New Additions to the Wastelands.

I got a bunch of other minis in a box of Orks sent by my mate Xander. They are well painted and seeing as naff all else is going on thanks to the destructo kittens I thought I would post them up. This lot will be found wandering around mattblackgod's world.

These guys will probably see action as a Merc unit (the Z-team?). They have a couple of plasma weapons which are a rarity in the Wastelands. They may have found a lost SOS Bunker. 

A couple of Wastelanders. The guy on the left would fit in with the Warriors Gang. How ever I may use them to start a Across the Dead Earth gang. Or maybe low level muscle for the Mercs in the pic above. 

A raider chick. 

I have a few cultists and this guy would fit in what ever loony thing is being preached in the wastes today. 

Thanks for looking. 

Invader Remnants.

Back in the days before the end war raged across Mattblackgod's world. Armies invaded other states. Then it got out of hand and terrible biological weapons where rolled out. The fleet that arrived to peace keep and evacuate the civilians decided that these pantheons could not leave the world. They posed a threat to the fleet and other worlds. A massive orbital nuclear bombardment finished the job of killing the world.

The Invading forces where trapped in a destroyed world with little chance of returning to a home which probably didn't exist any more. Supplies were running low. The locals treated them with hatred and the Invaders retreated to a remote location. They maintained their culture and language. Many decades the Remnants descendants still hide their identity. Every now and then they raid for supplies spreading the fear of the legends of the old time Invaders. 

These figures were painted by Xander Warren. I am unsure of who makes them. They arrived with the big box of Orks. He used these guys as Vietcong in Vietnam war games. I have had a hankering of making a Remnants force for some time and these fit the bill nicely. I may have to rebase them. Cheers Xander. 

Thanks for looking. 

Trogz- The WARRGGHHH arrives.

Welcome back to my blog. Posts have been a bit scattered of late. Part of this is due to the kittens I have running rampage throughout the house.

I have very slowly been working on bits for my Trog Gangs. Here is a Trog Big Mek and Big Warlord. These are WIP. 

The Big Mek is a standard 40K Kit and is slowly moving forward. The Big Warlord needs some greenstuff. I would like to add a larger cranium and some scars. This guy will be mutated. His large cranium is a mutation from visiting the ruins of Matt Black Ruins. It also makes him a little smarter than the rest of the Trogs. 

I decided I needed some bits  for vehicle building. So I visited the Fox Box  webpage. I got these lovely bits for my vehicle building. 

The castings are clean and there are no bubbles. They will not only be useful for my Trogs/Orks but would be useful for Post Apoc vehicles.  I will be ordering from Fox Box again. 

Discussing my Trog plans with my friend Xander, he told me he had a present for me. A few days later a large box arrived. In it a large horde for these guys....

There is enough there for a couple of mobs at least. I am thinking of one mob of Snakebites. 

There was all these bitz too. This should keep my Trog projects going for a long while. Thank you Xander....Mrs Mattblackgod isn't too happy with the extra little men. Hide! Hide I tell you! 

Thank you for looking. 

Vault 22 - New campaign Idea

Hello and welcome back to my blog. 

Lately I have been playing a lot of Fallout Vault on my tablet. The game has had a update which allows Vault Dwellers to go on missions and explore the world beyond the vault. 

This is nothing new in the Fallout series. It got me thinking though. Mattblackgod's world has civilian Vaults similar to Vaultech's in Fallout. One of the great things about the Fallout Vaults is that Vaultech carried out all manner of strange social experiments on some of the vaults which can lead to a certain amount of wackiness and strangeness out in the Wastelands. An idea I am keen to follow.  

I am thinking of using it as a focus of an extended campaign as the Vault Dwellers explore and try to build a better future for themselves. 

The Vault in question is Vault 22. It has not heard anything in the 100 years from the outside. It does get the occasional scrambled transmission but nothing definite can be gleaned from it. The current Overseer has decided to find out what lies outside. Is there anyone out there or is there nothing? 

Vault 22 is getting crowded and some supplies are running low. So the following team has been assembled to explore the wastes. 

Figures L-R GW Necromunda Van Saar, GW 40K SM Scout, Void Junker

Figures L-R East Riding, Heroclix (repainted), Heroclix (converted and repainted). 

These miniatures have been taken from my collection as no painting is getting done at present. Expect some NY3K stats and further notes on each of the team in the near future.  

Thanks for looking. 

Wasteland Legends - The Wanderer

Welcome back to my blog. 

Today I am introducing a new feature: Wasteland Legends. I will be highlighting various figures in my collection which would be regarded as legends. They will have a short bit of history and a Character Spec for NY3K (or my house rules).

