Saturday 2 September 2023

15mm Sci Fi - Ground Zero Games Tracked Vehicle Pool

Continuing on with the vehicle porn (since I have nothing better to do), may I present my collection of Ground Zero Games 15mm Tracked Vehicles.  

These were the first vehicles I painted during my second foray into 15mm Sci Fi (for a history of my experience, and  how to avoid falling into my delusion, see this post).  I don't know why I waited so many years to photograph these together (the likely answer is that I am quite lazy).  

https://darebearsminiemporium.blogspot.com/2021/12/how-did-i-get-into-this-my-history-with.html

These are all metal models, like all GZG materials.  As per my usual, I did modify some of them to my own taste.  


These were airbrushed with the Vallejo Russian Green Modulation kit.  I then airbrushed on Vallejo Model Air NATO Black and US Light Grey to create a feathered camo pattern.  They were then washed in thinned Polyshades Tudor Minwax.  

15mm GZG Tracked Support Vehicles - Artillery, MRLS, Mobile Gun System and Anti-Air Artillery

15mm GZG Self Propelled Artillery and MRLS Launcher

15mm GZG Mobile Gun System and Skysweeper Anti Air Artillery

I wanted a heavier version of the Cougar tank.  So, I took a Skysweeper Anti-Air turret and modified it to fit the heavy plasma gun that comes with the basic Cougar tank.  

15mm GZG Cougar Tanks, modified with heavy plasma guns & a different turret.

15mm GZG Tracked Cougar Tanks, modified with heavy plasma guns

To modified the basic Cougar turret lightly to accommodate rotary gatling co-axial guns.  You never have enough firepower.  

15mm GZG Tracked Cougar Tanks

15mm GZG Tracked Cougar Tanks


15mm GZG Tracked Cougar Tanks

If I were to redo these APCs today I would replace their twin plasma guns with newer GZG remote weapon systems.  
15mm GZG Tracked APCs

15mm GZG Tracked APCs

15mm GZG Tracked APCs

Scout vehicles & Drones


Since these are all metal models they are not the easiest to transport to other venues, so they tend to remain in their cases, waiting for the day to roll across the dusty plains of Altair IV.  

Friday 1 September 2023

More Old Crow Vehicles

 I have not done much in these past weeks.  Quite simply I have not been inspired to do anything.  However, I did manage to take some photos of some very old paint jobs that I did years ago for my Old Crow vehicles.  These were some of the first I did, in a Hammers Slammers metallic scheme.  I don't play that system, nor have I read the books, but I liked the idea of a metallic vehicle pool all the same.


Old Crow 15mm Hover Vehicles

These were mostly airbrushed with Vallejo Model Air Chrome and weathered with Tamiya pigments.  Stowage was added to cover mistakes and small casting defects.  I painted these over a period of years, so there is some differences between the vehicles (I am not always consistent in my techniques).  In particular on some of the vehicles I did an overall wash with thinned Polyshades Tudor, resulting in a slightly darker appearance vs the hover tanks.  

Old Crow Slingshot AFV with Missile Launcher turret & Blower Hover Tank

Some of the vehicles had very bad mold lines that I was unable to clean up.  This was very uncharacteristic of Old Crow quality.  


The Blower hover tanks are not to the proper Hammers Slammers scale.  But that is fine with me personally.  I do have two of the large Blower tanks from Brigade Models.  Those will appear in another post.

Support Vehicles

I have a huge decal pool to choose from but none were from the Slammers range.  This is of no matter really since I dont play in that universe.  This vehicle pool is normally assigned to either my GZG Mercenaries or my Laserburn Imperial Troops.  

Old Crow Slingshot AFV

I added GZG turrets you the Gladius vehicles. In hindsight I think I should have installed them forward in place of the hatch. Oh well. 

Old Crow Glaive Hover APCs

This brings my painted Old Crow vehicle pool to 96 models.  

