Starport Scum #14

Welcome Back, 

Here is yet another episode of Starport Scum...

This Dvarg is a straddler from the Big Red Mining Company (or in this case a new addition). He is on his way to join his comrades on the world of Tapu/Gutterlands in the Bill Making Stuff universe, after missing is Starport connection by being distracted by a heavy metal holo feed (which is known 'Folk Music' in the far future of the Wild Galaxy!)

The figure is a old 40K metal Squat missing it's plastic arms. Like other Squats of this era in my collection, the arm Wargames Atlantic Einhenjar fix the problem. They fit nicely and solves a problem with finds on ebay. 

Vermen are a constant problem across many of humanites worlds and colonies. It is still a mystery, just how they get there or where they come from. They are suspected to be a kind of GELF (Genetically Engineered Life Form) but there is no record of their creation or participation in the GELF wars. There are some theories that they are some sort of mutant or alien. 

This Verman is a Mantic Vyrmin figure. 

This filthy animal is Marco Lawless and is a low level roid addicted thug. He is a handy hire if you need muscle but dont make the mistake of trusting him. He will double cross if he will benefit.

The figure is a old plastic 97 Necromunda Goliath found in an old box of figures. He was missing an arm, which was fixed by using a old Gorkamorka metal arm with a big revolver. Goes to show how brawny these old Golaiths are when Ork arms look a bit weedy!

Marco Lawless faces off with a Verman Scout. 

Here we see a Dvarg prospector finding a damaged droid. The droid is a Stargrave objective. 

Thanks for reading, 

Take Care out there.

 

Starport Scum #13

Hello and welcome back.

It's time for another installment of Star Port Scum. I can't believe we are up to the 13th episode. 

Dallas Shrimpton, the bounty hunter, comes from the frontier world of Wolfden. He hunts down people or GELFs for the right fee and really likes the "dead" part of 'Dead or Alive' bounty.

Fay Jaegir is an ex-military bounty hunter working wherever the contracts take her. Her military background has given her discipline and training, which helps her hunt down bounties.

Sly is a typical example of star port scum, born and raised in a space station, joined a lower decks gang and eventually skipped out as a stowaway. He now seeks employment as crew muscle. A little part of him fancies joining a pirate crew.

Sparkz is an augmented Cyborg. No one knows where he is from or how he became augmented. Like many 'borgs, once he had one augmentation, he needed more. Sparkz looks for work as a ship's technical officer; his augmentations give him an edge when dealing with technology and computers. 

Ted Cryptkey used to be a security crewman on an Outrim Confederacy warship. As one of the few to see the galaxy beyond the Outrim systems, he found himself (like other Spacers) treated with suspicion by those he left to defend. Cryptkey was unhappy stuck on the backward-looking planets, being treated with suspicion, and wanted to see more of the galaxy. He left on the first ship that visited (it was a bit of a wait) and now hangs around space ports looking to sign on to a crew. He doesn't care where he is going as long as it is beyond the Outrim systems.

All figures are metal, from the Pages range by BMT3D.

Thanks for looking, take care out there.

Starport Scum #12

Hello and Welcome back, 

Time for Starport Scum, episode 12. 

The Kooman brothers are deserters for hire. On the run from the Alliance forces they deserted, they hang around spaceports on frontier space looking for work. 

This pair were part of a figure deal I got off evilbay. The paint is thick. After shaving off the 40k imperal eagles, I touched the figures up. I treated them some washes and based them. Not great work but they are good enough for henchmen, goons or Xenomorph fodder. 

Time to introduce a new bunch of GELFs into the Wlid Galaxy - the Klangers.

Originally characters from a children's holovid, these GELFs were engineered to look like these characters to entertain children. Although they had few issues with humanity the Klangers fled with the other GELFs fearing the backlash. Klangers can breed and have settled a handful of worlds in GELF space. Although they live peacefully the warlike ORCS and GROTS GELFs that are neighbours (galactically speaking) have forced the Klangers to protect themselves. Klanger technology is crude and basic equating to early to mid 20th Century Earth, and they are hungry for more advanced weapons and equipment.

