Vampifans Views 125 - Monthly Musings 95

It is time for another of my Monthly Musings and I start with another Jim Silke panting of Vampirella. It has been an interesting month for me. Of late I have been doing a lot of painting and modelling but hardly any gaming. That changed this past month. I have played many games of Judge Dredd: Helter Skelter (it's very addictive!), a few games of Wacky Races and even a game of Zombicide:Invader. It felt so satisfying to play so many games.

On the painting and modelling front I have been concentrating on my German Panzer Grenadier army for Bolt Action. I have just about finished painting 30 plastic Warlord Games Panzer Grenadier infantry, a Panzer IV Ausf. H, an Sdkfz 251/10 Hanomag half track with 37mm gun and two Sdkfz 251/1 Hanomag half tracks. All vehicles were produced by Warlord Games. Speaking of them, I made use of their Black Friday sale and bought a King Tiger tank, 3 Tiger 1 tanks and an American M10 Wolverine tank destroyer. The reason for buying so many tanks is that I bought the Tank War supplement for Bolt Action earlier this month. I do plan on buying more Sherman tanks later. I was most impressed with Tank War but my main focus for Bolt Action still remains infantry vs infantry with just a small smattering of vehicles. However, playing Tank War will be an interesting diversion from the norm.

The big news for me is that yesterday I received my Mega package of the Judge Dredd: I Am The Law skirmish game from those fine folk at Warlord Games. A full review of it including the rules and figures will appear on my WOIN blog. Initial impressions are highly favourable. The figures are absolutely first rate although they are rather large at 35mm tall on average. Some may see this as a bad thing and yet another example of scale creep. This does not bother me at all as it means they fit in well with some of my older Judge Dredd miniatures and scale creep has never bothered me that much. As I keep saying, people come in all shapes and sizes so why shouldn't our miniature figures reflect that?

Having played Warlord Games' Strontium Dog sci-fi skirmish game before I am very familiar with the new rules in the Judge Dredd game, which are based on them. By the way, my Judge Dredd WOIN campaign is ready to go and will be played alongside any Judge Dredd: I Am The Law games. I haven't decided yet if they should be connected by running them at the same point in time with the same characters or not. Most likely I will. It would seem to make sense.

There's not much more to report here so I'll sign off and remind you to check out my WOIN blog for all my Judge Dredd news. Cheers, folks!

Judge Dredd: Helter Skelter - a Review

This world is not the only one. That was the painful lesson learned by the denizens of Mega City One when Judge Death descended upon the city from Deadworld. With him, they first encountered dimension jump. The Dark Judges came again and again, ravaging the people of this world in their judgement. 
The Sovs' dimension shield flung nukes into alternate worlds during the Apocalypse War. Judge Cal brought old enemies to Mega City One, colliding different realities to destroy Dredd once and for all. Each time, the very fabric of reality was stretched and the line between worlds blurred.
Now, whatever was holding the world and its neighbours apart has shattered. Buildings flicker in and out of existence. Horrifying creatures roam the streets. People long-dead and from the far future are appearing, joined by many who had never existed in this world at all. Death and destruction rule supreme.
It's Helter Skelter.
But there is hope for those with the willpower to brave the chaos. As the worlds bleed together, some fragments of reality remain pure, untouched by the cataclysm around them. By finding and connecting these fragments, they can restore the world they're from and its inhabitants can return.

This is the rationale behind the Judge Dredd: Helter Skelter boardgame. The game is designed for two to four players but I have been playing it solo with two factions. The game board is double-sided with the Dan Tanna and Enid Blyton blocks shown on one side (see photo above) and the Grand Hall of Justice on the other side. To win, a faction must collect five of their fragments of reality and/or kill five enemies or any combination adding up to five. The game uses no dice but is entirely card driven. Gameplay is very simple and easy to learn. The rulebook is only 12 pages long. There are four factions in the game, each comprising of five unique 28mm scale figures.

The Judges
The Judges are the Law in Mega City One, the last bastion of order in a world gone mad. The Judges are fierce fighters who excel when working closely together, but they are more than capable on their own.

Judge Giant is a steadfast soldier and a fierce warrior, wielding his shotgun to deadly effect.
Judge Anderson's psi abilities weaken her opponents, leaving her foes vulnerable.
Chief Judge Hershey is a savvy strategist, excellent at manoeuvring herself and her team to deadly effect.
Judge Dredd is a force of nature, firing high-explosive rounds to destroy his foes.
Mean Machine has been drafted to join the Judges in the chaos, and his extreme capacity for violence is a welcome addition to the team.

The Strontium Dogs
The Search/Destroy agents, better known as the Strontium Dogs, are space-travelling bounty hunters and mutants warped by the fallout from the Atomic War. The Strontium Dogs rely on their ranged capabilities, but they aren't afraid to get up-close and personal.

Middenface McNulty is a seasoned warrior, well-equipped and hard-headed.
Durham Red is a powerful mutant with vampiric abilities, and a lethal close-up combatant.
Johnny Alpha, their leader, combines the supernatural abilities of his eyes with excellent gunmanship.
Wulf Sternhammer is a brawler through and through, and goes toe-to-toe with the strongest of them.
The Gronk is a timid soul and not much for combat, but it's always on hand to heal its friends.

Nikolai Dante
Nikolai Dante and his allies are well versed in war and chaos, hardened in the battles between the Makarovs and the Romanovs. They rely on their speed to get close to their foes, quickly trading range for melee powers.

