Throwback Project - More Wargames Factory Shock Trooper Test Pieces

Back in April 2021, I assembled and painted one of these models to test out a color scheme suitable for the whole box. That test worked well, but I had a couple of other ideas that I wanted to try before I started painting in bulk. Other things caught my attention and, with no immediate need for the figures, I shelved the project.

"It's been almost a year since this blogger made progress on this project?" "Time flies."

I recently pulled the box back out with a few goals in mind:

• Getting more time working on multi-part 28mm scale plastic models. I'm in need of miniatures suitable as "Psychos" for my Five Parsecs From Home campaign. The strongest candidates in my current collection are box of Necromunda Eschers. However, I'm reluctant to start on them without more experience with assembling plastic miniatures.
• Testing out a couple of military color schemes for the Wargames Factory Shock Troopers box. They will all likely end up in my Five Parsecs From Home campaign at some point, so moving forward with this project serves that end as well.
• Developing techniques suitable for speed painting armies. I'm used to painting miniatures individually, but that approach is impractical for groups of thematically related figures. Projects like this, the Reaper Bones Zombies, and the Reaper Bones Nova Corp are helping to build up my experience in that area.

Changing My Choice of Adhesive
I switched from my usual Gorilla Super Glue to plastic cement for this product. This gave me more time to get the arms in the desired position while everything set. I'm planning on using the same stuff on the Eschers based on my experience here. I did use super glue in one area - attaching the models to the metal washers I used as bases.

They seem to be holding together well.

Thoughts on Flame Throwers
I understand that historical soldiers using flame throwers had a lower than average life expectancy in combat. A flame thrower is a relatively short ranged weapon with limited ammunition, requiring the operator to close with the target. The discharge of a flame thrower tends to attract attention and rifle rounds. While the risk of taking a round in the fuel tank is overstated, drawing fire is generally unhealthy. I kept these notions in mind while picking out bits for the model.

Olive Drab Flame Trooper - Assembly
The fuel tank on this particular flame thrower design is tiny. Given the limited ammunition, it made sense to issue this trooper a sidearm. A shotgun would have been my preference, but I made do with one of the holstered pistols in the kit. I also added a water canteen since operating a flame thrower has got to be at least as hot as grilling a meal for the family in Texas on Independence Day. The choice of head was based on which one appeared to offer the best protection from both heat and small arms fire.

Not much ammunition in that tank, I imagine.

Olive Drab Flame Trooper - Paint Scheme
The sight of assembled trooper evoked far away memories of plastic green army men carrying M2 flame throwers battling it out in the back yard. Inspired, I settled on an olive color scheme.

• Primer coat: Krylon Fusion All-In-One Matte Black. Sprayed for full coverage.
• Base coat: Krylon Camouflage Ultra-Flat Olive. Sprayed in a zenithal pattern.
• Highlight layer: Reaper 09177 Camouflage Green. Dry brushed on the upper surfaces.
• Gray areas (weapon, mask, boots): Mix of Citadel Colour Codex Grey with a little Chaos Black.
• Wash coats: Army Painter Dark Tone and Strong Tone Quickshade Inks. Each layer was applied separately and allowed to dry completely before the next.

Khaki NCO - Assembly
Basically, I wanted to use the pointing arm. Pairing it with another arm holding a pistol and a dagger fit the theme of some kinda unit leader. The choice of a head came down to the one wearing a garrison cap and the one with tentacles. I didn't spent long making my decision. Even if I eventually get rid of rest of the box, I'll be keeping the tentacled heads around in my bits collection for as long as they last.

These came from an extra sprue, so I have a box of eighteen to go.

Khaki NCO - Paint Scheme
The steps using spray coats substituted Krylon Camouflage Ultra-Flat Khaki for the Olive, but were otherwise identical to the Olive Drab Flame Trooper. The gray areas used the same mix of Citadel Colour Codex Grey with a little Chaos Black. The wash coats were also used the same products as the Olive Drab Flame Trooper.

