Happy New Year 2013

Happy New Year!! 

2012 has been a busy year hobby wise here on MBG world. Early in the year I dipped my toe into VSF (Victorian Science Fiction/Steampunk) as a break from my usual Post Apocalyptic madness and made up forces for the British, Prussians and Martians. I hope to add more in 2013.

I also made up a entire Martian table for VSF games on Mars.  The terrain mat took me about three weeks!! There was a few Sci-Fi buildings, lots of post apocalyptic terrain and a Sci-Fi jungle which I hope to use for a British Post Apocalyptic game set in the 1980’s and for VSF on Venus. Then there was my Post Apocalyptic Fortress built for the 2012 challenge for the Post Apocalyptic Wargames forum.  (There will be a new challenge for 2013!!!).

Miniatures wise I have cobbled together several Post Apoc gangs, VSF factions and even managed a Sci-Fi Star ship crew too. I also managed some 15mm minis too. 

It wasn't all good though. I lost a lot of my background notes to MBW when my Mac died (they lied when they told me that they don't crash or wipe their hard drives for no reason! Grrr. I should have them all impailed or thrown into the mutant pit!). On the plus side this gives me a clean sheet to start to restructure MBW. Imagination in warmup mode!!! 

So what’s the plan for 2013?? 

Well more of the same. Lots of terrain ideas knocking about and some new toys. Looking at my toy pile I have decided to head down the Frugal route for minis and gaming this year. Besides their is nothing quite as satisfying as converting or building stuff from scratch. 

One big thing I want to do is to get more games in. I hardly played last year. A few games of NY3K and that was it. I also want to see how 15mm plays before I make any further decisions to head down that road. 

Speaking of NY3K, I am writing some add on rules for the game which I hope will be available next year (I also lost those in the crash too so its rewrite time...again). 

I am fighting the desire to try some 20mm stuff. I blame that Xander guy over on his blog!!! :-P 

I plan on adding some gangs for the Frozen Wastes using minis by Rustbucket (a review will follow) and a great Xmas haul (thank you Mrs Mattblackgod!! xxxx) has enough minis for a new Liberty City/Wastelands and to start the conversions for my ‘80s Brit post apoc setting. Some VSF and other Post Apoc will be getting done too. There are some 15mm figures in the to paint pile too. 

So there is nothing more to say than Happy New Year!!! 

I wish you all a joyful and prosperous 2013. 

Cheers

Danny

Engineers of the Wastelands!

More from the vaults....

The post apoc world is kept clattering along by the efforts of engineers, mechs and other tinkerers. Every settlement has at least one. In some places there are groups of engineers and other specialists who make their living trying to rebuild the world and make life a little easier for everyone. It doesn't always work like that though.....


In a hidden valley the Wasteland Engineering and Construction Company have a set of factories that was once an old industrial estate. Old Isenbard Brunell leads them and hopes to rebuild the glories of  the old world. 

The mini is from Ramshackle. I chose the hand with a walking cane/shotgun/handcannon. Sadly the weapon snapped in tow - so it had to be a sawn off. The figure is nice to paint and I enjoyed painting it. This is my first attempt to paint up metallics in grey tones - not too sure it worked. 

These guys are big on close combat as they are more concerned with building and fixing stuff. They are known to hire bikers as mercs. This is because they are usually good in a fight and pretty handy with the old spanners. 


A scavenger patrol from the Wasteland Engineering and Construction Company (WECC) discovered a pile of wrecks a bit further up the valley from the WECC's factories and foundries. The wrecks seemed to be the remains of a military convoy that had been ambushed during the end war.  Brunel soon stripped them and got one working vehicle out of them. 

They call it the Grinder. It is used as a bulldozer and mobile workshop. The vehicle packs enough firepower and presence to keep most raiders away from WECC construction sites. 

Now there are also some wandering engineers on Mattblacks world. The Stunty Engineers clan. 

These guys wander from place to place trading thier skills for food, fuel and materials. The minis are GW RT 40K Squat Engineers Guild. I love these minis and they are some of my favorites. 

The Frozen Wastes pt4 - The landscape....

Whats the point of having the figures to play in the Frozen Wastelands if there is nothing to act as cover or objectives? Here is some of the terrain I made for the project. 

The plinth on the statue is from Ainsty Castings. As it lay sulking and forgotten at the bottom of a box I decided to reuse it. I stuck on a Haloclix mini and added some steps to the bottom from cork tile. I painted the clix grey and painted the snowy bits white. 

