MC1 Citizens 08

In this post I'm showcasing three 28mm scale male Mega City One citizens, all of whom were sculpted by me. I've used them in other sci-fi games, as they are generic enough to be used in more than one sci-fi setting.

 The citizen at the far left serves a number of useful purposes. Is he just an ordinary shopper? Or is he something more sinister - a terrorist, perhaps? Is he carrying a bomb in his bags? Is that a real beard and moustache? Why the dark glasses and wide brimmed hat?
In the centre is the only named character out of this trio. He is Jon Kupishii, an office worker. He is carrying a briefcase and a folded up overcoat. Because he is keeping his head lowered, he might have a shady secret. Or maybe it's just a wise precaution because in a city with so many adults being unemployed, those with a job are often resented.

Finally is an anonymous shopper. This fashionable young man has been shopping for groceries at Mosgrove and Thrung, a well known department store (think Marks and Spencers), noted for their green bags with the distinctive white M&T logo.
I still have few more citizen types to show you but they'll keep for another time.

MC1 Citizens 07

Here are another four female citizens from Mega City One. These four 28mm scale figures were sculpted by me many years ago. Two of them are named NPCs whilst the other two are yet to be named.

At the far left is Mercedes Night. Mercedes is a private investigator who specialises in tracking down missing persons. She is carrying a torch in her right hand. Note that she is unarmed as she does not have a permit allowing her to carry restricted weapons. Although she can carry legally sanctioned weapons, she prefers not to.
Next up is Joanna Lubley, a blocker whose hobby is shopping for clothes, shoes, handbags and perfumes. When Games Workshop brought out the first Judge Dredd RPG in the 1980's they included a couple of sheets of cardboard NPCs for you to cut out and use in your games. One of those NPCs was Joanna and I based my sculpt on the picture of her.

Second from the right is another blocker, a citizen who spends her entire life in one city block. She is not based on any character that I'm aware of - she's just the product of my fertile imagination. In case you're wondering, those question marks on her jacket were drawn on her with a fine nibbed Rotring pen.
Finally, this brunette citizen was originally designed to be used in Cyberpunk games like Cyberpunk 2020 or Shadowrun, but of course she fits in just as well in Mega City One where I'll use her as a standard Citizen.

Let's Rock

A punny title for a post all about rocks, or more specifically, rocks usable for wargames. Now that I am heavily involved in Strontium Dog and my Wild West and Weird West projects I knew I needed more pieces of rock scenery to use in my games and in this post I want to show you my current collection.

First up are these three rock towers produced by Warlord Games as part of their terrain items, where they are called Hoodoo Rocky Terrain. Hoodoos are tall skinny spires of rock that protrude from the bottom of arid basins and "broken" lands. Hoodoos are most commonly found in the High Plateaus region of the Colorado Plateau and in the Badlands regions of the Northern Great Plains. While hoodoos are scattered throughout these areas, nowhere in the world are they as abundant as in the northern section of Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah.

These three towers come in a boxed set and are fully painted. You can buy them in black or brown colours. I opted for the brown coloured set. I'm not sure what they're made of - it feels like some sort of hardened polystyrene. They are very light. Sadly, when I checked the Warlord Games webstore, they were currently out of stock. No price was given for them but I do remember they were very cheap. I bought mine over a year ago. You may remember I used them for the first time in my introductory Strontium Dog batrep, not too long ago.

Moving on, we come to some of the best rocky terrain pieces on the market and they are made by my good friend Dave at Wargames Terrain Workshop. First up is the impressive piece - a Large Natural Arch as it is described on Dave's webstore. This is a huge and chunky piece of resin. It comes in two parts. The thin "leg" at the left is a separate piece. I drilled and pinned it before using epoxy resin to glue it in place. I hid the join with Milliput and added lots of Milliput to the inner surface of the leg, which was flat, in order to give it a more natural look.

I'm using my 28mm scale figure of Vampifan in all of these photos to give you a true sense of scale of the rock pieces. According to the WTW webstore, this piece measures 240mm long by 55mm wide by 140mm tall. Incredibly, for such a huge chunk of resin, it only costs £10 unpainted or £18 if you want Dave to paint it for you. I bought all of my WTW rock pieces unpainted. My painting recipe was to prime them in matt black, then cover them in Foundry Rawhide Shade 11A. I gave them a wash of Citadel Agrax Earthshade. Finally, I dry-brushed them in Foundry Rawhide Shade 11A, then Foundry Rawhide 11B and last of all, Foundry Arctic Grey Shade 33A. I used an old half-inch paintbrush for all of the painting, which was ideal for covering such a large area quickly.

Moving on, is the WTW Natural Arch/Bridge. The piece in the centre of these two photos above and below was supposed to sit atop the two outer pieces to form an arch or a bridge. I decided to keep the pieces separate to give me more smaller pieces. Besides which, I already had two arches and I didn't want a third one. In addition, I glued the top of the pillar from below to the long flat part to give it more height and to offer more protection for those hiding behind it. Also, note that the bottom part of both these pieces were flat. If I'd used them as intended, I'd have wanted to make them look more natural by filling out their bases with Milliput.

I'm very pleased at leaving them as separate items as they give me more bang for my buck. This three piece set costs just £8 unpainted or £14.40 if you want it painted.

