Nuclear Renaissance: A Review Part 2!

Hi!

As promised heres the second part of the review covering the remaining two gangs in the box set, the Ironwall Wasters and the Society Against Mischief and a more in depth look at the rulebook.

The Ironwall Wasters (Left To Right: Juju, Tahir, Scythetar, Ironstrike, Spanny)

The Ironwall Wasters are led by Scythetar, an awesome musician as well as fighter whose bard ability allows him to rally his gang. His weapon of choice is his specially augmented guitar and counts as a large weapon,

Juju was a foundling orphan brought to Ironwall from the wastes and is a skilled tracker. Also the groups medic, Juju has several abilities to allow her to dodge incoming fire (and vehicles!)

Tahir is a skilled mechanic and is charged with keeping the gangs two vehicles in good condition. He also wields an Oxy Torch capable of seriously damaging both vehicles and heavily armoured opponents.

Spanny is the groups second mechanic and jas the Spring Heeled ability allowing her to leap great distances, even from moving vehicles.

Gunthar Ironstrike is one of the dispossessed nobles of the Ironstrike clan. Working as a hired hand, Ironstrike wears a heavy suit of armour and is a skilled close combat opponent.

Orrik is the driver of the larger of the Wasters vehicles, the Stinger. His crew also includes Dunstor the gunner who mans the Engine Cannon.

Karleon is the driver of the Wasters ram vehicle the Stoat. Seen as slightly unhinged by his fellow gangers

The Stinger (comes with two optional barrels for the gun, a double barrel and a gatling style one)

The Stoat

The Wasters two vehicles are the Stoat and the Stinger. Unlike the other two gangs they rely on smaller fast moving vehicles. The Stinger mounts the gangs heavy weapon and its rapid movement will allow it to bring supporting fire to wherever its needed. The Stoat is a dedicated ram vehicle and is used to crush opposing infantry and small vehicles. Im not sure how it will fare against the likes of Grendel but it will be interesting to see!

Next up is the Society Against Mischief!


The Society Against Mischief (Left To Right: Matilda Greystoke, Archibald Trumpton, Thaddeus Borlase Arlington, Fidelia St John Smythe)

The Society is led by Thaddeus Borlase Arlington, a genuine heroic chap. With a plethora of useful skills Thaddeus is an opponent to be wary of. Answering to the Keeper of the Keys of Bandlerd, Jonas Longstock, Thaddeus has formed the society to bring order to the Wastes surrounding the prosperous town.

Archibald Trumpton is the groups mechanic and unlike the rest of the society he roams the battlefield atop his trusty tracked bike Buzzby, His high speed allows him to quickly get to any of the societies vehicles if they break down,

Matilda Greystoke is the groups medic. Although not a great combatant her medicinal skills make her a valuable team member.

Fidelia St John Smythe is the societies sniper and operates from their trusty vehicle the Brass Coffin and is capable of picking off the dreaded unmentionables from great distances.

The Brass Coffin (minus wheels!)

The Brass Coffin itself is driven by Burton (for some reason I imagine him being the societies butler...) Looking much like an armoured traction engine the Brass Coffin has been equipped with transport space allowing it to carry the league members into the fray in relative safety. Also armed with a big ram the Brass Coffin can deal with many undesirables by simply driving over them.

Onto the rulebook!

The rulebook is 69 pages and lavishly illustrated throughout. Combining photos of the Ramshackle range and several illustrations the book is full of inspirational stuff but the rules are what I should be concentrating on!

Handily the book contains both a contents page and an index making referring to specific rules a far more simple process than some other rulesets that I could mention. The first few pages gives a little background to the Nuclear Renaissance setting and is as usual for Ramshackles background fluff an interesting read.

Next comes an explanation of the statistics and profiles and game sequence. The turn consists of three phases, the Dominance phase sees the players rolling to see who activates followed by the action phase where the players take turns activating a single model. Im glad to see that the game has alternating activation rather than the GW way of doing things as it keeps both players involved and interested and adds an extra element to the game. Also it means that there are no more games where one player wins initiative and proceeds to annihilate their opponent without the poor soul being able to do anything in response!

A nice touch in the game is that players can opt to skip a character in their activation. While this passes activation to their opponent it allows you to hold them in reserve and activate them later on wich can give a bit of a tactical advantage.

Finally theres the end phase where players check to see if victory conditions are met and any special rules that apply are checked.

The next section details Actions. In Nuclear Renaissance, models have a number of actions and depending on the difficulty of performing them they may have to roll a dice to see if they succeed or not. For example walking over open ground is easy and doesnt require a test while running over rough terrain is a bit more tricky.

Next up is the shock section. This reflects the perils of fighting in the wasteland such as injuries, close calls and so on and is an interesting game component. It can mean that your character needs to spend actions to remove shock tokens from them in order to do anything and quite nicely adds an element of uncertainty to the game and means that wounds and exciting happenings actually effect how the characters react.

The following sections cover everything from movement to shooting, vehicles to close combat and are all clearly laid out and explained and have some handy examples to make the concepts clearer. This is a great addition to the rulebook as its so simple but missing from many rulesets!

The rule section covers gang and vehicle creation followed by the three sample gangs There are several abilities missing from the previous edition but these and more will be getting added to a forthcoming supplement so worry not! You will still be able to have narcoleptic ginger characters!

