Back in early February, I attended the 2026 HMGS Cold Wars convention in Lancaster, PA. The theme was “Wild, Wild, West”. this is not one of my usual game themes, but as you’ll see shortly I adapted for one game anyways. As I write this now it is already mid-March, so I thought it was about time to finally got around to sharing some of the games I played in and ran in the H.A.W.K.’s room.
The H.A.W.K.’s are a great club from Harford County, Maryland. Two of my good West Point buddies (Buck Surdu USMA ’85 and Dave Wood fellow USMA ’84) have been members for years, and I have been fortunate enough to be their New England carpetbagging GM for a few years now.
Buck, yours truly, and Dave
Prelude to Austerlitz (Wars of Eagles and Empires)
Thursday night I jumped into a Napoleonic 28mm game run by Buck, “Prelude to Austerlitz”. It used his Wars of Eagles and Empires rules.
It was a fun game and I was on the Austrian side with two other young players (they were young anyways). The French players were not as aggressive as they probably had wanted to be, which allowed us to successfully defend the town.
The Wicked Witch is Still Trying to Get Dorothy’s Slippers (Feudal Patrol using Wars of Ozz figures)
This was a fun opportunity to jump in a Feudal Patrol game with my old USMA roommate Dave. Dave does a great job as a GM and even won a PELA award at Cold Wars for his Zulu game. Dave uses 28mm Wars of Ozzfigures in a skirmish game using Feudal Patrol rules. I played on the Winkie side and we were able to take Dorothy down and get those valuable slippers!
Dave as GMMy Winkies advance
After this game, I hit the vendors hall and got some lunch. Then I took the rest of the afternoon time to set up my Friday evening Wars of Ozz game. – “The Great Munchkin Heist“.
The Great Munchkin Heist (Wars of Ozz)
This was an epic back and forth Wars of Ozz battle, which really was great to see! Three brigades were on the attack (two Munchkin, one allied brigade, and an army reserve). The allied brigade was composed of two regiments of Jinjur female pirates, an Impkin slingshot battery, and a regiment of Frost Ogres (that Dave Stone will recognize!). The reserve came from the Land of Harvest – Great Pumpkinheads and regiments of eagles and owls. these allies hoped to share the loot with the Munchkins. Technological “secrets” were hidden in buildings throughout.
Three small but potent Nitpik mechanical men brigades and a small reserve force defended the formidable rusty steel walls of the Robotic Sanctum – a.k.a. the Industrial City. A small infantry reserve remained in the city, and there were rumors of a Nitpik relief force coming…
The Munchkin 1st Brigade advances on the left.The Munchkin 2nd Brigade advances in the center.The Allied Brigade ready for battle.In the center was the Munchkin Army Reserve of Harvest troops under the command of Zoraster the Wizard.The Nitpik Medium Artillery defends the left flank, with Elite Axemen behind ready to deal with any penetrations of the walls by the allied brigade.Defending the Nitpik center against the Munchkin 2nd Brigade was the Lemon Drop Legionnaires at the wall (also with napalm blasters) and the axe-wielding Jade Automata.Defending the Nitpik right was the 3rd Nitpik Brigade. They had Morin’s Monsters with napalm blasters and a mechanical mini-swarm.A side view of the start of the battle behind the Nitpik lines. The Mechanical mini-swarm is in the foreground, while the sole regiment in the Nitpik reserve – the Pink Nightmares – is in the back left.The battle begins. The Allied Brigade moves up on the right.The Nitpik Artillery prepares to fire at the Frost Ogres…….who take casualties and rout in the face of withering fire.Overzealous Lemon Drop Legionnaires take fire from the balloon and an unlucky reaction test causes them to jump over their protective walls towards the enemy!This unlucky reaction subjected the Lemon Drop Legionnaires to Munchkin musketry at short range.Morin’s Monsters hold the line.Munchkin Light Cavalry and Landwehr move up on the left flank..The Munchkin 1st Brigade moves towards the gate – somewhat stymied by the ominous rusty steel walls – their solution……climb the wall !! Assault Munchkins! (or Ranger Munchkins?)…they were soon in the town searching for technological secrets.The Munchkins commit the Great Pumpkinheads and Great Owls and bypass Morin’s Monsters.A female pirate regiment breaches the right wall and faces the Elite Axemen. The Munchkin Center is breached as well.
