Wasteland Wondering - the last city

Welcome back and to another Wasteland Wondering.

I have been playing around with an idea for the last couple of weeks. I had an idea to create the Last City in the Mattblackgod’s world fluff. The idea is in part inspired by the Killing Moon novel Rod Glenn. 

The last city is a strange mix of high tech new buildings, repaired ruins, adobe huts and ramshackle looking huts all protected by compound walls. The compound walls often reflect the township they protect. In between the compounds lie many streets of mostly stripped ruins. Decades of survivors has left most of them empty husks. Even the skeletons have been taken away and recycled.

My thoughts is to make a fortress city run by a loony claiming to be a descendent of the mattblackgod - the planet’s founder. This gives the leader a pseudo religious element which has been used by despots to stay in power for many millennia. 

This city is based from a old government bunker. Unlike the other bunkers this one has the advantage of knowing roughly where the military bunkers, SOS bunkers and Vault locations are. Although finding the local ones wasn’t always easy as the orbital nuclear bombardment has changed the world somewhat. Over the years they have looted and absorbed a few of each bunker. This makes puts them in a very strong position supply and equipment wise. The SOS Bunkers have equipment to manufacture what may be need by the Dwellers to survive. Most of this has been put into use producing weapons and other equipment for the Fortress City.

The new powerful hub of “the government” has attracted lots of wastelanders. As such the ruined city the Last City lies in now has a rough set of barricades miles beyond the Last City. Within the barricades lies several settlements and cities attracted by the security and of the trade advantages the Last City provides. They are left pretty autonomous in terms of governance. The only thing the Last City calls for from each town, settlement and gang territory is tribute to the City. They are also expected to muck in and come out fighting when the city is under threat. 

While the (Matt) Black Guard patrols various parts of the city it is pretty lawless and it is not unknown for battles to break out when disputes occur. The (Matt) Black Guard usually sit it out and then go mop up. Outside the compounds after dark is dangerous as criminals, slavers and what ever may have creeped up from the old world sewers are out hunting. 

Outside the boundaries of the Last City the bandits, tribals, mutants, Trogs (Orks), Mootie men (Grots), Vermen, nomads and small settlements still exist. They are threats to the salvage teams that make a living stripping and looting the corpse of the old world. 

The plans are to move my more “civilised” creations/places into one area to allow conflicts and trade to occur. There will be some new factions and the combining of some others. Hopefully this idea will allow me to develop new city districts in the future. 

Most of my military type units will be assigned to the (Matt) Black Guard. While any new figures added will get stylish new black armour and mixed uniform colours. I will mix and match figure styles to reflect the looted styles of kit. 

The Last City and its environs are hungry for old world materials and items. While scrap metal, glass and plastics are traded to be recycled then refined into fresh usable materials. Rubble is also treated in this manner. Fuel is cooked up by various groups. Different groups and gangs will hold responsibility for different city areas. 

Power and water is supplied by the Fortress City to the smaller townships, settlements and bases. Which is another strangle hold the city keeps. The larger players have their own power and water supplies. Food is grown or caught by many. Plus some townships specialise in producing synthetic foods. 

There will be more ideas as I develop the factions. I have to be careful that I this doesn’t end up a full on RPG. 

I got fed up with all my main factions being spread all over the MBW map this idea allows more interaction. Now it’s time to go find a suitable large city map I can use for inspiration.

Thanks for reading. Take care out there.

Yet more 15mm terrain

Hello and welcome back. 

It’s been a challenging week or two here at matt-black towers but I have managed to get some 15mm terrain finished. 

Some random metal things, skeletal remains of a dead world long gone. Who knows what they were or what purpose they served? These will serve as LOS blocks, shelters or loot objectives. They may even have something unpleasant living in there!

These are a few left over bits from Robogear hex platformer kits. I am determined to use the last bits up. 

This platform was from a platformer kit. Hopefully it will allow figures to get to higher levels in games or serve as a starship gantry platform in my Sci Fi Wild Galaxy setting.

Another bit of random scatter - the big cog. Who knows what this came from? This was a cog from a plastic toy, glued to a bit of gift card and flocked. Cheap, simple and easy terrain. It may even see action in 28mm scale too.

Some more scatter items that will also serve as objectives/stashes. These are resin items supplied by Alternative Armies. 

The barrel colours are chosen to be water (white, blue or with a white cross), fuel (red or Red Cross) or random chemicals. What is in them is anyone’s guess.

The crates got markings too. Red = ammo, green = scrap/junk, white = food, blue = energy cells and the Red Cross for what is obviously medical supplies. 

There are further plans to create more scatter terrain.  There are also a pile of resin shacks by white dragon that have been screaming for attention for a couple of years.

