Vampifans Views 100 - Monthly Musings 72

It's my end of the month musings and also my 100th Vampifan's Views post and 100th post of 2017. Yay! 😊 This month's Vampirella picture offering is by Tim Sale, who has done a lot of work for DC Comics and Marvel Comics. I don't have a lot to say about it other than I like it. Tim has certainly given Vampi a most impressive cleavage!

This year, Christmas was a strange affair for me as it was the first time I have spent it on my own. My mother, whom I live with and care for, has been very ill this past year and has spent more time in hospital than at home. Sadly, she was kept in hospital over the festive period. I did spend a couple of hours with her on the afternoon of Christmas Day, which cheered us both up a lot. But it was not the same being all alone the rest of the time. I do think that if she survives 2018, it will be a miracle, but who knows what the future might bring?

My mum gave me a big cheque for me to buy whatever I wanted for my Christmas presents and I spent it on gaming stuff, paying for two Kickstarter projects I backed in December. With the recent release of Necromunda by Games Workshop, I am devoting a lot of my time to that game by building up a large collection of scenery. The official scenery by GW is very nice but far too expensive, so I've been looking for cheaper alternatives and the best deal, in my opinion, are the Industrial Hive Complex sets produced by TT Combat. Check these three sets out.

TT Combat Industrial Complex Set 1

TT Combat Industrial Complex Set 2

TT Combat Industrial Complex Set 3

They just scream Necromunda, don't they? These three sets cost £43.95, £40.95 and £38.95 respectively. You can pay as much as £70.00 for just one platform item (the Promethium Refinery set) from GW, so this is a considerable saving. I was going to wait until mid-December to order these in time for Christmas but ended up buying all three sets on the Black Friday/Cyber Monday weekend. The reason being, if you ordered them on that weekend you'd also receive an exclusive Escher ganger and Goliath ganger figure as well. These two figures are beautifully cast in resin and will be unbelievably rare. I'm busy painting them up right now so I'll showcase them very soon. My TT Combat sets were put away and I didn't open them until Christmas Day. I also ordered a few other official Necromunda scenery items from Wayland Games, because they offer them at 20% discount on most GW items. So I guess you could say I've had a Necromunda Christmas. Of course these scenery items will also see use in my Judge Dredd Miniatures Game and in my N.E.W. games.

Currently on my painting desk are the new Goliath gangers for Necromunda and some more Weird West figures. I have recently finished painting some figures for Judge Dredd, the Skinwalkers faction for Dracula's America and a lot of miniature starships as I build up my fleets for my The Ace of Spades Campaign using the N.E.W. role-playing rules. I think the reason that my painting output has increased so dramatically this past year is because I've spent so long at home on my own. Not having to care for my mother has given me a lot more free time to devote to my hobby.

Looking back on 2017, I'd say it has been a great year for me hobby-wise, possibly the best ever. There were a few highlights for me and the one I'm most proud of is that I posted more batreps in this year since I began blogging way back in 2009. I started off in January with my Judge Dredd Miniatures Game campaign, which used the Comic Life format to great effect. Expect to see more of this campaign in 2018. In June I spent a most enjoyable weekend in the company of Dave Stone of Wargames Terrain Workshop and he introduced me to his Death Match sci-fi gladiatorial game. Also in that month I took part in the Forgotten Heroes challenge. I originally planned on sculpting the two human characters from the Bug Hunters comic strip but surpassed my expectations by converting the four robots as well.

Kimberley Wells, the sexy and charismatic captain of The Ace of Spades.

In July I began a new blog devoted to the What's Old Is New role-playing games. This quickly became a labour of love for me as I created a unique sci-fi setting in which to set a long running campaign featuring the all female crew of The Ace of Spades independent scout ship. The first scenario of the campaign ran to 16 parts, which was a mammoth undertaking on my part but by far and away my favourite gaming experience of 2017. Indeed, I have to say that playing that scenario was my favourite gaming experience ever! Everything about it worked so well - the figures, the scenery and most of all, the story. It also introduced me to starship combat, something I had never done before. I enjoyed it so much that I am now building up a large collection of starships to use in future scenarios. Suffice to say, there will be a lot more stories to tell in this campaign throughout 2018, starting with the next chapter in January.

