Vampifan's Views 81 - Monthly Musings 55

The month of June has been very good to me. More on why later, but first I start as always with another painting of my favourite superhero - Vampirella. Here she is again, painted by my favourite Vampi artist, Joe Jusko. Nice use of colour in this painting. I wonder what music Vampi is dancing to? Bat Out Of Hell, perhaps? :-)

The best news of the month was that I received delivery of my Zombicide: Black Plague expansion sets. I knew I had ordered a whole load of stuff for the Kickstarter pledge but I was very surprised to see my mail-man coming down my garden path carrying two big brown cardboard boxes. Both were filled with amazing goodies. I spent a very enjoyable afternoon opening every box within the two parcels. Usually, when I get a big delivery like this I post a "what-I-got" article on my blog but this time, I'm not going to. There are a lot of unboxing videos on YouTube showing what backers received for their Black Plague pledges. I watched a lot of them, whilst waiting for my stuff to arrive and they show what's available far better than a few photos of mine could.

What I will say is that I ordered the Wulfsburg expansion set, extra tiles, some very useful plastic card holders and every single figure that was available for the game. That means I now have nearly 100 Heroes to fight the Zombie hordes. The Zombies have also grown stronger with extra Zombies, including Deadeye Walkers (aka Zombie Archers), Notoriously Plagued Characters (Zombie NPCs), Zombie Crowz, Zombie Wolves and some truly awesome Zombie Abominations like the Ablobination, the Abominalpha, the Abominotaur, the Abominarat and the Abominatroll. What is amazing about all of the new figures in these sets is that the sculptors have really raised their game. The standard of sculpting is absolutely top notch! Painting figures of this high quality will be a labour of love.

I have just about finished painting the last of my Zombies from the basic Zombicide: Black Plague boxed set. I was hoping to get them finished before my expansion sets arrived but no matter. They'll be finished within the week. As soon as they are done I'll photograph them all and then I'll be posting lots of reviews of the figures from that set on my blog. Batreps will follow later. However, I'm resisting the temptation to dive straight into my new stuff and start painting some choice figures from this massive collection of minis.

What I plan on concentrating on next are my Shadows of Brimstone figures. They'll be taking centre stage on my painting desk. I am determined to make a push to get them all painted. Other stuff will get painted as well, as I like to have a few things going on at once. Currently, in addition to my Zombicide: Black Plague Zombies I am also painting a few figures for the Judge Dredd Miniatures Game - Fatties and robots. I have been making some buildings and scenery from 4Ground for Shadows of Brimstone and Six Gun Sound. To the left is a photo of a New England Settler's Cabin taken from the 4Ground webstore. This was the very first 28mm scale Wild West building that I bought and made. In my opinion, 4Ground make the best buildings for any genre. They are pricey but you are paying for top quality. I'll be slowly building up my collection of Wild West buildings in the months to come, buying one or two per month, mainly from 4Ground but not exclusively so.

This has also been a very good month for me playing games. I have played games of Airfix Battles, Rum and Bones and Thunderbirds, once each, four games of Heroclix and six games of Shadows of Brimstone, repeatedly playing the High Noon Duel scenario from the Frontier Town expansion set using a different hero each time against the Outlaw gunman. It is always nice to find the time to play some games but this month has been exceptional for me. Okay, so many of the games I played were short ones, lasting less than an hour each, but I'm still overjoyed to have played so many games in just four weeks.

Vampifan's Superheroes and Supervillains 03

Here are three more supervillains that I made and converted many years ago. These are all loners but any one of them would be an ideal recruit for the Yamaguchi Yakuza clan that I reviewed last time. When I converted the Villains and Vigilantes scenario, Search for the Sensei, to GURPS Supers I added all three to the Yamaguchi Yakuza to give my player characters a greater challenge. Despite the extra manpower the villains were still defeated!

