Those Who Work as a Family

All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.
   - Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina

the family that scavenges together stays together

Quick one here. I've been doing other projects while I've fallen silent. I intended to do an army-builder style blog about one but work has been kicking my arse and involving lots of typing at a keyboard - so the idea of typing at home has been very off-putting. But that's mostly behind me and while I've since painted a tank and been sick, I did just do these guys!

A little family of scavengers, part of Crooked Dice's 4th Colony 87 kickstarter, a few years back now. Gave them a uniform, painted their little droids - easy.

dear ole dad

When looking up the kickstarter for the above link, I realised that dad's meant to be pulling down a visor - I just painted it as a black band holding on his ear protectors. Oh, well, that still works.

He was actually the last of the team painted - contra. my usual style, this list is exactly in the opposite order to the paint!

mumsie

A hard-nose lieutenant of a woman, this one. She has a weird dot flaw in the cast next to her nose, but I think that just makes her look tougher. Love that she has basically the same gear as dad, only plus a bandana and cool sunnies.

I did enjoy weathering the hell out of their gear.

teens right

boy

Not much to say about these two. I think the boy looks like a right git, in the tradition of early teen boys throughout the ages. I do like that he's a bit tubby.

lil guy

This was SO fun and easy to paint. He really has turned out like I weathered him deliberately, when most of that is just from rough brushing and the Contrast (Iyanden Yellow if you're curious) that went straight over grey - oh, all these guys were undercoated grey.

big guy

Love this guy. He looks so friendly! And yet with the textured white for his head and the red eyes, he's also real creepy. I added the cog and some other 40K transfers to ensure that the crew still ties into my vague sense of setting - the implication is that he's not at all sapient - assuming the local Mechanicus administrators are compliant...

The orange was rough Wild Rider Red and then sponge-applied Trollslayer Orange. Maybe a layer mixing them in there, I forget. I then weathered hell out of him, which is always extremely fun.

makers' mark

One of the other transfers. I didn't want it to go on the chest like heraldry, but instead give a sense that it's a markers' mark or has some other significance, so it got tucked in here. Helps break up all that orange.

obscure symbol

Down on his leg is one of the warning symbols from the Mechanicus transfer sheets. It actually was broken on the sheet, which I found out when I had already soaked it, but that just meant it blended in nicely to the weathering (and then I did even more to it, yayy). I could weather dorky robots forever. Maybe I should do a Mechanicus project.

Anyway, that's it! I'll hopefully post about some games I've had in the last little while and/or that project I mentioned - it was out of sequence, but it's also almost finished, so I don't feel too bad about breaking up my 'complete things' rhythm. See you all soon!

Those Who Work, Those Who Sell, Those Who Record -- Those Folks

 In the beginning of time God made the earth. Not one word was spoken at the beginning that one branch of mankind should rule over another..."
   - Gerrard Winstanley

some regular folks

Moving up in the world, we've reached the working and middle classes - a real mixture of 'just folks'. These are mostly Eureka Miniatures again, slightly small and slight among the more classic GW-style Crooked Dice, but it works for a diversity of a population. Probably. They also go with the kids I've done in the past.

Those Who Venture

Still firmly in the 'scum' category, although Prospector Gan Havelock at least approaches respectable, being a freelance surveyor rather than an... ugh adventurer.

meet all sorts out here

More Crooked Dice miniatures, from their Colony 87 range. Some of these have only been in the collection for weeks as opposed to my usual years. I've grouped these as vaguely adventurers, as they're all a bit armed and rowdy to really be anything else, although Havelock could have as easily fit into the next group (working and middle class types).

Really had fun with these - I always say that for Colony 87 though.

Those Punks

Climbing the social ladder, from animals to cops, to outcasts and punks.

punks and skum

A mix of manufacturers, meaning a range of scales and styles, but I think they all work together as a group. This group of misfits and sods were fun as hell to paint, letting me muck about with colours (I've been using a lot of pink and green lately), as well as some experiments with skin tones and -- well, let me get into it.

Those Who Protect

Following on from animals: space cops.

pigs are a kind of animal, after all

These were all hell of great sculpts to paint, even if being armed kind of puts the 'civilian' aspect of this project as a bit of a lie. But I've done armed folks before and I will again. 

