Meet the Colonists #2: Alien Zoologist Team

Hello and Welcome back,

In this post, we are going to take a peep at my Alien Zoologist Expedition Team. While they are for the Alien Zoologist Game, some of these figures will also double up as Colonists for the Skirm game or the township of Pusteron on my own world of Corrosion.

In case you don’t know, Alien Zoologist is a solo game by Florian F. Manthey, where an expedition hunts alien creatures, eggs and poo for a zoologist's collection. The game leans heavily on kit bashing a expedition team and creating alien critters from butchered toys. It features tokens to collect or interact with the critters. I made mine last year but I haven’t got around to painting them.

The Expedition Team.

The Zoologist:

Lord Aluicous Sidney Oldwood Smythe Smythe Smythe (just known as Lord Oldwood to every one who doesn’t want to run out of breath just speaking to him) is a Aristocrat from the Brittainna group of systems who has a passion for building up his own zoo. He is a old friend of Lord Valchiria of Wreckage station which orbits Corrosion. Lord Oldwood ect ect, has brought an expedition to the world in the hope finding creatures for his alien zoo. In the game the Zoologist acts as the guy trying to capture critters hopefully uninjured.

The figure started out as a Sci Fi ganger by the now sadly vanished Kallistra games. I have another one of this figure, so butchering it to make the Zoologist didn’t smart too much. The tares in the t shirt were filled and big buttons added to it. I sculpted a gas mask and added a back pack with hoses to house the ventilator (not all worlds have a breathable atmosphere). The sword was removed and a post to make a big butterfly net added. The butterfly net was built from wire and had putty wrapped around it. The netting came from a bag of halloween sweets. The shoulder epaulettes are resin and came from Anvil Industries.

Sadly, I cant see many characters roaming about with a giant butterfly net searching for junk to salvage on Tapu or Corrosion. Not unless they are really eccentric!

The Big Game Hunter.

Simply known as 'The Major', he is ex Brittannia military from an aristocratic family. He has a passion for killing animals to make himself feel better ("well they don’t complain about it as much as the poor, eh what!"). He sports an old antique hunting rifle owned by one of his equally blood thirsty ancestors.

The Major figure is based on a Stargrave Crew man torso. A pair Dead Mans Hand cowboy rifle arms were added. They didn’t fit too well so a pair of putty shoulder pads were added to cover the area. One of the great things about Sci Fi figures is that a lump of putty can hide a multitude of kit bash sins and not make the figure look odd. As the rules say he needed an antique hunting rifle I scratch built one. The head came from the Dead Mans Hand set and the backpack is from Anvil Industries.

On Tapu/Corrosion the Major arrived on the world and brought his great granddaddies' big game gun. He heard there is plenty of stuff to kill and is looking forward to indulging in his favourite hobby.

Doc Wildeyes, the Scientist:

Doc Wildeyes is the Expedition Team's biologist and is interested in studying the creatures and collecting their genes. In the game the biologist collects the critters eggs for captive breeding and research.

The figure is the only one of the set un modified, as I thought it was perfect for the job. It is from Northstar Miniatures Steampunk range.

On Tapu/Corrosion Doc Wildeyes serves as the colony's resident medical practitioner. If the med packs cant fix you, are you brave enough to go under his scalpel or terrifying rusty Autodoc machine?

Riff Void, the Assistant.

Riff Void is the assistant to the Doc. A young man wishing to start a career in Alien Biological research. His job is less glamorous than the other members of the team. He has to collect the alien critters dung for analysis. He also has the fun job of distracting the beasts if the team members are in danger.

The figure torso is a Warlord WW2 German in a great coat, I got as a free addition from Northstar (thanks guys). The arms are from a fantasy dwarf sprue, complete with shovel. Putty shoulder pads cover any limb misalignments. The head is from Ramshackle Games. The bucket is scratch built using a medical connector cap and some wire. The backpack was made from a lump of spare putty (I always mix too much!).

On Tapu/Corrosion, as Riff Void is the youngest colonist he has the great job of cleaning the town's outhouse. A job even the beadbots turn down. You know you are the bottom of the pile when a beadbot outranks you.

Gnarly Petain the Ranger.

Gnarly Petain has travelled many worlds, learning the ways of the beasts and how to live off the land. Gnarly Petain is hired to find and track the animals. In Alien Zoology the Ranger puts out food to attract the beasts.

The figure is a gunfighter torso, head and arms from the Dead Mans Hand set. I chose it as the Ranger is described as being armed with two pistols. Shoulder pads were added to Sci Fi the figure up a little. The backpack is made from spare putty.

On Tapu/Corrosion, the character is just another scrap hungry adventurer from a frontier world, hoping to make his fortune.

Thanks for looking,

Take care out there.

