Creature Feature

Having really enjoyed our first game from the Night Terrors feature pack for 7TV, my attention naturally turned to episode two.

Without giving too many spoilers away as to the plot, the second episode features a range of creepy crawlies of varying sizes, including fly swarms and maggots, something that I do not have in my collection.

Until now...

I spent a little bit of time online looking a STLs for 3d printing, and although there are some good options out there, I'm loath to send money when I'm not sure that a file will work with my printer.

I did find some options, but before handing over money I had a think about other options such as buying cheap toy flies and maggots, using green stuff and so on.

And then inspiration hit me...

I remembered that I still had a load of Cybermats from the Warlord Games Cyberman sprues I put together years ago.

I've never used them because I'm not that much of a Doctor Who fan to need loads, I already have a metal Cybermat which looks very different and I'd half though about using them as proxy scarabs in a Necron army for 40k.

However, I realised that I could easily use the Cybermat as maggots with a different paint job, and, spotting that some didn't have bases, I figured I could try to turn them into swarms.

A gentle bit of drilling and the insertion of a metal rod allowed me to get three 'flies to a base' (three is a swarm, right?). I've gone with smaller bases as it serves the double purpose of not requiring too many flies whilst also meeting the profile card rules that use a 3" template which assumes a smaller base.

Black contrast paint, gloss varnish, red eyes and ivory 'teeth' was the limit of my painting here, and then I used small sections of plastic bag (the bit at the bottom with a crease already put in) and glued them to the flies backs.

To my mind, these are quick and cheap options for something that I'm actually likely to use just once.

The maggots took even less work. A coat of Gulliman Flesh contrast paint, dryprushed with a cream paint (I used Wraith one) and then putting the contrast paint back over the mouth parts and they were done with a coat of gloss varnish to make them slimy.

I went with two per base to make them more visible, a factor that cause me to change course in terms of basing. I was intending to use a more scrubland basing material, but the pink maggots would have totally disappeared into it.

Another factor I need to consider is that the scenario needs quite a lot of unarmed teenagers. I'm not actually sure if I have enough, and I don't want to use my Walking Dead miniatures again as they don't mix well within casts due to basing and bulkyness.

Therefore I went looking for miniatures I could use, and found this temporal traveller's assistant from Crooked Dice, which fit the bill. As I don't own the correct Doctor to accompany Jo Grant (I don't even know which one it is), I seen no problem using her as a generic ternager. I've based the colour scheme on Shannon Doherty's character, Heather, from Heathers, which I felt would give her an eighties vibe.

I've also had this chap part painted for a long time, as he came with one of my original casts for 7TV. The rest of the cast were British police officers and I felt that he didn't quite fit with my Juliet Bravo theme, despite clearly being a reference to The Sweeney.

I'm not sure if he'll get used in Night Terrors, but I can see him popping up in future storylines.

I'm pleased with my problem solving on this one. Obviously there are better models out there, but these will serve more than adequately for the next scenario, haven't cost me anything and have used up some bits I had no real plan for.

Acquired: 119

Painted: 484

Lead Mountain: 232*

*I can't remember if I counted the Cybermat as individual models when I first tallied the Lead Mountain, but I'm assuming I did. I'm planning on doing a recount over Christmas anyway as I'm pretty sure that after several years my numbers are wrong.

Wibbly-Wobbly Timey-Wimey

I hadn't intended to veer away from Superheroes towards Doctor Who, but it's happened. I can't do anything to change it, as buying those Weeping Angels is now a fixed point in time.

This is still sort of a Superhero post, as I'll explain later.

Anyway, here's the Doctor, some companions and some Velociraptors...which makes perfect sense.

Contrary to appearances, I'm not actually a massive Doctor Who fan, or 'Whovian', as those who take these things too seriously have it.

I do watch, and like, the show, and in recent years Cheaphammer Junior has got herself into it in a big way. Therefore, I've probably ended up paying it more attention than I otherwise would have.

However, Doctor Who is a fantastic fit for 7TV (it's clearly one of the key influences in the original game) and my collection of Doctor Who related miniatures has steadily grown, often accidentally, which is true of some of today's offerings.

