PIG IRON BLOG

More Kolony Rebel pics

2012-05-15T12:44:00.001-07:00

It's taken a while to get my act together but here's a selection of pics showing our latest figs in more detail. Workbench pics plus some personal projects coming soon.

Kolony Rebels are on sale now

2012-04-23T12:57:00.000-07:00

After a great day at Salute, our new, multipart Kolony Rebels are available to buy from our main website.
More pics of painted figs coming soon.

Kolony Rebel painted squad

2012-04-17T23:49:00.000-07:00

Straight off the painting table is a full squad of Kolony rebels made from our new multi-part sprues.
Prices are £4.50 per sprue of 5 x legs or 5 x torsos or 20 x heads and all will be available separately. You can get them first at Salute this saturday and off the website soon after.
More images will be available soon.

Kolony Rebel pics and fiction

2012-04-13T02:44:00.001-07:00

Here's the first painted rebel figure off the workbench - more to follow next week.

Also, is a large chunk of fiction related to the Kolony rebel militia penned by a good friend of mine: Martin Howarth.
Martin is a long time college and gaming mate who's been a big supporter of Pig Iron since the start and we've been bouncing ideas around for years about 'the Kolony project' as it's always easier to design figures if you've got a rough background theme to follow.
What follows below is just a small part of a much larger story about Kolony thats grown organically over the last year or so. It's still in it's raw, unedited form but well worth a read and we appreciate any comments you may have.
Both myself and Lisa are extremely grateful for all Martin's work and hope to be showing more over the next few months. To see someone take your figures and bring them vividly to life is a truly great experience.

Encounter in the Kurian Depression by Martin Howarth

The members of his fireteam slowly filtered into the warehouse, all as ragged as Durian and Langerol. All wore old Militia issue greatcoats, faded and patched, combat rigs, boots and utilities where of a standard pattern but showing rips, repairs and stains from extended use. Each of the five Militiamen wore a breather mask, three conventional Military issue but two were civilian, industrial patterns, more cumbersome and awkward. Several still wore a large Militia helmet, covered with a heavy rough material, the others were bareheaded. Everything except their weapons and breather filters was coated in a fine layer of dull grey dust.

“Ok, we’re moving back to the prowlers, slow and steady, maximum dispersal,” he pointed to one of the troopers with a civilian breather and large optics that give his face a sinister, bug like appearance, “Finch you’ve got point, lets move!”

Trooper Ossler Finch lead them to the rear of the warehouse here they paused checking the roadway before Finch sprinted across to an alley opposite, vanishing into a thick grey bank of pollutant gasses trapped by the alleys high walls. The squad followed one at a time, each dashing across the road, kit shifting slightly, greatcoats flapping as they ran. Moving through the complex with the fluid confidence of a veteran unit, they quickly reached the desolate open ground beyond. Here again the team paused, cautious as visibility had improved to nearly 150 meters. Nothing stirred but the drifting pollutants. The ground was clear, just scattered refuse from the complex and the occasional patch of wire grass and clumps of dust weed. They continued in extended order, following the route they had taken in through the sensor field, their pace quickening as they got clear of the immediate vicinity of the wall and the increased possibility of encountering a System security sweep.

After an hours march through the bleak smog cloaked landscape their path was cut by an 8 lane arterial highway. They moved through dried, desiccated foliage and up the embankment to the arterials side confiner. They crossed one at a time, each militiaman vaulting the central barrier and dropping down the other side in an increasing cloud of disturbed dust. Vanpar was the last to cross, feeling the dragging effect of the last 6 days lack of sleep as he jumped the barrier and sprinted the 10 meters to the far side. As he descended the embankment to the waiting team who had fanned out in a defensive semicircle, Langerol saw two figures waiting in the grey shifting smog bank. They wore knee length greatcoats and their oversized helmets gave them the familiar outline of fellow Militiamen. He walked through his team toward them.

“How was it?”

“We’ve found a spot, by the old Kurian storage facility” Langerol reached out, shaking the hands of the militiamen as they strode up, “Engineers should have no trouble getting through, we’ve cleared a path right into the complex”

The new arrivals were the fire team leaders of the two other Prowlers that made up the recon platoon. The three stood in the ring of troopers while Langerol synced the data plates and transmitted the latest intelligence.

