Completed Sanctioned Op Interceptor

Hello, and welcome back to that endless track of alternative 90s American desert highway in all our souls, namely Dark Future. Its been a while, but I finally have an update, having finished the second interceptor from the box set. 

I went for red this time. As with the previous model, I avoided any markings, leaving the cars purely anonymous. 

Can you spot the driver? Got a nice dash in there!

Some serious weaponry on this car - all the better to bring in those Maniax scum!

Rear view, obviously...

The cars lined up - just a few motorbikes to finish but I don't really need them for a game.

What do you guys think?

Orlygg

Completed 'Maniax' Renegades and Sanctioned Op Interceptor

Welcome back to Route 666: The Dark Future Blog. As promised last post, I did not intend to return here until I had a roadgang finished. Well I am pleased to announce that I have completed the two renegades and super detailed the interceptor.

Here they are below!

As you can see drybrushing has been must new best friend in getting the vehicles to look like they are no strangers to the lawless wastelands of the alternative 90s USA.

Freehand skull design is a nod towards the Arcane Armorials and the classic Kil Kil Kil to Rogue Trader!

Just have to finish work on the last interceptor and I am ready for my first game!

Best get back to the brushes!

Orlygg.

Spin Off City: Dark Future's Supplements

Phew! I have had a busy week. And I have even busier weekends with two kids and a wife! I hope to spend some of this afternoon working on fishing up my Dark Future test piece and putting it online. To wet my appetite as I sit at the computer and work is to Google Dark Future and see what comes up!

Today I present the supplements that GW released shortly after the boxed game - which we haven't even looked at in detail yet, have we?

The Battlecars box set painted up. It was essentially more of the same, with double the amount of plastic kits that came with the box set. Certainly useful for big games and conversions.

The official box art from Battlecards. True to GW's form, they recycle old product names and in this case, Battlecars had been a previous vehicle combat game.  By the way, I love the 'Doom Buggy' and I am going to have to paint up a motor in homage!

Lots of additional rules were included in this, White Line Fever, the only major supplement released for the game.

The Dark Future version of those great ads that GW used to publish in the late 1980s.

Orlygg.

What's In The Box?: Un-boxing Dark Future

This post will give us the opportunity to take a closer look at the Big Box game of Dark Future. As I am sure many of your will know, Dark Future was an early release during the 'Big Box Era' when GW produced a wide range of games that could be played straight out of the box and supported them with further miniature releases and rules supplements in White Dwarf. 

As seen previously on this blog, my copy of the game arrived promptly from eBay and I was very pleased with its condition. The box was practically mint with all the bits and pieces still stored within the cardboard. 

Nothing like a big box! This one had been safely stored in my garage to ensure that wife/son/daughter did nothing to damage it. 

I don't know about you, but the first thing I always go for in any big box game is the rulebook - I like to have a good flick through before delving further into the reams of plastic and card that no doubt reside within. With a quick flick through the hole punched pages, I could see that despite have a few loose sheafs, all the pages were where they should be. As you would expect from a game from this period, the rules are well illustrated by Peter Knifeton and others, particularly the legendary Carl 'Thrud' Crithlow and are interspersed with coloured images of background paintings and photographed models and miniatures. The rulebook has a very similar feel to the 2nd edition Bloodbowl rulebook, which is not really surprising considering that they were released around the same time. 

Rulebook and Tournament Rules. Yes, the cover image was later used on Freeway Fighter in the Fighting Fantasy series.

Next came the card sections, namely the road - and there's loads of it! Straight sections, bends and curves will ensure that the game will have plenty of surface to race across. The boards are well printed and detailed enough to look different to one another. My examples are mint and look to be unused. The grids are used to place and move the cars and are un-intrusive and well designed. 

Road sections a-plenty. So mint the even smell new!

True to form, GW packed a shed load of counters and additional resources into the box. Additional passive weapon types, crashed vehicles, rocks and debris, you name it! The majority of my counters were still unpunched ensuring that everything is there and in good condition. I was rather taken in by the artwork and was surprised to discover that the counters and road sections were designed and painted by Gary Chalk, who also wrote Lone Wolf and worked on a number of 2nd edition Warhammer supplements. 

There is a stack full of counters. These brought back happy memories of un-punching the card from Heroquest on Christmas Day. 