Here we have three smaller rock pieces that I bought from the WTW webstore. At the far left is a small rock pillar. This was supposed to have the small rock slab that I glued on top of the bridge above sitting on top of it. Instead, I kept it separate and I rounded off the top of the pillar with a small amount of Milliput. This little piece costs £3 unpainted or £5.40 painted.
Next in line is the Rock Formation - Natural Archway. This piece has been made as intended. Because the base of the crosspiece on top of the two pillars was smooth and flat, I added Milliput to it and gave it a more textured and natural look. It was glued in place with epoxy resin.

The final piece of Dave's rock terrain that I bought is the Small Escarpment, a sloped slab of rock that measures 110mm long by 55mm wide by 50mm high. There's not much more to say about it other than it costs £4 unpainted or £7.20 painted. I have to say that I am mightily impressed with these pieces. They are superbly sculpted, looking very natural, and are great value for money. They are definitely some of Dave's best work.

Finally, because I'm devoting this post to rocky terrain pieces, I thought I'd end with something I sculpted myself many years ago. I made this skull rock piece to go with my Dark Elf army for Warhammer as part of the kingdom of Naggaroth, also known as the Land of Chill. It did appear in a few battles I played as unpassable terrain. I built it around a circular plastic pill/tablet box and covered it in Pronto Das modelling clay, which I sculpted into the shape you see here.

The base, made of very thick card, was covered in small stones taken from my back garden. Sand and gravel were glued to the base to fill in the gaps. The sides of the pillar upon which the skull rested were covered in sand. The whole piece was primed in matt black then dry-brushed with successively lighter shades of grey. I'm really proud of this piece and I'm sure it'll get used again in the future, although not in Warhammer, which I doubt I shall ever play again.

Vampifan's Superheroes and Supervillains 09

Deathwish is a GURPS Supers scenario book that features a heavy metal band called Deathwish, who are all super-villains. I played this scenario with Vampirella, Wolverine and Gothique as the heroes. You can check out this old post to see who the three heroes are - http://vampifansworldoftheundead.blogspot.com/2016/07/vampifans-superheroes-and-supervillains_8.html
This was one of the best scenarios I ran when I was playing my GURPS Supers campaign in the 1990's with my gaming buddies, Dave (Wolverine) and Rob (Gothique). They were triumphant in the scenario but the final battle was a tough one as I considerably beefed up the stats of Deathwish to make them more of a challenge against three very powerful superheroes.

At the far left is Sorceress, aka Morwena the lead singer of Deathwish. Her real name is Amanda Carazone. She is the daughter of a wealthy politician from New England. She spent her childhood in the lap of luxury - anything she wanted, she got. Amanda was 21 years old, attending a small girls' college, when her father skipped the country with his secretary and every dollar the family owned. For the first time in her life, Amanda found herself penniless. Wandering the streets,stunned and confused, she was taken in by the Black Moon Society. The leader of this group recognised the magical potential that lay just below her conscious. She spent the next year learning to use her powers, but eventually left the society. She wanted her good life back.
She travelled to Los Angeles and took a singing job in the nightclub of a ritzy hotel - it afforded her the perfect opportunity to meet wealthy men who could be set up and taken for every penny they had. It was at this hotel that she met Necrovore who recognised a good voice when he heard one. Much to her surprise, she found herself attracted to him and the two began working as a team. On his advice she changed her name to Morwena.
They linked up with a crazy young man, Bobby Anderson (aka Demolition Man) and law student Harry Johnson (aka Psytron). Bobby played bass guitar and Harry played drums. Together they formed the nucleus of the heavy metal rockers known as Deathwish. They auditioned for a lead guitarist and accepted a teenager called Arvyn Runeweaver. That was three years ago. They burst onto the music scene with the sizzling Wish upon a Star album. This was followed by the controversial but phenomenally popular Wishcraft album, which was banned in many stores because of its cover. Disaster struck when Arvyn Runeweaver tragically died of spontaneous combustion. He was replaced by Eddie Traynor (aka Whirlwind) who proved to be a more talented guitarist.
The group released their third album, Wishing Hell earlier this year and are planning on recording a live double album, Blow out the Napalm and Make a Wish. Their fans, predominantly young (under 25) have a well earned reputation for causing violence and mayhem. The official Deathwish fan club has over 100,000 members known as "Death-heads" who are obsessed with the band's music. Deathwish themselves recently used their superpowers in the pursuit of crime, particularly museum robberies. For the past year they have successfully raided nearly a dozen museums throughout the USA, amassing a small fortune in artefacts and treasures.
Morwena has been described as "sex incarnate" by Rolling Rock magazine. It went on to add, "Watching her move is more erotic than most porno movies. She does not just sing to the crowd - she makes love to it with her voice. She wrenches emotion out of every syllable she croons."
Her figure is a Grenadier superhero who was not converted. She was a perfect match for Sorceress. For my GURPS campaign I increased her points value from 500 to 900. her superpowers include Control Weather, Insubstantiality, Magical Aptitude level:3, Shockwave level:10 and Surge level:5.