Viktor Romanov is a solitary warrior, with his power to transform into an eagle granting him great mobility and strength.
Tsarina Jena Makarov is a born leader, commanding her allies on the battlefield with natural ease.
Nikolai Dante is an expert with his sword and his rifle, the courageous leader of the team.
Elena Kurakin Nikolai's bodyguard, promises a swift and violent end to anybody who threatens him.
Lulu Romanov has the power to create swarms of demons to overpower her foes, extending her reach.

Slaine MacRoth
Slaine MacRoth leads a small group of his closest; his wife and son, and his chronicler Ukko. Outnumbered and Outgunned, they rely on brute force and cunning play to reach victory.

Ukko is a cunning and stealthy dwarf, who causes a lot of damage when he gets up close.
Slaine MacRoth wields his massive axe Brainbiter, demolishing his foes, and is capable of transforming into a berserking hulk.
Niamh is a vicious and strong-willed fury across the battlefield, unmatched for speed.
Kai is trained in the Druidic arts, and is able to wield his magic for rejuvenation or destruction.
Warp-Spasm Slaine does not start the game but must be transformed into by Slaine. Once transformed, he remains in this form for the rest of the game.

The figures have all been ink-washed, which really shows of their stunning detail. I mainly bought this game for the figures but instantly fell in love with the gameplay. Up till now, no-one has ever made Nikolai Dante figures, so they are a most welcome addition. I was asked to provide a size comparison photo and here it is.

From left to right are a Wargames Foundry Judge, a Mongoose Judge, a Warlord Games Judge and the Osprey Games Judge Dredd. He is a good match size-wise but is more realistically proportioned. I will, of course, be painting all of the Helter Skelter miniatures.The sculpting of them is excellent. They are made of hard plastic.
Each player sets up on the board in five of 40 zones randomly selected by an opponent. Players receive seven action cards at the start of the game and can play any amount of them to activate their characters providing the card has a symbol that matches the chosen character. It costs one card to move one zone or to make an attack or defence, two cards to climb to a higher level and three cards to pick up a fragment of reality token. Fragment of reality tokens are randomly assigned to five zones not occupied by a player. Each turn, players receive three new cards to restock their hands but can't go over seven cards. The key to winning is knowing what cards to play on what characters, making it a very tactical game and a lot of fun.
For any 2000 AD fan, this is a must have game as I can't recommend it too highly. It's fast, it's fun, it's easy to play but hard to master, so give it a try. I have played it quite a few times now using different factions against each other and all my games have been very closely fought with either side having a good chance of winning so it would seen all four factions are evenly matched. As I said in my last Monthly Musings, Amazon UK are selling it for £39.00 instead of £60.00 - a massive saving.

Vampifans Views 124 - Monthly Musings 94

I have had yet another incredibly prolific month painting and model making. But first, I present another portrait of Vampirella as painted by Jim Silke. It certainly shows her in a playful and naughty mood. It does not offend me as I really like this picture. It does show just how skimpy Vampirella's costume is.

I mentioned above that I have been doing a lot of model making this past month. For Bolt Action I have made my first vehicles - two "Deuce and a Half" trucks for my American forces and Oddball's M4A3 Sherman tank. I have just about finished painting them so expect reviews of them very soon. Once they are finished I plan on making three German Hanomag Sdkfz 251 half tracks. These are plastic models. The two "Deuce and a Half" trucks and Oddball's Sherman were part resin and part metal, so were very quick to assemble. I thoroughly enjoyed making them as I very rarely make vehicles.

I was especially pleased to finish painting the last of my Core Space Trader crews. Expect a Core Space batrep very soon. I am still painting lots of figures for my Bolt Action project. I finished painting two American G.I. squads, one of which was led by Sergeant Rock and features about a dozen named characters, which I'll be showing very soon. I am currently painting some German specialist teams - a medium machine gun team, a medium mortar team, two sniper teams and a high command squad. They should get finished in the next couple of days. I am trying to get as many Bolt Action figures painted during November because of the following.

Warlord Games will be releasing the new Judge Dredd skirmish game in late-November, just in time for my birthday. Because I want everything to do with this game I have pre-ordered the Mega One Launch offer package, which features everything available from the first wave. At £230.00 it is definitely expensive but it is cheaper buying everything in one go than in buying the components individually. My favourite figure out of this launch is Judge Dredd on the Mk.III Lawmaster bike - a quite exceptional sculpt. The timing of this launch is perfect for me as I am very close to starting my Judge Dredd Role Playing Game campaign on my WOIN blog. I am more interested in collecting the figures than in playing the game, which is based on the Strontium Dogs rules. That's not to say I won't play the game but how often will be determined after I read the rulebook.

With me spending so much pre-ordering the Judge Dredd Mega One pledge I was hoping not to spend any more money on gaming items but lo and behold I spot this item to the left here on Blaxkleric's blog and knew I had to have it. This is Zombicide 2nd Edition, which has upgraded the rules for easier play and what I found most exciting, offers the Zombicide Role-Playing Book. That is something I am very keen to play. The new figures are a vast improvement over the ones in the original Zombicide boxed set. I was pleased to see that the original six survivors are still present with stunning new sculpts. In addition, I have also ordered the Washington ZC expansion supplement in which the survivors get the chance to meet the president of the USA. This is a Kickstarter game so won't be released until November 2020 barring any delays. I'm patient, so I don't mind waiting. Once again, I want everything that is available for this game so I have gone for the All Out pledge for £141.00. Given the huge amount of free stretch goals you get this is really good value for money. On the down side I am going to have loads of zombies to paint as well as a large amount of survivors. Ah, well, it'll keep me busy! Also, the figures and tiles from the previous contemporary Zombicide sets can be used with 2nd edition.