Today it is the Wanderer. The Wanderer roams the wastelands. He trades items he has salvaged and stories at settlements he encounters. From time to time the Wanderer arrives at towns and helps with whatever they need. There are many stories of him arriving at the nick of time to save some lost or dying Wastelander. 

Name	Mov	CBT	BAL	RES	CMD	LVL	GEAR
The Wanderer	4	4	4	2	5	Legend	Street
Equipment: Bolt Action Rifle, Combat Attachment, Knife					Skills: Amazing

The Wanderer is a Scav figure by Project Zeke. 

That is all for now. I hope to add more legends as time goes on. At least I keep this blog going whilst my kittens get larger and start to realise the whole world isn't for them to play with. 

Thanks for looking. 

Wasteland Wondering update.

Welcome back to another Wasteland Wondering. Today I will give you a status update on my hobby projects and discuss a couple of ideas hanging around the back of my head. There will be chatter about paint stations, orks/Trogs,  vaults, technomancers and kittens.

Firstly little has happened on my Trogs project since my last blog post. I have had a major amount of additions to the Ork pile which I hope to document in a later blog post. 

The kittens are still rampaging about and it is difficult to get any hobby done. They are growing rapidly and are now able to expand the trail of destruction to new places. 

They have also discovered that metal figures make a nice klunk noise when they bat them off the table. Plastic figures are great to flick. They can get a good range with them before going bananas and skipping all around the figure randomly wacking it. Despite all this they are good fun. Not sure our older cat would agree. He isn't taking to his new brothers that well but I am sure that is because they never stop bombing around. Trust us to get the nutters! 

While am waiting for the kittens to grow into lazy furballs I am considering a portable paint station so I can keep painting. The plan is to paint in the car at lunch time in work. I haven’t figured a way to do this yet. If anyone has any ideas on how to do this I would be greatful. 

My Neutronyork3000 house rules are about 80% done. There is just some stats to draw up and I have to figure out some of the vehicle rules. I am adopting them as my ruleset for all my future gaming. Expect to see some statted up figures and gangs in the future. 

My plans also include consolidating my 28mm Sci Fi and VSF into mattblackgod’s world. So while hobby isn't happening there may be things of interest to read on this blog.

One thing about not hobbying is I am getting lots of ideas. One idea is to build a Technomancer. A technomancer is a person who repairs, uses and trades old world technology. I see the character surrounded by computers, tech and old robots in a dark and dingy building. I am inspired to build a lair for a technomancer and I am looking for a suitable miniature to represent him/her. Expect a future update on the Technomancer.

I have a game on the old tablet called Fallout Vault. For those that don't play it, it is a simulation game where you build your own vault and populate it. It got a bit dull after you had built a couple of vaults. Now they have added missions to the game. You can send out three vault dwellers to go on a mission and explore. It has made the game more interesting to play.

As a result that got my braincell thinking about using a vault as a basis for a tabletop campaign. Sending dwellers out to help the vault grow. I have some vaulties.

Maybe it is time to add to them? Time to go mooching for additional forces I think.

Mattblackgod’s world has SOS bunkers which are military based (inspired by the bunkers of the Deathlands novels). Only a handful of the 200 produced was ever populated by the time of the great destruction.

The world also had civilian vaults similar to the Vaulttech ones of the Fallout universe (built by Vaultsystems). They were more numerous with more than 1000 vaults being constructed. Quite a few were lost during the wars. Some were destroyed during the nuclear rain. Others had systems failures or became overwhelmed by raiders or mutant beasts during the post apocalypse. A few joined the exodus to Utopia City when they tried to save those in the wastelands. However there are still a few surviving bunkers/vaults scattered across the world. Like some of the vaults in the Fallout universe some of the vaults on Mattblackgod's world were used as experiments leading to some strange and scary vaults out in the wastelands.

That's all for now. Thanks for looking and stay safe out there. 

Post Birthday Loot.

Hello and welcome back to my blog. It has been a little while since my last post.

Life has been pretty much me shouting at a pair of naughty kittens. I suspect that they think their names are "Oi" and "stop that!".

I have been on a major Ork/Trog vibe at the moment. This includes reading the Gorkamorka and Digganob rules. I have also been working on my house rules for Neutronyork3000 rules. The movement rules never really clicked with me and I have some twists I want to add.

In other news I had a birthday a week and bit ago and landed myself a lot of great wargames loot. I have to thank my amazing wife for the loot.

First up is some ready to play terrain for my 15mm stuff.

Some big storage tanks. They look good but may need a couple of washes and a bit of weathering.

A nice ruin.

The roof and floors come out. It's a nice peice. I am looking forward to my 15mm forces scrapping around this ruin.

