Battle Droids & 2nd Batch of Bronze Legion

    My 2nd squad of the Bronze Legion faces off against Star Wars Legion B1 Battle Droids

Now that it is winter break from school, my hobby production is picking up its pace. The last time I was at the Dragons Guildhall in Beavercreek, OH, I picked up a box from the Star Wars Legion line. I know its figs are a bit overscale, but these were B1 Battle Droids, so I figured it'd be okay. I mean, how tall is a battle droid supposed to be, really? 

    The B1 Battle Droids will supplement my Machines force for Xenos Rampant, finishing it up

When I got home, I opened up the box, and smacked my forehead, "Oh, no!" Nothing that looked like a droid was attached to the sprues -- WAY too many individual pieces for me to glue together. I took them to our regular Sunday night gaming session and handed them over to my friend Keith, who is skilled at assembling these fiddly types of models. He gave them back to me the next weekend and said it had taken him all of 15 minutes. For me, it would have been hours of frustration, maybe a little screaming, and possibly a broken droid or two...!

    I like the 'Imperial Gold' metallic paint I used on the droids, and the figs themselves look very cool

They seemed VERY spindly and fragile. So, I gave them a spray prime of Krylon matte black followed by a 50/50 water and acrylic black paint mixture. I figured I would need all the layers I could get to keep these mechanical ankles from snapping! Once they were done, I gave all four a head-to-toe ( or armored boot?) base coat of gray metallic craft paint. Then I did something I rarely do. I painted each miniature individually. First, I used an "Imperial Gold" craft paint to paint some of the metal parts of miniature. I left enough of the gray metallic in the recesses and on various other parts of the miniature to give a nice contrast, though. 

    Unlike most of the time, I painted these figures essentially one at a time because it seemed easier

The backpacks were done in a metallic brown, while I added a deep metallic red for their eyes (sensors?) and as glowing components on their weapons. For the eyes, I also added in a dot of a metallic pink in the middle of the red to hopefully give an impression of a more brightly glowing center of the sensor.  I did their backpack antennae in silver so that it would stick out from the rest of the miniature. Finally, after all four miniatures were done, I went over the entire figures with a black wash, weapons and all. I wanted the figures to gleam a bit, so I didn't use a particularly dark wash -- just enough to add some depth and shadow. All in all, these went fairly quickly. Each figure took more than an hour to do all the detail on, but it was easier to do them one by one. All four poses are different, so going from one figure to another at the same stage really wouldn't have helped with efficiency much. I'm happy with how they turned out!

    With only 4 droids in the box, I'm not sure what category of troop type they'll be in Xenos Rampant

I also completed a second squad of the Bronze Legion for Xenos Rampant. I went with a completely different approach this time. I painted the entire figure black first, then added the bronze metallic. Last time, I did the opposite -- bronze first, then adding the super-fine detailed lines for the black. Which was easier and faster? I think this way was, at least marginally. I also did not do multiple layers of the bronze as I knew the effect I was going for. I was counting on the final wash to flow into the recesses and do that highlighting step for me. Otherwise, it was the same basic plan for the first batch of miniatures. 

    The second squad of the Bronze Legion reporting for duty, getting that force closer to the tabletop

Since I'd ordered five of the Wiley Games marines for this squad, I didn't have to do a Reaper figure in this batch. They were all from the same 3-D printed line. I definitely like the Wiley Games miniatures. They are heftier and seem less fragile. I am not as worried about them snapping at the ankles or having arms break. If you haven't checked out their line of figures (they are most well known for their Fistful of Lead rules), I encourage you to do so.

    Two squads of the Bronze Legion guards a power station on an Earth-like planet

So, the Bronze Legion has two squads ready for its force. The Battle Droids were intended for the Machines army, so it is basically the first ready for the tabletop. Could I be just a few weeks away from hosting my first Xenos Rampant game? My friend Keith has LOTS of Sci-Fi forces painted up, so I could host a game tomorrow using his, if I wanted to do so. Check out his Orcafinn's Basement blog for the incredible variety of minis he's painted up. I particularly like his Tyrannids and they will likely appear in my first game.

How About Some Blue-skinned Aliens for Xenos?

