[MINIS & TERRAIN] January 2026

[jordangreywolf]

Nemesis Crew Miniatures (Awaken Realms)
Crew figures from the Nemesis board game from Awaken Realms - a semi-cooperative game featuring a crew trying to survive on a spaceship that has been infested with ... something. The exact nature of the horror can vary, and complications can arise in the form of ulterior motives or "secret corporate objectives" individual crew members might have that could well conflict with the survival goals of their co-workers. (So, add in a little dash of "Betrayal at the House on the Hill.") I've previously painted up the original crew models for the base game, but these are from an expansion that adds in a more militarized force sent in. (Think "Aliens" compared to the original "Alien.")

The utility robot is a fun model in that the upper body slots in, and I was given several alternative segments (yet to be painted) that can be fit in, in order to transform it into representing different support roles.

Working from the concept art, each model is associated with a different color, but near as I can tell, their uniforms are generally dull grey. (The card art is dominated by hues of blue, pink, yellow, white, purple, red, etc., but generally as if someone backlit the character with a spotlight of the given color. I could try to do a "forced-light" approach to get some semblance of that effect, but I don't think it would translate well having them all on the same table ... so I just resorted to brute-forcing the connection by painting the base rings in the corresponding colors.)

These were painted for my friend Digital_Rampage; he's been running these games in store demos and at a few local gaming conventions, as it's been pretty popular. It has some interesting card-based dynamics that I can't help but wonder whether they might inspire some use for RPGs as an alternative to lots and lots of dice-rolling.



MINGO THE MERCILESS vs. ALICE THE ASSAULTRON!
The "Monster Mingo" from Trailer Park Warlords of the Apocalypse (Bad Goblin Games) - based and painted by me, shown squaring off against a Fallout: Wasteland Warfare (Modiphius) Assaultron in front of some ruins somewhere near what was once Ocala, Florida.

Digital_Rampage bought me this miniature as a birthday gift, and I finally got around to painting it up. I used epoxy putty (Apoxie Sculpt) and some texture-stamping (via Oyumaru "plastic clay") to give it a cracked-earth texture to the base. The terrain board is put together from Secret Weapon Miniatures "Tablescapes" tiles ("Rolling Fields" theme).

Trailer Park Warlords of the Apocalypse is a goofball post-apocalyptic miniatures skirmish game with gangs of mutant animals and often equally mutated "rednecks" fighting over the ruins of the trailer parks. (Bad Goblin Games: https://badgoblingames.com -- based in Jacksonville, FL.)

I could also see using some monster flamingos in my games set in Wonderland No More.



Another Use for a Monster Mingo
I could also see using this model as a "Dire Flamingo" for Wonderland No More. I wouldn't trust that walleyed bunny or that scheming mushroom, either.



X-42 Robo-Scorpion Prototype vs. Alice the Assaultron
"Behold my deadly invention ... the X-42 ROBO-SCORPION!" This prototype model of the X-42 Robo-Scorpion has escaped the ruins of the Big Mountain Research Facility, to terrorize the wasteland. Here, it has run afoul of a fearless-but-likely-outmatched assaultron guardian of the latest scrappy settlement it has torn its way through. (We're rooting for you, Alice!)

I'm not quite sure, but I think this is a Happy Meal toy tie-in with one of the Transformers movies. I just put it on a laser-cut MDF base with some texture-stamped epoxy putty to give it a "cracked earth" effect to the base.



This is a job for ABRAXO!
A resin Lionel model car (presumably manufactured circa 1998) that I picked up at a local antiques mall, in need of a new paint job ... so I grunged it up as a post-apocalyptic roadster. In the background is a 3D-printed cargo container (manufacturer unknown, but I'll update once I find out) painted up in Abraxo regalia. Abraxo probably WON'T help much here, but it's worth a try. 32mm scale Fallout: Wasteland Warfare "raider" miniature shown for size comparison.



Trailer Park Attack!
A heavily-converted Bad Goblin Games "Ruined Trailer 04" from Trailer Park Warlords of the Apocalypse, with a bunch of Modiphius "Fallout: Wasteland Warfare" Raiders and the TPWotA "Monster Mingo."

This 3D-printed model had a "jigsaw ruin" look -- a bit of a peeve of mine, especially for modern terrain (and PARTICULARLY for something presumably made of sheet metal). I don't know if there's a proper term for it, but a cheap shortcut when making "ruined" terrain is just to build the thing like you normally would, but have irregular chunks cut out of it, as if those parts had jaggedly broken away (but where they WENT is anyone's guess, because it's usually entirely missing, without any matching rubble pile to account for it).