Like the Halfers some Klangers have migrated and built colonies on Dvarg worlds for protection. With the encroachment of Human frontier space on GELF space, Klangers can sometimes be found in spaceports trading or looking for work. 

These figures are Quar Trenchers. I think the light armament and improvised hand weapons gives them the right feel for Starport scum, crew or even pirates. It occurred to me that the Quar figures resembled the characters in one of my favourite childhood shows, the Clangers (yes I am that old!).

Gun drones are commonly used by various groups across human space. They allow some extra close range fire power when you short on bodies. 

Care has to be taken wandering through hostile territory as these bots are often left dormant as a extra security measure. These figures are 15mm GZG figures and were painted and dontated by my friend Xander. I just touched them up and finished them off. 

I found these old metal Necrons on Evilbay. Two of them were painted and one unpainted. So the two painted Necons got touched up, washed and a rebase. 

The other one got painted in a similar fashion. Each Necron had some colour added to the shoulder pads. 

As they look different to the later plastic Necron offerings and these are painted shiney, I have decided that this three will be operating as robotic crew or security in various settings. 

Thanks for looking,

Take care out there.

Starport Scum #11

Hello and Welcome back, 

We are returning back to the Wild Galaxy. 

Meet Ed Flangenut, available to hire as extra muscle for your crew. Ed started as a street ganger and matured to a Thug for hire. Ed is a old 40K Rouge Trader (Ed 1) pirate figure. For some reason they liked to sculpt them in that low crouch which makes getting decent pictures a pain. 

My Tengun Empire forces needed a officer. Although I suspect that will not make them any more effective on the tabletop (they have lost every game I have used them in). I use old Void Junkers, it seemed fitting to grab an Void Junker Enforcer (now carried by Seb games). This guy is for shouting at the down trodden Legionaries and executing anyone not following orders. Nice guy eh? 

Since putting together my Deep Space Engineering (DSE) corporation force I realised that they needed more bodies for those unpleasant encounters. As all the figures were male, I felt they needed some ladies for balance. This lady is the first female addtion for my DSE force. The figure is a old Grenadier future wars figure from Forsaken Games.

I have another that fits the force in the paint queue. With some luck I will get it painted soon. 

Thanks for looking and take care out there. 

Starport Scum #10 Ladies Night

Hello and Welcome back,

Time for another installment of Starport Scum. I can't believe we have had 10 of these! In this episode, it's all about the ladies. Hence the tag line - Ladies Night. Cue music!

Finished dancing? If that's what it was? On with the show. 

Bounty Hunter's are a common sight around the frontier Spaceports, on the trail of fugitives or other targets. Bounty Hunters use code names rather than their real names to protect themselves from future repercussions. This figure is a limited run bounty hunter by BMT3D and is inspired by some of the art work in the orginal 40K RT art work. 

The Moggi Sisters are "splicers", using Human Gene Manipulation (HGM).They have some feline like features. They thought it would make them more attractive. Still the improved hearing and retractable claws prove useful in their role as bodyguards to wealthy Patrons touring Frontier Space. These figures are limited run figures by BMT3D.

Orbital Starports often see crew wandering about in space suits. Sometimes the crew or station personnel have to go out to effect repairs on their ships or station. Or occasionally as a punishment, sent to give the outside a fresh coat of paint. The figure is Alice the Astronaut by Bad Squiddo miniatures.

Thanks for reading and stay safe out there.

Psychos!

Hello and Welcome Back!

Get ready for some crazy screaming, its psycho time! 

"Kill! Kill! KILL!! Ha HAA HAAA!!"

Here we have some psycho bandits the next episode of my 5 Parsecs campaign. Anyone familiar with the Borderlands Computer games, will know all about the Psychos.

 

"No One Kills my buddy but me!!"

 

The Psychos. These loons form the rank and file of the various Psycho Bandit gangs. 

"I wonder if I plant you into the ground, if you'll grow taller!"

 

The Psycho Badass. A huge brute who acts as the leader for psycho warbands.