The Munchkins searched in vain for any technological secrets. They did manage to inflict slightly more casualties on Professor Nitpik’s forces, resulting in a narrow 18-15 point victory.
Little Wars TV actually showed a snippet this game on their Cold Wars video – you can see it at minute mark 12:31. My players look happy!
That wrapped up Friday – and Saturday I had two games scheduled. The first was a What a Tanker “what if” scenario between Vichy French and Italian armor. I had to cancel it due to lack of players. That allowed me more time to set up my evening game and to play in another Feudal Patrol game run by Buck. It was a scenario based on a William Tell TV show from the ’60’s that I have no memory of! It was fun, we freed the good guys from the Austrians, and had a good time.
Tell Me the Truth! (Feudal Patrol/William Tell)
Buck prepping at the game start. I spent a lot of time in the game moving that bee hive on the hill!
At last it was time for Saturday night’s game.
High Noon at the Cyber Ruins (Combat Patrol:WWII – modified for retro Sci-fi)
This was my “western-themed” game.
I was really looking forward to this one as I got to use all of my rusty wreckage and ruined buildings that I have posted about here in this blog. It did not disappoint. The battle was full of action, with jet-packing cowboys (Texican Space Rangers) and Space ‘Roos engaging the Retrovians (Roger’s own). (More about Roger here.) Ancient robots were found and lost, some even getting violent when found. Buck got to play and channeled his inner paratrooper in the attack.
The game set up for action. Retrovians are moving into the ruined city from the left, and Space Cowboys from the opposite side. Space ‘Roos come in as reinforcements.Players ready for action.Skip maneuvers his troops in the background while Bruce deftly had his sniper climb the transmission tower. Obviously the figure would not stay, so we used a rubber band.Retrovian Heavy Weapons Squad.Movement into the city.My friend Ken Howe snapped this shot!Retrovian “Garkon” section.Moving into the city – what to do?Space Cowboys and Retrovians search for ancient robots.Retrovian fire team mounts the wall.Space Cowboys huddle in the wreckage from Retrovian fire.The tripod “Bra’sheers” had a difficult tome getting over the walls. They did at points and instantly decapitated a few Space Cowboys with their claws.A “Bender” robot was found – but was hostile and killed a cowboy and needed to be subdued. Some of Leif’s Space Cowboys got on the wall in a conga line only to take Bra’sheer machine gun fire.The conga line of death before machine gun fire…Retrovians getting into the city in any way they could.The battle rages.Urban fighting!Lots of combat in the city.Buck jet-packs his Space ‘Roos and ambushes Bruce’s Retrovians, wiping them out. He was practically giddy in this game with how successful his tactics were.Retrovians seek revenge with sonic cannon and sniper fire.Space Cowboys and Space ‘Roos continue the search.
In the end, the Space Cowboys and Space ‘Roos alliance found 3/4 robots and successfully held on to them. All casualties mounted. But the victory was clearly in the hands of the Space Cowboys and Space ‘Roos!
After the game, with help, I was able to pack the car for a Sunday morning drive home. The temperature was well below zero Fahrenheit! With the wind chill it was -13 degrees Fahrenheit (or -25 Celsius for you metric types!).
Thank you to all at HMGS who made Cold Wars possible!
That wraps up this post – I still have a few that are in the queue , and I hope they are of interest.
I will be running these games again so see you at the next convention!
