Fallout Miniatures Part Four: BIG Super Mutants!

Not too long ago I write a little post about how to make super mutants.  But as you know, super mutants come in a variety of shapes and sizes.

From left to right: Super Mutant (base model,) Brute, Master, Overlord and Behemoth

The basic super mutant (discussed previously,) stands a head or so taller than a standard human.

Bear in mind that our hapless hero in this picture, Mildly Annoyed Max, is a rather tall fellow.

But as you go up in power (and threat) level, they get larger and larger.  On your tabletop, you will no doubt wish to reflect those differences.  When you put out a larger mini, players react appropriately, perceiving the greater threat from the larger mini.

So for my game, I have five distinct sizes of super mutant minis: basic, Brute, Master, Overlord and, if the situation calls for it, a single Behemoth (but that will be for a separate post.)

Now, obtaining all these differently-sized minis may require some clever shopping and/or modification. Obviously scale is the most important factor when looking for larger minis, and you will certainly want to find figures that are all in scale with each other.  What I did, was to examine my options and select sizes for the different types.  So I have four size categories: super mutants (mostly "Handful of Heroes" Hulks and other clix minis,) Brutes, which are slightly larger, then the Masters, which are even larger, and then the overlords, which I made truly huge, towering over the rest of the minis.

I should also point out that I am of the "go big or go home" school of thought, so I want my super mutants to be imposingly large.

To start with, the brutes are only slightly larger than the stock mutants, and are usually better armored.  I tend to use the slightly larger heroclix hulks for this, and keep the smaller ones for standard mutants.  Most of these require little to no conversion, beyond scraping off the hair and a weapon swap, just like the standard sized guys.

Red Hulk here is larger than the baseline super mutant already, and will make a fine brute, and a credible threat for Starting To Get A Bit Cross Max.

But sometimes, I have a smaller figure, and I want to give it some additional height.  This is especially true with the Hulk figures from the Handful of Heroes Line, as they tend to be rather hunched over and squat, such that I have some raider minis that are actually taller than the super mutants

When you have a mini that you want to make taller, there are a few techniques you can use to add height.  The most common method is to simply build up the figure's base, and hope nobody looks too closely.  Another is to try to twist a crouching mini's posture to make it look taller, or bulk up its shoulders with armor or pads.

But those tricks are decidedly unawesome, so I'm not going to talk about them.  Instead, I'm going to talk about physically adding height to the mini itself.  This involves some cutting, some pinning, and some sculpting, but it's not too difficult, even for beginners.

This method will not only make a mini taller, but can also alter the proportions, making an otherwise misshapen figure look more realistic, which is great when converting comic book style characters into more realistically proportioned video game designs.

Incidently, there is a whole subset of the Warhammer 40K community who do this with their Space Marines(TM) to make them more human-looking.

They call it "true scale" and it makes a real difference, feel free to check it out!

Let's start with a Hulk from the "Handful of Heroes" line.

The ugly one; on the left.

This fellow is the "Hulk as War" version , which apparently happened. I haven't read Marvel in years, so apparently Apocalypse got to the Hulk?  I don't know.  But I digress.  He has some decent armor, that can easily be made to look like scrap armor (the thing on his chest looks like the plate of an old calculator.)  But the freaky tentacle and Jai-alai sports gear gotta go, and he is simply too short to be a super mutant Brute.

So he's for the chop!

Using a craft knife, I sliced the arms off right at his shoulder pauldrons, and selected some new arms to replace them, in this case, 40K ork arms holding an "assault rifle."  Now we look at where we want to add height.  The easiest place to do this is at the waist, so I cut him as evenly as possible straight across above his belt.

This allows me to add a couple of scale inches in height, by creating a gap and filling in that space with putty.  To start, I drill two holes in the upper torso, as you can see in the photo above.  Using two pins instead of one makes the join much more stable.  To make sure that the holes on the lower half match up, I used an old trick of dipping the ends of the pin in paint and then press them where I want them to line up.  Then I simply drill the holes where the paint marks are.

