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.

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.

Rusters!!

Hello and Welcome back, 

Rusters, meet the Rusters...Great, now I have the theme tune to the Flintstones going around my head just with the word Rusters in it. 

The Rusters are a faction of the Skrim game by @billmakingstuff. The best way to describe them is as a tribal faction with cultist overtones (they worship a giant robot wreck in the Rusty Peaks). According to Bill's lore they arrived on a cruise ship that crashed on Tapu aka "the Gutterlands" centuries ago. The tribals claim the rust covered lands are sacred. They cover themselves in home made rusty junk armour and bear home made or salvaged weapons. The Rusters and Colonials are often in conflict over territory. 

Like Bill's Rusters the bulk of my Rusters were made from Warlord black powder Woodland Indians. The armour is made from scraps of plastic card, bits of cut up plastic toy bullets, bits of vinyl beads, beads and other assorted bits. This force of Rusters took over a month to put together and paint. Cutting up scraps and adding them took quite some time. Pouches and skulls came from the bits box just to some extra detail. 

Some Rusters wear helmets that resemble the robot head they worship. According to Bill these are made from hollowed out artillery shells. Mine utilises the toy bullet tips as they are the ideal size and shape. 

The Ruster on the right had a helmet made from a plastic tubing cap with holes drilled in it. 

The weapons were cobbled together from the muskets and various bits from the bits box. Some scopes were made from bits. Axes were made from plastic card attached to the Woodland Indian clubs. 

This Ruster on the right has a old missle attached to a lance for those precision explosions, assuming the warhead isn't a dud. I hope he doesn't mind getting caught in the blast.

An old Grenadier Barbarian leader (from Forlone Hope) was selected to make a leader (right). I wanted a figure a bit bulkier to stand out from the rest of the Rusters. The hand left hand was in right position to add a firearm, in this case a GW Necromunda Orlock autogun. Like the others, he had a lot of armor added from scraps of plastic. Although I am not sure about the logic of using a large land mine as a peice of armor. I hope its a dud. A cloak made from some weird animal skin, was made from Greenstuff putty and added to make the figure stand out futher. 

I wanted a female figure, so I picked up a Amazon from Forlone Hope (left). Once the hair and head had been removed the conversion work was easy. The hardest part was building armor around the breast area. I didnt want to go down the Maddona cones route. 

The paint was mainly rust tones with some dry brushing and the odd detail picked out. I plumbed for light blue skintones to make the Ruster flesh pop against the rust. In Skrim they are aliens but in Post Apocalyptic games they could be mutants. 

The Rusters will be a useful Post Apocalyptic faction. I can see them being a third faction in the war between the Skrap Knights and Rustlords. Or maybe to use them as foot soldiers in either faction's Warbands. 

Thanks for looking, 

Take care out there.

Skrapbeasts...

Hello and Welcome back, 

Time for a trip to the world of Tapu, also known as the Gutterlands. 

A scrap prospector stumbles upon a Skraprunt while checking out a potential pile of junk. In case you are wondering dear Reader, a Skraprunt is the young of the fearsome Skrapbeast, native to the world of Tapu aka the Gutterlands. 

"Gah, eat lead ya pesky varmit*" 

"MEEP! MEEP! MEEP!"

* the prospector could possibly be a descendant of Yosemite Sam. He is about the same height and has two six shooters! I think I will name this figure "Gutterlands Sam". I might have to ginger up his beard. lol. 

"RRAAH!"

"MEEP!"

An enraged Skrapbeast smashes out of a pile of scrap. Mummy to the rescue. 

The Skraprunt began life as a lump of spare Milliput. It was shaped and a mouth added before the putty set. The eyes are stick on decorative beads. The legs were made from wire with Greenstuff putty added. The teeth was made from Greenstuff putty. 

The Skrapbeast's body was made from DAS air dry clay. The mouth and jaw was added later from DAS. The legs were made from cocktail sticks. The leg segments were sculpted over the sticks from Procreate putty. The same decorative beads also make the eyes. Greenstuff was used to make the teeth. The scrap nest was made from the contents of the bits box. 

These Skrapbeasts were made to be hazards for the Skirm game by @billmakingstuff. There is a possibility in Skirm when looting scrap piles for one of these beasties to wake up and rampage around the table. Link to the FREE rules.  I decided to make the beasts from putty rather than breaking up toys like Bill. Mainly because I didnt have any suitable toys to attack and I don't want to be the weirdo mugging kids for their toys. 

I decided not to base the Skrapbeasts as they can be perched on scrap piles to add an extra air of menace. 

The Skrapbeast attacks Gutterlands Sam.