Vallejo water effects was used to make the icicles. When dry it goes clear and makes great ice. As it is a paste is can be applied and left - however hanging ice will be more of a problem. The model then got three coats of GW snow flock to get that deep old snow look. The plinth was given a very light drybrush of white to give the frosty frozen look. 

Oh look - its a um...thingy!


The Thingy was originally meant to be some sort of Sci-Fi vent for Neromunda. It languished in my half finished terrain pile for years so I thought to give it new life. 

The Thingy is made from a sytrofoam cup you get salads in with take away meals and a piece of PVC pipe. I added lots of graffiti and posters. After gluing it to a CD base I added the ice the same way as the statue in the previous post. After basing the white paint was added next and then lots of Snow Flock - three coats to get the deep old snow look. 

Who knows what the Thingy is? Maybe its just a vent for the metro tunnels beneath? Or may be there is a lots SOS Bunker under there? Or a secret military facility? 


Some smaller bits for the frozen table....

Some odd hatch manhole thingy...I wonder where it goes? I bet it is to the tunnels beneath the city! 

A bit of oddball frozen wastes terrain with boulders and odd looking standing stones. 

All told I love making this terrain but its time consuming. I find you have to make it normally then apply at least 2 coats of the snow flock to get that deep snow effect. The icicles are made from water effect resin and take a age to drip down the models and then set. I want to do more....I must be mad!!!

Frozen Wastes 3:- The Technocrats

The Technocrats.

A short time after the orbital bombardment of Matt Black's world a platoon of elite troops stumbled upon a SOS Bunker in the City of Atromograd that was manned with a 10 man (largely female) skeleton staff. Quickly the tired and injured troops moved in and the Commanding Officer took control of the Bunker. 

During the dark years that followed the deziens of the bunker became bitter about the technology that had destroyed the planet (99% of the population of MBW are unaware of the Orbital Bombardment and think it was a rival faction of the war that launched the attacks). The leaders of the bunker soon came to the decision that Humanity cannot be trusted with Technology. 

The Technocrats set out to seize what technology they can. The technology is then checked for purpose. Weapons of mass destruction are destroyed and reused in positive ways by this strange pesduo cult. 

The Technocrats grew in size thanks to the healthy females in the SOS Bunker. Soon they had set up bases in the Cities of Danniograd and Stuvansant as well as a few other bases across the frozen wastes. 

The minis are old VOR Neo Soviet Vanguard. 

The guy with the crudely painted yellow shoulder pad is a officer and the one with the three blue/green bars on the shoulder pads is a Sargent. 

The Technocrats use agents to infiltrate various settlements and seek out like minded people. If they pass certain small tests they are invited to join. Upon entry into a Technocrat base they have to perform a perilous mission to see if they are good enough.  If they pass they then receive training and have to survive a second mission. After this they are awarded full membership armour and weapons. 

The Technocrats are one of the few factions with bases above ground - usually old military strongpoints. Some chapters have access to old pre war APCs which saves on boot leather and mutant attacks. 

The Technocrats are inspired and based upon the Brotherhood of Steel in the Fallout universe. 

Frozen Wastes pt 2.....

The Frozen Wastes are a dangerous place. The creatures that rule the topside of the ruined cities are tough. Opening the Hermetic Doors to the Stations runs the risk of swarms of mutants gaining entry to the Station and the tunnels beyond. Often Stalkers will return to the above ground station entrances with hungry mutants hard on their tails. The rich Enclave that is Civvie counter this by use of a walking tank made from scraps of metal and old train parts. This follows the Stalkers out and waits inside the station entrance. This gives much needed firepower - the flame thrower is very effective at driving the mutant beasts off. 

The "Tank" is deployed in the tunnels when Civvie is threatened. Its armour is thick enough to counter most of the armaments carries by bandits or rival factions. 

The mini is a Metal GW Space Ork killer kan that has been sitting about on my desk for ages waiting for me to do something with it. It sports the rising sun of Civvie - the light of Civilisation and Reason in the new dark ages. 

The Frozen Wastes.....

As not much is going on here hobby wise I thought I would plunder the vaults for some eyecandy to keep you good folks entertained. As it happens I discovered something a little seasonal. Mattblackgod's world has a Frozen Wasteland (inspired by the Metro2033 book/computer game)...filled with scary mutants and ice. Lets go take a look. Oh yeah...dont eat the yellow snow!!!


Across the impassible mountains of ice lies three cities, four small towns and several small villages, hamlets, industrial sites and farms. 95% of these lie in ruins. All of them lay frozen under a layer of ice and snow. Many places are contaminated and dangerous. If the toxins and sub zero temperatures dont get you then the many mutant beasties will. Generations of survivors live underground in what was the basements, sewers and transport tunnels of the towns and cities. Others live in special strong-points from before the end above ground that survive the cold temperatures.  Due to the ice and snow each town and city is isolated from each other. 

