Crew for Scrapjacks - still to be named.

 I'm making a 4 man crew to playtest Scrapjacks, a game about exploring and salvaging derelict space ships and platforms.

Scrapjacks

I'm keeping it simple, so I ordered a few heads from Anvil to get going, and use my XXL stash of Stargrave boxes for the bodies and tools. I've played way too many hours of Hardspace: Shipbreaker to pass up the opportunity to have tabletop salvage fun. 

I used to play this for hours and hours. When my hands got fubarred, a lot less. Still, memories....

The Yarddog is the Muscle of the crew, equipped for combat, in a "Get on with it" pose. Went for a more armoured look and a more military looking helmet for this one. Prosthetic left arm for ex-Military background story spinning. Stargrave Trooper body, Anvil  High Tech Angular Helmet and Shield Generator Backpack. Most likely Beige with armour panels, graffiti and something fun with the helmet.

The Rigger is the scanner/hacker of the crew, in the process of scanning or uplinking with something. I used the female Stargrave bodyparts for this, and added some techno doodads. Anvil Spheroidal Dome Bubble Helmet and Shield Generator Backpack. I need to get some pink or Cyberpunky on this model, I feel, a bit more lighthearted.

Patch is the Medic of the crew. Patches up suits as well. Auto injector in hand, case of patches and a ton of stuff in het backpack and pouches. White or beige seems a good choice for her (yes,another Stargrave female body).

Torch cuts, breaches and burns stuff. If a lock cannot be broken, turn it into liquid. Backpack with tools, extra batteries and simple things like an Allen Key. I modded a Carbine by chopping the barrel off and replacing it with the hand of a Automaton. I went for the Cutter from Shipbreaker, ah well, close enough.  Stargave Mercenary body I believe. Orange or Beige suit for this one as well. 

Got the lot primed up now, will try and put paint on them this weekend, if the wrists agree. After that create 6 humans to oppose them and 6 small maintenance robots. Humans I can make with the Stargrave stuff, small maintenance robots not a clue yet. Might have to scratchbuild those. 

Big blue shuttle finished

 After selling a lot of unbuilt plastic kits I slpurged and bought my kids a Lego trainset en a ton of Friends stuff from the used market. They spent a good 2 days building everything (We have a week holiday now, last day) and I finally found time to build the Disney transport, and I'm very happy with it. Well thougth out, a nice build, it kept me busy for a few hours while the kids weren't busy killing each other (sigh).

It's big, it's blue, and has some nice crew. 

 

Still not planned a test game of Stargrave but I will in time. Wargaming isn't a priority right now, rest, stability and excercise is. As soon as I'm good on those 3 there will be time for wargaming again, maybe. Walking has priority, a minimum of 10.000 steps a day, preferred 10km walk every day and 1-2 times a week a 15+ km walk has done a lot for me. But when one of my closer mates passed away recently, spending time and money on plastic soldier tat that barely ever got used, if at all....money has been flowing to getting better gear for my walks and saving more money for my kids.

 

Life is all about priorities ey?

Space. Lots of it.

 Sorry for the short break, caught a bug that knocked me down for a few weeks. Then caught Covid cause why not. Today is the last day of quarantine for me and my family, and I still have the stamina of a dead horse. Jay...

Painted more cargo ships courtesy of my buddy Erik (Modhail), made 2 more planets out of styrofoam and cobbled up a Space Station out of 3 GW bits

 

Tsade-74 is basically a giant plasma reactor from the Age of Technology that was found drifting in the Koronus Expanse. The meaning of the number 25 on the side is unknown, though it is assumed that more of these existed at one time or another. Taken over by the AM it now serves as a back up generator and monitoring station. Well, that is what their official stance on it is anyway....