Followers of this blog have seen several posts showing my “rusty” preparations. I have been getting ready for my numerous games at 2026 tabletop wargaming conventions. That preparation involves painting up figures and terrain for scenarios that involve a good amount of ruins and wreckage.
In a previous post, I shared how I built transmission towers and rusty walls for a Wars of OzzTM game involving Professor Nitpik’s Industrial City (the Robotic Sanctum). I ran that game at Cold Wars and will share more about that convention shortly. The theme for Cold Wars this year was “The Wild West”, so I also had planned to run a game involving Space Cowboys (technically Archive Texican Space Rangers” from Star Rovers).
I don’t run western games, but I could cobble together a retro sci-fi game using Buck Surdu’s Combat Patrol:WWIITM gaming system (with my modifications). In my game Archive “Space Cowboys”, and uplifted kangaroos (“Space ‘Roos” ) combat blue-skinned “Retrovians” (from War Games Supply Dump). Both armies are searching for hidden ancient robots in the apocalyptic ruins of a long-dead civilization on a newly-colonized world called Dust.
To really make the ancient ruined industrial panorama that I wanted, I needed more buildings and structures than just my transmission towers, rusty walls, rusty generators and ruined chemical plant. I also wanted a lot of wreckage strewn about as terrain.
To those ends, I ended up making two ruined factory buildings, two industrial structures, and 61 scatter bases of industrial wreckage. These were all built at the same time. This enabled me to work around issues like drying and curing times as time was short. Oh yeah, and we had a few snow storms here in Massachusetts along the way that ate up some hobby time (not helpful at all).
I wanted to share my project and all its components here with you. As these were simultaneous efforts, you will see multiple project stages here. You may notice that I used a lot of repurposed bits of metal and plastic and Juweela products. The lists will be at the end of this post as is my habit. My concept was to achieve a Stalingrad-like look.
For the two buildings, I converted an iPad 16 box top and bottom. I used Apoxie Sculpt, steel washers, sand, multiple pieces of plastic, desiccant cylinders, and a lot of Juweela items to make the 61 scatter bases. And for two flat industrial structures, I reused two pieces of packing materials to repurpose them as flat rusted structures.
I started out with this iPad 16 box. I would use the top and bottom of this. It is plastic and cardboard.
I sawed out windows and doors on both box pieces and made each a bit differently in terms of architectural arrangement. I then hot-glued foam board to make rooms. For flooring, I broke up old popsicle sticks. These I had used previously to mount figures for painting on other projects. Lastly, I drilled out holes in the walls to simulate old bullet holes.
Cutting out the windows and doors on the first building.Adding the walls, bullet holes, and flooring.
Then it was on to sculpting the outside walls. I did each building separately from here on so as to handle both curing times and to learn as I went as to best practices. Apoxie Sculpt and a Green Stuff World brick roller worked well.
Sculpting the walls. I used an awl to create and shape shell and bullet impacts on the outside.Using the windows as gripping spots made the sculpting easier. I did need to then wait for curing.
While the walls cured, I worked on the wreckage bases – also using Apoxie Sculpt. I made the bases differently in terms of both size and shape. It helped to use one or more steel washers underneath the base sculpts. Using different sizes helped to make the shapes varied.
The biggest washer that I used and a base covered with Apoxie Sculpt.Examples of the other sizes and shapes – all with steel washers underneath.
As the corrosion texture paint takes time to dry as well, I started adding that to various pieces of debris that I had saved up. I like to use a cheap old brush that could serve no other purpose – especially as it usually destroys it. The corrosion paint needed to dry and then got a second application.
Using the AK Corrosion Texture paint. Here I am using it on desiccant cylinders (from pill bottles), crushed plastic straw sections, and rubber inserts from a drain plug replacement.
After a day, the Apoxie Sculpt on the first building had cured. But I wanted there to be a small outside rim to it that could hold wreckage and brick debris. While a sheet of polystyrene was gluing to its bottom, I worked on the second building.
