Crooked Dice Junktown Scrap Walls

I've had a bunch of Crooked Dice's Junktown bits waiting paint for a long while. As I needed some new walls for this coming weekend's Stargrave game, I decided I'd paint up the scrapwalls from the set. I really enjoyed working on these. The paintjobs are superquick with sponging, drybrushing and washes. A few spot colours for variety and some graffitti with my Posca paint pens, and it was job done!

You can buy almost anything in Junktown. Whether it works or not is another matter!

Ulanti Top Brass - Elite Leader & Champion

It's funny how you can warm to a project over a few weeks isn't it? I really didn't enjoy painting the first Confrontation Elite gangers, but I'm closing off the project with a final pair, and they were a lot of fun to paint up. This time round it's a bit of an imposter-leader model, plus a champion with the coolest heavy weapon there is: PLASMA!

Elite gangers may not be upper-hivers, but they are definitely classy!

A Sign of Good Fortune - Caryatids

According to Confrontation and Necromunda lore, the small blue, winged creatures known as caryatids are are considered a sign of good fortune - they attach themselves to successful and charismatic individuals. They're one of those cool little sidenotes that add colour and interest to a setting (as well as now having an in-game function if you're playing modern Necromunda).

Caryatid by Stephen Tappin, published in White Dwarf #132

Always Plugged In - Crooked Dice Hacker Kid

As I'm tidying up some loose ends, I picked a random figure out of my pending pile last night to paint. This time it's a juvenile hacker I'd intended to hang around with my other kids. 

'Next Gen' and Ludo, from Crooked Dice post-apocalyptic and Colony 87 ranges.

The Rolling Messiah (Colony 87 by Crooked Dice)

When I handed over the reins of Colony 87 to Crooked Dice a few years back, I didn't know what to expect in terms of the future range. Happily Karl has thrown a load of hard work and magic at the range, and grown it beyond my imagination. The Rolling Messiah from the Market Folk set is a brilliant example of what I always hoped the range would be - characterful sci-fi civilians that simply don't exist elsewhere.

Alien Treasures & Secret Data - Stargrave Loot Tokens

As mentioned in my previous post, I'm currently prepping a crew for Stargrave. Most of the scenarios in the game are loot-grabs, so every game needs a selection of suitable loot counters. Loot comes in two different types: physical (crates, ammo, valuable items etc) and data (floppy discs and memory sticks).

For my data loot tokens I bought a bunch of little doodads from a bits reseller. I think they might be some kind of mine from a Space Marine kit, but I figured they'd do as little data caches.

The Cosmic Amphibians - Space Slann

Technically this post is made up of a couple of spin-off projects from a spin-off project. I painted up the unreleased space slann to bulk up my Five Parsecs from Home crew into a Stargrave crew. Then the Colony 87 figure and terrain pieces just followed suit!

Five Parsecs From Home Crew #4 - Hive Worlder

 

The Rogue Trader Adventurers range is a goldmine of fantastic characters, and I've been wanting to find a purpose for the Hive Worlder for some time. He's a fun mix of primitive and tech with his crossbow pistol and leather jacket rubbing nicely alongside his power armoured legs* and chainsword.

*Asslessman maintains that these have no power source so must result in him walking like he's wearing ski boots.

Vendors and Their Wares

If you've read this blog for a while, you're probably aware that I like a nice sci-fi civilian model. It's been a little while since I last painted any, but over the last couple of weeks I've been working on a project to paint up some nice new bits of scenery and set dressing. The first part of this project is a trio of vendors and their goods. I settled on a carpet seller, a tech merchant and a general food seller based on the models I had to hand.

L-R: Astropolis, Crooked Dice (Colony 87), Crooked Dice (Colony 87)

The Priestess and the Guard

Back in 2016 Michael Anderson sculpted me a fantastic set of sci-fi civilians for my fledgling Colony 87 range (now available through Crooked Dice). One of my very favourite figures from the range was High Priestess Cardinia. On a completely unrelated matter, in July 2017 Warlord released a limited edition alien mercenary for their Gates of Antares range. The figure is now freely available to purchase through the Warlord website, but in 2017 the only way to pick the figure up was to attend the Antares open day in person. Both figures have been sat in my boxes for years, just waiting for some paint!

 

I decided that the two unrelated figures might work nicely as an astropath and her enigmatic xenos bodyguard. With complimentary paint schemes, I think it's worked out, in spite of the completely different styles.

Doing It For The Kids

I've always wanted sci-fi civilians to use in my games, and even more niche, I wanted some sci-fi kids. When I was working on the third wave of Colony 87 miniatures, I had John Pickford sculpt me a pair of really cute little sci-fi kids. It's great to see these finally released through Crooked Dice.

I decided to paint up the pair and to add a third kid whilst I was about it!

