New Loot

Some new loot landed on the doormat (kind of - I had to collect it from my next door neighbour who was surprised at the weight of the parcel)...14 pounds of Fogou resin goodness from their recent Fortress kickstarter.

The casts look good with lots of detail. I am happy with the quality of the castings too. Fogou casts in a heavy resin which holds detail well and is fairly robust. I currently have some of their stuff on the paint table and it paints up well. It needs a good primer though as the resin absorbs paint. 

It looks like their will be a lot of painting in my future. I better go visit the various blogs of painting this set up. The chances are it will be a quick and dirty paint job.

Thanks for looking, stay safe out there.

Interesting Times

Hello and welcome back to my blog.

Long time no post, many apologies. Life has been interesting...like the old Chinese curse. Don’t worry some hobby time has been found. 

I was unable to go to BOYL Oldhammer event at Foundry Miniatures for various personal reasons. It’s a shame as I had blast last year. It was nice to meet other like minded individuals and put some names to faces. 

It was just as well I didn’t go. We wouldn’t have got there. My car has been giving me expensive headaches recently. Last Friday (the first day of BYOL) whilst bimbling through Liverpool, it decided to rip its oil pump to bits. It was going to be an expensive fix which would require a new oil pump, a full engine strip and clean to ensure there was no swarf lurking anywhere else. Better to be around the corner from my house than on a motorway looking forward to a great weekend I suppose. So all the headaches of vehicle disposal, car hire and new car hunting followed. Thankfully that all seems to be sorted for now. 

Still I have enjoyed all the pictures of the BYOL games I have seen on Facebook and on various blogs. Some inspirational stuff there. It also makes me realise that I need to get some games in. 

Hobby wise I have been working on some terrain builds. They are still work in progress. There is a bunker, a wreck, an industrial pump thing and a watch tower. 

I have been reworking an old bit of terrain. A industrial silo thing that was far too clean for its own good. New detail and some weathering has been added. It needs some added bits to finish. 

For the wastelands I am working on a Guardians faction (inspired by Fallouts Brotherhood of Steel) using Maelstroms Edge Epirans and some new bandits made from the bits box. I am also working on court of Baron Schmitt - the leader of Schmittville using Blind Beggar Figure. 

Bitza bandits with parts from all over. 

Another job that has been annoying me was the painted figures pile. I have finally organised them and labelled the various factions/gangs. This is so I can locate them when I want them rather than spend hours trying to find a particular gang. So far my wastelands has over 80 gangs and factions. I now have a nice list of them all to just to ensure I don’t miss any. It also made me think a new faction map may be in order. 

Sorting the lead and looking at the unpainted pile I have been getting lots of new warband ideas. I hope to get some of them sorted in the next couple of years. 

Thanks for looking. Take care out here.

Wasteland Wondering - 6 month update

Hello and welcome back to my blog. 

So we have been wandering for half the year and how is my hobby progress going? The totals so far are:

Figures painted:22

Figures reworked:3

Terrain finished: 8

Terrain reworked: 2

Vehicles finished: 1

Vehicles reworked: 1

Not as many as I hoped. But then real life keeps butting in. Things haven’t been helped by my cats constantly demanding attention and the purchase of a new motorbike. Not to mention the old bike getting plagued by electrical gremlins. 

Recently it was my birthday and my lovely wife bought me the Deadzone game and Beyond the gates of Antares. Lots of new high tech figures armoured for the wastelands. I foresee a lot of figure assembly in my future. Inspired by the Fallout Universe I have a few faction ideas for the various new figures. As the world was in the grips of war towards the end, these figures will be the descendants of various military groups who serve settlements (or in some cases rule them). 

As I have new military figures I have been considering what sort of society would be needed to support a group of warriors. In modern society the most civilised places the ratio of military to civilians is around 3 to 6 per 1000 civilians. The highest is North Korea with 53 per 1000 civilians. I would expect the ratio to dramatically climb during wartime. 

Now this seems a bit low for post apocalyptic societies. Looking at medieval times there was a 1 in 14 ratio. Sadly there are no numbers for the dark ages or further back. As the post apocalyptic world is dangerous nearly everyone would be a fighter however only a handful would stand while everyone will bolt if a escape route presents. Militias would exist but would mostly be active when danger approaches and then go back to their normal lives when not needed. My thinking that the ratio would be nearer 1 in 10 or even 1 in 5 ratios. So a group of say 10 warriors would need a settlement of 50 to 100 bodies to support it. 

Just my thinking.

Thanks for looking and here is to a creatively productive 6 months. 

Stay safe out there.

The Styx Brothers

Hello and welcome back. 

Look out lads, the Styx Brothers are in town!  

The Styx Brothers are Strontium Dogs bounty hunters who seem to excel at the job. They have fallen foul of fellow Strontium Dog Johnny Alpha as they play dirty and steal bounties usually after the hard work has been done. They don’t think twice about shooting another Strontie in the back to steal a bounty. This has lead to a feud between the bounty hunters. 

The Styx Brothers have a unusual mutation in that they all look and sound identical. So pinning down a wrong doing by them is near impossible. There also seems to be an inexhaustible supply of Styx Brothers. The Styx Brothers come from the township of Styx which lies about a days march North of the Iron Tower Ruins. Few people have visited the remote township but those who have report that everyone there looks identical. No women have been seen there leading to speculation that the town houses a ancient cloning device. 