There was also some 28mm bits too.  There was a resin toxic pool set which will be great in the undercity or wasteland.

There was also this 3D printed building.

This would work for a post apoc town, undercity/underhive or even Orks. I managed to get this undercoated during the breaks in between down pours.

It is nicely detailed. 3D printing will revolutionise our hobby when it gets more affordable. 

Hopefully I will get a chance to paint them when the kittens get beyond rampaging and destroying everything phase. 

It wouldn't be a birthday if you didn't get yourself a few treats too would it? As I am revamping my Trogs/Orks I decided to replace my Blood Axes. The present RT era figures will join a new warband. Kromlech provided some Afrika Korps Orks.  They fit the Blood Axe style nicely.  

The figures go together well. They need a little filler before painting.

I got a Kaptian Baddrukk. I like this figure and it will be handy to run my orks as a freebooter force if I ever decide to try playing 40K.

A Ork Mek was also bought. 

I also picked up a cheap Trukk on evilbay. 

This isn't a full Trukk but it will fill a transport slot for my Evil Sunz. The Trukk needs a little repair work, a few washes and a little weathering to get it ready for the table.

That's all for now. Thanks for looking.

Wasteland Wondering - furry devils.

Welcome back to my blog and another Wasteland Wondering.

I have to report that my hobby activities will be at a stop because of the arrival of these two furry hooligans. 

The tuxedo kitten is called Toffee whilst the black moggy is called Dixie. In case anyone was wondering about their names, my wife is a life long Everton supporter. 

The house as you can imagine is in mayhem as these furry devils rampage about. It is exhausting fun. There is many belly laughs at their antics. Our existing cat Joey is slowly warming to his new brothers. In time I suspect he will teach them his bad habits including Catzilla attacks on the wargames table. 

Not getting any hobby time doesn't mean I can't think or plan. My focus on the 20mm combat cars is waining. It think I overdosed on it. My thoughts have turned to Trogwana. 

Trogwana is a wasteland on mattblackgod's world populated by the Trogs. Many think they are mutants but the Trogs have been on the world since the before the end. The Trogs are G.E.L.Fs  (Genetically Engineered Life Form) designed as a combat system. The various factions hired them during the wars on the world. Incidentally the Mutiemen are also GELFs produced by the same corporation for use as slave labour. 

Long time readers will remember that I am using Space Orks for the Trogz and they are similar in many ways to the Aliens from the 40K universe. They even use similar tribes. To be honest it seemed a good way to use my old 40k army in the wastelands.

The Trog's genetics enable them to survive the harshness of Mattblackgod's world's wastelands easier than humans. However the various toxins have caused interesting mutations to the GELFs mainly effecting thier skin colours. Okay I confess I am just looking for a reason to paint some orks in odd colours.

Trogwana has attracted the Trogs and is similar to GW's Gorkamorka. There is a large town build from scrap and ruins. The Trogs have several camps and other townships. Here they battle each other for scrap to trade at Trogwana. One of the joys of Gorkamorka is you can make many custom style mobs. I have many ideas. Just need the time and the money! 

The Trog warbands will roam and cross swords with Wastelanders over scrap and other supplies. 

Hobby wise I am thinking of increasing the size of the mobs I have. I found a warboss which I am going to customise. He will be getting a background story. My Goffs will become the Mattblack Trogz clan. This clan will wear black war paint,  rusty metal and black colours. Maybe a radiation symbol with a Ork skull as a symbol. 

I am looking into getting a big mek and a Kaptian Baddrukk just incase I decide to run a 40K freebooter force. Kromlech do some nice Orky things including Afrika Korps Orks which I am thinking of using as Blood Axes. My existing Blood Axes will be reworked into another mob. 

The 15mm orks are still planned for Wild Galaxy too. 

That said a little voice at the back of my skull keeps telling me into getting across the dead earth minatures. Lots of great post apoc figures in that range. 

That's all for now. Thanks for reading.

Welcome back to my blog. In this Wasteland Wondering I will be discussing real life, hobby slump and new post apoc ideas. 

It has been nearly a month since my last post and over a month since my last hobby post. 

I have found my hobby progress to be slow. As soon as I get started I get distracted. It is partly due to life being busy. Since my return from Spain nearly 4 weeks ago I have been celebrating 20 years of marriage,  had my 16yr old cat Spooky pass away, celebrating my wife's birthday, working on my motorbike, got a mutated rad cold, going away visiting some stately homes and away kitten hunting. Yup it's been busy but it isn't the only thing stopping my hobby drive. I think working just on 20mm cars is boring me a little and I realised that it has been over a year since I played a game! I should get my finger out. 

I have managed a couple of hours playing post apoc games on my console in the last month. Wasteland 2 and Fallout 4. I have barely scratched the surface of both games. 

