Battletech Terrain

 Hey guys sorry for the lack of updates recently.  I've been playing a lot of Battletech but I didn't really want to post much here because it has all be map based until now.  We've finally managed to get some good terrain together.

Also myself and a friend of mine have started a new campaign for our local group.  It is set on the planet Antallos during the 2nd Succession War.  I have a blog for it up here:  http://antallosshadowfeed.blogspot.com/

Anyhow I just wanted to post some pics of what we are using in the next game.  Most of it is scratch built from junk except the buildings in the top photo.

Ancient Ruins WIP

Hey it's been a while since I posted anything but I have been working on a lot of projects.  This is a set of generic "Ancient" ruins I'm working on for my Conan project but really they could be used for a number of settings.  I'm sure they will get used in Call of Cthulhu and other fantasy and pulp games as well.  As you can see we have mostly covered a 4x4' table with ruined building made from cork tile.  Cork is a great material for making ruins.  If you want a comprehensive guild to building with cork check out Matakishi's Tea House.

I'm really looking to add at least one centerpiece building to the set.  Probably a temple of some sort.  We are also going to be adding some more ruins.  We are planning on making some jungle bases to add to the table including some to add to the buildings to look overgrown.  The buildings will probably be painted dark stone and we will use flocking and turf for moss.

Hyborian Adventurers

I've been going through my miniature collection looking for miniatures to use for the Conan game we are putting together.  I've been so focused on Sci-Fi and Pulp over the last few years that my fantasy collection has really suffered and only some of what I have painted is really good for a Hyborian setting.  I did manage to pull quite a few unpainted minis out of my collection that I though would work well.  This is the first batch I have painted up so far.  All four of these are from Reaper's Dark Heaven line.  

Cthulhu and Conan

I work nights and it's really hard to get in gaming time because weekends tent to be catch up on family time and even though we are a gaming family there are sometimes other things that need doing.  To that end I have contacted some gaming friends who have Friday afternoon off and we have decided to try and have a game session from noon to four on Fridays.  We've rolled up characters and decided to alternate between Call of Cthulhu and Conan adventures which is cool because we can use a lot of the same miniature resources.  Even though the settings are very different since Lovecraft and Howard influenced each other so much the two settings work well together. 

Another good thing about these settings is that the protagonist are all humans and that makes it easier to have a flexible miniature collection for each setting.  I've already got a nice collection of "Pulp" era protagonist painted and a large number prepped and ready to be painted.  As far as the Conan stuff I have a fair amount of that in my collection too although not as much of that is painted at the moment.

So I will likely be post a lot of new projects based on these two settings in the near future.  

Pegasus Sandbags and my Improvised Military Base

I picked up a couple packs of Pegasus Hobbies Sandbag packs to create an improvised military base for an Episode of Maxed Out my science fiction Savage Worlds game.  I picked up a set of "Straights" and a set of "Corners".  Each set was $20.00 a piece.  I really like these.  They are nicely detailed and finished and they are ready to use out of the box.  I think they worked well in this situation.

Infinity Terrain Challenge: Apartment Building WIP

Last night I glued corrugated cardboard rectangles inside two of the plastic crates then I glued the crates together to make one apartment building.  I used Aleen's Tacky Glue which seems to have bonded fairly well.  I would suggest a tacky craft glue over a regular PVA glue or perhaps some wood glue for this.  The cardboard will provide a base for me to glue details on like doors, windows, and tech bits.  Normally I would try and make a building like this playable and use clear plastic for windows and add floors and doors but this is suppose to be a simple and cheap terrain project aimed at new players so I decided that would be too complicated.    

 I picked up a few more supplies at Dollar Tree.  Six plastic crates, some floral wire, and two packages of plastic hair curlers for bits.  This cost another $5.41 so I am now up to a grand total of $53.49 on the project so far.  I still want to pick up a package or two of ping pong balls but after this I think the rest of my budget will be paint.

 I glued some rectangles of poster board inside the green crates.  This will be a penthouse or equipment storage area on the roof of the apartment.

 I constructed the roof from the foamcore I picked up at Dollar Tree.  I left enough of the lip so I could position miniatures on the roof and give them some cover.

