Into the Wasteland: Cultists and Creatures

So there has been a lot of hype recently about the new Trench Wars game, but I wasn't sure I wanted to jump into another game system.  However, I liked the design of some of the figures and thought they could make some fun cultists for my current Fallout/This is Not A Test post-apocalyptic setting.

While I appreciated the concept of the stigmata nuns, I didn't like the topless figures that were part of the offical figure line.  I was raised Catholic and spent a lot of time around nuns, and that look just didn't make any sense to me in the context of the church. Additionally, I usually play at the local hobby shops where there are lots of kids, and I didn't feel comfortable bringing sexualized miniatures into the store. As such, I went searching for some clothed/armored nuns instead. Luckily I found some Red Pilgrim designed miniatures on Etsy that fit the bill. In the church, the Dominican order was partially founded to help fight heresy and played a significant role in the Inquisition, so I decided to use their robes as the basis on how I painted my nuns. The weapons loadout wasn't fully legal in the offical game, but it was fine for my purposes. The figures came with plain bases, but I opted to buy some bases on Etsy designed by Zabavka Workshop for all the Trench Crusade figures, as I thought they would then better match my Fallout figures.

In addition to the nuns, I also picked up a set of Red Pilgrim's Trench Pilgrims.

Red Pilgrim didn't produce any ecclesiastic prisons, so I found a set  by Black Cobra Miniatures.  I didn't find these to be as well sculpted as the Red Pilgrim miniatures and annoyingly, the figure sizes were inconstant, ranging from 28-32mm to the eye. To help hide this, I put them on bases with elevated rubble piles. I planned to use theses as captured Fallout feral ghouls, so painted them accordingly. 

My Inquisitor and and Trench Prophet, again from Red Pilgrim Miniatures. The Trench Prophet was a little oversized (magnified by her standing partially on a rock) compared to the other Red Pilgrim figures, but still looked ok.  Unfortunately, I broke the handle on her hammer during painting and it flew off into the ether never to be seen again. I ended up building a replacement from a Boys anti-Tank rifle.

The Trench Pilgrim Communicant was another figure by Black Cobra Miniatures. Rather than use the pale skin in the offical Trench Crusade lore, I opted to paint him green to match my other Fallout super mutants.

To get free shipping on my Etsy order, I also ordered a figure from Ethan Savage Studios. It was listed as 32mm and I intended to use him as a human wasteland survivor, but the figure arrived 40mm to the eye. This was way too big for a human, so I was forced to use him as a super mutant. He was shorter than the others in my collection, so I again used a raised base to make him look taller.

A comparison shot with the Communicant and super mutant and human from Vermillion Miniatures.

I like to buy figures form the local shops whenever possible, and I found this zombie grizzly bear from Wizkids that I though made a reasonable proxy for a yao guai mutant bear.  The seams on the figure were fairly very obvious out of the package, so I had to do some filling with greenstuff.

It was a little bigger than my Vermillion Miniatures yao guai, but still looked good. 

I also picked up some Wizkids giant ants.  They weren't the greatest of sculpts and were cast in a rubbery plastic, but I thought that would actually help prevent breakage of their legs and antennas. 

Lastly, some Fallout centaurs from Vermillion Miniatures. I've heard these are smaller that the offical Fallout centaurs, but they still looked menacing. I was short a few bases for them, so had to use a few Zabavka Workshop bases instead.  Since they weren't flat like the originals, I had to break and reposition some of the arms and hands to make them fit better. I used the grass tufts to hide the worst of my efforts.

There still more warbands and miscellaneous adventurers and creatures to paint (along with more terrain to build), but I'd say I'm near the halfway point by now. Hopefully my "This is Not A Test" rulebook will get here soon and I can start hosting some games for my group.

Into the Wasteland: Commie Ghouls

While raiders tend to be the primary adversaries in post-apocalyptic settings, I like the idea of encountering remnants of the enemy communist army, even if they weren't major players in the later Fallout world. Fallout history has Red China as America's WW3 opponent, with the Russian Soviets being on the sideline.  However, Vermillion Miniatures has a great set of Soviets (Red Menace pack) that I couldn't resist. So they are going to be the bulk of my Commies, along with a few PLA navy ghouls by Marco R. Sassi from Fallout 4.

The Red Menace pack can either be made with the troops as ghouls equipped with old weapons, or normal humans with high-tech weapons. I liked the ghoul idea, so went with that route.

