Zona Alfa: One Crew Done!

Well, it's taken long enough but I finally finished my first crew for Zona Alfa!  Huzzah!!!  The last man for the crew is Chatterbox with his friendly LMG.

And with that, it means that it's time to start working on getting a board together so I can actually start heading out into the Zone.  I have decided to shelf the Southwestern Exclusion Zone idea for now, just because I have terrain that I can already use for a more temperate region.  Where will it be set?  No idea, but it will be somewhere green!  I do want to get some deciduous trees as all I have right now are the old standby Christmas pine trees.  At some point I want to make these look... well, like they aren't covered with crusty toothpaste, but for now they will work.  I'm also going to focus on a more rustic setting so I'm going to break out my Battle Systems fantasy village to get some quick country terrain.

I do need to also throw together some of the Zone floral that I'd picked up months ago.  It's literally right next to me in the hotel room, just waiting for me to finally throw it together.  I'm thinking that will be on the table for next week, depending on when my Brush Fu order comes in.  I missed out on being able to leave a review for my first order because I didn't realize that there was a limited window for leaving reviews, and I'd like to avoid that this time.  Barring that (and work commitments... and... believe it or not... college... because I've decided that it's finally time to get that piece of paper), the Zone terrain is at the top of the list.  Until next time...

Zona Alfa: First Crew Almost Done!

I managed to get a quick paint scheme on a couple more of the members of my Zona Alfa crew.  First up we have Potshot.

For his scheme, I decided to go with a basic olive green uniform with dark grey armor plates.  I thought about adding a camo pattern to the uniform but I really like the basic look for him.  Perhaps not the best for a sniper, but I like the end result.

Next up is the other red shirt... I mean, recruit... for the crew, Shades.

For the rest of the crew, I tried to follow more of a military appearance but I wanted to do Shades a little more civilian.  Generic dark green pants with a tan jacket, with a mishmash of colors for the improvised armor plates.  Only one left to go and the crew will be ready!  Now I just need to start figuring out some terrain.  Until next time...

Zona Alfa: Mountain Maw And Crew Update

Well, it been a while since I dabbled with the Zone but since I had free time I decided to finally put some paint on a mini that I've been sitting on for a while.  Introducing the mountain maw!

While there is only speculation on the origins of some of the creatures that have appeared in the Zone, the mountain maw was pretty easy to track down.  Some kind of mutation of the common mountain lion, the maw is a ferocious beast that exists only to kill.

This is one of the nexu from FFG's Imperial Assault.  I've thought about painting this one for a while but I've always been on the fence with it.  Sure, it's an interesting looking critter but I've never seen how it fit in with anything I was working on until I started picking critters for the Zone.  The nexu is a really big beastie next to a human so it's a perfect fit for the large mutant.  Not sure what I'm going to use for the regular mutant but I'm sure I'll figure something out.

And that's not all!  I've also been working on painting up more of my first squad.  In addition to Jonesy and Walker, I've also painted up Doc.

Though he seems to have some kind of actual medical training, Doc doesn't talk about his past.  Whatever demons and skeletons might lurk in his background, the crew knows that he can pull them through in a pinch and in the Zone, that's all that matter.  For his gear, I went with a mishmash of patterns and colors since I don't see him being concerned with such things.  As long as it's rugged and durable, nothing else matters to Doc.  I also did a bit of a shout out for his blue gloves... Browncoats forever baby!

There are still the last three to paint up for the crew, plus I still need more bandits and a few other beasties... plus figure out some terrain... it's getting there though and as erratic as my painting has been, I've really been enjoying it and dare I say I even feel like I'm getting slightly better... man, I hope I didn't just jinx myself!  Until next time...

Random Updates: Aaaand... Done!

I did it!  I finished my Core Space minis!  Well, my new Core Space minis... still have some of the actual minis from the box to go but I'm really excited to have the last of my custom batch ready to go.

I really wasn't sure which way I was going to go with this character, but I like how he turned out.  Of course it might be pretty close to the original color scheme for the Tau Ethereal but I'm really not sure.  The colors just kind of spoke to me and it only felt right to listen.