 

"BOOM TIME!!"

 

A suicide psycho. These guys rush up holding a primed grenade blowing themselves up with it.

Captain Loops and the crew of the Problem Child are in for a surprise in their next mission. There are plenty more where these figures came from and offers me some scope for conversions. The figures are from the Borderlands boardgame which has quite a lot of figures and offers a good bang for your buck if you can find one a set cheaply.  I found mine on Amazon, I think the seller got bored of it laying on the shelf. The movie flopping probably didn’t help. The figures scale up okay with 28mm heroic or 32mm. 

Although I am using these figures for my Wild Galaxy games, they will be useful as Post Apocalyptic raiders. 

Thanks for looking and stay safe out there. 

Starport Scum 8

Hello and Welcome back, 

Time to visit the Wild Galaxy and take a peek at more examples of Starport scum. 

Briyce Lushian is a rebellious young lady who ran away from her old life to the frontier worlds.  Briyce hangs around the spaceport looking for work or adventure, while doing her best to steer clear of falling in with or foul of any of the space port gangs that may be operating here.

 

The figure is a classic Necromunda Esher juve that I picked up painted on ebay. The figure was reasonably painted so all I did was add some washes and high lights to make the detail pop. Some extra detailing work was added too. The figure was also rebased as the base was painted in the classic GW goblin green. 

I plan to use Briyce Lushian as a character in my 5Parsecs campaign.

TakA6 is an old CyberDan corporation Killstar Combat Android. This line has been long discontinued and there aren’t many Killstar Androids left in circulation. Most were destroyed in combat actions on distant worlds with the few survivors being taken for target practice use.

 

TakA6 became self aware after a high power electric jolt and a whack on the head. As the last remaining android in his unit he went AWOL, looking for a better life. The Android now offers his services across the starports of frontier space. His main concern is finding spare parts, although occasionally a scrap Killstar unit turns up in the starport junk dealers. TakA6 is looking for a good android repairer he can trust to repair him and maybe source or modify parts designed for other Cyberdan units. Although he will happily take parts from other sources, provided they work.

TakA6 is a old Robogear figure that came with their line of terrain and quirky futuristic vehicle models. I have a few of these figures so a Killstar unit may be on the cards in future. TakA6 will probably turn up in a future 5 Parsecs crew or as a hireling. Maybe even turning up on Maddans world as an adventurer or a freelance.

Thanks for looking. Take care out there. 

Starport Scum 7

Welcome back to another installment of Star Port Scum. 

Malice Stardeath is a fearsome sight hanging around the Space Ports looking for work as a gun for hire. Her metal armour, multi laser, animal skins and hair does a lot to create a atmosphere of fear. Malice is a mercenary from Wimera, a backwater world. It is said that Malice killed the creature with her bare hands (and teeth!). Anyone attempting to chat to Malice gets greeted by angry snarls. Malice is a very angry woman and no one wants to find out why. Rumour has it that she is a retired space pirate which is another reason Mailce struggles to find work. No one wants to risk a potential pirate on board. 

Malice is a Abra figure by Bad Squiddo games. 

Thanks for looking and take care out there.

Starport scum pt 6 - more Fatties

Hello and welcome back, 

Time for another issue of Starport Scum. My Fatties Crew was a little thin on the ground and as Warlord Games has brought out the Block War Fatties, it seemed a good opportunity to expand the crew.

The Fattie on the left is Lardie McDoughnut. This guy is the Fatty of Fatties. Lardie is the guy (or the size at least) the other Fatties aspire to. He is another Fattie that fled the world of Megapolis (link https://mattblackgodsworld.blogspot.com/2021/12/starport-scum-3-fatties.html ) due his involvement in the failed "Fattie Coup". Lardie is so large that he needs some help moving about from a couple of goons hired in the Starport. Being the size of Fattie means he is a bullet magnet and body armour in his size is difficult to find. So he made his own improvised armour looted from the last kitchen the Fatties rumbled into.