Next in line is Eddie Traynor the lead guitarist of Deathwish and a supervillain known as Whirlwind. He is a native Californian - he surfed, skated, grew his hair waist-length, bleached it blond and did everything a "typical" California boy should do. His consuming passion since he was seven years old has been his guitar. He practised for at least two hours every day, rain or shine, until he could make the instrument do anything he wanted. When puberty hit, Eddie found he had several other talents - flight, for instance, and the ability to control winds. At first he only used this power to provide good windsurfing weather - but when he found he could turn invisible the temptation to do some crimes became overwhelming. About this time Eddie got the chance to try out for Deathwish. Much to his surprise, but not to anyone who heard him play, he got the job. As far as Eddie is concerned, he has died and gone to heaven. Not only is he playing with one of the hottest bands in the world, but he is working with an accomplished group of meta-villains that can teach him the ropes on how to most effectively use his abilities.
His figure is also an old Grenadier superhero. I re-sculpted his hair and added his long ponytail out of Milliput. I increased his GURPS points value of 650 points to 750 points. His superpowers include Control Winds level:5, Damage Resistance +20, Flight, Invisibility (Switchable), Invisibility to Machines, Super Flight, Whirlwind level:16, Wind Blast level:10 and Wind Jet level:10. 

In the centre of the pictures is Harry Johnson aka Psytron. Harry knew he was cut out for a career in law and diplomacy from an early age. When he turned 13 he gained the ability to sense what others were thinking. He also had another passion in life - the drums. These two forces held him in a mental tug of war throughout his teenage years, resulting in an internal compromise when the time came to choose a good college. He could go to a good school, but it would be a good school near Los Angeles, the musical Mecca. So Harry ended up at U-Cal Berkeley, studying by day and drumming by night. He had never considered adding crime to his list of hobbies until he met Demolition Man. Something about Bobby's hedonistic passion for life rubbed off on Harry. He began using drugs and collaborating with Bobby on jobs. Finally they met up with Morwena and Frank, and a partnership was formed. Harry (who adopted the name H.I. Jynx at Frank's behest) had developed a serious cocaine problem at this point, and had also become convinced that he didn't have to fool with the existing political structure. With the help of his team-mates he could take over the world!
The figure of Psytron is yet another old Grenadier superhero. I added his Uzi sub-machine gun to him. He cost 500 points and his superpowers included Telepathy level:10 and Teleportation level:22

Next up is Frank Birmingham aka Necrovore, the band's keyboard player and only non-superpowered member. Frank had always been the best at anything he tried. He was smarter, stronger, faster and quicker than any of his friends at high school, and he excelled in sports in college, where he lettered in track, baseball and basketball. Instead of a career as a professional athlete, however, he was drawn to music. He loved the creativity involved in starting with a blank piece of paper and a melody in his head ending up with a song or sonata. Although he worked extensively with various symphonic groups, his true love was rock and roll. After graduation, Frank headed for the best recruiting spot in the world for musicians - Los Angeles. It was here that he met Amanda and convinced her that Morwena was a much more commercial name. The pair met Harry and Bobby shortly thereafter and the nucleus of Deathwish was formed. Frank is slightly uncomfortable as the only non-super in the group, but makes up for it by being the organiser and planner. He is still more interested in being in a good band than in committing crimes, but is willing to go along with it if it keeps everyone else happy.
The figure of Necrovore comes from the Citadel Golden Heroes range of superheroes. I added his Uzi from my spare parts box. Despite being a non-super, he still cost 500 points, which is very high for a "normal" GURPS character.

Finally, is Bobby Anderson, bass guitarist of Deathwish and supervillain known as Demolition Man. Bobby grew up on a farm in rural Kansas. He would have undoubtedly ended up working at the local cement plant, just like all his friends, except for a life-changing incident when he was 16. His mother got sick and he was sent to Los Angeles to stay with his aunt whilst his father cared for his mom. L.A. opened his eyes to a whole new world - he returned home six months later with an earring, a skateboard, a bass guitar and an attitude problem. Upon his 17th birthday he left home and wandered around for several weeks before stumbling across a commune called Avalon. It was run by the infamous Society for Creative Anarchy. Armed with a confused notion of what anarchy meant (he was expecting wild parties, uninhibited sex and no work) he joined. He began to notice some strange goings-on in the commune. Visitors, some obviously superhuman, were flying in and out, and there seemed to be a lot of action centred around the storage building in particular. One night he slipped the lock to the building and began exploring. A huge grin appeared on is face - he had found some sort of weapons locker. The walls were line with suits of armour ranging from medieval plate mail to high-tech battle armour. But one suit in particular caught his attention - it was silver and red and had a huge morning star attached to it. He tried it on and found that a small display inside had a menu explaining the suit's various powers. Demolition Man was born. He left that night and headed back to Los Angeles where he began playing with different bands and robbing banks. He met Psytron in a bar - the drummer was intrigued by someone whose mind he couldn't penetrate. The two of them became friends and then partners in crime before linking up with Sorceress and Necrovore to form Deathwish.
I couldn't find a suitable figure to use as Demolition Man and so I sculpted him myself. His morning star came from my spare parts box. He calls it Dorothy! I increased his points value from 750 to 800. His superpowers all come from his battlesuit which grants him Damage Resistance +30, Dark Vision, Enhanced Strength 120, Insubstantiality, Invisibility, Invisibility to Machines, Move through Earth and Penetrating Vision. The morning star could do a whopping 16 dice of damage!
I had wanted to highlight this group when I was doing my posts about my own superhero and supervillain figures but I couldn't find the figures. Then quite by accident last month, I found them in a box that I never thought they'd be in. It was a lucky find. I rebased them and photographed them so that I could type in this post.

