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Steam Wars – Martian Cephalopods

The Overlords of Mars are a race of Martian Cephalopods that have ruled the red planet for a thousand years and are seeking to expand that empire on earth. Their hold on Mars is absolute because of their highly developed level of technology and their ability to survive both drought and famine by taking nourishment from the intra and extra cellular fluids of any living creature.

Some might call them vampires, the reality is that their evolution has been greatly helped by their nutritional versatility. That and the fact that they do not worry too much about what their dinner tastes like.

Their society is a well disciplined hierarchy. An individuals place within that society is measured at birth. Genetic markers are used to show where the developing child’s strengths will be, and what resources should be allocated gain the most from that potential.

On attaining adult status they are accepted into their designated caste where they will be able to work to further the Martian societal goals.

A work in progress shot but as they live on a red planet, and drink the blood of anything they rule over, I thought that painting these guys in red tones would be apt…

Again the figures are from Ironclad Miniatures, a manufacturer I have a definite soft spot for.  Many of my Steam Wars Navy forces are based on either Ironclad’s tanks or infantry.  It looks like they are now supporting most of the Martian invasion as well.

Steam Wars – Martian Painting Officially Started

In the grand scale of things 12 figures is not much really.  But its a start, and everything needs a start. I have a long way to go before these guys are an official army but it doesn’t seem quite so daunting when you get a few at a time under your belt.

Two Sanwar slave infantry units in all their grime smeared, gun toting and club swinging finery…

I have decided to coat their bases with the contents of a packet of ancient flock, to better blend the pill bases to the MDF rounds, then paint them in the normal Martian earth colour so that the army theme carries through.  I suspect as my eyesight slowly fails, these will look better and better to me over the next few years…

I am quite pleased with how these look, especially as they were done in super quick time and with little effort expended.

When I look at them now I see them as proper Steam Wars Martian Infantry, but I also suspect that they will be found on a gaming table as 40k chaos cultists and maybe as part of a low tech Scrappers or Rogue Stars crew…

Next up should be the Cephalopod command unit, but I am far from reliable or consistent at the moment so don’t hold your breath!

 

Steam Wars – Martian Test Figure

In total, within the wider Martian army, I have 4 units of 6 of these Sanwar slave infantry. To get me started though I have chosen to only play a force with 2 units of these infantry in it.  Lets be honest, if I asked too much of myself by planning to paint them all, I would likely falter at the first unit and never get them done.  With the Tripods and other units also needing some paint, it seems a good idea to keep things simple.

If I manage to get this unit of close combat troops, and a unit of missile troops, done I am officially half way through the Sanwar part of the army.

These figures are from the Sanwar range by Ironclad Miniatures.  I see them a little like the sand people from Star Wars. A tribe of primitive people, subjugated by their technologically advanced overlords, the Martian Cephalopods.  Part slave labourers, part food source.

As I have been a little out of sorts with painting lately, these will be getting a simple paint job. This is partly to get me back in a rhythm with my painting but mostly just because I need to get quite a few of them done in the next month or so.

As a slave race they are not well equipped or outfitted.  Poor bloody infantry was never so poor as these guys.  Old torn robes and leg wrappings. Wheezing old rebreathers and goggles are their only support against the harshness of the alien Earth atmosphere.

Their weapons may look old fashioned but the ammunition they fire is a mix of Martian ores and Nutrino crystals. Ammunition that, when exited by the physical force of firing, produces an electrical charge that is grounded when it contacts a target. This charge can cause the nervous system to become overloaded if the initial shock of impact does not immediately kill its victim.

A simple 5 colour paint job with wash gets the desired, worn and dirty, look. All with as little effort as is possible…

Basing might be an issue as my Martian army basing theme is ‘Flat Cracked Martian Earth’.  Not so easy with pill bases as these are modelled.

Oh well, by the time I have the other 11 painted I am sure that I will have decided on how to get around that problem.

Steam Wars – So, Someone Said Something About Some Martians

Coronasan and I have a game of Steam Wars planned for early April and I plan to use some Martians as my army.  I have been doing some planning and have already profiled up some units for our game.  The force below is about 1000 points (a small to average sized game).

The joy of Steam Wars is that you can profile up the miniatures you want to use in just about anyway you want to.  A small elite force, a massed horde or anything in between.

