New Post-Apocalyptic 'Team': the Night Stalkers

    The Night Stalkers patrol the rubble of a ruined town in the post-Apocalyptic future

I am not 100% sold on my name for this new gang or "team" as the Fistful of Lead rules call forces in their skirmish game. Don't get me wrong, I think "Night Stalkers" sounds really cool, and it will probably be what I end up using. However, I am open for suggestions for these high-tech, uniformed fighters. They all wear helmets with what appear to be night vision goggles attached to them. There are small bits of armor, as well, including a suggestion of kevlar or something underneath the outer uniform. So, I picture these guys as being a fairly well-organized group. The members are probably former military or law enforcement banding together to carve out a niche of territory to protect their families and friends.

    The Night Stalkers are painted in matching uniforms and equipment, so they are fairly well supplied

The figures come from Battle Valor Games, and are part of the former Sgt. Major Miniatures line that I like so much. The poses may be slightly different, but they definitely have a uniform appearance. In a skirmish game where each figure may have different traits, this means that I'm likely going to have to write their names on the edges of their bases for players to keep them straight. I have been threatening to do that for awhile, and likely will go whole hog into it soon. I've seen other gamers photos where they do that and I don't think it detracts from the look of the game.

    It took awhile (and several layers) before I came up with a tone that I was happy with for the helmets

Their base uniform was done in craft paint "Khaki," and I maintained that brownish theme throughout with tan backpacks, dark brown gloves, and ivory packs and pouches. I struggled most with the metallic bits -- the helmet and knee pads. I purchased a "brown metallic" craft paint, but still thought it was too bright of a gold tone. I did two black washes over it before I pronounced myself happy. The end result in person looks very San Francisco 49ers dark gold, in case it is hard to tell in the photos. For the firearms, I used Iron Wind Metals Steel with highlights of silver or gun metal craft paint.

   The color scheme was not intended to be a camouflage, but I like how it "blends in" on the table

Some of the accents were done in brighter colors to stand out more on the miniature. The "eyes" of the goggles were done in red with a tiny dot of pink in the middle. The main part of the goggles and attachments to the helmet were in Iron Wind Steel, again. Finally, the miniatures had patches on each shoulder. I did the right patch in orange with a white vertical stripe. The left was done as a nod to the Ukrainians fighting off the Russian invasion in the news, today. It was done in the yellow blue of their flag. I'm not saying these guys are Ukrainians in my post-Apocalyptic games, just that I was inspired by the actual defenders' bravery and wanted to commemorate it here.  

    Although this is not the vision I have for my games, this supplement still has some interesting sounding rules

So, what's next? I have one more "team" of miniatures to paint up to reach my target six. We typically have 6-7 of us show up on Sunday evenings, so I shouldn't need more than that. I know a couple players may want to use their own troops, but I think for the first game I am going to want to use mine to keep a coherent look on the tabletop. Afterwards, if they want to sub in their own team once they see the "flavor" of my post-Apocalyptic world, I would be open to it. As mentioned before, my games are looking for a Mad Max meets the Terminator feel. I don't want the mutations with multiple arms, psionic powers, etc., from Gamma World or Mutants and Death Ray Guns. As such, I am still considering buying Wiley Games' "Wasteland Warriors" title, which apparently goes heavily in on the mutants. However, I hear it also has a nice section on scavenging for supplies, which is definitely the world I am looking to create for my games.