These Skrapbeasts would also make nice monsters for a Post Apocalyptic setting. This was a interesting project. I have learned quite a bit and used numerous new materials, methods and tools. I do have other (larger) Scrap beasts planned. There is also plans to create my own critters. 

Gutterlands Sam figure is a Dwarf Engineer by Heresy Miniatures. It is a nice figure that comes with 2 pistol arms, a pick axe arm and shotgun arm should you wish to pose the figure in a variety of ways.

Thank for looking, take care out there.

Rusty Scrap Piles

Hello and Welcome back,

While useful for a Post Apocalyptic setting, I made 6 of these rusty scrap piles as objectives for the Skirm game. A further 2 were made and a larger pile as terrain was also produced as I was in the zone. 

The objectives were based on 50mm bases. Skrim needs 25mm but I thought that would be difficult to make a decent looking scrap pile on such a small base. The inspiration for making these models came from a Bill Making Stuff video on YouTube.

All of the scrap piles started with a pile of tin foil flattened to make a heap shape. These were then superglued into position. Hot glue may have been a better option as the glue would have filled the gaps between the base and foil heap.

Then piles of junk salvaged from the bits box (in this case bits of hexagon platformer kits, cut up plastic junk, on toy bullets, model kit parts, figure casting tabs by Ramshackle games, model missles, bits of wire, 1/32 car wheels and other scrap) were then hot glued onto the piles in a random haphazard fashion.

The piles were primed with Matt Black (what else?) spray primer. When dry the piles were given zential priming with white spray primer. The whole thing was painted in textured paint which was a mix bicarbonate of soda, dark brown craft paint and pva glue in equal parts. This takes a while to dry but gives a nice old rusty pile effect. 

The piles got some orange and brown spots added and some light rust paint (army painter). A dark wash was added to make the details pop, such as they where.  

The bases then got a coat of textured paint which is a mix of bicarbonate of soda, fine sand, course sand, pva glue and yellow ochre craft paint. I tried to get paint on other areas of the models as sand gets everywhere. Once dry they got a Coat d arms Bone drybrush. 

I added some flame grass tufts as I figured anything growing would be contaminated by the rust. 

These piles were quick and easy models to make. It is deeply satisfying raiding the bits box and grabbing items of plastic to cut up to make junk. I recommend it. 

I have plans to make larger peices in future. Time to get those bits box emptied! Although I can guarantee that I will probably want those bits for another build a week later.

Thanks for reading,

Take care out there.

Big Red Mining Company- Skrim faction

Hello and Welcome back,

The Big Red Mining Company is a faction in the Skirm rulebook by Bill Making Stuff. A summary of the faction background is that they are a space dwarf Mining company that orginated from the world Vermillion which orbits a Red Dwarf star. In addtion to their mining activities they are also good at recovering old technology from junk piles (The world of Gutterlands is one giant junk pile). 

I do wonder if Bill is a fan of the Red Dwarf TV show?

In Skrim factions only need 6 figures a side, but I expanded the numbers up to 10 so these guys can be used in other games such as Stargrave. 

These figures are Chobs Space Dwarves carried by Ramshackle games. 

There are also some metal Squats from Macrocosmn. The guy with the mohawk has had a shotgun added. 

This small guy is a old 40K Squat from way back. 

These three are converted Warhammer Dwarves. I had fun doing these conversions. That triple barreled heavy weapon makes me think of the Tribarrel power guns fitted to the Combat Cars in Hammers Slammers.

The BRMC will also be used as a Dvargs faction in my Wild Galaxy setting. Company scouting teams have arrived on Maddans World to check out the mining opportunities. Wreckage station has also had a team arrive. In addition to the giant ball of ancient technology that is the station, the dead world below offers untold salvage opportunities. Or it will as soon as they atmosphere is balanced. 

Back at company HQ on Vermilion the company is comparing their old space charts against the modern Human ones to find dead or lost worlds. Will they find Mattblackgod’s World? 

Looking at the pile of shame I have collected a few of old 40K squats. I think I will create another Dvark company using another colour as a rival faction. My tortured brain is also thinking about a way to include my old Squat Engineers Guild figures as a possible free lance squat squad to beef up either faction should I decide to use them in a bigger game, such as facing off against Orks. 

Thank you for reading, 

Take care out there. 

Wasteland Wondering May 25

Hello and Welcome back,

Time for another Wasteland Wondering, it's been a while since we had one of these. In this chat I will be highlighting the direction my hobby is going in.

There are four or five new blog posts queued, which I hope to get posted up as soon as I have grabbed some pictures. I seem to be struggling to arrange getting pictures recently.

My Post Apocalyptic setting is slowing down. PA isn't grabbing me as much these days. I am working slowly to populate the Skrap Knights and Rustlords factions. 

