Tonker's Quest - Batrep.

Apologies for the lack of comic layout and my usual detail in my batreps. I have had little time and my camera has decided not to keep the pictures in the order they where shot in. I knew I should have programmed the date into it. Grrrrrr! 

Rules used: - Nuclear Renaissance 2 by Ramshackle games with home brew Scav & encounter tables for the campaign. 

Each force was as near as I could get to 650pts.

In Asylum City the word is out the Princess Vali is looking for more weapons for the Fortress’ armories to aid the city (well more of a small fortified town/post apocalyptic dive) in the ongoing mutant wars. She will pay handsomely for decent weapons and equipment. 

While in the Glowing Lamb Bar a shady character sells a Stalker named Tonker a map. The map is said to be one of Sham’s - a famous wasteland walker who lives at the fortress. 

Tonker looks at the map and soon finds at least two locations not to far away that might have some decent loot. The nearest is some place of the ancients that had warriors in flying machines (if you can believe the guy who sold him the map) lived. A little further on there is what was a base for ancient warriors. If there is anywhere the Stalkers can find cool weapons its at these two locations. 

The ten miles to the airfield are a dangerous slog but it passes without incident. 

The airfield. 

The Stalkers arrive and view the gate to the airfield. 

They spot some movement in the distance....

Some Scavengers....possibly from Scav Town. But why are they this far south?

Upon spotting the Stalkers the Scavs spit up. Some head to the dug out while others charge towards the Stalkers.

Tonker splits his team of Stalkers up. 

He intends to flank the Scavs on each side and use the two rifle men to keep the Scavs pinned down. 

The Rifle bearing Stalkers take first blood.

Tonker and his Stalkers push on down the fence and a fierce fire/arrow fight ensues...

Battle for the gate...

Despite the injured Stalkers Tonker wins through...

Meanwhile the flanking Stalkers and marksmen aren't doing to well. Mitzi faces down the Scav leader but her SMG jams. The Scav leader blasts her with his heavy pistol. 

The Scav leader takes pot shots at the Stalker riflemen keeping them in a panic. They recover and manage to crack off some shots at him causing him to dash around some ruins in an attempt to flank them. He runs straight into the Stalker called Meathead. Screaming Meathead charges the Scav leader swinging his pole weapon made from an old lamp post. 

The Scav leader is no match for the close combat experienced Meathead. 

"That's for Mitzi you snecker!" Meathead spits. 

Meathead then pushes down the other flank taking out a hiding Scav wielding a home made spear made from an old yard brush. 

The remaining Scavs armed only with bows flee the battlefield. 

Aftermath: 

Mitzi is dead and two Stalkers are injured. They will miss a game. 

In terms of haul the airfield only yelided some gas masks, filters, a NBC suit, a old uniform, a smoke grenade, four combat knives and some fuel drums. 

The dead Scavs yeilded better kit. Mostly shotguns and pistols. At least the pistol armed Stalkers now have shotguns. Tonker has claimed Mitzi’s SMG. 

The injured Stalkers have been left holed up in a safe spot in the Airfield and the loot stashed. Tonker decides to push on to the old Army base as it is only three miles away rather than drag the injured back to Asylum City. At least if the loot is better there they may have better weapons if something unpleasant attacks them on the way back. 

Asylum City Campagin & Background to the world.

Here is some background to a campaign I am running. It gives some more details to the world at +100 years....


With Utopia city evacuating various parts of the Brittannia wastelands things changed. Some survivors from Brittannia bunker city made their way to the colony under the command of Lord Blackdaggar. Blackdaggar renamed the colony as New Albion and they continue to thrive trading fresh food with the Brittannia Corporation (founded by Britannia survivors) in Utopia City. New Albion makes a fair profit as fresh food sells for a premium in Utopia.  

Three other groups of Brittannia survivors made their way into the wastes. One headed North and formed Nu-Caledonia on the borders of Pictsie land. Another headed into the Nukadonia mountains and have not been heard from since. The last fled across the wastes over a thousand miles to Liberty City. 

Meanwhile the Mutie Men vanished. No one knows where. 

The mutants in Mutantchester angry at Utopia for not taking them lashed out at the mixed normal/mutant community at Trashford. The humans are kept as slaves. It did not stop there. The mutants joined forces with Milton Hole to the south and have a small kingdom. 

They attacked Vali’s fortress and where pushed back. However Analfield fell and is now a mutant outpost in the boneyard. Gladys town still exists but is under constant attack from the mutants. Mutants also use the Mutie Man camp of Noggsie as a outpost. 