Yesterday I received the Judge Dredd: Helter Skelter boardgame by Osprey Games. This is based on  the Helter Skelter story from 2000 AD comics #1250-1261 written by Garth Ennis. Martin Wallace is at the helm once again here, bringing his Wildlands format to the tabletop but with a Judge Dredd spin. This miniatures board game has you playing as unique and iconic characters from the worlds of 2000 AD like Judge Dredd, Slaine, Nikolai Dante and Strontium Dogs as you rush around Mega-City One trying to find aspects of their shattered universe and of course crushing, blowing up, and shooting anyone who gets in their way. The game comes with 20 superbly sculpted 28mm scale plastic figures - five unique characters from each of the four factions. All of them are ink-washed in order to bring out the detail in the figures which means that you don't need to go that extra step to pretty them up if you don't want to! I have played the game once and absolutely loved it. The Strontium Dogs defeated the Judges in a very closely fought fight. I bought it primarily for the figures but the gameplay has really won me over and I want to play it again and again. The production values of this game is excellent and I have no criticisms to make. A review of the figures will appear in my next post. It has a RRP of £60.00. Amazon UK has it for sale at only £39.00, which is an absolute bargain.

MC1 Citizens 08

In this post I'm showcasing three 28mm scale male Mega City One citizens, all of whom were sculpted by me. I've used them in other sci-fi games, as they are generic enough to be used in more than one sci-fi setting.

 The citizen at the far left serves a number of useful purposes. Is he just an ordinary shopper? Or is he something more sinister - a terrorist, perhaps? Is he carrying a bomb in his bags? Is that a real beard and moustache? Why the dark glasses and wide brimmed hat?
In the centre is the only named character out of this trio. He is Jon Kupishii, an office worker. He is carrying a briefcase and a folded up overcoat. Because he is keeping his head lowered, he might have a shady secret. Or maybe it's just a wise precaution because in a city with so many adults being unemployed, those with a job are often resented.

Finally is an anonymous shopper. This fashionable young man has been shopping for groceries at Mosgrove and Thrung, a well known department store (think Marks and Spencers), noted for their green bags with the distinctive white M&T logo.
I still have few more citizen types to show you but they'll keep for another time.

MC1 Citizens 07

Here are another four female citizens from Mega City One. These four 28mm scale figures were sculpted by me many years ago. Two of them are named NPCs whilst the other two are yet to be named.

At the far left is Mercedes Night. Mercedes is a private investigator who specialises in tracking down missing persons. She is carrying a torch in her right hand. Note that she is unarmed as she does not have a permit allowing her to carry restricted weapons. Although she can carry legally sanctioned weapons, she prefers not to.
Next up is Joanna Lubley, a blocker whose hobby is shopping for clothes, shoes, handbags and perfumes. When Games Workshop brought out the first Judge Dredd RPG in the 1980's they included a couple of sheets of cardboard NPCs for you to cut out and use in your games. One of those NPCs was Joanna and I based my sculpt on the picture of her.

Second from the right is another blocker, a citizen who spends her entire life in one city block. She is not based on any character that I'm aware of - she's just the product of my fertile imagination. In case you're wondering, those question marks on her jacket were drawn on her with a fine nibbed Rotring pen.
Finally, this brunette citizen was originally designed to be used in Cyberpunk games like Cyberpunk 2020 or Shadowrun, but of course she fits in just as well in Mega City One where I'll use her as a standard Citizen.

MC1 Citizens 06

In this post and the next one I'm going to take a look at some of my female sci-fi citizens to use as inhabitants of Mega City One. Rather unusually, all five have been given names by me.

At the far left is Maria Mercurial, the star of an old Shadowrun scenario. The figure was produced by Ral Partha and she has cybernetic arms and legs. The sculpting on her is exquisite and perfectly proportioned. In MC1 she would be a Star, a notable singer with a big following of fans.
Next in line is Tina Merrill, who is either a Blocker or a Citizen. She is a very old figure produced by Citadel Miniatures as part of their Spacefarers range which were created long before Warhammer 40,000 came into being.
In the centre of the group is Takazumi Tomokumi a 1/48th scale model who came with a plastic Manga hover vehicle. I forget who exactly produced her and the vehicle but it was a Japanese firm. Given that she is a driver I've decided to make her a professional Driver. She will undoubtedly be one of the racers in the Superslab Slam scenario that appears in the Judge Dredd and the Worlds of 2000 AD rulebook (see p.203 -207).

Fourth in line in Zoe Heriot whom fans of Doctor Who may recognise as one of the companions of the Second Doctor (Patrick Troughton). Her figures is produced by Black Tree Designs. I'll be using her as an Employee - a Personal Assistant to a corporate manager.
Last up is Kisten Galdot, a Blocker or Citizen. She was produced by West End Games as a rebel operative for their Star Wars range.

MC1 Citizens 05

Here are another five male citizens of Mega City One. From left to right the first and fourth figure were produced by Grenadier Miniatures as part of their  Traveller range. The second figure is from Citadel Miniatures Spacefarers range. The fifth figure is from Moonraker Miniature's Spacelords range. I have no idea who produced the third figure. As with the others he is a very old figure bought in the 1980's.
At the far left is an ambassador according to Grenadier Miniatures. I will use him as one of the Social Elite in Mega City One.
Next to him is another member of Mega City One's Social Elite. He is the only figure out of this batch that I have name. He is called Cyrano Curtiz.
Third in line is yet another Social Elite citizen. He is obviously dressed as an ancient Roman Senator. His mirror-shades look out of place but places him in a much later time period. The reason I bought him was to use him in my old The Ace of Spades Campaign using the GURPS rules. Many citizens of the Mercantile League dress up in ancient Roman costumes. Also, much of their architecture is inspired by the ancient Roman Empire. Given the wacky and weird costumes worn by many MC1 citizens, I figured he'd fit in well in this sprawling metropolis.