Meet the Colonists #1

Hello and Welcome back,  

In this series of blog posts we will be meeting the colonists who live in the (only) colony on the world of Corrosion known as Pusterom. These figures will be serving as the colonists faction in future games of Skirm. But first a little background...

Corrosion is a long abandoned, wreckage strewn world which was then used as a orbital dumping ground for over a century. It has the artifical moon sized space station known as "Wreckage" orbiting it. Despite the old empire's attempt to cleanse the world of all life to cleanse it of GELF Spores, life has survived on the world. Although as all records of the world has been long erased it is difficult to know if these creatures are native or some kind of mutant. As there is no evidence of the GELFs, it was deemed safe to build a colony to act as a base for salvagers, the world is rich with old junk. The colony is known as Pusterom and is located on a high mesa for it's protection from the wild life and tribals.

Herbert Dibdab arrived on the world to scavenge through the piles of rusty junk, like every other colonist on Corrosion, in the hope of getting rich quick. Probably like every other colonist on Corrosion there is a pretty good chance that Dibdab is on the run. This lost world is the ideal place to hide out especiallyas it doesnt appear on any Galactic maps.  The figure was donated by my friend Xander, I suspect the torso is Frostgrave (?) and the arms are 40K Cadian Imperial Guard. I have no idea where the head came from. I added some pouches, added damage to the shoulder pads and removed the Imperial Eagle from the Lasgun. 

Meg the Mech, like others arrived to seek her fortune and ended up settled in Pusterom, the colony on Corrosion. She works over at the landing pad as a Starship mechanic. The visiting ships are vital for supplies and trading the items salvaged from the world. Vessels visiting Corrosion often get damaged by the orbital wreckage cloud and Meg is kept busy making repairs. The figure is a old Warmachine dirty Meg figure. I have had this figure for over a decade and it was recently stripped and repainted.

Scab is another long time scavenger living at Pusterom. The figure is another donated by my friend Xander, I suspect the torso is Frostgrave (?) and the arms are 40K Cadian Imperial Guard. I have no idea where the head came from. I added some pouches, a back pack, added damage to the shoulder pads and removed the Imperial Eagle from the Lasgun. 

Crooz arrived on world in a fireball as his ship collided with a peice of wreckage in orbit of the world. He managed to escape the crash but badly injured his arm. Crooz was lucky that a bead bot found him. Its code made it carry Crooz to Pusterom where he was given urgent medical treatment but his arm was lost. A mechanical arm replaced it. Crooze now runs a shop that repairs Beadbots in Pusterom. The figure is a old Warmachine Steamjack mechanic figure. I have had this figure for over a decade and it was recently stripped and repainted.

Gax breezed into Pusterom one stormy night and never left. Carrying an axe made from space ship hull Gax told a wild tale of crash landing on Corrosion over 1000Km from Pusterom. Gax had a crazed look in his eye as he told of survival stuggles, battles with monsters and Rusters. Gax is handy in a conflict although his rage filled charges can ruin any tactical plans the other colonists may have. Gax is a old metal OOP figure by Ramshackle games , that Curtis kindly sent me. The tattoos were done with AK Real Colour Markers. I had a lot of fun painting this figure.

There will be future Meet the Colonists posts.

Thanks for looking,

Take Care out there.

Starport Scum #12

Hello and Welcome back, 

Time for Starport Scum, episode 12. 

The Kooman brothers are deserters for hire. On the run from the Alliance forces they deserted, they hang around spaceports on frontier space looking for work. 

This pair were part of a figure deal I got off evilbay. The paint is thick. After shaving off the 40k imperal eagles, I touched the figures up. I treated them some washes and based them. Not great work but they are good enough for henchmen, goons or Xenomorph fodder. 

Time to introduce a new bunch of GELFs into the Wlid Galaxy - the Klangers.

Originally characters from a children's holovid, these GELFs were engineered to look like these characters to entertain children. Although they had few issues with humanity the Klangers fled with the other GELFs fearing the backlash. Klangers can breed and have settled a handful of worlds in GELF space. Although they live peacefully the warlike ORCS and GROTS GELFs that are neighbours (galactically speaking) have forced the Klangers to protect themselves. Klanger technology is crude and basic equating to early to mid 20th Century Earth, and they are hungry for more advanced weapons and equipment.

Like the Halfers some Klangers have migrated and built colonies on Dvarg worlds for protection. With the encroachment of Human frontier space on GELF space, Klangers can sometimes be found in spaceports trading or looking for work. 

These figures are Quar Trenchers. I think the light armament and improvised hand weapons gives them the right feel for Starport scum, crew or even pirates. It occurred to me that the Quar figures resembled the characters in one of my favourite childhood shows, the Clangers (yes I am that old!).

Gun drones are commonly used by various groups across human space. They allow some extra close range fire power when you short on bodies. 