These are mostly Crooked Dice pieces from Colony 87: Wave Four, while the Judge is a Kev White sculpt from Diehard Miniatures. I'm pleased with how they've all come out, so let's show 'em off!

Advertisements and defensive postures

 Just a couple things.

turret and cages

advertising

As part of undercoating a huge pile of civilians, I also built and/or undercoated some of the giant, overwhelming pile of terrain I've built up over the years. Hopefully I can push through procrastination, stress, and decision paralysis by just doing stuff. Of course, doing stuff also results in getting inspired and buying more stuff. Especially with the 28 scene really thriving lately, with tons of small games and tiny cool collections coming out. (Damn you, Ana Polanšćak.)

Anyway, here are a couple easy things. The billboards are from a Fogou Miniatures kickstarter from a while back (before he retired from model making). Not sure where they are now.

I'm not sure where the cages are from. The turret was a free gift from Knights of Dice when a friend sent me a pile of mdf as a birthday present years and years ago. I forgot the cardinal rule of painting something with moving parts, so it is now fixed in its current position, but I took that opportunity to do a lil battle damage and field repair to it, as you can see with more photos - below the cut.

Those Animals: Tame (and weird)

 Couple of things mixed together here!

animals tame (and other)

Alright, getting some things crossed off the list. This lot have mostly actually not sat in the drawer for too long - in fact, two of the models only arrived a few weeks ago! Not too bad. But then again, the Necromunda Wyrd was in the pile for the failed Old World Army Challenge from 2023, so let's not brag.

melty men

First off, some melty men. Like last time's mootants, these are Thunderchild Miniatures. A few layers of yellows, contrasts, washes, drybrushes, glazes, picking out the white teeth and eyes, varnish. Fun and easy. Sorry they're not in the group photo, this is what happens when you break up the painting and photography but not the blog post (also are they even really in the animal theme? eh)

Those Animals: Baggage

Share the load.

green transportation alternatives

I haven't gone anywhere, I just haven't had much to share. It's been either too hot or too wet to paint, and I'm so busy at work - and consequently exhausted - that I haven't been able to schedule any games. But I have assembled, cleaned, and based a ton of new additions to the civilian project (and just in time to receive more Colony 87 from another kickstarter too, so I feel very embarrassed not to have done the last one...) -- and last week I was finally able to get out the spray undercoat. There are a couple of different things in train.

Let's start with a baggage train, eyyyy

After Action Report: Second Squats

 I have noticed that a cat will turn up her nose at a piece of meat if I hand it to her, but she will devour it with gusto if she has "stolen" it. The meat is the same, but the difference lies in the predator's delight in recognizing itself.
   - Ernst Jünger, Eumeswil

Ruins of Saint-Mina-Outre-Eaux, Finistère

Scouting action, withdrawal, feint, cautious probe, flattening artillery barrage, feint. The bastards were dug in pretty well - a tacky and reductive thought, not worthy of the son of a pâtissier - and so far the Guard had been unwilling to commit fully. Nobody wants to try and dig out a 'dwarf.

Command was getting impatient with the slow pace. Finistère was as fringe a world as the name implied. Once at the outstretched fingertip of Imperial colonisation efforts, the rotting world had been left to ferment by the contraction of the empire from coreward space since the sack of Badab. This was the first Commissar the world had seen in three generations, most like.

And now here he was, crawling his delicate son-of-a-pastry-chef arse through some backwater grass analogue that reeked of petrichor and ozone and whatever the hell those abhumans used in their anti-plant munitions, Betsy hooked over one shoulder. The Saint-Saëns CXLIV had brought in their ratling auxiliaries, along with a platoon of hulking "Southers" from Đại Du'o'ng. Who knew if those pale barbarians even had a regimental number. It wasn't like they had uniforms -- wait. Was that a motortrike engine?

No whole-of deployment photo, oops.
I deploy on the left of this photo!

Friend of the blog Mangs has a new 6'x4' table and when I asked to help him break it in, he suggested a game of second edition! Neither of us have played a game of second in decades, but he still has all his templates and cards and such, while I've painstakingly reacquired the rulebooks (no templates, though) - so why the hell not?

