Tuesday 28 May 2013

Foray into 6mm Sci-fi

Well its been a while folks. Haven't really had the time or inclination to blog much of late but the bank holiday weekend afforded some time to take a few pics of what I have on the workbench atm. 

I've made a foray into 6mm sci-fi for a few of reasons:
  1. General love of sci-fi
  2. The realisation that there are some really good ranges which are not just GW rip-offs (especially CinC, Plasmablast, Cav and Microworld, Dark Realm errs towards GW but still has some very nice minis). 
  3. Price - I liked the look of Dropzone Commander but the price was too much for me for what you got. I can get about 2-5x as much in 6mm from other manufacturers, often at similar if not quite as good quality. 
  4. Universe Building - 6mm is so undefined you can go in their and pull together an army from lots of different source and have some fun (a bit like 15mm). DZC's neat little package misses this (which fore me is half the fun!). 
  5. Big scope, small table. 
  6. Quick to paint -  this is one of the most important. I find myself with such little painting time atm that I really appreciate the good effect you can get on 6mm with a fairly basic effort. Also, opportunity to use the airbrush. The time it took to paint stuff (and the lack of good rulesets) was what stalled 15mm for me. 
  7. Interchangeable -  I plan to do my Autosentia faction in 6mm, thus I can reuse a load of already painted units as 'bigger' versions of the same e.g. Spider Droids, Mechs etc. This saves some money as well and most importantly, painting time. 
And here's a picture dump of what I'm up to. I also have a pair of awesome CAV mechs on the bench which I forgot to photograph. These were laughably cheap at £5-6 each for 60mm high heavy mechs. I think CAV from Reaper is worth highlighting as it is an easily forgotten 6mm range buried on the Reaper website but has some truly excellent miniatures (if sometimes a tad pricy). 

A CAV heavy dropship (Czar?). I've since added additional rocket pods, miniguns and turrets to make it a bit more like the heavy ship from Avatar. 
Another heavy dropship, a little smaller than the Czar. Really love the design of this one, especially the rotating engine mounts, and plan to get a couple more. 


Here you can see the additional rocket pods and turrets I've added. I feel these would probably be AI controlled with a gunner allocating targets and the AI using the three guns to bump targets off.  
Some Grav tanks from GZG. Nice design and dirt cheap (£1 each). I think they have a nice smooth aesthetic which will go with my Autosentia. Obviously unfinished atm. I may convert some into IFVs. 

Base coated armour and recon. The jeeps are from Dark Realm and are heavily converted with additional stowage, aerials and scratch-built weapons (the ones on the originals were pretty crap and ruined otherwise good models). This will be recon units. 
Here you can see some VTOLS from CAV. I spent ages trying to find good VTOLs as these are definitely a weakness in 6mm and 15mm (although the situation is getting better). I think these were definitely the pick of the bunch. Although I did find some pretty awesome Avatar-esque ones from Exodus after I had bought these (to feature in a  future army no doubt...)
MLRS and IFV from Microworld, another great manufacturer making some really good stuff with CAD/CAM. The detail on these is fantastic. The IFV has been converted to give it an autocannon and missile pod. 
A close-up of the jeeps and an IFV. In the foreground you can see an abortive test camo scheme; not quite there yet.  
Some more pictures of the jeeps. 
A piece of desert themed terrain. The rock is a piece of bark from the car park outside of Cavalier 2013!
I haven't quite finished this yet. Still soem details to do. The rust was done using modeller magics new dye. I'm still experimenting but the stuff looks promising. 



Another piece WIP










8 comments:

  1. Hah, like the helipads. Hex bases?

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  2. Hex bases indeed, and the concrete bits the buildings are on are warbases. Fulfilling all my regular shaped scratchbuild needs... Like your Arab market by the way, very raiders of the lost ark (we totally have to play the market scene)

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  3. What ruleset will you use?
    And
    Those look very cool.
    And
    I like the base you made. Very cool detail.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for the kind words!

      I have read a ton of rule sets and have found lots of great components but no finished perfect game yet. I think I should probably write a post explaining as its too much to go into now. I will probably wnd up mashing a couple into a hybrid.

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  4. If you're getting into 6mm, can I recommend a few things?

    First, my own rules set now includes volumes covering mechs, aircraft and - in free open beta - the rest of the combined arms force. Check out One Pound Wargames at http://precinctomega.co.uk.

    Second, look at EM4 Miniatures for mechs and aircraft that look surprisingly good for an absolutely amazing price.

    Finally, give Angel Barracks a look for some of the nicest 6mm infantry out there and some rather nice vehicles and buildings, too.

    Oh and, I know I said finally, but I did a recent episode of my podcast on the 6mm hobby, at http://precinctomega.podbean.com. It basically covers everything you wrote here but with a lot more awkward pauses.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for the suggestions.

      I will take a look at your rules; perhaps they're the set ive been looking for!

      Im aware of angel barracks stuff and plan to pick up some buildings. His emphasis seems to be skirmish which is not quite where im aiming.

      Ill check out your pod cast too. Didnt know anyone talked about 6mm!

      Delete
  5. Had my eye on those Czars for a while. Is that hatch i the side big enough for a 6mm vehicle? Nice work. I like the buildings too. I think i have just the same bottle cap ready to use at some point, along with lots of Dulux tester pot tops.

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