And he's not the only one making his way to the finish line!  I finally actually painted a Teknes union worker and a defender lineman from Wrath of Kings!

I really hemmed and hawed on this one but the color scheme finally came together.  Blue feels like the best choice for their common color, and I'm looking forward to pulling more skin tones into the other works as well.  There is some repetition in the sculpts so I'm hoping switching around some elements of their colors will break them up visually.

I also decided to pull in grey for the clothing on the lineman to break up the colors.  I also painted some of the bands with white and threw in a little Rhulic gold to spice things up.

And on top of that, I broke out some of my Ork boyz to get some paint onto them too.  Well, only one for now but ya gotta start somewhere, right?

I'm trying to use a variety of different shades of green to add some diversity to the mob and so far it's working.  Here he is with a few of his buddies who I painted earlier this year.

There is only... four or five dozen more to go?  Plus a konverted Ork trukk, some kustom killer kans, some kopters... yeah, I've got a lot of Ork stuff floating around right now.

And last but not least, I also finished painting up Walker, the leader of my independent Zona Alfa team.  Here he is pictured with one of the recruits, Jonesy.

As I previously mentioned for Walker, he is a former member of the Institute and it shows in his kit.  The armor is mil-spec armor from the Institute and so is his battle rifle.  I did mix things up a bit though with his shirt, backpack, and sidearm.  All of these bits are done in different colors from the Institute's grey to give him a subtle difference.

And there we have it!  A busy few days painting and I'm really pleased with the results.  On top of that, I also took all these pictures with a new light box that I picked up from Amazon.  I was struggling with the camera settings to get things to appear as I was seeing them but think I've nailed it down... at least for now anyway.  Looking forward to working with this particular piece of kit more in the future, including a possible review!  But more on that later.  Until next time...

Random Updates: Space Ex Vendors In The Zone

Another week and more painting! Yaaayyyyy!!!  I decided to continue moving forward with my Core Space/cyberpunk/Five Parsecs minis and put some paint onto my courier and the knock-off vendor.

After looking at a few different paint schemes, I knew that I had to pull some inspiration from FedEx.  I really like purple and the orange accents just pop against it.  For now I've only put the orange onto the cuffs for now but I might put some onto the cap as well.  It's a little tight since his cap is backwards and I've already attached his massive pack.  Whoops!  Oh well, I like the other colors that I pulled in so he is visually interesting.

For my vendor, I tried to give him a sickly and pale skin tone.  I knew his trench coat needed to me dark with a fancy red lining, but I had no idea what to do with his body suit.  Looking closer at the detail on it, I was reminded of Baron Harkonen's body suit from the original Dune movie.  I painted it up with some jack bone and a wash to pull up the details.  This was a little monochromatic though so I picked out all the straps and such with some grey to break it up.  A few more details and ta-da!  One creepy vendor ready to go.

I also decided to grab one of my Zone crew and slap some paint on him, in this case Jonesy.  I went with your typical military colors of greens and browns, and even speckled his jacket with some camouflage.  Quick and dirty, but I really like how it turned out... now I just need to grab my basing material when I'm back home.  Once that's done, it should pull the whole thing together and make him look pretty sharp.

Of course I also remembered once I was finishing him up that I've been talking about doing the Southwest Exclusion zone... which is more of a scrubland than forested terrain.  Then again, this is one of the recruits... it would explain why he doesn't have more experience.  Want to survive in the desert?  Then don't wear green!  Or I might just hop right back into a more traditional environ for my zone.  All things to consider.

I plan on finishing off the last of my CS/CP/FP minis this week and then I'll have to see what else catches my fancy.  I might grab the nameless heroes I put together since those will be a really quick job.  I'm also putting together another order to BrushFu since I've been enjoying painting these minis so much.  This time, I'm thinking more of the cyberpunk bases along with some more civilians to throw out there.  I've got a good number of them now but I really like the idea of painting up some more.    Until next time...

Stargrave Miniatures: Exclusion Zone Crew... Assembled

Well, they aren't painted but I was able to piece together a crew using my Stargrave miniatures.  The three different sets made it easy to make them to kit them out with the appropriate gear and I'm really pleased with the result.  While these aren't your typical minis for wandering around the Zone, I've got a nice variety ready to go plus I can easily throw together some more crews if I want but I'm getting ahead of myself.  Let's take a look at my first crew in all their grey plastic glory.

