Aerocity

Welcome back to my blog Wanderer. Today we are looking at another long established settlement on mattblackgod’s World - Aerocity

Aerocity is a mishmash of hangers, terminal building, old vehicle wrecks and abandoned aircraft converted into buildings all contained behind a defensive scrap wall in what was a old airport. There is electricity, lights, bars, workshops, an arsenal and black thumb/Mek garages. The central control tower of the airport is the hub of command & defence. It has a lookout/sniper nest built on top it. 

When the end came refugees fleeing the firestorm hid in an nearby airport. It seemed to be the only place to have any shelter for them.  It soon became apparent that the airport had lots of useful resources for the survivors. Materials, shelter, abandoned luggage, fuel, tools and more. It wasn’t long until other smaller bands of survivors hiding there (mostly made up of airport/hanger/airline personnel) joined the new arrivals. In the weeks that followed they used the airport machinery to build barricades while covered by their comrades using looted airport security weapons. 

The strong arm of Aerocity 

As time went on they sent teams to salvage weapons and kit from the ruins. Food was grown in planters on roof tops, while the contaminated airfield was sown for fuel producing crops.  The city even has a small orchard providing apples, almonds and olives. Water is collected from atmospheric water distillers constructed across the site. The city uses all manner of aircraft bits to generate power. 

Aerocity trades with scavengers and traders for items they may need. The city has metals, parts, fuel, weapons, reconditioned oils and vehicles are items they have to trade. 

Tactical squad deploys. T markings on the helmets. Squad No1 as marked on the shoulder pads.

The city has grown since it was first founded with a estimated population of 450. The walls have been moved at least twice to accommodate the growing population. There is a outsider compound where traders and travellers can trade and stay without entering the city proper. This provides the residents a rare sense of security. The compound is watched and any trouble is met with a heavy hand. Squads of Aerocity warriors wearing old body armour look like something from the old times patrol the walls and gates. They employ a Big un to provide extra muscle. The massive flak cannon he carries tends to make people behave. 

There is stories about the faction owning a fearsome flame thrower war rig (possibly an converted 6 wheel airport fire engine), an actual working oldworld medium tank and some operational light aircraft. These may just be stories possibly generated to keep various Warlord’s hordes away. 

The assault squad deploys. A markings on their helmets. This is Squad No2 as marked on the shoulder pads.  

The Aerocity guards are old plastic 40K RT 1st ed era imperial guard with later 40k arms/weapons. I picked them up from eBay. I touched the figures up. An old plastic combat zone trooper with some putty shoulder pads Is also added. The 40K RT IG medic is also a rework I got from eBay. 

The sniper is a metal grenadier figure recruited from older retired faction.  The Ogryn acts as support. 

The plans are to grow this faction with extra rag tag units. I have been on a Oldhammer kick as such I have a handful of the metal versions of the old 1st ed 40k Imperial Guard , some very early IG figures (same helmet but different armour and 2 piece uniform) and mercenaries/pirates and adventures. Any unit shortfalls will get figures I have from other lines, just to mix it up.

Thanks for looking, stay safe out there. 

The court of Baron Schmitt

Hello and welcome back to my little place in the wastelands of the internet. Let’s look at Schmittville - and the court of Baron Schmitt. 

Schmittville lies in what was a oldworld industrial estate a days march east from Rubbleborg. Behind the clay brick lined scrap walls there lies a warren of old factories, old skips, dumpsters & vehicles converted into homes and plenty of ramshackle huts. There is very little power here. All light is provided by crude torches and oil burning lamps. 

The Baron rules with a iron fist relying on fear to control his people. He takes slaves to work the clay mine. Townsfolk are bullied by the Baron’s Enforcers and Goons. Those who offend the Baron end up as slaves in the clay mine or brick factory. Some offenders are beaten, stripped and taken out into the wastelands then left to fend for themselves. The hope is that in addition to the beating and humiliation bandits or a wasteland nasty will finish the troublemaker, if the harsh conditions don’t finish them first. Some survive long enough to be saved by traders who allow them to work off the debt for saving them. One unfortunate got captured by slavers who sold him back to the Baron the next day, much to the Baron’s amusement.

