Resin: Battle Cat by Ramshackle Games

 

So, it's early October, and I'm thinking I need to ease off on the armymen for a bit. Not only did I need to start on an Orktober project, there had been a new Astra Militarum codex announcement. A vague and undetailed one, but still an announcement. Hopefully we'll know more on Tuesday. Its set for early 2025, but its never a good idea to invest heavily in a 40k army immediately before a rules refresh. Hell, given how the recent Ork codex went from hype-to-nerf-to-obscurity, you could argue against buying for the quarter thereafter. It might end up with us all playing a slightly updated Index detachment. Or we might end up with a situation where everyone needs three units of Tempestus Aquilons and three of Ratling Snipers because they are the only units that work. Who knows? That said, I also had this tank. I like tanks, most Guard players do, its hard to be one if you don't like tanks. This had been ordered from Ramshackle Games prior to the announcement, and truthfully had arrived a few weeks later than I might have liked. But with my first 1500 point battle planned, I pushed on to get it vaguely presentable.

As I've built two of these previously, I don’t have a huge amount to say here. Its a cheap resin model, requiring a non-trivial amount of prep-work, which was then painted by the spraycan method. Two new observations I’d make are that A) Ramshackle seems to have changed its resin mix, and B) pinning the lascannon on was a bit of a nuisance which required fixing twice. (And then again, after a few games.) I primed it to reveal imperfections, fixed them, sprayed it green, and then blocked out the exposed metal bits in black, a bit sloppily if I'm honest, before drybrushing. The cupola gunner was painted separately. I kinda rushed to get this (largely) done for the game, I probably should not have given some of the mistakes I made, but hopefully you can’t tell. Weathering covers many a sin. On the plus side, new model syndrome did not really occur in the game in question, I won actually, and it generally turned out OK. The theme here is an unwanted vehicle and neglected vehicle handed over to convicts for use in the GRIMDARK future of 40K. Certainly looks like it.

 

With respects to rules, I'm fielding this as the basic Leman Russ Battle Tank, my third. I may swap the turret, but I like its rerolls for now. Its not considered the optimal choice in competitive play, though, the current fave is the Vanquisher variant. That's cheaper and better at killing other tanks, so I see the appeal of it, but I think the stock russ will last better. Whenever the tournament crowd fixates on something too much, it gets more expensive, look at Bullgrins, but we'll see. At present, the vanilla Russ is a consistently reliable damage dealer that punishes an enemy for trying to take objectives.

Not bad, but I need something else to do.

Project Chem-Dogs: Part 8

I realised something this week. If I finished off the command squad I was doing, made up those Ogyrns, and built my second tank as a Leman Russ Demolisher, I'd have a 1000 point force. Not a complete army, but that felt like a natural stopping point. I still had ideas, and stuff I wanted to, but maybe the weekly format was no longer needed, and a break was called for. So, with that in mind, I'm going to talk a bit about the three units I worked on this week, with an aim towards wrapping things up in part 9 or 10. So lets look at what I was working on this week. In between being very distracted.

The Platoon Command Squad, (plus two random arsonists,) was probably the most routine of what I did. I’ve largely got the hang of infantry now, although in the name of convenience, I opted for pre-made facemasks and helmets. The squad was cobbled together from old Cadian, Iron Brothers, and Stargrave sprues, and was visualised as the staff counterpart to Big Fi-Fi's gang. The main difference was the presence of a mortar rather than a lascannon, both as a timesaver, and to allow this squad to be more of a backfield unit, assisting my mortar teams. These went OK, but the recast plasma pistol is a bit naff.

 

The second tank, a “Battlecat" EDIT- Battledog, I've been confusing them, this time, was put on the back burner, as I awaited a Baneblade waterslide transfer sheet. I did not want to do this. I still do not want to do this. Water transfers suck in a manner normally found in manual gear boxes or woprk-related social events, but it was looking to be the only option. I’d tried cheap stencils and paint pens, and while this method shows promise for Orks or Gaslands, I needed something more precise here. Once I got the transfers, I started putting the tank together on Sunday, and started experimenting with those transfers on the Monday. The tank got within a hair’s breadth of completion in time for my Tuesday cut-off, but I had to hold off on weathering until I was sure the transfers would behave themselves, as they needed weathering too. I think I've got it now, but why rush headlong into a mishap? As for why I went for a Leman Russ Demolisher, rather than a vanilla Russ, or the current flavour of the month, the Vanquisher? Well, the thing about the Demolisher is that if you need something killed to death at pointblank range, its hard to beat a Demolisher. Plus I could field this as a Tank Commander, if I want to later on.

