Vampifans Views 97 - Monthly Musings 70

Welcome to another of my Monthly Musings and once again it has been a very busy month hobby-wise for me. But first I start as always, with my picture of Vampirella. This offering is by comic artist, David Rodriguez, whose work I am not familiar with. I do like the cartoony look of Vampi here and I think the gold glasses are a cool touch. The orange moon and sky put me in mind of pumpkins, which is appropriate seeing as Halloween is only just around the corner. I love Halloween and I already have my bag of goodies ready for the trick or treaters.

I'll start with some news about the RPG I am most excited about seeing and that is Judge Dredd and the Worlds of 2000 AD. Previews of some of the pages of the book are now available for viewing (see https://www.worldsof2000adrpg.com/news-previews/) and we have been given a release date of this winter. Yes, I know, that could mean late this year or early next year but it gives me something to look forward to. I'll be covering this game in great detail on my WOIN blog.

Speaking of my WOIN blog, have you checked out my The Ace of Spades Campaign there? Playing and writing about it is a total labour of love. The scenario I'm running my PCs through is very long (I'm currently up to part 08), full of atmosphere and detail, and the way I'm writing it up, makes it feel more like reading a sci-fi novel than a batrep. The PCs are people you want to know about and spend time with. Please check it out if you haven't already. You may just be pleasantly surprised. 😉

I showed this picture of the main NPCs who were appearing in my current scenario on my WOIN blog. The female in the centre attracted the most comments. She was produced by Asgard Miniatures as part of their sci-fi range of 28mm scale figures way back in the early 1980's. I thought that this range was long out of production but to my great surprise I have only just discovered that Alternative Armies have revived it. You can check it out here - https://www.alternative-armies.com/collections/space-marines-and-adventurers The female whom I named as Sheas Danelish is HA6 Adventuress with Laser Pistol and she costs £2.00. I can't tell you how happy I am to see them all available again even though I have them all.

Work continues on the painting of my figures for Dracula's America and Shadows of Brimstone. In addition, I have started painting the four figures I ordered for the Frazetta Miniatures Kickstarter - 2 versions of Vampirella, a werewolf and a chaos knight on horseback. Photos will appear as soon as they're finished. Suffice to say, these are incredibly detailed resin cast miniatures. The chaos knight came in 12 parts, including his base! I'm pulling out all the stops on the painting of these figures. They deserve time and care being lavished on them.
I have also been painting some of my growing collection of micro-scale starships for my The Ace of Spades Campaign. For someone who was never interested in starship combat gaming I have fully embraced this genre of the hobby. My primary source for the starships I have been buying is Brigade Models (see here - http://www.brigademodels.co.uk/Spaceships/index.html) Their range is very extensive and they have just what I'm looking for. I haven't decided whether to showcase them on this blog or on my WOIN blog.
Finally, I have also painted all of the figures that came with and which I added to for a brand new game that has tickled my fancy. It is called Rumbleslam, the game of fantasy wrestling and it is produced by TT Combat. Expect a full review very soon.

It is a really fun game but I realise it won't be to everyone's taste. That's okay. I don't mind.

Kickstarters - love 'em or loathe 'em? Personally, I love Kickstarters and I've backed many over the years. This month I've backed two. One was for the Resident Evil 2 game by Steamforged Games. Backing this was a no-brainer. It features zombies, so of course, I'm going to be interested in it. Plus, I'm a big fan of the Resident Evil films and books. Oddly enough, I have never played any of the computer games, but that's simply because I'm just not into computer games at all. I have far too much to do anyway without having to find time to play computer games. My brother, however, is heavily into computer games, so he keeps me up to date with them.
The other Kickstarter I backed this month was for the Starfinder Masterclass Miniatures by Paizo Inc. and Ninja Division. My reasons for backing this project are not so obvious. The Starfinder RPG was only released very recently and it certainly intrigued me. However, at roughly £70.00 for the rulebook, I was in no rush to buy it. My patience paid off because a month or so after its launch, Amazon UK were selling it for £40.00, so I bought it at this bargain price. Running at 528 pages, it is a massive book. I've started reading it but I'm only half way through it. As I read it I keep making comparisons to the N.E.W. RPG by EN Publishing, which I absolutely adore. The two systems have much in common but of the two, I much prefer N.E.W. It is a lot simpler to play and more importantly, it does not have a fixed setting, which Starfinder does. I pretty much knew that I'd prefer N.E.W. before I bought Starfinder so why buy it? That's easy - to pinch stuff from it to use in my The Ace of Spades Campaign. It has cool new races, weapons, equipment, vehicles and settings I can use. This also explains why I decided to back the Kickstarter campaign. The resin cast 28mm scale figures are just a joy to behold. The level of detail on them is incredible. And they also make starships as well, although not in 28mm scale! So, I'm looking forward to getting some ultra-high quality figures to use in N.E.W. instead of Starfinder. Just check out these five figures from the range. I was wondering why they looked so familiar to me and then the penny dropped - they're the five characters who appear on the front cover of the Starfinder rulebook. I really love that purple-haired female. She reminds me of Lieutenant Gay Ellis from Gerry Anderson's UFO TV series. 😍

Next month, Battle Systems are going to launch their first sci-fi game, which will come with new card terrain and 28mm scale figures - a first for them. I'm immensely looking forward to that one.