Here are the portraits of Deathwish that I used for their GURPS character record sheets. The illustrations of them in the scenario book were very poorly drawn, so I drew the portraits of Sorceress, Whirlwind, Psytron and Necrovore based on the poses of the figures. The portrait of Demolition Man was taken from the cover of the scenario book and you can see it below.

Strontium Dog - Assorted Humans and Mutants 01

I finish my look at the new wave 1 figures for Warlord Games' Strontium Dog skirmish game as well as a few other figures that can be used in the game.

These three figures are sold as Goons by Warlord Games. Goons are classed as Minor Characters, basically unnamed mooks. Leaders can spend Collateral to call upon their allies for extra models during the Set Up at a cost of 50,000 Credits per roll on the tables. Goons are found on the Outlaws table - the scourge of honest folk, businesses, travellers and their fellow sentient beings wherever they crop up.

At the far left is a Goon armed with twin basic hand blasters. His colleague in the centre wields a single basic hand blaster. At the far right, this Goon is armed with a basic blaster rifle. These three figures are sold as a blister pack with no extras for just £8.00. As generic Goons, I do like them. Indeed, I could find a use for them in most sci-fi games, especially Judge Dredd or N.E.W.

Next up are a pair of Strontium Dogs who were produced by Wargames Foundry - Evans the Fist and the Torso from Tyneside. Both took a major part in the Mutant Uprising against the government in 2167 and were given the ranks of general. They are both allies of Johnny Alpha. Evans the Fist has an abnormally large and strong right arm which gives him a +1 to his Fight stat but -1 to his Shoot stat. Torso's mutation is no head - his facial features are located on his chest and he only has one eye. This gives him a +1 to his Resist stat but he is limited to a Front Facing fire arc due to his limited vision arc. Note that neither of these characters are listed in the Strontium Dog rulebook, but it is an easy matter to work out their stats. I'd class them as Minor Characters.

Second from the right is a Kreeler, a soldier and follower of Nelson Bunker Kreelman, the father of Johnny Alpha and a bigoted politician who drafted the anti-mutant laws and gained power on the back of bigotry. As a generic NPC he'd be classed as an Ally from the Military. He is armed with a basic stormer. This figure was produced by Wargames Foundry and is now out of production.
Finally is a mutant trader called Tombstone Toothbrush. He was a very minor character in the 2000AD comic. I forget which story he appeared in (it wasn't Strontium Dog) but I do remember he was drawn by Kevin O'Neill, so he may have appeared in a Nemesis the Warlock story. His mutations are purely cosmetic in game terms - an oversized head and three fingers per hand. I sculpted him in the 1990's. Note his trademark toothbrush stuck in the side of his hat.

Vampifans Views 107 - Monthly Musings 77

Greetings to all my followers and lurkers. I have had a very busy month hobby wise, which I'll tell you about shortly. But first we have another picture of Vampirella painted by Miguel Sanjulian. I can't fault the painting, which is quite spectacular but somehow this picture doesn't excite me as much as most of his other work. I think it's because I can't see Vampi's face that puts me off it. Your mileage may differ.

So, what I have been up to this past month? Painting and modelling. I built some more 4Ground Wild West buildings and added interior detail to them and a few other buildings in my growing collection. Nearly all of the figures I painted this month were for my Wild West campaigns. This included my 10 Reaper miniatures Wild West characters (5 males and 5 females), whom I will show very soon, 7 undead outlaws from Shadows of Brimstone, a couple of Knuckleduster Gunfighters Ball figures, and a lot of Black Scorpion Tombstone figures. I love the Tombstone figures so much that they are my favourite Wild West figures. I have been buying a lot of figures from this range and next month I'll order the remaining sets I need to give me a complete collection of their range. Amongst the figures I've been painting from this range are mounted and foot figures of the same character, a concept that I wholly approve of. Now I have about a dozen mounted and foot matching figures.
One thing that surprised me with the Knuckleduster figures I ordered (6 good guys and 6 bad guys) is that they come with MDF slottabases, something I'd never seen before. These really blew me away. I think they're fantastic. Unfortunately they don't sell the bases separately. However, a company called Warbases, who appropriately enough specialise in all kinds of bases for wargamers did sell them. I ordered 10 sets of packs, which each contained 15 MDF slottabases and used most of them to base my collection of Black Scorpion Tombstone figures.
I was hoping to post my first Wild West batrep this month but it didn't happen. Boo! However, I have good news for you waiting to see it. It will appear in my next post and here a few teaser photos to show you my town set up and the main protagonists of the scenario.

This is Stillwater in New Mexico, not far from the border with Mexico. The main street runs north and south and the side street runs east and west. The residential buildings have the pale brown roofs and all the business buildings have black roofs.

A view of the southern half of the main street. The Sheriff's office and jail is the only building not produced by 4Ground. It was produced by TT Combat and comes unpainted. I stuck fine grade sandpaper to the roof, which works extremely well. The back half holds the cells and was an optional expansion set, which I thought was an essential purchase.

This is a view up the side street. The background pictures came from the New Modeller's Shop (http://www.newmodellersshop.co.uk/backscenes.htm ) who specialise in model railway products. If you scroll down the page in the link you'll see the desert background set that I bought. This shows a desert scene that is 15" tall and 120" (10 feet) long. It comes rolled up in two 5 feet sections, which I cut in half and stuck onto four pieces of foam-board. I think they are excellent and look very effective in my photographs.

