Furnishing The Future

At the start of the year I revealed a massive increase in the amount of models I still had to paint. A large chunk of this number comes from the Mantic Games sci-fi dungeon crawler Star Saga, which I'd picked up for £15 at a show.

The game is fine, but I had intended to sell it on and so never counted the contents of the game until it occured to me that the terrain that came in the game might look appropriate in a Fallout vault.

And so that's what I've done with it.

The terrain is basically the contents of two of the Mantic Terrain Crates, the Sci-Fi Doors and Sci-Fi Furniture sets.

As ever, these are always a mixed bag as they are robust and well detailed, but are prone to warping which sometimes cannot be fixed with hot water, as was the case with several of these pieces.

However, the doors set is pretty good. Made from hard plastic rather than the rubbery stuff that Terrain Crates usually come in, these are 10 totally useable doors with zero issues.

To save discussing this further, most of what passes for painting on all of these models is a sprayed undercoat of silver followed by a wash of Nuln Oil. Partly this is for expediency and partly to capture the brushed steel/aluminium look from Fallout Vaults.

The tables, crates and gun racks are similarly dull in their presentation, with only a few other details being picked out.

Here's where the warping and mould issues start to kick in. The table legs were sorted out with the hot water trick, although it remains to be seen if this holds.

However, one of the gun racks has a curve in it, which I've straightened out a little, but still isn't fjat as the other one, and one if the boxes is just frankly warped in it's moulding. I've used a knife to trim it down a touch so that it just looks damaged.

I had fun with the computer screens as I was able to use white on black washed with Hexwraith Flame technical paint to create the effect of the monochrome monitors that appear in Fallout.

To be honest, it's these screens that convinced me to use this set of terrain as I knew I could create this effect easily.

The lab equipment is a bit more involved, with books, test tubes, papers and other bits and pieces to pick out. The fluid tanks were painted white and given a coat of Nihilakh Oxide technical paint, before painting this section with gloss varnish to suggest glass.

Sadly, one of the desks is really warped with the desktop sitting at an angle on the drawers and this it a mould issue rather than anything that can be fixed.

This sort of thing is the reason that I probably would avoid picking up any more Mantic Terrain Crates, especially given their price. Having got the whole game massively discounted, I don't mind. But if I'd spent £25 on the Sci-Fi Furniture set to discover three unfixable issues, I'd be somewhat annoyed.

However, I do now have a range of scatter terrain for any Vault-based shenanigans in games of Fallout Wasteland Warfare, and I'm also expecting the new Five Clones From Alpha Complex book to arrive any day, and I feel this terrain will also work well in games of Paranoia.

After painting these 36 pieces of terrain, I still have to decide what to do with the 36 other miniatures from Star Saga. Some of them might find their way into Fallout Wasteland Warfare as proxy Enclave troops, some are almost certainly destined for Alpha Complex as well, and the rest will find themselves drafted into a range of other projects as I see fit.

There is certainly some work to do.

Acquired: 6

Painted: 45

Lead Mountain: 722

Predictable Developments

It was easy to foresee that that when TTCombat announced that they were releasing a new starter set for Carnevale, World's Faire After-Party, that I would pick it up.

It was probably also somewhat predictable that they would eventually dip their toes into manufacturing plastic miniatures, as they have done with the two factions in the box, the Patricians and, the focus of this post, the Doctors.

I genuinely never intended to collect the Doctors. Partly this was because with my Guild, Rashaar and Patricians, combined with my proxy Strigoi and Vatican, I had enough going on. I also didn't really respond to the miniatures. The animals were cool, but I found the combination of black robed physicians and lunatics a bit dull.

However, when released turned in a more steampunky direction, I was more fired up, and, pleasingly, the Doctors miniatures in World's Faire After-Party follow in that trend.

The Doctor of Divine Probabilities (Carlotta on the background text) is the leader of this little band, although only a Hero in the game. I suspect that she's meant to be some sort of astrologer, divining future events, but I like the idea that she's battling the horrors and murderers of Venice using the terrifying power of maths.

