Warzone: Decision Time!

Hi!

Well I have spent the weekend trying to decide on which of the three Warzone options I had been thinking of to go for and have come to a decision of sorts!

My initial thoughts were firmly in the camp of using the classic figures exclusively and reliving an Oldzoner type thrill from the mid 90s but sadly they are getting increasingly hard to pick up, not to mention rather expensive. Yes there are some shops that still have stock and Prince August in Ireland still produces much of the range but I am a gamer on a rather infinitesimal budget so that option is sadly closed to me for now.

 Mitch Hunter and Big Bob Watts bring the hurt to the Dark Legion on Mars

The second option of using the new resin stuff from Prodos is also tempting but while its really nice stuff, some of the sculpts just don't look quite like I wanted the background to be. I can convert stuff where necessary but my stylised sculpting may not fit in with the super realistic new computer generated sculpts.

I think the problem is that the original artwork made the game look like it was straight out of the pages of a comic book and sculpts reflected that. The newer sculpts look fantastic but are possibly a little too realistic! I had thought of mixing and matching in new and old sculpts but the scale is just a little too far out to make it look good.

A Brotherhood Agent on Dark Eden

Finally I had thought of going down the 15mm route, resculpting and converting as I went. This option is seriously tempting as I have already produced a load of Warzone inspired stuff but on the down side, while there are huge numbers of 15mm scale stuff produced these days, quite a lot of it is unsuited to the science fantasy universe of Warzone.

This leaves me with the task of finding, converting and more often than not, sculpting entire factions which is rather time consuming to say the least!

Of all the options, in an ideal world I would go for some sort of combination of the first two but if I actually want to play some games, I think 15mm will give me the most chance of actually getting it into the realms of possibility.

 Zombies!

Bio-Giant

I may still be tempted by some of the larger classic figures to paint as they are despite everything, really quite good fun but I doubt I will ever manage to get a game in with them! I freely admit that there are quite a few I fancy having a bash at too, just look at DEMI MORGANA'S fantastic work that has brought even the most awkward looking sculpt to life!

Hopefully my quest won't take too long to get going and I will be able to post a 15mm scale battle report here before too much longer!

All the best!

Olof "Gunnie" Gunnesson

Hi!

Well I'm back from work and have a bit of a surprise post to make.

Following my rant about the lack of good science-fantasy ranges, I got an email from a nice chap called Stewart who just so happened to have sculpted a range of post modern/high fantasy figures (think AD&D and move it to the end of the 21st century!) and he offered to send me some casts to paint.

Jumping at the chance to paint such an interesting range, I agreed and within 24 hours, a small parcel arrived on my doorstep. Upon opening it I found a rather wonderful range of figures and set about painting the first of them, the aptly named Olof "Gunnie" Gunnesson:

 Olof!

Armed with a cyber arm and grenade launcher, Olof is a really nice little sculpt with plenty of character that was a real joy to paint up and will be getting added to my Squats at some point!

Leather jackets need skulls for the true biker look!

Stewart has lots more figures planned and hopes to launch the range itself next year and I will be painting up a few figures a week of the stuff he's kindly donated to preview the brilliantly off the wall range (hint, there's even a Dwarven camera man in it!)

All the best!

Space Zombies!

Hi!

Following on from my Warzone post, I felt the urge to pick up the sculpting tools and have created some space zombies!

Urgh!

They are rather on the upper end of the scale at 18mm tall or there abouts and I have a few more bits and bobs needing finishing which I will post up here once they are finished. I have experimented with trying to get a bit of movement into the sculpts rather than the more static poses I usually produce and am really rather proud of the little chaps. I still need to add some fine detailing such as gun barrels and so on but rather like them!

In other news, I am still conflicted over whether I should go for some classic Warzone, new Warzone or just use the 15mm stuff I've been sculpting. Each option has its pros and cons but I shall continue to mull it over and hope to have come to some sort of solution by the end of the weekend but must admit to have been sorely tempted by the oldschool charms of the classic (and often a bit special) 1st edition Warzone stuff!

