New Road Sections & More Vehicles for Post-Apoc

    Two of the four 6"x12" road sections I made from cork tiles with some wrecked & burnt vehicles

I am planning my next post-apocalyptic game to be on an urban tabletop. So, I continue to work on vehicles to put on the roads to break up the sight lines in the game. In addition, I decided to make some new asphalt road pieces. My previous ones were created with 12" square cork tiles. These would be smaller side streets, cutting each square into two 6"x12" pieces.

    Two of the road sections without cars on them - note beveled edges & center line stripe

I wanted to make sure everything went smoothly making these, so I cut up only two squares, creating a total of four pieces. These smaller width pieces will enable me to give the board more variety and change up the look of it easier. I will likely make some more 6"x12" pieces here soon. They went very quickly and were a breeze to make. Once trimmed to size, I beveled the long edges as I did with the sides of the 12" square pieces. The beveled edges are placed against my gray floor tiles which I use as the concrete sidewalks. I think this join looks better than both the road and sidewalk tiles having a squared edged.

    The Blood Brotherhood checks out another of my burnt out, die cast vehicles

Once beveled, I painted the four edges with black craft paint. It is okay if a little brown cork shows through, as there are brownish spots on many asphalt roadways. Once dry, I paint the rest of the tile black with a wide brush. I let them dry again overnight, and then I do two dry brushes. First is dark gray and the second is light gray. Finally, I add white dotted line lane painting with a square brush. When I created my first tiles awhile back, I made a cardboard template to place on the tile so that I get the lines the same length and evenly spaced. I finished the cork pieces off with matte acrylic clear spray paint and they're done!

    This plastic SUV warped in an interesting way from the heat, but I had to paint on the blackening

On the vehicle front, I added four new models. The first one was a die cast sports car. I used wire cutters and pliers to reduce it to the metal hulk, trimming or ripping away all plastic pieces. The second vehicle was a plastic SUV. There wasn't much I could do with this one other than cut away the wheels. I then burnt these as I had done the previous burnt out wrecks. I was a little less crazy with the pyro and went for a more controlled burn with fewer cotton balls. The plastic SUV bent like it had been "T-boned," but did not char very well from the burning. The sports car looked good enough from the burning that I simply glued it to its base.

   Both of these trailers came with a pickup truck for $2.99 each from Menards

The SUV required more work. I mixed up thinned down acrylic black paint and brushed it across most of the SUV. I made sure to "erase" enough black with straight water to allow some of the original color to show through. The windows there wasn't much I could do about. So, I painted them solid black and hoped they "disappeared" to the eye. All in all, the SUV looks like a passable piece of scenery, but by no means is it one of the best I created in this series of burnt out wrecks.\

    One of the Green Dragons checks out this old and dirty Campervan for anything to scavenge

    On hindsight, I should have scraped up, damaged, or put graffiti on this black trailer

Burned Out Vehicles for Post-Apocalyptic Games

  A burned out wreck that I created by torching die-cast vehicles for my post-apocalyptic games

I decided my next terrain project for my post-Apocalyptic games would be to make some burnt-out, abandoned vehicles. I decided to use some die-cast cars available in retail stores such as CVS drug stores, Menards, etc. I figured that I wasn't the only person to ever decide to do this, so I went on my favorite online miniatures source, The Lead Adventure Forum. In their Workbench area, I asked for ideas on how to modify inexpensive die-cast vehicles to look burnt out. Much to my surprise, the suggestion was to burn them!

    Step 1: Use wire cutters and pliers to remove most of the plastic from the die-cast vehicle

Whaaat?? Play pyro and set it afire? Other posters confirmed this suggestion, so I set about this as methodically (and carefully) as I could. First, I used wire cutters and pliers to get rid of as much of the plastic portions as I could. This includes the tires, which would be one of the things that burnt off and melted. I wanted to leave pretty much just the metallic hulk. Next, I used 91% alcohol and swabbed the car and soak cotton balls to stuff inside the vehicles. I set it on fire and was surprised by the intensity of the fire. I wanted the metal portions to look burnt and the paint to peel or bubble. I adjusted the techniques a little, using less cotton ball material and toning down the heat and size of the flames.

    Stuffed with alcohol-soaked cotton balls, the trucks go up in flames pretty quickly!

