20mm, dystopolice/post-apocops.
Gaslands Highway Patrol
I initially found uniformed law enforcement to be a little tricky to imagine in some post-apocalyptic settings, but not for long. Remove the official requirements for a badge and uniform, and anyone can be an enforcer. Ropey photographic evidence to follow.
… but Keep Left.
Mad Max – a genre defining work – features the MFP (Main Force Patrol) as a special police task force in the late pre-apocalyptic era, straddling our present and the mohawk and (assless) chap filled, near future.
As you might expect during societal collapse, the MFP generates a appropriate amount of a quis custodiet ipsos custodes vibe. Are they the good guys? By the end of the movie, maybe not.
The First Temptation of Mel
Of course, you add to that the unreal nature of the Gaslands setting, the vaguely WWE “sports entertainment” side of the bigger events, and maybe these guys are just another gang dressed as cops, a gang with a cop theme. I mean if “The Undertaker” doesn’t really prepare bodies for burial, then maybe these cops don’t do a lot of paperwork.
CP Models cops look warily for the owner of the car parked in the disabled space.
The miniatures shown are a mix of CP Models and the old Citadel Dark Future models. There is a very mild size discrepancy between the two, but certainly nothing more than variation that you might see on any 1:1 street.
“Dark Future Cops are to be on the lookout for a middle aged, caucasian male in knee length red coat, with suspected diabetes, wanted for multiple counts of breaking and entering”
The paint job is quick and dirty, like pretty much everything in my Gaslands project. Rapid output is the name of the game for this project.
“Licence and registration Mr. Audacious. I’m going to have to see an up to date bloodbag permit too”.
Some specific, themed vehicles for these guys will hopefully follow soon, but they are not done yet, so I’m not going to make any promises. The plan is to put together a “Highway Patrol” set of cars to cover a few different options. I strongly suspect that the chief won’t like their methods, but will be unable to argue with their results.
Filed under: Miniatures | Tagged: 2020, 20mm, Dark Future, Dystopian, Gaslands, Highway Patrol, Post Apocalyptic |
sho3box 
Seeing figures alongside the cars really turns this into far more interesting setting. It makes it relatable and immersive and personal.
I think these minis would really benefit from being photographed from a lower angle with a load of horizontal space. I feel more like I’m looking at something on a desk than being part of the Gaslands world.
Nice choice of blue for cops, it’s spot on as vibrant and officious.
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Thanks for the useful feedback Curis!
There is *LOADS* of room for improvement on the photography side, but I have decided that I will just go for quick snaps against quick backdrops for the foreseeable future. Your point about the horizontal space is a good one. I’ll bear it in mind next time.
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Yes… that sort of photography gets significantly more challenging. Lighting scenic backdrop shots while avoiding glare or reflections is quite difficult!
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I’m also trying to find the fastest way to get the minimum photographic requirements, which is adding to the slapdash nature as I experiment.
There is no rehearsal any more: it’s publish and be damned around here.
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These look great. I’ve also recently picked up some Dark Future Street Warriors. Such a classic line.
I’m curious how you plan to use pedestrians in your gaslands game though. Per the unofficial rules in Wargames Illustrated? Are you adding them to specific scenarios? Just decorative scenery?
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I’m glad that you like the paint jobs Mr. White, they are pretty basic, but good enough for purpose.
In games terms, I touched on my plans for using pedestrians in this post. I would like to use them with the WI rules at some stage, and I suspect that I will us the pedestrians as markers for spawn points, flags in “Flag Tag” and “Capture the Flag”, Crates in “Scavenger Party” and anything else that requires them.
In short, I’m painting them because I want to, and I will find ways to get them involved in my games, if you see what I mean.
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Nice work. “Assless chaps” is redundant, of course. Still made me laugh though 🙂
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The chaps-without-trousers look should always generate a giggle I think Dallas!
I hope to be working on some mohawk and chaps sporting figs for the cops to chase pretty soon. The Dark Future range covers those guys perfectly.
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Lovely stuff! They have this weird vibe of looking like 50s or even 20s policemen, similar to the dark future minis sold by em4 or Copplestone. I always considered it a really weird style choice, but I like the look.
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The retro cop look is something that I didn’t initially like as part of the Grenadier/Copplestone Future Wars ranges, but I grew to like it’s odd timelessness of now. The look is almost like a child’s drawing of a police officer, the uniform is a symbol rather than a miniature representation of a futuristic cop.
I remember reading Strontium Dog stories in 2000AD as a kid when cops showed up looking a bit like the Dark Future/Future Wars designs. It bugged me back then – it jarred my suspension of disbelief – but now, over thirty years later, I have the Future Wars cops pegged for use in Strontium Dog games.
It’s odd how that sort of thing works. The allegory and symbolism becomes more important than the specifics, to an extent anyway.
Hmm… I feel like painting those Future Wars cops now…
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It’s true! Also, if you look at the classic film Demolition Man, you can see the San Angeles PD sporting a similar look, jodhpurs and all, although they’ve modernized it with a SWAT style cap. https://www.proparchives.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/62088.jpg
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Good call on the Demolition Man cops!
