MAN & MACHINE: RULES & SAND

As I worked on the rules and made a few changes, I started messing around with Roll20 and building a few units.

I came to the conclusion that it needs re-working, that for what I see in my brain the number of stats I have is too many.

This means some mechanics simplification and changes in ideas.  So for now my brain is chewing away on that and I am trying new ideas, some I love the idea of, but don't seem to work on paper.

In other news I have completed my first two command groups for my Dessert army.  Loosely inspired by the Fremen of Dune and largely populated with Sahadeen miniatures from Rebel Minis.


Based miniatures.



Primed and washed.



Base colors added.  Dark brown and flesh tones



Lighter brown jackets, washed with a dark umber and then dry brushed.

 

Command group with dessert bases.

RESD and a new Force and a little Man & Machine as well.

Spent a little time last night finishing up the bases on my RESD power armor, as well as adding a few highlights. Still need a protective coat, but they are essentially done.

 

 

In the background of the above image are a new force I picked up sometime ago from Rebel Miniatures: http://www.rebelminis.com/sahadeenarmy.html

I am planning on a Dune inspired Fremen desert army.  Color schemes will be along the lines of dark brown and lighter brown,  ala this image search for Fremen.

 

 

The first six of the new force all based up and ready for a final cleaning and prime.

On the Man machine front I have started running some quick tests of the combat rules via the roll20 engine.  There are a few issues to work out I think, but I will need to use more than just a few random stats.  I will need to sit down and make a couple of actual soldiers with points value to see if what i am seeing is something realistic to the game or not.

 

 

Man & Machine.....

Still plugging away at the rules formatting and changing of a few things.  Currently looking at a way to simplify terrain and movement effects.

Other than that, which will be a significant re-write of the rules, I need to set up a stats card for mobs, fill out a table of contents and finish the points system.

Then I will have the Alpha version completed.

Earth Doom.....

One of my favorite models from Khurasan are the Earthdoom suits.  I knew I wanted to use them as the power armor for my RESD troopers.

I killed two birds with one stone over the weekend and set up my new airbrush, an Iawata Neo CN and got one suit painted and my other two base coated.

Base coasted models with a 15mm trooper for scale.

Completed minus the base.  This is the scheme I am going to go with.  Although I am still considering the troopers using custom paints over the cockpit.  My original thought was a hand print.  Some kinda tribalish ideas maybe.

I had some issues with the white paint drying too fast, making it difficult to get the skull to go smooth.  I ended up making a wet pallete after the fact, and will give that a shot this week. 

Man & Machine Update

Just a quick update this afternoon. Updated the order dial to be round.  Same order selection, but this will allow the addition of more easier.

Also picked up some new sci-fi art from RPGNOW.com, some example stock art, as well as continued to work on my own abilities so I can do the cover art.  I have a new idea for that.

Also did a little more formatting.  Booklet is looking to be about 20 pages right now.  Rules are pretty much finished and formatted.  Just need to finish the points system and put that in the rules and I should be pretty much at a playable alpha stage.

Blockade Buster Conversion - Missile Pods

One of my original posts detailed a conversion of the Matchox Blockade Buster into a Grav tank.

This little tank from Matchbox is a pretty cool base for light/medium vehicles for 15mm sci-fi.  I bought a few of them.  My current project is to build a base that I can cast in resin and just plug the tops into to mass produce the grav tank from the earlier post.  That is an ongoing project and the subject of an upcoming post.

Today is an overview of a simple missile pod conversion I did.  The first step is to remove the turret leaving a pretty simple APC looking vehicle without a top.  You can see the blockade buster here with a 15mm robot from Ground Zero Games and a Matchbox Stryker.

Once the turret was removed the next step was to cover the hole that was left.  I did this with some 2 part putty.  Shaped a basic hatch and pressed it into the space and left it sit.  I also prepped the tank to take the launch pods by drilling a hole and gluing in a piece of brass rod.

 The next step was to set up the missile pods.  They were created from two quick electric connectors, the front of a bic pen and a piece of wire. 

using my pin vise I drilled a small hole in the bic pen and the two electric connectors.  This allowed me to use the small wire to work as a connecting axle for the two pods. 

 The next step was to afix the missile turret (minus the pods) to the body of the tank.  I did this with both a 2 part putty in the hollow of the pen and super glue.  I felt this would make the missile tank fairly robust.

 

Finally I attached the missile pods to the turret and affixed a small plastic gem to the top to act as a radar or perhaps a laser based active defense system.

And the completed missile tank.  Basic paint job n the pods and a quick wash to bring out the body details.

 

Colony Terrain 15mm Sci-fi

Since getting back into miniatures, I have wanted to build a set of colony terrain. I have started this but have temporarily put it on the back burner as I work on other projects, some miniature related some not.

I wanted to show some examples of the colony terrain I am working on. These are 99% foam core with a few added bits such as cardboard for detail, drywall plaster, 3d paint etc.

Main buildings

Largest building. Imagined as a main control area.	Control area with upper level removed.
Smaller utility building.	Smaller building with roof removed.

Other Structures

 

 

Control Tower. Bottom with resin cast door.	Control Tower. Big enought for 15mm to patrol the top.
Drop pod. Used to deliver supplied and then used as a colony building. Converted blockade buster and 15mm Khurasan human for scale.	View of part of the colony layout.

Still have a ways to go. Thinking some larger hexagonal buildings, pipes, tunnels etc. Overall though the buildings go together fairly quickly. The detailed card is probably the most fiddly bit. That's it for now. Hope to get some more work done on Man & Machine today or Friday.