Vampifan's Views 12 Start of my Monthly Editorials

Vampirella by Joe Jusko

I recently received a very interesting suggestion from Joe (aka Zabadak), one of my followers, who wrote -

"On the subject of your blog could I encourage you to add one more post a month?  I’d like to “hear” your thoughts,  ideas and viewpoints as well as your reviews on film, figures, books, etc. You’ve done a few like that in the past, and I’m sure many of your other followers appreciate learning how your thought processes are working, what plans you are making or abandoning.  From other blogs I’ve read, you do seem to be the Guru of the Undead in many people’s eyes. Your  name and site crop up everywhere.  So how about it, on the first or last  day of the month in addition to the normal blogging schedule, a paragraph (or two) on Vampifan’s thoughts?"

My immediate reaction to this was, what a brilliant idea, closely followed by, how come I haven't thought of doing this? So, every month, I will post an editorial on exactly what Joe has suggested.
I'll kick off with what's currently on my painting table and it's a real eclectic ( I love that word!) mix. I cleared the decks yesterday so this lot are what I have chosen to get painted next - 6 Black Cat Bases 28mm scale Screaming Nighthawks bikers (all on foot and includes their pet Alsatian), 4 Eureka Miniatures 28mm scale zombies in barrels (a present from Fran aka the Angry Lurker), 4 Foundry 28mm scale vampires, 3 Reaper 28mm scale geeks (a present from Roger aka Rogzombie), 2 Hasslefree 28mm scale adventurers (Scooby Doo and Spike the vampire or as HF call them, Hamlet and William) and finally, a RAFM 28mm scale businessman (another present from Fran). I like to paint no more than 20 figures at a time and that's exactly how many I have to paint here. I prefer to base my figures before I paint them and this lot are waiting to get based. Basing for me means adding sand and pieces of Fuller's Earth cat litter to my bases with PVA glue, then coating the base with watered down PVA glue to help seal it. Hopefully, I'll have them finished before my next editorial. A batch like this would normally take me about three weeks to paint.
On the card modelling front I plan on making some vehicles next. As it has been such a while since I last made any vehicles I'm going to start with something easy and make the two fast food vans from the WWG TLX Mayhem Under Construction set. These vans sell hamburgers, ice cream and other snacks and are based on the design for the ambulance, police van and gold bullion van that I've already made. Once I've made them, which shouldn't take more than a day or two, I'll restart my work on my Mayhem Police Station. I have 11 rooms that need furnishing out of a total of 25. If I do them one room at a time and take a break to build something else, like another vehicle, in between each room, I should avoid burning out again. Of course, the closer I get to finishing it, the quicker I'll want to finish it. Building it has been a marathon but hopefully, I'll finish with a sprint. I may do something I've never done with any building before and that's let you see some work in progress photos. Any takers? Yes, I thought as much!

Moving on, I've just made a rather expensive purchase. For years now I have been after a 1/48th scale U.S. Black Hawk helicopter, preferably die-cast instead of a plastic model. Whilst surfing the Internet on Monday I came across one for sale from a UK model store. Alas, it had a price tag of about £52. Yep, very pricey but I really wanted it. Purely on a whim I decided to see if my good friend, Amazon.co. were selling it. Yes, they were. Their price was £42, still expensive but it was £10 cheaper. So, I've ordered it from Amazon. Its made by Forces of Valor, who are a good firm. The main reason that I want it is to use in my ATZ campaign. Sometime in the future you will see it in action. I have a number of plans for it, not least of which is that encounter on P.52 of the Random Events table of Better Dead Than Zed "Black chopper flies overhead and pulls zombies 12" away from any survivor."
Actually, the Black Hawk is just about the only gaming-related item I've bought this month. I bought and downloaded a few new models from WWG (Mayhem Corporate set, Mayhem Props, Mayhem Traffic and the Podtel building). As for figures, I bought 10 new Hasslefree 28mm scale adventurers, including the two now on my painting table. I'm making a real effort to spend less on miniature figures until my lead mountain is reduced considerably. I simply have far too many figures waiting to get painted.
The book I'm currently reading is The First Days by Rhiannon Frater, a zombie novel that interestingly has two females as its main heroines. It's part one of a trilogy, so if I do like it, which I think I will, I'm going to have to wait for parts two and three. Oh, well!
I've noticed that in recent years my trips to the cinema have become less and less frequent. From a high of once a week not too long ago I now average about one trip per month. Am I becoming more selective or are there just too few decent films being made? I dunno. I haven't seen any undead related films this year. I did see two films this month, which was a bonus. First up was Captain America: First Avenger, which was quite good and not as bad as I feared it might be. I'm more interested in Marvel superheroes than those from DC. Next, was a serious contender for my film of the year, The Guard, starring Brendan Gleason. What a powerhouse performance he gives, as he is in practically every scene. He is so funny and incredibly politically incorrect. This low budget Irish film was about a Garda policeman (Gleason) who helps an FBI Agent (Don Cheadle) to hunt down a gang of drug smugglers. An absolute joy and so different from the Hollywood blockbusters that so often fail to deliver. It just goes to show that if you have a good script you don't need megabucks to make a good movie.
As you all know, I've just completed another ATZ scenario and I'll post part one this coming Sunday and part two next Wednesday. It did not pan out as I thought it might but then again, no scenario ever does, thanks to the randomness of dice rolling.
I usually add a zombie picture or photo to my editorials. I was thinking that I don't have a lot of zed photos in My Pictures folders. Should I scour the Interweb for more? At which point, a light bulb flashed on above me. Don't be daft, I thought, use some of your Vampirella pictures. After all, I am Vampifan and I have loads of pictures of my favourite vampire. So, I'm going to illustrate these editorials with pictures of Vampirella, starting off with some of the works of my favourite Vampirella artist, Joe Jusko.
Well, I've waffled on for far too long so I'll close now. Thanks for reading this far and I hope I haven't bored you too much!