My Post-Apoc Figures and Terrain (Planet of the Apes added 3/27/24)

[mikedemana]

Thanks, everyone! Since I've morphed into terrain and bits, I guess I may as well diverge from just using this thread for miniatures. Here are some wrecked cars that I just painted up:





I believe these are from Mantic Games "Street Scatter" box...I swore that I picked them up at the local hobby shop that carries their Terrain Crate line. I liked them except for the pickup trucks had a separate back window. The casting was a bit warped and I had to green stuff the heck out of it to make it look relatively normal. The solid windows I had to do hand-painted cracking on.



I have also been collecting various trees and painting them up as dead for that nuclear winter look. One batch was from the Terrain Crate "Gothic Grounds" (the little ones in back), and the big suckers are from my friend Rusty Parker and his Jarls Workshop 3-D printed store.

Once again, I appreciate the kind words!

Mike Demana

[CapnJim]

Nice job on those vehicles, Mike.  I have those too - and .50-cals and gunners to go with the trucks!

[mikedemana]

I have those too - and .50-cals and gunners to go with the trucks!

I hadn't thought about that! Good idea. That plastic should make it easy to drill out and mount the gun...

Mike Demana

[mikedemana]

These 3-D printed Terminators could be useful for my post-Apocalyptic campaign, I imagine

My first batch of 3-D printed figures that I have ever painted came from JS Wargamer Printing (http://wargamerprinting.com/). Regional gamer friend John has a huge line of miniatures that he prints upon demand. These include lines inspired by Star Wars, Planet of the Apes, Warhammer 40K, and (crucially) Terminator. I bought two packs of his "Machine Wars - Exterminators." For all of his lines, John changes the name of the figures so they are not technically marketed as copyrighted lines, but they are all immediately recognizable. I believe they are designed and the STL files sold by Papsikels Miniatures.


I bought two packs -- 13 figures -- but one broke in the basing process.

Like all 3-D printed miniatures, they ARE fragile. Very fragile, if you ask this metal miniatures enthusiast! John warns of this on his website, though. In this batch of 13 Exterminators, one of them did break at the ankles and ended up being useless except for scrap for casualty markers and such. Although John Connor may be hoping the Terminators end up being that fragile on the tabletop, I certainly do not! I'd hate to be repainting and replacing figures on a semi-regular basis and hope this was not a failed experiment...! 


Here's the other half of the figures - they have a nice variety of weapons and poses, I felt

The Exterminators did paint up VERY easily, though. I spray-painted them Krylon Matte Black, then went over it with my usual 50/50 solution of black acrylic paint and water. Next, I painted them a "Metallic Gray" (dark metal) base coat. Once it had dried, I dry brushed them silver. I touched up various other colors on the weapons, eyes, and other other metallic components. I did a dark wash on the weapons so the skeletal looking figures stayed shiny, but the weapons were a darker metallic.


The entire force of "Exterminators" looking for some humans to eradicate

For basing, I used the wealth of leftover plastic circular bases that come with the Gripping Beast Saga army packs. I normally use square wooden ones for Saga, so have lots of these left over. I applied magnetic sticky base bottoms from Litko Aerosystems to the plastic bases and am fairly happy with how they worked. I used 5-minute, two-part epoxy to glue the Exterminator feet to the plastic bases, and they seemed to hold well. I jazzed up the bases with small rocks and bricks, then applied Woodland Scenics Blended Gray Ballast to the bases. I did a dark wash over the ballast, then actually dry brushed it lighter gray to bring some depth back up. Some more Woodland Scenics turf, burnt grass looking tuft, and spray clear coats and they were ready for the tabletop.


I like the heavy weapons that come along with the hand held weapons

I will likely be painting more of the miniatures I bought from John at CincyCon 2023. So keep an eye out for them...!

Mike Demana

[CapnJim]

Lovely figures those. 

And here are those pick-ups as technicals...I used Empress Insurgents for the figures and guns...

[Grumpy Gnome]

Continually great work! 👍☢️

[mikedemana]

Thanks for the kind words, Gnome! And Jim -- I really like those pickups as technicals. It makes sense they've been involved in a fender bender or two... 

Mike Demana

[Vagabond]

I have a few WWl printed planes but not gone into the current ranges, especially resin prints, which I understand are better print quality but fragile. I was amazed how much there is when I did look.

You've done a nice jog with these and Jim the technicals look great as well.

