Stargrave 002 - Capran Prospectors

I started my Stargrave journey with a fairly random selection of figures, mainly to get the creative juices flowing, and flowing they are.

Chatting with my friend who prompted this dive into Stargrave (rules I picked up on release but filed under "unlikely to get to play"), we talked around the idea that building figures for actual crew rosters may be a better approach. 

So I went away, looked at some of my figure/kitbash options and came up with an idea of the crew.  It's a nascent idea at the moment, and probably doesn't need to be much more than this to feed in some narrative ideas, but I may develop it further if needed.

Oh, and before i begin, some bonus random miniatures that I'll be adding.

So...onto the crew.

Capran Prospectors

This is a crew of Hircusian aliens, a strange humanoid race who originated on the mountain world of Hircu.

The crew is employed by the Capran Industrial Conglomeration (CIC), a powerful commercial entity that maintains a mix of primary and heavy industries, commercial production, and exploratory resource extraction. The CIC employs small prospector crews to search of salvage, information, lost technology, and new commercial oppoertunities. Many of these crews "go rogue", or are employed on on a contracted piece-rate basis, pursuing their own interests in the guise of the CIC. 

This crew, led by Captain Afron, is a technical prospecting crew is on a constant search for scavenged technology. Afron and his friends occasionally kick back lesser findings to CIC (mainly to meet the minimum terms of their contract), but otherwise they're on a mission to enrich themselves.

The Crew

Commanders

• Captain Afron - Tekker
• Powers: Antigravity Projection, Data knock, Drone, Heal, Investments
• Gear: Light armour, Carbine, Knife, Grenades, Deck & Picks
• First Mate Breeda - Robotics expert
• Powers: Create robot, Drone, Repair robot, Target designation
• Gear: Light armour, Carbine, Knife, Deck & Picks

Specialists

• Billeah - Casecracker
• Dajed - Codebreaker
• "Boomer" Buk - Grenadier

Soldiers

• Kurman - Medic
• "Heavy" Buzz  - Trooper
• Willo - Recruit
• Gradow - Recruit
• H1-RCU-5 "Old Yellow" - Runner (Robot)

I started with some figure sprues that I got from inclusion with the Wargames Illustrated magazine, in this case a Warlord Games British 1880's Colonial soldier frame, and a late WWII British soldiers frame. I used the base bodies from those sprues, and placed some old Games Workshop beastman heads on them.

Already I like them, and it seems to be a simple and effective way to make some "near human" aliens.

Next, I need some weapons. Now I could use the weapons on the sprues, but these are identifiably historical, and also scaled for that style of figure. So I go looking through the bits box, and find a bunch of Games workshop Imperial Guard Cadian weapons. 

In a similar way, these are clearly identifiable as their source style, so I'll shave off some of the icons, and make some judicious snips to try to make these look a bit more generic and "alien".

And with that done, I imagine these are some form of advanced mechanical weapon. Actually, you know what? These are "Birkelam Micro-dynamic Gauss Blasters". Yeah, that's what they are.

And the bulk of the force is done. I just need to create a robot for the runner character and two drones.

When it comes to the colour palette, I want to go with some outlandish skin colour and I think a nice green will work here.  I also want them to look "industrial" in nature so some form of industrial type uniform seems appropriate. This puts me in mind of light colours like yellow or white, but I think I'll go with a sort of dirty beige for the coveralls. These two colours are quite close on the colour wheel though so I'll need a contrasting colour for the fittings and equipment. Maybe a blue, purple, or pink. Hmm...to be decided?

Edit 1: The crew is finished!

I added the robot to the crew, and due to the powers I intend to give the Captain and First mate, I've also bits-bashed a couple of drones together. I give the whole lot a zenithal prime spray (this seems to be my standard technique now), and get stuck in to the painting.

And now, the final result. For the crew I went with a baige/canvas colour for the uniforms, with various browns and greys for the equipment. I painted the guns with a Games Workshop paint called "tin bitz". I'm not sure about the final finish (close up is quite sparkly!) but its done now.  I stuck with bright green skin and I like the effect.

The Capran Prospectors assembled for scavanger missions.

I'll go through the crew one at a time. Clearly in the collapsed future of Stargrave, the camera technology gets a bit fuzzy from time to time. Its definitely not my poor photography skills...

Captain Afron, a tekker and veteran salvage scavenger. He carries the standard Capran-issued Birkelam Micro-dynamic Gauss Blaster, and wears a command communications and survey rig. His status as captain and leader is expressed by his orange pauldron, marked with the command icon.