Still, I was happy with how the burning of these die-cast vehicles simulated a burned-out wreck. One of the pickup trucks even split in half, with the metal connecting pieces melting. Others had the doors burnt off and falling to the stone pavers I was using as my surface. Once the vehicle looked good, I would either blow out the fire or douse it with some water to put out the flames. You have to be careful with water, though, as it may also wash away the soot that looks so good built up on the colored surfaces of the vehicles.

    The goal of the torching of the vehicle is to get some bending and bubbling of metal, and soot stains

Next, I took the hulks and based them up on textured plastic that I wanted to use to simulate the road surface. First, though, I sprayed the plastic with black spray paint. I set the vehicles on top of the plastic and noted where the metal touched the surface. I scratched away the paint in those places, exposing the raw plastic. I used two part epoxy to attach the bottom parts of the vehicles to the plastic surface. Once secured, I added Woodland Scenics ballast to the surface on top of Tacky glue. I wanted to represent a raised or melted asphalt effect. This was painted black and then dry brushed with a dark gray. I think it turned out okay, but felt it was too boring looking.

    I added some watered down black paint to supplement the soot stains and cover up any bare metal

I then added turf, brown tufts, and more fine blended gray ballast to give the road surface some detail and an interesting look. I also added some plaster bricks and washed them and the gray ballast with a black wash to dirty them up. All in all, I was happy with the look of the road surface around the vehicles. 

    The warping and contortion of the metal gives this a look you couldn't get from just painting it

I did have to go back in and put some black wash on parts of the vehicles that didn't get much soot. I also added some watered down black paint to other parts where the soot had been scratched, or where I felt there needed to be more of a burned look to it. In the end, I am happy with this experiment. I think in the long run, the soot and melted metal are the two things that make these burnt out wrecks look convincing. Interestingly, the soot will still rub off to the touch even after two coats of matte clearcoat spray. I really don't know what else to do, except remember to touch the models by their bases and not by the cars themselves.

    A freebie large truck becomes a great terrain pieces to break up sight lines on the post-apoc streets

I also had a long plastic truck that was given to me as a freebie by Diabolical Terrain. I thought it would make a great wreck, laying on its side. I placed some masking tap on portions of the decal before spraying it with acrylic black primer. Actually, before that, I had based it up with a styrene tube propping up one side. My thought was to paint it like an aluminum pole so it looked like it has slammed into a light pole, taken it down, and was now resting on it.

    I used a combination of masking off pieces of the decal on the truck and dry brushing & washing

After the black priming, I removed the masking tape. I also touched up the metallic pieces with various shades of metallic gray, pewter, and silver. Once I was happy with it, I did a heavy black wash. By no means is this the most amazing scatter piece for a post-apocalyptic table, but I think it looks okay. It will take up a decent amount of space the tabletop. Actually, that was the whole point of the burnt out vehicles. I wanted to break up the sight lines that areas of road will create on the table. Most skirmish games require cover to give players interesting decisions to make. Where do they move to? Where do they hole up?

    The Bucknuts investigate a burned out wreck, hoping to find something to salvage

I'm happy with my burnt out wrecks, and plan to create some more. I'll keep this page updated with new ideas or refinements I make on the techniques I used. I hope you like them, and stay tuned for more!

    This VW bug could probably have used more charring on portions of the blue painted surface

    Some colors show the soot stains better, like this tan colored pickup truck

Acheson Scatter Terrain for Post-Apoc & Modern Games

    Acheson Creations has always made quality, inexpensive terrain - here is some of the latest I painted

I continue to plow away on the terrain that I have purchased for my modern and post-apocalyptic games. My latest accomplishment is to paint up a number of pieces from Acheson Creations. Most were bought from the Miniature Building Authority booth at Cincycon 2023, but some have been sitting in my unpainted tubs for longer. They painted (and flocked) up very quickly, and I already have them tucked away in my downstairs closet displaying all my terrain on shelves.

