Kingdom

Hello and welcome back.

Time for a inspiration recommendation. I got this 2000AD graphic novel as a Christmas present (did I say that my Wife is a keeper?). I have been a long fan of 2000AD and it has given me lots of inspiration. At the time these stories were in the comic I wasn’t a regular reader for many reasons.




The premise is 
‘Earth, the far future. Mankind has been all but destroyed, those still surviving forced into hiding by Them – insectile creatures that have taken over the world. Charged with protecting humanity are genetically engineered dog-soldiers like Gene the Hackman – savage warriors that patrol the wilderness, directed by Urgings from their Masters.
Now without a pack and having the responsibility of protecting young Leezee Sower, Gene has to survive in the kingdom of Auxtralia, where if Them don’t kill him, the ‘Wild Bunch’ just might!
Written by best-selling author Dan Abnett and featuring the stunning art of Richard Elson.”

I found the comic full of great Post Apocalyptic ideas as a setting. Overgrown ruins, giant insects (I guess from the odd human comment that they might be alien to Earth), the genetically engineered dog solders (mix of dog and human dna with certain improvements), feral and mongrel dog soldiers and the odd human. All the humans (the Masters) are hidden away in cryogenic storage until the bugs go away. Apart from the two in the story that is. The problem is the bugs haven’t gone and those cryo units are getting a bit old.

You will need lots of giant bugs - get down the toy shop! For the Dog Soldiers Orks could be used at a push. Or maybe frostgrave Gnolls with Stargrave arms. Not sure on the mongrels but no doubt some inventiveness could knock something together. If the gang at Warlord and Rebel publishing are reading this - hint hint please! 

I really enjoyed the adventures of Gene Hackman in the comic and will be adding the later issues to my collection. 

Keep an eye open for it. 

Thanks for reading and stay safe out there.

Merry Christmas

Wishing all my readers a Very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. I hope you all have a wonderful time. 

Zone Raiders - life in Megastrata 170622B on the post singularity Matrioshka

Hello and welcome back. 

I am getting my background fluff together for my Zone Raiders setting. Zone Raiders is a small skirmish game by Tony Xano that is set in a Matrioshka sphere in the post singularity. It is a high tech post apocalyptic setting on what is essentially a unimaginably sized space station. 

The Matrioshka sphere is a thinking machine powered by a Dyson sphere built around a sun (possibly our sun the background doesn’t specify!). It is constructed with many spheres built over each other, each split into uncountable continent sized Megastrata. 

The post humans built Matrioshia to develop a fully automated thinking machine that would enable them to join together as one consciousness in the Singularity. This took a long time and the post humans used humans as workers, companions and possibly pets. During the time taken to develop, construct and perfect the brain, the post humans entertained themselves by creating genetic constructs, sentient robots, machine animals and many new technologies. When the brain was complete the post humans vanished into the singularity leaving their creations and humans to survive in the Matrioshka alone.

Megastrata 170622B - is over 12,000Km x 12,000Km in size. The floor of the Megastrata is littered with all manner of dead machines, ancient 4d printers, pipes, ducts, vents, tanks, vats, cables, towers, domes, biodomes, toxic lakes, radiation pockets, ruins, rust deserts and more. What townships or city’s that exist in the Megastrata are hundreds of kilometres apart. The city zones are the only true safe spaces from the dangers of Matrioshka. Although the city zones have the other dangers usually associated with civilisation. Beneath the floor of the Megastrata there are many hundreds of levels filled with tunnels, pipes, ducts and travel tubes. Legends speak of old domes and storage bunkers deep below the ground of Megastrata 170622B. 

The Megastrata ceiling is some 10Km above the floor. Massive inverted towers hang like stalactites from the ceiling filled with artefacts of the ancients (the post humans) and possibly supplies. These towers are incredibly difficult to get at. Old disused mono rails hang from the ceiling. There are hundreds of levels above the ceiling reaching the upper edge of the Megastrata. No one knows what exactly is hidden in the levels above Megastrata 170622B. All of the outer bulkheads of the Megastrata are hyperdense and impenetrable although that doesn’t stop attempts to break into the neighbouring Megastrata.  