She was surprisingly quick to paint, despite me thinking that she would be the most complex. The model responded really well to contrast paints and there weren't to many details to pick out when I came to her.

Backing up the Doctor is an Electron Cannoneer, Nicci, bringing ranged fire support. She's actually the second model I have with this profile and along with a few other ranged models, turns my Doctors faction into a little bit of a gunline.

Contrary to what happened with the Doctor, this model took much longer than expected as there was a surprising number of straps and buckles that not only needed picking out, but also divided up other sections of colour.

The handle on the contraption at her side is perhaps the most obvious example of a detail that wouldn't have been included prior to the switch to plastic. If it was made of resin, it would be at risk of snapping off almost immediately.

The design and construction of the models is excellent, certainly equal to anything you might expect from Games Workshop.

The third member of what is rapidly turning into a girls' night out is the Carrion. As a transformed patient from the asylum, she doesn't get a name, but she does get mechanical devices strapped to her head and arms that make her a skilled climber and a repository of Will Points for the Doctor to use.

She was perhaps the easiest to paint, using only a handful of colours. The speed was helped by not being terrified of the claws snapping when I was drubrushing at the end as would be the case with resin. In fact, it was the case, as this is the second Carrion model I own and I was much more careful with the first.

The final member of this quartet is a Monstrosity, a word that serves as both a name and a description. A stitched together golem remiscent of what would happen if Victor Frankenstein hadn't known when to stopp adding bits. The Monstrosity has four arms, three heads and two torsos.

I had a bit of a battle with this model as I initially went for my usual zombie skin recipe, but I think that the the depth of the detail on the model meant that I didn't get the same outcome as I would on a painter model and the skin was too dark.

I therefore went back with some more drybrushing and washes to achieve a more flesh colour, suggesting that although stitched together, the different parts were somehow still alive and have some degree of consciousness of what gas happened to them.

And here are the new models added to my existing forces. I'm really pleased with how this faction is turning out and it's rapidly becoming my favourite.

I'm also pleased that given my initial misgivings regarding some of the representations in the early models (notably the Rashaar Slaves) this collection of scientists is primarily led by women with only minimal objectification in the miniature design.

Well played TTCombat.

Acquired: 6

Painted: 9

Lead Mountain: 758

What Can Men Do Against Such Reckless Numbers?

So, a new year and a new assault on the Lead Mountain, only this time, there's a slight problem.

More on that later.

For now, look! Men of Rohan!

Not an especially exciting start to the new year, but I'm still taking part in Arbitor Ian's Tale of Four Hobbits and these are more of my pseudo Men of the West list that currently includes Aragorn. Legolas and these five.

Mind you, that does make over 400 points out of 500 because Aragorn the King is a beefy boy.

I've gone with Men of Rohan as that's what I had lying around after my second hand purchases several years ago. I still have a few more archers from those lots as there always seemed to be more archers than were necessary...or allowed, with a 33% limit.

I've stuck with the same rather uninspiring colour palette I originally used simply to make these models fit in with the rest.

One of the reasons these models were likely out was due to damage. Both of these two required a bit of fixing up to deal with a bent sword and a broken spear.

Unfortunately, was not able to do anything about the somewhat static poses and large flat areas where the spear meets the cloak.

I have, however, done something about the lack of a banner in my Rohirrim with this very simple conversion: a hand swap, a metal spear and a Wood Elf pennant did the trick.

I have had a go at free-handing a sun motif on the banner. It's not amazing, but it's not awful either. I'm never fond of free-handing, but this is fine.

Anyway, onto the other issue.

I mentioned before Christmas that I wanted to do a recount of my unpainted miniatures as I was sure that over the last couple of years, there have almost certainly been accounting errors and I wanted to see how realistic my running total of 240 actually is.

