Thursday 31 August 2017

Vampifan's Views 95 - Monthly Musings 68

Hello and welcome to another of my Monthly Musings. This month's Vampirella picture is the second of a series of three paintings by Bo Hampton featuring Vampirella and Batman. I'm not sure why Vampi is hitching a ride on Batman's back when she can fly! Perhaps she wants to keep that ability a secret from the Caped Crusader.

Once again, I have had a very prolific month hobby-wise. I managed to finish painting my figures for the Death Match sci-fi gladiatorial game, although I'm still missing a few monsters. That will hopefully be rectified next month.

There are two games that I'm currently very passionate about - Dracula's America and N.E.W. I have a load of Weird West 28mm scale figures on my painting table right now, including some of the official Dracula's America figures and some Shadows of Brimstone figures, which are almost done.  I have bought quite a few Weird West figures this past month, including 5 vampires from New Line Miniatures, 13 assorted Wild West figures from the Reaper Chronoscope range (10 humans and 3 zombie miners), and I also backed a short run Kickstarter (it only lasted four days) by Bad Squiddo Games called My Last Sunrise, which contained 7 vampires, 6 vampire hunters and 2 monsters. I'm expecting delivery of them within the next few days as Annie wanted to get the figures out very quickly and she very kindly e-mailed me last night to tell me the figures were on their way. I've also been buying and making more Old West buildings from 4Ground. They are currently offering the Rogan's Bar and Bunkhouse complete set for £22.00 instead of £47.50, which was too good a bargain for me to pass by.
Rogan's Bar and Bunkhouse photo taken from the 4Ground website
Every Wild West town needs at least one saloon and this is my first. For that price, I was very pleased to buy it, as it is quite a big kit. By the way, my building looks a lot better than the one shown in the photo above because I paint all of the dark brown edges to match their surrounding colours. It makes my buildings look more realistic and less like a model kit. It is time consuming and fiddly (especially painting the window frames) but well worth the effort in the end. I'm slowly building up a nice collection of Wild West buildings (all from 4Ground so far) but I'd like a few more before I start posting any batreps.

The other game that I'm really enjoying playing is N.E.W. by EN Publishing. Yes, I have set up another blog, which is dedicated to the What's Old Is New role-playing games (see here - https://vampifanwoin.blogspot.co.uk/ ). So why am I mentioning it here? I recently played a big game using the N.E.W. rules that I want to bring to your attention. It was based on the introductory scenario, A Meeting of Metal from the Warlord Games Doctor Who skirmish game - Exterminate! I converted the stats for the Cybermen and the Daleks to N.E.W. and played a most enjoyable game that must have been unique, because I don't know of anyone else who has played Exterminate! with the N.E.W. rules. Now I know that most of you are not fans of N.E.W. and I'm fine with that. But I also know that quite a few of you are Doctor Who fans, and so it is to you that I'm giving this heads up. I'll be posting part 1 of this batrep in a few days time, so if you want to give it a view please drop by at my WOIN blog. Here is a photo of the initial set up.
Twelve Cybermen versus seven Daleks as they battle to control the most Vortex Nodes. Who will win?
I did think that working on two blogs would have had a bigger impact on the number of posts I put out per month but actually, the numbers are very good. Seven posts for my Undead blog and eight posts for my WOIN blog this month is way above average for a month. I guess it helped that I already had 10 posts all fully prepared before I even posted the first one for my WOIN blog. It is unlikely that I'll be posting any Monthly Musings on my WOIN blog, so expect some crossover content in future Monthly Musings on this blog. The WOIN Blog has been well received so far. I was extremely delighted to have Russ Morrissey, the author of O.L.D. and N.E.W. as one of my first followers. He asked me if I had thought of publishing my The Ace of Spades Campaign as a book, which I hadn't, but now that he has put the idea into my head it won't let go. It won't happen soon but once I'm well into the campaign I will give it serious consideration. I'd also like to give a big shout out and thank you to Andy, Dave and Greg as the only three followers who have commented on every post so far. Thanks, guys, your enthusiastic support is greatly appreciated.
Just as I have been buying quite a few new figures for my Weird West games, the same is true for my N.E.W. games. I have recently bought a fair few 28mm scale figures from the Alternative Armies range of Ganesha Games sci-fi range and from the Space Vixens From Mars range of sci-fi figures. Most of these have already been painted. In addition, my range of miniature starships has grown considerably. My package of 30 starships from the Stars Reach Kickstarter by Twilight Game Designs arrived and I have also bought 10 merchant ships from Brigade Models (they have a huge range of starships). Starship combat is something I'm very keen to try out when I start my The Ace of Spades Campaign. I'm not planning on any large scale fleet battles (that doesn't mean it might not happen!) but I'll mainly be concentrating on small scale skirmishes involving The Ace of Spades.
The one thing I am most looking forward to in September is taking delivery of my Battle Systems Sci-fi Terrain sets. I made a huge pledge for this Kickstarter last year and I can't wait to get my hands on these new sets. The Urban Apocalypse sets that I already have are superb and are much loved by me. With these new sci-fi sets my Judge Dredd games will be vastly improved and of course, the new sets will feature heavily in my The Ace of Spades Campaign. I'm expecting delivery of them in the next week or two. Oh, happy days!
Battle Systems Sci-Fi Terrain Set - this is all you get in just one set. I ordered lots of sets! Mega City One, here I come!

