Trogs! Trogs! Trogs!

Hello and Welcome back to my blog. Some new additions to the Mattblackgod’s world grinder. 

More Trogs to terrorise the wastelands. For those who don’t know, Trogs are a Genetically Engineered Life Form (GELF) created for war. They where brought to the world during the end wars. They can exist in environments that would kill humans and survived the orbital bombardment. The world now is a play ground for the Trogs.

A whole horde of Evil Suns.

Some Bad Moons to add numbers to the clan’s warband. Although plasma weapons on Mattblackgod’s world are notoriously unreliable and dangerous. 

I am on a nostalgia kick and collecting 40K oldhammer Rogue Trader era figures. I have a collection of Orks and when I spotted these plastics cheap on I had to pick them up. They were supplied painted which saves me a job. Although the bases could do with updating.

Thanks for looking and stay safe out there.

Gazing back over 2017

Hello and welcome back to my blog. 

Looking back....my vision dims.....only memories remain. Oh and this blog. 

At this time of year it is traditional to look back over the posts of the last 12 months. Looking back the first thing that I noticed was I managed to post a lot more in 2017 than 2016. I put this down to the fact that the kittens we got in 2016 are now full blown cats. They sleep more and play slightly less. That still doesn't stop them "interfering" and "supervising" hobby time. That said there was a lot of background and fluff written over the last 12 months. 

Back in January I mused about bringing back the Brittanna faction. I really like the background and colour schemes of this faction.

Later this year I brought them back as the decendants of the evacuees from Brittanna Bunker City living in Utopia in a block operating as a Corporation. They later fled back into the wastelands and set up the City again. 

I started making some inroads to my 15mm post apocalyptic stuff but I later got distracted by 28mm again. I also started a 15mm crashed aircraft wreck. Sadly I never got to finish it. Maybe next year?

One bad thing that happened this year was Photobucket going mercenary and starting to charge unreasonable amounts to use links to your uploaded pictures. Over 10 years of hobby pictures vanished, threads ruined. Thanks Photobucket, you really screwed me and thousands of other hobbists over. I have now found other ways to share my pictures. Up yours Photobucket! 

This year saw me swing back to 28mm scale as I got into a 40K Oldhammer vibe. Not to mention adding more Trogz (Orks). 

Mid year I hit on the Idea of one location where all my 28mm factions could live and knock the living daylights out of each other. One area of Mattblackgod's world unused was the ruins of the planetary capitol Mattblackgod City. They were ignored due to massive contamination from the wars that raged across the planet.

I invented a way for the toxins to clear and to draw all the denizens to the ruins of the ruined mega city. The mutated Trog warlord the Matt Black Trog cleaned the toxins up using some salvaged Terraforming microbes.

As a introduction to the setting I wrote a few background reports of a group of Utopia Magistrates sent to investigate. There is still a couple of posts in draft for this series. In addition I have been chronicling various gangs and factions to be found in the ruins. The mapping will be updated soon with more details. It has been pretty fluid so far.

The Wasteocrates have found a new home in the ruined mega city. They found a block that had the upper floors severed off. Soon a new township of Wastetopia was created. This place is a trade hub and many bandit gangs come here to trade. 

In the northern part of the ruins lies Nu Ork ran by a Trog Warlord known as the Duke. 

Duke is inspired by the Duke Character in the film Escape from New York. 

Out in the hellzone wastes to the south of the ruins lies the base of the mutant Trog known as Immortan Ork. He uses humans as his warband and rules the wastes up to the ruins edge. 

This character is inspired by Immortan Joe from Mad Max Fury Road. 

Both Warlords are in despute with the Matt Black Trog over who rules the ruins. 

In addition to this there is a nomadic Trog agent for the Mattblacktrog known as the Mad Mek. This Mek is a oomie lover and tries to help human & mutant settlements out. 

Mad Mek is inspired by Mad Max. 

The Mad Mek, Immortan Ork, Duke and Mattblacktrog are all conversions from GW 40K Orks. 

Nu - Necromunda landed this year and I look forward to trying the game. The figures will be used in my Post Apoc setting. I have still to assemble them. 

