Atavist or ancestor?

 Here's a wee conversion I did a few years ago - just got round to finishing off the paintwork.

I'll probably make a few more of these: enough for a little skirmish band. 

But what are they? Primitive ancestor types? Or mysteriously devolved creatures of a familiar type?

Caravan guards

 My first completed miniatures of the new year - some sci-fi caravan guards for a desert scenario. Kitbashed from Victrix Napoleonics and Oathmark goblins and orcs.

Happy Halloween!

(Video by my son)

The world's oldest Space Ork?!

 

This is a converted Fantasy Tribes Orc from Citadel. He dates from 1982 and is a variant of FT06 (Orc Swinging Axe). His axe has not escaped the 80s, so I thought I'd make him a sci-fi figure in the tradition of Gary Chalk (whose converted C15 Orc Chieftain with assault rifle featured in an early White Dwarf).

I have a small warband of converted old-school orcs underway; next up will be Copplestone and Lund conversions.

Oh, and happy Year of the Dragon! Here's my son's latest offering to celebrate the Spring Festival:

Marauders of the Wastes

Any dusty sci-fi setting needs some primitive marauders to come howling out of the wastes at inopportune moments. These Copplestone half-orcs looked the part, I thought.

I envisage three main uses for these fellows in our sci-fi games. 

First, they'll offer a challenge for players who want to eschew the pew-pew for some brutal hand-to-hand action. 

Second, they'll provide a consolation prize for any player who gets knocked out early from a multiplayer game ("OK, these guys turn up - you're in charge. They want to take as many heads as possible/steal some tech/destroy all technology."). Because they don't have guns, they'll represent a fair step down from the starting force, regardless of the rules we're using. 

Third, they'll act as a band of wandering monsters, which we usually include in our games to add some spice. We typically set aside x monsters with stats and then roll dx if a d6 rolled at the end of the turn comes up with a 6. 

I'm going to add some accompanying beasts with the same markings as the shields. And I have a few more on the way: some with bows, which will give them at least some ranged capability.