Off the Workbench - Mark

More photos from Mark's workbench, with a focus on WW2 & VBCW plus a smattering of Dr Who daleks!.

Russian T34s in the foreground and some Daleks to the rear

Allied Stuart Tanks plus a couple of Daimler Armoured Cars?

Close-up of two of the T34s

A couple of SCW Aircraft in 1/72 scale.

Various German Armour and skinned vehicles

VBCW infantry surrounded by all sorts of other kit!

Axis Half tracks and SPGs

Close-up of the VBCW figures

AHPC XVI: From Mike W - 28mm Daleks & Renaissance Crossbowmen (140 Points)

 This week I have a rather strange mix of Sci-Fi and historical Renaissance Crossbowmen, all in 28mm, the crossbowmen are part of a larger batch that I hope to get completed by next week's post, for the time being here are 7 of the little guys.

The Dalek batch completed this week

I have described the painting proess for the daleks in earlier posts and these follow the same steps. I have gone for a retro silver and blue scheme for these guys, just because I like the colours. these may not be entirely 'historically' accurate but fit in with the vibe of other Dalek models finished by club members.

Close-up of some of the alien fiends....

Just for the record thats about 960 little blue hemispheres painted onto these guys! plus 40 little orange lights... Luckily I don't give up easily.

And another view!

The 20 x Daleks are for an upcoming club game set during the Dalek Civil War, thus the need for large numbers of the robotic menaces!

A slightly different angle

The specials! 'Brewed-up' Daleks at each end.
A Warlord Games miniature second left with truely retro bodywork
and a battle damaged Dalek second right.

As with previous year's when I have done Daleks, I have included a couple of casualties. This is the result of using bulk buys of cheap plastic dalek figures, where some of them inevitably end up arriving broken or with parts missing.

I have painted these up as regular Daleks but then used the whispy packing material used by Perry Miniatures (and others) and teased this out to represent smoke. Some yellow and orange paint plus daps of super glue keep this all in place and make a good representation of a Dalek 'Brewing-up!'!

One with rear damage, a Warlord Games mini

And one with frontal damage, from front cover of a magazine

The next group is of 7 x 28mm Renaissance Crossbowmen, this was a group of figures I obtained from eBay, they aaaare 3D printed figures which were sold en masse, at a discount, as they didn't have any heads. I supplied heads from Games Workshop, Wargames Atlantic and Warlord Games renaissance figures.

First seven of these 3D Crosbowmen

Another view

and the final view of the week

Once 'whole' the figures were undercoated in cream and then I used various speed pains and regular paints to dress them before a wash of watered down Dark Tone from Army Painter. Once dry they were varnished and bases flocke diin my normal manner. I have about a dozen more of these little guys to get completed over the next couple weeks.

28mm Dr Who v The Daleks

On Friday 15th August John put on his first Dr Who scenartio, trying out the rule set found in an old Wargames Illustrated (Issue 130: Exterminate. Exteminate. Exterminate by Tony Yates). As ever the rules were adapted a little to meet our needs for this scenario, which was umpired by John himself.

Daleks wer played by Mat, Dave, Nigel &Mark whilst the Humn forcs were played by Mike W, Mike N, Jane & Steve. Rupert took the part of the good Doctor and his glamourous assistants.

The setting was a 6' x 6' table with a range of human settlements spaning the ages, from ancient ruins, to local hovels and some hi-tech futristic locations.

Mayan ruins in the centre, where the Doctor landed,
Chemical Works in the distance

Each location on the board had a number of secret items located for the players to find. The scenario involved a number of Dalek landings as they hunt for human captives and tech plunder, whilst the humans were largely represented by UNIT troops patroling the area to counter reported Dalek sightings.

Forest and swamps, with the ruins inhabited by the Weeping Angels

The Doctor was searching for a spare part for the TARDIS, which needed replacing and which he'd hidden in the area some years ago, but whise location he'd forgotten.

Hovel Village just visible at top of photo

The game opened with a Dalek spacecraft depositing a squad of Robomen, under Mat's command,  near to the Orbital Beacon building and the ese guys proceeded to search the area for humans and loot.

First Dalek Robomen squad land at the Orbital Beacon

Game turn 2 saw the two Mike's deploy their UNIT squads in the hovel village which they proceeded to recce and then set-up defensive positions upon hearing firing from the nearby Orbital Beacon location.

UNIT Squad enter the Hovel Village

INevitably the Daleks headed towards teh hovel village, once Dave & Mark had deploye dtheir Dalek squads to re-enforce their initial positions. Meanwhile a third UNIT squad arrived at the wrecked Chemical Factory where they discovered large quanties of toxic waste.

UNIT Squad approaches the Chemical Factory

UNIT troopers devending the village
take out their first Dalek

Dave's Dalek squad approache dthe Hovel Village and were engaged by Mike W's UNIT squad with rifle fire, to everyone's surprise the plucky humans took out a Dalek. In subsequent rounds the defending UNIT squad took out 3 more Daleks but at a terrible cost to themselves - loosing 5 of the 8 troopers in teh squad during the game.

A Weeping Angel attacks the Robomen

The Robomen at the Orbital Beacon, were also having issues as they encountered a Weeping Angel in the Ancient Ruins that they were exploring, leading to the loss of two of their number. 

Robomen defend the Orbital Beacon as the Weeping Angel attacks

Over the other side of teh table the Doctor and his assistants had arrived and the meet wit hteh third UNIT squad to plan a search pattern. This rendez-vous was gatecrashed by a Dalek Roboman squad, commanded by Negel, who opened up a withering fire on the Doctor and neutralised his two assistants.