    My next squad for Xenos Rampant Sci-Fi games - from the Stargrave Mercenaries box

I am continuing to paint up squads for my Xenos Rampant project. This was my first batch of plastic miniatures from one of the Stargrave Mercenary boxes. Thanks to my friend Keith Finn giving me the correct glue to assemble the heads and arms to the torsos, I was able to actually put these together myself! You have to remember, I am the guy who likes to brag that the only thing I have successfully super-glued is my fingers to each other...haha! They are posed in front of another Miniature Building Authority building -- 10720 Arcade, from their Middle Eastern Series. This resin building came pre-painted, though I added some color in the mud bricks showing through and also the roof tiles. I also finished it off with a brown vehicle wash that I feel really gave it a warm glow.

    I used "Alien" heads for the torsos, and decided to paint them with blue skin and red eyes

I bought this box of miniatures from Shieldwall Gaming this past September at the Hold The Line convention in Port Clinton, OH. I actually glued them together a few months back, thinking I would use them for games of Galactic Heroes, or maybe Space Station Zero. So, I made sure to include guys holding briefcases or devices in one of their hands. I do like that you can mix up the weapons in these packs, but I still am not a fan of having to assemble my figures. At least these seems solid enough and won't snap at the knees like one of my 3-D printed Terminators did!

    The squad (Andorians from Star Trek?) deploy near the Miniature Building Authority arcade

From what I can see, forces in Xenos Rampant tend to have 4-5 squads. I figured it would be helpful to use my already painted up and ready for the tabletop post-apocalyptic survivor gangs as "cores" to build a force around. One of the most Sci-Fi looking of my gangs is Keith's Nightstalkers. I will likely need to paint up several more of them in metal to make that into two squads. They look a bit like the Stargrave Mercenaries, so I decided to do my best to mimic the color scheme of the Nightstalkers for this squad.

I was originally going to use these for smaller skirmishes, so chose hands holding various equipment

I thought these would paint up relatively quickly, but there were a lot of straps, ammo pouches, armor plates, and other details to put on. I began with a base coat of craft paint Khaki for their uniform. The web gear, holsters, and equipment or ammo pouches were done in a lighter craft paint called Wild Rice. Of course, these being 28mm figs, each color first got their own lighter dry brush shade over top (Howard Hues Khaki and white, respectively). The armor plates were done in metallic brown, which to me looks more golden-bronze. Think San Francisco 49ers football team helmet color. The weapons were done in Metallic Gray with highlights of the metallic brown and silver.

    "What was that...?" Squad turns to check out a noise from inside the arcade, showing their backside

When assembling the figures, I had chosen humanoid alien heads because...well, why not? So, how to make them look suitably alien? I decided to go with a light blue skin. I went with a base coat of sky blue and a wash of a deeper blue. For the eye sockets, I applied more of the blue closer to full strength and with less water. I then did my usual black oval for the eye -- and for an even more alien effect -- went with red eyes. I really like how they turned out! What are those blue-skinned, Star Trek aliens? Andorians? Well, no antennae here, but that was the effect I was shooting for!

    The squad regroups at the rear of the MBA pre-painted arcade (although touched up a bit by me)

Finally, it was time for the washes -- three different shades, in this case. I used my normal dark brown wash on the khaki uniform and lighter web gear and equipment. Next, I did my usual black wash on the armor and dark brown boots and straps. Finally, the weapons got a really dark black vehicle wash. I really like how that makes the weapons look a totally different shade than the rest of the figure. All in all, I was very happy with how this batch of figures turned out...well, other than them taking considerably longer than I thought they would! My usual Sci-Fi basing scheme of Fine Blended Gray Ballast (with a dark wash over it) and craft bricks finish them out. I hope you like them!

    A better shot of the roof of the Middle Eastern Arcade, with several Andorians on lookout

    Here is the post-apocalyptic survivor gang, Night Stalkers, I was trying to match this batch with

First Squad for the Bronze Legion in Xenos Rampant

    My first human (humanoid?) squad for Xenos Rampant Sci-Fi skirmish - the Bronze Legion!

