Beadbot and the Bangarang

Welcome back, 

No, the post title isnt the name of a fancy band! 

A few weeks back I was sent the link to the Gutterlands website https://www.thegutterlands.com/ which is a bunch of background fluff around the models by the Billmakesstuff YouTube channel. The trash bash nature of Bill's models has really inspired me, and is the reason why there have been a few trashbash terrain posts of late. For me making models from stuff destined for landfill has always been a very rewarding aspect of the hobby. I blame the old 40K RT rule book model making section and possibly watching Blue Peter as a kid. 

I digress, inspired by Bill's models I had to try my hand at building Beadbots and picked up the Bangarang rules by Apocrypha_Now. Bangarang is a game to battle Beatbots in a Arena on the world known as the Tapu (also the Gutterlands). 

So what is a Beadbot? It is a robust style of generic robot that looks like they are built from beads, mainly because the tabletop model is built from beads. Part of thier popularity is the ease of repair and interchangeability of parts. AIs are easily swapped between bots. Bangarang rules also include rules for Scrapbots, Biobots and fancy uppers bots (rich folks' bots). 

Introducing Beadbot 01Buggi22. 

This is my first Beadbot following the basic instructions in the Bangarang rules. Some bits box delving found some extra bits such as 40k shoulder pads as hip joint covers. The weapons and back gubbins also came from the bits box. The colour scheme was chosen to appeal to my wife and I hope we can get some Bangarang games in future. I have found building the beadbot very therapeutic and there are more planned. Not just for the Bangarang.

Bangarang in the Wild Galaxy 

Robots of all styles are common across human space. As Beadbots are cheap and robust they are quite common. Scrapbots can be found too, usually on frontier worlds or in service in poorer communities. 

I quite fancy the idea of making a couple of beadbots as loaders in Spaceports (Dockerbots?). Bangarang arenas are common in frontier worlds where older Beadbots and Junkbots are pitted against each other for entertainment purposes of the masses.

Bangarang on Mattblackgod’s World

Beadbots still exist on Mattblackgod’s World but they are now symbols of wealth. Those factions lucky enough to own a functioning and surviving Beadbot would not risk damaging it in the Arena. Those few that do are usually showing off how wealthy they are, that they can happily wreck a functioning beadbot (which is the MBW equivalent of burning a million dollars). Junkbots are more common and often feature in the Bangrang in Last City’s Mars Arena. Meatyones occasionally feature too, captured mutated lumps of flesh dragged from deep in the wastelands. Uppers bots do not feature on MBW.

The fun of Bangarang has had me thinking of making all manner of Bots with different utilities for various factions in both the Wild Galaxy and Mattblackgod’s World. A Nth gen faction (robots) could also be created for Zone Raiders. Using similar beads keeps things in line with that faction's motif of all descending from the blueprint of a single ancestor bot. As a plus all this gets down on the contents of the bits boxes. 

I will also need to build some terrain for the Bangarang. It need 4 off 2x2x2 inch cubes, 4 off 2x4x4 inch cuboids and 2 off 8 inch bridges. These will have a junk look to them. My thinking is that I will also be able to use them as terrain for Mad Dan's Scrapyard (a future Last City location) and Zone Raiders. 

Thanks for looking, take care out there. 

More Starship Wreckage

Hello and Welcome Back,

Some years ago I put together a multiversegamingterrain star ship wreckage terrain set. For some time I have wanted to add to it.

A few weeks back I was tasked to replace the taps on the bathroom basin. I picked up one of those cheap plastic back nut wrenches...totally useless as a tool. After lots of swearing I was going to chuck it away but I thought it might be useful. After hacking it in half I thought it would make a good bit of starship wreckage.

A base was cut from poster board and then extra bits made up from the bits box. Some extra bits were added from the depths of the bits box. The engine bit was various bottle tops and a kinder egg pod. A quick paint job, some tufts and boom....quick cheap terrain. 

Thanks for looking. Take care out there.

