Roswell '98: 1/72 Post Apoc (XR Bandit update)

[Chimpfoot]

So nice 👍🏼

[mikedemana]

Every once in awhile, I need reminding that you are painting 28mm quality on a 20mm figure. Amazing work! 

Mike Demana

[LouieN]

The whole set up looks great.

[Mr. White]

Thanks, All!

I wouldn't say this looks _as_ good as 28mm, but they look fine at arm's length on the tabletop.

After looking over the rules again last night, I think I might end up running this unit as Light Infantry with the Guerrilla option. That increases their armour when in soft cover. Light Infantry has better stats than Recon Infantry and with the Guerrilla option that could represent their war experience and making use of their environment or being weekend hunters in the days before. This feels a little better for these troops.

[DivisMal]

Awesome how those come together and give the feel of an „army“!

[Akrim]

Such a cool thread, I love it. Very nice figs and terrain!

[Mr. White]

Thanks for checking out this thread!

It turns out that I only needed to add a small handful of models and I found myself with three Creature Feature Detachments. Most of what's coming was done previously as they were used for various Gaslands scenarios. I painted about 7 models this week and ended up with three, unique, full 24-point Detachments.



First up is The Wyrm. Clearly inspired by the film Tremors, which is a personal favorite, I already had the larger graboid-inspired insects in the back to be used as the big game creatures in the Gaslands Big Game Hunt scenario. Each one of these is their own Single Model Unit (SMU) in XR. For variety, I picked up a few Reaper Bones Chthons to serve as the larvae stage for the larger creatures. These models can also be used for the “Did You Feel That?” variant of The Dead Raise option for XR Post Apoc games.



The 24 point Detachment build is as follows:

• The Monstrous (SMU) (x4) 5pts – Greater Xenomorph w/ High-Powered Blades
• The Larvae 4pts – Lesser Xenomorph w/ High-Powered Blades and Special Insertion

Next up is The Machine. Clearly, this is my Terminator knock-off. I had the eight Medium Xairbots (also from Reaper Bones) as sentry guns for Gaslands arena scenarios. In this case, I just added the one Large Xairbot to serve as the Avatar and the only Elite Infantry unit in my game. Maybe this group came to earth on the hunt for the greys who will be featured in a future post.



The 24 point Detachment build is pretty similar to what Mersey has for terminators in the XR rulebook:

• Avatar of the God Machine (SMU) 8pts – Elite Infantry w/ Armour-Piercing, Mechanoid, and Force Field (Class I)
• Hunter-Killer Machines (Reduced Model Units) (x4) 4pts – Heavy Infantry w/ Armour-Piercing, Mechanoid, and Force Field (Class I)

Third we have The Dead. This one is a blend of the Aliens and Zombie films, but here I’m having the zombies controlled hosts of the xenomorph. Perhaps the “queen” controls them as their bodies serve as incubators for xeno larvae. She’s a bit of a Cthulhu/Alien hybrid creature, but it was a model I had so thought it would work. Another Reaper Bones model, the Mi-go Eldritch Horror. In front of her is a unit of Elhiem Hive Hornets. She’s flanked by 20 plastic 1/72 zombies from Dark Alliance. Perhaps this lady found her way to earth as escaped cargo in a downed UFO? I already had the zombies for the Undead Gaslands scenario as well as the Hornets painted, so I just needed to put paint that Mi-go.



The 24 point Detachment:

• The Queen (SMU) 8pts – Greater Xenomorph w/ Ponderous, Fearsome, Regeneration
• Chitin Wave 6pts – Lesser Xenomorph w/ Swarm, Hive Mind, Fearsome
• Host Pack (x2) 5pts – Militia Rabble w/ Ravenous Horde, Contagious, Fearsome, Special Insertion and Undead

I’ve got three other Detachments in-flight also only needing a handful of models to be fully realized. The other three are a bit more human centric and the focus of this little Roswell ’98 setting of mine.

[3Fingers2]

God bless Burt gummer 😂

[mikedemana]

Great looking stuff! 

Mike Demana

[Mr. White]

@3fingers2 - ha! Burt Gummer indeed. Love that dude.

Thanks @mikedemana!

[CapnJim]

They look really good.  Well done!

[Mr. White]

My fourth completed detachment, and the protagonists of my little Roswell’ 98 setting are The Survivors. I recently finished painting a few units for this band and I’ve got many, many human models painted at this scale now, so this detachment could easily go beyond the standard 24pts. This post will only address the 24 though.



Again, doing this project in 1/72 (or 20mm) was driven by the desire to make use of those excellent Citadel Dark Future minis. It’s a blessing that Northstar commissioned Mark Copplestone to also make some post apoc minis for Gaslands, even though Gaslands doesn’t have pedestrian rules, because those new Northstar minis slot right in with the Citadel sculpts. The largest organized group of models, when both lines are combined, are the Highway Patrol or Police. So, like the Main Force Patrol in the original Mad Max film, this setting has the law, and not some military, trying to keep civilization together.

• Highway Patrol 6pts – Heavy Infantry w/ Heavy Weapons and Increased Squad Size

The SWAT unit here is made up of four Dark Future models with an Elhiem lady in the middle.

