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...