In addition to the many environmental hazards in the dark zones of Megastrata 170622B there are wild tribes of Morlocks, prowling Immunocytes looking to attack for anything sentient , sentry nodes, out of control ancient industrial machines, wild electrical discharges, unmapped Immunocyte nodes, nano-swarm leaks, strange plants, toxic fungi, strange creatures and technobeasts. 

There will be future posts with more detail of Megastrata 170622B. Stay tuned.

Thanks for reading.

Stay safe out there.

Wasteland Wondering November 22

Hello and welcome back to another Wasteland Wondering. Pull up a crate to the fire and sit yourself down.

It’s now that time of year when my hobby time gets put on the back burner as we get ready for the Christmas season. It’s a busy time in our house. I may get to slap some paint on a figure or two. Hopefully I might get a little kit bashing done. Who knows I might even find time to run a couple of games especially while the football World Cup is on. 

While the lack of hobby time is frustrating for me during the dark season, it does give me more time to let my imagination to run riot and work on background fluff. As well as my imaginings for Mattblackgod’s world there will be some for my Wild Galaxy setting and he fluff for my Zone Raiders setting on the post singularity world of Matrioshka. 

Zone Raiders is a game by Tony Xao. The setting is one I keep returning to as it is rich and suits my figure collection. The faction lists would help anyone with 40K, Necromunda, Deadzone, Firefight or Infinity figures in their collection. One thing is definite, I will need a lot more rusty industrial terrain for the dark zones of Matrioshka. 

So while my hobby posts will be limited there will be a few fluff posts. There may be the annual review post too. Hopefully there might be a post Christmas loot post as well, assuming I am on the fat man’s good list that is.

Stay warm and take care out there. 

Thanks for reading. 

The Asterians

Hello and welcome back.

A couple of months back I picked up the Insurgent Earth rules by Patrick Todoroff. A quick overview of the rule background is that the Earth is attacked by alien invaders and quickly over run. In the game you play a small resistance cell. It is a solo or cooperative game. 

While I have more than enough figures to cover a team of resistance fighters I found that I didn’t have enough for the aliens. For the grunts and solider levels of aliens I chose to use the Necron Skelebots that I have for Zone Raiders Immuncites. For my flavour of Alien Invaders I decided upon robots controlled by a evil alien intelligence who is too smart to actually get involved in the dirty work of combat. 

Meet the Asterians 

But I needed more figures. I needed some figures for the alien elite, lieutenants and boss. Looking about I settled on Mantic Asterian Cyphers as alien elites, Black Talon Prime as a alien Lieutenant and a alien Marionette as the final boss. This also gives me the option of adding to the Cyphers ranks if I feel like it. 

The Cyphers

The figures are painted with Army Painter speed paints. I am not too sold on the scheme I chose for the Cyphers.

The Marionette (L) as the final Boss and the Black Talon Prime (R) as a Lieutenant. 

As I like to get the most from my collection the Asterians will also serve as a Nth Generation gang (think sentient robots with a common construction template) for Zone Raiders. 

Thanks for the looking, take care out there. 

The old storage tanks.

Hello and welcome back,

One feature of any old ruins, industrial sites, post apocalyptic bases, the Neo Soviet industrial wastelands of the “zone”, underhive or busy space ports is huge tanks. They could be storing water, fuel, gas, oil, chemicals, waste, neurotoxins or pan galactic gargleblaster. What ever is or was in them they make great line of sight blockers or table detail. For the more despicable gamer they might leak from stray shots or even explode causing much tabletop chaos.

These tanks will be handy table decor. They are HST boiler tank parts by Ramshackle Games. I was going to scratch build some tanks but these are probably cheaper and quicker. 

Thanks for reading, stay safe out there. 

Happy Halloween time!

Hello and welcome back,

It is almost Halloween and the Spooky season is upon us. What better way to celebrate the season than some seasonally themed miniatures? 

