The Lone Scavenger

Hello and Welcome Back, 

A lone scavenger protects his camp.

I painted this figure towards the end of past year, but it has taken me this long to complete the base. This figure is a metal Stargrave Scavenger. This figure was a delight to paint. 

Thanks for looking and take care out there.

The Crew of the SS Star Wanderer

Hello and Welcome back, 

Here is a new crew for Wild Galaxy that I have been working on for a while (real life has kept me busy this year). This is the crew of the Exploration Ship SS Star Wanderer. Exploration involves long boring missions beyond the edge of Human Space, scanning stuff. Unless you find something interesting out there which can bring great fortunes to the crew. Crews are often paid bonuses that are a percentage of the royalties or profits from the finds. Things can get really interesting (often terminally) if you stray into GELF space or some secret corporate deep space facility. It's surprising just how often that seems to happen. There are other perks for those making big finds, with explorers gaining fame or having worlds, phenomenons or systems named after them.

Captain Berk was a Naval ship captain in the Nu Terra Empire. As retirement approached Berk decided to apply to become the Captain of an exploration ship. Not only was the pay better but he gets royalties from any of the worlds he claims. Berk fancies himself as a fearless, cunning and charismatic swashbuckler with a crew that loves him. The crew regard Berk as delusional narcissist who is probably going to get them killed. Berk wears a red coat and has gold shoulder pads on his armour which he feels will impress any Alien civilisations the crew may encounter. In addition to this Berk fancies his chances of seducing the Alien ladies...yup Captian Berk is one of those Captains! 

Commander Milla Samberg is the SS Star Wanderer's Exploration mission's second in command. Commander Samberg is a very competent no nonsese kind of officer. She had the misfortune of serving under Captain Berk in the Nu Terra Navy. No, not that kind of under. He should be so lucky. There is a unspoken of incident were Berk once tried his luck and it nearly cost him dearly. The details are very sketchy and its best not to ask about it, but it doesn't take too much imagination as to what happened. Still despite the unpleasant incident Berk trusts and relies on the Commander. Samberg on the other hand has the unpleasant duty of tidying up or fixing Captain Berk's messes. She half expects to have to take command of the ship when Berk gets himself killed pulling some stupid planetside stunt.

Lieutenant Commander Hugo Crimple is the SS Star Wanderer's third in command and was also recruited from the Nu Terra Navy. This is his first time serving under Captain Berk and he now wishes that he didn't. Crimple also serves as the ship's science officer, although the ship's computer grumbles that it does most of the work.

Berk and Crimple are Alternative Armies Ion Age "Balthizar and Jerome" figures. Samberg is also an Ion Age figure (female retained Knight). These figures are large compaired to the rest of the crew which are largely old 1980's 40K Rouge Trader figures. The cast bases were amputated and figures mounted on slimmer bases. Sadly the Balthizar figure lost a leg in the process which couldn't be saved so I have sculpted another leg. The Jerome figure also lost a foot during the operation but I was able to pin and glue it back on. 

Lt Payne is the SS Star Wanderer's chief Security officer. He is also ex Nu Terra Navy who worked as a Mercenary for a short while. Lt Payne is somewhat bemused at Captain Berk's wild nature but doesn't like the fact it is costing him vital security personnel. 

Lt Payne is a Arty Severn figure by MrBigTong (from Facebook).

This pair is the SS Star Wanderer's pilot and co pilot. Although the SS Star Wanderer's computer does most of the flying both the Pilot and co pilot are needed to plot courses or for finer control such as docking or combat manouvers (despite the ship's computer's protests). One of the advantages of being a pilot or co pilot is that you rarely have to leave the ship to explore. 

Both figures are old 80s GW 40K RT figures which I have had in my collection since back in the day. 

The Security detail. These guys are there as muscle should something hostile be encountered out there and have been recruited from various Space Ports often with chequered pasts. They are regarded by Captain Berk as some what disposable. They have other thoughts about this matter. Berk has never bothered to learn any of their names, usually referring to them as "you". 

These figures are from various sources. There is a (L to R) Void/Metropolis Traid figure, an 40K RT figure (another olde one from my collection), a 40K RT pirate/adventurer (ebay find) and a GW/Citiadel Chainsaw Warrior figure (a late 80's GW bargain bin find).

