Undertown Flats, signs, scatter, a table in progress

With all the COVID-19 stuff flying around I thought it might be time to set a Mantic themed table with some Plague vs. GCPS (Galactic Co-Prosperity Sphere) vignettes.

I'm really digging into the backlog of cool Sci-Fi scenics from Antenociti's Workshop

With my wife home a lot lately I've not been able to work at the painting desk for long but its been relatively easy to sit in the living room, or kitchen, and assemble pre-painted MDF buildings.  Its surprising how quickly a viable table comes together with this stuff!

 GCPS troopers in 3 man teams containing a Plague outbreak in the Undertown while the news boards report.

The quality of the photo print components supplied with these kits is amazing and for the 'small signs' set pictured above you get a set of two triangular signs each face having a different graphic... and there are 9 to choose from in the kit so you have options right out of the box.  With a little effort you can make signs from practically anything so the possibilities are pretty cool.

The Flats are a 3 level structure with a single, full floor, elevator serviced, apartment on each level.  I've not yet done interiors for these so what you see is the kit with no additions.

The rooftop is also accessible via elevator which is shown above.  I've made the top most roof removable and may retrofit lighting to this area... and many others... the better to show the cool acrylic doors and interior graphic details that so many of these buildings sport.

 More views of the sign scatter... large enough to obscure most models and fun to look at.

The acrylic tops and rods are meant to be held in place by pressure lugs but these quickly get knocked off and go missing so I've put a tiny dab of glue on the lower part of the lug to convince them to remain in place.

Likewise the acrylic rods are meant to fit tightly into the base without glue but just slide right through so I glued some of the very good paper left from trimming the photo-prints to the bottom of the sign so the acrylic rods have a floor to rest on.  The acrylic needs careful handling during construction to avoid getting glue on it and ruining the effect.

 The benches are resin components that require a little paint which was as simple as spraying them with Rustoleum Hammered Metal, giving them a wash of Secret Weapon Armor Wash and a quick drybrush of any silvery metallic.

 The Undertown starting to take shape on a small table we usually use for card games.

Lots of scatter elements like street lights, info kiosks, adverts of various sized, vending machines, mail boxes, dumpsters and recycling bins.

The Plague erupted at lunch time with a move on the Spicy Pupniks food cart parked outside the Neo-Tiki Motel Office.

 A GCPS team clears the main building of the Neo-Tiki Motel and moves to assist the situation developing at the office.

Red Oni Sake has a location right next door to the Neo-Tiki Motel and also provides vending machines and mail drops.

 A view across the plaza.  The Game Mat is the small Undertown Mat from Antenociti's Workshop and is printed on mouse-pad material.  There is also a large version of this mat that joins nicely with the small mat for an even larger set up.

Plague taking cover behind the various bins. 

 The Undertown is relatively free of graffiti at the moment but will get tagged up... possibly during games!  I think it would be fun to put a blue tack marker on a spot to be tagged and do the actual application between games.  I mean what gang war themed game would be complete without turf and tags?

 I just managed to finish up the set of Large signs.  These are tall enough to obscure Knight Class vehicles or even low level flyers.

 A set of two, triangular, signs with 6 different graphics in the box.  You don't get the extra couple of choices that came with the "small" signs but they are really large prints with great, high quality, art so I'm not complaining.

 They even have a Sci-Fi Nun on this one!  On my table they are chronicling the adventures of the Sisters of Eternal Mercy! Although any Space Nuns would fit in.

I'm working on the Stepped Tenements today and whatever else pops out of the big box-o-MDF!

Arthenya VI the Archpapess and Bruegleburg a day at the fair

 Arthenya VI the Archpapess is another great model from Raging Heroes.  I have a couple of iterations of her because I want to use her in some dioramas as well as a plying piece.  This is the playing piece version.

She is escorted by some cherubs to protect her and hold some of her ceremonial gear. 

The model is resin and the details are very sharp making her a bit easier to paint than you might imagine.  Fuscha craft ink, Reaper Bone triad, Gory Red triad, and solid white, Secret Weapon washes (Storm Cloud, Armor, and Flesh) Secret weapon Engine metal, Vallejo mediums, GW Necron Compund and Shining Gold.

