Steve: Gaslands, KoW, Terrain (121 points)

Ever since Byron got me hooked on the table top visuals that 3D printing can bestow upon a Kings of War  table scape where upon the minis were shrunk to 10mm scale so more minis fit within the units bases, thereby making the battlefield appear more epic....I have continued to add more units to my Army and craft more terrain for the KPW 10mm battle field.

A unit of 10mm Trolls will now bolster my KoW army building options, and and a dollar store Halloween Skeleton-snake decoration converted into an "ancient bones within the hill" terrain piece will now provide an obstacle for unit movement and block line of sight  for some upcoming KoW battles

To further complement my "scrubland"  terrain for 10mm KoW battles, I also crafted and painted up a couple hills and some smaller clusters of trees.

If you were pondering over ideas about how to create some variety of scatter terrain with some low-profile base that were both cheap and not a collection of square corners.. I can suggest trying an idea I found when viewing war game hobby yootoob videos - use old CDs as bases for some of your custom terrain pieces.

Hills, Trees and old bones are rather Nature-ish. . so these pieces I think will enable me to check out a "Nature" book from the AHPC challenge library.

Shifting creative gears and jumping across genres......

Music is Art, Art is Music...the creative forces cannot be stopped, nor can they be 'shushed' into quiet submission by beleaguered AHPC  librarians. .. Thereby the risen dead Bone Heads band rocked out in the AHPC Library and grabbed me an "Art" book from the shelf  .  

The Bone Heads are 4 minis created by Ral Partha waaaay back in 1985 as part of their imports line..  These guys are from the same blister pack of  2 skeletons on guitar, 1 Skeleton drummer, and 1 skeleton dood strapped into the drum kit to hold all the drums together.

The Gaslands car is a converted toy matchbox car - a $2 child's toy reimagined via the power of DYI mini-craft--  with some parts from NorthstarFigures 'Implements of Carnage' bitz sprues and a healthy application of trash bashing with plastic I saved from the recycling bin and reworked with files, knives and glue...

Also painted up for this week is a smattering of scatter terrain - piles of oil barrels and car tires that can used to pretty-up a Gaslands table, and can also to suggest where car lanes exist before collisions and weapons fire alters the flow of game traffic.... and I suppose these barrels an tires could also lend well to other games where there was still shooty-shooty-bang-bang, but less vehicular explosions ..

Considering all the  Terrain I painted for this post simply as a pile of terrain stuff to store between days when the dice are not rolling,  and imagining  if converted it all into a liquid, this assortment of terrain could fill a 6x6x6 inch cube cup..  Hmm ..  not a brew I'd drink nor a cup shape I'd recommend as best design to avoid chin drenching spills...  so I will leave these terrain items intact and ready for game, and give into my feeling there are 20 points of terrain here.

121 Total Points

15 pts = x1    Gaslands Car, Vehicle 20mm
10 pts = x10  Trolls(KoW), Foot Figure, 10mm (10x1pt)
16 pts = x4   Undead Skeleton Metal Band, Foot Figure 20mm (4x4pts)
20 Pts = x1 cube, 6x6x6 inch of Terrain cube
Challenge Library 
20 pts = S3 "Art" (Undead Metal)
20 pts = S3 "Nature" (scrubland terrain)
20 pts= S4 "DII"  (MatchBox toy car converted to Gaslands battle car)

Steve, Gaslands, Gun Turrets

 Gun Turrets for the  Gaslands Event Scenario "Arena of Death"

Most guns and all gun mounts are 3D print designs I found of Thingiverse.  I wanted some gun style  variety, so did a minor kit bash to swap in  some  longer barrel guns that were left over 3D prints from a bunch of Gaslands bits Byron printed for a Gaslands build day with the guys back in 2020.  I painted some green into each gun to mostly infer led lights to identify to drivers and spectators that the remote gun turrets were "active",  partly to just add some some color to perk up the grey metal and browns.  

Steve, Gaslands War Rig and Crew

I had the notion it would be cool to have a War Rig in my collection and to try out for a game or two, and more cool if I had some Gasland gang crew that could be added and removed as scenarios needed. 

So I built this War Rig.  

