28mm Scavengers of the Post Apocacalypse

I squeezed out a little time last Sunday and tonight and finished a couple of Reaper figs for my post-apoc scavengers.

Really nicely sculpted figs by Julie Guthrie, Evie and Hans of the Chronoscope line.

Here's the rest of the crew, mostly Copplestone figs that I painted sometime back.

 

 

 

 

They subsist, located in the old ruins, reluctant to relocate in any of the new or revived communities in the region.  They do trade with the nearest townspeople, and thus far, have fended off various gangs, and ruffians.  They are known for finding and trading highly sought after and rare items from before the cataclysm.

I still have about a another dozen figs to add to their numbers, that will give them scouts, a couple heavier weapons, and make them a little more diverse.

First Order from Moonraker Miniatures

I received my first order from Moonraker Miniatures a couple of days ago.  A mix of figs from their 28mm Spacelords and Future Skirmish lines.  After placing my order, I got a quick confirmation and the order was received in 8 working days.  The figs are all very cleanly cast with no flash, three came with slotted bases.

 

Most will be worked in with my old GW Imperial Guard troops, adding a sniper, a medic, and a couple command figs to the various HQ sections.  Most of the others will become vehicle crew (with a little conversion work), and one will be added to my post-apoc scavengers.

They scale pretty nicely with my old GW figs, and with the newer plastic Cadians.

So, a big thumbs up for Moonraker; great service, really cool figs, and a very reasonable price.

Rides Update: 28mm Sci-fi Recce Cars and Other Progress

The second vehicle type for my old imperial guard figs is the Recce car.  I went back and forth during the design between something more similar to the French VBL and something  closer to a WWII armored car.  I ended up opting for the  more WWIIish  design.

The vehicle has a three man crew with seating for 5-6 in a pinch.  The small turret carries a light auto cannon and  a drone for detecting the bad guys is carried on the rear deck.  Here are a couple of pics of the current progress:

 

I've also made some progress on the wheeled APC, particularly on the hull front and sides, and a little on the smaller turret:

 

And the last photo with all three of my sci-fi vehicle types, including the larger tracked APC from awhile back, to give a size comparison. 

I think the second recce car may get a different turret.  The first one is mostly done and came out okay, but I liked the look of it better on the drawing.  The other version that I sketched out looks a bit more like the turret of the BTR-80A.  I figure the cars can be a Mk I and a Mk II.  We'll see.

Dawgies's Men - Part 2

Eighteen days into 2015, and I have equaled my total painting output for 2014.  "Dawgie's Men", my 28mm old GW Imperial Guard (mostly) army (not for 40K) is painted.  Well, the troops are painted.  They still need rides, but that will come later.  Right now they are table top ready, though I have one step before they are truly finished. 

In addition to the troops shown in my last blog entry, I added the company headquarters (six more figs that I had left off of my painting tray originally), and a recce section (another six figs), which are also painted.  The complete company now numbers 120 figs, though I am missing two figs from one platoon HQ, which I will have to find and add later in the year.

Anyway, here are Dawgie's men:

The entire company; CHQ in front, recce on the extreme left,

1st, 2nd, and 3rd platoon left to right with PHQs in front of

 the respective platoons.

 

Close up of the CHQ

 

2nd Platoon HQ

 

Troops from 1st Platoon

The majority are old GW Imperial Guard figures, with about half having some sort of conversion work done on them.  There are also a few newer GW guard figs, and an assortment of non-GW figs sprinkled throughout.

One thing I still need to do, is to add their names back onto the bases.  I've experimented with painting them on, but my brush "writing" is inconsistent, so now I'm considering doing it with a paint pen.  Hopefully, I'll have that done in the next week.  Then they can join battle in the wastes of the post apocalypse or defending colonies on new worlds.

Misc. Projects and Whatnot

Been working a lot (day job, not the hobby) since the last post, and between lack of time, energy, and plain old sore and stiff hands, I haven't made any progress on my APC, but have been doing what I can otherwise. 


Ponape; 28mm Colonial/Victorian Adventure Games

After re-discovering so much stuff for my colonial adventures that never got used, I've begun to start the process of rounding out the history and fluff for the many scenarios that never got ran.  This has mostly been a lunch time reading and research project thus far, but will eventually lead to miniatures and modeling.