Skraptown lost the Skrap wastes and depressing ruins to the mutants. Skrap town is a fraction of its size in a small fort which is run by a man called Skull. The mutants also hold the Iron Tower Boneyard to the north. 

The Pictises and Nu Caledonia  have pushed the mutants back out of their lands despite their allies the Blue Skull Trogs mysteriously vanishing before the mutant uprising. 

The mutants have split the Sunfall coasts and Nukadoina from the Keininnie Mountains. The town of Laird, Copperhead and the Secret Vally have proved too strong for the mutant hordes. Doom Vally was attacked as the stabilised mutants there (the Vermen & Smoggers) are not regarded as true mutants. Since pushing the mutant hordes out of Doom Vally the Vermen & Smoggers have formed an alliance with Laird and Copper head. 

Vali’s Fortress has grown in size from Brittannia refugees and further refugees from the mutant war. The fortress now has a small fortified town surrounding it. This incorporates an old pre war mental hospital (itself a fortress) and the town has become known as Asylum City in the surrounding wastes.

Asylum city has a problem. No supply chains to Laird, Copperhead and the Secret Vally. No new weapons or machines. The ruler (Princess Vali) feels that they are poorly equipped should the mutants strike back. She has put up hansom rewards for Stalkers and Scavengers to bring her weapons.  

Her right hand man Sham is currently in the wastes on a secret mission to secure weapons and new allies. 

Meanwhile in a bar in Asylum City a old map finds its way into the hands of some Stalkers. The seller assures them that this map is one of Sham’s and has places where some good loot is to be found. 

The lead Stalker, a guy called Tonker gathers some goons and they head out for riches and loot. 

Sprue Cutters Union #2 - My Words of Wisdom

This weeks Sprue Cutters challenge is to talk about three things that have inspired your model making. So in the spirit of the challenge here is mine.....

1. The first one has to be my Dad. It was him who introduced me to model making at a tender young age. First kits and later he encouraged me to make Dioramas. Later he introduced me to metal wargames/rpg figures. Thanks Dad for your encouragement and inspiration. 

2. The second one is the 2000AD comics. I have been a fan since I was a kid. The mix of Sci-Fi and Post Apocalypitc comics really inspired me particularly Judge Dredd, Strontium Dogs, ABC Warriors and Nemesis. They fed my imagination which is reflected in my models. 

3. The third one has to be the models in the old 40K Rogue Trader book. I was blown away when I first saw them. Back in the day GW/Citadel didn't have many kits. The models in the book where made from junk and kitbashes. I have since built some of my own. My philosophy is still to use found junk when ever I can. 

Of course they are not the only things to inspire me. It seems a little unfair not mention them...

The Stalker & Metro2033 games inspired some models and my tunnel models. Aliens, Firefly/Serenity and Mad Max have also been great sources of inspiration. My wife deserves a mention too. She encourages me and discusses ideas with me. 

Mantic Marauder/Orx Raptor Kit finished.

I finally got that Mantic Raptor Rig finished for my Trogs/Orks. I still need to paint the gunner. The plan is to base him and keep him loose. Then I can use the trike for other wasteland gangs. As you can see this rig is being manned by a EM4 Scavenger. 

I chose an matt black scabby/rusty paint scheme for the Raptor Trike. This is to be the colour scheme for my new Trogs/Ork/Orx Tribe. Something that reflects little old me....matt black and rust obsessed. lol. 

Again I left the mudguards/fenders off. I have a old Rat Rod obsession and I love naked wheels on vehicles. 

I like these vehicles as the weapon is removable so it can be used as a "civilian" vehicle or racer as well. I can see a bunch of these racing across the wastes in the colours of their tribes....I think I am talking myself into a version of Gorkamorka here!! lol. 

I am tempted to get more to customise....

Utopia City Org Mobster

Out in the City are many Orgs....Organised Crime. They vary in style and form as any upon 21st Century Earth. 

Here we see Big Tony of the Rustini Crime Family carrying out a hit....

The Rustini's are identified by their Italian influence and cheap suits. 

The figure is a Mongoose 2000AD/Judge Dredd Mobster. 

Utopia City Enforcers.

The Enforcers are the police of Utopia city. Unlike the Mags the Enforcers are drawn from the ranks of the city and is one of the few paying jobs available in the city. They get two years training and then go out on the street with a years probation as a Rookie. 

Enforcers are well armed and trained, they try to keep order. When arrests are made they are shipped to the halls of justice and sentence is passed by a Magistrate (usually an older or injured Mag unable to take to the streets).

