Post a Comment On: Fawcett Avenue Conscripts

I'm always finding stuff in my pile of unpainted/unopened figs and miniatures in the basement. While working on my FUBAR project, I came across some 6mm-scale desert buildings from Irregular Miniatures, acquired many years ago.  I thought they would make ideal settlement buildings for Colony 24601, serving as a useful backdrop for Task Force Bravo's next encounter.

[Image] A Task Force Bravo patrol searches an isolated settlement for signs of the escaping Orks. In our first game the Ork mercenaries managed to escape with one battlewagon-load of components from the Binary Petroleum "Technical Site".  Even though the Orks did not steal everything they were hoping for, Captain Hawkins figures they still need to be stopped, even if only to learn more about what is going on.  After securing the BP site, he is trying to track the retreating Ork mercenaries.

Requests for satellite tracking continue to be rejected on the grounds of "atmospheric conditions".  However, using the local radar and communications abilities of his Hammerjack APC, together with the scouting of the militia cavalry, Hawkins has managed to tail the Orks.


[Image] No sign of the mercenaries here...or any sign of anyone, for that matter....
Orks have fast vehicles, but these ones are taking their time, doubling back in different directions many times for days.  They are moving around between various isolated fringer settlements in the Colony wasteland. The Orks vehicles stop often.  Schlepper suspects mechanical issues.  Hawkins figures they are waiting for something, or someone - or maybe they are just not sure where they are going.  Whatever the issue, they still move fast enough to keep ahead of the Task Force. 


[Image] Abandoned settlment building on Colony 24601.
The small settlements in this area of the Colony all seem to be abandoned.  Hawkins has asked BP for any information they have on the settlements.  BP has responded that no such files are available. BP says they spend little effort tracking the comings and goings of fringer, off-the-grid types, and figure the settlements are just really, really old..


[Image] Surveillance photo of the Ork column in yet another settlement...
Over several days, Hawkins tracks the Orks.  At night, the Task Force troops witness some of the strange lights in the sky.  As a soldier in the regular army, Hawkins has seen many things, and pays such events little heed.  But the reservists seem slightly unnerved, as the militiamen swear the lights are not routine events, and represent something else - anything from an omen, to ships secretly landing, to secret BP experiments, to a rare visit from a comet - depending on who you talk to.

[Image] The Orks have been stopping often at settlements like this one...
Setting such talk aside, Hawkins found a stastistician among his reservists, and made him review reports of the Ork movements.  The fellow has crunched some numbers (or something - Hawkins is not big on algebra), and made a prediction to where the Ork mercenaries will move to next.  The Task Force deploys its vehicles in the hopes of catching the mercenaries and recovering the stolen parts from the Technical Site.

[Image] Are they taking a break? Dealing with parts issues? Fans of local building habits? Will the reserve tank crews be able to match their heroic performance from the first battle? Or will the Orks escape, perhaps with something new up their sleeve?

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I'm happy with how the buildings turned out - in addition to using them in a FUBAR game, they will be great for representing settlements in any of the many 6mm or 1/285 scale games we run from time to time, from Epic 40k, to Future War Commander, to Spearhead.  They would probably fit OK for a game of Warmaster too.

Like many 6mm scale projects, these painted up quite rapidly. I use black primer as a base coat.  The buildings were then painted with GW "Snakebite Leather", with a coat of "Kommando Khaki", and dry-brushed with "Bleached Bone".  Doors were different shades of brown, sometimes hit with a bit of "Devlan Mud" wash.

The larger building had several spots modeled where the exterior had peeled away a bit in the face of the elements/time to expose the bricks underneath.  I painted the exposed bricks with "Bleached Bone" and painted a border of "Snakebite Leather" around the area before doing a wash of "Devlan Mud".

I hope these buildings see some action soon!