All the best!

The MoFA Freedom Mobile!

Hi!

Well I'm just back from work in time to get some quick pics of the Mollusc Freedom Alliance's battlewagon, The Freedom Mobile!

 The Freedom Mobile!

In keeping with the MoFA's tendency to burst into enthusiastic but ineffectual action, I thought they could do with a properly ridiculous method of transportation and eventually spotted this little chap at the local supermarket.

What could be more suitably bonkers for a bunch of crazed Octopoids to drive around than an oversized Reliant Robin with a supercharged engine!

Conversion work was minimal. Other than adding a quick hatch with crewman and a stupidly big engine, all I did was to cut off the back running rig thingy and applied a suitably beaten up paintjob.

I must admit I really like the madness of it and am on the lookout for a second to convert at some point. Ruleswise, its classed as tracked but with a jump pack and armed with a heavy stubber as I imagine it wheelieing madly around the place before taking off or exploding spectacularly which is just what you need to liven things up in a good scenario based game.

I have the vague idea of creating a second, rival Octopoid organisation, equally inept to really mix things up a bit but thats for another day!

All the best!

Squat Brotherhood

Hi!

Continued rummaging from my leadpile has unearthed some more of my old sculpts in the form of some Space Dwarves I made at the same time as the Bio-Giant:

Squat Troopers

These fellows are available from 15mm.co.uk in their Space Viking range. Again I have worked in a few conversions, mostly to make their moustachios more impressive but the chap on the left had a new head as the originals all wear caps.

I may have got a bit carried away while sculpting the leaders moustache but I kind of like the walrus although he may have to be careful while wielding a hand flamer!

I must admit I have really fallen back in love with 15mm scale figures after my sojourn into classic 28mm stuff. Gone are the days when I could manage about one figure every couple of days (the Squats above were painted over the course of watching Mystery Science Theater 3000 Track of the Moonbeast!) 

One thing that does irk me somewhat about the vast ranges of 15mm scale though is the fact that well over 90% of it is what is classed as hard sci-fi. Theres nowhere near enough space zombies, pistol and sword wielding heroes and villains and pulpy/science fantasy themed fun!

Hopefully this shocking oversight will be addressed over the coming months but I may have to take drastic measures and start sculpting again in the meantime so if theres anything folks would like to see, please feel free to give me a shout and I will see what I can do! 

In other news, I have been asked for a bit of a review of the classic first edition Warzone rules as I've been harping along about it at great length. I figure that in order to do it justice, it needs its own post and in order for it to get its own post, it needs a battle report to showcase how the rules work. In order to do that, I need figures so I am going to rummage my bits box and see if I can't get enough proxies put together to represent the forces of a couple of the megacorporations and possibly even the Dark Legion to mix it up a bit!

This may take a little time as I am almost positive that I don't actually have anything suitable so will be taking a peek online to see what I can find and convert (I suspect it will involve heroically large shoulder pads) so it may take a couple of weeks to put together so watch this space!

All the best!

Warzone 15: Bio-Giant!

Hi!

I've decided to have a bash at creating my own Warzone forces in 15mm scale and have started with the terrifying Bio-Giant!

Bio-Giants are hideous, towering creatures of death and destruction. Standing up to 30 feet high, these huge monsters are produced in the vats of the Citadels, molded and stitched together by Tekrons. They often lead wave assaults against enemy fortifications. The earth shakes beneath their thunderous trad, and their booming voices are so deep they resonate at sub-audible frequencies. Although slow-seeming and clumsy, the very sight of these towering, undead monsters strikes terror into the hearts of even the boldest.

Bio-Giants resemble gigantic, war-scarred humanoids, their flesh covered in a patchwork of stitches and sutures. Often great spikes protrude from their flesh. They are immensely strong, immensely stupid and immensely tough. Often limbs are hacked away at the elbows and replaced with huge weapons such as chainsaws and heavy machine-guns. Particularly massive Bio-Giants need huge armoured exoskeleton harnesses to enable them to support their own weight.

