This weekend I pushed some acrylics around, I did some painting on the Goliaths, but the muse fled me. Luckily the muse of terrain took her place. Which means I managed to finish my first piece of Necromunda terrain. I present to you Silo # 7:
Don't drink the fluid leaking from the pipes...
And the first batch of ancillary barricades/railings for on the platforms, a single loose barricade and a single walkway:
Except for the free standing barricade on the bottom, all the railings have been magnetized to connect to the steel tape hidden under the hazard striping of the platforms. As has the bridge.
Here are a set of barricades in situ:
And here is the bridge, securely mag-locked between the platform and a tin can:
Pretty nifty, right? The magnets under the bridge are mounted in such a way that there is some play to compensate for differences in height between various pieces of scenery.
As I had the airbrush out for the sprayed markings and the varnish over the terrain pieces, I also cranked out these:
These are now all (almost) ready for the hand-painting stages. Maybe I'll experiment with chipping medium and some weathered paint on the barricades and doors, I just need to experiment on a sacrificial piece first, to get my chipping medium dilution just right. I've been having some trouble getting it to spray and work the way I want to. But that is what the luridly coloured Imperial ruins on the right are for. :)
A little over a decade ago, a PC game was released. While the concept/setting and visual design of the game was well handled, it's release and business model... less so. As a result the company that made it died, as did the game. At least officially. Rereleased (initially for Korea only) by a company that had raided the IP and gamecode from the bankruptcy of the studio that produced it. They, also, didn't handle the game well, diluting the original concept and design, not really fixing the existing flaws and bugs in the game (they couldn't, as while they did have the game code and server software, they did not get the source assets and development tools). The game languished and staggered on, zombielike. All this while a small core of dedicated fans kept the single player part of the game alive and attempted to mod an improve it where possible. I kept occasionally playing the game. Recently I discovered these fans have achieved the seemingly impossible and revived the multiplayer part of the game as well*.
Ofcourse I'm talking about Hellgate London:
*: For those that also have fond memories of the game and playing it online with friends/strangers, the project can be found on London2038.com.
Why do I tell you all this?
Well, aside from being happy to play the game with others again, this discovery also resparked an old wargaming project, and I painted some mini's for a skirmish version of Hellgate London:
First off, a quartet of Darkspawn Imps:
Armed with a mix of (cursed?) swords and guns (likely cursed as well!), they should be a challenge for any hero, braving the post-apocalyptic streets of London
Second, my third Templar:
Armed with a Shockwave (a "gun" with an area of effect centred on the user) and a Toxic Axe and clad in heavy Templar armour she seems determined to plow her way through any opposition.
She's converted from Hasslefree miniatures Powered Armour Libby.
Here's my current roster of Templars:
Of course, the Templars aren't the only survivor faction in the Hellgate London universe. There are also Hunters (ex-military and law enforcement, relying on tech, drones and guns) for which I have a couple of miniatures in stock. And the Cabalists (who use the magic and demonic fetishes, that entered the world when the Hellgates, opened against the demons, turning their own weapons against the invaders), for these I haven't found suitable miniatures (yet). Naturally there are also incidental civilian survivors, for which I can use my zombie survivor miniatures.
And my current roster of demons and demonic beasts:
These can be augmented by my collection of zombies to give a fair bit of opposition. Plus I'd like to build a pair more Fellbores (the creature in the centre with the digging claws) and a third Ravager (the lizard-dog-thing).
One day, I may even find a ruleset suitable for actually gaming with them too... :)
Been home ill the last couple of days, and between bouts of being punched in the face by germs, I managed to get a little bit of converting done, to take my mind off things.
The Slag Barons now have two Juves to add to their roster at some point:
Still too young to be allowed full mohawks and their own stimm injectors until they prove themselves, they are given last pick of the armoury. Naturally they are keen to earn full ganger status.
The miniatures are converted from Age of Sigmar Blood Reaver bodies and arms, with heads from the Goliath sprue, stub guns stolen from a 40K Grot. The guy on the left (they've still to get names) has the same design of axe as the Gimp has (and a back-up knife), while the rightmost young goon is very fond of knives...
Additionally, a package long lost in the Warp/mail (it was sent last november!) arrived last week, finally allowing me to start on my first hired gun: Gor Half-Horn. While I like the GW model, 18 GBP for a single model that will be used only occasionally is a bit dear for my tastes. Luckily I have a deep bits box, and with some extra bits ordered, I could make a good approximation myself:
He just needs a few last finishing touches: His bionic eye, his mohawk and shin guards still need to be added.
Still on the to do list:
-Finish the terrain I've started and paint some more.
-Get Gang War 2, once available, and build some hangers on.
-Find suitable Juves for my Escher
-Paint the Goliath gang
-Build and paint my Escher gang
-Paint all the classic Necromunda mini's I still have (My metal Escher gang, my Pit Slaves and some hired guns)
Whew! Best get cracking on! And this is only one of several projects...
First, a real-life bit of "loot" arrived. A while ago, I impulse-bought a Geralt of Rivia (of the Witcher game and book series), I came across it at a price I couldn't resist, and pulled the trigger before thinking twice.
Here's the man himself:
If he seems a bit moist in this picture, that is correct. As a second-hand, he was missing his box and had been wrapped in bubblewrap for transit. This, as well as the mandhandling he received during his travel by post resulted in some warping of the figure: The sword on his back was bow-shaped and the one in his hands seemed distinctly noodle-like. Luckily some hot water allowed me to reset everything to its intended shape. This picture was taken right after his form-correcting bath...
It's a very good figure, with only a few flaws: the mould-lines that were left unremoved and the misplacement of the eye decals, making Gerald distinctly cross-eyed. I'm going to enjoy him in his unmodified state for a few days/weeks as I debate wether or not to go ahead on a full repaint.
The other loot is more gaming related. A while back, I ordered some sets of fantasy coins to use as in-game currency for, for example, tabletop RPGS or my own idea for Questing/Chivalry based fantasy skirmishing. These coins can accomodate a range of wealth from the daily loaf of bread costing a copper bit, up to major purchases using an impressively large golden coin. But as adventurers have a tendency to end up ludicrously wealthy (especially in things like D&D) and like their wealth portable, I needed a way to represent even greater riches. In come precious stones...
Another cheap online purchase:
In this picture you can see a few of them. (for reference, the largest coins in the pictures are about an inch across).
Unfortunately, the glass jewels came with that typical silvered backing, that I'm now trying to remove.
Apparently, a mix of salt and vinegar should work, but I'm not yet seeing much effect:
If this fails, it's on to sterner measures, and I'll see if the same oven cleaner I used on my Gaslands Hotwheels will have a similar effect on these gems silvery coating...