At the far left of this group is Mount Fuji, a supervillain from the GURPS Supers 3rd edition supplement. Tashiro Yamato is a disgraced Sumo wrestler who has become a ronin, a renegade samurai serving no master. He is a Robin Hood type - to some a hero, to others a villain. He is wanted by the police and a mid-level Japanese Yakuza gang (not the Yamaguchi Yakuza, who are much more high-powered and are quite willing to recruit meta-humans). His super powers in GURPS Supers are Enhanced Strength:190, Damage Resistance:50 and Increased Density level:8. He cost 600 points. He weighs 1,100lbs and yet one of his Quirks is that he thinks he is too thin! I sculpted Mount Fuji out of Milliput. If I was making him today, I'd probably convert him from the Marvel Heroclix figure of the Blob. He is meant to be rather squat looking, hence his lack of height.
Standing next to him is Predator, one of the supervillains featured in the GURPS Super Scum supplement. During the 1920's Archer Hayes led a band of mercenaries on raids along the northern coast of Japan. On his last raid he entered a village temple and found an unusual golden opal. A priest warned him the stone was cursed, the curse being everlasting life. Archer took it anyway and when the temple suddenly exploded he was surprised to find he had not only survived but that his body had changed, leaving him stronger and more agile. A group of ninjas, the Nimba Cult, heard of him and recruited him. He learnt faster than any other recruit and was sent on a mission to assassinate the British ambassador's daughter. But when it came to the actual kill he found he could not stomach such a senseless death. He fled to America and found work as a stuntman in Hollywood. He survived numerous assassination attempts by the Nimba Cult and was forced to move constantly. As the years passed he grew bored. Life held no excitement for him. He never aged and he soon realised that eternal life was a curse. Now he will accept any challenge if it has the possibility of being fatal. In GURPS Super Scum the characters can be one of three power levels - low, medium or high. I chose the high 1000 point option for my Predator. His super powers are Clinging, Damage Resistance:20, Enhanced Strength:60, Full Co-ordination level:2, Infravision, Regeneration and Unaging. Once again, I sculpted the figure myself. His katana and wakizashi came from Dixon's Miniatures who sell samurai weapons separately. The wakizashi is just a katana I bought with its blade shortened. I cut it down to an appropriate length. I think he is one of my better sculpts.

At the far right is Python, the first figure whom I converted from the Golden Heroes role-playing game. I never played Golden Heroes, but I did find it a handy sourcebook for converting some of its characters to GURPS Supers. Mai Lee Noh paid a scientist to develop a serum to bestow upon her the abilities of a python to help her become a Grand Master of the Bando style of Kung Fu. It was partially successful, granting her great strength, fast reactions and a scaly skin, but she was still defeated by the current Bando Grand Master and was forced to flee China in disgrace. She has since made a small fortune hiring her skills to the highest bidder and has built up a good reputation in her work and will do anything to keep her reputation intact. She is a cold, calculating crook, who only gives up if the defeat can somehow be turned into a moral victory. For GURPS Supers I gave her the following super powers - Enhanced Strength:30, Increased Speed level:3 and Passive Defence:2. She also has very high Skill levels in Judo and Karate, specialising in the Bando style of Kung Fu. She cost 800 points. Her figure is a conversion of the Marvel Heroclix Psylocke from the X-Men. I made her in 2003, a year after the launch of Heroclix.
I leave you with illustrations of these three supervillains. They were all scanned into my computer from their respective sourcebooks but I digitally coloured them.

Mount Fuji

Predator and Python

Blog News. I would heartily recommend you check out the Gamers Cupboard blog if you want to see what a Chibi version of Vampifan looks like! Even if you don't like Chibis it's still worth a view. Here's the link - http://thegamerscupbard.blogspot.co.uk/2016/06/chibi-vampifan-and-chibi-vampirella.html

Vampifan's Superheroes and Supervillains 02

In my previous post I looked at three lone supervillains I had made, based on characters from GURPS Supers and Villains and Vigilantes. This time I'm reviewing a team of supervillains - the Yamaguchi Yakuza clan. They appeared in the V&V scenario, Search for the Sensei, published in 1986.