“Any activity while we where out?” he asked, the transmit was complete and he closed down the data plate.

“Nothing. The sector’s quiet” Prittern, the leader of number two fire team had been with the recon unit since her escape down into the Burn two years earlier and had quickly risen to fire team leader. As if the fates wanted to contradict her, there was a sudden low hum of static in their ear pieces.

“We’ve got company, vehicles coming in from the west!”

The team reacted instantly, moving at a crouch spreading out in the shelter of the dried foliage lining the embankment, the inevitable billows of dust following them. They became aware of a slowly increasing rumble cut with the protesting squeal of badly lubricated metal parts that signalled the approach of armoured vehicles. Above to their left, a sudden bright halo of light filled the crest of the arterial, casting long sharp shadows in the swirling pollution clouds.

Langerol looked up the slope to the trooper closest to the approaching vehicles; the trooper turned to him and gave the signal TROOP CARRIER, then TWO. Langerol cursed, and looked around at his men spread out along the embankment, weapons trained on the roadway, ready; he signalled them to stay down. The vehicles drew closer, the harsh light above filling their horizon, two sets separated by no more than 30 meters. The noise became intense, as the first transports drew level with their position, coming to a halt where they had crossed earlier the rolling cloud of dust that was pulled in its wake washing over it, the engines settling to a steady rumble. Langerol looked to his men, he held up his hand signalling to wait. From above he heard a hiss as hydraulic doors released. A shadow, sharp and elongated by the lights from the second transport passed across the swirling mist. Langerol flicked the charger on his p20, his fireteam doing the same. A second shadow appeared. Langerol pulled the butt of his p20 tight into his shoulder, bracing himself for the inevitable kick. The shadows above moved again, heading back toward the rear of the vehicle. Langerol felt a flood of relief but it instantly evaporated as the angular helm of a system trooper appeared over the top of the embankment. The trooper moved forward, looking out into the waste beyond the roadway. A second trooper joined him, they spoke momentarily pointing out into the smog, as they did the first glanced down the bank, into the barrel of Langerols’ p20.

Through the troopers visor Langerol saw his eyes widen in surprise and horror. Langerol squeezed off two rounds and the troopers body jerked before slumping backwards. Langerol felt the stock of the p20 punch into his shoulder with the propulsion of each hard round but was already swinging the weapon round to the other trooper. Even as he came into his sights the troopers head snap back, the visor shattering in a red mist of blood and fragmented Polyglass.

Langerols’ fire team where instantly moving, rushing up the embankment, snapping through the branches of the desiccated foliage. The glare from the lighting arrays mounted on the front of the Ironshield transporters was momentarily blinding before the auto dimmers in the breathers’ optics kicked in. As he ran past the body of the trooper he had shot he fired two more hard rounds into him, putting them through the visor, the head bucking with each impact. His senses were suddenly swamped by noise, the discharge of a weapon as one of his men fired several rounds into the other downed System trooper, a shout from Prittern leading a small group toward the other transport, firing as they moved, the shouts of his men as they ran forward, the noise from the Ironshield's idling engines and the sound of his own, laboured breathing.

They ran toward the rear of the transport, hearing the whirr of servos as the turret rotated above them, the multi barrelled chain gun depressing and then the sudden shocking explosion of noise as the weapon opened up. But they were too close and the storm of high energy, solid core rounds blistered through the air above them in a stuttering haze of electric green darts. A third system trooper appeared at the rear of the transport and started to raise his weapon to his shoulder. Langerol saw the weapon begin to kick before the trooper had raised it fully; it seemed to happen in slow motion, the green tracker rounds erupting from the muzzle, flashing into the ground between them, the vicious impacts walking towards and then whipping past him. His momentum kept him moving, and he slammed into the trooper and they both crumpled to the floor, Langerol crashing on top of him, feeling the breath punched from his lungs. In the swirl of dust he felt the body below him kick and convulse trying to force Langerol off, their weapons pressed between them, useless. Langerol looked into the eyes of the trooper caught beneath him, green, full of fear. He felt himself lifted, hauled up by his rig as several tracker rounds pumped into the troopers body causing it to spasm with each impact.