Friday 11 August 2023

15mm Sci Fi - Alternative Armies TOHLIC ARMOURED CRAWLER

Well, I am finally back to painting 15mm Sci Fi stuff.  My WIP pile is rather large, with buildings and vehicles needing paint jobs.  So, naturally I decided to pick the biggest model in the pile, the Tohlic Armored Crawler from Alternative Armies.

Tohlic Armored Crawler from Alternative Armies.

This is a beast of a vehicle, an all resin model over 105mm x 80mm x 40mm.  Assembly was simple two hull segments, 2 track segments, 2 turrets and two rear engine ports.  Unfortunately however both vehicles had a hull segment which was very slightly miscast at an angle.  That made lining up the hull and track segments difficult.  The gap on one of the vehicles was quite large and I had to make shims from scrap model material to close the gap enough in order to fill it with putty.  Annoying but not impossible and to be expected with resin.  While both turrets are fine I wanted both a main gun and missile armament (picky I am).  Luckily I have many spare barrels from Old Crow vehicles so it was just a matter of fixing a suitable one to the center of the missile turret.  


These models reminded me of the original 40K Land Raider model from the 1990s.  Therefore they were assigned to my Laserburn Imperial Troops which are Proto-40K Space Marines.  Since my Imperials were red these vehicles would be given a similar scheme....because Space Marines!

Here is the post for those interested in how I painted my Laserburn Imperials.

Covered by heavy plasma fire, Imperial troops advance to the assault on Iconia IV.

The paint scheme was simple.  All were airbrushed.
  • Primed Vallejo Black
  • Tamiya Hull Red Basecoat.
  • Games Workshop Contrast Flesh Tearers Red on all exposed areas, leaving the Hull Red in the recesses.
I then used a series of highlights in the center of all the panels, each being smaller in area than the last.
  • Vallejo Model Air Red 
  • Vallejo Game Air Bloody Red 
  • Games Workshop Air Scarlet Red 
  • Vallejo Model Air Light Red
The tracks were painted with Vallejo Real Steel (this line is for airbrushes, but it goes on well with a brush too....very smooth) then washed with Mig Track Wash.  I also used various Mig Filters such as Brown for Dark Yellow, Subtle Dirt and General Dust in various areas.  Filters tint the base color very slightly, allowing for interesting effects and gradual color changes to key areas.  



Alclad Gloss Varnish was then airbrushed on as a sealer.  Being a lacquer this darkened up all the colors, creating a rich vibrant red.  Decals were then applied, followed by weathering powders.  Vallejo Pigment binder was airbrushed onto the areas in question, followed by various pigments applied by brush.  I finished them off with Tamiya Weathering Pigments, specifically along the panel lines and edges.


The top of the vehicles seem to have storage areas.  So, to cover up some of the more unsightly gaps (and my many mistakes) I used my tried and true technique: Vehicle Stowage.  


The vehicles are big enough IMO to accommodate an entire Laserburn Imperial Assault Group: 60 troops in total.  I still need to do something with the top side sensor pod lenses.  Not sure what yet.  


This is a big vehicle, not suited for everyone.  However, I was looking for something huge and imposing for my Imperial troops and this model fit the bill perfectly.  One of these could easily transport an entire platoon of infantry or a power armor platoon.  

A+.


Monday 3 July 2023

28mm Fantasy - Avatars of War Goblins

I am painting more this year, slowly but surely.  I purchased these guys off Etsy about a month ago, 6 Goblins in the style of Warhammer.  I normally dont work with resin figures, but I needed six guys to fill out a unit of Goblins that I had and they fit the bill.


Goblins Avatars of War - Etsy Canada



There were many options for weapons, spears, polearms, hand weapons and bows, along with many heads to choose from.  The many spare heads will adorn some of my standards in the future as severed head trophies.  