The scenario will be a Gunfight encounter from the Two Hour Wargames Six Gun Sound rulebook. I'm using the much more detailed first edition rules, with a few additions from the second edition. This is the Quick Draw version of the Confrontation encounter with two Rep:5 Bandidas taking on four Rep:4 Outlaws. The two females are called Maria Alvarez (in the red dress) and Sara Sandoval. These were the heroines of a Western film that I thoroughly enjoyed and I admit to falling in love with both of them. They were played by Penelope Cruz and Salma Hayek respectively. Does anyone know the name of the film I'm taking about and have you seen it? I'll give the answer in my next post. Because the film is not very well known I'm sure some of you will do a Google or Wikipedia search for it. I'd rather you didn't but there's nothing I can do to stop you.
I have played the scenario and I'm busy editing my photos and typing up the batrep. In the Six Gun Sound rule book the author states that Quick Draw Confrontations are "quick and deadly." He wasn't wrong!

Finally, June 1st is the start date of the Forgotten Heroes challenge and once again I will be taking part. However, my output this year will be considerably less than the last two years when I entered four figures then upped my game and produced six figures last year. This year I'm only entering one figure, whom I'll reveal in a near future post. Best of luck to anyone else who is entering this fun contest.

MC1 Perps - The Brotherhood of the Sump

As I gear up to prepare for my next Judge Dredd Miniatures Game scenario, I thought I'd show you an old street gang of mine that I made many years ago. These are the Brotherhood of the Sump - part cultists, part toxic waste survivors and all round bad asses. The sump in their title refers to the devastated area of Mega City One they come from - a bombed out wasteland known as Sumptown - and has nothing to do with the late Otto Sump. It is one of the many slum areas of MC1 still waiting to be redeveloped.

At the left of the photo above is the leader of the gang - Father Mephisto - a Level 4 Punk Infantry Hero. He is armed with a Laser Rifle and a Knife. He has five Talents - Accurate, Brave, Luck of Grud, Skilled and Deadly and Voice of Command. He costs 245 Credits. All Brotherhood of the Sump gangers are equipped with Respirators and Rad-Robes, which offers a lowly +1 armour protection and helps them avoid radiation sickness. Rad-Robes cost 5 Credits and are something I added to the game.

Next up are the gang's two heavy weapons specialists - Dagoth and Gorath. They are both Level:2 Punk Infantry Heroes and they have identical weapons and stats. They armed with Heavy Spit Guns and they have three Talents - Brave, Maximum Firepower and On Their Knees. They cost 195 Credits each.

The rank and file footsloggers of the gang are these four Level:1 Punk Infantry Heroes. From left to right are Ikthalon, Zallatou, Kierrok and Karathos.

They, too, have identical weapons and stats. They are all armed with Long Rifles and their two Talents are Aim and Brave. They each cost 115 Credits.

Finally, are three Level 0 Punk Minions, named from left to right as Ikonn, Belthauzer and Shumal. Note that there are no Juves in this gang, only Punks.

They are armed with Handgun Pistols and they cost 55 Credits each. The gang has a total rating of 1,260 Credits.

All of these figures were sculpted by me around about 1990. They are based on the Cultist Gang shown below, who were a set of 20mm scale figures produced by Games Workshop for the Dark Future game - their version of Car Wars, also set in a near future post apocalyptic world. Dark Future came out in 1988. GW produced some really cool figures for this range but the fact that they were 20mm scale really irked me. Yes, they fit in well with Matchbox and Hot Wheels cars, but I wish they'd produced them in 28mm scale. At that time, I made quite a few 28mm scale copies of the figures from this range. For this gang, I also added some new sculpts of my own, most notably, the leader, Father Mephisto, whose Laser Rifle came from a plastic House Goliath ganger from the original Necromunda game.

This photo was taken from the Internet and is included just to show you how close my copies are to the original sculpts.

Assorted Sheriff and Deputies

I have shown a lot of police figures in the past, both American and British. They have almost all been of the kind you'd find in urban or suburban environments. Today, I'm concentrating on a small unit of police you'd find in the rural areas of America - the sheriff and his deputies.

These are from a variety of sources. At the left are two figures produced by Reaper as part of their 28mm scale Chronoscope range. At the far left is Sheriff Joe Don Mitchell and next to him is Deputy Wayne Tisdale. These are the names Reaper have assigned to them and I saw no reason to change them. The sheriff is a metal figure but Wayne is one of the plastic figures I got with one of my Reaper Bones Kickstarter sets (I think it was Bones 1). They are both in very similar poses but I think they are full of character. They are just how I'd imagine a sheriff and his deputy to look like.