Callaphe, the newest member of his team pulled Langerol to his feet in time to see Durian standing at the rear of the transport, firing his p20 on full auto into the open hatch in the rear, a wild display of sparks and ricocheting green trackers illuminating the interior. Even as he fired Durians chest exploded out, a shower of blood and bone spattering the rear of the transport, his shredded harness flapping as the air around him filled with a firestorm of glowing green high energy rounds. Langerol fell backwards into Callaphe, the stuttering wave of tracker rounds exploding in all directions as they hit the transports rear armour. Finch was caught in the burst, a round smashing through his shoulder virtually severing his arm and throwing him against the rear of the transport in a smear of blood. Langerol rolled to get away from the devastating cannonade. Looking over at the second transport he could see Prittern hadn’t made it and was now scurrying for the cover of the embankment as the Ironshields turret mounted chain gun unleashed an intense wall of fire. He too launched himself towards the fragile safety of the embankment, expecting the rounds to tear into him at any moment. Callaphe and the rest of the team moved with him, scrambling across the roadway on hands and knees, weapons dragging through the dust, frantic animal noises, fear and horror escaping from his throat. He tumbled down the embankment, desperately trying to hold onto his weapon as he rolled and crashed through snapping foliage, the other members of his team falling with him. They hit the bottom in a tangle of bodies, Langerol could hear the chain gun still burring away above them, rolling he saw the green trackers streaming above the embankment, hitting the roadways edge, kicking up gouts of dust and disintegrated stone, punching through the fallen System trooper in a ghastly spray of body fluids.

Langerol pulled himself round, bringing his weapon the bear on the top of the embankment, his men frantically disentangling themselves, turning, readying their weapons. Above them the chain gun ceased firing. Langerol scanned the top of the slope, expecting System infantry to close in on them, to his left, further along the bank, Prissen was organising her team. From the roadway he heard muffled shouts and commands just audible above the idling engines. He pulled the p20 into his shoulder, angling his aim down the embankment, toward the second Ironshield, convinced none of the troopers had survived in the confined interior of the first transporter. Only the driver and gunner sealed in the forward section would have been protected from Durians short range fusillade. Suddenly above them the air was filled with an unbelievable stream of glowing trackers, streaming in from behind them, the electric, zipping sound they made as the passed blurring into a solid front of noise, leaving multiple rippled vapour trails in the polluted gasses above them.

From the roadway the sound was horrific, the dull stuttering metallic thunks as the metal hulls of the transports where punched through. Langerol hugged the ground, to his left another stream of trackers where ripping towards the second transport, leaving the same odd bank of superheated gases in their wake. Suddenly there was a colossal detonation and the very ground beneath Langerol seamed to kick up into his chest as the furthest transporter erupted. The concussive wave swept over them, thumping into their bodies forcing the air from their lungs, raising a bank of dust all around. Chunks of debris smacked into the ground around them, a jagged smoking piece of metal imbedding itself between him and Callaphe. With his ears ringing and head throbbing from the compression, Langerol struggled to his knees, the hail of fire above them had ceased, he turned, just visible on the edge of the drifting pollutant mist, he could make out their 3 Prowler transports, well-spaced in line abreast, turrets rotating threateningly, seeking further targets.

“Thought you could use a little help there!” the voice drifting through Langerols pummelled senses was Touran, the commander of his command Prowler.

“Effective as ever” he managed to mumble. He shook his head “bring them in, we’ll need to tidy up and move quick-time!”

Langerol signalled his team up onto the radically transformed surface of the arterial, the ground strewn with the fragmented remains of the transporter, lit by its fiercely burning remains, sides buckled out, turret gone. The Ironshield in front of him was riddled with dozens of neatly drilled holes, edged with bright exposed metal a delicate wisp of smoke escaping from each. He indicated for two of his men to check the bodies of Durian and Finch, watching as they removed any undamaged equipment and weapons before dragging them down the embankment. He walked up the arterial to Prittern, standing at the top of the embankment. Below her still lying on the slope was the body of the other fireteam leader Koral, a jagged wet hole between his breather mask and the shoulder plates of his rig, hit in the random spread of shrapnel from the explosion.