The period when I did watch the show fairly intently was when David Tennant played the 10th Doctor. Without putting it too bluntly, his performances were brilliant.

Therefore, I was delighted when a certain gentleman, who goes by the name Wayne, kindly offered to send several people who asked nicely spare copies of some not-Doctor Who miniatures he'd found in one of his many sheds.

Despite already having a Matt Smith Doctor, I requested the model above and duly recieved it around Christmas. The miniature is an OOP model from Heresy Miniatures. It was removed from sale around the time that Warlord released their Exterminate game, which is sad, because this unofficial not-Doctor looks far more like David Tennant than the official model.

There is really nothing special about how I've painted it, but I am really pleased about how he's turned out.

Another model that disappeared in the 'extermination' of the not-Doctor Who models, is this definitely not Rose Tyler from Crooked Dice, which is a shame as it's really just a civilian miniature (of which there are too few of in the world) with nothing overtly Billie Piper about it to upset the lawyers.

I was very kindly sent this by Karl from Crooked Dice for taking part in the 7TV Facebook group Secret Santa. It came with the coolest Christmas Card ever (done in the art style of 7TV first edition, which I love). Having a Rose is what prompted me to take up Wayne's kind offer about the Doctor.

The face was a bit of a struggle to paint, as the features are quite soft and less cartoony than the Heresy Doctor. The rest of the paint job was very straightforward.

K-9 isn't officially a companion for the tenth Doctor, although he does show up in the episode 'School Reunion', which is enough for him to count in my book.

Also from Heresy Miniatures, and still on sale (if you look closely), I actually bought this model on purpose during a sale a few years back. It comes with optional heads, tails and buttons (not all of which are shown on the webstore) which allow you to put together a close approximation of the infamous tin dog.

Again, the paint job is extremely simple, but I am quite pleased with the free hand lettering. It's not quite central, but I'm not redoing it at the risk of it ending up worse.

The Velociraptors are not actually for my Doctor Who games, although they could be, which is one of the reasons Doctor Who works so well for 7TV. You can explain anything.

In fact, they are covering a lot of bases for different project I have on the go. They were bought for a Marvel Savage Land scenario, easily fit with 7TV Pulp and have been painted to match some of the Raptors in the Freedom Force game.

See, I told you this was a Superhero post.

The models are from Nolzur's Marvellous Miniatures, an as such are cheap, cheerful and made of bendy plastic. They're not great miniatures, and I probably should have spent more time cleaning them up. However, this wouldn't have altered the fact that they're not great, especially around the claws. This is the reason I've not done anything fancy with painting them.

Personally, I consider Nolzur's Marvellous Miniatures in the same category as Reaper Bones (although slightly better). They are kind to the wallet and get better as the miniatures get larger, but I'd avoid them for anything on the smaller side with anything detailed about it. I only use them for monsters and creatures, and these Velociraptors are the smallest models I'll buy from them.

It's nice to be picking up pace and clearing some models that have been in my queue for a while (the dinosaurs). I do have a few more Doctor Who miniatures to paint, and I'm in the zone, but who knows (see what I did there?) where my moods will take me.

Acquired: 34

Painted: 48

Angel Delight

In a somewhat angelic post, I've been adding to my Doctor Who and Marvel projects with some Weeping Angels and, well, Angel...from the X-Men.

Angel is, curiously, one of my favourite X-Men, despite never really reading the comics he was in and the movie and cartoon versions of the character being somewhat lacklustre.

I think it comes from owning only two sections of the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe, 'Abomination to Circus of Crime' and 'Galactus to Kang'. Angel was the first big hero entry in the book, and so I probably read his entry more than others.

This lack of completeness in my collection of Handbooks might explain why I only get some of the obscure references in the MCU (like the original Guardians of the Galaxy) and not others (obviously, I can't give an example here, but think of something beginning with R or Q).

The miniature is from Reaper and came in two parts. I painted the wings and did the red on the body before attaching the two parts. This was a wise move as I'm really pleased with the wings and would have been incredibly annoyed if I'd got red on them.

I have to say, I was slightly disappointed with the quality of the cast, as there looked to be some mould slipping on the back of the legs and the left side of the face is a bit deformed. Fortunately, the pose of the model disguises most of the problem.