The Styx Brothers are from Foundry 2000AD line (the dynamically posed one who is slightly bulkier) and Strontium Dog: The Stix Brothers by Warlord Games. 

The figures painted up quickly and would have a variety of wasteland uses as bounty hunters, law men or some warlord’s henchmen. 

Thanks for looking and stay safe out there. 

More Stronties for the wastelands.

Hello and welcome back from your wasteland wandering. 

Today we have three more bounty hunter “Strontium Dogs” and friends of Johnny Alpha for your entertainment. These guys provide backup for Johnny when Brittianna City slaps a big bounty on an entire settlement or gang. 

I am using these figures in my own setting on matt black god’s world and they have their back stories tweaked to fit (just like every other figure on this blog)

Middenface McNulty:

Often drunk and great in close combat is Middenface McNulty. The Pictish mutant bounty hunter is a loyal friend of Johnny Alpha but can be bad tempered and hot headed.

Durham Red:

This dangerous mutant looks pretty normal at first glance but closer inspection shows sharp fangs. Durham Red has a unusual Vampirism mutation. Her mutation allows Red to be stronger and faster than normal humans with the draw back that she needs to drink blood to survive. Preferably human. In combat the smell of blood can cause her to lose control and start drinking the blood of her enemies or enter a blood rage. Needless to say Red’s needs cause her to be driven out of many settlements but if she can stay focused she is a formidable foe.

Maeve the Many-Armed:

Hailing from a land across the sea west of Rubbleborg, Maeve landed one dark and stormy night. Her multiple arms proved useful in combat and she drifted inland in search of the Mutant Temple lost in the Blasted Ruins. Here she heard of the Strontium Dogs bounty hunters and signed up. 

When questioned about her homeland across the sea Maeve evades and changes the subject. 

These figures are all from the Strontium Dog: SD Agents by Warlord Games.

Thanks for looking and stay safe out there.

Six Legged Mary

Hello and welcome back. 

Introducing Six legged Mary. Originally hailing from the Blasted ruins around Trashford, Six legged Mary is a mutant who now works as a barmaid in Rubbleborg’s seedy bars while avoiding the amorous advances of Mayor B’sturd (he is a leg man). She also likes to act as bait for bandits and outlaws when the town’s sheriff is out criminal hunting. 

Six legged Mary is a mutant figure by Ramshackle Games I have knocking about for a while. 

Thanks for looking and stay safe out there.

Franki of Schmittville

Hello and welcome back. 

Let me introduce Franki. Franki is an enforcer for Baron Schmitt of Schmittville were she wanders around the Sectors and the clay mine terminating anyone not pulling their weight. 

Franki is from a Steampunk type line (Warmachine probably) I got many years back for my Garbage force. The figure was converted with odds & ends from the bitsbox of doom but has now had a new head swap and put to work in Schmittville. I messed her eyes up but it gives her a mutilated/mutated look so I will leave it.

World note: 

Schmittville lies approximately a day and half’s march due east of Rubbleborg. It is a township that grew out the remains of an industrial estate. More information on the township when I start populating it. 

Thanks for looking and avoid Franki. 

The outhouse.

Hello there, welcome back.

Every settlement or town needs a outhouse or dunny. Some might say that settlements need more than one of these. What extravagance! When I was a wee wastelander we had to go in a hole in the ground and hope something nasty isn’t lurking nearby to catch you unawares.

This resin hut is by Ramshackle Games.

Thanks for looking and don’t forget to flush. 

Puffball plants

Hello and welcome back. 

The end wars of Mattblackgod’s world saw many toxins, biological and mutagenic toxins thrown about the planet. As these have seeped into the soil and water table it is hardly surprising that the world sees weird and wonderful mutations. The Puffball plant is one example.

The noticeable feature of the Puffball plant is the large red sacks which when disturbed burst, releasing a cloud of toxic spores which can intoxicate and even kill. The careless find themselves coming to hours later with a headache from hell. The really unlucky ones find themselves stripped of anything of use or value.

Savvy wastelanders often herd opponents towards Puffball plants and then shoot the Puffball’s to gain a edge over their enemy. Wasteland Shamans harvest the puffballs to use during their “ceremonies”. 

The Puffball plants  are Na'Alene Scent Traps from the Beyond the Gates of Antares line by Warlord Games.

Thanks for looking and stay safe out there. Oh and don’t stray too close to the Puffball plants. 

Something HUGE comes this way!

Hello and Welcome back to my blog. 

Umm....Something huge comes this way. 

Everyone in the wastelands is familiar with Dungers, bad tempered foul smelling creatures who inhabit the wastelands. From around the campfires tall stores circulate about a giant Dunger living deep in the wild wastelands, the legendary Dungeron. The beast of myth and legend. No one has ever seen it but they still talk about it.

Stories also circulate about a giant white Dungeron roaming the remote wildlands. A beast that is said to be given a god like status by the primitive tribesmen who live near by. This is treated as a even wilder story as drunks try to out do each other with the campfire stories. But are they?

I plan to use the Dungerons in big game hunter like games or as a beast to terrorise the local camps. Although anyone encountering these beasts better be packing some heavy firepower as normal side arms will just make it even angrier. The Dungerons are by Ramshackle games and are very large models. That said they painted up a lot faster than I expected. 

Thanks for looking, stay safe out there and beware the wild Dungeron.