Soviet Commander and Scientist. Though I took some liberties, I  based the officer's coat on ones used in the 1980s. Though it looks fairly blue in the photo, it's actually a cool grey in real life. The officer also has a cybernetic arm behind his back. Both versions of the scientist are only available in human form, so I'm having to assume he's been in some sort of statis if he arrived before the bombs. I tried to make his clothing look vinyl/rubber with more pronounced highlights and a satin finish, but I'm not 100% sold on the final effect.

Soviet Science Officers. I thought the metal grating on the bases looked a bit plain, so I've added scraps of old propaganda posters to try and give them more visual pop.

Soviet Troopers. As the center trooper is wearing a gasmask (something ghouls shouldn't need) I assumed he was another regular human from statis. Again, clothing colors are inspired by the 1980s.

Soviet Power Armor. I used 1980's tank colors for reference.

Finally, there is Captain Zao and some crew from the Yangtze-31 submarine, as seen in Fallout 4. Though probably not appropriate for the deserts of New Vegas, they were an order freebie so I'm not going to complain. The pack usually has two different feral ghouls, but my free set had two duplicates.

Overall I'm really happy with this faction and I think they should be able to bring a bit of firepower again the New California Republic and the Brotherhood of Steel.

Into the Wasteland: Caesar’s Legion and Scatter Terrain

So far I have been using 3D printed proxy miniatures for my Fallout project, but I took the plunge and bought the offical figures for Caesar's Legion from Fallout New Vegas. While the Vermillion Miniatures proxy Spartans are nice, I wanted something with more firepower that looked game accurate. The listed price for the box of eight miniatures on the Modiphius site is US $60.21 ($7.53 per figure), which isn't justified, but I was able to find a box for a little over half that price elsewhere.

The figures were produced in a flexible resin and needed to be assembled.  The casting quality was average, with some flash buildup and a few of the bases having chunks missing off the edges. The sculpting was fairly decent, but nothing better than the unofficial 3D prints on the market. For painting, I used Fallout New Vegas screen captures for reference, but opted to brighten the reds to give them more pop on the table.

So here are the figures in detail:

Legion Recruits 

Prime Legionaries

Legion Explorer and another Prime Legionary

A Centurion with salvaged power armor elements and a thermic lance, along with a Decanus commander.

In addition to the troops, I also painted up some more scatter terrain. Many of the elements were 3D prints from Etsy (they often came as part of the figure sets from Vermillion Miniatures), but I also picked up some nice resin pieces from TT Combat.

Phoenix Fizz vending machines from TT Combat. You can build them with the doors open or closed, and the back panel can be left on or off.

Bits of furniture.  The dressers could be assembled with different drawer layouts for variety.  

A raider throne from Vermillion, along with a mix of junk from both companies.

Small rock formations from Vermillion, along with a Deathclaw nest.

3D printed piles of street debris (both pieces are the same, just rotated). The 3D print lines were fairly prominent, but I opted not to spend the time needed to fully sand everything down. I think they will still look good on the table.

 

Into the Wasteland: Super Mutants, Behemoth and Billboards

I've added some more dangers for my survivors to encounter as they wander the wasteland. These Fallout-style super mutants are designed by Vermillion Miniatures and were purchased off of Etsy from a couple of vendors.  The bulk of them are from the "Atomic Mutants" set, but I've also included a few figures from "The Atomic Unity" and "Cafe of Broken Dreams" sets.

First up is a proxy for the named super mutant Marcus, from Fallout 2 and New Vegas. For his paint scheme, I've done my best to mimic what was seen in the video games. 

Various super mutants. All of them came with various weapon options, so you can do a bit of customization. They run about 40-45mm to eye level, depending on the pose.

A super mutant behemoth.  This guy is a brute, standing about 70mm to the eye. 

I just love the detail of the dead vault dweller on the supplied base.

I've also added a few billboards from TT Combat. While they were easy to assemble and look good for MDF, the one issue I have with this is they are very top heavy and the position of the sign means they can tip over backwards quite easily.  I may add bases or weights in the future to help with this. 

For the signs themselves, I selected images from Fallout New Vegas. While they print out already distressed, I added more grime and streaks using Army Painter Quickshade.

While I know Nuka Cola is the iconic beverage of the Fallout franchise, I decided to buck convention and go with its competitor, Sunset Sarsaparilla.  I figured this lesser known brand would also be easier to use in non-Fallout settings.