I had a scrapped/damaged hatch ring from a Rhino, and was sorting through bits for something else when I noticed how well a repulsor exhaust from the new Primaris tank fitted on it, and the power whatever from a Knight or Armiger or some AM contraption fitted on top of it. The 25 was shaved from the srpues of an old Airfix kit as well as some bits of plasticcard and round boltheads. Several shades of washes and clean ups with water for the worn and beaten effect later, a Israeli tank decal and some details later she is done. Nifty little thing. Really happy how the top turned out with the swirling reactor effect. It has 3 shuttlebays, in case you are wondering what the black squares with 1, 2 and 3 means.

"That's no moon..." Well, 2 planets and 1 moon. Meet Coffe with Milk and the Jalapeno cakepop moon, and Swirly Smurf. (don't down on my lack of creativity in naming these)

Styrofoam balls from the Goodwill, spackle for the basing and experimental paint jobs. Used Contrast on Swirly Smurf, but went over it again with white as the grey (Apothecary White) just wasn't to my liking. The Terradon Turquoise came out great. Coffee with Milk and the Cakepop were done with normal acrylics, nicely washed and blended as much as I could stand. Basic, simple, and easy on the table. 

Next up are the 4 ships I painted. From top left we have, in the red and green scheme, the "Withe Roos", in the grey and yellow scheme "Lucia", the very garish yellow and blue is "BGA" or as we know him, the Rogue Trader Big Gay Al. And finally the red and dirty white scheme we have the "F-Bomb"

Starting off with "Withe Roos". Family run for generations, carrying liquified rare and noble gasses to Manufactoriums that need them. Their familily sigil marks the bow of their ship. (from the very useful new Sororitas decal sheet, though in hindsight I think I should have used the slightly smaller one)

"Lucia" is a a small independant cargo ship, hauling what she can to where she can if there is a profit to be made. Not the best looks but she has it where it counts and her engines are running at peak efficiency. Lucia decal is from the new Sororitas sheet.

"BGA" is a bit of an oddball. Garish in color, Eldar (I refuse to use the new name btw) markings, the Rogue Trader known as Big Gay Al carries all the right papers and clearances to not be shot on sight. His alien wares are higly sought after by planetary government elites for various reasons. best not to associate with him though. "BGA" counts as a Large Transport, decals used are the ancient ones from the Eldar sheet.

 "F-Bomb" a munitions tranport, went missing during the turbulent times after the Horus Heresy and returned decades later, returning home as a Fire Ship used by Pirates to (succesfully) cripple the Mars class cruiser Saint Emmerich that was coordinating the defence against the pirates in that area. Made one hell of a bang! The markings on her bow are from my sheet of German WW2 Infantry divison decals which is damn perfect for makings at this scale. The F is from the new Sororitas sheet.

I really wish I had a cost effective way to get white decals with their names made, but alas, this will have to do.

PA26-13

Was working on some other gaming stuff lastnight and after digging through my bits I had put some bits aside that had nothing to do with what was working on.....that looked a bit space station ish. So, a old flights base and some glue later, plus a dozen orange washes. 1/72 tank and aircraft parts and a 1/100 Astro mech head. Have not played a space game in years, so why I bothered I'm not sure, but it was fun to do something different.

 (Phone cam has a hard time focussing, sorry)

My Brigade Models order - a small review of small stuff

I made a small Brigade Models order for some sets of 3mm scale appartment buildings, 2 (more) Wizard Hoverjeeps and a spaceship on the 10th of July. A few days later I got cold feet (cause really , how hard can it be to read) and decided to cancel all of the appartment buildings except 1, just to test the water, and exchanged the ordered flats for 15mm containers. Cause you now, scenery.

Lucky me, Tony Francis emails me back on the 14th, no problem, nothing shipped yet, he just got back from holiday, and he wasn't feeling to well so things were a bit backlogged. No problem, no rush. Tony reported on the net that he really wasn't well so things could be delayed, a few days later.

With only a couple of days delay, Paypal sent me a message that my order had shipped on the 23rd and today, the 28th, my order arrived. Well packed, the whole lot nicely in the box, wrapped in bubblewrap, hoverjeeps nicely in ziplockbags and everything copiously covered in foam filler chips...we call them wokkels :)

In no particular order....

