The Scene - New Items and Sale Ending Today

The Scene's 20% off sale ends at midnight (UK time) today. If you haven't had a chance to order yet (or you've thought of even more goodies to buy), Mike released a few new terrain items this week.

For the Building Accessories range, there are a few new air conditioning units, a new rooftop/freestanding storage tank, and some new hatches and ventilation fans.

The Heavy Weapons and Miscellaneous range welcomes a new missile launcher system in two different sizes. These are great for converting or scratchbuilding vehicles, or even as rooftop defenses for buildings.

And speaking of buildings...

We have the long-anticipated return of the Desert Dwellings! These have been modified slightly - they still mix well with the older ones (if you're one of the lucky few who managed to get them), but the edges are far less damaging to the molds. Mike also updated them with a tiled floor. It's a nice change - I might have to do the same to my older versions.  

Cheers,

Chris

Taxi For Mr Horizon! Taxi Office WIP

I'm revamping Mudd Eisley. There's a distinct lack of domes and I mean to fix that. So I've been collecting interesting packaging - helps working next to the IT department - to replace my current stock of buildings before I put them in for a Sarah Beeney.

Mudd Eisley Taxi Office WIP

L: Star Wars Action Fleet 'Echo Base Trooper'

(makes a decent desert trooper too)

R: CMG Light Recon, Mudd Eisley style

The 'domes'  are mini plastic footballs used for Easter egg hunts (apparently)  - pack of 6 which could be split into 12 halves was £1 from Poundland in Aberdeen. Since seen similar in Hobbycraft.

The underneath of the 'roof' is reinforced by a sheet of card glued into place. I then ran big globs of PVA glue around the inside lip of the dome halves, before repeating on the outside. Once the dome was laid on the roof, I ran the glue for about a centimeter around the base of the dome to ensure that it had a good footprint. It was only at this point I remembered that I had a hotglue gun - DOH!

Once dry - well, once the PVA had turned transparent at least, I mixed sand, PVA and 'quick dry' exterior Polyfilla (1 PVA : 3 Polyfilla) and brushed, yes brushed on with an old Size 2 brush. Took minutes.

Dome Closeup

The garage door is from GZG's Building Fittings. Mike at TheScene has similar, equally good, but I already had the GZG door spare. It would be easy to go mad with windows and door on these scratchbuilt models - but you have to bear in mind this is Mudd Eisley - fierce heat and even fiercer sandstorms.

What does make a difference though is 'industrialising' the building - just one or two accessories such as vents, exhausts, aircon units or pipes. And here can I say that I wish someone would produce 90 degree pipes in a couple of sizes, in pairs and triples, that can be rested against a building.

The 'taxi' is a really nice GEV APC from Scotty at Combat Wombat. It seemed just right to fulfill the role of a rugged desert taxi-bus in addition to it's intended purpose.

Still very much a work in progress but I'll keep you updated.

Cheers

Mark

 

GZG 15mm Rommel III MBT

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GZG's new releases including the Rommel III MBT should be up on the webstore now.

GZG 15mm Sci Fi
Rommel III MBT

There's something about the Rommel that grabs me. I see it more as an automated tank rather than a manned one and can envision a fleet of them on my desert tabletop. It looks ruthless, efficient and most definitely Harkonnen.

Cheers
Mark
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The Dropship Xmas Cracker!

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I have not ONE, but TWO complete sets of Critical Mass Games new Mercs to give away courtesy of Craig and Dale.

The lucky winners will be announced by the Dropship Bunny at 9pm GMT on Friday 18th December and be in the post to you next day.

The prize winners will recieve one each of the packs of unpainted figures below:



These new 'Mercs' will also be available for sale on the 21st December from the Critical Mass Games webstore.

So, what do you have to do to win this bounty?

L-R Mr Gray, Mr Red, Mr White, Mr Blue, Mr Scarlet

Pick one or more of the characters from the photo above, and leave a message below detailing their 'real' name/callsign, species and a couple of sentences of background telling us why they have come to the Mudd Eisley Cantina.

Please leave a different message for each character.

One winner will be chosen at random from the entries submitted by 7pm GMT on Friday 18th December.

Five of the most interesting characters chosen by Heather, Master Chef and myself will take part in a 1-2-1 skirmish game played out on Saturday night. The second winner will be selected from these five finalists.

Takedown at the Mudd Eisley Cantina will be blogged on Sunday 20th together with photos of the action for everyone to enjoy.

Best of Luck!

Cheers
Mark
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Life, The Universe and Spugs

Last week was a mixed week both at home and at work. Ups and downs in both cases.

I'm fitting in with a new boss, nice person, who I don't actually report to. I now have three people to consult in order to take a day off. I'm afraid that 'matrix management' in our organisation is ......well, not a happy experience.

"Simply demanding results will not achieve them"
Quote: Resident Evil Extinction

I have 15 working days left as a Project Leader, currently on loan to M&I, before I move to IT, due to scaling down within the organisation. I still have a job, so am thankful, believe me I am thankful. Possibly I could have a grumble but there's no real complaint given the financial climate.