 Here is a shot of the whole building as it is right now.  I only have 3-4 hours of work in it so far and since this is my prototype I expect the others to go much faster.

Here is a closeup shot of the roof with my Ariadna.  I got a little close on the sides but they still fit just fine.  My goal is to get this building done tomorrow and also get the other apartment buildings to this level.

Infinity "How low can you go?" terrain challenge: Layout and stuff

 I'm working on the Layout of my main buildings for my infinity terrain challenge table.  I think I'm going to go with two factories instead of the strip mall The boxes I'm using just as a general guideline.  There will be streets and the factory yards will be fenced in and there will be a lot of things in them.  I'm also going to fence in a "parking area behind the workers dormitories and I'm going to have advertisements and planters running down the middle of the streets to break up those large kill zones.
 

Here is a shot of some of my minis next to the crates to show their scale.  Not all of the openings will be windows.  I'm going to block some of them off and add some tech bits and doors of course.

I picked up a couple packages of cheap razors and plastic cloths pins at the Dollar General for adding details.  They were each a dollar so it was about $4.20 with tax which brings my total up to $48.08.  That's almost half of my target goal and I still have some other expenses to look at.  Hopefully I'll stay on target.  

Infinity "How low can you go" terrain challenge. Supplies!

I've started my Infinity Terrain “How low can you go?” challenge and I'm already at $43.88 US For my supply cost. I do however have most of the things I plan to use for the table that I am not going to make from recycled junk. I'm trying to keep the terrain set under $100.00 and I hope to go lower if I can manage it. I'm going to need to leave some budget for some more paint and a few other bits.

I went to three stores today and this is how it broke down:

Lowe's: I picked up a 4'x8' sheet of 3/16^th inch masonite (MDF) board which they cut into two 4'x4' sections for $13.99. I am planning on using one section for my table top and one section for basing some of my other terrain elements and possibly for streets.

Walmart: I picked up four cans of cheap store brand spray paint. Two cans of primer grey cost $1.38 each and two cans of flat black cost $0.96 each. I also bought a package of cork tiles that cost $5.94 and some plastic canvas “Granny Grating” for $2.97. The total at Walmart with tax was $14.76.

Dollar Tree: Everything at Dollar Tree cost a dollar except the two sheets of poster board that cost $0.50 each so I'm not going to break down the prices. I picked up two sheets of poster board, two packets of alphabet and number stickers, eight plastic crates, and four sheets of foamcore even though I was only charged for three. My total cost was $15.13.

I'm going to use the foamcore to build a small factory or two and a three or four building strip mall as well as using it for other details on the crate buildings. If I can work it in I'm going to go for a small park as well.

As I pointed out I'm going for an Ariadna industrial city look. I'll probably draw from Russian sources for my inspiration.       

Infinity Terrain Challenge "How low can you go?"

I posted this terrain challenge on the Infinity terrain forum just a little bit ago.
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I was thinking about the recent thread “Terrain as a hindrance to new players?” which is about how hard it is to set up an economical table full of terrain and I was thinking that making a simple 4'x4' table full of terrain that is as economical as possible would be a good forum challenge.

If you would like to participate here are the rules:

Contest ends on the last day of November.

You must start with nothing. Not even a table surface. Pretend you are not a miniature gamer. No finished buildings or even a finished table top. No finished hills ect.

Track the cost of everything you spend putting the table together. You can use existing materials and bits if you can show the cost of those materials and bits.

Using free bits like recycled junk from packaging is perfectly acceptable and encouraged.

Use simple techniques. Please no resin casting or techniques requiring complicated tools. Exacto knives, rulers, tape, glues, paints and other easy to find and use tools are encouraged.

At the end of the challenge the table must be finished. Everything must be painted and ready to play on.

Post pics of your progress in this thread or link your progress thread or blog.

Starting Now! Good luck!

