Ultimate Alliance Project Log

[Hat Guy]

Here are the fences out of the Construction Toy Set, pained a gloss green because they reminded me of the barriers you can see around tram stops in Melbourne.



Shown with Wargames Factory Shock Troopers (my Latvierian Infantry) for a sense of scale.



This is only about a third of the fences in the Set, so I'll be able to do plenty of barriers along the streets I'm working on.

[Hat Guy]

For various reasons (that I'll go into later), I need to put together an army's worth of figures. Even though I have no intention of using it for such, this army must be able to masquerade as a WH40K army. Considering that I'm already working on this project, I'm currently thinking about putting together a Skrull army.

Actually, I've had this idea for a while, but now it dovetails nicely with two things that I'm working on. I have a few skrulls already, as well as some Super Skrulls, but there's just not enough variation to make a whole army look good. I plan to have a friend cast some Skrull heads for me in resin for use on other bodies.

The problem I'm having is thus; what kit can I use to make skrull bodies? I've considered and abandoned both Eldar and Dark Eldar warriors as possibilities, as I'll need both lightly and heavily armoured figures in the army. Can anyone think of a [preferably plastic multi-part] kit or kits that would work for a variety of skrulls?

[SgtHulka]

You've probably got to put together so many skrulls that casting heads is a better option, but I did want to point out that the Heroclix Skrull Commando, in particular, has a really nice generic superhero body.

In other words, if you use the skrull head from the Skrull Commando, you then have a body that works for a lot of superheros. Like I said though, sounds like you need too many heads...fifty Skrull Commando bodies painted up as different superheroes would probably look...wrong.

[Hat Guy]

I did consider just using a variety of clix, but the problem is that a unit of 10 Skrulls with only 4 poses will just look crummy on the table. I'm going to look before I leap on this one and maybe even do some test models so that I get the right look.

[Hat Guy]

Skrull crisis averted. A friend gave me 36 unassembled Airfix Robogear figures. The test model with a Skrull head looks fine, the gun needs a little work however.

I also finished my Question figure, hope to get a photo or two on Monday (working all weekend).

[Doomsdave]

Hat Guy:  Do you recall what the construction set was called?  I could really use a set like that (pipes, lights fences etc.).

[Hat Guy]

Evidently the Construction Playset was called:



Construction Playset 

Probably not much help...

[Doomsdave]

Thanks.  I did search for that.  No luck.  Appreciate your help at any rate.   

[Hat Guy]

More finished kit from the Construction Set, this time, pipes.







Just a quick undercoat and recoat with matte gray. They'd look pretty good on the back of a semi, so I'll look for one next week.

[Hat Guy]

Ok, I think I've hit a nice balance with the planning of my Participation Game.

Because I'm restricted to a 6'x4' table, I need to be careful when selecting both the heroes and the scenario. Any hero that can move too quickly (The Flash or Nightcrawler) or that can completely ignore terrain (Superman, Shadowcat) will render the set-up of the table irrelevant.
Also, this game will be ran at an event attended by a large number of non-wargamers, so any hero whose powers are too 'esoteric' (Green Lantern, Doctor Strange) shall have to be put by the wayside. It may not provide the most diverse selection for the players, but I'm relying more upon recognition of heroes than complex analysis of rules.
As mentioned in my "Statement of Intent" for this project, I'm doing away with the points system for my games. Despite this, if I'm running a game for the general public, I want to avoid having some heroes be noticeably more epic than others. For example, if one player is playing Luke Cage and another The Question, the person playing the Question may feel left out for much of the game. I could solve this with "detective" sections, but again, time and the nature of my players would make this problematic.

Given my more "mainstream" knowledge of comics, I've decided to prepare 4 Marvel Heroes, 4 DC Heroes and 4 Independent Heroes.

Marvel

Spiderman (His web-slinging may cause movement issues, but the Power and Responsibility angle should prevent the avoidance of fights)
Wolverine (not one of my personal favorites, but a Marvel staple)
Captain America (I need an Avenger in there and the film has raised the character's profile recently)
The Thing (Fantastic Four was the highest selling monthly comic for years... Cobblerin' time)

DC

Batman (as with Spiderman, the rooftop express can be circumvented with crims to beat on)
Green Arrow (gives a different angle on the game, being ranged combat based)
Aquaman (a DC favorite according to my JLA-reading friends)
Black Canary (mid-ranged with capable melee, also some much needed diversity)

Indy

Hellboy (Movies and a history of good comics, no-brainer here)
Judge Dredd (A new film on the way and a range of nice minis from Mongoose)
The Phantom (big here in Oz)
Mr Incredible (one of my favorite films)

Figure wise, I'm pretty covered, but does anyone have any suggestions for a Mr Incredible and Phantom figure?

[Myrlyn]

I spotted this guy on eBay that might do the trick for your Mr. Incredible...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/DISNEY-PIXAR-MINI-FIGURINE-INCREDIBLES-MR-INCREDIBLE-/380158311969

[Hat Guy]

Thanks Myrlyn, that looks perfect. Now only if I can convince them to ship to Australia (looks like just the US and Canada).

On a similar note, I'm converting The Phantom from a DC Catman figure, pics soonish.

[Hat Guy]

Finally getting back to this project after working as much as I could over the holidays in order to pay for this project... I may be missing something there...

Anyway, I bought myself some 1:50 scale vehicles to populate my streets.



And today, more work on said streets.

[Hat Guy]

Been too long since I've done much on this project, so here's a look at my progress so far:



Ok, so there's not much there at the moment, but at least I can see the layout of the streets. The cork tile streets are only the base level of the table, on top of this there will be some 5mm high-density foam forming pavements. The buildings and other table-dressings will sit on the pavement.

Now back outside to spray more tiles.

[Predatorpt]

Skrull crisis averted. A friend gave me 36 unassembled Airfix Robogear figures. The test model with a Skrull head looks fine, the gun needs a little work however...

Did you did more work on the Robogear/Skrull figures? I've used the same bodies with some Wargames Factory alien heads but I still have lots of both Skrull and Robogear bodies. I would like to see how yours turned out.