A blog about miniatures, wargaming, and the people driven to ruin by them....

Sunday, July 29, 2012

Sci Fi Buildings for Ghenna IV

Howdie.  As I continue to work on my 15mm sci fi project, I thought I would share the progress on my buildings.  The beleaguered Free Miners of Ghenna IV need some place to stay, and defend, after all.  I personally like inexpensive (CHEAP) and easy methods when working on gaming projects.  So, when it was suggested to me to try to use electric boxes as the shells of buildings, I was all over it.  Some of the following boxes cost as little as $0.37 (in my area, anyway) and none that I bought cost more than $0.99.


 Those are finished dormitories.  I added steel bases for "windows" and "doors" (having something glued makes them seem more real than my normal preferred method of just painting that kind of thing on buildings)... used a self adhesive cable bracket for a roof hatch (and they look pretty good for this purpose)... and a wire nut as either a communications or ventilation device (take your pick).

Keeping with my story line... the buildings are designated as "TC" for temporary construction.  During the initial founding of the Ghenna IV mining colony, the miners held a flimsy contract with a subisdiary of Marano Industries.  Among the many articles modified, reduced, or completely ignored by M.I. were those related to the gradual updating and replacement of the TC buildings.  As you can see, despite the robust nature of the original materials (hey, even Marano Industries can't go cheap on everything), decades of abuse by the miners and the weather of Ghenna IV have taken their toll.  Oxidized materials have left indelible stains as they slough off from vulnerable entrance ways.



 Here some miners enjoy recreational shooting with newly arrived visitors.  The TC dormitories feature ground level de-contamination chambers, storage, independent power sources (mostly offline at this point), and some repair facilities.  The second floor is given over to individual med centers (woefully undersupplied), kitchen and food storage, recreation center, sanitary facilities, and supplementary bunks.  The upper floor is entirely for bunks.  Overcrowding is a major issue on Ghenna IV, but at least with three shifts going full time, the dorms are never full at any given time.

The poor housing and maintenance may be one of the prime causes of the miners going independent in the first place (that, and the lengthy distance from the nearest United Terran military site).  But Marano Industries has never forgiven or forgotten a transgression from any mining colony...

The following is an image of some "works in progress" which will represent major buildings (I am thinking of a water capturing plant, with monitoring station and clean storage tank... and also a small factory or vehicle repair center).  I still need to complete the painting on these.




It certainly has not improved inter-species relations that the new visitors have been referring to the planet as "Lidderbachs IV", whatever that means...



Finally, here are some "off the rack" models.  For the round boxes, one is destined to become Das Wunder Bar, the tavern/rec center that usually ends up being the meeting house for most important discussions.  The other will be the "real" command center, featuring a small hospital, and communications center.  The other rectangular boxes... well, I don't know yet....



I have seen many examples online of people using these boxes to good effect.... those with the dedication to dremel the "wings (actually, brackets for nails and screws) probably end up with a better looking product.  And there are definitely a number of companies selling sci -fi terrain add ons, like doors and windows, which look much better than my simple, mostly paint-detailed, jobs.  Still, I am satisfied with how these have been turning out... and the fact that everything cost me about $20 (that's all of the components) is fantastic.

Hope you enjoyed your tour of downtown Ghenna IV, come again, and don't forget to pack your beam rifle next time!

Chalfant


Saturday, July 7, 2012

Horror: Von Leech and Harrington Families

Howdie.

I've trying to keep at my Horror projects, specifically the iconic creatures of the night that haunt most places of the world.  So I took a look at the von Leech family and their distant cousins the Harringtons.

The von Leeches enjoy nightime walks, late snacks, and gloomy graveyards.  They are definitely not into  beaches, pina coladas, or walking in the rain.



All of these miniatures are from West Wind, Vampire Wars.  The child vampires are from the Kindernacht pack, and are suitably creepy.  OK, I'll be honest... I don't think these are the most precise sculpts on the market, BUT, I also think that there is a great depth of character in these miniatures.  That's why I bought them instead of any of those other (many, many) vampire miniatures on the market.

Herr von Leech and Frau von Leech (in the red dress), look like they are ready to tear into your throat.  The kinder are, as I said, suitably creepy, especially little Elise floating around on toe tip.  Frau von Leech's cousin Annette "The Frizz" Blankowsky looks like an insane marionette.  All in all, they turned out very nice.  I went with a simple, fast paint job for each.  Nothing too fancy, but very servicable.  They all have blank white eyes, makes them a little more unsettling.  I wish that Herr von Leech didn't have the sword and dagger... its meant to be useful in the V. Wars system, I guess, but for me, I'd prefer they just use fangs and talons.

The Harringtons also enjoy nighttime walks (especially by moonlight), late snacks, and gloomy graveyards.  Walking in the rain is no problem.  Beaches are ok, but they have been a little busy lately, munching on folks in the neighborhood...







These are from the Blue Moon set, Howling Good Time.  What is interesting is that each werewolf is different from the rest... one is in near wolf form, one is actually relatively calm looking, another is angry and menacing, but that big Loup Garou looking mother in the middle is absolutely horrific.  These painted up very quickly, I made sure to put some un-wolf like colors on each miniature, representing human hair color, or pinkish skin, whatever.  Once again, fast and simple, but I like how they turned out.

The big guy gets a choice of three heads...so I have two left over to use as scenics or bitz.

I did not finish basing any of these, as I am working on some monster hunters right now, and intend on  finishing all of that basing together at one time.


More to come, thanks for looking.

Chalfant