Great Lakes AFV

Great Lakes founders came from Military stock. They discovered a vehicle bunker and put the vehicles to good use serving the new Wasteland State. 

One example is the Lynx AFV. 

This fast vehicle can carry a 6 man squad while its machine gun and auto cannon are ideal for softening up Great Lake's enemies. 

The vehicle was a 1/35 WW2 German skdf222 I picked up on ebay cheap a couple of years back. This was converted (mudguards removed, new gun) to become a AFV for Aryanreiche. In typical me fashion I wiped the faction out a couple of months later by accidentally having a satellite drop a couple of nukes on it. Whoops! 

The vehicle sat there gathering dust until Great Lakes started to come together. A quick re work of the auto cannon and new flags and the city state now has something to perform fast strikes in the wastelands. 

Its a pity that the mountain passes are too narrow to get vehicles to the beleaguered Outpost 112. ;-)

Cult of the Mattblackgod!!!

The legend of the mattblackgod is not forgotten out in the Wastelands. Many still pray to the dead god of the world usually to bring them help. Some make pilgrimages to the remaining shrines that cover the world. Others claim that the god appears in dreams that leads them to wander the wasted world looking for answers. 

Then there is the Cult of the Mattblackgod!! 

The cult maintain that the Mattblackgod destroyed the world for the folly of his people. But the job isn't finished. So the cult aim to destroy ALL life upon the ruined world.  Only then will the Mattblackgod be at rest. Only then will the god be happy. 

They often wander into settlements and kill everything that lives. This Death cult is few in number but is another hazard of life in the Wastelands of Mattblackgod's world.

The cult set up small chapter houses around the world and recruit those will are happy to follow in its doctrines. A new comer will have to let the cult into its settlement and often will be required to kill his or her family.  If the recruit fails the initiation then they are executed in a slow and painful fashion. 

Once the initiation is passed the Rookie will travel to the secret location of the cult HQ to receive further training (& brain washing). 

Doomspeakers will go out from the chapter houses spreading the cult's poisonous message. This supplies the new recruits. However the cult are not just meat heads who like killing. Their leaders in the Chapter Houses are always on the look out for anything that can be use to create mass death and destruction. 

The figures are Warzone Dark Legion Ilian Templars that I have had laying about for about 9 years. I thought it was about time these guys got some paint. 

The Cult of The Mattblackgod......

...coming to a Wasteland near you...SOON!!!

New Wastelander!

Jay - a friend of mine over on Twitter (@souljacker1974) dropped me a message last week to say he had something he wanted to send me. Then this little feller arrived in the post. 

Jay painted him for fun but didn't have a use for him so he very kindly gifted him to me, as he thought the figure would fit my games. Thank you Jay - I owe you a pint or two! ;-) 

I have a couple of forces this guy would happily serve in. Either way his character name will be "Jay Souljacker". I can here him yelling "LET'S ROCK!!!" now. 

One of the things I like about the figure is how Jay has done the base. This is broken up cork tile painted up. Simple. I have tons of off cuts laying about so I will be pinching this idea. 

Hopefully this picture gives a better view of the base. 

A great new addition to the meat grinder that is Mattblackgod's world. Cheers Jay!! 

More Wastelanders....

I was gifted this little lot from Curtis at Ramshackle when he moved his workshop. The Nuclear Renaissance figures are great Wasteland fodder and are ideal for Mattblackgod's world.  As there was a few of the same figure I have done a couple of conversions which I will detail as I go along. 

Medic for Great Lakes.Some one will have to patch them up after the Wasteocrates get hold of them! 

Wasteland Shamans are integral to many communities in the wastelands giving guidance,advice and "healing" when needed. Guidance often comes from strange ancient devices such as Magic 8 Balls. Many claim to speak to the ghosts of the ancients and others claim to speak to the mattblackgod itself! Shaman will often drum into young wastelander's heads where it is unsafe to go by speaking of ghosts haunting places. Many Stalkers are amazed by the places that are "taboo" but all that means is more loot left. 

The figure on the left was modified by adding a Iron Pig Kolony rebel head. 

Kaludius the daft finds a strange shiny ball in the ruins.

"What does this do I wonder?" he mutters to himself as he polishes it up on his rags....

**BOOOMMM!!*** 

The Wastelands has a new crater.

The figure is the same as the two above. I removed the staff and arm. I added a weapon from Mantic Orx/Marauder.The head was replaced with a plastic Void Junker head. 

Out in the wastes vehicles are a life line between communities. The wastes are simply too hostile to travel on foot. Some has too build, repair and maintain the vehicles. Folks such as the Mech above. 

Every community needs healers like the one above. The Healers can often be found out in the Wastes looking for the herbs and plants to make medicines with. 

Need a gun for hire? Cin Emon is the lady to speak to. 

Once again I have enjoyed painting these figures (when my geriatric Cat Alice stopped making a nuisance of herself). They are very characterful. There will be more Ramshackle figures to be added to the collection in future...when I have finished painting the huge pile of stuff Curtis gave me. Thanks Again Curtis. 

Happy Giant Mutant Bunny Day!! Oh and some minis too!

This day in ancient times was celebrated by the exchange of chocolate eggs and for some unknown reason the need to dress up as a giant mutant bunny rabbit. So from all of us on mattblackgod's world....

HAPPY GIANT MUTANT BUNNY DAY!!