The ruler made me smile. Compared to those nasty, plastic cocktail sticks that GW include in their 'boxed games' today, this is exquisite! Again I was reminded of the flexirulers in Bloodbowl, this measure was well designed and covered in characterful 'dakka-dakkas'.

One rule to rule them all! I love 80s flexi-rulers.

I have a curious ritual of leaving the miniatures until last. So once everything had been cleared out of the box I began to rifle through the bags of bits the previous owner had carefully sorted out. Everything had been cut from the sprues apart from the weapons and wheels. One of the renegade bodies had an appalling undercoat of what looked like Humbrol black but I was sure that dettoll would help solve that problem with an overnight soak. The rest of the models had that 'just cut from the sprue' look and would require the minimum of cleaning and undercoating..

Miniatures galore - unlike many other GW games, there aren't actually that many models to paint.

The bikes came in two colours. All four models are identical but they look decent enough, if a little chunky, by 80s standards. Sharing the same bag as the bikes were the three dice (that is correct, as far as I can tell, you only need three d6 to play), one of which is a different colour and is used to 'call the phases'. 

Chunky 80s bikes in red and blue.

Hideous Humbrol Undercoat? No problem for dettol (I hope!)

Having sorted through the box and certain that I had all the pieces I carefully packed the cardboard counters and road sections and removed the bagged models. These I will be cleaning up in the near future when I have decided on the colour schemes I am going to use. I have decided to paint up the two 'interceptors' and independent Sanctioned Ops and do the remaining models as a gang. I'll work on the gang models first before moving on to the Ops. Unlike in the 80s, I don't have to lug around hole punched folders full of rules thanks to the pdf reader app on my tablet. A quick flick of the wrist saw the rules downloaded to my Kindle for easy reading. While I paint up my gang I'm going to give the rules and the background a good once over. 

Old school and new school join forces! Tablet and table-top game!

Hope to be able to share my first Dark Future gang with you soon enough! 

Orlygg. 

Dark Future Test Piece Complete

Its a miracle... I actually had some time to get some painting done. I mean, I first started this Dark Future Vehicle some weeks ago (or was it months?) and by yesterday afternoon it was still very much unfinished. Thankfully, yesterday saw me in possession of several hours or painting time and I finished this car and a Realm of Chaos warrior to boot!

Observant readers may recall a driver sitting inside this car! Well, I was not happy with the finish I achieved so I removed the model for 'dettolling' later on. That left me with the problem of the see through windscreen. A car shouldn't really lack a driver! So I simply painted Blood Red over the plastic and achieved a futuristic windscreen effect instead. 

On to the car then. I mixed up a series of blues to get an unusual shade before coating the undercoated model. Washes were then used (using old 80s Citadel inks) to add depth and dirt to the bodywork. Once dry, it was a simple case of drybrushing a series of lighter shades of the base colour over the bodywork to highlight the detail. The wheels and the chaingun were then undercoated in black and drybrushed Miltril Silver before being treated with a few washes of brown and black ink to add depth.

Using a yellow and white mix, I worked up the headlights and shaded with a little black ink around the rims. The rear lights were painted Blood Red and highlighted with straight Golden Yellow. Once dry, I toyed with adding some kind of insignia but decided to leave the vehicle unmarked. This particular Sanctioned Op prefers to remain anonymous! I did, however, have a quick go at writing a number plate. Considering I was rapidly running out of time and I whipped up the series of numbers quite quickly, I am pleased with the results.

At this point the car resembled a brightly painted toy, rather than a gritty futuristic vehicle. Weathering effects, supplied with a large, flat drybrush, helped bring the model alive and make it look like it has spent some time cruising down the dusty highways of an alternative future USA. I used Bestial and Orc Browns (old school colours) to dirty up the body work, with particular focus around the wheels and the wheel arches.

I conclusion, I am satisfied with my test piece. It was a new experience painting a plastic vehicle rather than a metal Citadel figure and the techniques to do vehicles well are different from those you would use on a miniature humanoid. So I need to learn more and let experience be my guide.

I also need to immerse myself in the world of Dark Future and hopefully get some inspiration from there. I haven't even explored the box contents or read the rulebook yet. So my next post should really focus on 'what's in the box'.

Until then,

Orlygg.

