Wednesday, 30 September 2015

Vampifan's Views 68 - Monthly Musings 46

Miss Vampirella September 2015 - Maria Di Angelis
This month's Vampirella model is Maria Di Angelis, who won a competition run by Harris Comics to be their cover girl for the Vampirella series in 2001. Maria has the distinction of appearing on the cover of the Vampirella comics more times than any other model. She appeared on a total of 21 covers. Not only did Maria have the right coloured eyes and wore the costume like she had been born into it, but she rapidly became a fan favourite on the strength of her personality. She wowed everyone at comic conventions going just that little bit further to be nice to everyone. Apart from her short stint as a Vampirella model, Maria has had quite a busy career. Primarily a model, Maria is reputed to have graced more covers than any model in history, with literally thousands of romance novels' covers. Also in her résumé are many commercials (both in print and on television), including Revlon, Max Factor, Pond’s, Softsoap, Lever 2000, Levi’s, Chopard, Finesse and Cadillac to name but a few.

In my hobby news I have recently backed a new Kickstarter project, which you can see here -
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1621774283/battle-systemstm-urban-apocalypse-terrain?ref=email
This is the Battle Systems Ltd. Urban Apocalypse Terrain Set. The buildings and scenery items are made of thick card which comes pre-painted and slots together without the need for glue. This makes it modular, customisable and very easy to assemble and disassemble. Funding was achieved within 27 minutes of its launch, which just goes to show how popular this project is. The basic pledge of £78 gets you enough terrain to cover a 2' by 2' area. Just to give you some idea of what the set looks like, here are a few photos taken from their website.
How cool is this? This photo features multiple sets to cover a 4' by 4' area.
Interior detail and furniture items are provided. Upper floors and roofs are easily removable.
A ground eye view of the basic set showing SWAT Troopers on a raid.
One of the add-ons is the Fire Station set. A must-have for me. It costs just £12.
In other news, I have been playing a few games of the Castle Ravenloft board-game. Expect to see lots of photos of the painted miniatures for this game in the near future. It's a good game if you like dungeon crawls, which I do, especially when going up against the undead. It has much in common with Super Dungeon Explore but at the same time is different enough to feel unique. The rules are very simple and the game is easy to play and fast.  

I also managed to play my very first game of Rum & Bones, using the figures and ships from the basic set. The Bone Devils undead faction scored a decisive victory over the Wellsport Brotherhood. What an incredibly fun game it turned out to be. I can see I'm going to get a lot of pleasure out of it. It really appealed to me in a big way.

Apparently, October is Zomtober month, in which participants are supposed to paint at least one zombie or survivor figure every week during the month. I'm not officially taking part because I like painting zombie and survivor figures every month. I'd like to wish all who participate the best of luck and I look forward to seeing your output.
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23 comments:

  1. UnknownWed Sept 30, 12:40:00 pm BST

    Battle Systems have come a long way since their first sci-fi offer several years ago. This now set looks very good with a ton of furniture. I'm sure you'll have a lot of fun with it.

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    1. VampifanWed Sept 30, 01:11:00 pm BST

      Absolutely, Robert. No pun intended but it is right up my street.

      Delete
  2. ClintWed Sept 30, 01:14:00 pm BST

    No criticism of the kick starter but card terrain gets destroyed pretty quickly at the club I attend, so for me not economically viable.

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    1. VampifanWed Sept 30, 01:39:00 pm BST

      I'm sorry to hear that, Clint. How sad that your gamers have such little respect for other people's property.

      Delete
  3. Colgar6Wed Sept 30, 03:11:00 pm BST

    Rum & Bones, Castle Ravenloft and Battle Systems terrain; it's all good stuff that I can only admire from a distance (since I *really* cannot afford the time for any of these myself :-( ).

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    1. VampifanWed Sept 30, 04:33:00 pm BST

      I can only sympathise with you, Hugh. Believe me, I know how you're feeling.

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  4. UnknownWed Sept 30, 04:03:00 pm BST

    That Battle Systems terrain looks amazing, I can see why you backed it dude. Maria looks amazing too.
    I like painting zombies and survivors every month as well, Zombtober seems to be a celebration of the genre I hold dear and it just seems right for me to be a part of it.

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    1. VampifanWed Sept 30, 04:34:00 pm BST

      Thanks, Bob. Much to admire, eh? I'll still be painting zombies in Zomtober. It's in my blood, dude.

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  5. BlaxklericWed Sept 30, 04:25:00 pm BST

    I'm delighted you're also in on the "Battlesystems" KickStarter Bryan. It really does strike me as being something you'd get a lot of use out of of. Though your own card terrain collection is formidably impressive. Glad "Rum'N'Bones" was great - still yet to play it sadly. Hopefully you;ll find Zomtober of some interest ;-) I lost count how many blogs and friends I made by participating in it last year.

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    1. VampifanWed Sept 30, 04:39:00 pm BST

      I see the Battle Systems terrain as an added extra to my Mayhem City card terrain, which will give me loads of options.

      Rum & Bones is right up there with my favourite games. I hope you get as much enjoyment out of it as I have.

      Oh, I will find Zomtober VERY interesting. As I said to Bob, I'm still going to be painting zombies during the month. That's pretty much a given.

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  6. The Angry LurkerWed Sept 30, 08:45:00 pm BST

    That terrain really is the business, a pity it's not in 15mm.

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    1. VampifanWed Sept 30, 10:14:00 pm BST

      What you meant to say, Fran, is that it's a pity it's not in 15mm "as well!" :-)

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    2. The Angry LurkerSat Oct 03, 01:36:00 pm BST

      True, very true!

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  7. Da GobboWed Sept 30, 09:56:00 pm BST

    I wish I had the money to invest, sadly I'm just starting a degree and can't channel funds into it. But looking at the KS promo video it looks great

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    1. VampifanWed Sept 30, 10:17:00 pm BST

      I wish you all the best with your degree, GG, and I fully understand the need to manage your finances. I remember my student days and money was always tight.

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  8. Simon Quinton Thu Oct 01, 10:02:00 pm BST

    I do like the look of them but i'd want enough to do a 3x3 table and can't afford it at the moment.

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  9. Mad PadreFri Oct 02, 12:28:00 am BST

    That terrain is mouth-watering. As is the young lady. :)
    Hope all's well.
    Cheers,
    M

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    1. VampifanFri Oct 02, 12:03:00 pm BST

      Many Thanks, Michael. Both the terrain and Maria are worthy of close inspection.
      Life is good for me and I hope that never changes.

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  10. RogzombieFri Oct 02, 01:00:00 am BST

    Love the Battle Systems, thanks for the tip, Bryan. I think I could even assemble these!

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    1. VampifanFri Oct 02, 12:05:00 pm BST

      I was impressed by the video showing how to assemble the terrain, Roger. It all looked so easy.

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  11. Stephen GilbertSat Oct 17, 03:29:00 pm BST

    I WANT this set. Drat, I wish Id have know about it.

    Its truly excellent..

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    1. VampifanSat Oct 17, 04:02:00 pm BST

      It is still running, Steve, but be quick as it ends tomorrow. The extras that have been added since I posted this are simply awesome. It is a must have.

      Delete

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