Building a world on a budget. Part four.

 

Building a world on a budget.

The fourth piece in my terrain building project follows the same theme as the previous terrain post, in that, I am once more returning to a piece that I made nine years ago.  I am sorry to say that I do not have any pictures of the building process.

Project four: The Yakisoba bunker.

Construction

The bunker`s main structure was made from an instant yakisoba tub, in which I punched some holes for the door and the window.  I really liked the shape of the tub it reminded me of the buildings in Mos Eisley which is never a bad thing. 

To detail the bunker, I went back to my collection of gubbins and used straws for the pipes and the ladder, an old broken earphone for the window, a blister pack for the door, small pieces of cork for the wall details, and a piece of broken electronics for the door control panel.  

I would love to say that I plan these things before I start making them, but the truth is I generally let the piece grow organically as I am making it.

The texture on the bunker was achieved by using a Tamiya texture paint.  I think that I used their concrete texture paint for this build, but it was a long time ago and I may have used snow or mud.  

Originally the building was painted grey, and I then used a Coat d`arms super shader.  I was never happy with the finish, which is partly why the bunker sat in a box for nearly ten years, so I decided to spruce the paint job up. 

For the paint scheme, I went back to basics and undercoated the building in black, applied a grey black base coat, then a black wash.  After that it was just a matter of dry brushing several different layers of grey onto the building.  The building looked a little dull all in the same grey, so I decided to pick out some different areas in a darker green grey to help break up the monotony of the paint scheme.  

As a finishing touch for the piece I added several bits of graffitti and building designation numbers to the bunker.  These are all transfers rather than any freehand work by me, but overall I think that they really add something to the building.

 

Assault at Aycliffe

Looking up at the servitor, a gift from Inquisitor Grilli, Adept Low tried to recall his designation. “Argos, what is the situation?” The servos in Argos` neck whirled as he looked down at the data slate and his cold mechanical voice responded “The bulk of the research team`s security force has been despatched on retrieval duty.  They should return from the Volkstan dig site in 3.2 days.  Until then our defences are minimal.  They consist of Carnacki, Silence, Burrage, Heron, this unit, and yourself.  There are two long arms, and two small arms available.  In the stockpile there are two thousand rounds of.”  Low cut the servitor off with a motion of his arm.  

Located on the outer edge of the Aycliffe sector close to the Volkstan wastelands research station beta was about as far from the centre of civilisation as you could be on Dubris XXI.  A location and situation that usually suited Adept Low perfectly, his work was always of the utmost importance to him, and civilisation tended to interfere with occult psychological research.  

But ever since Inquisitor Grilli had instructed him to set up a dig site deep in the Volkstan tribes’ territory tensions had been growing and now a raiding party had been spotted on the outer sensors.  Adept Low sighed to himself there was not much that could be done.  “Argos, instruct the others that we are expecting guests, and they should be met with a warm reception.  I will keep working on these crystal memory fragments that were brought in with the last shipment from the dig site until the locals arrive.” The servitor nodded and went outside.

Adept Low instructed the defenders to take up defensive positions around the research station. 

As the tribesmen moved towards the research station the defenders settled into their positions and opened fire.  The dense foliage around the research station meant that only Silence and his auto-gun found its mark.

The Volkstan leader calmly strode through the fire being direct at him. Focusing his mind, he channelled the warp through himself.  He pointed his staff at Heron and Burrage an unnatural hurricane pinned them to the ground.

Knowing that the only way to survive the overwhelming odds that they faced was to break the morale of the Volkstan, Low ordered Carnacki and Argos to charge two groups of tribesmen.  Argos was fortunate the group he charged were only armed with melee weapons.  In the melee, Argos felled one of the tribesmen with a devasting kick from his bionic leg but was overwhelmed by the blows from the other tribesmen.

Carnacki was not as fortunate as he rushed towards the tribesmen, they opened fire with their archaic weapons.  A massive wall of smoke surrounded the tribesmen and as Carnacki emerged out of it he staggered and fell.  A musket ball had hit his unprotected skull.