The miniature itself was sculpted several years ago by myself and cast as part of the 15mm.co.uk Star Vikings range and I got a couple of casts. Looking back, it was a rather rough sculpt so I reworked it a bit, bulking out the arm, resculpting a hand and adding some armoured plates here and there as well as making the face a bit more ugly.

I am rather pleased with the results as the Bio-Giant stands roughly 45mm tall and painted up quite well, I even added some veins on his gut next to the rather painful looking cables and added a load of grubby washes to make him look like some sort of unfinished creation of a mad genius. I have a second one sat in my bits box and may convert him to represent another monstrous beast at some point in the future.

Now to find some suitable Legionnaires and Necromutants...

Handily he also works well in 28mm scale as a hefty mutie!

All the best!

Warzone?

Hi!

Well I'm just back from work and have spent the last day or so obsessing over Warzone!

Back in the mid to late 90's when I first got out of the GW hobby, I happened across this amazing looking new game called Warzone in my local hobby store, Macs Models in Edinburgh (remember when there was actually a miniatures store in the capital city!) For someone used to 2nd edition of 40k, its increasingly dark outlook and rulebooks that looked rather like photocopies, Warzone was a bit of a breath of fresh air with its quality artwork, full colour contents and fascinating background setting!

Not only was the setting different, but the rules were great fun and the miniatures, while a bit on the chunky side, had a charm to them with their mighty shoulderpads and corporate gear. Needless to say no sooner did I collect and paint up a force, than it went out of production.

In the ensuing years, I cleared out almost all of my collection of Warzone goodies other than the rulebooks and from time to time, some brave soul would take on the license before it all went a bit wrong again and Warzone would disappear again.

Move forward to last year and Prodos Games announced that they were to pick up the poisoned chalice that was Warzone and reboot it. Que rapture from a fair number of folks in the gaming community who looked forward to seeing the iconic game make a comeback. Alas when some of the concepts and digital sculpts began appearing, the joy turned to rage as many fanboys, myself included I'm ashamed to say, bashed it for not being how we remembered it.

Gone were the chunky shoulder pads and the slim and more realistic figures that replaced them seemed somehow wrong and terrible. How dare our fond memories be ruined and the following wailing and gnashing of teeth (myself included!) was loud and not very grown up.

The problem is that the Mutant Chronicles setting is just too interesting to simply discard! In fact I've found myself perusing the Prodos website with a more dispassionate eye and find myself actually liking what I see! Maybe its because I have calmed down a bit but the sculpts actually look like decent updates of the classic sculpts and some of the newer stuff coming out looks quite tasty!

And that is the problem I find myself facing! I don't really want to pick up the new game as I like the old 1st edition rules (I have downloaded the new ones but just can't get myself enthused about them) but I do feel the need to get a fix of Warzone and relive some oldish school gaming. As I see it, I have three options: First, buy the new figures and use the old rules; second, collect some of the old figures and make do with what I can get or three, cheat and convert myself a few forces using 15mm scale figures.

To be honest the third option has more chance of actually seeing me painting up a whole force and playing some games but I do like the idea of getting some of the nice modern sculpts, almost as much as I like the idea of painting some of the classic figures that remind me of those halcyon days of yore!

Maybe I shall cheat a bit more and start work on the 15mm stuff while seeing out some classic sculpts and seeing how I go...

All the best!

WAAAAGH! Goff Retinue

Greetings!

I am just about to head out to work but have had chance to add the finishing touches to my Goff Ork Warboss and Nob retinue:

Goff Warboss and Retinue

Armed to the teeth with everything from plasma weaponry to power swords and fists, I'm rather pleased with how they have turned out, especially once they received their classic paint scheme although I had planned to give each of them unique back banners but forgot until I was halfway through painting them which was a bit of a bind.

Sculpting wise, I tried to combine the classic late 1st and 2nd edition Ork style with something a little less comical but retaining the character and hopefully I've succeeded.