Those fans of Halloween films reading may recognise the Anderson Sisters. A trio of witches from the film Hocus Pocus. I like these figures because they can be used in a variety of settings either as witches or as civilians. They will fit happily into fantasy, The Silver Bayonet games, historical or as people found around the independent frontiers worlds of Firefly’s verse & my own Wild Galaxy setting. 

The Anderson sisters are by Northumbrian Tin Solider. 

Yet more witches….Introducing Toil and Trouble. These two witches are more comedic looking.  

I feel sorry for the toad in the pot. These Toil and Trouble and the cauldron are from the Northumbrian Tin Solider’s Nitefolk line. 

And there’s more….

Say hello to Ardwick the fluffy toed bat. 

Yet another figure from the Northumbrian Tin Solider’s Nitefolk line. I thought he looked a little different and he was a fun figure to paint. 

That is my Halloween figures for this year. It was nice to change pace and paint something a little different. I think it’s important for the old hobby mojo to change things up once in a while. All these figures will be used as decorations this year and who knows they may take part in some Halloween themed games at some point (I hope!). 

Thanks for looking. Stay safe out there and Happy Halloween. 

Bad Moon Loonshrine

Hello and welcome back,

Travelling through the mountains and you get caught in a wild storm. Seeking shelter you wander into a cave. Curiosity grabs you and you follow the cave. Deeper and deeper. The walls become cold and slimey. You step into what feels like a open chamber. Something crunches under foot. 

Baffled you reach into your pack and produce your only torch. After a few attempts with a tinderbox you light the torch the flickering light illuminates the cave. You stand in a vast chamber. Bones are strewn across the ground. Human bones. At the edge of the circle of light cast by your torch you see this….

The Badmoon loon shrine is a kit by Games Workshop. While not my usual vibe I liked it enough for my wife to remember it and buy if for me as a gift last Christmas. 

The kit has a lot of detail. Loads of mushrooms at add too. The prisoner cages are particularly fiddley to assemble and can be quite delicate. 

The amount of detail has meant it has taken ages to paint. It might have been easier if I pre-painted the parts before assembly. The green slime at the base of the rock is done by Dirty Down moss effects. I have used a Posca paint marker to paint the spots on the toad stools. 

A fun project for my fantasy table which I have enjoyed.

Thanks for looking. Take care out there.

Happy Orktober time

Hello and welcome back,

As it’s Orktober….it’s time to show off what I have been working on this month. Working on the hobby helps distract me from recent family events. Before I press on I have to say thank you to everyone for their kind comments on my last blog post about the  recent passing of my Dad. They mean a lot, sadly for some reason I cannot reply to your comments on Blogger. It keeps saying I am logged out when I attempt it. Thank you all again.

Right on with the Orktober posts. First up is this old metal 40K RT02 Ork. 

He is painted in a Deathskull’s colour scheme which is my favourite Ork Clan. I like that they loot the battlefield and beyond (waits for all the old scouser jokes). This gives the clan a great opportunity of converted “looted” vehicles and equipment which greatly appeals to me. He will be joining my RT02 Ork Deathskulls mob. 

As we all know Orks get bigger, tougher and meaner the more they fight and win. It’s why the Ork Boss is usually the largest and hardest (‘arrdest, sorry) Ork in the warband. I don’t know how many fights this Ork has won…..but I think we are going to need a bigger gun! A much bigger gun! 

This figure is a Grimbatul Giant-Eater a Kickstarter only resin figure by Ramshackle Games. Old Grimbatul is intended for Fantasy games rather than the wastelands of Mattblackgod’s world or the infinite expanses of the Wild Galaxy. But as I of yet have no Fantasy Orcs (I do but they are from the 80’s and in much need of some TLC) he will be a Ork Warboss. A real Mega Boss and I guess he would be a real bullet magnet on the tabletop. 

I chose a paint scheme that would suit the style of the figure which is along the lines of the Snakebite Clan. Plus plenty of rusty metal. It’s not a proper Ork without rusty metal. The Snakebites have a feral old world look to them allowing fantasy figures to be used on the tabletop. 

Grimbatul has a dark elf witch on his shoulder pad which his believes gives him protection in battle. In my settings it will be a psychic Fay Genetically Engineered Life Form (GELF). I like to think of the Fay Wytch as biding her time until Grimbatul is weakened to free herself and exact her revenge. 