The next two figures are very old 25mm scale Citadel figures. The fat deputy is called Hoyt Axlebury and his partner is Carl Whiteley (both named by me). Hoyt was designed for the old Paranoia range and Carl is even older as he was part of the 1920's Gangster range, both produced by Games Workshop in the 1980's. Who remembers either of them? The fact that they are 25mm scale doesn't bother me in the least because as I keep on saying, in real life people come in all shapes and sizes. These guys just happen to be on the small size. Hoyt is a fantastic sculpt but Carl is a bit bland.
The final figure is Deputy Jennifer Lewis. I named her and sculpted her. When I made her, way back in the 1980's, female cop figures were unheard of. She was always meant to be a deputy. I made her to partner Carl. I did debate about whether to sculpt her with the Mountie-style hat the other deputies are wearing or give her the more traditional peaked cap. In the end, I went with the peaked cap. She's not a brilliant sculpt but she's not bad either and she serves her purpose well.
Probably the most obvious use for these figures is in All Things Zombies as the cops of a rural setting. But I also think they'd work extremely well in 7TV2e, especially in a Scooby Doo scenario.

JDMC MC1 Robots 03

In these past couple of months I have more than doubled the amount of robots I have for my Judge Dredd Miniatures Game campaign, as I have dug deep into my collection of 28mm scale sci-fi figures to increase their numbers. I'll be reviewing them in this and the next post. In this post I'm looking at Servo-droids, Robo-docs and a unique Combat droid.

First up are a pair of very old and long out of production Grenadier Servo-droids. This robot was part of a boxed set of 20 Gamma World figures. I bought two boxed sets, which is how I have ended up with two of them. The robot was a two-piece casting with his two left arms (cast as one piece) being separate from the rest of the figure. As such, I was able to glue them on in different positions to give them some variety in their poses. These servo-droids have four arms, two with normal hands and two with specialist attachments - a hoover nozzle and a large sucker contraption. These are fantastic sculpts from the 1980's and are as good as, if not better, than many contemporary designs.

In the centre of the group is another very old figure, bought in the early 1980's. I have no idea who produced him, other than it was an American company. He has only recently been repainted and rebased. To me, he looks like a typical butler, which would certainly tie in with him being a Servo-droid. He's probably called Jarvis or Jeeves or something similar.
At the far left are two more ancient figures, who were also bought in the very early 1980's. These were made by Irregular Miniatures, who are still going today, but these are no longer in their catalogue, as far as I can tell. They too, have been recently repainted and rebased. I see them as little maid robots, programmed for domestic duties. They are average sculpts but look a lot better with their new paint schemes. Irregular Miniatures are renowned for their inferior sculpts, but their figures are extremely cheap.

Moving on, we have a pair of Robo-docs. These are very similar in design to the Grenadier Servo-droids shown above, which is hardly surprising as they are from the same boxed set of Gamma World figures. These also came with separate left arms. There are a few slight differences with the Servo-droids - back packs and hand attachments, but they are, essentially, the same design. I think these are far better than the official Robo-doc that Warlord Games made for JDMG.

Finally, we have my unique combat droid. He is unique because he was sculpted by me. His name is Chunky, and he is based on a robot character from a Stainless Steel Rat story that appeared in the 2000 AD comic many years ago. The strip was drawn by Carlos Ezquerra and just looking at Chunky, he has the feel of a Carlos creation. In the story, Chunky was bristling with weapons, which were all hidden away behind panels in his body. He was very polite but also had a sarcastic sense of humour. Jimi DiGriz had a tough time defeating him. Chunky clearly made a huge impression on me, because I wanted to make a figure of him as soon as the story ended. In common with the other robots shown here, he was made in the 1980's. I once used Chunky in a GURPS Space Opera campaign as the guardian of a lost Forerunner site and his points total was a staggering 2500 points. He was designed as a party killer... but my PCs defeated him! How they did it is a story for another time.

Assorted Wild West Gamblers 01

I like to mix things up on my blog so I'm returning to my Wild West figures for a few posts. The theme this time is gamblers. Here are four 28mm scale gamblers from assorted manufacturers.

At the far left is Jacques Villard, who is a Dixon Miniatures 25mm scale Old West civilian. He is listed as WG12 Gambler Standing with Cigar and he costs £1.40. I'm not that bothered that he's smaller than the other figures on display here. People come in all shapes and sizes in real life, so why not in miniatures?
Next up, is Commodore James Duvall, who was made by Grenadier Miniatures as one of 10 figures in a boxed set called "Western Gunfighters". He is loosely based on the character, Commodore Duvall played by James Coburn in the 1994 film of Maverick. He is, in my opinion, the best sculpted figure of this quartet. Note the card sticking out of his sleeve on his left arm in the photo below. Probably his ace up his sleeve! That is such a cool touch.

The figure second from the right is as yet unnamed. I can tell you that he is a very old figure made by Hinchliffe Models, who have been out of business for many years now. I bought him in the very early 1980's. His right arm was originally hanging by his side but I bent it to give him a less static pose. Hinchliffe figures were usually tall and slim, but I think he stands the test of time very well.
Finally, is "Hoodoo" Brown, a figure sculpted by me. He is an exact copy of a 54mm scale figure I made for my long running Wild West campaign that I ran in the 1980's. Back then, all of my Wild West games were played with 1/32nd scale figures, buildings and scenery. It might not be immediately clear from the front view, but he is smoking a cigar. Also, note that he is left-handed.
These figures are mainly intended for use with Six Gun Sound, my go to Wild West rules, but could also appear in Shadows of Brimstone.

JDMG MC1 Fatties 02

When I posted my first review of my Mega City One Fatties, I mentioned that I was splitting them into three categories - lightweights, medium-weights and heavyweights. Having shown you my lightweights first it is now time to move onto the big boys and the massive boys.

