Thursday, October 8, 2015

Bugs! - Swarms for various games

I recently read a post on a forum about a game recreating the Whiskey Outpost battle from Starship Troopers.  The game was played using the LaserStorm rules that I've made a few posts about.

I have always loved Starship Troopers.  Both book and movie have different places in my heart, but both have their own merits.  To keep the yelling to a minimum, yes, the book is much better.

Anyway, after reading that post and a few other comments in other places, I thought I would put together some stuff so I could play some Starship Trooper themed games.  I have Space Marines that will serve as the Mobile Infantry in 6mm games.  I could use Genestealers and Hormogaunts as the arachnids, but kind of wanted something a little different.

So in comes my ants.  



These started out as poker chips and little white ants.

I picked the ants up last Halloween at a dollar store.  They come in bags of about a hundred for $1.  I painted the ants black and then added a dusting of orange spray paint to add a little color.  I may do different colors to break the army up, or I might use the same color throughout.  Thoughts?

The bases are just cheap plastic poker chips that I picked up at Walmart some time ago.  I used some caulk to attache a bit of model railroad ballast (grit) for texture and then added a bit of flock to the base.



To attach the ants I mixed up some JB Weld (maybe a bit of overkill) and put a little on a couple of feet from each model and them stuck them to the base to dry.



One of the great things about these is that they will work for a variety of scales:  6mm, 15mm 28mm.  They will also work for a number of different game systems.

2 comments:

  1. They look great to me, straightforward yet effective. Personally I'm inclined to keep them the same colour to make for a faceless swarm effect. Are there a few white spots shining through in the last shot or is it the weld drying? Great anyway.

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  2. Good point about the faceless swarm. I painted on some marks on the bases for the game I played last week so I could tell which unit was which. I will probably stick with that strategy as I complete more.

    I think the white is just glare on the wet JB Weld.

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