I saw the signs...

Hello and Welcome back, 

I saw the signs.....well made them anyway.

It's more terrain made from junk, this time for Mattblackgod’s World. The idea to make this couple of models have been rattling around my brain for some time. They are intended to add a little more colour to my post apocalyptic township table. 

The Last City Sign. 

This idea has been lodged in my head around since I saw Curtis' from Ramshackle Games Helsreach sign at a Bring Your Own Lead 2018 show a few years ago. It finally came into being when a small card packing peice salvaged from an replacement electrical item fell into my grubby mitts. 

It was glued to an old CD as it resembled a large crumbling lump of concrete. A hole in the bottom of the peice was filled with some off cuts of drinking straws to resemble old pipes. Rooting around I found some off cuts of blue foam which I scattered around the base to resemble lumps of broken concrete. 

Bamboo skewers made up the frame for the sign and the sign was constructed from an old gift card. The letters are the only bought item, they are mdf letters intended for card making. The fungi was made from scrap green stuff putty. A bit of wing from a old model kit was added as a extra bit of detail.

The base was covered in sand/grit/bits from my basing box. The rest of the model had a couple coats of textured paint and painted grey. This was followed by a heavy white dry brush. The base was coated in Beastial Brown, then dry bushed in medium grey and bone. Several dark washes toned the model down. A final light dry brush finished the model off. 

The sign was painted bestial brown and then had several rust colours dabbed on with browns and oranges. It was dry brushed with silver and given several thin brown washes. Some extra orange specs where then added to give that rusty look. Some thinned green paint was added to look like dried chemical flows from the broken pipes.

Lots of tufts were added to tie it into the rest of my overgrown world. Some bits of graffiti were added to finish it off. 

The Bounty/Jobs board. 

I have fancied building the job board since I first played the Borderlands Computer game, a long time ago. 

This was quite a simple build. A couple of scrap plastic rods, glued to a gift card base. The back board was also a old gift card. A little roof was added from bits of corrugated card. The oil drum was a spare made by pressing milliput into a mould. A couple of skulls were raided from the bits box. The Ogre skull had a bullet hole added to it.

The notices were hand drawn and added with pva glue. A brown wash was added to age the notices. The notices needed a touch up to redefine the notices as the wash had smudged them.

A bit of extra graffiti was added to the back of the job board.

This was a simple and quick model.  Speaking of easy models I knocked up a gun turret for Zone Raiders.

A Las cannon from a 40K kit was glued to a peice of card tube to make a pillar. A couple of shields from some plastic fantasy skeletons over the usual 40k skull gubbins on the sides of the Las Cannon. Lots of thin card squares was glued to the pillar and the whole thing was glued to a old click base. Under coated in black and painted in gun metal silver. Lots of washes and stippling in browns and oranges gave it a grotty look.

Thanks for looking, take care out there.

Plasma node and water vapor still

Hello and Welcome Back, 

Time for some Sci Fi terrain. I have been on a terrain binge of late. 

Definitive Colony Systems (DCS) Corporation provides the very best equipment for frontier life with quality built right in. 

Every Colony needs power. This Local Plasma Node (LPN) is a lone standing node which can be ran alone or net worked to other nodes via a orbital satellite providing a local power scource without the need for a power grid. The satellite will provide a direct power supply via a high powered laser beam. In Stand alone mode the Local Plasma Node can be charged by a Plasma Rifle and will provide enough power to run a small community for a long time without the need for a top up. 

This model is a Bolstered Drop Alternator by TT Combat. 

Every frontier settlement needs precious water. Every settler needs water to live. The DCS Atmospheric Water Still (AWS) draws water vapour directly from the atmosphere and the water is condensed into a waiting receptical. 

This model is a trash build. The base is three plastic milk bottle tops. The water vapour collectors are spare (clean) syringes with a elastic band wrapped around it. They are unused spares that would have ended up in the medical waste bin. The fitting is a (clean) medical blood cap and a medical receptacle a cap. A bit of electrical wire makes the water outlet pipe. 