A silly movie that I might rewatch. I never understood why some sci-fi regards suspended animation as a suitable criminal sentence. Because when you wake up everyone you knew is old or dead, but you are not?
Maybe I’m missing something.
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Those uniforms aren’t THAT old… the double button jackets showed up on NYPD cops in a “Kojak” film from the early 70’s that we watched the other day! And I wouldn’t be surprised if some motorcycle cops still wore the jodhpurs in the 80’s (notably, CHiPs did not wear them).
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The early 1970s is fifty years ago now… just sayin’ 😉
The double button style does have a specific vintage look, even if it was still in use in a more modern era. It’s a good allegorical cop look.
I loved CHiPs as a kid. I am I considering an homage to Ponch and Jon in this project, but I will have to stockcheck my miniature motorcycle pool before I commit.
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Stan Johansen does a series of Lawmen at this scale that would match CHiPS.
https://www.stanjohansenminiatures.com/Road.htm
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The Stan Johansen range looks like fun. With customs/duty and shipping it isn’t feasible for me to any from Europe though.
I think that a pair of mounted bikers with a vaguely CHiP’s colour scheme homage will be good enough for my purposes.
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Fifty… 😐
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You are taking this project to whole new levels now. I’m loving it.
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It’s either spiraling out of control or exactly where it needs to be…
Most importantly, it’s still fun to work on, so I’m still working on it.
A new scale… at my age… madness!
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Well, I certainly didin’t expect such minis, but retro cops make more sense than anticipated. Looking forward to their cars!
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The cars will be a mix of all sorts, rather than necessarily retro like the cop uniforms Suber. They will each be unique too, rather than a fleet of the same design.
I’m looking forward to working on them.
Thanks for the feedback Suber 🙂
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I’m an old Dark Future gamer, and one thing I really liked about the Street Warrior line was those ‘retro’ cops.
To me they weren’t retro at all, but a nod to the early 80s dystopian, action classic …Streets of Fire. In that film it’s hard to tell when the time periods is. 50s? 80s? Some dark future? Either way the cops had a distinct look and the Perrys seem to have been inspired enough to bring them to lawless highways of the 1990s.
Not sure how to post images in comments, so here are two links.
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Ha! Looks like the links turned into images….technology!
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I never heard of Streets of Fire before! It certainly looks like a likely influence on the sculpts, good call Mr. White.
I have cued it up for a watch this evening.
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Oh, you are in for a treat.
Well, I guess it depends on how you enjoy about B-grade, cult films.
I also used to have most of the Street Warriors line, but long sold them off and am now recollecting some for Gaslands. There are a few of these cops and hodded cultists that I need. I’m not familiar with your source. Is it just a blogger with strong web search powers?
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I got my batch of Dark Future figures by asking a friend of mine who is involved in online miniature trading groups – mainly on Facebook – a lot more than I am. He put out feelers and found a person with a substantial number of the figures who was interested in trading for something that was available, and it just fell into my lap.
Nothing smart on my behalf, just one of these things that worked out well without much effort from me. I still owe my go-between buddy for making it happen though.
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These are great, less dystopian than the Judges but mean and crooked looking enough for a post apocalyptic setting. Brilliant speed painting, if you hadn’t told me I wouldn’t have guessed you didn’t spend hour after hour perfecting these.
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The painting was done over about 90mins a night for four nights after work, IIRC. Drybrushing, some experimentation with Contrast paints, basic edge highlights, basing.
Not exactly speed painting really, but basic, low precision and low effort stuff. I’m glad that you like them Kryptovidicus.
Judges would be fun, but as you summed up nicely, these guys fit a little better.
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These are really nice. I prefer the Chicago style uniforms I think, jackboots and post-apoc are made for each other. The scheme really makes the most of those 20mm tiddlers, they are easy to read. Adding infantry opens up the gaming possibilities massively.
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I’m looking at the ever expanding terrain, vehicles and infantry for this project and wondering what other games beyond Gaslands that I am nicely set up for now. Things like Zona Alfa maybe, the 7TV Apocalypse rules perhaps… it’s all a bit faster to achieve in 20mm.
Thanks for the feedback. Hopefully those cops will hit a table with some of your 20mm stuff in 2020.
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Great stuff, and I enjoyed the musings about post apocalyptic cops./ I never got into Necromunda but the idea of doing an Enforcer or Home Guard Militia gang always appealed for similar reasons.
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The idea that these Gaslands games might take place in the wastes outside an Imperial Hive has been given some thought. I have been keeping an eye out for miniatures that look passable as 20mm Enforcers too. They might contrast with the cops here a little too much maybe… or not.
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Great ideas… 👍
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Where do you get your tufts for these 20mm models? I fear the tufts I’ve seen are for 28mm and might be to tall for 20mm. Yours look great. What company and color are you using?
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I get the brown, smallest, self-adhesive tufts from here, and cut them up, usually into quarters, on the backing sheet with a scissors for 20mm.
http://www.tajima1.co.uk/index.asp?pageid=282517
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