Science fiction triple feature

Dr. Luwazi Elsebo
Zan usu Zan usu Midaxon
Brett  Solaris
28 mm

Well, we had a lot of luck on Venus
We always had a ball on Mars
We're meeting all the groovy people
We've rocked the Milky Way so far
We danced around with Borealis
We're space truckin' round the the stars

I recently finished this fun trio of science fiction figures: very different concepts and designs but I think they'll all fit into my collection nicely.  Dr. Elsebo is a Starfinder figure, an explorer and scholar seeking to discover new things and unravel mysteries of the universe.  The other two... it's less obvious.  I see the non-human Zan usu Zan (Stargrave) as a telekinetic/psionic or Force user, and "Brett" (Ganesha Games) as a neutral-good leaning rogue or freelancer.  Like Han Solo... but with a lightsaber.

Interstellar Pigs

Silt pigs of Kwiell
15mm scale

 

The Ikwen of Kwiell were first assumed to be, like Terran hunter-gatherers, a stone-age society.  But the first scientists to discreetly observe them were shocked to discover they possessed a wide variety of metal tools and ornaments, without any apparent mining activity.  It turned out the answer to this riddle was their domestication of "silt pigs", a species of humble grazing creatures.

Silt pigs eat vegetation, but a major part of their diet is a constant earthworm-like processing of rich mud, ingested through their extensible snout.  Mud passes through their elaborate gut, emerging as silty casings.  But periodically, the pigs expel a dense, dark-colored stool the Ikwen call the "fire pellet".  This stool contains a high concentration of bio-accumulated metal oxides.  The Ikwen smelt these in small forges to produce substantial quantities of copper, tin, and iron.  

These silt pigs have been grazing on soil rich in copper, hence the greenish hue of their dorsal spines.  Their tender carries a bioluminescent staff, and waves a coloured cloth to signal back to their village.

The silt pigs and their tender are from Loud Ninja Games via Alternative Armies.

An Ikwen herder, with their signature bioluminescent staff, checks
on silt pigs grazing in an estuary near a large fungal dome.

Dark Disciple

Sinister Adept
28 mm

You will not be punished for your anger; you will be punished by your anger.

 

The Sinister Adept was once a monk, like so may others.  But over time, he grew to see his brothers with contempt.  To him, their meditation, praying, and humble daily rituals became the servile activities of weak, inferior beings.  He scoured the monastic library for deeper knowledge... not how to control the self and achieve inner peace, but how to control others: the mantras of terror and subjugation.  However, his impious researches could not remain secret for long.  Discovered, he departed the temple with his favoured volumes, leaving carnage and destruction behind him.

 The Adept is a Ganesha Games "Psi Paladin" from Alternative Armies.

Herd Warriors

Horgosi Prime and Neek warriors
15mm scale

Honour-seeking warriors of an alien empire, the Horgosi Prime and its squad of diminutive but fierce Neeks are formidable opponents...

Figures are from Loud Ninja Games via Alternative Armies.

Mind over matter

Psykers
15mm

If you could read my mind, love,
What a tale my thoughts could tell...

The first children born with what was called "Mehdi's Syndrome" were seen as isolated birth defects: smooth, almost reptilian facial features, large hands, and complete hairlessness.  Many simply underwent facial surgery and led seemingly normal lives.  As they matured, however, it became apparent that almost all of them possessed truly bizarre mental abilities: strong telepathy, telekinesis, sometimes even limited precognition of future events.  Some were taken into government programs, others fled to the lawless demi-monde or remote areas to escape.  All were considered a threat, but also an opportunity for those who sought to control and harness their power...

The Psykers are Alternative Armies figures.

Cyberpunk Oni
15mm

Tough, brutal, yet surprisingly intelligent, Oni are sought after as enforcers and soldiers by many an underworld boss...

I've painted this Alternative Armies figure before, but I got another one in a trade and thought I could do even better!  It definitely needed more than a new colour scheme though, so I added a bit of greenstuff and an old 28mm Necromunda laspistol.  This guy's hands are so big, it doesn't even look out of scale.

Two Special Unit psykers snare a
dangerous foe...