At the far left is Kazutoshi Toshinaga, leader of the American West Coast operations of the powerful Yamaguchi Yakuza clan. Crippled as a boy in a car accident that also killed both of his parents, Kazutoshi was taken under the wing of a rich uncle with contacts in the Yamaguchi Yakuza. He studied Engineering at Tokyo University, specialising in Cybernetics. He was offered a post in the Yamaguchi clan, which he accepted. He created his special armoured suit, which gave him full mobility. He quickly rose through the ranks and became known as Shujin. Like Marvel Comics' Iron-man, Shujin gains all of his superpowers from his High Tech suit. He is now based in San Francisco. In GURPS Supers, his suit grants him Super Strength:80, Psionic Resistance level:20 and Damage Resistance:65 in the body and DR:50 in the head and limbs. He is armed with a gold-plated Force-sword. He cost 1000 points. I sculpted him out of Milliput.
Next in line is Maiden Japan, leader of the American East Coast operations of the Yamaguchi Yakuza, based in New York. Lotus Sawara was born in Osaka, Japan. She was a lonely child so she created an imaginary friend, a companion who did things for her, like play catch with her or put away her toys. Later, she realised this was her own mind at work. She was a telekinetic. At age 14, her parents disowned her, thinking she was possessed by demons. She joined a travelling circus and developed an affinity with the circus animals, especially the big cats. At age 20, she joined the Yamaguchi Yakuza, where her talents were appreciated and rewarded. In addition to her Telekinesis, she is a superb athlete and she can speak with feline animals. Indeed, she owns a pet Indian tiger, whom she calls Nihon. Shujin crafted a Force-staff for her much like Darth Maul's double-bladed Light-sword, although long before that Star Wars film ever saw the light of day. In GURPS Supers she cost 500 points, an average score for any superhero or supervillain. Once again, I sculpted her. Her Force-staff is the shaft of a metal spear.

Third in line is Solaris. Born in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, Tetsuya Kori turned to a life of crime after she was made redundant from her job as an electronics teacher. Whilst on a skiing trip, her latent super powers activated when she was caught in an avalanche. She was able to melt the snow that covered her with her latent Flame powers. Upon joining the Yamaguchi Yakuza she was presented with a flame retardant costume. She named herself Solaris. In addition to her Flame powers, Solaris can blind opponents with a Flare and can fly at super speed. She operates in both New York and San Francisco, depending where she is needed the most. In GURPS Supers she cost a respectable 800 points. I was fortunate enough to find a 28mm scale Grenadier superhero figure who perfectly matched her look. All I had to do was lengthen her hair with Milliput then paint her in the appropriate colours.
Finally, we have Genghis Chi. He may be small but he is powerfully built, super strong and weighs far more than normal for a man of his size and stature. He was born in Brooklyn, New York. He has two loves in his life - chemistry and beating up people. After graduating from college he became a pharmacist and was soon recruited by the Yamaguchi Yakuza. Basically, he is a super-powered version of the villain, Oddjob from the James Bond film, Goldfinger. He even has a steel-brimmed bowler hat, which he can use like a boomerang. In GURPS Supers, his super powers were Super Strength:30, Extra Hit Points +10, Increased Density level:3 (adds 300lbs to his 140lbs weight and reduces any Knockback by 3") and Increased Speed +2. He cost a total of 600 points. The figure I used for Genghis Chi was a Denizen Miniatures figure of a not-Oddjob. Although he is true 25mm scale, he was perfect for my needs.
I'll close with illustrations of the four figures shown above. They were redrawn by me and digitally coloured by me.

Shujin and Genghis Chi

Maiden Japan and Solaris

Vampifan's Superheroes and Supervillains 01

During the 1980's when I was games mastering my group of wargaming and role-playing friends there was one superhero RPG that we played many, many times. It was Villains and Vigilantes (V&V) by Fantasy Games Unlimited (FGU). V&V was far away FGU's most successful game and more supplements and scenarios were produced for it than for any other game in their range. In the late 1990's we switched to GURPS Supers. However, I converted a few of the V&V scenarios to GURPS for my group to play. Carrying on from my recent posts for the Forgotten Heroes challenge I thought you'd like to see some some of my earlier superhero figures that I made and converted for those two superhero RPGs. The majority of the figures I created back then came from various supplements and scenario packs for GURPS Supers and V&V. In this post and the next few, I'll show you some of them, starting with this trio of lone supervillains.

At the far left is the supervillain, Doctor Apocalypse. He was the primary protagonist of the scenario set, The Island of Doctor Apocalypse, published in 1982 for V&V. Pietor Apoucalos was a megalomaniac whose powers came from the mystical Apocalypse Gem which was grafted to his forehead. This allowed him to use any six super powers of his choosing at any one time. I forget which six powers he used in V&V but in GURPS Supers, I kept the six powers limit and gave him up to 1200 points to spend on them. In his current incarnation he chose Enhanced Strength: 80 (200 points), Extra Hit Points +40 (200 points), Immortality (140 points), Increased Speed +10 (250 points), Laser level:10 (270 points) and Teleportation level:30 (self only) (120 points). I spent 1,180 points on his super powers and his total points cost came to 2400 points. When I ran The Island of Doctor Apocalypse scenario using the V&V rules, he wiped the floor with the superheroes of my players. This was the one and only occasion that they lost a fight. He was simply too tough and too powerful for them. Much later, with some trepidation, I replayed the scenario using the rules for GURPS Supers and a team made up of Gothique (a player created Dark Elf superheroine), Vampirella (obviously played by me) and Wolverine defeated him.
The figure was sculpted by me and is based upon the front cover illustration of Doctor Apocalypse that appears on the V&V scenario book. His head is far too big, I realise but I was happy with him at the time so never bothered changing him.