I suggested some initial minor modifications to the Squats army list in Codex: Army Lists to bring them more in line with the Rogue Trader-era Brotherhood list, as that's what I've been using to organise my collection (as per my old tumblr post on the subject), to which he readily agreed. I then counted up more-or-less what I have painted and arrived at 1560. Mangs put together about the same in Imperial Guard (he didn't deduct points for stripping the Leman Russes of heavy bolters) and we were off.

We avoided psykers to keep it simpler, still got half the rules wrong (Leman Russes have targeters! and I probably had my bikes do hit and run attacks very wrong!), and used way too much terrain, as we usually play each other in skirmish games.

But we set up, deployed, and played all four turns with very infantry-heavy armies in around three hours flat and had a blast (sorry) the whole time. Hell yeah. Second edition is back, baby.

Repost: After Action Report: Skirmish on Qyzylqum XLII

+ + + TRANSMITTED: Ootheca
+ + + RECEIVED: Badab Primaris
+ + + DESTINATION: CLASSIFIED
+ + + DATE: ERROR. Ref. 00-00-0-CHRN/1
+ + + TELEPATHIC DUCT: Zechariah-n008808
+ + + REF: Inq/06048102||0891-40-42/MNRN
+ + + AUTHOR: CLASSIFIED
+ + + SUBJECT: Qyzylqum XLII, Skirmish, 880.41
+ + + METADATA: Mantis Warriors; engagements; Malachi; heretic astartes; renegade astartes...
    Cross-ref extended metadata file 0891-40-42/MNRN-α
+ + + ACCESS GRADE: Sangria

+ + + Thought for the Day: Non vi, sed verbo + + +

+ + + ACCESSING + + +

c.880.M41, the Maelstrom. Nomadic space pirates which had been using the Sinistral Gate to launch raids on Imperial shipping were growing bolder and more savage in their attacks. Intelligence from Ordo Hereticus quisling units among pirate factions report the growing spread of Chaotic influence. Several bands of human and sub-human renegades had fallen under the sway of demagogues spreading the worship of Malachi the Surly, a Daemon Prince of Khorne and Wielder of theBanesword (cf the Cruor Event; the Caedis Incident; Sanguis VII; the Neco City Massacre;
+ + + ERROR: REFERENCE FILE IN EXCESS OF MEMORY
+ + + TERMINATE SERVITOR AND RE-ACCESS + + +

+ + + ACCESSING + + +

Project: Exclusive

Sometimes I ask myself, what the hell are we all running around for, anyway? To make money? But what the hell do we need money for if all we do is run around making it? 
   - Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, Roadside Picnic

sorry about the square crop. stupid instagram

Remember back in March when I painted those silly Ásatrú cowboys? Well, my lovely friend has since convinced several of us that this time he really will do it, and this time it's Zona Alfa, the Metro 2033/Stalker/S.T.A.L.K.E.R/Roadside Picnic Osprey blue book game about ex-Soviet adventurers in some kind of Horrible Place post-Event. A lot of people read Event as Chernobyl-style nuclear disaster, although Roadside Picnic is not at all like that.

For me, I've been Zona Alfa-curious for years, and I'd recently seen tylerisalrightatpainting's really lovely go at the Eureka sculpts, so I was already teetering on the edge. When my friend said he wanted to organise some gaming in 2026, I popped in an order to Eureka (and then another order when they arrived and I realised that I forgot the sniper I wanted). I'm still not convinced my friend will be organised enough for me to make the trip up to see him, but regular guest Mangs says that he can put together a gang, so we'll see. And flaky friend has managed to organise at least one game since I bought these, so maybe I'll eat crow.

After Day Report: Badab War: Battle for the Old City - Galen IV [Part 3/3]

 The last of our coverage of the Battle for the Old City, Galen IV.

Howling Griffons terminators appear in a swirl of octarine

We've been talking about the Badab War day, hosted by Combat Company and organised by the Badab War Reenactment Society. So far, I had one astonishing victory and one crippling loss, with the Secessionists fighting hard for victory - but it was all to play for in the final game of the day. Sweaty, lunch-filled, and tired, we looked over the board.

After Day Report: Badab War: Battle for the Old City - Galen IV [Part 2/3]

 Last time on unjust still...