My next post-apocalyptic game is planned to be on an urban battlefield, so I jumped these pieces to the front of the painting queue. I particular like the miscellaneous pieces which include tires, barrels, and a concrete slab. I grabbed four of them from MBA at Cincycon. I also picked out the stacks of tires, knowing how easy they'd be to get ready for the tabletop. My standard method is to run the pieces through the dishwasher on low heat. Next, I spray them with Krylon matte black. I follow that up with a 50/50 mix of acrylic black paint and water to ensure complete coverage. Then I dry brush it a dark gray, light gray, and so on. For the rims of the tires, I painted them with a metallic gray steel-colored paint. Finally, they receive a black wash and flocking and they're done!

I think these Acheson concrete pillars will look good for a bombed out or post-apocalyptic area  

I also liked these lone concrete pillars or pilings that look like they belong on a ruined city or post-apocalyptic tabletop. They received the identical treatment as the tires, above. Now that I see them in a photograph, I may have to create some piles of rubble to mix in amidst them. Or who knows? Maybe I already have something that will work for that -- I will have to check.

   The Bass Reeves, one of my post-apoc gangs, prowl through the rubbish looking for things of value

The final pieces are absolute trash. Well, two piles of garbage and a row of trash bins, that is! The trash piles are NOT Acheson. I'm not sure where I picked them up. My guess is that they were cast for me by my friend Tim Peaslee a couple years ago, and could very well be Hirst Arts or something similar. They took the most time to paint up due to having to put more than just black and gray in them. I could have spent even more time picking out details in the trash with other colors, but decided to keep it simpler. They are designed with a flat back and I believe meant to be shoved up against the wall of a building to show trash piled against it. The row of trash bins ARE Acheson Creations, and was the first time I found this casting in 28mm. I should probably buy more for my modern games, but hey! That gives me something to look for next time I see MBA or RRB Minis and More at a show!

All in all, these pieces should flesh out my tabletop more. I honestly believe it is the random "scatter" pieces that can make a game table seem to come to life. Acheson Creations makes some great pieces for that! If you see someone carrying them at a convention, you should pick some up!

Ruined 3-D Printed Buildings for Post-Apocalyptic

Bucknuts investigate one of my new 3-D printed buildings I bought from Jarls Workshop at ATC 2022

One of our HMGS Great Lakes members 3-D prints some amazing buildings, and I talked him into coming to last fall's Advance the Colors 2022 as vendor. Rusty Parker calls his shop "Jarls Workshop," and I bought quite a few items from him at the show. Most of them were ruined buildings that I could use for my post-apocalyptic games. I grabbed four of them earlier this week, and prepped them for painting.

    Rusty's excellent 3-D prints paint up quickly with base coat and dry brush for concrete and brick

Rusty's prints are of very high quality. He understands the different types of material, which gives the best results (which he uses), and invariably produces clean, flash-free buildings. I prepped them by spraying them with Krylon Matte Black primer, then following that up with a 50/50 mix of acrylic black paint and water. Once it's dry, it is a simple matter to dry brush the buildings. I start with a dark gray and follow up with a lighter gray highlight. Most of these buildings had sections of brick on them, too. Once I was done with the gray, I painted the brick sections with Iron Wind Metals Red brown. I followed that up with a dry brush of Howard Hues Middle Eastern flesh. The final touch was a relatively heavy black wash.

    Adding Woodland Scenics flocking to the dirt floor of this print makes it really pop, I feel

Next, it was on to the flocking. For the 2-story and 1-story buildings, I painted the areas that were sculpted to represent a dirt floor with white glue. I also dabbed white glue in the corners of the buildings and other spots where the wind might blow dust and dirt. In these areas, I also added some light gray Woodland Scenics clump foliage. I really felt the flocking made the 2-story and 1-story buildings "pop," so to speak. I even considered adding some posters on the walls or similar items, but decided to leave them relatively generic. I can also use these buildings for the bombed out interior of a city in Modern Skirmish games using my Wars of Insurgency rules.

    This 6-story corner shell of a skyscraper is probably my favorite of the buildings I bought from Rusty

Probably my favorite of the four buildings is the 6-story corner shell of a skyscraper. The moment I saw that sitting on Rusty's vendor table at ATC I knew I had to snatch it up before someone else did! I think it will be an iconic looking piece of a post-apocalyptic tabletop. Although this one did not have brick sections, it did have a stone tile facing on the first level. I decided to give it a dry brush of a dull, washed out green over top of the gray. The hint of color gives it a nice look, I think. What's more, I decided to add rubble on this piece. I used Woodland Scenics coarse mixed gray ballast, as well as loose resin bricks I'd bought from a game store, and some craft sticks for beams that have fallen loose onto the floor. All of these also received a dry brush or black wash. 