Stay tuned, more terrain is to follow. 

Thanks for looking and stay safe out there.

Starport scum pt 6 - more Fatties

Hello and welcome back, 

Time for another issue of Starport Scum. My Fatties Crew was a little thin on the ground and as Warlord Games has brought out the Block War Fatties, it seemed a good opportunity to expand the crew.

The Fattie on the left is Lardie McDoughnut. This guy is the Fatty of Fatties. Lardie is the guy (or the size at least) the other Fatties aspire to. He is another Fattie that fled the world of Megapolis (link https://mattblackgodsworld.blogspot.com/2021/12/starport-scum-3-fatties.html ) due his involvement in the failed "Fattie Coup". Lardie is so large that he needs some help moving about from a couple of goons hired in the Starport. Being the size of Fattie means he is a bullet magnet and body armour in his size is difficult to find. So he made his own improvised armour looted from the last kitchen the Fatties rumbled into.

Johnny Spambo is the Fattie on the right. Unlike other Fatties, Spambo has a second interest besides gorging. After watching an ancient Earth holoflik (re-re-re mastered) series uncountable times, Spambo believes he is a living incarnation of the main character of those movies even mimicking the accent and speech patterns of the main character. He dresses in a similar old earth military fashion and trains, as far as a Fatty can or wants to train. Spambo has read any special forces manual he can find further building his self belief that he is a one man army.

The Fatties are fun to paint and I hope there will be more Fatties released by Warlord Games in future. Part of me is thinking that building a special space ship for the Fatties would be a fun future project.

Now for another character for my growing Starport Scum collection.

Pesha Zil

Pesha fled her homeworld of Iyo looking for adventure. Currently she is hanging around spaceports looking for work as a ship's crew member. Rumours of adventure and riches to be had on Maddans world have reached Pesha. She is hoping to find a ship heading in that direction.

The Pesha figure is from the old OOP Grenadier Future Wars line. The colour choices for this figure came from what ever was going on the pallet at the time. I plan to use this figure in games of Five Parsecs from home or Stargrave (if I ever get around to playing them). One of my future plans for Maddans world will be for gangs of adventurers looking for the precious Sol Stones or the rumoured wreckage of the Maddan Expedition. So there is a chance she will turn up there. 

Thanks for looking, stay safe out there. 

The Lady!

 Hello and welcome back

I finally got around to some more denziens of Mattblackgod’s world.

The Lady.

Deep in the Strontium Swamps the Boglanders whisper about the legend of "The Lady". They say she is a immortal terror and judges all who wander into the centre of the swamplands. Some Boglanders worship the Lady and will carry out her orders.

The Lady is from the Dark Brexit set by Ramshackle Games.

This here is a typical nomaic denzien of the deep wastelands. Clad in homemade hazmat suit and wearing a home hat to keep the sun off, this soul can be found guarding nomad camps. An old Rifle and sword is a typical armament for nomad guards.

The figure is a wastelands shaman by Anvil Industries.

Thanks for looking, take care out there! 

Nu Terra Marines and the Baddawgs landing mob.

Hello and Welcome Back, 

Time for another look at the Warriors of the Wild Galaxy. 

The Space Marines of the Nu Terra Empire's Navy. The Marines wearing red armour markings are veterans of Nu Terra's campaign to capture Mars from the renegades, bandits, pirates and criminals who moved onto Mars in the years after the destruction of Earth (which lead to the collapse of the Old Earth "Terra" Empire). (History of the Wild Galaxy)

There are some Marines sporting yellow markings are veterans of the campaign to secure the world of Sabius Prime. 

These figures are old 40k Rouge Era plastic Space Marines that I picked up as part of mixed batch from ebay. I touched up a few figures and based them. These figures will see action in the anarchistic melting pot that is Maddans world. 