Right who wants to see some figures? *cocks the kneecapper* I said WHO wants to see some figures?? 

First up is a random lone Stalker equipped with a home built SMG - often nicknamed "The Ba***rd" due to misfires, poor accuracy and jamming when you don't want it too. 

The figure is a Warlord Bolt Action plastic WW2 British Tommy. I added a hood to the figure and that is pretty much it. One thing to note is that the Bolt Action figures are noticeably smaller than other 28mm figs including the Combat Zone ones.I originally intended to use the bolt action arms and weapons with the Combat Zone figures to make Stalker conversions but the arms are too short and weapons a bit on the small side. 

There has been other conversions on going on. My old Combat Zone plastic Gangers sat there unloved. So this is what happened....

L- R The left two have CZ trooper command arms while the guy on the far left has a Anvil head and a putty scarf. The third figure from left has been re-armed with GW 40K Dark Eldar arms. The guy on the right had the goofy looking assault rifle shaven from his arms. A resin shot gun replaces the original weapon. 

L-R The lady on the far left has GW 40K Dark Eldar arms while the other two figures have EM4 CZ command arms added to give them the gunfighter look.

The CZ gangers look a little too high tech for post apoc so my plan is to use them as either Block Gang members for Utopia City or as Ships Crew/Pirates for Wild Galaxy.

I have a few more of the CZ gangers and troopers in the unpainted pile. A few more figure conversions will follow in future. I recently acquired the Wargames Factory Survivors (male and female) so any spare parts will find there way into this project. 

Deadzone terrain Vs Platformer terrain sets

I am a fan of these style of terrain sets. I got the Platformer and Hexagon sets when they turned up on the scene a few years ago. I intended a to make a few Necromundia style multi level terrain sets. Instead they bits found its way into various terrain builds. 

I like this stuff as it can be used for Post Apocaltpic, Megacity one or as constructs out across the frontier worlds in a Sci Fi setting. What is nice is there is no silly skulls, eagles or chaos symbol which adorn terrain made by another manufacturer. 

Mantic's Deadzone terrain takes this to a new level. It allows you to make buildings with door ways & windows as well as the typical scifi industrial platforms. Unlike the other sets Mantic's comes with barrels and boxes to use as objectives or cover. There is also lamps and other details. The terrain is made from thick plastic and should survive life on the gaming table. I was worried that the lack of instructions would create problems but the Deadzone stuff goes together intuitively. I have to admit that this terrain set is well designed.

On the left is a Deadzone building and on the right is one made from Hexagon Platformer. They wont fit together. Platformer panels are slightly smaller at 70mm square whilst Deadzone is at  74mm square. Still they don't look too bad side by side do they? 

The good news for those of us with platformer sets the sets match in height and look quite good together.

There is also good news for those who collect larger scales such as 35mm or 40mm. Deadzone terrain fits these scales nicely too. The figure in the above pictures is 45mm tall!

With Mantic bringing out there new terrain sets based on Deadzone I think I will be investing in more or this terrain. After seeing what can be made from pictures taken at this year's Salute I think I may be in danger of getting seriously addicted. ha ha   

Stalker Heavy Weapon Squad.

Stalkers are the life line for many Wasteland communities. They creep around the abandoned ruins and tunnels looking for salvage to trade. In the more dangerous places Veteran Stalkers set up fortified camps so a Stalker can rest in relative safety. In the Republic of Dan the Warlord has set up many camps around the old industrial and military ruins to the North of the Mound for the same reason. Due to the dangers from Bandit raiders and Mutant monsters the Stalkers are equipped with heavy weapons that Stalkers would find a burden in their day to day actives. In addition to this they wear old military clothes and body armor the Warlord supplied from a old military underground Bunker the Warlord discovered when he first walked this wasteland.

These Stalkers started life as Combat Zone plastic troopers. They sat there in my collection unloved. I have often used them for Stalker conversion as the body armor is similar to the Stalker Suit worn by the Veteran Stalkers in the computer game. Many of the weapons are Combat Zone Heavy Weapons and Command arms. One or two have weapon conversions. The heads are from Anvil except for one which is Iron Pig with a putty hood. Some of the Combat Zone Gangers are undergoing similar conversions. 

A closer look at some of the Stalkers. All have Anvil heads. The one on the left has had its autopistol shaven off and a pistol from Zinge. A 1/35 WW2 German Rocket Grenade was also added. The center one has Combat Zone command arms and 1/35 WW2 German magazine pouches added. The guy on the right had its goofy looking assault rifle shaven off and a 1/35 30 cal machine gun put in its place. A 1/35 tool box was added as a ammo box. The shoulder pad is from the old Mongoose Judge Dredd plastic gangers set. 

The Troops of Great Lakes.

Great Lakes makes use of the To-Rags as disposable muscle. In addition to this the city state has regular troops. 

These figures are Ramshackle Iron Brotherhood figures that where kindly supplied by Curtis for free. I wasn't too fussed with the Neo-Reich heads that where supplied. I have done Wasteland Nazis before and it wasn't the feel I wanted for Great Lakes. Looking in the spares bin I found some Westwind Secrets of the Third Reich American heads which I quickly pressed into service. 

I found the Iron Brotherhood figures fun to paint and I plan to get more in future now that Curtis has his workshop set up. 

White Squad has a machine gunner and a flamethrower. I added a putty hose to the flamer. 

Blue Squad. 

Captain Manwaring.