 Bruegleburg: A day at the Fair was a kickstarter by Lead Adventurers that featured a lot of colorful townsfolk for festive settings.  There were some options to add a more military flair to it but I was really drawn to the Slice of Life feel of the whole thing.

Here are a pair of looters in the colors of my Stirland Fantasy army. 

 This batch of models has more military or local officials in it than I've done so far so there is the recurring theme of the local livery in green and yellow on most of these.

 Country Nobles sporting their colors for the fair.

Greens were worked up from Vallejo Emerald, Secret Weapon Washes and Verdigris weathering, and Reaper solid White.

These are metal models and are sculpted traditionally so they sit really well with the older style citadel models that I used to build most of my Sylvanian army.  The scale is well suited to that era as well.


Yellows are Reaper Yellow triad.










I've based this batch on 25mm rounds for use with some of the newer skirmish games but I've also done a lot of the previous models on 20mm squares to better fit with my existing terrain sets.  I'm a bit torn on this but even old reliable Tabletop World is moving to a larger Heroic scale and the 25mm really does support these big metal models better...
A wandering mercenary and his henchman.  Since he's not a local and is a veteran of the Chaos Wars he is in red.










These two are still WiPs but I'm out of time to finish them until I locate them again after the big move.  I'll do some patterning on his red coat which will reduce the Santa effect a but and the shield devices are just roughed in at present... more to come on these two.







That wraps it up until after the move.  See you again in Late August or Early September!

Raging Heroes Holy Blades All-Stars

Raging Heroes has had a few regular releases that expand on the TGG Kickstarter offerings.  Its very nice to see them working outside the massive Kickstarter format.

The Holy Blades All-Stars are a group of female Paladins that I'll use for warbands in Vanguard, Mordheim, and Frostgrave.  I'll also get a lot of mileage out of them in some RPGs, especially High Fantasy in the vein of Dragon Age.

 The Models were pretty clean and the resin has crisp detail and is just flexible enough to make handling them easy.

 The Models are very light weight and several of the more dynamically posed, the Standard Bearer in particular, were prone to falling over if the terrain was at all uneven, or the table was bumped, so I added a 1" (25mm) steel  washer to the base and now they are super stable.

 The flag staff of the Standard Bearer is holding up a huge, otherwise unsupported, banner and I'm afraid that it will eventually break during handling.  I'll probably try to replace it with a brass rod or similar if that comes to pass.

Painting wise the banner is not finished.  I'm going to add some patterning and images to it after we get on the other side of the big move.  So its mostly just concept at this point... playable but not really done!

 I experimented with a different way of doing armor and started with Tire Black (Secret Weapon) over the standard Khaki primer/white dry-brush foundation.

This was then dry-brushed with Engine Metal (Secret Weapon) and edge highlights were Necron Compound (Citadel) then lining with Tire Black thinned 50% with Glaze Medium (Vallejo).

 The rest of the color scheme is kind of traditional for warrior nuns and I viewed them as an Order of Paladins that specialized in fighting the Undead and so are equipped with a lot of tools for the consecration/reconsecration of burial grounds so that the Necromancers could be stripped of their access to the mortal remains that fuel their endless hordes.

 With that in mind there is a lot of gold on these models.  I tried to make the embroidered cloth of gold details have a different texture to the ecclesiastical tools that are meant to be metal.  To accomplish this the gold cloth is entirely non metallic while the tools etc... are done with regular metallic.

 The gold cloth is Iron Oxide dry-brushed with Sun Yellow (Reaper) while the metals are Brass Casings (Secret Weapon) washed with 50/50 Flesh Wash (Secret Weapon) and Glaze Medium then spot highlighted with Shining Gold (Citadel)

Whites are layered with the Reaper Bone Triad (Dirty Bone, Graveyard Bone, and Splintered Bone) and lined with diluted Soft Tone (Army Painter).

Lots more to do and the packing is accelerating!  I'm hoping to get some a few more Raging Heroes, Lead Adventurers, Hexy Shop, and RWBY figures done before the end... fingers crossed!

