Vampifan's Views 20 My Monthly Musings part 7

A sultry Vampirella by Joe Jusko

No question about the big news this month - I have finished making my World Works Games 28mm scale Mayhem City Police Station. It has taken me well over a year to make it  and whilst making it I lost my card-modelling mojo as I found that making so much furniture for it became such a chore that I couldn't face making any more. Fortunately, I got my mojo back and was more determined than ever to get this sucker finished. Just over a week ago I completed it.
I am sure there are two questions you'd like answering and the first and most important one will no doubt be, when can we see it? The answer to that is very soon. I'll be photographing it later on today. So, I'll probably post part one of my review this Sunday. Given that it is such a large building I will have to split my review into two parts. The review will be very heavy on photos and it just makes sense to split the review into two posts.I imagine that part one will cover the exterior plus the interiors of the upper two floors. Part two will cover the interior of the ground floor.
The second question I'm envisaging is, what are you going to make next? That's fairly easy. I've started work on making four WWG police patrol cars. I don't have any and now that I have the police station I want some patrol cars to go with it. After I've made them I shall make another building, but at this moment I don't know what exactly. I have so many to choose from. I want to make them all but I can only make one at a time. I do have a shortlist of what I'd like to make and I'll probably make a decision in the next few days.

Alas, my figure painting has very much taken a back seat this month, as I so much wanted to finish making my police station. You can't blame me for making that my number one priority. So I spent more time modelling than painting and only managed to finish painting one figure out of twenty - a Eureka 28mm scale Victorian schoolboy. He has been tucked away with my WW2 civilians, as he fits in well with them. So, still sitting on my desk are 4 West Wind bikers, 4 West Wind vampire rock stars, 4 West Wind zombie rock fans, 2 Battle Bunker zombies, 4 Studio Minis mutant zombies and a Studio Minis Santa survivor. They are almost finished, so I should get them done within a week.
This figure that you  see to the right of here and further down is my Horrorclix SWAT Trooper that I recently converted. He first appeared in my review of the RAFM SWAT Troopers that I posted a week ago. I cut off his rocket launcher and replaced it with a Foundry 9mm Heckler and Koch MP5A Sub-Machine Gun. It was a simple conversion, because being made of plastic made the removal of his original weapon very easy. I wish all conversions were this easy.
Moving on to other news now, I am currently reading Dead Reckoning by Charlaine Harris. This is the 12th volume of the Sookie Stackhouse series - the books that the TV series, True Blood, is based on. I finished reading two zombie books earlier this month - Zombies - a Record of the Year of Infection by Dr. Robert Twombly and Can You Survive a Zombie Apocalypse? by Max Brallier. Both were good reads and I may do a full review of them soon.

Whilst I am on the subject of books, I'd like to tell you that when I reviewed Domain of the Dead and Remains of the Dead by Iain McKinnon a couple of weeks ago, I received a number of comments from the author, which I must admit did surprise me, as my review was far from complimentary. Still, fair play to Iain, he was very kind and courteous and we struck up a converstion that went on longer than I could have imagined. I mention this because his comments appeared a good while after I had posted my review, meaning hardly anyone will have read them. So, if you want to see our chat just go back to my review of his books and click on "comments." Anyone who collects e-books will be particularly interested in his fourth comment. I must admit that I have a much greater respect for Iain after our chat.

Film news now, and I saw two films at the cinema this month - The Muppets and One For The Money. Okay, I confess, I am a huge fan of the Muppets. I have been ever since they first appeared on TV. This new movie made me laugh, made me cry and kept me entertained from start to finish. What more can you ask of a movie? One For The Money got slagged by the film critics but I didn't care. The film is based on the first Stephanie Plum novel by Janet Evanovich. I happen to be a big fan of the Stephanie Plum series and so I wanted to see if the film did the book justice. Well, in my opinion it did, and once again, I was thoroughly entertained. Which just goes to prove what I always say about films - the only critic that counts is yourself!

Well, that's a wrap for this month. I'm hoping to get a game of ATZ played towards the end of March. That's something I'm very much looking forward to. I can tell you now that the police station will NOT be appearing in that scenario but will feature prominently in the one after it. Take care, folks!

Heroclix SWAT Troopers

I was going to review some West Wind SWAT troopers today but I've decided to keep them for a later date (although not too late) and instead have a look at my Heroclix 35mm scale SWAT troopers. Way back in the past when Heroclix was in its infancy their sets contained superheroes, supervillains and non-super types, like cops, criminals, ninjas, etc. The figures I'm reviewing today come from the first couple of Heroclix sets that were released.