Next up are my two winged flyers. In the centre is Blue Demon, who was one of the villains featured in the GURPS Supers supplement, Super Scum. This was a collection of supervillains both loners and teams. Blue Demon was unwittingly summoned to Earth by a coven of witches (now all dead). He caused carnage wherever he went and was responsible for the deaths of thousands of humans. Annoyingly, he has been killed several times but he always comes back later. His super powers include Doesn't Breathe, Flight, Hardened Skin (metallic blue in colour), Pressure and Vacuum Support, Regeneration, Regrowth, Super Strength and Unkillable. In GURPS Supers he cost 1400 points. My players had no problems in defeating him in both games, although they could never kill him and thus, like any good villain, he would always return. For my figure of him I used the wings of an old Citadel Khorne Demon of Chaos. Being made of metal, these helped to anchor him to his base. Note that his feet do not touch his base. The rest of his body was made out of Milliput modelling putty. He looks exactly like the illustration of him (see below) and I'm very pleased with my sculpt of him.
Finally, we have Talon, another character from the GURPS Supers supplement, Super Scum. Jani Yamahito, a brilliant geneticist, was transformed into the monstrous, reptilian Talon after a failed laboratory experiment. She is not truly evil, even though she has killed, her violence is mostly unprovoked. Her super powers include Chameleon Skin, Claws, Clinging Ability (she can walk on walls or ceilings at half Move), Flight, Regeneration, Regrowth, Super Strength and Toughened Skin. Although she cost 900 points in GURPS Supers, she could still be taken out by a single superhero and she'd be no match for a team of heroes. My figure of her is a conversion of an old Citadel Dark Elf Harpie (similar to the one I used for my conversion of Purgatori). I simply remodelled her head and added a long tail with a forked tip.
I'll leave you with illustrations of this trio of supervillains drawn and digitally coloured by me.

Doctor Apocalypse

Blue Demon

Talon

Blog News. Those of you who are interested in the Shadows of Brimstone game should check out my review of it on The Gamers Cupboard blog here - http://thegamerscupbard.blogspot.co.uk/2016/06/shadows-of-brimstone-overview.html
If you think you've already seen it before, think again. It has been rewritten and greatly expanded.

Forgotten Heroes - Purgatori & Vampirella 02

Here I present my four finished conversions for the Forgotten Heroes project. As I explained last time, the heroes I wanted to create were the vampire characters of Purgatori and Vampirella, who both appear in comics produced by Dynamite Entertainment. I mentioned that I'd be making two versions of each of them - a normal 28mm scale version and a 28mm scale Chibi version. Here they are.

For my normal version of Purgatori, I decided to base her on an old Citadel Dark Elf Harpie (typical of Games Workshop, she is now out of production). A copy of the Harpie I used is at the far left of my two photos. I remodelled her hair, and added plastic horns taken from a GW Skeletons sprue to her head. I added bone shoulder pads and gave her long fingerless gloves and a bra made of Milliput. I added thigh length boots and remodelled her feet. The Harpie had longer legs and feet, so I hid her taloned feet by surrounding them with a pile of decapitated heads from my spare parts box. She stands on a 25mm diameter MDF base, which is textured with sand. Overall, I'm very pleased with my conversion. There are no official or unofficial versions of Purgatori, which makes my figure unique.