That was the past. So what of the future? What are my plans for 2018? Pretty much more of the same, which means more figure reviews and more batreps. As I said above, the Judge Dredd Miniatures Game campaign and The Ace of Spades Campaign will continue. I hope to do some batreps for Rumbleslam and Necromunda, although the latter will have to wait until I get the Escher and Goliath gangs painted as well as the scenery items. I also hope to be able to finally get some Weird West games played. I am slowly building up a collection of Wild West buildings, most of which are produced by 4Ground. By Easter, I should have enough made to run a small skirmish, either with the Dracula's America or High Moon rules.

All that remains is to wish you all a very happy New Year. I hope it's a good one for you.

Shadows of Brimstone Scafford Gang Mutants 01

I covered the Shadows of Brimstone Scafford Gang in a previous post (see here ) but I recently bought some more figures for the gang and here they are.

At the far left is Sergeant Caleb Bunker, a veteran of the American Civil War who fought alongside Colonel Scafford and who became a trusted lieutenant of the gang. In the Scafford Gang boxed set, there are rules for using Scafford Lieutenants but no figures for them. The rules recommend substituting Colonel Scafford himself for a Lieutenant or if both figures are required, using one of the normal outlaws as the Lieutenant. Now that Flying Frog have produced this figure, the problem is solved. His mutations include a third arm and a mass of writhing tentacles around his chin and lower head. I painted his skin in Foundry Cadaverous Flesh 46 to give him that extra mutant look. He still wears his Confederate uniform but it is tattered and dirty. I do wonder where he got a coat with three arms? The figure is a one-piece casting made of resin and is very detailed, but he is heroically scaled, standing 35mm tall. He is a very cool sculpt.

The other three figures shown here are from the Dark Stone Brutes set. The Scafford Gang is one of the most notorious Mutant Outlaw gangs in the West. They make their hideouts up in the hills and mines around Brimstone and have become hideously mutated by the corrupting effects of the Dark Stone there. The Dark Stone Brutes are members of the Scafford Gang that have become fused with rock and Dark Stone, itself, growing out of control to become hulking monsters. Towering over other humans, the Dark Stone Brutes have become crazed, responding only to fellow members of their gang, and smashing any others that come too close, with their powerful rocky arms. These are multi-part plastic figures. The one in the white shirt has not been converted but the other two have. For the one in the black shirt I repositioned his left arm, whilst for the one in the sand shirt, I repositioned his right arm, which required a bit of Milliput to fill in the gap at the elbow. The Dark Stone Brutes are about 45mm tall and have been mounted on 40mm diameter bases that came with them.
I bought Sergeant Bunker directly from the Flying Frog webstore, where he is still available for $10.00. Note that he is a limited edition figure so I don't know how much longer he'll be available for sale. The Dark Stone Brutes set was purchased from a seller on eBay for £15.00. You can still get it for that price on eBay. If you order direct from the Flying Frog webstore, the set costs $19.99.

Shadows of Brimstone Harvesters

Sticking with my current Weird West theme, here are three interdimensional aliens that were produced for Flying Frog's Shadows of Brimstone game - the Harvesters. Using tears in the fabric of space to pass between worlds, these interdimensional travellers  cross over in search of raw materials and artefacts to collect. Wearing heavy environmental suits to protect them from the hazards of our reality, the Harvesters are nearly indestructible. Often times they are connected to their own world through long hoses that stretch out behind them and extend back through a shimmering gateway, bringing whatever substances they require to sustain them in our world. Lumbering but ruthless, the Harvesters are relentless in their search for anything of interest or value to bring back to their own dimension.

Harvesters are alien collectors from another dimension that wear massive suits of powered armour to "dive" into other worlds. They seek out new technology, ancient artefacts and all forms of Dark Stone to take back home with them. The Heavy Environment Suits that the Harvesters wear make them almost impervious to harm. This gives them a brutally high Defence and makes them immune to Critical Hits as well as damage from explosives (like Dynamite) and Environment/Weather sources.
Harvesters also have several special attacks that can be triggered by Grappling their opponents - when they roll doubles on their Combat to Hit rolls! This double To hit roll determines which special Grapple Attack is triggered and happens even if the double rolled would miss. One ability called Bash means that the Hero hit is Bounced D3 times (just like Dynamite Bounces) in random directions using the Dynamite Bounce Chart. This Bounce will move the Hero model through any other models in the path, but if the space they would end on is already occupied (or would hit a wall), place the Hero in the last unoccupied space moved through.