Only one of these figures is not a conversion, and he's the trooper at the far left of my two photos above. He is dramatically posed, leaning back as he fires his 5.56mm Colt M16A2 Assault Rifle from the shoulder. This rifle is standard issue with the Washington DC Emergency Response Team (ERT). In addition to normal SWAT operations, the ERT assists U.S. Secret Service with presidential and VIP functions and transportation, including crowd control. Assuming he is an ERT operative, his pistol would be a 9mm SIG-Sauer P226.

Trooper 2 has had a leg and body swap with trooper 5. In every other respect he is identical to Trooper 1, although I have painted him as an African-American.

Trooper 3 was originally armed with a Big Ass Pistol in his left hand. I decided to cut it off and give him a large entry shield, which are much bigger and more robust than riot shields. I remodelled his left arm with Milliput modelling putty. His entry shield is a spare one that I got from Foundry Figures. Foundry always include spare small items with their Street Violence blister packs, like guns, shields, traffic cones, chainsaws, etc. With the amount of Street Violence packs that I bought, I soon amassed a nice collection of parts for my bits box. Every modeller needs at least one bits box! The grenade that this trooper is about to throw could be a Flash-Bang Grenade, Smoke Grenade or a Tear Gas Grenade. It most definitely won't be a High Explosive Grenade!

Trooper 4 utilises the legs from Trooper 1 and the body from Trooper 5. The sculptor had given him a riot shield, which I did not like, so I replaced it with one of my Foundry entry shields. This means that all of my shield carrying SWAT Troopers are identically equipped.  He is wielding his baton aggressively over his head. I also painted him as an African-American to further distinguish him from Trooper 5. Note that because of the leg swap, I was unable to save his sniper's rifle, slung across his back, so that got cut off.

The only conversion that I made to Trooper 5 was to replace his riot shield with a Foundry entry shield. His sniper's rifle is the 7.62mm Remington 700 and you can see it slung across his back, out of the way, as he wades in with baton and shield.

These are quite dramatically posed. They certainly are heroically scaled, (they stand about 33mm tall measuring from the soles of their feet to the tops of their heads) which will put some of you off them. However, scale-wise, they do fit in well with the RAFM SWAT Team and with the Foundry SWAT Teams. I like tham a lot and I do like the idea of having enough troopers to form a four man team of shield carrying troopers. The fourth person in this team appears in the Foundry SWAT Team Suppression set (Trooper Harris). 

Sadly, these figures are now long out of production but they may crop on the likes of e-Bay or other online auction sites. Good luck on hunting them down if you really want them.

RAFM SWAT Troopers

I'm still sticking with the theme of SWAT Troopers for my figures reviews and this time I turn the spotlight on RAFM's output from their 28mm scale USX range. Also in this review is an old Horrorclix figure, who seemed to fit in so well with these figures that I've included him here.

At the far left of the two photos above is RAF02806 "The Man" - SWAT Team Leader. He is talking into his headset radio and is armed with a 5.56mm Colt M4A1 Assault Carbine. Holstered on his right hip is a 9mm Glock 19 Pistol. "The Man" is quite an imposing figure and stands 35mm tall, measured from the sole of his feet to the top of his head.
Standing next to him is RAF02807 Flanagan - SWAT Team Sergeant. Flanagan is armed and equipped in an identical manner to "The Man" but his carbine has a scopesight fitted to it. I can only assume that Flanagan and "The Man" are bare-headed to make them stand out as team leaders. It makes little sense for them not to wear some form of head protection.
Next in line is RAF02837 SWAT Sniper. His arms and rifle were separate castings and had to be glued in place. His sniper rifle is the 7.62mm Robar SR-60, which is built on the Remington 700 Sniper Rifle. He wears his baseball cap back to front so that the peak doesn't interfere with the scopesight.
The last figure in line is a Horrorclix Field Agent from the original set. This is the Experienced version armed with a disposable rocket launcher. I really ought to replace it with an MP5A SMG or a CAR15 Assault Carbine. He is a very tall and slim figure and scalewise he fit in so well with this range that I keep him as part of my RAFM SWAT crew. Note the five grenades strung across his back. They're probably smoke or tear gas grenades.