I started with a hot wheels semi-trailer toy and a dollar store military truck mashed together.  Then I layered on the wasteland look with cut pieces of zip ties, plastic card cut from packaging, tooth picks, 3D printed mini gun and front wheels, stuff from the bitz box, skulls (there must always be skulls) and a couple well sacrificed old Gorka Morka Trucks kits. 

The Wasteland Warriors from North Star Figures have tiny bases ill suited to the task of keeping a mini standing on War Rig that would be moved on a game table. Rather than a typical GW style plastic base and I wanted a base that had both a low profile and some weight.   I dug into one of my odds and ends drawers and found some ready to use round metal bases that have a value exactly 10cents each..... Some glue, junk bitz, paint and bingo bongo I had the tiny yet stable bases I needed to stand these crew on the War Rig.

30 Points =  2x War Rig  ((Cab and Trailer)  20mm vehicle = 15 points)

20 points = Wasteland Warriors x5(20mm foot figure = 4 points)

Steve Gaslands, The Muck Truck

 Late for December 2021, early for January 2022...  "The Muck Truck" for Gaslands.

I spent a chunk of time on this truck, trying out some different paint techniques, with the intent of this 'smaller' truck informing how I will paint the War Rig..  Spent a lot of time mucking about with different paint passes, to create look to mix a patched up dusty  beater, and an old barrel leaking gooey wet oil.

Unlike my previous Gaslands vehicles, I wanted this truck to obviously use "drop" weapons and be a rust bucket.   This is the first time I started with a brown base coast and built up the color with different shades of brown and orange stippled on with sponge.  Several passes of dry brushed browns and metals, a wash with Agrax Earth Shade and another pass with 20+ year old Citadel orange Ink eventually got me where I wanted for the rust look...   For the oil, after a few failed paint efforts, I eventually landed on a mix of black and green craft paint mixed with Modge Podge,  followed-up with a clear glaze coat on the 'oil'.

I cut 3 small drop template from the box of scrap plastics I have diverted from my recycling bin to the crafting supplies.  A black craft paint mixed with some sand painted,  then some watered down green craft paint dripped from a couple feet above to get some splash effect on the oils surface. 

In the end I am please with the results, and taught myself a couple new tricks for future projects.  Faster ways to get where I got for sure. My first road to rust was a ride down winding paths.

15 points = x1 Gaslands Truck (20mm vehicle = 15 points)

20 Points = Challenge Points, (Babylon5: Operatic; Low Budget Fun)

Gaslands - Mayhem 69 Charger and Wastlander Garage (Trash-Bash) - Steve

 

Gaslands car, "Roll'n Hazard" and Terrain

 Another Gaslands car, converted and painted during our challenge window.   I kept the original flames paint job from the toy car and converted it using parts from the North Star Minis Gaslands conversion kit, parts from my old Gorka-Morka kit and some trash bashing..

I wanted a different load out option, so the "Roll'n Hazard" has pairs of both forward and back facing machine guns.    I painted a Hazard roll sign on the driver door, because sometimes punching an idea on the nose is fun.

In the edges of the picture are 4 pieces of old dollar store $1 army man toy terrain for sand bag bunkers,  which had a crappy 20 + year old grey dry brush paint job before I gave them a proper repaint for out challenge and some practice for stone painting...

Gaslands Buggy - Steve

 Gaslands Buggy, the Scramblurr.

Originally a mere Hot Wheels Rip Rod, now a mercenary of motorized mayhem!

All it took was some Gorka Morka Bitz, cuts from zip ties, cuts from plastic packing straps, cuts from a dollar store truck toy, a snipping of window screen, a couple small balls of green stuff, left over Gundam Bitz and guns from North Star "Implements of Chaos" sprue. 

This one took more time and effort than it looks,   I was a little frustrated and disappointed this car was not coming together as well as I had thought it would.  Over many days

 I did a few pivots on paint job and more than a little tinkering about with the add on parts.   I cut off the outer body and decided to make use of the piped under shell, but it left me with two metal "wings" sticking out of the  car's  bottom in front of the back wheels, which were part of the die cast metal car base.  Not keen on cutting off the metal parts,  eventually , I landed on the  concept of making the awkward metal parts the bases for foot hold platforms, and glued a complementary hand grip by each side window.  Game world idea being crew could jump on the buggy for a quick ride, kinda the same way olde time fire trucks had foot and hand holds for firemen... but in the case of the Scramblurr, folks hopping off this car make fires!

