Eureka Miniatures Chaos Army Gang for Idols of Torment!

Finally finished another "gang" for the local game Idols of Torment. We've blogged lots about this game, it's very cool, takes very few models to play, and is so atmospheric and fun. Anyway a faction is only nine models and although the creators make lots of "official" models and STLs, I really like building factions out of metal models from other random manufacturers. In this vein, I just finished painting a faction composed of models from Eureka Minatures' "Chaos Army" range, inspired by artists like Heironymous Bosch! 

A gang in Idols of Torment is composed of eight models and a totem. The models represent various archetypes and are statistically identical from faction to faction (two each of Lurkers, Slayers, and Stalkers, plus one Corrupter and one Reaper).  Lurkers are the only class of of Idol that can engage in ranged combat in the game. For one of these models I selected Blind Justice, holding a pistol.

 

The other one is Bonker, about to chuck a rock.

Slayers are the Idol class who excel at close combat. This is Harry Born Yesterday, about to bitecha!

 

Snailhead is the other Slayer. He looks like he's gonna get stabby.

Stalkers are the manouevre elements of an Idols gang. For these I picked two models mounted on starving hounds, yikes! This is Magog the Mighty and Knight of the Leash.

The Corrupter is an important member of the gang - it's the only model that can naturally bind the Lost. For this role, naturally, I picked Pope Simius.

The Reaper is kind of like the leader of an Idols gang, as the objective of most scenarios is to reap the souls of the Lost, and the Reaper is the best at it! 

This, of course, is Death Rides a Pale Snail. Super-fun model to paint.

The gang has to include a Totem as well. This model stays stationary throughout the game.

Phil the Unchastener was the natural choice here, no? Anyway that's the whole gang! The Eureka models are obviously super-fun and very suitable for Idols of Torment, I'm sure there are lots of other models from the Chaos Army that could be used in an Idols gang.

 

As a bonus, here's a freebie I got in my Skull & Crown order. I wasn't sure what to do with him, then it occurred to me that he'd make a great statue. Great use for random models and the column fits a 25mm round base to perfection!

Anyway that's it for now, see you next time!

Cold Warriors - BobMack 3D 28mm Marder 1A3s, Plus More Eureka Bundeswehr and Soviets

OK so there's a few more Cold Warriors to post here! I recently ordered some freaky Chaos/Hieronymous Bosch li'l dudes from Eureka, and threw some Bundeswehr and Soviets into the order, just because. They were quick to paint so here they are, along with some extra unpainted models from years ago. 

MG3 machinegunner in NBC gear. A leftover.

Panzerfaust 3 operator and GraMaWa (granatmaschinenwaffe - grenade machinegun) gunner. Whoa!

Bundeswehr sniper with G22 (Accuracy International AWM-F) in .300 Winchester Magnum (7.62x67).

I also picked up a couple more Chemical Commies, a Sagger (AT-3 ATGM) operator, PKM machinegunner, and flamethrower operator.

The Sagger set from Eureka is so cool. So much ATGM goodness.

The flamethrower dude and PKM gunner are great too. The Chemical Commies are painted with Vallejo German Uniform highlighted up with a VGU/white mix. The Bundeswehr flecktarn is Doombull Brown, Castellan Green, and Deathworld Forest.

But check these out - 3D-printed BobMack 3D Marder 1A3s from their Kickstarter, printed for me by Conscript Byron.

These are 1/56 scale models, and replace the North Korea store Marders in my Bundeswehr force. These scale quite well against the Leopard 2s I have already. (For those who are wondering, the NKS Marders were built on the SAME CHASSIS as their Leopard 2s. They were therefore waaaay bigger than scale Marders should be. These ones are much smaller than the Leopards).

I also got decals for these from District Miniatures. On the Marder 1A3 sheet you get decals for four vehicles, including crosses and (importantly) number plates. These are some great decals! The camo is Doombull Brown, Castellan Green/Deathworld Forest, and Vallejo Dark Rubber.