• Special Weapons and Tactics 4pts – Recon Infantry with Sniper Team

The scientist unit above scavenges the alien and machine technology to reverse engineer weapons to assist the humans in their fight for Earth. From left to right we’ve got Dark Future, Elheim, 40k Tau drone with a Northstar Gaslands Implements of Carnage sprue weapon, Northstar Gaslands Corporate mini, and Reaper Bones Small Xairbot. The deathray drone is hovering slightly higher than I intended, but the super glue dried too fast for me to correct. Oh well. This is a support unit with that drone sorta slow hovering in place and blasting UFO tech death rays into the xenos.

• Scientist Scavengers 6pts – Support Infantry w/ Indirect Fire

Posted previously, two units of ex-military/militia types are rolled into this detachment lending their firearms and experience to the cause of human survival. I see them as spotters for the scientist support unit as well.

• Army Veterans (x2) 2pts – Light Infantry w/ Guerrillas

The last unit is a vehicle, and I’ve got four to choose from that would work. Ideally, this detachment would use one of the two Highway Patrol vehicles, but I’ll let the player decide.

• Modded All Wheel Truck 4pts – Soft-skin Vehicle w/ All-Terrain, Technical

Here’s the whole 24pt unit. Looking at them now, these pics are a bit darker than I’d prefer, sorry.



Above is the same unit, but using the optional rule in Xenos Rampant to represent human/survivalist type detachments as Reduced Model Units with the rational being the human race is depleted and there’s a much smaller population. I’ve previously credited rules mentioned to Daniel Mersey, as the XR ruleset’s core is from his design, but I’m not sure if this option was Mersey’s or co-author Richard Cowen’s. Either way, I haven’t decided if I’ll go this direction or not. I do like the idea of a smaller band of scrappy humans, but at the same time…I’ve got a lot of painted figs at this scale I’d like to use! 😉

[mikedemana]

I'd love to see a battle report using the rules and your figs... 

Mike Demana

[Mr. White]

I’ve got one more XR detachment I want to have in the bag before I start playing games. I should have it done soon so maybe I’ll get in a game next weekend.

[Mr. White]

Here’s the main antagonists of my little Roswell ’98 setting, the aliens that have come back 50 years after the ’48 “weather balloon” incident, led by The Martian. A lot of angles I had bouncing around in my head to use “cult” style minis from two great 20mm lines solidified in this detachment.



Leading this detachment is the main brain itself flanked by two human bodyguards. The cloaked cultists are from the Citadel Dark Future line and the taller martian is a 28mm Reaper Alien Overlord. Mixing scales here works for me as it gives the martian an otherworldly creepiness. This idea originally struck me with my punk gang (the sixth, and last detachment. ETA unknown) and I liked the idea so much there I thought it could work even better here. I think it does. This model also gives me a unit to play with the Psychic rules in games of XR. Is he controlling the humans? Are they toads wanting stature in his New World?

• The Martian (RMU) 6pts – Heavy Infantry w/ Force Field Class I and Psychic Beta-Class

The Greys here are another scale too. 15mm Alien Greys from Rebel Minis. I couldn’t find suitable Greys at 20mm and even though little green martians would better match The Martian, being a setting in the 90s, they _had_ to be Greys. I mean…Alien Autopsy! Like the cultists I use the cloaks on the leaders here to tie the color into The Martian. Going with Force Field here due to either technology or their smaller size.

• The Greys (x2) 3pts – Recon Infantry w/ Force Field Class 1

Here come the excellent Northstar Gaslands Wasteland Warrior models. These acolytes are a bit lower ranked than the Dark Future robed cultists, so they don’t get the honor of Martian robes yet, but paint themselves in the color of The Greys. Here we have a unit led by some of those robed leaders. I was thrilled to get these two lines in sync here. The female cultist with two pistols is from the Dark Alliance Survivors line. Hair scraped off to appear bald.

• Human Cultists 6pts – Heavy Infantry w/ Assault Doctrine and Increased Squad Size

The vehicle here has been showcased in a previous post as part of the Cultists gang for Gaslands. It’s a 1941 Military Half Ton Truck from Greenlight with Northstar Wasteland Warriors drivers dropped in.

• Half Ton Truck 6pts – Soft-Skinned Vehicle w/ All-Terrain, Improvised Armour, and Technical

Above is the whole detachment on display. A motley group of models at various scales unified in their vision for the conquest of earth.



The Martian and The Survivors detachments let me play with new Copplestone sculpts and the wonderful 20mm Perry figs I’ve adored over the decades. The robed cultists and highway patrol models are about 35 years old. Finally… a chance to use them! Thanks, Xenos Rampant! 



This detachment also fills my “weird odds n ends” Really Useful Box (RUB) for all flavors of post-apoc gaming. It contains creatures, NPCs, objective markers, etc. I try to keep my minis collection structured and intentional, so restricting my models to specific RUBs help prevent me from wasted purchases and piles of unpainted models. This setting does still have that Punk detachment incoming, but I might move over to another project or two first. I’ve got five XR detachments to play with now so that should be good to get me going for a little while.