Schmittville’s major trade is clay bricks, pots and crockery. In addition to this they also produce home made hazmat suits from the massive stores of rubber sheet found in one of the factories. If asked the Baron has other trade assets. One of the factories has old stores of magnesium, copper sheet and aluminium ingots. The township has no use for them nor do they know what to use these items. He may also trade slaves who prove useless. 

Regular scavenging and salvage runs are made into the nearby ruins to keep the town supplied. Rad ghouls are a very real danger in those ruins. 

The Baron likes to trade with Slavers but isn’t beyond sending teams of Goons out to raid settlements for fresh slaves.

As the complex lies close to the old road the Baron has travellers and merchants delayed unless a tribute is paid. To get around this traders on the Trashford - Piean - Rubbleborg trade run will often call into Schmittville to trade as this avoids the tribute. 

Grandson of the first Baron of Schmittville the current Baron is a cruel man who rules Schmittville with a iron hand. He will not think twice of trying to rip off traders. As such he has a reputation in the wastelands as slimey, dishonest and untrustworthy. The Baron is one of the few township leaders who is happy about the Britannians and is willing to join them, for the right deal. 

The Barons wife Eleanor, is a self indulgent individual. As a born Schmitviller she doesn’t trust her husband and knows that as soon as she stops being useful to the Baron she will be discarded. But for now she has a lot of power and status. So why not enjoy it?

Wally is Lady Schmitt’s pet um...pooch I guess. Wally is a weird creature brought from the Shriek swamps by a trader. It is a strange mix of dog and frog. The Lady Schmitt fell in love with the creature. It is loyal and acts as her bodyguard. She has the town’s metal worker make it some armour for the pooch.

Krawford is the head of the Enforcers and is known as the “Baron’s Watchdog”. He is now too old for active duty and relies on other Enforcers and Goons to enforce the Baron’s will. The Baron keeps him around for his iron will and ability to psychologically break people during interrogations. 

Nunk is Schmittville’s techmonancer. He is one of the few people to use electricity in the township, provided by an ancient generator. Nunk is a mutant who came to Schimttville as a slave. His talents with ancient technology proved to useful to the Baron and he was invited to join the court. 

Guy is the Baron’s Head Goon. He is renowned for shutting down the area 31 riots by spraying the rioters with his automatic shotgun. Guy is a non nonsense character who lives by the rules. Guy leads Goon squads around the settlement and mine enforcing the Barons will. 

The court of Baron Schmitt is various figures by Blind Beggar Games. 

Thanks for looking. Stay safe out there Wanderer. 

Next rework in the queue.

Hello and welcome back Wanderer. 

There has been quite a bit going on with figure painting and planning new factions. I will get them posted up as soon as I get the background fluff written up. 

Meanwhile it’s time to fix up this bad boy and update it. The model fell off a shelf last year.

This piece was my first fully detailed interior model which I made around 15 years back. The inspiration for it came from a place I worked in. The design is set out so a 25mm base can move around inside.

The walls are foam board and the base & roof are cork board. The planters on the roof are old electrical connector caps filled with greenery. The tool cupboard, cupboard and filling cabinet came from a cheap Chinese garage set. 

Lots of bits from the bits box turned up including some bottles and bits from a tavern set (Grendel maybe?). The bed is scratch built from balsa, paper and putty. The chairs are chopped down oil barrels with cushions made from milliput. The stove/heater is another cut up oil barrel with card door. Lots of posters printed off from the web, the owner one ‘Mad Dan’ likes the goth female form. 

Time to repair - the corner of the roof has gone. The sign needs replacing. The exterior needs some paint touching up and will get the PA weathering. Inside may get some new details too depending on what is laying about. 

Keep watching for the next update. 

Thanks for looking. Take care out there. 

Terrain updates

Hello and welcome back Wanderer. 

I have been working on some terrain lately. 

First up is a quick wasteland ruin. What it was, nobody knows. From this distance it looks pretty intact.

This model started life as a card packing piece from some electrical item. 

It had a couple of cut outs which ruined the lines. My choices where to cover them up or do something with them. I made a rough looking doorway out of one, the other became a nasty looking hole. A bit of gift car makes a nice bit of detail above the door. 

