Infinity (or other near future games) - Matchbox Drones

I found a couple of Matchbox toys which could be useful for games like Infinity. The toys are called SB94 Drones. They are diecast metal, painted in a sporty lime green, with little missiles on pylons moulded under each wing. (Not PC, Matchbox, but no worse than any other armed toy.) They were for sale at a local supermarket, for AUD 3.50 each. Bargain!

The missiles aren't very well moulded but will stand out fine with a good paintjob. The propellers and landing gear are plastic, and they can turn (or at least they would if they weren't gummed up with paint.) The other details such as cameras and panel lines are at the level you'd expect for a toy of this type, just like doors and mirrors on a Matchbox or Hot Wheels car.

Since these are fictional drone aircraft, scale is up to you - they could be anything from model aircraft to airliner size. I have included an old 28mm scale figure for comparison. In a roleplaying or miniatures game these could be props, objectives or actual UAVs.

The Matchbox paintjobs are actually quite thick. If you look closely at the starboard wing of the drone behind the figure in the overhead photo, you can see a chunk of paint is missing from a mid air collision (which happened in my car on the way back from the supermarket). If you were really keen, you could strip the paint off and start again. I didn't bother.

I gave them a coat of Tamiya grey primer, which was the only grey spraypaint I had handy. Next will come some markings, perhaps an Evil Corporation, and picking out panel lines, weapons and surveillance equipment. The underside of the drones has the usual manufacturer's and copyright information, in raised lettering. I didn't bother removing it, but you could probably file it off.

 

28mm - Ren and Stimpy

To show the scale of the resin scenery dumpsters in the post below, I used some old figures which I painted in the early 1990s. They are from the Grenadier 'Future Warriors' range, now sold by Mirliton, an Italian company. That particular pair came from the 'Interview to Rebels' pack.

Here's a pic of the bare metal from the Mirliton website:

On that day, way back when, I experienced a bright moment of painting zen perfection: the planets aligned, my mind focussed and I was able to paint Ren and Stimpy on their tshirts. I did this by just putting dots of colour on the minis, occasionally wiping off a mistake, until I had the figures just right. Although I think my painting has improved since, at least when it comes to rough and ready techniques to make an army look smart on the table top, these are two of my favourite minis, and I consider the detail work the best freehand painting I have ever done. Of course the rest of the minis are very simply painted, because I didn't want to distract from the logos on their shirts (and I honestly didn't want to mess up the rest of the paint job!)

Warlands - Box Contents and Scale Comparison

Here are some pictures of the Warlands vehicles from the boxed set. In that box you get one truck, two buggies, two white metal driver figures, three white metal gunner figures, two six sided dice, two ten sided dice and a small rules booklet, which includes cut out counters. The cars are nicely moulded, with only minor flaws. The figures are a little indistinct, but a clean paintjob would fix that. Scale is definitely 20mm, but they will work with vehicles in similar scales.



The truck. The tailgate is moulded separately. An airbubble is visible on the back edge of the cabin, but this could easily be filled with superglue, or left as a bullet hole. There are several bullet holes and areas of damage moulded on these vehicles, so it won't look out of place.

The Buggy. There are two of these, with the same 'battle damage'.

Here are some comparisons for scale. The green truck is an Old Crow model in 25mm scale. The bike is from the Grenadier Future Warriors range. The brown figures are 1/76 toy soldiers (It should be noted that figures in this scale, and 1/72 scale, are rarely consistent between brand names. Of course human beings aren't all the same size, but you will notice the difference when you mix brands of these or any figures.) The white car is a Matchbox model of a Bentley, in what it claims is 1:64. I have a tape measure, but not a Bentley, so I will have to take their word for it.

The vehicles and figures are clearly small scale - about 20mm or 1/72. The cars could be used with 25mm miniatures, but the more 'epic' the proportions of your miniature collection, the smaller these vehicles will look. So, they look good next to Grenadier minis (such as the 'Future Warriors' from the 90s) but tiny next to Games Workshop. In between would be ranges such as Street Violence. The cars would still be useable, but noticeably smaller. How well that works on your tabletop will depend on how picky you are.

If you were going to use these with larger minis, I would suggest moulding a new driver for the buggy, and adding a remote controlled gun, or a completely new gunner. You could also just use repainted or converted Matchbox or Hot Wheels cars, with the rules that come with this game.

Unfortunately, these little cars are visibly smaller than the 25mm scale Old Crow models. Old Crow make a range of 15mm models, but I have never seen them in the flesh (in the resin?) so I could not compare the two types.