For my figure of Vampirella I chose a Marvel Heroclix figure of a Con Artist from the old Xplosion expansion set as the basis for my conversion. The Heroclix Con Artist appears at the far right of my two photos. It was probably not the most obvious figure to choose but I thought she had potential. Her arms and legs were almost perfect. I remodelled her two bracelets and added extra upper arm bracelets as well. Her body needed extensive reworking and her hair obviously needed lengthening. Cutting off her clothes was not an easy task but a very sharp craft knife helped and I knew if I cut too deeply I could always repair her with modelling putty. Once I had removed all of the extraneous plastic (working with plastic made my life a lot easier!) I then went to work with the modelling putty and remade her bum and boobs and added her iconic costume. Finally, I added her long length hair, based her and textured the base. I'm reasonably happy with her. I think it's a decent effort but I'll be the first to admit that some of the unofficial versions of Vampirella are a lot better than my version. Still, once again, I have a unique figure to add to my collection.

Moving onto the two Chibi versions of Purgatori and Vampirella I must admit that these were a lot easier to convert and more fun to do. Both conversions are based on the same figure - Succubus Vandella from Soda Pop Miniatures' game Super Dungeon Explore. She's at the far left of these two photos. Vandella can be either an evil Mini-Boss or a Hero, depending upon which version you choose for her. She was also the perfect figure for me to convert into Purgatori and Vampirella.
For Purgatori, I first cut off Vandella's pigtails and tail. I snipped the ends off a wooden cocktail stick to use as her horns and glued them to the front of her head. I know they should be curved but this was the best solution I could come up with. I added her left eye with modelling putty as I wanted her to have both eyes open. Then I remodelled her hair and costume with Milliput. All in all, a relatively simple conversion.

For my conversion of Vampirella the first thing I did was to cut her head off (!). This was to make it easier to remove Vandella's wings. It is a fact that Vampirella can fly. In the original black and white Warren series she used to transform into a bat but more recently she spouts wings from her back when she wants to fly. However, because she rarely ever flies I decided to model her without the wings. Once again, I cut off Vandella's pigtails and tail and also her two wings. I cut away the flame from her candle. I repainted the candle so that it is now a scroll holder. I added Vampirella's white collar to her neck, which was made from Milliput. Then I drilled and pinned her head back in place and added her left eye and remodelled her long hair. She was a slightly more complex conversion than Purgatori but in no way a difficult conversion for me.
I have to admit that I absolutely love my Chibi conversions of Purgatori and Vampirella. I think I have captured the look and personality of them both just perfectly. I am now working on ideas on how to incorporate them in a game. Do I stick with Super Dungeon Explore or shall I try out Chibi World? Do I have them in an unlikely team up (with superheroes any team up is possible) or do I have them on opposing sides? I have lots of ideas spinning in my head.
I'd just like to end by saying this project was great fun and I thoroughly enjoyed taking part. A big thank you to Jez and Roger for bringing it to fruition and for allowing me to participate. Here's hoping the project continues next year.

Forgotten Heroes - Purgatori & Vampirella 01

A number of bloggers run painting and/or modelling contests, sometimes for fun and sometimes for prizes. I rarely ever take part. More often than not it's because I'm not interested in the theme of the contest but sometimes when someone announces for example, it's "Zombie Painting Month" I think, well for me every month is "Zombie Painting Month!" Recently, however, bloggers Jeremy "Jez" Winstanley and Roger Webb announced a new challenge called Forgotten Heroes. The brief was simple - convert or create a figure into a costumed superhero of your choice from any source. The rules were -

1. The character you create must not yet have had an official or unofficial miniature made for it*.
2. The figure must be in 28mm scale.
3. The figure must be completed during the month of June.
4. In your first post, you should provide a bit of detail on the character you’ve chosen and why.

*In a slight change to the original rules, you can create a character who has had an official or unofficial figure made for them, as long as you don’t use the original figure to make YOUR version. This was requested by someone who wants to make a ‘proper’ version of the character, as the official figure was not very good.

At last, here was a contest I was very keen to enter. My first choice of who to create should come as no surprise to anyone. It had to be my all time favourite superheroine - Vampirella. Not for nothing am I known as Vampifan. Whilst no one has made an official 28mm scale figure of Vampirella there are a lot of unofficial figures of her available. Vampirella lookalikes abound! I have most of them in my collection but even so, I still wanted to make my own version of her.
Vampirella was created by writer Forrest J. Ackerman and artist Trinna Robbins for Warren Publishings black and white horror magazine comic Vampirella #1 in September 1969. Her origins have changed over the years but it is now acknowledged that she is the daughter of Lilith, wife of Adam who was cast out of Eden by God. Lilith spawned numbers of demons and vampires but they made her weaker, so she created Vampirella to hunt down and destroy them. Vampirella is a vampire, and needs blood to survive and has many of the typical vampiric powers, including superhuman physical abilities, shape-shifting into a bat, immortality and a mesmeric stare. She is not prone to the race's traditional weaknesses, such as daylight, holy water, garlic or crosses. She does not attack people to drink their blood, except occasionally when she herself is attacked or desires to kill. She is almost always scantily clad in her signature red sling suit with a white collar and wearing shiny black knee-high boots.