And so I got everything out. All of it. We'll apart from some Carnevale miniatures I was undercoating and some Dropzone Commander models I forgot about, but almost all of it.

It turns out my numbers were wrong.

Quite a bit wrong.

My current total is, minus the Rohirrim I've painted, 756.

There are several reasons for this disparity:

1) I've included boardgames like Star Saga, which contains 71 minis, that I had intended to sell but have recently changed my mind about.

2) I actually counted things in my bits box which I didn't last time, and I think I've been deducting painted models from bits box from the overall total.

3) When I received the motherload from Will, there are things that were up for sale that aren't now.

4) I've counted things like Flames of War tank crew that aren't getting used unless I buy more tanks...which I won't.

5) I clearly can't count.

Despite the shock this has induced, I have actually been able to tidy things up and get a better handle on what I have. I already have plans for how to use models, and I've tacitly decided to part company with a fair chunk of it.

Let's see how we get on.

Acquired: 0

Painted: 5

Lead Mountain: 756...good grief!

Leaving '25 Behind

And so we come to the point where it's time to emerge from the dark confines of '25 and venture into an unknown future, hoping that it doesn't end up being an irradiated wasteland full of bloodthirsty killer and giant bugs.

In other words, it's time for my review of the year!

I only set three targets for 2025 and there's been a mixed bag of success:

1. Decrease The Lead Mountain - Success

Oh boy have I decreased that pile!

There were 640 miniatures in my backlog at the start of the year and only 240 as of today. It also not as if I haven't been buying and printing new things, it's more than I have offloaded quite a chunk and I've painted a whopping 532 miniatures.

At this rate I might even...whisper it...clear the whole backlog in 2026...dun-dun-durrrrr!

2. Get Out More - Fail

Although I started off the year well by attending a Badab War Combat Patrol event at Warhammer World, I wasn't able to attend any of the other events in the campaign due to scheduling conflicts and the fact that they were held in London.

Additionally, I only managed to get to one wargaming show this year too and the UK Games Expo fell on my 20th wedding anniversary, and we had other plans.

I definitely want to return to this next year.

3. The Path of Damnation - Success

I've had a really good time painting up my old Chairs miniatures into a Nurgle themed army. 

Although I still have about half a dozen miniatures to go, I can field a 1500 point army in Warhammer: The Old World (although it's a bit short on core troops) and I'm really satisfied with how it's come out.

So a bit of a mixed bag, but, on reflection, it seems that I didn't get out more because I was sat at home painting, so that's not necessarily a bad thing.

So this year's targets are likely to look eerily familiar:

1. Decrease The Lead Mountain

The endless endeavour continues.

However, the end is perhaps in sight, which is scary. Mind you, one of the first orders of business in 2026 is a recount as I'm pretty certain my numbers have got messed up over the past decade.

2. Get Out More

Although I failed last year, this was largely due to scheduling issues, so I think I need to be a bit more pro-active on planning ahead.

At the very least I want to get back to going to the amount of shoes I used to attend and maybe build up the courage to attend a few more events.

3. Tie Up Loose Ends

There are few dangling projects that I want to return to and wrap up. Some of these are painting projects that are close to completion and others are gaming campaigns that I started and lost focus on.

Painting Projects:

- Path of Damnation Nurgle Army

- Age of Sigmar Skaven

- War of 1812 British

- Carnevale Venice board 

Gaming Campaigns:

- Five Parsecs from Home - Fortune's Fools

- Five Leagues from the Borderlands - Hawk the Slayer

Doubtless I will distract myself with newer and shinier ideas, but the intention is there.

And do there we have it. I'm really not sure what new projects are likely to emerge this year, but that's actually quite exciting.

Happy New Year!

Protagonist vs Antagonist

In the run up to Christmas I was still in a Fallout mood, but obviously was unable to buy more with festivities around the corner and not knowing what I was going to get.

Therefore, I once again turned my attention to using what I already had: a pile of unpainted miniatures and a 3d printer.