“Do you want to gather up his gear?”

“Sure,” she didn’t move, “bodies down at the foot of the embankment?” Prittern and Koral had been close, something discouraged but inevitable.

“Yeh, make sure there’s nothing identifiable left on him.” She turned to him, her eyes were glazed, emotion taking hold. “Make it quick Prittern, we’re moving out in 2 minutes”.

He descended the embankment past the body to the waiting Prowlers as two of Korals’ team went to help Prittern. Around him, Militamen secured gear and stowed equipment in the shifting shadows cast by the burning Ironshield. He kicked out at a badly beaten System troopers helm, sending it bouncing and rolling through the slowly settling dust before coming to rest, the cracked visor starring back at him.

WW2 Italy game

2012-04-10T08:53:00.001-07:00

We're currently painting up some new Kolony Rebels so in the meantime here's a few shots of recent 28mm WW2 Italy game. Partizans and SAS v. German Fallschirmjager with figures from Artizan, Foundry, Crusader and Bolt Action with Musketeer Miniatures VBCW figs standing for the partizans. The Germans were painted by Martin Howarth and the SAS and partizans by me. All the buildings are from Tablescape who will be selling our figures at Salute.
More sci-fi stuff soon.

Made-up Rebel body sprues

2012-04-04T09:57:00.000-07:00

Here's a a couple of pics of the body part sprues and heads made into full figs. We're really pleased with them and can't wait to get some colour on them next week.
The bases also use the rubble bits from the sprues for the large rocks and some small gravel and filler for the rest.

Kolony Rebel body part sprues - first pics

2012-03-30T02:44:00.000-07:00

After what seems like ages here's the first shots of our Kolony Rebel body part sprues.

Each sprue contains five different bodies or legs and come with a mix of battered clothing and weapons. Keen converters will see that the amount of variation you can get even with these first 4 sprues is massive. Couple this with the different heads options and the variations are endless. The legs don't have cast-on bases as we've noticed more and more people have been snipping them off our figs and using fancy decorative resin bases. This will no doubt annoy some people but we think it works ok.

Already on the workbench are non-scruffy legs with kneepads and sidearms, new body armour variants, new weapons and non gasmasked heads. Eventually we will do greatcoat legs and standard militia bodies and even revisit the heavy infantry range.

Another thing we have done is make the sprue (which is usually thrown away) into piles of small rocks and rubble - these can be snipped up and used to decorate your bases.

I'll be doing an official news release soon when I've got some more pics of the individual parts.

New Kolony Rebels on the way

2012-03-23T06:12:00.000-07:00

Hi all,
Exciting times here as we are starting to get the first master casts for new Kolony rebels. It's been ages since we did the rebels and it's been a pretty neglected range. From a design point of view there's loads of scope to expand this range and make it really exciting and versatile.
Here's a shot of some new heads. They are based on the rebels having a close fitting hood and separate respirators and eye protection. Some have the goggles over the eyes and some pushed up on the forehead. There are all sorts of different respirators to reflect the fact that they are an irregular force equipped with anything they can scavenge or steal.

Next week we'll be showing some of the bodies and painting up our first few samples.

Tank Shots

2012-03-14T03:56:00.000-07:00

Here's some tank shots I did after the last Afghan game. These tanks are the ones I take to shows as samples. There's been quite a lot of weathering done on these - all the techniques are taken from the Forgeworld modelling book. Hope you like them.

System Trooper review at The overlords

2012-03-07T05:29:00.000-08:00

If you've ever wanted to see the System Trooper range in more detail the lads at The Overlords have done a great You Tube review that goes through each pack in great detail. While you're there pay the overlords a visit at: http://www.theoverlords.co.uk/, it's a great resource for all aspects of 40k gaming.
To see the video click here: Overlords System Trooper review

Ambush Alley Afghan game pics

2012-02-17T01:59:00.000-08:00

Here's some pics of a recent Ambush Alley game we had.
The actual result of the mission has been censored by the MOD. British figs are by Empress (painted by Martin Howarth) and the Afghans are TAG (off Ebay). Buildings are hand made from Touching History. The trees/bushes are plastic decorative stuff from the garden centre that have been based, the trunks painted brown and the branches lightly flocked.
Enjoy.

