Blue Star renforcements.

Hello and Welcome back, 

Blue Star Corporation is a Dvarg mining corporation. They have just had some renforcements, because some of those rocks can get really aggressive. 

This lot are Space Dwarves by BMT3D which fit the oldhammer Squat athestic nicely. They are meral cast from 3D prints. Looking closely you can see the filiament lines on the casts. 

They all are from BMT3D apart from this guy, who is a classic 40K olhammer age Squat. The arms were missing and were replaced by Wargames Atlantic Einhenjar arms. 

Thanks for looking,

Take Care Out There.

Blue Star Company

Hello there, Welcome Back.

The Blue Star company is a Dvarg mining and engineering company from the Super Earth sized world of Azure, which orbits around a blue dwarf star deep in Dvarg Space. 

In addition to the traditional Davrg industries, Blue Sun runs salvage and repair operations in many sectors along Dvarg and Frontier space.

The figures are mainly old school 2nd ed 40K Squats that I have picked up over the years. There are also two resin Chob Minis Space Dwarves carried by Ramshackle Games, which scale up nicely with the old 40k figures. 

The wounded squat figure had a missing arm. Thankfully the arms from the Wargames Atlantic Einhenjar fit nicely. I gave him an axe arm.

I need to get all my space dwarves out as one large muster at some point in the future. 

Thanks for looking, take care out there. 

Star Port Scum 9.

Hello and welcome back, 

It's Starport Scum time. Hanging about the Space port bars there are many colourful, often dodgy (and usually not very sober) characters. 

Captain Kruces Magnusson

This armoured guy covered in animal furs toting a Shurkien Catapult (a weapon manufactured by the Fey GELFs), will happily tell many exciting tales of his exploits (for a drink) in the bars around the space ports. In addition to scrounging free drinks he uses these tales to encourage young and impressionable people to sign up for his crew. None of them think to ask why Magnusson needs new crew members regularly until it is too late. It is also a disappointment for them when they find out that they don't get fancy armour or weapons when they sign on with Magnusson.

There are many rumours about Magnusson circulating around the spaceports. One sayes that he is a pirate, while another claims that he takes his new crew members and sells them as slaves to the Fey GELFs. A rumour which is reinforced by the GELF weapon he sports.

The figure is a old metal 40K Space marine found on ebay. It was painted with Deep Coat Studio speed painter marker pens over grey primer. As you can see the colours are somewhat duller than over a white primer (see my last blog post). An army painter quick shade mid brown wash was added, while the metal and darker parts were treated to an Army Painter quick shade Dark Tone wash. Some details were then picked out with Coat d Arms and Nostaliga paints.

Oin Brassneck of the Big Red Mining Corporation 

Oin Brassneck is a Dvarg of the Big Red Mining Corporation. He hangs around spaceports listening for opportunities for the Corporation to exploit. The Dvarg have a practical approach to humanites pending encroachment of GELF space (good luck getting past all those war hungry ORCS). They are happy to trade and exploit business opportunities with the frontier worlds and colonies. Another reason is that Dvarg space lies beyond GELF space, so humanity isn't considered a threat.  

Brassneck is the first figure of my Big Red Mining Corporation squad for the Skirm game. There will be more figures for this crew in future. I am planning more than the 6 required figures for a Skirm squad, possibly 10 or 12 so I can use these guys for other games such as Stargrave. 

The figure is a old metal 40K Squat/space dwarf, I found on ebay. The figure is missing the combat accessory. That seems to be a regular issue with old figures. It was painted with Deep Coat Studio speed painter marker pens over grey primer. As you can see the colours are somewhat duller than over a white primer (see my last blog post). An Army Painter quick shade mid brown wash was added, while the metal and darker parts were treated to an Army Painter quick shade Dark Tone wash. Some details were picked out with Coat d Arms and Nostaliga paints.

Note: The Wild Galaxy tweaked Big Red Mining Corporation fluff to follow as soon as I have finished the rest of the squad.

Maurice Ncnann

Maurice Ncnann is a Mercenary who hangs about Spaceports looking for work. He will happily join crews that need some extra muscle and he is not beyond joining pirate crews if the pay is right.

The figure is a old metal 40K Space marine scout found on ebay. The combat accessory was missing so another was fashioned from a plastic Void Junkers machete. The figure was painted with Deep Coat Studio speed painter marker pens over white primer. An Army Painter quick shade mid brown wash was added, while the metal and darker parts were treated to an Army Painter quick shade Dark Tone wash. Some details were picked out with Coat d Arms and Nostaliga paints.