That’s my Orktober post done. Onto other seasonal postings. Stay tuned. 

Thanks for looking. Take care out there. 

In Memorandum RIP Ted Stevenson

I have some sad news. My Dad passed away on Sunday. Normally I wouldn’t post this to my hobby blog but there is a good reason. 

My Dad loved his scale models and he got me into it when I was 4. I still recall the kit, a 1/72 Airfix Curtis Hawk. It started a love of model making. In the mid 80s he bought a wargames magazine as he was planning a battle of Arnhem diorama and there was a article in the magazine. I saw the magazines and realised there was something more I could do with my models other than just display them. It made me think and wonder. 

Being a huge Lord of the Rings fan he turned up one day with the original metal Citadel Fellowship of the ring set (which I still have) and told me of a new shop selling them in Liverpool city centre. A shiny new Games Workshop store. I had to check it out and with my paper round money bought my first blister pack of metal dwarves and fell in love with a new aspect of my hobby. A hobby he inspired in me. The rest is history.

Without my Dad’s inspiration there is a good chance this Blog and the Post Apocalyptic Wargames Forum would not exist. 

RIP Ted Stevenson 29-11-1945 to 09-10-2022 - thank you for everything Dad. You will never be forgotten.

Thanks for reading. Take care out there.

Pressed card packaging piece WIP pt 2

Hello and welcome back.

So the build slowly rolls forwards. I have been slowly adding details to what I think of as the base of the ruin. 

Some pipes that would have supplied gas, steam, water and removed waste from what was the building above. Some struts and supports for a small walkway to be added. 

The gaps inbetween the columns have had some canvas doors added. These nooks and crannies would be where I imagine some wastelanders would make home. 

In the alcove I added a room at the back behind a canvas door. The other alcove had more pipes added. Above the area some struts with cloth covers to keep the sun off have been added. These are made from water baby wipes that t have been washed clean and left to dry off. 

The gaps on this side have been blocked off with scrap metal to keep intruders out. Some of the pipe work had old cables added. 

I have noticed that the packaging piece is a bit warped and it looks like I can’t straighten it. So I am going to base it. While it’s not what I originally wanted it will allow me to add detail. 

As a bonus there was one extra bit of packaging from the same electrical appliance looked like a old worn concrete pillar. It’s been glued to a CD and had some blue foam “rubble” added around the base. 

There are more updates to follow. Stay tuned. 

Thanks for looking, stay safe out there.

Squatana Jhones and the alien ruins of doom!

Hello and welcome back. 

One day Squatana Jhones learned of tales from the Boromites about distant worlds that lie beyond Dvarg and Boromite space. These worlds featured ancient crumbling ruins of a lost civilisation that predates both Humanity and the Boromites species. 

Boromites are not interested in such things but the stories awakened the spirit of adventure in Squatana. He immediately started to assemble an expedition force to go and seek out these ruins with the aim to prove Humanity was predated by another galactic civilisation. Plus he might be able to get rich with any artefacts he may discover. 

Squatana is a little old school and prefers old technology such as a flaming torch and his dear old grandmother’s best battleaxe. Squatana Jhones is a Macrocosm Witch Hunter who I feel has a vibe of a certain movie franchise archeologist. 

The main crew is made up of personalities from his clan and includes a Psyker. Well you never know what you might encounter. 

Just in case the expedition runs into something large that wants to eat the Dvarg for lunch (or lots of small things that want to eat the Dvarg for lunch for that matter) the expedition brought along a battle walker. The laser Gatling and power fist will prove useful for dealing with swarms, horrible looking alien monsters or smashing into ancient vaults. 

The team brought a couple of grav bikes for fast attack or getting back to the ship urgently. 

The Clan members, battle walker and grav bikes came from the Heroes Space Dwarves Kickstarter by LAfig miniatures. I matched them with the Squatana figure as the are a similar size. 

