Setla Aliens

Two new figures have joined my collection of little blue aliens. Since I don't like referring to them as little blue aliens each time, I've decided to call their species "Setla." I even worked up some basic rules for the Setla in Dungeons and Dragons (5e), which can be found at the bottom of this post.

These two are both pretty different from their comrades. The one on the left has a head swap from a sprue of Freeborn Domari (from Warlord Games' Beyond the Gates of Antares line). I wanted to have a head from somewhere else so that I could use the head from that model on the other one featured today, but more on that one later. So, with the hood, the eyepiece, and a careful removal of the nose, along with a paintjob that fit with the others, the head is indistinguishable at a glance from any of the other setlan faces. I'm pretty proud of that one. The outfit is the normal jumpsuit, but without exposed hands. It's painted in a yellowish desert camouflage. There's also a brown backpack. I'm thinking this figure is wearing some kind of protective gear, like a Fremen stillsuit.

The other character I'm going to call Tilly because they look like a Tilly. The body was originally a little girl from the Warlord Games' Project Z zombie game, but with the addition of stillsuit guy's original head, Tilly's the perfect size for a Setla. I don't know where they found the frilly purple dress, but they decided to ditch the jumpsuits favored by their species in exchange for a unique look. Tilly also has a scoped magnum, just in case anyone takes issue with the hemline being above the knee.

As noted at the beginning of the post, I wrote up basic stats for the Setla, subject to change.

Setla

The diminutive, blue-skinned Setla are some of the galaxy’s most persistent survivors. Possessing an unparalleled genetic malleability, within a generation, a colony of Setla can adapt to almost any environment. While they originated from a tumultuous, high-gravity homeworld,  Setla are now commonly found across the galaxy.

Setla Traits

Your setla character has an assortment of inborn abilities, part and parcel of setlan nature.

• Ability Score Increase: Your Constitution score increases by 2.
• Age: Setla reach adulthood around the age of ten, when their biology stabilizes. On average, they live around 45 years.
• Alignment: Setla tend toward no particular Alignment. Their moral outlook is as adaptable and varied as they are.
• Size: Setla stand between 3 and 4 feet tall and average about 70 pounds. Your size is Small.
• Speed: Your base walking speed is 25 feet. Your speed is not reduced by wearing Heavy Armor.
• Natural Survivor: Whenever you make an Wisdom (Survival) check related to finding food, water, or shelter, you are considered proficient in the Survival skill and add double your Proficiency Bonus to the check, instead of your normal Proficiency Bonus.
• Gravitational Resilience: You can tolerate gravity up to 3g without any additional protection. If you wear a gravsuit, you can tolerate up to 5g. Your speed is not reduced by gravity up to what you can tolerate.
• Selfsealant: You can hold your breath for a number of minutes equal to 2 + double your constitution modifier (minimum of 1 minute). You can also survive in a vacuum for this duration. After this duration ends, you begin suffocating and/or depressurizing as normal.
• Languages: You can speak, read, and write Common and Setlan.

Setla Subraces

Coldworlder

As a Coldworlder, you have adapted to frigid climates and possess a cold logic.

• Ability Score Increase: Your Intelligence score increases by 1.
• Coldworlder's Resilience: You have Resistance to cold damage. You can tolerate temperatures as low as -50 degrees Fahrenheit without any additional protection. If you wear heavy clothes, you can tolerate temperatures as low as -100 degrees Fahrenheit.

Hotworlder

As a Hotworlder, you have adapted to blistering worlds with the wits to survive them.

• Ability Score Increase: Your Wisdom score increases by 1.
• Hotworlder's Resilience: You have Resistance to fire damage. You can tolerate temperatures as high as 150 degrees Fahrenheit without any additional protection. With protective gear, you can tolerate temperatures as high as 211 degrees Fahrenheit.

Traveler

As a Traveler, you have been exposed to many different cultures, and the diseases they carry.