This year I discovered the Mutant Epoch post apocalyptic RPG rules. I love the detail and background to this setting. Great to read for inspiration. That said the rules look good fun to play. I like how they leave everything to chance when creating a character. This includes even the basics like species, build, sex and even sexuality. 

One big thing for me was being approached by Curtis from Ramshackle Game to Co host a table at the 2018 Bring Your Own Lead show. I will be packing up as much terrain as I can fit in my car. The hotel is booked and we are all set for a weekend of wargames fun. 

It occurred to me that next year the Post Apocalyptic wargames forum will be ten years old. I commissioned Darklight Minatures to sculpt me a survivor I call Ten. I will be getting the figure cast and will be selling it at cost to Forum Members. 

Thanks for reading. Happy New Years. If you can't be good, be safe! 

Matt Black Report #16 - Mad Mek

Mad Mek.

The Mad Mek is held in awe by the rest of the Trogs as he clearly belongs to two castes. Not only is he a Mek Boy but he is a Mad Boy too. The boys think he is strange because of his need to look out for others (in a violent way of course) and his interest in Humans. The Mad Mek also belonged to the cult of speed for a short while. He got kicked out because he didn't think "Red Unz go Fasta" and painted his buggy matt black. Surely another sign he is mad?

The Mad Mek is under the protection of the Matt Black Trog who feels this odd Trog is important to the new world order.

The Mad Mek wanders the ruins and wastelands looking for parts to build his Intorkceptor, righting wrongs, fixing stuff and being nice to Humans as he goes along.

The Mad Mek is made up from bits. Boyz legs, Ork Biker body and arm. The Shotgun is a Ork resin item by Kromlech. The arms had putty sleeves added and Mad Max style shoulder armor added. Next up for this guy is for me to make a Squig, build a Intorkceptor and possible a Grot side kick. 

Matt Black Report #15 - Da Duke of Nu Ork!

Da Duke of Nu Ork!

On the northern edge of the Matt Black City ruins lies a few blocks held by a bunch of Trogs who do have not sworn allegiance to the Matt Black Trog. This territory is known as Nu Ork and is ruled over by a Trog simply known as Da Duke.

Da Duke dreams of the day when his forces can rival the Matt Black Trog in strength and numbers. When he can lead his Trogs to Matt Black City and smash Trog City. Until then he will make do waging war on the Humans and Trog gangs roaming the ruins. 

Da Duke is made from the 40K Ork Nobz kit and is inspired by the classic "Duke in the Escape From New York" movie. I added the gold braid epauletes from greenstuff which mark his rank. 

Matt Black Data #4 - Immortan Ork

Immortan Ork: 

30 miles south of the ruins in the wastelands of the hell zone lies a settlement built around what appears to be a old world aquifer. The leader of this settlement is a old mutated Trog known as Immortan Ork. The Trog has survived here for a long time. He was here even when the Hellzone was too toxic for anything else to live.

He and his Warboys terrorise the wastelands to the south of the ruins in souped up vehicles.

Immortan Ork would contest the Matt Black Trog's position in the city ruins but his Warboys are deeply superstitious of the ruins and cannot be coaxed or bullied to go more than a mile into the old mega city. 

The chances are that it would be suicide to contest the Matt Black Trog as his Trogs outnumber the Warboys. 

Immortan Ork is a based on a current 40K Ork Nob with a heavy amount of customisation. The mask was made to look more Orky than the Mad Max Fury Road character. The Warboys are GW Gorkamorka Digganobs painted in a Warboy style.

Matt Black City Report 11 - The Wanderer

Journal of Senior Mag Stevo.
Date 01070117

Day 11 The Wanderer

Today we spotted a lone human moving towards our position. Quickly we moved to intercept him especially as he is the first human we have seen since arriving here.

Monk and I stopped the man with Warren acting as overwatch. Black circled behind him and watched the way he came in case he was a advance scout for a war party.

The man was a "grey hair" as they call older folks out here. Yet he moved like a much younger man. Maybe life in the wasteland has prematurely aged him? His jacket and kit looked ragged and worn. This strange character carried a old hunting rifle with a large knife tied to it so it could be used as a impromptu spear.

