Miniature Vampifan & Vampirella

It's my first post of 2010 and what do we have here? A figure review that doesn't involve zombies? That's right - here we have Vampifan (that's me, folks!) and the love of his life, Vampirella. After posing with 332 zombies in my last post I figured Vampifan needed a break. And who better to pose him with than Vampirella?

The figure of Vampifan is one of five figures in the Copplestone Castings Civilian Militia set 2, which is part of the Dark Future range. The set costs £8.00, which is good value for money these days. As soon as I saw the figure I knew that I wanted to convert him to look more like me. Not that he needed much converting. I added the glasses and increased the size of his belly with modelling putty. It was nice to see Mark Copplestone sculpting someone who was overweight and it was this, more than anything else that attracted me to this figure. I make no bones about it, I'm fat. I don't exercise enough and I'm overly fond of junk food. However, my weight is coming down due to me cutting down on a lot of the things that I shouldn't eat and eating smaller portions of the stuff I do like.

When it came to painting Vampifan there was only ever going to be one design for his T-shirt and that's the portrait of Vampirella that I frequently use as my avatar on various web forums and which you can see on this blog-site as my portrait. And just in case you are wondering, I actually own that T-shirt in real life. It's hardly ever been worn as I want to keep it in good condition. The painting is one of my favourite portraits of Vampirella and was painted by Joe Jusko, an artist for whom I have great admiration. Reproducing Joe's portrait on the T-shirt was the hardest part of painting this figure but I'm pleased with the result, even if the word "Vampirella" underneath the portrait is an indecipherable squiggle.

The baseball cap is something I frequently wear and my current cap is identical to Vampifan's being navy blue with gold trim. I do not own any combat pants or boots and I certainly don't own any firearms. The Vampifan figure has seen numerous outings as leader of my gang, the Slayers, for the Gangs of Mega City One skirmish game. Both he and his gang have fared well. Rather than call him Bryan Scott (my real name) I called him Scotty Bryant. Although he is designed as a near future character I see no reason not to use him in a contemporary setting like All Things Zombie. Indeed, if I ever get round to running an ATZ campaign, I will certainly use this figure to represent me. Having seen how much fun Veloci is having with his ATZ campaign (you must check out his blog. You'll find the address for it, Tactical Miniatures Gaming, listed under My Favourite Websites in the sidebar. He writes the most entertaining battle reports) I too want to run a campaign rather just one off stand alone games. Whether that happens remains to be seen but I can dream, can't I?

Moving on, let's look at the Vampirella figure. She is a conversion of a 30mm scale vampire by Blood Moon Miniatures. You can visit their website here: http://www.bloodmoonminis.com/store.html

You'll find her listed under the Ladies Set 1, which consists of two vampires, retailing at $10.00 for the pair. The other figure is lying down on an animal skin rug or blanket. I guess for copyright reasons they can't call the figure Vampirella but one look at her costume (or lack of it!) and you could not mistake her for anyone else. The figure came with bare legs, so I added her knee length boots out of modelling putty and I also added a pair of bracelets to her upper arms to make her look even more like Vampirella should look. The sculptor has captured Vampirella in a playful mood and I absolutely love the figure. A few other companies make figures of not-Vampirella but of them all, this is my favourite. She has a stunning figure but if I was to be brutally honest I'd have to say that the sculptor has made her breasts too big. Given that I'm unashamedly a breast man, I can't believe I've just typed that! Still, Vampirella's vital statistics are 36C-24-36. Too many amateur artists over-inflate her breasts. Get real, guys!

The only time I have ever used Vampirella in a game was in a GURPS Supers campaign that I ran recently. Sadly it came to an abrupt end when one of my two gaming colleagues left, never to be seen again. Once he left the campaign just came to an abrupt halt, which is such a shame as Vampi was an awesome character. Perhaps I'll use her in a game of All Things Horror if Two Hours Wargames ever bring out rules for major vampires. I'm sure she could kick zombie butt without any problem. I've just thought, would zombies feed on a vampire? Probably not, I'm guessing but if the vampire has just fed then they just might.

I hope you'll forgive me for being so self-indulgent here. Normal service will be resumed with my next posting, I promise! Oh, and seeing as this is my first post of 2010, happy new year, everyone!