I want to paint up a number of forces for Xenos Rampant Sci-Fi rules, so plan on switching back and forth between different types of figures. I started things off with the Terminator 3-D printed figures, so now thought I'd switch to a human (or humanoid?) force. Most of these figures are from Wiley Games intended for their Galactic Heroes rules. I purchased one of their groups of five figures (for the price of four) which included two Marines, as well as a Marine sergeant and captain. The fifth miniature was from Reaper Bones and was a Science Fiction figure called XXXXXXXXXX. He had armor so I thought he wouldn't look completely out of place alongside the Wiley marines.

    These resin figures are from Wiley Games and are billed as "Marines" - I love the helmet & armor!

I'd recently picked up a new metallic craft paint called Ancient Bronze, so thought I'd try it out on these figures. It was much brighter after drying than in the bottle. Almost a copper tone. However, I did a dark black wash on them and really liked how it toned down the color. It was closer to matching what the color looked liked before application. To try for a nice 3-D look, I then watered down the paint some and applied it over the highlights of the armor pieces. I followed this up with full-strength Ancient Bronze towards the center of the highlighted area in hopes of giving a light-shining-on-armor look.

    I mixed in this Reaper Bones figure 'Gavin Markus, Novacorp Hero' to beef the squad up to five

The hardest part was next when I painted recessed areas and deep crevices in the armor black. My thought was that their was a black uniform underneath the armor showing through in areas between the armor plates. For some tinier areas I pulled out the black micron pen and color tiny dimples and other recessed areas with that. It was at this point that I was very thankful I had decided to paint up five figure squads for Xenos rampant, with each figure being 2 strength points. Doing the black on a batch of 10 figures would have been quite the grind. 

    I did several layers of a new metallic bronze paint and wash for the effect of the armor

I wanted the visor of the helmet to look like a dark, smoked plexiglass. I used Iron Wind Metals Steel for that, and really like how it looks. After I was done with dullcoate spraying them, I painted the visors with a brush on gloss paint. For the weapons, I painted them a dark metallic craft paint with accents in a metallic brown. Once I was satisfied with the accent work, I did a dark black wash over it. Finally, it was time for some red accents. The marine captain has a kilt of sorts around his waist, which I did in a Moroccan Red craft paint. I also added red accents on their chest armor and belts.

    A squad of the Bronze Legion investigates an abandoned research station

The Reaper figure has quite a bit more detail with a backpack of some sort. He has taken his helmet off and wears some sort of headset underneath. Once I was done with the four marines, I took another hour or so to finish off his detail, including his human skin, hair, mustache, and eyes. Thankfully, his sizes matches up well with the marines even if he isn't an identical fit. The flocking on the bases was done similarly to the Terminators. I paint the base a medium gray, then glue a couple bricks to it. I then paint the base with white glue and sprinkle Fine Woodland Scenics Mixed Gray Ballast over it. Once dry, I apply a black wash to the base (out of the tub, I think it is too bright). If the wash makes it too dark, I do a light gray dry brush over it again to pick out the texture. Finally, I add some patches of grass and a dried grass tuft to complete what I like to think of as an urban battlefield look.

I really like how the Bronze Legion, as I am calling them, came out. I took advantage of Wiley Games' Black Friday sale and ordered another squad's worth, which should be coming within a week. I have also been flocking up Jenny's new Saga army (Iberians from Age of Hannibal) that she sent out to Ted B to get painted. Still, I feel like I am being incredibly productive of late, what with 2/3's of her army already flocked, the Silent Slumbers Motel MBA building completed, and Droids and Robots, and now these marines. Hopefully, this burst of productivity will continue! Stay tuned to see!!

Some Cool-looking Robots and Droids for Sci-Fi Games

Selection of Droids & Robots from three different manufacturers recently finished up for Sci-Fi games

These have been sitting on my desk base-coated for several months, now -- perhaps longer! I began working on them when I was painting droids or robots for enemies in Space Station Zero. With my interest beginning to tail off and my painting schedule for last year's Saga tournaments picking up, they simply sat their dormant and patiently waiting for their turn. Now, that I have a renewed interest in Sci-Fi miniatures with my purchase of Osprey Games' Xenos Rampant (which I picked up from Shieldwall Gaming Club). I based them all on circular bases and pulled them into the painting queue.

