Post Apoc Shacks or Shanties

 This post is about making and painting some post apocalyptic shacks for games. My family gaming group is planning on more Fallout Wasteland Warfare, some Fallout 2D20 and a member of First Command Wargames is working on his own set of rules. So with all that I decided to put together and work with some 3d .stl's I downloaded, the creator has a website and is on patreon (Terrain4Print). Well I liked the files from the pics on Thingiverse, but was a little put off when I ran the test batch. Not that they weren't exactly as shown, but because I was looking for shacks that were stand alone. These files were made so both sides of the print had elements on them. Since I'm not a fan of having pieces people can pull apart at a Convention game, I looked for something else first. Didn't find anything better, so sat down with 3d Builder and to try to figure out what I could do. 

Now even though I have been running some prints for about 2 years now, I am still a neophyte with all the tools. First attempts at free hand designing went no where fast. So I pulled up one of the wall sections and looked at it. They are great for defensive walls as is, thick enough to stand on their own if need be, with guide holes for running them together as well. But, that thickness gave me an I idea, I split one of the walls in half so I was left with one smooth side and the other great for outside of a shack. So I ran off 4 wall pieces and then it hit me how was I going to glue them together. Edges are irregular enough when split that normal glues weren't holding well. Flex it a couple of times and they came apart. So I used one of the two part epoxy putties I have on my workbench. Like the building, but thought there has to be a better way after the second one I did. 

The above is what the original file looked like and the second is what I had after splitting it. I laid them flat as it was then easier to separate them and use only those sides I wanted for each building. Also figured it doubled the amount of walls I could use.

 

The above shack is one put together with epoxy putty, doesn't look horrible. Just corners seem off.

So back to the computer, got frustrated and dropped it for awhile. Then after something a friend said sank in. I went back to 3d Builder and merged the corners, added some planks where needed to hide the corner joins and just printed of the whole building. Since this little learning lesson 3d Builder and I are getting to know each other much better. 

The above is are pics of the same building pre and post black wash. Only real difference I see is the glare from the lights is muted, this without Dullecoating them. 

And now just some pics of the rest of them.

Number 6 is from another designer and I can't find it on Thingiverse, but when I saw it I thought it looked like it was made from the material some pole-barns were probably a decade or so ago. Metal sheets with a baked gloss finish, high shine and fairly rust resistant. And with the tractor tire on the roof, it became the farm shack. 

The last two pics are of roofs that had hole I wanted covered, tried two different ways. First I wanted something simple and fairly easy. So after watching Black Magic Crafts on Youtube use construction paper (like we used in grade school cheap colored paper), I tried that. Cut the paper to fit or size wanted and then soak in a mike of 50/50 water and white glue. Covered the holes and left to dry. the drying process had pulled the paper off the plastic. I tried the Superglue it, still wasn't sticking and no longer looked like I wanted. 

Try two, what are tarps, cloth. So I found two things I could use, a pair of jeans ready for the trash and an old craft store handkerchief. Thought the thicker jeans might look better and used it on two shacks. After sticking it on with E6000 craft glue (learning to love this glue, if it wasn't for the smell), I let it dry then primed whole building. The edges of the jean material shed some of the color from both primer and paints, so some white comes through. It looked good but was a little thick. Second set did everthing the same but used the thinner handkerchief cloth. Bottom two are with that material, it glued and primed well, took the first color really well and even with the repeated soakings formed to beams beneath. Really liking it then the great moment, I was washing in some orange for the rusted area and the cloth absorded some of it and spread, at first I was thinking oh well I can redo it. Then after it dried it looked great, just like a tarp sitting on or over rusting material, it has been colored by the rust. Looking forward to using these in a game soon.

Only items used in this build besides paints, and to many of them to list.

