Starport Scum 4 - Some more dodgy characters

Hello and welcome back, 

Ready to take another look at the dodgy denziens lurking around the space ports at the edge of Human Space? 

The Helfather is a notorious bounty hunter from the Dvarg systems that lie beyond GELF space. He roams human space hitting targets for the right price. His power armour and thermo gun ensures he can bring the bounty home. 

Not much else is known about the Helfather. No one knows who he is or why he roams beyond the Dvarg systems working as a bounty hunter. 

The Helfather figure is from the Mantic Deadzone Forge Fathers line. 

Hol Taranga is a Fay GELF many of whom can be easily mistaken for humans. The Fay work human frontier space for their own mysterious ends. Taranga was a dancer before the GELF wars (Fay GELF are incredibly long lived, their DNA coding was set not to expire or age at the cost of being able to breed or replicate. Originally this design was because Fay where often killed by their human masters who took their entertainment too far). Taranga deliberately wears multicoloured patterned clothes. Using a holofield light stealth cloak generator when Taranga moves he seems to explode into a cloud of colour confusing his opponents. Taranga hangs around space ports looking for work including picking up some bounty hunting work.

Hol Taranga is a old 40k Eldar Harlequin figure.

Aethian Sunbane is another Fay GELF looking for work as a sharp shooter or scout for a crew. Does he also have a hidden agenda for working the edge of Human space? Aethian’s origin is lost in the mists of time before the GELF wars. 

Aethian is a old 40K Eldar figure. 

Lenny O’Beer is the Captain of the Merry Mustang currently looking for new crew members in the space ports. He is a ruthless slob of a man prone to bouts of violence so crew don’t hang around for long. There is a chance that any long serving crew may mutiny. 

O’Beer is a Gang leader from the Warlord 2000AD Judge Dredd set. I am thinking of adding the other gangers from the Judge Dredd set to make up a crew for 5 Par Secs or Stargrave. 

Mary Madison works as a ships medic on the Merry Mustang under Captain O’Beer. She is his only long standing crew member and puts up with him until she can join a better crew or she flushes him out of the airlock. Whatever comes first. 

This figure is from the Infinity line.

Believe it or not I have lots more figures to add to my Sci Fi collection.

Thanks for looking, stay safe out there. 

Into the Undercity....Terrain

Deep under the streets and the foundations of the mega blocks of Utopia City lies an unseen world. A world as brutal as the wastelands beyond the mega city walls. A world of perpetual darkness. Lets creep through the cracks and explore a world of darkness, hazards, mutants, cutthroats and monsters.....

Down in the depths there is many strange things. Old hab domes, city streets and forgotten machines. You know...um....thingies?! 

This thingy is made from an old pringles tube and a load of old junk from other projects. The pringles tube got hacked to bits to give a crazy angle. Tape and paper hold it together. 

This terrain is intended to be used as a dice tower. I always wanted to make one. In true post apoc style I made it from junk I had laying about. 

The tower in action. 

Surprisingly there are many outcasts from Utopia living in the darkness of the Undercity. They form communities and gangs. There are many townships and trading posts. 

Some like the trading post below are made from parts of the grounded star ships which originally founded mattblackgod's world. 

This is the water trader. Water....everyone needs it, right? 

There is also a weapon and ammo trader on this block. 

This is a Mantic Deadzone terrain set which I painted to look like lots of salvaged panels. The water tank is an old coffee can and the pipes are drinking straws. 

The Mantic sets are easy to use but sometimes the connectors need a bit of brute force to clip them together.I have also had a plastic connector snap on me. Maybe I am too ham fisted?! I glued my sets together as I intend these pieces to be permanent. I only used superglue just in case. There is still some parts left so expect some more of these in the future. 

The great thing about the Undercity project is that this terrain can also be happily used in the wastelands. There is also a place on mattblackgod's world where a starship fleeing (the Typhon) the orbital bombardment crashed back to the surface. This makes up an area known as the Skrap Lands. Lots of the buildings and defenses in these wastelands are made from starship parts. 

Thanks for looking. 

New Vermen for Shaden's Brood.

Long ago I started a Space Skaven force. Warhammer Fantasy Battle Skaven with some weapon additions. Later they became mutants for the wastelands of Mattblackgod's world. Then I discovered Shockforce Gothrats and added to the force. I smiled when Mantic brought out the Vrymn as they would fit the Brood nicely. It has taken me a while to get some. 

I found the mantic figures are bit fiddely to assemble. 

Shaden's Brood so far. 

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   

Dreadball - Utopia City Bluenoses

Although Dreadball is played across the Galaxy, the game continues on Mattblackgod's world. Dreadball is only played on the world's only surviving metropolis - Utopia City. Teams from across the wastelands make the dangerous trek to the Mega City to play in the leagues. 

The Utopia City Bluenoses come from the Everton Block in Sector 1878. 

Again these where fun to paint up. I look forward to getting a game or three in soon. Of course a game report or three will be posted on this blog. 

Dreadball Figures pt1

One of the many hobby related items I got from Santa Claus was the Dreadball game. After the holiday it has taken me a little while to get going again. 

Most of the Dreadball figures are multipart. After reading comments in various places on the web about how fiddely they are to assemble and clean up I was a little apprehensive. However I found that they where no more difficult to assemble than other manufacturers figures. The same goes for the clean up too. I guess the review I read may have been from other company fanboys who are a little biased. 

So the figures are assembled and in primer. My tortured brain is still thinking up some color schemes (and names) for the two teams. 

First up the Ref & Balls - no not her Balls!! 