The Ogyrn Squad is something I picked up mainly as a fun concept, which I could also acquire cheaply as a loose sprue. These are Wargames Atlantic's Landsknecht Ogres, a primarily fantasy themed kit, but they also have guns and such for sci-fi purposes. I figured that if I spent some time filing down the fancy trousers, and building things back up with green stuff, they'd fit my theme well enough. This was a bit if a learning experience, and I might try doing some of these as Bullgryns next, once I've got my eye in. I didn’t get nearly as far with these as the two above, but hopefully I’ll have them presentable by my next update.

 

 

Up next: the home stretch, and maybe an analysis.

Project Chem-Dogs: Part 7

Following on from a long-awaited delivery, this week has seen me having three things on the go.
1) Finishing the Catachans/Cadians I'd built with grenade launchers by mistake.
2) Building two flamer guys to correct the above, alongside a second Platoon Command Squad I’d been wanting to do, for batch-painting purposes.
3) A tank, which will be our focus today.

Now, if you're doing Imperial Guard, you're doing tanks. With enthusiasm. Its just a given. Its like being a fire fighter, and wanting ride on the fire engine. This is not a judgement, just an observation. So I knew that I was gonna need a few, but i was mindful of cost, and not being sure if which ones I wanted. What I ended up doing was to order two of Ramshackle Games' tank range, in the knowledge that it would be about a month before I got them, there would most of the possible gun options in the box, and I could make final decisions later on. Then a balance update happened which changed the math on the assorted Leman Russ units. Ultimately, I decided on two of your bog standard Battle Tanks, although only one would be complete in time for the Tuesday cut-off.

As models go, the "Battlecat", is fairly typical of Ramshackle Games' output, offering an inexpensive proxy for the vast majority of Leman Russ variants. I had actually considered magnetising those weapons, until sanity reasserted itself. This is a low budget resin model, and attempting such a thing proved impractical with the tools I had. Also, while a model of this size is more resistant to shattering than some resin pieces Ive worked on, its not exactly in the Goldilocks Zone for the material either. Its big, heavy and will need a lot more finishing than your average plastic kit. And possibly the hot glue gun. On the plus side, I received more sponson weapons than I was likely to use for the foreseeable future, and I could easily make completely new additional turrets in lieu of magnetisation. I used the spraycan method here, priming it first, masking off the tracks, before spraying most of it green. Weathering was much the same as the Sentinel, although I ended up going a bit further than I had originally intended on that. I found a few mistakes/oversights late it the process, and concealed with with rust and muck. The crew-woman was prepared separately, and is a Cannon Fodder head atop an Iron Brothers body. The hull lascannon and its mount is out of the bitzbox, with a green stuff tarp. The HK missile another resin bit, I think from those Orky robots I did a while back. I’m not entirely happy with the “T42” number I freehanded, and subsequent feedback has confirmed that, so I’ll probably repaint it. I loathe transfers, so I’ll try stencils first.

I also managed to fit in my first two games if 10th edition this week, at a mere 500 points a side. My opponent was a gracious fellow whom was similarly rusty, whom promptly, as the Americans would say, handed me my ass. I made the mistake of approaching things like an Ork in my first game, but as my foe actually was Orks, that ended poorly. We had time for a second game, which was a lot closer due to my brain turning on, even if I conceded by the end. My foe deserved those two victories, nice guy, and you know, Megamind meme, learning from your mistakes. In the second game, I had a better handle on my synergys, and perhaps my load-out was not ideal for use against the new Green Tide. Initial thoughts? Mortars good, but Sentinel guidance is mandatory. Infantry blobs can grind down ork units, but you need to add force multipliers. The autocannons where a bit underwhelming here, heavy bolters would have been a better call. Orders good, detachment rule has its moments, but is limiting. Here's a couple of pictures from the day.