Raging Heroes Kinghts of the Chalice (SF)

 Back to painting after an unanticipated emergency tooth extraction!  The Knights of the Chalice are Raging Heroes Science Fiction Super Heavy (Terminator Style) Militant Nuns.

The models went together very well and were a blast to paint.  There is a crazy amount of detail and they remind me of a more baroque version of the Gray Knights.

I started these as Retinue for the Mother Superor or the Space Papess... but as I was painting I kept thinking of them as "Knights of the Chalice: Order of the Oracle Doralys"  after the amazing model by the same company.

 What was significant about that thought in painting terms was that I started thinking about the oracle as a more ethereal, or even ghostly figure and that encouraged me to include some very cool colors in what was otherwise a very warm paint scheme.  You see it in the greenish flames of the chalice and the gems and in other details.  When I get to painting Doralys herself I'll have to include some of these hues.

 I wanted the armor to resemble a nun's habit but the overall scheme was very black indeed... so I reprised the tabard on the mother superior that I had painted several weeks ago complete with the modified skull rune border.  That helped a lot but the real topper was the ethereal green (Secret Weapon Verdigris, Secret Weapon Green Wash, Reaper Splintered Bone).

I'll want to create a symbol for the oracle and incorporate it into these models probably via the, currently blank, two tone red heraldic shields on the hips of the models.

 The unit champion really displays the yellow metal well especially on the shield's chalice.

The bases are 40mm and are all 3D printed.  The PLA material takes paint well and it was great to be able to print a themed set when I discovered that I had round lipped bases with these models instead of the beveled edge I ordered for the rest of the army.... DoH!

Next up should be some 3D printed accessories, terrain, a building a vehicle, and maybe a wrecked building... its been a fun learning process. Oh and I think there might be some Star Saga almost finished as well!

Back to the painting desk!

New Camera test drive, Kingdom Death Surprise Hunt, Augusta and the Void Elves

 Taking a new camera for a test drive.  I'm still having trouble with lighting and focus but, overall, a big improvement.  Next week I'm slated to go get some hands on help with getting the results I want from the photography side of things.

Today was just messing around with the camera and some lights.  I'm still figuring out what all the settings do... or even most of them!

I think I'm going to have to run the steamer on this backdrop to de-wrinkle it.

 I've been taking some more pictures of Augusta, Mother Superior (Raging Heroes) because I wand to get a good read on the yellow metal.  It seems to have survived the sealer reasonable intact. Sealing metallics often damages the final result and I sometimes end up retouching them afterwards.  I could, of course, not seal them... but these are primarily for tabletop use and not dedicated display pieces so I tend to want them sealed against frequent handling.

 Some experiments with wider focus areas as the Mother Superior faces down a pack of Void Elf Hunters.

 A size comparison for the current batch of Kingdom Death Monsters that our settlement is hunting... or being hunted by...

 In anticipation of this weekend's game I quickly painted up the Screaming Antelope and laminated some character and settlement record sheets.  The tactical board getting set up... I'm going to do some 3D terrain elements for the board soon as the card terrain just doesn't show well alongside the miniatures.

 A party of inexperienced survivors set out to hunt the Screaming Antelope led by "Lucky" Amelia.  Amelia at least had one hunt under her belt and performed so well during it that she earned her moniker "Lucky"

The rest of the party were novice hunters although two of them, Yang and Herc were born in the settlement and had some skill/stat upgrades based on that.  One, Flayh, was a survivor that had previously managed to avoid encountering the malicious wildlife of the area and was a straight up newb..

 During the first Hunt event the group stumbled upon the corpse of a Screaming Antelope... did a little scavenging.. and were then interrupted by the monster that had killed it in the first place... a Mature (level 2) White Lion.

This party had been hunting a juvenile Screaming Antelope and was not at all prepared for a Mature White Lion... perhaps Amelia's famous luck had run out?

A couple of pictures of the Screaming Antelope that did not make an appearance in this week's session....

The fight was pretty epic however with Flayh... our group goldbricker getting immediately knocked down and drug off by the Lion, who seemed to be enraged by the group's looting of it's kill... DoH!