I picture the Martians as being an invasion force.  I have profiled them up as having different castes of Cephalopods leading a mix of slave infantry and automated units.

My command unit is a 3 figure (6 wound) Elite Caste group.  A Science Caste Drone controller and his two Guardian Caste bodyguards.

6x Sanwar Slaves armed with Clubs and a couple of Blast Guns.

6x Sanwar Slaves armed with Blast Guns and a couple of Nutrino Rifles.

5x Automated Infantry armed with Rapid Fire Cannons and with the Mechanical Will ability (allowing them to continue after death as a crawling torso).

5x Automated Infantry armed with Electro Gladius and Dart Guns.

5x Automated Infantry armed with Stub Guns.

A Science Caste Cephalopod in a Sample Collection Suit and supported by his 2 Automated Science Drones.

An Assault Tripod armed with Gas Globes, a set of Tripod Claws and an Electro Whip.

A Scout Tripod with a Ray Gun, Tripod Claw and a pair of Electro Whips.

My second Scout Tripod is also armed with a Ray Gun, Tripod Claw and a pair of Electro Whips but the claw is an alternate style so that I can profile it up differently if I so wish in the future.

This is but a small portion of the full Martian Invasion Force.  Luckily I had already painted up the Automated Infantry but lots of figures still require some work.

I guess I know what will be on the painting table next…

Snowy Contemplations

Snow makes the world quieter, you ever noticed that?  Muffles the world so its hubbub is not so loud and its grime is hidden.  Makes us move slightly slower and often makes us take more time to do things.  Occasionally it makes us stop completely.

When I get the chance to stop I sometimes get the chance to think.

The UK was stopped by a light blanket of snow recently and it slowed me down long enough to start to think about the purpose of The Plan…

It started with good intentions and was an effective motivator for a few weeks, or months even.  It seems to be more of a stone about my neck now.  It was started to try to make me justify what I was doing and to focus my activities. I now find myself scoring marks against myself for doing worthwhile things, just because they are not on a list.

I have had quite a few comments on the blog recently that have helped me to see this for what it actually is. A hindrance rather than a motivator.  I have also found myself making excuses for why I am not doing things that were on the plan. So to stop it from becoming a reason to resent my own actions I have decided to stop ‘The Plan’.

Everyone likes a fresh start so this is mine…  For the next few weeks (or months) I plan to paint what ever I want. I will let the games we are playing (or planning to play) guide what I choose to paint.

That said I have agreed to play a game of Steam Wars against Coronasan in the next 4 weeks, and I promised that I would field my Martians in that game.  Sadly none are painted as yet, so I may find that that is my main motivator, at least in the short term…

Gaslands – Race Night

We finally managed to get that, postponed by snow, Gaslands game played.

First game on the newly built game table, and it worked well.  Crews were kept simple again.  Coronasan had a light Buggy, his Pickup truck with a turreted MG on the roof and his new Performance car.  I played a Pickup with limited ammo on its rocket launcher and a back up Car with grenades, a caltrop dropper and a nitro booster.

After 2 turns or so we had reached gate 2 and had caused some serious mayhem.  The performance car and MG pickup were toast (we must remember to paint the undersides of our cars as they are turned upside down when wrecked).

Coronasan was left with a light buggy at this point, so looked likely to lose.  I had a pickup, with no ammo left, and my backup car.  Both of my vehicles having taken some serious damage by this point.

With this being a race, Coronasan decided to put his foot down, and just go for it.

Whereas I planned to sit in wait for him, until he rounded the corner, and then finish him off.

All was not as I had planned, as first the car went down to a hail of bullets then, as they rounded the last bend, side by side, his driver ‘popped a cap’ in my pickup’s driver’s face (serves him right for hanging out of the window I guess).

As usual I forgot to photograph the final moments in all the excitement but you can probably picture the dejected look on my face while Coronasan tried not to crow too obviously…

If anyone is interested the MDF gates used in the game, these were Coronasan’s own design and will be on sale through Products for Wargamers at Salute in April this year if all goes well…

Gaslands – Prep For Our Next Game (Score So Far +7)

As we have a Gaslands game planned for this week, I have just found time to rust up and varnish the last two cars in my original team.