Leading the way is Walker, a veteran of the New Southwest.  Formerly of an officer for the Institute in the New Texas Republic, Walker headed west to to seek his fortune... or maybe to just leave everything that he once knew behind.  He doesn't talk much about his time with the Institute but he was definitely well trained while he was there.

The sniper of the crew, Potshot grew up on the perimeter of the Zone and sharpened his skills picking off the random critter that would wander out.  He quickly became one of the best shots around, and quickly fell in with Ranger when he blew through town.

The least subtle of the bunch is Chatterbox, a call sign he earned for the incessant chatter of his light machine gun while on a mission.  There are even times that this has helped with stealth missions because he provides the perfect distraction while the rest of the crew slip in and out with no one being the wiser.

Doc is the man with the most original name in the bunch... and if you believe that...  Doc has known Walker for months now and become quickly became a regular in the crew.  Doc also uses the Hippocratic oath as more of a guideline than a hard and fast rule, as shown by the assault rifle that never leaves his side while he's in the Zone.

Shades and Jonesy are two new members that recently joined the crew.  They spend most of their downtime talking about their grand plans for all the script they will earn in the Zone... now if only they can survive until payday.

All told, these guys add up to 11K.  The remaining 1K I invested into Potshot to up his movement by 1", which offsets the penalty that he has for the sniper rifle.  The last thing to choose is their faction.  Of the six available, the only one that fits in my mind is the Independents.  Walker had ties to the Institute (aka the Scientists) and some of the other factions sound like they might be fun, but I want to try to hit more of a theme for most of those.

And there you have it!  Another group of Independents ready to seek out fortune in the Zone.  Will they even make it to their first payday?  No idea, but it was a lot of fun to piece together these guys from the Stargrave sets and I'm looking forward to getting some paint onto them.  Until next time...

Stargrave Miniatures: Troopa Numba One!

This week has been especially hectic as my daughter is heading to college, and then I'm heading out to the field so not much time for hobby this week.  That said, I was able to put together one of the troopers from the Stargrave Troopers set and I'm quite pleased with how he came out.

In this case, this mini is actually destined to head into the Zone and will be taking up the role of my leader.  In Zona Alfa, the leader is kitted out with mil-spec armor among other things so the trooper sculpt works well for it.

The sculpt is also very crisp with nice and clear details which I always prefer.  I always feel like minis with soft details just get too muddled but no worries on that here.  There was also nearly no flash or mold lines which is great because I am horrible at getting those off!  I've heard of patience, but never put much stock in it.

For those of you who might have noticed the sharp lines on his lower leg, those actually aren't mold lines.  I noticed them when I snapped these pics and grabbed by xacto scrape them off, but those are the edges of the armor on the lower leg.

The sprue also comes with a nice variety of extras as I mentioned in a previous post, but they all come together quite nicely which is a big plus!  All the fiddly bits in the world won't do you any good if you can't glue them together but I've had no worries with that so far.  On this particular mini, the backpack, the pouches below the pack, and the sidearm are all separate bits.  I was a little worried about the pouches fitting up since they have a curve to them, but they went together clean as could be!

I want to dig into the mercenaries sprue next to build a couple of hardened crew members, so hopefully I can do that soon.  I've also started working up some stats for the Zone critters that I previously posted so I'll see if I can fine tune those as well.  All of it's progress, and it's all headed in the right direction!  Until next time...

Stargrave Miniatures: So Much Plastic Goodness!

I hopped onto the Stargrave nickstarter earlier this year, but I've gotta admit that I didn't do it for the game.  I did it for the miniatures.

I was really excited when I first heard about Stargrave, and could not wait to get my grubby little mitts on it!  A sci fi game that uses mechanics similar to Frostgrave?!? Heck yeah!  Then as it got closer I heard that it didn't use mechanics similar to Frostgrave, it basically was Frostgrave reskinned which really took the wind out of my sails.  I love playing the original, but why would I pay for exactly the same game with the names swapped out?