Terrain4Print

E6000 glue 

 Japanese Oni and others

Before Omicron I had picked up a new set of rules called Reign in Hell Published by Snarling Badger Games, authored by Adam Loper and Vince Venturella and available on Wargame Vault. The bacic idea is the greatest heroes on earth closed the portal from Hell to Earth trapping the demon hordes in hell. They also destroyed the demonic rulers of hell leaving behind chaos. The hordes ore now forming factions to regain control of hell and find a way out. This is a team building skirmish game that can be played as one off games or a series in a campaign. It is also miniature agnostic, I love that term, meaning you can use whatever miniatures you want. As we started a campaign, some of us also started themes for our demon army. I choose Japanese mythology as I already had some Oni figures around and had a few that I had no idea why I had even bought them other than they looked good.

My Oni Leader

He is a Warrior Leader, meaning he is better at combat than manipulation of other demons. the figure is from the Clan Wars line of miniatures from AEG originally, I am pretty sure they have dropped the line at this point, not sure if anyone is rereleasing them. They are available from secondary markets and sellers online though. They were fantasy samurai type figures, they were well done and some were done in styles that would allow them to be used in historical games. I'm sure some of my Japanese figures that I can't identify are from tis line. He is metal and big around 75mm, reason he became my leader.

My second in command is a modified

Bushido BPR026 Takashi Oka Samurai (Prefecture of Ryu) Female Warrior Miniature. She has added Fox tails to represent a Kitsune, a Japanese mythological creature. In the game she acts a a Succubus, a creature of manipulation mental and physical. I the game her ability to control other demons is a great ability. 

This is one of my foot soldiers, a Corpulent Demon, these heavy weights are meant to absorb damage and protect others. Like my Kitsune (Succubus) which has a powerful ability, but falls easily to physical attacks. This is a Reaper minature.

These are more of the foot soldiers, exempt these are Slaughter Demons. The figures are both Reaper Oni from the Bones collection. Slaughter Demons are the combat members of my group, they both deal out and take a good deal of damage. So they are the point of the sword.

Here is the female oni again this time with a batch of little oni figures from Reaper miniatures, they come in both metal and bones plastic. They were goint to fill out my army as Mephits, weaker demons that can fly. Still like them, but they took backseat to the minis I saw on Esty that fit the Mephit roll so much better.

 

These are Tengu in Japanese mythology or Kenku or Aarakocra
 in Dungeons and Dragons. They fill the Mephit roll beautifully in the game, as mephits are hit and run combat types. These figures are great, they came from Dead Myth on the Esty website. Since they are 3d prints, no mold lines, and I couldn't find support point knobs that needed clean removal. They only thing that I wish I had done was paint up the backs of the figures and the front of the wings before glueing them together. Other than that they painted up nicely as you can see.

Well that is my final army that I am fielding for our campaign, in a coming post I'll show you the minatures that were used early on in our games and didn't fit with my new theme.

Companies mentioned in the Blog

Bushido - GCT Studios (fantization.com)

https://www.alderac.com/

https://www.reapermini.com/

DeadMyth | Etsy

Japan II

Here Are some more of the historical Japanese that I have painted. And while most of these are strictly historical, even if they do represent differing periods, some are from fantasy lines that I have picked up over time. I have been adding urls for the companies I have mentioned in my posts, from the first post on. still getting the hand of this and should be getting into current projects within the month.

These are I fairly certain are From Perry Miniatures Samurai line. They are civilians to occupy places in the villages that will be raided. Civilians should be targets of raids as much as warriors in much of the pre-Tokugawa period. Raids were, like in any other period in premodern history, to destroy the base suppling the warriors and nobles. As well as enriching the raiders.

Some more civilian types, the two on the right could be wondering ronin, heroes or bums as needed. The rules I am working on are to have a cinematic feel. To feel more like combat from the movies than from strictly a historical perspective. That is harder to balance than I thought it was going to be. To make them historical enough to be used form straight historical games and to represent the heroes and villains of the movies. I'll keep working at it.