The skin tone scheme was simple:

Vallejo Black primer, followed by white, sprayed at 45 degrees.
Vallejo Game Color Goblin Green skin, washed with GW green wash.  
Highlighted with Goblin Green again followed by Vallejo Model Color Lime Green and Yellow Green.


Other items were picked out with various random colors.  

They are large enough to warrant 25mm bases, but I mounted them on 20mm squares to keep them in line with my old collection.  


I am happy in general with the result.  They blend seamlessly into my larger unit well enough.

Sunday 18 June 2023

Godzilla!!!!!!!

My youngest son is a huge Godzilla fan.  I had this little guy kicking around so I re-painted it for him.  He can fill a variety of roles in either 28mm or 15mm games.  He is squatting (unglued) on a 50mm square which seems to be standard for monsters these days.  I will likely move him to a 50mm round eventually  

He was airbrushed in Vallejo Dark Camo Green, then drybrushed with a variety of lighter greens until I was happy with the look.  The shading was done selectively, and only in the recesses with Army Painter Military Shade


He is pretty small, no bigger than perhaps a 28mm Ogre or Troll. 

His radioactive breath is simply cotton, airbrushed in Vallejo Game Color Imperial Blue, Electric Blue and Glacier Blue.  


Saturday 17 June 2023

28mm Fantasy - Tyrannosaurus Rex

Well, I am back painting again...slowly.  There were a lot of reasons for the hiatus.  One of the main ones is that quite simply, I had nothing to paint and nowhere to display it if I did.  

Anyway, I was inspired lately to convert an old D&D plastic miniature I had lying around, a Tyrannosaurus Rex.  With a quick visit to a Chaos Body-Chop-Shop he is ready for mayhem and murder.  I did two of these monstrosities; his brother is camera-shy.  

This guy was airbrushed in a simple scheme.

  • Vallejo Model Color Iraqi Sand (all over)
  • Vallejo Model Color Yellow Ochre (upper body)
  • Vallejo Model Color Burnt Umber (spine ridges)
  • Vallejo Model Color Burnt Umber mixed with German Grey (upper spine ridges)
  • Vallejo Model Color Camo Black Brown (the lower legs)

Random bits and some chain was all it took to convert this rather boring miniature.

After the airbrushing I used a variety of colors to drybrush the skin.

  • Vallejo Model Color Buff
  • Vallejo Model Color Dark Flesh
  • Vallejo Model Color Camo Olive Green

I'm a Unicorn Tyrannosaur.....with a sword arm and tail!

After the drybrushing I used a variety of Mig Filters to add transitions to the body.  

  • Brown for Sark & Desert Yellow
  • Tan for Tritonal Camo
  • Ochre for Light Sand
  • Orange for Desert Camo

The mouth and teeth were done in a dark brown, then picked out with:

  • Vallejo Model Color Violet Red
  • Vallejo Model Color Magenta
  • Vallejo Game Color Bone White
  • Vallejo Model Color Off-White

The metallic bits were very simple:

  • Vallejo Model Air Black Metallic
  • Vallejo Model Air Gunmetal (wet brushed)
  • Vallejo Model Air Steel (wet brushed)
  • Washed in selected areas with Army Painter Dark Tone

The base is not finished yet.  I need to get a 50x100 MDF base to finish him off.

Shake that ass!

He will probably make is debut in a Warhammer Fantasy game as a Chaos Slaughterbrute.  


As a footnote, this was what I had to work with.  

My eyes!  My eyes!  How horrid!



Monday 23 January 2023

GURPS Banestorm - Hex Map of Ytarria

 I have been meaning to post these maps for awhile now.  The GURPS was always the favorite RPG since it came out in the mid 80s, but sadly I could never find any interested players.  Their fantasy world of Yrth (specifically the continent of Ytarria) was intriguing since it used real-world religions.  

Unfortunately, there were never any good maps of Ytarria ever released.  All of them were very abstract and did not give a good feel on just how big Ytarria actually is.  They all used oversized graphics to represent terrain and major cities, which while visually appealing is just not really usable for GMs running an actual game.  