 Figure by Project Zeke Miniatures

This raggedy man said he was called "the Wanderer" and he didn't know his real name. He was just a lone nomad scavenger, trading and helping where he can, although I don't fully believe him.

The Wanderer told us that he came across some Trogs the day before. They were not interested in him as he was and he quoted "a weedy ooman, not wurf de effort. No proper fightin wiv im" (note: he even did a Trog voice). The Trogs did seem interested in the amount of scrap and junk they could salvage from a old vehicle wreck.

Images grabbed from one of our patrolling drones show that this gang is still in the area. They show no clan affiliation but all carry red x markings. We shall I.D. them as the Red X mob.

The Red X mob came from a huge box of Orks my friend Xander gave me. I rebased them and added the Red X gang markings. One Trog got a Mek backpack and is mob's blackthumb.

The Wanderer said he had followed the chasm (dry river bed) into the city and had come across two settlements to the east of our position.

The closest is what appears to be a well equipped military unit using old world kit. The Wanderer claims they wore a claw marking. If that is true our nearest neighbours are the infamous Claw Company mercenaries.

The other settlement seemed to hold a group of bandit raiders wearing black. Both settlements will need further scrutiny.

As a Utopia Magistrate I know when some is lying or hiding something and I got nothing. But just in case I had Monk scan his thoughts. She too said he was hiding nothing. We both have come to the conclusion that the old timer is possibly crazy.

Despite Black's protests we gave the Wanderer a meal after which he thanked us, winked and said he had to go. Monk asked if he was going to be ok or need our help. He just turned to us, cackled and said "you better hope that you never need my help!". With that he wandered off.

All this data has been recorded in my daily report to Utopia.

Warren and Monk have been sifting through the data Utopia sent us about these lands and the city as they were.

The city itself is built over thousands of Hab Domes early settlers built. This was over filled covering the domes with plascrete. The cot had a deep network of transport "metro" tunnels. Did humanity survive down there? The tunnels links quite a few blocks and the central shrine, tomb and government buildings. Many blocks had metro entrances in the grounds or in the under levels.

In addition to this a military command bunker is housed under the city along with three SOS bunkers. Dotted around the city is ten recorded Vaultsys vaults for civilians. Sadly it seems none of these installations survived. No doubt the new inhabitants of the ruins will be delighted to find them.

To the west lies the old port now buried ruins. Some fifty miles north there was a space port come repair facility for military craft. I suspect that was destroyed long before the nuclear rain.

Further north there was a coastal military base and a atmosphere air defence base. Most interesting is the notes about a missile bunker/silo. This is linked to the command bunker under the city via a tunnel. I wonder if it is still there?

To the south of the ruins lay much industry including a lead mine which during the latter days of the wars served as a munitions factory. There are notes about a water aquifer and other heavy industrial sites. They are probably long gone.

All we know of the eastern hell zone is that there is a lost Vaultsys Vault some where out there. There are also hints that there are a number of secret laboratories out there too. These are rumoured to have developed several weapons during the wars. These where given the designation prefix X. I hope they are never discovered. This world has suffered enough.

The mountains surrounding the city was once a impact crater probably created long before man walked upright back on Earth. Glaciers and billions of years of weather have carved them into what they are today.

The mountains have/had two military comms/radar bases, an observatory, mines, a power station and many farms. More interestingly there is a Continuance of Goverment (COG) bunker located there. This place would be well hidden and with good reason. Not only does it have all the materials and stores to restart a world after disaster, it has enough kit to equip an army of thousands to fight a war for many years. No one has found it I am sure as there we haven't seen a force like that since before the nuclear fires. Unless that is where the Trogs found the terraforming elements?

In addtion there may be another SOS bunker someplace in those hills. Any of them could set up a kingdom.

Food for thought.

Matt Black City Report 4. More data.

Journal of Senior Mag Stevo.
Date 25060117

Day 4:

Last night was uneventful. Alas high command have not yet replied to my report/request. I hope their decision will not take too long. Our supplies are not in a good way and we have begun rationing.