Couple Ronin archers, not sure what company. Feel free to let me know in the comments if you recognize any figures I don't remember. 

These are a mix for heroes, villains or victims for the games. Not sure what company the center figure is. The left hand one is a Reaper Miniatures and the one on left is, I believe an old Ral Partha figure.

This guy is from Warlord Games'  Test of Honor line I believe. He was in a box of plastic miniatures that I was have enough trouble with that they are still in the box. Since learning some tricks for working with plastic minis they get a chance to see the table, but for now he is my sole figure from the line fully painted. His detail is very nice and he painted up nicely. As a note it seems that Warlord is no longer producing these figures.

A few more of the hero villain types. One on left I've forgotten maker of, she sat in a box for a good while when I noticed how immodest she was dressed for most upper class women in historical Japan. Then after looking for something to paint one night she looked like a good candidate. She painted up really well and looks the part of a villain. The center figure is a Reaper figure, I think, of the white witch villain. She came in three parts and they do not like staying together very well. the length of hair over her head breaks off repeatedly. If I did her from the start again, I would drill her hand and the base of the hair and add a pin for strength. The figure on the right is Tetsu Ko from Bombshell Miniatures. Despite the name these are a very well done collection of miniatures from various periods in history and a few Science Fiction based figures. This is another figure that sat in a box for a long time before hitting the table for painting. I didn't feel I could do her justice with my painting skills. But she is done for a good tabletop level of appearance and as such looks good.

The Oni should be up next then a couple more on this project, including some of the terrain.

                                                 Companies mentioned in Blog

https://www.perry-miniatures.com/

https://www.reapermini.com/

https://us.warlordgames.com/

https://bombshellminis.com/miniatures/

  

                   Japan I

Well back again with the Japanese figures I've done for a game that is still in design. We have done three playtests of I believe 3 different versions and I didn't feel any of them gave just the right feel I wanted. So I scrap what I don't like in the rules and start from there. They keep evolving and hopefully will soon be ready for the table again, as the figures have been for a while now.

These are all I believe West Wind Figures from Old Glory Miniatures, the wash didn't darken up or tone down the colors as much as I would have liked. But overall I'm satisfied with how they look. I wanted the Samurai to all have a mounted and dismounted figure, which is the reason I went with the West Wind line. All the characters come that way instead of trying to match mounted with foot and paint them to look as alike as I can.

The other criteria I had was that they stand out from the rest of the figures. They are going to be unique figures and leaders in the game. So they need to be quickly identifiable to the players. I think that was achieved.

I like all these figures, but feel the pair in the second picture are what I was wanting. The above figures were a pair I really wanted the wash to make more worn, the pink on the right figure was to hopefully look more like a faded red. I doesn't, doesn't look bad just brighter than I wanted.

Another thing I liked about the West Wind figures was how the mounted and foot combo were not always armed the same way. 

The only figure I feel turned out a little comical is the jail bird in black and white stripes. After I was done that was the first description I thought of for him. Wish now I would have used three or four colors instead of two, but as my Grandmother used to say "wish in one hand and poop in the other and see which fills up first". 

Over all very satisfied with the figures, now to get the game to play the way I want it to. Well next time it will be Ronin and other character type figures. Hopefully I can make time to take the Ashigaru and the demons to the light box soon.

Until next update, be safe. 

Companies mentioned in Blog

https://www.oldgloryminiatures.com/

                 

                   Fallout III

Here are some more of my Post Apocalypse miniatures. With the Super Mutants you can really tell that the dullcoate wasn't very Dull, they need another coat of dullcoate to get rid of the shine. Most of the time I use Testors Dullcoate, but have been testing some other lately as a couple of cans of Testors didn't dull the minis well. Many of the hobby store ones do not come out flat, they have more of a matte to satin shine left when dry. I will let you know results of the search for a really good dull coat when I find one. 

