Thursday 27 April 2017

Vampifan's Views 90 - Monthly Musings 64

This month's Vampirella illustration was drawn by comics artist, Jae Lee, and shows Vampirella with Dracula and two of his concubines. Vampirella is not actually present in the room - that is just an image of her that Dracula has conjured, which is why her head is slightly translucent.

Well, once again, I have had an incredibly busy month. I have finished painting the heroes from the first two factions for my Rum and Bones game - the undead Bone Devils and the English pirates, the Wellsport Brotherhood. I hope to review them soon. They were a lot of fun to paint and very different from what I normally paint.

I've been buying some more figures for Shadows of Brimstone - heroes and monsters and I have a bunch of them on my painting desk right now. With me concentrating so heavily on my Judge Dredd Miniatures Game campaign, Shadows of Brimstone has taken a back seat for the moment but it is not totally forgotten about.

Speaking of JDMG, I have finally managed to buy all of the figures for this range that Warlord Games had on general sale. eBay has been a huge help, and I certainly haven't paid over the odds for any of the figures I have bought from there. Indeed, many of them were cheaper than Warlord Games' recommended retail prices. The last set that completed my collection was the boxed set of 5 Judda, which I got for under £20, making it much cheaper than the RRP. It feels really amazing to have such a complete collection. Coupled with my already existing huge collection of sci-fi figures, the sky is the limit for what I can do in my JDMG campaign. A new batrep is in the offing, which will see the introduction of a new member to Judge Scott's team - PSI Judge Justine Devereux. I have had a few requests to add a female PSI Judge to the team, so I hope she'll prove a worthy asset. Judge Scott will be assessing her performance.

One game in particular has really captured my imagination this past month and that is N.E.W. the sci-fi role-playing game by EN Publishing that uses the What's Old Is New rules. I bought it mainly to check out the rules prior to the launch of the Judge Dredd & The Worlds of 2000 AD Tabletop Adventure Game. But I became so enamoured with N.E.W. that I have decided to start a new sci-fi campaign using many of the player characters from my old and very long-running Space Opera campaign. I have converted the stats for the all female crew of the scout-ship The Ace of Spades and also created some new ones. I have charted out the star system the game will start off in - it's centred around our planet Earth. What I particularly love about this game is that it shares the complexity of GURPS but the rules are much more simplified. It very much focuses on character development, giving each PC a living story that makes them jump off the page. These heroes are far more than a set of numbers and stats. They live, they breathe and they have backstories. I love it! Indeed, I can foresee WOIN becoming my all time favourite role playing game and my "go to" set of rules for any RPG campaign I run in the future.

The game has also had me doing two things I never thought would happen to me. First up, I have actually sculpted some new 28mm scale figures this month. Unbelievable! I thought my sculpting days were long gone, but sometimes you need a certain figure that no-one else sells. Sure, I still do lots of converting, but that is not the same as sculpting a figure from scratch. The figures are finished but not yet painted. I'll review them later.
Secondly, I have started collecting miniature starships to use in small scale ship to ship combats. I have started with the excellent, and very cheap, set of 12 plastic starships sold by EM4 Miniatures. Twelve ships for just £2.55 seemed like a great place to start, and best of all, they're all different. That's them to the right, and I've circled the ship I'm using for The Ace of Spades in red.
For those of you wondering (Simon, I'm particularly thinking of you!) I do not plan on collecting any Star Trek ships, or any Star Wars ships, or rules sets for either franchise. The ship to ship combat rules in N.E.W. are simple enough for my needs and what I especially like about them is that most PCs on a ship has a role to play in the combat.

However, I did succumb to a new Kickstarter that opened earlier this month - Stars Reach pewter starship miniatures by Twilight Game Designs. Here's the link to it -  https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/twilightgamedesigns/stars-reach-space-ship-miniatures/description The ships in all three factions, but in particular, the Human Commonwealth ships, greatly appeal to me and fit in well with my plans for my N.E.W. campaign. Check out the pictures below if you don't want to click on the link.


An unexpected bonus for backing this Kickstarter is that Ed, from Two Hours Wargames, is offering a free PDF of the 5150: Star Navy rules to anyone who makes a pledge for all three factions. I did and Ed has already honoured his promise. THW is one of four companies actively supporting this project, although the factions will be renamed for use in 5150. I will actually be renaming the factions for my own upcoming campaign.
I have never played any starship combat games before, so this is something I am very much looking forward to but I suspect in my N.E.W. campaign The Ace of Spades will do more running and hiding than actual fighting. That said, for its size, it is well armed, well armoured and has a cloaking device fitted, which will prove extremely useful in keeping it hidden.
I suspect that May is going to be an even busier month for me. I hope so because I'm feeling incredibly well right now. If I could bottle my mojo I'd make a fortune! Thanks for reading and take care.

24 comments:

  1. Ha Ha, cracking post Bryan, as there were times I thought you were directly addressing me ;-) I never thought I'd read a Vampifan post in which you wrote "I have started collecting miniature starships to use in small scale ship to ship combats" - and you were quite right in assuming I immediately hoped you were dipping your toe into "Star Trek: Attack Wing"!! LOL!! :-)

    I genuinely hope you have a top time with this genre Bryan, and your newfound love fro N.E.W sounds thoroughly enticing too I must say. Hils just convinced me to have a look at "Metamorphosis Alpha" and I must confess to chomping at the bit for it to arrive, so I'm green with envy that Ed got you your latest 'tipple' to you in short time.