Genius!

Then I have to make sure that the pins are the correct length, so that it leaves a gap of the width I want between top and bottom.  Using green stuff, I fill that gap completely.  You can sculpt that bit of green stuff at this time, but I prefer to let that dry completely, and then sculpt additional putty over that. 

For this mini, I later decided to make him even taller, so I also created extensions on his calves, which are one of the other places you can add height.  I sliced him evenly, re pinned the legs, and added putty which I then went back over and sculpted shinguards (yay shinguards!)

 

This is before I added the shinguards.

The end result is a previously short mini that now stands taller than the baseline super mutants, and is suitable for a Brute.

Complete with freaky "axe-face" helmet and welding mask shin guard (yay shinguards!)

From the back.  You can see the wide belt that hides the 'extension' we made to his waist.

Greater peril for Rather Put Out Max.

The next class of mutants are the Masters, which I feel should be suitably large, edging into the 'giant' range.  For them, I use the biggest of my 'normal sized' minis, notably the bigger Hulk figures.  Sometimes, a figure is still a little lacking in height for my tastes, and so said mini will get the 'Ethan Hawke in Gattaca' treatment.

Then he too gets shinguards (yay shinguards!) and whatever other modifications are needed.

Like a minigun.

Although my campaign is in Texas, and that would mean quite a trek for this fella, I couldn't resist the reference.

But I wanted to make a truly impressive super mutant master, starting with the GW ogre body.  Now, in my previous post, I pointed out that the fantasy ogres are oddly proportioned, being both stocky and rather zoftig.

So this means more modification!  Here is the ogre's body as it comes on the sprue:

The reason his feet look tiny is because they fit into pointy shoes

To begin, I had to get rid of the big hole in his gut, as well as all that extra adipose tissue.  I shaved away his love handles and man boobs, and then filled in the hole with a tissue (it was nearby.)  I covered the hole and the shaved chest with putty and sculpted pecs and abs (I always said the only way I'd get a sculpted physique is if I sculpted it myself.)

I also added the compulsory gas tank codpiece.

Next I snipped off the feet below the ankles.  I then actually scraped off the knee with an Xacto knife, so that the cuffs of the pants will become the band of a knee pad, and the baggy pants become baggy shorts.  This allows me to sculpt entirely new feet and shins, conveniently covered in armor, of course (yay shinguards!)

Then we add appropriate head and arms, taken right from the ogre bulls sprue, and voila!  My super mutant Master.

Everything below the knee was made from putty over paperclip armatures (legatures?)

A better view of his legs, and my attempt at a bumper sword.

Now this is a pretty extensive conversion, so many of you might not want to go to such extremes.  There are of course less work intensive conversions that we will take a look at, but I would like to point out that super mutants are meant to be big and scary.  Spending a little time and effort (but still not too much money,) on a few can pay off when you pop them on the table.

Highly Displeased Max is feeling nervous.

Speaking of big and scary, for my money, super mutant overlords are the second toughest monsters in Fallout III.  Behemoths might be big and scary, but there are only five, and each of them are encountered in a situation where clever strategy and good weapons can help you.  Overlords can be found everywhere once you are high enough level, and they can be found in mobs.  I freaking hate those guys (ghoul reavers are the #1 toughest monsters by the way, because you only ever face them in tunnels, where it is hard to kite them or use a Fat Man.)

So I reckon they deserve a truly imposing figure on the table.  I will probably never use more than one or two of them at a time, so I only require a few minis of them.  Luckily, I had three minis of this guy:

That is Atlas, a member of the Marvel Comics team The Thunderbolts, and before that the villain Goliath.  As you can see from the picture, he is a true giant,  standing at least twice the height of the average mini.

As soon as I saw him, I figured he'd make a great towering super mutant overlord.  The hair had to be pulled out and the head puttied over, and the face needed scraping to get rid of the weird face mask thingy (I know; the 90's, right?)  Then I was free to modify all the various details.