Gun Sprue - on sale now

2012-02-14T05:52:00.004-08:00

Just a quicky to let you all know the guns have been added to the shopping cart.

Visit the shopping cart

Gun sprue castings

2012-02-06T05:10:00.000-08:00

We've just got our first production run of the new gun sprue. There are 10 different weapons and 4 scopes. These will soon start appearing on some of our minis but we thought some of you might want to buy them for conversions etc.
They'll be going on sale shortly so keep popping onto our main site if you fancy some.

Victory without quarter game

2011-12-20T07:06:00.000-08:00

A load of stuff is at the casters and we won't see it all again until the new year I thought it was a good time to feature an ECW game we had recently.
For this game we tried Victory Without Quarter rules which we found suitably enjoyable. They use a card based unit activation with a 'new turn' card shuffled in the deck which meant that not only did you not know when you could move your units but sometimes you missed a turn entirely.
We felt the rules really captured the lack of control and unsubtle movement of the period and how you never knew what was going to happen to your cavalry whether it won or lost a melee. There are a few gaps in the rules but with a bit of 'period pondering' you can work around them.
I recommend tracking these down off the internet. Here's link to a forum all about them.

http://www.leagueofaugsburg.com/fightingtalk/viewforum.php?f=20

Legs Akimbo

2011-12-02T11:01:00.000-08:00

Lots of legs on the workbench at the moment.

These are being done in prep for some more Kolony rebels but I've started off with plain, basic legs with baggy pants and generic combat boots. All the interesting bits like kneepads, pockets, and the bottom of the jackets will be added after these have been made into master casts

What I want to try is separate sprues of legs and torsos which would give loads of converting possibilities and allow me to do future versions with added kit, greatcoats, trenchcoats etc. The thing is, until I do some proper moulds I'm not 100% sure whether it will work and how it effects pricing etc but that's the basic plan. If it works it opens up loads of opportunity to build a range of 'body parts' to complement our existing ranges.

Anyway, for the Kolony rebels I wanted a more 'irregular' but well equipped look rather than scruffy versions of the militia so I am already sculpting different sorts of flak jackets, body armour and padded jackets along with new gasmasks, and some more 'normal' heads. I think that naturally these will tend to have a more generic 'near future' look depending on what heads are used.

More on the torsos and heads another time.

Latest from the 'workbench'

2011-11-28T05:56:00.000-08:00

Not exactly from the workbench - more like the worktop but I thought worth blogging up.
I wish I could say I had a hand in this but it's been made entirely from scratch by the better half of Pig Iron - Lisa, and a fine piece of work it is too.
There's a fair bit 'scale-creep' in this as it won't fit into any of our tins and is fully loaded with brandy.
We're looking forward to getting stuck in on xmas day.

On a more sculpty subject - lots of legs on the workbench at the moment - pics soon.

New weapons on the workbench

2011-11-18T08:04:00.000-08:00

Hi all,
I've been busy working on stuff for next year which includes a new batch of weapons to go on all sorts of stuff. So far I've done 10 in a variety of generic near-future styles. I wanted to make them more detailed and less bulky than stuff I've done in the past so they are more scaled to modern day weapons. I have included a pic of a plastic lasgun so you can see the scale.
Also included is an 'AK' style one which I thought would be well worth having for future stuff. There are 4 different scopes done as well so these can be attached to give some variety.
I'll put new sculpts here in batches as they are done. When I next get a master mould produced I'll get a full sprue done so you can buy these as a set.
Laters Si

Gary Beardsworth's Tanks

2011-11-04T06:50:00.000-07:00

Hi all,
I've had these shots for a while now and tought it was time to share them with you all. These pics show Gary Beardsworth's great Pig Iron tanks with some camo netting conversion work. The netting was made with crepe bandage and tea leaves, painted up and dry brushed to bring out the texture.
It's a nice effect to add some variety to your vehicles. The figs are from our Heavy Infantry range with additions on the vehicles from our tank accessory components.
Enjoy the pics.