Often the Enforcers deal with the mundane policing duties such as traffic, parking, routine patrols, clean ups or security. Enforcers will often support any Mags in the area. Sometimes a Mag will lead a group of Enforcers. 

The city is a dangerous place and they go heavily armed. 

Enforcers are not made of the stuff that the Mag's are made from. Many are weak and a few corrupt. 

The figures are a mixture of EM4 & Copplestone cops. 

Building Wargame Terrain by Tony Harwood

Those of you used to hanging around various Wargames forums will be familiar with a guy known as Damfpanzerwagon or as he is also known Tony Harwood. Tony Harwood produces some very nice looking wargames terrain and tutorials. This has lead to the production of a book about how to produce Wargames Terrain. 

The book is 96 pages of full colour pictures and step by step guides on how to make terrain. It is mostly  Fantasy and Historical based but I am sure much of the terrain could be tweaked into 40K or other games. 

The guides are very good and are aimed at beginners. However as a terrain maker I must say that I found some tips and ideas in the book I had never thought of. Nice one Tony! 

The book costs £16 and can be found here . Its worth a look. 

Black Ronin Games.

Black Ronin Games manufacture a varitey of high quality printable terrain and floor tiles for wargames and RPGs. The files are in PDF format and either have to be purchased or are free (yippeee). They cover everything from Fantasy to Sci-Fi and everything in between. There is 15-18mm printable buildings, 28mm vehicles, door windows, streets....the list goes on and on. 

All they are missing is 28mm Vault/Bunker tiles (hint hint). While I plan to make a star ship set of tiles similar to my tunnels it would help a lot not to have to make the floor tiles. Black Ronin's Sci-Fi tiles will do the job nicely. But thats in the future....

In addition to all this printable goodness Black Ronin have a list of Blogs (including this hallowed post apocalyptic page) and miniatures painters. 

Map of Mattblackgod's world.....

I have been getting my geek on and decided that a map of the legendary abandoned world left to die would be handy - rather than walking about with it inside my head. 

So here is mattblackgod's world as mapped by Utopia City drones....

As you can see there is plenty of places for me to add new ideas too (or pinch from wherever  lol) You can see the mega city on the bottom of the continent Rosstraila. Recent seismic disturbances (probalby caused by the second orbital nuke bombardment) have lowered sea levels while pushing up the sea floor in a few places. 

Britannia Island is now linked to Eru and the main continent. These two land bridges are dangerous as they are only passible for a couple of hours a day. This can lead to travellers becoming stranded on the small islands for a day or being drown. Or eaten by the nasty mutant beasts that live in the seas. 

Mantic Marauder/Orx Raptor Kit review.

With a view to adding some fast attack options to my Trogs, which are a mix of GW Space Ork figures from the late 80's onwards which I use as genetically engineered warriors I looked at the Mantic Raptor (I also have some Marauders/Orx to mix and match with the figures but more on those some time in the future). 

In case you don't know the Raptor is a armoured Trike the Orx use as a fast attack option in Warpath. I chose this as it was different and cheap compared to the GW options (sorry GW your pricing policy is losing you custom!!). 

This is what you get in the kit....

It is cast from the same plastic resin as the figures and has a high amount of detail. My kit had no dips, holes or air bubbles to fill unlike some of the resin & plastic kits I have had before. There was vert little flash to clean off. 

The kit is easy to assemble which was fun unlike some Wargames model manufacturers who seem to be adding levels of difficulty to their kits only seen by military modellers. The whole assembly only took a few minutes. 

The only gripe I have is that one of the front forks/legs did not fit nicely making the front wheel twist. This was fixed with a little filling with Green Stuff putty. Not a big pain and its not like I have had to do a lot more of it with other kits such as GW Landraiders/Chimera. 

Here it is assembled (please forgive the paint, it is still WIP) .... 

I left the mudguards off as I have a thing for naked wheels. I must have been a hot-rodder in a former life! lol The gunner has not been attached yet. I intend to keep him loose so I can use the Raptor trike as  a vehicle for my Wastelanders too. 

You can see the Raptor sizes up nicely with the old 40K Rogue Trader Era Orks. The rocket launcher is removable so if I got another I can fit other weapons such as machine guns. Pictures of the finished vehicle when the paint is finished. 

In summary the Raptor is a nicely cast, detailed kit. Easy to assemble with only minimum fuss and it sizes well with older GW figures. I look forward to buying the larger carriers and four wheeled Marauder vehicles in the future.