The book also contains a reference section at the rear with all the tables, abilities and weapon ranges etc that you could want!

The books layout is also worth mentioning as its clear and readable with lots of examples and explanations which makes following the concepts and rules within far more straightforward!

All in all Im really pleased with my purchase of the box set as it contains just about everything I will need to play the game (apart from some suitable scenery but thats asking a lot!) Hopefully I will get chance to play a game or two over the course of the week once Ive cleaned up the miniatures and glued them together ready for painting!

The background also covers a few new gangs that I will cover at some point too!

All the best!

Nuclear Renaissance A Review Part 1!

Hi!

As promised heres a review of the box set! Alas I still havent replaced my camera so am having to make do with using my webcam which is less than ideal!

I thought Id start out with the box itself and am pleased to say that its a rather nice, glossy piece that when opened keeps producing seemingly endless amounts of stuff! Im quite impressed by just how much stuff has been jammed into the box, and more importantly that its all been well bubble wrapped to stop the resin bits getting chipped or broken in transport!

The Box!

Size wise its somewhat smaller than the usual GW style starter pack and is of the same quality and thickness as the boxes produced by many of the better miniatures companies out there!

The box contains the following stuff:

4 metal figures
7 resin figures
3 small resin vehicles
2 medium resin vehicles
2 large resin vehicles
A 69 page rulebook
4 dice and several metal game tokens

The Rulebook!

Having not had much chance to read through it yet but it does contain all the rules for playing the game plus character and vehicle creation rules. The rules have apparently been simplified somewhat to remove some of the maths required in the previous edition but I will attempt to review them in more depth at a later date.

Some of the abilities have been removed from this edition but will be getting added to the planned supplement and as they were things like Ginger (its a gift!), I cant see it effecting the game too much. Also missing from this edition, somewhat sadly, is much of the background fluff. Theres still several pages of it but the previous edition had a whole chapter on the Nuclear Renaissance setting and its inhabitants. Hopefully this will be added to the supplement to but it would have been nice to get a bit more background reading material in the core rulebook!

Visually the book is really nice with sturdy covers and beautiful photos of the Ramshackle range and is well worth downloading for that reason alone!

The miniatures are a mixture of single piece resin and metal castings, apart from Gilgamesh Giggles whose gun barrel has been produced separately. All the figures have tons of character each of the gangs in the box are visually very different (there are three of them but more on that later!)

Gilgamesh Giggles!

The resin miniatures are almost free of bubbles (theres a couple of small ones here and there on a couple of them but they should be easy enough to clean up!) and the only visible mould lines are on the bases which can easily be cleared off. Although they are single piece resin castings they have tons of character and the sculptor has made the most of the limitations of the single piece castings.

The metal miniatures have more animation than the resin ones and are also nicely detailed, Scythetar (the guy with the scythe guitar) has some mould lines round his arms that will need a little cleaning and Grizelda (the girl with the buzzsaw arm) will need a little care with handling as shes only attached to the base by one foot and may snap off with too much rough handling.
Otherwise they are all really nice models and well worth the money!

The vehicles are particularly nice and range from small tracked bikes, to junker buggies, traction engine and even a bit of a behemoth!

The casts are clean and the bikes are single piece castings while the larger vehicles come in roughly five pieces each (main body and wheels/tracks) I really like the large, ramshackle look of them and theres plenty of variety to them as well!

Giggles Transport Grendel!

As already mentioned there are three gangs included in the box set:

The Giggles clan, a group of deranged souls who believe flesh is weak and that it requires to be rectified with plentiful pieces of grafted on machinery.

The Ironwall Wasters, a typical group of gangers who inhabit the wastelands of the Nuclear Renaissance.

The Society Against Mischief, a group of well bred ladies and gents from Bandlerd who aim to uphold the peace.

The three gangs all appear very different, the Giggles are all grafted to machinery to various degrees ranging from replacing respiratory systems to augmented heavy lifting gear and wear ragged plastic sheeting. The gang itself is formed of the following personalities:

The Giggles Clan (Left To Right: Vulcan, Asclepius, Gilgamesh, Levi, Grizelda)

Gilgamesh

One of the most heavily augmented elders in the Giggles Clan, Gilgamesh is pretty much nothing more than a wizened human husk encased in a huge suit of heavy armour (the armour itself is essentially a vehicle in itself giving Gilgamesh enhanced movement) Armed with a power claw and shotgun he is a bit of a monster in close combat and short range.

Grizelda

Armed with a powered cutting saw, Grizelda is the other close combat fighter in the gang.

Vulcan

A Flame thrower wielding type suited to skulking in cover before incinerating opponents.

Asclepius

The groups medic (or mechanic as the case may be) Hes been grafted onto a set of tracks giving him superior movement so he can quickly reach injured kinsfolk

Levi

A bard with an eclectic taste on music. Ranging from industrial noise to discordant blaring Levis music can be used to rally the Giggles clan!

Cleatus

The driver of the Giggles transportation of delight Grendel, Cleatus has been grafted directly into the beast itself!

Azozeus

Another crewmember of Grendel, Azozeus has had much of his body replaced with assorted grafts, not least of which are the upgrading of his arms to a pair of huge industrial lifting gear!

Grendel

Grendel is the Giggles transport. A big beast of a machine, Grendel has two crew and is equipped for hauling scrap but can easily mangle most other vehicles due to its size, bulk and industrial powered tools mounted on its rear!