Sanctioned Op: Work in Progress

The smell of drying paint is a fine substitute to the reek of vehicle fumes, I can tell you. Well, I have managed to get working on my prototype Dark Future mean machine today. Really, I should be using an airbrush for that 'just out of the spray booth' car look but its somewhere lost in the garage, and to be honest, the WIFE would go ballistic if I started spraying around the kids.

Old fashioned paint it is then...

Before continuing onwards I would like to talk about an email I received from the mysterious, Twisted Moon. 

wotcha, just spotted your new dark future blog. it looks good, and dark future is a great game. however, you might like to check out the vehicle design rules before doing too much modelling, especially if you are gluing weapons in place. laters, the dark knight of the twisted moon

I have undercoated the two pieces of the kit and base coated (and grimed up using washes) the body work of the beast. The main part of the car has been left black for the moment and I spent some time on the driver. The trouble is, I am not happy with the finish on the driver and want to re-paint him. The colours just seem too bright!

Do you like the grime? Plenty of dust and road filth over this baby. Next step will be drybrushing up the details and the freehand painting.

All I can say is thanks mate! Luckily, I have five car kits and I'm approaching this one as a test piece as I have yet to really explore the contents of the box, let alone actually read the rules! Better get back to the paint station then!

Additionally, big, big thanks to Kevin Green who has gone a found the link to the old Specialist Games Rule kit that GW put out some years ago. I've linked to it permanently at the top of the page but for those of you who want a copy NOW NOW NOW, here's a direct link!

Dark Future Rules

Now, where's that white undercoat?

Orlygg.

Dark Future Models: Sanctioned Op Test Piece

Non-leadhead (wife) is in bed snoozing away the afternoon with the baby daughter. Future-leadhead (son) asleep in front of Cbeebies. Leadhead busy at modelling table, and here are the fruits of his labours (though actual lead content if very low!)

A snipped, clipped, filed, glued model of a 1980s Dark Future car, complete with metal Sanctioned Op driver. 

The wheels were also separate by I had already stuck them on before I thought about taking the photograph.

They don't half give you a fair number of weapon options - seven guns and a rooftop mount. I was tempted to just kit up the vehicle with everything (there are certainly enough holes to fix the weapons on) but in the end decided to go with a single weapon, roof mounted of course!

'Roof-mounted maxim machine gun? That will do nicely, sir!' There really was no other option. 

I intend to paint the model in two pieces. The chasis first, complete with driver and dashboard details, and then the bodywork. There is also a piece of transparent plastic that will act as a windscreen but it shows up rather oddly in photos. 

The completed model looks like this. I really am rather excited about this project as it is totally different than anything I have done before. The space for conversion work is massive as is the scope of narrative within a campaign. 

Right, where did that spray paint go?

Orlygg

Highway Gypsies: Dark Future Inspiration

I have just spent a pleasant hour or two searching the internet for images relating to Dark Future and, to be honest, there is not really much out there. That does not mean that there is no electronic inspiration, you just have to hunt really hard for the good stuff.

So what did I manage to dig up?

'They don't make 'em like this anymore, guv!' These motors wouldn't have to pay road tax here in the UK as they are over 25 years old now. Is it me, or is the central vehicle missing a weapon from that rooftop gun?

To begin with (thanks to Google Image Search) I discovered this beautiful image of some Dark Future vehicles on display in the Citadel Museum, Nottingham. Gorgeous are they not? I am particularly impressed with the blue car on the right - just look at the drybrushing effect! I am not sure, but I think the front half of the vehicle has also been treated with an 80s Citadel Ink wash. Just incredible when you see models like these in the flesh. What I also find interesting about these models is the lack of edge highlighting like we have grown familiar with over the last 15 years or more. That is certainly something that I will attempt on my vehicles when I start them. Finally, I love the transfers (obviously looted from other kits) that have been applied rather tastefully to the cars, particularly the red one. As an aside, can you spot any 80s classic Warhammer minis through the glass? I am pretty sure that I can see a Skrag the Slaughterer down there!

'Mad Max didn't have to put up with this shit!' I bet these boys know how to handle anti-semetic Australian actors!