After trimming the reinforcing edge off the packing piece I glued to the model some thick cardboard to reinforce the structure. Chimneys/exhaust stacks where added from old plastic drinking straws left over from the Triple tower rework. 

Seems legit.

After a black undercoat the whole model got a slightly gritting textured paint. Then it was sprayed with grey primer. A heavy white dry brush then brought out the detail. Heavy rust colours (dark browns and oranges) was added to the pipes. After which the model got a couple of dark brown washes. A little detail graffiti was added to finish it off.A quick and easy model.

My old city/fortress gates recently got a rework. Looking through the model collection I noticed a corner piece of the walls had sustained damaged (when a shelf collapsed). After a bit of repair work and some new detail on the wall top, the whole model was coated in light grey. 

A heavy white dry brush followed. The compulsory black and dark brown washes followed. The metalwork had new paint too. After which some new graffiti was added. I have some tamyia effects so I tried getting some nice rust wash off the metal plates on the top of the wall. It is quite subtle but looks effective. A quick coat of Matt varnish was added to seal the weathering. Finished - another rework added to the pile.

Over ten years ago I was heavily inspired by the Stalker computer games. As such I made lots of abandoned industrial terrain to recreate the battles on the tabletop. Fast forward to me checking the model collection ready to go to BYOL 18 and I found that the plates on top of this model had warped. I removed them to rework the piece. 

Originally the model was made from a CD as a base, 4 plastic bottle tops, 4 Yakut bottles and some scraps of diamond pattern plastic card to make the walkways.

18 months later I finally got my finger out. Scraps of gift card made up the new walk ways. One thing my models don’t have enough of is human remains, so a old citadel plastic skeleton was added to the base. A quick paint job and this is ready to return to the wastelands. 

Thanks for looking, take care out there Wanderer. 

Watertower B2 - terrain rework

Hello Wanderer, welcome back. Grab a brew and enjoy the view of the Rubbleborg water towers.

Back at Smash n Grab’s Block house in Rubbleborg...

“Grab....”

“Yes Smash” replied Grab wearily. Smash’s constant dumb questions sometimes wore on Grab’s nerves. 

“Where does the ‘Borg get all it’s clean water from? There is no lake or river near here. That big river a couple of miles away is too tox to drink or even wash in. Melts ya skin right off it does”. It wasn’t quite that bad, Smash was prone to over exaggeration. 

“Come with me Smash” Grab stood up and walked out the Blockhouse. Smash looked blankly through his gas mask and followed his friend outside.

“Yer see Smash, they pump it out of a giant underground lake deep underground through big pipes. They then store it some big tanks from the old times above the ground” Grab looked at Smash. Smash stood there dumbly waiting for the next question to form. 

“Water tanks Smash” Grab exclaimed hurriedly before Smash went off on frustrating tangent.

“Big containers that store things - not the old army type tanks!” Grab explained. Grab often wondered if his friend was really that dumb or if he just did it to annoy him. It didn’t help that Smash only took his gas mask off to eat, drink or wipe the inside. He even slept in it. You couldn’t get a visual clue as to what was going through his mind. It was the ultimate in dead pan face. 

“That’s why they built the fort here after the end times. Some Warlord chick called Vali had it built. The fortress fell during the Mutant war, but the mutants of the mutant temple only wanted to kill anyone who wasn’t mutated or didn’t want to join them, see? So they left the fortress and most of the stuff after killing everyone.”

“Damn Muto culties- those guys where nuts, my old Dad tole me all about them” 

“Are nuts Smash, the mutant cultist are still living in the Blasted ruins”

“Crud? Really? Let’s not go there Grab”

“That dump is the last place I ever want to see. Besides I like my insides to stay inside me. Let Trashford and Brittianna deal with those mutant temple psychos.”

“Anyway. Now look over there Smash” said Grab pointing to a large tower.

“See that tower there? That’s where the keep it. Millions of gallons. As much as anyone could ever want”

“Wow - so that’s what that is and why there are guards!”

“If anyone is get in there...it’s not going to be you!”

