Sci-Fi Terrain: Transfer Unit

 

Another of my trash bash terrain pieces, this one started back in April of last year, after making the Chemical Processors. The body of it was the cap for a set of sidewalk chalk. I added a pill bottle lid that I embellished with some thin plastic from a blister pack. 

 

On the top were several other bottle caps and small lengths of thin straw, and I used the same hair elastic from my other build to make a pipe running from the top down the side. Since I didn't want the pipe down the side to be the only thing on it, I used 2 more lengths of the thin straw and a bit of sprue to add more detail. 

 

On the back side I used another small length of the elastic, a bit of zip tie, and a couple of cut up pieces of leftover gun from the Reaper Black Star Corsairs that I converted a while back. (This is why I save all those bits of trash!)

The final side of the build I left blank, mostly cause I couldn't decide what to add to it.

One thing I quickly noticed was how unstable it was. The big bottle cap on the front was too heavy. That was an easy fix, I just glued in a wall fastener I had saved from some IKEA furniture.

Some time later, I primed it black, then in December I based it with the metal tone airbrush primer. As with the Chemical Processors, I painted it with the same green craft paint that seems to be the color bulk purchased by the owners/operators of the industrial zone I'm assembling. 

Feeling that the blank side was missing something, I decided to paint a number on it, and as I'd been gifted some paint pens, I decided to try them out.

 Gotta say, I think it looks good! And I've already started on my next one! 

I think its an incinerator. But more on that later!

(Not) What I'm Looking For

Lately I've found that I'm much less interested in backing new games, and much more interested in things that provide inspiration. 2 years ago I got myself the Star Trek RPG core book. A month ago I finally started reading it. I got about 80 pages in and barely got to the rules. I also backed a Kickstarter for /Dungeon., an OSR style game that plays as an old style RPG computer game. I didn't get very far into that either.

On the flip side I devoured Valley of the Flowers, an Arthurian setting, and Aquilius zine issue 1-3, and every issue of Delver that comes out. 

In a similar vein, I've been very enchanted by the Idea of playing Tonks! Miniature game with a single Tank (Tonk) on each side, with the rules on a single page? Sign me the fuck up!

I don't have any great thesis about this, and don't claim that my personal preferences at the moment are indicative of any wider trends. Just something I've noticed lately, and probably due in large part to having a 4 year old. There's only so many hours in the day and at the end of the day when I have one to spare, there's little mental energy left to devote to something new. 

Goblin Bottle

"Some say they bring good luck." Feris pointed out helpfully.

"It's disgusting." Allianora all but yelled.

Nimble frowned. "Who are we to judge?" It's not like we haven't taken trophies from some of our kills."

"Did it just blink?" Rathgar peered closer at the jar. "I swear, it just blinked."

"I wouldn't get too close, you'll get it upset." a craggy old voice called out from the dark interior of the cottage. "And then it'll be days before it's of any use." Tall and thin, the old man stooped to pass through the door

Alice Tochylovska Goblin Head Specimen

This necromatic device requires the head of a goblin shaman or wokan. The creation process imbues it with the spark of undeath, and preserves the goblin's knowledge, and also taps into the resonance of the plane of negative energy. Goblin bottles are excellent at sniffing out necromatic magics within 120' or other magic items within 60' for up to 30 minutes per day. It will always direct the user toward a necromatic object before directing toward a non-necromatic object. Otherwise, it will always go toward the most powerful object within range. 

Unfortunately for anyone wanting to use it, it only responds to commands spoken in goblin, and only with a successful reaction roll (7+) once per day. Failure will result in a -7 penalty to the roll that decreases by 1 every 24 hours.

January ‘25 In Review

It has been a very cold month. I’ve been wearing a shirt, flannel, and sweater to stay warm in the basement office. And that’s with a space heater. Thankfully no one was sick this month. Not sure how that happened. We took a quick trip to Atlanta so the kid would have a chance to experience a plane ride before we took our big one to China later this year.

Work has been stupid busy with all the end of year work, but I’m finally seeing some light at the end of the tunnel. We’ll see if it’s a train, or the exit.

Gaming

We finished our Mothership game with 1 surviving PC, and stopping at least one monster… not sure about the ship's AI… out at least felt like the less bad option. Then we started a quick game of Call of Cthulhu, a system I haven’t before gotten to try.

Work game has skipped a few session because of work taking priority, but the party made it back to the keep and made a very successful, if not super lucrative, excursion into the orc caves.  

