warhammer, wh40k, flames of war, bolt action, aeronautica imperialis, star wars, models, news, views and stuff
As well as picked up the Implements of Carnage plastic sprues I also bought a blister of metal models for Gaslands. I bough the Highway Patrol figures.
You get five 20mm metal figures that are just the right size for Matchbox (Hot Wheels) size cars.
They are nice clean castings. I will be basing them and then undercoating with white paint. I am thinking I will use a blue contrast paint for their uniforms.
Back in 2019 I published a blog post on the Implements of Carnage for Gaslands.
I have been meaning to get them for some time, but have never got round to it until now. I got both sprues, after a visit to Bristol Independent Gaming.
The original sprue has a nice mix of armour plates, weapons, dozer style blades and motorbikes.
The second sprue has the dirt buggies, choppers and other accessories.
I will be using them on some Matchbox cars I bought for Gaslands.
So this model started off with an old Hot Wheels New Beetle that I “found” in a box in the garage…
I wanted to try out some painting techniques, weathering powders and transfers, before I started painting not only my other Gaslands cars, but also my Forge World Ork models.
Having added some transfers and done some weathering I started thinking about enhancing the model, so decided to paint the windscreen.
This went through a range of techniques, but I’m not too happy about the end result. I wanted a dark blue look to the windscreen with lighter highlights. I also used some contrast and inks to make it look like glass. I don’ think it worked, but that’s the point of this model it’s a testbed for techniques.
I wanted to try out some painting techniques, weathering powders and transfers, before I started painting not only my other Gaslands cars, but also my Forge World Ork models.
So I started off with an old Hot Wheels New Beetle that I “found” in a box in the garage…
I gave the model a spray of Zandri Dust.
Once this was dry, I gave the model a wash of first Agrax Earthshade in some areas, but mainly Seraphim Sepia across the whole car.
I the drybushed the car with some Golgfag Brown.
One of the things I wanted to try out, was trying out some transfers. I have avoided using transfers for years, but with my Aeronautica Imperialis I have been thinking I should provide the models, especially the Imperial Navy flyers with appropriate markings. I think the last time I did transfers was twenty odd years ago…
So, using some free Warlord Games Judge Dredd transfers that came free with Wargames Illustrated, I took a couple of the transfers and applied them to the Beetle. I used Vallejo Decal Softener to aid their adhesion to the model.
The result was slightly glossy, which was to be expected. However I didn’t have any matt varnish.
In the end I decided to try out some of the Forge World weathering powders I have on my workbench, which I had never used.
I tried out Light Earth and Orange Rust, and was quite pleased with how they worked and the effect I got.
This is a testbed, so the next thing to work out, is how should I paint the windscreen?
Last month I tweeted the following about creating some 1/64th scale models for Car Wars and also Gaslands, using toy cars as the base model and then converting them.
Thinking about converting some toy cars for a 20mm version of Car Wars. Bringing in aspects of Gaslands, Battlecars and Dark Future.
— iFelix (@ifelix) November 2, 2019
Since then I have purchased the new edition of Gaslands Refuelled which I think is an improvement on the existing set of rules, and I like the hardback format as well. Some great photographs in there too.
I also re-discovered Car Wars and found that the rules were freely available online, and I have been enjoying reading the rules that I used for many autodials back in the 1980s.
I also saw that Steve Jackson Games were going to “release” a revised sixth edition of Car Wars, using 1/64th scale models though Kickstarter. However this won’t be available or launched until the end of 2020 (or for international people like me, early 2012).
I went out and got some toy cars to convert for games in the meantime. My local branch of the Entertainer had some interesting cars from Matchbox and Hot Wheels on sale. So I got five cars for less than five pounds!
I got a couple of Jurassic World branded vehicles that I thought would work in the world of Car Wars, with appropriate modifications.
This is a Mercedes Benz G Wagon, which is used by the military in some countries, but I think it would make a good truck.
This Jurassic World vehicle is already armoured and almost ready for Car Wars or Gaslands. Just need to add some vehicular weaponry.
I am intending to purchase the Gaslands plastic sprue for additional weapons and defensive bits. I am also thinking of using some of the spare parts I have from my Flames of War models.
From the Hot Wheels range I got a 1978 Dodge pick-up truck, as for Car Wars, you really need to have a pick-up truck.
I also got this muscle car with super-charger.
And this sports car, well one should have a Mustang on the table at some point. One of the reasons I chose these two models, was they were white, so hopefully a little easier to paint.
What I don’t know yet is if I should strip the models first, or just undercoat them and then paint them.
After my most recent blog post about Car Wars, I was reading my most recent copy of Wargames Illustrated when I noticed that in the Northstar Figures advert was this…
It’s a plastic sprue of 20mm scale parts for toy cars for the game Gaslands Refueled.
You get two sprues for £10 from Northstar Figures, which though expensive for a couple of plastic sprues, isn’t really that bad I guess. These days it seems really easy to design and sell plastic models, it hasn’t always been like that. Since thinking about converting some toy cars, I did wonder what I could use for weapons, well this makes things much easier.
One of the things I saw recently published was Gaslands.
For Christmas I received a copy of Gaslands, the post-apocalyptic vehicle combat game from Osprey.
Gaslands is a tabletop game of post-apocalyptic vehicular mayhem. With fast and cinematic rules, it is designed to be played with toy cars, allowing players to ram, skid and race their way through the wreckage of a burnt-out Earth.
Back in the day I was introduced to vehicular combat playing Games Workshop’s Battlecars and very quickly moved onto Car Wars.
I really liked Battlecars, the combination of templates, tokens and a game board. The game mechanics were simple, but it was a fun game and really created the right experience of car combat.
Though we continued to play Battlecars, we moved to Car Wars mainly as the lack of vehicle design rules was frustrating and Car Wars had them in abundance. As well as the core design rules I really liked The Uncle Albert’s™ Auto Stop and Gunnery Shop catalogues, which were always fun to read.
Car Wars though more complex than Battlecars was still able to create fun and exciting games of vehicular mayhem.
I had many games of Car Wars and Battlecars. I even had articles published in Autoduel Quartely. These were great games and a lot of fun.
Interestingly I never played Games Workshop’s Dark Future vehicle combat game.
So as you cam imagine I approached Gaslands with a combination of expectation, anticipation and a little hesitancy. So far I have only read the background and the rules.
First impressions of the rules was positive and I liked the use of templates, which did remind me slightly of Dark Future. I liked the relatively simplicity of the rules which for means they will be easy to pick up and result in fast fun games.
For me the biggest shock was the background. I knew that the game was set in a post apocalyptic future, the surprise was that the apocalypse was caused by an alien invasion!
I do need to make some models, and now I wished I had played Dark Future as I would then have models I could use.
Time to find some toy cars…