Aliens v. Predator - The Hunt Begins Miniatures Game

Started by Manchu, Oct 10, 2013, 03:38:58 PM

Author
Aliens v. Predator - The Hunt Begins Miniatures Game (Read 386,735 times)

[cancerblack]

[cancerblack]

#1350
For the record, the Praetorian and Royal Guard are the same thing - both versions of the model come with both stat cards.

Something I'm not sure if you've had time to think about is that the multipart models (on your previous order, just the sentry guns and loader - the king is multipart but has a diorama base) come with generic black bases that stick out like dogs balls next to unicast stuff. If you're on Facebook I can direct you to a guy who makes cheap, good looking bases to remedy that.

I also forget if you mentioned what experience you have with miniatures (other than liking boardgames), these are resin which means there's a few key principles (you may or may not already know):
- They're a fair bit more fragile than the rubbery plastic in most boardgames, the tradeoff is the insane detail
- The multipart ones require some cleanup with a hobby knife. Unicast technically don't, but benefit from a bit anyway.
- Assembling multiparts or repairing any damaged models can only be done with superglue. Do not use anything else.
- Keep out of direct, prolonged sunlight.
- Anything that's bent/droopy can be fixed with hot water. You can also create alternate poses this way, within reason.
- Should you get a hankering to paint them, wash the models and use a spray on primer before putting brush to them.












And on the topic of bending things with hot water, here's some super quick reposing of the Alt Warriors, although I plan to get a lot more ambitious once I have more on hand:









And my latest painting efforts, which have already done the rounds on FB but I haven't posted here yet.


Need to go back and add little details like tattoos, patches and hazard signage on these boys (and fix the eyes), but most of the work is done:









"Brood Alpha" to act as a nominal leader in games with no HQ models:






Infant Predalien, made with Predalien head/tail, a modified Warrior body and Stalker arms. For those moments mid-game when you really need a third one.




Kailem

Thanks for the tips! Yeah I don't have a ton of experience with miniatures outside of getting Warhammer 40K back when I was in school and gluing some of that stuff together. But that was decades ago, so this stuff is definitely good to know! I've been going through the rules of the base game and taking a look at the models included there and realising that yeah, I'm definitely going to have to be very careful with them. Stuff like the Aliens' tails look they could snap off really easily.

I'm not on Facebook, but hopefully those bases won't bother me too much. I assume they just never got round to doing unicast versions of every model, since only some of them look like they come in both versions or unicast-only on the website?

Still Collating...

Quote from: [cancerblack] on Jul 03, 2019, 07:29:55 PM
For the record, the Praetorian and Royal Guard are the same thing - both versions of the model come with both stat cards.

Something I'm not sure if you've had time to think about is that the multipart models (on your previous order, just the sentry guns and loader - the king is multipart but has a diorama base) come with generic black bases that stick out like dogs balls next to unicast stuff. If you're on Facebook I can direct you to a guy who makes cheap, good looking bases to remedy that.

I also forget if you mentioned what experience you have with miniatures (other than liking boardgames), these are resin which means there's a few key principles (you may or may not already know):
- They're a fair bit more fragile than the rubbery plastic in most boardgames, the tradeoff is the insane detail
- The multipart ones require some cleanup with a hobby knife. Unicast technically don't, but benefit from a bit anyway.
- Assembling multiparts or repairing any damaged models can only be done with superglue. Do not use anything else.
- Keep out of direct, prolonged sunlight.
- Anything that's bent/droopy can be fixed with hot water. You can also create alternate poses this way, within reason.
- Should you get a hankering to paint them, wash the models and use a spray on primer before putting brush to them.












And on the topic of bending things with hot water, here's some super quick reposing of the Alt Warriors, although I plan to get a lot more ambitious once I have more on hand:









And my latest painting efforts, which have already done the rounds on FB but I haven't posted here yet.


Need to go back and add little details like tattoos, patches and hazard signage on these boys (and fix the eyes), but most of the work is done:









"Brood Alpha" to act as a nominal leader in games with no HQ models:






Infant Predalien, made with Predalien head/tail, a modified Warrior body and Stalker arms. For those moments mid-game when you really need a third one.





Another round of awesomely painted minis.

razeak

Cancer any chance you can give a brief tip on how to make those stripes/underdome details on the alien skulls look like they have depth like that?

Kailem

Oh yeah meant to say thanks for the offer with the bases too, cancerblack.

Also, do I take it that any figures that have the blank/basic bases are multi-part and any that have the more detailed ones are unicast (with the exception of things like the Alien King)? And that if that's the case all the marine packs are multi-part?

[cancerblack]

[cancerblack]

#1355
Quote from: Kailem on Jul 04, 2019, 05:35:31 PM
Oh yeah meant to say thanks for the offer with the bases too, cancerblack.

Also, do I take it that any figures that have the blank/basic bases are multi-part and any that have the more detailed ones are unicast (with the exception of things like the Alien King)? And that if that's the case all the marine packs are multi-part?