SFS-5013 The Astral Pioneer cargo spaceship at 3.50 Pounds

Here compared to a BFG cruiser hull and a custom made large BFG transport. There is a very small slit on the front of the model that I assume is the steering house, it has a big turret on top and a tiny, slighly offisde aiming chin turret. The underside has 4 big plates, which, in my imagination anyway, would make nice points for 4 landing legs if you would make a starport, or you could paint them black to give the impression of opening so it can function as a small escort carrier. Or just keep it as a cargo transport, of course :) To try something new, I glued one of my larger magnets to the hull as this is a heavy ship and I want it to stay in place. I will need to make some heavy duty flying bases as well :) Hardly a mould line to find, just many spikes from the casting vents to be removed, but nothing that you can't fix in a good 1 minute cleaning.

SF15-915 Small Cargo Container at 1.75 Pounds each

1x1 cm pattern, so you get an idea of the scale.Doors on the front, closed up on the back. Nice and simple, will be a breeze to paint up, some simple weeathering, a few decals, great table filler. Some airbubbles, but not more then a few and easly filled in or dug out to recreate damage. I must get more of these.

SF15-1507 Wizard Hover Jeep at 3.00 Pounds each

The Wizard as compared to the containers, so you can see how large the containers are and how small the hoverjeep is. You could almost park one inside those containers.....but you will void the warranty I reckon. It is in the Mercenary list, one of the newer ranges, and if you want my opinion, this vehicle is a must for any self respecting frontier world or colony or plain civillain vehicle. Tony really should show pictures on his listing showing that the back is actually a seperate metal piece that you can leave off to make a pick up truck...albeit a tiny one. Leave the weapon off the roof, put a guy with a pintle mounted support gun on the back and Bob, your uncle, has just made a Technical for your insurrection. If you dont like the top weapon or the hatch, the holes are pretty shallow and easy to fill with some plasticcard or riller. Every selfrespecting frontier Redneck should have one. Or two. Now to figure out what the little nub on the left side is.....a antenna mount or a exhaust (though the latter would not make sense for a air cushion vehicle?)

And then the reason for the order, the appartment buildings. Truth be told, it does say on the webpage these are 2mm models, as is the rest of their scenery range. They will work fine with their range, and other peoples 2mm ranges should be no problem either (not that you would be spoilt for choice).
But for some stupid reason my head didn't get the message and I had assumed they would be bigger. Only after reading the page again, but now with a clear head, I grasped the scale difference and canelled everything except one tester. Anyhow....

SSS-8067 Appartment Blocks (pack of 5) at 2.50 Pounds each

Well cast, well made, look at those details! And yet bloody tiny.

2mm Appartment Blocks compared to Fighting 15's Middle East Village. In case your head worked like mine, this is the difference. Which makes the 2mm buildings perfect for people who like their buildings to have a smaller footprint, so a 3mm or 6mm gamer could use these and the other buildings for their layout. Or you could have them on the table for airgames, as they make nice Governmental buildings (aka target). That is what they will become for me. At 2.50 Pounds per set of five this is a bargain for well made resin terrain.

There you have it, the usual small order from me. Tony is a gent to communicate with, quick replies, even for a man just back from his holiday and sick at the same time. Well packed, well made, what is not to like.

And in case you are wondering, no freebies in this one, the entire order was paid in full by me :)

Edit: I made a promise to myself not to order or trade anything new till these are finished (except the appartment buildings) so I spent this evening priming and basecoating everything with the airbrush, and gave everything a nice gloss varnishcoat as I noticed the containers have a bit of a rough texture as I assume they are cast off 3D prints? The space ship too btw, there are fine lines to be seen. When the coat has hardend it is time to add in other colours and decals, varnish them again and then weather and wash and rust them.

The 2 Wizard Hoverjeeps before being primered, holes filled in and one now has some sidewalls for his truck bed.