Magistrate Black found a old Trog carcass near by in an advanced state of decay. It was probally killed by one of the mutant beasts that prowl the ruins. Black took a flamer to it to stop it spawning more. Mag Warren fears it may be too late. If remain here we will have to keep be alert for young savage Trogz or "Yoofs" as they call them.

Our drones have been feeding back data. The images from the ruins are a depressing sight. There are whole areas choked in rubble, dust and decay. Other areas have crumbling ruins and wrecked blocks. Civilian vehicles lie decaying in the streets many of which are blocked by rubble or vehicle jams. In other areas old military vehicles can be seen, evidence of the war on the streets of the capital. More disturbing are the groups of war bots standing immobile in some places. Are they depowered, dead or are they in power save waiting to kill again?

Warbots by Ramshackle games.

The Trog City has high walls of rubble and scrap. There are also clanking walking machines made from junk patrolling the outer walls. The Big Boss takes security seriously.

There are many war machines in the city. Most seem to be of the buggy or truck variety but our drones did spot some that could be classified as tanks.

All the major Trog clans seem to be present. Red Sun's, Evil Moons, Blue Skulls.

We have some data showing battle axes, Goffz and Snake Bites are also here but the drone was destroyed before the data could be confirmed. Most clans seem to wear war paint and tattoos in black symbolizing loyalty to the Big Boss.

In addition there seems to be a unrecognised Clan. Possibly a new one dedicated to the Big Boss? They copy his black clothing and rusty armour. Apparently they call themselves The Matt Black Trogz. Perhaps this world has twisted the Trogz too?

Also present are Trog Freebooters (anarchist pirates) and many small gangs. Only a handful of these seem to have any Clan affiliation. I wonder if in Trog culture when a gang gets famous or powerful enough they form into a Clan?

Our drones over Trog City have all been  destroyed. The other drones that went out over the ruins showed that there maybe a hundred observed camps or settlements. Many of them appear to be human or mutant. Have they been drawn here too by the signal?

In addtion our drones also spotted a larger Trog settlement in the northern part of the ruins. Further investigation will be required.

There are also some settlements beyond the edge of the ruins a few miles out into the hell zone. We have not got close enough to collect more data yet. Hopefully they won't be infested by Trogz.

Perhaps we could convince some of the other human groups here to join us? Then maybe we could complete our mission.

The hordes of mutant beasts reported to haunt the ruins by our robotic drones 50 years ago are much less in number than we expected. Groups moving through the ruins will still have to take care.

Many old beast carcasses appear across the ruins. A closer look also showed some Trog skulls and bones mixed with them. It would appear the Trogz had some fun clearing the ruins ahead of the new occupants arrival. A job they are suited for and probably loved. It makes me wonder just what the Matt Black Trog is up to? Trog remains spread across the city also means that the Trogz are here to stay.

There appears to be large patches of plant life growing in the ruins. It seems a strange contrast seeing the vibrant colours against the bleakness of the ruins. Whilst this at first sounds promising there is a possibliity that the mutated carnivorous plants found in parts of the world may be growing here. There are also patches of large fungi growing wild. Mag Warren says that some of these are the result of the terraforming. They take contaminants out of the earth. The bad news is some of these fungi patches are possible Trog spawning sites.

Out in the ruins the drones have spotted large structures made from scrap located across the ruins. No doubt this is the work of the Trogz. We have no data to their purpose. One theory is that they are way markers so exploring Trogz can navigate the ruins. Another is that they are territorial markers. Mag Monk has suggested that these may be trog shrines.

All data collected has been forwarded to HOJ. I hope we can either continue on our mission or abort. To be honest I will be glad to leave here.The remains of this great city are depressing to see.

The Trogz of Trog City are my first faction in this series. The rules for the Trogz are : 

1. Trogz cannot and won't hire mercenaries. Only Freebooters and Blood Axes can be hired by other factions as Mercenary muscle. Blood Axes will not carry out missions against the Matt Black Trog or it's interests. 

2. The Trogz raid the ruins and other factions for scrap, vehicles and other resources.

3.The Trogz keep human slaves in addition  to the Grots. 

4. The Trogz will trade with other factions for resources.

5. The Tomb of the Mattblackgod is sacred and the Trogs will not go near it. 

Matt Black City Report 3. Into the fire.