I will cover the rest of the gangs in part two of the article along with a more indepth look at the rulebook!

All the best!

Nuclear Renaissance Download Available

Hi!

Just a quick update to say that the new edition of the Nuclear Renaissance rulebook is available as a free download from the Ramshackle Games website HERE!

Hopefully I will be able to add a complete review of the box set today!

All the best!

Nuclear Renaissance First Impressions!

Hi!

Just a quick update as Ive got to leave for London in about five minutes!

I picked up my copy of Nuclear Renaissance from the post office this morning and its looking stunning! The miniatures and vehicles are all nice and almost bubble free (theres a bit of flash that will need cleaning)

The box and rulebook are both very high quality and have loads of nice pics of the contents and some of Ramshackles other miniatures too!

Hopefully I will get chance to write a more complete review tomorrow but I will be taking the rulebook with me to peruse as I travel and will jot down a few notes as I do!

Best be leaving now as I dont want to miss my train!

All the best!

Picking Ramshackle Brains!

Hi!

Well I got back from uni this afternoon to find the postman had failed to deliver a parcel so I will have to go and pick it up in the morning! Rage!

Still I will have all Saturday to rummage through the contents of the Nuclear Renaissance box set and will try and get a review up ASAP!

In other news I pestered Curtis over at Ramshackle for some info on what plans he has for developing the game, background and miniatures over the coming months. Its all sounding quite promising!

Essentially theres a supplement planned called The Tome Of Tridlins, and will contain new background, art, extra rules and campaign settings. Also included will be many of the abilities and skills dropped from the new edition of the core rules.

To top it off there will be rules for beasts, mutants, zombies, hoverboards, tunneling machines and some new gang types! All very exciting!

As for figures, it looks like we are going to be getting a veritable hoard of goodies including future soldiers (One of the new gangs will be a militaristic one, with rules for deploying squads), giant and normal sized wolves (with and without riders!), zombies, mutants and other beasties as time permits!

Im really looking forward to getting my hands on some wolves so I can add to my wolf clan but all the other stuff should be good too!

All the best!

Camera Woes!

Hi!

I had hoped to get some pictures up of some of the scenics and miniatures Ive been working on but still cant find my camera charger! I suspect its time I updated to a newer digital camera as the old one had been proving a bit unreliable for some time!

Im hoping to purchase a replacement over the course of the next day or two in preparation for the box set arriving...

In the meantime I just wanted to say a bit of a belated welcome to Peter W, Asmo and indeed Ramshackles Curtis, for following the blog! Hopefully it will soon have a bit more useful content to it!

All the best!

Nuclear Renaissance Ships!

Hi!

Ive just got my confirmation email to say that Ramshackle have posted my copy of Nuclear Renaissance! Hopefully I will get it in the next day or two and will be able to post a complete review!

Nuclear Renaissance!

In the mean time Ive been into my local Homebase and bought some handy bits and bobs for a scenery project which I hope to post some pictures of over the course of the next few days (once I find my digital cameras charger!)

All the best!

Wasteland Loony Special Character?

Hi!

Just spotted this chap over on the Hasslefree Forum Of Doom:

Musclebound Thug!

I may have to purchase him to add some muscle to my planned Wasteland Loony force as his combination of ridiculously ott muscles and mohawk make him ideal for a special character or enforcer. Theres a second one mid sculpt too which should be interesting!

All the best!

Nuclear Renaissance Forces: The Mutants

Hi!

Heres the last of the current factions from the Wastelands: the Mutants!

The mutants are not really a faction as such, or even a gang. More a group of similarly afflicted unfortunates thrown together by shared circumstance who congregate about the Great Vent.

The Mutants are a byproduct of the Renaissance in a more literal sense than any other inhabitant of the wastes, bearing the physical deformities inflicted by the background radiation so prominently that they have become their defining feature. Few mutations are beneficial, most are crippling afflictions, or at best horrifying abnormalities, although a rare few can be put to practical use, mainly in the field of dismembering ones prey.

The mutants have no distinct hierarchy or leadership. They exist as a gestalt organism, a shambling herd. Migrating about their lands grazing. Grazing on human Flesh. The mutants are not just an unsightly rabble of freaks, but a horrendous pack of ghouls, incapable, or unwilling to subsist from agriculture or scavenging, preferring to prey on their fellow man.

What makes them all the more hideous is that most are not mindless zombies, but fully sentient beings with a grim understanding of the atrocities they commit on a daily basis. This not only makes their sickening acts of survival pre-mediated murder, but ensures that they can make use of their victims technology. Whilst they lack the resources or know how to develop a great deal of technology themselves, they are never short of vehicles looted from their last meal. Where it not for the resources to be found around the great vent few would venture near it, and the mutants would have no source of sustenance. But mans greed keeps him coming to the Vent seeking riches and thus keeps the mutants fed, ensuring they remain not only as grim sentinels watching over their radioactive realm, but also as a grim reminder of the consequences of mans continued greed.

The Mutants background is quite interesting combining all the best bits of zombie, cannibal and mutant horror. I quite like the idea of collecting up a force of deranged mutants out for human flesh! I can imagine them having vehicles festooned with grizzly remains and trophies while the mutants themselves wear rags looted from the dead and fielding all sorts of rusty weapons!

