Vampifans Views 115 - Monthly Musings 85

Here is my first Monthly Musings post of 2019. To the left of here is a portrait of Vampirella painted by Manual Sanjulian, whose work I highlighted throughout 2018 and will continue to do so for the near future. I really like this portrait a lot. There appears to be a trio of zombies and a hooded necromancer sneaking up on her but I bet she's fully aware of their presence.

January has been a very good month for me. I have been gaming practically every afternoon. The two games I have been playing were Nemesis and Resident Evil 2, both of which I have found incredibly addictive. The Nemesis game came with a graphic novel campaign that should be played in co-operative mode, which is the mode I usually play. I worked my way through the scenarios and completed them successfully. I gamed with four crew members. In the basic Resident Evil 2 boxed set there is a campaign booklet that contains eight scenarios. I have played five of them and hope to finish them in the next few days. I am using the four survivors that come in the basic set - Leon Kennedy, Claire Redfield, Ada Wong and Robert Kendo and they are still going strong. Once I finish playing this campaign (hopefully, successfully) I plan on running through the twelve scenario campaign in the Here's Negan game.

Painting has been going well. I finished painting the six survivor figures from the Here's Negan board-game. In addition I have painted some more Black Scorpion Tombstone figures and some new Doctor Who figures from Warlord Games. All of these will be shown on my blog in my February posts. Currently on my painting table are more Doctor Who figures and the new crew members for the Firefly: Brigands and Browncoats board-game. I should have these finished in the next week. Once they're done I plan on painting the figures from the Resident Evil 2 game, starting with the heroes.

For those of you who are interested, I am about to start my St. Trinian's campaign on my WOIN blog. I'll be using the N.O.W. rulebook for this campaign. I have just finished posting the last of my cast reviews and should be posting part 1 of the introductory scenario within the next few days. I know that some of you are eagerly awaiting this campaign. It will be story driven like my The Ace of Spades Campaign but I plan on including lots more how the rules work notes in my batreps.

One thing that has pleased me immensely is that I have spent nothing on figures or gaming products this month. I am trying to cut back on what I spend on gaming this year, so I'm off to a good start. All the best from Vampifan.

Pillow Fight at St. Trinian's 02

Way back in March 2014 I posted a batrep for a most unusual game - Pillow Fight at St. Trinian's 01. You can find it here - http://vampifansworldoftheundead.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/pillow-fight-at-st-trinians.html
Last week I received a new comment on the game from Matthew James Barlow, with some interesting suggestions. That got me thinking that a rematch was long overdue. In the first match the Posh Totty team defeated the First Formers' team. Now they face a new challenge from the Emos team.

The game uses the Pillow-a-go-go rules, which are now out of print, but if you are interested in owning them I can e-mail them to you as a PDF. The rules only run to two A4 sized pages plus a page for the bed and counters. The objective of the game is to knock all your opponents off the super-sized bed. Each team of three combatants randomly chooses a pillow for each participant, which have varying effects. They also have three points to distribute amongst the stats of Attack, Defence and Agility for each participant. The game takes place on a giant bed measuring 6" by 6". Movement is 3" on the bed and 4" on the ground. Agility can modify these numbers.

POSH TOTTY TEAM
I kept the same team and stats as before and picked very well for their pillows. By sheer coincidence these were the same three pillows I chose last time, although they went to different team members. The team from left to right are -
Rachel - Attack +2, Defence +0, Agility +1. Armed with Twin Cushions (gives 2 attacks per turn).
Chelsea - Attack +1, Defence +1, Agility +1. Armed with a Standard Feather Pillow (no bonuses or penalties).
April - Attack +0, Defence +2, Agility +1. Armed with Deluxe Goose Down Pillow (+1 bonus to Attack).