Yang managed to sooth the mood of the beast by playing her cat-whisker harp. Yang later proved to be more than just a budding musician when she sliced the lower jaw of the beast clean off!  This early crit helped the party to survive what would otherwise have been a nightmare encounter.

Amelia's famous luck returned almost as quickly as it had abandoned them and she scored a crit on the Lion's brow... damaging it's eye and reducing its accuracy.

The big cat had been charging around the area to either drag Flayh off for a private snack or to escape the incessant rescue attempts by the rest of the group. Yang finally put a stop to this with a precision attack that hamstrung the lion leaving and it nearly dead.

Herc finished the monster off from a safe distance with a well aimed arrow.

All in all a great reinforcement of Lucky Amelia's reputation as the group returned with a pile of resources well in excess of those anticipated. 

Yang turned out to be a competent bard and a very strong combatant to boot.  Some members of the settlement are calling her Yang the Lion Tamer.

Herc calmly wielded his bow throughout the fight and took a couple of opportunities to land big hits with a Zanbato which really sped up the fight. He's taken to referring to himself as "The Tactician" which has not been as well received by the rest of the settlement as he had imagined...

As for poor Flayh... He was grabbed so often by the Lion during the fight... and subsequently rescued by his companions at great risk to themselves... that he's being referred to as "Catnip"

Time to go paint some stuff! The Phoenix has been added to the Quarry list.... and the Knights of the Chalice just came out of the sonic cleaner!

Raging Heroes Augusta Mother Superior, Star Saga friends and foes, and a WiP Screaming Antelope

 Augusta Mother Superior from Raging Heroes is a big model in the Terminator style.  She fills a 40mm base pretty well.

I am happy with the yellow metal process here.  Primer Black (Krylon), heavy brush of Brass Casings (SW), Flesh Wash (SW), dry-brush Brass Casings, touch up and spot highlights with Shining Gold (GW).

The model is full of fun details like the little imp sitting on her shoulder clutching a skull...  this got me thinking how it was funny to be painting up a proxy model for the most strict purist organization in the galaxy... so I added a little more red to my original scheme.. added some trim freehand patterns that are slightly modified Khorne skull runes...and...

 dug up a HERETICUS decal from an old Witch Hunter sheet... delicious irony!

These sisters might have a little taint of chaos of their own!  Just ask the imp.

About proxies... I was a very hard core WSIWYG GW player for two decades until GW's business practices finally drove me into the shadows of the proxy-verse. I'm not talking about direct knock-offs and pirate re-casters but people doing their own work that is heavily influenced by GW's style and universe. It was the best thing that ever happened to my hobby. I found so many people doing great work and discovered a few amazing new games along the way.

















I've since returned to the fold in a limited way...  because I do love the Grim Dark and GW has made big efforts to mitigate some of their worst practices... and have been picking up GW models here and there (Forgebane just arrived!) but now they must compete for my hobby dollars... and they are competing well these days so expect to see more GW models showing up on the painting desk!. 

For size comparison.. Mantic Corporate Marine from Star Saga, Void Elf Hunter from Raging Heroes, Canonness Veridyan from GW, Augusta Mother Superior from Raging Heroes, and the Plague Aberration from Star Saga.

Star Saga from Mantic Games! 
Some friends and foes from the core set. 

Combat Utility Robot 7153 "Curby" would like right at home in Borderlands!

 Guard Commander Graves.  Even though the Security Guards are all done in Law Enforcement Blue... I put the Guard Captain in a Corporate Jade Green uniform so he can command Rent-a-Cops or Corporate Space Marines as the situation requires.













Ogan Metlkarre ... I think.. haha!  Forge Father  done is a style reminiscent of Mass Effect.








Hacker Halftail Vermyn space rat! 

I always wondered why GW never did Space Skaven.. I mean rats hitchhike literally everywhere!  I'm glad to see them show up in the Mantic Universe and I'll port them into 40K because my version of the 40K universe always had Skaven in it!

A sneak peek at the Screaming Antelope WiP.. gotta push if its going to be ready for this week's game!