Thanks for looking and stay safe out there. 

Hobby progress & bingo card

Hello and welcome back to my blog. 

Just a quick update on this years hobby progress. Back at the start of the year I set a aim of getting 104 figures painted this year, so 2 figures a week.

Here we are in week 23. So where am I at numbers wise? 

Figures painted: 48

Figures reworked: 1

Terrain finished: 15

I am above the weekly aim by two. Working on 15mm scale has gotten the numbers up quite a lot. Once good thing about the scale is how quickly you can paint figures. The extra time from the lockdown has helped too. 

I have been working on my hobby bingo card, it is getting there. 

Will I get it filled? I hope so.

Thanks for reading. 

Take care out there. 

More 15mm terrain.

I have been busy this week working on bits of 15mm terrain. 

After my last game I realised that my table was looking a bit bare. I am a huge fan of crowded tables with lots of cover. It is a good way to balance well armed forces with poorly armed forces. Plus it looks great visually. This has lead me to a big scatter terrain push. Most of these new bits will be dual use for both post apocalyptic and Sci Fi. 

Some shattered pipes. Who knows what could be hidden in there? Mutant? Stash? A wasteland crazy? The warlord’s lost sock?

These are a part of a universal scaled set I am working on to make a shattered looking wasteland. The hill sections are still WIP. 

The pipes are cut up cardboard tube from inside a kitchen foil roll. They are based on poster board. 

Some old civilian transport pods.

As well as scatter they may serve as loot opportunities. Tech, parts or something that was being transported? Maybe it was used as a stash site? I got a pack of 4 of these from Critical Mass Games a couple of years back. I thought they would make nice wrecks while the remaining pods will see action on my Sci Fi boards, if I ever get around to making them.

They are hot glued to poster board.

Cargo containers are often used for storage and often in post apocalyptic settings, housing. These are made by Brigade Games. 

A common feature of most wastelands is shattered trees. Survivors have long since dragged off any useable wood. 

I am not sure where I got these, they where supplied by a seller on Amazon over a year ago. They are multiscaled so should work with my Hotwheels scale and 28mm stuff.

There is more terrain bits in the pipeline - stay tuned!

Thanks for reading. 

Stay safe out there. 

Oasis town

Hello and welcome back.

Next up is the first township in my 15mm PA world. Oasis lies on the edge of the dried up sea in a territory known as the Dune Sea. The township is kept alive by a small heavily guarded spring. The small town lies within the territory of the Immortals bandit clan. An uneasy truce lies between Oasis and the Immortals as they need a friendly trading post for supplies. The Immortals have claimed the town and provide extra security. 

Oasis security guards - a mix of GZG colonial marines and HOF Security Force Alpha figures by Alternative Armies. 

To the south of Oasis lies an old city buried in the sands. Ruined skyscrapers push out of the sands like the fingers of the dead pointing accusingly at the skies. Oasis is visited by traders looking for tech and salvagers risking the ruins. That is a risky prospect as the old ruins are not only dangerous but also haunted by ghouls, mutants, wild dogs and Immortal patrols. 

Oasis is also the last watering hole for those wishing to try crossing the dried up sea. Most are never seen again. The townspeople suspect that the travellers die of heat or thirst out in the sands. No one has ever gone out there to investigate/salvage the wrecks. It is possible something or someone worse lurks out there. Why go stir up extra trouble? 

Oasis has a population of 32. The trading post (Drabbies Junk) is a general trader supplying junk, scrap, tech, weapons and ammo. Drabbies also carries some interesting technological items built by the Immortals bandits. There is a bar (The last chance) which provides beer, water, food and information at a cost. Vehicle repairs and fuel is supplied by Spanners Mc Gloomy.

Power and lights are provided by a wind farm. 

Oasis is inspired by the tradetown of the same name in the Rage 2 computer game. The rage computer games have lots of inspiration for Sci Fi Post Apoc. The Sci Fi feel of the figures means I can use these as Frontier World colony guards in my Wild Galaxy setting.

Thanks for reading.

Take care out there. 

Recon those shacks - batrep

Hello and welcome back to my blog out here in the wastelands of the internet.

I actually managed to get a game in, this time the Guardians are off looking for transportation. In 15mm scale. 

Enjoy. 

Wasteland Mutants.

Hello and welcome back to my blog.

An entry in Master Knight Balthazar’s journal. 

We have slowly been going through the remains of the Bushland enclave. Several data pads and data stores have been recovered and we are slowly trying to piece together the history of this place. 

This is a particularly worrying entry found on a data pad.