Second from the right is some kind of scientist. The best career option for him is the Boffin, who are skilled scientists and some of the most sought after citizens in the city.
Finally is a doctor. Sadly there is no career option for a doctor in Judge Dredd and the Worlds of 2000 AD, so I'll use the Medic career option from the N.E.W. rulebook for him. The beauty of the WOIN rulebooks is that they can all be used for cross overs.

MC1 Citizens 04

Continuing my look at my figures of Mega City One citizens here are six more males. These are a mixed bunch with the three to the left being the same figure from their 25mm scale Spacefarers sci-fi range (1980), the next two were produced by West End Games for their 25mm scale Star Wars range. Sadly I have no recollection of who made the figure at the far right. I do know that I bought him in the 1980's. Despite these all being 25mm scale figures they still fit in well with my 28mm to 32mm scale figures.

The figure at the far left was such a generic looking civilian that I bought three of them. Apart from their paint schemes, the first two are identical. The one at the far right is either a Blocker or a Citizen. Next to him is an Eldster as denoted by his pale grey hair. For the third one I added a can of a fizzy drink to his right hand.

Third from the left is the surly bartender, Cedo Partu from the Mos Eisley cantina on Tatooine from the film, Star Wars IV - A New Hope. He could be either a bartender or a barfly in Mega City One.
Next up is a rebel operative. I don't think he appeared in any of the films but he might have made a very brief appearance.
The unknown figure at the far right is just another generic sci-fi civilian.

MC1 Citizens 03

I still have lots more figures of Mega City One citizens to show you so without further ado, here is the next batch. These six figures were all produced by Citadel Miniatures in the 1980's. The three to the left were alternate Time Lords from their Doctor Who range. The next two are from their Judge Dredd range of figures and the final figure is a Rogue Trader psyker. Most of them have not been named.

First in line is a Social Elite civilian wearing the most extravagant clothing to show off his wealth and eccentricity.
Second from the left is an African-American Citizen. He walks with a limp hence his need to use a walking cane.
Next up is another eccentrically dressed Citizen. He is carrying a "boom box" in his right hand

Moving on is a Blocker. This figure was originally a perp holding a pistol but I clipped off his pistol to convert him into a Blocker. His T-Shirt features Belinda Plook, who was most notably arrested by Judge Dredd whilst performing at the Megavision Song Concert. Note that I have made figures of Belinda and her band which I'll show in a later post.
The only named character from this group is the second from the right. She is Melda Dreep, a Blocker, who lit the fuse to the Block Wars when someone from a rival block dropped an ice cream on her head. As a result, Block Mania spread throughout Mega City One resulting in a massive death toll. The Block Mania story was a prologue to the much longer The Apocalypse War story.
Finally is a Psyker citizen. Psykers are individuals with psionic powers but are not members of Justice Department. Justice Department tries to recruit as many psykers as possible into their Psi Division; however, many with appropriate talents are unable to be Judges. Some may be too old to enter the Academy of Law – although the age limit can be raised for those whose powers are revealed at a later date there is a limit to this. If powers are first spotted in a teenager or adult then they are considered far too old to become a Judge.

MC1 Citizens 02

Preparations are well in hand for the start of my new Judge Dredd campaign. In the past, I have shown a lot of my Judges, Perps and Robots but not many Citizens. In this post and the next few posts I'll be showcasing a lot more of my Citizen figures starting with these six, all produced by Moonraker Miniatures as part of their Spacelords range. Most of my Citizens have not been given names but some have.

At the far left is a male citizen from set 3706 - Civilians. Based on the career choices in the Judge Dredd and the Worlds of 2000 AD rulebook, I'd class him as a bog standard Citizen - one of the multitudes living in Mega City One who try to keep their heads down to stay out of trouble. Alternatively, he could be a Blocker.
Next in line is a Ship's Crewman from set 3720 - Ship's Crew. He could be a Pilot, Scientist or Engineer or even a Smuggler. He'll be in big trouble if the Judges spot him smoking that cigar!
Third from the left is another Citizen or Blocker who is also from set 3706 - Civilians. Blockers were born and raised in a city block and quite often spend their whole lives there, never venturing outdoors. After all, the block provides all they would ever want.

Third from the right is an armed civilian from set 3701 - Adventurers. He could be a small business owner or perhaps even a Survivalist. Note that ownership of a pistol is not necessarily a criminal offence - it all depends upon the type of pistol.
Second from the right is another Civilian from set 3706 - Civilians. He, too, is armed and is very similar to the previous Citizen in that he too, is armed with a Pistol.
Last up is the only female of this group and the only one I have named. She is Falujah Faliraki, the fourth figure from set 3706 - Civilians. In my mind, she has to be one of the Social Elite where she attends all the best social functions that happen in the best blocks in the sector.

Necromunda Ambots

I recently bought two boxed sets of Ambots for Games Workshop's Necromunda game. These multi-part plastic kits are very detailed and look very impressive when built and painted. Ambots can be hired by any gang in Necromunda.

The Luther pattern Excavation Automata is a heavy construct built in imitation of the Ambull, a huge, roughly humanoid xenos creature common to hot, arid worlds. Thought to have evolved in the endless deserts of Luther McIntyre 9 in the Segmentum Solar, the Ambull is now common across the Imperium. Humanity, having attempted to domesticate the brutes to make use of their traits. Ambulls are natural tunnellers, their powerful limbs ending in diamond-hard claws that enable them to dig through soft rock at a surprising speed. Their eyes see into the infrared spectrum, making impeccable use of even the faintest levels of light and they are even able to detect heat signatures as a visual stimulus.

