Friday 30 March 2018

Vampifans Views 104 - Monthly Musings 75

Doesn't time pass quickly when you're enjoying yourself? It hardly seems a month has passed by since my last Monthly Musings. As always, I start with a picture of Vampirella. This is the second of my pieces of artwork by Spanish artist, Manuel Sanjulian, whose paintings graced many a cover of the original Vampirella monthly magazines in the 1970's. I wonder if one of the two panthers behind Vampi aren't her friend and ally, Pantha, in her animal form?

As is usual these days, this has been another very busy month for me, hobby-wise. My enthusiasm for the new Necromunda sci-fi skirmish game is still very high. I recently finished painting the four new Forge World Bounty Hunters and Hive Scum, so I'll be showcasing them soon. I've ordered second boxed sets of the Escher and Goliath gangs as well as two sets of Orlock gangers. I want to expand the size of my gangs. These new plastic figures offer so much customisation. For the Eschers in particular, I wanted to make some more gangers to use the two weapons included in the boxed set that weren't used by the 10 figures I did make.
Forge World Escher Weapons set 2
Just as I was thinking about what to do with the other 8 gangers Forge World announced the release of not one but three blister packs of Escher weapons to arm your gangers with. Talk about overkill! There did seem to be a fair bit of duplication amongst the three sets so I only ordered one of them - set 2 if you're wondering which one (see picture to the right). I liked that set best of all because it offered alternative heads as well as weapons.
I still have lots more of my old Necromunda metal figures to show you and I will get round to it sooner rather than later. A couple of days ago I received my pack of 200 rare earth magnets from China, and so I will be able to magnetise my scratch-built Underhive scenery and get them all painted. I must admit, I'm not looking forward to painting 60 pieces of scenery, but it has to be done. I'm currently painting the barricades and doors that came with the new starter set box.

For my WOIN blog and The Ace of Spades Campaign, I have been digging out some of my old sci-fi figures and rebasing them on MDF bases. I can't wait to show them on my blog but at the same time, I don't want to interrupt what is going on in the Alien Base scenario for my The Ace of Spades Campaign. Playing and writing up this campaign is so much fun. If you are following this scenario, you can see the level of tension mounting as the crew delve deeper into the apparently abandoned alien base. There is a very palatable sense of growing dread.

However, what has been taking up most of my time this past month has been my Wild West project. I have made four new buildings, all made of MDF - a sheriff's office and jail, a land office, an undertaker's and a small double storey building under construction. My town is growing. The sheriff's office and jail were produced by TT Combat and the other three by 4Ground. I am also busy making lots of card furniture items for the interiors of my Wild West buildings. I am getting very close to posting my first Wild West batrep. I have also been painting lots more Wild and Weird West figures, which I plan on showing you very soon. I can tell you that my first batrep will feature the Two Hour Wargames rules, Six Gun Sound. There were two versions of this set of rules. The original set, subtitled Blaze of Glory, were highly detailed, which I certainly approved of. The more recent version was much more streamlined and was designed for fast play. What I have done is to take elements from both sets to come up with my own set of hybrid rules. I also designed my own character record sheets, similar to the ones I designed for All Things Zombie. So far, I have created stats for 48 Grunts and Stars, more than enough to get me started. Six Gun Sound will only feature traditional Wild West scenarios. The Weird West stuff will be covered by either Dracula's America, High Moon or Shadows of Brimstone. I like all three sets of rules. This project has been a long time coming and now, at last, it should come to fruition.

With today being Good Friday I wish you all a very happy Easter. 

25 comments:

  1. Have a good Easter Friend. 8-)

    Things about necromunda are always worth hearing

    I found 2 Hour wargames mechanic a little to fiddly as I kept forgetting reaction tests along with loads of other tests. But will happily concede that for the right person these would be a great set of rule. What a shame I am not that person.

    Once again Have a great Easter

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    1. Many thanks, Clint. Whilst I am a huge fan of the THW games, I will acknowledge that they are not for everyone. Cracking the reaction tests rules is key to the understanding of them. For me, the fact that they are designed with the solo player in mind makes them perfect for me. My ATZ campaign was hugely successful and I hope my 6GS campaign will be just as successful.