EMO TEAM
The challengers were up for a fight and wanted to prove they were the best pillow fighters. From left to right are -
Andrea - Attack +2, Defence +1, Agility +0. Armed with a Standard Feather Pillow (no bonuses or penalties).
Dorothy - Attack +2, Defence +0, Agility +1. Armed with a Standard Feather Pillow (no bonuses or penalties).
Emily - Attack +1, Defence +1, Agility +1. Armed with Big Bolster (knocks back opponent 2" instead of 1").
TURN 1 INITIATIVE - Posh = 3, Emos = 5.
The combatants may make one move followed by one attack per Turn. The first player activates one of their combatants carrying out all movement and any other actions. Once that combatants' activation ends activation moves to the next player in initiative order who then activates one of their combatants. This pattern continues until all players have had the opportunity to activate all of their combatants. When this occurs the turn has ended.

Dorothy. She moves 4" towards Chelsea and attempts a Normal Attack. If successful she'll knock  Chelsea back 1", which will push her off the bed. Both combatants roll 1d6 (using Attack vs Defence) adding any modifiers. Highest result wins and ties go to the defender. The result was E4, P4 (E = Emo, P = Posh), so Chelsea dodges the blow.

Rachel. She moves 1" to the side of Dorothy and launches a Double Attack with her twin cushions.

The results are P6, E3 and P3, E4, so one success and one failure. Dorothy is knocked 1" away from Rachel.

Emily. The young Emo moves 3" towards Rachel and attempts an Over Head Stunner Attack. This is a powerful attack if successful but is not without some risk. Before making this attack, the combatant leaves themselves open to attack. The target of this attack gets a free attack against her opponent before the Over Head Stunner is launched. If this free attack is successful in knocking back the attacker then this attack fails. Modifiers are +1 to hit. Opponent is knocked back 1" (it would actually be 2" because Emily is using the Big Bolster), knocked prone (must spend their next movement to stand up) and Stunned (unable to make any attacks until the next turn) during their next activation.

Unfortunately for Emily, Rachel succeeded in her free attack (P5, E4) and so it was Emily who got knocked back 1". This meant she couldn't attempt her Over Head Stunner Attack.

Chelsea. She moves 1" to the side of Dorothy and makes a Normal Attack, which succeeds (P5, E2). Dorothy is knocked back 1", placing her dangerously close to the edge of the bed.

Andrea. She moves 3" towards Chelsea but fails to reach her. This means she loses her chance to make an attack.

April. She moves 1" to the side of Dorothy and makes a Normal Attack, hoping to knock the Emo off the bed. However, the result is P4, E5, so Dorothy survives.
TURN 2 INITIATIVE - Posh = 4, Emos = 2.

April. There is no need for April to move as she is standing base to base with Dorothy. She makes a second Normal Attack using her Deluxe Goose Down Pillow and this time is successful. With results of P6, E3, Dorothy is knocked back 1", which sends her off the bed. She drops her pillow, which can be picked up by anyone on the bed. First blood goes to the Posh Totty team.

Andrea. She moves 1" towards Chelsea and makes a Normal Attack. With results of E6, P6, the combat is a draw, resulting in no damage.

Chelsea. The wily Posh Totty makes use of the bed's springiness and makes a Bounce Attack. By forfeiting her movement, Chelsea is able to make a big bounce up to 2" to threaten Andrea's footing. She must end her bounce in base contact with her opponent. Chelsea spectacularly bounces over Andrea. She suffers a -1 modifier to hit but still succeeds with a result of P6, E4. Andrea is knocked back 1" and knocked prone. Another knock back would see her tumbling off the bed.

Emily. She forfeits her movement to make a Round House Attack against Chelsea. She suffers a -1 modifier to hit but if successful will knock Chelsea back 3" (2" for the attack plus 1" for using the Big Bolster). Sadly, Emily's bad luck continues and she misses with a result of E3, P4.

Rachel. Rachel lives up to the St. Trinian's code of combat - always kick an opponent when they're down. She uses her twin cushions to attack the prone Andrea twice.

The results are P4, E6 and P6, E3. She only needed one success to knock Andrea off the bed and so the Emos are two girls down.

Dorothy. A person knocked off the bed is not allowed to climb back on but they can still make a contribution to the fight. The one and only attack they can make is a Dirty Trick Attack - the Ankle Grab. This has a range of 1" and if successful will knock an opponent prone. Dorothy moves 4" to stand alongside Andrea. She makes an Ankle Grab Attack against April. With the result of E5, P7, April evades the attack.
TURN 3 INITIATIVE - Posh = 5, Emos = 3.