Nice map.  Useless in play though.

GURPS Fantasy - 2nd edition Ytarria map.  Pretty, but impractical for game play.

Years ago I overlayed the color map below with hexes in Campaign Cartographer at a scale of 24 miles per hex.  It is possible to convert this file to PDF and zoom in and print off the needed areas.  I have done this a few times on 12x18 paper and it works well enough.  I have unlimited access to a full size color laser printer free of charge so I am a bit spoiled.   

However, recently a chap over on Deviant Art created a true hex map of Ytarria (God bless him/her).  I have added some settlements and ruins (taking artistic license on their locations) via Inkscape.  I am sure it would be possible to port this over to any graphic program and add terrain, or, just print it out and use pencil crayons or whatever.  This map is also scaled at 24 miles per hex.

The original hex map is here:

GURPS Banestorm -- Yttaria 24 Mile Hex Grid by SinLeqiUnninniMaps on DeviantArt

GURPS Ytarria

GURPS Ytarria - Its a damn big place!

Here is a map I found with my Google-Fu.  Some creative soul added additional waterways to Ytarria.  I used this as inspiration for my own version.  

GURPS Ytarria - with additional minor rivers added


Blank Ytarria Hex Map

Here is the first version of the map I did.  Turned out ok considering I had no clue what I was doing in Inkscape.


Below is a newer version of the map.   Major mountain peaks are noted with white triangles.  When the image is converted to a 11x17 PDF each 1mm equals 12 miles.  PDF-Change Editor has some useful Distance and Area tools which allow you to calculate the travel distance without a hex map.

At the original document size (1771.726mm by 1337.742mm) the scale is 24 miles per 10mm, or 24 miles per hex.  

Keep in mind, at 24 miles per hex it is very difficult to show a great level of detail.  Each hex is over 500 square miles.  This is a lot of area.  Each clear hex would contain many small rivers, lakes, swamps, forests, ect.  The settlements likewise are only sparsely covered.  There would be innumerable small villages and hamlets scattered throughout the map.  Quite frankly, Ytarria is a huge area and the nations themselves are too big for their population and technology levels.  

As an example, the sample wilderness map (drawn on one sheet of hex paper with a scale of 24 miles per hex) in TSRs 1983 D&D Expert Set was a little over 600,000 square miles of land area.  This single map spawned many a campaign in the early days of D&D, with a mish-mash of cultures all crammed together. 

At the time is was presented as sample fantasy campaign map for D&D.  As the years went by it grew into it's own campaign world for the BECMI line, which has arguably the largest amount of material ever published for a campaign setting.  For those interested in the cartography for this wonderful setting please check out this treasure trove of maps for Mystara.  


All that aside, if we compare the original 1983 map below with Ytarria we will find that Al-Haz has a larger land area than all of the Known World nations combined.  Caithness and the Great Forest could easily fit inside this map, with some room to spare.  

"The Known World", from the TSR Expert Set (BECMI).  24 miles per hex.  As you can see, Ytarria is huge compared to this classic campaign area from 1983.  The nation of al-Haz covers more area than all of these nations combined. 
This map from 1976 (24 miles per hex) was a OD&D homebrew campaign world of two prominent TSR writers.  It was redesigned in 1983 for the D&D Expert Set and eventually gave birth to what would become the World of Mystara.

The World of Mystara. 
Mystara was as originally set in Earth's distant past (this was retconned out later).  The layout was based off a conjectural map of Jurassic Earth, around 130 million BC.  This was not widely known outside of TSR at the time.  The Known World was located on the southeast corner of the continent of Brun (North America).  Cartography by Thorfinn Tait.

Jurassic Earth, circa 130 million BC. 
TSR used this as a basis for the world map released in the 1985 D&D Masters Set.


Anyway....back to Ytarria.

