Wednesday 2 October 2019

(Lead) Mountain Musings - "Star Trek Adventures" Zomtober 2019

"We are the Borg. Existence, as you know it, is over."
This month's themed attempt to try and reduce my overwhelming collection of metal, plastic and resin miniatures has been rather waylaid by Simon Quinton’s recent announcement, over on his brilliant "Brummie’s Wargaming Blog”, that the next few weeks will once again host the annual "Zomtober" Challenge where fellow wargamers "just need to paint one Zombie or Survivor (or more!) each week, in any scale you like, posting it to your blog by that week's Sunday.”

There's currently a modest host of bloggers already 'setting out their stall' for the event (see below), with both “Mantic Games” “The Walking Dead” and “Kings Of War” zombies being much mentioned. For my own part I’ll be focusing upon the last of my Borg drones by “Modiphius Entertainment”; surely the best science-fiction based zeds this side of Joe Schreiber’s 2009 “Star Wars” novel “Death Troopers”? In addition, I hope to build and paint half a dozen small cybernetic cubicles to use as scenery for a Borg-themed tabletop, using some seemingly OOP hard-plastic “Deadzone” terrain sprues.

"Knight Models" WIPs - Raven, Dove and Beast Boy (Eagle Form)
In addition to my Borg, I also hope to make some significant progress on the contents of the Batman Miniatures: Teen Titans boxed set by “Knight Models”. Designed to allow a player to field a 350 reputation point force straight to the tabletop, this Bat-box contains eleven “detailed ready to paint & assemble resin” models including Robin, Raven, Starfire, Wonder Girl, Beast Boy (human, hawk, gorilla & tiger form), Hawk, Dove and a Trigon Portal.

Disappointingly, my first impressions of this collection are far from favourable due to the sculpts’ bizarre dark grey resin. In many ways the figures remind me of the low-grade additive manufactured models currently flooding the amateur super-hero gaming market by any one owning a 3D printer. They are incredibly light, bendy and breakable. Plus, “Knight Models” seem to have some insane belief that a limb or full torso will remain firmly attached to the rest of the ensemble with just a modicum of super-glue, even when its contact point is the most flimsy of surfaces…
September 2019 - The month "Modiphius Entertainment" made its mark upon my hobby time
Statistics wise, the past four weeks have proved to be one of my most productive Septembers since 2014, with more than twice as many models being painted during the period than were finished last year. This productivity was (once again) largely due to my infatuation with the various “Star Trek Adventures” models currently being released by “Modiphius Entertainment”.

A slew of Borg-related characters such as Lore, Locutus of Borg and the Borg Queen herself, along with another bunch of Romulan Uhlans has helped see the London-based company rocket into my Top Three favourite manufacturers of the year, quickly casting aside my usual mainstays of “Games Workshop”, “Warlord Games” and “Heroclix”.  Whether my love of “Star Trek” will continue to the point where it’ll eclipse my long-term commitment to “Black Tree Design” and their “Doctor Who” range remains to be seen, but considering my ongoing battle to receive my most recent massively overdue order from John Olsen, I wouldn’t be at all surprised…

26 comments:

  1. More borg can't be a bad thing Simon, look forward to seeing what you do with your cubicles.
    The Teen Titans models look interesting if not a little flat in design, should be interesting once there in paint

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    1. It'll certainly be good to get the last of my Borg finished, Dave, and then on to the final few Romulans I own. The Teen Titan minis are awful imho, weedy, somewhat flat-looking and incredibly soft in detail... Still I'm hoping to get them ready in time for the release of "The Batman Miniatures Game" Version 3.

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  2. Best of luck for Zomtober Simon and a great idea to focus on the Borg. Can't wait to see what you do with them.

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    1. Cheers Michael. Simple stuff tbh as I'm planning on using them for some "Star Trek" flavoured "Zombicide" currently, so will do some with green LEDs to indicate they're runners. Locutus, Borg Queen and Lore will be fatties - if that makes some sense. Just got to make and print their cards etc.

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  3. Great idea to paint Borg drones in zomtober even though most zombies have more personality than a Borg! Good luck with the monthly theme, hopefully you will paint more than the Warcry month. What was your Warcry tally last month by the way?!!!!
    I do like those Teen Titans models, I think they look really good.

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    1. Thanks Undercoat. I got all the "Warcry" Iron Golems assembled, based and primed, with my Dwarf finished and Ogre half-done, so they should be posted soon, if not by next week. I've already got my first "Teen Titans" mini finished too, so everything is full steam ahead currently :-)

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  4. Gorgeous Borg! Love seeing them all stood together.

    Weird reading that Knight Miniatures are "soft" in Detail. What a shame as they used to be known for crisp fine lifelike details when they were metal. O well. Hope you can make the best of them mate.

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    1. Cheers Dai. I'm afraid I'm really unhappy with the "Knight Miniatures" 'stuff'. I too own a fair few of the old metal minis and they're a heck of a lot better!

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  5. Like everyone else has said, lovely work on the Borg Simon! Looking forward to seeing your Zomtober work too!

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    1. Thanks Ivor. Looking forward to seeing your "Zomtober" output too :-)

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  6. Nice work on the Borg and look forward to seeing this months undead related output.

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    1. Cheers Simon. Looking forward to "Zomtober" immensely :-)

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  7. Good to see you participating in Zomtober with your Borg figures. I wish you well!

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    1. Thanks Bryan. I might try and squeeze in a few other zed minis if I can too ;-)

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  8. need to look for some star trek miniatures for my Galactic Heroes table top. ur Borg are really nice looking. kinda influencing man. great job!

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    1. Thanks Mr Martin. Pleased the Borg are tempting you towards "Star Trek" :-)

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    2. i bought Attack Wing awhile back with a friend but we havent gotten far with that, but these miniatures are too cool to pass up.

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    3. Huge fan of "STAW", and have posted a few BatReps of it in the past. Terrific game imho. I'm not admittedly a fan of "Modiphius Entertainment" as their stuff is far too expensive. But if you search around you can usually find it a lot cheaper.

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  9. Lovely stuff. Borg are zombies...ish.

    Totally agree about KM, some of their decisions are questionable.

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    1. Cheers Kieron. The more I'm working with these Teen Titans the less I'm liking "Knight Models" tbh...

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  10. Great interpretation of the term zombie!

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  11. That's one very productive September and the year too!
    The Borg are reallylooking good en masse and more tocome - what a treat !
    I agree with your comments about Manufacterers, believeng in the impossible, I've had leg figures standing on a single leg (already attached to the base) that didin;t see the table-top because of the strain pplaced on the ankle of the model.

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    1. Cheers Joe. Very much appreciated. Another ten Borg should see my Collective really stand out on the tabletop in good numbers. The "Knight Models" are going to be a bit of a challenge I reckon, but I'm looking forward to seeing how I get on.

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