Chelsea. The busty Posh Totty forfeits her movement to make a Round House Attack against Emily.

"This is how you do a round house, you little freak!" she screams as she whacks the Emo with a powerful swing. A result of P5, E2 knocks Emily 2" back, sending her reeling off the bed. It was an emphatic victory for the Posh Totty team, making it two wins in a row for them.

That was so much FUN! It only took an hour to play but would have been much quicker if I wasn't making notes and taking photos.

Wargames Factory St. Trinian's Schoolgirls 01

A couple of months ago I converted three figures from the excellent Wargames Factory Women Survivors set of plastic 28mm scale figures into St. Trinian's schoolgirls. This was the first time I had made any of the WF plastic survivors and I was very impressed with how versatile they are.

At the far left is Chloe Bernath, a member of the Posh Tottty tribe. She appeared in the film, St. Trinian's and was one of the trio of girls (along with Chelsea and Peaches) who took part in the  School Challenge quiz. This was a very simple conversion. I think I only lengthened her hair with modelling putty. When I saw the arm holding a stick of dynamite along with the bag of dynamite, I decided that Chloe should have them. Although she was strictly a non-combatant in the film, I have no qualms in arming her so. Explosive devices were usually the speciality of the Mackie twins or head girl, Kelly Jones, but all Chloe has to do is light a fuse and throw the dynamite. What could possibly go wrong?
Next up is another named character from the St. Trinian's film, Andrea the Emo. Note, she is an Emo, not a Goth, despite the similarity in looks. Andrea was a successful member of the school hockey team, so it was a no-brainer to arm her with a hockey stick. This was a major conversion that involved a lot of work. The hardest part was replacing her golf club with a metal hockey stick. Thank God for superglue! I remodelled her shirt, tie, cardigan and belt and greatly lengthened her hair. In the end, I was very pleased with the result. Note how badly laddered her tights are.

Finally, is young Patsy Walsh, a first former. She is obviously based on the little girl body that comes with this set. I gave her a suitable head and decided to add the arms holding a tennis racket. However, the arms were designed for an adult so I snipped a bit off them at the shoulder so that they were a better fit. Other than that, this was a simple conversion. Patsy is one of my designs and she does not appear in any of the films. I think a tennis racket is a suitable weapon for a first former to wield, although it isn't as good as a baseball bat, cricket bat or hockey stick.
This brings my total number of St. Trinian's schoolgirls to 27. I also have 7 staff members.

To the left of here is a photo of Chloe taken from the St. Trinian's film. Chloe was played by actress Antonia Bernath. Seeing as she was not given a surname in the film I have adopted the name of the actress for Chloe's surname. I was very pleased to be able to recapture her smile from this photo when I painted my figure of her.

To the right of here is the photo that was my main inspiration for making my version of Andrea the Emo. Look carefully and you can see her red and black striped tights. In other scenes the tights are laddered as per how I have painted them. Also, although she is wearing a waistcoat in this photo, in other scenes she wore a black cardigan and that is how I modelled her. Andrea the Emo was played by actress and singer Paloma Faith.

Gripping Beast Civilians 02

Following on from my last post, here are the rest of the Gripping Beast 28mm scale civilians that I bought recently. These are not quite contemporary figures, although they could be used as such in a pinch. They are more suited for the early to mid 20th Century. They consist of two sets of four figures and here they are.

First up we have the Squire and his family. An obvious influence for this set is of course the popular (although why it is popular escapes me!) TV series, Downton Abbey. So in an unashamed rip-off, I present the cast of Upton Manor. At the far left is Lord Geoffrey Upton, a glutton, a snob and a life-long Conservative Party member. This portly gent is standing haughtily with his thumbs in his waistcoat pockets. looking every inch the lord of the manor.
His wife is Lady Prunella Upton, a stern and formidable woman who doesn't suffer fools gladly. She is shown preparing to go out to have afternoon tea with her high society friends at the poshest hotel in town. Prunella and Geoffrey are a well matched pair, sharing similar interests and ideals.

