Wednesday, December 28, 2016

Unboxing Toys: Warzone 2nd Edition Box Set and Random Police Playset

Two weeks ago, I placed an order for box of the 2nd Edition of Warzone.

This is just one of the projects I know I 'have to' do (the others being the Arab Revolt and a Third World/Banana Republic thingy with Toyota technicals). I have been thinking of painting up some unarmoured sci-fi troopers for a while using the cheap plastic Warzone Imperial figures, but have always held off. After playing Blast Pistol and finding it quite to my taste, I decided to take the plunge before they become unavailable.

In the chaos of the holiday season, the box somehow got delivered to me in less than two weeks, ahead of a few other orders I made earlier (which I hope are not lost somewhere...). The box came shrink-wrapped and is hefty.


Inside, the first thing to greet me was a bag of sprues.


The templates and counters are printed on thin card; some of the pieces have come off.


I also got three books and two d20s.


It took me a while to sort out the 80 spures: 40 of Imperial and 40 of Bauhaus. Placed in two piles, they look like this:


But they make me feel like this:


My interest in 28mm sci-fi also sent me to the local mall to look for cheap generic terrain and vehicles which can used, and I came across a bag of plastic toys for under US$9.

Say hello to more little friends!
As you can see, I got a plastic playmat, some streetlamps, signs, traffic lights, some barriers, and even road cones! There are 20 plastic cops, and a plastic chopper (perhaps 1:72 scale?). But what made me decide to grab the bag were the three vehicles: a Humvee, an M113, and an M1117, all in what appears to be 1/35 scale. They are all in moderately hard plastic, and have good surface details. A bit of googling suggests these are knock-offs from IMEX, but I am not certain.

The M113 is of course the inspiration and conversion kit of choice for the 40K Rhino APC. I have some Rhino parts left over from my conversion of the M8 Greyhound, so they will give me a start in converting the M113. The M1117 looks very impressive if a bit high-riding. I am planning to set the wheels a bit higher on the chassis, and perhaps switch the turret with a commercially-made conversion piece. The Humvee is rather recognisable, but hopefully I can convert it to a sci-fi police car.

My hope is to have enough buildings, scatter terrain, vehicles, and figures to create a sort of a sci-fi shanty town. It will take a while, and that's providing I don't run out of steam. Wish me luck, and send me your conversion ideas?

2 comments:

SteveHolmes11 said...

I'm highly impressed by the assorted cops and vehicles in the final picture.
Let us hope that they accept paint well.

I have few suggestions regarding official modeling kits.
However dry food packaging offers some opportunities.

Boxes of biscuits of cookies often have a flimsy plastic inner.
Inverted and spray painted, these could pass as space dwellings.

I also think that space travel will find an equivalent to today's 40 foot shipping container.
If you can locate a suitable sized box (One you buy lots of), this could be your container.
Containers can double as resource storage, and empty ones as primitive habitation.

captain arjun said...

Plastic tins tend to be a bit too flimsy for my taste.

I did see some pictures of toy guns and vehicles being taken apart and then based and kit-bashed into non-specific sci-fi generator/engine like things. I will look at cheap toys with new eyes from now.