Back in the days of chaos and anarchy that followed the collapse of the Old Earth Empire, a small group of Space Marines survivors lead by Sergent Baddawg decided to head out of Human Space taking a small group of civilians they were protecting with them. In time they found a small unchartered Jungle planet and settled it. They named their world "Baddawgs Landing" after their leader. Today Baddawg's Landing has a small scattered civilisation on it. The warriors maintain their now generations old power armour and equipment. They also maintain the codes of honour instilled in them by the legendary Baddawg and their ancestors. 

Again these figures came from the same mixed batch of figures as the figures above. All I have done is rebase them. I hope to try painting a couple more old Marines to match the paint scheme these figures have.

Those who are long in the tooth will recall a very vibrant character who visited various Wargames Yahoo groups and forums years ago with the handle "Baddawg". Old Dawgie (for that was his name) was a retired long serving US Marine and served in the Vietnam war. The jungle camouflage on these figures made me think of my old Internet freind and I had to create a world in my "Wild Galaxy" setting in his honour. Baddawg's landing was the name of his Yahoo group dealing with his wargames scenarios and batreps, it seemed fitting to use it. RIP Dawgie, you are missed but not forgotten. 

Thanks for looking,

Take care out there. 

Reaper Immunocytes

Hello and Welcome back,

Its been a while, a bit of hobbying has been going on in the background but its taking time to get things finished. For a while I have been looking for suitable figures for Reaper Immunocytes for the Matrioshka setting in the Zone Raiders game. I finally settled on these figures.

They are multipart 3D prints found on Etsy. I found this figures very fiddly to assemble. To make things worse the figures are incredibly fragile. They have lost many arms already, I suppose it is expected to see ancient killer robots with some damage. These are huge figures, take a look at one next to a 28mm figure.

In addition to causing trouble for Zone Raid crews in the Matrioshka, I am planning on these killer robots to turn up as a hazard in a bunker for the poor folks surviving on Mattblackgod’s World.

Thanks for looking

Take care out there. 

Happy New Year and 2023 review

As 2024 looms upon us like a gaint looming thing it is time to look back on the hobby progress over the year, including a couple of bits that didn't make into my blog.

March saw these Ramshackle bits finished and this old converted 40k Dreadnought found on ebay touched up for my tabletop.

For me it felt like my hobby output was quite low but looking back I achieved a fair amount of hobby work.

April saw me finish this Grauncher by Ramshackle games and this mysterious old cargo crate. 

There was a few months when nothing happened. Throughout the year there has been a lot problems with my wife's home dialysis. Water supply failures, diaylsis machine breakdowns and medical supply issues have caused a lot of stress for us both. It was surprising how much of a impact these issues have had on my free time and energy.

July saw me post up all the work I got finished in May, June and July by various manufacturers. Included is a unposted 40K Walker which will serve as support for the Delijellbi forces in my Wild Galaxy setting. 

Work also ramped up to insane levels with people leaving suddenly and work load increasing massively. Looking back my hobby output increased during my holidays. Sadly toward the end of the year I was so burnt out that my hobby mojo had vanished. Thankfully the Christmas holidays has seen my hobby interest return.

August saw me finish rewilding some ruins and even get a couple of games in. I also managed some Necron terrain bits for Zone Raiders. The game pictures and Zone Raiders terrain haven't been shared on this blog.

September saw the miners of Maddans world posted.

Another issue effecting my hobby output was these three furry helpers who have all decided that I am the best place to sleep. I can't complain too much as they are so affectionate.

Joey the Elder

Dixie the thief and Toffee the cuddler. 

Another unposted model. A signal tower for Zone Raiders built from pill bottles and assorted junk. 

Some other things I have been working on is the background fluff of my Zone Raiders setting and Maddans world (along with a few other planet ideas) and my own ruleset. 

It's been a good year of hobby despite the time consuming issues and stresses. I hope 2024 will be much quieter and easier.

I hope you all have a wonderful New Year. I wish everyone a healthly, happy, peaceful and prosperous 2024.

Happy New Year!

Thanks for Reading. Take care out there.