These next four figures come from set RAF02808 SWAT Grunts. At the far left is a trooper with a 12 gauge Benelli M1 Pump-Action Shotgun. Note the pistol grip under the slide. His 9mm Glock 19 Pistol is holstered high on his right hip.

Next to him, in a very similar pose is a trooper armed with a 9mm Heckler and Kock MP5A Sub-Machine Gun. Unlike his partner to his right, he does not wear a gasmask. I painted his flesh areas slightly darker than normal to represent a hispanic male... or maybe he's just well tanned.

Third in line is the second trooper to be armed with the 9mm MP5A SMG. He is in a more dramatic pose and is firing his weapon from the shoulder.

Last of all is a trooper firing his 9mm Glock 19 Pistol in a two-handed grip for extra stability. He has his MP5A SMG slung over his back. He wears a Nomex hood but no gasmask.

These are nicely sculpted figures but there are two things that might put some of you off purchasing them. First up is their height. Although RAFM describe this range as being 28mm scale, the reality is that they are closer to 35mm scale. This means that they stand head and shoulders above true 28mm scale figures. I couldn't care less about a few millimetres difference in heights but I know that it is an issue that concerns some of you, so be warned.

The second point that may be a stickler for some of you is their price. These figures are not the cheapest on the market. The SWAT Leader, Sergeant and Sniper cost $4.95 each. The SWAT Grunts are better value at $11.95 for all four figures. The Horrorclix Field Agent is, sadly, long out of production but can still be found on various on-line auction sites like e-Bay.
EDIT: Shortly after posting this I removed the Horrorclix figures rocket launcher and replaced it with an MP5A SMG. He looks much more like a SWAT Trooper now.

Copplestone Castings HRT Troopers

My last figure review featured a group of Foundry SWAT Troopers painted up as a Hostage Rescue Team (HRT), the SWAT branch of the FBI. Sticking with the HRT theme I'm going to review the Copplestone Castings' set FW1 Hostage Rescue Squad from their range of 28mm scale Future Wars figures.

Unlike the Foundry figures, these guys are not given names and I haven't got round to naming them yet, so I'll just have to identify them as Troopers 1-5 going from left to right.

At the far left of my two photos, Trooper 1 is standing partially crouched down and carrying a 12 Gauge SGT Tactical Response model 90102 Pump-Action Shotgun. SGT (Scattergun Technologies) produces a range of customised shotguns by modifying off-the-shelf Remington weapons. This model, adopted by the FBI, is based on the Model 870 Pump-Action Shotgun. His back-up pistol will be the .45 Springfield SRP Bureau Pistol. Note that all of these troopers are also armed with daggers.
Trooper 2 is in an advancing pose and is armed identically to Trooper 1.
Trooper 3 is standing on guard and he is armed with the 10mm Heckler and Koch MP5/10A3 Sub-Machine Gun, the default weapon of the HRT. The fact that it is a heavier calibre weapon than the standard 9mm Heckler and Koch MP5A used by most SWAT Teams makes no difference in a game like All Things Zombie but if I was playing GURPS, for example, it certainly would make a difference.
Trooper 4 is similarly armed and he has been sculpted in a more animated pose than Trooper 3. Troopers 3,4 and 5 are also armed with .45 Springfield SRP Bureau Pistols and daggers.
Trooper 5 also carries the MP5/10A3 SMG and he has been depicted firing it from the shoulder.
In many ways these figures are better than the Foundry SWAT teams I've shown recently. For starters, they are all armed with standard issue firearms. Secondly, they are all male, which reflects real life more accurately. Thirdly, they are a lot cheaper than Foundry. This set costs just £8.50 for all five figures. Compare that with the £10.00 for five figures that Foundry is asking for.
Just out of interest, anyone setting a game in the U.K. could very easily use these figures as SAS troopers. Now there's a thought!