• Highlight layer: Reaper 09292 Bathalian Chitin. Dry brushed on the upper surfaces.
• Head: Reaper 09233 Bright Skin. This color is a little too pink to be a realistic skin tone for a human, but works fine in this case.

Basing
The assembled plastic models were glued to one inch steel fender washers before painting. I used the same techniques for texturing the base as I do for Reaper Bones miniatures.

Decisions, decisions.

These turned out well. Which leaves me with a problem. I can't decide which paint scheme to go with for the box! Maybe I can divide up the remaining troopers into teams, each in a different color? I'll have to think it over.

A Trash Bash Weekend!

I spent this weekend's hobby time making things out of junk. Like many craft projects, it started with something simple and ended up consuming hours of time. Still, the process of fitting things together is always soothing, even if I'm not sure what to do with a couple of the results.

The only thing I spent on this was time.

"Trash Bash" isn't new. I've done it often enough to add it as a tag on this blog. Brian S. Roe champions the practice on his blog and on the Trash Bash International Facebook Group. There are older examples to be found in Games Workshop's "How to Make Wargames Terrain" books (1996, 2003). The appeal is the reduced cost compared to purchasing terrain. Plus, there is a certain satisfaction in repurposing materials otherwise destined for a landfill or recycling bin.

Big enough to fit a 28mm miniature inside.

This weekend's adventure in Trash Bashing began with a discovery. I found out that this pill bottle fits this juice bottle cap. The threading isn't compatible, but the pill bottle locks in place with minimal convincing. It might be handy for a future stasis pod or containment tube terrain project. I set the parts aside since I have no immediate need for such a terrain piece, but the bug had bitten me.

Aft view. I'm not sure about how the engine nacelles will hold up.

This spaceship is intended for use in my Five Parsecs From Home campaign, but I imagine that it will be handy for a variety of sci-fi games. The body is a coffee creamer bottle. I used tacky putty to attach the parts while trying different configurations. The nosecone was originally built for a project that proved unworkable, but its antenna array works as the forward sensors of an exploration ship. The engine nacelles are that staple of Trash Bashing – deodorant containers. The layout resembles a Star Trek shuttle. I'll likely play around with it a little more before committing to glue the parts together.

Needs more greeblies.

This is another spaceship, but on a different scale. The core part is half of a broken plastic laundry clip. I just added various parts from my collection until I had sometime kinda spaceship-like in my hands. It could work as a frigate with more details and a flight stand. Alternately, I might use it as a flying robot or rework it into a hover bike.

My Easter themed project?

This one was inspired by a variety of images and projects I've seen online. The curve of the spoons fit well with the form of the plastic egg. This could represent a reconnaissance drone, space probe, or a compact single occupant aerospace vehicle. I'm planning on pushing ahead and getting this one done as an Easter themed project for next month. The biggest issue will be finding ways to disguise the distinctive shape of the spoons. The solution for that will involve a deeper dive into my bits collection.

Looks like a racer.

I'll follow up with the ones I pursue further. The Easter egg project looks fun and I should have it done in time for April. I want to play around with the parts and putty on the others before applying any glue on them.

Let's Start a New Venture - YouTube!

I decided to try my hand at YouTube with a look at the AD&D Monster Manual. This video is an introduction covering the Forward, Preface, and Explanatory Notes. My first lesson learned is that video editing is challenging. Please excuse the choppiness resulting from me cutting every "uh..." and awkward pause. My second lesson is to come up with a thumbnail before uploading the video to YouTube. Early days, but I like figuring out new skills.

The AD&D Monster Manual (1979) A - Z: Episode 1: "Introduction"

I'll see about making more videos when I get the chance. This new venture won't replace this blog. It's intended to be a new way of expressing my lifelong interest in games. Enjoy!