Thanks for looking, take care out there.

Fay GELF raiding party.

 Hello and Welcome back, 

Human frontier worlds along the edge of GELF space run the risk of GELF raids in addition to the usual risks of Frontier life. 

This Fay GELF raiding party arrives on world looking for usable loot and humans to kill and torture. The Fay are long lived and long memories of human cruelty. Many Fay are looking for vengance on their old oppressors. 

These figures are old metal 40k Eldar. The blue skinned figure is Sprangdryll the space elf pirate by Skull and Crown. 

Thanks for looking, stay safe out there.

Hobby Progress, February 2025

 Hello and Welcome back, 

Time for my monthly hobby Progress report for February. Again spare time has been short and my hobby mojo has been a bit hit and miss this month. As well as the usual drains on my time and "help" from my feline supervisors, I have been furiously getting my motorbike ready for its MOT next month and the arrival of biking weather.

I managed to finish the bases on the figures left over from last year. Hopefully I will get a chance to run the next episode of my 5 Parsecs campaign as they were painted for that. 

In addtion I have also painted Ramshackle games Werid War desperate trench crew. With a bit of luck, I will have some Blog posts written for all these figures soon. 

In addition I have a bunch of old Eldar figures on the paint table which will become GELF pirates for my Wild Galaxy setting. There has been some work converting dwarf figures to make a gang for the Big Red Mining company for the Skirm game. 

Terrain wise, I finished painting a pair of TT combat mdf Power Generators. 

The only figure purchased this month was a lone metal 40k RT era guardsman. The ones that had the separate plastic arms. As he has no arms, I am thinking of adding some Stargrave parts.

The order from Ramshackle hasn't arrived yet. But then given the avalanche of work Curtis got last month, I am not expecting them any time soon as he clears the backlog. 

Figures finished* = 7 *Figures that needed bases finishing from 2024

Figures painted = 6

Figures reworked = 0

Terrain finished = 2

Terrain reworked = 0

Vehicles finished = 0

Vehicles reworked = 0

Figures bought = 1

Terrain bought = 0

Vehicles bought = 0

That's all for now, and expect some Blog posts in the next few days. 

Thanks for reading and take care out there.

Old 40K building rework.

Welcome back,

Back in the mists of time, fresh with enthusiasm and inspiration from the newly released 40K Rouge Trader book, I knocked together this bit of terrain for my Orks and Marines to fight over. Digging through some old boxes I stumbled upon it and thought it would be a good candidate for a rework.

It was made from a plastic tub (possible margarine) and had a sweet tub on top. The door was painted on. In the illustration I have cut part of the original door way out using a soldering iron. In my enthusiasm I forgot to take pictures of it unmolested.

Reviewing the model I decided to keep the lip at the bottom as a kind of step and to give it more of a hatch look. Keeping the rim and lip would also help keep the strength of the tub that forms the base of the model. But the doorway would need some height adding.

Carefully the door way was cut out using a soldering iron (ALWAYS melt plastics in a well ventilated area). The door is peice of cerial packet card cut with pinking shear scissors. I was glued to a larger peice of card which locates the door in place and adds bracing to the model. The doorway is made from xps foam and the data panel is also a scrap of xps foam with card to make the screen.

The rest of the model had all manner of bits added to spruce it up. There are stick on pearls, wires, scratch built steps, medical tubing gubbins and other assorted scrap added. 

I think I may have to rework more models in my collection.

Thanks for looking

Take care out there.

Old One Eye.

Hello and Welcome back, 

"One Eye" Odgie was originally from the town of Graceville in a territory known as the Freepeoples Wilds, which lies to the North of the Last City Wastes. Upon hearing the legends about the famous Baron Freedom, far to the south of the territory, the young Odgie set out to join the Baron's battle against the raiders seeking to destroy the settlements of the Wastelands. By the time he reached the City of Hamsterdam, the city joined Freedomville and the mutants of Doom Valley to form the Freepeoples Confederacy. Odgie signed up and served as a soldier for many years, battling many raiders and other threats, losing a eye in the process.