Journal of Senior Mag Stevo.
Date 24060117

Day 3:

We took off at first light and discovered to our pleasure that the weather conditions where calm and clear. The legendary near constant storms that haunt the mountains and the hellish wastes beyond seemed to be at a rare lull. I foolishly took this to be a symbol of hope that our mission would be a success.

As we passed the mountains Magistrate Warren pointed out that the sensors where only picking up pockets of contamination. In fact the hell zone was no worse than the rest of the world. As we puzzled this Warren noted traces of what the ancients called Terraforming elements. These microbes and chemicals where designed to transform hostile worlds into places humanity could live. Warren wishes to land on our return trip to collect samples. If Utopia can replicate these we may turn our world once again into a eden. This raised new questions namely who set off the terrafroming and where did they get the kit?

On approach to the Matt Black City we did a high altitude fly past circling the huge expanse of ruins for Mag Monk to get a bearing on the transmission. Many blocks where gone, just piles of rubble or dust. Others stood broken whilst one or two lay on their sides. It was shocking to see the mega city in this state. Again the contaminent levels seemed normal for the rest of our world with only pockets registered here or there.

We noted many active camps and settlements. The immensity of the ruins keeping many of them miles apart. It seems others have been drawn here too. They better take care and avoid the contaminated zones.

Shockingly towards the centre of the ruins there appeared to be what looks like a ramshackle city. Mag Monk confirmed the transmission was coming from the city. Warren also noted that the location of the tomb of the Matt Black God should lie dead centre of the city. This city is not here by chance nor do I feel the recent terraforming and transmission is a coincidence.

Taking a lower sweep we could see the ramshackle city was teaming with Trogz.

Trogz have been recorded in the wastelands for a long time and are incorrectly thought by many to be mutants. Trogz are a Genetically Engineered Life Form or GELF. These are also known as ORCS (Organically Replicating Combat System) produced long ago before the wars on a far off world to act as troops in wars. There use was banned and the were probably brought here illegally as spores during the wars. According to the data the ORCS are hard to control, extremely violent, bloodthirsty and replicate at a alarming rate. Even when dead up to 12 creatures can spore from one for years to come. Worlds were overwhelmed leading to the GELF wars. Reading about the Trogz makes me miss the Pyscho-d up mental street punks of the Blocks.

The tomb of the god lies dead centre (we could see it from the air) and is unmolested by the creatures. It is kept clear of their buildings and detruius. Mag Monk confirmed that The Tomb is the centre of the transmission. The trog city stretches out for a estimated two miles in all directions from the tomb. How many of these beasts are there?

Near the centre of what we callas "Trog City" lies many large constructions. They look like warmachines made from junk. We noted one Trog bigger than all the rest. Here is a picture of the Boss.

The Matt Black Trog is a 40K Ork Warboss I got cheap on evilbay. The usual head wasn't what I envisioned so I gave him a head swap and raised his cranium with greenstuff putty. I added a Scar and Lump on his head. I am happy with his skin which is supposed to be black. The Grot slave is a classic 40K figure I have owned since the early 90s.

He must be the Big Boss/leader. He is unusual in having black skin and a higher cranium than most of his species. Mag Warren speculates that it may have higher intelligence or possibly PSI abilities.

Trogz are known to have various skin colours depending on where they where spawned. It seems local contaminants can effect them. Most are green or brown skinned. Black is a rarity. Note the smaller creature behind. That is a Grots. A smaller GELF closely associated with Trogz. They are of a similar make up but are smaller and weaker. Both their designers and the Trogz use them as a source of slave labour. Like the Trogz many in the wastelands think the Grots are mutants and call them "The mutie men".

We also spied another Trog on one of the construction sites wearing fierce looking power armour. He seems to be a big mek, a trog version of a engineer. Note the Grot slave. 

Big Mek Tinka. This is a standard 40K figure. The grot is a classic 40K metal figure I have owned since the early 90s. 

At this point we started to take hostile fire and we were forced beat a hasty retreat. Thankfully the shuttle only took superficial damage.