The tribesmen whooped in triumph. Having dealt with the armoured threat that was Carnacki they turned their attention towards Adept Low.  They fired their weapons as one, several musket balls hit him, throwing him to the ground, but none of them penetrated the mesh armour he wore under his lab coat.

Realising that the research station could not be held Adept Low gave the order to retreat.  Silence, Heron, and Burrage laid down covering fire, felling another tribesman, as Low led the retreat. 

The Volkstan leader was not finished with the defenders of research station beta.  Once more he called forth the powers of the warp and shattered Silence`s mind with the raw power of that infernal realm.

Sensing that they had won the day the tribesmen surge forward hoping to catch some of the defenders before they could escape. 

Neither Burrage nor Heron liked being beaten by the Volkstan.  They had faced xenos in the quiet of space and survived.  Now, they were running from primitives, but they would not leave Silence to the mercy of the tribesmen.  As they fled from the field, they scooped up the power armoured warrior.

The Volkstan warriors followed the survivors of research station beta, but without much fervour.  They had got what they had come for.

Or had been sent to retrieve.

Building a world on a budget. Part three

 

Building a world on a budget.

The third piece in my terrain building project is a return to something I started nine years ago.  That was an era where I still had a printer and did not know what to do with the used cartridges.  Sadly, as the project was started such a long time ago, I do not have as many pictures of the building process.

Project three: The printer cartridge power generator.

Construction

To build the power generator I sandwiched three printer cartridges together with some MDF bases that I had in my bits box, and then I glued random gubbins on them to break the shape up.  One thing that needed to be done was to glue plugs over the holes for the ink because even though the cartridges had run out a small amount of ink still leaked out of them.

At first, I decided on a brown paint scheme, but after the first few coats it look too clean, so I delved into my hobby box and found some weathering powders that I have had for years but never used.  The effect really toned down the brown and I liked the look of it, but when I applied varnish all the weathering powders ran, and it did not look great.  So, I had to go back to the painting table, and went with a series of heavy washes, and some rust texture paints.

After applying the washes, I decided that the power generator would look even better if it was overgrown with plant life.  I grabbed some lichen, a much under used terrain building material these days in my opinion, and some other foliage which I stuck on as inspiration came to me.

To finish the project I used some model railway ballast and flowers on the base.  Overall a nice piece of scatter terrain for my table.

 

Horror at Hougham

Looking around the dimly lit APC Corporal Teach snorted to himself.  Top brass had not been happy with the way things had unfolded at Maxton goods holding yard and to make amends they had decided that the 2^nd Company of the Dubris Planetary Defence Force should spend some time patrolling the Quartz zone. That was bad enough in itself, but he and his troops had been assigned to Hougham without, an area that had an ill-repute.  The rumours were that the place was riddled with tunnels made by who knows what and that people went missing there.  As the APC was coming to a stop, Medic Norcross leant over and gave Teach a hip flask.  “Have a swig of that Teach, doctor`s orders, it looks like you could do with it.  Teach gave the medic a wry smile and took a swig from the flask before handing it back to the medic.  Standing up Teach looked at the soldiers in the APC “Right, we`ll make this fast.  I don`t want to spend any more time in this accursed place than the rest of you.  Rackham, Bonny, Hornigold, Skyrme, Norcross you are with Read, take the left flank.  L`Oloanais, Kidd, Avery, Vane, you are with me, we`ve got the right.  Keep your eyes out for any danger people.  Now, dismount!”

The vibrations from the APC must have alert the creature to presence of the PDF.  No sooner had the troopers started their patrol than the creature burst from out of the ground near Lance corporal Read`s fireteam.  A look of terror crossed Read`s face as she recognised the creature, an Ambull.

Without out hesitation all of the soldiers opened fire.  A hail of shots from Las-guns, Auto-guns, bolt-guns, hit the creature most deflected harmlessly off its chitinous armour.  The concentrated fire from the auto-guns of Hornigold and Rackham blew a hole in its almost impregnable hide.

Enraged the Ambull charged towards the cause of the pain it had suffered.  Hornigold and Rackham continued spraying the creature with auto-gun fire blowing a second hole in the Ambull, but nothing could stop its relentless charge.  The two troopers tried to hold off the Ambull, but a backhand sent Rackham flying backwards through the air.