Thanks for reading and take care.

20 comments:

  1. I wish you well with all the projects. Almost something for everyone. Nothing here directly for me at the moment, but everything is on the side-lines and could get squeezed in if the time/moon/mood was right

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  2. Lots of things that I'll look forward to seeing, Bryan. I have to admit that your WOIN blog posts have been a big inspiration to my own hobby of late - those and Blaxkleric's Mutants and Death Ray Guns posts - and have seen me preparing a small campaign of linked games set in the C22nd Star Trek universe. I recently bought from Space Vixens for the first time and am looking at the merchant spaceships from Brigade and Ground Zero Games to use with my Star Trek Attack Wing Starfleet and Klingon ships. So plenty of things in common with your own, current, interests.

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    1. Many thanks, Roy. I'm glad I have inspired you to start your own sci-fi campaign. I shall look forward to seeing what you come up with. Best of luck, mate.

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  3. Another excellent post Bryan, looking forward tremendously to the batrep between Daleks (yay!) and cybermen (boo, hiss - secretly yay!). The sci-fi pledge looks enormous and I'm sure will greatly enhance your games, have fun. :-)

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    1. Much appreciated, Andy. The Cybermen vs Daleks game went well and it was a great way to try out the N.E.W. rules on a large scale. I'll be posting part 1 of it on Saturday.

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  4. That seems to have been a very busy month Bryan, with a lot coming up this month as well. Shall be interesting to see this all develop

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    1. Ha, ha, all of my months seem to be busy, Dave. Still, I wouldn't have it any other way. I'm sure you're the same with so many projects on the go.

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  5. I'm glad things are going so well. I still enjoy the reports even if there are less zombies around than there used to be.

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    1. Thanks, Phil. It's true there are a lot less zombies around these days but they will return. The undead have a habit of coming back to life.

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  6. Flippin' eck - I'm worn out just READING about that lot Bryan! You've certainly been very busy, and this post is really just a "teaser" for what's to come. Naturally, I'm looking forward to the AAR, the Bad Squiddo mini's and the new terrain (and an Ace Of Spades book???!!!)

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    1. Thank you so much, Greg. Your comments are always greatly appreciated. Yes, I have been busy on the hobby front. Life is good for me right now, so I'm making the most of it whilst I can. There is indeed so much to look forward to. The Cybermen vs Daleks batrep is epic! I'll post pics of the Bad Squiddo Games minis and Battle Systems Sci-fi terrain sets as soon as I get them. As for the possibility of an "The Ace of Spades" book, it is something I'd love to do.

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  7. These monthly musings are always packed full of goodness, Bryan, and this one is no exception. Lots to read and digest. Looking forward to the differences in your Daleks vs Cybermen BatRep, and Wild West scenery. Nice sneak look at your marvellous "Battle Systems" collections in your "Doctor Who" photo too ;-)

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    1. Many thanks, Simon. Tune into my WOIN blog on Saturday for part 1 of my unique Cybermen vs Daleks batrep. It was such a fun experience playing it. I suspect September is going to be another very busy month for me, hobby-wise.

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  8. Hi, it's Mike, Bryan's brother here.
    Don't worry, Bryan is fine but I am sorry to say that his Internet router has died. Unfortunately, he won't be back online until it is fixed.
    Regards,
    Mike

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    1. Many thanks, Mike. As you can see, I'm back online again. YAY!

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  9. Look forward to seeing your version of the Bar/Bunkhouse. You will have plenty of terrain to cover mot genres and gaming needs!

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