Care has to be taken wandering through hostile territory as these bots are often left dormant as a extra security measure. These figures are 15mm GZG figures and were painted and dontated by my friend Xander. I just touched them up and finished them off. 

I found these old metal Necrons on Evilbay. Two of them were painted and one unpainted. So the two painted Necons got touched up, washed and a rebase. 

The other one got painted in a similar fashion. Each Necron had some colour added to the shoulder pads. 

As they look different to the later plastic Necron offerings and these are painted shiney, I have decided that this three will be operating as robotic crew or security in various settings. 

Thanks for looking,

Take care out there.

New Guardians Power Armour

Hello and Welcome back, 

The Guardians are a wasteland society that collect old technology and weapons to prevent humanity on Mattblackgod’s World from repeating the mistakes of the past (my version of Fallout's Brotherhood of Steel). Many of the people of the Wastelands regard these wasteland "knights" as oppressors rather than saviours. 

The local chapter of the Guardians has uncovered a couple of suits of power armour in the Last City Wastes.

Some antique power armour, found in (what was) a private museum and made operational. This T60 armour is from the Fallout game. 

This suit is botched together and originally it belonged to a bandit warlord. Until the Guardians 'liberated' it from him. At least thats one less bunch of bandits for Wastelanders to worry about. This figure uses Khordal Pattern Armour base figure by Ramshackle games as a starting point. These figures come without arms or head. They are useful for using up all those 40k Space Marine spares people seem to accumulate. I also dropped a helmet from a plastic Void Viridian.

Thanks for reading and stay safe out there.

Robo Maggots

Hello  and Welcome Back, 

The Robo Maggots were created as a weapon during the GELF (Genetically Engineered Life Form) wars. Designed to be dropped behind ememy lines the Robo Maggots will attack military personnel, civilians, wildlife, livestock and machinery alike. These robo maggots with lie in wait or crawl towards targets and attack using a bite attack with razor sharp teeth. The robo maggots are lightly armoured helping them survive light attacks.

These weapons were banned not long after the GELF wars finished as they were uncontrollable, attacking friend and foe alike. They do not stop until they are destroyed some how. The fact that the Robo Maggots can lie dormant for long periods has made them troublesome for centuries afterwards in former war zones. 

Robo Maggots are a threat on worlds lost or destroyed during the GELF wars. Many an adventurer, explorer and scavenger has fallen foul to these relentless machines while exploring the lost or dark worlds.

Some unscrupulous types smuggled Robo Maggots aboard vessles, with them becoming active some time later. These pests have caused vessles to become lost, drifting hulks. Robo Maggots are a constant threat when exploring lost space hulks. 

After the GELF wars the old Empire dumped the remaining stocks of Robo Maggots from orbit onto the world of Corrosion. These machines are another danger faced by the wildlife, tribals and explorers on Corrosion. 

The Robo Maggots Grubs from a Dr Who play set. There was enough to base some as spaceship or station threats and others as desert bases for adventures on Corrosion. The figures themselves were painted rusty and dry brushed. I wanted a old rusty machine look. The rusty look would make them blend in to the surface of Corrosion. 

Thanks for looking 

Take Care Out There.

Trollbot

Hello and Welcome Back,

Ready to face another danger of space hulk exploring? 

During the early days of the old Earth Empire, space vessels were equipped with basic security bots to help protect vessel from hostile intruders (pirates, space bugs etc) and mutiny. These bots were nicknamed Trollbots due to their patrol patterns and habit of attacking crew not wearing their ID chips. 

Due to the complexity of space vessels back in the early days of humanity’s space expansion, vessels would often go missing. Meteorite strikes, systems failures, plague, space madness and incompetence were often the reasons for vessel loss. The Troll bots are sometimes still active on some of these ancient hulks, waking when their proximity alarms are tiggered. Salvage crews and explorers when exploring these ancient hulks often encounter the hulking shape of a Troll bot stomping out of the dark. 

Trollbots can also be found in the abandoned space stations and bases that litter the inner systems of human space. 

The Trollbot is a model of the same name from Skull n Crown's Space Scrappers line. It is a multipart resin kit. 

Looking at the pictures, I think I missed some edge highlights on the rear of the Trollbot carapace.

Thanks for looking,

Take Care out there.  

The Space Slug

Hello and Welcome Back, 

Today we take a look at a creature that has become a real pest. The Space Slug is a carnivorous alien creature found in the asteroids in the Blaagon V system. These creatures came as a nasty surprise to the asteroid miners. The Space Slugs can survive for incredibly long periods of time without sustenance and will cannibalise other Space Slugs to survive. 

In time the Space Slugs managed to migrate to other systems on vessles visiting the Blaagon V system. Despite being slow moving they have become a problem for Space ships and stations across human space. Space Slugs are responsible for several ships becoming lost and drifting hulks. They are a real danger to salvage crews and explorers. 