That's all for now. Take care and have fun - that's what the hobby is all about!

Assorted Androids 01

Let me start this post with a question - what is the difference between an android and a robot? It is the issue of free will. An android is self-aware and has rights - a robot does not. In RPG games such as N.E.W. and Starfinder, androids can be player characters. This is another one of my posts that could have appeared on this blog or on my WOIN blog. I'm posting it here simply because it has crossover potential for other systems and isn't limited to just N.E.W.

These five 28mm scale figures come from a variety of companies. At the far left is a very old figure produced by Grenadier Miniatures for Cyberpunk 2020 and/or Shadowrun. He is a cyborg cop, heavily influenced by Robo-cop from the films of the same name. In the few games where I have used him, I've always referred to him as "Robo-cop". I have no idea if this figure is still available for sale or not. I know a lot of old Grenadier figures are still available but I'm uncertain about this particular one.
Next in line is a figure I bought very recently. She is Maria the female android produced by Reaper Miniatures as part of their Chronoscope range. She looks like a female version of C-3PO from Star Wars. However, her name is a dead giveaway on who she is really based on - Maria the Maschinenmensch (German for machine-person) or robot in Fritz Lang's 1927 film of Metropolis. The figure is a very good likeness of her and the sculpting of her is quite exquisite. You'll find her in the Reaper Chronoscope webstore as 50246: Maria - She-Bot where she is priced at £5.22.

In the centre of this group is Narindan, who is an android produced by Space Vixens From Mars. I have been buying quite a few figures from them this year to use in my The Ace of Spades Campaign. I only recently became aware of this company and I have been very impressed by their friendly and swift service... and reasonable prices. This figure is listed as SV36 and costs a very cheap £2.00.
Finally are two androids produced by Alternative Armies for their Ganesha Games sci-fi range. They bear a slight similarity to the B1 Battledroids seen in some of the Star Wars films but they are different. However, it is fair to say that my colour scheme for them was directly influenced by the B1 Battledroid. They are listed as PSY04 Combots and they cost £2.00 each.
Anyone who is following my The Ace of Spades Campaign on my WOIN blog will know that one of the crew of The Ace of Spades is an android. Celeste is the most mysterious of all of my player characters and could well be the most powerful if she really is a Forerunner survivor. That should tell you that I like androids. My main use for these figures will be for N.E.W. but don't be too surprised if some of them appear in my Judge Dredd Miniatures Game campaign.

Alternative Armies Sci-Fi Figures 02

Following on from my last post here are some more of the Ganesha Games 28mm scale sci-fi figures produced by Alternative Armies. These four figures come from set PSY01 Psi Paladins. I guess the most obvious association with figures looking like these is with the Jedi Knights from Star Wars, and there is no reason why you couldn't use them in a Star Wars game. But for me, the reason why I bought them was to use them as Star Knights in the N.E.W. role-playing game.

In N.E.W. Star Knights are an elite order of warriors who are respected throughout the galaxy. They rarely use ranged weapons, preferring to engage their enemies with their laser swords. They also possess psionic powers, which makes them very similar to the Jedi Knights, albeit more openly accepted by society. Once again, I have taken the optional rules from N.E.W. to denote the types of laser swords they wield, with the colours being highly significant.

At the far left is a novice warrior who wields a blue laser sword. Blue is the standard laser sword colour and is the one described in the N.E.W. rulebook (see p.92). Technically, laser swords are not lasers; they are made of plasma contained in a magnetic field.
The female armed with twin green laser swords is slightly more proficient. If blue laser swords are classed as basic rank 1 weapons, then green laser swords are slightly better and are classed as rank 2. They represent peace and defence and are often used for deflecting energy blasts.
Moving up the ranks, yellow laser swords are classed as rank 3 and they are focused on melee defence, used by guardians throughout the centuries. The size of this figure's head suggests he is an android, which certainly could be possible, despite the fact that androids are non-psionic. Playing a non-psionic star knight would be an interesting challenge. Or conversely, perhaps he does possess psionic powers, making him unique amongst androids.
Finally, at the far right is the ultimate star knight, armed with a rare rank 5 purple laser sword. This weapon is a potent mix of offence and defence. His oriental look makes me think of him as a futuristic samurai. Certainly, he is a character to be respected.
Red laser swords, which I mentioned in my last post are classed as rank 4. The rarest of all laser swords are the black ones (rank 6), mainly (although not exclusively) used by those who have succumbed to the dark side of the Force. They cause damage which cannot be healed except by psionic (or magical) means.
There was an excellent article about laser swords published in EONS, the online magazine for WOIN a while back. I'd post a link to it but you have to be a subscriber to read it. Most of the info I have presented here came from that article.
These figures are all very beautifully sculpted with exquisite detailing. The hands holding the laser swords are separate castings and have to be glued in place. They cost £3.00 each and are available from here - https://www.alternative-armies.com/collections/ganesha-games-scifi/products/psy01-psi-paladins
I have yet to name any of these characters or work out their stats. I have already created one star knight character for my The Ace of Spades Campaign and she is a female Venetian. I'll show her in a later post. 

