28mm Motorcycle Gang

Recently I was looking for a quick project.  I had just finished painting a Viking army for Saga and next on the list was resuming work on my successor phalangites.  In between I wanted to do something small that wouldn't take more than 1 week.  I decided to fix up my 28mm motorcycle gang.  

My motorcycle gang has a convoluted history.  Back in March 2020 I realized that my vision had started to deteriorate and my detail painting was suffering.  Just before everything shut down due to COVID, I bought a pair of reading glasses for use during painting and they solved the problem.  I also realized that some of my recent projects had suffered, the bikers among them.  I originally painted my bikers in summer 2019 and they were not up to my usual standard due to the aforementioned vision issue; this project gave me the chance to correct that.

A motorcycle gang is one of those groups that frequently appear in modern and post-apocalypse settings, so I would be able to use them in multiple games.  I started collecting the miniatures some years ago with the plastic Warlord Games Project Z Biker Gang sprues, which were originally made by Wargames Factory.  They have been out of stock for a long time as the game appears to have been abandoned.  I bought one each of the sprues; together they had enough parts to make 4 on foot and 3 on motorcycles.  One thing that disappointed me is that only 1 of the Warlord bikers is wearing a leather jacket.

The rest of my gang came via the 2017 Kickstarter for Turf War Z, which I received in early 2018.  These metal miniatures are now available through Studio Miniatures as a set of 7 and a separate leader; The set of 7 has 1 complete miniature and 6 bodies (3 each of 2 different poses) with separate heads and arms.   Included were extra heads and arms to allow for customization.  Most of the heads are clearly inspired by characters from the Sons of Anarchy tv show, which of course I watched during some painting sessions.  After taking stock of all the pieces I had and some test fittings, I assembled them all at once.  I pinned most of the heads and arms to secure them better.

The color scheme is pretty simple.  Lots of leather jackets and jeans, with shirts mostly in dark shades.  I added some different colors here and there for variety.  A lot of the Warlord minis are wearing leather chaps for some reason.  On initially painting these miniatures in 2020, I came up with a gang logo with the help of Google Images, then printed decals on white decal paper.  The design didn't come out as distinct as I had hoped but I used it anyway.

The repainting project consisted of redoing the areas that looked the worst.  This included removing the original decals and substituting Sons of Anarchy decals that Studio Miniatures now sells, re-lettering the backs of the jackets, repainting the eyes, and touching up anything else I didn't like.  When lettering the backs of the jackets I used 'Sons' for the gang name and 'Nomads' for the chapter.  Honestly I don't think I could fit more letters than that.  The minis with decals are full members.  those without decals are prospects or hangers-on.

I also made some additions as part of this project.  When I was assembling plastic zombies in summer 2020, I had some parts leftover.  I noticed recently that the Studio Miniatures zombie sprues had a body wearing a leather jacket.  I wondered if I could use them as living bikers.  I took three of them and added leftover biker heads, arms and weapons from the Warlord biker sprues.  To add some variety, I cut one body off at the waist and used the Studio torso with a Warlord lower body.  The Warlord sprue also had a female motorcycle passenger that I hadn't used.  I cut it at the waist and used a set of extra Warlord legs to make a fourth new miniature.  A quick paintjob later and I had 4 new gang members.

One week later and this project was complete and my 21-member motorcycle gang is ready to go on the table.  I am finally happy with how they look and already have some scenario plans.  It would be nice to have some motorcycles for scenery.  If you know of a source, let me know in the comments.

Three of the Studio Miniatures.  When I did the lettering I used the smallest brush I own.  It isn't perfect but at least it's legible.

The chapter president and a chainsaw-wielding biker ready for close combat (Studio).

The heavy weapons contingent (Studio).

The Warlord motorcycles had a lot of parts to glue together  but they turned out well.

Two of the Warlord/Wargames Factory plastic miniatures.

The ladies of the chapter are ready for a fight.  The one in the middle was originally a motorcycle passenger.  Those chaps don't look comfortable for riding!