[mikedemana]

A batch of cool-looking droids and robots that might show up in my post-apocalyptic games

Time for some more "machines" for the humans to fight. These come from several sources. The incredibly cool, crab-like droids are from Aberrant Games and are called Vatacina "Sentinel" and "Purifier," I believe. I picked them up at a flea market in January from a local gamer. I swear the pack was marked $1. I couldn't tell what they would like put together, so I only bought three. Wish I had got more, now!



I am all thumbs when it comes to using super glue or modelers cement. And I simply couldn't get the Vatacinas assembled no matter how hard I tried. I handed them off to my friend Keith and he did a nice job putting them together. He even repositioned one of the arms to give the droid a different look. I painted them in a dark metallic cover first, giving it a heavy black wash, too. Then I added a colorful metallic layer of paint for the main parts of the droid. I added accent colors and picked out various bits before one final dark wash.



Needless to say, I am VERY happy with how the three came out. They may also show up as part of a Xenos Rampant force in Sci-Fi minis games, or even as enemies in Space Station Zero. The coolness factor is high with their look, almost a cross between Starship Trooper arachnids and Star Wars battle droids.



The rest of the batch included a Wiley Games robot, a Reviresco Robot Heavy Gun, and two tiny droids also from Aberrant Games Rezolution line. The tracked robot is a resin miniature and a bargain at only $5 on the Wiley Games website. I tried a metallic white paint with red accents to give it a more retro look, and am suitably happy with how it turned out. For those who have seen them, Reviresco minis are somewhat dated and clunky. However, when you're looking for the odd Sci-Fi piece, they can fit the bill.



The two tiny droids came out great, as well. Once again, I am kicking myself for not buying more from my friend's flea market table. These may show up more often as scatter terrain or eye candy rather than take on an actual role in a miniatures game. However, they are cool looking, as well, so I am glad I painted them up. I like my craft paint metallics and will likely continue to use a selection of them.



All in all, I feel these are a solid addition to either my post-apocalyptic forces for the machines or just Sci-Fi games in general. Thanks for all the kind comments!

Mike Demana

[Spinal Tap]

Read this thread through again from the start and I continue to be impressed.

Standout figures for me are the Rastafarian lads, the loot markers and chem suit gang.

Also love the idea of NPC's being under the control of the weakest player as a bit of a catch up mechanism- pure genius and I'll be using it in my games at some point.

[CapnJim]

Good stuff there, Mike.  They all look great!

[mikedemana]

Also love the idea of NPC's being under the control of the weakest player as a bit of a catch up mechanism- pure genius and I'll be using it in my games at some point.

Thanks for the kind words! We are lucky in that we tend to have 6+ players on a regular evening. So many games are written for one on one, and it's hard to balance them for a gang of folks!

Mike Demana

[mikedemana]

I think I'll veer off here and start sharing pictures of my post-apocalyptic terrain, too. Here are a few shots of some corner ruins I recently finished up. My friend Rusty Parker, who has a 3-D printing business called Jarl's Workshop, sold these to me because I liked the first one I painted up so much. They are originally from WOWBuildings, who sells the STL files.



The kit is a six story corner ruin, but I decided to add some variety by lopping off a level or two on my next two builds. Plus, it leaned a bit more than I liked when it got all the way up to six stories tall. Maybe that was my fault for not using some steel bases or something to wait it down on the bottom, but I am glad I made the decision to do 4- and 5-story versions. It should provide more variety.



I cut my styrene plastic bases I epoxied the ruins onto wider to also combat the lean. While I was at it, I put a lot more on the bases to, hoping to represent blocks that have fallen off the upper floors and lay in piles around the corner that is still standing. I used large red bricks which I believe come from Pegasus Terrain, though I have long since thrown away the tag that came on the bag.



I did my usual treatment - spray painting the ruin with Krylon matte black paint and following it up with a 50/50 mixture of acrylic black paint and water. Then I did a dark gray wet brush and a light gray dry brush over the surface. I then added small red bricks and coarse gray ballast (from Woodland Scenics) to each of the floors to represent rubble piled up. For the ballast and small bricks, I went over them with a dark black wash.


My original six story ruin

You do have to glue the various levels together ("some assembly required"), but they fit together well and were no problem. Rusty sold them to me at a good price and I will probably (eventually) buy even more of them from him. I want to work on some more of the other ruined terrain that I picked up in the second half of the 2023. In the meantime, I'll keep adding in pictures of my previously painted terrain! Hope you like them...!!

Mike Demana

[Constable Bertrand]

The rubble looks just about right to me Mike , very convincing.

Yikes 6 storey, that looks it might overshadow a few of the wizard towers on here

[mikedemana]

Thanks! I like how it breaks up the table vertically, too. Different heights give it a more real look...

Mike Demana