Undertown Table progress and Post Apoc scatter

The current state of the Undertown Table. 

I've mislaid the LED lights so am skipping them for now as they will be an easy retrofit. The Data Trust is not pictured here as its currently getting the interior resins done.

 This is for Sci-Fi settings like Infinity (Its actually a Made for Infinity Line from Antenocitis' Workshop ) Warpath, Deadzone, Cyberpunk, etc... It'll, of course, work for the Grimdark of 40K, Kill Squad, and Inquisitor as well... with a few Gothic doodads added to represent the presence of the Imperium... ya know like confession booths or an incongruously ornate religious structure... maybe a big old statue of some Imperial saint or space marine.... that sort of buisiness.

 Since all the buildings have playable interiors there is a lot of flexibility between war games and RPGs.

I'm actually thinking about running a game based around the Death High series of miniatures from Kingdom Death. which are cool contemporary and near future themes that would be at home in any High School Supernatural, Horror, or Martial Arts romantic comedy... probably great characters for Vampire the Masquerade as well.

 I'm separating the terrain out by genre to see what is ready for play... the Undertown is in pretty good shape, the Forward Base needs a lot of work and the Post Apocalypse segment is just getting started.

 Speaking of the Post Apocalypse setting... here are a couple more wrecked vehicles, some recycling bins, and some very weathered payphones...

 Lots of weathering opportunities here... the recycle bins where painted Lemon Yellow (Reaper) over white primer, washed with Yellow Snow (Secret Weapon), and lined with Flesh Wash (Secret Weapon) lettering by Sharpie.

The Cars were both primered with Rustoleum Almond White and brushed up with Solid White (Craftsmart) weathering was accomplished with the Rust Series... Brown, Red, and Yellow (Secret Weapon) Silver (Vallejo) and Medium Earth and Orange Rust weathering powders (Forge World).

 Lining by Sharpie.  Window Glass Silver (Vallejo) base thin Armor Wash(Secret Weapon) Stormcloud (Secret Weapon) re-brush with silver. A lot of the rust here is intended to represent shotgun impacts but I really should be using references for those...

The Hood of the car on its side was unstable in the semi-open position so I propped it open with some cut down toothpicks... you can just see one here.

 The cars here are from Antenocitis' Workshops as are the bins and payphones.

The Payphones are heavily weathered using a stippling technique.  Brown Rust (Secret Weapon) stippled over Black Primer (Krylon Camoflage Black) Tropical Blue (Reaper) stippled over that wash with Armour Wash (Secret Weapon) stipple and dry-brush Silver (Vallejo).

Most of my immediate effort will be directed at the interior resins of the Data Trust... which will finish off the currently constructed Undertown building interiors save for LEDs.  I may sidestep into a couple of Post Apoc buildings next even though some Forward Base is already in the clean and prep queue... Squirrel!

Back to the desk!

More MDF Madness: Concrete Walls WiP, Sign updates, and found resin interior sets... whew!

A section of nearly complete Concrete Walling from the ever awesome Antenociti's Workshop.

Below are the resin tops being painted up with a variety of broken glass to discourage all but the most determined of intruders.

 Like everyone else in the Hobbyverse Antenociti's Workshop is being battered by the COVID-19 but are still able to fill orders at this time... and are super happy to get them!  If you have a moment to drop in and see what they have on offer please do.

 Left are the raw resin bases for the wall sections.  This is a hybrid MDF/Resin kit with the MDF being pre-painted and the resin needing paint.  They also have some super decal sheets to help graffiti up the walls.. I'll be exploring that this week.

 These signs were shown in previous posts and I become progressively less happy with the "see through" cut outs because the were hard to read at any distance.  I decided to do some simple backings to make them solid and more visible.

The rest of the set is getting this same treatment and I'm experimenting with a variety of backing materials from photo prints, to aluminium foil, to painters tape and beyond.

Once the Sign fronts are worked out there is an ugly mess on the back that needs covering so I've created completely different B sides.

In keeping with the Asian influences I've borrowed graphics from the Tiger&Bunny Anime series and from the super popular Hatsune Miku. 

In previous posts I did some buildings that were super detailed, inside and out, and some that were basically external MDF shells... I've since located the resin detailing packs for those buildings!  The good thing is that the resin bits in these hybrid kits are designed to be added after building construction to allow time for them to be painted as a separate project.  They are currently moving through the resin prep process and should be on the painting desk in no time!

Back to the Desk!

Undertown Flats, signs, scatter, a table in progress

With all the COVID-19 stuff flying around I thought it might be time to set a Mantic themed table with some Plague vs. GCPS (Galactic Co-Prosperity Sphere) vignettes.