The Security detail are backed up by Killbot 3000, a warbot kept in the "In case of hordes of nasties" locker. Killbot 3000 is armed with two multi lasers for cutting down large groups of hostiles. The crew only break out Killbot 3000 when things look desperate as they regard it's AI as somewhat psychotic and as potentially dangerous as any hostile horde they might face.

The figure is a AS028 Warbot 2 resin robot I got for free with an order from Alternative Armies. 

Ship's Engineer Lieutenant Crabster and Dr Tato. Lt Crabster isn't too happy that Captain Berk seems to live to try and break his ship, but like the pilots he rarely has to leave the ship. Dr Tato finds that he has his hands full dealing with the injuries the security detail usually return to the ship with and often berates Berk about his reckless attitude towards the crew. 

Both figures are old 40K RT era Adventures/Pirates. The Left one is a ebay find and the right one has been in my collection since I was young and spotty.

Hans Lipper and Lave Dister are the ship's dog's bodies. They tend to do all those jobs the rest of the crew loath and avoid. These guys are the lowest ranks on the SS Star Wanderer, they rank even lower than the service bots (they have a better union). Captain Berk never gets their names right and these guys are often deployed alongside the security detail if extra numbers are needed.

Both figures are old 40K RT adventurers/Pirates. The Left figure (Hans) is another figure from my 80s collection and the Right figure (Lave) I picked up from ebay.

I have tried to group the figures into colour codes for their functions. Blue = Engieering/medical & scientific, Red = Security (what else would they be?), Gold = Command, Orange = Pilots & Navigation and Green = General maintenance/cleaning/dogsbody/drooling alien bug fodder. Although this crew is primarily intended for my Wild Galaxy setting, it can happily be deployed for games of Stargrave (minus a few figures). I could also hand pick a few crew members for games of Alien Zoology. 

There maybe future crew additions if I stumble across suitable figures. One voice is whispering to replace the Ion Age Command figures if something catches my eye. I feel they are still a little large compaired to the rest of the crew.

Thanks for looking, stay safe out there.

Hobby Progress

Hello and Welcome back, 

It’s getting close to the end of what feels like the longest month of the year. It feels like an age since New Year. Things have been moving slowly on the hobby front but I have been trying to fit a little hobby time most days. I thought a little progress report would be in order.

One of my plans for the upcoming year is to create a pirate faction for my Wild Galaxy setting known as the Bloody 40, inspired by a story I found in a local history book. As a faction they will operate in two ways with a pirate crew with a vessel (the Bloody Vengeance) and a second group that operate as a high jackers operating within the ships they target. This lot is assembled will be the crew of the Bloody Vengeance. They might even be handy as a crew for Stargrave too. 

These figures are a mix of Northstar Rogue Stars and Antediluvian miniatures figures. I got them assembled, cleaned and primed ready for me to throw the paint about. 

I got a DnD fantasy magic robot Titan from a friend for Christmas. It needed to be shootier. So I clipped off an arm with a battle hammer which is easy with these rubber figures and grafted an old Robogear cannon. It wasn’t doing it for me so I moved the magazine and added a barrel to make a autocannon. The main weapon was reworked into some form of energy cannon using a cap off a tube of ointment. Cables or hoses made from greenstuff have been added. It’s basecoated ready for washes and detail.

The plan for this is to be some sort of dormant war machine in the ruins or to be a Behemoth class Immucyte for the Zone Raiders setting. 

I started this Gilgamesh figure by Ramshackle Games last year so I have been finishing him off. He doesn’t need much more. I plan on him being a derelict post apocalyptic cyborg or to be the head of my post apocalyptic cyborg clan. 

These two bikers by Ramshackle games are also in mid paint. I love all the cargo on the Lancer rider. It reminds me of going on camping trips or holidays on my motorbike (Lance not included!). 

Hopefully I will have some finished stuff to show in a couple of weeks. 

Thanks for looking

Take Care out there. 

Undercity steam vents 2

Hello and welcome back. Time to stare at these! 

A while back I built a bunch of cheap and cheerful steam vents for the Stargrave undercity scenario. 