Here's one of the Marders with some BW infantrymen. Can hardly wait to get these out for a game. It will happen this summer I swear. I just have to find/write a Cold War mod for Bolt Action, I think that'd work best for a game.

Mad Maximillian 1934 - Gaslands in the Jazz Age!

Well, maybe it's a little after the Jazz Age per se, but close enough... Mad Max 1934 is a Gaslands/Car Wars type game set in the Dystopian 1930s, and is played with 1/43 cars and heroic 28mm miniatures. When founding Conscript Curt told me about this game a couple months ago, it sounded like an awesome project to have a go at! So I did!

 

First off, I fired up eBay and ordered some suitable diecast 1/43 model cars from Brumm, then headed over to Eureka to get crew models and bits. First up was this 1928 4 1/2 litre Bentley. I weathered it a bit with some steel wool (made necessary because the plastic hood straps broke and my attempts to glue 'em back on marred the paintwork), followed by an allover wash of Nuln Oil and a targeted wash of Agrax Earthshade over the lower part of the car. I also rusted up the exhaust system.

I painted this suitably mad-looking driver from Eureka and secured him in place. The Eureka drivers come with steering wheels so I cut the wheel off the Bentley.

The gunner is from the same pack. I used a gun mount from the Eureka accessories pack and a length of wire to mount it to the car. The "flimsy" petrol can is also from Eureka.

Looks pretty cool I think.

Next up is a 1936 Auto Union Type C Grand Prix car, in dual-wheel "hillclimb" configuration. This was a bit more involved as a conversion because I wanted the model to be displayable without the machinegun as a legit historical racer. What to do? 

Well, magnets to the rescue of course... I attached an ammo box from the spares bin to the Eureka MG and sculpted the cartridge belt from greenstuff. A 5mm disc magnet was attached to the bottom of the mount before painting. I took the car apart and superglued two more 5mm magnets in series to the underside of the front of the car so the MG magnet would adhere to the outside. Sorted!

Paintwork was as per Bentley - Nuln wash followed by Agrax. I think it looks suitably road-worn.

The Auto Union cars were the apex predators of pre-war motor racing... mid-engined like modern race cars, but with antiquated suspension and tire technology... the hillclimb cars needed four rear wheels as those rear tires took so much punishment from the 520 horsepower V16 powertrain they needed to be doubled up. 

Here's Hans Stuck madly sawing away at the wheel of his Auto Union in the 1938 Deutsches Bergmeisterschaft (German Hill-Climb Championship)... sadly machineguns were not permitted. In any case the cars went up the course one at a time anyway.

Lastly here's a 1939 Bugatti Type 59 Grand Prix car with a fetching female driver, also from Eureka. Not so successful as a racer, it looks great in French racing blue and brings some heat with twin Lewis guns.

The paintjobs on these Brumm models looked so good I couldn't bear to repaint them, so I used the Nuln/Agrax formula on all three. 

The Lewis guns were mounted to the car via a plasticard cross-piece (connecting the guns) and a short length of wire. I made a small round mount out of greenstuff and stuck that to the car hood, and glued the MG wire mount onto that.

Looking appropriately deadly, no? While I haven't picked up a copy of the MM34 rules, they look pretty fun and I love the setting and working on the models. Hopefully we can give it a go someday but even if not, it was a fun little project and I think the cars turned out nicely.

Judge Dredd Battle Report, or Why Greg Hates "Special Dice"

"This is Hyundai McKesson for Mega-City Channel 7 News with Judge Fraser and rookie Judge Gregg near the Jane Goodall Block, where Jane Goodall Citi-Def members have been going ape for the last few hours..."

Last week I set up our first game of Judge Dredd, the new 2000AD-comic-themed miniatures game from Warlord. I've always been a huge fan of Old Stony Face and the insanity that is Mega-City One, so I have jumped into the new JD with both feet... at the very least, it'll give some renewed impetus to paint some of the OLD Dredd models I still have from the last miniatures incarnation - Mongoose Models' "Gangs of Mega-City One". But anyway...