I did have to throw out most of the uncompleted buildings, as they were basswood construction and got water damaged in the flood, but otherwise everything else seems to be intact.  The docking station for the airship, and winged version of the airship, bits for a narrow gauge railway and gold mine, all good.  Also found bits of the incomplete ships, and the hulk of my French ship, which was in the trunk of my car, when it got rear-ended and totaled (both ship and car).

Above, the start of a hull for Bully Hayes ship, the Leonora, my destroyed

French destroyer and a German gunboat.

In time, I intend to resurrect Ponape  as a convention game.   I have faded away from the convention scene in recent years, but have to admit, that after going to Origins this year, I feel a little of the old spark again.


The Space Bubble/Job Pod/Almost Spaceship

This was moving along nicely last year, until interrupted by my flood.  I haven't actually done anything with it recently, but it sets on a stool next to my paint table, ready to be worked on as soon as I clear enough space to work on it.

In addition to the bubble above, there are a couple of trays of bits in various stages of paint, waiting to be placed in the modules.  It will be a centerpiece for near future and maybe even post-apoc games at some point.


28mm Post-Apoc and Near Future Figs.

As I was sorting through stuff, I came to realize that I had a serious load of both painted and unpainted figs for near future and post apocalypse game.  This kind of got my juices going again, after more than a two year lapse.

As I discovered more an more figs, I started sorting them out into the various factions.

There are over 400 painted figs, about 400 unpainted, plus another 150 or so painted orks that I plan to use as mutants in the PA.  Portions of roughly 22 factions are represented above, some are pictured below:

Kryomek robots with scratch-built weapons, security for the industrial complex.

 

A colorful heard of mutants, hungering on their tray.

 

A few bikers, Foundry figs, I think.

 

Miscellaneous mercenaries, some work together, others have additional help.

 

Some Copplestone (mostly, anyway)  scavengers.

 

Could be corporate or Federal troops, wouldn't trust them either way.

 

Billy-Jo, Bubba and Mack, god old boys (and girl) to the end and after.

 

Two old Imperial Guard figs that make up part of the territorial defenses. 

 I've actually got an entire company of these figs, around 140 in all.

 

Alpha Forge Asteroid Miners, pilots of the space bubble,

and a threat to the near future, and beyond.

I'm currently working out what I need to complete each faction, and purposing some of the many figs that don't currently have a home yet. 


Texas Israeli War

A second post-apoc project that I've been tinkering with will bring a little of the Texas Israeli War to the table top.  I've got six factions and armies in mind at the moment, but only a handful  of unpainted figs for now.


So that is what I've been tinkering with in recent weeks in place of doing any real gaming.

Foundation of a Dying World

As my roadway terrain sections are nearer to completion, I started working more on the design of buildings and city blocks for my post apocalypse terrain in recent days.  When I started this project, I had left a lot of loose ends dangling with respect to how the city blocks would accommodate buildings, and how the terrain tiles would interface. 

My original plan was to make 2'x2' foam squares that could stand alone, or have buildings set on them.  I wrestled with myself about the types of details and features that this method would not permit, such as basements and foundations of buildings, streams and ditches, etc. 

While lamenting that I would lose the use of basements and streams and whatnot, I also began considering the waste of the bottom 1" layer of foam that resulted from this.  Essentially, the entire base layer of 54 square feet of terrain accommodated three shell craters, and nothing else.  My intent in doing the terrain this way, was to create and vertically dynamic rolling layout, hopefully more realistic, and somewhat more pleasing to the eye than some of my previous , more flat, near-future and sci-fi terrain.

In what I call a light-bulb moment, I saw the obvious.  Instead of relying on 2'x2' squares, why not just make 1' square tiles like I do for my historical terrain, and detail them with all of the below grade level detail that I want.  With 2'x2' tiles, I was restricting my vision to simply creating 2'x2' gaming matts with terrain set on them.  The difference may not seem like a big deal in concept, but will result in a dramatic difference in the finished product.

Considering the various buildings that I wanted to make individually, I found that placing them into 1' square terrain panels seemed to rapidly tie up many of the lose ends, that I had left hanging.  After  firming up most of the buildings that I had decided to build, I looked at my basic terrain layout and reconsidered some features.  I decided to take out a one foot width of "city blocks" immediately west of the highway, and shifting the remaining terrain one foot east.  The result is that I can fit a row of buildings along the west edge of the table, completing the neighborhood.  It requires me to temporarily discard a 1'x2' section of road, and to build three new 1'x1' roadway sections.