I will admit that I haven't looked at the book since it was actually released, and maybe... hopefully... this isn't entirely true but for now I'm in no rush to get this one which I why I went with the miniatures only option on the Nickstarter.

I've had the three boxes kicking around since they were released, but it wasn't until I started looking more into Zona Alfa and Five Parsecs that I broke them open and really looked at all the little gribbly bits that are in them.  With so much sitting around unpainted or even assembled, I really want to try to make use of my current collection before rushing out to add more, and these three sets look like they might be the key!

The first of the sets is the Crew, a sprue from which is shown below.

Of the three sets, these are the most day to day.  The bodies are clothed in more everyday wear than the other sets, and the weapons are a mix of handguns, SMGs, shotguns, and some basic rifles.  There are also a number of fun bits to add some flavor; backpacks, pouches, holsters, datapads, and a few more doohickeys ta boot.  And since this isn't enough variety, there are also the heads.  There are 20 of them on each of the four sprues, with a good mix of bare heads, alien heads, and even a couple of helmets for good measure.  An added plus is that the pairs of arms are all number coded on the flat that attaches to the shoulder, making it easy to get a matching set.

While it's good to have access to your "everyman" set, it's also handy to be able to bring in the bigger guns when you need them.  For this, you'll need to get yourself some mercenaries.

Where the crewmembers have everyday clothing, the mercenaries are ready for the rough and tumble with a mix of body armors.  This is a touch that I really like because each of the five bodies on the sprue are kitted out differently to give you a variety to choose from.  Their gear is much more businesslike as well, with most of the options being a bullpup configuration assault rifle.  Of course, that's not all since no self respecting merc would miss out on a machine gun, sniper rifle, or rocket launcher.  On top of this, there are a couple of backpacks, pouches, and even grenades, not to mention a whopping 22 heads per sprue!  Since merc are a bit more concerned about protecting their melon, a good number of these heads are helmeted, plus there are even more of the alien heads so you can keep spicing things up.

Last but not least, we have the men and women of the space force of your choosing.

These minis take the armor up another notch and are pretty uniform in style across the whole sprue, which is perfect for a bunch of troopers.  Their weapons step things up as well since most of the rifles on this sprue look to be some kind of bullpup combat rifles.  On top of these, they also have some more advanced looking SMGs, a scoped rifle, and a more advanced machine gun and missile launcher for good measure.  A majority of the 19 heads are helmeted, as you would expect from a military group, but this set is also the only one of the three that includes distinctly female heads.

All told, these sets give you a ton of options individually, and if you start combining them?  The sky is the limit!  I could see some people complaining about the leg/torso body configuration since that take away one modelling option, but when you compare that to all the bits and doodads that you get it seems like a fair trade!  I also love all of the options as far as the heads since those lend themselves to giving the minis even more character.

As for future developments on this line, I could see them introducing a box of female crew and/or mercs in the future, like they did with the Frostgrave plastics but even as is, there are the female heads in the trooper box to give you some options.

Now the question is which box is the best bet of the three?  I like all of them, and I'm glad that I have all three to mix and match with, but if I only bought one it would be the mercenaries.  I think that this set is versatile enough with the bits that are in it that you could easily slot them into a modern or sci-fi setting and not be out of place.  The outfits they are wearing are aren't crazily armored or over the top sci-fi looking, and I think this set has the most well rounded selection of weapons as well.

After that, I'd say the crew box and then the troopers, but this is just because of their versatility.  The crew have a more casual look to them with good options so I can see them fitting into a number of different situations, while the troopers are just straight up military.  They are equipped with more advanced combat weapons and body armor which limits their options a bit.  It's not like you can run out to the local store and pick up a set of military armor, right?  They are still good minis though, just as I said, slightly more limited in the application.

The next step for me will be perusing though these sets so I can start assembling my stalkers for Zona Alfa and my crew for Five Parsecs.  I'm going to try to only use minis on hand for these two systems instead of adding to the unpainted pile of shame.  It's going to be tricky in some cases, but my wallet and I are excited to see how I can do!  Until next time... 