The greatest success in domesticating the Ambull lie in using the creatures as the organic component of a heavy mining construct. Specially crafted instrumentalities are fused with the brain and nervous system of the Ambull, in a process perfected by the Adeptus Mechanicus, to circumvent the most ancient laws proscribing the "machina malifica", the dreaded "machine that thinks". When the creature awakens in its new robotic shell, it retains the natural tunnelling instinct it had when it was flesh, whilst its aggression and hunting impulses are suppressed by cranial governors. Consequently, Luther pattern Excavation Automata, or Ambots, as they are commonly called in the underhive vernacular, are not uncommon on Necromunda, where they are utilised for slag mining and ash excavation. A common danger of using such constructs, however, is that there is always an underhive gang waiting for the opportunity to liberate  such a prized commodity and utilise it as a weapon against their rivals.
You get two Ambots in the box, which come in different poses with a selection of options like heads and underarm weapons. The red and blue Ambots were built as per their instructions. As were the yellow and green ones but on these two I clipped off their pincers. Also, I left off the big right arm shoulder pad from all of them. It didn't look right to me. Just one of these is a very tough fighter in Necromunda with high stats across the board. However, not surprisingly, they are expensive.
The boxed set of two 40mm tall Ambots cost £25.00 if you are stupid enough to buy them from Games Workshop (greedy bastards!). I bought mine for £19.88 per box from Wayland Games. Element Games sell them for £21.25.
Although I primarily bought them to use in Necromunda, I also plan on using them in The Robot Wars for my upcoming Judge Dredd campaign. I plan on using them as Heavy Metal Kids in the scenario, although technically speaking, they should be twice as tall. Size-wise they'd work better as Industrial Robots but the Heavy Metal Kids are such an integral part of the story that I have to include them. Sure, this is a compromise but better this way than not using them.

MC1 Assorted Perps 01

I am currently working on preparations for the start of my new Judge Dredd campaign, using the Judge Dredd and the Worlds of 2000 AD RPG rules by EN Publishing. I already have most of the figures I need for the start of my campaign but I'm working on adding more. A lot of my time has been taken up in creating character record sheets for my Judges, citizens and perps. In a Judge Dredd campaign, if you're playing Judges (which I'll be doing) you'll need a constant supply of perps. So in this post I present four new perps. None of them are named yet but that'll change soon.

At the far left is a tough-looking female armed with a pair of Spit Pistols. Her left arm has been replaced with a cybernetic arm, no doubt because of a serious injury. I see her as a gang leader or high ranking perp. The figure was produced by Warlord Games as a limited edition figure, along with a Judge armed with a Lawrod who were only available if you bought the Judge Dredd Miniatures Game rulebook and its supplement, Blood on the Streets. I already had both books and did not want to fork out for extra copies just to get two rare figures. However, I later found both figures for sale without the rulebooks on eBay and luckily the seller had a "buy now" option. I think I paid about £10 for the pair, which I considered a bargain.

The next two figures are a pair of Juve twin sisters, both wearing respirators and armed with a Spit Pistol each. These cost me absolutely nothing! My brother printed them out for me on his 3D printer after he downloaded them for free from the Thingyverse website. They are not perfect by any means and whilst on the small side do remember you can scale 3D prints up or down. At this size, they fit in perfectly as Juves. The one at the left is the original sculpt, whilst the one on the right has had her right arm cut off and repositioned by me. I like them.
Finally is a mutant Punk or Wrecker armed with a big hammer. He is in fact an Orc Coach from Mantic Games Dreadball game, available here http://www.manticgames.com/mantic-shop/mantic-points/dreadball/product/15-mantic-points-coach-orcy.html I decided to paint him as a human mutant, hence his flesh skin tones and make his pointed ears and large teeth his mutation.
You can never have too many Perps when playing Judge Dredd and these are all useful additions to my collection.

Vampifans Views 116 - Monthly Musings 86

February has been a very good month for me on the hobby front. I'll get round to that soon, but first I present another portrait of my favourite vampire, Vampirella, as painted by Manuel Sanjulian. It is a very beautiful portrait that I like a lot. Vampirella just oozes sex appeal here.

I have been painting and am continuing to paint a lot of 35mm scale Doctor Who miniatures from Warlord Games. I just recently finished painting the 9th and 11th Doctor and their companions sets. On my painting desk right now are the 4th Doctor and his companions, the five figure Master set and Kahler-Tek the Gunfighter (a free figure if you spend £75 or more, which was so easy to do). With quite a backlog of Doctor Who figures to paint I did not want it grow any bigger, which is why I have been doing my best to reduce it. They are a lot of fun to paint so it certainly isn't a chore.
I also still have loads of 32mm scale Black Scorpion Tombstone figures to paint, so I have also been making inroads into getting more of them finished. Black Scorpion is my favourite manufacturer of Wild West and Weird West figures, so painting them is a real pleasure. I am currently painting a group of skeletons and zombies which I hope to showcase soon.

On the gaming front, I finished playing the basic Resident Evil 2 campaign from the starter set. My heroes survived and completed it successfully. I look forward to trying out some of the expansion sets. I have almost completed the campaign provided with the Here's Negan board-game, which has been a lot of fun. No survivor deaths so far, so fingers crossed I can successfully finish the 12 scenarios that make up the campaign. Also, I completed the first scenario of my St. Trinian's campaign using the N.O.W. rulebook. You can read it on my WOIN blog. It was an incredible amount of fun.