“Several times now we have run into mutants in the wastelands. From what we know they seem to like living in underground places. The mutants are typically under 1.5 meters in height and have pale skin. Many of these mutants seem to be afflicted with extra limbs or heads. Typically mutants are aggressive, feral and seem to be unable to communicate verbally. Although it seems one in a hundred seems to be able to make sounds that sound like words. There is an chance that these creatures grunts and growls may be a kind of language unintelligible to pure strain humans. 

Mutant horde - these figures are mutated goblins by Ral Partha Europe.

Mutants are easy to deal with when they are alone however their strength lies in numbers. Mutants like to swamp their opponents. 

A couple of Scavs run into Mutants.

Some wastelanders claim that there are intelligent mutants out there who they have actually traded with. Most likely these are camp fire tall tales.

Having taken samples from dead mutants it looks as if the DNA was human based but has been vastly manipulated and it looks to be unstable. Who would create these creatures and why? There is some speculation that these creatures are a failed experiment that either got loose or was dumped in the wastelands.”

This is definitely a concern for our Order and we should try to find more about the origins of these creatures. However there is more. 

“A larger mutant found in the wastelands is called the Abadon. These creatures stand at 2.5 to 3 meters high. Like the smaller mutants they are aggressive and near feral. Although stories tell of them using heavy squad weapons. Unlike their smaller cousins they appear to like living above ground. Often when encountered they have a small following of mutants along side. While the Abadon keeps fighters attention the smaller mutants swarm them. Perhaps there is some intelligence in these creatures?

Abadons - these figures are 15mm Trollkin by Ral Pathra Europe. 

DNA samples suggest that Abadons come from the same genetic stock as the mutants. However it looks to be further manipulated to be more stable and much larger. From what we have seen from our encounters with Abadons is that they lack intelligence and are hard to control. It is our assumption that the same entity who created the mutants further experimented to create a more stable creature with the purpose of possibly being a super solider. However difficulties in controlling the creatures made them unusable. 

A couple of Scavs take on a pair of abadons. 

A mutant horde surprises a couple of Scavs. 

The mutant woes don’t end there. There are more stories from the wastelands of creatures akin to the mutants and abadons. Giant creatures called Crushers. These stand at least 4 meters in height and have great strength. There is many tales of them attacking settlements, far too many for these creature to be a wasteland myth.

Crushers live underground and only come out to hunt. Mutants seem to worship them in a god like way. There are no pictures on file or DNA samples as non of our personnel have run into a Crusher. It is not a massive jump to assume the same entity created these creatures too.”

These entires are concerning not only for our survival here but there must be some lab complexes that created the creatures. Their creators are definitely in violation of our Order’s objectives and must be stopped. When further information is available we will have to contact Titansark to advise them on our finds.

Master Knight Balthazar 

Thanks for reading. Take care out there.

15mm terrain board and new terrain.

Hello and welcome back. 

I have been cobbling some 15mm PA terrain together. But first....here is one I made earlier....

This PA terrain board was started (and finished) a couple of years ago. Life threw a few distractions at me and I forgot about it. This board is a 2 foot square, 2 inch thick blue foam board.

I put some roads on and carved lots of cracks and stuff. The concrete footings are bits of 4mm cork tile. I have some old rubble resin tiles that was supplied by Curtis of Ramshackle games. So I glued a piece in one corner. Lots of sand was glued to make a churned up wasteland. 

Once dried the board was primed with gesso. After this two coats of Vallejo earth brown earth texture paint was added. A brown wash was added to tie it all up. The road was painted dark grey. Some dry brushing and road markings finished the board.

Since taking these pictures I have added some arid static grass just to add a bit more realism. 

Now there is the new shack. This started life as a bunch of left over gift cards. The door is a 25mm recessed base with a card door. Scraps and some bits from Ramshackle games adds detail. The roof hatch and grill are resin bits from GZG games 15mm range. The large window was pressed from a mould made from another model. 

This ruin started life as 5mm blue foam off cuts from another project. One reason I love this scale is that you can use stuff that would usually end up in the bin. It is all based on a CD. The door light is a truck mirror by Ramshackle games. The model got two coats of textured paint, dry brushed, graffitied and static grass added. 

Thanks for looking, stay safe out there. 

15mm scale Guardians

Hello and welcome back to my blog. 

Time for some 15mm fun. 

Fans of my 28mm MBW stuff may remember the Guardians. A quick overview of the faction. The Guardians are a pseudo cult that looks to stop old world technology being misused, usually be seizing control of it. In their creed technology destroyed the world and they seek to limit its use to say the future. Think of a twisted copy of the Brotherhood of Steel from the Fallout video games.

For a some time now the Guardians at Titansark have been picking up an variety of radio signals. Some seem to be from survivors, one is encrypted with a possibility of being generated by another high tech group, there is an automated one from a old government bunker and more intriguing there seems to be a radio station transmitting survival tips - known as Radio Survivor. 

