Wednesday, February 24, 2016

Infinity Mercs - DEC

Greetings everybody!





With "Human Sphere" aka HS3 (a supplement book for Infinity) on the horizon and all the little hints about Mercenaries that keep popping up, I thought it was time to shed some light on my Merc stuff.

For those unfamiliar with Mercenaries in Infinity, here some introduction:
The fluff for Infinity states that humanity has colonised different star systems and is in a constant, yet really really REALLY fragile state of peace with each other. The aliens, called the Combined Army are the only constant opposition, which is shot at. Of cause there is always work for someone who is will to shoot at someone else for money or at least accepts money for walking around with a big gun in his hands. The term Merc is used in a reaally wide context, ranging from a gang of space pirates to single characters, roaming the sphere in search of stuff to kill. In game terms there is currently no existing rule set, that defines how a Merc gang would work /there has been, but it was never that good) so, Mercs are basically single Units, able to be included in other armies. I think the basic idea with the Mercs was to sort out weaknesses in lists, i.e. Ariadna (a technological rather left behind faction) doesn't have a own hacker. But they can compensate that lack by hiring a Merc Hacker.
Uh... do I have your attention again? :D

So. My idea for my Mercs is the following.

DEC, standing for Dynamic Execution Corps, is a Company that has two sides. On the one hand, DEC its own employees, security personnel, that can be hired at any chain store. On the other hand, DEC works as a link between independent characters that are looking for contracts and customers that have certain jobs to be attended to. Having exclusive contracts with the logistic company H-Logs, DEC can vouch for a quick and save travel and has a wide supply network. Each chain store can be used by the contractors as storage units for ammunition and equipment.


Let's start with the chain store, shall we?
I used two storage containers from LJG which got a little cut apart (I "added" the side door and the windows on the top container). The banner on top is a print out of the design I made. More about print outs and their uses on the tabletop, next week btw.
I basically used Montana Gold Spray Cans ( you can get here ) for the green and a brush and some GW foundation yellow for... the yellow :D

The first floor is the bureau, where can hire the gun or man power you need...

... nothing spectacular here.



The larger containers interior shall represent the storeage and supply aspect. The racks come with the container, but are normally empty. I used wooden cubes from the art store as boxes and random bitz for the goods on the shelves. Nothing wild here, but imo it suite the room. The Info screen on the wall is from antenocities.







Here is a shot from the whole compound. With walls and check point from Zen Terrain.




Now... to the miniatures!
From left to right, CBs Valeria and a Tsyklon REM, the limited Authorised Bounty Hunter and a Authorised Bounty Hunter on bike.
As you will see on the following picture I tried to do the following with  the paint scheme: The basic colors should be green and yellow. But I wanted to avoid a to uniform look so I used a different green on every model and I used a different amount of yellow. If you take the limited ABH and the Bikerlady. He nearly got no yellow, while she is sporting quite lot on her dress.


The gang's all here.
All my Merc models so far.
From left to right:
CBs CSU (Operation Icestorm Box); CBs Tsyklon REM and Valeria; ABH (ITS 2014); ABH (Rulebook preorder); Miranda Ashcroft (Artbook); ABH on Bike; Haqqislam Guhlam Doc (Support Box) with crazy coalas (together they count as Nomad Moran Massai); in the back an Anaconda Merc TAG with Pilot; custom ABH (Grenzer Body, PanO Spitfire, Aleph SpecOp helmet); Maria "The Crow" from Armoured Syndicate with her droids (count as Moran Massai as well).

I am really keen on sculpting and converting, but with Infinity you have (almost) perfect models, so not much to do. Aside fro that , all the factions have such a specific design, that is quite a task to work other companies modes into the line with them standing out like the odd kid. The Mercs give me the perfect excuse to bring in all the models that have no spot with my nomads. So, when ever I feel the urge to paint something else than orange and grey... here we go. Green and yellow. :D

I hope you liked my little excurse.

Next week I will have a Tutorial for you again on how to use your printer to the best effects on the tabletop. So, tune in, if you want to see my way of doing floors, holo-boards and street signs.

Until then!

Wednesday, February 17, 2016

[Silas Ark] The Motel

Greetings everbody!

What a buzz here, right?


I have promised to myself that I want to produce something with real content here at least once a  week. We will see how long I can live up to this :D

As some of you might know, I had a highly productive sculpting phase, when I was hanging out with the hivemind. My sculpting works have become way more subtile... bso, if you feel like learnening, reading and HEARING about sculpting and the crafting of flesh, make sure you check out Brother Pinks Blog and his podcast! To keep you from searching, here some links:

Mr Pink and his brothers podcast

http://www.modernsynthesist.com/

But now, back to topic.
A good while ago our good friends from Laughing Jack Games have launched a massive community support action. The offered two sets of their terrain to the community, both sets stuff full with goodness to fill a table. All you had to do, was write up your ideas fro the board and let the community decide. Guess what. I could haul one of these bags home!
Since then I have been working on and off on these containers...

The basic idea of the table is a space station, that had a cargo port and a port for human traffic. And what do both travellers and interstellar truckers need? Sure, a place to rest their heavy heads for a night. So, the Idea of a Motel was born.