Zona Alfa: Red Caps, Dust Hoppers, and Rad Spiders

I decided to continue my push into the Zone by painting up some more critters that I have lying around.  I don't have any stalkers to face off against them, or any terrain for the Zone for that matter, but it's been fun to paint up the beasties and create a bit of lore for my Zone in the process.  In fact, I managed to dig up another couple of critters to go with the ones that I'd already shown, so let's take a closer look at what I managed to put together.

First up are the critters that I previously posted as my analogs for "dogs" for Zona Alfa, and I'm pretty pleased with how they turned out!  Get ready for the reptilian goodness that is the red cap!

Believed to originally be a kind of snake, exposure to something in the Zone changed them into the creatures known as red caps.  Aggressive and territorial, red caps typically move in groups commonly called broods and will mercilessly attack anything they come in contact with.  Thankfully they are not poisonous as some snakes are, but with they're sharp teeth and vicious talons they can dispatch an unsuspecting stalker in minutes.

As for the minis, these are rippers from the Tyranids of 40k fame.  I did a quick look around and while you can apparently still get this on at least the Termagant sprues, I'm not seeing much as far as options for buying them loose.  Kind of a bummer as I wouldn't mind getting more but I'll make due with what I have.

Next up are another blast from the past, dust hoppers.

Dust hoppers are relatively harmful.  Large insectile herbivores, individually these creatures are more of a threat to flowerbed than a person.  When they start moving in swarms though, they can become extremely dangerous.  With sharp claws on their four limbs, hoppers moving as a swarm will tear through an area and anyone unlucky enough to be standing in their way.

Filling the niche of a swarm for my Zone, these minis are control bugs from the defunct Starship Troopers Miniature Game released by Mongoose Publishing back in 2005.  One of the later releases for the game, I don't think this unit really caught on.  I managed to get ahold of one blister but I'm pretty sure they've gone the way of the dodo now.  As for Zona mechanics, dust hoppers are an example of the vermin you might find in the Southwest Zone

And the last critter from the Zone for today are rad spiders.

The size of a small dog and glowing an eerie blue, rad spiders are an all too common threat in the Zone.  While not actually radioactive, rad spiders physiology has been altered so they contain some kind of bioluminescence which real reason they glow.  Even without the danger of radiation, rad spiders are still extremely dangerous due to their aggressive nature and poisonous bite.

Unlike the other two critters that I have put together, rad spiders are not actually minis and are readily available.  Just hop onto Amazon and search for mini plastic spiders.  There is a listing there for 120 of the little critters for less than $8 which makes these the cheapest minis I've ever bought!  You could always use the larger ones that are typically done with an attached ring, but personally I think that these ones have a better look to them.  I'd scored these years ago for a Halloween decoration but I think I'm going to grab some more so I can make some more species of eight legged crawlers in the future.  With their size, these ones could easily fit into the game as either solo critters or members of a swarm, depending on how you base them.

Next I should start looking at some of the Stargrave minis that I recently picked up to see if I can piece together some fitting minis to be stomping around in the Zone.  Until next time...

Zona Alfa: Creepy Crawlies In The Zone

About three months ago, I started dabbling with what minis I had on hand that I could use to explore the Exclusion Zone that is the focus of Zona Alfa.  I started to make some headway, but things kind of stalled out after pretty quickly.  Since I started picking up the brush again, I think it's time to start looking into some of the ideas that I had oh so long ago.

Out of the book, Zona Alfa lists the possible hostiles as vermin, dogs, zombies, ghouls, bandits, mutants, or large mutants.  These categories are nice and vague though, so all it takes is a little digging and some imagination to come up with the an appropriate mini from you collection.

Looking at my own minis, fielding zombies is going to be a piece of cake.  Heck, even ghouls will be easy too since I started collecting minis for the Plague faction in Deadzone.  I had already painted up some of my type I Plague in different colors schemes which is perfect for this.  Initially I had tried to do more of a traditional zombie look and they didn't turn out too bad.

The normal skin tones are not very sci-fi though, so I decided to play around with some Citadel shades that I had picked up and I really like how these ones turned out.