Team Balthazar left Titansark on an old aerial transporter under the cover of night. It was to complete a circuit of the world continent out over the seas triangulating the signals for possible further investigation. This was to try and keep the element of secrecy about the Guardians and the location of Titansark. 

The transporter lost power 2500 miles into it’s journey and plunged into an dried sea bed. Apart from some bruises and scratches the team survived unscathed, largely due to their light power armour. After stripping the crash site of anything they could use they headed towards a nearby headland. 

Up on the old headland they discovered the ruins of a destroyed enclave. After investigating the team found a reasonably intact building that was easy to secure. Within days they had salvaged what they could, built crude barricades and managed to get power running. 

They discovered that the enclave was called Bushland, possibly founded by SOS bunker or Ark survivors. There was no clue to the identity of the raiders or their motives for the attack. 

Once the Bushland radio system was repaired the Guardians used it to get more triangulation of the various broadcasts. Reporting their findings and plight to Titansark they were informed that they were on their own. Senior Knight Balthazar was promoted to Master Knight. Team Balthazar have been tasked with founding a Guardian chapter at Bushland. Radio transmission to Titansark should only be made when vital to keep its location secure. 

They are to continue the Guardians ethic of locating and securing the dangerous technology. They will need to recruit from the local population as there is little chance of reinforcements from Titansark. 

They are not to interfere with the good work of Radio Survivor and assist if possible or needed. Bushland chapter should continue to investigate the sources of the encrypted radio signals but be wary. The originators of the encrypted signals may be hostile to the Guardians. 

The Bushland chapter have found some maps made by the predecessors of the enclave. They highlight possible towns out in the wastelands. The closest is over 40 miles away. They would have to visit the towns for supplies, intel and possible new recruits. 

These figures are Prydian Retained Knight personalities (BALTHAZAR AND JEROME, ELLEN AND RIPLEY) by Ion Age carried by Alternative Armies. 

Thanks for reading. Stay safe out there. 

Wasteland Wondering - 15mm plans

Hello and welcome to another wasteland wondering.

My 15mm post apocalyptic project has been given a kiss of life. I like the scale for many reasons. Quick to paint, cheap, easy to store, a decent game can be played on a small table, smaller items can be trash bashed into terrain easily. I won’t mention that I have a desire to build some 15mm space ships. 

Currently the plan was to recreate MBG world in 15mm. However I have taken this opportunity to reimagine MBW. This started with the creation of Drop City a while back. 

So far the 15mm plan is to mix elements from MBW with inspirations take from the Toxic World Series of novels, Rage 1 & 2 video games, 2000 AD and the Mad Max video game. Although if I am honest what ever else catches my attention will probably end up getting added.

I like the Rage video games as they are quite high tech wastelands based on a apocalypse that happens in the future which ties in with the feel of MBW. There is a some stealing of ideas from the maps of these games. I aim to create versions of the townships found in these games.  The advantages of a bunch of rag tag high tech figures is that these can also be used for frontier world town militas. 

So what else is planned?

The ghouls will be staying as I have already painted them. There will be a change of direction from the critters of the Fallout universe. These ghouls are human degenerates. Addiction to the Kraptoidiots drug Stonk has left them chemically lobotomised, reverting to an animalistic state. 

Of course Kraptoidiots corporation will be turning up too. Again I have to decide what figures to use for them. 

Mutants exist across the world. These are thought to be failed genetic experiments to creat super soldiers. Whoever created them didn’t destroy their failed creations but dumped them in the wastelands where they have spread. Nearly all mutants are feral and are often limited to using basic hand weapons. Most mutants are small in size (3 to 4 foot) and attack in groups attempting to overwhelm attackers with sheer numbers. They often live alongside ghouls/humanimals. There are larger mutants call Abadons who stand around 8 to 9 foot high. They are sometimes accompanied by mutants. The largest mutants found in the wastelands are the Crushers who often stand around 10 to 12 foot high although they can sometimes be larger. Mutants worship them as gods and a Crusher nest often has large numbers of mutants living with them. 

The Authority are a big protagonist in the Rage video games. They act as oppressors of the wastelands. I am thinking of creating a faction to act like these high tech oppressors. 

GELFs (Genetically Engineered Life Form) may also turn up. Orks (Trogs), Grots and Vermen are on the cards. 

There are a few other ideas rattling about in my skull which I hope to reveal if my inspiration doesn’t run dry before then. 

I would like to make various gangs of bandits too. Let’s see how it goes.

World map wise I am thinking about using a super continent so all the elements I have created can in theory go knock the snot out each other on the table top without needing to cross seas. 

Keep watching. 

Thanks for reading and stay safe out there.