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Here is a link to my thread if you wish to participate:

http://www.infinitythegame.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=13786

The City of Tomorrow

I don't hate Warhammer 40,000 but I do hate what it has done to 28mm science fiction gaming.  Everywhere I look on line I see the "Dark Gothic" aesthetic passed off as futuristic or sci-fi.  To me there is nothing less futuristic than a 12th century design style.  I'm planning on starting a new category on this blog where I feature actually futuristic looking 28mm gaming products and gamer projects that I plan to call "The City of Tomorrow".

Primitive Tech Buildings

 We finished up some of our primitive tech buildings this weekend.  We plan to use them for several locations around Station 42.  We have been using them in some of our Station 42 War games but they weren't done yet.  We added doors and finished the "tech" bits.  We have at least four more of the hose size buildings and a larger factory sized building for this set that still have quite a bit left to be done.  We also plan to make more tech bits to go on the outside and on top of the buildings.  The idea is that we can switch the bits up and get some good variety out of the set up.

Danzig Daily News: Colonel Müller Rescued by Hel's Huscarls

 Colonel Lars Müller commander of the Regional Defense Force units charged with defending Danzig was one of the only survivors of the initial encounter with what is looking like a large force of pirates that landed just two days ago near Avendorf.  Colonel Müller attempted to retreat from the field with his heavily damaged Atlas AS7-S assault class Battlemech.  A Lance of pirates managed to cut him off before he could reach the capitol city of Tenewald.  The Hel's Huscarls mercenaries, recently contracted by the government of Danzig, landed a rapid response Lance of Battlemechs to attempt a rescue.

 The mercenaries engaged the pirates as they closed in on the Colonel's Atlas destroying a "Locust" light mech early in the engagement.  The Colonel also fought bravely with what few weapon systems he had in tact.

 The pirate mechs had also been damaged in the previous engagement but they were still dangerous adversaries.  Of note was the hulking 75 ton Marauder MAD-3D which led the pirate force.

By the end of the fighting three of the pirate mechs including the Marauder were either destroyed or out of commission.  Surrounded and with no where to run the pilot of the pirate Centurion CN9-AL surrendered.  All four of the pirate mechwarriors survived and where arrested by local authorities.

Notes:  This is the first of what we hope turns into a simple little Classic Battletech home campaign.  The Campaign is set on the Planet Danzig in the Hanseatic League deep in the Periphery.  This first encounter was suppose to be a simple rescue operation for the Mercenaries played by my wife and daughter.  It ended up being a total victory.  The Atlas was heavily damaged and low on ammunition and the pirates all had some damage as well but nothing too serious.  Due to bad rolls on my part and a lot of concentrated damage on their part the battle ended very badly for the pirates who were about to bug out anyway.  I'm not really sure how far we are going with this campaign.  Hopefully it will be less labor intensive than our Station 42 campaign which we are still playing.  We may be switching back and forth between map based and terrain on this campaign.  Whatever works out best in the long run.  

Titania City perhaps?

I hate to keep posting pics of things I'm going to work on but here are some simple crates I picked up at the Dollar Tree store a couple of days ago.  I think we are going to use them for some of the buildings in Titania City.  They aren't big enough for sky scrapers but they might make good shops and apartment buildings.  Right now we are trying to decide how to make interiors for them to make them playable.  The packing trays on top are ideas for roofs.  These are the same things we used for roofs on Station 42 and a number of other buildings in the setting. I think it will help tie them in with the other projects.

In The Future There Will Be Robots!

I just wanted to show off some of the toys we have amassed for our Mecha project for Station 42.  I've already shown one of the mechs with the Titania Planetary Guard update.  Here are some of the others.  Many if not all of these will make and appearance in our "Station 42 War" campaign.
We will still be using "No Limits" as our rules which will make it easy to create stats for these models but we will also be adding several house rules and some new equipment which I will publish as the project progresses.  Eventually I would like to pick up some nicer models but for now we are using these to kind of test out our rule ideas.

20 Angry Questions from The Angry Lurker!

 The Angry Lurker posted these 20 angry questions on his blog.  I decided they were so angry I would have to post some shots from my photography portfolio so as not to scare people off.

1.  Favorite Wargaming period and why?
Science fiction which should be pretty obvious from my blog here.  I like Science Fiction because I like space exploration and space ships and even though it sounds cheesy space really is the final frontier.