With all the buildings, I try to avoid sniper nests. That means, I want all high positions be accessable by ladders and try to give cover in as much directions as possible. I will show you what I mean later on.
Logos and floortiles here
 The basic idea is simple. Couple of containers on top of another, with some sort of gangway to access the different levels...

Add caption
Since there is no room for a "reception" and it is just a Motel, we have some holo-access terminal at ground level. You check in, download the access key to your com log and are good to go.
After check in, you use the elevator to get to your floor.
Each floor has a balkony, providing a beatiful view over the staation.
Even from afar it is easy to see, which level you are on. In chase of an emergency, you can use the fireladders to reach ground floor.
The containers are quite nice to stack. So I made the balkonies removable. To access eaach level, the Containers are of cause not glued together. The Gangway construct on the other hand grants enough stabilisation, so the tower won't tumble over during the game.
Each room comes with a bed, a toilet and a sink. I wanted to add some sort of TV, but I figured, the ComLog would bring all the enternainment you need.
The size of the bed was not early measured for miniature to sleep in, but more to grant cover.
The room on the ground floor is the "bachelor suite" comes with a original Bioware Maid-TPR for you entertainment. I wanted a little goodie on the ground floor, that, who ever dared to place his LT there get a little reward.
Bioware is a subsidiary company from TripleHelix and produces entertainment soft- and hardware.




As everything on the Ark, you can see, she is not the latest model...
So, folks. That's it for now. If you have questions or comments, I will gladly answer them!
Until next time...

Monday, February 15, 2016

40000 and a heart day

Greeting everybody!

First of all... we have reached a critial number here.

And be it just good for the nostalgic feeling it wakes in me,
this little blog has crashed the 40.000 views mark!

YAY! Thanks a lot!

and while we are at celelbrating some thing, I dearly hope you had a pleasent V-Day!


So. I am prepping some articles that are a bit more eye candy and less "me buying, reviewing and rating stuff", although some of that will happen nontheless.

Stay tunes ;)

Friday, February 5, 2016

Review: Laughing Jack Games Containes

Greetings everybody!

Since I decided to breath some life back into this blog,
here is the first review of  a few to come.

Today on the table: the relative quite fresh Containers from Laughing Jack Games...
Laughing Jack Games Container
so, let's dive in...

1. Packaging



As all LJGs products and shipments, all has been wrapped up neatly with bubblefoil, further more the MDF sheets are hold together by a foil, is nice as well. If a company should send out the MDF sheet or just the parts can be discussed. I prefer this way more, since you can easily use the left overs for other terrain projects or the empty MDF sheets as spray stencils.

When LJG started to produce their terrain, their instruction sheets have been... let's say, a bit confusing. As you can see, they have put some real work into that, with some easy to follow and clear to understand instructions.

Nothing to mourn here...




2. Construction

Well... making little wood cubes isn't that  hard, I have to admit, but there is one thing I would recommend...
The "walls" of the container are separately. Giving the containers a bit more dimension is one effect. The other is, you don't have to glue them in place. I found that really positive for the paint job. I simply didn't glue the lid in place and painted the wall apart from the "cage".
As you can see, the containers are still colorfull, without being too bright on the table. The white of the walls gave them some sort of uniformity.

All in all, you get really fast a good amount of cubes together, no nicks, no nags.


3. Design

the thing that irritated me a bit, was that turn wheel. For the aesthetics in the Batman game totally fitting, but, I had the feeling, they felt a bout out of place for infinity. Therefore I simply left them away. There will surely be a better place to use them!




A funfact, is that the ladder can actually be used (if you don't have too much going on on your bases...)
When you build these containers you can see that the lower side has also some texture. The cross beams are really cool looking (in case Hulk smashes them aside...) and have a great effect on the stability. I could help but test that a bit...
Nope, these are not all full...
... but these are butting some serious weight on a rather little surface.

Finally: the use. I bought these containers in the hope of getting something to go with the MagLev train. Since the containers from Terrakami are looking gorgeous as well, but being not sooo cheap... I was looking for an affordable alternative. Yes, until now I have used the paper thingies from the OP:Icestorm box, but honestly, I am no big fan of paper terrain.

To my delight, the containers fit no just so so, but they fit perfectly.
As you can see here, they not just fit perfect on the train but perfect next to each other. Even the small crates... here are the possible layouts.

Finally, it is quite obvious, but should be mentioned non the less... the stack great. In all kind of directions, which means, with the 3 compartment long container you can build a bridge. And they stack quite firm. So, no wobbly bobbly ground for your favourite sniper to stand on.



As you probably have noticed, I am a big fan.

4. Price
I have bought a Container Set and a pack of M-Containers for under 25€. Which is in my book a really fair price for what you get: a train full of containers, that even vary a bit in size. One should never compare and there is always some doing it cheaper, but if you look at what you get, the price is out of competition. If you want to stack your train with the original terrakami stuff and are looking not for the wooden boxes (that have so little texture, you can go back to the cardboard boxes) you are quite above that price.
What do you want more than affordable, good looking cargo containers?

 5. Conclusion

What other can I say than: I am a fan of containers.
 I love the container harbours in the region and can hardly keep my fingers from buying more and more containers (maybe this is an over compensation from all the skulls in my former gaming live?)
And here we got everything you want to have: Quick and easy to assemble, good looking and well thought through design meeting a fair price? 
What else can I say then: If you are looking for containers, these are the ones you are looking for.
Period.


See you next time!