Niijima and her scouts butcher a heavy weapon squad

Last time, I talked about the Badab War Day on 29 November, with photos from my first game. This was the high water mark for my player skill for the day - but I didn't expect to win any games, so I was having a great day.

At the start of the second round, the Secessionists controlled most of the territories of value, including the Governor's Palace -- but would they continue to hold? Alex's Howling Griffons moved into the Palace, trying to take it from... I forget, but I think it was the all-bike Executioners. In orbit, Mantis Warriors were defeated by Howling Griffons, putting the pressure on the ground war below.

After Day Report: Badab War: Battle for the Old City - Galen IV [Part 1/3]

 That's so many subheadings.

Theatre Map: Galen IV 'Old Town'
Modified by Andrew Legio for the Badab War Reenactment Society, 2025

On Saturday 29 November, a small part of Sydney was transformed into a bloody battlefield, re-enacting a gore-soaked conflict of the Badab War.

One of the more fleshed-out parts of the Warhammer 40,000 background, the Badab War was expanded from a two-page spread in Rogue Trader's Warhammer 40,000 Compendium supplement into a two-book series during Forge World's short-lived Imperial Armour series. These books were the precursors to what became the sprawling Horus Heresy series. They included detailed examinations of the factions involved, maps, art, supplements for then-current game (6th edition), and since have become a firm fan favourite.

a handful of Warriors, painted for a 1st-edition Kill Team

When I came crawling back into the hobby at the tail-end of 7th edition and decided to paint my very first Space Marine, this was the space I joined. I vacillated between a few choices, settled on a Mantis Warrior, and haven't looked back. (I've looked sideways a lot - I have so many projects - but not back.)

III Squad - I think he's one of the guys in the back.

That first Space Marine is still in the army, although he didn't make it to Saturday's game.

The Badab War Reenactment Society has been intending to run game days, campaigns, and other events for years. For once, this community is actually based in Australia and, while I do not live in Sydney, this means that I am more able to attend. (Well, depending on child care responsibilities!) So when an event was announced for November, I jumped at the chance.

1500 points of Mantis Warriors

The rules were simple enough, as mentioned last time. Either bring a Battlefleet Gothic fleet or 1500 points of 28-mm scale warriors. The rules are Heresy 2.0, using custom-built lists - which is great, as it meant that I didn't waste too much money on the Heresy 2.0 rules, given that I played very few games of it. While I do have a BFG fleet, it's not-yet-painted, so ground soldiers it was. I brought together a list of 'neat stuff that everyone in the Facebook group liked' rather than 'good' or 'strong', and away I went.

One of the first Battlefleet engagements; Howling Griffons engage Mantis Warriors 

We weren't told of the day's missions ahead of time, to help reflect the confused state of affairs on the ground, although we did know a) that the space conflict could affect the ground; b) that there would be some kind of map system; c) that it wasn't intended to be competitive, but narrative (although we could bring special characters).

As the final week approached, we were told that each map would have some special features and would start under the control of each faction. These were the Governor's Palace, Industrial Zone, Alpha & Beta Hab Zones, Space Port, Orbital Defense Battery, and Armoury. Controlling a given territory would give advantages - for instance, controlling the Industrial Zone could give one player (in the whole day, not just on that board) It Will Not Die 5+ to any non-AV-14 vehicle to represent improved repair facilities; that entire faction would also gain +1 to Reserves die. A faction had to control the Governor's Palace in order to win the campaign day, otherwise the best to hope for would be a (bloody) draw.

In the end, my Mantis Warriors didn't wind up using any of the map-based advantages, although I heard from the shouts and chaos of other tables that my allies certainly did.

After Action Report: Badab War - Preliminary Action

 The Badab War Reenactment Society is hosting a gaming day in Sydney next weekend. I managed to organise exactly one (1) test game...

typical Imperial settlement on the fringes, with a mix of architectures

Well, actually I organised two, but my car literally died (RIP Tilda) on the way to the first game. I think Musterkrux and I are cursed. We talk a lot of talk about fighting men, but have only ever had one game. Such is life.