I didn’t make it very far into my Hex25 project before I got overwhelmed with life, so it got set aside, but I’m going to be picking it back up for February.


Miniatures

I started the month strong, finishing off the not Willow and not Raven Hasslefree minis, and the duo and trio minis for the RCL, but then got VERY distracted with the urge to assemble… anything! So I picked 3 random sprues from my pile of 50 Frostgrave and Stargrave sprues, and built 2 minis from each, using parts from all 3.

I also assembled the Queen of Hell mini, cause I grabbed her to use a bunch of spilled red paint, as well as Games Workshop Sauron mini that I had set aside to work on last year, and an orc wizard.

Then I got worried about the Queen of Hell's wings drooping. They're really think and heavy so I decided to use some heavy duty copper wire and… well, I think it works. But it's ugly. So out with the greenstuff, and since I had it out I might as well add the mushrooms to the troll I have out…

It's been a very scattered month for minis, but I’ve made a lot of progress on a lot of different things. And there was one warm day, so I took advantage of it to prime all the minis I’d done prep on! I have enough to keep me busy for a little while now.

Media
Silo (season 2)
Ghosts
Letterkenny

Loot
The Shrike - Looking forward to reading this one. I still haven’t finished reading The Painted Wastelands from last month…

Goals for February
Keep up with all session reports
#Hex25
 

Mothership: Advent Dawn Session 4

 This was a doozy of a session, and I ended up with  pages of notes!

 

Ossie, wandering lost in the ship for a bit came around a corner to find Doc Stirling, Chl03, and a golden retriever exiting a reactor room. They quickly exchanged stories about what they'd seen, and pressed on. Noping past several suspicious looking rooms, they come to a massive chamber labeled Paradimensional Drive. 

Within the chamber, warning lights were flashing, and a weird sensation passed over everyone. Doc Stirling flashed back to when he tried to attach a liver to an elephant and it did not go well (and how he lost his funding). Ossie flashed back to his 3rd divorce when his now ex wife stabbed him. 

When they come back to themselves, they notice the droids in the room scrubbing only semi-effectively at the blood stained floor where "Corrupt Heart of the Ship" is written. Mostly they're just smearing it. Looking up at the drive itself, a tangled mess of wires and tubes and thrumming a pair of eyes that aren't there look down balefully. 

Ossie swallows the bile rising in his throat and rushes over to a terminal to stop the drive from engaging. He starts to hack it when nanites swarm out of Ossie and into the terminal!  He can't get past the system login. A thick black liquid (oil?) oozes out of the terminal connection. Ossie foolishly touches it and feels a stinging in his fingers where the liquid soaks into him. Stirling comes up to see what's going on. Chl03 uses one of the inactive androids to hook the extra Chl03 head up to, in hopes that she can provide some help.

Other-Chl03 almost immediately begins to scream and burn, the android skin blackening and the smoke  that surrounds her acts more like watery shadows that cling to the android body. Her eyes glow the same red as the eyes above that aren't there. The rest of the room warps and darkens too, the shadows thickening, despite the light levels remaining the same. Ossie and Stirling run for the door... or where they think the door is. 

"I told you to stay out of my fucking head" Chl03 yells. It is unclear which Chl03. The sound of her nailgun rings out. Ossie keeps trying to find the door, and avoiding the androids. He's hit by something, stumbles and keeps going, miraculously arriving at the door. Stirling appears there as well, with Kissygirl the golden retriever with him. Was he there first? Ossie isn't sure. They yank the door open and run for it while the Chl03s continue to battle. 

A short time later they find themselves in a much quieter section of the ship. The signs say Section 14, for what little that's worth. They come to a door to a crew lounge, and within is a skinless android doing some repair on itself, a pair of humans munching on a human arm. The bartender, Hank warns Ossie and Stirling that Hanks is a place of peace, and anyone who breaks that peace will know none. He offers them a drink. It's called "The Fuck" and is made with "anything that can ferment, and a lot of things that can't" Neither Ossie nor Stirling much care at this point and they drink it down. He asks Chl03 to change the music.

Chl03?!? This one, again, just a head, says she's been on the ship 37 days. And she warns that the drive will activate in just over 3 hours. Ossie and Stirling finish their drinks and make to leave. Hank gives them a growler to go, and wishes them luck finding a way off the ship. 