I have a bunch of Wusuq Raiders and Star Vikings that I sculpted for 15mm.co.uk many moons ago as part of my university degree show fundraising efforts and will be painting them up to represent a decent sized mob of Boyz to give my Warboss some underlings to lead as well but I currently have some Squats and a Bio-Hulk to finish converting and get painted so it may be a couple of days before any more Orks make an appearance here!

All the best!

Goff Ork Retinue

Hi!

Many moons ago, I sculpted up a batch of Orks with the vague intention of creating a Rogue Trader era Goff warband from scratch in 15mm scale. With one thing or another, I didn't get past the warboss and his immediate retinue of Nobz but my rediscovery of my 15mm scale figures has spurred me on to round off the warband a little.

Back in the day, I rolled them up using the random force generator chart in Ere We Go and came up with the following:

 Bigbosses in power armour with hand weapon, bolt pistol and plasma Pistol

 Bosses with heavy plasma gun and hand weapon and bolt pistol

Warboss with power armour, power fist and kombi bolt pistol.

The boss himself was painted a year or so back but I've never been too happy with how he turned out so with my recent burst of enthusiasm, I have removed his back banner and replaced it with a more impressive one, retouched the reds and redone his face as well as revamped the base. The end result is looking an awful lot better but I am not going to post it up just yet as I want to paint my way through his household Nobz first! 

Another warband that is seeing some further progress are the rather hapless Octopoids of MoFA who have just taken delivery of their very own set of wheels. There's a fair amount of conversion work needing done to get it to the painting stage, but if all goes well, I will be getting some pics up over the weekend!

All the best!

The Mollusc Freedom Alliance

Greetings!

Its the last day of my holidays and its too windy and wet to actually go out and enjoy so I spent this morning watching Tremors and painting up the first members of a new warband that has been kicking up a stink around the Farpoint sector!

The Mollusc Freedom Alliance!

Chanting their battle cry of "Freedom, Freedom, Freedom, Oy!" the MoFA have been fighting for full rights for Octopoids everywhere for some time. Wearing medical scrubs and sandals while wielding bulky but fairly reliable Lasguns, the members of the MoFA are rather inept but enthusiastic fighters and regularly attempt to raise awareness of the plight of the lowly Octopoid by shooting wildly at anything that moves while scuttling and chanting. 

Thus far their crusade has been less than effective and they are seen as more of a nuisance than a real danger but their new leader, El Sombrero has big plans to boost their reputation by leading raids on known Octopoid slavers and anyone who may support the crushing of the squidgy.

The figures themselves are from 15mm.co.uk and although the sculpts are rather rough, they do have quite a lot of character and I hope to flesh out the force a bit with a few more MoFA's as well as El Sombrero himself!

All the best!

A Conglomeration of Blogs!

Hi!

A second blog post in one day? Madness! Still I thought it may be worth noting that I've done a bit of a compiling job on my blog, bringing in all the articles from my old Leviathan War, The Special Corps and Tales From Aeroth blogs and publishing them here.

Its possibly a bit mental as I've added several years and a couple of hundred extra blog posts which still need going through and in some cases deleting as they are now redundant but it does mean that I don't have to log onto my old blog account and I have much easier access to some cherished projects which sadly stalled along the way and who knows, maybe it will get me inspired to start one or two of them up again and give folks the opportunity to rummage around and possibly find an article or two of interest!

All the best!

Lucius Goldburg and Co

Greetings!

I've got my folks visiting this afternoon so not much time to get any painting done but last night I did manage to finish reworking the bases for my villains and even finish a couple of bits and bobs that have been languishing in the almost finished pile for far too long!

Lucius Goldburg, Notorious Crimelord and Henchmen

I've always been a fan of the evasive Abdul Goldburg from the Rogue Trader scenario generator so decided to field his equally villainous brother, Lucius. I plan on using him a bit like Jabba the Hutt having gathered a crew of alien scum and running much of the organised crime in the Farpoint sector.