Correct. The only unicast marines are in the core box.


Quote from: Still Collating... on Jul 04, 2019, 11:57:09 AM
Another round of awesomely painted minis.


;D


Quote from: razeak on Jul 04, 2019, 03:26:18 PM
Cancer any chance you can give a brief tip on how to make those stripes/underdome details on the alien skulls look like they have depth like that?


It's reasonably fiddly. Also note that you may wish to add or remove steps if using different colours, it's more of an art than a science.

Over a matte black base I paint stripes of the same base tone I use for the flesh (Citadel - Stegadon Scale), then give the cranium a wash of dilute black (same one as it's based with, using a premade black wash would kill the smoothness as you'd have two different blacks competing).

I then highlight the sides of the stripes, leaving the top third or so of each as-is, with Stegadon again. This is followed by smaller highights of Citadel - The Fang and Russ Grey.

Next is a second, very thin wash of the base black, over the whole area again. While it's wet, I quickly use my brush to push a little away from the brightest highlights.

This is followed by another layer of black wash (thickness as per the first, not the second), painted in a line across the top of the cranium, front to back, which I feather out slightly to make more of a blended gradient.

Finally I use any remaining wash to quickly re-coat the front and back (ie; non striped) areas of the cranium to ensure a nice flat finish. I've given mine a gloss coat to finish but they look great without it too.

SiL

Thanks for the notes!

I caved and got a Crusher, eggs, and Elder Predators to get myself over the limit to get Dutch and Lynn.

[cancerblack]

Did you have any Elders yet? They're some of my favourites from the range, really amazing sculpts.

SiL

No, I avoided Predators in the previous sale because they're easy to use alternate models for, but the Elders were on the short list.

Kailem

Another Predalien, some more sentry guns, some evolved warriors, some eggs and a Praetorian = ordered.


razeak

razeak

#1360
Ugh I'm.down about $500 on this sale. Yikes.

Thank you for the tips Cancer.

[cancerblack]

Tinkering with the idea of an Alien Resurrection set. Prototype warrior:




The Kurgan

Nice.

Excellent result. I was also toying with the idea but chickend out because i suck so hard at sculpting  ;D

Kailem

Just out of curiosity does anyone have any specific way that they pack everything back up? I just about managed to get everything back in the box after my initial test run but it was pretty much just in a "well I guess these fit here" kind of way with most of the tiles on the bottom along with the tokens, then the figures in their foam, then whatever tiles were left over on the top.

I also got an email confirming that the orders are going to take a fair while to actually ship. I'm guessing it's the same one they sent out for the previous 40% off sale since it mentions there being a holiday in Poland in May that might slow things down, unless that's an incredibly long holiday! :laugh:

Either way I had fun running through the game for the first time, albeit in a three-player match played by myself just so I could try and familiarise myself with the rules and the flow. The final marine came within a single turn of reconning the Predator pod and winning the game when a Predator smart disc flew around the corner and sliced him up, but since I was controlling all three factions I was ok with that! :laugh: I'll take a look at the rules for the Last Stand mode at some point so I can play some proper single-player games in the future rather than these "that's not how it's supposed to work" kind.

[cancerblack]

Quote from: Kailem on Jul 12, 2019, 02:23:03 PM
Just out of curiosity does anyone have any specific way that they pack everything back up? I just about managed to get everything back in the box after my initial test run but it was pretty much just in a "well I guess these fit here" kind of way with most of the tiles on the bottom along with the tokens, then the figures in their foam, then whatever tiles were left over on the top.

I use the box to store tiles/tokens, and avoid the foam like the plague. The angled cuts mean I've already broken plenty of Alien fingers, tails, a set of Wrist blades and a spear tip via snagging. If you don't actually need to take them anywhere, the ExPac boxes are a really good storage option. Personally I have the luxury of a glass cabinet I got cheap second hand, and am looking at some more from IKEA.




QuoteI also got an email confirming that the orders are going to take a fair while to actually ship. I'm guessing it's the same one they sent out for the previous 40% off sale since it mentions there being a holiday in Poland in May that might slow things down, unless that's an incredibly long holiday! :laugh:

Yeah they could have updated that lol. Since then I've also received the "preparation in progress" email, which generally has meant shipping is imminent, but didn't really seem to mean anything in the last big sale.





QuoteEither way I had fun running through the game for the first time, albeit in a three-player match played by myself just so I could try and familiarise myself with the rules and the flow. The final marine came within a single turn of reconning the Predator pod and winning the game when a Predator smart disc flew around the corner and sliced him up, but since I was controlling all three factions I was ok with that! :laugh: I'll take a look at the rules for the Last Stand mode at some point so I can play some proper single-player games in the future rather than these "that's not how it's supposed to work" kind.

Last Stand is great fun actually. Just make sure to take heaps of Marines/Preds, otherwise the Aliens will get you boxed in early and make it near impossible to progress through the map.

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