And the result was a 3d printed Vault-Tec Poster Girl and a kitbashed version of a Fallout 3 character, the Antagonizer (the ants are models I already had and are from Crooked Dice).

Both of these models demonstrate a certain amount of ingenuity on my part and I'm quite proud of both of them.

Easiest to talk about is the Antagonizer, who is a character that you can meet in Fallout 3 that is engaged in a superhero-supervillain conflict with the Mechanist in the town of Canterbury Commons. 

Your character can intervene in this situation, taking one side or the other. A third option exists, which was the path I trod, where you kill both of them because you repeatedly say the wrong thing.

Interestingly, there is an official model for the Mechanist in Fallout Wasteland Warfare, but not for the Antagonizer (yet). I suspect this is because whilst there are plenty of robots for the Mechanist to command, there aren't any Giant Ant models, which is odd, as they are a fairly frequent hazard.

However, I did have a model from Crossover Miniatures called Whiskers knocking about from my proxy Marvel project. I liked the model (which is clearly Catwoman inspired) but had not found a use for it. Until now.

The model comes with a range of heads and tails, but the best fit is one with cat ears that needed filing off and antennae (bits of staple) adding. I also filled the hole in the base of the spine for her tail.

It's a fairly good fit, although the mask covers the whole face and the armour is somewhat less spiky. However, a nice touch is the knife strapped to her leg as the Antagonizer's weapon is a knife called the Ant's Sting.

Painting was quite interesting as it's quite hard to get a clear image of the character in Fallout 3 as she's mainly encountered underground. The colour of her armour can vary quite a lot between images. I when for black and gold as I felt it would be in the right ballpark without just being a mush of browns.

I'm really quite pleased with the outcome, although I need to put some though into what profile I am going to use for her in the game, and I probably need to put together a custom card.

The Vault Girl came as a part of a Humble Bundle of Fallout files and STLs I picked up before I had a 3d printer. She's actually the model that demonstrated the limits of my FDM printer when I first got it as its thin limbs small details proved too much for tree supports and even a 0.2mm nozzle could handle.

However, I've found a way around the problem.

Or more pertinently, a YouTube channel called Painted 4 Combat has with a tool called Resin2FDM.

Basically, this is a plug in for Blender that allows you to thicken the supports from pre-supported resin STLs and make them suitable for printing with an FDM printer.

The 'lite' version of the plug in is free to download and obviously required me to download Blender. However, despite never using either program, it was really easy, especially as the channel's guide video walks you through the whole process.

The outcome is a pretty dame good print. Still not as good as a resin print, but definitely better than my previous efforts and certainly good enough to use.

The model comes with a sculpted base that I was able to print more conventionally, although I did manage to clip off the pegs from. The feet of the miniature before realising there were holes for then to slot into, making gluing the whole thing together a bit more awkward.

As you can see, when painted, the details are pretty good. The undersides of arms and keys are a little less good, but, as I said, I'm really happy with it.

Painting was done really simply with bright colours and the outcome is a model that I actually think is better than the pvc miniature of Nora that can in the starter set.

I've not yet had any success with other sculpts as I've been away since Christmas Day and the one miniature I did try was a Carnevale sculpt that hasn't worked, however I'm looking forward to trying out a few more sculpts.

On the subject of Christmas, Carnevale and Fallout, Ive gad a bit of a haul this year. Mrs Cheaphammer took advantage of Black Friday at Element Games in Sheffield to make the pounds stretch a little further and I now have the latest Carnevale starter set, World's Faire After-Party, and the Hollywood Heroes set for Fallout Wasteland Warfare featuring characters from the TV series.

They were also running a paint lucky dip which garnered me a Camo Green that will definitely see use and a Purple airbrush paint which might not.

On top of this I got a haul of Horus Heresy boxes that actually have me pondering whether to start a new army. The Predator and Jet Bikes would fit perfectly on not my Blood Angels army, but the Mk II Assault Troops come armed with chainaxes, which aren't available to loyalist marines in 2nd edition, which we've stuck with.