First building cured.Bottom view – I needed more here underneath…but before that I finished the second building’s outside.Second building outside sculpting…….and second building flooring installation.
As the first building had cured, I started to paint it. Then I was able to glue a polystyrene base to building number 2.
Building number one with early paint work, and building number two being glued to the PS sheet under a heavy textbook.
As I was again dealing with drying and curing times, I went back to work on the wreckage bases. I used up some white sand on the Apoxie Sculpt bases and applied with PVA. Once that had dried, I added as much wreckage as I could to each.
Wreckage bases – I started with the largest. The two buildings are shown in progress as are the next batch of sculpted bases curing.Close up shot of the larger wreckage bases in progress. Glue must dry…Close up of building one with insides primed.
At this point, I added the flat clear plastic packing material to two square pieces of polystyrene by clamping and gluing them in preparation for corrosion texture. Then it was back to the wreckage bases. I had run out of white sand, so the next batch of wreckage bases got a PVA/grey sand application. As I used a lot pigments later, this made zero difference. At the same time, I also dirtied up the interior building walls and flooring using a sponge and various dark washes. The rim outside the buildings got a sandy texture paint covering.
The dark sand drying on the next wreckage bases, the flat structures with first application of corrosion texture, other bases in progress, and the buildings in the back.A second coat of corrosion paint has been applied to the flat structures here. I also sorted the wreckage bases by size before adding pigments.The flat structures and some other rusty paints I would add before augmenting with pigments.
Below you can see the wreckage bases after I added pigments to them. I fixed the pigments with Vallejo Thinner applied with a spray from a lens cleaning bottle.
Next, I added rusty industrial wreckage and scattered bricks to the buildings’ interiors.
After adding industrial wreckage and bricks to building 1……and building 2.
Clearly, pigments were needed at this point to make the bricks and wreckage look older and dirtier. More pigments and dark washes to the rescue!
The buildings after adding the pigments and washes to dirty and rust up everything.Top view of both buildings as completed.
I was now ready to mock up the tabletop with everything! But first, the flyer for the game – which I finished before this project:
Game flyer.
The wreckage (all 61 pieces and the buildings really helped complete my vision. There are 24 possible search locations for the 4 ancient robots, known only to the GM. The four ancient robots I used were: “Folder Bot 3000” (aka Bender) from Armorcast Terraform Terrain Ltd.’s “Robot Townies” collection; and “RT22” from old Archive miniatures Star Rovers line circa 1977; and two Archive Miniatures Robot Cooks also circa 1977 (also Star Rovers).
The four ancient robots! Folder Bot 3000, RT22, and the two Robot Cooks.
I randomly select the locations for the four robots (see numbers on the map below). My playtest worked well, and here are some shots of the mock-up tabletop.
The mock up of the tabletop for the game. The Retrovians three squads and command group are in the forefront. The Space Cowboys are at the opposite side.A side view.View from the Space Cowboy’s side.Generator side view.
I did not use all of the wreckage in the mock-up. I will share a Cold Wars post soon. However, as a preview here are a couple of shots of the game set up at Cold Wars in all its glory:
Photo of the game in progress at Cold Wars with me as the GM. (photo courtesy of Ken Howe).Space Cowboys and Retrovians start searching for the robots.The shoot out starts – while one robot has been found in the upper right. This was Bender, and he was not happy to be found and attacked and killed a Space Cowboy.
More about Cold Wars soon in a future post.
I hope you enjoyed reading this and seeing my rusty panorama come to life – on the tabletop anyways. If this WIP post helps you in any way, that is great! I am including these terrain pieces in Dave Stone’s PAINT WHAT YOU GOT 2025/2026 Challenge as these were completed in early February. For now, that’s it, until next time!
329 miles to Lancaster, PA and Cold Wars!
The materials are listed below as a reference for me (and you maybe).
