Stay Frosty---my Aliens and Colonial Marines project

[Void Reaper]

Hey all! After being gone from Warseer for a while, I've been journeying back and have been reminded how the plogs here are top-notch. I humbly submit my addition to the impressive repertoire: Aliens vs. Colonial Marines!

I've built this force mainly around Khurasan Miniatures line of 15mm science fiction figures, which make excellent proxies for the xenomorph and the Colonial Marines. At 15mm scale, they're affordable and easier to store in my space-starved apartment.

First up: a squad of the galaxy's ultimate badasses, the state-of-the-badass-art---the Colonial Marines!






(Last time I was on this site, I remember there being a limit to 4 pics per post---that may be my imagination, and it may be different now, but I'll stick to it unless I hear otherwise! )

[Void Reaper]

Next up---the perfect organism...a survivor...unclouded by conscience, remorse, or delusions of morality...

The xenomorphs! These are the first dozen or so of the 60 I have to paint.






I painted these in lighter tones than what you'd see in the movie, because 15mm miniatures painted too darkly will just sort of disappear into the background at table-top distance.

[Grimgork]

Very nice miniatures. Is there a game asociated to these?

[Void Reaper]

Grimgork: Thanks! I'll be using Tomorrow's War, a science fiction game based on the popular historical wargaming rules set Force on Force; here's a review of the game (not by me). I might also develop my own rules for the game, which would be Space Hulk-esque (or just Space Hulk with some minor modifications!).

More pics---civilians! These are two sets of Khurasan Miniatures' civilian freighter crew, plus the totally-not-Mike-Nelson from the "Biscuitship Experiment" set (which totally isn't the characters from Mystery Science Theater). The civilians will be either playable (but low quality) forces, or will be objectives for the Marines to rescue or the xenomorphs to capture.



I also painted up some futuristic Special Forces-types to serve as the equivalent of modern-day US Navy SEALs. These are actually figures for SEAL DEVGRU ("Team 6"), but their modern day equipment looks sci-fi, so they work fine for that.

[emperorpenguin]

Awesome, great stuff. I really like Khurasan's stuff, you HAVE to do the APC next! Any plans for adding a Predator?

[Void Reaper]

Awesome, great stuff. I really like Khurasan's stuff, you HAVE to do the APC next! Any plans for adding a Predator?

Please, what kind of poseur do you think I am? I have one of Khurasan's "Hunter" aliens and will be tinkering with how to include him in a game. The APC they do is awesome, I'll be ordering one soon. (Also: I love your Fallout plog and need to check out your ACW one.)

Today's pic---"It must be something we haven't seen yet..."



I have to admit I wasn't enormously pleased with the Khurasan Queen alien---rather clunkier than the drone/warrior sculpts. I did some light conversion work on it, replacing its clawed upper arms with GW genestealer hands. I also seperated the tail from where it was sculpted against the leg and straightened it out. I think I might get another one and really go to town on conversions, especially lengthening the tail and widening the skull crest with greenstuff.

[Grimgork]

The conversion of the Queen looks good. I am eager to see the second one. And if you happen to play a game with these minis, please let us know

By the way...whats the terrain made of?

[Void Reaper]

Way ahead of you, Grimgork---here's pics of my first game with these guys! http://www.warseer.com/forums/showth...21#post6389821

The terrain are paper models from World Works Games and Ebbles Miniatures .

[Grimgork]

Thanks for the links. Great Batrep :-) I enjoyed reading it.

[Void Reaper]

Hey all! Got an update. Just got a new package in the mail from Khurasan (I’m not patient enough to order all at once, so instead I order stuff as eBay payments come through !). It included more civilians, including scientists and Newt, and it also had this stuff, with a much higher kick-ass factor…

A unit of cops, 10 strong---not sure how well they’ll do against the xenomorph, considering most only have sidearms, but we’ll see! I’m hmming and hawing about how to use them in a game---D6 regulars? D8 irregulars? D8 regulars with Poor Initiative? Gonna percolate on it a while, suggestions welcome.



These guys are gonna be Weyland-Yutani Robotic Security Platforms (RSPs). They’re a standard Weyland-Yutani model, but with special modifications to face xenomorphs. I imagine these robots to be SmartBots with numerous bells and whistles.