These are the ones I converted from Studio Miniatures plastic zombies bodies with Warlord heads and arms.  The one on the right also has a Warlord lower body which made it taller than the other two.

I already had these 2 in my post-apocalypse collection and they fit right in with the rest of my gang.  Made by Project Zeke Miniatures which had a small post-apocalypse range but is no longer in business.

A size comparison: (l-r) Studio metal, Warlord, Studio plastic zombie, Warlord, Project Zeke.  The Studio metal is on a thicker base so the overall height looks better.  Note all the Warlord female minis are very tall.

The entire gang assembled and ready for action.

28mm Mutants

Today's subject is a batch of 10 28mm post-apocalypse mutants that I snuck in between batches of Iberians for Saga.  They are a mix of 5 from Brigade Games that I bought way back at Historicon 2016 and 5 bought from Battle Valor Games in June 2020.  They all have obvious mutations, such as claw arms, two heads or tentacles.  The Battle Valor ones are chunkier with more equipment but I think they mix well.

I used a variety of different skintones and a mix of Vallejo/P3/Iron Wind/Army Painter/GW contrast paints.

I have painted many of the Brigade post-apocalypse range before but I've been holding these back until I was in the mood to paint them.  There are more mutants in their range that I don't have and they are all very different.  I envisage using the two-headed one as the leader.  I think my favorite is the second from left with all the tentacles; there is even one coming out of one the mask's eyeholes.  I wasn't sure how to paint the fly's head but I think it turned out ok.

These four are the Pulp50 Waste Marauder pack from Battle Valor.  Lots of deformed arms and weird eyes.  As with the previous Battle Valor minis I painted, I really like the variety of equipment they are carrying.

Also from Battle Valor is the Sci-Fi 40 Yeti with Marauder Rider pack.  I left the rider off.  He is armed with an axe.

With one of the Brigade mutants to show scale.

The mutant mob has assembled.

28mm Modern Buildings from 4Ground

During the Black Friday sales in early December, I was browsing Noble Knight's website looking for things I could add to an order I was making.  I happened across buildings from 4Ground that looked interesting.  I went to the 4Ground website to check if they had more pictures and learned that they had more buildings in the range and were also having a sale.  I bought the Construction Site Tower Block Bundle (all 4 buildings in the range at a discount plus a pack of extra wall panels) directly from 4Ground and soon had packages from both 4Ground and Noble Knight.

4Ground MDF kits come prepainted.  My previous experience with 4Ground buildings was limited to one building I bought at a flea market and assembled years ago.  When I assembled it I did not have a good experience, mainly due to some very fiddly parts for the windows and the plastic meant to represent window glass.  I was willing to give them another try and thought that any issues I might have during assembly would be mitigated by the fact that they were buildings still under construction.  In addition to the construction set I also bought a French butcher shop, two billboards and two vending machines.  None of them appeared to have any of the components that had caused me problems previously.

The appeal of these kits was that I could use them in both a modern cityscape and in a post-apocalypse setting.  As my storage space for buildings becomes scarcer I am having to choose new items carefully and am only trying to buy those that that can serve in multiple settings.  Also, I don't have anything else like them.

 I assembled the first of the Construction Site buildings on the evening of January 1st while watching Ohio State play (American) football and did one per evening for the next three days.  I am very happy with the results.  I think these handle stairs better than any other MDF kits I have, both for ease of assembly and the final look.  The one minor issue I had was with some of the internal walls; I had to cut some of them down a bit in order for the next floor to sit properly on top of the internal walls and outer beams.  I didn't use any of the extra wall panels in order keep more access to the interior.

The bases are all 14x14 cm or 5.5 inches.  There were several ladders included but I did not use them in the photos.  The miniatures included to show the scale are some 28mm military contractors from Eureka Minatures and a Hasslefree Miniatures 28mm Kat (HFA004, inspired by Selene from the Underworld movies).  As always, click on the photos for larger versions.

Construction Site 2-Story Tower Block

Construction Site L-Shaped Tower Block

Construction Site 3-Story Tower Block

The Construction Site Tower Block Booster can be used on its own or to give one of the other buildings additional height.