I'm thinking that for Zona I will use the regular zombies as... well, zombies.  Creative, right?  But the purple skinned ones are going to be some kind of rad ghouls.  They look similar but different enough that I like how they will look on the board.  I do want to paint up some more of each though (I'm thinking six each so I can cover up to threat level 2) but this gives me a solid start, and once they are assembled painting them up is pretty quick.

Next up were the vermin.  I think everyone think instantly of rats when you say vermin, but as the rules point out, it can be any thing in your collection that you feel fits the bill.  Digging though the old minis box, Two of the five threat level one hostiles done!  That still leaves the vermin, dogs, and bandits.  Since they are the most common, I had planned to start with the vermin.  Thinking of these as swarms of rats, insects, or some other nasty creepy crawly, I grabbed some old Tyranid ripper swarms and based them up.

Still need to get some paint on these gribblies but you get the idea at least.

It was after I got them onto the bases that I realized that if these were some kind of swarm, then it would make more sense to do 40mm bases with groups of them on each bases.  I'd already popped some of these off their original bases so this would mean rebasing them again which I wasn't looking forward to, plus I'd used plastic cement this so who knows how cleanly they would have come off!  This is when a thought struck me; maybe these would work better as "dogs"?  Given their size and having two on a base it seems like the perfect option.  Plus, I've been trying to figure out where to get dogs/wolves that weren't zombified so going with the rippers instead eliminates that whole problem.

So what about the aforementioned swarms?  I was stumped at first but then realized that Reaper Miniatures has the perfect solution for these; actual swarms!  I'm thinking I'll go with either the beetle or spider swarm, I just need to dig them out of the bin first.  That said, I did see a pretty awesome post on the Zone Alfa Facebook group that featured some rad spiders.  His were printed but I happen to have some small Halloween spiders floating around still...  Something to think about there.

For the next bunch, I went way back to 1999 as I dug out a couple of Neo-Soviet rad troopers from the miniature game Vor: The Maelstrom.

I bought a couple of the starters at a discount after FASA went belly up, mainly for the Growler minis that come with them.  The Union troops aren't bad either, and I might pull some of those out to fill out my crew or maybe as a military force patrolling the Zone.  But the Neo-Soviets?  I really liked the aesthetic of these guys though I never did pick up too many of them.

Thankfully they are still available through Iron Wind Metals so I'm thinking I'll pickup a some more from the Neo-Sov range.  In particular, a couple more rad troopers but equipped with SMGs this time.  Besides the rad troopers, I like the looks of the cyclops for a large mutant and either some of their mutants or perhaps some rad hounds to fill the role of mutant on the table.

I also really like the look of the chemgrunt (maybe count the sprayer as a flamer?), plus maybe a few of the Vanguard soldiers.  The downside to these minis it they are metal mono pose figures, but I like the look of them and I think there are at least a couple of different poses for each trooper so there will be a little bit of variety.

The only downside to using these is that I don't have them yet.  Unfortunately Iron Wind is experiencing shipping delays right now, so even ordering them might take a while.  I don't know when I will be getting this to the table, but for now I think I'll dig into the minis box to see what else I have on hand.

And as for the mutant and large mutant?  Haven't gotten that far yet, but they are something I can dig around for as well.  I also got to thinking about terrain for this and had something of an epiphany.  Zona Alfa is by default set in the Russian exclusion zone, but the setting is very open ended and people are doing Zones all over the place.  I had been thinking if not Soviet, then at least someplace with temperate terrain... until this morning.

What about the United States southwest?

There is a whole lot of nothing out there, and between the terrain, the weather, and the critters it could be an interesting place to explore.  Not to mention who knows what might have wondered out of a certain Area out there if everything fell apart.

This is definitely a theme I am going to look more into as it just feels like it would be right, but we'll dig more into that later.  Until next time...

Bolt Action: The Making of the 12th Mechanized Infantry Platoon

After more list building, I figured out a 750 Bolt Action list that I think will be fun to play without being cheesy at all.  The core that drove the shape of this force is the story that I came up with.

The 12th mechanized platoon is one of the units involved in the push through occupied France in1943.  As they went deeper into enemy held territory, the unit came under fire and lost their transports but were able to capture German vehicles and continued to push forward.