Next in line is their daughter, Millicent, who speaks with a lisp and who thus pronounces her name as Millithent. As a special treat she was allowed to buy a red balloon with her pocket money. She is a precocious child and wishes she could ride her pet pony every day instead of just once a week as per her mother's instructions.
Finally, from this set, is the head maid, Gloria Rosewell, who has served the Upton family since she was a mere teenager many years ago. She is loyal to a fault and both a hard worker and a hard taskmaster. She remains unmarried.

This second set is called the School Masters Set and at the far left is one of the school masters, Howard Worthington. He works at an elite boys' school, the very antithesis of the notorious St. Trinian's School, situated only a couple of miles away. Mr. Worthington teaches Latin and History and is well-liked by his pupils and fellow teachers.
Algernon Upton, son of Lord and Lady Upton (see above) is the school's head prefect and is destined for high places. He is an academically gifted student and a keen sportsman, excelling at rugby and cricket. Sadly, he is as arrogant as he is pompous. Someone ought to take him down a peg or two. Someone, say, from a nearby girl's school, perhaps?

Moving on, we come to Rupert Bryce-Smythe from the fourth form. He revels in bullying anyone he thinks is weaker then him. He is a fair brawler but he lacks discipline and a skilled fighter would make mincemeat out of him. The trouble is, given his reputation, few at his school are prepared to stand up to him. I'm not at all sure what the figure is holding in his hands. I just painted it black and assumed it was a little box.
Lastly up is the school nurse, Amelia Flanagan. She is of Irish descent and is a devout Catholic. She is good at her job and has a very caring nature and a comforting bedside manner. However, she lacks ambition and feels she has reached the pinnacle of her career. She does not realise she could do so much more if only she had the drive to push herself forward.
My friend, Hugh/Colgar6, mentioned the School Masters Set to me in a comment he made about my St. Trinian's Schoolgirls. Up till then, I had never heard of Gripping Beast. As soon as I saw this set, I knew that I had to have it. I may end up using the nurse as the matron of St. Trinian's School. She is a good figure but not quite what I'm after. What is in no doubt is that these poor saps will end up as rivals/victims of St. Trinian's. They won't know what's hit them!
These two sets can be found on the Gripping Beast web store under the Products heading of Woodbine Designs TWDC Specials range and they are listed as TWDCSP07 Squire and Family and TWDCSP08 School Masters Set. Both sets cost just £5.50 each

Not Yet Dead Miniatures Survivors 01

Earlier this year, Toni Morey, the talented sculptor behind Not Yet Dead Miniatures, a German-based company, sent me six 28mm scale survivor figures to review. I recently finished painting them and here they are - three females and three males.

The first figure in line at the far left of my photos is my favourite out of the set and as soon as I saw her on the Board of the Living Lead forum I contacted  Toni to see if he would consider making her in 28mm scale. You see, Toni is unique in that he sculpts his zombie apocalypse figures in 1/35th scale. This means more detail on a figure and fortunately for me, Toni scaled down some of his sculpts to produce smaller-sized versions. It surely goes without saying that this schoolgirl survivor will join the ranks of my St. Trinian's schoolgirls. I love her pose with her hockey stick resting on her shoulders behind her head. Slung across her stomach is a 12 Gauge Pump-Action Shotgun - perfect for killing zombies. Incidentally, Toni has sculpted a wicked conversion of her, with a battle standard replacing the hockey stick and a cricket bat replacing the shotgun.
Next up is trailer trash girl, dressed in trademark denim hot-pants and a pink boob tube. She is armed with a pair of very small pistols. I'm not sure what the item is that is sticking out of her shoulder bag. It looks like a wooden club. Her bottle-blonde hair has been tied in a ponytail.
The third female in line is possibly a cosplayer. Most unusually, she wears a respirator mask. She wears a black basque, purple mini-skirt and purple and white hooped stockings. Her most obvious weapon is her machete but notice how she is trying to hide her 9mm Pistol in her right hand behind her back. Crafty!