The Mk1 steam vents. 

A few “helpful” people on social media pointed out that they don’t provide enough cover. You can’t please everyone. Even though I like giving my little figures a hard life, I put on my thinking cap and built new ones. Just as cheap and cheerful. 

The raised steam vents are based on old platformer hexagon pieces that have been lying in my bits box for over a decade. The raised pipe is cut up card tube from a roll of cooking foil. The pipe access/flange plates are card inserts from a mdf kit with rivets glued on. The mesh on top is 5mm embroidery mesh (granny grating). 

While building I added another access vent which may allow access to a lower level or allow something unpleasant to sneak up on you. The ladder is from a Mantic Deadzone Terrain set. The chain is made with a green stuff roller. The plates across the top are cut up gift cards. The access/flange plate is a larger card insert from the same mdf kit that donated bits for the other vents.

While I was on a roll I found a old puffer which I thought would make a great vent. I just glued it to a platformer hexagon piece and painted it. 

Paint wise all the models were primed black and then painted dark brown. They then all got various brown and orange washes. A little chainmail dry brushing was applied and then more brown and orange washes followed. 

These vents while built for the Stargrave undercity scenario can also be used as part of my tunnels set, Necromunda, Judge Dredd undercity/mega block basement or in a drifting space hulk. Out in the post apocalyptic wastelands the vents could be evidence that a tunnel, bunker or vault may lie below. 

Thanks for looking.

Stay safe out there. 

Starport Scum 4 - Some more dodgy characters

Hello and welcome back, 

Ready to take another look at the dodgy denziens lurking around the space ports at the edge of Human Space? 

The Helfather is a notorious bounty hunter from the Dvarg systems that lie beyond GELF space. He roams human space hitting targets for the right price. His power armour and thermo gun ensures he can bring the bounty home. 

Not much else is known about the Helfather. No one knows who he is or why he roams beyond the Dvarg systems working as a bounty hunter. 

The Helfather figure is from the Mantic Deadzone Forge Fathers line. 

Hol Taranga is a Fay GELF many of whom can be easily mistaken for humans. The Fay work human frontier space for their own mysterious ends. Taranga was a dancer before the GELF wars (Fay GELF are incredibly long lived, their DNA coding was set not to expire or age at the cost of being able to breed or replicate. Originally this design was because Fay where often killed by their human masters who took their entertainment too far). Taranga deliberately wears multicoloured patterned clothes. Using a holofield light stealth cloak generator when Taranga moves he seems to explode into a cloud of colour confusing his opponents. Taranga hangs around space ports looking for work including picking up some bounty hunting work.

Hol Taranga is a old 40k Eldar Harlequin figure.

Aethian Sunbane is another Fay GELF looking for work as a sharp shooter or scout for a crew. Does he also have a hidden agenda for working the edge of Human space? Aethian’s origin is lost in the mists of time before the GELF wars. 

Aethian is a old 40K Eldar figure. 

Lenny O’Beer is the Captain of the Merry Mustang currently looking for new crew members in the space ports. He is a ruthless slob of a man prone to bouts of violence so crew don’t hang around for long. There is a chance that any long serving crew may mutiny. 

O’Beer is a Gang leader from the Warlord 2000AD Judge Dredd set. I am thinking of adding the other gangers from the Judge Dredd set to make up a crew for 5 Par Secs or Stargrave. 

Mary Madison works as a ships medic on the Merry Mustang under Captain O’Beer. She is his only long standing crew member and puts up with him until she can join a better crew or she flushes him out of the airlock. Whatever comes first. 

This figure is from the Infinity line.

Believe it or not I have lots more figures to add to my Sci Fi collection.

Thanks for looking, stay safe out there. 

Sci Fi building

Hello and welcome back. 

I knocked together this little Sci Fi building last year for use on my frontier worlds. I thought it was time to get it finished. The model is based on a old card gift box, some bits from the Maelstroms edge building sprue, a resin air conditioning box (not sure of the supplier) and a few mantic bits.

The model was given a coat of textured paint. I primed it grey and then wet brushed it white. It was then given a brown wash and then a white dry brush. The techy bits got a coat of paint followed by a dark wash. I gave it a few orange and brown specs to make things look a little aged. 