Ancient Lurker in the Woods

The Troll
15mm scale

"Stay near the village!" they warn their children, "Or the troll will get you!"  Some believe it a survivor of the ancient war between the Pah Trolls and the sky gods, or a cursed earth spirit.  Once, emboldened by rice wine and brave songs, some villagers went hunting it with nets, spears, and axes.  Only one returned, telling how the troll spit lances of fire and crushed men beneath its huge feet.  They call the dark, marshy area of the forest where it lurks the "Pah Troll roots", and nobody goes there.

The Troll is an Ion Age "Steornade Battlesuit" from Alternative Armies, generously spackled with moss and a mix of fine flock and PVA.

The terror emerges, its eyes aflame...

15 mm catch-up

Wasteland Witch
15mm

 

 

I'm a little behind on blog posting!   Anyone following my Instagram can see it all there, but I've neglected this site :(

The Wasteland Witch is a great Loud Ninja Games figure, that I got from Alternative Armies in the "Mutants 1" pack.  Perfect for offering post-apocalyptic PCs a side quest, or rare items.  I liked her so much I made her a little hut or hovel to lurk in:

"Seeking answers, you have come!  Yes... about the Before Times!"

 

Robot Hound
15 mm scale

They sent a slamhound on Turner's trail in New Delhi, slotted it to his pheromones and the color of his hair. It caught up with him on a street called Chandni Chauk and came scrambling for his rented BMW through a forest of bare brown legs and pedicab tires. Its core was a kilogram of recrystallized hexogene and flaked TNT.

He didn't see it coming. The last he saw of India was the pink stucco facade of a place called the Khush-Oil Hotel.

An Alternative Armies figure... I added the tail.  Is it a loyal space pooch or a deadly assassination device?  Cyberpunk writers definitely lean to the latter...

Caught at close quarters, they didn't stand a chance...

Soldat de Vide
15 mm

This amazing one-off Steampunk-style Alternative Armies figure caught my eye a while ago, and I'm blown away by it in person.  First, it's just a really cool design; I love the diving-suit-style helmet and old rifle.  But as an Instagram follower said "It looks like 28mm".  I don't take any credit for that, it's such a great quality sculpt that it COULD be bigger and still considered excellent!

If Victorian SF/Steampunk was a slightly larger and less saturated market already, this could easily be the basis for a really cool army...

Japanese adventurers

Hoshi the Hammer
15 mm

Who is this beefy brawler waving an enormous mallet?  An ex-Sumo seeking his fortune?  A sinister thug seeking to brutalize and rob?  His double-line arm tattoo marks him as a two-time convict under the penal system of the Edo period, but men run afoul of the law in so many ways...

Forehead tattoo for murder, arm for theft.

Red Ronin
15 mm

Masterless samurai whose daimyos had died or discharged them, ronin roamed the country, offering their services to lords as mercenaries or guards.  Some engaged in banditry or other less-than-honorable trade as well.  This ronin still has his armour, but lacks the traditional samurai's pair of swords, either through choice or the desperate necessity of selling them...

Both these miniatures are from Alternative Armies' "Sengoku" line of Japanese fantasy figures.

Insurrection Moo

Uplifted Cattle
15mm scale

The dark secret of the demise of Paragon Exoplanetary's Corporation's terraformer pig colony did not remain hidden for long.  Independent hacker-journalists raided the corporate servers and leaked hundreds of files detailing not only the pigs' extensive genetic alterations, but also the bio-engineered paramyxovirus that suddenly killed them all just as they finished their terraforming work.

In a big galaxy, the leak didn't make headlines everywhere, but the news did reach the vast pastoral agri-colonies operated by The Green World Inc.  There, genetically enhanced cattle who farmed themselves for milk became outraged by the murder of their fellow livestock.  With the help of sympathetic human farmhands, they hacked their restraining implants and, using seized and improvised weapons, took over the colonies and declared independence from the company...

 

"Moooooove out, girls!"

These amazing figures are from Alternative Armies; "Uplifted Cattle" HOF161.  Quick to paint, fun to have!  "COWS TOGETHER STRONG!"