My four middleweight Fatties are from various sources. At the far left is another one of the Citadel Fatties that were made for the old Judge Dredd Role-Playing Game produced by Games Workshop. I reviewed these figures earlier. See here - http://vampifansworldoftheundead.blogspot.co.uk/2017/01/jdmg-mc1-fatties-01.html  I bulked his body out with a lot with Milliput modelling putty. His shoulder pads came from an old plastic Citadel Space Ork boxed set and fitted the figure very well.
The two Fatties in the centre were sculpted by me. For both of them I used a Subutteo plastic football for their bodies and added Milliput to it. The one with the slogan reading "Drokk art, let's bounce" was based on one of the cardboard cut-out characters that came with the Judge Dredd Role-Playing Game starter boxed set. The one in the green suit is an original design of mine. Their heads are a bit on the large size but I'm reasonably happy with them.

The Fattie at the far right is simply a DC Heroclix figure of Bouncing Boy with the addition of a belly wheel that I sculpted out of Milliput. This was a very simple conversion. I even kept his colour scheme untouched and I only painted extra detail to his hands and face. Funnily enough, his body most closely resembles a giant football, more so than my two conversions.

Now I move on to the true heavyweight Fatties, with each one weighing (in real life) well over one ton and possibly as much as two tons! Who remembers the Judge Dredd story featuring champion Fattie, Two Ton Tony Tubbs? All three were made by Warlord Games for the Judge Dredd Miniatures Game. The two at either end were recent purchases and they came in seven parts not including their bases. Their bodies were a one-piece casting made of resin. Their arms, legs, head and belly wheel were made of metal. The bodies, legs and belly wheels are identical but their arms and heads are different. They came with 40mm square plastic slottabases, which I replaced with 40mm diameter MDF bases. They are about 42mm tall, which some of you may feel is simply too tall. Their height does not bother me at all. I think they are fantastic sculpts.

The Fattie in the centre of the group was purchased almost as soon as he was released and he differs from the other two in a few ways. The most notable difference is that he is made entirely out of metal. His body came in two halves and was hollowed out to cut down on weight and on metal. His upper body is a very different design to the other two. By the way, the LF logo on his top stands for League of Fatties. The slogan on his placard, "Make pies, not war" is a pun on the phrase, "Make peace, not war".
In the JDMG, Fatties have three special rules, First is Belly Wheel, which I covered in part 01 of my Fatties reviews. Second is Fat! A Fattie may be purchased armour but double all costs. A Fattie may never use a Jetpack, Bat Glider, Power Board, Sucker Gun or Chameleon Suit. They are just too big! A Fattie can ride in a vehicle and will count as a single Crew or Passenger if the vehicle model has been suitably modified/converted. Otherwise, a Fattie may not ride in a vehicle unless there is a suitable place on the model for them to sit (such as the flatbed of a Sloth Cargo Hauler - and no, they cannot sit on the roof!). Fatties cannot use ladders at all, and may only use elevators and grav chutes that are physically large enough for the model. Finally, Fatties are immune to knock-downs. Thirdly, they have my personal favourite, Bacon Butty! If a Fattie has at least 3 Hits remaining and performs two Special actions in a turn it will stuff its face with as much food as it can. The Fattie will then regain 1 Hit. This may not be used to increase its Hits beyond its starting score.

Vampifan's Superheroes and Supervillains 04

Continuing with my recent theme of showing you some of my old 28mm scale figures of superheroes and supervillains that I made and converted I present to you the Psi-Prime team of supervillains. These seven miscreants appeared in the Villains and Vigilantes scenario, The Secret in the Swamp, published by Fantasy Games Unlimited in 1986. I did not play this scenario with the V&V rules but I did convert it for GURPS Supers and ran it with two other players using our team of Gothique, Vampirella and Wolverine.

At the far left of the two photos above and below is Psi-Prime, the megalomaniacal leader of this group of supervillains. Born Karl Wagner in Munich, Germany, he developed an unhealthy fascination with genocide during his teens. He would often visit Dachau concentration camp. This coincided with the development of his psionic super powers. He majored in chemistry and discovered a chemical that could instantly evaporate water. His plans for genocide by contaminating the water supplies in Germany were thwarted and he fled to the Everglades in Florida. With a stockpile of chemicals he plans to evaporate all the oceans of the world. In GURPS Supers I gave him the following super powers - Dehydrate level:10, Increased Speed level:2, Psychokinesis level:26 (with Instantaneous enhancement) and Telepathy level:12. He wears High Tech Body armour. He cost 1,000 points. He always carries a bag of coins, which he can use as ammo for a telekinetic attack, propelling them as fast as a bullet. My figure of Psi-Prime was sculpted by me and made of Milliput. He is meant to be tall but I think I've made him a bit too tall.
Standing next to Psi-prime is his girlfriend, White Heron. Whilst studying anthropology at university, Karen Moran was given the opportunity to study a tribe of Seminole Indians in the Everglades, She was even more delighted when she was asked to take part in a secret ceremony of the Indians' gods. However, it was all a ruse by Shaman (see below) and Karen was transformed into White Heron, the totem creature of Shaman's tribe. Shaman was working for Psi-prime and when Karen met Karl for the first time they fell in love. She soon came to accept his vision of his master plan to change the world. Karen can transform into a white heron, as well as spouting wings and talons whilst remaining human. She has one unusual disadvantage and that is an addiction for eating raw frogs, which she must do on a daily basis. She was designed for an average 500 points. Her figure is based on an old Grenadier Miniatures Supers figure and was so perfect for her that I didn't need to convert her at all. Sometimes you get lucky and find the ideal figure for your needs.

