Arachnid Bug swarms for Starship Troopers in 15mm

 

It's been a busy time again at work, with staff away on leave and the end of financial year looming. So, I haven't had much time or energy to get a lot of painting or gaming done. As such, all I have to show off right now is an Arachnid Bug swarm that I purchased off either ROK miniatures or Etsy. Both sights have been supplying my Arachnid needs of late, and I still have more I want to buy. But, for now, my time to paint and get things of the table is limited. So, here's the latest painting achievement. An Arachnid Warrior Bug Swarm.

It's pictured here with three Halo Ground Command miniatures that are 15mm in scale. The Arachnids are a 6mm scale miniature but can work with 15 mm by representing juvenile Warriors swarming together. I'm not a fan of Epic scale miniatures, preferring 10mm and 15mm scale for mass combat games. But these do fit in pretty well, especially given that I have a bunch of larger 15mm scale Warrior Bugs as individual models (see here).

I did get a game of Mar's Attacks in recently. I'll post a battle report about that one soon.

Arachnid Bugs for Starship Troopers in 15mm scale

 

This quintessential Tank Bug miniature is from Wakes Emporium and is Epic scale. However, I intend to use these beasties for my 15mm Starship Troopers project. They will be a little small in scale, but still workable and can be used as juvenile Tank Bugs before I can get some larger ones that fit the true 15mm scale.

I've been inspired by Crow Industries excellent Starship Troopers game that you can get off his Patreon. Added to this, Grig Miniatures has some nice proxies that work very well for 15mm scale Mobile Infantry and bugs. I bought from him when he ran an Etsy store, and his workmanship is excellent with each model being handmade and cast in hard plastic. Rok Miniatures also sells the Wakes Emporium models in 3d printed resin.

So, this post is to just show off the Wakes Emporium models. But I will show the relative scales once I have some Federation Mobile Infantry painted up.

I also have about thirty Warrior Bugs that I purchased off Shapeways many years back but haven't had an idea just what to do with them. So finally mounting this thing properly for the game, I've realised that these will make great Lion Warrior bugs that protect the Brainbug. So, here's the first one mounted and painted up.

I also have a bunch of the Wakes Emporium Warrior Bugs to paint. These will be smaller but suit the massed horde feel as seen in the movie version of the Starship Troopers story (which I have finally gotten around to reading).

Reaper Miniatures - Cave Spider

 Happy Halloween!

This brute is a Reaper Miniatures Giant Spider. For my younger role playing group I needed to have a cave spider just in case they went to explore a cave system that was behind a secret door in their adventure.

I didn't want to use an existing spider already painted as I wanted something new to spring on them. I then remembered that I had this ugly blighter handing around in my ever growing pile of unpainted mini's and decided that it was high time it made an appearance.

It was a pretty simple painting process. I base coated it in a light grey. Inked it in blue ink then, once it was dry, I dry brushed it in white paint. The eyes are Citadel Chaos Black.

For the webbing, I used both cotton wool and a craft glue that is very stringy (and consequently not useful for anything other than webs, in my view).

I also included a Reaper Miniatures Spider Swarm to represent this beasts spider hatchlings. Unfortunately I over did it with the cotton wool so they aren't too easy to see. That said, they do look like they have just hatched within a big bundle of spider silk.

The rock is a garden pebble that had a flat edge. I wanted the impression of the spider scooting down the cave wall towards to player characters and so wanted this thing descending on the base. 

I also wanted the impression of webbing across the wall and so wanted the pebble as an anchor point for the spiders web.

Now to scare the pants off the player characters by revealing this one.

Killer Bugs - Starship Troopers style Arachnids from Shapeways

First archtype is painted

I have wanted to find some Starship Troopers style Arachnid killer bugs suitable for 10mm scale miniatures for ages now.

The flash shows off the colours better

So browsing through Shapeways, I came across Daniel Radcliffe excellent Killer Bugs. Dropping Dradcliffe a line, he was very kind enough to make a version that would work nicely for 10mm (and also 15mm for that fact!).

The scary end!

Called Chopper Bug 5 this little blighter certainly fits the mold of beastie I was after.

First ten Chopper Bugs in White Strong and Flexible from Shapeways

Painting was simple. I used a gloss black spray as both an undercoat and to act as the main colour representing the glossy nature of chitin found on many insects. I then used a bright red and an orange-yellow colour to paint the miniature once the base coat was dry. And that was it!

The backside and underneath of the mini

I based these on a 25mm by 50mm base. The archtype test paint job was painted to act as a guide for the rest of the nest. I'm pretty happy with the colours and so will stick with this colour set for the rest. It just needs some dirt and flock and its ready to go!

From above

I've bought ten of the vermin already in White Strong and Flexible (WSF) as a test. But now that these all printed and are the ideal scale I intend to get more once my wallet recovers from grabbing a bunch of Halo stuff as Spartan Games have gone bust.

So how do they compare scale wise? Below I have placed the Chopper Bug next to some Pendraken 10mm Scifi miniatures and an Epic Scale Landraider. I intend to use these for my 15mm Scifi miniatures as well (when they get painted). So these will make a nice Alien Bug army for Future War Commander or similar ruleset.

Size comparison against 10mm Pendraken Scifi miniatures and an Epic Landraider

One down, nine more of this batch to go!