    Its going to be great to see your "Rum & Bones" stuff painted, and then "Shadows Over Brimstone" too. So much to look forward to, and yet another imminent "Judge Dredd" BatRep too. You're spoiling us, Bryan :-)

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    1. It is true, Simon, that some of my comments were addressed directly to you. I know you love your "Star Trek" ship to ship combats and thought it prudent to inform you I would not be going down that road. That said, there is a race in "N.E.W." called the Spartans, who are just Klingons by another name, so who knows, I may end up getting a few Klingon ships. The U.F.P. are going to be my good guys but these are the U.F.P. from the "Space Opera" universe and not the "Star Trek" universe.

      I played "Metamorphosis Alpha" when it first came out over 40 years ago, assuming it's the same game. I'm sure it was the precursor for "Gamma World". It's a good, old school game.

      PDF rules can be sent instantaneously, so it was no big surprise that Ed responded so quickly. He's one of the good guys and it's always a pleasure dealing with him.

      My god, it's true, I have so much I want to show you guys. I may have to add a few extra posts in May. :-)

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    2. Personally I'm delighted you're branching into a new genre, Bryan, as you've certainly caused me to do so in the past. I've not heard of "Twilight Game Designs" before, but believe Jez has posted about the EM-4 minis in the past. Plus any campaign entitled "The Ace of Spades" has got to be good!!

      No worries about you not going down a certain road. I appreciate "Star Trek: Attack Wing" isn't your thing, and, as I say above, I'm just pleased you are dabbling in space combat. Let me know when you want to start up an "Age Of Sigmar" Nurgle Host though as I might have some spare bitz to send you ;-)

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    3. I also hadn't heard of Twilight Game Designs before. It was whilst reading about this new Kickstarter on the Lead Adventurer forum that I learnt about them and decided to back it.

      Kimberley Jane Wells, the captain of my crew, always calls her ship, "The Ace of Spades". In her time, she has captained quite a few ships with that name. It is a cool name!

      Ha, ha, don't hold your breath waiting for me to start collecting a Chaos Nurgle army. That is something I really can't see happening!

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    4. I forgot to mention that you certainly grabbed a tempting bargain with those Star Frontiers Sci Fi Minis. I'm really looking forward to seeing you paint those up, as they are proper 'old skool' sculpts and should be awesome for some classic gaming. Will you be using one of the Character models to represent the fair Captain Wells; or do you already own just such a mini?

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    5. Sadly, Simon, I did not get those Star Frontier figures. I was the second person to make a bid for them and it was first come, first served. Ed was just being fair, and the other guy did pay quickly, so I can't really complain. I'm disappointed but not heartbroken.

      As for Captain Kimberley Jane Wells, I do already have a great figure for her - a really cool Ral Partha Shadowrun figure. She is gorgeous. I will be showcasing the full crew in the near future. I have painted minis for all of them. I just need to photograph them.

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    6. Ah... gutted for you Bryan, as I thought they would have been well-loved and well-used sat within your collection. However, I'm very much looking forward to seeing Captain Wells and the rest of her crew :-)

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    7. Thanks for the kind words, Simon. Very much appreciated.

      I hope to show the full crew of "The Ace of Spades" some time in May. Kimberley is my most enduring player character ever. I have been playing her off and on since the early 1980's first with the "Space Opera" RPG by Fantasy Games Unlimited. and then in the 1990's with "GURPS Space". Now it is time to resurrect her with the "N.E.W." rules. This means a new beginning for her and her friends.

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  2. As usual some projects that interest me. As a long term/time Gurps player (I go all the way back to Melee and Wizard, then Into the labyrinth, then to GuRPS,) The complexity of GURPS has grown and it is no longer the easy breezy rule set it started as. One can only hope These rules do not suffer in the same way.

    As for Space ships always a fan.

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    1. Thanks, Clint. I do love GURPS so much, but it is incredibly complex, especially 4th edition, and just designing a single character can take hours. "WOIN" greatly simplifies everything but doesn't skimp on detail. I can design a "N.E.W." character in much less than an hour now.

      By the way, I didn't get into GURPS until the release of the 3rd edition rules, so you really are a veteran.

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    2. It might be worth running some old school Melee/wizard adventures. Melee and Wizard were really just fantasy Duelling systems "Into the Labyrinth" turned it into a rpg...

      I have a CD with all the rules. I may be able to forward... let me look into it.

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  3. You can always use Jez's ship to ship combate system? Lots of lovely stuff to come :-)

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    1. Thanks, Andy. Sorry, but I'm not a fan of Jez's rules, so I won't be using them. Besides which, the "N.E.W." rules are perfectly sound, easy to learn and just what I was looking for.

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  4. Great musings this month Bryan, a very eclectic bunch of mentions which all adds to the interest, and should have something for every one in it. Looking forward to your next JD Batrep

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    1. Much appreciated, Dave. I do like to keep busy and mix things up, just to stay fresh and enthusiastic. I, too, am looking forward to my next JDMG batrep. It should be here soon.

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  5. Great post Bryan. I always look forward to reading your end of month report and hearing some of your thoughts on future directions.

    Looking forward to seeing how you go with sci fi.

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    1. Thank you kindly, Tim. I am very excited about all of my future projects.

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  6. Yep, great musings Bryan and some interesting and unusual projects planned, I too have those EM-4 spaceships you really can't argue with the price of then can you.

    Cheers Roger.

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    1. Lovely to hear from you, Roger. 12 starships for £2.55 is fantastic value for money. What a bargain!

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  7. Thanks Bryan, you never know I might even post something next weekend....

    Cheers Roger.

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    1. No pressure, mate, but that would be so nice. You have been missed.

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    2. Oh gosh, I'm going to have top now aren't I.

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