 

Up next: probably finishing the infantry I mentioned in 2), the other tank, with an eye towards a 750/1000 point list

Project Tonks: Part 8

Something something magic 8 ball…EDIT: Now with borderline acceptable pictures!

 

 

 

With three satisfactory Tonks completed, and the essentials of a forth underway, the home stretch was now in sight. Tonk 4 would become a refinement of the previous three with respects to the tracks, going smaller, and once more using keyboard keys for the shape of things. The hull and turret design however were a new approach, repurposing a cheap construction toy, the same type/brand as I’ve used for Ork models. This was built up with off-brand lego to make a more interesting shape. Turret rotation here was based on a screwhole, which would have been fine by itself, but added a bit of wire and a touch of hot glue to reinforce the connection. The gun, meanwhile, was built up from a glue lid, a bit of a water pistol, and a bit off an old tank kit. Detailing and painting continued in my usual way, although I’d salvaged a new style of plastic sheeting, which I used for a few panels. As I was out of gold paint, I did the rivets in copper, not that you can tell. Between the hyper-fixation and practice I did this one fairly quickly. I don’t know if I’d necessarily build the turret ring again like this, but its entirely fine, and I like the blue.

 

 

With Tonk 4 done, I moved onto Stage 5: The Tonk Destroyer. Within the rules of Tonks, this in found in the extra section, an alternate playing piece available for games of 3 or more players. The basic concept of a tank destroyer is a fairly self-explanatory one, but to summarise: a tank destroyer is often a vehicle along the same lines as a tank, just removing the turret in exchange for a bigger gun. This was mainly a WW2 thing, often a conversion of a tank proper, but they are still around. On balance, this would be a simpler affair than a turreted tonk, which is why I called it a victory lap. I ended up throwing this together from bits I’d collected for this project, before going all-in on moulded tracks. The tracks where salvaged resin examples by Ramshackle Games, while the gun and blast shield were out of an old robot toy. The body was made from another jenga tile, with one segment cut off, and hot glued on top for a gun mounting. The tracks are smaller than my scratchbuilt ones, which combined with the gun housing makes it look more super-deformed than my other creations, but its fine. It looks very single-minded. I dressed it with bits as I usually do, and added on a crude dozerblade because I was in a 40K sort of mode. It was about this point I realised I could paint this, but I wasn’t sure if I could get it done in time for Tuesday. Then I got snowed-in, OK, decision made. I did it in magenta.

 

Well, its a little ahead of schedule, but Project Tonks seems to have come to a nice conclusion. Time to start thinking seriously about the next project. In the meantime, I’m going to mull over how this all went, and maybe write up a summary. Cheers for now.

 

Resin: The Ramshackle Games Goblin Tank Range (By Fox Box)

 

Wait, wait! This isn't Project Tonks! Tonks adjacent, certainly, but not Tonks. Tonks are about 1:75, these are 28mm scale proxies for 40k. Grot Tanks, basically. So, yes, there's a lot of overlap, the same basic hyper-fixation, but I promise a slightly different experience this time.

OK, so during Orktober, Ramshackle Games, my preferred resin dealership, announced two new vehicle kits, the "Goblin Range Slug Tank" and the "Goblin Range Raider Tank". Notably, these are not sculpted by Ramshackle itself, aka Mr Curtis, but rather Fox Box, a similar sort of enterprise that has a collaboration thing going on. I ordered one of each. Now, I had intended this to be a "pallet cleanser review " sorta project, to fill a weeks worth of holiday, but I had forgotten something in the month or so they took to arrive. Ramshackle Games likes to empty the mould into the box they send you, so I ended up with 4 turrets, 3 hulls, and at least twice the guns you'd reasonably need. Gotta love Ramshackle Games. Its like Five Guys and their fries, regardless of the size of tub you select, you always get a bag of chips. So, as four is the minimum required size for a unit of Grot Tanks, the only reasonable option was to bodge together a forth hull.