Just last week, I bought a brand new game called Judge Dredd - The Cursed Earth, a card game by Osprey Games. The premise of the game is that a group of three Judges (Dredd, Giant and PSI Judge Anderson) are searching the Cursed Earth for Max Normal who has fled Mega City One. Also on his tail are a group of perps led by Mean Machine Angel. The Judges must find Max before the perps do. Gameplay is very simple and it does not take too long to play a game. You can play as a solo player (always a big plus for me) or as a team either co-operatively or competitively with Judges verses Perps. Playing as the Judges is the default mode. Also, there are three difficulty levels for the game - Cadet (beginners level), Judge (standard level) and Chief Judge (difficult level). Each investigation is split into two day parts beginning at Dawn and Dusk. In each part, six Encounter cards are laid out in a row and must be played in order from left to right. In the Dawn phase, the player chooses three cards from his hand of six to play and the top three cards from the deck to form a row of six cards which are arranged in numerical order from low to high. At Dusk, the player places his remaining three cards from his hand plus the top three cards from the deck but each card placed can be placed to the left or right of the row. Once they have all been resolved the player draws six more Encounter cards to add to his hand. A new day begins at Dawn.

The encounter cards show their numerical value at the bottom left corner. The boxes at the top of the cards are split into three codes - yellow boxes are compulsory and must be played; red boxes are choices (you choose one red box to play and ignore the other red boxes); blue boxes are optional - you can decide whether to play them or not. The symbols in the boxes must be resolved in order from left to right. They can be good, granting you resources or allowing you to progress through the Cursed Earth, or bad by removing your valuable resources, wounding you or allowing the Perps to advance. A symbol in a circle is bad, a symbol not in a circle is good.

Here is an example of the end of a game. The black meeple on the Max Normal card at the right of the row of location cards shows that the Judges have won. The grey meeple on the Great Dust Bowl card in the same row represents the Perps. My thoughts on this game are very favourable. The cards are large tarot card-sized with beautiful and evocative artwork. It is a very difficult game to win, which is not meant as a criticism. I played Cadet level first and won first time, by the skin of my teeth, admittedly. Afterwards, I played eight Judge level games and only won once, again by the skin of my teeth. I have not attempted to play Chief Judge level. My only criticisms are that the tokens are made of thin card; I'd have preferred they be made of much thicker card. Also, I do not like the two meeples used to represent the Judges and the Perps. In my opinion, they cheapen the look of the game. I use a 28mm scale figure of Judge Dredd and Mean Machine Angel to replace them.
If you are a fan of Judge Dredd I can highly recommend this game. It costs £24.99 from the Osprey Games webstore. However, I bought my copy from Amazon UK for just £21.23.

Schleich Watering Hole

My brother is a very generous person and he bought me a very impressive 2018 Christmas present. He asked me what I'd like and I replied anything from my Amazon wish list. He then asked me to choose the one item I'd most want and I had no hesitation in nominating the Schleich Watering Hole set. I'd already bought two Schleich River sections and the Waterfall set, all of which were compatible with one another. Schleich are a German firm who specialise in highly detailed large scale animals, dinosaurs and fantasy creatures. I have some of their dinosaurs and I'm very impressed with them.

Here are all of my sets including my small Scorpion's Nest. Note how the river seamlessly fits in with the waterfall and watering hole sets. I should mention that these sets are not sold as 28mm scale scenery pieces but they fit in perfectly with figures of that scale. I've included my Copplestone Castings figure of Vampifan in many of the photos to give you a sense of scale. The main reason that I wanted these sets was to use them in my Wild West games plus others like, for example, the Cursed Earth from Judge Dredd.

For the rocky outcrop of the waterfall, I gave it a Citadel Agrax Earthshade wash then dry-brushed it with Foundry Arctic Grey Shade 33A and Foundry Base Sand Light 10C. The waterfall was heavily dry-brushed with Foundry Arctic Grey Light 33C (White). For the sandy base I gave it a Citadel Seraphim Sepia wash followed by a dry-brushing with Foundry Base Sand Light 10C. Note that there is a cave hidden behind the waterfall, which is useful for hiding in.

Vampifan has climbed to the top of the rocky outcrop. I'm glad I took the time to paint my scenery items as it makes them look much more realistic. The sculpting of this set is most impressive

The two river sections were the first items that I bought from this range because I always wanted a river section to use in my games. A major criticism I have of many commercial or scratch-built rivers is that the water does not look very realistic. In the old days I just used blue mounting board to represent my river sections. They worked but were hardly realistic. One look at the Schleich River section and I was immediately taken at just how realistic the water looked. What they have done is use a piece of coloured paper for the river bed and fixed a piece of clear perspex on top of it, which is textured with the ripples of the river.

A very small item I bought was the Scorpion's Nest. It comes with one plastic scorpion. My second scorpion came with the Watering Hole set. Using the scorpions with 28mm scale figures places them in the giant mutant category - ideal for a Cursed Earth or Weird West setting.

The Watering Hole set has a large footprint and is very cleverly designed with a cool surprise, which I'll reveal below. It came with about half a dozen animals you'd find if on a safari but they are all massive and totally unusable for 28mm scale gaming. That didn't bother me at all as I wanted this set for the scenery not the animals.

That said, the scorpion and the giant centipede shown above emerging from a cave, are very useful as mutated insects. Just look how the light is reflected on the water in a very realistic manner.

There is a small island in the centre of the watering hole. How do you reach the island if you can't swim? The tree splits in half to form two bridges. Perhaps it got struck by a bolt of lightning which rent it in half. What a cool surprise!

