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IMPERIAL LISTENING OUTPOST
Gothic games are all the more interesting
if they are based around specific locations as much as the vast emptiness of space. There
are all manner of features that can be used such as the planets
and asteroids mentioned elsewhere in the terraforming section.
One of my personal favourites however is the Imperial Listening Outpost, easy to make
it not
only looks the part but can also be used as the objective for a particular fleet
engagement.
The body of the asteroid can be made from a range
of materials such as polystyrene or plant oasis, however in this instance I have used a
real rock (the same rock used to make the asteroids earlier). Once you have picked a good
size and shaped rock, select a hole or pit where the base can be mounted. I have used one
of the larger plastic flyer bases for this purpose, but pretty much any type of stemmed
base can be used. To fix the base in place I pushed a small blob of 'green stuff' into the
hole I had selected and then pushed the stem firmly into the putty. Once set this makes a
much more robust join than if you merely glued the base in place.
The buildings are taken straight from the bits box
and can be pretty much anything you like. The spare hangers and weapons batteries from the
cruiser frames are particularly useful for this, but I have also included parts from some
Epic vehicles to make the fuel tanks and living quarters.
Once you have glued all the bits in place that you
want, spray the entire model with a black undercoat. You can then drybrush the rock with
the colours you want to use. I find that using the same colours that the asteroids were
done in useful as then the asteroids can be scattered around the outpost to make it
look like it is in the centre of a much larger field of drifting debris. In this instance
I dry brushed the rock firstly Codex Grey, then Space Wolf Grey for highlights. A final
light drybrush of Skull White was used to pick out the crater edges and detailing on the
buildings. The rest of the building details were picked out using a range of metallics
from Tin Bitz to Shining Gold (and Boltgun Metal for the weapon batteries).
 The finished mining base
can be used as a simple piece of static scenery, however it can also be used as a
defensive base by using the rules for planetary defences found in the Gothic rules book.
Another interesting use is to base squadrons of Fighters and Bombers there instead of
weapons platforms, that way the base can have its own standing defence force which can be
used in the game by the defending player.
All sorts of different installations can be made
this way including fuel depots, pirate bases (my personal favourite) or even planet
killers (asteroids with engines...definitely Orky if you ask me). Either way I hope you
can see that planets are not the only option for terrain objectives in the
Armageddon sector
so get building.
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