Like giving them 'angry mouth.' 

The straps had to be sculpted, and I thought one of them having a Nuka Cola cap belt would be funny.

As you can see, arm swaps, a clever concealing of the freaky moon boots on one of the figs, and some road sign armor, and now Messrs. Josten and Josten are ready to really ruin some vault dwellers' day.

Now he's Mad.

There are a few other 'giant' minis in the Heroclix line that could be made into overlords as well, such as Black Goliath, Yellowjacket or Super Adaptoid from Marvel, and one or too from DC as well (looking at you, Colossal Boy.)  But you can also find toys and plastic figurines from other lines (usually of the Hulk, or some other hyperthyroid superhero type,) that can be painted up and are the right scale for overlords, since they are meant to be so large.

At this point, I should bring up the skin color issue again.  When discussing super mutants, many tend to forget about Nightkin.  Any super mutant can be converted into a Nightkin simply by palette-swapping them with bluish-purple skin.  Usually one only finds Nightkin of a size comparable with base model super mutants, or perhaps brutes and masters, you can use the same guidelines to whip up a batch of them easily.  But that will have to wait for another post.

I have actually considered casting some mutants of my own in clear resin, so I could make some Nightkin cloaked by Stealth Boys.  Or if I ever see some clear Hulk figures, I will snatch them up immediately for conversion.  Oh well, until them, I will just paint up some super mutant characters in the appropriate purple tones to use as uncloaked Nightkin.

So there you have it, a variety of different super mutants.  Here is a size comparison chart of my various mutant figures.

And the behemoth?  He's around here somewhere…

???

Cthulhuween 2013: Assault on Innsmouth!

For the last fifteen years or so, I have run a number of Call of Cthulhu-style one-shot adventures for my friends.  I say 'Call of Cthulhu-style,' because I have used a variety of rulesets over the years (original COC, D20 COC, D20 Modern, and various homebrew variants,) at my whim.

In the beginning, I ran them on Halloween (hence 'Cthulhuween,') but after my wife and I were married, since we both had birthdays in May, we began collaborating on another one shot during that month, the Twin Birthdays of Doom!

The settings and stories have varied wildly, and include homage/parodies of films (Jurassic Park, the Thing, Dawn of the Dead,) and dozens of variations on different themes (sci-fi, Westerns, murder mysteries, superheroes, pirates, etc.)  But they are all related to the Cthulhu Mythos.  True, sometimes I am the only one who gets the link to the mythos, but I always tie it in to Lovecraft's works, or the fiction derived therefrom.

Many of these projects have involved some rather fun and extensive miniatures and set pieces.  So I have decided to start chronicling some of them here, since most involve modern (and specialized) miniatures, so I can justify doing so.

I am beginning with this year's entry, which acts as somewhat of a sequel to "The Shadow over Innsmouth."  I will not recap the story here, but if you've never read it, you really should.  Then come back here.

Okay, now that you have read it, I can tell you that the story takes place after the main action of the tale, but before the narrator's (Robert Olmstead) grim denouement, and before the government forces arrive to deal with the problem.  My story involves Professor Henry Armitage, protagonist of "The Dunwich Horror" and librarian of Miskatonic University, coming across a copy of Olmstead's account.

He hears the description of the strange tiara worn by the Deep One high priest, and identifies it as something too dangerous to fall into the government's hands.  So he has to assemble a team of "Men of Action" to go in and recover the item.

Here's where it gets interesting, because the individuals he recruits (the PC's,) are famous literary characters who were alive and active in 1927.  Sort of a "League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" concept if you will (I should point out defensively that I and several other people had ideas like this long before Mister Alan Moore wrote his excellent work, and this is in no way meant to be derivative, so there.)

Each of these characters was of course represented by its own, custom designed miniature. So I will introduce you to the roster below.  Let's meet them, shall we?

Here is Kent Allard/Lamont Cranston (it's complicated,) better known as The Shadow!  He brought excellent stealth skills and a barrage of gunfire to the party.