The pose is actually an interesting one, aiming for the idea of the character lifting off with a massive beat of the wings, rather than the more typical spread-wing flying pose you see.

I don't know if it's the angle I've posed him at, or the miniature itself, but it's not quite right. I think the head possibly needed to be looking upwards more.

However, the amount of white I was dealing with did concern me, but after my recent escapades with Kingpin and Emma Frost, I think I've learned how to tackle this sort of issue to a reasonable standard.

Also from Reaper, this time the Bones range, are these two Weeping Angels. These horrors are probably the best addition to the bad guy canon from all the 'New Who' series, and the episode 'Blink' is brilliant.

I've not done anything clever with them, just a drybrush of light grey over dark grey. Simple but effective. The Weeping Angels don't have any defining feature like glowing red eyes.

I hadn't planned to buy these, but I was placing a Reaper order and they were cheap. I'm normally not a massive fan of the Bones range for smaller miniatures. However, given that these are meant to look like worn stone, the relatively soft detail isn't a massive problem. I shall probably get more at some point.

These three are unlikely to see the table in the same games, but it seemed fitting to paint them at the same time.

Acquired: 34

Painted: 37

Get Arf Moy Laaaand!

This is the first batch of my actial Children of the Fields miniatures, and they take the concept of fields somewhat literally: Mister Mangel and the Corn Dolls (sounds like a dodgy West Country band).

The Corn Dolls are scarecrows animated by the sinister Crow King to guard the borders of the Winterley Estate, keeping away those that aren't local.

The models were fun to do, as I wanted to have them all different, despite the fact there are only two sculpts. The arms are separate, allowing for some pose variation, and if I'd been thinking straight, I would have swapped the arms on the second pair.

Despite being specifically for Children of the Fields, the Corn Dolls are potentially quite versatile. Not only would they suit games where they were pitted against the Scooby Gang, but they're also perfect for representing the scarecrows that appeared in the Doctor Who episode Family of Blood.

Mister Mangel is the guardian and protector of Little Lord Winterly, the heir to the estate. Although this sounds somewhat paternal, it appears he's being protected so that he can meet a gruesome fate in the future.

The model was an absolute doddle to paint as the details are so crisp, the wah did almost all the work. It's a fairly unconventional sculpt for a character model, however, I've also seen this used as a piece of scenery.

I decided to go with cornfield bases and not match the cultists for a few reasons. Firstly, cornfields suit scarecrows. Secondly, the cultists are generic, for use in a variety of settings, whereas these aren't. Finally, I'd bought the tufts fir something else and decided not to use them, so I wanted to get some use out of them.

I'm really pleased with how these five have turned out, I'm also really pleased to have hit triple figures on models painted this year.

Acquired: 112

Painted: 100

Next up: some crows for them to scare.

Nightmare in Silver

Actually, it’s not been a nightmare at all. It’s been really rather easy.

I took advantage of Warlord Games’ recent sprue sale to pick up some Cybermen from their Doctor Who: Exterminate! game. Even though I don’t play that game, I’ve wanted some of these for a while for my 7TV games that feature a certain time-travelling Timelord.

In terms of painting these were ridiculously simple: base coat silver, black wash, drybrush silver to highlight, black in the eyes and then blue in the light on the chest.

I did try putting some white in the blue to make it look like it was glowing...but it didn’t work.

There are only a limited range of poses, with three slightly different bodies, and three variant arms. However, Cybermen aren’t especially dynamic, so this isn’t a problem and I’m really happy with how they’ve come out.

My production line approach has also had a positive income on my painting tallies, and I’ve resisted buying new things for a whole week!

Acquired: 72

Painted: 69

Master & Servants

So I said I needed some Dr Who villains, so I decided to get some from 1971. Enter the Master and some Autons, ostensibly from 'The Terror of the Autons,' which was the Master's first appearance in Doctor Who, but the Autons' second.

Yes. I've been Googling.

The Autons are the, now unavailable, Crooked Dice Plastons that were part of the goody bags participants received at the Wargames Illustrated 7TV last month. They are a remarkably undynamic bunch, which isn't really a surprise seeing as they are meant to be shop window dummies come to life.