Alternative Armies Sci-Fi Figures 01

I recently discovered a range of figures produced by Alternative Armies for their Ganesha Games 28mm scale sci-fi range. I was instantly attracted to them and ordered the complete range. I want to start my reviews of them with a look at the following four figures shown below.

At the far left is Graul Granite, a rock-like alien and a bodyguard of Lord Phalag. He does look a lot like Ben Grimm aka the Thing from Marvel Comic's The Fantastic Four. I have yet to decide what race he is. He could be a Boromite from Warlord Games Beyond the Gates of Antares game but seeing as I have no interest in that game at present, I doubt if I'll go down that path. Most likely I'll come up with my own stats for him. The figure is a two piece casting - upper body and lower body.
The figure that most intrigued me from this set is the one second from the left. He is Lord Phalag and most likely a human. He looks every inch the cruel despot, powerful crime-lord or planetary governor. I plan to use him as a crime-lord in my The Ace of Spades Campaign for my N.E.W. RPG that I'm running on my other blog. I also think he would be a great rival of Lord Valatrix in the Death Match game by Wargames Terrain Workshop. The figure is made of resin with the four lower panels of the hover chair and the familiar sitting on his shoulder being made of metal. The alien familiar very much reminds me of Salacious Crumb, Jabba the Hutt's familiar in the Star Wars films. Note that he is not supplied with a flying base. Fortunately, I have loads of spare ones. I attached him to the base with a piece of copper tubing.

The light turquoise skinned female second from the right is another member of Lord Phalag's retinue. She is called Skarra and is described as a mutant mindblaster, so that means she is a psyker. To me, she looks like a Yazirian, an ape-like race with wings who appeared in TSR's Star Frontiers sci-fi RPG. Or she could be a totally different species.
Sticking with the Death Match theme, the final figure is Lord Phalag's champion gladiator - Silas the Strong. He is clad in tight-fitting silver armour and he wields a laser sword. Note that in the N.E.W. game, the colour of a laser sword denotes its core properties. Red laser swords symbolise aggression and anger. They do more damage than other laser swords. That seemed highly appropriate for him. I'm in two minds about whether to add a shield to him. The way he's holding his left arm means it would easily fit on.
These figures are all currently available from the Alternative Armies web-store, see here - https://www.alternative-armies.com/collections/ganesha-games-scifi
Prices are £8.00 for Graul Granite, £5.00 for Lord Phalag, £2.00 for Skarra or £15.00 for all three. Silas costs £2.00 and is also available as part of the Techno-Barbarian pack of three figures. I am very impressed with this range of figures, especially as I can get double use out of them in Death Match and in my The Ace of Spades Campaign. I realise that I could just as easily have posted this review on my WOIN blog, but by posting it here, ensures it gets seen by a wider audience.

JDMG MC1 Robots 04

The three 28mm scale robots that I'm reviewing this time are all designed for death and destruction.

The two large robots (they stand 45mm tall) to the left are a pair of Assassinator Droids. These appear in the Judge Dredd Miniatures Game rulebook, but as part of the Mobsters gang roster and not the Renegade Robots roster, although they may be recruited by a Renegade Robot force. Also, these are not the official Assassinator Droids for the game. I do have a pair of official figures produced by Warlord Games but I haven't made them yet. These robots were originally produced by Alternative Armies as part of their Ion Age Firefight range of figures. They were SK12 Psychoborg (the one in the centre) and SK15 Psychoborg II (the one at the far left) and they were part of the Shia Khan forces. I have no idea if they are still available or by who if they are. I only know that Alternative Armies no longer sell them.
Highly illegal, Assassinator Droids are used by mobsters in high-end heists or raids against the Justice Department, when even a team of Blitzers will not suffice. Extremely expensive, only the most successful outfits will be able to afford more than one. Normally, Assassinator Droids are fitted with Flight Packs, but these ones aren't. Instead, they have been fitted with much heavier weaponry. The one at the far left is armed with a Missile Launcher, and the other one is armed with three Spit Gun Rifles, which fire simultaneously. The Assassinator Droid's usual weaponry is a Club, a Laser Pistol and a Spit Gun Rifle. A standard Assassinator Droid is a Robot Infantry Minion and costs 195 Credits. I haven't worked out the stats for these two yet but when I do I'll be upgrading them to Infantry Hero status. They will be tough!