Ignoring the looming presence of the creature Norcross rushed over to the injured Rackham.  His injured were severe, broken ribs, internal bleeding, but he would survive if they could get him to proper care.  The medics fearless example in coming to the aid of the injured trooper spurred the rest of the squad into action.  They charged into combat to support the embattled Hornigold.

The melee was a blur of preternatural strength and human determination.  The two forces were finally balanced until Corporal Teach ordered his men to open fire into the melee.  In their attempts to help their comrades they managed to take three of them out of the fight leaving Hornigold to be crushed in the claws of the dread Ambull.

The Ambull`s beady eyes scanned the area trying to decide which of its prey it should pursue next.  For a moment it gazed at Norcross, but its attention was soon focused on Teach and his men as they opened fire on it.  Shots once more bounced off its hide and the creature roared as it charged towards the squad of PDF troopers.

The Ambull first disembowelled L`Oloanais, then it crushed Avery`s skull with its second swipe.  This was more than the troops could take and they broke and ran.  Two soldiers were cut down as they tried to flee from the fearsome.  Only Corporal Teach was able to stay ahead of it.

As the creature feasted on the bodies of his comrades, Norcross lead those that he had managed to help to safety.  Lance corporal Read (light arm injury), trooper Rackham (serious chest injury), and trooper Skyrme (maimed left leg) owed their lives to the bravery of the medic.

Building a world on a budget. Part two.

 Building a world on a budget.

The second project, in building terrain that a womble would be proud of, sprang into life after I finished making a spot of lunch. I was taken by the shape of microwave rice packet and decided to try and make something of it.

Project one: The rice packet hut

Construction

I built the base and door frame using some foam board from a 100-yen desk partition.  One sheet is 3` by 1`, so I have plenty of material for future projects.  The I decided to base the building because the rice packet was not very stable and needed the support.

Looking at the initial structure I decided that it could do with some more details to make it look less like a rice packet.  These came from different places, pieces of sprues, food containers, the collar from a superglue tube, and some resin windows.

The texture on the building was achieved in the same way as the first project, an old dried-up snow texture paint.

Completed

To finish the project I decided to hide some of the uglier joints with foliage.  I am quite pleased with the overall effect.

 

Massacre at Maxton

Sitting in the back of the speeder as in rocketed through the night sky, Gudrun Ure replayed the last message of Snay Black, her mole in the Administratum.  He had managed to hide crucial data into a service droid at Maxton goods holding yard before Chastener Campbell silenced him.  Knowing that there could well be Imperial forces waiting for her Gudrun decided to approach the goods yard under the cover of night.

Staying in the shadows Gudrun, Zilog-80, and Bowen moved into the goods yard.

Chastener Campbell ordered the Dubris PDF squad to fan out and secure the goods yard.

Under a hail of ineffective fire from the PDF troopers Gudrun, Zilog-80, and Bowen opened fire.  They all found their mark, but only Zilog-80 was able to find the weak point in their flak armour and take down his target.

A look of surprise crossed Chastener Campbell`s face as he saw Gudrun charging towards him.  His bolt pistol barked as he fired in panic to try and slow her down but to no avail.  In hand to hand combat the Chastener never stood a chance against the millennia old warrior woman.

The remaining PDF troopers tried to buy time for the reinforcements to arrive, but once more their aim was not up to the task.  In answer, Zilog-80 gunned down the trooper engaged with him, while Bowen followed Gudrun`s lead and charged another trooper.

Gudrun and Zilog-80 pushed through the goods yard attempting to find the droid that they were looking for.

The PDF reinforcements arrived just as Gudrun downloaded the last of the data from the old security droid.

Coming from two directions the Dubris PDf forces tried to cut off Gudrun`s retreat.

Sensing the danger of being caught in a pincer move Gudrun lead her men in a charge against the nearest group.  The three heroes Gudrun, Bowen, and Zilog-80 cut their way through the PDF troopers sent to stop them.  Hearing the fate of their colleagues the Corporal Teach decided that discretion was the better part of valour and ordered the rest of the PDF forces to retreat.