Okay,  done with the background, here is what I've got done.  I've completed assembly of the first "city block' tile with a foundation of a small house, driveway, walkway, etc.  My basic sketch and the plan view transferred to the foam is shown below.



The foam is the grey/green colored foam marketed by Lowes.  It behaves like the blue and pink foam that you've seen elsewhere on my blog, though this sheet contained a surprise for me.  The entrance to the house in on the right, a driveway raps around the rear (to the left).  The house consists of the original house with basement, and an addition with crawlspace to the rear with side porch.

I started out by cutting out the basement area, with a hobby knife and straight edge.  Then cleaned up a little bevel in the cut with a True-grit file.

This is the point where I realized that the sheet of foam that I picked up did not have a uniform thickness, generally ranging from 1/16 to 1/8 inch thinner than 1 inch thick.  This means it does not mate evenly with my other terrain panels.  So, I laminated a 1/8 inch thick layer of foam to build it up to the right height.  Consumed with the frustration of my discovery, I again missed the obvious, and glued the layer to the top of the tile, rather than the bottom, which would have reduced two steps of later work.  I wouldn't have had to layout the plan again, and by adding it to the bottom, I would have had a basement floor in place.

Note that I've rotated the tile 90 degrees in this view, and had added in the driveway with ballast glued with matt medium.  Prior to gluing the ballast in place, I also added some cracks in the driveway with a hotwire stylus. Another view below.

I then began adding the foundation walls.  The walls are made of  3/16 inch thick blue (Dow/Corning) foam sheet that I cut down to size on a band saw.  I split the foam into small sheets, usually 7" x24" by whatever thicknesses that I need.  Each wall section was cut to fit with a hobby knife, and then scribed with a black ball point pen to represent concrete block inside and out.  I'm working on some plates that will allow me to press this into the foam in the future, but those aren't ready yet, and I wanted to get started.

The walls were glued into place with artist's matte medium, and then pinned with straight pins until dry.  I still have some end detailing to add to the walls, but will do that later.  Here are a couple more views with figs for a better sense of scale.

This back view above shows the rear porch and steps.  Also note the stack of foam slabs that I use for making the walls and whatnot behind the terrain piece. 

The next view shows where I added some foam to build up the grade around the foundation.  it will be smoothed out better and puttied, once everything is dry.

And lastly, a view showing the tile fit in with the other terrain.  I will eventually glue a 1/4 inch thick layer of foam to the bottom of this tile to create the floor of the basement, and bring it up to the proper height to mate to the sidewalks.  In this view, a piece of foam has been placed under the tile to raise it appropriately. The road section to the front of the house is one of the new 1'x1' roadway sections.

I'll give it an hour or so to dry, and then continue working. 

Originally, I expected the 2'x2' city block panels to be just under 1/8 inch lower than the sidewalks, which would have allowed for buildings on styrene sheet bases to be set on them and be about even with the sidewalks.  But I actually cut the sidewalks thicker than I had intended, and didn't catch it until I well into the construction phase.  The result is that the sidewalks are a little higher than originally intended, so even if the Lowes foam was a full 1" thick, I would still have to add a thin layer to the bottom, or place shims under it.  In any event, it will all work out in the end, so all is well.

I'll probably have the next update tomorrow evening.

The Apocalypse Creeps Along

I managed to get a little more time in on the end of the world, so thought I'd post a few pics.  I've managed to get the rest of the highway glued together, cut, and started damaging and eroding it.

Above is a view of the highway prior to damage and erosion after gluing it up and cutting the excess foam away. Below is a view of the entire layout as it sets right now.

I've added some shell craters and damage from erosion that can be better seen in the photos below. 

The bridge will actually be two spans, side by side.  Each will be 24 inches long and about 8.75 inches wide with a narrow separation between them.  The actual bridges are made completely from concrete castings, and are supported by six columns and a concrete beam near each end, located just outside of the sidewalks below the bridge.  The truck shown in  the photos is 1/50th scale.

the photo above shows erosion and decay of the concrete panels under the bridge.  The erosion is in line with where the drains on the outside edges of the bridge would line up, and centered between the spans. The area of missing concrete tiles is damage located under a shell hole that will be located in the "southbound" span.

I'm hoping to finish the highway and bridge this coming weekend, maybe get the roads puttied up as well.  Only making small steps, but at least it is progress.  Engineering the end of the world takes time.