Moving on to the male survivors, the guy in the pale blue shirt and sandy-coloured trousers is well armed with a 9mm Pistol in his right hand, a machete in his left hand and a 12 Gauge Pump-Action Shotgun slung over his back. He's clearly dressed for summer.
The penultimate figure in line is a young tough guy wearing a hoodie top and combat pants. He has a 12 Gauge Sawn-Off Pump-Action Shotgun in his right hand and resting on his shoulder, whilst in his left hand is a flaming Molotov Cocktail. You don't see many figures brandishing Molotov Cocktails.
Finally, is what I assume to be a military pilot, judging by his overalls and aviator glasses. He is bare-handed but has two nifty weapons slung over his back - a 12 Gauge Pump-Action Shotgun and a katana.
These are all beautifully sculpted. When Toni sent them to me he felt they were a bit too small but I disagree. These are true 28mm sized figures, meaning they will look slightly smaller than a lot of other so-called 28mm scale figures but this has never bothered me before and it doesn't bother me now. Toni told me that he was thinking of scaling them to 30-32mm scale. Whatever he decides, I can highly recommend them. I'm afraid I can't give you any price details or when these will go on sale. I know that Toni is working hard to get his figures on sale as soon as possible. As soon as I know, I'll let you know.

Vampifan's Views 47 - Monthly Musings 28

Bomb Queen and friends having a sexy pillow fight. Oh boy!

I always start my Monthly Musings posts with an illustration of Vampirella. But this month. in recognition of the St, Trinian's Pillow Fight scenario I recently posted I give you this stunning piece of artwork by Jimmie Robinson, showing his most infamous and totally evil supervillain, Bomb Queen. Bomb Queen is the in the foreground wearing the visor and holding a pillow filled with various explosive devices. I imagine very few, if any, of you have even heard of Bomb Queen. Her comics are published by Image Shadowline and this particular picture appeared as a piece of bonus material in the Bomb Queen: Gang Bang graphic novel. This is how I imagine pillow fights should look like, which speaks volumes about my warped mind! I was going to open with a pillow fight scene that Bob/Irqan sent me (many thanks, Bob) but despite featuring scantily-clad young ladies, it just paled beside this illustration! I know that the St. Trinian's Pillow Fight scenario surprised all of you, and that was my intention. I had wanted to run it for ages now but just needed a good excuse to play the game. My St. Trinian's project was such an obvious choice as I'm sure it's something the girls would get up to. Future St. Trinian's scenarios should be more traditional skirmish war-gaming affairs... but you never know.
Currently on my painting table are 12 Gripping Beast 28mm civilian figures, which I bought recently following a recommendation from Hugh/Colgar6. He pointed out that the school master set of 4 figures included a suitable nurse I may be interested in. Having looked at her, she is very close to what I was after for my St. Trinian's school nurse, or Matron, as she is called. The other three, a teacher and two posh schoolboys, will come from a rival boys' school. The other two sets I got were the Squire and his family (wife, daughter and maid) and a sci-fi family (husband, wife, son and daughter). I have plans for all of them and I hope to review them before the end of April. I have made three more St. Trinian's schoolgirls by converting three of the Wargames Factory plastic female survivors. I made a first former with a tennis racket, Andrea the Emo with a hockey stick and Chloe the Posh Totty with some sticks of dynamite. The first former was simple conversion but the two older girls were much more complex conversions, involving a lot of work. A review will appear just as soon as I paint them.
I have another secret project on the go, that involves Team Vampifan but it is far too early to give away any more details. I'll tell you more about it in my next Monthly Musings.
I have only just started reading The Tale of the Vampire Bride by Rhiannon Frater, one of my favourite authors. The book is about 600 pages long and as soon as I finish it I'll be reading the first sequel, The Vengeance of the Vampire Bride. The second sequel, The Lament of the Vampire Bride is on my shopping list. These will keep me very happy for the rest of April.
I am still making my Stoelzel's Structures' Brummie's Burgers fast food restaurant. Work has slowed down on it because I am making lots of furniture items to add indoors, and they are always fiddly to make and time-consuming. Still, at least progress is being made.
Look out for some very cool figure reviews next month, including a two-parter on the best zombie apocalypse figures currently on the market. The best, you say? Who can they be by? Keep on reading!
Finally, today is Mothers' Day, so a big thank you from me to mums everywhere. God bless them!