That was the case here, where essentially two "bites" were missing from the original model of an otherwise intact trailer. Maybe stone could conceivably break away in wiggly chunks like that, but not sheet metal panels, and certainly not in a wiggly line that would flawlessly cross seams. I looked up some photos online of RL ruined trailers for inspiration, and then used thin cardboard (from salvaged boxes in the recycling bin), epoxy putty, and bits of Warhammer 40K leftover plastic sprue to make some underlying "frame" segments, sagging/dented roof sections, and peel-away panels of sheet metal siding to obscure the original cutaways.

It wasn't a complete conversion and there was still a point in getting the original model; it was quite sturdily constructed, and a plastic base is far superior to anything I could cobble together from my usual craft materials (foam, cardboard, etc.).

Original model link



Ruined Trailer Conversion WIP
The original model had a "jigsaw ruin" look that I don't care for (particularly for something like a trailer that shouldn't LOOK that way when torn up), so I set to work with some plastic sprue, thin cardboard (from packaging in the recycling bin), foam-board scraps, and epoxy putty, to make it look at least a little more "realistic" as a wreck.

Oyumaru plastic clay is a frequent tool for such projects for me -- essentially the same stuff that's marketed here in the US as "Instant Mold" or "Blu Stuff" or other names as little blocks of semi-clear plastic that turn mushy when heated up with hot water, whereupon you can then mash them against some textured surface to make a temporary push-mold or texture stamp. As such, it's ideal for adding texture and details to figure bases and floor tiles for miniatures gaming.

These days, I don't usually bother with trying to decorate the interior of my tabletop terrain buildings, but this model was expressly designed to have a playable interior, so I felt obliged to at least give it a go. It may not be terribly practical for gaming, but it was still a fun diversion.

Even with my changes, the model still disassembles easily (separate sections for roof, main body, and "skirt," plus the "wooden" and "cinderblock" step segments are standalone) to go back into the original box for storage and transportation.

Comments

[tuftears]

Excellent miniatures! You did an amazing job with the ruined trailer conversion.

The Nemesis thing seems like a fun sort of game setting, easily lending itself to bite-sized scenarios, like boarding the random space hulk of the week.

[jordangreywolf]

Re: Nemesis: Yes, and a fun thing about the setting is that the types of aliens/adversaries can be very different per mission. I've painted up several adversary sets for Digital_Rampage, and the "big bads" can vary from xenomorph-type aliens, hive-minds, psycho robots, "zombie" style parasitic infestations, etc.

One big twist in the board game is that each player is given a personal objective and a "secret corporate" objective -- and the player can choose which of the objectives to play by. (Basically, you can "win" if you achieve either objective.) This can lead to strange "Betrayal at the House on the Hill" type situations when the "secret corporate objective" is totally at odds with the other characters' survival. It can range from stuff like the Aliens bit of "arrange for one of your fellow crew to be infected, and brought in for study" to an "Exterminatus" type protocol wherein one member has received orders to destroy the ship and PREVENT anyone (else) from escaping. That could be problematic for an RPG campaign, but certainly interesting for a one-shot.

Mechanically-speaking, one thing I found interesting about the game is that cards are used to handle a player action "mini-economy." This would be interesting at the table, but problematic for online play unless a specifically focused platform were made to facilitate it.

Namely, you get a hand of action cards each round. Certain very basic actions can be taken, such as moving or attacking, by "spending" action cards toward the cost of said action. So at its most basic, it's a resource that can be "spent" on actions -- allowing that some actions may take up more of your time each round than others. (Or, for actions that will take LONGER than one round, it represents how much you're putting toward the target number of action points you will need to complete that goal. You could be hyper-focused on getting it done, OR you could be doing a few other things on the side at the expense of it taking longer.)

Another factor of the action cards is that when things happen TO your character, such as an alien ambushing you, the number of cards you still have in your hand at that moment will be factored into how likely the bad guy is to catch you off guard. This has two implications: One, if your enemy by sheer luck gets to act/attack first, at least you get the advantage of having your full set of cards to defend with. Two, when it's actually your turn to act, you have to take into consideration how willing you are to leave yourself "exposed" once you're finished -- do you keep a few cards on hand to "stay on alert" against surprises/attacks, or are you going to go all-out on completing the task in front of you, running as fast as you can, eliminating the currently known threat, etc.?

