Friday 8 July 2016

Vampifan's Superheroes and Supervillains 06

Up to now, in this series of posts I have concentrated on various supervillains I made and converted for my GURPS Supers and Villains & Vigilantes campaigns. Now it is time to redress the balance and show you some of my superhero figures. I start with the trio of superheroes who formed the player character team in my GURPS Supers campaign which I ran in 2003 and 2004. My good friend, Dave, was almost as big a fan of Marvel Comics' Wolverine as I was of Vampirella. He wanted to play the X-Men mutant and together we worked out his stats for my campaign. Rob, whom I've known since the early 1980's, came up with a character called Gothique, who originally appeared in the Warmachine steampunk war-game produced by Privateer Press. I also took part as a player in my campaign as well as being games master. I simply had to play Vampirella. I left most of the decision making to Dave and Rob and mainly just helped out in combat situations. It is interesting that all three superheroes probably work best as loners but in my campaign they bonded well and made a very effective team. Let's take a closer look at them.
Aeryn Gothique was born in the kingdom of Cygnar, one of four major warring states that made up the Iron Kingdoms. As a Dark Elf, she was trained in the art of war from an early age. She excelled at combat and quickly rose to a rank of major prominence within her clan. Her world was a mixture of science and magic containing high tech battle-gear that became rarer as the long wars dragged on for centuries. It was whilst on a solo mission on the remote island fortress of Dragon Lord Toruk, leader of the Kingdom of Cryx that she met her match. A powerful necromancer whom she was supposed to assassinate, defeated her by opening a portal to another dimension and banishing her there. That dimension was Earth in the year 2003. She knew enough to elude capture from the authorities and was able to study this new world and its inhabitants from deep cover. She was intrigued to learn that super-powered individuals like her existed, although very few were friendly. She made a vow to continue her crusade against the Forces of Darkness and hopefully find a way back to her home dimension. She possesses very few super powers (Extra Fatigue +7, Extra Hit Points +7, Higher Technology +2 (i.e. TL:10), Increased Speed +4 and Magical Aptitude level:1) but she does have a wide range of combat advantages and skills. She also knows 30 magic spells. She cost 1,400 points. Her figure is a conversion of the DC Heroclix figure of Huntress. I replaced her twin mini crossbows with a compound crossbow and a long sword. Both weapons came from a boxed set of Games Workshop plastic Dark Elf Warriors. The figure is a good match to her illustration.
Vampirella is no ordinary vampire. She is the daughter of Lilith, the first vampire to roam the earth. She thought she was born on the planet of Drakulon, but later learned that Drakulon was a realm of Hell. In her quest to discover her true origins, Vampirella discovered that she was the first of a new breed of vampire, evolved for the new millennium. After many adventures Vampirella was killed by Mistress Nyx but Lilith resurrected her. Vampirella knew that she had to rid the world of all other vampires and demons to win some redemption for her mother and possibly for herself. She is without any of the traditional weaknesses of vampires - immune to garlic, sunlight, religious items or even holy water. She does possess supernatural strength, speed and ferocity but her greatest power lies in her iconic beauty and irresistible sensuality. For GURPS Supers I gave her Bite and Claws, Enhanced Strength 50, Extra Hit Points +10, Flight and Super Flight, Increased Speed +8, Regeneration, Regrowth and Vampiric Immortality and Invulnerability. She cost 2,000 points. For my figure of Vampirella I chose this sculpt of her by Blood Moon Miniatures. Sadly, this figure is now out of production. It is my favourite miniature of my favourite superheroine. She just oozes sex appeal.
Wolverine is one of Marvel Comics most iconic and popular superheroes and his background is well documented. Little is known of his past save that he was born James Howlett in Alberta, Canada in the 19th century. He left home after killing his father's murdered and took the name, Logan. He fought in both World Wars and spent much time in China and Japan where he learnt many martial arts. After WW2, he was recruited by the CIA as part of their Project X operation. It was here that his skeleton was bonded with an indestructible material called Adamantium. He rebelled and slaughtered almost everyone in the secret complex before escaping. Soon after he was recruited by Professor Xavier into the X-Men. Between his mutant powers, Weapon X modifications and his years of experience, Wolverine is one of the deadliest warriors the world has ever seen. On each hand, Wolverine has a set of three retractable Adamantium claws, able to slice through almost anything. His accelerated healing factor lets him survive damage that would kill most others, although it doesn't prevent him from feeling pain. He is not indestructible. If the injuries are extensive enough, especially if they result in the loss of vital organs, large amounts of blood, oxygen deprivation and/or loss of physical form, he can die. Dave and I came up with the following super powers for him - Alertness +11, Bionic Reconstruction, Breath Holding level:4, Claws (Retractable), Discriminatory Sense of Smell, Extra Hit Points +5, Increased Speed +3, Metabolism Control level:3, Passive Defence 4, Psionic Resistance level:6, Regeneration, Regrowth and Silence level:5. He cost 2,000 points, the same as Vampirella. His figure is based on a Marvel Heroclix figure of Wolverine. I repainted him as Dave wanted him in this ochre and dark brown costume.
The picture below shows the portraits I used on my GURPS Supers character record sheets. The portrait of Gothique was given to me by Rob. He had photocopied it from either the Warmachine rulebook or one of its supplements. I digitally coloured it. It would have been helpful if he also supplied me with her background and biography but Rob was always an apathetic bugger and so he left me to create her background. Lazy sod! My portrait of Vampirella is based on a photo of a 6" action figure by Moore Collectibles of her that I own. Dave had a 10" tall statue of Wolverine and his portrait is taken from the box art of that statue. 
Gothique, Vampirella and Wolverine