Pillow Fight at St. Trinian's 01

I have been promising you a St. Trinian's Schoolgirls' scenario for some time now. Well, it's time to deliver and here it is. This scenario is based on a simple set of rules (they are only two A4 sized pages long) called Pillow-a-go-go that I downloaded from the internet a few years ago. I never thought that I'd get to play it but once my St. Trinian's project took off, I knew this was the perfect opportunity to give this game a try. Note that in Pillow-a-go-go playing cards numbering ace to six are used in place of dice, a needless and unnecessary method of randomly generating numbers, in my opinion. I have opted for the tried and tested method of using six-sided dice.
The objective of the game is that whoever controls the Supra-King-Sized Bed at the end of the scenario is the winner. This is achieved by knocking your opponents off the bed. The bed measures 6" by 6" and movement on the bed is 3". Movement on the floor is 4" but that never came into play during this scenario. Combatants may make 1 move followed by 1 attack each turn. An attack must beat an opponent's defence score to succeed. If the scores are tied or the defender wins, the attack misses, is dodged or is absorbed. Combatants are forced off the bed by blows from their opponents. When a combatant is hit they are knocked back 1" directly away from their attacker. Any modifiers for Pillows, Special Attacks or Dirty Tricks that override  the basic rules takes precedence.
Combatants have three attributes;
Attack: the ability to deliver a blow to your enemy.
Defence: the ability to avoid or absorb blows.
Agility: the ability to move around the bed.
Each combatant has three points that may be allocated against any of their attributes however they wish.

THE TEAMS
Posh Totty (from top to bottom in the photo above and below)
April - Attack +0, Defence +2, Agility +1.
Chelsea - Attack +1, Defence +1, Agility +1.
Rachel - Attack +2, Defence +0, Agility +1.
First Formers (from top to bottom in the photo above and below)
Tania - Attack +2, Defence +1. Agility +0.
Tara - Attack +2, Defence +1, Agility +0.
Rosie - Attack +1, Defence +2, Agility +0

THE PILLOWS
Each combatant randomly draws one Pillow token from a cup and places it beside their figure.
April drew a Deluxe Goose Down Pillow, granting her a +1 bonus to hit.
Chelsea drew Twin Pillows, granting her 2 attacks per turn.
Rachel drew a Standard Feather Pillow, offering no bonuses or penalties.
Tania drew a Standard Feather Pillow as well.
Tara drew a Big Bolster, which knocks opponents back 2" instead of 1".
Rosie also drew a Standard Feather Pillow.
To pick up a dropped pillow, the combatant forfeits either her movement or her attack (player's choice). They must be in base contact with the pillow. They then drop their own pillow and replace it with the new one.
TURN 1. Initiative - First Formers = 2, Posh Totty = 3.
Both sides roll 1d6 each to determine who moves first. In the event of a tie, re-roll until there is a clear winner. The first player activates one of their combatants, carrying out all movement and any other actions. Once that combatant's activation ends, activation moves to the next player in initiative order who then activates one of their combatants. This pattern continues until all players have had the opportunity to activate all of their combatants. When this occurs the turn has ended. Note that for all results shown, the First Formers' score comes first, followed by the Posh Totty score.

As leader of the Posh Totty tribe, Chelsea chose to activate first. She moved next to Tara, hoping to take out the most dangerous opponent of the First Formers. She launched a twin attack with her two pillows. The first attack was defended (5-3) but the second attack struck home (3-4). Poor little Tara was knocked 1" back and fell off the bed, dropping her Big Bolster Pillow as she fell. First blood to the Posh Totty and a major blow to the First Formers.

Tania forfeited her movement to pick up her twin sister's dropped Big Bolster. She dropped her own Standard Feather Pillow and whilst crouching down made a Dirty Tricks attack against Chelsea. She grabbed hold of Chelsea's favourite Kelly Brook designer panties and pulled them down around Chelsea's ankles (7-4). Chelsea's face turned red with embarrassment. From the sidelines the other first formers cheered. This tactic meant that Chelsea must forfeit her next movement to comport herself.

This outrage only served to anger April and she charged across the bed to attack Tania.