Over the next 10 days I'm running workshops for the great and the good. Will probably have to work into the evenings this week processing the outcomes of each day's gap analysis event, so I am going to postpone GREYS Week till after the coming weekend.

Meanwhile, job hunting has taken a back seat as I've been promised a not insignificant bonus if I'm still with the organisation in May. This will help pay for both Heather's birthday present - a pair of Russian Blue cats and dental repairs. It will also give me time to reflect and repair myself mentally following several mentally and emotionally demanding months.

Friday night I played a small(ish) game based upon a Chechnya style armoured assault on Mudd Eisley using FWC with individual figs rather than squads. A platoon of Guardia Imperial Mudde Eisley Proteccion (G.I.M.P.s) supported by the 'Reservoir SPARTANS' and an ex-Star Wars Walker stood off attacks by a reduced company sized armoured force of Light Grav Tanks and Grav Panzergrenadiers in Grav APCs (yes, painted silver!). Neat little game. It was nip and tuck though, with the SPARTANS using the Walker to hold the line whilst they regenerated shields to meet the armour. The final assault brought the armour right into the main square - pictured above - Commandante Hernadez Baal'gag leading the insanely heroic but daft counter-attack.

The Spugs simply aren't gelling with me in the way I expected, so I've put them away in a drawer until I receive the new bases, which are on order. Instead, I spent Saturday preparing Rebel Minis' L.A. SWAT Team for painting this week, as they'll be simple - black undercoat and blue drybrush.

I've mounted four pairs of miniatures on small FOW bases and mounted the remaining 4 figures individually on some redundant small round bases that came with the Old Crow Sci Fi infantry.

Works quite well I think. I had been tempted to do some kind of urban camo which certain SWAT forces use, but I do just want to keep it simple at this stage.

Most of the day disappeared painting and basing, another 'cohort' of Terminators - HOF30 Automata Infantry from 15mm.co.uk. Effectively doubling the number of robotic infantry available to me. I love these miniatures and have played several fun games with them using ALIEN SQUAD LEADER V1.0 (ASqL).

My current 200 point Mechanoid Army is:

10 Stands of Robotic Infantry
3 Stands of Heavy (Assault) Droids
- or three GZG GunCrabs depending which suits
2 Titans

I will upgrade this force with GZG's unmanned AV-12/U Mantis VTOL Gunships as Robotic Attack Craft (Distant Flyers in the rules) and possibly some GZG MAWP Mobile Autonomous Weapons Platforms (tracked) - shiny metal finish of course!

The Mechanoids are probably the easiest possible army to get on the table. Attach 10-15 robot infantry onto an old CD and liberally coat them in black ink. Once dry, take a lightly moistened cloth and brush across the miniature to wipe the ink off exposed surfaces. A minute per miniature! En masse they look stunningly malevolent! All they need now is to have their eyes painted a glowing red and the bases finished off. I'm not even worried about varnishing!

Automata Infantry from 15mm.co.uk
on the workbench

Yesterday evening Heather and I had a magnificent Indian Take-Away from the Alma Hotel in Laurencekirk. Pricey, but consistently good, absolutely lovely Indian food. It was a celebratory meal as Heather had good career news at work during the week.

We went for a Tandoori 'blow out' - the mixed Tandoori Grill supplemented with Tandoori Giant butterfly Prawns - plus all the usual trimmings - Aloo Sag, something spicey Aloo, Poppadums and garlic Nan. I think we may be able to eat again on Tuesday!

I'm afraid we couldn't face the complimentary Nan bread that was included with the meal, so that has gone out to feed the Crows in the garden. They enjoy both Nan and Garlic bread - which we can never put out for them without mimicking Peter Kay's "Garlic Bread" routine.

Today I'll get the Rebel Minis' BIO-Hazard Assault Group cleaned, ready for painting during the week as time permits. Even if it's just a couple of figs a night. Once again, magnificent miniatures for just being what they are - guys in Bio-Hazard suits. I can already feel the need to settle in with a couple of Magners and watch Resident Evil Extinction on DVD this afternoon. Nothing at all to do with Bio-Hazard suits, I simply like Ali Larter and Amy Smart (click here). Oh, and Mucho Zombieness!

Cheers
Mark

New GZG N.A.C. seen on edge of Mudd Eisley

Our intrepid Fox 5 reporter Ed Dentalfloss is tonight beaming back his report from the edge of Mudd Eisley.

"It's an ugly planet, it's a Spug planet. And I'm with the men of the 659th NAC Marines as they undertake a shaking down mission on the edge of Mudd Eisley".


"These men patrolling the streets in what has come to be known as 'Spug Alley' represent the tip of the spear. Forged by GZG HQ, it's a new spear with a new kind of soldier offering the best that mankind cam bring to the table."

"In action earlier, under the Ambush Alley rules of engagement these tough hombres demonstrated they had the cajones to do the job. Reacting quickly to new threats as they appeared, pockets of newly hatched Spugs were eliminated as they emerged from nearby hotspots. Back at base these new boys on the block earned themselves a brew and a new nickname, the "Spugbusters!"

- Special Report on this action by Dropship Horizon Fox 5 News to follow.......

ALL NEW GZG 15mm NAC Marines
Available Soon!

Cheers
Mark