17 comments:

  1. I love the two Ladies Bryan, nice and simple conversion work on Gothique but v effective and Vampi is just gorgeous with a lovely bit of brushwork. Although your painting of Wolverine is to your usual standard B, the pose is not my favourite so let's him down a bit as he looks like he's pawing his opponent rather than slashing those claws through them! That aside a terrific post and I bet the campaign was brilliant to play in

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    1. Many thanks, Andy. I take your point about Wolverine being in a rather average pose. However, do remember that at the time (2003), this was the only figure of Wolverine that was available. Now, of course, there are multiple variants of him and I'm sure if Dave was around he'd want to choose a different version of him. I now have at least six variants of Wolverine!

      The campaign was great fun and lasted well over a year. I do miss playing with other gamers but at least there are plenty of great solo games for me to enjoy.

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  2. If you want to roleplay again.... let me know, I have a PBM game idea that might suit. No not supers, and yes mostly solo play but... I shall leave the idea un said and un finished. But NO reason not to have Blog for a PBM game.

    Onto the figures. 3 splendid examples of supers if I ever saw one! Vamps is the best but all three are jolly good

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    1. Ooh, yes! I'm certainly interested in taking part in a PBM game.

      That Vampirella figure is something special, isn't she?

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  3. Awesome work on them all. Got to agree on the Vampirella sculpt it is a fab pose and probably the one I have seen so far!

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    1. Cheers, Simon. And, yay!, we have another fan for the lovely Vampirella figure.

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  4. Three well painted figs again Bryan, I too have to say that, that is one of the nicest Vampi fig's I've seen (similar to the GZG one but better IMHO), I still like your conversion for FH better though.

    That's Wolverine from the "X men Evolution" cartoon in the bottom picture isn't it?

    Cheers Roger.

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    1. Thanks, Roger. Yes, this figure of Vampi is in a similar pose to the one by GZG but definitely much better.

      I never saw the "X-Men Evolution" cartoon so I'm really don't know if this version of Wolverine came from there.

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  5. Another deeply insightful posting into the heart of Vampifan, and some cracking minis to boot! I've previously painted the Huntress "Heroclix" model and think you've done a great conversion job on her in order to create Gothique. I've not yet done a Wolverine mini though but you've certainly captured the 1980's brown and ochre look of Logan's classic costume. Although I do wonder why Dave liked the colours reversed? His own unique version of Weapon X perhaps? Vampirella is undoubtedly the star of the show though Bryan, and quite rightly so imho. I was disappointed to see the figure is now OOP though, as I've been searching for one for a while as I fancy a Batman/Vampirella BatRep would go down a treat!! I'll clearly have to do another trawl for a suitable proxy, unless you (or Jez) can direct me in the right location for an appropriate manufacturer?