Having loved the old Judge Dredd comics which often featured bands of muties wandering the cursed earth or undercities theres plenty of inspiration to be found and theres also loads of manufacturers out there with suitable stuff!

Miniatures wise Ramshackle produce some nice bits and bobs, especially the mutant giant called Chicken:

Chicken!

In the poisoned wasteland, mutation is widespread and common. Mutagenic chemicals coupled with diverse habitats shape the flora and fauna. Humans are of course subject to the whims of nature and so vary tremendously. The most common differences in people tend to be those of height. The cavern dwelling peoples tend to be squat in stature, with whole generations being no more than four feet high. At the other end of the scale, its common to encounter giants, often reaching well over 9 feet tall. Chicken is such a man.

The mention of cavern dwellers allows the use of all sorts of squats, grymn and scrunts from other manufacturers and Ramshackle also have Filthy Bob:

Filthy Bob

Hes ugly, smelly, rude and bad tempered. Having said that, there ain't nothing he can't drive so hes always in work. Spends his earnings on pies and beer.

Ive got a couple of useful mutant miniatures already after rummaging my bits box and culled from my fantasy collection, by adding the occasional zombie, wierdo and unusual miniature I should have the beginnings of a good mutant raider force!

All the best!

Nuclear Renaissance Forces: The Nomads

Hi!

Heres the latest article on the factions that inhabit the Wastelands, this time the Nomads:

The Nomads are an enigmatic group, if a group they can be called, an odd mix of tribal family groups and technically adept raiders.

Whilst they have no real centralised leadership the rovers of the wastes seem to share some obscure unspoken bond of brotherhood and will band together when the need arises. Common folk tend to eye them with suspicion and even a degree of superstition.

It is commonly held that it is bad luck to cross the shadow of a Nomad. Their aura of mystique is largely down to the seclusion in which they live. When they do deign to venture into a bone-yard or settlement (for purposes other than theft) they do so in virtual silence. The only times they will tend to communicate with a townsman is to barter or request services. How the Nomads survive whilst meandering about the wastes is something of a mystery, but their lives are certainly Spartan ones, meaning nomads tend to be lithe, wiry figures, better suited to acts of stealth and light fingered acquisition of goods than open warfare.

However if crossed the Nomads are a baleful force. They will emerge from the dust of the wasteland without warning,. Striking at a target with a mix of feral brutality and eerie precision, usually favouring long ranged weapons, then melt back into the unknown from whence they came.

One of the leading Nomad characters is Hareward. A man of orration, his rousing speeches bind the rag tag Nomads into a society of great importance. He teaches those who will follow him how to live well from the dead wastes. He can find food where others cannot, and thats a powerful skill in this age.

Hareward

The nomads are a good raiding option, relying on stealth and long range sniping than close combat. I plan on eventually getting myself some as they kind of remind me of the Sand People from Starwars. Ironclad Miniatures produce a range of Victorian science fiction miniatures called the Sanwar and they make perfect proxies with their ragged cloaks and gasmasks.

Sanwar Warriors

Ive still got the Mutants to cover and Ive been working on getting some painting done so hope to be able to add some pics of my Wolf Clan once they are finished along with some simple terrain pieces which will allow me to get on with some games!

All the best!

Nuclear Renaissance Forces: The Scrap Knights

Hi!

Heres the latest of the Nuclear Renaissance forces in the form of the Scrap Knights:

The Scrap Knights are the smallest faction in the wastes to hold any real renown. However their miniscule amount of manpower is offset by their ferocious elitism. This is not to say they are as closed minded as the Neo Reich, or as down right unpredictable as the Giggles clan, but their methods are not those of great conquests and statesmanship. Rather small adventurous expeditions, normally for lost technology, demanding only the most stalwart of souls and deadly of combatants.


Stanton: Core Member of the Scrap Knights

Their three core members or the three S's as they are colloquially known, are Stanton, Staveley and Stirling. They have no clear leader, preferring to act as a council. A fact that means should one of the three ever fall a new Knight would have to be promoted to the upper echelons, a process with no precedent. Besides the three scrap knights there are an ever fluctuating number of 'scrap-squires'; A ragged mix of wide eyed hopefuls, desperate hangers-on and the odd blood thirsty loon who's spent a little too long in bat country.

All Scrap Knights share a distinctive fighting style, being very defensive, waiting on an opening in an enemy’s defence into which they can launch a lightning fast counter strike or grapple. Amongst the wastes they currently hold a monopoly on the knowledge of the most deadly close combat techniques, but are willing to train those who would serve with them for a fixed term. The Neo-Reich in particular trains many of its assault troops with the scrap knights in exchange for metals and other resources and the Wolf clan occasionally send a young brave to spar with them.


Heavily Armoured (and Huge) Scrap Knight Staverley

On the field the Scrap knights favour the heaviest of heavy armour and fast transports, which goes some way to compensating for their idiosyncratic eschewing of ranged weapons. This odd and arguably counter productive behaviour is due to their strict honour code. In the wastelands being captured by the Scrap Knights is one of the few instances of incarceration which is not guaranteed to end in execution. Although one of the three high council members, Phabian Stirling, has been known to turn a blind eye to the honour code on more than one occasion, but is sufficiently cunning as to have gotten away with it thus far.