28mm - Ramshackle Games - 28mm Postapocalyptic Vehicles

Increasing my collection of 28mm scale vehicles for Cyberpunk and/or postapocalyptic roleplay, I found Ramshackle Games' Website. I ordered the armoured Quad and the Truck, as a generic transport vehicle for my future world.

I have also decided to paint the second Old Crow Models Trojan in a sort of splintered olive drab/grey-black scheme, a bit like a WW2 Stuka or a modern Swedish AFV.

These pictures are from the Ramshackle Games website, showing the vehicles I bought:

Old Crow Models - Other people's work

Here are a couple of sites I found where people have painted their own versions of Old Crow Models vehicles:

http://wastedroads.blogspot.com/2007/11/road-warrior-another-update.html

http://marks-minis.blogspot.com/2008/01/old-crow-grav-tanks-preview.html (15mm tanks)

http://brandlin.blogspot.com/2008/01/creating-grymn-force-ii_12.html

and this is a very good painting guide (PDF):

http://www.kevindallimore.co.uk/pdf/web%20THUNDERBOLT_RGB.pdf

If I see any more I will add to this post.

Old Crow Models - Trojan in Digital Camouflage

Here's the Trojan in Digital Camouflage. It's just Tamiya sprays on masking tape, Citadel black on the tyres and gun barrel and a little Citadel Tin Bitz on the exhaust. A little thinned out black brushed along the panels. Could do with some dirt, and detail painting; maybe some tactical signs or unit markings.

Metamorphosis Alpha

Another mention for the blog - this time on the forum for Metamorphosis Alpha.
MA is a post-apocalyptic roleplaying game of humans, androids and mutants.

MA4e is the 4th edition of the world’s first Sci-Fi RPG. It is designed to be playable, and not to get bogged down in rules. It is flexible, and values fun over mechanics. The game has been developed by a small team of dedicated Metamorphosis Alpha enthusiasts, supervised by James M. Ward himself.
This game has been a long time coming. The game has evolved a lot since 1976. The new version of the game has tried to emulate the original 32 page book, in that the mechanics are simple and functional. The adventure begins, as per the original, on the Starship Warden, a massive ship that has experienced disaster. Rather than just simple radiation, as in the first edition, the ship has been exposed to radiation, mutation-causing substances and aliens. It is a busy place to wake up in!

Mmm... kill all humans... hey sexy mama... wanna go kill all humans?

28mm - Old Crow Models - Revisiting digital camouflage

In a previous post I decided I would paint my Baneblade variants in digital camouflage. This idea was dropped due to the difficulty I had masking the digital squares on the riveted, panelled surfaces of the Baneblades. However, it might just work on a couple of the Old Crow models. Time to dig out the old Tamiya masking tape!

28mm - Old Crow Models - Basecoats

Samson Engineer Vehicle
Trojan APC

Gecko Pickup
Goanna Scout
Provider Transport (Crates come off) Rebel Light Utility Vehicle

A while ago I put some paint on the Old Crow Models vehicles. These are 25mm resin vehicles, suitable for near future science fiction wargames or roleplay. I chose the wheeled versions (and all the wheels are the same mould) and went for cars that would be useful in a Cyberpunk or similar world.

All of these vehicles were built "as is". The smaller ones came as an entire moulding, except for the wheels. The larger ones were generally a top and bottom half, as you can also get hover and grav variants on the Old Crow Models website. You also get a few white metal details like exhaust pipes and bumper bars. The Trojan comes with a choice of weapons. I used the autocannon, which comes with a white metal barrel. There are also rocket or missile launcher versions. The Samson's crane turret is about 6 pieces, and I added the hook to the end.

Detail painting is needed; this will happen when I get around to it... like everything else.

WH40K - Old Crow Models

I purchased three vehicles from the 25mm range on the Old Crow Models website.

Samson Engineering Vehicle (tracked version)

Gecko Scout Car

Provider Transport

They are nice resin models, in a well proportioned 25mm scale. This makes them slightly too small for WH40K, but suitable as scenery, or for use in RPGs, etc, as props with 25-28mm figures. There was no extra resin to carve off, or flash to trim - these are top quality model kits at a reasonable price (ten pounds stirling)

They are moulded in parts - The Samson comes as hull, chassis(which can be different in other models, eg grav, wheeled or tracked), turret and several pieces to make the crane. The Gecko is just car body and separate wheels. The Provider is truck body, wheels, crates. All come with extra details in white metal, including exhausts, tow hooks etc. The website is pretty clear on construction and parts.

(Pics are taken from the Old Crow Models website and are owned by them.)