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    1. Much appreciated Simon. I do like my conversion of Gothique given I had little info to go on. As for Wolverine's colour scheme I simply went along with what Dave asked me to do. I've no idea why he went with this colour scheme. As for an appropriate Vampirella figure, check out my reply to Jez below :-)

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    2. Cheers Bryan. I do now recall reading that post many moons ago. Its convinced me to finally splash out and pick up the "Horrorclix" Starter Set, so I can have my own Vampirella "Heroclix" mini. Tbh I've been eyeing one for a while, as I like the gnarled tree etc, and never made the connection with Vampirella and the female vampire. She'll be going to the top of my list when it arrives, and hopefully any team-up BatRep with surpass that corking Army of Darkness comic I know you keep re-reading ;-)

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    3. Great news on getting the Horrorclix starter set, Simon. I also love the gnarled tree. I bought two of this set. One to use in Horrorclix and one so I could rebase the figures and repaint them. Once you see the female vampire you can't help but identify her with Vampirella. Vampi doesn't always wear her skimpy red costume. That dress she's squeezed into for her Horrorclix sculpt is quite appropriate for her. Teaming her up with Batman really intrigues me. She once teamed up with Catwoman, so she is familiar with the DC Universe. Almost any team up would be better than the travesty you mentioned. Go wash your mouth out immediately, young man, and never mention it again!

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    4. LOL :-) This posting, and a few of your other ones, has certainly got me thinking about doing a series of BatReps featuring an all-lady line-up, and I think painting up Vampirella would be just the motivator to get such a campaign off of the ground. I also have already painted Catwoman, and the Huntress too... Perhaps if I did She-Hulk I could create the 'Female Four' ;-)

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    5. It's funny you should mention doing some batreps with an all female cast. I have been making plans for sending a team of female superheroes to the Zombicide: Black Plague dimension to battle a cabal of necromancers. I'm just deciding on my line up. So far, Vampirella and Zombie Tramp are in. Red Sonja is a serious possibility. I've been holding back on this idea until I had enough Black Plague Necromancers to make up a cabal. You mentioning She-Hulk is giving me food for thought. Hmm!

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  6. Right, time to come clean - whilst I admire your passion for Vampirella and can see her appeal, I've never wanted to own her in 28mm...until now. That is a particularly stunning figure and i was also disappointed when I discovered that it's OOP. :-(

    As you probably now have quite a collection of Vampi figures, Bryan, could a future post featuring all of them be on the cards? That way those of us that have now been converted could see what's available and choose the Vampi that suits us best. Just a thought...

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    1. Many thanks, Jez. I don't need to do a post showing all of my Vampirella 28mm scale figures. Check out this post here -
      http://vampifansworldoftheundead.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/assorted-28mm-scale-vampirellas.html
      I'm way ahead of you, my friend!

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  7. I'm someone who has lived a life seemingly in the background, I must say this final indignity I have suffered almost too much to endure. You see, I have been sickly and weak since the day I was born and doomed to go through all my life a weakling. I seemed to have always suffered from one illness or another and could never play with the other children as I so desperately wanted to. Mother always made such a big fuss over me, also, making the situation worse as the other boys teased me mercilessly after they saw it. I was browsing  the internet searching on how i could be transformed into a powerful when i came across the email of a man named Lord Mark. who was a VAMPIRE so I told him that I has always dreamed of becoming a  VAMPIRES, All i did was just to follow the procedure that i was been told, and i bet you that procedure I took change my entire life to something i ever desire, freedom, sickness free, pains free, fame, influence, connections and even more that i can. Thanks to Lord Mark. Do you want a life full of interesting things? Do you want to have power and influence over others? To be charming and desirable? To have wealth, health, and longevity? contact the vampires creed today via email: Vampirelord7878@gmail.com

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