    Close up of the rubble, bricks, and beams that I added to the building to give more character

 I really like how the extra little bits added to the character of this very cool 3-D print. I wanted to give it a more three dimensional quality but also not impede miniatures from being put inside the building itself to take cover. I bought a total of six ruined buildings, so the next two will be following these four onto my painting desk shortly. One is a duplicate of the 2-story brick and concrete ruin that is at the top of this page. I may add a washed out color for the exterior and interior walls to make it look different. The second building is a sprawling, 2-story affair that will have a relatively large footprint on the tabletop. That's good because the next scenario I plan to run for my post-apocalyptic games will be inside a city. So, the more buildings I have, the better!

    I really look forward to seeing this 6-story ruin on the tabletop for my next post-apocalyptic game!

So, stay tuned for more update (hopefully) soon!

    Another view of the 2-story brick and concrete ruin from Jarls Workshop

Rusted Post-Apocalyptic Vehicles

    My rusted out, dilapidated Post-Apocalyptic vehicles from Diabolical Terrain

When I go to a convention, I always like to try to support the vendors in attendance. Sometimes this leads to purchases that I don't need right away (or may never truly need). Other times, it leads to purchases that are a bit more pricey than my normally cheapskate nature might contemplate. 

    This abandoned taxi makes for great terrain for a Post-Apocalyptic game (or modern junkyard?)

Such was the case with these two 3-D printed dilapidated Post-Apocalyptic vehicles. I was at DayCon 2022 and one of the vendors in attendance was Diabolical Terrain. They 3-D print a very cool Post-Apocalyptic line which is meant (I believe) for the Fallout Miniatures game. These were incredibly cool and evocative terrain pieces that immediately caught my eye. The price tag was a bit of sticker shock, though, considering what I normally pay for 3-D printed terrain. I ended up buying two dilapidated vehicles, a van and a taxi, to place on the tabletop for my Post-Apocalyptic games. 

    The Bass Reeves, one of my Post-Apoc gangs, check out the taxi for anything salvagable

The van was $30 and the taxi was $20. I think that is a tad steep, but the sculpts are very clean and required zero cleanup or trimming. DayCon is a convention I attend every year, so I wanted to support its vendors. So, I sucked it up and made the purchase. Once the rush of getting things ready for the Advance the Colors Saga tournament was done, I immediately slotted those into my painting queue. If I am going to pay top dollar for these cool terrain pieces, then I am going to get my money's worth and get them on the table ASAP!

    Hopefully the two-tone rust effect and the sky reflection on the windows came out okay on this model

To prep them, I spray painted them with Krylon matte black. I followed that up with my usual 50/50 mix of black acrylic paint and water. I went online and look for images to inspire me, but was surprised to find very few. I figured these being Fallout terrain that there would be a bunch of screen shots of the game featuring this van and taxi. Not the case -- or at least in the search terms I was using. So, I decided to go with a very faded yellow as a base coat for the taxi. I dry brushed this white, but felt it looked too blanched, and didn't have even a hint of that taxi yellow. So, I did a wash of golden yellow and was much happier with the result.

    I love how all the various ribs and metal beams are twisted and bent on this van model!

Trim for the bumpers and wheel wells was done in a steel color with silver highlights. Same for the metallic chrome around the headlights and tail lights. I also did splashes of medium gray on the tires. For the rust, I once again resorted to Google Image searches for patterns of rust on old, weathered vehicles. I used a medium brown as the initial coat, following that up in the center portions with a terra cotta orange. I went back and forth about how to paint the taxi sign atop the vehicle. It is divided into three sections, which I have never seen anywhere on a taxi. I decided to ignore the sections, and simply use a Sharpie marker to write "TAXI" on it. 