In this time many more settlements and towns signed up to the Confederacy, enjoying the mutual protection, peace and trade opportunities the alliance offered. In recent years the Hamsterdam council had decided to form the Freepeoples Rangers (just known as the Rangers) to patrol the Wilds between the settlements and help deal with threats to the Confederacy members. As a grizzled veteran with decades of experience Odgie was asked to lead the Rangers.

Although the Rangers HQ is Hamsterdam, Odgie decided to set up a base many days march away on the western coast of the Wilds, reusing a old abandoned legendary wasteland fortress known as "Vali's Fortress". This base is used for training and is a stronghold incase there is a major invasion of the wilds, such as the one made by the Kraptoidiots corporation back in the early days of Hamsterdam and Freedomville.

The Odgie figure is a old 40K RT pirate figure I found on ebay. 

Thanks for looking, stay safe out there.

The Crew of the SS Star Wanderer

Hello and Welcome back, 

Here is a new crew for Wild Galaxy that I have been working on for a while (real life has kept me busy this year). This is the crew of the Exploration Ship SS Star Wanderer. Exploration involves long boring missions beyond the edge of Human Space, scanning stuff. Unless you find something interesting out there which can bring great fortunes to the crew. Crews are often paid bonuses that are a percentage of the royalties or profits from the finds. Things can get really interesting (often terminally) if you stray into GELF space or some secret corporate deep space facility. It's surprising just how often that seems to happen. There are other perks for those making big finds, with explorers gaining fame or having worlds, phenomenons or systems named after them.

Captain Berk was a Naval ship captain in the Nu Terra Empire. As retirement approached Berk decided to apply to become the Captain of an exploration ship. Not only was the pay better but he gets royalties from any of the worlds he claims. Berk fancies himself as a fearless, cunning and charismatic swashbuckler with a crew that loves him. The crew regard Berk as delusional narcissist who is probably going to get them killed. Berk wears a red coat and has gold shoulder pads on his armour which he feels will impress any Alien civilisations the crew may encounter. In addition to this Berk fancies his chances of seducing the Alien ladies...yup Captian Berk is one of those Captains! 

Commander Milla Samberg is the SS Star Wanderer's Exploration mission's second in command. Commander Samberg is a very competent no nonsese kind of officer. She had the misfortune of serving under Captain Berk in the Nu Terra Navy. No, not that kind of under. He should be so lucky. There is a unspoken of incident were Berk once tried his luck and it nearly cost him dearly. The details are very sketchy and its best not to ask about it, but it doesn't take too much imagination as to what happened. Still despite the unpleasant incident Berk trusts and relies on the Commander. Samberg on the other hand has the unpleasant duty of tidying up or fixing Captain Berk's messes. She half expects to have to take command of the ship when Berk gets himself killed pulling some stupid planetside stunt.

Lieutenant Commander Hugo Crimple is the SS Star Wanderer's third in command and was also recruited from the Nu Terra Navy. This is his first time serving under Captain Berk and he now wishes that he didn't. Crimple also serves as the ship's science officer, although the ship's computer grumbles that it does most of the work.

Berk and Crimple are Alternative Armies Ion Age "Balthizar and Jerome" figures. Samberg is also an Ion Age figure (female retained Knight). These figures are large compaired to the rest of the crew which are largely old 1980's 40K Rouge Trader figures. The cast bases were amputated and figures mounted on slimmer bases. Sadly the Balthizar figure lost a leg in the process which couldn't be saved so I have sculpted another leg. The Jerome figure also lost a foot during the operation but I was able to pin and glue it back on. 

Lt Payne is the SS Star Wanderer's chief Security officer. He is also ex Nu Terra Navy who worked as a Mercenary for a short while. Lt Payne is somewhat bemused at Captain Berk's wild nature but doesn't like the fact it is costing him vital security personnel. 

Lt Payne is a Arty Severn figure by MrBigTong (from Facebook).

This pair is the SS Star Wanderer's pilot and co pilot. Although the SS Star Wanderer's computer does most of the flying both the Pilot and co pilot are needed to plot courses or for finer control such as docking or combat manouvers (despite the ship's computer's protests). One of the advantages of being a pilot or co pilot is that you rarely have to leave the ship to explore. 

Both figures are old 80s GW 40K RT figures which I have had in my collection since back in the day. 

The Security detail. These guys are there as muscle should something hostile be encountered out there and have been recruited from various Space Ports often with chequered pasts. They are regarded by Captain Berk as some what disposable. They have other thoughts about this matter. Berk has never bothered to learn any of their names, usually referring to them as "you". 