In the City of Stuvansant many stations have joined the ranks of the Neo Soviet Communists. Supported by a SOS Bunker they try to bring the whole of the under city under their control. 

Here is a Commissar and Officer of the Red Army. 

The minis are Westwind Soviet Survivors from the Secrets of the Third Reich line. 

Under the city of Danniograd lies three stations of power and knowledge. This place is known as Civvie (taken from the word Civilisation) and is rumoured to sport real lighting. Civvie maintains its position by employing special Warrior-Scavengers known as Stalkers to keep back the mutant threats and bring supplies from the surface. The go up top in specially made insulated and armoured Hazmat suits. They are equipped with heavy SMGs as standard and one in this group sports a minigun to keep the starving hordes of mutant beasts at bay. 

The minis are Clix Frogmen repainted. The guy in the middle was modified to carry a minigun from a EM4 trooper heavy weapons set. 

Up near the mountains a old mutant witch wanders. This Psyker is dangerous but is happy to help those communites who help her. Sadly many places turn her away in fear and her robot attacks whilst she melts some minds. She puts fear in all mutant beasts and seems impervious to the conditions of the Frozen Wastelands.

Trader Claus moves from place to place trading his goods. Her wears a special armoured environmental suit that is said to have come from a wrecked space craft. Old Claus doesnt notice the cold and a high tech energy weapon keeps the mutants and bandits at bay. Rumours say he is from a lost SOS Bunker far to the North which makes the supplies he trades - helping keep the survivors of the Frozen wastes alive. 

The mini is a GW/Citadel Limited Edition Space Santa from back in '88 (I think). I have had this since then and picked it up in a bargain bucket for 50p. 

My Liebster Awards go to......

Okay so its my turn to pass along some Liebster Awards and as usual I am late to the party but I want that warm fuzzy feeling!!! 

The Awards are meant to call attention to blogs that haven't built up a critical mass of readers but produce compelling original content.  

A key stipulation for new award recipients is to pass along the Liebster Award to a few additional blogs that really aught to be read by more people. So here is mine....enjoy! 

Chicago Skirmish Wargamers: A great blog producing some nice miniatures, tutorials and terrain that I find very inspiring. After reading their content I am dying to dive in to the model making room to produce new madness. They cover a variety of genres and there is plenty of game reports with fabulous eyecandy. Great stuff guys keep it up!!! 

Colonel O'Truth's Miniature Issues: A great blog that is 28mm VSF. The Colonel has some very inspiring conversions and scratch builds. It is a delight to read his blog. It makes me want to more VSF stuff. Colonel I salute you! 

Terrain for Hippos: Terrain for Hippos is a blog run by Pudding Wrestler Industries who is a prolific Terrain builder. There is some delightful terrain inspirations and tutorials on this blog covering 15mm and 28mm in many genres. You can spend hours pouring over this blog. Nice work guys keep it up. 

Neutron York 3000: This blog has been set up by the creator of Golgo Island and promotes the Neutron York 3000 set of rules. While the rules and characterful miniatures may not be to everyones tastes there is some very pretty table top eye candy for fans of post apocalyptic wargaming (or just wargaming in general). Sylvain’s creations many moons ago inspired Mattblackgod’s world. Sir Yer Warlord Salutes you! 

Xander’s Wargaming Musings: This blog covers all Gothic Horror, Post Apocalyptic, Cold War and Moderns in 28mm and 20mm scales. There is plenty of reviews, thoughts and reference materials here to keep you thinking. Xander has some nice post game reports too on pretty tables. Xander’s work also inspired my other British Post Apocalyptic setting. Great stuff, keep it up. 

Thank You Chicago Skirmish Wargamers

I would like to thank all at Chicago Skirmish Wargamers for nominating this blog for a Liebster award! 

Thanks guys - your comments mean a lot to me. It is good to hear that my madness inspires others. 

Wasteland Static - chatter

Its been a while since I posted anything up here. I had a computer crash losing a lot of game and background related material including a quite a bit of reference and WIP material. All my photos are gone too. Thankfully Photobucket has most of them. 

Of course there is real life too. A new job and the looming silly season have stopped all hobby activities. Hobby stuff will resume some time in the new year. Still it gives me time to dream up new madness for my collection. If I am lucky I may get a game or two in. Whats the point of having all this cool stuff if I never play with them? 

In the mean time I am drooling at some Santa minis as I fancy a bit of seasonal madness for a change. I still have to try getting a few games in for 15mm before I decide to collect more. 28mm is still a dream scale for me so 15mm has a lot to live up to. 