I need to make a few comments on the actual models though. The resin seems different from Ramshackle's usual fare, with lots in the way of wafer-thin flash to remove. There's also chunkier bits, as well as bubbles. It's not difficult to clean up, and seemingly less brittle than the usual, but there is stuff to do. The Slug, the unexpectedly duplicated one, also came in two distinct variations, one with the exhausts as a separate piece, and one where it was pre-attached. That was helpful for differentiating them. Otherwise, I kept the trio largely as stock, adding icons and such, before taking a swing at the kitbashed kommander tank. Visually, these are nicely sculpted pieces, with a great selection of weapons. I think I prefer the “Raider” style, but there’s not much it. One observation I would make though is that the models are, like the more recent GW Ork plastics, possibly too unique in their sculpt. I mean imagine three slugs with exactly the same armour patches on them? Its the Squigbuggy all over again. That’s a minor complaint though, and if you’re not trying to customise orkish vehicles when you make ‘em, you’re probably doing it wrong.

With the Kommander Tank, I wanted to get something that fit the look and feel of the resin models. This meant a resin kitbash, and fortunately that's something I have the materials for and have done before. The main body and engine block are Ramshackle Games bits, giving it the same heft as the others, with the turret and one weapon being taken from the spares mentioned above. The tracks where taken off an old Guntank who’d came second in a fight with gravity, and were unchanged. Other detailing like the exhausts were scratchbuilt or kitbashed, as, for some reason, I’ve gotten pretty good at making small tanks. Its the biggest of the four, but given that its got two guns on it and is meant to be in charge, that’s not really an issue. Painting then continued in my usual “Deathskull Rust Bucket” Style, but it was hear I realised that a make-up brush would work on small things as well as big things. This made things ungodly quick.  Although, given the state of my hands, I should have worn gloves.

Overall? I like how these turned out, and these goblin tanks are worth looking into.

Resin: Iron Brothers (Ramshackle Games)

 

While Orks remain my main interest in the wargaming scene, that doesn't mean I haven't dabbled in other armies over the years. I have, at various times, fielded Dark Angels, Chaos Marines and Necrons. Some days, you want to actually have an armour save, you know? One WH40k faction I was always tempted by was the Astra Militarium, or the Imperial Guard as they were classically known. These were an army of underdogs and WWII tribute acts, but with one thing or the other, I never pulled the trigger on them. Part of the reason was skin tones; I always found that intimidating, and went out of my way to avoid fleshy bits on models. Ork green is a totally different matter. That technically doesn't exist, so have room for your own take. Human skin is something you see every day, so you can tell when it's wrong. But you know what? I'm better at painting these days, I'm sure I can figure that one out. Some day. Eventually. These Iron Brothers however have full head helmets and are quite inexpensive, so I can work out a colour scheme while I'm figuring how how to do skin. 

 

The Iron Brothers are from Ramshackle Games' military range, a source of Imperial Guard proxies sold on their low price and head variations. I used the default helmet style for these. After a couple of false starts, I decided to follow an old speed-painting guide from Midwinter Minis, see here, to paint 5 of them. In 40k terms, this would be half an Infantry Squad, or a heavy infantry unit in Xenos Rampant. The basic idea is to spraypaint the main colour, then pick out fabrics and detailing with appropriate colours, and then wash it with Agrax Earthshade. Once that's dry, tidy it up with a bit of highlighting and drybrushing, and it's done. I don't normally paint like this, and I'm very set in my ways when it comes to undercoating. That said, I can't argue with the results. I had an issue with my black paint, but these do pass muster as the rank & file. I even added in black boots and brown gloves for variety. It's a quick process too, you could easily do these of an evening and let them dry overnight. Here I used Color Forge Desert Sand Spray, Citadel Zandri Dust, and Death Guard Green for the major colours, with Vallejo leather and Dark Gunmetal for detailing.

I probably spent just as much time prepping and basing these models though. Part of that's just me being me, but its also the fundamentally "one dude in a workshop" nature of Ramshackle Games' product. Aside from a certain degree of flash and brittleness inherent to the resin, these come pre-moulded on little bases of limited use. the Killbots had these too, although I neglected to mention it then as they had plastic bases with them, so it didn't matter. Consider these tobe side effects of the casting process, because it's what they are, and that's fine. I used 32mm bases here with gap filler on top, which are possibly a hair too big, prompting some additional gubbins to fill the space. As models go, they are smaller than Orks and rough around the edges, but not in a bad way. Lessons learned, with a new bottle of Vallejo Black in hand, I took a swing at another 5. These had the benefit of experience, but also different poses. Generally I was happy with the process, and worked more brown into the mix for pouches. By completion however, I was thinking that black wasn't ideal for the guns so I tried something else for the next group.