Gaslands - Racing Gates (Steve)

 I completed the set of 4 Gaslands Race Gates I got from Byron ( and his 3d Printer dood "A").  

When I took a liking to the Race Gates Byron uses on his Gaslands gaming table, I felt I should also have a set to equip myself for hosting some Gaslands games in future.   After assembling the printed parts into gates, I could not resist punching up the original gate design with a few extra bits n' bobs glued here and there to give my set of race gates their own look.

So my old 40k bitz box was raided again in pursuit of Gaslands conversions, and a some few odd bitz from my old Gorka Morka set were pilfered. (It seems my old Gorka Morka set is doomed to be repurposed for Gaslands.) Parts of sprues and scrp plastic were cut into extra gate metals, and 'spiky bitz' were snapped off the left overs from 3d printed of Gaslands weapons.   The main gate's skull on a spike  is remains from an old Warhammer Fantasy Battle conversion I abandoned over 25 years ago.  One of the gas cans I glued next to one of the gate columns, was from an old tank model my uncle had built and broken in his youth over 35 years ago, (some of those busted tanks parts found their way into my early days bitz box)........ so I am left to wonder to what extent the stuff in  my bitz box are just let over model parts verses modeling relics.    

Racing Gates are a significant terrain piece for Gaslands game scenarios such as "Death Race" and "The Race".  So whatever Gaslands cars you are currently rolling with,  a set of Racing Gates can be of use on most every Gaslands game table you battle upon.

Gaslands Drag Racer (Steve)

 A Gaslands Drag Racer car painted for the table top: Sylverhorne

I picked this Hotwheels El Camino since it had a big engine in the back I thought would make a good Gaslands drag racer.   For this car I wanted to keep the original paint black flame  job, so as per Byron's suggestion I gave the car a clear matt coat so it would accept touch up paint for the "dust and grit".  No guns mounted on the car, just a ram on the front and an oil dropper on the back. Go fast, push through and don't let'm follow.

Gaslands (Steve)

 Another Gaslands car painted for the table top - BlackSlash-Kill

I bought this old and banged up toy for a loonie at a Flea Market this past summer with the intent of restoring it with a Gaslands treatment.  (Original car info from bottom of car: Marjorette, Chevy 57, No 223, ECH 1/64.)

For the Gaslands treatment, I drilled out the screws to separate parts and to get access to the car interior. I replaced the plastic glass windows with screen and used a metal file to cut gouges around the wheel wells, side panels and roof.  I added cut plastic panels over the doors to simulate some attempt to 'repair' the vehicle.  The mounted forward facing machine guns are from the North Star 'Implements of Carnage' sprue.  

I initially used dry brushed grey highlights over a black paint job, but the grey dry brushing along with metal colored gouges looked busy, taking away from the damaged look I wanted for this vehicle. Also,   the grey highlights visually combined with the metal colors in the cuts to result in the car's paint job appear overall as grey rather than the desired black and metal I wanted.  So I repainted the black paint job, repainted painted the metals within the gouges and gave it a wash with liquid talent followed up with a light dry brushing  of silver to highlight the raised metals parts.    I also decided to not paint any dust on the car lower body and wheels as I'd normally do for a Gaslands vehicle to give it a dirty from battle look.  For this car I preferred to just focus on the contrasts between a back paint job, damage and metal parts, relying on the dry brushing and wash done on the metal parts to carry the overall appearance of shading.  

Gaslands (Steve)

 Finished up painting the team of cars which were only built and base coated back when we could still meet up to play our current Gaslands season..  I mucked about with the paint jobs with the aim of avoiding single color cars and continue to practice up painting brush strokes and color use.    Tempted to keep on touching up and redoing some aspects of paint, but going with the GEMO (Good Enough Move On) approach in the interest of getting other cars and minis painted, taking what I learned and apply to next model rather than just repainting the same car over and over....

BrewTuff, PhanTon & BlamJoe

Looking forward to our next battles!