Generic Terrain from The Scene

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In my prep for the 2010 gaming season, I've been building up my scenery collection. Especially given that I'll also be running games from the Asylum Books and Games store in Aberdeen.

Mike at The Scene (UK) offers a wide range of terrain products that met my criteria for good looking, hard-wearing and portable terrain.

I picked up three Hard Backed Grey/Green Hills. HG002: 8"x 4", HG006: 8" x 8" and HG009: 12 1/2"x 5 1/2". They stand about 17mm tall, have gentle sloping sides, and are finished with patches of grey stones.

The Scene UK, Hard-Backed Grey/Green Hills
HG006 bottom, HG009 top

They look good on the table, provide both cover and visible height advantage, and are practical too. When not in use I keep them in their plastic bags and store on top of each other in a shallow drawer. The colour balance in the photo is poor so don't take the colours you see as a guide.

You can also see RG011A: rocky ground from the Generic Scatter range, just £3,00 painted and flocked. Surprisingly nice and dirt (excuse the pun) cheap. Here's a closeup...

The Scene UK, RG011A Rocky Ground

The trooper is a GZG 15mm OUDF figure from my recently completed 123rd Steppenwolves. I've included him deliberately because I'm going for a Northern Steppes feel - and hence the next scatter terrain ROoo1B: Rocky Outcrops, 5 pieces painted and flocked for £9.00:

The Scene UK, ROoo1B Rocky Outcrops
only 2 pieces illustrated

Now, these are tasty! The rocks come with a Citadel Space Wolves(ish) grey finish and provide substantial cover for both infantry and vehicles. Well worth the money, which I can say with authority because Heather bought me a Woodland Scenics 'rock' mould (C1233) for around £6 as an extra little something for Xmas. So that's £6 before we count casting material, base, paints and flock, time and effort. Less than a tenner and 5 pieces of scatter terrain ready to go straight on the table.

Whilst not distinctly Sci Fi as such, this terrain will be used in many of our Hyborian Sci Fi games in addition to WW2 Götterdämmerung, historicals and fantasy, over and above alien invasions and Merc tickets on settled worlds.

Time spent checking out The Scene will be well spent. Mike's ranges are constantly evolving and he has some great stuff at affordable prices.

Cheers
Mark
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New Years Resolutions ?

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You gotta be kiddin' me! Who thought January was the best time to make resolutions that had a cat in Hades chance of sticking! It's cold, dark and will remain so for another two months, and all that Christmas Cheer needs to be paid off at the end of the month!

I mean who in their right mind is going to start dieting or go on the wagon during the height of winter? And equally, who is going to make resolutions about "I am only going to buy 15 figures this year", yeah and why? because you have a tin mountain in your study/back bedroom/ flat that can be picked up from space by CIA spy satellites!

But of course you also have that 15% discount voucher from GZG to use before the end of the month, Brigade still have 15% off till the 7th and then QRF announce a 15% off everything (well, good as) running from 11th to 25th January! That's followed by Jon at Khurasan announcing the Felid support weapons pack and Early Medieval Swiss - not Sci Fi perhaps but C13-C14th century ordinary cowpoke with pikes, halberds and plancon, be they Swiss, Scots or Flemish taking on the arrogant harnessed noblesse of Europe appeals to my sense of social justice.

So any pretence at gaming resolutions for the New Year dissipates up an X-Wing's tailpipe and it's only 3rd of January!

Cheers
Mark
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"Oh my God. Ze Gas Mask Bandits!"

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Told you I was having fun! Peter Pig WW2 Pack 285: Russians in greatcoat with SMG given that retro Sov-Block 'Kolony' Rebel look with a GZG gasmask separate head.


Just a rough 5 minute job to see if it works. Peter Pig 15mm are exactly what they say on the tin - mostly that is - a few ranges, such as the modern USMC are bigger. This means that side by side with Rebel Minis, GZG, Critical Mass Games, these P.Pig Soviets are noticably smaller, though not at all when a couple of inches away from each other on the tabletop.

The new GZG separate heads though , are not surprisingly on the larger side, so they won't work in every instance - but the gasmask heads do! And, because they ARE just that bit larger than the P.Pig figure, the whole distopian effect is enhanced.

Peter Pig also offer a range of WW2 Germans in greatcoat which includes MP44 assault rifles, Panzerfausts, Soviet SMGs. Many of these and some of the Germans in 'Zeltbahn', could be potentials for the 'Kolony' treatment.



Cheers
Mark
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Another Day Another Head Swop

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Ever since Jon sent me the first samples of the remastered New Israelis, I felt compelled to turn the the superb squad leader miniature in pack SG15-Z7 into a character along the lines of Sergeant Major Avery Johnson from HALO or Sgt. A. Apone from Aliens.

Another Glorious Day in the Corps

This mini took about half an hour. I used clippers to take the helmeted head off then carefully paired down the remaining metal - think of Paulie preparing the garlic in Goodfellas.

The character head I chose was from the original sprue of character heads Jon sent me. Too late, I found that the spigot attached to this head under the chin and not the neck. I'd already removed it from the sprue by this time and because the head is too small to hold and safely cut the remaining spigot away, I had to use a rat-tail file to trim it back sufficiently.

The head still sat too proud of the neckline - a common error in this type of conversion, so I used a semi-round rat-tail file to create a dip that would allow the head to sit more realistically. The finished figure will have a suitable collar round his neck created from Greenstuff, to tidy up the join and provide additional strength to the head.

Hope you like it. I'm seriously chuffed with how 'Sgt Major Johnson' has turned out and think it makes a very powerful miniature that will add character to the whole unit. Next New Israeli figure I fancy converting in this manner is the advancing Sniper from pack SG15-Z10. I think he'd look really mean with the separate head wearing vision enhancing goggles.

Cheers
Mark
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Are You My Mummy? - GZG Headswops

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Started playing around with GZG's latest 15mm Sci Fi separate heads in tonight and having fun!

I had a couple of figures left over in a duplicate pack of SG15-X04A Free Trader Crew and thought that I'd begin by trying out the heads on the 'Captain' wearing a dustcoat.

First up, "Are you my mummy?" Took about 5 minutes to carefully remove the existing head leaving as little damage to the figure and head as possible. I managed this by carefully carving round the head using a downward cut, before snapping the head off with my fingers.


Not bad, though I think the head with a Mohican and smaller mouth/nose mask would create a more interesting character without any further work. But, continuing with this full face 'gasmask' head - turn that pistol into a Glock or machine-pistol, place a machete or shotgun in his left hand, obligatory post-apocalypse keffiyeh/shemagh cowl round his neck - you have a bona fide post Nuclear/Pandemic/Zombie/Alien holocaust survivor.


Of course you might just want a 'Bad Ass' character, heavy or crime boss. This bald head with visor shades and cigar oozes Samuel L Jackson attitude!

The separate heads with visor/goggles alone will provide five good potential conversions in the G15-X04B Free Trader Crew and Passengers pack before I even get to the Ravagers, Armed Civilians/Colonists and various military types.

Cheers
Mark
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GZG 15mm New Troopers Preview

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We start a cracking new decade with these
new 15mm figures from Jon at GZG!

This excellent mini - I admit to being biased ;-) is the first in a new range of 15mm Sci Fi Troopers in light armour and full face visored helmets. There will be a couple of packs to start, which will expand to a full range if response is positive. Below is the forthcoming New Israeli man-pack missile gunner. A very well designed miniature and weapon system.

GZG 15mm New Israeli Missile Launcher

Have a Great New Year!
Cheers
Mark
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