Here is the Shadow from the back.  This mini had no modifications at all, and is from Reaper's Chronoscope Bones line, where he is known as "the Black Mist."  Subtle.

Behold the Man of Bronze, Doc Savage!  That pulpiest of heroes, he excels in both pugilism and gunfighting.  He was originally the Molten Man, from the Web of Spiderman Heroclix set.  I used putty to turn his briefs into pants (still way too tight, but time was pressing,) and also to sculpt the exaggerated widow's peak that the character became known for in cover art.

I then used putty to sculpt a shirt, as well as the tattered remains of a torn sleeve (another trademark of his appearance on book covers in later years.)  The picture doesn't quite pickup his bronze hair, but I assure you it's there.

Here is his mighty back.  Please don't look at his pronounced butt crack.  I gave his pants an inkwash, and it did not turn out well.  I was pressed for time, and I will probably go back and fix it one day, but just... I SAID STOP LOOKING AT IT!  Let's move on, shall we?

This is meant to be Tom Swift, boy inventor.  Of course, by 1927 he was no longer a boy.  I used the time traveller from Chronoscope Bones, since I had him from the Kickstarter, and wasn't sure how else to show Tom Swift (there aren't a lot of visual references for the character.)

Tom from the back.  No highlights, just a wash, but I think it came out okay.  Sadly, his player could not make it, so he was not used in the game.

John Reid, the Lone Ranger.  He would be in his seventies in 1927, but it's okay, because he exercises regularly and eats plenty of fiber.  He was a crack shot, but his physical stats reflected his age.  The mini was 'Deadeye Slim,' also from Reaper's Chronoscope Bones line, and I used putty to give him the mask and bandana.  His hair was painted grey, and a blob of silver paint created his badge (if I'd had more time, I could have done more, but this worked out fine.)

The Lone Ranger from the back.  The mini had a duster, and I figured he probably gets cold easier these days...

John Clayton, Viscount Greystoke, known colloquially as Tarzan, Lord of the Apes.  He has great physical skills, and is deadly with a knife.  The only metal mini, he is a Wargames Foundry mini I had from a decade or so ago (and one of the ones that gave me the "League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" idea, even before reading the comic by Alan Moore.)

The back of Tarzan, showing his bow and quiver.

Da-duh DUH DUH, Da duh duh!  (You know the tune.)  Last but not least, here is young Professor Henry Jones Jr.  He has a ton of hit points (since he gets hit so often,) and is handy with gun and whip.  He is made from the Horrorclix Agent 31, with the hat of another Horrorclix mini, Man in Black, added on top.

Another view of Indy.  Much of this mini is the factory prepaint job.  When I'm doing a one shot, there are a lot of things to do, so any time savers I can rely on, I do.

As to the games itself, the characters started out in the middle of town, having snuck onto the back of a delivery truck returning to Innsmouth.  They had to sneak through the town square past a horde of local toughs.

These guys

After the inevitable fight, they barricaded themselves inside the meeting hall of the Esoteric Order of Dagon.  They saw the tiara they had come to retrieve, upon the head of a hooded figure, who quickly disappeared through a trapdoor in the floor, leaving them to fight a horde of hooded cultists.

These guys.

After defeating them, they had to solve a timed puzzle to open the trapdoor's lock.  This consisted of doing a very simple puzzle belonging to my three year old son.  But they had to do it blindfolded, by feel.

This was FAR harder than it would seem, and they really had fun doing it.

Then they found themselves chasing the figure along a network of tunnels, where they were eventually jumped by deep ones!  I had just received my Dwarven Forge Game Tiles from the Kickstarter last year, so I eagerly constructed the scene.  Alas, I did not have time to paint them first, but it still looked really awesome.

Overhead view of the layout.  I learned after taking these that there was a smudge on the left side of my camera lens.  I have children.

I used water tiles from my WotC Dungeon Tiles to create the water channel in the middle of the tunnel.