Brutal Cities Eternity Lab Module A

Here's one of the Brutal Cities terrain pieces that showed up last month. Brutal Cities is a one-man operation in Australia producing 28mm scale MDF sci-fi terrain. As the name suggests, brutalist architecture is a strong influence, giving the company's terrain a distinctive appearance that isn't associated with any specific setting.

My finished piece and the card showing the color scheme used by Brutal Cities.

The Eternity Lab Module examples on the Brutal Cities website are painted in a striking combination of orange and white. I decided to use the same pattern, but in different colors. The color choices were purely pragmatic. I had spray cans of blue and khaki sitting on the shelf for awhile and wanted to use them up.

Assembly
Putting the piece together was straightforward. The instructions available from the Brutal Cities were clear and there weren't any unexpectedly tricky steps. I regard the REM Shack and Garbage Dumpsters from Warsenal as more challenging builds compared with the relatively simple structure of the Eternity Lab Module A. All parts were assembled using PVA glue.

Rosie (for scale) considers an office for her workshop.

First Spray Coat
Krylon Fusion All-In-One Matte Black. Sprayed on all surfaces including the interior.

Second Spray Coat
Krylon Camouflage Ultra Flat Khaki. Sprayed on all external surfaces. I left some of the Matte Black showing to emulate the appearance of shadows under the cladding.

Third Spray Coat - Cladding Only
Krylon ColorMaster Paint + Primer Satin Iris. I masked all the areas that would remain Khaki. This coat was sprayed on the cladding and ladder.

Rosie inspects the air vents.

Highlight Coats - Khaki Areas
A mix of FolkArt 480 Titanium White and 420 Linen. I started with pure FolkArt 420 Linen and added 480 Titanium White to each layer, highlighting up to pure 480 Titanium White in the corners. In addition to adding more depth to the Ultra Flat Khaki coat, it also covers up areas where the blue spray paint got under the masking tape.

Highlight Coats - Blue Areas
A mix of FolkArt 480 Titanium White, 520 Dark Hydrangea, and 720 Cobalt Blue. The darkest areas got a layer of FolkArt 720 Cobalt Blue. I transitioned from that to FolkArt 520 Dark Hydrangea, mixing the colors as I went from the shadows to the corners. I used the same technique for the lights, but highlighted up to 480 Titanium White.

Weathering Pass - Metallic Wear
Silver Metallic Sharpie marker. I worked with the assumption that the cladding is metal and the structure underneath is concrete or some sci-fi equivalent. With this in mind, I marked up a few spots to simulate paint wearing off and exposing bare metal. I limited this step given how heavy I went with this technique on the Warsenal REM Shack. It looks alright, but I may go back and add a little more later.

Close up of the laser cut etching on the roof.

Detail Work
The laser cut details on MDF pieces like this one sometimes get obscured as layers of paint fill them in. A coat of wash can help, but isn't a completely satisfactory solution. I tried out a new fix for this project. I stabbed the problem. Using a craft knife, I followed the laser cut lines. This removed the paint and made the lines a little deeper and easier to see. I recommend a fresh blade for this and all craft-related stabbing.

Wash Coats
I mixed a dark and brown wash for this piece. The dark wash used a little black craft paint in addition to the Payne's Gray I usually reach for. This resulted in much darker streaking and shadows than I normally get - something that would be visible on the darker blue areas. I applied the dark wash first, wiping off the excess with a sponge with a downward motion, and waited until it was completely dry before adding an additional dark wash coat. Finally, a layer of brown wash added a little dirt to go with the shadows and grime. I paid particular attention to the recessed details like the vents.

"Anybody there? I gave at the office!"

Door
The door that can be glued onto the building or kept separate. I recommend the versatility of keeping the door a separate piece, but bear in mind the gremlins that steal loose parts. Assembly as simple as gluing the two parts together. I painted the door by spraying on a coat of Krylon Fusion All-In-One Matte Black followed by a coat of Krylon ColorMaster Paint + Primer Metallic Aluminum. Finally, I applied a coat of the same dark wash I used on the main piece.