Early Stages of the Apocalypse

Well, it may have happened a few days later than I expected, but I finally started on the apocalypse.  Not really a lot of progress, but the sidewalks were a tedious part and are more or less done.   I've only got about a third of the highway and overpass glued up, and I'm not sure if I really like it or not.  It is kind of compressed to fit the table top, and I may end up re-engineering it before I'm done.

Anyway, here are a few pics with some 1/43(ish) vehicles, and a couple of 28mm figs for scale.

The craters need to puttied and sanded, the roadways need ballast, and the whole things gets a coat of acrylic paste before painting begins.  I'm probably going to finish the roads to the painting stage before making much headway on the city block sections. 

The city blocks will be a mix of flat plain panels on which various buildings and other constructs will set, and detailed panels with integral PA damage and ruin.

I want to do all of the masonry buildings out of the blue/pink foam as they will be much faster to construct than from other materials, but I need to make some patterns first, to press brick, stone and block patterns into the foam. Wood frame structures will be made from basswood and/or styrene textured sheet, but will take much longer to construct.

Unfortunately, I have to take a break from this for a couple of days, but hopefully will be back on it by the weekend.

Researching the Post Apocalypse Landscape

The foamboard is cut into panels and setting on my work-table downstairs, but before I actually start shaping, sanding, and painting, I thought I'd share some of the places I searched to get more feel for what the PA world might look like.

In my PA games, I imagine it to be a world with few people, hungry, often sick, and too often fighting each other to survive.  The landscape is scarred with war, desease and decay.  Maybe in places rebuilding has begun, but most live in a decaying wasteland of a fallen empire.  The question is, just what does our world look like when it is broken and left to decay?

Since I decided to base my gaming terrain on my own home town, I figured I'd wander around town photographing any abandoned buildings or places, noting the manner in which nature breaks down our accomplishments, and then do some online searching.  Silly me. I have the "misfortune" of living in an area that is growing despite the ecomy, so most empty buildings have been leveled with new developments going up. Great contrast to where I grew with many old abandoned storefronts, houses and steelmills within walking distance.  Too bad I didn't have a digital camera 30+ years ago.

From time to time, I'll stumble upon such structures in my travels, and if I have a camera with me, will take a few pics.  The brewery below is one such building. 

Anyway, I still have to go through about 30 CDs to chase down the other pics of this and a few other structures.

While searching for pics, it occurred to me that there are three basic things that I am looking for; battle damage, structural decay, and reclamation.

Battle Damage: I want my terrain to have evidence of battle having taking place during the calapse of civilization.  Not overwhelming evidence, just some blowed-up stuff here and there.  Maybe the result of factions fighting each other shortly after things got bad, rather than armies participating in full scale war.  Enough to help make the terrain a little more interesting.

Structural Decay: Next is the structural calapse of buildings and civil engineering, etc.  Rather than just build broken things, I thought I'd try to get a feel for how things really fall apart over time, maybe after 10, 20, 30 years of nature beating on them.  While getting it "right" really doesn't matter with respect to the game, it could be fun to model.

Reclamation: Lastly was an effort to study how nature reclaims the land.  How the earth "absorbs" those things left setting on it, the manner in which foliage forces its way through various construts, etc.  Basically, how nature erases the memory of man.

Below are a few links to sites that I found helpful or just plain interesting. Some are very specific in nature, or have just a few pics of interest, others are expansive and could take weeks to view entirely.  Hopefully something here might be of use or of interest to others. 

Battle Damage:

http://www.derelictplaces.co.uk/main/showthread.php?t=12632

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ctsnow/851422065/


Structural Decay:

http://daddu.net/photos-of-abandoned-buildings-modern-day-ruins/

http://www.forgottenoh.com/Coke/bellairecoke.html


Reclamation:

http://www.forgotten-ny.com/YOU'D%20NEVER%20BELIEVE/brothers/brothers.html

General Sites:

http://www.urban-travel.org/documents/279.html

http://www.derelictplaces.co.uk/main/index.php

http://www.dirjournal.com/info/abandoned-places-in-the-world/

http://weburbanist.com/abandoned-buildings-towns-and-cities/

http://www.abandonedbutnotforgotten.com/

http://www.abandoned.ru/

http://www.offroaders.com/album/centralia/links/Abandoned_Places.html

http://www.forgottenoh.com/abandoned.html

http://illicitohio.com/illicitohio/index.htm

Hopefully I will be posting some photos of my terrain in the next few days.