For all of my previous posts on terrain projects, please see this page. For all of my previous posts on sci-fi projects, please see this page…for any of my previous posts on scratch-building, see this page.
PAINTS, INKS, GLAZES, SHADES, WASHES, PIGMENTS, FLOCKING, GLUES AND MORE THAT I USED ON THE TWO RUINED BUILDINGS:
iPad 16 Box (top and bottom)
Hot glue
Foam Board
Toothpicks
Popsicle sticks
Apoxie sculpt
Vallejo Surface Primer “Grey”
SIBE AUTOMATION “White Polystyrene 8″ X 12″ X 1/8″ Plastic Sheet”
PVA
Huge Miniatures “Brick Red”
MSP “Brown Liner”
Vallejo Game Color “Sepia” (wash/shade)
Vallejo Wash FX “Dark Grey” (wash/shade)
Liquitex “Burnt Umber” (ink)
Secret Weapon Washes “Sewer Water”
Vallejo Thinner
Vallejo Surface Primer “German Green Brown”
Vallejo “Light Slate Grey” (pigment)
AK “Dry Ground” (texture)
Vallejo “Carbon Black” (pigment)
Juweela Metal Scrap Rusty Industry (23336)
Juweela Debris Assortment (23316)
Juweela Debris Brick Red (23315)
Juweela Debris Assortment (23315)
Juweela Bricks (23034)
Juweela Metal Scrap Rusty Gear Wheels (23317)
Army Painter “Red Tone” (wash)
Secret Weapon Washes “Red Black” (wash)
Secret Weapon Washes “Ruby” (wash)
P3 “Red Ink” (ink)
Vallejo Game Air “Red Terracotta”
PAINTS, INKS, GLAZES, SHADES, WASHES, PIGMENTS, FLOCKING, GLUES AND MORE THAT I USED ON THE 61 WRECKAGE BASES/PILES:
Play sand
Apoxie sculpt
PVA
Various scrap plastic pieces
Cylindrical desiccant holders
Rubber sink stopper rim
Juweela Metal Scrap Rusty Industry (23336)
Juweela Debris Assortment (23316)
Juweela Debris Brick Red (23315)
Juweela Debris Assortment (23315)
Juweela Bricks (23034)
Juweela Metal Scrap Rusty Gear Wheels (23317)
AK “Corrosion Texture” (texture)
Vallejo Model Air “Rust” (71.080)
Vallejo Model Air “Rust” (71.080)
Vallejo Model Air “Rust” (71.069)
Vallejo Model Air “Orange Rust”
Citadel “Ryza Rust” (dry)
Vallejo “Old Rust” (pigment)
Vallejo “Pigment Binder”
Vallejo Thinner
Vallejo “Dark Slate Grey” (pigment)
Vallejo “Dark Yellow Ochre” (pigment)
Vallejo Game Color “Sepia” (wash/shade)
Secret Weapon Washes “Sewer Water”
Army Painter “Red Tone” (wash)
Secret Weapon Washes “Red Black” (wash)
Secret Weapon Washes “Ruby” (wash)
P3 “Red Ink” (ink)
Vallejo Game Air “Red Terracotta”
PAINTS, INKS, GLAZES, SHADES, WASHES, PIGMENTS, FLOCKING, GLUES AND MORE THAT I USED ON THE 2 FLAT INDUSTRIAL STRUCTURES:
SIBE AUTOMATION “White Polystyrene 8″ X 12″ X 1/8″ Plastic Sheet”
This is a New Year’s Eve post from my Aussie buddy, IRO who can be found at https://imperialrebelork.wordpress.com/2020/12/31/sci-fi-pulp-retro-diorama/ and thought I’d share it. He incorporated one of my creations (my Mark 1 Sphere Tank) into a wonderful retro sci-fi diorama. Very cool, and thank you so much IRO!