The Rustlords

Maybe I need to find another name for these rambling posts, as they aren't just concentrated on Post Apocalyptic.

The Wild Galaxy setting is growing exponentially and I am finding it quite inspiring. I think there is such a wide scope for creativity it keeps me interested. I have had to start a spreadsheet to keep track of all the nonsense I create.

A friend recently asked me why I use Genetically Engineered Life Forms (GELFs) for my other Space races instead of rebranding them as aliens. It is in part, a carry over from the Mattblackgod’s world setting as I wanted to use 40k miniatures, as stableised mutations felt a bit of a stretch. The introduction of my Ork collection as combat GELFs felt fitting for the history of Mattblackgod’s world. It just felt natural to keep the GELFs in the wider Galactic setting.

ORCS GELFs terrorise a frontier world settlement 

I have no issue with aliens in Sci Fi, it's just that I want them to be very different to humans. In fact there are some intelligent aliens in my setting. Not to mention plenty of alien beasties. 

But I have other reasons for using GELFs. Firstly, I feel just going "Aliens" is too easy and is a stale go to for most SF settings. Secondly, the chances that another intelligent race out there, being a four limbed biped is extremely unlikely. I feel it is somewhat lazy and arrogant to think so. Thirdly, the GELFs and GELF wars are a satirical view of human nature and it's behaviour to anything "non human" or in many cases other Humans because they differ in some way and our reaction when things go wrong. Our history is littered with examples of such behaviour. I suppose in some ways it's my version of a far future Frankenstein cautionary tale. 

To be honest ever since seeing GELFs in the Red Dwarf TV show, I have liked them as a concept. Even the main character in the 2000AD Rogue Trooper which I read when I was knee high is a type of GELF, genetically bred to survive a toxic contaminated world and operate as an enhanced elite fighting force. 

I have been considering doing a GELF fluff post, but there is so much material built up over the years it will need several posts. Speaking of GELFs, I am planning a new GELF group to add soon. By soon, I mean in probably in next two years, given my work rate! 

The miners of Maddans Independent Mining Company 

The Maddans world setting is slowly growing. I am thinking of adding the only city called Hecksclutch to the world, situated next to the planets main space port as a centre point for conflict. This lawless frontier mining world is inspired by Logans world in the 40K Rogue Trader fluff mixed with Pandora from the Borderlands Computer game, with my own slice of creativity added to it. It was created as a vehicle to allow all my factions to be on world protecting their colonies while trying to extract as much wealth from the world, before a legal owner is found. I am still working on the Dusty Space Port buildings for this setting. I still have a pile of wonderful Fogou Models to finish or modify for this setting. 

Iron Ladies gangers attack Shorty of Loop's Heroes someplace deep in Wreckage Station.

Regular readers of this blog will have seen the introduction of Wreckage Station during my 5 Parsecs campaign. I have been expanding the background fluff for this setting. Terrain has been knocked together from various sets to game in this old moon sized space station. As luck would have it these models will also be useful for the Zone Raiders game set in the Matrioshka. 

Rather than drop a massive peice of fluff for Wreckage Station, I am thinking of news bulletins dropped by the "Authorities". This way it slowly builds and adds colour to the setting. 

Readers of this Blog will recall me doing a review of the Skirm game by Bill Making Stuff. I have been slowly putting together factions and terrain for this game. Check out the Gutterlands or Bill's You Tube Channel. Both sites are cock full of ideas.*share links for Gutterlands and Bill Making Stuff YouTube channel* . I find the Gutterlands (or Tapu to give it, it's true name) setting quite intoxicating. Hobby wise it points to parts of the hobby I find really rewarding, kitbashing, trashbashing and converting models. At present I am working on the Skirm factions. 

Now as luck would have it, Wreckage Station orbits a dead world (called Skeletal worlds). A major battle during the GELF wars turned it into a dusty rock covered in skeletons, wrecks and ruins. I intended to develop it into a setting with crews from the orbital station making salvage ruins in the ruins. But I hadn't gotten around to any world building. So I began to mix inspiration from Bill's setting with my Wild Galaxy setting and Wreckage Station fluff. And so the lost world Corrosion was born. Some of the background for this world will be filtered through to this blog through the planned Wreckage Station News Bulletin. 

Some WIP conversions I am working on to make DEAP troops for the Skirm game.

I am looking forward to creating both colonists and terrain for Corrosion/Skirm/Gutterlands. There will be a lot of future conversion work.

My 5 parsecs from home campaign involving the crew of the Problem Child aka Loop's Heroes is still on hold. Hopefully I can begin organising games again soon. I am hoping to maybe include some future missions to the surface of Corrosion for the crew.

Anyway I have rambled on for long enough, thank you for reading. 

Take care out there.