My second choice of figure to make was another female vampire. I do love female vampires! This one would be another of my favourites, Purgatori, who originally appeared in her own series produced by Chaos Comics. After Chaos Comics folded the rights to her usage passed over to Dynamite Entertainment, who are also the current publishers of the Vampirella comics. Whereas Vampirella is a good vampire who fights the forces of darkness, Purgatori is an evil bitch, through and through. Vampirella and Purgatori have fought each other in the past, most recently in the epic crossover series, Swords of Sorrow, which I reviewed here.
Purgatori was created by writer Brian Pulido and artist Stephen Hughes for Chaos Comics and made her first appearance in Evil Ernie: Revenge #1 in October 1994. Purgatori was born in Egypt around 1390 BC, and raised in the city of Alexandria. Her parentage is unknown, save that she had the blood of the Fallen Angels in her veins. Her human name was Sakkara, and she was part of the team of slaves that built the burial tomb for Queen Ostraca. Sakkara's job was to grind corn all day under the desert sun, and she was constantly whipped by the brutish male guards. Amongst the slaves was a foreigner, an old man of Celtic origin, who told Sakkara he knew a way to escape slavery and achieve immortality. Sakkara was enlisted into Ostraca's harem and soon the two married. A year later, rebellion in the city caused Sakkara to flee and seek out the old man. She found him as he was being attacked by guards. She killed them and he lived long enough to direct her across the desert to a cave set into a mountain peak. There she met Rath, an ancient Celtic vampire. She wanted to gain immortality for her revenge; he wanted a weapon to help him turn man from the civilized path to the wild ways that Rath advocated. Rath drank Sakkara's blood and fed her some of his own, turning her into a vampire. As Rath's blood mixed with her own, it combined with the strange blood of the Fallen Angels within her, transforming her into a creature with blood red skin, horns, glowing white eyes, and bat-like wings. She soon attracted the attention of Lucifer, who brought her to Hell, where he named her Purgatori. She spent millennia there and has only recently arrived on contemporary Earth to cause chaos and mayhem.

The picture to the left shows Vampirella and Purgatori slugging it out. My plans for this project are to make two versions of both characters. First up will be normal 28mm scale figures of them. I say "normal" so as to distinguish them from my second versions. My second versions will see me creating Chibi versions of them. Yes, that means small bodies and big heads. For this, I blame Jez. A while ago he asked me if I had ever thought of making a Chibi version of Vampirella? I hadn't but once he mentioned it, the idea just wouldn't go away. Soon after that, he announced his plans for the Forgotten Heroes contest and I knew this was the perfect opportunity to kill two birds with one stone.
I'm pleased to say that all four figures have been completed and I'm ready to show them off. Please tune in to my next post and you can see what I've done with these two favourite characters of mine. I have a question for you. Do you want to see all four figures next time or shall I split them into two separate posts - normal figures first then the Chibi figures?

Bryan aka Vampifan. 2016.

Crossover Miniatures TMNT Foot Clan Ninjas

When I first saw a sampling of these figures on Andy's blog da Gobbo's Grotto, see here  I praised them and Andy said, "the Foot Clan I thought would tickle your fancy and I knew you would want to be putting your wallet into service once more... :-)" He wasn't wrong! These 15 figures from the Crossover Miniatures Ninja range are just perfect stand ins for the Foot Clan ninjas, arch-enemies of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. What makes them so good is that they all come with a choice of three heads - bug eyed masked heads, cowl masked heads and unmasked Asian heads. The bug eyed heads are ideal for the Foot Clan. The Foot Clan ninjas have a long history dating back centuries and originating from feudal Japan, although their backstory changes depending upon which version you believe - comics, film or TV. Nowadays they are primarily a terrorist organisation based in New York and led by Shredder. Also, most Foot Clan ninjas are now robots created by Shredder and his alien partner, Krang, but some are still human.

