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

[Mr. White]

Thrill Hunters on Foot



Summertime was supposed to net me plenty of time to get some hobby projects done. It wound up being a season of shuffling the kids from event to event. As the season winds down, I was able to squeak out the Zona Alfa models for my third gang in the badlands, the Thrill Hunters.

I’m not entirely sold on the ‘Thrill Hunters’ as a name, and whoever uses these models can call them what they want, but I intend them to be the models for the Traders faction in Zona Alfa. They’re a motley group of former military and adventure junkies looking to score big dealing in firearems, alien artifacts, critter corpses and parts, and any other thing of value they can extract out of the goings on around Roswell.



The two ladies are from Elhiem as are the dogs. I included dogs in my Highway Patrol faction, and I have several hounds from my Elhiem order, but I think I might like them better as part of this one. Plus, I have plenty of models for my Highway Patrol, to include several new acquisitions to be painted.



The five males are from the Alan Perry Dark Future line. If I were to run these models, I’d use the center gentleman in the hat and bolo tie as a sort of ‘Hannibal’ leader for the faction.





The whole gang as it stands at the end of summer. As I mentioned, I picked up a few new-to-me classic Dark Future modes so have some I want to add to this faction when time allows. It is a motley group, so I tended towards green and brown earth tones to give them a semblance of visual cohesion on the table top.



It can take the whole gang to take down a feisty graboid, but it’s a payday. A good day.



Even better days, are locating a graboid mound and excavating whatever parts and larvae they can out of the nest.



Cultist ruining what should have been an easy xeno-egg hunt. The only easy day was yesterday in Roswell ’98.

[Mr. White]

One concern I have in trying to make each faction appear distinct...I'm running out of colors. The Highway Patrol were blues and black, the cultists purple and grey, these latest green and brown. I still have 3-4 other gangs to do: scientists, rockers, punks, and...ninjas?

[M.P.]

So much awesomeness in one thread  .

[CookAndrewB]

Scientists = white and yellow (lab coats and hazmat suits)
Rockers = Red/black? Looking at these rock band logos I feel like that stands out as pretty common:


Punks = Mostly black with some green. Again, that seems to track with a common color in punk band logos though there is more color overall:


You can also go with a different tone for colors you use in different factions. One a dark green and one brighter.

[Mr. White]

Ha! Thanks for pulling those together. I do spot several strong influencers of mine and do have some ideas for the upcoming colors.
It'll be interesting to see how close you are.

[Ultravanillasmurf]

Very nice.

[Mr. White]

Ninja!!!

[Mr. White]

Ride of the Ninja



In the early part of 2021, I went on a bit of a ninja kick. I re-immersed myself in Cannon Film’s 80s Ninja movies and played through all three of the Genesis Shinobi series titles. As a child of the 80s, ninja had a hold on the media I consumed: GI Joe, NES Ninja Gaiden, TMNT, American Ninja, SNES Ninja Warriors, etc., so I guess it was a bit of a nostalgic venture. With Roswell ’98 being a creative outlet for these sort of genre tales that inspire me, it was only a matter of time before ninja would step out of the shadows.



I went with a different formula for this gang. Previous gangs had fleets composed of a truck, a car, and a bike. I wanted this gang to be more sleek. Appear…fast. So, a 1972 Japanese Police Datsun 240 and a brace of bikes. The Datsun is another Greenlight vehicle, but I popped off the light and added a turret from a Citadel Dark Future sprue. The two bikes are metal Citadel Dark Future bikes, the most “crotch rocket” ones in the set, with riders from Caesar Miniatures 1/72 Ninja set. I cut these ancient assassins off at the waist and affixed them to the legs and seat of the Dark Future bikes.



For the colors of the ninja I went with a camouflage green in tribute to the ninja who’s soul is the antagonist of Ninja III: The Domination…the Black Ninja.



For the vehicles, I kept them a little more clean. Less grime than I added to my other gangs. I hoped being cleaner would allow the gang to have a bit of that “Cyber Ninja” look of 80s and 90s videogames.



In Gaslands, this gang could ride under Miyazaki sponsorship, or simply be part of an expedition force sent from Japan to investigate the goings ons.



Only a Ninja can kill a Ninja…but they also like chopping up Xenomorphs in Roswell ’98

[CookAndrewB]

Pretty sweet. Why wouldn't ninjas work to restore order? Someone has to hire them, which means they may have to save the "job creators" from time to time.

Trickle-down economics. If your source of income has blood trickling down their body, you have to cut the responsible party in order to create future jobs.

[Mr. White]

Trickle-down economics. If your source of income has blood trickling down their body, you have to cut the responsible party in order to create future jobs.

Ha! Good _point_.

The fleet so far:

[Dentatus]

Oh so excellent. This made my day.

[swiftnick]

One of the more elusive Dark Future novels is set in Japan. It is pretty cool.

[Mr. White]

One of the more elusive Dark Future novels is set in Japan. It is pretty cool.

Was this one of the newer, later novels Not one of the Jack Yeovil/Kim Neman ones?

@Dentatus Happy to hear it made your day. Cheers!

[swiftnick]

Called Jade Dragon, I think it was a later one. Not home to check.

[3Fingers2]

Really liking the Japanese theme 👍