    The three miniatures assembled - called Vatacina Sentinels and Purifiers on the Aberrant webpage

The three on the left in the metallic green, red, and blue are from Aberreant Games for their Rezolution Science Fiction Miniatures Combat Game. I don't know a lot about the rules, other than the website says they represent a dystopian 2175 A.D. future. I picked the miniatures up from Bryan Borgman at his flea market at the Origins Game Day this past January. Look at the website for Aberrant, I got an amazing deal. I swear he was selling these packs for $1 each. On their website now, they list for nearly $20 per figure! That said, I ended up failing miserably at putting them together and handed them off to my friend Keith. He's more adept at super glue, model cement, and other types of bonding agents. He did a fine job on putting them together, and I had to admit they looked a lot cooler than they had unassembled in the packed! I wish I had bought more, now...!

Love the look of these -- kind of like a cross between Star Wars droids and Starship Trooper arachnids

The miniatures resemble a cool-looking cross between the Starship Troopers arachnids and Star Wars battle droids. I painted them a base white way back when I started getting them ready. Recently, when I began working on them again, I changed my mind. I based those that were unbased on round magnetic bases and spray-painted them Krylon black instead. Following that up with my usual 50/50 acrylic black paint and water, I waited from to dry, then painted the entire surface with a dark metallic color. I then gave them a very dark black wash to see if I wanted to keep them a dark metallic. I decided instead that they would look better in brighter metallics. I chose my three current favorite metallics, a red, green, and blue. I left some portions the dark metallic and others I did in an accent color. I picked out various other details, such as tubing and silver blades. All in all, I was ecstatic about how they looked. Once again, at a buck apiece, I wish I'd bought more!

    Tracked robots (or droids) from Wiley Games, Reverisco, and Aberrant Games

The next batch is from three different sources. The futuristic artillery piece is from Reviresco Miniatures, the large, tracked robot is from Wiley Games, and the tiny droids are also from Aberrant's Rezolution line. The Wiley Games bot is called B3EAST and is a resin figure for only $5. He needs to be glued together, but that seemed to be fairly easy to accomplish. I decided to try some white metallic paint with red accents for this one to give it a more retro look than the crab-like Vatacinas. It took a couple coats, but it finally covered my original all dark metallic paint, and I like the way it turned out. The Wiley Games minis are very affordable, and I recommend them to anyone who wants to pick up some interesting or odd figures.

    The Droid/Robot artillery pounds away at their human enemies from the cover of a ruined building

The Reverisco Robot Power Gun was rather more interesting to put together. No matter which way I placed the pieces, I had some left over. Maybe it was meant that way to give you some variety? Reverisco is very old school metal minis. They tend to be on the clunky side and not as cleanly sculpted as more modern day miniatures. However, once painted up, it definitely looks cool and will be a good addition to a Sci-Fi force. Xenos Rising has support artillery as a troop type, so this will be perfect. RRB Minis & More has other Reviresco Sci-Fi gun types, so check out their site and pick up some! I just did a search on their site for "Reviresco" to see what they had.

    Another look at the whole batch of cool-looking robots and droids, ready for the tabletop!

 The tiny droids were in one of the packs I picked up from Bryan at his flea market table. I like the way they look and -- shocker -- wish I had picked up some more! All in all, I'm very happy with how this batch of mechanoids turned out. I look forward to using them in games of Xenos Rampant, and who knows? Maybe I'll start playing Space Station Zero again and they'll show up as the enemy in there...

"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!

First Star Wars Skirmish Using Galactic Heroes

    Keith dug out his old Wizards of the Coast Star Wars Miniatures for a game of Galactic Heroes

We have been using the Wiley Games rules for a number of different miniatures games. After watching Rogue One the other night, and reading some really cool threads on the Lead Adventure Forum, I was itching to give it a try. The only problem was I have zero Star Wars miniatures, and only a handful of Sci-Fi ones.

    My four Rebel troopers deployed on the edge of the ruined spaceport overlooking our goal

No problem, though. Keith has Star Wars figures. Keith has everything! So, all it took was a casual mention of how, "Gee, I really think we should give it a try..." and Keith volunteered to run a game of Galactic Heroes (Wiley Games' Sci-Fi skirmish using their Fistful of Lead engine) for us. Success! It HAD been awhile since he ran a game, so doubtless he was ready to give it a go. Plus, he said he has dozens and dozens of the prepainted plastic figures produced by Wizards of the Coast back in 2004. Keith was obviously the right man for the job, and he emailed out that he'd be running a game for us on our normal Sunday evening gaming session.