 

The final l painted for this little project were a group of flamethrower troops with different heads, the "chem" variant to be specific. These heads had a face mask and goggles look which I felt matched the weapons. The bodies and guns meanwhile are clearly based off the chaps above, but with added bulk. I'd go so far to say the flamers are too big for the bodies, but I liked them more than the alternatives, and they match the backpack pretty well. I added some scrap plastic and EVA foam to improve the look and I tweaked the colour scheme a bit too, adding green, gunmetal and Soulstone technical to the head. The guns were done with Vallejo Sombre Dark Gray, while the business end of the flamers got an attempted burnt effect with copper craft paint. I probably shouldn't have bothered with that one black headband, but the overall effect came out pretty great. I'd use these as a Support Infantry unit in Xenos Rampant, with Close Quarters Doctrine and Engulfing to represent the burnyness, although I don't think there's a direct equivalent in 40k just now. I'd probably reshuffle these guys into other squads.

Much later: I realised that these had a "Bob the Hydra Agent" thing going on. Unexpected. But I think I have this method nailed down. I’m quite happy with the results.

 

Overall, I'd say these models are fine for what they are, but I had to keep reminding myself of the price angle. Depending which set you get, these work out to about 78p a model before postage, which is pretty damn cheap. Sufficiently cheap that any prep work you need to do, or additional basing material you need, seems churlish to complain about. Then again, Stargrave and Death Fields are a thing these days, whose models have a similar price bracket, look more professional if we're honest, and have all the advantages of being plastic. So, while I won't say that these models are for everyone, they definitely are a valid choice if the look of them appeals.

Resin: Killbotz (Ramshackle Games)

A little while ago, I apologised for a certain Gaslands fixation. That's not so much stopped as pushed to the background as I work on a project I can't share yet. One thing that has however come out of that is my re-acquaintance with Ramshackle Games, a small provider of resin models based in Nottingham. I've had several dealings with Mr Fell's products over the years, as my interests ebbed and flowed. It's cheap and cheerful stuff, and a boon to kitbashers. So after I did my Orky cars, I put an order for some stuff, and here we are.

The Killbots are spin-off of Ramshackle's line of robot models, a mix and match selection of approximately 28mm scale. These feature new bodies that resemble nothing so much as artillery shells with orky faces on, or something from Enter The Gungeon. The idea of an Orkish robot is both old and obscure, these being a thing in first edition, but were dropped in favour of the Dreadnought Concept. You are encouraged to be free form with their build, RG being in the habit of providing more bits than you are likely to use in one go. What I ended up doing was roughly approximating Meganobs, with a top-heavy humanoid look, with one melee arm and a twin machine gun arm. I did get pretty creative with a couple though, creating a mecha-squig, and with one wearing the lid off some super glue as a hat. I call him Mr Pointy. With respects to Xenos Rampant, I see these as some form of Elite Infantry with Mechanoid, Super Heavy Armour, and maybe Unstable plus a weapons upgrade. Elite robo-infantry do sidestep downside of Unstable, so I'm not sure how balanced that it is, but I can see this unit being in real trouble if forced to do actual activation tests. I must remember to run the numbers...

There's a few things I want to mention here. First off, a completely resin model is a slightly different matter from just using one of their bitz kitz. You need to pin connections with a bit if paperclip, which requires a small drill bit. That isn't ideal, as you don't want to breath that dust in. You'll also need to take a bit of time to prepare parts and use a filler or two when things don't line up. None of this is remotely insurmountable, but it's worth mentioning given the extent to which I post about Gunpla and Plamo. Don't go thinking this is gonna be as straightforward as those, it's a different skill set, and closer to my scratchbuilding. In fact, hot glue and bicarbonate of soda returned to help things stick. The matter of painting is probably a bit over familiar to the 3ish people whom read these, it's almost exactly the same as recent Gaslands projects. I just used “Blood for the Blood God” technical paint in places. It works though, and the pictures speak for themselves.

Job's a good 'un.