This bit of terrain is a rework. In fact this is the third refresh it has had during it’s life time. 

Long long ago back in the midsts of time I had several left over pringles tubes after the Christmas holiday. 

The tower in its first life. 

Now as any recycling centre will tell you - Pringles tubes are notoriously difficult to recycle. Something to do with aluminium inner with cardboard outer fused to it. Like many wargamers on the planet I decided to upcycle them into something useful for the table. The Pringles towers are good for hunt the sniper games and the model saw games of EM4’s Combat Zone with corporate teams hunting a fleeing gang. A lone sniper covered their retreat. They got away but the sniper couldn’t keep the troops at bay. Snap fire from a high point took the sniper out. 

Inspired by the grain silos at Seaforth docks down the road from where I live I built the triple tower. The top level was some foam board/foam core. The mesh on top was from a piece of scrap net curtain. The edges was made from cereal packet card. Railings around the platform was built from a wire mesh panel. A 1:50 scale ladder was sourced. The control panel came from a cheap knockoff Lego toy with a steering wheel from a 1:35 truck kit. 1:35 scale kits donated the tool boxes. The base was a scrap of hardboard I had laying about. Kitty litter and sand gave it texture. The whole thing was sprayed with grey car primer. 

Roll on a few years and I decided to add it to my Sci Fi collection. A few pipes made from drinking straws was added. Printed off hazard stripes where added around the hatch. The base got repainted and the towers switched colours to white. Some blue bands and markings where added to match the terrain set I had at the time. To finish it off the towers got some Krom Corporation logos added. Krom Corporation was the fictional corporation I created for the Sci Fi setting. It owned the facility and the Red Lance force (Old Void Viridians) was their military security force (now reworked as Queen Miranda’s body guard and Guardians factions - see recent blog posts).

Roll on a few more years and I was feeling that the tower was looking a little too clean for my tastes. Firstly it helps for me to know what the tower will store. Someone suggested fuel. Sadly to my mind this amount of fuel would be a real hazard. One stray bullet and Booooom! The local warlord will be setting fire to the shooter on a hill top faster than you can say “Guzzoline” for destroying his precious fuel supply. I decided on clean water storage, after all it is probably one of the most important post apocalyptic survival commodities despite what the Mad Max franchise tells us. 

New additional pipe work (inlet from the underground aquifer) was added along with a water pipe, all made from plastic drinking straws. A couple of repair patches where added to the towers. Up top a resin door by Ramshackle Games was added to platform to act as a access panel. After painting the new bits I added some stencilling from a set I bought to use with Mantic’s Deadzone sets. A few washes and then some graffiti was added. My good lady enjoyed helping with his part. The jury is still out for me about using sharpie pens for graffiti. While it is easy and fast it something about it looks not right to me. Maybe I should stick to brushes? The graffiti was followed by a few more washes and runs. 

The base was a little warped. I tried to surgically remove it but it turns out the glue didn’t want to remove without destroying the model. That only left the option of fixing it. I tried a few coats of paint on the bottom which didn’t work. Even a couple of coats of PVA glue didn’t work. Eventually I dampened the base on both sides and clamped it to the work table then left it to dry out. It took the worst out of the warping. 

Smash and Grab beg for a drink.

The whole thing was finished off with some resin water coming out the pipe, some plant life - I put greener plants nearer the water pipe and finally a resin case from Ramshackle games up top as yet more tools.

I intend to use the towers as mainly as a terrain backdrop. It will be handy for snipers too. I can see a town spotter using the towers to keep a eye open for trouble. Hmmm maybe I should have added a siren? 

As a game objective - gangs can attempt to steal the water, hostile factions could try and poison it (namely the Mutant Temple, the Matt Black Cult or Brittianna), local gangs could try and dope it (as a laugh) or maybe destroy it (the kind of stunt Wasteland Loonies groups like the Anarchy All Stars would try to pull off). As well as Rubbleborg it could be water storage for Angel Springs (my Post apoc water sellers) or even used in any major settlement. 

Thanks for looking and stay safe out there.

Here come the Guardians

Welcome back Wanderer, typical isn’t it? No decent blog posts for a while and then loads arrive at once. Just like souped up V8s in the in the post apocalyptic wastelands. 