Hello all, Well it’s 11:09pm on New Years Eve and I’m typing out a blog haha, I know how to party! I have a nicely aged Scotch beside with some Bob …
Back in March of 2017, I learned that the UK-based War Games Supply Dump Miniatures was closing after thirteen years of business. My problem at that time was that I had wanted to get more of their fun-looking retro-sci-fi figures. I had already very much enjoyed painting the Khang Robots I got from WSD for my Warbot platoon that serve as squad leaders in that unit. I had also seen many of WSD’s Dirk Garrison sci-fi line figures on Buck Surdu’s blog. I needed to get some while it was still possible to add to my forces for Combat Patrol™ retro-sci-fi games.
As time was limited (as was Roger’s remaining inventory) I placed a sizable order with Roger for several groups of 28mm scale figures that would be suitable for building platoons – including Khanopians, Valkyrie Space Pirates, and miscellaneous items such as Space Munchkins and my Robo-servo Guns that I posted about here previously. After finishing my Macron unit, I decided that it was time to get some of these languishing WSD projects painted, starting with the Retrovians.
By the way, many of you who follow this blog may recognize Roger as the author of the blog “Rantings from Under the Wargames Table” – a fun blog that unfortunately Roger ended in April of this year (you are indeed missed Roger!).
I was not able to order all of the Retrovian models, but a decent assortment of ones of different poses. I got the following 34 from Roger to build a Retrovian platoon:
3 DG-07 “The Bra’sheer” figures/three-legged vehicles
1 DG-11 “Garkkon” figure (Retrovian Monster)
2 DG-50 “Retrovian Captain w. Sword & Pistol” figures
6 DG-56 “Retrovian Two Man Sonic Cannon Team” crew figures (one had a sonic cannon, one had a pair of sci-fi binoculars – 3 of each)
In deciding how to construct the platoon, I needed to consider how to build something that would be useful as a unit – and that would have some sense as to its build. I also have been watching a number of early 2000’s Star Trek “Enterprise” episodes (that I never saw when the series ran). I have become very fond of the Andorians – and Jeffrey Comb’s portrayal of Commander Shran. The Andorians had not been much seen in the Trek universe since the original 1960’s Star Trek. I decided that in homage the Retrovian platoon would be completed as blue skins and with some Andorian names.
I had these dudes – less antennae – as color inspiration.
As far as structure, I had enough to create three line squads of two teams. There would be 10 figures in a squad: a squad leader, an A team of a team leader and four troopers, a B team of a team leader (the binocular half of the Sonic Cannon team), a Sonic Cannon gunner, a marksman/sniper, and a Bra’sheer Assault Pod. The Bra’sheer I envisioned as having an automatic weapon and mechanical claws that could tear apart obstacles, walls, or enemies’ heads and limbs.
That left me with enough figures to make two other sections. The first is an HQ section (composed of a platoon leader and a platoon sergeant). The second is a Garkkon section (reporting to the platoon sergeant or platoon leader) with a marksman in control of a giant Garkkon monster suitable for melee. The Garkkon is a hybrid of a fish, a lizard, and a giant chicken – it’s quite amusing to look at.
The Retrovian Platoon organization. Each die represents an element that can be activated in a Combat Patrol game. The platoon therefore has 9 possible elements that could be activated.
I will share how I assembled and painted the Bra’sheer pods and the Garkkon, then go into the infantry. Then I’ll share some eye candy that I hope you will like, as well as a glimpse into some of the play aids I made (with help from Buck Surdu) for these in club or convention game play. Lastly, I will share a list of the paints and materials used in the making of this platoon for those interested.
The Bra’sheer
I believe the Bra’sheer were sculpted by Brad Shier – given their names. The three Bra’sheer figures were, like all of these, great sculpts. As I had three, it made sense to assign one per each squad on the B teams. Assembly-wise, I did have a good amount of filing and filling with green stuff to do on these. Also, the process of assembly was a bit difficult as I wanted to get the legs in position such that the chassis were level. I ended up needing to affix one leg at a time and check if they were level.