I have bought all of the 28mm scale Ninjas made by Crossover Miniatures and have divided them up into three groups of five. The first group comprises the swordsmen. All are armed with the ninjato, a slightly shorter and straighter version of the Japanese long sword known as the katana, which was the primary weapon of the samurai. At the far left is the group's leader who appears as Ninja Guard on the Crossover Miniatures webstore. He stands in a simple pose and is the least animated figure out of the group. He costs £3.25 and comes with a choice of heads and a separate ninjato in scabbard to glue to his back.

The remaining four figures come as a set and are posed ready for action. You must specify which head type you want including when you place your order. They all come with separate ninjato scabbards. This group of four costs £9.95.

My second group comprises the exotic weapons specialists. They are led by a Ninja Boss who is armed with a pair of ninjatos on his back and is posed dynamically pointing to a target. The figure comes supplied with all three head options and he costs £3.75.

Once again, the other figures can be purchased as a set of four and you must choose which head option you want for them. From left to right they are armed with a pair of kamas (a type of hand axe), a pair of sais (three-pronged daggers), a pair of tiger claws which fit to the back of the hands, and a short bow with a separate quiver of arrows. Price is £9.95 for all four.

The third group comes much more up to date and are armed with ninjatos and sub-machine guns. The leader is simply known as Ninja Boss with Gun on the Crossover Miniatures webstore. He comes with separate heads and a ninjato in its scabbard. He is in a similar dynamic pointing pose directing the action as the boss with the twin ninjatos shown above. He costs £3.75.

That just leaves the last four figures who must be bought as a group of four. They are also armed with sub-machine guns, ready to go all out. In addition to their separate heads, they also come with separate ninjatos in scabbards. This quartet also costs £9.95.
My plan to use these figures is to include them as part of Shredder's villainous gang in 7TV2e. There are stats for ninjas in 7TV2e, but I agree with Andy when he was creating stats for his TMNT figures that these should actually be classed as Minions. They are not that good in combat and tend to get mown down in vast numbers without doing much damage to the vastly superior Turtles.
Crossover Miniatures are sold by Minibits and here's a link to their webstore - http://www.minibits.net/Crossover-Miniatures-c25/Ninjas-sc89/
I have a lot of ninja figures in my collection, bought when I was playing FGU's version of Bushido. I also have a few Hand Clan ninjas from the Marvel Heroclix range. I could have used some of these older figures for my Foot Clan ninjas but these guys fit the bill far better. They look very similar to their comic book counterparts and because they're all made by the same company, they tie in well together.

Next time, yet more superhero goodness as I show the first of my entries for the Forgotten Heroes challenge. For more information see here - https://forgottenheroessite.wordpress.com/2016/05/08/forgotten-heroes-the-rules/

Greebo Games TMNT Allies and Enemies 01

Earlier this year I renewed my interest in the superheroes series of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles thanks to an inspiring series of posts shown on my good friend Andy's blog, da Gobbo's Grotto Blog. I ended up buying most of the figures he had bought for this project with just a couple of exceptions, most notably, April O'Neil and Splinter. Today I'm going to review another ally of the Turtles and the first of their major opponents. All of these figures were made by Italian firm, Greebo Games. Delivery took a couple of weeks but they were a good company to deal with.

At the far left is a tiny figure called Mr. TM. I know hardly anything about him. I did not order him, but Greebo Games kindly sent him out as a thank you for my order. Hey, I'm not going to turn down a free figure and he seems to fit in with this selection of figures. I think the TM stands for Tournament Miniature as he is one of the Greebo Games Fantasy Football Tournament Miniatures special edition figures. But for me, he is Mister Tiny Mouse. I don't even know what species he is - he could be almost any furry animal. My thoughts are to use him as a kind of criminal overlord, not so much as a Mr. Big but more a Mr. Tiny, but still with the same kind of clout and influence. If he stays behind the scene out of sight whilst masterminding a crime-wave, the heroes will get quite a surprise when they finally reveal who is behind it all. "What! You're the mastermind?"