And then, the added complication is what's on the cards themselves. They can either be spent like currency of a sort to complete actions, OR the cards themselves present you (randomly) the opportunity to perform other, special actions. This is a very board-gamey extraction, since presumably such opportunities would be built into the story and setting rather than purely random, but it's still interesting. It might be something like "use the environment" against an enemy -- a crate perfectly positioned to be pushed over, or a bit of jagged damaged frame you can shove an alien up against in hopes of impaling it -- for a special attack, with a "cost" listed on the card itself. So, to take that action, you'd place down the card itself to signify the action you're taking, and then the prescribed number of OTHER cards (of any type -- it doesn't matter what's actually ON them) to "pay" for the action.

Or maybe there's a card for "find a useful tool" where you spend time searching the room and getting a hopefully-useful item/equipment piece.

Further complicating things is that certain rooms might have their own special card decks. Like, you're in the computer access room, and there might be cards for special things like opening/closing doors remotely, hacking into defense systems, etc.

Certain aspects of this (i.e., that you can only take certain actions when specific cards come up) are definitely more board-gamey than appropriate to RPGs, unless the GM really wants to turn adjudication for such things entirely over to randomness -- and furthermore, such things might only make sense in *certain situations*, practically requiring you to come up with custom new card sets to fit particular scenarios.

However, two things came to mind:

1) I kind of liked the trade-off between "take all the actions you can" vs. "keep some 'action points' in reserve for counterattacks and defense" as handled through keeping/spending cards.

2) This could be interesting for a way to try to mix up combat more than just "I hit the orc with my sword" or "I shoot the alien with my plasma-caster." Maybe there could be a sort of "combat deck" with various "signature moves" and such, that would represent a noteworthy type of attack that could be extra-effective, but which it would be silly if we just assume that the hero can do this same thing EVERY SINGLE ROUND. So, there might be cards for things like a "rug pull" or "swing on the chandelier" or "haymaker" or "power surge" or various other things that would probably fit some PCs better than others ... and it would be up to the player to decide WHICH cards he's going to put into his "fighting deck." Some cards might be more about trickery, some more about brawling, some more about lining up shots, some more about being a spellcaster or superpower-user or whatever. It might necessitate coming up with a few new cards for any given campaign, but at least it's something you could do as part of campaign prep, not having to do it on the fly.

So when one of these cards shows up in your hand, it could give you an option to do a special move with some sort of bonus *if* it makes sense in the given situation. A "haymaker" card won't be so useful if you're engaging in combat with enemies at range. A "spray and pray" card won't be so useful if you're not in a gunfight. Characters who can fight in melee AND range AND can cast spells could be forced to decide where they really want to shine when determining how to load their "cool stuff" deck.

Of course, players could still take regular actions. The guy who's an expert brawler who has a bunch of fancy cards to do cool stuff with punching and kicking people can still fire a gun if he's got the skill. Just, depending on player choice in loading up his deck, he isn't going to have some fancy-schmancy card that gives him a BONUS to do so.

...

Anyway, just an idle thought. It would require a lot of work to set up, and the novelty might wear off quickly for all I know. It would be important to figure out just when players have the freedom to change their decks. In between sessions? In between combats? Or is it so integral to the character that it just *stays* that way for the campaign? Also there's the matter of just how big the bonus is for any given card ... or whether there's some sort of trade-off involved. I'm sure it would require a lot of playtesting to get to anything workable and I doubt I have that sort of time. XD

[tuftears]

Yeah, that is pretty cool for a "deck-based battler" kind of thing. I played a deck-based battler recently, "Battle Suit Aces" where the cards you drew each turn were mechs or drones, which had innate color energy generation, but required (usually) more energy to fire their weapons than they generated by themselves, and also had hit points and often special rules like armor to mitigate damage or shields that reflect shots back at the enemy, or the mech might have lower damage but attack several enemies.

Cool thing about BSA was that you could also modify the mechs and drones by adding customizations to their limited slots, so you could both adjust the cards in your deck (max of 10 mechs and 10 drones, but also must fill up those 10 slots, so no limiting the deck just to the choices you want) and tailor it to your play style.

Anyway, that could be a useful idea for your setup. You might allow players to tailor decks for their characters, so they might have ten "move" cards, ten "offense" cards, ten "defense" cards, maybe allowing them to shuffle up to five cards between those. Then on some number of cards, you might allow them to write down special moves for their characters, so they both need to get those cards, and have enough resources saved up to be able to use 'em. Maybe with limits on how many of each special moves they can put down.

By having the players participate, they feel a little more in control of their own characters even though they are still pulling random cards. And when they level up, they can add more special moves to their previously blank "resource" cards, so they're doing more flashy things per combat.