Building Bridges

I've seen a few people using 'blue foam' for their models, and always wanted to try it, but never really found any. I have bought bits and pieces of foam over the years but they have never really done the job.  But I found this blue foam, which is now grey, and it seems to have the right sort of properties. Even with this, though, I bought two different size peices and the two pieces were remarkably different. The darker grey stuff, below, seems harder and crisper and easier to use than the lighter grey stuff I am using for the bridge.

Seems like a really fun and versatile material to use, though. I'm guessing in the UK it isn't used for insulation as it seems quite hard to get and is sold as modelling foam, whereas in some other countries, there seems to be a lot of the stuff about.

Road Warriors

I started converting a few matchbox cars to a sort of post apoc mad max thing a few years ago, but gave up coz they weren't going very well. But now, I've decided to get into the boardgame, Devil's Run: Route 666. They seem to have a bunch of nice resin vehicles. And I ordered a load of bits from Ramshackle Games to enhance my current efforts. Meanwhile, I dusted off the old cars and had another go at them while I'm waiting for the stuff to arrive.

Plastic Flags

I've been wondering how I was going to do the flags for my Arabs. I'm not a huge fan of paper ones, so decided to have a go at making some plastic ones. Nearly everything else in the army is plastic so it makes sense to have plastic flags, too. If you want to make these at home you will have to ask an adult to help you.

I cut out 30mm squares of 1mm plastic sheeting. In order for them to keep their shape, they need to be heated, and any thinner than 1mm and it will be difficult not to over-heat them. I stick them in the oven at about 160C for a little bit. You need to keep an eye on them the whole time, and take them out and bend them a little as soon as they start to look warm. If you leave them too long they will just curl up and die.

Bending them just a little bit and then putting them back in the oven for a few moments seems to work well. And it takes about 4 or 5 iterations to get a nice clear shape. Be careful to make sure one of the edges of the flag is still very straight, so you will get a decent contact when gluing them to the pole. When they feel about right, put them in some cold water and they should keep their shape.

The original plan was to paint a load of fake Arabic writing on the flags, but not sure I want to risk that, atm. Might have to work up the courage for that.

Aliens on the Front Line

Decided to make some flying saucers to sci-fi up my Living on the Front Line game. They came out well enough and should work for any silly alien saucery type game. I also painted a couple of bands of aliens. These models come from the board game Martians! There's obviously some sort of issue on their planet between orange aliens and blue aliens. Orange aliens walk like that, but blue aliens walk that that, probably. I also expanded an old 7TV cast into a Men in Black type army.

I've played a couple of games and it actually works quite well. I made a few extra rules for the aliens and gave the MiB a special gadget for bringing down flying saucers. Now, I just need to get a load of black Range Rovers for them. The factions should also work just fine against any legit LotFL faction.

 Aliens, Trained

Quality	Shoot	Defend	Morale	Initiative
Trained	d8	d6	d8	7

Hivemind (Can activate 3 infantry per turn)

Lt, Md, Hvy Blaster

Lt, Md Disruptor

Weapon	0-8	8-16	16-24	24-36	36-48	R/S	Wound	Pen.	Dam.	Area
Lt B	+1	-	-1			3	d6	(d4)	d4
Md B	-	-	-1	-2		3	d8	(d4)	d4
Hvy B	-	-	-	-1		2	d8	(d4)	d4
Lt D		-	-	-1	-2		d10	d8	d8	2”
Md D			-	-	-1		d10	d10	d10	3”

Ship (Lt or Md Disruptor)

Speed	Traction	Target	OR	Crew	Armour
12	Flying	d8	-	1	d8

Damage

Ship Damage	1-2	3-5	6-8	9-12
	Hit	Disabled	KO	Destroyed

Flying Checks are morale vs d8, Wound Checks are on a d8

Hit: Make a Flying Check or move 2d6 in a random direction and lose this turn

Disabled: If flying make a Flying Check. On fail, Destroyed. On success, crash land (2d6 random) and make a wound check

KO: If landed, check for wounds. If flying, as Disabled.

Destroyed: As rules, crash land within 2d6 in a random direction, everyone within 4” of that point rolls for wounds on a d12.

Elite, MiB

Quality	Shoot	Defend	Morale	Initiative
Elite	d10	d10	d12	9

Weapon	0-8	8-16	16-24	24-36	36-48	Rapid	Wound	Pen.	Dam.	Area
Gadget	-	-	-			-	d6	d6	d8	2”

   

ASQL: Alien Terrain

Here's some bits of terrain for Alien Squad Leader. Made out of balls, bottle-tops and bits of stuff, covered in bathroom sealant.

Should work with 28mm stuff, too.

Spaceships (Part Two)

Finished my spaceships, mostly. I didn't find a decent shape to go on the top of the front bit, but  I need them for the weekend, so went with that.

Jenna looks like she'd be able to fit in them, anyway, with a bit of a squeeze.