Gaslands Cars

I picked up a couple of sprues of Gaslands accessories from Northstar and a box of Hot Wheels cars to try them out on. I really enjoyed modeling and painting these bad boys, but I can't see me ever playing the game as I don't have much time to game any more. I have decided to sell them on ebay...so if you know someone who would like them for Christmas...

I have lots more cars and lots more bits on the accessories sprues so you can expect to see some more in the future. 

Gaslands Barricades

 I have been making some scenery for Gaslands. Its basically 20mm scale, because that seems to work best with die-cast cars like Hot Wheels, which is the most common bases for Gaslands vehicles. 

I really like Gaslands but I don't know anyone who will play it so these concrete barricades will be sold by Hazardous Terrain. 

I hope you like them. 

Zugandan Aid Convoy Ready To Be Ambushed

I wanted to do a UN aid convoy as an objective for a Force on Force game set in my fictional war-torn West African Imagi-nation of Zugando. It wasn't the first time I have converted toy cars, having done them for my VBCW and my Battle Cars games, and it is something I really get a lot of pleasure from.

I began by sourcing a couple of trucks- cheep ones from Tescos and Sainsburys. These ones scale well with my 28mm figures and the other vehicals I have already painted for my Africa Campaign. 

Next I made some cargo- I used resin crates made by Ainsty, Ebob's metal barrels, some crates I had left over from another toy I dismantled and some Tamiya 1/36 scale sand bags, which at 28mm scale make nice sacks. 

I cut a piece of plasticard to fit the flat bed of the truck and glued the cargo to this prior to painting. This was so I could remove the cargo to paint it. It also means I can use the trucks empty, and use  the cargo as a piece of terrain- multi-purpose is the name of the game!

The Orange one- with cargo...

...and without.

With cargo...

...and empty

This truck scales well with my 28mm scale stuff

And the cargo can be removed and used as terrain, should the battle call for it. 

Painting was simple- spray it black and paint it. I painted in the windows to match the other vehicals in my collection  This is because the resin Toyota technicals I bought form Britannia miniatures have solid windows which have to be painted, so it makes sense if all the windows on all the vehicals match- even if it doesn't look 100% realistic. A good coat of weathering adds the final details- after all- it's dusty in Zugando, and the poor conditions of the roads means vehicals get very dirty, very quickly.

Axles and Alloys Battle Report #1

Having built and painted four battle cars each, my son Charlie and I finally got round to a battle using our post-apocalypse cars. We chose to use the Axles and Alloys rules set for a number of reasons- firstly it promised to be fast and furious, secondly, it was highly recommended by a number of people on the Lead Adventure Forum, but mostly because it's free to download! (Here).

We started off on opposing sides of the table. Charlie had Dynamite (heavy chassis with turret mounted medium gun, armoured crew compartment and smoke launcher), The Exorcist (medium chassis, with two light guns and one medium gun, all in the front arc), The Destroyer (Medium chassis, with medium gun front, fire extinguisher, and ram) and Hulk (medium chassis, ram, front mounted medium and light gun). I went for a sporty Blue Lighting (Light chassis, two light guns- front, and nitro), Battle Bug (light chassis, light gun front, armoured wheels and napalm dropper), Disco Inferno (Medium chassis, Flame thrower- front, ram, rear mounted light gun) and Grunge (heavy chassis, Twin light guns in a turret, smoke launcher, armoured crew compartment).

Charlie proceeded cautiously; unwilling to risk a skid he kept his speed down, hugging train for cover. I went hell for leather, pedal to the metal, racing towards him as fast as I could. Initially things looked grim for my team. The longer range of charlies medium guns proved very effective, at least until I managed to close the gap. Then my superior speed and maneuverability started to come into its own.

Disco Inferno hunts The Destroyer- His flame thrower hits home- fortunately The destroyer had the good sense to pack a fire extinguisher!

Grunge, being slower than the rest of my team got caught up in an ambush, and had to use his smoke launchers, and a lot of burring rubber, to speed his way out of danger. I began to wonder why I fitted two light guns to Grunge's turret, when a medium gun would have given me better range and more fire power for the same cost. 'Still, it looks cool!

Quick, deploy smoke and get the frag out of here!

The Exorcist's formidable fire power takes out Disco Inferno in a ball of fiery death when he lights up the fuel tanks. Boom!

My team begin to feel the pressure as The Exorcist takes out Disco inferno. Blue Lightning punches his nirto to accelerate out of danger. Meanwhile Hulk catches Battle Bug unawares, and smashes into her with his ram, then blazes away with his guns at short range. Battle Bug only manages to escape by dropping a barrel load of napalm behind her. Hulk wisely swerves off to avoid it.

Crunch! Hulk Smash!

A generous application of napalm to the road surface discourages anyone from following the now badly damaged Battle Bug!

Now it came down to a matter of speed vs brute force. Blue Lighting and Battle bug, being lighter cars, were able to consistently out-maneuver their enemy, but lacked the punch to take them out. This wasn't helped when Blue Lighting lost one of his lasers off the front.

