Nuclear Renaissance - Wrecked vehicles terrain and inspiration restored

After a long period of inactivity my output over the last few weeks has shot right back up, it's amazing what a bit of inspiration can do.

So what's brought this on?

It all started with a conversation with a mate of mine who played a lot of fantasy and necromunda back in the mid nineties before (like many, including myself) dropping out of the hobby in his teens.

The conversation basically went along the lines of...

"I'd like to have a go at a tabletop wargame if it wasn't for the exorbitant costs and long winded rules learning"

My first thought went to necromunda as I have enough orlock and van saar for a couple of gangs, plus we would both have a (very hazy) familiarity with the basic mechanics of playing a game.

However i'd been reading through 'Ramshackle Games' Nuclear Renaissance (free pdf!!!!) a vehicular gang skirmish game set in a post apocalyptic wasteland, and been quite taken with its simple game mechanics, and open character and vehicle building structure. After reading through it I think it's actually quite an elegant streamlined system that let's you build any kind of gang/crew/unit/cult/robotic cyber octopus with chaingun tentacles that you desire (within a points limit of course)

This was perfect for me as I'm a huge fanboy sucker for mad max, dark future and the like, and perfect for my friend as the game rules seem to be easy to learn but with enough depth to keep us interested.

This particular friend has been a real lifesaver in the past so I offered to make us a pair of gangs and some scenery to play a game.

It would be the perfect antidote to my never ending constantly spiralling 40k projects, and a great chance to do some great '28mm on the cheap'

Already having the em4 miniatures scavenger (in my last post) I purchased some other figures from the same range and began to chop up some old 1/43 scale cars I found in the attic to create the two crews vehicles. I've had to buy two more diecast cars in 1/43 and my bits box has been heavily depleted by the exercise but the total spend for the two gangs with a combined total of six vehicles and seven minis is currently under £25 with no further spend necessary.

My own crew will be the 'Convoy' a supply run with law enforcement riding shotgun, channeling a mix of the original mad Max's MFP and the us cavalry of dark future.

My friends gang will be the 'Sons of the Ape', a group of vicious marauders in the vein of the road warrior's Lord Humungus, with a few special touches to make them personal to my friend. 

I'm really happy with how things are going, with about half the vehicles and miniatures finished. I'll start posting them up as soon as I get the individual vehicles and drivers done, but for now here are the first two bits of terrain I've knocked up in preparation for our inaugural game.

The idea was to do thing on the cheap and these definitely qualify, based on CDs, and built from leftover toy car carcasses and pieces from my bits box.

A pair of rusty long dead car wrecks for our combatants to swerve round or hide behind.

Auto Wreck One - 'Ballsnippers Tomb'

The Ballsnipper was a particularly infamous gang boss of years past who inspired so much love, respect or perhaps dread in his followers that when he inevitably met his bloody and violent end, they created a crude barrow by entombing him in the scorched wreckage of his custom road rod with chunks of concrete and rubble.

Since then, the grave/crash site has become an unlikely shrine of sorts, attracting all stripes of savages, bikers, marauders, raiders, anarchists and loonies wishing to pay their respects to a brutal psychopath who would've most likely removed their gonads with a cheesewire had their paths ever crossed.

Auto Wreck Two - 'Stopping Distances'

"Ere'lies dead,

Our mate Fred, 

When the light went red,

E' adnt worn his seatbelt,

So he smashed his head'."

Something completely different - Nuclear Renaissance gang Leader.

Having totally failed in completing any of my self appointed painting goals...

 (I'm conveniently blaming the somewhat underwhelming astra militarum codex for not inspiring me to paint up guardsmen )... I decided to finish up a random post apocalyptic mini I've had part painted for ages.

Sold by EM4 miniatures as 'gentleman scavenger with stun'brella in tattered morning suit' he's also armed with a holstered pistol and hand grenade.

I'd admired this little guy over the internet for a couple of years before picking one up on a whim, he's a great sculpt that could fit into a number of genres/eras from zombies to fallout and is packed with little details that would really reward a better painter. My only, slightly petty complaint is that he's a little on the small side, more 25mm than 28mm.

