"I'll be back...!" - Some Skeletal Steel Terminators

    My first specifically-painted miniatures for my Sci-Fi project, a couple of T-101 Terminators

I'd been going back and forth on what rules set I want to use for some Sci-Fi gaming. Originally, I had picked up Space Station Zero to play that with the guys on Sunday night. However, after playing one game of it here at the house with Jenny, I am not 100% sold on it being a good game for as many players we're going to have regularly. I bought the rules because the concept sounded interesting -- your crew is marooned on a massive, derelict space station that you are exploring. I liked Reign in Hell, another rules set by Snarling Badger Studios. I was hoping the rules would essentially be Reign in Hell with missile fire weapons (since Reign in Hell is all melee -- no missile fire at all). However, it uses a completely different system for both activation and combat resolution.

    The three different rules sets I was considering for my loosely-planned Sci-Fi project

Another candidate was the Wiley Games Sci-Fi rules Galactic Heroes. Inspired by Star Wars themed threads on The Lead Adventure Forum, I was planning on running Star Wars games using those rules. We already use the Core Rules from that stable for my post-Apocalyptic campaign, so the players would be familiar with the mechanics. That's good and bad, though. Would games simply feel like the same thing with different miniatures? Many years ago, we got into that rut when we were using H.O.T.T. (Hordes of the Things) for a number of different miniatures games. On the plus side, Keith had donated to me a bunch of the prepainted figures from the Wizkids Star Wars line. So, I'd already have figures if I went with that.

    The 3-D printed "Exterminators" packs contain a variety of poses and weapon types

At Advance the Colors 2023, I purchased a couple sets from the "Rampant" rules series from Daniel Mersey and released by Osprey Games. Their Sci-Fi variant Xenos Rampant caught my eye. Upon returning from the convention, I'd first read through the 2nd Edition of Lion Rampant (Medieval/Dark Age warfare). I was definitely intrigued by the system. The mechanics seemed fun and easy to pick up. I have also read numerous posts online from folks who love the Rampant system, so I thought it might be worthwhile playing one of their games regularly on Sunday evenings. Since we already play Saga for Dark Ages, I figured it'd make more sense to go with a different genre or period of gaming for the Rampant series. That way, it will both feel and looks different.

    1st batch of 12 Exterminator figures from JS Wargamer Printing (run by Cincy gamer John Leahy)

So, after examining each of the three finalists, I chose Xenos Rampant. My friend Keith has many figures already painted up that are usable for the system. Xenos is more of a "miniatures agnostic" rules set. It is meant to be adaptable to whatever figures you own or want to play with. I chose for my first batch of figures to painted up for the system 3-D printed ones that I purchased at CincyCon 2023 from John Leahy. He and his wife started a company called JS Wargamer Printing and sell a huge line of miniatures. These include lines inspired by Star Wars, Planet of the Apes, Warhammer 40K, and (crucially) Terminator. I bought two packs of his "Machine Wars - Exterminators." For all of his lines, John changes the name of the figures so they are not technically marketed as copyrighted lines, but they are all immediately recognizable. I believe they are designed and the STL files sold by Papsikels Miniatures. I can't confirm that as John was very busy at CincyCon and I couldn't talk much shop with him!

    I found 3-D printed figs fragile - one snapped minor handling and is now scrap for casualty markers

Like all 3-D printed miniatures, they ARE fragile. Very fragile, if you ask this metal miniatures enthusiast! John warns of this on his website, though. In this batch of 13 Exterminators, one of them did break at the ankles and ended up being useless except for scrap for casualty markers and such. Although John Connor may be hoping the Terminators end up being that fragile on the tabletop, I certainly do not! I'd hate to be repainting and replacing figures on a semi-regular basis and hope this was not a failed experiment...! 

    The other half of the dozen figures I painted up in this batch

The Exterminators did paint up VERY easily, though. I spray-painted them Krylon Matte Black, then went over it with my usual 50/50 solution of black acrylic paint and water. Next, I painted them a "Metallic Gray" (dark metal) base coat. Once it had dried, I dry brushed them silver. I touched up various other colors on the weapons, eyes, and other other metallic components. I did a dark wash on the weapons so the skeletal looking figures stayed shiny, but the weapons were a darker metallic. 

    Another look at the first batch of Exterminators - I'm very happy with how they look!

For basing, I used the wealth of leftover plastic circular bases that come with the Gripping Beast Saga army packs. I normally use square wooden ones for Saga, so have lots of these left over. I applied magnetic sticky base bottoms from Litko Aerosystems to the plastic bases and am fairly happy with how they worked. I used 5-minute, two-part epoxy to glue the Exterminator feet to the plastic bases, and they seemed to hold well. I jazzed up the bases with small rocks and bricks, then applied Woodland Scenics Blended Gray Ballast to the bases. I did a dark wash over the ballast, then actually dry brushed it lighter gray to bring some depth back up. Some more Woodland Scenics turf, burnt grass looking tuft, and spray clear coats and they were ready for the tabletop.

So, what's next? I have been acquiring some large, well-armed, robot looking figures over the last year or so, and they have finally made it to the front of the queue. They'll hopefully make for good support for the Exterminators and round out my first faction for a game of Xenos Rampant. Stay tuned for more!