Domain of the Dead/Remains of the Dead by Iain McKinnon

I've never reviewed two books at once before but in this instance the decision to is fully justified. Once again, we're in zombie apocalypse territory. This time the story is set three years after the outbreak began. Domain of the Dead, which is the first in this mini-series, opens with a small group of survivors holed up in a large food warehouse, where they have remained throughout the apocalypse. They are surrounded by a vast horde of flesh-eating zombies and they have almost run out of food. The heroine of the novel, Sarah, is contemplating suicide, when she hears an unfamiliar sound. A helicopter has appeared and landed in their city, not far away from their location. She persuades the others in her party that their best hope of salvation is to make contact with the occupants of the helicopter. As they fight their way through the zombie horde some of them don't make it. Those that do find a small team of five military personnel. The soldiers are friendly and offer to help transport the survivors away from the zombie-infested city. But there is one big problem - the helicopter has a very limited passenger capacity and will only hold four passengers - five if a child sits on the lap of an adult. One of the soldiers, Bates, refuses to give up his seat. Another soldier, Angel, a female sniper was wounded and she had to return for medical attention. That left two seats. Sarah, her friend Nathan and young child, Jennifer are chosen to ride in the chopper.
It takes them to a research ship miles out at sea. The ship's doctor gives them a thorough examination and explains what has been going on in the world during the past three years. Humanity is surviving but the zombies vastly outnumber the living. They are introduced to the ship's captain and to the chief scientist, Cutler, who don't see eye to eye. Here we have a situation inspired by Romero's film Day of the Dead with the captain and scientist at loggerheads. Heck, the captain even calls the scientist "Dr. Frankenstein" just as Captain Rhodes did with Professor Logan in Day of the Dead.
On that very day when the newcomers arrive, Cutler makes a scientific breakthrough in finding a cure for the zombie disease. However, it proves to be anything but and when he injects himself with it, he soon turns into a zombie. In no time at all the ship is overrun with zombies, leaving just Sarah, Nathan, Jennifer and the two soldiers from the helicopter, Bates and Angel to fend for themselves in a desperate situation.

The sequel, Remains of the Dead, tells the story of the two soldiers, Lieutenant Cahz and Cannon the machine gunner, who were left behind with survivors Ryan, Elspeth and a baby girl. Another survivor, Ali, is separated from them but he manages to survive on his own. The two groups find refuge in abandoned buildings not far from each other. Cahz knows that the helicopter will return for them but that it will take many hours for it to reach the ship, get refuelled and return. Elspeth gave up her place on the helicopter because she was bitten whilst fleeing from the warehouse. She knows she'll die soon, so that is why she chose to stay behind.
Just as Ali and the others make contact, Cahz's group is forced to flee when their hideout is threatened by a neighbouring fire. Cahz leads Cannon, Ryan and the baby out of the city towards the coast in the hope of contacting the helicopter as it flies in, or if they miss it, when it flies back out. Things do not go well for either group but to say anymore will be to give away too much of the plot.
I really wanted to like these novels, as they had both garnered many positive reviews on Amazon, which is where I bought them. But sadly, I have to say, I was very disappointed with them. Once again, both books are blighted with numerous spelling mistakes, bad grammar and poor layout with sentences breaking up in the middle of a line before continuing on the next line. Whoever edited and proofread these books did a very poor job of it!
Secondly, I found the characters to be unsympathetic and I couldn't really care whether they lived or died. All of the lead characters in both books suffer.. a lot! Fair enough, in a zombie apocalypse people do suffer, but McKinnon really puts everyone through the wringer, both physically and emotionally. It just got too much for me.
Thirdly, there is a science lesson given by Doctor Robertson, Cutler's assistant, girlfiend and the person who examines Sarah, Nathan and Jennifer in the middle of the book as she tries to explain the zombie outbreak. It is long-winded and totally unnecessary. it just so happens that Sarah was a science student, so she understands most of the gobbledigook that Robertson spouts.
Fourthly, I was amazed at how quickly the infection spread on the research ship in Domain of the Dead. In no time at all a crew of about 100 are wiped out and transformed into zombies. I'm sorry, but I just couldn't buy that at all. Especially not when just under half the crew were military personnel.
Finally, is the ending of both books. I won't say much because I don't want to spoil them for you but be warned, the endings are bleak. Plus, when you read about what happens at the end of Domain of the Dead you know that there is no way that Remains of the Dead can have a happy ending. I must admit that my judgement of Remains was very much influenced by me not enjoying Domain. I suspected it would be more more of the same and it was, although if anything it is even bleaker.
As I said earlier, a lot of readers rate this series very highly, so maybe I'm in the minority for disliking them. I don't know if you've noticed, but I've added a number of page tabs to the top of my blog. One of them is for book reviews. I mark my film reviews with scores out of ten but I never rated my book reviews. Until now. If you click on the Book Reviews tab you'll see my ratings for every book I've reviewed so far. Up till now, all of my book reviews have been very favourable. Not so for this pair, however. I'll give them both a score of 4 out of 10.
They are printed by Permuted Press and cost me £10.95 each from Amazon's website. Not good value for money, I felt!