The next two characters are both from the TMNT series. In the centre is Casey Jones. A vigilante who wears a hockey mask to protect his identity, Casey has become one of the Turtles' closest allies, as well as a love interest to April O'Neil. Casey first encountered the Turtles after having a fight with Raphael. He fights crime with an assortment of sporting goods he carries in a golf bag, such as baseball bats, golf clubs, and hockey sticks. On the Greebo Games website he is known as Hoky Jo - Referee. He is a two piece casting with his left hand and hockey stick being a separate component. He is also very tall. He stands 35mm tall. This will put a lot of you off him but not me.
The main enemy of the Turtles is Shredder. He is a villainous ninjutsu master called Oroku Saki who is the leader of the Foot Clan group of ninja assassins. In every incarnation of the TMNT franchise, he has been the arch-enemy of Splinter and the Turtles. Shredder prefers to use his armour instead of weapons in some versions. This terrific figure is as tall as Casey and he is known as Shiju the Blade Master on the Greebo Games webstore. He is a one-piece casting and I think in his case, his oversized height works to his advantage.

These three villains are known from left to right as Krang, Bebop and Rocksteady. Krang is an alien from Dimension X and he uses the torso of a muscular robot as his cockpit to move around whilst on Earth. His personal goal is to rule all dimensions. Upon his arrival on Earth he soon allied himself with Shredder and the two have worked together ever since. The figure stands 40mm tall but because he is essentially a robot construct, I don't mind that he is clearly oversized. He comes in three parts with his arms being separate from the body and legs. Greebo Games list him as Mind Golem on their webstore.

Bebop and Rocksteady are a team who were originally humans in a New York street gang controlled by Shredder. When they lost a battle with the Turtles, Shredder offered to make them more powerful by transforming them into a mutated warthog and rhinoceros respectively with neither of them fully knowing the exact details of the transformation. The transformation worked, making them bigger, stronger and tougher but added nothing to their lowly intelligence. They are simple musclemen who come back time and time again to battle the Turtles and always without success. Again they are vastly oversized figures but that doesn't bother me simply because they are mutants. Bebop came in six parts, body, arms and legs, two hands, head and two tusks. He was not easy to put together. Those tusks caused me considerable grief! Rocksteady came in four parts - body and legs, head and two arms. I did a lot of drilling and pinning on these models to ensure a clean bond. You will find them on the Greebo Games webstore as Razorbog and Rynock respectively.
Mr. TM costs 4.99 Euros. Casey Jones, Bebop and Rocksteady cost 6.99 Euros each and Shredder and Krang cost 7.99 Euros each. You will find most of them as part of the Tartalar Fantasy Football team, where they can be purchased individually if you click on the Single Player tab of the Greebo Games webstore. Mr. TM can be found in the Tournament Miniatures section.
For more information on Casey and Shredder please check out Andy's blog here.
And for more information on Krang, Bebop and Rocksteady check out Andy's blog here.
He knows far more about the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles than I do. The main reason for doing this project was so I could use the figures in a game and the game I most want to use them in is 7TV2e. However, there are no official stats for any of the TMNT characters. Fortunately, my good friend Andy, came to the rescue and created stats for them all. You can see his 7TV2e stats for the Turtles and their allies here  and the stats for their enemies here.
Andy, I salute you!

Vampifan's Views 80 - Blog News - The Gamers Cupboard

This is a short but important notice to give you a heads up that the name of my joint blog run with Steve and Hil has had a name change from All Things Dungeon Crawl to The Gamers Cupboard. Here's the link - http://thegamerscupbard.blogspot.co.uk/
If you try to access the old link you'll find the site has been removed. Actually it hasn't, it's just had a name change. The three of us decided All Things Dungeon Crawl was a bit too restrictive seeing as we want to cover so many different board-games and tabletop games. We were going to rename the blog as The Gamers Corner but that name has already been registered so we went with our second choice, The Gamers Cupboard.
This new name is generic enough to allow us to cover a wide range of games. The only criteria we have for what gets included is really simple - do we like the game? If yes, there is a good chance it will get included. Conversely, if there are any games we don't rate very highly, we'll help you steer clear of them with one of my reviews.
We want to mainly focus on batreps, as they are always very popular. With Steve and Hil's current Heroclix game, we are adding an interactive element so that you can help steer the direction that the scenario goes in. See here - http://thegamerscupbard.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/yester-year-pulp-fiction-or-should-that.html
Heroclix and Horrorclix will dominate the blog for the next month and beyond but we still have loads of other stuff we wish to share with you. Actually, we are in the very fortunate position of having a surplus of articles we want to post. All I can say is there are some exciting times ahead of us. Those of you who are regular followers and those who know nothing at all about this please make note of our new address. Thank you!

The background picture for The Gamers Cupboard