Because of this necessary lifelessness, I tried to keep the colours fairly drab, although I couldn't resist giving one of them a purple polo-neck - because all polo-necks in the seventies were purple (in my head, at least).

Here they are looking like the aryan Beatles...

To lead them, I have the Master. This wasn't a plan, it's just fortunate happenstance that these villains appeared together. The model is another from Crooked Dice, it's their original version of the Guru, the leader of the 7TV evil secret society SHIVA. It was a model which, until recently was unavailable as it had been replaced with a more dynamically posed model.

I was delighted by the model being made available again for two reasons. Firstly, it's one of the models that drew me to 7TV in the first place, as it is packed with character. Secondly, there is the fact that the model bears more than a passing resemblance to Roger Delgado, who played the original master.

I actually had a bit of an accident when assembling him (the model comes with a choice of three heads - resembling Ernst Blofeld and Ming the Merciless respectively) and clipped off a bit of his beard (don't ask me how). Fortunately I was able to fix this with liquid greenstuff and I'm not sure that you'd know the difference.

This almost gives me a starter sized villainous cast for small games of 7TV, and I supposed I could add some regular henchmen under the Master's hypnotic influence to make up the numbers, but I'm looking at adding a few more Autons through the cunning use of alternate heads.

I've also got some Daleks. But they've currently got me hiding behind the sofa in terms of painting them.

With A Little Help From His Friends

Just a short update today with a couple of models to round out the good guys for my Doctor Who themed games of 7TV: Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart and River Song.

The Brigadier is the last of the Army starter cast from Crooked Dice that I had left to paint. I'd left him until last because I wasn't sure how to reproduce the correct uniform colour. In the end I decided to stop worrying about it and use washes over a khaki base until I was happy with the colour. Any complaints can be forwarded to the BBC costume department.

He's a characterful little chap, with a great military bearing - very Graham Chapman. He's even holding a swagger stick behind his back. As well a serving in U.N.I.T. this model will be useful in other military scenarios with the rest of the army chaps I did recently. 

When I first saw a painted version of the model below, I immediately thought that is was specifically designed as a 'not' River Song. However, time and a little research has proven my memory to be flawed as Alex Kingston never wore an outfit like this in her many appearances in Doctor Who. I thin it was the blonde hair that made me not realise that the Science Officer, from the Counterblast range of Bombshell Miniatures is actually much more like Ellen Ripley in Alien.

However, she also works as River, and also completes my team of companions for the Matt Smith version of Doctor Who. I now just need to track down a Roman Centurion who looks a bit like Arthur Darvill. I had intended to swap the datapad for the blue book of spoilers, but then I realised that I couldn't be bothered.

Sorry. :)

So I now have the Doctor, Amy Pond, River Song, the Brigadier and U.N.I.T.

Looks like I need to do some villains...

U.N.I.T Unit

I've been struggling with a bit of a painting block recently, which is evidenced through the relative lack of painting posts in recent weeks. I'm not sure why, but it may just have been tiredness as the end of term approached. Anyway, the holidays are here, I've had a chance to rest for a bit and now I'm back with a vengeance.

And so, I present my U.N.I.T. unit...

These are Crooked Dice miniatures, and as ever they are simple sculpts that are packed full of character. If I'm honest, Crooked Dice are probably my favourite manufacturer. This is not just because I got loads of free stuff at the recent 7TV day (although that helps), it's the combination of well sculpted, characterful miniatures which also lack all the superfluous extraneous details that seem to be the fashion with sculptors these days - you know, all the chains, ribbons, ammo packs, and random fiddly stitching that litter models and then require you to borrow the Hubble telescope to see properly whilst you paint them.

These guys are from one of four 7TV starter sets I purchased just before Christmas last year and I had a specific purpose in mind for each of them. The Mad Science cast were mainly to be used in games of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles as mutagen inspired monstrosities; the Police cast were destined to be used as the cast of Juliet Bravo in another vain attempt to get Mrs Cheaphammer playing wargames; the Occult cast were originally intended for use in pulp games but have ended up as villains in Ghostbusters, Juliet Bravo and, soon, Scooby Doo.

