Followers of the Dark Prophet & Scout Bots

    The Followers of the Dark Prophet fan out as they advance across the post-Apocalyptic wasteland

I have begun my break from painting Saga figures in earnest. I have been wanting to put on some post-Apocalyptic games for years, and have been kicking around some ideas in my head. I really like the dark future world that the Terminator movies created, with the machines warring against humans. So, I decided to set my games in a version of that, with humanity disunited and broken into warring gangs squabbling over local control over resources. Food, fuel, weapons are their goals, as well as promoting their bizarre ideas of how humanity should begin anew. They know the machines are enemies, but the nuclear holocaust took them down a few pegs, and their bots also are scattered and under intermittent control of local programs and Artificial Intelligence that weren't taken out in the big boom.

    I individualized the head wraps that each figure wore, in fact, only the shirts and hats were uniform

I'd already painted up a couple gangs already, F Troop and the Blood Brotherhood. Both were from figure lines created by Sgt. Major Miniatures, now reissued by Battle Valor Games. I've always liked these figures, especially the way there are multiple poses and variety. Each faction or related figure packs have a unique and recognizable theme. This batch of seven figures I would paint are labeled "Space Terrorists," and were from their Sci-Fi line. They could easily be a gang in my Terminator world, though. After painting them, I dubbed them the Followers of the Dark Prophet to keep with the somewhat Muslim or Middle Eastern look to their clothing. I had painted their shirts and headdresses black, so it all seemed to fit.

    I like how the different pants, boots, and kit colors give the gang a ragged appearance

Black is always a tricky base color, but I was pretty happy with how the understated gray highlights I used turned out. After clear coating them, I had to go back over and brush on Vallejo matte clear to take off the shine that was unfortunately left by the Testors Dullcoate. It seems some batches of my favorite clear coat are less "dull" than others! I gave them a dark red belt or sash as an accent, but used a variety of colors for their pants, pouches, bags, and such. I like how this gives them a common theme, but irregular appearance. For a splash of color and individuality, each got their own unique face wrap. My favorites turned out to be the red and white and black and white checkered wraps.

    Some face wraps were simple, some were fancy, as a way to keep track of who's who on the tabletop

Their boots were done in a range of browns and grays, all heavily dry brushed to give them a well-worn appearance. I used khakis and olive drabs for most of their ammo pouches, haversacks, and other equipment, though I did throw in a few other colors here and there to keep with the slightly irregular look. The weapons were done with a steel color, highlighted with a brighter pewter. With a black wash to tone them down a bit, I think they weapons turned out nicely, too.

    Scout Bots roam the wastelands searching for signs of humans & calling back locations to their AI

Before painting this batch, I also began work on the first of my Bot miniatures. These were 3-D printed from Thingiverse by my friend Joe. I had him print up four different types of Bots for me -- Scout Bots, Patrol Bots, Military Bots, and Assault Bots. I did two of the Scouts first. They were a cool looking wheeled robot with headlights and two weapons. These patrol the wastelands looking for suspicious activity or signs of humans. They then report this information and position back to their local overlord program, which then sends out progressively heavier forces to investigate and neutralize. I decided to go with a colored metallic theme on these. I purchased some craft metallic paints in various colors and made them the main color theme, along with a steel base coat. Yes, I realize the red looks way more pink and is somewhat garish. However, I wanted to see how it turned out and have to say I think both it and the green one look pretty snazzy! The 3-D printed castings aren't necessarily the sharpest miniatures, but they were incredibly cheap and allow me to get a handful of each size painted up for a pittance.

Both the next batch of Bots and the next gang are primed and underway on my desk. So, hopefully, I will have more finished minis to post pictures of soon!