In Wasteland 2 you play a team of Rangers out to save the wastelands. It is a RPG type game. The Rangers is a nice idea to copy for a Tabletop game. A small skirmish squad of 4 or 5 characters would suit many games. 

Fallout 4 has the main character in cryogenic suspension coming out the vault 200 years later to explore the world. Good fun so far. There is a band called the Minute Men who offer help to folks in the Wastelands in a similar manner to the Rangers in Wasteland 2. Minute men use clothing similar to the historic unit. It is tempting to get a historic figure or two for conversion. 

Cyrogenic suspension often turns up in Post Apocalyptic fiction. The character in the Rage game comes from such a vault (although he has cyber kinetic enhancements too). There is a major character in the Deathlands novels that was also frozen in such a fashion.

Hobby wise I just picked up the Gorkamorka rule books on evil bay. You can't have too many rule books in my book! I have always loved Orks. I am thinking of trying this in 15mm though. I also read the Gaslands beta. Looks a good game. However it doesn't cover infantry so I plan on sticking with Warlands. 

Gaslands is gladiatorial in nature and it gto me thinking of gladiatorial combat in the post apoc world. It could be a great way to get some warfare going. In Mars Arena (Deathlands novels) a bunch of warlords capture Wastelanders to have them fight in an arena which is the walled up Las Vegas ruins. Traps and mutant beasts are added to add to the mix. There is a twist. The winning team must then fight each other to the death. The survivor may get hired by the winning warlord but often snipers on the walls finish the job.

Another idea would be for  a contest run by Utopia City with prizes of supplies and other items folks in the Wastelands would happily kill for. It could be run by a TV show with arenas set up across the wastelands. Thick walls around these places could be built easily using the same technology Utopia uses to build the mega city blocks. In the wastelands bands  of wannabe winners would join to compete. The TV show runs the carnage live on TV in a similar style to the movie Running Man.

Auto dual will also be popular sport enterainment so the contests could run vehicle battles. A friend reminded me of this old battle report which is along the same lines that I posted on the Post Apoc Wargames forum a few years back. 

Auto dual combat

For the gangs/games on foot I was thinking of various traps including mutant beasties to make it interesting. Maybe a league with various gangs fighting each other for the prizes could be created. Wasteland townships and cities would get involved for certain vital supplies.

Thinking about this it may make a great club or show game using various rules. 

This is what I have been thinking about and planning. Let's see what happens next. 

Thanks for looking and take care out there!

Pursuit of the Apocalypse - book review.

Welcome back to my blog. In this post I will be reviewing a post apocalyptic novel. I hope I don't drop any plot spoilers **whistles innocently**

The novel I am reviewing is “Pursuit of the Apocalypse” by Benjamin Wallace (find him on twitter @BenMWallace) . This is the third novel in the series. The other novels in the Duck and Cover Post Apocalyptic Adventure series are “Post Apocalyptic Nomadic Warriors” and “Knights of the Apocalypse”. I am a huge fan of Benjamin Wallace's work. The series are good books with a comic twist. One way to describe them is Post Apocalyptic mixed with Monty Python.

Pursuit of the Apocalypse is as the name suggests about a pursuit. The main character is pursuing his kidnapped wife across the wastelands. The kidnapper is a sinister bounty hunter who has the most horrific clothing I have seen in any post apocalyptic setting. The novel has a great and exciting plot, and fantastic characters. I was howling with laughter reading this book. As I was on holiday I was getting evil looks from other holiday makers who must have thought I was either a nutter (guilty) or laughing at them!

Benjamin Wallace is the Terry Pratchett of Post Apoc fiction. As a massive Terry Pratchett fan myself that is a huge complement.

I could not put the novel down and wished I could read more when I had finished it. I was left with a book hangover thinking what happens to the characters next? Which of the other characters will reappear in the next tale? I hope that there will be another novel in the series.

So what is there for us tabletop gamers? The Pursuit of the Apocalypse novel has some great factions and locations. It made me want to start building new tabletop models there and then. If like me, you like a bit of satire in your wastelands this novel is for you. There are bike gangs (as a non Harley rider myself Benjamin Wallace hilariously hits the nail on the head), strange townships, entertaining characters (Willie and Coy are brilliant) are car chases and battles.

I think all post apocalyptic fans should read this series of novels. They are funny and challenge many of the post apocalyptic conventions. They are cleverly written and have many satires that the reader can relate to. I cannot recommend these novels enough to Post Apoc fans or anyone else who likes a good read. As I have mentioned in another blog post I measure any novel by “would I read it again?”. I am currently planning on rereading the whole series soon.

Thanks for reading.