First mate Breeda is an expert in robotics and spends most of his time keeping the crew's robots and drones operational. He wears the sub-command yellow pauldron.

Kurman is the crew's medic who carries an full medical field kit and a Birkelam MdG pistol. He wears the red pauldron of the Capran science and medical division.

Buk (called "boomer" by the crew because of his deep basso voice) is the grenadier for the crew. His explosives launcher is used to breach installations and starship hulls for salvage and exploration, and of course comes in handy during battle, to lay down smoke or take out enemies foolish enough to group together. He wears the icon of an explosives-trained engineer.

"Heavy" Buzz served in the Capran Asset Security division and is a combat specialist. He wears a Scarab F-3 armour field projector array (in game, "heavy armour").

Billeah is a skills casecracker, able to pick mechanical locks and break into physical security. He wears his "lucky" pauldron, that miraculously stopped a .50 calibre round at close range.

Dajed brings codebreaking skills to the team. He carries data-hacking micro-tools and a standard blaster, and wears the CIC IT/OT specialist icon on his pauldron.

Willo and Gradow are the younger recruits in the crew. Still to prove themselves they fight with blades and Birkelam MdG pistols.

The captain and first mate carry drone control modules and can bring in CR-19 combat scout drones to an engagement or mission where required. These flying machines are equipped with manipulator arms, and Basel TS-3 energy blasters (in game pistols). I gave them an array of blue glassy sensor lenses, and I imaging the "head" can rotate 360 degrees.

I bits-bashed these together from mostly Games Workshop space marine bits (I forget which kits these came from). I think they worked out OK. Of course I based them on the iconic probe droids from Star Wars.

H1-RCU-5 "Old Yellow" is the crew's venerable robot. Fast moving and configurable, in battle they equip Old Yellow with a four-barrelled Teremki 5mm Kinetic machinegun and a combat blade (in game, pistol and knife). Back on the ship, Old Yellow is typically reconfigures with load-lifter arms for cargo duties. Most of the crew are very fond of the robot, whose personality sub-routines put them in mind of a faithful and playful Ur-hound. 

This is kit-bashed from bits I had lying around, and is based mainly on the body of a Games Workshop T'au XV-25 Stealth Battlesuit.

There we go, another Stargrave crew finished. 

I think, up next I'll put some simple Stargrave terrain together, perhaps something "shanty town" style. Not sure yet, but we're planning a "real live" game in a couple of weeks so I have a bit of time to get something done.

Stargrave 001

Stargrave 003 - Stragglers

Stargrave 004 - Exterminate!

Stargrave 005 - Favela

Stargrave 001

 Stargrave 001

In a galaxy torn apart by the Last War, vast pirate fleets roam from system to system, robbing, extorting, and enslaving. Amidst this chaos, thousands of independent operators - smugglers, relic hunters, freedom fighters, and mercenaries - roam the dead stars in small ships, scratching out a living any way they can.

In Stargrave, players take on the role of one of these independent operators, choosing from a range of backgrounds each with their own strengths, weaknesses, and associated powers. Next, players must hire a crew for their ship, recruiting a lieutenant with a unique skill-set and a handful of soldiers, mechanics, hackers, and other specialists. Some captains may even recruit strange alien lifeforms with abilities no humanoid could ever possess.

Once the players' crews are assembled, they are ready to dive into a campaign. Over a series of games, their crews will have the chance to carry out a variety of missions - recovering lost technology, stealing data, freeing slaves, and fighting back against the pirate fleets. In time, as the crews gain experience, they will become more powerful and hire more talented specialists. The more they grow, however, the more likely it is that a pirate fleet will take note of their activities and come after them!

Stargrave

As our societies drop all Covid related restrictions, and people "return to normal", among my gaming friends we've so far stayed away from meeting in real life for games. As it turns out, a rolling series of Covid infections among us has made that a wise decision! But throughout the pandemic we've maintained gaming online, using Board Game Arena for board games, and Roll20 VTT for wargames. Both have served us very well for the last couple of years. 

However, we're now looking seriously at returning to the table. Our local club has its "main meeting" on Thursday evenings, but to avoid a crowed room, we're thinking about returning on another night.

The upshot is, that chatting during our last online session we came around to the issues of what we'll do and when. For "what" we talked about giving Stargrave a go. I probably have enough random sci fi figures to use, but I became enthused and so I'm going to get stuck into getting some figures together for this sci fi skirmish game.