The Army cast had a clear goal. There were going to provide the firepower required to support the Doctor as he took on Daleks and...well...just Daleks really, as I don't have any other villains, although some Autons are now on the horizon, possibly led by the Master.

Doctor Who purists may realise that these uniforms aren't exactly correct for either the classic era (green uniforms, green berets), or the modern stuff (black uniforms, red berets), but are instead an amalgam of the two. There are two reasons for this, firstly I wanted something on the models to 'pop' and make them more visually interesting, and secondly Simon (Brummie) and Leon (Pulp Citizen) have been bending my ear about Action Force/G.I. Joe for a while now and I was reminded of one of the few Action Force (none of the American 'G.I. Joe' nonsense for me, thank you very much) action figures I owned (I was a Star Wars boy, with a healthy dollop of He-Man thrown in) was a Z-Force captain who wore green fatigues and a red beret (he ended up serving in the Endor Commando Team, if you want to know).

In terms of painting, they were done very simply with my usual, paint then wash and don't worry about highlighting 'technique', although I must admit to a little bit of highlighting of the faces and berets, and I'm really happy with how they've come out. Another of the reasons I really like Crooked Dice models is that the details are so well defined that washes pick them out well, which is great news for lazy painters like me.

The Marksman is actually from the Police starter cast set, but I figured that given the rest of them were destined to be recreating Juliet Bravo, a sniper was more suited to a military force confronting alien invasions than taking out drunk farmers in Lancashire.

In terms of 7TV, these guys will work as a unit in game (although with the Bazooka team or the Marksman won't actually receive the benefit due to numbers), allowing them to activate for half the usual number of plot points. Technically, I don't actually have Corporal to lead them yet, although the private with the moustache (who was in danger of looking like Hitler at one point) will receive a field promotion until reinforcements arrive.

These aren't the only allies I have for the Doctor (and Amy Pond), and I have a couple more co-stars and a 'vehicle' to join him before I begin to work on the forces of extermination.

Villains & Vigilantes

I've been motoring on the painting front over the past few weeks, so here's a fairly eclectic post full of the different stuff I've been churning through recently.

First up is another 7TV starter cast, Weird Science.

This is probably my favourite cast so far, simply because the colours are so vibrant. The pink was chosen as I foresee using them in TMNT games as scientists working with Krang mutagen, but it worked out much better than I hoped.

The three Spawn were loads of fun to do. Really clean casts, with bags of personality, despite not having faces. I imagine these as humans who've been exposed to the mutagen and metamorphosed into blobs. I love the eyes.

In game, these guys have the potential to split in two when killed, and so I might need to buy and paint some more. Damn!

The Scientists, with their white coats, proved harder to do to a level I was happy with, but I eventually got there. Again, Crooked Dice miniatures have loads of character and no necessary extraneous detail.

The two lab technicians, although primarily part of this cast, will easily find a place in Doctor Who themed games. Whilst the Mad Scientist, who is ostensibly holding a Krang, could just as likely be handling a Cthulhu-spawn, or other alien/demon lifeform.

The final part of the cast is an unfortunate janitor who has come into contact with mutagenic material and is now in the process of changing. This is one of two 'failed experiment' models in the starter set (they come with three head and four arm options), but the other one is destined to become a more recognisable TMNT character.

Speaking of TMNT, here's a repaint of an old model I put together. The model was originally put together from a couple of Heroclix miniatures and some stuff from my bits box to function as a proxy henchmen for the Batman Miniature Game when I first started playing. Since then, the expansion of my collection has made the use of proxies unnecessary, and so he's up for redeployment.

When I made him, I commented on the blog that he looked a little bit like Chuck Norris, which is fortunate, as in the newest TMNT cartoon series, the character of Chris Bradford (one of Shredder's henchmen) is also based on Chuck Norris. So, a new base and different coloured trousers (they were orange) sees me now able to field 'Rad Brad', who will be leading the Purple Dragons into battle fairly soon.

Another Heroclix repurposing saw me cutting the head off the Black Mask (now I have the KM model, I didn't need him) and replacing it with another head to make a generic hitman, gangster, pulp detective, businessman. I originally planned to use the head of a KM mobster, complete with trilby, but was disappointed that the details were so soft that they disappeared under a thin undercoat.