Originally I planned this to be a command section for my older 40K Squats but they are somewhat larger. So I chose to make them a individual force with a yellow paint scheme for a industrial look. All the figures are painted with Army Painter Speed Paints. While they worked well on Squatana but the choice of yellow on the Clan looks a bit naff to my eye. 

Thanks for looking, take care out there.

K2I Goons

Hello and welcome back. 

The Kraptoidiots corporation is a tabletop creation of mine for Mattblackgod’s world from way back in 2006 or 2007. Originally using 40k Catachin figures from another project and a name stolen from Dogbert in a Dillbert comic strip. However I felt it needed a update as the figures seemed a little over armed for a non military group in a post apocalyptic setting. 

The only surviving corporation on Mattblackgod’s World is the Kraptoidiots corporation. Like their Galactic counterpart the corporation peddles all manner of highly addictive cheap junk. On MBW it’s mainly drugs. The goons protect the corporation’s shipments and factories from those out to save themselves some trade items. One drug they produce is “Boost” that the K2I Goons take in leu of payment which makes them aggressive and builds muscle. It also limits their intelligence somewhat. Boost is also wildly hallucinogenic and leaves many of the goons unhinged. This has earned them the nickname of “meatheads” among the wastelanders. 

K2I supply very addictive food & drugs to settlements across the wastelands. They bring such K2I “goodies” as Boost, Radi Brek (oatmeal that will give you that rest of life radioactive glow), Mutant Munch (deep fried crispy mutant bits) and Glowing Wonder (deep fried mutated slightly radioactive root vegi bits). They bring these things along with addiction, wild hallucinations, radiation sickness, temporary blindness, foaming at the mouth, spasms and the need for close proximity to a outhouse. Only the real desperate, insane or naive provide repeat custom to K2I. The K2I goons have recently started to “recruit”, press gang and kidnap people as slaves from smaller settlements to work in K2I facilities.

The K2I goons like to tattoo or scar themselves with the K2I logo to show their allegiance and devotion to the corporation. The K2I goons have become a kind of cargo cult believing that the great K2I corporation will return from the stars and liberate them from Mattblackgod’s world, carrying them into the stars as reward for their loyalty providing crap to idiots. 

I am using old Necromunda Goliaths as the K2I goons that I picked up on evilbay painted. Sadly the mould lines were not removed by the previous owner and as I was after a quick job I didn’t try to remove them. I gave the figures a wash, touch up and a rebasing to match the rest of my collection. 

I did try painting an old branding mark on one figure but I wasn’t happy with it. The rest got tattoos done with Posca marker pens. 

This figure was customised with a better weapon and armour. He will be the leader for now. I might add a (new) Necromunda Goliath as a boss. They are larger than the old Necromunda figures so make good boss figures. 

There is another Goliath I am working on. It appeared to have a Chaos Warrior’s arm with a axe. The axe had broken off so I have decided to convert it into a K2I standard bearer. Watch this space for future updates on this figure. 

For the Wild Galaxy setting I will probably go for a more serious looking security force to protect K2I installations (usually from angry customers rather than raiders, even Pirates and GELFs won’t touch K2I products willingly).

Thanks for looking, stay safe out there.

Alice and some Wastelanders

Hello and welcome back. 

Alice and the Wastelanders?! Sounds like a good name for a Post Apocalyptic themed rock band.

Around the campfires of the ruined world people tell tales of the great heroes of the end times and chaos that followed. These stories are popular and give hope to Wastelanders. In some cases they give some moral compass to people who may have never known any parental guidance. Desperate and downtrodden wastelanders often pray to the hero’s of these tales hoping that they may arrive and help them.

A favourite story is Max, the road warrior who fought biker gangs, Warlords and more. Another strong favourite tale is that of Alice. In the stories Alice fight’s evil corporations, hordes of monsters, zombies and crazy cannibal gangs. 

In the picture she looks like she has a 5 o’clock shadow. I have no idea where this shadow comes from as it is not there in the metal. I got this figure in part of a eBay lot a few years ago and it sat half painted for most of that time. I am not sure of the manufacturer possibly lead adventure? I think it may be OOP. 

But there is more….

