1:1 Scale Shenanigans

Posted on by skinflintgames

Nope, not glueing any rubbish together in this post – this is to thank everyonewho bought their copy of the rulebook during the recent Wargames Vault sale, we checked out the sales reports and there were 65 sales! Admittedly at discount, but still, that’s £48 or thereabouts, which means we got to make a £12 donation to the DEC Ukraine fund. Not exactly going to win the war by itself but maybe that’s some blankets and a hot meal for some poor sod who’s just had a Shahed drone land on their house. So, MASSIVE thanks to everyone who’s bought a copy so far, and just imagine what we could do if a thousand people bought a copies….. 😉

On the subject – PDFs are here: https://www.wargamevault.com/product/517560/Apocalypse-Earth-2nd-Edition?filters=40101_40201_40011_44510_0_44363

And physical copies available here: https://www.lulu.com/shop/james-martin/apocalypse-earth-2nd-edition/paperback/product-rme9gm8.html?page=1&pageSize=4

In other news, we’ve had another crack at this YouTube business – some of you might remember the Combat Zone unboxing from… wow, 2023 – but for this one we’ve tried something a little different, an intro to the lore accompanied by illustrations from the book and a few AI generated ones, accompanied be my doing my best “IT WAS A TIME OF WAR” voice.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5X81tQJHzw&t=4s

Now I know some people get quite irate about AI taking work away from artists – and I can see their point – but in this instance it actually made it possible, because otherwise we’d still be GIMPing and Photoshopping until 2027 at the earliest, because there’s no way we could have paid anyone. The way we see it, allowing this video to get done and get out there means there’s a chance (albeit a vanishingly slim one) that this might help the game actually earn some money. Which would in turn allow us to pay an actual human illustrator. Which might lead to more games getting finished, and maybe turning our little cottage industry into an actual business that gives people jobs. See what I’m getting at here?

Admittedly, all of this is unlikely, BUT it is at least possible, and I’m wondering if this shows us where AI might fit into the creative industry… this is on my mind a bit as one of our favourite bloggers Imperial Rebel Ork landed in hot water for showing some AI illustrations and the reaction seemed a little extreme! Frankly I don’t think AI will ever be able to replicate a good human artist because it can’t interpret the brief in the same way as a human can, but it can produce something good enough to get you by when the alternative is no illustrations at all.

Anyway, back next time with more recycling glued to other recycling and possibly each other – stay thrifty and Slava Ukraini

The Third Coming Of The Chinese

Posted on by skinflintgames

It’s probably tempting fate to say this, but I think we’re getting there now – the first platoon of Chinese infantry is complete, the armour complement (such as it is) is done.. So with what we have here that’s going to get us pretty much game ready!

And what we do have here is another platoon of Chinese infantry, but this time with some specialisations – two tank hunter squads equipped with Molotov cocktails, and a “Dragon” (because Chinese, dragons.. geddit… ) flamethrower squad, giving our proletarian heroes some extra firepower when espousing the joys of pure and true communism to the decadent lost souls of their enemies!

Painting was the same as the riflemen so not going to repeat that here – let’s save room for pictures!

2nd platoon HQ – note the radio operator, he was converted from a rifleman by snipping off the rifle, and his radio is a little cube of foamboard with a paintbrush bristle attached. I painted the foamboard with PVA to make sure the primer didn’t eat it and that seems to have worked!
Tank Hunter squad 1 – these guys originally had swords, but I glued a little bit of old stuffing to them to give the illusion of smoke.. the idea is that the guys with submachineguns cover the poor sods who get in close and throw these things…. guess they must have pissed off the wrong guy in the glorious Central Committee..
2nd tank hunter squad.. fancying taking on the Maus with those things, lads?
“Dragon” flamethrower assault squad – pretty straightforward, just stuck a couple of coctail stick offcuts onto the riflemans back and painted them metallic, job done!
The second platoon in all it’s glory!

Needless to say, this is not the end of the Chinese infantry, there

Needless to say, this is not the end of the Chinese infantry, there is the elite Red Guard unit to come, plus the Shaolin trained assassins.. and of course the heavyweight “weird-war-super-science-supernatural” stuff too!

As always, stay thrifty out there and Slavia Ukrainia, let’s hope Trump remembers who ACTUALLY started this bloody war….