The Bra’sheers in front of the 2″ steel fender washer bases – that also had 1.25″ steel fender washers, .5″ stainless steel fender washers, and polystyrene card as part of the base. The Garkkon is on the right (more on it later).
Close up of the assembled Bra’sheer
I took the multi-washer bases and scribed the leg positions on them in pencil. Then I added Apoxie Sculpt, and some Army Painter flocking (see materials list at end of this post). Once this had hardened overnight, I affixed the Bra’sheer with E6000 to the bases. Here, these look like bad cookies…
Here you see a primed Bra’sheer with green stuff additions to the chassis and some poster tack on the crewman. I needed to add green stuff to fill in gaps and make the legs structurally strong. There were mold lines on the legs that short of obliterating the detail I could not get rid of – so I dealt with these later with painting. The poster tack was to protect the crewman from being painted with the pearlized blue paint I used on the chassis.
After painting the legs and the chassis. The legs were heavily shaded after the pearlized paint was applied to mitigate the mold lines.
The model is in the final stages here – I used multiple paints and products on the bases alone. The Bra’sheer were the only Retrovians with “veiny” heads
The Garkkon
The Garkkon as received. I do not know why it came with an anchor, but I decided not to use it on the model. It, like the Bra’sheer, had similar assembly challenges.
Here’s a better view of the base I used – it’s pretty heavy!
Multiple drill holes and pinning were needed, plus green stuff to stiffen the structure.
As the E6000 hardened overnight, I had this Rube Goldberg way of stabilizing the model.
Garkkon assembled.
I used green stuff here on the limbs and on the base. I chose to do the other bases with Apoxie Sculpt.
This is early and fairly gaudy in the painting process – on purpose. My hope was to use contrast paints and let the light blue here to be the same color as the infantry flesh. As you will see, I needed to adjust my plans. I also wanted to adjust the yellows here.
Side view of the previous stage picture.
I added Aethermatic Blue Contrast Paint to the blue – and ended up with a look that was more green than blue. This is mid-painting to show the difference (the head has the contrast paint at this point). I ended up finishing the Garkkon blue with the contrast paint, and finding another path for the Retrovian infantry’s flesh color.
This is after I finished the Garkkon’s initial flesh color.
After some more shading, some highlighting, and some glazes, I moved on to the Garkkon base.
Retrovian Infantry
Getting organized…
Initial mounting on fender washers after filing and cleaning. I used slightly larger bases for the Sonic Cannon Gunners and the Marksmen out of necessity.
After I added Apoxie Sculpt on the bases and let it harden for a day.
Here you see the platoon ready for priming and painted as mounted on the specimen jars with poster tack.
I used Talassar Blue on the boots and the tunics.
Then I used Akhelian green on the pants – and each squad got a different contrast paint color on the shoulder pads. Here, first squad had Nazdreg Yellow – which ended up looking leather-like.
Similarly, 2nd squad and third squad got Gryph-Charger Grey and Volupus Pink respectively. The platoon leader (Commander Schran) got Blood Angels Red, while the platoon sergeant and the Garkkon controller got Ultramarines Blue. I found that these contrast paints needed a few thin coats to be useful.
Commander Schran mid-stage.
The Sonic Gunner from 3rd Squad’s B team mid-stage.
For ease of play on the tabletop, in addition to the different shoulder pad colors, the leaders had different colors on their helmets. Red indicates the platoon leader, blue indicates the platoon sergeant and squad leaders, and green indicated the team leaders. Others just got a metallic black helmet.
As discussed above, the flesh color on the Garkkon was not what I wanted on these guys. The faces are very cool, and I ended up using Army Painter Quickshade Blue Tone over the light blue – and I was very pleased with the result. This is Commander Schran again, and I also wanted to make these swords special – so I brush painted them with the same metallic blue as the Bra’sheer chassis – and called them “Frostblades” – giving them a minor anti-armor capability.