The bottom of the walls got a heavy brown dry brush and then a sand dry brush to give it a dirty feel. Some graffiti was then added some of them done in the font Futurama uses. 

A couple of posters was added from the pile on the printer. That guy on the wanted poster looks well dodgy.

I am happy with how the paint turned out and I hope to apply it to future frontier world models.

Thanks for looking. 

Undercity steam vents

One of the Stargrave scenarios require some undercity steam vents which will act as a hazard. So I set about building some. They will be useful for a few other settings. 

These are made from some 25mm lipped plastic bases from EM4 game. I like these bases as they can easily be converted into doors (for 15mm buildings), windows and hatches. The grate is made from plastic embroidery mesh. Cut to size and then super glued in place.

A quick paint job of brown and orange followed by a silver dry brush. Brown and orange washes help tone them all together. 

I am nearly ready for the Undercity scenario, all I need is a suitable sewer dragon now. 

Thanks for looking.

Starport Scum

Hello and welcome back, 

I am trying to keep the blog posts rolling while I can’t get anything painted up. I am way behind and need to catch up. 

This year my focus has been more towards Sci Fi skirmish games, 5 parsecs from home and Stargrave especially. I have decided while my painting has slowed down I will focus on going through my collection looking for suitable figures to play either game. This will be a regular feature as I come across figures. 

So let me crack on with the Starport scum hanging around the space ports & colonies around the edge of human space in my own Wild Galaxy setting. 

The Blue Genes Brothers:

The Bluegenes brothers are a pair of GELFs (Genetically Engineered Life Form) created in a lab on Earth’s moon. They formed an entire brigade and were deployed out in the old Earth Empire. On the still unexplained explosion of the Earth, Human space was thrown into chaos. The Bluegenes brigade were deployed to protect some Empire assets by the replacement government in the Nu Terra empire. They were betrayed and deployed into a trap. In the resulting battle the Bluegenes were massacred and only a handful of these combat GELFs survived. 

Unlike other GELFs the Bluegenes cannot reproduce and  they could only be reproduced in a lab or vat. The reason lay deep within the lab on the moon. To reproduce they needed to access the lab. The problem with this is that Earth’s moon had vanished. It was either destroyed when the Earth exploded or was sling shot out of the solar system. 

The Bluegenes went to the now anarchic Solar system searching for the moon. After centuries of searching (the GELFs were created for battle and it was expected they would be killed in battle, so no expiry date or lifespan limits) some of the Bluegenes moved to the Edge of Human space were they work in spaceports or as crew hoping to hear of rumours of rogue dwarf planets which may point to their holy grail. 

These two figures are a poorly painted experiment, I didn’t clean the old paint off and just painted over them. Tutt tutt, very sloppy work. The sharp eyed will spot a bit I missed. I like the colour of the skin and I have some metal 40K catachins I plan to paint properly in this scheme at some point. These two will see action as muscle for crews in both 5 Parsecs and Stargrave.

Major Lee. 

The Major sports the uniform of the Nu Terra Empire. After his special forces team was massacred in a suicide mission he decided he had enough of the military life and retired (read deserted) to the Edge. Out here his uniform isn’t recognised much as they are a long, long way from Nu Terra. Still he would like to change into something else. Lee is low in funds and hangs about the space port looking for work. Eventually he would like his own ship and crew but for now he will have to take orders from others. Lee knows how to take orders. 

Lee was painted by a friend (thanks Xander) and is a 40K figure. I am not sure what capacity he may serve in 5 Parsecs or Stargrave. 

Captain Groat Blackbreath. 

Blackbreath arrived in the space port alone in a uparmoured & boosted elderly space freighter (the dark raven) with a small but expensive cargo. This raised some eyebrows as to where was his crew. Rumours say he murdered them or spaced the crew to keep his profits to himself. Once he traded his cargo Blackbreath began looking for crew members. Strangely there doesn’t seem to be much interest. 