So I broke out an "assorted" box of unused figures to make a start.

It turned out I had a good few figures just in that box, and I know I have more elsewhere, but this will make a good start. The first miniatures that caught my eye were these two "not-Mandalorian" figures I bought a while back from GrimSkull.

They are a kind of fantasy version of Din Djarin and Grogu from the Mandalorian TV series, adding a few skulls and other flourishes, so aren't a fully faithful rendition of the source characters. That said they are incredible sculpts with amazingly clean casting. Being resin they needed a wash and were then prepped to add to my first batch.

Next up, I dug these out.  I bought these years ago from Brigade Games. They are called "Immortal Battalion [PLP592]". They are super little miniatures and will work well in Stargrave I think. Not sure what I want to do with them yet, so I picked out one to paint up. I think I may do these as a full squad, perhaps as some sort of "Corporate strike team".

Over the years, I've bought a fair few figures from the excellent range offered by Hasslefree, and I still have a few unmade, including this version of Alyx. I figured I wanted her armed with a carbine, and I have some leftover sprues from the excellent Pig Iron range. With the addition of a palstic Naopleonic sword, I gave Alyx a makeshift sci fi style katana.

So the first four models for Stargrave are ready for paint.

Bumbling about I also found these three little beasties. I think they're Games Workshop figures, perhaps something from the Tyranid range? Anyway, they'll do for Stargrave "guard dogs".

I picked out a couple more figures that for some reason the images corrupted for. One I think is an old GW Steel Legion figure, and the other...I'm not sure were I got it from, but it looks suitable rogue-like.

I also found this wierd see-through robot think, lacking a head! So I glued a Games Workshop jetpack onto it to form a sort of head, just to see how it works out when painted. You've got to have robots in a sci fi game right?

The final first set of 10 (+ bonus robot) is ready and primed with a zenithal highlight. Oh, and whilst delving in the pile, I found a wicker man I bought for my wife years ago (and forgot about). She saw it and fell in love with it (she loves those disturbing 1970's horror films and is a big fan of The Wicker Man). So, I added it to the table for this paint run.

...and...no WIP shots, mostly because I got consumed in finishing the miniatures! These took a bit longer to paint than usual, as I'm not painting for bulk here and can take a bit more time to make each one look a bit better. And here's the final first batch.

Here's the Din Djarin figure. I painted it in the colour scheme from early in the show before he acquires the full Beskar armour suit. In the reference shots, I though his armour looked red, but I think it was more maroon/brown. 

The reference photo I used.

Anyway, I toned the dark red down with a few different washes. this is a lovely figure and I'm happy with the end result.

Onto Grogu, who is surely the star of the show! 

I love this little fellow, both in the show and here in miniature form. His little floating egg-pod thing here is rendered with a stash of ammunition, and with wierd looking metal teeth, but its still a lovely version of the character. Its a relatively simple paint job, with a limited palatte, but of course there's the issue of painting white. I've avoided white colour schemes for years, but recently acquired a pot of AK Interactive Intense White paint.  It's a game changer and if you're planning to paint a white model, you need this paint.

With Alyx, I decided to go with a bit of a cyberpunk style, so I gave her pink hair.

For the Immortal Battalion miniature, I decided to go with a simple military style colour scheme of tan and brown. I like how it turned out, so I think I'll certainly be making these into a squad.

Here's the two "filler" troops and wierdly as well as losing the WIP shots of them, for some reason, this one's image is "squished".  Not sure what the camera was doing, but clearly its machine spirit could sense my dissatisfacion with these two miniatures. I think these will find use as Stargrave "wandering encounters".

 

Here's the "rogue" character. I went with a very simple colour palette, with a dark overcoat and blue jeans.

What to do with the "guard dogs"? Well, they're brain bugs so obviously paint them pink! While painting I was thinking they'd be somehow linked to the Alyx figure. Maybe these are her pets? Maybe whe's a mystic with a cerebral link to these floating brains? Not sure yet.

And finally, the bonus robot figure. As it turns out, aside from Din Djarin and Grogu, this is my favourite figure from the first batch! It was a throwaway experiment with a random paint colour but I love how it turned out!

Now on to find more figures to rescue from the depths of the plastic/lead mountain.

I think I'd like to make some aliens. I'll see what I have.

Stargrave 002 - Capran Prospectors

Stargrave 003 - Stragglers

Stargrave 004 - Exterminate!

Stargrave 005 - Favela