Here is a link to the GURPS Forum which contains the main discussions concerning this mapping project.


1/18 - Map update - added/fixed some location names.  
 

Since the Banestorm has a habit of taking things from other times and places it gives us the perfect excuse to steal ideas from other RPG settings.  Literally anything from anywhere can be placed somewhere in Yrth.  Personally, I am envisioning that across the Meglan Ocean, a short distance away, lies the small twin continents of the Empire of Alphatia (also known as "Atlantis"), transported from the world of Mystara (Earth's distance past).  Since the Banestorm can alter both time and space it is a small effort to add mysterious ruins across Ytarria and chalk their existence up to the Banestorm/Reality Quakes.

I am slowly going through the process of determining the level of urbanization that I need on the map.  I have decided to use "A Magical Medieval Society", by Expedious Retreat Press.  Here are some important excerpts.  



One thing to mention, large cities, like Megalos or Waterdeep are placed by the GM.  The table above does not support the random placement of such large urban areas.  I am currently going through the process of validating the communities that are on the map and adjusting accordingly.  Caithness is pretty much done.  Communities which are BLACK DOTS are actually large villages, not towns or larger communities (I over-estimated on the number of urban areas I needed for Caithness.  Rather than eliminate them I felt they would be excellent springboards for adventure on the fringe of the kingdom.)  

The urbanization levels I will be going with are: Megalos/Caithness 8%, Muslim Lands 4%.

1/14 - Below is a new map, with the wetland areas of the the Orclands re-drawn into a smaller, more rationale size. .

Hex map of GURPS Ytarria


hex map of Ytarria with terrain only, for Post-Banestorm campaigns.



Here is a link to my Google Drive for a PDF version of this map 


Only the pseudo-canon version is online at the moment.  I will post other versions in PDF form as time permits or by request.

Below are two custom versions of the map with several additional terrain features added (the individual layers can be swapped out if desired...I designed them to be modular and stand-alone).  I would not necessarily use all of these at once in my own campaign map.  
  • a large glacier in northern Zarak filled with the ruins of a lost civilization, frozen under the ice.
  • lake in northern Djinn lands to accommodate a hidden civilization, or the ruins thereof.
  • the Great Desert has a large canyon in the center, The Landtear, the result of the Banestorm.  This canyon leads to uncharted depths below Ytarria, filled with untold horrors and alien inhabitants.  
  • An area of badlands in the southern area of the Great Desert.
  • Three small city-states along the southern Djinn coast.  Think the North African Barbary Coast, but with magic and unspeakable horrors, ruled by Sorcerer Kings from parts unknown.
  • a large forest added to southern Cardiel, along with a small coastal mountain chain (replacing the hills).  The forest is filled with dangerous monsters which threaten southern Cardiel periodically.
  • a radioactive area in the Djinn Lands containing the ruins of a Terran Alliance Base.  
 

Hex Map of Ytarria with many special non-canon areas.




Here is the current map (still WIP), printed out on 11x17 (I printed the image in tile format).


Here is a world map of Yrth, care of Sinle over at Deviant Art.



Here is a link to a post on the GURPS forums regarding the areas of the various regions.

Cardiel is slightly bigger than France.  Like I have indicated, Ytarria is HUGE!



Area of regions/nations
-----------------------------------------------------------
Megalos: 1.241 Million + Island: 56,762 square miles

Al-Wazif: 302,712 square miles

Al-Haz: 639,992 square miles
Al-Haz without Mountains:424,236
Great Valley Mountains: 215,756

Cardiel: 274,169 square miles

Great Forest: 153080 square miles
Caithness: 581,473 square miles
Caithness less Great Forest: 428,393 square miles

Sahud: 106,505 square miles

Zarak: 436,362 square miles

Araterre exclusive of Bilit Island or ring islands: 77,169
Bilit Ilsand: 38,319

Great Desert: 294,978 square miles
.  







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