War of the Worlds Tripod

 

As well as Romans and Newhaven I'm also working on various stand alone type figures. In this case I came across a War of the Worlds Tripod...

It's from Minifigs/Matchlock and I think I need a couple more to make it up to three. Nice figures.

Here with the on-going Newhaven build - in front of the park, graveyard to the left. Still working on those...

Better idea of it's size compared to a couple of unpainted 20mm figures. The blue background is a prettyfied river - I've done A4 mdf sheets part water, part paved, to give a river front. 

Newhaven park update

 

The basic model of Newhaven Park is finished with a few touches still to add. I keep thinking some of these tiles are a bit too bright for Newhaven.

I've still got a playground to paint and other items are subject to change, but it's mostly there. I'm calling it Peabody Park - on the one hand, it's a Lovecraftian name, on the other hand it's reminiscent of the name 'Peasholme', a park in Scarborough. Peasholme Park has a definite wargames link... 'Naval Warefare Battle The park is home to the oldest continuously simulated battle in the country - a unique miniature sea battle named 'The Naval Warfare'. Taking place July and August each year this popular event has been a unique family holiday tradition since 1927' Seen it a couple of times - spectacular and well worth the visit.

We usually spend a few days in Brighton every year - it's easy to get to and we like it. This year we stayed in an apartment next to the Royal Pavilion. The Pavilion has a cafe called The Pavilion Garden Cafe - which gave me the idea to put one in Peabody Park. The model itself virtually built itself - I got some thin card, tried fittied some balsa into the structure, then realised I just about finished making the thing! So I painted it up and finished it. Easy to make, gives me a good template for things like fairground/circus/Christmas Fair stalls etc. The other groundkeeper's shed isn't glued in - it's higher than the height of the wall finials so would make stacking difficult for storage. That shed is one I already had lying around and just repurposed.

Gates are an issue. I would have liked using decorative gates for all of the entrances but they aren't cheap! So I used ones I had as part of bought wall set ups and just used plain balsa for others - I did the same with the church and cemetary.

This finishes the original plan but I'll be doing a lot more. I like the idea of  set boards and the use of balsa walls, so expect to do a lot more of this kind of thing in future. Next 'project' probably needs to be the waterfront area.

Roads, playgrounds and tombstones

Had a couple of deliveries today...

Roads in the past have just been bought piece by piece. For this 20mm layout I thought 'let's do enough in one go'. Bought from War Worlds Gaming.

Meanwhile, some accessories... tombstones, a funeral party and children's playground. Buildings may be cheap, but the accessories side is creeping up! Tombstones and playground being below the level of the wall finials will be glued down. By Langley.

Church and graveyard base

 

Still a few finishing touches to add - bought some plastic stuff I didn't like so I've ordered some 1/76th scale gravestones from Langley. 

This is how I expect to use the set up. Those squares represent 3' square paving stones in 20mm. 

Alternative way round, but prefer the previous one.

Of course. once finished I naturally start thinking 'could I have done it better'. That pavement is 12' wide. If I had made it 6' wide this layout would have been practical and I could have made the graveyard bigger. To be fair though I think I still prefer the original.

I admit I really like these bases. Cheapish, easy to make and gives a nice modular system. Light and sort of stackable - suspect might cause baldy patches on the finials though... Park next, then might see about using the system for  housing developments...

20mm Police station compound

 

Probably could have made it a bit bigger but it serves it's purpose. This type of wall is about to be produced in much larger numbers! Different gate types and sizes may be an issue eventually.

The good thing about these is how easy they are to make. The actual wall pieces are simply balsa  cut to size while the ball finials were 'sourcing map 100pcs PP Plastic Bearing Balls 7mm Solid Plastic Balls, Precision Bearing Ball, Red' - found on Amazon, lots of other sizes available, £6.39 for 100!

A place in the country

It was a lot stretch of tall hedges edging the road. Boring. And a bit tiring. But then something looking closer to 'civilised'.

A black double gate leading to...

An impressive looking mansion... with a lot of expensive cars parked outside...

'Hi there... nice place you've got here. Lots of expensive cars and... State penitentiary - this a prison or something?'

'And what are those two sitting up there?'

'Oh it's not a jail. The Queen just has a lot of... friends... from there. And she owns all the cars. Makes her feel rich and powerful. '

'Just go down the side. Plenty of room at the party...' And in the distance... 'Dodo?'

Not forgetting Newhaven...

 

Going through figures lying around so did these lizardmen and a Batrachian for Newhaven.... EM4 Dunwich Detectives range.