Here's the 4x4 table set up for the game. The story: Jane Goodall Block Citi-Def has been running an armed exercise in an industrial area of the city bottom, and complaints about gunfire and general arsing-about have been received by the Justice Department. As the JGCD has previously been warned, this incident has escalated to Judge intervention and a Pat-Wagon was dispatched with Judges Fraser (a Veteran Street Judge) and Gregg (a rookie Judge) aboard.

We pick up the game with the two Judges in the middle of the table and the Jane Goodall forces (Eureka Miniatures' excellent "Boiler-suit Apes") about to spring an ambush...

Jane Goodall squad leader and female 2IC lurk...

...while the Gibbon squad waits under cover. The JG apes had to deploy at least 12" from the two Judges and out of their line of sight.

Heavy spit gun with two-Gibbon crew.

The view from the other side of the table.

In his first activation, the JGCD squad leader targeted Judge Gregg, causing some injuries... another ape also activated and put her out of action even before she could activate, herself! Conscript Greg notably failed to roll a single "Shield" result on any of his Resist dice :-(

Disappointing development for the Justice Department side, but Judge Fraser activated next and Conscript Mike had a cunning plan...

He took a Double Action to run, then played the "Crazie" card to take another immediate Charge action, catching the rocket-launcher-toting gibbon flat footed... a light beating with daystick put the Jane Goodall Blocker out of action.

The sensitive simian hearing of the Jane Goodall Blockers picked up the approaching sound of sirens...

...knowing that a Lawmaster bike was on the way, the simians shifted around to Overwatch the road entrances.

On the next Justice Department chip, Street Judge Burch appeared on his Lawmaster bike... the Justice Department also played a Big Meg card - Weather Control. The random dice came up with a snowstorm!

While the simians blazed away with their heavy spit gun, they failed to stop the bike... and Judge Burch dropped them with his Lawgiver pistol.

On his next activation, the simian on top of the power building (top centre) shot at the Lawmaster, immobilizing it! Greg's lousy die rolling continued...

Meanwhile, Judge Fraser was under attack by gibbons with spit pistols...

... and it was not going well. :-(

The simians in the middle moved up towards Judge Burch...

Who had dismounted from his now-immobilized Lawmaster bike.

The gibbon on the rooftop moved towards the middle of the roof and took a "Hunker Down" double action to rid himself of an injury marker.

However, in true Dredd fashion, Judge Burch activated and played a "Ricochet" Armoury card, allowing him to bounce a Lawgiver round off the tower and into the rooftop simian, ending his gibbon adversary in true comic-book style. Nice one!

But in the middle of the table, the Jane Goodall squad leader broke cover...

...while behind Judge Burch another gibbon lurked!

The simian squad leader blazed away at the Judge, who used his "Gunfighter" trait to shoot back and wound the ape, who was himself killed in a volley of Bike Cannon fire.

Judge Burch was finished off by a backshooting gibbon, of all things, and we called the game at that point, with only an immobilized Lawmaster left on the Justice Department side.

The objects of Conscript Greg's fury... a set of extremely uncooperative special dice supplied with the game. The faces bear three explosions (denoting hits), two shields (useful when making Resist (save) rolls), and one special symbol - the 2000AD logo, needed to make tests against a model's Cool characteristic. Greg never seemed to get any traction with these, as his rolls always came up with exactly the symbols he didn't need.

In the end, it was a pretty fun game, and for a first try I reckon we got 80% of the rules right. Drawing chips for activations is a fun mechanic, but we saw the downside in this game with the severely outnumbered Judges having a tough time. I think in games with a more even number of opponents it'll work even better. I've got my East-Meg/Sov Judges and Sentenoid (from the old Mongoose kickstarter) primed up and once they're done it'll be time for some Apocalypse War gaming!