I'm really digging into the backlog of cool Sci-Fi scenics from Antenociti's Workshop

With my wife home a lot lately I've not been able to work at the painting desk for long but its been relatively easy to sit in the living room, or kitchen, and assemble pre-painted MDF buildings.  Its surprising how quickly a viable table comes together with this stuff!

 GCPS troopers in 3 man teams containing a Plague outbreak in the Undertown while the news boards report.

The quality of the photo print components supplied with these kits is amazing and for the 'small signs' set pictured above you get a set of two triangular signs each face having a different graphic... and there are 9 to choose from in the kit so you have options right out of the box.  With a little effort you can make signs from practically anything so the possibilities are pretty cool.

The Flats are a 3 level structure with a single, full floor, elevator serviced, apartment on each level.  I've not yet done interiors for these so what you see is the kit with no additions.

The rooftop is also accessible via elevator which is shown above.  I've made the top most roof removable and may retrofit lighting to this area... and many others... the better to show the cool acrylic doors and interior graphic details that so many of these buildings sport.

 More views of the sign scatter... large enough to obscure most models and fun to look at.

The acrylic tops and rods are meant to be held in place by pressure lugs but these quickly get knocked off and go missing so I've put a tiny dab of glue on the lower part of the lug to convince them to remain in place.

Likewise the acrylic rods are meant to fit tightly into the base without glue but just slide right through so I glued some of the very good paper left from trimming the photo-prints to the bottom of the sign so the acrylic rods have a floor to rest on.  The acrylic needs careful handling during construction to avoid getting glue on it and ruining the effect.

 The benches are resin components that require a little paint which was as simple as spraying them with Rustoleum Hammered Metal, giving them a wash of Secret Weapon Armor Wash and a quick drybrush of any silvery metallic.

 The Undertown starting to take shape on a small table we usually use for card games.

Lots of scatter elements like street lights, info kiosks, adverts of various sized, vending machines, mail boxes, dumpsters and recycling bins.

The Plague erupted at lunch time with a move on the Spicy Pupniks food cart parked outside the Neo-Tiki Motel Office.

 A GCPS team clears the main building of the Neo-Tiki Motel and moves to assist the situation developing at the office.

Red Oni Sake has a location right next door to the Neo-Tiki Motel and also provides vending machines and mail drops.

 A view across the plaza.  The Game Mat is the small Undertown Mat from Antenociti's Workshop and is printed on mouse-pad material.  There is also a large version of this mat that joins nicely with the small mat for an even larger set up.

Plague taking cover behind the various bins. 

 The Undertown is relatively free of graffiti at the moment but will get tagged up... possibly during games!  I think it would be fun to put a blue tack marker on a spot to be tagged and do the actual application between games.  I mean what gang war themed game would be complete without turf and tags?

 I just managed to finish up the set of Large signs.  These are tall enough to obscure Knight Class vehicles or even low level flyers.

 A set of two, triangular, signs with 6 different graphics in the box.  You don't get the extra couple of choices that came with the "small" signs but they are really large prints with great, high quality, art so I'm not complaining.

 They even have a Sci-Fi Nun on this one!  On my table they are chronicling the adventures of the Sisters of Eternal Mercy! Although any Space Nuns would fit in.

I'm working on the Stepped Tenements today and whatever else pops out of the big box-o-MDF!

Antenociti's Workshop Habitat 3 and barricades from the Forward Base collection

 The nearly complete Habitat 3 from Antenociti's Workshop... nearly because there are some lugs for securing this building to the roof of another (Habitat 4 or Habitat 10) that can't be placed until the appropriate other structure has been built.  I guess one of these will be pretty soon on the desk!

 The roof features detachable safety barriers and solar array. The hatch vents, power supply and  air handling equipment in this version are resin but the current model features all MDF and Acrylic parts.

At under $18.00 its a very nice model with a flexible footprint.

With the roof removed you can see the interior scatter.  A table, a couple of chairs, and a personal gear locker.  These are all removable/repositionable and, when not in use,  the non-affixed roof components fit inside for easy stowage.

There is a lot of this sort of scatter throughout the project which is really nice for RPGs and can be left out when playing games with larger unit sizes that all need to squeeze in there.

Keep in mind this is the smallest of the buildings in the collection and most of the others fit full squads with ease.

 Colors help build themes so I've started with bordering the openings with yellow for "No Access" (conveniently etched into this bay window) and red for "Access" I figure a lot of these type of bases will be in places with adverse, or minimally sustainable, environments and in such settings it would be nice to know at a glance, and at some distance, which of the windows are transit-able.

The models from the Kickstarter don't include full up air locks but they imply an environmentally regulated interior and the new versions have redesigned doors that open look like full airlocks.

These acrylic doors look really nice.  They don't open but I imagine them as energy barriers in lieu of airlocks.   