Modiphius Miniatures in front of an Atomic Laser cut building, you can see why they need another spray of dullcoate.

A Raider leader again from Modiphius Miniatures.

Group of Mercenaries, I do not know who makes these minis. I got them in a grab bag at a flea market, they painted up nicely. The build in the above and below, is from TTCombat Terrain I believe.

Mercenary Commander and support at the top of the tower.

Minutemen from Modiphius, they are the good guys in Fallout 4. I need to go back and do the base edges in flat black, deciding form the pics I don't like the gloss I used.

Another group of survivors at the Urgent care. The one on the left is a minis I printed off from an .stl file, it is of a ghoul character that turns out to be a gunslinger. The other three are from Modiphius. The Building is again Atomic Laser Cut Terrain.

Had some trouble when one flat/dullcoate reacted badly with Hobby brand paint; which had already had problems with the Army Painter Primer. Thought I was going to have to strip the minis and start over, luckily I only had to do some repaint in spots. Those Minis were part of my Avar Army for SAGA, another of my future posts. I used to use Armory Primer and paints for my minis, with a few Pactra and other thrown in (as I still can't mix colors to match). These were good everytime, never had a problem with the prime as long as I remembered to allow the minis and paint get to the same temperature. The paints gave a good one coat coverage on top of the primer, even light colors did well. Then they stopped production of the Armory paints, rumor is because they had lead in them, (Lead minis with lead paint, you knew it and were careful). They must have just stopped production of the Primers as they can't be found, and store that do seem to have some want more than I want to pay.

I think next up are some of my Japanese figures. Either the Samurai period figures I have been doing for a game I was designing and is still under design. The minis look good, totally satisfied by them. It's the rules that didn't work the way I wanted. So back to the drawing board. Or the team I did up for the Reign in Hell ruleset. My cabal is based on Japanese mythology.

So until then enjoy and have fun gaming.

Companies mentioned in Blog

https://modiphius.us/

https://www.testors.com/

https://ttcombat.com/

https://www.atomiclasercutdesigns.com/

Fallout II

The second of many more hopefully, I have a large collection of varied miniatures and thanks to a couple of friends I think the pictures are good enough to use. The friends and Mike and Jenny. He talked me through how he takes his pictures and some tricks he uses. And Jenny for building me a light box to use for taking the pictures in. The combination aren't going to make my pictures award winning, but 100% better than they were.

More Fallout inspired minis for this post. Starting with the Centaurs, these are 3d printed models done in resin. The first is just starting to divide, Centaurs in FO are victims of the FEV (Forced Evolution Virus) released from Biological Warfare Labs. 

A group of hungry Centaur charging forward. 

A group of Ghouls from Modiphius Games. Ghouls in FO are created by radiation poisoning and come in everything from people that are still functioning humans to bloated glowing monsters that irradiate everything around them. Most are Feral Ghouls that have lost their minds and are always hungry. 

Think these are all Reaper minis that match what the scorpions look like in Fallout New Vegas (FONV). The ones shown in the last post match up better with Fallout 4.

The Vault dwellers, people that emerged from the protective vaults after the destruction and are now attempting to build a new world. First two figures on the left are Modiphius Games miniatures, not sure where number three came from I found her in a grab bag I picked up years ago at a flea market and she sat around until I noticed she could be wearing a vault suit. And the last figure is from Hasslefree miniatures and her catsuit was just made to become a vaultsuit. The building is another Atomic Laser Cut, the Fish and Chips shop.

Hopefully these and others that I have done and those waiting to be painted will see the tabletop soon. Using both Modiphius' Fallout Wasteland Warfare and Fallout 2D20 Rpg, as well as some other rules sets our group has talked about. I will post up some AAR's after our games. Enjoy and keep gaming.

Companies mentioned in Blog

https://modiphius.us/

https://www.hfminis.co.uk/

https://www.atomiclasercutdesigns.com/

https://www.reapermini.com/