One of the attractions to Dark Future (and a headache to Kirby and co) was the fact that you could work up everyday toy cars and use them in games. A noble ideal in the days of do-it-yourself gaming (which GW used to champion) but totally unacceptable in the world of corporate tat selling. Here we have the famed 'Maniax' gang mounted upon a souped up four wheel drive. This was one aspect of the game that really interested me, turning hotwheels cars (some of which are already pretty fantastic) into DF death machines.

'You feelin' lucky, punk?' Lovely models, beautifully painted. I can only aspire to such excellence. Is it me, or are they one penny (or even five penny) pieces for bases? I'll have to steal that idea in future!

As many of you will know, Citadel also produced a range of infantry for the game as well as lots of metal bikes. These figures are much rarer than the cars and are rather hard to get your hands on (I must have lost at least ten auctions and have yet to win a single infantry figure) but are very 80s and very characterful, don't you think?

What follows is a selection of White Dwarf articles on the game that I have managed to find online - and it saves me having to scan them myself. I love the colour, the dirt, the Tina Turneresque leopard print leggings

A scanned page from 80s 'Eavy Metal (ie, when it was good) which just goes to show how varied and imaginative Dark Future can be. This page visibly drips with inspiration, I am loving the drybrushed dirt all over that police vehicle. 

Lots of cars and even more weapons. I'm looking forwards to doing some freehand designs on roofs and bonnets. 

To end this post, I am pleased to report that I have found the seminal article written by Sid (who was he? where did he go?) concerning the building and converting of Dark Future kits and die-cast cars. 

Enjoy!

On Route 666... The Big Box Feeling!

John Cleese, once of the immortal Monty Python's Flying Circus, famously uttered, 'and now for something completely different!' Well, this new blog is certainly very, very different than Realm of Chaos 80s.

Instead of 80s inspired fantasy we have 80s inspired cyberpunk with GW's forgotten car game, Dark Future!

To start with a confession! I never actually played a game of this back in the day. Nor did I know anyone who did. In fact, I knew no-one at all who even owned the boxed game. My relationship with Dark Future existed purely through the pages of White Dwarf and the few GW products that carried an ad for the game. 

Looking back now what strikes is the fact that Dark Future has no connection with the Warhammer world. Its set on Earth in the then near future but to us the past, the 1990s. It is perhaps due to this lack of connection that I feel so intrigued with the game. Some months ago I wrote a post for Realm of Chaos 80s about the ear of the BIG BOX GAME! And Dark Future (DF from now on) was an early torchbearer of this era. 

So I moved to eBay with little knowledge really, just a curious desire to try something new but still wholeheartedly '80s retro Citadel. After a few evening's browsing, I quickly ascertained that there are plenty of copies of the game out there still in very good, if not excellent, condition. I paid £35 for mine which I felt was a perfectly reasonable price. Its seems that many others out there agree with me as I have seen them continue to sell as I have monitored DF on eBay.

So I won my auction, paid my money and waited a few days in giddy anticipation for the arrival of my next BIG BOX GAME!

Considering that the last BBG I bought was Dreadfleet (which still lurks in my cupboard still on its sprues) I was thoroughly excited by the size and weight of the box when it arrived at my front door. 

Opening the cardboard box reveals a pleasant note from the seller. 

Dispensing with the packaging, I am  confronted with a near mint box. No tears, no fading, no damage - it could still be 1988! An iconic image to boot, eh?

The back is just as vivid. All totally new to me... Its like getting a new GW game!

Near mint within too! Just snipped off the sprues really!

So so I stopped my explorations as I renewed the trials and tribulations of a working man's life. The box and its contents has sat idly for some time but this weekend will see me take my first few faltering steps towards my illustrious goal....

To play a game of Dark Future with fully painted miniatures!

Now this is far easier than with any other of GW classic games. The box contains four cars and four motorbikes. So eight models to paint up! And they are all vehicles (which is something I'm rather excited about) so no fiddly flesh tones or annoying boot straps to paint. A new set of challenges. Just what I am after really.

I suppose I should organise my goals before I leave you! What is it I want to achieve with this blog?

1) Paint up the boxset to a fairly high standard with no conversion work.
2) Explore the written background
3) Play the game
4) Charts and discuss the history of the game and the releases GW put out back in the day- much like I have been doing for Rogue Trader and Warhammer 3rf Edition!

Better get started then!

Orlygg.