 Out of the Fallout proxy figures I've painted so far, I have to say the mutants were my favorites.  The sculpting quality was top notch, and I particularly loved the detail in the faces. Vermillion Miniatures has just released another super mutant set with some great looking figures (including another behemoth), so I may be adding more in the future. 

Into the Wasteland: Feral Ghouls and TTCombat Terrain

I'm back with some more 3D prints from Vermillion Miniatures and purchased from TeenageWastelandUS. These ghouls come from the Necropolis set.

I opted to paint three of the figures as Glowing Ones. Originally I tried to mimic the computer games color schemes, with the glow coming from the recesses and the skin being darker, but I never managed to get it to look right.  As such, I flipped it around and think it looks much better, even if it's not fully accurate. I also kept the clothing with the same green tint as I thought other colors looked distracting.

Your standard feral ghouls. A few of them had some broken fingers, but I only opted to replace one hand out of the bits box and left the others missing as a sign of rot. 

A bit of scatter terrain. As is unfortunately common with 3D prints, you can see the print lines on the toxic waste barrels. I did a little sanding, but didn't feel they were worth the effort needed to get the fully smooth. However, I think they still look pretty good once painted.

I needed a break for painting figures, so decided to switch over to a bit of terrain.  There are a couple of companies making ruined modern terrain, but I selected some of TTCombat's MDF kits, as they were relatively budget friendly, seemed sturdy, and had the types of buildings I wanted.  The kits did not have labeled parts and the downloadable instructions were not always clear, so at times it could be challenging to figure out what I was supposed to be constructing at a particular step. I also found some instances where the pieces didn't fit well and either required sanding or putty to fill gaps. As such, I recommend dry fitting everything first before adding glue. The kits also included some MDF accessories such as a dumpster and cola machine, but their MDF nature was very obvious.  I decided not to use them and will look for resin or 3D print replacement options (which TTCombat also sells). That said, I am still happy with the final results.

First up is the ruined Stan's Drive Thru restaurant.  The roof does not lift off, but there is a large enough gap on the back to allow you to place miniatures inside.  It also comes with a sperate destroyed sign. Overall, a very nice kit.

Next is the ruined Dinogas gas/petrol station.  This kit ended up being much larger than I expected, but I'm not complaining.  The roof of the building lifts offs, but the collapsed section is attached to the roof with two tabs and comes off with it. The cover for the filling bay also attaches to the building, but it is only by a single tab. To me, these are going to be significant weak points that will fail if you try to glue the tabs in, so I'm just dry fitting them together for play and will store the building in parts.

The kits are advertised as being for 28mm-32mm figures, but I think they are actually oversized for this. The doors on both kits are around 50mm tall, which is around 1/43 scale compared to a standard American door height of approximately 7 feet. As you can see, my regular 32mm trooper looks pretty short next to it, though the larger power armor figures seems a bit more reasonable.  Considering this, I would definitely not try to use these with smaller figures. 

 

Into the Wasteland: Fallout Inspired Red Rock Khans and Deathclaws

Ok, back with another Fallout inspired warband for the wasteland. As mentioned previously, I'm not much of a fan of the overpriced offical miniatures and the associated game, so have decided to use alternative figures.  As before, these are 3D prints designed by Vermillion Miniatures and purchased from TeenageWastelandUS.

This time I went with the Red Rock Raiders, who make fantastic proxies for the Great Khans.

Papa Khan and his main squeeze Pink.  The hands are sperate on these figures, so you can mix and match weapons.  I decided to give Papa Khan a rifle for a more dramatic pose, but klutzy me has managed to break the barrel twice now, so not sure I'd recommend that option to others.

A few other tribe members, including Mama's Boy with a modified chaingun.

Some rebuilt and modified power armor.  I used a lot of bare metal, rust and some random paint bits to emphasize the scavenged nature of the armor. The suits also come in pieces, so you can do a bit of part swapping if you're so inclined.

The figure set also included a couple of Deathclaw proxies. As you can see from the comparison with a human figure, they are big brutes (The photo also gives you a good look at the logo printed on the back of the raider vests). Looking online, there seems to be some variation in the skin colors from game to game. I went from a chocolate brown down into green-browns and green-greys rather than the red-browns that also seem common. 

The adult Deathclaw.

Juvenile Deathclaw.

As before, another set of well-designed prints that were a lot of fun to paint.