2.  Next period, money no object?
I would love to do a Viking Saga game with good ships and minis.  Really take the time to do them nicely.

3.  Favorite 5 films?  Snatch, Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Serenity, The Lord or the Rings Trilogy, Empire Strikes Back.

4.  Favorite 5 TV series?
Firefly, Star Trek TOS, Eureka, Game of Thrones, Battlestar Galactica

 5.  Favorite Book and Author?
H. P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Stories

6.  Greatest General?
Sir James "The Black" Douglas or more properly "Good" Sir James Douglas.

7.  Favorite Wargame Rules?
I loves me some classic Battle Tech.

8.  Favorite Sport and Team?
SCA heavy combat.  Calontir.

 9.  If you had a use once only time machine when and where would you go?
The Future.

10.  Last Meal on Death Row?
Bacon and beer.

11.  Fantasy Relationship and why?
Rachel Weisz.  Lets not be stupid here.  She's hot and I love when British chicks say "knickers" like it's the naughtiest word in the English language.

12.  If your life were a movie who would play you?
Jack Black

 13.  Favorite Comic Super Hero?
Conan.  Because Fuck You that's why.

14.  Favorite Military Quote?
"He who does more is more worthy"  Geoffroi De Charny

15.  Historical destination to visit?
Rome.

16.  Biggest Wargame regret?
I wish I could get back some of the miniatures I have sold over the years.

17.  Favorite Fantasy Job?

Editorial Fashion Photographer.

18.  Favorite Song?  Top 5?

No Quarter by Led Zeppelin, Nothing Else Matters by Metallica,  Hold the Heathen Hammer High by Tyr, Cry of the Black Birds by Amon Amarath, Float by Flogging Molly 

19.  Favorite Wargaming Moment?

The "Station 42 War" home campaign my wife and I are playing.  The best combination we have had of finished terrain and minis.  Even though it's narrative we have tried to keep it realistic.    

20.  The miserable git question.  What upsets you?

Working a crappy night job that gets in the way of gaming, photography, and family.    

Hell Knights Regulars Rifle Squad

I just finished assembling a Hell Knights rifle squad.  This is the third squad I have put together with the pig Iron heads which I chose for this army.  These guys take quite a while to assemble because I have to shave off all the Imperial symbols and fit the heads.  I'd say they take almost an hour each.
This squad I am going to paint as a squad of "regulars".  The other rifle squad I have painted and the one I have base coated are veteran squads.  In order to tell the difference I am going to base these in olive green instead of dark brown and I don't think I will be doing these with a camouflage pattern.  Their web gear and other equipment will stay the same color as the other squads which should tie them in.
Eventually I want to have a whole platoon of three Regular squads and three Veteran squads.  I have enough models to do one more rifle squad so I will have two squads of each until I can afford to pick up a couple more squads and at GWs prices that may be a while.  

Titania Planetary Guard Update

I just wanted to post a pic of the Titania Planetary Guard army that we have been working on for the "Station 42 War".  I just finished up a Battle Mech and a tank for it and the command squad as well.  I think we are going to try and add one or two more tanks and some APCs or transport vehicles as well as some support artillery next.
This army is pretty cool for us in the fact that it cost us about $50.00.  

More Titania Planetary Guard Reinforcements

Hey I'm working on another tank for the Titania Planetary Guard and a new Battle Mech as well.  The Mech is a M.A.R.S. toy that I got at Walgreens.  It is about 7 inches tall and I got three different mechs for about $14.00.  They are a little on the chunky and static side but I like their styling.  I still have weathering, a wash, and final details to go on both of these.

General Drake and a Medic for the Titania Planetary Guard.

I've had a General Drake figure from Reaper Miniatures Chronoscope line ever since he came out.  He's a nice miniature but he's a bit on the tall side.  I think Reaper made him for ACOM which was suppose to be a 28mm game set in their CAV universe and I think they had planned to do all their models as 1/48th scale.  Anyhow I painted him up to be the leader of the renegade Titania Planetary Guard units for our Station 42 War campaign.
The "medic" is actually a pulp era "not" Laura Croft which I think I got off of Cool Mini or Not.  I don't really remember any other details about her.  She's a pretty nice mini but I have no idea who sculpted her.
I panted this pair up real quickly using the same technique we used for the rest of the army.  Nothing fancy but serviceable.   