28mm Wrecked cars

2011-10-19T05:39:00.000-07:00

Hi all,
This time I thought it was worth showing these wrecked cars I made for modern/near future games. I came across these toy cars one lunchtime in Tesco and thought they look like a pretty good scale for 28mm, plus they are only £6 for a set of 3.
They come in sets of emergency, fire, construction and general purpose so plenty of variation. All we did was wreck them with a vice, big pliers and snippers and a dremel drill to mash up the windows and paintwork then set to work distressing them. One thing to point out is that the original gloss paint finish needs dulling with matt varnish before adding any washes.
Me and my daughter Ella had great fun wrecking them and they were all painted and finished in an afternoon. The figure is from Foundry's Street Violence range - Swat teams.

New System Trooper command pack and TW offer

2011-10-03T11:14:00.000-07:00

It's an exciting month at Pig Iron as we've got some new System Trooper command figs available plus we've got our first shipment of the Tomorrow's War rulebook for sale on the site. As an introductory offer we are letting you choose a free pack of heads when you buy the rulebook. Get in there quick though as we've only got a small amount of stock to start off with and we think they will shift pretty quickly.

There, thats the sales pitch over - more modelly, converty stuff on the blog soon.

Tomorrows War - First Game

2011-09-13T03:00:00.000-07:00

Exciting times last week as I got an advance copy of Tomorrows War last week well ahead of official release courtesy of the lads at Ambush Alley and Osprey - many thanks.
First impressions upon a quick flick through show its an impressive piece of work, all full colour and packed with decent artwork, diagrams and great miniature shots (especially our figures). If you are familiar with the Force on Force rules they follow a similar format and share a lot of the basic mechanics. Added onto this are expanded rules that cater for all kinds of sci-fi techy stuff, weapons, vehicles. etc etc plus a basic fluff section that give the rules a sound background to draw upon. Although the background material is designed to be on a 'take it or leave it' basis its very convincing and is a good read in itself. Also included are scenarios with army lists and a set of Fog of War cards at the back.
All in all it's well worth the cash, but how does it play?
If you are familiar with FOF you will already be a fan of its mechanics - fun, fast play, very little page flicking and decisive. Now I'm not a big fan of pouring over rules, I would much rather dive and see if you can muddle through a game picking things up as you go. Basically, I have played FOF twice before and really enjoyed it so we set up a game where Martin Howarth would command the 'regulars', Gary Beardsworth would command the 'irregulars' and I would umpire the game.
First off we had a quick pow-wow on what we could remember from FOF, did a bit of flicking through the basic rules to set the troop quality, re-read the mechanics and got familiar with the basics. We set up a basic scenario based on the scenery I had set up. Basically, the regulars had to fight their way up the table to destroy a stranded MTB before it fell into the hands of the rebels, then get back off the table. The rebels had to stop them. We used the 'hotspots' rules for the rebels and kept recycling casualties back into play as required.
* Apologies are made now to FOF/TW purists - we have quite a 'fluid' approach to rules and tend to bend things on the hoof to keep it flowing.
Here's briefly what happened-
The regulars made good speed on their left flank while the right flank got bogged down in cover under fire from the factory - this turned into an extended firefight. The left flank then met opposition as they worked their way through the building as reinforcements started to arrived on the hotspots. The rebels paid a high price for slowing down the regulars but started to inflict casualties which meant the wounded had to be helped back towards their own lines. Things were looking good for the rebels. Grimly, the fight continued through the buildings with the irregulars taking a beating but holding ground while more reinforcements started to filter onto the table.
Under constant fire from the factory, the regulars on the right had taken a bit of a pounding but dug into cover and had a good line of sight which meant that the rebels couldn't cross the main road without coming under fire.
By this time Martin and Gary had the flow of the game nailed so I put down the rulebook, swigged beer and watched the game unfold.
The turning point happened when the regulars neutralised two of the hotspots which stopped the flow of reinforcements to the main scrap within the buildings, this meant that the route to the objective cooled down and some rapid movement towards the stranded MBT was made.
The next turn saw the regulars hoof it up to the MTB and start to plant charges while coming under fire from a new group of rebels that had amassed around another hotspot. They managed to shrug off the fire and retreat away from the tank as the charges blew in the next turn. With the objective blown it was now a case of stopping regulars get off the table. What was needed was a good throw to get some reinforcements on a particular couple of hotspots - Didn't happen!
The regs legged it down the table with the irregs following. A brief bit of fire happened just at the table edge before the regs moved off the table and claimed victory. The irregulars picked up tonnes of casualties, but still managed to kill and seriously injure quite a few, better armed and equipped regulars.
Overall a really good game to watch, with no sitting back for either player. I particularly like the aspect in the rules where casualties have to be looked after, it gives the game a 'human' touch which tends to be lacking in a lot of rulesets.
I think TW will make big waves in the sci-fi community for not just for it's overall presentation and content but more importantly for its flexibility and playability.
Highly recommended. For more info: www.ambushalleygames.com