Here are two more Marines. They’re from the Exterminator support pack. The one on the left is gonna be the platoon commander (definitely not a Gorman type, from the looks of him); the one on the right is going to be a plasma gunner. (From what I’ve seen online, the in-universe plasma gun looks a lot more like a Carl Gustav, but this model will work for me.)



Here are two robotic sentry guns, with carrying cases.


And then I bought this. More rugged and realistic (?) looking in my mind than many of the other “walkers” out there. It’s from the Red Faction/Opposing Force range. I haven’t thought up any cool stats (or a cool name) yet, but one thing’s for certain---this machine’s gonna stomp some bug ass and look awesome doing it!





(Policeman for scale)

And here’s more of what I gotta paint—tons of civilians, more ‘bots, a few more Marines, and a *few* more bugs.



Thanks for looking!

[nedius]

Am a bit of an aliens fan, so will enjoy watching this coming together! Keep us posted!!

[Grimgork]

This screams for a campaign with ever escalating battles for survival :-) This looks really nice and I am looking forward to seeing it finished.

Do you plan to include some predators?

[ModernKiwi]

...
A unit of cops, 10 strong---not sure how well they’ll do against the xenomorph, considering most only have sidearms, but we’ll see!...

Sir, you copying this? Looks like hits from small-arms fire. We got some explosive damages, probably seismic survey charges. Are you reading this?

This is very cool, loved the film and your interpretation is spot on.

[Void Reaper]

This screams for a campaign with ever escalating battles for survival :-) This looks really nice and I am looking forward to seeing it finished.

Do you plan to include some predators?

I plan to do a long narrative campaign (and probably bring in some RPG elements), featuring Colonial Marines and US Aerospace Force commandos trying to rescue a beleaguered colony from a xenomorph infestation. Naturally, The Company's involved...

I will be including predators! I'm not yet totally certain how but they will be in the game. One way to do it will be to make the arrival of a Predator a random event, with the Predator then run by game mechanics (he's hunting both players, in this case). I might eventually do an all-Predator game, as well.

@Modernwiki: Yeah, I suspect the cops won't do so well...I love how the battle at Hadley's Hope was only alluded to in Aliens, but it would be cool to have seen it on screen.

[Grimgork]

Thats cool. I love narrative campaigns. Make sure to report to us properly ;-)

[Jihad_Ragsta]

Some very cool work you've done here, Void Reaper, thank you for sharing it! It's nice seeing more Khurusan models around here - makes me think about 15mm rather than 28...

Can you post a link to where you sourced that robot suit please? I can't find it.

Oh, and you were thinking about a name for it - well, it reminds me of MOX:
http://forums.spacebattles.com/threa...tkicker.78393/

Great work, buddy

[Void Reaper]

Some very cool work you've done here, Void Reaper, thank you for sharing it! It's nice seeing more Khurusan models around here - makes me think about 15mm rather than 28...

Can you post a link to where you sourced that robot suit please? I can't find it.

Oh, and you were thinking about a name for it - well, it reminds me of MOX:
http://forums.spacebattles.com/threa...tkicker.78393/

Great work, buddy

Thanks! And that's a badass walker. I saw mention of the Berserker system on Serena Dawn Spaceport (a great source, just not the prettiest layout). The Aliens universe is pretty grim.

The model is here. Scroll down until you see "15mm Nova Respublik Crimson Army" (about 35% into the page), and it's the last entry in that group. Here is their pic of it painted. I'm not sure yet how I'm going to do up mine; I'm thinking of a minimalist camo scheme but then with tons of weathering and chipping.

[Void Reaper]

Hey all! Weather cooperated lately, so I was able to get priming/varnishing done on some stuff. Here's pics of what I have completed so far.

New Stuff:

Colonial police





Robotic sentry guns (plus my Marine platoon's attached synthetic)

[Void Reaper]

A xenomorph horde! I've painted all but 3 of my xenomorph models.





The queen:

[Void Reaper]

Some of my favorite drones/warriors




US Aerospace Forces BOAT Boarding Party


All nice and neat in a box:


Next up: a Marine combat walker...primed and ready for paint!