This was a Bill Making Stuff pateron challenge, to make something alien. My orignal idea had to be shelved as I didnt have the right components in the bits box. So I came to the idea of something slithery to prey upon unwary space crews. The Space Slug was an experiment in using EVA foam putty to make models. I found the EVA foam putty to be difficult to use for making the body. It took a long time to fully cure (several days) and didn't take textures well. In hindsight I think that greenstuff or milliput would have been a better choice. 

The eyes are made from wooden beads. The tentacles are made from EVA foam putty rolled around a wire former. I found that this makes good flexible tentacles. It could also be used for cables and pipes on models. The teeth are made from the tips of cocktail sticks. 

Thanks for looking and stay safe! 

 

Wasteland Mutants

Hello and Welcome Back, 

Time is flying by and I am getting way behind on my blogging. So here is a couple of figures I finished back in August to get the ball rolling. 

The Wastelands of Mattblackgod’s world are filled with strange weird mutants. Fixture is a random warrior who will happily fight alongside the Rustlords.

Fixture is from Ramshackle Games, and is a figure with the same name. 

This mutant is particularly disturbing. No one knows what it is or where it came from. 

This figure is the Toe Tickler by Ramshackle games. This figure was quite fun to paint.

I guess I now need to get taking some more pictures to get more posts written. 

Thanks for looking

Take care out there. 

Milki Tours Expedition Vehicle.

Hello and Welcome Back, 

"Hello Traveller, I am Milki! Want to get further out in the Rust lands looking for the good loot but don't want to spend days yomping across the wastes, camping, fighting off angry tribals and the various monstrosities trying to eat you? Then you need Milki Tours! For a reasonable price, I can run to were you want to go. Saving you time and inconvenience in Big Milki there. Ain't she a beaut?"

"For extra cost you can camp in Big Milki overnight, yup she is that big or ride up top for that safari experience. You can even haul cargo up top. Now dont get ideas about bumping old Milki off and stealing his ride. The cockpit is sealed and there is a hidden anti theft system. No one messes with old Milki"

"What's that? Where did I get this fine Expedition vehicle? Well no one makes these things, ya know. Big Milki started life as a wreck I found out in the Rustlands. In a previous life it was an ancient Neta Corp Mu light transport ship. Little wonder the old empire dumped it here, it was an antique when they ditched it. Probably couldn't find the parts to keep it spaceworthy. The engines were totally shot. At some point some clowns had ripped off the rear hatch and looted what ever the empire stuffed in it. Judging by the damage I am guessing they used a very bog bot. Anyways, I got the under deck plasma reactor with a little work and a few cusswords."

"For some reason the old empire hated old Arla class cargo transport cars. There are loads of them dumped on this rock. Well, I salvaged the wheels and electric motors from a couple. They needed a fair bit of cleaning up but they work well. Plus spares are easy to come by. The old Mu plasma plant runs them happily. Lots of plates where added to the hull to armor it up cos the rust wastes are a dangerous place. I even managed to add a twin laser cannon from the wreck of a Hornet class drop ship, although the fire contol system is a converted holo game contoller. The military one had been wiped before it was ditched here. The game comp does the job nicely instead he he. A huge plow was added to move obstructions out of the way. You know the kinda thing, rocks, plants, tribal huts, big monsters, that kinda thing."

Big Milki was the product of a Billmakingstuff pateron challenge. For some time I fancied building a Crawler for an expedition team. I decided that I would go for trashbashing as much as I could for the model. Mainly to see what can be done with what's laying about.

The hull was made from a Ferro Rochia box and the bridge section was built from a quarter of a Pot Noodle pot. The rest of it has been squirreled away for a future build. The wheels are made from milk bottle tops, 16 of them. I like these bottle tops as they are so useful for sci fi trashbashing and collect them from time to time. The hull was armored up with EVA foam sheets. The plow was made from plastic tube frame and cut up gift cards. 

The roof had platic mesh added as decking. The rear door is made from corrugated card, the ladder is a cheap razor handle and the rear steps are made from razor covers. The rest of Milki was built from a deep bits box dive. I am lucky that decades of model making and wargaming has given me quite the bits box. The mantic laser cannons were fitted to a couple of bases from various sources. The lamps and cannon lens are made from beads and stick on pearls used for card making. 

I have always fancied a Crawler land train. In future I hope to make a trailer car and flat bed trailers for Big Milki. They should be easy to make and the bits are plentiful to salvage. 

The Big Milki name grew out the nick name the other Discord group users gave it when I shared wip pictures. Now I plan a 28mm figure for the character of Milki. No doubt he will be joining my planned crew of colonists for the world of Corrosion (and showing up in my Skirm games).

Thanks for looking and stay safe out there.