The Scrap Knights are a good example of a small force of characters supported by a few trusted minions. With their choice of close combat weapons and fast transports I can see them being quite deadly, as long as they can make it into close combat! Also a force consisting of junk armoured knights mounted on motorbikes is quite appealing!


Spiker: Possible Scrap Knight!

Theres still a couple of factions to cover and then I hope to get some pics of miniatures sorted out!

All the best!

Nuclear Renaissance Forces: Bandlerd

Hi!

Apologies for the lack of updates over the last week but heres the latest article on the factions in Nuclear Renaissance, this time the prosperous township of Bandlerd!

Bandlerd is a rich town. It can be found near the verdant spill, and its main industry is the brewing of the local plants into fuel. People travel form far around, because Bandlerd is never short of this resource, and supply is cheap. Unsurprisingly though, it is a very well defended town.

Because of its wealth it attracts those who would make a fast Nugget or many. This can be the more honest route of working in the brewsheds, defending the town in the local security forces or often providing ancillary products to the thriving population. However, there are those who seek to make their money through less honorable ways, and so gangs of hustlers, gamblers and thieves prowl Bandlerds streets.

On several occasions large bands have lain siege to try to take over the whole town at once! However, the Keeper of the Keys of Bandlerd is charged with defense and equipped to do the job properly. The current Keeper of the Keys is Jonash Longstock, a keen witted tactician and great negotiator. His vision and forethought is turning Bandlerd into a mighty citadel.

Bandlerd sounds like a good opposing settlement for Junktowns FPCC and with an abundant supply of petrochemicals I can imagine them fielding quite a few vehicles. The opportunity for scenario based games revolving round ambushing tankers, sabotaging pump stations and drillheads ad other assorted villainy could make for a decent campaign in itself!

In other news, my Wolf Clan has been enlarged so there are over a dozen members now, mostly with hand weapons of some sort. Im on the lookout for some rifle toting types to act as support but have yet to spot anything suitable. I will be beginning painting on them at some point this week but will need to find my camera to get some pictures of them!

Till then all the best!

Miniature Ponderings!

Hi!

Well I've almost got my uni work finished for the semester and have taken a little time out to have a bit of a rummage through my bits box to see what suitable stuff I might have for Nuclear Renaissance.

The result has been quite a few conversion bits and four of EM4s barbarians. Ive converted one so hes holding a SMG while the others are staying as they are, armed with nothing but big swords or axes. Theres one guy with a helmet I plan on converting somewhat so hes got some heavy scrap made armour but that will have to wait a bit! Ive also found some old plastic GW wolves which are going to come in handy...

Once I've fished out my camera I will take some pics of the miniatures once they are painted but its a promising start to my Wolf Clan gang. I need to get myself some more gun toting types and a vehicle to roar around in too to make them a more viable force but I shall be interested to see how a bunch of sword wielding barbarians perform in the wastelands of the Nuclear Renaissance!

All the best

Nuclear Renaissance Forces: The Neo-Reich

Hi!

Just a quick update with another of the factions from the Wasteland: The Neo-Reich!

The Neo-Reich are a small elitist faction of hard line disciplinarians based in the catacombs. From the murky half-lit hell in which they dwell they launch lightning raids, before disappearing back to their troglodyte home from whence they came. They are one of the most organised and well motivated factions in the wastes, believing in efficiency, self sacrifice and order in all things, zealously striving to forge a new Empire, or ‘Reich’ based on their extreme meritocratic ideals.

They are almost universally feared and loathed, as their vision of a new world order is in now way flexible or open to diversions based on compassion or compromise. They are brutal, cold, inflexible but above all, effective. Their numbers are small, largely due to their own high standards when recruiting new initiates, but ever growing and their lightning raids are beginning to look ever more like the foundations for a war of conquest than simple hit and runs. In war they favor close assault tactics over ranged conflict and small numbers of well equipped and well trained troops to mass assault.

The armored infantry of the Neo-Reich are some of the best equipped troops in the wastes, certainly the only political entity to have any notion of standardization of equipment as well as the means to produce new items rather than simply scavenge. Their warriors are all well versed in close quarters fighting, and their underground realm has bread into them a natural affinity for CQB, particularly in night time conditions. Their allies are few and far between, although they have been known to have dealings with some characters of note, such as Stanton and, less frequently, El Honcho.

At last some real villains! The Neo-Reich are the bad guys everyone loves to hate with their fascist ideals and warlike nature. I think they are going to be another early addition to my campaign as theres loads of suitable miniatures out there and a herd of goose stepping nazis will be perfect for all sorts of scenarios!

I plan on using a few bits and pieces from the old Warzone range to form the basis of the Neo-Reich. Some uniformed storm troopers with an officer and some sort of armoured vehicle will be required to plague the locals with!

Theres plenty of opportunity to field everything from Neo-Reich sympathisers wearing pointy sheets and terrorising the local mutant population right up to and including some elite troops and with the huge variety of Weird War 2 miniatures available at preset theres bound to be something useful to be found!

Next up will probably be the township of Bandlerd!

All the best!

Nuclear Renaissance Forces: The Wasteland Loonies

Hi!

Heres the next of the gangs fighting in the wastes surrounding Junktown: The Wasteland Loonies!