This is making me consider starting a traitor, specifically World Eaters or Sons of Horus, or Blackshields forces. However, I'm also tempted to create some converted Angels Tears for the Blood Angels.

I received the Ravening Hordes book for Warhammer: The Old World, which contains the army lists for Orcs & Goblins, Beastmen, Tomb Kings and, most importantly for me, Warriors of Chaos. 

This allows me to run my Nurgle army in Warhammer: The Old World, and the Arcane Journal adds rules for Warp Dragons making the whole army game legal.

Finally, as part of this year's 7TV Secret Santa, I received this handful of Robin Hood themed miniatures from David.

It's a sprue of Oathmark Humans, who can easily be kitted out as Merry Men, but might also serve at Rangers of Gondor or Ruffians in MESBG. However , there's also a couple of Norman soldiers carrying a chest and so, given that I've at least one Norman miniature in my backlog. I might very well venture into a Sherwood Forest based project next year.

All in all, it's been a good few days, giving me plenty to be cracking on with.

Acquired: -52 

Painted: 532

Lead Mountain: 246

The Fight Before Christmas

Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house, not a creature was stirring apart from the twisted mutant spawn of Chaos intent on corrupting and entire planet if not stopped by the noble Astartes of the Astral Claws who would never have any truck with that Chaos nonsense, no sir!

So, Matt and I arranged to play a game of 5th edition 40k, giving him a chance to use the small Chaos force he has assembled from his Combat Patrol magazine subscription.

For my part I chose to give my Astral Claws a run out as it would allow me to field some units that I hadn't used yet.

The scenario we rolled up would be 'Capture & Control' which meant we'd be fighting over two objectives, one in each deployment zone.

The objectives in question were the building in the lower left and the ruins in the top right. Only troop choices would be able to hold objectives which presented me with an advantage as Matt's army was limited by the models he had available.

Having said that, we picked out armies before rolling up the scenario and Matt had to bend the rules a touch to include 3 HQ units due to a lack of alternatives.

Matt's Chaos Space Marines

Matt hasn't yet named his Chaos Legion, although he has specifically chosen to avoid being obviously linked to one of the well known Chapters or have colours particularly associated with a specific Chaos power.

HQ

Daemon Prince with Wings

Chaos Lord (Daemon Weapon & Jump Pack)

Chaos Sorcerer

Elite

Chaos Dreadnought (Multi-melta, Power Fist)

Troops

5 Chaos Legionnaires (Bolters)

5 Chaos Legionnaires (Bolters, Meltagun, Plasma Pistol)

Heavy

5 Havocs (Plasma Pistol, 2 Autocannon, 1 Lascannon, 1 Missile Launcher)

Matt positioned one squad of Legionnaires to hold his objective, whilst the Chaos Sorcerer led the others on the attack. The Havocs, Chaos Lord and Daemon Prince were positioned in the centre. The Dreadnought was out on the flank just in case it started attacking its allies.

My Astral Claws

I opted to go for my Astral Claws as even though I had more to choose from that Matt, the disparity was not so great as with my Blood Angels.

HQ

Captain in Terminator Armour (Lightning Claw, Combi-Flamer)

Elites

5 Terminators (Storm Bolter, Power Fist)

Troops

10 Tactical Marines (Bolters, Flamer, Heavy Bolter)

10 Tactical Marines (Bolters, Meltagun, Missile Launcher)

Rhino (Storm Bolter)

Fast Attack 

3 Space Marine Bikers (Power Sword, Meltagun)

Heavy

Predator (Autocannon, Lascannon sponsons)

I split one of my Tactical squads into combat squads to give me more flexibility in defending the objective. The Predator and Bikes were placed centrally as a firebase and mobile reserve.

On the other flank, the second Tactical squad was deployed in it's Rhino to launch an attack on the enemy objective, with the Captain and Terminators lumbering up in support.