Anti Grav AFV almost done!

 I'm just about done with this project!  All I have left is a to make an automated weapons mount for the spot where I removed the machine gun and I have one more hole to cover in the hull that I missed before I snapped these shots.  I should have it painted soon.

Battle at the Old Mining Town (a No Limits Station 42 War Game Report)

A "Hell Knights" APC engages Militia vehicles.

 Titania News Network:  Just a few short hours ago Titania militia forces and renegade Planetary Guard units came under attack from the Hell Knights mercenary company.  Our "Flyspy" news drones managed to record several images from the battle as it occurred.  

A civilian truck comes under mercenary fire.

 Titania forces were escorting a convoy of civilian vehicles out of Station 42 loaded with supplies for the resistance when they came under attack from Hell Knights, armor, infantry, and mech forces.  At least one mech scale "Battle Suit" was spotted among the mercenary forces.

Titania Militia units engage a mercenary APC.

 The conflict going on in the Station 42 region has been escalating for months.  The government of Titania acquired several hydroponics farms and mining claims in the region by use of eminent domain claiming that the land was going to be used for terra-forming facilities to provide planetary upgrades.   Instead building the facilities a  company known as Smith and Wilson Agricultural purchased the land.  The farmers and citizens of the region banded together and refused to leave.

The convoy moves into a gauntlet of deadly fire.

 Smith and Wilson Agriculture then hired to "Hell Knights" to enforce their claim to the properties.  So far the fighting has been mostly small in scale and limited to the region around Station 42.  Sympathy for the resistance groups has been wide spread across Titania.

Tanks from both sides trade fire.

 The battle that took place today was small in scale but brutal.  The Hell Knights have employed armored units and mechs before but never so many at one location.  They seemed determine to stop the Titania convoy.  The convoy was escorted by a Planetary Guard tank and several improvised armored cars as well as trained militia units and Planetary Guard fire teams.

Carson Boon is spotted fighting along side a unit of Planetary Guard.

Carson Boon and members of his militia were among the combatants.  Boon is believed to be the senior leader of militia units involved in the conflict.

Damaged and destroyed civilian and militia vehicles crash into abandoned buildings.

 As the battle raged many of the civilian vehicles were destroyed by the mercenary mechs and armored vehicles.  Mercenary snipers positioned on the large mesa and old silo also did considerable damage to the light vehicles.

A mercenary APC feels the sting of a Laser Canon.

 The Planetary Guard Tank put up as strong resistance taking out three armored personal carriers and damaging the mercenary hover tank.

Mercenary and Planetary guard tanks engaged at point blank range.

 For a good portion of the battle these two heavily armored vehicles traded fire.  Though the mercenary tank was heavily damaged it was not destroyed.

A mercenary mech scores a hit on the Planetary Guard tank.

 The mercenary mech was also badly damaged but not destroyed.  It was instrumental in destroying several civilian and militia vehicles.

Militia sniper "Redjack" lies motionless on the ground.

 The notorious militia sniper known as "Redjack" was noted among the militia casualties although his status is unknown at this time.  Evidence points to one of the Hell Knights snipers as the shooter.

The wreckage of several resistance and mercenary vehicles.

Most of the civilian and militia vehicles were destroyed by the end of the fighting.  It is estimated that the Titania forces lost close to 20 fighters and drivers while the mercenary casualties numbered at least 15 fighters and three armored personal carriers.  Only one civilian supply truck managed to pass through the mercenary gauntlet and it's location is unknown at this time.

At the end of the fighting the remaining mercenary forces withdrew from the area leaving the Titania forces to attempt to salvage their supplies and tend to their wounded.

This has been Alphonso Marks reporting for the Titania News Network.

Additional "Flyspy" coverage of the battle can be found in this gallery: http://www.flickr.com/photos/43472766@N05/sets/72157630926721772/