Anyway, although unspectacular, this chap will be versatile.

Whilst we're on the subject of Knight Models, I've painted Batfleck, who came with my Suicide Squad boxed set. He's a big model, and towers over some of the smaller sculpts in the range.

I've now done three different Batmen (Batmans?) - five if you count the Heroclix repaints I did - and I am starting to think that it's the character I have most trouble painting. I think it's the lack of details or bright colours, so there's nothing to draw the eye, and my wash/dry-brush style doesn't seem to suit Batman.

However, I'm definitely happier with this one that I have been with the last two, and so he'll do. I'm getting there. It's not like there's a shortage of Batman models in the range to keep improving on.

Finally is the model I'm most happy with: Punisher. The model is from Hasselfree Miniatures and I'd seen it painted as the Punisher before. He was incredibly simple to paint for the most part. I was really worried about the skull, but it's ended up looking like the sort of thing he might have painted himself rather than the artistic masterwork that often graces the Punisher's chest. However, the face is the bit I'm most happy with. Much of this is due to the sculpt, but I think he's ended up looking like John Bernthal in the Netflix Daredevil series. Even without the skull, he looks like the Punisher.

I'm pleased.

7TV: Juliet Who? Doctor Bravo?

With two starter casts pretty much done, it was time to play my first ever game of 7TV using exclusively Crooked Dice models. Given what I had painted, it was time for Doctor Who to travel back to the nineteen eighties and help the cast of Juliet Bravo defeat a evil cult, guest starring Sigourney Weaver as Michell the 'Bell Witch'.

The casts were as follows:

The Doctor - Unearthly Traveller - Star

Amy Pond - Plucky Assistant - Co-Star

Inspector Jean Darblay - Investigative Academic - Co-Star

The Hartley Constabulary - Police Patrol Unit

   Police Sergeant - Extra

   3 Police Constables - Extras

Pastor Lawrence - Sinister Mystic - Star

Michelle the Witch - The Bell Witch - Co-Star

The Watcher - Animated Construct - Extra

The Conclave of Blood - Cultist Coven Unit

   Cult Leader - Extra

   4 Cultists - Extras

Hartley Station gets a call from the Jenkins Farm...

...about strange sounds emanating from the abandoned churchyard... 

...and shapes moving through the trees at night.

The Hartley boys in blue arrive to investigate.

Joined by an oddly dressed WPC, called Pond, from Scotland.

And her medical associate; he wouldn't give his name.

Inspector Darblay finds nobody home at the farm...odd...

Suddenly a ghostly figure appears in front of Amy in the church.

Red robed figures can been seen amongst the trees.

One armed with a rifle also bears down on Inspector Darblay.

The experience officer moves quickly to incapacitate the man.

Whilst the Doctor is able to set light to another's robes.

Amy tries to tussle with the intangible figure facing her. 

She comes off worse as they fight back and forth.

Darblay fails to get the cuffs on in time. 

However, the flaming Cultist runs off into the distance.

Amy scrambles through a window to where the Police lie in wait.

The Doctor offers 'helpful' advice to the Inspector.

The Witch appears amidst the Police and seizes the initiative.

Bewitching one Constable into attacking his Sergeant.

Pastor Lawrence assaults another Bobby.

More Cultists rush towards the Doctor and the Inspector.

The Witch's chill touch takes the fight out of Amy.

The thin blue line gets thinner.

Things look bad.

The Cultist with the rifle is finally apprehended.

Baxter manages to strike the Witch, but then just seems to stop.

There's still a chance; the Cult Leader is arrested, but Darblay is hurt.

The Doctor discombobulates the Cultists enough to escape

The Doctor flees, the Inspector is wounded, and Amy is missing...

 In a fun packed game, everything went wrong for the good guys. I constantly drew negative Countdown Cards, failed strike rolls (including two rolls of 1 when trying to hit the stunned Witch) and got caught out by the fast moving and tricksy cultists. I probably wasn't aggressive enough, but the Inspector made very heavy weather of a single Cultist and the Pastor and the Witch went through the Police like a hot knife through butter. It has however, set up a possible follow up game in which the Doctor seeks to rescue Amy from a sacrificial altar.

Tune in next week...or whenever I get around to playing it...