I like the little table with the recessed top.  I was able to put a graphic on it so it kinda looks like a holographic RPG is set up on it... geekforce is strong!

Some hastily assembled barricades made from relatively intact containers of various sorts pressed into base defense positions.  Here the barricades are being tested by a Necron from the ...For Scale Dynasty... it is an older model so a bit on the small side for current industry offerings.

This is kind of a Borderlands light scheme.  Not as exaggerated or as heavily black lined but the colors are a nod in that direction.

While I mostly play in the Grimdark I've been very interested in the more traditional Sci-Fi looks and I think there is a lot of room for less Gothic battlefields even in 40K.




...on another note I was pleased to discover that Arthenya VI The Arch Papess made the move across the continent intact and is ready to take up residence when the War Stages Kickstarter rolls in... for now she must be content with her 3D printed Pulpit.

Star Saga: Computer Screens and Development Tanks

 This batch of scatter and objective terrain has a mix of campy cartoon messages and harder edge decals. I wanted to capture the feel of an evil science lab set to self destruct.

Most of the whites were a work up of the Reaper Bone Triad.  The computer screens a mix of Army Painter Voidshield Blue and Secret Weapon Blue Wash. The computer screens and the development tanks were finished off with a coat of Vallejo Gloss Varnish on the glassy parts.

 The development tanks got an uneven wash of Baby Poop (SW) and another one of Sewer Water (SW) over a base coat of Voidshield Blue(AP).  The large decal was from Thor Decals District 7 set and was applied between a satin varnish and the gloss coat. I wanted the inside to be murky and the outside to be clean.

 The lettering for all the zany messages looks to be channeling Futurama!

 A lone techie and a pair of rent-a-cops stare down some oncoming plague knowing that no evacuation is authorized!

 Lots of screen messages just in case someone didn't know the evil secret base was in trouble!

Seguay:
Welcome to Dead Zone!

The abomination is here!

I have about a half dozen more character models and a pile of doors left to see the Star Saga set fully painted... sans the MDF versions of the floor tiles which have yet to arrive!

Undertown Dumpsters and Mortarion

Arriving hot on the heels of the Fast Panda Sci-Fi Food Truck is "Undertown".  I couldn't wait to hop into Undertown!  Where "Forward Base" was was about getting established on raw frontier worlds Undertown is a seedy city zone filled with lots of Sci-Fi icons.  You can still see the legacy prefab architecture that clearly identify it as an evolution of Forward Base. The working outpost becomes the center of a town... that prospers and then gets sidelined as the new elites prefer to build their residences and service areas in more desirable, and exclusive, areas.

The easiest place to start was in the scatter.  The first bits to attract my attention in the scatter pack were these basic dumpsters.  Completely at home in any modern or futuristic environment they are a great addition to any urban tabletop.

Atenociti's Workshop did their usual amazing job with the details, quality casting, and a great resin mix that takes paint readily.

They learned a lot about Kickstarters from their Forward Base project and this one was less ambitious in scope and options, which resulted in  an easier delivery all round,  and greatly improved packaging helps keep the project comprehensible which I find to be a HUGE win!

 Back to the dumpsters!  There are 4 in the 4x4 scatter set and I elected to do to each as "Regular Trash" and "Recycling" the yellow lids are the recycling bins and I'll be adding recycling logos and a white stencil style company tag... probably something like CWM for Central Waste Management. I'll have to add them to the list of corporate sponsors for my Serene Dawn proving teams.

 The graffiti was fun to putter about with and I learned a few things about doing graffiti to boot! Hopefully this will improve the quality of the graffiti going forward!  I'll use a mix of decals from various sources and and freehand tags.

You can see here a nod to my friend Che Webster whose complex race of rat men are known as the Bruxx.  I've added them to the theme of Undertown with the creation of the FBN "Free Bruxx Network" which will double as an underground railroad type organization dedicated to the rescue and resettling of Bruxx, who are technically corporate property, and the underground Comm Station whose mission is to raise awareness of the plight of the Bruxx and work towards legal and political freedoms for this created race.

 The next bits from the 4x4 scatter pack are some pallets of various goods.  Its a nice touch that there are two version of two pallets... covered and uncovered. They are shown here with the dumpsters and the stubbornly unfinished Canonness Veridyan for scale.










Finally a guest painter! Wolfheart from the new Wolfheart Painting cranked out this awesome Mortarion! He's just getting set up but I expect to see more cool stuff from him soon!

I especially like the base and shudder tho think how much Nurgle's Rot was poured on it to get that "Infected Snot" effect!  The many skulls used to contain the vile goo should attract any minions of Khorne that are hardy enough to brave the contagion!

The brassy metals are also delightfully tarnished and the wing texture reminds me of a wet lung!  ewwwww! ... and I mean that in the most complementary way!