Starvaulter

Starvaulter Mercenary
15mm

Stay the hell out of way 'cause the girl don't play none
she walks softly but she carries a big gun

Her job of choice is whatever pays the best... her weapon of choice is the Starvaulter ion-particle projector; technically a crew-served heavy cannon but she just slings it over her powered armour.  So... stay uprange.

The "Starvaulter Instructor" is an Ion Age miniature from Alternative Armies, given as a free bonus in August 2014 and still available.

Painted as an update to this badass figure from 2014.

"THIS is your high value shipment?!"
"It's a thirsty planet..."

Light show

Firepower

15mm

Aim for the target
With laser and lights
Releasing the trigger
Puts victory in sight

This was a fun one-day project I did last week on a day off work.  The figure is an Alternative Armies "Star Viking" I've had for a while but was never inspired by before.  I just saw it in the pile, and the idea to paint it up with a gun blast effect and OSL just came to me.  The result, I think, is actually pretty badass.

Witch's Cauldron

28mm scale

 

I picked up a couple of WizKids Deep Cuts sets recently: "Witch's Den" and "Wizard's Room".  so now I have a fun assemblage of arcane dungeon dressing that I'll probably use to embellish bases or set up some fun photos.  The coolest item was a cauldron with a clear insert for the "potion" inside!  So I did the obvious :)

 

This was actually pretty easy, just a bit of drilling and positioning to get the LED snug inside.  The hardest part was fitting the wires under the very thin base I used.  I'd suggest a regular 30mm base if you want to make something like this.

Watcher of the sandy sea

Desert dweller and solar droid

15 mm

Perhaps they're a roamer, seeking salvage or hidden wisdom in the deep desert.  A moisture farmer gleaning a living selling water pulled from the dry air.  Or a reclusive hermit, anxious to remain alone.  Whoever they are, along with their trusty but worn droid, repaired and rebuilt a dozen times, they probably know the ways of the desert as well as anyone ever has.

I've had these figures kicking around for a while... the human is from Alternative Armies HOF sci-fi range while the droid is from Ground Zero Games.  They're both converted a bit; I added the respirator pack and the antenna to the human (a definite improvement to a fairly generic sculpt!), the solar array to the droid. The human's attire is inspired by real life desert people - the Berbers of North Africa.  The colour coordination with the droid's solar array was unintentional, but looks pretty good.

"Sss-sss-sss, how are things huuuuman? All quiet out here?"
"You're the first visitors in weeks. Will you share water?"
"Sss... it would be an honour."

Festive Freebooters

Holiday smugglers
15 mm

Sandy "Claus" Klosowicz and her colleague "Elf" are some of the best smugglers in human space.  While they do work for profit, some of their most legendary runs have been humanitarian missions on behalf of aid and relief organizations.  Their delivery of tons of military-grade peptide bars and medical nanites is believed to have saved thousands during the pirate blockade of Hydra 357 Prime.  Many children, and their parents, at struggling bare-bones colony outposts dream of seeing these folk heroes' freighter landing one day, bringing supplies, food and even small luxuries from the core worlds.

Sandy and Elf are Ion Age figures from Alternative Armies.

Some dropoffs can get a bit hairy...

You came to the wrong neighborhood

Alien thugs
15mm

The streets of Dropfall are home to a wide array of unsavory and dangerous characters... these two nonhumans make a career out of violence and petty theft.

Figures are from Alternative Armies: Kardul and Oni.

"Look at humans!  Fancy pair is them... Think they took wrong turn, yes?"

"You again!"

The brains of the operation

Space Brains
no fixed scale

Swooping down from space, their ray guns and menacing claws gleaming, their frontal lobes glistening, the Space Brains attack!  All they seek is total domination, the destruction of the planet, and possibly to grab and menace scantily-clad human women.
 
Cratered Hab Dome
15mm scale

I decided to base a couple of them on a resin scenery model to give them the appearance of hovering over a ravaged battlefield.  The Space Brains are Alternative Armies figures.  The Cratered Hab Dome is a 15mm scale Ion Age model.

"Aim for the squishy bits, troopers!"