UNIT Troopers and the Doctor Rendez-Vous

A firefight then broke out between Steve's UNIT squad and the Robomen, in which significant casualties were taken by each side.

Surprise attack by Dalek Robomen on the Doctor

Meanwhile, Mike N, moved hs UNIT squad to re-enforce Mike W's depleted squad whilst also trying to link-up with Jane's Special forces squad which was deploye din ambush positions across the tabletop.

Steve's UNIT Squad is initially isolated on the wrong side of the Dalek spacecraft

Mike N's UNIT Squad move through the Hovel Village

The space time continum shifted and the game came to an end, with honours pretty much tied!

A good shot of Mark's Spacecraft

A somewhat lonely Doctor fights of fthe Robomen

Club project - 28mm Dr Who - Adventures in Space & Time

In the search for a new period to wrgame the club has been in a collective frenzy as they work towards building a set of figures, vehicles and terrain to utilise the much loved Whoniverse!

So far figures have been painted by Mike W, John, Mat & Mark. There work is displayed below... 

First up, Mark has been working on Cybermen and Sontarians

A group of Sontarians

No mercy for weaklings!

Also a group of classic Cybermen

You will be deleted/modified/upgraded........

Next John has been busy with the 4th Doctor and some UNIT troopers

3D Printed U.N.I.T. Troopers, in UN berets

The Doctor and his assistant

Close-up of the U.N.I.T. Troopers

Now we have some U.N.I.T. Troopers, Daleks and their Human Thralls as painted by Mike W.

Two squads of Daleks, in retro silver & blue livery with their leaders in red.

Two Thralls, looking to collect Human Genotypes for the use of their masters

A group of British Army, U.N.I.T. Troopers awaiting their bases to be completed.

Finally we have seom Sea Devils from Mat

Sea Devil assault squad ready to reclaim a salty future for earth!

Scenarios are being devised and rules adapted to run a game in the new future (or is it the past!?)

AHPC XII: From Mike W - 28mm Dr Who Miscellany

 Out of the pile of plastic and lead have emerged a small collection of Dr Who related figures, namely his enemies - Davros and some Daleks, Cybermen and a few Ood.

The Whole Group

First to the iconic Daleks, these are mostly ridiculously cheap plastic figures known as 'Mini Monster Army' that I sourced off of eBay and I already have number of these painted up in a range of bright colours. These guys are going to be Davros' personal body guard. (For those not in the know Davros was the inventor of the Daleks and he's a pretty sinister guy, hence the black and silver colour scheme for him and his followers. 

Unpainted (Mostly - a couple supplied with very poor finish) as of Monday!

Included with these Daleks is a rare Heavy Weapons Dalek. This and the Davros figure are Warlord Games miniatures - if I remember correctly.

By all accounts the Heavy Weapons Dalek is a venerable,
battered and somewhat disillusioned member of the Dalek Forces 

Whereas Davros, is your typical overbearing megalomaniac,
subject to underestimating his enemies 

As these Dalek models are so cheap (30-40 pence each in UK, if you look hard) they often turn-up with broken pieces, I have simply taken to modelling these as destroyed / knocked-out Daleks by taking a pair of clippers to cut off the top of the model and when painted stuffing the hole with some smoke. (Not sure what this 'smokey' material is exactly but rather conveniently Perry Miniatures use it to pack their metal figures, I long ago realised it makes good smoke / steam, when teased out).

On reflection a darker background may have been better to show off the smoke effect!

These models were undercoated grey, given two watered down black washes before using neat back paint to colour in the lower bumper and collar. Oily Steel was used for the grill work and weapon / sensor stems before a touch of orange on the head sidelights and a light blue 'eye' added to the head stem.

These Davrovian Daleks, will join others I have previously painted,
to form a force within a force for the Daleks

And then the gutsy bit, the silver domes on the body of each Dalek - did you know each model has 48 such domes? The Davros model has 56 domes (presumably because he's in charge!), that's a total of 670 domes...

Luckily I have a secret weapon - a silver Sharpie pen - this allows an oil based silver paint to be placed via a relatively fine nib, onto each raised dome. It made a horrible job tolerable!

Repeat that all with the Heavy Weapons Dalek, which was painted white and then a Gold Sharpie pen was used to add the gold/brass detail on the figure. Another 56 domes, this time in gold.

Next we have a group of Cybermen, again from Warlord Games, this time in plastic. These are pretty much straight out of the box, these guys are straight forward to paint, silver washed with watered down dark tone, then the light blue chest light added and a matt varnish.

Cybermen on their frame

The Cybermen crew, heartless robotic foes of humanity

Close-up of a Cyberman

Finally the Ood, again pretty sinister chaps, all dressed in black with tentacles for a mouth and a small white ball that is a universal translator, enabling then to communicate with anyone they come into contact with.

Ood figures glued to bases and undercoated grey.

Again the Ood are available from eBay as part of a Mini Monster Army set that appears there from time to time and are again as cheap as chips! These guys were undercoated grey and then given three very watered down black washes, to build up a black cloth feel. Skin tones were Balor Brown dry brushed with Ivory and then washed in regular flesh tone. The Tentacles were first painted Imperial Purple and the washed in purple ink.

Not sure what the collective noun for Ood is, lets say here's a flock of Ood!

The translator device was painted white before a matt varnish as scenic basing added.

A detailed view

With all this Dr Who stuff, I sound like I know what I'm talking about! Not so. Its all just what I've found on the web! I haven't really watched any of the episodes since David Tennant left and even then I was an infrequent watcher...

...I just like the idea of putting on a Dr Who themed game at some point in the future - another surrealist Survivor type game no doubt!

I've put all the figures on round bases and have used a home made premix sand / grass scatter - not much shows on the Dalek models though.