I have ordered us to land on a old city block many miles away from Trog City so we can reassess. We have launched spydat drones to collect closer Intel on the Trogz.

We cannot shoot our way into the tomb. Even with our weapons and skills we wouldn't get past the walls.

The shuttle has enough firepower to damage the tomb but will it be enough? Our missiles and cannon have limited stores.

We could use the shuttle as a distraction and infiltrate. Head for the tomb and disable the transmission. However if we get spotted we stand little chance.

Another option is for Utopia to send a bomber or gunships to our location and hammer the tomb from above. A nuke should do it nicely.

As I fear our mission may now be impossible and suicidal I have contacted Utopia city to advise of our findings and for further orders.

In addition I have ordered the shuttle be ready for immediate action in case we encounter large groups of hostiles and we have to bug out.

For now we rest. Tomorrow we may die.

Wasteland Wondering - moving forward.

Hello and welcome back to another Wasteland Wondering.

So after the Photobucket ransom demands debacle I decided that either copying html codes from images I will upload to blogger or to use postimage.org to post images to forums. Thank you for your suggestions for alternative sites and ways to get around the problem. 

As I had downloaded 4000 images of hobby related stuff from Photobucket  (a few lost in time now as various computers died, so it is good to have them back) it is highly unlikely I will get to fix all my older blog and forum posts. It would simply take too long and in some cases the context of the picture can be lost. As for Photobucket, they can take a run and jump. Strangely the 3gb of images photobucket claim I had seems to be just over 500mb on my computer. 

Some of you have asked about maps of Mattblackgod's world. So here you go.

This map is for 28mm stuff. My 15mm figures are in a new setting and the world map will grow with time. Drop City has a local map but it is WIP. It will follow....One day....promise....honest. 

Now speaking of maps this leads me cleanly to the next hobby direction of Mattblackgod's world located here: 

The planet's captial city.....Matt Black City. A huge ruined mega city hundreds of miles across located in a highly contaminated wasteland known as a Hellzone. Nothing but highly mutated creatures can survive here. But things are changing. Keep watching this blog for the background and minis. I have drafted a few fluff posts and finished some new figures to support this background. There may even be a map. 

One of the things you run into (and away from) in the wastelands of Mattblackgod's world is Trogs. Basically they are my favourite 40K aliens, the Orks written into my world. They where my first army back in the dawning days of 40K and I have never been able to get rid of them. Recently I have been working on more Trogz/Orks and having a lot of fun, in between periods of extreme feline interference from my furry freinds. This seems to be going in two directions. One I am hunting mainly classic RT era Orks to expand the army I have. Two I am creating Gorkamorka style gangs and wasteland characters from more recent Ork models. So expect a few pictures of Orks in the coming weeks. Maybe I should do a blog post series called Funwithorks!

That is all for now. Thanks for reading, take care out there!

New Trog additions.

Hello and welcome back to my blog. For a change there is actually some miniature related content.

Somewhere in the mists of time I picked up a handful of old 40K RT era metal Orks to bolster my Ork Army from back in the day. Finally I got some paint slapped on them ready to join their mobs in my army.

I chose to go with the traditional green skin. The rest of my forces are a mix of human flesh colours. I get around this by claiming what ever the Trogs are exposed to during spawning can effect skin colour. MBW is heavily contaminated and it gives me a good excuse for Trogs of many colours.

This trio are to join the second Boss Mob of the Mattblack Trog. Note the black war paint and the unit markers on the bases. The Mattblack Clan are a new Trog/Ork clan unique to Mattblackgod's world.

This pair are to join the Evil Moons mob of the Bad Moon Clan.

I had a lot of fun painting these guys and I am resisting the temptation to strip my entire Ork Force to repaint them.

In the to paint pile is a Kromlech Afrika Korps Orks which will form a unit from the Blood Axes Clan. My friend Xander donated lots of feral looking Orks mostly painted which will form a band of Snake Bite Clan (Thanks again Dr X). I know the sizes of Ork figures greatly differ from the late 80's and the modern efforts which are nearly twice as big. But that doesn't bother me. Orks aren't supposed to be uniform and the smaller ones could be Yoofs.

Thanks for reading. Take care out there.