These figures are from various sources. There is a (L to R) Void/Metropolis Traid figure, an 40K RT figure (another olde one from my collection), a 40K RT pirate/adventurer (ebay find) and a GW/Citiadel Chainsaw Warrior figure (a late 80's GW bargain bin find).

The Security detail are backed up by Killbot 3000, a warbot kept in the "In case of hordes of nasties" locker. Killbot 3000 is armed with two multi lasers for cutting down large groups of hostiles. The crew only break out Killbot 3000 when things look desperate as they regard it's AI as somewhat psychotic and as potentially dangerous as any hostile horde they might face.

The figure is a AS028 Warbot 2 resin robot I got for free with an order from Alternative Armies. 

Ship's Engineer Lieutenant Crabster and Dr Tato. Lt Crabster isn't too happy that Captain Berk seems to live to try and break his ship, but like the pilots he rarely has to leave the ship. Dr Tato finds that he has his hands full dealing with the injuries the security detail usually return to the ship with and often berates Berk about his reckless attitude towards the crew. 

Both figures are old 40K RT era Adventures/Pirates. The Left one is a ebay find and the right one has been in my collection since I was young and spotty.

Hans Lipper and Lave Dister are the ship's dog's bodies. They tend to do all those jobs the rest of the crew loath and avoid. These guys are the lowest ranks on the SS Star Wanderer, they rank even lower than the service bots (they have a better union). Captain Berk never gets their names right and these guys are often deployed alongside the security detail if extra numbers are needed.

Both figures are old 40K RT adventurers/Pirates. The Left figure (Hans) is another figure from my 80s collection and the Right figure (Lave) I picked up from ebay.

I have tried to group the figures into colour codes for their functions. Blue = Engieering/medical & scientific, Red = Security (what else would they be?), Gold = Command, Orange = Pilots & Navigation and Green = General maintenance/cleaning/dogsbody/drooling alien bug fodder. Although this crew is primarily intended for my Wild Galaxy setting, it can happily be deployed for games of Stargrave (minus a few figures). I could also hand pick a few crew members for games of Alien Zoology. 

There maybe future crew additions if I stumble across suitable figures. One voice is whispering to replace the Ion Age Command figures if something catches my eye. I feel they are still a little large compaired to the rest of the crew.

Thanks for looking, stay safe out there.

Nu Terra Marines and the Baddawgs landing mob.

Hello and Welcome Back, 

Time for another look at the Warriors of the Wild Galaxy. 

The Space Marines of the Nu Terra Empire's Navy. The Marines wearing red armour markings are veterans of Nu Terra's campaign to capture Mars from the renegades, bandits, pirates and criminals who moved onto Mars in the years after the destruction of Earth (which lead to the collapse of the Old Earth "Terra" Empire). (History of the Wild Galaxy)

There are some Marines sporting yellow markings are veterans of the campaign to secure the world of Sabius Prime. 

These figures are old 40k Rouge Era plastic Space Marines that I picked up as part of mixed batch from ebay. I touched up a few figures and based them. These figures will see action in the anarchistic melting pot that is Maddans world. 

Back in the days of chaos and anarchy that followed the collapse of the Old Earth Empire, a small group of Space Marines survivors lead by Sergent Baddawg decided to head out of Human Space taking a small group of civilians they were protecting with them. In time they found a small unchartered Jungle planet and settled it. They named their world "Baddawgs Landing" after their leader. Today Baddawg's Landing has a small scattered civilisation on it. The warriors maintain their now generations old power armour and equipment. They also maintain the codes of honour instilled in them by the legendary Baddawg and their ancestors. 

Again these figures came from the same mixed batch of figures as the figures above. All I have done is rebase them. I hope to try painting a couple more old Marines to match the paint scheme these figures have.

Those who are long in the tooth will recall a very vibrant character who visited various Wargames Yahoo groups and forums years ago with the handle "Baddawg". Old Dawgie (for that was his name) was a retired long serving US Marine and served in the Vietnam war. The jungle camouflage on these figures made me think of my old Internet freind and I had to create a world in my "Wild Galaxy" setting in his honour. Baddawg's landing was the name of his Yahoo group dealing with his wargames scenarios and batreps, it seemed fitting to use it. RIP Dawgie, you are missed but not forgotten. 