A typical wastelander. The figure is a old Grenadier one, now carried by Mirliron or EM4. This is the second copy of this figure I have as I like the look of it. Shame Mark Copplestone didn’t sculpt more figures in a similar style. Or as a pack in his Future Wars line (hint, hint). He was painted with whatever colours I had spare on the paint pallet. Waste not wont not and all that. I am thinking of getting a few more and picking them out in various colours so I can use them with the various wasteland gangs I have. 

Another 10 guy. 

I have a few of these ten figures in the pile left over from the Post Apocalyptic Wargames Forum’s 10 year free figure giveaway that I ran a couple of years back. I found this one primed and in the style of the Wastelander above he was painted with whatever paint was laying on the pallet. As this guy is unarmed I plan to use him as a civilian. You need someone to get in the way when trouble starts. 

In the future I do plan to make a gang or force of converted 10 figures. For now I might prime a few more and paint them in different colours. 

Thanks for looking. Take Care Out There. 

Old Kosmik

Hello Wanderer, welcome back.

“Hey, wanna get out your skull and heal your bonce? Come visit Kosmik’s Sweatlodge”

Introducing Kosmik. Kosmik runs a sweatlodge claiming he is a genuine Shaman who can bring you spiritual healing. While slow steam cooking his customers Kosmik drops hallucinogenic herbs into the water feeds. If the dark, heat and steam doesn’t get you hallucinating then the psychotropic steam will. For a deeper experience Shamanic drumming music can be provided for extra by Kosmik’s sidekick Spike playing some bongo drums. Not quite a genuine experience but close enough to Kosmik’s mind. When Kosmik and Spike are feeling mischievous they provide God, Demon or Spirit voices through a pipe just to see what entertainment their customers can provide. 

Kosmik dresses to impress his customers by trying to appear what he thinks a tribal shaman would look like. He likes to appear colourful as possible hence his name. While the locals speculate that he dyed the furs, they came from a mutant critter deep in the hills a hunter claimed was called a “Muppet”. 

The Kosmik figure is a Hexadrex resin figure by Ramshackle games. I found it fun to paint especially with the colourful paint work. The idea about the figure came from the recent Kosmik’s sweatlodge model that I painted up recently. Sometimes one idea leads to another in this hobby. 

Thanks for looking. Take care out there. 

Pressed card packing model WIP.

Hello and welcome back Wanderer, 

This is something I am working on for my Last City setting. I like these pressed card packing pieces. They have a look of old delaminated concrete. Which is great for the ruins of a post apocalyptic world or the remains of some forgotten old colony on a abandoned planet. 

These pieces often remind me of the remains of the foundations of giant old world buildings. In my mind the after people have returned and made the crumbling concrete into a home. 

This build is inspired by the cool models that Ramshackle Games uses in its backdrops. I have no idea what this will become yet, my plan is to let it grow organically as I work on it.  It is slow going so far as I have to wait for bits to dry before continuing on the next part. 

So far the model had some spray foam filler sprayed into the recesses to act as reinforcement. I have built the ladder/staircase using bamboo skewers. The lashing ropes are copper multi strand cores stripped out from old electrical flex. The pipes are card drinking straws while the floor panels are a gift card and beer mat.

Keep watching for more WIP pictures as the build progresses. 

Stay safe out there and take care out there.

Billboards.

Hello and Welcome Back. 

Just to add some detail to an post apocalyptic ruined city scape or roadway I had to get some Billboards. 

These billboards are mdf items made by TT combat. For some reason I ordered way too many sets. I assembled and painted them and then they ended up laying about for years waiting for me to print off some posters for the billboards. At the time our printer broke and then life got in the way. 

Having got a new printer it took a while to grab the billboards off the too do pile and to measure them for the poster size. They are 120 x 60mm if anyone else is in the same boat. After looking around the internet for suitable pictures I dropped the pictures into a word document (or Apple equivalent) on a ipad and then stretched them while measuring the size on the screen. 

There are five of these models but one has gone missing. I put them all down together ready for photographing a few days ago and one of them has escaped. I suspect my cats may be the culprits. I will supply a picture if I ever see it again.

Thanks for looking.

Take care out there.