The Deep Ones are very old Grenadier minis that I have used for many years now (when you run Call of Cthulhu, you use a lot of Deep Ones.)

Tarzan squares off against the biggest Deep One, a 'goggler' from Reaper.

With that done, they faced another puzzle to unlock the trap door in the ceiling, through which their quarry had fled.  This was a coin moving puzzle, which they solved easily (hooray for smart friends!)  They found themselves in an old warehouse mostly over the water on wooden pilings.  The Deep Ones High Priest used the tiara to control a creature beneath the warehouse, causing its tentacles to burst upwards to attack!

The resolution for this photo got screwed up.  You can see the heroes fighting tentacles here, while Tarzan and Doc Savage try to eliminate the problem at its source, and take out the priest with the diadem.

 The tentacles were made from washers with pipe cleaners glued to them.  Then I covered the pipe cleaners with Crayola Model Magic, and sculpted the tentacles themselves.  The suckers were made by first pushing in a plastic tube, to make little mounds, then pushing the butt end of a paint brush into the middle of the mounds to create the suckers.  I coated the surfaces in white glue for stiffness before painting.  Hot glue around the bases (in this picture I had not yet added blue paint,) served as frothing water, since I will no doubt want to use these again someday.

Once they had recovered the diadem, the heroes fled the scene and returned triumphant!  This was a departure from normal Cthuluweens, where usually everyone dies.  But this time, they were playing beloved characters, and only one character perished.  Thankfully, it was the Lone Ranger (it was his time, anyway,) so no continuities were ignored in making this adventure.

As ever, people had a great time, and that's what gaming is about, isn't it?

Just look at those grinning faces...

Bones Are Back!

Okay, I know it's been...more than a week, let's say since my last post.  And I'm not sure if this will reach anyone out there in time to do any good, but if I can save at least one person, blah blah blah.

I previously discussed reaper's Bones line.  I can't recommend these minis enough, and in all likelihood, the only minis I will be purchasing from this point forward (other than my Heroclix for conversion fodder,) will be Bones.

In my previous post, I went on at length about the quality of these minis, so I won't belabor the point (seriously, go read the post if you want the point belabored.)  But as I mentioned then, the single biggest selling point has to be the price.

And the best deal in the history of minis was the Kickstarter that Reaper did to raise funds to produce new molds to manufacture the Bones.  I, and thousands like me got an insane amount of awesome minis for about a hundred bucks.  If you missed out, I feel genuinely sorry for you.

But guess what?  Reaper is doing a second Kickstarter with scores of new minis.  they have a week left as of this posting, so you still have a chance to get in on the action!  And good news, modern players, they have plenty of Chronoscope minis this time, from a variety of milieus and eras.

So if you have not already, go pledge!  And if you have, I will see you in the comments section!

Fallout Miniatures Part Three: Super Mutants!

Okay, so we've discussed vault dwellers and raiders, both fairly generic concepts in post apocalyptic settings.  But today we are talking about one of the most iconic concepts of the Fallout universe; super mutants.

'Sup?

Super mutants are one of the most recognizable and emblematic enemies in the Fallout universe, and let's face it, if you want to play Fallout on the tabletop, you want super mutant minis.

Before we begin, I want to discuss color schemes.  I never played the original two PC games of Fallout, so my vision of super mutants comes from Fallout 3 and New Vegas.  I do know that in the original games, the super mutants were a deep olive green shade, while the ones in Fallout 3 were that sickly yellow hue because they were made using a separate strain of FEV from Vault 87.  So only those mutants found in the Capital Wasteland should have the jaundiced pallor, and others elsewhere should have the green tone of the Master's army (as well as the Enclave's batch.)

I am running my game in Texas, with plenty of super mutant remnants from the Master's army, and I am painting them yellow.  I went back and forth on this a bit, and went with artistic license.  I just think the Fallout 3 coloration looks better and more...mutanty.  You of course are welcome to paint them as you please.