    We had six players -- two Rebels, two Imperials, and two "Mercenary Scum" spaced across the table

Mike S also has dozens of the figures, too, and brought his along, as well. However, there was no need for his reinforcements, as it turned out. Hmm...if BOTH of them have way more than they need, maybe I should see if either would be willing to part with a few? I could jazz 'em up a little and...well, I did say that I don't have any Star Wars figures, didn't I??

    Mercenary Scum player Joel sent his Gomorrans to investigate the ship, getting a jump on the others

There were six players on the evening of the game, and Keith divided us up into three factions: Rebel Alliance, Imperials, and Neutral Mercenary Scum (somebody said...not sure if it was Keith or another player disparaging the mix of droids, aliens, and leaders who had "Force" powers. Keith gave each of us a mission. I was a Rebel player, and me and Mike W were to get to the starship that had set down in the center of town and see what useful technology we could scavenge from it. The two Mercenary Scum players, Allen and Joel S, had a similar goal. The Imperials -- Mike S and Jenny -- were to patrol the ruined town looking for ne'er do wells, criminals and rebels. 

    We were having none of that, and drew a bead on the pig men, firing off blasters to no avail

Keith had us toss down a bunch of cardstock ruins to simulate a war-torn spaceport somewhere in a galaxy far, far away. Keith DOES own miniatures for every period ever imagined. However, his terrain is definitely in the "quick and simple" category. Still, this was a playtest, he reminded us. I'm sure he has more fancy terrain squirreled away somewhere in his basement that will see the light of a "G Class" star someday! I know I have a handful of buildings from Miniature Building Authority in their Middle Eastern line which would certainly fit the desert planet theme of many Star Wars films. Now...does that mean I will be painting them up soon...? Well, er...I mean -- Keith has everything! Well, we'll see...

    Thankfully, Joel's Assassin Droid & Trash Can Droid were blasting away at Stormtroopers instead

My Rebel Alliance troopers (Leader, Specialist, and two blaster pistol-armed troops) set up in the ruins on the corner of the board. Our goal would be to have our Specialist with his blaster rifle provide covering fire while the two troopers dashed forward in stages towards the spaceship. The leader would cover them and be in the middle to rally any troopers who needed it. My fellow rebel, Mike W, was W-A-Y on the other edge of the board and would never make it to the spaceship. He did get in a firefight with some Stormtroopers, though, like a good rebel! The other Stormtrooper player, Mike S, was directly across the table from me, but we were using a likely too large table, so he struggled to get a shot off at my guys. Plus, Allen, the evil Mercenary Scum kept him VERY distracted.

    Meanwhile, Allen's Mercenaries were giving the other Stormtroopers more than they could handle

Speaking of which, Allen's brother Joel was immediately to my left. Joel had a force of three Gomorran grunts (remember those pigmen from the Star Wars universe?), an assassin droid, a walking trash can (the walking square box of a droid) that we finally decided had a blaster mounted to his trash can lid top, and a leader who had the Force. He was a very creepy alien looking dude who came from a planet plagued by extremely bad luck. Joel's rolls were AWFUL!

    The Gomorrans reach the spaceship and begin to investigate it with their thick, piggy fingers

Anyway, as I crept forward towards the spaceship, Joel sent his grunts (perfect name for pig-faced aliens) towards the ship, beating me there. Luckily, the assassin droid and the trash can focused on shooting Jenny's Stormtroopers instead of us. I admit that I started hostilities between Joel and I when my laser rifle-armed specialist took a potshot at a pig man. Joel's leader then used the Force to attack my specialist, who shrugged off his attack. On my next turn, he ran to the window, drew a bead on the alien-mercenary-scum-leader and blasted him, knocking him to the ground, wounded. 

    The Force was NOT with Joel's leader, as my specialist & his blaster rifle took him out of action

This started a one-sided fight between the two. Joel's leader popped back up, used the Force to push my guy out into the open (and away from the window, so he had no shot). Not content with keeping me at a distance, the creepy spindly alien leaped out of the window and engaged my specialist in melee. Joel's leader was a combat specialist (roll two dice, take the higher in melee), and my specialist was a long-range guy. Joel proceeded to roll a "1" and "2" for his combat rolls. My stalwart rebel trooper knocked him down and gave him a second wound for good measure. On my turn, he shouldered the blaster rifle and finished him off. In none of those rolls, did Joel ever roll above a "3," I believe!