Battle Bug Deploys Napalm directly in front of The Exorcist, and he had no choice but to race through it, bursting into flames- he's taken out when he looses control and plows into a wall. Grunge takes a hit from Dynamite that blows out his fuel tank, and yet another of my team dies in a fiery ball of doom. Things are looking grim now with just two light cars left, and just two light guns between them.

Grunge dies in a big bang! Armoured fuel tanks are beginning to look quite useful.

The game comes to a conclusion when Hulk races through a pool of burning napalm to ram Blue Lighting. Both cars are destroyed out right, leaving only a dilapidated Battle Bug to face an almost unscathed Dynamite. Wisely Battle bug withdrew, limping away and leaving as mass of burning fuel, twisted metal and carnage behind.

To conclude- this was a great game. A+A is a fantastic little system- simple enough to be easily picked up, yet with enough complexity to allow tactics and cunning. Charlie had a great time (especially because he won- and I wasn't going easy on him). The lighter cars with their speed and manoeuvrability were not overshadowed by their heavier opponents, but the light guns lacked the punch compared to charlie's heavier weapons. My next plan to build some cars with heavier weapons.

More bang for your buck!

Two More Battle Cars to Welcome in the New Year.

The first post of the New Year features a little project my son Charlie and I have been working on over the Christmas break, namely a couple more Mad Max style battle cars. Yet again Charlie, being a brutal, no nonsense type of guy, has opted for an army green people-carrier sporting a blood splattered ram (form running over post-apocalypse zombies), a belt-fed auto cannon strapped to the side, and a roof mounted heavy bolt gun. I opted for a more subtle sports car, fitted with a tank of nitro and two military grade pulse lasers on the front, hoping that speed and cunning will win out over brute force.

Yet again I am very proud of Charlie, because the painting on his car is with out doubt first class. He seems to have embraced this slightly bonkers topic with great enthusiasm. He is already pestering me to make some more.

If you like this, I will be posting our first battle report soon. We will be using the Axles and Alloys system available free of the net.

Battle Cars Reinforced!

Charlie and I have made two more battle cars for our crazy post-Apocalypse Mad Max thing.

Charlie created The Exorcist for his gang boss. Traveling in style, this '47 Chevy is fully tooled up fro offencive play, featuring twin bazookas, and a massive roof-mounted automatic cannon. That's serous firepower for anyone unlucky enough to find itself in front of this bad boy.

My VW Camper, Aka Grunge, belongs to a traveling band on hippy-rockers. It's tooled up with twin-linked military pulse lasers in a turret, smoke launchers and a reinforced crew compartment, making it far more defencive than Charlies vicious car.

For this lot, I broke my self-imposed rule about doing things cheaply, and splashed out £4 for the VW camper off eBay. The thing was so battered it barley had any of it's original paint on, and I know I payed over the odds for it, but I love the classic camper van so much I had to have one in my gang. Again weapons are by Games Workshop, and cars are by hot wheels (Chevy) and matchbox (VW).

Now we have got three cars a piece I think we have enough to start gaming. Charlie and I will try out the Axel and Alloys rules, and I will post a battle report, probably early in the new year.

More Battle Cars

My 10 year old son and I have been at it again, and have created two more battle cars for our Axles and Alloys game. Charlies is the Red Rocketeer, a van armed with a turret mounted medium missile launcher and a smoke launcher, while I opted for the more 'up-close-and-personal' Disco Inferno, a pick-up truck armed with a huge flame-thrower on the side, a rear facing military grade pulse laser, and a big ol' rusty ram on the front.

The cars are matchbox-scale Fast Lane cars, and the weapons are old Games Workshop.

Battle Cars

My son Charlie (who is 10) and I have embarked on a new, exciting, and slightly silly project. We have started converting old Matchbox type cars into crazy post-Apocalypse Mad Max style battle cars, by gluing on lots of bits and bobs I have in spadefuls in the garage- all sorts of Games Workshop guns and such from a myriad of half finished projects or spares. The result looks surprisingly cool, and we are delighted with the way they turned out. Cue a frenzy of filing and gluing as we both embark on an arms race to create the ultimate killer car.

I will point out that the black car, aka The Destroyer, is Charlies. He painted it himself, and I think that it's hard to tell because his standard of painting has improved so much. I am very proud of him. My VW, aka The Battle Bug has come out very well too. Charlie added an Imperial Guard Lascannon, and death spikes made from part of the GW 40K buildings kit. I added a Heavy stubber, and oil slick dropper, and armoured wheels.

We will use the rules Axles and Alloys, which is available free of the net in a play test format. Although the cars are nominally 20mm scale, we can us the rocks and cactus etc from the western board for scenery, so I won't have to start making lots of new scenery (but I might anyway, just to use up some of the bitz I have in the garage).

Here's some WIP shots, to jive you an idea of what we did. We are hoping that when me old mucka Leon sees these pics he will feel inspired to rise to the challenge, make a few himself, and try his hand in the Arena of Death!

That's if he has got the balls.

Two cars- 70p each from Tescos

Key the paint with a file to create a good surface.

Add detailing from left over bitz box stuff, and aluminium body mesh (from car repair shop) to windows to keep the zombies out.

Bullet holes added with a pin drill.

Spray Chaos Black, paint with GW .

Don't forget some mud spatters and weathering on the paintwork.

easy.