Johnny Spambo is the Fattie on the right. Unlike other Fatties, Spambo has a second interest besides gorging. After watching an ancient Earth holoflik (re-re-re mastered) series uncountable times, Spambo believes he is a living incarnation of the main character of those movies even mimicking the accent and speech patterns of the main character. He dresses in a similar old earth military fashion and trains, as far as a Fatty can or wants to train. Spambo has read any special forces manual he can find further building his self belief that he is a one man army.

The Fatties are fun to paint and I hope there will be more Fatties released by Warlord Games in future. Part of me is thinking that building a special space ship for the Fatties would be a fun future project.

Now for another character for my growing Starport Scum collection.

Pesha Zil

Pesha fled her homeworld of Iyo looking for adventure. Currently she is hanging around spaceports looking for work as a ship's crew member. Rumours of adventure and riches to be had on Maddans world have reached Pesha. She is hoping to find a ship heading in that direction.

The Pesha figure is from the old OOP Grenadier Future Wars line. The colour choices for this figure came from what ever was going on the pallet at the time. I plan to use this figure in games of Five Parsecs from home or Stargrave (if I ever get around to playing them). One of my future plans for Maddans world will be for gangs of adventurers looking for the precious Sol Stones or the rumoured wreckage of the Maddan Expedition. So there is a chance she will turn up there. 

Thanks for looking, stay safe out there. 

The Bloody 40!

Hello and Welcome Back, 

Time to take a look at more starport scum. This is the crew of the Bloody Vengeance, a pirate vessel that is the flagship of the Bloody 40 pirate fleet. 

The Bloody Vengence is crewed by an oddball mix of Humans, Splitters (Humans additcted to Gene Modification), self aware rogue robots, a cyborg and a Squat. Typical Starport scum. 

The Bloody 40 began as a mutineer crew. In anger at the abuse of the crew by the captain and first mate the crew rose up. They beat the ship’s officers, stripped them and launched them in a life pod towards the nearest populated world. They then took the ship and upgraded it, remaining it the Bloody Vengeance. 

The rest of the Bloody 40 hang around space port bars collecting information and rumours on ships with abusive officers and captains. They then join the crew of the ship. It is fairly easy to join such a vessel as they tend to have a high turnover of crew. Some of the vessels arrive with less crew than they set out with. These hardened pirates wait until enough of the 40 have joined the ship. Then they lead a mutiny aboard the ship with the Bloody Vengeance lurking nearby to assist if necessary. 

The captured vessel is then stripped of cargo. The remaining loyal crew, officers and captain serve a similar fate to those of the first vessel the Bloody 40 rose up against. The remaining crew are given the vessel or asked to join the Bloody 40. 

The Bloody 40 are regarded as heroes by the abused ship’s crews around frontier space. Captains hate them and whisper their name in fear. Since the Bloody 40 attacks, crew treatment and conditions has improved vastly across the sector. 

Security chief McGroober, Captain Amos Fury, First mate Lino (splitter*)

*Splitter is a slang term for people who have willingly undergone Human Gene Manipulation. 

Gene Thugsbury, Amy Clunk (Cyborg) , Crew person Jane Nasty. 

Turtleo (splitter), assassin Trarg (splitter), Wez Vernons 

Krocadude (splitter), Trooper Gax Morgan, Sideeyes (splitter)

Bullet (gunslinger & sharphooter bot), Grimli (armoured squat), Trooper A3D3 (tactical military bot)

All figures are a mix of Rougestars (copplestone sculpts available from Northstar Miniatures) and Antediluvian Miniatures. 

The Bloody 40 was inspired by a weird bit of local history. "There is a reference in local history book from 1850s which details the Bloody Fourty's activities. Bloody Forty: forty seamen who together would ship as a crew aboard hell-ships, in order to turn the tables on rough bucko mates and masters (Hughill 1967: 89). 'A gang of feared Liverpool seamen who went by the name of "The Bloody Forty" (Lees 2013: 74)."

There is no other details about the Bloody 40 to be found. It makes me wonder what happened to them. I have found some sea shanty/folk music songs about them. Still this is my salute to the original Bloody 40.

Thanks for looking and 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.

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.