The game that did manage to go off, thanks in part to a loaner car, was against regular visitor to this blog, Jimmy. He brought his horrible pre-Angel Blood Angels (so just the Blood) as counts-as Space Sharks. Their stripped-back pale grey, blood spattered wargear makes them very effective as the fan favourite mass murderers, as does their combat doctrine emphasising melee - so very little counts-as in his army, and a good test for the Badab game.

why yes, my keyboard is very dusty

My own 1500-point list is about bringing some of the cooler things I've painted, rather than being a 'good' or 'effective' list - further hampered by my army design focused on fluffiness rather than effectiveness. The Mantis Warriors are poorly supplied, after all, so they have antique gear and not a lot of it.

This is Ahazra Redth, a counts-as Casatferrum dread, 5 Tranquility snipers, 2 x tactical squads, a camo Rhino, Predator, scout bikers, devastators, and a Land Speeder Proteus. (Really, what is the point of a Land Speeder Proteus? - a single multi-melta is not a very effective use of 85 points. It looks sick though.)

Jimmy took Tyberos the Red Wake, 5 x Red Brethren, an apothecary, 10 Tac marines, 10 Siege assault marines (ie despoilers), 6 x siege assault marines, deredeo dread with aiolos launcher and tummy heavy flamer and a Land Raider.

The Badab War guys are using the Heresy 2.0 rules, with custom-build lists (with which I have some issues but it's mostly very good). This was a little weird for Jimmy and I, playing 40k using Heresy rules, but also the last edition of Heresy, which we barely were able to touch -- and our last game was the new Heresy. Real Oldhammer confusion, mostly just meaning that we almost entirely forgot about Reactions, except for a couple Overwatches and one movement from me.

Mantis Warriors Tactical squad #2

morten tyrannis: finis (2)

 No, no -- really. Honest.

Lord of Poxes

I know I said that I was finished, but even then I acknowledged that Games Workshop had just announced a new model.

I really like this guy, actually. A lot of the 'new' (it's seven years old...) range is way too over the top with the tentacles and the gloop and the smoke. This fellow is a lot more industrial and grounded, while still having a giant silly backpack and a sword the length of two men. Good times.

After Action Report: The Softness of Gold

..their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the Lord.

   - Ezekiel 7:19

ruins of some now-nameless place

Only a few months after being butchered by Camille's gold-clad enforcers of a soon-to-be-dead king, we have a new edition of Horus Heresy and a new opportunity for the sons of Mortarion to show their mettle. Of course, keeping up with the tradition of me not updating the fucking blog, this battle was back in late August and I have forgotten nearly all of it. Oops.

Death Guard tactical marines deploy

This was the first game of the new edition, hot on the heels of playing exactly two games of the old edition this year. Very excellent timing. That said, Camille and I are het* up about the new edition and both immediately bought a lot of new miniatures for it. I even started painting up a new Centurion, who didn't get finished in time for the game but was polished off that night. That's pretty good.

*ironically

After Action Report: Blade and Rifle

 I'm not sorry. We had it coming.
   - 'Tech Noir', GUNSHIP

look at this insane detail on one of Mangs's survivors

My regular opponent and now game designer Little Mangs of War has been working on a miniatures- and setting-agnostic ruleset, currently dubbed 'Blade and Rifle' while in development. Originally intended as survivors vs AI zombies, he's started playing around with matched play rules. I offered to help him playtest a match a few weeks ago (Sunday 3 August, for those of you tracking how long it takes me to write up after action reports). I only had to bring my own pudgy body; he provided miniatures, terrain, dice (although I did bring my dice and tape measure) and the ALPHA_1 set of the rules.

The rules themselves are a little more complex than, say, Mordheim, but less complex than, say, Infinity. They are incredibly lethal, though, which makes cover essential - Mangs completely coated the board in bushes, abandoned cars, trees, and fences and I think the game would utterly fail to work with any less terrain.

Models roll to climb or shoot/fight, with number of successes counted. Certain actions need certain numbers of successes to work, but failures don't cancel them out. Sometimes fail means increased fatigue or other resources on the sheet are spent; sometimes they mean that the action is 'wasted'. Running or sprinting has other costs as well, such as limiting turning; overwatching holds your action but if nothing then crosses your line of fire, the effect is wasted.

I enjoyed the rules once we got into them, with a few suggestions added (if you run, you should be able to attempt to leap fences or cross small gaps, but with a test - parkour! - or additional penalties ensue). Once we got into it, the rules became smooth and easy to understand.