Rebel trooper cleverly uses the final action to sprint to the ship and 1st move next turn to reach it

He got his revenge, though. As I was being clever, I used the last move of the turn to sprint one of my ordinary troopers across the wide open ground towards the spaceship. I used my first move on the following turn to dart him into the cover of the spaceship, right underneath the landing ramp. One of Joel's Gomorrans fiddled with some controls and released the ramp. Keith let him roll an attack with the surprise descent of the ramp and it wounded and knocked down my out-of-breath rebel trooper! As you can imagine, much hilarity erupted around the table at my expense!

    Allen's tiny alien laughs as the Gomorrans release the landing ramp on my out-of-breath trooper

Allen, who had been focusing on Mike S's Stormtroopers, decided to sneak up a diminutive alien up and try to kick my trooper while he was down. The Force was obviously with me that night (and not with those supposedly having Force powers!). My trooper defeated the tiny alien -- sorry, I forget which race he represented -- and leaped to his feet. On his turn, he snagged a communications jammer from the spacecraft and bolted away as fast as his rebel feet could carry him.

  Droid trooper uses the newly-discovered 'Ready' action to wait for someone to run into the open

Allen made up for this turn of bad luck by taking his frustrations out on a different Mike (Stelzer, playing the Stormtroopers). His Force-wielding leader dashed out into melee with a squad of Stormtroopers. Just like in the movies, he light-sabered hapless trooper after trooper, leaving a trail of crispy white plastic armor in his wake. Between the shooting kills Allen had inflicted earlier on Mike, and this melee mayhem, the squad of imperials was left with one figure. He promptly fled the scene, doubtless calling in backup!

    Allen's leader wades through Stormtroopers with his light saber like they were...well, Stormtroopers!

Seeing as how my rebels had taken out 3-4 enemy, including a leader, and had snagged some tech from the spaceship, we decided to leave the scene of our crimes against the Empire, as well. It had been a successful outing, with no losses. We rationalized the communications jammer was exactly what we had been looking for. How else would we ensure the Imperials we ambushed couldn't call for backup?

Cue the Star Wars music, and hopefully there will be a sequel soon...!

More Sci-Fi Terrain & Ruined Buildings

    All that remains of this ornate church is its ruined facade -- a 3-D print I purchased at ATC 2022

I'm really enjoying cranking out more ruined buildings for my post-Apocalyptic games, as well as Sci-Fi terrain for Space Station Zero. This update includes the last of the ruined buildings that I bought from Rusty of Jarls Workshop at Advance the Colors 2023. I am really happy with how the two-story facade of a ruined church turned out. I am looking forward to running another post-Apocalyptic game and getting all of these on the table together! Likewise, I'm itching for Jenny and I to get in another game of Space Station Zero soon. This batch of fairly small buildings or scatter terrain should add some variety and color to our exploration of the derelict space station. 

    The rear of the 3-D print -- you can see there is room for 28mm to fire from the 2nd story platform

The two-story ruined church is the eye-catcher of this batch, I think. It comes in two parts, and I used 5-minute epoxy to affix the top half to the bottom part. Rusty's print was exceptionally clean, as always, and required almost no cleanup prior to priming. I followed my usual black spray prime, followed by a 50/50 mix of black paint and water, to get it ready. A dark gray dry brush with light gray highlights was all that was required to paint this model. Next, I did a black wash, which I think "blends" the dry brushing strokes well, giving the model a smoother looking appearance. I added in patches of green grass flocking with white glue to break up the all-gray look. Otherwise, this was an extremely fast model to paint up. I thought about putting more debris like bricks and ballast on there, but as tumbled stones were already sculpted into the model, I didn't think it was necessary. I think a mix of different heights of ruins will add to the look of the table, so I am really glad I picked this one up from Jarls Workshop!