Continuing with little idea of where they are or where they're going, they come to some weird writing on the walls... maybe in blood? Kissygirl licks it. Just beyond it is the door to the waste processing facility. It is remarkably huge, with catwalks, conveyor belts, massive vats... the sort of place you'd expect in a major hive city, not on a spaceship. Nevertheless, hooch in hand (and bloodstream) they decide to check it out in hopes there might be an escape pod. 

Not long after entering, below the sound of running feet. A human boy(?) being chased by a slimy reptilian thing. Stirling takes a shot at it, but misses. It is enough to get the creature's attention, and the boy runs off. Kissygirl vomits up some 2" long purple worms at the creature, and it flees. Ossie is further freaked out, but at this point who can tell? Stirling says she's a good girl. 

Further into the facility they see large blob things moving along on another catwalk, and more of the slime reptile dog things. Kissygirl shows more of those purple worms and keeps Ossie and Stirling safe(ish). Down below they walk above a big 6 legged version of the slime dogs, with tentacles on its back. It SHOOTS them up toward the trio, and Ossie gets bit by one. It holds on, and starts emitting a high pitched noise, loud enough to travel over the sound of the facility. Ossie blows the worm off with his revolver, the last shot. Stirling slaps a quick bandage on it, and they press on as quickly as they can. 

Ahead, a flooded area but a hatch out of the facility. Something is clearly swimming in the flooded area, but Stirling things he can make it to the door... and he does, but gets bitten by something in the foot as he gets the door open and the gross sewage flows out into the hall, draining away. Ossie hobbles after Stirling and they close the door behind them, and Stirling patches himself up... or at least stops the bleeding.

Mothership: Advent Dawn session 2 + 3

In the embryo lab, with the screaming head of Alt-Chl03 on a shelf, and an android with skin issues and a shoulder mounted gun, Ossie pulls a gun on the mentally unstable android that's insisting on keeping "our" Chl03 and shoots him in the back. It's a solid, but not debilitating hit. The android turns to Ossie to shoot him, and Doc Stirling chucks in a grenade. Ossie dives behind the central tube of embryos just a fraction of a second before the grenade goes off, and after the first shots from the android miss. In a loud and confusing next few moments, Chl03 unloads her needle guns into the android, while it's attention can't focus on any of the 3 attackers who've hurt it. That lack of focus is probably the only thing that let them survive and take down the unnamed android. 

 Removing Alt-Chl03 from the shelf meant unplugging her from the ship's power, turning her off. Ossie carried her with him, and they progressed deeper into the shifting ship's corridors. 

---

At this point my notes are all but useless. It simply says "nope. nope. NOPE" I don't recall exactly what it was we saw, but it was a series of doors/rooms containing various horrors that didn't seem to be anything that would be worth interacting with.

---

I missed session 3, and my character got split off from the group, and ended up wandering aimlessly while they found a golden retriever they named Kissy Face who is the bestest dog ever, found the navigational data, and managed to avoid death.

Sci-fi Terrain: Chemical Processors

 The construction and painting of these 2 terrain pieces was amazingly simple, once I got around to actually doing it. I built them at the end of June in 2023, primed them sometime in the fall, and then didn't get around to painting them over a sessions until just a few weeks ago. 

They're based around a set of support structures for a 3D printed piece of terrain, something designed to be tossed away, but the shape was too cool to trash. Digging in my recycling/bits box I grabbed a pair of lids from peanut butter jars to give them a more solid structure. There were holes at the top of each of them, and I used a pair of heroclix base inserts to make lids for them. I thought about leaving the bases flat so that figures could stand on them, but I didn't think it looked very good, so back to the bits box, and I snagged a pair of arms from some Reaper CAV minis (The Dictator B) along with a few other random bits, and used an old stretched out hair elastic to make the tube. Zip ties added some necessary texture to the sides, and I drilled holes and threaded some garden wire through for more visual interest.

And because I wanted these to look pretty gnarly, and also cause my super glue wasn't holding great, I slathered it with baking soda. 

Then, like I said, it was a year before I painted them. 

I don't have any WIP pics, but I can tell you the process. On the one in front, I painted it with a quick coat of Stynylrez airbrush Metal Tone primer, and them splotched on craftsmart Lush Foliage. The tubes/hair elastic was painted with Reaper Cairn Stone, and the red was Reaper Seoni Scarlet. The rust effect was painted with Reaper Numeria Rust.

The one in back I forgot to use the metal tone primer, and just painted the lush green straight onto the black primer, but was otherwise painted exactly the same. I did go back and dab on some of the metal tone here and there where the green didn't completely cover the primer. All in all I like the front one better, but both look good on the tabletop.