• Ability Score Increase: Your Charisma score increases by 1.
• Traveler's Resilience: You have advantage on Saving Throws against poison and disease, and you have Resistance against poison damage.
• Extra Languages: You can speak, read, and write two extra languages of your choice.

Waterworlder

As a Waterworlder, you have adapted to living life underwater.

• Ability Score Increase: Your Dexterity score increases by 1.
• Amphibious: You can breathe air and water.
• Swim Speed: You have a swimming speed of 25 feet.
  

Tilly covers the mercenary (provided for scale) while he's distracted.

Space Shuttle Alpha: Assembled

Here's something a bit bigger than I normally work with, a real set-piece for my miniatures. This is a 3D-printed model, the Space Shuttle Alpha (Bus Variant) by 2nd Dynasty. I don't have a 3D printer (yet), but since 2nd Dynasty licenses their designs out for others to print commercially, I was able to find someone on Etsy/Ebay to do it for me. 2nd Dynasty has run several Kickstarters now, introducing new ships each time. Space Shuttle Alpha is their smallest one, and I figured I'd test the waters by trying to build (and eventually paint) this one before considering any of the larger offerings.

The ship is about fifteen inches long. A brave mercenary on a 25mm base stands by for scale. The shuttle is fully modular, built on the OpenLOCK system. There are three main areas. There's a bottom that all hooks together, a top that all hooks together, and a very, very modular series of interior tiles. In the picture to the left, I have it assembled in the default configuration.

At the front, the cockpit. Seats for the pilot and copilot, along with two passengers.

In the middle, four bunks and four cabinets. This is the area I would like to customize more in the future. Maybe put in a bathroom and a kitchenette.

In the back is the cargo bay. This area can be emptied to make a 4x4 area. Unfortunately, this model was printed as half of the original design (back half) and half of the improved design (front half), which came out in April 2020, I think.

Unexpectedly, there were two copies of the front canopy supplied, one in a clear translucent and one in a yellow translucent. Both look nice. They also allow for cool shots like the one to the left.

I think a lot about eventually running a sci-fi RPG, and having a very modular spaceship for the party's home base is perfect.

I'm not sure what colors I want to paint it yet, but that's a decision I can wait on. I've got several more little blue aliens in the process of being painted up and painting this beast will take a dedicated day and a ton of paint to start.

 

Blue Alien Mercenary

  In the previous post, my mercenaries gained their first alien member, a big red fellow with a power axe. Now, 6Gun has gained another alien member with this blue technician.

I love these blue aliens, and have acquired a bunch more to paint up for future use. I painted this one up in the beige and brown of the mercenaries. The prominent ribcage painted up well to look like body armor over his jumpsuit, which was nice.

The new guy is armed with a hand scanner (or something), an alien tool (or something), and has a Walther MP slung across his back. The submachine gun is about as big a weapon as he can reasonably use.

With that, 6Gun is up to 17 members, with two being aliens. One of the blue's comrades stands beside him for scale. And for solidarity.

More aliens to come.

Red Alien Mercenary

Here's a new member of the 6Gun mercenary company. He's a red alien with a power axe. As previously mentioned, I like kitbashing miniatures that let me use other minis in different settings. In this case, this alien is a bridge miniature to bring my modern mercenaries into the realms of scifi. Specifically, I was thinking about the upcoming Stargrave, but someday I swear I will run a scifi RPG campaign and will not be found unprepared.

The majority of the figure is, as with all of the mercenaries, Anvil Industries resin. They make these heads, probably as proxies for Warhammer 40k Genestealer Hybrids, but they work for generic aliens as well. The right arm with the power axe is plastic from the Frostgrave soldiers box. With the pauldron and thick glove, it looks like he has some protection or insulation against the power axe.