I do have some new minis to review by a Post Apoc Forum member. There is also older items from my collection to add here. If I get time I may get some pictures of my old Dark Future stuff. Got to keep you post apoc fans drooling! 

15mm Frontier World Colonists.

Time for some inhabitants of the Frontier Worlds. All these minis are from 15mm.co.uk. There is a mix of ACW and Sci Fi minis in this lot. 

Trader and Guard. 

Random settlement folks and punks. 

More settlement folks and a punk. 

A settlement Strumpet!  

This little lot will be useful if I ever go to Post Apoc for Settlement folks. 

VSF Martians...more of them.

I discovered a couple of old GW elves (circa 1987)  knocking about in the minis pile. So I repainted them as additions to my Martian Horde....

As they are armoured I am thinking of using them as officers or special guards. 

I need to get the Martian Rifle men done soon. They will be conversions. 

Firefly Crew

I am a big fan of the Firefly/Serenity series. So naturally I have tried to bring it to my Wild Galaxy setting. 

This is my Not Firefly (Maybe call the ship the "Fire Bug") for my 28mm Sci-Fi setting but many of these figures will be useful for my Post Apoc "Mattblackgod's World" setting. Perhaps as the crew of a large Crawler vehicle? 

All Figures are from Heresy Miniatures. I love the sculpts. Shame there isnt a full Firefly crew there so I borrowed the Not 5th Element figures to fill a couple of gaps. 

Captn Mal and his First Officer Zoe. Whoops, I just noticed one of Zoe's boots need touching up. Or should I pass it off as dirt? 

Left to Right - Wash the Pilot, Shepherd Brook the preacher man and Kaylee the ship's Engineer. 

Finally we have River (I am running her as aware of her killing machine skills) and all round hard man and wannabe psycho - Jayne. These and Wash are from the General Sci-Fi range from Heresy. 

All I need now is Inara and a Doctor. A Inara mini should be easy to find as there are loads of elegant lady minis out there. Not too sure about the Doctor. Maybe something from the Victorian lines would fit. 

The Warriors - a Liberty City Gang

My Liberty City faction is inspired (loosely) by New York and Terry Pratchett's Ahnk Morpork. So what would be more fitting than a street gang from the silver screen to make an appearance on Matt Black Gods World??!!

Introducing the Warriors...

The whole gang...

The figures are GW Necromunda Orlocks. Not bad figures but they do have quite a bit of flash to clean off. I am also not a fan of putting hands with weapons on the models as they have a habit of breaking off.

This gang will be getting into trouble with the Watch and other gangs in the city. Should be fun. 

Hmmm...I will be needing a Taxi Driver or a Cabbie next!  

More Space Dwarves....

Some more members of my Govannon faction - for use with Sci-Fi and Post Apoc. 

They needed more firepower. The Iron Guard needed an officer so the guy in the middle (Mantic) is there to keep them under control. 

The guys with miniguns are from Black Hat Dvargs line. 

28mm Jet Bike!

I have a bit of an obsession with jet bikes...so I thought I would build one for my sci fi warriors...

This model started like as a GW 40K Space Marine Scout bike. I scratch built a air intake, added a thruster outlet, filled some holes with putty and added a fairing from a 1:32 motorbike keyring. The rider is a mix of the original figure with a 40K IG torso. 

Blue Wolf Mercs, Space Pirates and Vehicles.

More 15mm goodness for my Wild Galaxy setting. 

These guys I painted up a while back but they will be getting used as Blue Wolf Mercenaries

The figures are GZG NAC Marines in berets. 

This is the total force of Space Pirates I have so far...

There is a mix of Power Armour and light power armour in there looted from various places. 

I have been busy with vehicles too. The Blue Wolves have a APC....

This was a cheap toy in the pound shop. Fits nicely scale wise. Those launcher tubes could be anti personnel, anti tank or SAM. 

There is lots of machines laying about in the colonies....

This rusty old pickup was a Toys toy. I bit of trimming to remove the goofy face and putty and you have a rusty old wrecking truck. 

For the fancier Hi Tech colonies or the rich folks perhaps a fancy town car? This is some sort of micro machines toy. I have done nothing with it as it looks ok to my eye. 

Then you have those old buggies that run about the wastelands and deserts of the colonies...

This buggy is a scratch build. It is a bit of balsa, 4 beads, some mesh, putty, Qtip/cotton bud stem and lots of greenstuff putty. It was easy and fun to build. I hope to build better ones in the future. It is possible that my post apoc may go 15mm in the future.