The Wasteland Loonies started out like any other good for nothing gang of thieves, murderers all round scum. Thats how it started, until one day they signed up a young, enthusiastic psycho whose original name is now lost to history. At some point in his career, he took a wound to the head and somewhat mentally unbalanced, taking the Loonies anarchistic lifestyle to heart, renaming himself General Anarchy and proclaiming a crusade against any who would consider themselves organised.

The Wasteland Loonies now wander from place to place tearing down town walls, burning meeting halls and brutally killing any forms of local government. The now infamous General Anarchy seems to have inspired a movement of sorts, as now, along with his original Wasteland Loonies there are other such gangs with similar goals, including King Burger's Outland Anarchists and The Harlequin Boys led by Big Daddy Harlequin. They all compete with each other to perform the biggest, wildest stunt in the name of their cause. All of them are wildly disorganised, brutally violent and totally insane. Avoid if possible.

The Wasteland Loonies are a perfect example of post apocalyptic gangers. Imagine the baddies from Mad Max 2, barbaric nutters with mohawks and an assortment of guns and rusty vehicles! Alas there arent any official miniatures for them at present but the EM4 range has loads of useful types who would fit the bill.

I will try and add a bit more info to their entry tomorrow but Im a tad busy with uni work at the mo so will have to make this a brief entry!

All the best!

Nuclear Renaissance Forces: The Giggles Clan

Hi!

Next up on the forces of the Wastelands are the Giggles Clan:

The dust storms that blow about can be hard. They last for days, blocking out the light, the warmth of the sun. Better to be sheltered, and the Giggles clan have done just this. The family stretches back at least ten generations and more but as none of them keep any records there isn’t any knowing who their first ancestors were. They have been living in the same warren of tunnels, caverns and shanty sheds the whole time, extending it adhock as new wee ones are spawned.

The main thing that marks the Giggles out is their uncanny affinity with machines. Most have cybernetic limbs and mechanical systems grafted to their bodies. Some are fused with hulking guns, industrial size power tools and even whole vehicles!

They believe that the flesh is weak, and that survival lies in replacement. They take this ideal extremely seriously indeed. Its two fold logic says that family binds and replaces the lost parts of the spirit as metal binds and replaces the lost parts of the body. They rely on one another, and they rely on their ingenuity.

The world of the Nuclear Renaissance is dangerous, and its all too easy for horribly crippling injuries to befall the residents. The giggles clan see this as a trial. Those that survive are esteemed, and those that die are scavenged for parts, then replaced by new members.

The oldest living of the clan are ancient indeed, often with scant remaining flesh left on their iron bones. Old Gargamel is said to be over three hundred years old, and some say there isn’t even the merest strand of his original body left! Still, such mechanisation comes at a price. The giggles family are shunned socially, and have become dour and joyless. As they age they come to resemble machines in temper as well as physique. Its rare that an outsider to the family is welcomed.

The Giggles Clan (left to right: Papa, Camshaft, Leroy and Pontius)

The Giggle’s family don’t think much of the wicked ways of the others. Decadent bunch they are, obsessed with lewd acts and drinking, how will that make the world better? Family, that’s where strength and dignity come from. In this harsh world each must raise children, and the more the better. And while your at it, why not see to some upgrades? The dust storms can rob you of your very life blood, and Papa Giggles has seen dust storms so black you’d think the world was ending again. We are ill equipped with our frail bodies.

Better to upgrade. Better to replace. Steel may rust, but so what? If your rusty leg falls off, replace it with a new one! Much better. And after so many years, Papa Giggles has become more machine than man. His huge claw of steel can cut the thickest armour, so nobody can get the better of him! Even if he goes down, he will soon be on his feet again. That’s strength, that’s endurance. And whats better than that? Family you can trust in a scrape. If you can’t get up, they will pick you up.

Another strong candidate for the first force to be worked on for my Nuclear Renaissance project, the Giggles Clan are essentially an extended family group of cyborg hillbillies. Armed with an array of powerful cybernetic limbs, or improvements as the clan puts it they also tend to field an unusual mixture of support weaponry, often grafted directly onto themselves. A good example of this is the Engine Cannon:

Leroy Giggles Armed With An Engine Cannon

The Engine cannon evolved as a pragmatic, if unorthodox response to the logistical concerns of acquiring ammunition. Charging rail-cells or refining chemical propellants is a time consuming and costly process in the wastes. Invented by the
Giggles family, they applied their twisted logic to the principals of ‘conservation of energy’ and decided to remove a stage form the ammunition creation process. They stopped charging rail cells and used the generator to fire the ammunition.

The result is the engine cannon which, like most of the developments pioneered by the family, is an ad-hoc and impractical eccentricity, which somehow proves effective. The principal is a simple one. An engine is rigged to fire ammunition from its cylinders rather than pistons. The result is noisy, inaccurate and prohibitively bulky to all but the strongest of combatants or cybernetically augmented monstrosities. The more refined models use complex gearing or bulky pneumatic feeds to
fire shells down a traditional rifled barrel. However there are some models which are simply a V, or inline block scattering shells willy-nilly from their cylinder heads, which are wielded rather like a massive accordion.

Currently the clan are available as a pack of four and individually and many of the machines and vehicles in the Wastelands are also suitable for the somewhat unusual bunch. I really like the combination of backwards hillbilly and the bodged equipment, homemade cybernetics and overall combination of man and machine. The Giggles clan have lots of potential for conversions and scratch builds representing various members of the clan!