In this blog post......

Here come the Guardians!

The Guardians came from a military bunker that they weathered the nuclear firestorm in.  Long ago they decided long ago that humanity couldn’t be trusted with technology especially advanced weapons. Their aim is to collect high tech weaponry and equipment with the intention of keeping them from irresponsible hands. Although everyone else see them as hoarders who are grabbing all the good stuff for themselves. 

With their power armour and superior weapons they often bully wastelanders into giving up their weapons and kit. This makes them very unpopular. The Guardians are always questing for lost bunkers and military facilities to search for equipment.

There is several classes of Guardian. Patrols are often of mixed classes of Guardian. Guardians of each class need to be able to identify items of interest and operate the more common technologies of the ancients. 

Gamma class Guardians make up the majority of Guardians (red helmet stripes and shoulder pad), equipped with salvaged combat armour and a variety of weapons. The most powerful is the whirlwind harness. Equipped with a gauss machine gun, cutting claw and two batteries of rockets gives an edge over most wasteland opponents. The Gamma class Guardians are Epirians from Maelstroms Edge.

Epsilon class Guardians are often equipped with Void class power armour (although other varieties of power armour is used) and usually some form of heavy SMG. They are the veterans of the Clan. Orange shoulder flashes and helmet strips denote this class of Guardian with leaders wearing blue shoulder flashes. These are old plastic void viridians I have had for a while. In a previous life they where Red Lance troops. 

They are pictured here (above) with an old Battle Droid which can give heavy support although assets such as these are usually reserved for protecting bases.

Group shot with Kappa class Guardian Sheila D’Eath.

The Guardians main bunker is in a secret location and it deploys semi independent Chapters across the wastelands as they see the need. There is currently two deployed chapters. One is in the ruins of Matt Black City trying to discover the secrets of the Trogs and the other deployed in the Brittianna wastelands keeping an eye on the city’s technological development and growth. 

The Guardians are inspired by Fallout’s Brotherhood of Steel. They are quite a force now and I can see them growing as I add other ranks and classes. Gamma class may see other types of combat armoured figures added to mix up the look of the force. It is possible some 4TK power armour suits and heavy power armour suits may be added in future.

Thanks for looking and avoid the dudes in power armour! 

Queen Miranda’s Bodyguard

Hello and welcome back, for a change I am going to post about some miniatures- just in case all the terrain is getting boring. 

Pictured above is Queen Miranda's personal bodyguard equipped with old Void power armour salvaged from an old bunker. When the Brittianna Queen is in danger they form a human shield around her using the ballistic shields to give yet more protection. 

Sometimes they are deployed in the field with the Queen’s Own defence company who are equipped with the 4TK Mk1 variant power armour. 

These figures are old plastic void viridians that I have had for a while. In a previous life they where the Red Lance troops. They got painted in Brittianna’s colours. 

Thanks for looking and take care out there. 

Fogou Models Block House and Hecksreach Barricades

Welcome back Wanderer, pull up a old tyre and take the weight off. In this post we will look at the Fogou Models Block house and Hecksreach barricades.

Late last year I decided to buy some Fogou Models bits, namely the Block house and Hecksreach barricades. One thing my post apoc city is missing is barricades or walls around various buildings. I know barricades are easy to make but the Fogou ones look so good. 

The Fogou bits looked very good. Nicely detailed heavy resin. The resin requires a good primer as the resin is paint hungry. After priming I got side tracked and several months later I got around to slapping some paint on them.

The models paint up well and I enjoyed giving them a quick paint job. Topped off with a dark brown wash just to tone it down and to give it that dirty post apocalyptic look. 

The barricades come in several pieces and a movable gate post. Lots of nice detail on them. 

The block house is nicely detailed. The door is a separate piece. I added a little graffiti and a poster.

Inside the blockhouse is detailed too. I added a few posters to make the residents feel at home. 

In all I am very pleased with the Fogou models. There is a good amount of detail and they are not fragile. It made me pull the trigger on the recent Fortress Kickstarter, which I look forward to getting painted. 

Thanks for looking and take care out there.