As usual, I will start with a bunch of 'other ideas' that others have suggested, and then proceed to ignore them and give you my own (usually Heroclix-based) solution.  Ready?  Here we go.

One of the most popular solutions I have seen on the interwebz is to use Orks from Warhammer 40K.  Personally, I don't recommend this for a few reasons.  First off, there is the matter of scale.  Looking at the difference in size between orks (or orcs, if you play fantasy,) they are larger and beefier than a normal human (using figures from their own line,) but I just don't feel they are massive enough to represent the size of super mutants to normal humans.

From left to right: a 40K Nob (one of the biggest ones they make,) a standard fantasy orc, a Necromunda ganger, and two of my Heroclix raiders (two of the smaller, older ones.)

As you can see from the picture, even the larger black orc simply isn't big enough to accurately represent a super mutant.  If one looks at the super mutants in game, they look size Large to me.  That means a 2" (50mm) space.  And the orc(k)s are not that big.

In addition, take a look at how the heads attach:

The heads jut out from their breastbones, which not only makes them look unlike the super mutants in the game, but it also makes swapping heads difficult, and you will almost certainly want to do so, since their facial features look nothing like the super mutants.

So I don't really recommend orcs of either spelling for this purpose.  Now GW does make a better alternative in the form of the ogryns, sci fi ogres from Warhammer 40K.

For scale, those are round 40mm bases they are mounted upon (photo courtesy of Gardenninja.com, I did not paint these, sad to say.)

As you can see, visually they work well, with piecemeal armor and big guns.  And they are designed for 40mm or 50mm bases, so the size ratio works too.  However, they are pewter, which makes extensive modification slightly more challenging, and then there is the matter of price.  Games Workshop is not exactly known as the 'bargain basement' brand of metal minis.  Each of these fine fellows will set you back over $20 American, assuming you buy them from the manufacturer.  Of course you could find them cheaper on Ebay (sometimes,) but I doubt they will ever be a 'steal' of a price there.  So because I am a very cheap individual, I can't really recommend this one either.

Now GW's fantasy line has some more affordable ogres that can be converted as well.  They come as a multi part plastic boxed set, and have the same basic dimensions as the sci fi ogryns.

Here are two made from the regular sprues in the set.

Now you get six ogres in the box, and the set currently runs for $40.  That makes each one almost seven bucks apiece, which is better than twenty, but still not super cheap.

I myself had a box from a while ago for use in fantasy games, so I have begun to convert one to use as a super mutant.  The pros of these figs are price (not too bad, at least,) and that fact that they are multipart polystyrene kits.  These two facts make modifications a snap.

But there are a few downsides.  Most of the heads have copious facial hair, in a very 'mongol' style, which clashes with the bald super mutants.  There is only one bald head, and one with only a goatee that could be easily trimmed (the two shown above.)  The rest will require varying levels of modification if you want to go for that 'real' super mutant look.

Another problem is that ogres in Warhammer Fantasy have a culture and biology that revolves around consumption, and the minis reflect that.  They have huge guts, strapped under armored 'gut plates,' and some less than imposing pectorals, that seem to be in need of some support undergarments.  Now, speaking as someone who looks like a devotee of the Great Maw myself, I don't want to cast aspersions on my wide-girthed brethren, but the plastic ogres are a lot more 'jovial' than the super mutants we know and love.

Further causing difficulties in that regard, is the proportions of the minis.  For all their height, the ogres look like big dwarfs.  Look at their width to height ratio, and how long their legs are compared to their torso length.  So if one wants to use these as is. they will make fine mutants of the correct size (maybe they were formerly residents of Vault 10 before being exposed to FEV?) but if you want to make them even more accurate, some modification is in order.  There are ways to accomplish that, but we will discuss them in a separate post.

Of course, there are plenty of other sources of ogres to use as super mutants.  If you can find some suitable minis from other toy or game lines, try to imagine how they could be converted or simply repainted.