    The Vallejo black wash provides an overall grimy effect that, even though I water it down, looks good

The final coat was with Vallejo Black Wash, watered down considerably. I love how it settled in the folds and creases and made the vehicle look long abandoned. I didn't consider what it would do to the Sharpie, though, and it made the letters run. On reflection, now I actually liked the effect it had on the lettering. I think it adds to the overall sense of ruin and neglect. For the windows, I had painted them solid black. I used a very watered down deep blue on the top half of each window to give the effect of reflecting the blue sky. I used a line of watered down very light blue to give the effect of white clouds reflecting off the glass. I finished off the windows with diagonal streaks of the almost white blue to represent glare. I like how the windows came out, and think they give a decent effect.

    This vehicle looks long since looted by previous survivors in the grim post-Apocalyptic world

The van I dry brushed a cream color with another highlight of white. I gave it a dark olive drab green broad stripe at the bottom, which was dry brushed with a very light olive drab. The interior was done with the same cream for the floor and console, while the seats were done in a lighter olive base coat. Dark steel was used on the chrome or metal sections, with a silver dry brush, like with the taxi. I used the exact same rust effects, as well as the black wash. I was really worried that I didn't put enough thought and effort into the van, but really like how it came out.

All in all, I am very happy with how both terrain pieces came out. I recommend these Diabolical Terrain pieces if you want some iconic looking, Post-Apocalyptic terrain for the tabletop.

Post-Apocalyptic (or abandoned) Trailer Home

    My Sarissa Precision 'Residential Trailer' modified for a post-Apocalyptic or very seedy setting

This has been a model many months in the making. I started working on this Sarissa Precision MDF "Residential Trailer" over the summer. From the beginning, I intended major surface modifications to the design. Rather than the inscribed vinyl paneling the model comes with, I planned on adding corrugated tin or steel panels and patches. I wanted the trailer to look at home in either a post-Apocalyptic game or some seedy, modern setting in a slum or dilapidated area.

    The Bucknuts gang investigates the area around the trailer for signs to see if anyone is home

Luckily, I had several different sizes and types of corrugated styrene plastic. However, the base horizontal corrugated material would actually be done with corrugated paper that I bought at Hobby Lobby. I would use the styrene for the "patches" of corrugated material and for the vertical corrugation along the bottom edge of the trailer. I made an exception for the roof, though. I used all styrene corrugated material because I figured it would get more handling and wear as the roof was taken off and replaced during games.

    I like how the roof came out. I used paper towels as blue plastic tarp weighed down with craft bricks

I covered the windows with black plastic mesh material trimmed to appear as metal bars over the windows. I dry brushed the black with steel paint, but it kind of gets lost on the dark material. I should probably have done brighter metal highlights to make it look more obviously metal. I also decided not to use the cardboard awnings Sarissa Precision includes with the models. Not only could I not see how they wouldn't get knocked off during normal gaming, I also thought they were a little hoity-toity for the owners of this trailer that I had in mind! It is hard to see, but the skylights on the top actually have clear plastic window material that Sarissa included with the model. The clear coating I sprayed on frosted it, but I actually hoped that it would do that to make it a more realistic skylight. Otherwise, the windows of the model are just open holes with the plastic mesh trimmed to fit over them.

    I wanted the trailer to look like a cross between post-Apocalyptic and some backwoods nightmare

I love how the roof came out. I epoxied a piece of styrene corrugated material to cover the length of the MDF roof, having to make a few cut outs to account for the two large skylights on the roof. I put a couple different size styrene "patches" over the roof and also added in some tarps. I took ordinary paper towel material for the tarps, and glued it into place with white glue. I then painted the material heavily with a 50/50 mix of white glue and water. Finally, I added some craft bricks I had bought from a package at the Dragons Guildhall in Beavercreek, OH.

Bucknuts members take up positions to watch for the owners while they prepare to loot the trailer

There are other various modifications I made. The trim pieces along the sides of the model are simply wooden craft sticks trimmed to the right size. The wooden flooring on the staircase leading to the front door are similarly craft sticks trimmed to length and glued into place. Similarly, the frame around the front door is also done with wooden craft sticks.

    The rear of the trailer, with a section patched with wood and the obligatory warning to trespassers

Painting the trailer was easier than I thought it would be. I spray painted the model black, then went over it again with a 50/50 mix of black acrylic paint and water. I chose faded pastel colors for the corrugated paneling, and gave them extensive dry brushing to simulate sun-bleaching. Finally, I went crazy with red brown and an orange rust color to simulate a rusted, dilapidated exterior. I looked at photographs online of rusting tin and feel I came close to the effect. I am still not sure if I went overboard or got it right. I would be curious to hear what you think of the effect.