The large rocky outcrop shown above forms another cave which is big enough to stand a 28mm scale figure inside.

Yet again, just look at how realistic the water effects are. I am mightily impressed with these sets. I'm already thinking up scenarios based around the watering hole for a few of my games.
The river section costs £11.99, the waterfall costs £17.98 and the watering hole currently costs £58.00 but when my brother bought it, it only cost £39.99. I'm not sure why it has had such a massive price hike. The scorpion nest cost £3.99 but is currently unavailable on Amazon UK.

Vampifans Views 113 - Monthly Musings 83

Greetings, one and all, to another of my Monthly Musings. As usual, I'm starting with another Sanjulian painting of Vampirella, whose work I have been featuring all year. This is a beautiful piece of artwork that I am most impressed with.

November has been a very good month for me. In my past few posts, I have been reviewing the Firefly Adventures: Brigands and Browncoats game. The game is very good and I plan on playing many more games of it. Having bought the two Crew expansions sets, they will improve it immeasurably. Extra Crew and new Jobs greatly add to the re-playability of the game, which is no bad thing.

I have finished my Zomtober and Zomvember challenges for this year. Concentrating on making a start on my collection of The Walking Dead figures certainly revived my enthusiasm for the game. The biggest problem I have with these monthly painting challenges is that they are only meant to last one month and then a new one comes along. For me, as soon as Zomtober ended I wanted to carry on painting more of my The Walking Dead figures, which is what I did. Having completed all of the wave 1 figures, I have now turned my attention to the scenery items. I'm working on the 3D barricades and supplies. I have ordered a few scenery sets from Mantic Games for the game as well as the Here's Negan spin-off game. One of the scenery items I ordered was Hershel's barn, which will fit in very well in Wild West games as well as contemporary games.

Currently on my painting table are a mix of sci-fi figures. I'm painting figures from Gerry Anderson's Captain Scarlet and UFO TV series (both produced by Crooked Dice Games) as I decided it was long overdue that I plug a few holes in my collections of them. In addition, I am also painting the newest figures from the Strontium Dogs skirmish game by Warlord Games. I have also been painting more 3D scenery items that my brother has printed out for me to use in a variety of games.

For my WOIN games, I have rebased and repainted some more of my old sci-fi figures to use in my The Ace of Spades Campaign. I have also made a start on creating characters from the Judge Dredd and Worlds of 2000 AD book. As you may well be aware, I have a huge collection of Judge Dredd themed figures, so I have loads to create character stats for. Fortunately, character creation is something I very much enjoy doing so it is no great hardship - it's just very time-consuming.
Thanks for reading and all the best to you.

Vampifans Views 112 - Monthly Musings 82

Halloween greetings to you all. I start with yet another beautiful Vampirella painting by the talented Sanjulian, whom I've been featuring all of this year. It is unusual to see Vampi wearing robes but I do like her look.

So what have I been up to this past month? For the first time ever I entered the Zomtober challenge and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Initially, I decided to paint the 38 figures from the top layer of the Mantic Games Kickstarter wave 1 boxed set of The Walking Dead. Having completed that task in just three weeks I then decided to carry on and finish painting all of the figures from wave 1, which included 8 more zombie figures in the above boxed set, booster packs featuring, Rick on horseback, Morgan and his son Duane, more zombies and the 6 figures from the Prelude to Woodbury starter set, which consisted of Brian "The Governor" Blake and 5 more zombies. I know I should be calling the zombies, "walkers" when referring to The Walking Dead but I much prefer to call them zombies. So far, I have shown 34 of the 38 figures I've finished painting so far. The remaining four will be featured in my next post, followed by all the rest of the wave 1 figures. Zomtober morphs into Zomvember! I'm having so much fun painting these figures that I want to carry on. I have all of the wave 2, 3, 4 and 5 figures and I have pre-ordered the Here's Negan stand alone boxed game, which goes on sale on 19th of November. Just to prove that I have painted all of the figures from the top layer of the Kickstarter wave 1 boxed set, here's a photo of them all. Impressive, huh?

In other news, the Judge Dredd and the Worlds of 2000AD Kickstarter came to a close a few days ago and was phenomenally successful. 2,004 backers pledged £148,802 of the £7,500 needed to fund it. Within a few hours of the project closing I had received PDF copies of the rulebook, The Robot Wars supplement, the Games Master's screen and the counter tokens to use in place of miniature figures. Physical copies of these products are due to be shipped in January 2019, which isn't too long to wait. I'll do a full review of them after I receive them. I must admit that after browsing through the PDFs I am extremely impressed by the high quality and production values of these items. I have read the character generation rules for creating Judges and I have just finished designing my own character record sheet to use for the many Judges, Perps and Citizens I'll be creating. This was based on my own designs for my N.E.W. and N.O.W. character record sheets with just a bit of tweaking. I am in the process of transferring the stats of the four pre-generated Judges found at the back of the rulebook to my CRS's. Then I'll start work on creating my own Judge characters to use in the campaign that I'll start playing early next year.
EN Publishing have announced plans for some of the next products that will be appearing from this range next year. These include two supplements for Judge Dredd - Luna-1 and The Cursed Earth. Rogue Trooper and Strontium Dogs will be the next two rulebooks but note that these will only cover the characters, careers, equipment and settings for these stories. For the basic gameplay rules you will need the Judge Dredd and the Worlds of 2000AD rulebook. Morrus, the head honcho of EN Publishing, has announced that he already has a full manuscript for one more product and is half way through another, both of which should be released in 2019, so exciting times!
Comparing this version of the Judge Dredd role-playing game to others from the past I can definitely say that it beats all others hands down. It is just a brilliant product and I am mega excited about getting back to playing Judge Dredd again.