This is a selection of dudes I already had lying around.  From left to right: a D&D Miniatures hill giant, the Ogre Champion from an ancient wargame called Battlemasters, an ogre from another old game called Dark World, and finally a clay golem from Reaper's Bones line.

And don't forget using scale tricks.  If you can find an action figure or PVC collectible figurine that works in scale, consider that as well.

But you must be wondering, 'why hasn't he mentioned his beloved Heroclix?  Is this finally a task that is beyond the realm of clixification?"

Well fear not true believers, for the clix world has one thing that is perfect for your super mutant needs:

HULKS!

There are at least a dozen different versions of the Incredible Hulk in the Heroclix line, and nearly every new Marvel set has another version.  Plus there are 'Hulk-like' figures that can likewise be converted into excellent super mutants.

Plus many more! (photo courtesy of Marvel.com)

Most of them are wearing only torn shorts and lots of muscles (Dr. Banner's usual ensemble,) which fits nicely with the fashion sensibilities of Fallout super mutants.  Nearly all of them are unarmed, with their fists clenched tight, but a savvy modder could easily equip them with a melee weapon (having them hold a ranged weapon will usually take some more extensive modification, due to their posing, but is still managable with some practice.)  There is some variation in sizes, and this can also create some nice variety (more on different-sized mutants later.)  Consider this guy:

(Factory standard paint job)

Simply scrape off the hair, repaint to your favorite mutant color scheme, and voila!  Super mutant.  For extra fanciness, you can even equip your new mutant (not those New Mutants) with a Fallout-inspired weapon and add some appropriate armor bits to make it blend in even more.

Behold!  A super mutant!
Yes, that IS a super sledge he's holding, and no, he's NOT happy to see you...

If you go on Ebay, you can find plenty of Hulks to use, and they are fairly easy to convert.  In no time, you can have an army of super mutants to threaten your players.  There are also a few 'special' figures in the range than can be used to make some unique super mutant variants, but that is a post for another time...

However, I have recently found another source for Hulks to convert.  A few years ago, they started putting out a line of little plastic figures of the Marvel super heroes.  They are called "Handful of Heroes" and they come in a package of eight for between seven and nine bucks.  The package is clear, so you can pick a selection that has what you want, except for the eighth figure, who is secret and random (you can usually peek through the corner of the package and tell who it is anyway.)

As you can see, the sculpting is not bad at all for kid's toys.

These are more or less in scale with heroclix, with the 'regular sized' guys (Spidey, Cap, Iron Man, etc.) being a little on the big side.  Unfortunately, the larger guys like the Hulks, who should be larger, are on par with the other guys in the line, which actually makes them a little small for gaming purposes.  But there are like half a dozen different Hulks, and even if they look a little bit shrimpy for super mutants, they still give off enough sense of massiveness to work when mounted on an appropriate base.

Just as will other Hulk figures, you will need to trim away the hair (unless you are planning on sculpting a helm or some such.)  Along with trimming the mold lines (a must for this line,) this is made more difficult by the soft PVC they are made of.

Here are some of the 'big' figures, which are about the same size as the others.  In front we have "Mindless Hulk" to the left, and "World War Hulk" to the right.  These seemed perfect for my needs, so I removed their hair, and used dressmaker's pins to make that hunk of wood into a nailboard.

Here are the final results:

Now, I could have added all kinds of details such as armor and trophies and such, to make them look more "Fallout," but I wanted to keep it simple.  They fit fine onto a 40mm base, and while they don't entirely tower over their opponents, they give a good impression of size.

One of the best things about using the Handful of Heroes Hulks?  I can give the leftover figs to my son and daughter to play with.  They love 'em.

So these are some ways to amass your army of super mutants.  But in Fallout, these foes come in a variety of sizes.  What if you want some models of super mutant brutes, masters, overlords or (dare I even suggest,) BEHEMOTHS?

Stay tuned true believers, I've got you covered,  I will show you how to add height and mass to the models we discussed, and make them even more impressive.  But that will have to wait...

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