Even I should be able to remember where to order more of these signs.

Signs
I decided to have a little fun playing around with the acrylic signs I also ordered from Brutal Cities while shooting the photos for this post. I can't recommend putting this many signs on a single side of one building, but I wanted to compare how the different colored signs looked. Not all of the signs I ordered were used - a couple were a bit too long to really fit a building of this size. I'll break those out when I get around to my Eternity Labs Module C.

Signs advertising burgers, pet clones, and a milk bar.

Ryan of Brutal Cities put careful thought into the design of this building, both as a tabletop terrain piece and from an architectural perspective. Models on the roof have cover. There is both a ground level doorway and a hatch etched on the roof to permit access to the interior. A ladder provides plausible access to the roof for models on the outside of the building. Vents to provide air flow to any occupants are modeled on the side. It has the appearance of a functional building while still being usable as tabletop terrain.

Overall, I like this piece. It looks good and the interlocking MDF construction is strong. I may have overdone it with the dark wash, though.

Misadventure Seeds for Refueling Stations

A gas station in space. Where crews steer their ships when they run low on whatever makes them go. They offer enough amenities to keep crews occupied while their ships are gassed up. Cleaning bridge viewports and cockpit canopies costs extra.

Rosie considers opening a refueling station.

What a refueling station offers for sci-fi roleplaying adventures is twofold. How often ships have to resupply depends on the setting, but they do have to pull over sometime. This leaves the player characters at a relatively isolated location. How fast a ship can be restocked is also setting dependent, but usually takes significant time. So the player characters are stuck for awhile. This gives an enterprising gamemaster an opportunity to get them into trouble without the options of pulling strings or taking off in their ship.

Such a place could take many forms. It depends on details like what spaceship fuel is made of:

• An orbital station circling a gas giant. It relies on scooper shuttles to collect the atmospheric gases the station processes into spaceship fuel.
• A station orbiting a star. It uses vast solar arrays to power a manufacturing facility that can produce antimatter in industrial quantities. It's definitely not something that would be anywhere near an inhabited world or structure.
• A set of landing pads on a backwater planet. The fuel is stored in tanks and semi-regularly topped off by visiting tankers.
• A self-sufficient ground based refueling facility attached to an automated mining and refining operation that turns raw materials into the glowing crystals that FTL drives depend on.

Adventure Seeds:

"Everybody's Dead" - The player characters' ship drags itself to the nearest station on its last dregs of fuel. The station doesn't respond to coms. With no choice, they dock and discover that there is nobody left alive on the station. Do they stick around to review the recordings somebody left all over the place for clues and try to solve the mystery? Or do they grab just enough fuel to make it elsewhere and make a run for it? Either way, whatever killed off everybody on the station is likely to still be around.

"Whodunit?" - Somebody stumbles on a murder scene. Everybody on the station is now a suspect. Fun times ensue. The folks running the refueling station shut off the flow of fuel to make sure that everybody stays put until they get answers. If things drag out long enough, the local authorities might decide to pin the blame on a certain group of itinerant adventurers. After all, nobody knows them and they have no local influence. The player characters are going to want to do something to head that off.

"Neutral Ground" - The player characters and their sworn enemies find themselves stopping at the same station at the same time. The station authorities make it clear that they won't tolerate a conflict that risks damage to the station. Of course, there's plenty of ways to cause trouble that fall short of that standard. The bad guys are keen to try them all.

"Eat, Get Gas" - This is supposed to be a quick stop on the way to bigger and more important things. Unfortunately, the clues that something weird is going on start to pile up around the player characters. Maybe it's the strange symbols on every surface. Perhaps it's something in the air or food. Do the player characters try to figure out the station's dark secrets or do they just hope that the situation stays stable long enough to fuel up the ship and get out of here?

This post was inspired by a tweet from ToughSF featuring space station art by Alexey Pyatov.