    The interior turned out ok - everything is painted except the doors, which are printed out & glued on

The final part of the model was painting the interior. Originally, I intended to use patterned paper as wallpaper and save myself the trouble of painting. But there are so many windows on this model that I finally decided it would be more work to measure and cut out the paper than it would be to just paint it. I gave it a black base coat then dry brushed my colors on. I did a lighter highlight dry brush, then a black wash to give it a faded, dirty appearance. I think it turned out functional. I could have put posters on the walls and such, but decided for a slight more bare bones look.

    This is how Sarissa Precision envisions the model - WAY to pretty and posh for what I had in mind!

The final touch was the abandoned love seat and easy chair sitting in the yard. These were plaster cast pieces I'd purchased from my friend Tim P. I also decided to add in the stereotype abandoned toilet in the yard, used as a planter for flowers. The fire pit is simply rocks. I realized that I forgot to push burnt sticks and ashes inside the fire ring. I also wanted to black wash the rocks and dry brush some soot stains. So, I guess I am not technically done with the model. It was just, with the months it took to get to this stage, I was ready for it to be complete!

Ruined Wall Sections for Post-Apocalyptic Games

    'F Troop' patrols the ruined wall sections that I created using the Ruined Hamlet box

I have lots of MDF buildings for my modern games, but wanted some bombed-out looking or ruined sections for post-Apocalyptic games. When I was at the Dragons Guildhall for our Saga game day last month, I found this Ruined Hamlet set from Warlord Games. It consists of a number of sprues with various wall long and short sections that you can mix and match. It also comes with stone angle caps meant to cover the seam when you attach two perpendicular pieces. These L-shaped caps come in a short and long length, but are easy to trim to match other sizes.

    The 'Blood Brotherhood' scavenges among the mix of ruined sections I created with the box's sprues

There are no instructions on how to put the hamlet together, being more of a kit to create what you want. I did a mix of ruins, some with three walls, some two, and some just corners still standing. They also include angled piles of rubble that you can glue into where your perpendicular sections connect. This strengthens the bond giving more places of attachment. The L-shaped caps and the angled rubble piles are very helpful, and I had some of each left over to save for future constructions.

    Scout and Sentry bots hunt through a ruined town looking for humans to exterminate

Once I had my ruined wall sections assembled, I spray painted them black. I covered that with a 50/50 mix of water and acrylic black paint. This ensures that all the numerous crevices and cracks between the stones are solid black. I then did a simply, two-step gray drybrush. I did a medium gray first, following that with a lighter gray. There are places where it looks like the wall plaster or stucco is still in place. I went back and forth on what color to do these in as I didn't want to be locked into a set construction when I placed them on the table. In the end, I decided to do those plaster patches a gray-blue, hopefully blending in with the black and gray look. I probably should have done something that stood out better, in hindsight. If I were to do it again, I would likely go with a green-gray or even light orange color. The blue kind of got lost, I think.

   Everything I created with the Ruined Hamlet box placed on the desert side of my new game mat

Finally, I did a black wash over the entire surface of every piece. I think washes do a nice job of "softening" the lines of dry brushing. In this case, the wash may have softened it too much and made the look more monotone. Oh well. If I buy another of these boxes, I will know what to do next time. I set them up with some of my post-Apocalyptic forces deployed in the ruins and took some photos. The backdrop is a tie-dyed orange shirt to give the sky an apocalyptic look.

The surface the wall sections are standing on is a two-sided rubber mat that I bought from Game Table Adventures at the last Saga tournament. The 4'x3' mat is green vegetation on one side, and desert tan on the other. I really like the mat, and plan on buying another one in 6'x4' size. I tossed clump foliage from Woodland Scenics around the miniatures and buildings to give it an overgrown, deserted look. It was a bit of a challenge gathering the clump foliage back up, as the mat retains a static electrical charge and the tiniest clumps were jumping all over the place!