The robot at the far right is a non-standard Combat Droid, whose design was clearly influenced by the ED-209 robot from the original Robocop film. He is a multi-part model and unfortunately, I can't remember who produced him. If anyone can recognise who produced this figure, please let me know. He is roughly 35mm tall and he is a very old figure probably from the late 1980's or early 1990's seeing as Robocop was released in 1987. He has two Heavy Spit Guns mounted on both sides of his body in place of his arms, and has a pair of Laser Pistols popping out of his mouth. That's a lot of firepower!
All three figures are superbly well sculpted, very heavily armed and they just look as menacing as hell! They'll prove to be very tough opposition for my team of Judges.

Assorted Werewolves 04

Here is another batch of 28mm scale werewolf figures from my collection, and once again, they are a mixed bunch from a variety of companies. Some are still available to buy but others are sadly, long gone.

At the far left is a huge and very scary werewolf in its Crinos form from Heresy Miniatures. This is a multi-part kit containing head, torso and right leg, tail, left leg, right arm, left arm and base. It was sculpted by Andy Foster and I must say, he's done a cracking good job. Note the blood around its mouth and snout, indicating it has fed recently. This is one of my all-time favourite werewolf sculpts. It is in a very animated pose and it was a joy to make and paint. He is available to buy from Heresy's webstore for £8.00. Do bear in mind that for that price he is very tall despite the fact he is crouching down, and he is a multi-part kit.
The white werewolf was originally made by Grenadier Miniatures but is now available from Mirliton. He is part of their Nightmares range and comes in a pack of three figures marked as NM020 Lycanthropes. The other two figures show him in wolf form and in half-human form. Price is 5.96 Euros for all three figures. I must admit that I think this is a rather average sculpt. By painting him white, he could almost pass for a small polar bear.

At the far right is an old Ral Partha figure who is not actually a werewolf at all but a werejackal. He is quite small and the fact that he is crouched down in a running pose makes him look even smaller still. I actually like this figure for his uniqueness. Ral Partha made a lot of werewolf figures. They had the franchise to make figures for White Wolf's Werewolf: the Apocalypse RPG. This figure, however, was part of their fantasy range. Ral Partha closed shop many years ago so you will struggle to find a copy of this figure.

These two huge werewolves in their monstrous Crinos form were made by Alternative Armies as part of their old Firefight sci-fi range. They were allies of the evil Shia Khan forces who fought against the Free Companies Crusaders in what was known as the Ion Age. They stand 42mm tall from the soles of their feet to the tops of their heads.

I see no reason why they can't be used as contemporary werewolves. They are nicely sculpted and although they are huge in comparison to a normal 28mm tall figure, they are still in scale. A Crinos form werewolf is generally about nine feet tall. Sorry to say that these figures are no longer available.

Assorted Werewolves 02

I'm going to continue my reviews of my collection of werewolf figures for the next week or so. Today I'm showcasing lupines sculpted by three different companies.

First up is a werewolf from the Micro Universe Doctor Who range. This is a plastic 35mm scale figure that came pre-painted, much like Heroclix figures are. The paintwork was basic but acceptable. I added highlights and picked out the claws, teeth and eyes. For a plastic werewolf, this is a fine sculpt and I really like it. If you're wondering what a werewolf is doing in Doctor Who, one appeared in the episode called "Tooth and Claw," which was set in Scotland during the reign of Queen Victoria. This was an adventure starring the Tenth Doctor (David Tennant) and Rose Tyler (Billie Piper). Please note this range is no longer in production.

The werewolf in the centre of the group was made by Mongoose Publishing as part of their Judge Dredd Miniatures Game. Werewolves infect the Undercity of Mega City One, although, thankfully, they are few in numbers. It looks like this werewolf was chained up, possibly whilst in human form. Either way, he has now broke free and is on the loose, looking to wreak havoc. The figure is just over 28mm tall. I think its an okay sculpt . I don't like the fact that its head seems overly large, even though it is well sculpted. This figure is available to buy and costs £5.00 from the Mongoose store.
The third figure in line is a very old figure that I bought in the 1980's. He was very badly painted by me but recently I gave him a totally new paint job, which has improved him no end. I'm not 100% sure which company made this figure. I suspect it was Alternative Armies, who are still going strong today but if they did make this werewolf, he is no longer in production. This wouldn't surprise me as many of their old figures are no longer available. If you can positively identify the manufacturer of this figure, please do let me know.