L-R: Colony 87, converted Midlam Miniatures, Colony 87.

The Workshop and the Mechs

I've painted up another pre-production adobe building from Fogou Models to add to my growing town. This time I've decided to theme it as a mechanic's workshop to give it some narrative and to inform the accessories.

Like the previous Fogou adobes, from the last couple of posts, this building is genre neutral, with minimal wall details. To make it fit into my setting and work as a convincing workshop I've added a corner pipe, vent, air conditioning unit, light and little lean-to (all Fogou accessories). I also added a Crooked Dice generator to the roof and the door sign from a short length of plastic strip.

The Alien Delegation Arrives - Space Slann

A pair of officials waited nervously in the disembarkation hall. They ignored the pilgrims, merchants and leisure travellers. They were here to greet a more distinguished visitor. The diplomatic talks with the xenos emissary, Barcoon Krobosh, would profoundly impact on the future prosperity of the Colony.

 

Newly off the painting table are a trio of aliens which have probably evolved from amphibious ancestors. First up is Barcoon Krobosh, the Amphiran Emissary from Colony 87 miniatures. This wonderful high-ranking alien was sculpted by Michael Anderson and is bedecked with ornaments of office.

The Wandering Salesman - Colony 87 Trader

Shady dealings for dodgy goods.

 

Back in July 2014, I started making plans for the first Kickstarter of my Colony 87 miniatures. The very first idea I wanted to make reality was for a nomadic human trader, reminiscent of many human cultures across the world. The very brief description I sent across to Will Beck, who drew the concepts for the Colony 87 range, was this:

 

Human trader - lots of visual cues from nomadic trader types (big hats, baggy, layered clothing, staff). Heavily laden with lots of trade goods.

 

Will immediately grasped the concept, and drew me an almost note-perfect early concept for the figure:

 

'Human Trader' - Colony 87 early concept by Will Beck.

40kthulhu: Chapter 4 - Old Friends

Something had possessed me to buy that oval stone, even though the very thought of it repulsed me. It sat now, in my pocket, like a malevolent toad in a damp hole. I pushed it out of my mind and paid new attention to the day's task: meeting the holo-vid recordist, Wyld.

I glanced at my wrist-chron - I was late! I swiftly made my way through the alley ways of Urkar to our pre-arranged meeting place at the Queen's Oasis - a well known kulfee house, with a reputation for high quality and exotic blends.

Return to Colony 87 Kickstarter

Yesterday evening, I launched a new Kickstarter project - a second wave of sci-fi civilians for my Colony 87 setting. I'll start this blog post by saying that I won't be peppering the blog with adverts for the Kickstarter - that would be very boring to read!

On the other hand, I'm very excited about the new set of figures - and it seems there are plenty of others out there too, as the Kickstarter has already smashed the funding goal.

The figures have been designed by concept artist Will Beck and sculpted by Michael Anderson (with a few additions by John Pickford). The painted examples are from the talented hands of Jean-Baptiste Garidel (aka Asslessman) from Leadplague.

If the figures look like something that would interest you, then please feel free to head over to the Kickstarter and find out more!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/62661939/return-to-colony-87-28mm-sci-fi-civilians/

Colony 87 Lady Greiss

After all the rioters I painted earlier in the week, I wanted to spend a bit more time over a figure last night, so I pulled out another figure from the Colony 87 set - this time Lady Greiss.

I wanted to replicate the pallette used previously on Lord Greiss and Anamuria, although I struggled to work out which colour to paint where initially. In the end I went for cream armour, a white robe, blue cloak and gold details. Creaster got a lovely little canary yellow romper suit, as is traditional for babies!

Colony 87 Lord Greiss

You may be aware that I recently ran a Kickstarter for a small range of sci-fi civilian figures called Colony 87.

I always meant to paint up a set of figures as the Kickstarter was running, but time and events conspired against me, and I didn't manage to paint a set up before the Kickstarter ended. As a treat to myself for finishing all the terrain for the BOYL game, I decided to paint up Lord Greiss from the range. Whiskey Priest over at the The Leadpile had already painted up a gin-soaked version in green and pink. I decided my version was going to be perhaps an older, more severe planetary Governor. Here's the results:

Ever Had Trouble Finding Suitable Sci-Fi Civilians?

For a long time I've wanted a nice range of sci-fi civilians, but I've never found anything that quite hits the late 1980s sci-fi vibe I was after.

So eventually I bit the bullet, and have ended up involved in a mad-cap scheme to make some myself. The resulting 6 miniatures have been sculpted by Michael Anderson, based on concepts by Will Beck.

I'm delighted with the results and can't wait to have them cast and painted. Oh did I mention you could have some too?!

Feel free to check out the Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/62661939/colony-87-28mm-sci-fi-civilians/