This is Not a Test...

No, this is a real miniatures game. It's an insanely good one at that. A skirmish level game with tons of fan support, playtesting and a living community, "This is Not a Test" (TNT) combines elements of many classic iterations of the post-apocalyptic adventure setting. Heavily influence by Fallout it is much more than that and you can find nods to Road Warrior, horror movies, even classics like Gamma World.

While written with 28mm in mind, TNT works perfectly well for 15mm and other scales. You can successfully play it in 15mm without even adjusting ranges, the distances will just seem a bit more real scale. The game has its own growing range of 28mm miniatures but the rules showcase a range of miniatures from several manufacturers proving that this game will allow you to get started with many of the miniatures already in your collection.

This is Not a Test - A Kickstarter to bring a Real Book to a Real Game

I discovered "This is Not a Test" quite by accident and have very much become a real fan. The game is the brain child of Joseph McGuire who developed and play-tested the game all the way to professional layout and the start of his own miniatures line over several years. The game has gained traction and loyal followers and now he is trying to bring the game to print in a hardback volume.

Red Ops: Asylum Kickstarter

Mike Renegar of Rebel Minis fame is running a Kickstarter for a new 28mm skirmish game set in a rough, nasty setting of the Asylum - an island prison of sorts where you must fight for survival.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1117146348/red-ops-5-asylum-a-miniatures-game-of-modern-horro

Sculpting the Wasteland

Sculpting has become a real pastime for me and a way for me to share my creativity with others through the production of those things that I sculpt. Well before there was all the hype of Mad Max: Fury Road, ti had embarked on a project to sculpt a wasted future the likeso f which I used to play in back in my Gamma World days. 

Looking around the industry I found a lot of monsters, aliens, and some mutants but nothing that really formed a dedicated range of blasted futuristic figures. I started with two sets of mutants depicting several characters that could populate the post-apocalypse. 

Really weird mutants/cyborgs

More humanoid mutants, including a masked wasteland shaman

Once the mutants were done, I started on a set of scruffy, ultra-violence raiders/gangers. These are real Road Warrior sorts, with mohawks, masks, shoulder pads and improvised weapons. So far, this has produced 9 different ganger sculpts that are waiting their turn to go into production.

In addition to human and mutant denizens, I also decided that there was call for some mutated undead. So, I made rad zombies. These zombies are dripping, oozing, shambling bags of mutated yuck. They are unlike any sort of zombie miniatures I have seen to date in that they are all depicted extreme levels of decay with exposed bones, lots of hanging flesh and hollowed body cavities. 

The latest bits to reach completion are four heroes of the wasteland that I have called Road Wardens. This name was chosen as a not to the Road Warrior who inspired them but also to peg them in their roles as heroic types. I am sure players will use them for all manner of characters - heroes and villains alike, but the role of hero was used for creative direction when designing the miniatures.

Check Hell's Thermostat

I actually painted a miniature...

Seriously, this is the part of the hobby that I really stink at. It's not so much that I'm no good at painting (I'm not great), but I really just don't enjoy it. I enjoy having painted figures but the process of getting them there isn't as entertaining as it is for some. 

Anyhow, the figure I chose to paint is one that I sculpted myself, back about the time I first started sculpting for real. I was on a zombie kick at the time and wanted to have a big ol' Mega Zed to slap on my table. The resulting figure wasn't really suitable for molding and casting, but it was still cool. I based it up and it sat on my shelf. 

The figure is a nasty one with horribly mutated muscle and bone structure, a talon hand and a giant piercing spike. His face is deformed, exposing crooked teeth and eyes of differing sizes - one bulged out, the other in a deep socket. Oddly enough this mutant freak seems to have found the same amazing line of pants as the Incredible Hulk and as such, I have painted them an appropriate purplish hue. He works wonderfully as a Mega Mutant as much as a Mega Zed and can be seen below menacing a group of post-apocalyptic wastelanders (converted from French Indian Wars figs).

The Lure of The Wastelands

Peering into the dusty night, the man felt the call of the savage world beyond the safety of the Civ Zone. Out there he had seen horrors and terror to fill many lifetimes. The howls and shrieks from the blasted expanses beyond sent chills through him, but not the sort he would have thought since he find her and his place among The People. The chills were not those of fear but of exhilaration, beckoning, alluring that his former life of struggle and survival had provided him...

Post apocalyptic settings have always been a favorite of mine and I used to play the crap out of them in my younger days. Despite new games like Mutant Future and the reincarnated (won't say resurrected because it ain't the same!) Gamma World, I haven't really been able to play such games.

Finding a group to play with is hard. So many popular media sources for PA games seem to have polarized fans into liking one version or another of this genre. Some want Gamma World, some Fallout. Others want Border Lands or The Road. What they don't seem to realize is that with a little bit of cooperation and the up-front concession of a little of your own personal fun, you can get it all in in a campaign. Any concessions you make up front will be rewarded over the course of a game.