Next up we have several additions to the crew in the form of an Eldar mercenary:

This is a 15mm.co.uk figure and its one of the worst figures I've painted in a while. The detail is rough, the design dull and all in all its no wonder its been sat in my bits box for over five years! I think if I was to do him again, I would go for some fairly major conversion to get him looking more the part of a rogue Eldar but he will do as is to represent a hired gun for the crew.

Next up theres the Loot!

Money makes the world go round...

These are a couple of rather shifty looking punks who can be used as looters but they currently carry Lucius's cash and as such are fitted with explosive implants to stop them moving more than a few feet from the cash and Lucius.

The Crew So Far

I do like the eclectic looking mob as it stands but need to add some more hired guns to the mix to flesh out the force a little. I also need to find a suitable transport of delight for the notorious crime kingpin to ride around in and suspect that I will be making use of the Tron Legacy limo I picked up in poundland a few years back!

Next up, I finished a few salvage markers for Star Mogul or any other game requiring an objective for that matter.

Handily they are multi scale so can be used in 15mm or 28mm with ease and are made from an assortment of bits and bobs that I had kicking around. I plan on making several more at some point including one or two larger ones but thats for another day!

Lastly, I finally got round to putting together some carnivorous Sand Clams in true Oldschool Rogue Trader fashion!

Made from a few shells picked up on the beach the other week, a little bit of wire and putty and painted very quickly they look rather good even if I do say so myself. I need to make about a dozen more to add random events to scenarios and may well add a few more tentacles and maybe a really big fellow too! 

I can just imagine a scenario where rival forces have been hired to harvest a few of the creatures for a decadent bunch of nobles who like eating really exotic food. Throw in conservationist hippy types and maybe even some indignant local tribals who revere the beasts and shenanigans may be afoot!

All the best!

Prince Rupert's Space Marines

Hi!

Following on from my post yesterday, I've begun work on Prince Rupert's retinue which includes a squad of space marines and a few lackies and hangers on to brighten things up and generally get in the way or make for an interesting scenario.

 Prince's Bodyguard and Regular Trooper

I had originally planned on giving them white armour but rather liked the grey colour and settled on it instead. The addition of the yellow backpack does kind of give the impression that they are Space Wolves but are instead the Princes personal bodyguards. The only downside is the fact that it takes quite a while to layer up the greys to get the finish I want.

The figures are really nice to paint but do have rather odd proportions (the trooper on the right could probably touch his toes without bending!) but have a nice combination of medieval and high tech that makes them perfect for Space Marines!

 Detail Shot!

I decided to make the axe wielding marine a bit more fearsome looking by adding jagged teeth to his helmet, much like that seen on fighter planes and rather liked how it turned out!

Finally, no force is complete without its own set of wheels so I painted up another of the Mechwarrior Darkage plastics from my bits box and voila, a perfectly acceptable fast attack buggy in 15mm scale.

Land Speeder

In other news, I am rebasing some of my older 15mm scale figures, namely these chaps:

Villains!

I had been planning on using them to play out some skirmishes on Farpoint using Rogue Trader but I just didn't like my basing of them, especially compared to my newer stuff. I had wondered about adding some static grass but I have been unimpressed with the results on some of my other figures so have sculpted on rock outcrops instead which looks so much better and makes them appear to be standing on something other than a pile of sand! All being well, I should have about a dozen sorted out by end of play today and will try and get some quick pics tomorrow!

In a more general perusal of the various excellent blogs, I've also been perusing THIS TOPIC over on Somewhere The Tea's Getting Cold and THIS TOPIC by Demi Morgana, both of which are rather inspirational for different reasons. One covers a very ambitious plan to collect an army based on the Fighting Fantasy books and is making me really hanker after starting a themed force for fantasy in 28mm scale (something I must resist!) and the other covers painting up of some of the classic Warzone miniatures which is making me want to peruse the interwebs for some of those chunky figures of my own to paint (equally something I must resist!)

Its one of the pleasures and perils of reading hobbyist blogs! I always find myself inspired to have a bash at doing something similar and adding to the leadpile but for the time being, I am finding my current project is holding my interest so fingers crossed, I will be able to resist the temptation to try something different!

