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. ;-)
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.
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.
Introducing:- The To-Rags
The To-Rags are a bunch of tribals found to the south of the Great Lakes Territory. They took a dislike to the encroachment of Great Lakes on their lands and declared war. In the early days the To-Rags tactics won a few victories. But Great Lakes better weapons and training soon had the To-Rags looking at defeat.
Like all warrior tribes they prepared to sell their lives dearly. Great Lakes fought them into a corner and looked as if they where about to wipe out the tired defeated To-Rag warriors. However the Great Lakes command spared them in the hope to make peace. To the To-Rags to be spared was a dishonour and they now felt a debt of honour to Great Lakes and now live to die in service of the city state. Only then will the debt of honour be repaid. Great Lakes happily lets them do their dirty work and in return offers them basic semi automatic battle rifles, weapons, food, training and other kit.
The To-Rags are GW 40K Tallarns with the Imperial Eagles shaven off. One Shoulder bears the Great Lakes flag while the other has Squad markings.
Orange Team. The Lewis style machine guns are modified Melta Guns with land mines from a 1/35 WW2 German accessory kit. The Sqaud leader had the dumb looking plasma pistol replaced with a Mauser looking pistol from Zinge Industries.
Black Team.
Red Team are the heavy weapons team and features a Auto Cannon. This was a E-Bay lot I got cheap years ago. The Wheels and gunners legs were missing. Some wheels from a 1/72 WW2 truck and Space Ork Driver legs fix this figure up. There is one To-Rag at the back with a funny looking (home made) shot gun. His rifle was damaged and I used a part from a broken 1/35 machine gun to replace it.
To-Rag Chieftain and Great Lakes Officer. The Chieftain leads his warriors into battle with vicious battle cries to encourage blood rage. The Great Lakes Officer was sent to ensure the To-Rags keep Great Lakes interests at heart. The Officer is Major Pain. He lost much of his body fighting mutant beasts invading a Trading Post. He was rebuilt and very little remains of the Robo Major. He is strong, bullet proof and mean as hell. The Major doesn't need a fire arm and he strikes fear into the To-Rags who regard him as a demi god.
The Major is a repainted Clix figure.
The good thing about this force is that GW still makes them (but for how long?) should I care to expand the force. I would like some of the Bazooka figures at least. Some other companies make Sci Fi Arabian style figures which may suit too.
Thanks for looking.
I have been busy getting some minis prepped ready for paint. You may have noticed the Dreadball figures in my previous Blog Post. There is more...
Back before Christmas I started work on Dr Steel's Steam Driven Combat Suit. It is now in undercoated along with a random Wastelander from the NY3K range supplied by East Riding Miniatures.
Dr Steel is to be an objective in a game. A kind of rescue the Mad Doc game.
Another thing I am working on is the army for Great Lakes. These are GW 40K Tallarn figures. I am tempted to write up some fluff to make them a Tribal group absorbed by Great Lakes who have been fashioned into a Military Unit.
All the eagles & skulls have been shaven off. That was no easy task and its a miracle that I still have all my fingers. Some Green Stuff paint was used to fill gaps and hide any rough spots. I don't care too much as these are intended to be a Post Apoc force. Rough & Ready is better.
I got these figures on Evilbay a few years ago. The problem is there was a couple of bits missing for the heavy weapon.
I used a pair of Ork drivers legs and pair of wheels from a 1/72 truck kit I had laying about. Yippeee Autocannon!!
Then there the Squad Leader with the Plasma pistol. I have never liked the look of 40K Plasma weapons. It had to go.
A resin pistol from Anvil Castings fixed him up.
Then there was the Melta Guns. They look okay but again I am not a fan of them in my games. Actually thinking about it they would probably make better looking Plasma weapons than the usual 40K offerings. As these a Post Apoc I wanted Squad level support weapons. With a little carving I came up with these....
They have a kind of Lewis Gun feel. The Magazine on top is made from some 1/35 land mines from a German WW2 accessories kit.
I like them anyway. Next up for this force - the undercoating.
My mind has all been a flutter for what figures to use for the Great Lakes forces in my new Post Apoc setting. I have been tempted by the Ramshackle Iron Brothers minis for the army of Great Lakes. Sadly funds will be short this year so 2014 is looking to be another Frugal year.
In the figure pile I have a mix of WW2 to modern figures in the collection awaiting painting. Mainly USA and British. So I will be converting away I expect.
After digging through the minis piles there may be other options available to me. I have come up the following military style figures to use for great lakes:
1:- Mix of WW2 to Modern figures (American & British) with some converting. I have a handful of Warzone plastic Imperial Trenchers which will do for elite forces. This will give a Fallout NV NCR style force with a ramshackle look to them (mix of equipment & kit). This would make a pretty decent sized force.
2:- GW 40k IG. Mix the plastic Cadains & Catchains I have unpainted. Add some SM Scouts for elite forces. The downside of this is that this force would be a little too high tech looking in feel for what I want.
3:- GW 40 Tallarns:- I have a handful of Tallarns in the pile. They make great wasteland looking warriors. They are a bit limited in numbers to make a full force (cash flow is not at the minute). Although they could make a good scout or long range wasteland squad for another force.
4:- Combat Zone Plastics:- I have 10 plastic CZ warriors still on the Sprue and a pile painted unused from my CZ days. Head & weapon swaps with Warlord WW2 to make infantry. They would then have body armor that doesn't look too high tech. Maybe use the gangers (I have 15 of them unpainted) like Themightyflip over on the Post Apoc Wargames form has with old Necromunda figures, as a Milita force. Again weapon & head swaps would make them look the part. Maybe use the WZ Trenchers as the elite force. I would need a distinctive look to make the army look uniform but rag tag.
5:- Mix the ideas in 4 and 3.
I was thinking of adding a large patch to the shoulders of the figures in maybe blue or another color (Great Lakes will use white and blue in the flag).
Then again a faction with the industrial capacity to produce ammunition and limited amounts of firearms would be able to produce uniforms. Or at least dye old uniforms to make a uniform looking force. Brown would be a good choice or perhaps grey? Black has a certain intimidation factor.
The other option is to go for a bright color. Modern forces go for camouflage and drab colors to protect the soldiers. However bright colors are easy to make as uniforms from Napoleonic and earlier eras prove. Would a Wasteland force fighting tribals and scavengers need camo? Bright colors would have a certain psychological advantage.
What do you think? All ideas welcome.
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! 