Caliver pulp figures

 I was tempted to say Minifigs pulp figures, but for the sake of accuracy...

Figures from two separate ranges Caliver now own. The back row are described as 28mm, really a bit bigger than that. The front figures are by Matchlock Miniatures and are true 25mm - though optimistically called 25/28mm!

If the Matchlock  figures are 'bread and butter' types, you can't say that about the Rogue Miniatures on  the back row.  Couldn't resist the Britannia or Child Catcher figures... Although described as 28mm, the figure between Britannia and the Child Catcher is actually 32mm.  Described as 'Unidentified. Flying. Officer, it is obviously from UFO  but in fact is also a very good Movellan!  Might get more of these. Incidentally, the bases weren't provided.

Personal view of these? Like them and will be buying more. Delivery took 10 days.

Now, where did we leave Alice and friends...

 

'Great' scowled Malice. 'Now we're stuck inside with those things outside...' ' That's OK' from Elvira 'There's a trapdoor leading away from here. It's for escaping those things if it became needed.'

'I'm not going with you, but I can lend you Igor as a guide'. 'Where did he come from shrieked Alice?' ' He's an Igor. They're all over the place. Very useful as guides and things.'

So they followed Igor through the tunnels...

It was a bit of a maze. Even had a friendly Minotaur. Igor spent ages passing news and gossip... Malice just whispered 'But he's green'...

Igor wasn't as comfortable with the snake lady. Got on well with Vicki though...

Now the Gorgon. She wasn't hostile, not her fault people looking at her turned to stone. So everyone was very, very careful where they looked as they passed her...

But eventually there were stairs leading up...

To a church exactly the same as the one they'd left...  Dorothy turned to thank Igor but he was long gone. 

Outside and Dorothy screamed 'It's the Yellow Brick Road!'

She left the group and danced down the road singing her head off!

'That song she's singing... what's it about' 'Not sure. Seems to be something like "We're off to see the Wizard."

Bought in Brighton

 Anyway, enough about the (expletive deleted) Post Office, what did I get in Brighton? From the Toy Museum of course... And yes, well worth a visit...

Lots of Lledo and similar in there so I took the opportunity to grab a load of horse drwan transport - less than £3 each so well worth it.

And a Metropolitan Police car. Already have a couple but frankly Newhaven is the sort of place where you need as many as you can get!

Update - did a little bit of painting on some...

You have to be kidding...

 

Gradually retreating from the plants the party tried shooting at them... never going to work on vegetables. Malice slashed a few tendrils of one of the jellyfish looking things but it didn't slow them. Happily,they were slow to start with anyway so...

The doors opened in all the houses. Alice looking round. 'You've got to be kidding. ZOMBIES!!!'

As the zombies moved forward the plants seemed confused... then the church door opened and a lady in black stepped out. 'C'mon over here kids, it's safer'...

Vicki recognised her... 'Elvira? What are you doing here' 'Long story kid. Save it for next time.'

Meanwhile the zombies were regretting their sojourn. It appeared that carnivorous plants preferred rotting flesh to live flesh..

Leaving Alice and Mindy acting as the rearguard...

Being a few notes on the reasons why this one played out the way it did...

The villagers farmed and controlled carnivorous plants for some reason. When the zombie virus hit it 'split' the villagers, creating zombie bodies and disembodied (but visible) 'ghosts' - their 'souls'.  These souls could control the zombie side to a certain degree and, feeling threatened by Alice and co, fled inside and released the zombies to defend themselves. Meanwhile, the carnivorous plants hadn't been fed for a while and were hungry... Alice and co represented food. However... carnivorous plants usually like decomposed bodies as the nutrients are easier to absorb. Instead of killing Alice and letting her body decompose they were suddenly provided with a source of already decomposing food in the shape of the zombies... much better...

Moral of the story is that we need to start developing motile carnivorous plants as protection for when the zombie holocaust happens.

Under the rainbow?

 

With the plants starting to break through, no time to waste! As they moved forward the ghostly creatures moved back...

The ghosts seemed to panic and rushed towards the houses...

As the square cleared Alice and her gang turned to face the advancing plants...

Not Kansas...

 

Dorothy... What are those plants in the fields? They're a bit... scary.

Dorothy... Those plants seem to be... following us...

Dorothy... The guy at the door to the village looks a bit funny...

Dorothy... the whole village looks weird... I don't think they want to let us in... and that fence keeping the plants away seem to be breaking down...