Is this historically accurate in anyway?  No idea.  I did some cursory research for to figure out a time and location but the rest of it I made up on the fly.  I might flesh it out more as I build the unit, but for now this gives me a solid framework to hang my concept from.

I also started working on the new paint scheme and so far, I'm really pleased with it.

The base is Vallejo US Army olive drab primer which I then hit with Citadel Agrax Earthshade to give it some depth.  Once this was dried, I tried to pick out the raised areas with some P3 Traitor Green to give it a little more depth.

Rather than leaving the helmet the same color, I painted these with P3 Thornwood Green to make them slightly darker, and I also hit the handle of the shovel with the same color just to mix things up.  Next came the brown pants, in this case P3 Gun Corps Brown and the shoes which are P3 Bootstrap Leather.  Once these were both dried, I went over them both with a shade of Citadel Seraphim Sepia.

The last step (so far) was some Citadel Rhinox Hide for the weapons.  I'll probably go back and pick out some of the hardware on with Citadel Abaddon Black eventually, but for now the Rhinox Hide is so dark it might not even show.

Once this was all dried, I coated them with Vallejo Matt Varnish to give them a bit of protection.  Then it was time to finish dressing up the bases, which in this case just meant painting the edge with Abaddon Black to give it a more finished look.  Once this was sealed as well, I took a white ballpoint and wrote BAR on the appropriate soldier to make it easier for me to see who has what.  I'm going to do this with the NCO's as well.  The labeling is only on my side so it doesn't disrupt the visual of the mini too much when you are looking from the front

There is still more to do with the 12 Platoon but I like how they are starting out.  The details that I added are nothing major but I like how they break up the solid green uniform and make them a little more interesting to look at.

I'm also taking a different approach to how I am painting them by only doing them one at a time.  Typically I would try to do blocks of troops but I'm really liking this approach more for some reason.  I'm also trying to mix up the skin tones a bit as well, instead of the ghostly white that I'd originally used.

Next will be more of the troops for the 12th, plus the first of their captured vehicles should be arriving this week, a Warlord Games Opel Blitz.  And I've also started some work on a couple of old Vor the Maelstrom Neo-Soviet rad troopers that I've been thinking of using for Zona Alfa.  Lots of fun stuff in the works and hopefully I can get back into my hobby streak by working through them one at a time.  Until next time...

Workbench: Digital Ghosts In The Zona Alfa Floral Department?!?

Wow have I been crazy busy, at least in my free time.  Our 5e game has transitioned over to Roll20 so I needed to learn the basics of not just playing but DM'ing with their system in last week and a bit.  Add to that my decision to make JPEG maps of some of the locations since I've gone completely off the rails from the written Ghosts of Saltmarsh game and yeah, not a lot of free time.

That said, I'm quite happy with what I was able to cobble together using a pdf program in such a short time.  Here is the first floor of the Sutton estate that my players psycho-pumped.

Unfortunately the 2nd floor and basement didn't look quite as finished as all the details I was adding were really bogging down the program I was using, but I'm still really happy with them overall.  I am looking at getting a Pro subscription to Inkarnate.com so I can do more work for the campaign... and because it just generally is kind of fun.  Crazy, I know, but I'm looking forward to bringing more of this game to life using the digital tools that are out there.

Of course this means that I've had no time for physical painting, but I'm okay with that.  Hobby is hobby after all, and I'm really enjoying running our insane little corner of the world.

This doesn't mean that there hasn't been any hobby though as I've stumbled on some great bits I'm going to use for some terrain pieces.  A week or so ago, I stopped by Hobby Lobby to grab some canvases for my daughter and decided to swing through the floral section just to take a looksee.  I've got a lot of regular terrain, but I was looking for something more alien.  Zona Alfa has recently caught my eye and I've been had some ideas stewing in my brain for some terrain pieces to build.  I wasn't holding out much hope though since this was a craft store so imagine my surprise when I found these little gems!

These two were the first that really jumped out at me.

Thistle pom pom pick

People have done some pretty cool prints for anomalies but since I'm 1) lacking a 3d printer and 2) always looking for the cheap option, these seemed like they might work.  As I explored some more, I had some other options catch my eye so I might just use them as alien plants instead since they would tie in nicely.