Nuclear Renaissance Forces: Isembard Kickass Brunel

Hi!

Heres the latest in the series of articles on the various forces in the wastelands, this time covering Isembard Kickass Brunel.

Isembard Kickass Brunel

Brunel is an innovator. He is a man of engineering. The re-learning of lost technology has been advanced by Brunel more than any other person. He specialises in the macro machine, constructions of vast proportions. For this man, bigger is most definitely better. He refuses to do anything on half measures. He and his workers have built themselves some marvels of gargantuan size.

He has built a factory town is situated in a steep gorge, with a humongous iron bridge spanning its width. This is used as a platform for his vast cranes which haul plates of iron of such vast weight that no other cranes built can even move them. His smelting vats and blast furnaces seldom rest, as he forges ever larger devices and feats of engineering. Brunel as a man is driven. He is determined in mind. He is also a good man.

His ideal is to rebuild the world as it was before. He wishes for roads, bridges, communication and supply. His final goal is to build a sea-worthy ship that can sail out to discover the lands that he believes lie to the east and west. However, resources are hard to acquire, and while he has lofty ideals, he still needs money to buy the materials for his personal projects. He can be hired, at a cost. It is rumored that at this he is working for Jonash Longstock, constructing a giant cannon. It is said to be for the defense of the town of Bandlerd, and when finished will have literally unbelievable range and stopping power.

Brunels inventions tend to lean towards the massive and a perfect example is the Huntsman Spider Tank:

Huntsman Spider Tank

Originally constructed to counter the threat from the huge foot gangs that swarm over the hills around his workshops. Highly motivated opportunists and scavengers, the bandits steal pretty much everything they can lay their filthy mitts on.

The Huntsman is driven by lovely Micrathena. Her two extra cybernetic arms allow her to become spider like in her movements. Her head gear creates a bond with the spider-machine and she communes with it, guiding its movement rather than controlling them!

Tam O'Rouke built and mans the bell cannon mounted in the turret. The bell cannon derives it's name from the casting process. The technology to engineer a cannon is the same as for making bells. For a bell to sound properly, it must be made from a perfect casting. Air bubbles or impurities will effect its resonance. So with cannons, any weakness in the casting will produce unreliable and dangerous barrels.

Fully armed and armoured, the Huntsman Spider Tank is a machine designed to destroy hordes of rabble! Its ingenious leg design allows it to traverse terrain even tracked vehicles cannot negotiate.

Judging by the Victorian look of the one of the vehicles in the new box set, along with several of the figures Brunel could make a good starting force with his big, clunking steam driven contraptions and jolly good sorts trying to rebuild the wastelands

Steamdriven Beast!

We shall have to wait on the box arriving but Brunel may make a good civilised opposition to the Wolf Clan, Friendly Pandas, Wasteland Loonies, Giggles Clan or just about any of the factions in Nuclear Renaissance!

Next up will be either the Giggles Clan or the Scrap Knights!

All the best

NUCLEAR RENAISSANCE V2 PRE ORDERS!

Hi!

Well Nuclear Renaissance V2 has been added to the Ramshackle Games site HERE! I have placed my order and hope to receive it in the next couple of weeks once the box and rulebooks have returned from the printers and as soon as it arrives I will post a review with pictures ere on the blog!

Nuclear Renaissance V2!

To be honest the wait will be perfect for my as, much as I'd love to get my hands on a big box of resin and metal, I've got several university deadlines over the course of the next two weeks so dont want the distractions of more miniatures! After that I've got some holidays so can get stuck in!

Next up I will be covering another of the wastelands factions!

All the best

Richard

Nuclear Renaissance Forces: The Friendly Panda Chemical Coproration

Hi!

Heres the next of the factions fighting for dominance in the Nuclear Renaissance Setting: The Friendly Panda Chemical Corporation!

FPCC Logo

The Friendly Panda Chemical Corporation is a powerful, ruthless organisation operating out of the town of Junktown, which they own. They make most of their money through sales of various chemicals, both recreational and industrial. They also make a plenty of profit from gate tolls and the protection rackets inside Junktown.

The town is protected and kept (mostly) quiet by an army of Friendly Panda enforcers. These are for the most part poorly trained and low paid thugs in uniforms, but they do maintain some elite shock troops in case of emergencies. However, their power, at least in a direct military sense, stops at the walls of Junktown, for if there were a drop in the amount of troops on the walls, every mutant, bandit and nomad in the area would be at the gates within hours.


I think the FPCC may be one of the first gangs to collect as they would make for a great campaign with the corporate bully boys trying to extend the FPCC influence into the surrounding areas, working protection for chemical convoys or carrying out raids on opposing factions. From their description the corporation have access to quite a lot of vehicles and lowly thugs o back them up (possibly hiring some local gangers as additional muscle)

Nuclear Renaissance Forces: The Wolf Clan

As part of my series of articles on the Nuclear Renaissance setting I thought I would make a start on the forces that inhabit it and to start with I thought I would cover the Wolf Clan.

Background

As is said, many animals died in the final Nuclear conflict. The land was poisoned, and species died out as their habitats were destroyed. However, the tenacious have lingered. The serpents still slither on their bellies, the carrion birds circle and wheel in the skies and the wolf howls on the plain. Indeed the wolves have prospered. They are intelligent hunters and canny scavengers.

