicely detailed and cast in tough Jesmonite resin. The resin is a delight to paint and happily takes paint without primer. Although I would always advise priming.

Paradise Towers (aka the Barracks):

Every township needs a place for the wasteland warriors to rest up after a hard day's barbaric raiding. The paint scheme is similar to that used on the wasteland Fortress (link). I kept this one with just white metal panels.

The Radlight Hotel:

When you wander through a town and you need some place to rest up, then visit the Radlight Hotel. Comfortable beds. Radioactive bedbugs provided for free. Breakfast provided for extra. All forms of salvage accepted. I handpainted the sign on a bit of old gift card. 

The Hospital:

Been wounded out in the wastelands? Spent a little looking for salvage near that crater that glows in the dark? Then rush on down to Dr Wildethroat's Hospital. All manner of health problems looked at. Free tetanus or sepsis with every operation. The sign was hand painted on a old gift card. I thought a hospital would have some sort of signage to be seen from some distance away, so I painted some slap dash looking red cross signs.

The Warlord's Tower:

If you are the Warlord what better way to declare to the wasteland rabble you are the boss than a huge tower. For this tower I used 5 of the Stackable shack segments to make the tallest tower of the lot.

To my mind the tower needed a platform for the Boss to deliver his daily ranting and raving. So I added one knocked up from plastic card and bits of plastic box section. What's the point of ranting if the entire horde can't hear you? No Warlord wants to have gone hoarse when issuing vital orders or threats. The speakers and stage lamps came from a Ramshackle Games Speakers & Tartan Blast set (toy car scale range).

Of course every despotic Warlord needs a banner. I drew this by hand on paper and painted it. It is based loosely on the logo I designed for this Blog page.

I think I should make some stencils of the spikey radiation logo, I would look great sprayed on a motorbike tank or car door.

At some point I may add a flag pole and flags to the Boss tower in the future. Should I ever decide to increase the height of any of these towers all I have to do is order the right sized shack from Fogou (a future plan).

Here is a shot with all the models split to make lots of shacks. I haven't painted a lot of the floors yet as I didnt see a need because I plan to use the Stackable shacks as towers. I can't split them down to single story buildings as I have glued them together. 

A rumble breaks out in scrap city. 

Thanks for looking and get a room booked in the Radlight Hotel. 

The Boglanders of the Strontium Swamps

Hello and Welcome Back. 

Out in the Radioactive Strontium Swamps of Mattblackgod’s world lives a bunch of mutants called the Boglanders. 

The Boglanders are armed with a variety of firearms looted from a old part flooded military bunker found in the centre of the Strontium Swamps.

Some Boglanders carry old black powder weapons, loving the simplicity, noise and smoke these weapons make. 

The Strontium Swamps are so contaminated even the frogs are massively mutated. They are kept as both a food source and pets by the Boglanders. 

Hmmm what every Boglander needs for lunch, a bucket of nutritious worms. There is plenty of worms in the Swamps some of them are pretty huge. 

The Boglander figures are by Ramshackle games but haven't been released yet, they have been through a recent Kickstarter. Curtis kindly sent me a set with a recent order. I was going to try and get the figures and blog post up to help generate interest in the Kickstarter. Sadly things got away from me. Naturally I had to back the Kickstarter as this little mob needs reinforcements. 

The Boglander figures are a reimagining of the more classic goblin descriptions from myths and fairytale rather than the more popular modern goblin image that looks like a green skinned, big nosed malicious wing nut. 

Thanks for looking and take care out there.