For my WOIN blog, I have been busy painting more sci-fi figures and I have increased my cast of St. Trinian's staff and schoolgirls. I am still working on creating Character Record Sheets for them all - there are about 40 in total, so it's a big cast and each one is unique. I have also been painting scenery items and furniture to use in my next The Ace of Spades Campaign scenario and my first St. Trinian's Campaign scenario, which will be my first game using the N.O.W. rules.

It's Halloween night tonight and I love Halloween. I'm stocked up on treats for the kids and I'm looking forward to seeing their costumes. Last year I had 15 trick or treaters and they all put a lot of effort into their costumes. I'm hoping this year will be just as good. Happy Halloween everyone.

The trick or treater I most want to meet tonight! It looks like she's trying to smuggle a couple of pumpkins out under her dress!

Vampifans Views 111 - Monthly Musings 81

September has once again been a very productive month for me hobby-wise, more of which later, but first here is a delightful portrait of Vampirella by the talented Spanish artist, Manuel Sanjulian. This would seem to be a perfect pose for a Vampirella statue but it hasn't happened so far. Speaking of Vampirella statues, my collection has now reached double figures and they take centre stage on my china cabinet in my living room.

The big news for me for September was the launch of the Judge Dredd and the Worlds of 2000AD Kickstarter by EN Publishing on the 25th. Amazingly enough, this project was fully funded within 9 minutes! I was never in any doubt that it would get funded but I wasn't expecting it be so speedily funded as that. I backed it for the Chief Judge's Pledge, which gets me the basic rulebook, the Robot Wars supplement, the Games Master's Screen, the card counter set plus free PDF copies of the books. Note that initially, a dice set was offered but they have been replaced by a set of cardstock counters of Judges, perps and civilians. This is because supply of the dice would have delayed the release of the other products and EN Publishing are committed to short delivery times, which is certainly to be applauded. To be honest, I have so many six-sided dice that missing out on these ones is no big deal.

The Kickstarter runs until Friday 26th of October 2018 and the estimated delivery time for the physical products is January 2019. PDFs will be sent out once the Kickstarter closes. Here's the link for it - https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/enworld/judge-dredd-and-the-worlds-of-2000-ad-roleplaying?ref=email I was absolutely delighted to see that my review of the Kickstarter that I posted on my WOIN blog gets a mention. So too, does Blaxkleric's reviews that he did on the Dawn of Comics website. No doubt Simon will be just as chuffed as I am.

Speaking of WOIN, I am hoping to continue to my The Ace of Spades Campaign very soon. I have the scenario all written out and character record sheets created for the major participants. All that is missing are a few 3D scenery items that my brother has printed out for me. I should receive them later today when Mikie comes over to visit me.
A couple of weeks ago I ran a review of the N.O.W. rulebook on my WOIN blog (see here ) and in it I mentioned a few ideas for campaigns that I'd like to run with those rules. Andy suggested I go for a zombie apocalypse campaign with my PC of Vampifan taking centre stage once again. John, however, expressed a desire for a St. Trinian's campaign. They'll be pleased to know that I plan on running both campaigns later on. The St. Trinian's campaign will kick off first. I am busy creating character record sheets for the staff and students of this infamous girls' school and I have lots of ideas for scenarios. This will be a campaign using cinematic rules with an emphasis on fun and slapstick. Gritty and realistic it won't be! I'm still thinking about what I want to do with Vampifan - make him a loner or give him a family? Make him an ordinary human or perhaps a Chosen One? I am very excited about running both campaigns, plus continuing my N.E.W. campaign with Kimberley and crew. And next year I have big plans for running a brand new Judge Dredd campaign once I get the new rulebook. 2019 should see lots of WOIN gaming. These are exciting times.

Earlier this month I bought this boxed scenery set from Modiphius Games - the Red Rocket Scenery Set. What immediately attracted me to this set is that it is designed by Battle Systems Ltd., whose scenery sets I absolutely adore. Although this set is designed to be used with the Fallout Wasteland Warfare sci-fi skirmish game, I have no desire to start collecting figures for it or playing the game. I'm not a fan of computer games and I know so little about the game and its setting. What I do know is that this set would work perfectly well in any post apocalypse game like All Things Zombie, Judge Dredd or Strontium Dog. The garage itself is a superb model but what really makes this set worthwhile is the 3' square gaming mat that comes with it. Made of mouse-mat material, it is compatible with other Battle Systems Post-Apocalypse gaming mats. I can see me using this mat a lot in my Strontium Dog games. The boxed set costs £60.00 and here's a link to where you can purchase it - https://www.modiphius.net/collections/fallout-wasteland-warfare/products/copy-of-fallout-wasteland-warfare-product-template Expect a full review of this set real soon.

Painting has been going well, as always. Lots more sci-fi and Wild West figures painted this month, all of which will appear on this blog or my WOIN blog soon. A couple of days ago I received all of the Wave 5 figures for Mantic Games' The Walking Dead game and that got me thinking. I have had this game since it was first released ages ago but haven't got round to painting any of the figures for this game yet. It is about time that changed. I understand that October is known as Zomtober to some of you. So this will be my Zomtober challenge but I'm playing to my rules so I'm not an official entrant. I plan on painting all of the figures shown here in the top tray of the Kickstarter Wave 1 boxed set. My deadline is the end of October, and I'll post progress reports throughout the month when a batch of figures gets finished. I have every confidence in my ability to complete the challenge and I look forward to painting this lot. If I finish in good time, I'll move on to more figures from this range or maybe do the scenery pieces.

All the best from Vampifan.