Each model got a little sheet. Feedback from me and a few others in our small group has suggested further improvements there - A5 is easier to manage than A4, for instance. Each model is assigned a card from a deck, which is drawn for initiative. This is fun and easy, but meaning that you can't control who necessarily acts in a given moment (like in Bolt Action or Infinity). This gives a feeling of random folks thrown together rather than militaristic discipline, which I like for this game.

Some of my survivors enter the suburbs here. On a 6x4' board, there will be a lot of walking (4") to get to where we're going, but we need to hug cover - weapons have no range limits, just bonuses at closer ranges.

Old World Army Challenge: VI: Necromunda: Failure Redeemed

 How many subtitles can I fit into a blog post?

ladies doing it for themselves

2023 was the last time I attempted the Old World Army Challenge. I was excited - the first year we were doing Specialist Games, I had all this old Necromunda and Gorkamorka metal to paint up; it was going to be good. Alas, I succumbed to the way of all flesh and only managed to get two gangs painted up - my Skavvies, Smilin' Jack and the Bitter Dregs, and my beloved Pit Slaves, Helreach United Miners, Fabricators, Haulers Local Θ-26/20.

All I managed to get done of the third gang, the March gang, was the four juves. Alas, alack, and other a-words that mean: dangit.

Still, this year is seeing me finishing a couple projects up, and then I was out of undercoated things for those projects, just as winter bit in and it got too cold and wet for spraypainting. I scavenged for some undercoated things to paint - with some success so far - and remembered the Escher gang. Let's fucking go.

The Gleaming Falls Ghasts  

 

Leader: bolter, laspistol, twin knives (170 creds)

Heavy: heavy stubber, stub gun,* sword (200 creds)

Juve: autopistol (40 creds)

Juve: stub gun, sword (45 creds)

Juve: autopistol, club (50 creds)

Juve: stub gun, pick (45 creds)

Ganger: autogun, stub gun (80 creds)

Ganger: shotgun, autopistol (85 creds)

Ganger: bolt pistol, sword, frag grenades (110 creds)

Ganger: plasma pistol, pick (85 creds)

Ganger: twin swords, stub gun* (80 creds)

Ganger: autopistol, sword (75 creds)

Ganger: autogun, stub gun* (80 creds)

Ganger: autogun, stub gun* (80 creds)

Ganger: lasgun, laspistol* (90 creds)

Ganger: laspistol, flail (75 creds)

Ganger: shotgun, sword (80 creds)

Ganger: autogun, sword (80 creds)

 

TOTAL: 1,550 credits 

*or some other kind of pistol; it's in a holster. 

This is enough for a starting gang and a half! I'm only missing three of the original sculpts (the other leader, heavy with a plasma cannon, and the chainsword and autopistol ganger). If I see the other three on eBay or something, I'll have to pick them up.

I went with a relatively classic look, because the original style of the Escher --- well, first of all it, it can't be beat anyway, but it's also one of reasons I got into Necromunda in the first place. Punk glamour in all the right ways, black leathers and bright yellows, with a variety of hair colour that never goes away.

To give myself some guidelines, I decided to follow the original colour scheme a little - if a sculpt was painted with blue hair originally, she got blue hair - but all the hair had to be different. I also tried to keep roughly on theme with the loincloths, but wanted everyone to be unique, so those got played with more.

Also: pink gun casing. Because hell yeah, but also because I want to use pink more often. Shoutout to Stahly at Tale of Painters for doing it first and better.

Those Who Were Undercoated

 Winter has come, and I am once again unprepared.

Undercoated Family photo

It's too cold to undercoat any of the projects that I want to concentrate on, so I've dug up a handful of already-undercoated models from projects I stalled on - most from years ago - and done a little brushwork on them. Not included here are three models finished from my Age of Sigmar Flesh Eater Courts, because I'm going to do a big project post for those when the whole army is finished. I also have the original Escher gang that I didn't finish for the last Old World Army Challenge I was in, but I haven't been able to do much on those yet.

I'm also working on some terrain, and I'm prepping a bunch of miniatures for when the weather warms up so that I undercoat tons at once. I really ought to plan these things better. Maybe next year...