He's in the normal 6Gun color scheme. His skin is a base of Vallejo "Game Extra Opaque Heavy Red," which is a good single-coat paint. It's blended with some Vallejo "Orange Fire" for the central, um, ridge? Cleft? The middle bits of the forehead. I then put some different color splotches and washes over the head to give it some splotchy texture. The axe is dark blue blended up through sky blue to white. It's okay, but not great.

So, I realized I didn't have a picture of the current 6Gun roster, even before this gentleman was hired, so I took the below picture. They're so cool. While not my largest army (that would be the brown/maroon medieval team), they are the most detailed and the group I've spent the most time on. Sixteen members!

The Blue and The Grey

This is not something I would have expected to paint, for a number of reasons, but here are two bases of 15mm "Epic Battles: American Civil War" infantry from Warlord Games. The single sprue (with a hundred infantry [five bases], a cannon, and a mounted officer) came free with a copy of Wargames Illustrated. So, despite not using the scale or doing much strictly historical wargaming, I decided to see how well they paint up.

Dr. Singh's shrink ray belittles the reenactors.

The sprue was in grey plastic, meant to be Confederate, so I first did the Confederate stand. I then did the Union stand so I wouldn't have some random insurrectionists without someone to keep them in check. As you can see, the Confederates look dingy and mismatched while the Union boys have slick matching uniforms and moral superiority.

Each base is 20mm deep by 60mm wide. Each holds twenty men (in two ranks of ten) and the rules for this game have five of these stands per full unit. The starter set that's available has over 2500 little men to paint. That seems beyond my powers, given that these two little stands took at least two hours each. Were I to get the full game, I'd likely leave the blue and grey plastic unpainted on most of the units, maybe with a wash.

In any case, while I prefer my 28mm figures, this was an interesting diversion and I now have two little groups of soldiers to putter around my shelves.

2020 in Review

As the first calendar year of the Perilous Miniatures blog draws to a close, it's a good time to review what miniatures I finished this year. Let's take a gander.

• 
  Coinpikes (7)
  
• Caster
• Arbalist
• Armored captain
• Doppelsöldner
  
• Pikeman rookie
  
• Armored doppelsöldner
• Pikeman with burned face
• Goblins (19)
• Shaman
• Apprentice
• Captain
• Swordsgoblins (x4)
• Macegoblins (x4)
• 
  Archers (x4)
• Axegoblins (x4)
  
• Scavengers (6)
• Grenadier
• Medic
• Knife Nut
• Elite with Blue Longcoat
• Old Shotgunny
• Salvager
  
• Wardens (2)
  
• Young Warden
• Axe Lady
• 
  6Gun Mercenaries (16)
  
• Suppressed Pistol/SMG (x4)
  
• Assault Rifleman (x4)
• Shotgunner (x3)
• Marksman Rifle
  
• Grenade Launcher
• Light Machine Gunner
• Drone Operator
• Tracked Drone
  
• Dirk Grimstone, Private Eye
  
• Nox
  
• Smilebert Barrelbuddy
  
• Anachronist Punks (x2)
  
• Owlbear
  
• 
  Blue Alien with Uzi
  
• Crowbar Slasher
  
• Red Hart Pavise Crossbowman (x2)
  
• Spara Cagleoni
  
• Star Spawn
  
• Dr. Singh
  
• Great Apes (3)
  
• General Simius
• Formido
• Pavor

That's 66 miniatures (based on shaky recollection and math), all of which can be found in prior posts on this blog. That's over one miniature per week, though they were usually done in bursts. The biggest project for the year was definitely the 6Gun modern mercenaries. While there were more goblins, the mercenaries were far more detailed.

Looking ahead to 2021, I'm going to aim for 52 miniatures painted for the year, or one per week.We'll see how it goes. I got a bunch of Vallejo paints for Christmas, so I'm looking forward to trying some new colors. I also have high hopes for the upcoming Stargrave skirmish game and the scifi plastic sets that will release with it; maybe 2021 is my year for scifi miniatures.

Happy new year!