    This Acheson Creations chimney ruin has been sitting unpainted for years

Next up, is an Acheson Creations building that I have had sitting in my unpainted tub for a number of years. It is originally meant for their Frontier America line, but in the end, it is a ruined building and won't look out of place mixed in with the other ruins.  It is a square chimney with some stones tumbled down. I believe it is modeled to represent the rest of the house having burnt down, leaving only the chimney standing forlornly. I really miss Acheson Creations. They were my favorite building and terrain producing manufacturer. Fortunately, some companies like Miniature Building Authority and RRB Minis & More are carrying some of their pieces, and you can still see their stuff at conventions where vendors bought up some of Acheson's products.

    The Green Dragons prowl amidst the ruins of a house where only the stone chimney stands

This was done with the usual method above, except an added preparation step at the beginning. Since Acheson pieces sometimes have a paint-defying mold release agent on them, I run them through the dishwasher at low heat first. I did an extra black wash on the inside of the chimney to represent its smoke-darkened stones on the interior. The wooden beams were done in Howard Hues Camo Brown dry brush and tan highlight. Looking at it now, I should probably added more shrubs or flowers or something growing amidst the ruins for a more 3-D look. Oh, well - I made up for that on the next piece!

    See the lizard outline beneath the flocking going up the column? No? Good - that's how I wanted it!

I almost didn't paint this last piece. I bought it when our former Acheson Creations local rep, Bryan Borgman, was selling off most of his stock. It is a ruined, circular pillar. Sounds great, right? Well, molded into one side of the pillar is a bizarre statue of a lizard with outstretched arms and holding a dragon-headed staff. Obviously, it is meant for fantasy games. However, as I was painting it up, I got the inspiration to simply cover the lizard and staff with flocking and flowering plants. I really liked the way they disguise the outline of the lizard. One more piece for my ruined post-Apocalyptic tabletop!

    This piece is also from Acheson Creations (I believe) that I picked up from RRB Minis & More

Now, on to my smaller terrain pieces for Space Station Zero for part two of this post. These were actually finished several weeks ago, but I simply hadn't had time to take pictures of them and write up a blog post. Speaking of weeks, it has been awhile since Jenny and I played out a mission in this cooperative, solo/multiplayer game. Hopefully, we will get in mission #2 in soon! Anyway, I really like the look of the dark green metallic craft paint that I have used for some previous Sci-Fi terrain. The snaking light green hoses came out really nice, being a three-color base coat, dry brush, and highlight. The dark metallic gray and copper for machinery components looks cool. I went with a slightly darker metallic grayish-silver for the base of the miniature.

    Sci-Fi domed building from RRB Minis & More - will work great as a stand alone small terrain piece

Next up is a piece 3-D printed by RRB Minis & More. I picked it up from them this past December at Shore Wars 2022 in Mentor, OH, I believe. The roof comes off on this one, but I decided that since I am using it for Space Station Zero, I really won't need to remove the roof for games. So, I epoxied it down, and added it a control panel I also bought from them atop the entrance to make it look even more high tech. The color is technically metallic brown, according to the craft paint maker, but I like how it looks for Sci-Fi stuff. I did the accent pieces in Pewter and Metallic Gray. For the glowing control panels, I painted them black first and did tiny dots of red, yellow, and green to look like lights. I like how it looks and am pleased with how it turned out!

    Another Acheson Creations Sci-Fi terrain piece picked up (I believe) from RRB Minis & More

The next piece features a new metallic cover I'd purchased when painting the flying drones for Space Station Zero. Like with the Dark Green, I really like how this Dark Red looks on surfaces that are supposed to be metallic or otherwise shiny material. This one was incredibly easy to paint. I gave it a black base coat and then a couple coats of the metallic red and metallic pink (NOT how it was marketed...it was supposed to be red!). The black base coat would show through, requiring multiple coats to look like this. 

    The final terrain piece is another from Acheson Creations, which I did in a blue metallic

Finally, a smaller version of the Acheson domed structure was done in blue, as well. I probably should have jazzed this one up with one of the control panels I bought from RRB Minis & More. However, things were pretty busy and hectic for me at that point. I just wanted to finish them and feel like I was getting things completed. 

All in all, I am happy with the additions to my Sci-Fi and post-Apocalyptic terrain. Next up, is some even smaller pieces of scatter terrain from Acheson Creations. So, stay tuned!