The next two were these, with colors inspired by the first ones.

Thistle stem

I can see these being scattered around as ground cover, bizarre little growths that are overrunning our native vegetation.  Or I could group some of these together on a base to create a zone hazard that could be encountered.

Next was this one which just looks bizarre.

Blue green microberry spray

As an added plus, the piece is also really long.  The crazy bubbly stems are over a foot long and there are at least a dozen of them on one plant.  It might be tricky to cut them down without having the bare stems exposed but I'm willing to give it a try to see what I can make.

The final one is a doozy!

Red protea stem

I have already made a carnivorous plant but the center looks pretty floral.  This one looks far more dangerous, almost like some kind of gigantic land anemone.  I can see this fitting in perfectly as a "creature" for Antares.  Some great finds, especially since I really wasn't expecting them.  Now I just need to start making some structures as well so I'll have somewhere to explore.  So many projects, so little time.  Oh well, at least I shouldn't get bored in the next few years as I work my way through all of these!  Until next time...

Random Updates: The Gloomy Core of Space Comrade!

This weekend I was able to get Core Space to the table for the first time!  I went over to my friend's house and we ran through the Salvage Run mission so we could see how the game played.

It's been weeks since I went over the rules or watched any playthroughs so it was a little rough to start, but once we got going it all clicked into place and we were able to dive into the action.  If you've played a miniatures game before then most of the rules just made sense, and the terrain really pulls it all together.

The highlight of the game?  Gak, Roykirk, and Butler (a new volunteer for my crew) all being taken out by Beck and Jace, while Kaori and Gaa'nek ran around like lunatics and randomly shot at people.

Meanwhile Arianna tried to get payback by taking shooting Jace and company with an incinerator.  Absolutely hilarious amounts of fail!  In fact, we were racking up some many of our own "kills" that the Purge barely felt the need to show shiny metal faces!

All and all, I feel like it was a hit and I'm looking forward to playing it again in the future!

After that, we dove back into Gloomhaven with his son as we tried to find out what our "patron" was really up to.  I switched from the scoundrel to the brute so we could have some heavy hitting action, but even so it was really close!

The end bosses were two bodyguards with a ton of hit points, but we were able to take them down right at the last minute and even find out some clues about what is really going on.

I have also been able to make more headway with my painting, finishing up Lars, Faye, and MAC.

I really like how MAC came out with his weathered paint scheme.  Lars and Faye turned out pretty good as well though I'm tempted to go back and paint their tool boxes.  Dewalt black and yellow for one, and Ryobi green for the other... just because I find it amusing.  I also like how the black edging looks on these minis so I'm going to go back and do the same on the rest of them.

This just leaves me with four more minis and then all of the Core Space I own will be painted, so of course it's time to start looking at what I'm going to buy next.  I've been really torn on this as the late pledge is still open for Core Space: First Born and it's quite the deal.  On the other hand, it doesn't deliver until later this year and it sounds like it shifts the focus more towards solo play.  Rather than wait, I could just use those funds to get more of the existing expansions.

It's tough to pass up the late pledge but I'm thinking that my best bet is going to be to pick up the Shootout at Zed's expansion.  This set introduces gangers to the mix (in the form of Zed and his minions) and it comes with a couple more civilians as well.  Maybe it's silly but it's the extra civilians that are what seal the deal for me here.  I love that the base game comes with three but I really like the idea of even more random people wandering around the board.  You can also use Zed and his crew literally as another crew, so it really seems like this set gives the most bang for the buck as far as versatility.

And last but not least, I picked up a new game on Kindle.  Zona Alfa, published by Osprey Games.

I remember when this one first came out and I'll admit that I was kind of "meh" about it, but having read some battle reports and play throughs I decided I want to give it a try.  I don't have many minis that fit the Soviet post-apocalyptic flavor but I figure that is something that I can work on remedying.  My main interest with this one is solo play so it'll give me some time to hunt around for the right minis, not to mention build some terrain for it.  I love the Battlesystems stuff and they do have modern post-apoc terrain, but I've got a bunch of black foamcore lying around so I might as well make some use of it.  Until next time...