Next the Corporation Team: 

Finally the Orx/Marauder team:

The Marauder team will be getting my Trogz Human skin tones. Although Dreadball is played throughout the Galaxy I am inserting into my Utopia City setting (my version of Mega City One) on Mattblackgod's world. 

Hopefully I will have them painted soon. 

Mantic Marauder/Orx Raptor Kit finished.

I finally got that Mantic Raptor Rig finished for my Trogs/Orks. I still need to paint the gunner. The plan is to base him and keep him loose. Then I can use the trike for other wasteland gangs. As you can see this rig is being manned by a EM4 Scavenger. 

I chose an matt black scabby/rusty paint scheme for the Raptor Trike. This is to be the colour scheme for my new Trogs/Ork/Orx Tribe. Something that reflects little old me....matt black and rust obsessed. lol. 

Again I left the mudguards/fenders off. I have a old Rat Rod obsession and I love naked wheels on vehicles. 

I like these vehicles as the weapon is removable so it can be used as a "civilian" vehicle or racer as well. I can see a bunch of these racing across the wastes in the colours of their tribes....I think I am talking myself into a version of Gorkamorka here!! lol. 

I am tempted to get more to customise....

Mantic Marauder/Orx Raptor Kit review.

With a view to adding some fast attack options to my Trogs, which are a mix of GW Space Ork figures from the late 80's onwards which I use as genetically engineered warriors I looked at the Mantic Raptor (I also have some Marauders/Orx to mix and match with the figures but more on those some time in the future). 

In case you don't know the Raptor is a armoured Trike the Orx use as a fast attack option in Warpath. I chose this as it was different and cheap compared to the GW options (sorry GW your pricing policy is losing you custom!!). 

This is what you get in the kit....

It is cast from the same plastic resin as the figures and has a high amount of detail. My kit had no dips, holes or air bubbles to fill unlike some of the resin & plastic kits I have had before. There was vert little flash to clean off. 

The kit is easy to assemble which was fun unlike some Wargames model manufacturers who seem to be adding levels of difficulty to their kits only seen by military modellers. The whole assembly only took a few minutes. 

The only gripe I have is that one of the front forks/legs did not fit nicely making the front wheel twist. This was fixed with a little filling with Green Stuff putty. Not a big pain and its not like I have had to do a lot more of it with other kits such as GW Landraiders/Chimera. 

Here it is assembled (please forgive the paint, it is still WIP) .... 

I left the mudguards off as I have a thing for naked wheels. I must have been a hot-rodder in a former life! lol The gunner has not been attached yet. I intend to keep him loose so I can use the Raptor trike as  a vehicle for my Wastelanders too. 

You can see the Raptor sizes up nicely with the old 40K Rogue Trader Era Orks. The rocket launcher is removable so if I got another I can fit other weapons such as machine guns. Pictures of the finished vehicle when the paint is finished. 

In summary the Raptor is a nicely cast, detailed kit. Easy to assemble with only minimum fuss and it sizes well with older GW figures. I look forward to buying the larger carriers and four wheeled Marauder vehicles in the future. 

Project Pandora - Grim Cargo. First Thoughts

Project Pandora is a Tactical board game by Mantic Games set in the bowels of a Space Ship. It comes with rules, dice, boards, counters, 10 Corporation Marines and 10 Veer-myn miniatures.

The rules look simple enough with some nice rules to keep the game interesting. As Mantic's Sci-Fi rules Warpath are aimed at Platoon level games I think that the Project Pandora rules could be easily tweaked for more smaller skirmish games. 

The Boards are nice looking and unlike the old GW Space Hulk are more versatile. There are no walls on them, doorways or jigsaw type locking lugs. I should imagine that you can easily expand the set by printing off renders and sticking them to boards.There are a few with grid patterns on them out there which will fit the rules.

The Mantic minis look good. The Corporation have some spare weapons so you can go for some specialists. They look to be true 28mm and scale up well with Combat Zone/EM4, Hasslefree and Heresy minis. For conversion nuts the arms are separate so it may be possible to use EM4 Combat Zone Trooper heavy weapons with them to make a more varied force. The Veer-myn look to scale well to GW Skaven. All the minis went together okay with minimal fuss.

When they are painted I plan a game or three. Further updates on Project Pandora when I have some games under my belt.

I have decided that the Veer-myn will be going rusty metal colours. That way they will fit my Vermen ( old Shockforce Gothrats and modified GW Skaven) force. The only decision is what colour to paint the Corporation Marines. As these guys wont be getting attached to my other forces I am thinking about painting them white. 


The one thing that this game is making me think is maybe its time to build my Starship game boards in a similar vein to my tunnel terrain, but more high tech. I am torn between shiny white corridors or the reality of what a vessel will look like...dirty and grungy. 

Govannon Steel Patrol

The Govannon mountain Steel Patrol. These are armoured troops that never leave the valleys around Govannon Mountain (also known as Hammer mountain to the Wastelanders due to the Hammer symbol the faction uses). They protect the mountain from raiders and outsiders which is easy enough due to the terrain of the area. The Steel Patrol occasionally go as far as the neighbours in Lanc when they are needed. 

These minis are Mantic Plastic Forge Fathers Steel Warriors. I found them easy to assemble with plenty of options to add a bit of variety to the minis. They paint up nicely and have plenty of character. I would get these again. This little lot (no pun intended) need some sort of vehicle I think. 

Big Cat!

Out on MBW big cats prowl some of the wastelands...yet another hazard on this perilous world. 

This panther may be used as a nuisance in games. I am thinking about also using it as a sidekick animal for a character. 

The mini is a elven cat from Mantic games. Quite a nice mini with little flash or cleaning needed.