 In my opinion he definitely has a real british caricature about him with the bowler and umbrella; like something out of doomwatch or quatermass (no I'm not that old, I just like bad old tv!)

Paint job is very simple - adeptus battle grey and codex grey for the suit and umbrella, elf flesh for a pale, unhealthy pallor, details on the backpack were picked out in a variety of random shades in an attempt to recreate a rag tag scavenger appearance, albeit one with a certain raffish class.

This chap is the first tentative step towards a gang for the skirmish game 'Nuclear Renaissance' by ramshackle games, it's a free pdf from their website, so download it and have a peek, anyone with a dozen random miniatures can pick it up and play a game. It's a bit like a slightly goofy remix of gorkamorka, it's great fun and well worth a go with a couple of mates or down at your gaming group, it's well worth noting that your gang could consist of only a single mini (although he'd / she'd / it'd be one scary Death Star mother!) so no need for a massive outlay to start a new system!

Ramshackle do some awesome looking and pretty cheap stuff including cool looking vehicles as well (although I've not bought owt from them yet, so I can't vouch for quality)

It was also really nice to paint up something different than GW products/systems for once.... To coin a 'car' term I've always been very OE Games workshop throughout my hobby days but the fast, loose, random and freewheeling nature of Nuclear renaissance is really drawing me in along with the limited number of miniatures needed to play.

I'm thinking of this chap as an educated, raffish, ruthless, silver tongued rad-age businessman with a crew of fearsome well paid muscle. Their business is business, although they specialise in the discovery/recovery (or just plain old acquisition by violent means) of rare and valuable items, often priceless relics of the pre apocalypse, for an indecent profit margin.

Dr Rupert Botherington-Smedley.

CEO, B.S Excavation & Acquisition.

Archeologist. Adventurer. Mercenary. Bounder.

Reinforcements Inbound - Delayed in transit - 12th Kieler Armoured Pioneers

Sifting through the still boxed remains of moving house nearly a year ago, I recently unearthed the box containing several painted and half painted units of my Armoured Pioneers regiment, long feared lost in the warp of home removals. A lot of these guys were painted six or seven years ago, and it was this stark fact that made me realise I really need to start finishing projects before starting new ones.

I know it's a problem a lot of us face.... You lose momentum for one project, gain inspiration for another....shiny new things are released and so stuff gathers dust, looking at all the half finished squads  has made me a bit guilty though.... I really need to get this stuff painted up....

I have a half painted company command squad, a (painted) Primaris Psyker; veteran squad in chimera requiring only two minis painting; Stormtrooper squad (painted) two special weapon squads for the infantry platoon (one dude to paint) and finally half of the required models for the platoons second infantry squad (unpained bar the sergeant)

So here are the finished units, I'd like to hope my painting has improved a little in the years since I did them, but I think they're still just about acceptable as tabletop quality. 

First up, six man Stormtrooper squad with plasma gun and meltagun, the sergeant is rather crudely converted from a metal Cadian sergeant with the powerfist and las pistol cut off and replaced and a Stormtrooper backpack added, I'm well aware Stormtrooper squads can't take vox operators but I needed the backpack for the sarge so it's visual only. I would have thought specialist troops like storm troopers would have communications equipment even if they aren't taking their orders from the 'regular' officers so it's not too much of a stretch.

Primaris Psyker - definatley not one of my better paint jobs! This dude really is a bit crude. I remember being at a loss about what colours to use without him looking like a rainbow mess so he ended up rather drab and uninspired. Still, it's a valid HQ choice....until the new codex arrives and downgrades him to an advisor!

Special weapons squad no'1 - a team of combat engineers with a melta, flamer and demolition charge, lots of forgeworld bits and bobs and backpacks from the heavy weapons teams, I really like these, despite the simple paintwork. I think they (along with the king russ Demolisher) sum up what the Kieler regiment is all about background wise.

Hopefully soon I'll get a couple of hours of free time to finish up the last couple of shotgun veterans and get another unit complete and ready for the tabletop.