Close to the finish with the bases remaining to be done.
Ready to dry brush the bases!
A 3rd Squad trooper with base complete and ready for varnish .
Completed platoon in the transport box!
Eye Candy of painted Retrovian Platoon and Combat Patrol™ Game Aids
Platoon HQ:
Commander Shran, front view
Commander Shran, rear view
Platoon Sergeant, SFC Thelev
Garkkon Section:
SSG Ushaan-Tor, Garkkon Controller
Garkkon front
Garkkon back view
Garkkon Section
Unit Data Card for the Garkkon Section
1st Squad:
1st Squad Leader, SSG Kumari
1st Squad, A Team Leader
1st Squad, B Team Leader
1st Squad Trooper (A Team)
1st Squad Sonic Cannon Gunner (B Team)
1st Squad Marksman/Sniper (B Team)
1st Squad Bra’sheer
Bra’sheer Vehicle Data Card. The numbers in red circles refer to armor factors. These would be the same for each pod.
1st Squad
2nd Squad:
2nd Squad Leader, SSG Talas
2nd Squad, A Team Leader
2nd Squad, B Team Leader
2nd Squad Trooper (A Team)
2nd Squad Sonic Gunner (B Team)
2nd Squad Marksman/Sniper (B Team)
2nd Squad Bra’sheer (B Team)
2nd Squad
3rd Squad:
3rd Squad Leader, SSG Aenar
3rd Squad A Team Leader
3rd Squad B Team Leader
3rd Squad Trooper (Team A)
3rd Squad Sonic Gunner (Team B)
3rd Squad Marksman/Sniper (Team B)
Unit data card example – 3rd Squad
3rd Squad Bra’sheer (Team B)
3rd Squad
Retrovian Platoon (group shots):
Command and Garkkon Section
All three Bra’sheers
Retrovian Platoon!
Retrovian Platoon (top view)
This project took a bit longer than I expected it to – about 3-4 weeks – but it was rewarding. I do hope that you found it interesting and fun to look at – so let me know in the comments section – good or bad. Did you pick up on any Andorian references here?
Thanks again for looking – and until next time, all the best to you and yours!
PAINTS, INKS, GLAZES, SHADES, WASHES, PIGMENTS, FLOCKING, GLUES AND MORE USED ON THESE FIGURES:
Gorilla Glue
E6000 epoxy
Small paper clip wire
2″ Everbilt steel fender washers ( bases for Garkkon and Bra’sheers)
1¼” Everbilt steel fender washers (added to Garkkon and Bra’sheers on 2″ steel fender washers; used as bases for Retrovian Marksmen/Snipers and Sonic Cannon Gunners)
½” stainless steel fender washers as fillers in bottom of 2″ steel fender washer holes (Garkkon and Bra’sheers)
Evergreen polystyrene #9020 card (0.020″ thick) on top of 2″ steel washer holes (Garkkon and Bra’sheers)
Green stuff (kneadatite)
1″ steel fender washers (used as bases for remaining Retrovian infantry figures)
Apoxie Sculpt
Army Painter “Battlefield Rocks” flocking (put into Apoxie Sculpt on Bra’sheer bases)
Army Painter “Black Battlefields” flocking (put into Apoxie Sculpt on Bra’sheer bases)
Poster tack to mount figures to specimen jars for painting
Vallejo “Surface Primer – Black” (on exposed steel and polystyrene on bases)
Vallejo “Surface Primer – White”
Vallejo “Flow Improver”
Vallejo “Airbrush Thinner”
Citadel “Contrast Paint – Talassar Blue”
Citadel “Contrast Paint – Akhelian Green” (except for Bra’sheers)
Vallejo Game Air “White Grey”
Vallejo Mecha Color “Fluorescent Yellow” (Garkkon eyes)
Vallejo Game Air “Moon Yellow” (Garkkon claws and teeth)
Mark A. Morin 