Third in line is Antioch, known as Shaman. As an aspiring man since his youth, Antioch became frustrated with the continued maltreatment of the Indians by the Whites. He decided revenge was in order. With the aid of the Five Ancients, supernatural spirits he summoned, he forged two magical devices - an Amulet of Life and a Mind Control device. His actions brought him to the attention of Coot (see below) who was working for Psi-Prime. Coot urged Psi-Prime to recruit Shaman. The old man readily accepted Psi-Prime's offer and has never regretted it. Shaman possesses no super powers but he does know a smattering of magic spells. He has Magical Aptitude level:2 and Spirit Empathy as two of his GURPS advantages. He cost 300 points, making him the weakest member of the Psi-Prime team. Shaman is another one of my unique sculpts and was made out of Milliput.
At the far right is Coot, a being from a limbo-like dimension, who ruled there until he grew bored and sought out a new challenge. Psi-Prime made contact with him and offered him a portion of the Earth to rule and a decent portion of the water that would remain after he put his genocidal plan in place. Coot, hoping that this would be a true test of his power, agreed. Coot's super powers that I gave him for GURPS Supers were Enhanced Strength 23, Extra Hit Points +20, Gadget (a fishing rod with Bind power level:15), Increased Speed level:2, Laser Eyes and Longevity. He cost 1,000 points, making him a formidable opponent. He was made by me, using Milliput. His fishing rod was the shaft of a spear I converted. I like him because he looks so innocuous.

For this trio of villains I changed their bases to reflect the fact that they spend all of their time in the swamps of the Everglades and would never appear in an urban environment. At the far left is Alligator, a villain similar in many respects to the Lizard from Marvel Comics' Spiderman series. Roger Engle, was once a biologist studying alligators in the Florida Everglades. This was a dream job for him but he became appalled at the slaughter of so many alligators both legally and illegally that he decided to champion their freedom and dignity. He developed a formula to give him the powers of an alligator. It worked only too well but it also gave him the intelligence of an alligator. When Psi-Prime found him, he manipulated the confused scientist into aiding in his fiendish plan. Alligator has the following powers for GURPS Supers - Amphibious, Breath Holding level:4, Damage Resistance 20, Enhanced Strength 30, Increased Speed level:2, Passive Defence 3, Speak with Animals (reptiles only), Striker (claws, teeth and tail) and Super Swimming. He cost 750 points. I sculpted him out of Milliput. An easier option would have been to simply use a Heroclix figure of the Lizard but I didn't.
Next up is Sludge, one of the Five Ancients who responded to the summoning by Shaman. His form has changed and he is considerably weaker in this dimension. As one of the Ancients (who all desire the downfall of Man) "Sludge" saw that the powers that Psi-Prime had allied with might succeed so he risked entering this dimension. Due to a freak mystical backlash caused by such power entering this dimension, Sludge was transformed physically and mentally. Shaman's two magic items (the Amulet of Life and the Mind Control device) allow him to remain in this dimension. If either were to be destroyed he would return to his original home dimension totally intact as one of the Five Ancients. Despite being considerably weakened he is still a very powerful entity. He possesses the following super powers - Amphibious, Body of Mud, Damage Resistance 5, Doesn't Breathe, Drink, Eat or Sleep, Enhanced Strength 150, Extra Hit Points +35, Immortality and Passive Defence 2. Note that Body of Mud is a combination of the powers Body of Earth and Body of Water. Sludge can alter the state of his body at will - from a liquid mud form to a wet clay-like form. He cost 1,000 points. For the figure of Sludge I simply used an old Grenadier Shambling Mound from a boxed set of AD&D monsters.

Last of all is Swamp Rat, who has no super powers whatsoever but who is a highly skilled and deadly survivalist. Jacob Archer is a U.S. Army veteran with mental problems. He thinks he is still at war and he went to ground in the Everglades where he adopted the name, Swamp Rat. He now believes the entire world is one vast swamp and if he were ever removed from this environment he would become catatonic. One day, he was approached by a man who he naturally shot. Incredibly, the bullet stopped inches from the man's heart. The stranger called himself Psi-Prime and offered Swamp Rat to help win his war if he helped him. This was too good an opportunity to pass up. Psi-Prime then put Swamp Rat in charge of Sludge, who "Rat" immediately liked (mainly because of his brutal killing strength) and within months had achieved near total control over Sludge. He cost 400 points in my GURPS Supers campaign. Swamp Rat is a converted Games Workshop plastic Catachan Jungle Fighter. I added the rolled up sleeves of his coat as his arms were originally bare. I also modelled his hair to match his illustration. His 7.62mm H&K G3 Assault Rifle came from my spare parts box.
The illustrations below were scanned in to my computer from the scenario book and in some cases modified by me. For example, Shaman was only shown from the waist up in the book, so I had to add his legs to the illustration. For Sludge, I added the long nose that appears on the figure so he more closely resembled it. They were all digitally coloured by me.

Psi-Prime and White Heron

Shaman, Coot and Alligator

Sludge and Swamp Rat