Here's a few game pics. Figures by Pig Iron and Copplestone.

Getting ready for Tomorrows War - 1

2011-08-25T05:15:00.000-07:00

Like a lot of gamers out there, I'm looking forward to the release of Tomorrows War so over the next couple of months I'm painting up some new minis in between sculpting jobs.
What I'm looking at is a near future, earth based, post apoc, theme with games based on a couple of squads so they can be set up really quickly.
I'm using our System troopers as the basis for one side but using the Kolony Militia heads lowers the 'techyness' to the level I am looking for. The opposition will be based around Copplestone partizans and scavengers with some of our figs mixed in for good measure.
Here's a test figure I have been working on based on dark green with chipped ballistic plate and fabric camo scheme. I did try a black (swat team) version but it looked too dull so I went back to green. The basing uses rubble with red bricks that allows me to use my ruined WW2 buildings rather than overtly sci-fi stuff.
You can see the figs with basecoats on the second shot and also the Copplestone stuff in the background.
There's still plenty to do but more on this over the coming weeks.
By the way, a System Trooper command squad is at the casters at the moment. Sneak previews coming soon.

WW2 28mm game shots

2011-07-21T06:42:00.000-07:00

This weeks update shows a few snaps of a recent Eastern Front WW2 game we played using our own house rules penned by Martin Howarth. There is a total mix of 28mm figures on this game and the vehicles are 1/48th scale plastic kits, plus other stuff. As usual we rolled out the home made teddy bear fur mat, generic hedges and loosely matched up the forces giving the attacking Russians (Gary Beardsworth) more armour and infantry and the Germans (me) more anti-tank weapons. A good, quick and easy game which turned into a bit of a hedge to hedge shoot 'em up with the Germans ultimately holding their line.
Enjoy the pics.

Step by step Sniper pit

2011-07-08T06:15:00.000-07:00

Our new System Snipers and wall have been well received since their release last week - many thanks for the positive comments.

Here's a quick step-by-step guide as to how we made the scenic base for the snipers. Its pretty easy to make and can be adapted to all kinds of movement bases.

1. Work out the basic arrangement and draw around the different parts on a thin piece of card.
2. Cut out the figure holes slightly bigger than the bases on the figures.
3. Glue the card to another piece slightly larger.

4. When it's dry cut the base to size and shape the edges at an angle.

5. Glue pieces of rubble of different sizes around the based - avoid the figure holes.

6.Undercoat the entire base to match your terrain and figure bases.

7. Undercoat the concrete with codex grey and give it a dark wash to help define the bullet holes etc.

8. Drybrush the base with successively lighter tones and add flock/bushes as required.
9. Job done!

ACW Game

2011-06-24T04:49:00.000-07:00

Here's a selection of images from our recent ACW game.
We were using Regimental Fire and Fury for the first time and it seemed to flow nicely and reflect the period well. There were a few moments of head scratching and page flicking but we got a result and had a good laugh in the process.
The majority of the figs are Perry with a few Foundry plus a couple of others. The scenery is all hand made by the lads except the stone walls. The shots were taken on our phones (with very steady hands).