Turn 1

After I inevitably failed to steal the initiative, Matt took the first turn and with a lack of viable targets to shoot at, much of the Chaos army surged forwards.

On my right flank, the Rhino and Terminators followed suit, whilst on the left one of the combat squads moved to be able to shoot when the Chaos troops got into range.

There was sporadic shooting from Havocs and the Predator, but in an ominous portent of what was to unfold, no damage was caused, implying that this battle would be fought up close.

Turn 2

In a move that actually surprised me, the Daemon Prince and Chaos Lord slammed into the Terminators, who, in a display of impressive saving throws, withstood the impact and won the combat. 

Meanwhile, the Havocs repositioned to be able to pour fire on the Tactical Squad which was bearing down in the temple in their Rhino, dismounting into cover.

On the other flank, the Chaos Dreadnought was slowed by stopping to fire in its own troops, but the Chaos Sorcerer push his squad forward into the teeth of the Astral Claws line, but somehow only took a single casualty from the hail of fire that rained down on them.

Turn 3

After weathering the storm, the Sorcerer's squad charged into the combat squad in front of them, cutting down all but one, who fell back.

However,the second combat squad and Bikers were lying in waiting and after pouring in Bolter an Melta fire, charged in to finish off the threat of Matt's army capturing my objectives.

Meanwhile, after the Havocs somehow failed to do anything other than destroy the Storm Bolter on the Rhino, the Tactical Squad continued to use it as cover for their advance on the temple, where the second squad of Chaos Marines lurked in hiding.

The fight between the Terminators and the Chaos heavy hitters had lasted for four rounds and seen the destruction of the Daemon Prince, Space Marine Captain and most of the Terminators.

Somehow, a single Terminator remained standing, his inevitable sacrifice enough to keep the Chaos Lord out of the main fight for another turn 

Turn 4

Late to the party, the Chaos Dreadnought lumbered into view of the objective. If it could get just a little closer, it could deny me the objective, even though it couldn't capture it.

Determined to do what they could to slow it down, the Biker drove forwards to firm a screen that would hopefully serve as a speed bump.

However, a speculative Meltagun blast managed to bring the beast down and freeing up the Bikers to join the fight elsewhere.

The Havocs finally destroyed the Rhino, but the Tactical Squad had reached it's objective and it would be down to the outnumbered Chaos Marines to drive them off.

Turn 5

In the centre, the Predator and Havocs had been playing cat and mouse so much that they'd had very little impact on the whole game.

Throwing caution to the wind, the Havocs finally advanced to the top of the hill, risking the Predator in the hope of getting another turn to rain fire on my objective.

However, fate smiled on them when a lucky plasma shot stunned the crew, and then their leader swooped in to inflict more damage in the hope of using the additional move of a charge to get it withing strike range of the enemy.

In the shadow of the temple, the Chaos Marines did the only thing they could and charged, hoping that their greater number of attacks might break the Astral Claws and drive them off.

It disn't, and their fate was sealed when no further turns were rolled, leaving the Chaos Lord and Havocs stranded in the centre, unable to do any more.

Final Score: Astral Claws 1 - Chaos Marines 0

This was a fun game. Despite Matt's lack of troops, the game was very balanced and had the fight between the Terminators and Chaos characters been resolved quicker, one of my flanks might have had more on their plate than they could handle.

My Bikes proved to be really useful, especially as a mobile reserve, and swing the fight around my objective. Meanwhile, the Predator was totally inconsequential, cursed by an inability to hit or wound.

Similarly, the Chaos Dreadnought was a bit of a liability and its erratic behaviour meant Matt couldn't coordinate his attack and so his units were destroyed piecemeal.

Matt's Combat Patrol journey isn't over, and so the next time these armies face off against each other, I'll probably end up getting chopped to pieces by a screaming horde of Khorne Berserkers.

Which will be nice.

Happy Christmas!