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  2. nice load of goodies coming our way, i cant wait to see the WW stuff mate

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    1. Thanks, Andy. I can't wait to get started on my Wild West games.

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  3. Happy Easter Bryan :-)
    " another very busy month for me, hobby-wise " is a bit of an understatement by the sound of all the eye candy coming our way!
    You already know how much I'm enjoying The Ace Of Spades campaign, and the news that you're soon to start your Wild and Weird West games is a real Easter Treat :-)

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    1. A very happy Easter to you too, Greg. I do like to keep busy and now that I am living on my own I have a lot more free time to devote to my hobby.

      The next episode of the Ace of Spades Campaign will be posted soon and you'll be left wondering what's up with Tara Seven?

      The Wild West project is coming very soon and I can't wait to start it.

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  4. Clearly lots on the horizon, Bryan, and I'm very pleased the new "Necromunda" has so entirely captivated you, knowing of your enjoyment for when the first version came out. Plenty of Weird West stuff to come too, which will doubtless be filled full of your usual enthusiasm for a project :-)

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    1. Many thanks, Simon. I am filled with passion for the three projects I'm currently pursuing - Necromunda, Wild/Weird West and WOIN. Long may it continue!

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  5. I hope you're preparing yourself for a detailed, picture laden post on your wild west buildings. Your scenery during the ATZ batreps was what brought me here, and I do so love when Vampifan gets his buildings populated (both with figures and furniture).

    I've got a TTCombat Convenience Store, my first true MDF attempt, that I'm hoping to start on this weekend. Inspire me Bryan! (honestly, you normally do that in your normal posts, but I really really want to see what you've done with your wild west setup)

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    1. Ah, bless you, Russ. I most certainly do plan on showcasing my Wild West buildings. I do want all of them to have furniture items in them as that is one of my trademarks. So far only two of them are fully furnished - my general store and my sheriff's office/jail. I'm currently working on furnishing my saloon, undertaker's and land office. The houses are low down on my list of buildings I want furnishing but they will get done eventually.

      I like all of the stuff that TT Combat produce, because they're cheap but good quality and they don't charge you for post and packing. My sheriff's office and jail that I got from them has turned out looking excellent. I hope you enjoy making your convenience store.

      I can guarantee you that when you see my Wild West buildings I will inspire you. :-)

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  6. Lots of good stuff, as usual. I'm looking forwards to seeing what you've done with your Old West buildings, in particular.

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  7. Lots of great stuff on the horizon then Bryan, and lots of eye candy (hate that term!) for us to look forward to as well.

    Very happy Easter mate!

    Cheers Roger.

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    1. Thank you so much, Roger. I wish you well for this Easter.

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  8. Hi Bryan - The months certainly seem to roll round quickly don't they.
    As you can well imagine I am really looking forward to seeing what you have done for the Western Town buildings and to reading your game reports. A mans got to do what a mans got to do.
    Happy Easter to you too.

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    1. Hi John. I must admit that seeing your own Wild West batreps spurred me on no end to start my own Wild West campaign. There are many things that I greatly admire about your own game board. The buildings look fantastic. What particularly impresses me is the amount of scatter terrain you have. That is something I'm lacking but I am working to rectify. As I'm sure you can testify, it takes time for a town to grow but I'm just about ready to start. Yeehaw!

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  9. Interesting pic for this months musings Bryan, been a busy month again, interested to see your wild west in action

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    1. Cheers, Dave. I'm very much looking forward to showcasing my Wild West buildings and batreps.

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  10. Happy Easter and enjoy your hobby time this weekend.

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    1. Thanks, Phil. I will most certainly enjoy my hobby time, as I do everyday.

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  11. Very busy month as usual ;) Its been great seeing all your old gangs and new alike especially their tales of victory and defeat.

    Looking forward to seeing all the terrain and your wild west report.

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    1. Thank you so kindly, Simon. What a lovely comment!

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  12. Necromunda, Six Gun Sound, Ace of Spades - you've really got a lot of projects on your plate Bryan! I had to reign my projects in. I'm limiting myself to just one, and I will announce it when I "resurrect" a certain shambling old corpse of a blog soon ;)

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    1. I can fully understand, Major. I guess I'm lucky in having so much spare time on my hands that I can concentrate on multiple projects.

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