Laying out all 4 buildings in a row gives me 56 cm / 22 inches of terrain, which is a great addition to my game layouts.

                                 

A more vertical setup with the booster on the right under the L-Shaped Block. 

I also got two billboards for my cityscape: (l) Large Billboard with Platform, (r) Billboard.  The smaller one will fit nicely on top of a building.  They come with a selection of premade signs.  I made my own signs to continue my practice of using business names from my hometown of Columbus, Ohio.  Most of the time I pick places around the Ohio State University campus during the 1980s-1990s.  In this case the Newport Music Hall, where I went many times for concerts and is still around.  The Taj Mahal restaurant now exists under the name New Taj Mahal for reasons unknown to me.  Both of these were very easy to assemble.

The Butchers Shop kit was very inexpensive.  The reason is that it does not have a detailed interior or a base.  The instructions also have the roof glued on.  I like to be able to use the interiors of my buildings, so I added a base made of black styrene and gave the inside a quick coat of off-white craft paint and added a floor using scrapbook paper.  It was easy to glue some of the triangle-shaped scrap MDF pieces to the underside of the roof to give it more stability.  The kit includes a 'Boucherie' sign, but as noted above, I like to have building signs from my hometown of Columbus, Ohio.  So after some consultation with my Columbus gaming friends , I decided to make a Carfagna's sign in honor of an Italian market that I used to visit with my parents and is still open.  This kit also included a red and white awning that I did not use.

Even mercenaries get hungry!  These Grey Vending Machines come as a set of two.  Included with the kit are detailed paper covers with a variety of drinks and snacks.  Very easy to put together.

Marauders & Wanderers

 

Most of my time in September and October was spent painting an Early Saxon army for Saga.  I did sneak in a batch of post-apocalypse minis to take a short break from the Saxons.

The Marauders are from Battle Valor Games at http://www.battlevalorgames.com/index.aspx

They make 15mm Fantasy and 28mm Sci-fi, Pulp & Fantasy.  Most or all of the 28mm were originally made by Sgt Major Miniatures which went out of business in the mid 2010s.  I had seen their ranges at US conventions but hadn't bought any, though my friend Mike had some.  In June 2020 I found out from Mike that Battle Valor were bringing these ranges back and I ordered a few packs during their introductory sale.  I received them shortly thereafter.

The Battle Valor minis are well-sculpted with minimal flash.  On the chunky side of 28mm, with lots of gear; just how I picture they would look wandering through the wasteland.  I enjoyed painting them.  I have another pack of Waste Marauders with more significant mutations, along with some apes that I will get to someday.  They have some interesting packs including cultists and various armed religious groups.

As I was writing this post I received an email from Battle Valor about their Christmas Sale: 30% off through 16 December.

When I was prepping the marauders, I also got out 4 miniatures from the 2019 Aftermath kickstarter.  They are now on sale at https://puttymonkey.com/shop/ols/all  I never played the Aftermath RPG back in the 1980s, my group preferred Gamma World.  They have clean lines, no flash and good details.  They also make another human survivor (that I didn't get) and giant mutated rats (waiting in the lead pile).

When painting this batch, I tested out my GW contrast paints on non-zombies for the first time.  I also used my normal paints.  I wanted to try a different method for flesh using a contrast wash followed by my usual skintone.  It was faster and I have been using it since.  Overall I am happy with how they turned out and look forward to using them in a game.

Waste Boss in the middle flanked by Waste Marauders (Battle Valor).  The Waste Boss looks like he stepped  out of a Mad Max film.

 

Three more Waste Marauders (Battle Valor)

The Preacher on the left (Putty Monkey) and Bounty Hunter on the right (Battle Valor).  I really like The Preacher, he has an Old West vibe and his facial features remind me of Yul Brynner in the Magnificent Seven.

Female Survivor, Gauntlet Girl & Male Survivor (Putty Monkey).  The Male Survivor came with a separate visor to fit on the helmet but I left it off.  Gauntlet Girl looks innocent until you see the knife behind her back.  Always be prepared in the wasteland!

All together