In truth Blackbreath was a pirate captain, his vessel was ambushed by the Brittannia’s (who are little more than legitimatised pirates). Sustaining heavy damage & casualties his ship fled into an asteroid belt. Blackbreath ruthlessly sacrificed his ship and crew making it perform a locked out, pre programmed suicide run towards the waiting Brittanian vessels just after he fled in the only escape pod. The Dark Raven was a captured vessel Blackbreath had stashed during his nefarious pirate activities, loaded with loot as an escape or retirement plan. His planning paid off. 

Blackbreath is a old 40K adventurer figure I have had since 87. He never fitted my post apoc collection but fits nicely into my space opera. He will probably see action as a Rival crew captain in my 5 Parsecs games. 

Joey Raff

Joey Raff is a typical space bum looking for adventure and work by joining a ships crew. He hangs about asking ship’s captains for work. He has had no luck finding work so far. 

Joey Raff is a resin figure from a Steampunk line whose names escapes me. He makes a great lower level crew member. I think he would make a good Stargrave runner or chiseler. 

I am off now to dig through my figure collection to get some more figures together. Keep your eyes open for more Starport Scum posts.

Thanks for looking,

Stay safe out there.

Spaceships for Stargrave

Hello and welcome back,

As one of the scenarios for the upcoming Stargrave takes place in a hangar I decided I needed to get some space ships for the scenario. 

Mooching around Amazon I found a deal for 3 Star Wars ships for £40. It seemed too good a deal to miss. The deal had 2 A wing fighters and a Y wing. All come with electronics which lights bits up and makes noises. I have yet to disable them. All three kits are snap together and went together quite quickly.

The A wings look a little to big for 28mm (judging by the size of the pilots) but hey this is Sci Fi so a little bigger works. Both cockpits open and undercarriage retracts. Handy for those parked up and needs attention look I want from the space craft.

The Y wing looks more suited to 15mm and has a twin seat cockpit. However it would work for a small race in 28mm. It will also see some action in my 15mm games. 

The plastic kits looked too clean. So I painted some bits silver (engine parts) and then dry brushed silver or grey on the guns and gubbins. I then added silver wear to various parts of the spaceships. The ships then got a black wash to make some details ping and make them look grubby. 

I may at a later date do a little more work on these. Maybe get some grey weathering around the panels?  But for now they will do the job. 

Thanks for looking 

Stay safe out there. 

Stargrave Pirates or Star B**tards??

Hello out there! 

Back in the midsts of time, in the year 2018 there was a group project on the Oldhammer forum to create “Star Bastards”. The aim was to create a rag rag groups of Space Marines that had spent their entire lives caught up on the front line. As front line units they should have mismatched, patched up armour and equipment. The plan was to have them ready for Bring Your Own Lead 18 where a mass battle was planned as they invaded Helsreach for some RnR. 

As I like to use all my figures for my Post Apocalyptic setting Mattblackgod’s world I was going to rebrand them as the “Bunker Bustards” and have them as a team of bunker raiders, hence all the cool kit they sport. They will still see action on Mattblackgod’s world in this function.

Assembly begun but sadly I couldn’t get them finished in time for BOYL 18. They sat languishing in a box until last year when I finished assembly and conversion. There was a deep bits box raid grabbing heads and parts from many 3rd party bits suppliers. I even managed to get them primed.  

This figure was a metal beakie marine. I carefully shaved the mask off and trimmed a Iron Pig head to fit into the hole. I hated the pose of the original figure (a Rhino rider) so I lopped the offending arm off and replaced it with a spare plastic arm. 

Early this year I begun to see blog posts by about the forthcoming Stargrave game. I realised these guys would make great Space Pirates for Stargrave. I ditched the military colours and rust pain scheme I had planned and went for something more (40K) Space Mariney. As these guys are pirates I went for a mismatched colour scheme with a fair bit of owner customisation & graffiti. The shoulder pads have a stylised skull and crossbones painted on them. 

The guy on the left has a later Space Wolves head and a set of mechanical legs intended for a Ork. I can’t recall the manufacturer. The guy on the right has a aftermarket head and a wolf pelt from the space wolves. 

The figures are all classic Space Marines that I have converted. Mainly plastics with a metal figure thrown in. 

The dude with the skull face mask is a old favourite of mine, painted back in the midsts of time (c1988) with the old update over the decades. He is intended as the gang’s leader. 

Thanks for reading and stay safe out there.