All the best!

Farpoint Salvage Reinforcements

Hi!

Well I'm on holiday this week and busily beavering away with an assortment of bits and bobs but have found time to finish off some reinforcements for my Farpoint Salvage team:

 Gunhands and another pilot for the crew

The figures themselves are a mixture of 15mm.co.uk, converted laserburn and a rather familiar looking chap with a minigun from The Scene. The pilot and riflewomen are converted a bit as he heeded actual hands rather than claws and the gun toting dame with the mask was done as I wanted a bit more diversity in my crew than the usual token female! Fluff wise, she is an ex member of the Capitol Megacorporation and still has some of the kit.

I've really enjoyed putting the force together and will try and get a group shot sorted out at some point but in the meantime, heres the leader of another force I am working on:

Prince Rupert

I quite like the little chap who had been languishing primed and based in my bits box for several years now and will be representing Prince Rupert, a scion of the Imperial court of a rather headstrong nature who has recently arrived on Farpoint with a squad of Space Marine bodyguards to seek adventure as only the nobility can!

Hopefully I will be able to add his bodyguards to the mix before too long along with some underhive scum I will be using to represent one of the lawless gangs who roam the Farpoint sector.

All the best!

Spacecows Random Warband Challenge: Farpoint Salvage

Hi!

Well its taken a bit longer than promised, but here's my progress on my random warband in 15mm scale thus far!

 Farpoint Salvage Crew

Ironically, they took me more time to prepare, clean and convert than the same number of figures in 28mm scale! The infantry are all from 15mm.co.uk and have been extensively converted. Most have had their hands resculpted as they had shapeless flippers with three fingers the size of bananas and the female medic had to have her right arm resculpted entirely as it was noticeably shorter than her left. I also sculpted a bit of a bosom on her and reworked her hair as she looked a bit too manly previously. Similarly, the guy with the impressive gun on the left originally had what looked like giant wellington boots so I carved it all back and rebuilt it to look like he has scraps of power armour. His gun also has been extensively reworked so it doesn't look like its melted...

 The Mystery Machine

The Mystery Machine was a 10mm scale Mechwarrior Darkage repaint and only needed minimal work done in the form of adding a turret weapon (I think it looks a bit like a dalek!) and a fresh coat of paint.

 Tac Armour

The Dream Pod 9 Heavy Gear was an absolute nightmare to put together, it had mold lines galore and far too many pieces and even required pinning. It looks great once finished but I am fairly sure I should have removed the weird bumpy things at the shoulder connections but I really can't be bothered redoing it!

Human Specialists 

I put an extra bit of effort into the bases of each figure as well, mirroring the effect I go for on my 28mm scale stuff and must admit it looks really rather nice in smaller scales too! I also went a bit further with the painting than I usually would in 15mm by using a number of washes and inks to make the detail (such as it is with these figures!) pop.

The best thing about painting 15mm scale is that you can exaggerate your highlights to get a good effect, paint on detail and get away with it and hide poor sculpts with a good coat of paint far more easily than you can in larger scales!

Salvage Droids

I still have a couple of gun hands to add from The Scene and the old Laserburn ranges which are far more nicely sculpted but haven't finished them yet! In the meantime, I plan on using these fellows for playing games of Star Mogul which pits teams of salvage crews against each other on the abandoned frontier of space and is really rather good!

Having almost completed this warband, I find myself getting ideas for other warbands in both 15mm and 28mm scale for both fantasy and sci-fi settings so may have to crack on with putting more small groups of figures together and seeing what I can come up with. 

For example, my Space Pirates need another couple of crew members, my Catachans need completing and I have a host of bits and bobs for fantasy related goodness to work on and best yet, it is also meaning that I have avoided buying any miniatures and am continuing to work through my leadpile at a respectable rate!

I may even be tempted back to my old Aeroth fantasy project as I have been perusing my notes and figures available so watch this space!

All the best!