A pickup truck with turret mounted rockets with an unarmed looking car finish the team off nicely with the options to go for a heavy or light ride.

I added a passenger hanging out of the window for a little extra detail as I was finishing up.  Makes it look a little less like a hot wheels car.

The Photo makes the rust on the front of the car a little bright.  Not so in real life…  This has been given equipment options that do not have to be modelled on the car. Grenades to throw out of the windows, along with a caltrop dropper and Nitro booster for a little extra speed mid game.

Together they add up to 50 cans so are a team in themselves.  I plan to use them for our next game. It will be interesting to see what tactics I have to employ without a ram on my side.

As I should really be focusing on the items on The Plan and this is no longer on that plan I have to be hard on myself and actually mark it down.

Score for post -1/ Total score +7

The Renovations Continue With The Building Of Yet Another New Game Table (Score So Far +8)

The Shed is not a small space.

I do find that I can fill it very easily.

When I started using it for my gaming den I had a set of boards and trestles that could be put away between games and the space used for other, more mundane, things.

After a while I noticed that more gaming than anything else was being done in the shed.  A small table was then setup that could be used to support a 4 feet by 4 feet  (or 6’x4′ at a push) tabletop.

When I realised that the 6 feet by 4 feet table was setup on more days than not I decided that a permanent table would be a better idea as then the space below the table could be used for storage.

Hence the current renovations in the shed.

Still lots to do as I still have to find homes for the larger and more fragile items in the shed.

Sorting out what should be reboxed and stored together is the next job.  That way I can ensure that when I am looking for it, I am not searching in 7 different places at once.

Overall its unlikely that I have increased the actual storage capacity in the shed but it may be more organised from this point on…

Off Plan

Score for post -1 point/ Total score +8

 

Renovating And Getting Well And Truly Distracted From The Plan (Score So Far +9)

So much for getting refocused on ‘The Plan’.

First thing I have done after rewriting the plan was to pop to a DIY store (at the request of she who must be obeyed) to get a new bath side (oh how I hate DIY) and ended up starting a bit of a renovation project in the shed.

I blame a short period of sunshine that showed me I should get tidied up and that led to renewing the whole area of my game table.

Storage has always been an issue in the shed and I obviously have too much ‘stuff’.

Ikea has come to the rescue with a set of storage that fits my existing boxes almost perfectly.  It will also act as a base for a new gaming table (I am a traditionalist so I has to be 6 feet by 4 feet).

Still lots to do, and with me moving piles from one side to the other as I work (I have never managed to work that smart), it has taken longer than ever I planned it would.

But its getting there, slowly (and I haven’t broken anything, or cut myself as yet).

Off Plan

Score for post -1 point/ Total score +9

Warhammer 40,000 – Great Unclean One – February Challenge Complete (Score So Far +10)

With February soon to end, I thought it was about time to ‘pull ones finger out’ and get this chap finished so that I could claim to have completed at least one figure towards this challenge.

It shouldn’t have taken me all month to complete this but I have (as is always the case it would seem) been distracted by other things.

This figure is also a slightly daunting one to approach.

The level of detail on the figure leads to many contrasting colours and shades.

All that detail, especially when viewed ‘mid process’, starts to look like a jigsaw of coloured pieces all on the same figure.

So much so that you almost wonder if you will get them all blended together in the end, or if it will remain more like it should be fielded in a harlequin force.

By the end though I don’t dislike too many parts of it.

I know I have missed some details (even now, if I look closely, I can find buboes that I didn’t paint).

If I missed them when I was actually looking for them to paint, I wont worry too much about noticing them when I am playing it in a force…  At arms length it looks finished to me.

I have said before, I am not a real painter at heart.  I like painting figures and I gain great pleasure from these things when they are finished. I just can’t bring myself to care enough about the smaller details to let missing a few worry me.  The fact it is painted, and I can happily play it in an army now, is what counts more.

The fact that I have finished it after so long is a major bonus.  With a month to complete it though, I should have managed to get at least a few of the Plaguebearers done as well.  Sadly they are still sat unfinished and still to be done on The Plan.

GUO is on the plan so does earn me another point, and as I’ve completed Azazel’s challenge on time is even more satisfying.

Score for post +1 point / Total score +10