Thanks for looking,

Take care out there. 

Cyborgs, motorbikes and dreadnoughts

Hello and welcome back.

No it’s not the title of a heavy metal album but a hobby update! March already eh? Where did the time go? Anyway, on with the madness. 

Four days march North-East of the Last City lies the Howling Hills. Deep in the hills lies the Giggles Valley home to the feared bunch weirdos known as the Giggles clan. The valley has many caves and abandoned mines in which the Giggles clan survived the end of Mattblackgod’s world. The Clan emerged and have continued to survive the harsh world by becoming cyborgs. These days most of them are more machine than human.

The most feared of the Giggles Clan in the huge Gilgamesh. Very little of the original man is left, just his skull of a man who should have been long dead can be seen. The power claw and cannons make the huge cyborg a fearsome opponent. 

Gilgamesh is a figure from the Nuclear Renaissance line by Ramshackle games. I also think this figure would make a great hazard in the ruins looming menacingly over your scavengers. Is the machine dead or alive? Noooo don’t push the button marked “START”!

The wastelands are a dangerous place on foot, it probably isn’t much safer for those lunatics who like to speed about on motorbikes. They are handy for reconnaissance work, fast attack or vehicle escorts. These two riders offer their services to convoys going out of Last City. 

Dag likes to get out on his dirt bike. He doesn’t trust the swirling toxic clouds and carries plenty of oxy cylinders to keep him alive. Dag’s weapon of choice is a meat cleaver which he uses to brain mutants and bandits that cross his path.

Spiker likes the classic chopper type bikes. Unlike others Spiker likes to camp out in the Wastelands mainly because he doesn’t like people or civilisation (or what passes for civilisation on Mattblackgod’s world). He likes to use a Lance on his bike to skewer mutants and bandits.

The Dag and Spiker bikers are from the Nuclear Renaissance line by Ramshackle games.

The Blackguard got a light combat mech recently known as a Dreadnought. This “dread” was found in a bunker on the edge of the Toxicity ruins that lie six days march due East of the Last city. Members of the 2nd Stalker Company found the relic mech and reported the machine to the commander of Patton Guard company stationed at Base Camp Skull (a salvagers camp that feeds Last City scrap and relics). The mech was hauled back to the base camp before being transported to the Last City.

The mech sports a pair of bolters and power fist on one arm, with a combination weapon featuring a twin laser cannons and missile launchers on the other side. The Dread mech can take a lot of damage and is used to back up the power armoured troops of the Black Guard. It provides capability to take out armoured vehicles, defences and those bigger mutant critters that sometimes wander into the Last City from the Wastelands. 

I picked up this old 40K Rogue Trader era Dreadnought on ebay. All I had to do was touch the paint up to fit in with the Black Guard and finish the base. 

I kept the 2000AD ABC warriors graffiti. 

Thanks for looking, stay safe out there.

Starport Scum 5 - Mad Donna and her crew.

Hello and welcome back,

Time for another look at the Starport Scum inhabiting the Wild Galaxy, this time Mad Donna and her crew.

Mad Donna’s name is infamous throughout human space for causing chaos and mayhem where ever she goes. She is wanted across the Galactic Blocks and nations. As a fugitive she seeks more adventure and mayhem on the independent and frontier worlds. 

Mad Donna is a old Necromunda figure/character. This figure was primed grey and painted using Army Painter Speed Paints. As you can see it has left the figure with a rather unhealthy pallor. My thoughts on the speed paints later on. 

Her crew of goons are (now OOP) Stontuim Dogs metal bad guys figures (sorry I can’t recall the name of this set) by Warlord games. I had these figures primed white sitting in the pile of shame and grabbed them to try the speed paints. 

I have tried the Army Painter Speed Paints on figures both primed in white and grey. White primer works best. Sometimes the paint needs more than one coat to get a nice colour. One issue with highly detailed figures is the paint can bleed into the detail or other areas which requires a touch up with white followed by the colour. Details will require normal paints as the speed paints are too thin to use for detail. I found it just as much work to get the details done as when painting with normal mini paints. It did speed up the painting of large groups of rank and file which I suppose is the speed paints purpose.

So in summary - speed paints work best on figures undercoated in white. It is best to use the paints on rank and file figures that have limited detail or it will take twice as long as normal paints. I dare say I will be experimenting more with the speed paints to try different effects.

Thanks for reading.

Take care out there.