It is only to be expected that man copies them in these leaderless times. Wolves may be feral hunters and cunning trap layers, but they are also nurturing parents, and highly social animals. Stories abound of children abandoned in the wastes being taken in by the wolves and raised as part of the pack. Indeed, many folk of the wolf clan owe their lives to the wolf mothers who suckled them.

The wolf clan is as close as it gets in the wastes to a religion. They are a cult who worship wolf deities, and are held in thrall by their beliefs. They reckon that the way of life is to hunt and prey upon the weak, that the pack is the highest authority in all matters.

The alpha members lead the rest of the packs towards goals unknown outside of the clan. Greycoats, Long Fangs and Black Wolves prowl the wastes looking for fresh meat. All protect the cubs and mothers. These are the castes of the wolf clan. The older Grey coats are the wisest of them. The long fangs the seasoned war veterans, and the Black Wolves the young fighting elite. Most feared though are the Wolf Brides, who are said to practice witch craft. Strange powers of the moon send them into trances, when it is said they are granted powers by the wolf goddess, The White Wolf.

Wolf and human are not regarded as separate, and while Wolves cannot speak the tongue of man, man lacks many wisdoms that a lupine mind can teach. There is no distinction in the castes between the two races of animal. They live as symbiotes. Man and wolf are free to take a bride of either species. Those married to wolf ride as cavalry on their steeds, with the free wolves running alongside as their nomadic lifestyles take them far and wide. To keep stride, the people of the tribe often use vehicles. Some travel ahead as scouts, and some even go as prophets. They spread the creed of the wolf cult, and enlist new members. This keeps the human side of the tribe vital and abreast of technology, a necessity out in the poisoned lands they make their home. Most full moons, people of the boneyards stay indoors. The howls they hear are not just of the wolf, but of man too.

(Text Courtesy of Ramshackle Games)

A good example of one of the Wolf Clan is Uffe, a prophet of the White Wolf. He travels ahead of the clan to spread their creed and enlist new initiates to the pack.

Uffe of the Wolf Clan

I quite like the idea of a clan of animal worshipping barbarians traveling the wastes accompanied by packs of great wolves. I can imagine their vehicles being covered in pelts and rather grizzly trophies while the clan itself are a bunch of hard cases in wolf skins.

Alas there arent any other official Wolf Clan miniatures available from Ramshackle at the moment but there are plenty of suitable proxies from other companies. A prime example of this would be the Imperial Wolfbanes from Warzone and quite a few fantasy miniatures. As for wolves, you are spoiled for choice as just about every fantasy range has a few!

I plan on fielding a small force of them at some point in the future, possibly a raiding party with fast vehicles and accompanied by several wolves. Theres even a couple of the old Leviathan resin monsters available from Scotia Grendel that would make excellent great wolves (possibly even the White Wolf herself!)

Next up will be the Friendly Panda Chemical Corporation!

All the best!

The Upcoming Box Set!

Hi!

Well I just received a load of images from the chaps over at Ramshackle Games of the new box set and thought Id post a couple of them here so without further ado heres some pics of the upcoming box sets contents:

Assorted Gubbins

Im really liking the vehicles, especially this beast:

The Stinger

I will post some general bits and bobs on the gangs and organisations in my next post but until then all the best!

The Setting!

Hi!

I thought it may be a plan to show a map of the Nuclear Renaissance's main setting of Junktown (picture courtesy of Ramshackle Games)

Junktown

A sprawling slum built atop the intersection of two large and well travelled roads. It is a mecca for traders selling their wares, travellers seeking shelter and mercenaries looking for the next job.All of this is over seen by the ever present Friendly Panda Chemical Corporation which maintains an Iron grip on Junktown, sending all troublemakers off to work in the company’s narcotics factory. All though their influence doesn’t extend beyond Junktown’s scrap metal walls, inside they are judge, jury and executioner, truly a force to be feared.

With a fair range of different gangs and forces to chose from Im not sure just which one I am going to attempt to paint first but am quite tempted to have a go at building a religious movement like the brotherhood of scrap from the old Judge Dredd comic. I do believe that the Friendly Pandas will have to get a showing too as you cant go wrong with a bunch of chemed up goons acting as enforcers of the law!

In my next post I will take a look at some of the forces mentioned in the rules and the possibilities for interesting gangs!

All the best!

GREETINGS FROM THE WASTES!

Hi!

This is a bit of a new wargaming project for me. My plan is to collect and play a campaign over the course of the year set in the Nuclear Renaissance setting produced by Ramshackle Games.

Ive actually had the rules for a while now but I saw that the chaps over at Ramshackle have plans to release a box set containing all sorts of goodies I thought it would be the perfect time to start playing some post apocalyptic skirmishing!

Last year I had a couple of fairly large wargaming projects that ran into difficulties due to my serious lack of time to paint and game due to being at university but I figure that a 28mm scale skirmish game featuring at most a dozen or so figures and a couple of vehicles a side would be a more suitable (and feasible!) target as I wont have to spend months painting everything up before getting a couple of games in!

Eventually I hope to post reviews, paint logs and battle reports on the blog but until the box set is released I will have to make do with a review of version one of the Nuclear Renaissance rules, the campaign pack and even the Dunger Derby rules from the Ramshackle Games website!

All the best!