If you are wondering why the sudden jaunt into the blasted reaches of my imagination, I blame this video...

Original Sculpted Miniature For Sale!

In an effort to raise a little money for my budding miniatures company, I have decided to sell off this one-off sculpt I did. Every little bit helps and it's a great chance to give something fun to the folks who have become a fan of my sculpting or somebody looking for something unique to add to their collection.

The miniature is a big mega-mutant, super zombie, Resident Evil sort of thing with all sorts of freakish appeal. Dire eyes, lolling tongue, extended grasping arm and vicious spiked arm. This sculpt is one of the first I ever did once I took the plunge, but it was not really viable for production as the posing made it too oddly angled and arranged for proper molding. The sculpt has been mounted in a one inch wooden disk textured with grit and some scenic effects (half-buried pipe and barrel) making it suitable for use in zombie apocalypse or post-apocalyptic type games. 

I'm not going to throw this thing up on EBay or anything, and am hoping to get around $50 OBO (I'd love to get more but I know things are tight) for this one of a kind sculpt. I will consider offers until the end of August and then it will either go to the best offer or back into my collection. Shipping will be calculated based on method and where the buyer lives.

As I mentioned at the top of the post, the money from this sale will go toward getting Loud Ninja Games off the ground. I've already got the ball rolling, but this can add a little bit of speed to the roll.

Thanks,

-Eli

What a Piece of Junk...

Well DUH!

It's supposed to be.

Another project that I am working on right now is a post-apocalyptic protected dwelling. Designed to represent a shelter and strong point made from scavenged bits of metal, wood, fencing and such, this is a large dwelling that could easily house a few families in tight quarters. 

The building is constructed from various bits of scrap. Old Warhammer spell cards provided the majority of the individual pieces which were glued together with pieces of balsa and other plastic and card bits over a basic framework of bamboo skewers. The were glued in a haphazard manner suggesting a hastily built shelter put together by folks who might not  be the best at construction. 

To make the structure more useful for miniatures games, I added a shielded balcony structure from which defenders could repel attackers as they clambered up the rocky mound of rubble upon which the structure is built. The are to the right of the balcony will be fenced in to provide a yard for livestock as well as providing a fenced impediment to attackers.

On the side opposite of the balcony is a crude portcullis style gate above which is an open fighting platform from which the gate can be scrutinized and defended. Windows and loopholes between the wall panels allow for additional visibility and firing ports.

The roof is removable to allow for placement of figure in the upper floor. The mast in the center of the structure will be given a lookout platform to finish the design. Additional details will be added as I get the pieces but I plan on adding wire fences and defensive barriers that will channel attackers. Additional pieces of rubble will also be added to taste.

I'll show more pictures as the project progresses.

-Eli

Post Apocalyptic Children

Recently a topic on TMP got me thinking about the presence of children in post-apocalyptic settings and I find that there is a lot to consider here. After the destruction of most of the world's population by whatever means and the downfall of society as we know it, there are bound to be some serious issues regarding children and how they fit into this new world.

One of the most obvious considerations is that children will likely be common, despite lack of proper medical facilities and modern medicine. Society as a whole will have an almost religious need to repopulate and as such great efforts will be made at making babies. What post apocalyptic societies lack in quality they will counter with quantity, beating the mortality rate by sheer will and numbers.

Another factor contributing to the presence children in large numbers will be the lack of overwhelming society - laws, morals, taboos, etc.. There will be little in the way of those who want children to have them beyond the means to support them. There will also be little out there to stop the inevitable accidental births, though many of these might be dealt with cruelly.

This brings me to the benefits of large numbers of children in the post apocalyptic world. Children have always been beneficial as labor, soldiers, caregivers, etc. and they would remain so even after the world is blasted to bits. Now, the means by which these roles are fulfilled will undoubtedly vary from the symbiotic to the parasitic, the beneficent to the malevolent. Malleable little minds would be perfect for creating large bodies of workers and fighters, both commodities needed in the blasted aftermath.

There is one final bit that struck me as I was contemplating the all and that is whether or not we might end up with whole societies of just or mostly children. With age being a great weakening force on the people populated the aftermath, adulthood might actually end up being a luxury reserved only for the very resilient or the lucky. Diseases without cures and little to no natural remedies known or possibly even available, might very well ravage aging bodies, leaving only gangs and villages of children of no older than post-teens.

Such child populations would likely have a very quick learning curve out of necessity and create a strange population of little adults that we are not so used to. Children caring for children and children having children in a way that w consider only in the realm of ancient or very "backward" people these days.

It's an odd thing to consider but it could happen, but we see some of this today. In third world countries children already take on a load of responsibilities that seem cruel and unfortunate by most of our standards. We also see armies of child soldiers and in some cases even child leaders. Cartels, warlords, and fanatics everywhere have long used children as pawns and/or effctive tools toward their ends. As harsh as it is, there is no reason these predilections wouldn't continue on into the post-apocalypse.

Anyhow, just some thoughts.

Take care,

-Eli