These plastic figures came in five parts, not including their bases. Very helpfully, their arms can rotate, allowing you to pose them differently as I have done. They look very much like old-style deep sea divers crossed with sci-fi powered armour. It is rather unusual to see such aliens who'd be more at home in a sci-fi setting than in a Weird West game, but dimensional travel is a major feature of Shadows of Brimstone so that means anything goes. I'm thinking of having these three aliens pop up in Mega City One in my Judge Dredd Miniatures Game campaign. Note that they are very tall, standing roughly 50mm high. They are glued onto 40mm diameter bases.

Foundry Zombie Gunfighters

This post concludes my reviews of the 28mm scale Weird West zombies I painted last month. This time the spotlight falls on seven zombie gunfighters produced by Wargames Foundry as part of their Old West range. I must admit that I bought this set many years ago but never got round to painting them, which, for me, is a shameful admission. The "kick up the pants" I needed came when I saw Simon/BlaxKleric painting his set of them as part of his Zomtober project a couple of months ago. Seeing his work spurred me on to painting my set and here they are. Simon, many thanks, mate!

At the far left, this zombie gunfighter has a nasty wound in his left arm and most of the flesh has been stripped from his lower left leg although his foot is intact. As Simon pointed out, he does sport a very impressive moustache!
Simon mentioned in his post that the next zombie in line bears a striking resemblance to "Wild Bill" Hickock and he's right. We have both painted him in identical colours but Simon's looks wetter than mine, due to his insistence on gloss varnishing his figures. No comment! "Wild Bill" appears to have been bitten in the left cheek and left elbow and he has a massive gunshot wound in his back.

Moving on, we have a one-armed cowboy. His arm wound is particularly impressive. A piece of bone protrudes from the flesh of his upper arm. He has also had a lump of flesh chewed from his right cheek. Note the hole in his hat from front to back, showing he had a lucky escape from someone's gunshot!
At the far left is a zombie gunfighter in a similar pose to the one at the far left. He, too, has suffered a serious left arm wound.

The figure at the far left is not listed or shown on Foundry's webstore but I received him anyway, and so did Simon. If he is a freebie, he is very welcome. He has been badly wounded in both arms but it looks like his left arm wound is not as serious because he can still aim his pistol with it. His right arm hangs uselessly by his side.
In the centre is a US Cavalry trooper armed with his .45 Springfield carbine. Around his belt is a holstered pistol and a knife in a sheath. There is a bullet hole in his left chest and a massive exit wound in his back. His back wound looks like it has been worsened by being gnawed upon, which is certainly a possibility with flesh-eating zombies around.

Last in line is an old timer armed with a double-barrelled shotgun. Some miscreant has gone and stolen his boots, although in his current undead state I doubt if he cares. He has a cut to his lower right arm and from the fresh blood around his mouth, it would appear he has been feasting recently.
It may seem odd to see zombies wielding guns but in the Weird Wild West they are a common occurrence. Certainly, there are rules for zombie gunfighters in THW's High Moon and in Dracula's America. These are superb sculpts, so full of character. Note that they are true 28mm scale, which may make them appear small when mixed with heroic scaled figures from other ranges. This does not bother me in the least as I'll happily mix and match figures regardless of their size, but I mention it in case it matters to you. This is set OW010 Zombie Gunfighters and they currently retail for £12.00 from the Foundry webstore. I'd be interested to know if you still get the freebie figure with them.

Reaper Zombie Miners

I mentioned last time that I'd had a big session painting zombies to use in my Weird West games - Dracula's America, High Moon and Shadows of Brimstone. The three figures I want to show here were bought very recently and they are set 50317 Zombie Miners from the Reaper Chronoscope range.

At the far left is a bare-headed zombie carrying a pickaxe. Whether he can use it or not is debatable and probably depends upon the rules you're using. In most games, zombies lack the intelligence to use weapons. I couldn't see any obvious wounds on him so he is one of my rare zombies without any gore effects on him.
In the centre of the group is a zombie I decided to paint up as a Negro. He is carrying a spade. He has a bandage around his right wrist which has bled through. That could have been from the fatal bite that transformed him into a zombie.
At the far right is another bearded male miner carrying a pickaxe. He has a slight cut to his left arm. On all of my zombies shown here, after I'd painted them, I gave them a dry-brushing of sandy brown paint for that dirty, dusty look. I did not want these in clean, pristine looking clothes.

The sculpting of these three figures is absolutely first class and they really show up the zombie miners from the Shadows of Brimstone set that I showed last time. They would certainly fit in well with those particular zombies either as replacements or reinforcements.
This set of three figures costs £10.90, which is a bit pricey, but you are paying for top quality sculpts, so I didn't mind. Look out for yet more Weird West zombies next time.