New Street Gang: Indianola Mohawks (and WizKids Gas Station)

The Indianola Mohawks, my newest punk rocker gang, take over the local gas station

While researching the names of manufacturers who make 28mm miniatures that would be good for street gangs, I came up on Casting Room Miniatures. Even though I felt that I had enough street gangs already to run my game, I couldn't resist buying three of these packs. They covered types of gangs I didn't have already, and the figures had lots of characters. So, I ordered them from England, wondering how much extra time they'd take with the Coronavirus lockdown.

Iggy and Julius look around for some civilians to harass and intimidate - I love the hairstyles on these figures!

To my surprise, they arrived within two weeks - faster than my Footsore Miniatures North America order which still hadn't shown up after five weeks (I eventually gave up on them, and got a refund). So, instead of painting Viking bondi warriors, I would be painting punk rockers! The three packs I bought were Street Scumbags, Leather Gals and Boys, and Tedious Hippie Scum. With only five figures to a pack, I decided to break them into two gangs -- punk rockers and heavy metal heads. I split the Hippie Scum bag up, two to each new gang, and filed away the remaining placard-carrying figure for another day.

Ian toasts the other members with his refill on his drink, while Kira says, "Hold on, Ian, this girl is pissing me off...!"

The Street Scumbags would form the nucleus of the punk rocker gang, which I chose to call the Indianola Mohawks. Indianola is a street running alongside OSU campus, north of downtown, and seemed a good neighborhood to locate a gang. Mohawks, well, many of the figure had mohawks, and Indian, Indianola...get it? I did some Google searches to come up with a gang logo, and settled upon a skull with sunglasses and a red mohawk. I also did lots of searches on punk clothes, hairstyles, and t-shirts.

Maybel (with the blue hair) is spoiling for a fight, as is Sid, who has his dukes up ready to rumble

I really liked the Casting Room Miniatures. I did have to give most of them weapons. I took snippings of lead spears flattened with pliers for knives, a wire spear with no spearpoint for iron rods, and jeweler's chain for, well, a chain! I really like how the weapons worked into the figures, and felt they looked natural with the poses. My favorite was how the hippie girl who was holding her hands in the air worked perfect for stretching a chain over her head. In fact, she ended up being one of my favorite figures from this gang!

I gave tattoos, earrings, nose studs or chains and bright, punk rocker hair to the Casting Room Miniatures figures

After looking at images online, I decided all the punk rockers would wear black, with a brighter accent color. The leather jacks and vests would be black with bright silver zippers or studs. The t-shirts, vests, jackets, and Maybel's skirt would get gang logos on the back. However, the t-shirts looked too plain with nothing on the front. So, I looked up punk bands and then added those names to "punk" "tshirt" searches. I picked out the easiest to paint -- a Public Image Limited logo, Dead Kennedys symbol, and Black Flag's logo.

Some of the pieces from the WizKids 4D Gas Station

I spent a lot of time decided on hair colors, too. Bizarre hair has always been one of punk rock's most noticeable icons, so I wanted to do it up right. My favorite turned out to be Iggy's rainbow effect mohawk. I also really like how Maybel's blue hair came out, too. Once I was finished with the t-shirt logos, I decided to go ahead and give them tattoos, as well. I'm happy with how all the extra stuff I painted on these turned out.

Iggy and Sid check out the service entrance of my Sarissa Precision gas station, and more of the WizKids pieces

When it came time to take pictures of the gang, I decided to set up a recent purchase of mine. I am trying to support the brick and mortar gaming stores in the area. One avid supporter of the wargaming scene is Fun Factory Hobbies in Mt. Gilead, north of Columbus. I messaged him on Facebook, and he patiently went through what he had that I might be interested in. I ended up buying the WizKids 4D Gas Station from him. It contains 25 pre-painted pieces, such as pumps, ice and soda machines, propane tank, trash cans, air pump, and more. I may go back and add yellow trim on the pumps so they match my MDF shell station, but these images are straight out of the box.

Sid and Kira help themselves to some ice and soda (with a little liquor in it?), while keeping an eye out

I encourage others out there to support their local hobby stores at this time, too -- especially the
"brick and mortar" ones. I bought a boardgame (Terraforming Mars) from the Guardtower here in town. Dan from Game Table Adventures has some 28mm 3-D printed Viking A-frames for me, too. I essentially decided to spend my state tax refund (around $300) supporting the local game shops. I need to pick up something from the Guardtower East, too -- this week, hopefully.