April swung her Deluxe Goose Down Pillow at Tania's head and scored an emphatic hit (2-7) that sent Tania cartwheeling off the bed to join her twin sister on the floor. Ouch!

Young Rosie skipped past Chelsea to deal vengeance upon April. First Formers rarely fight fair and so Rosie attempted another Dirty Trick - the Broken Nail ruse. Rosie squealed in mock pain and held out her left hand digit finger to April.
"I've broken a nail, " she sobbed.
She had to roll 1d6 and if the result was an odd number, the ruse would work, allowing her a free attack which must be defended against with a -2 penalty. However, if she rolled an even number, the ruse would fail, giving April a free attack against Rosie. Sadly, Rosie rolled a 2. However, it turned out okay in the end as April's attack tied with Rosie's defence (4-4).
Finally, Rachel charges at Rosie.

Rachel's +2 to attack is nullified by Rosie's +2 to defence, but even so, she still goes for it. Rachel wins (5-6) and the First Former is knocked back 1", placing her right on the edge of the bed. This ends Turn 1.

TURN 2. Initiative - First Formers = 5, Posh Totty = 2.

Rosie forfeits her movement to launch a Special Attack against April - a Round House blow. She suffers a -1 penalty to hit but if she succeeds, April will be knocked sideways 2" and off the bed. It is well worth the gamble, but alas, it doesn't pay off. April defends well (3-5) and it looks curtains for the First Formers.

Sure enough, April swats Rosie with contemptuous ease (winning 3-6) and the last of the First Formers goes crashing off the bed. In the end, it was a comfortable victory for the Posh Totty tribe.
AFTERMATH.
That was such a lot of fun and made a pleasant change from battling zombies. When this game was first introduced I can remember some folk on such forums as The Miniatures' Page decrying it as sexist nonsense. However, some fathers praised it for being a child-friendly game that helped introduce their daughters to the overly masculine world of war-gaming. For my own part, I see it as a harmless piece of fun. It is quick to play and easy to learn. This game took just over an hour to play but would have been over much quicker if I wasn't taking photos of the action and making notes for my blog.
In fact, I enjoyed it so much, I want to play it again!
Pillow-a-go-go was originally published by Australian company, Fiendish Fabrications but has vanished from their webstore. Fortunately, I still have the game saved on my computer. I can send you the rules as a 3-page PDF if you want a copy, (just send me an e-mail) or if there is enough interest I'll rewrite the rules in the near future, with references to d6s instead of playing cards.
Finally, please note that I'll be taking a short break this coming weekend, so hopefully, I'll see you next Wednesday.

Assorted St. Trinian's Staff 02

Following on from my last post where I introduced the first of the staff members of St. Trinian's Girls School here are another four staff members - the school secretary and three teachers, although one of them is not what she appears to be. Curious? Then read on.

 First up is Beverly Whittaker, the school secretary, a ditzy blonde, played by Jodie Whittaker in St. Trinian's and St. Trinian's 2. Beverly is not the sharpest tool in the box. She spends most of her time listening to pop music on her iPod. She seems to have a large stash of dodgy drugs - uppers and downers, or red pills and blue pills, which she'll happily dole out to anyone she thinks deserves one, like for example, Stephen Fry in St. Trinian's. Beverly is a 28mm scale civilian figure from Turnkey Miniatures, where she is known as Teen Girl on Cell Phone (price $1.89). If you were wondering what she's holding in her left hand it is of course, a cell phone.
Next in line is Miss Dickinson, the English teacher as played by Lena Headey. It is Miss Dickinson who persuades the school to enter the TV quiz show School Challenge competition, thus gaining them entry to the National Gallery, providing they reach the final which, of course, they do. She is yet another woman talking on her mobile phone. She carries her briefcase in her other hand. This figure came from Black Cat Bases civilian and townsfolk range and is Female Civilian (price £2.00). I added Milliput to her hair to make it longer.

The third figure in line is not a real teacher but is actually an undercover police woman on assignment to gather evidence of wrongdoing at St. Trinian's. She is, of course, WPC Ruby Gates, as played by Joyce Grenfell to great effect in the first three St. Trinian's films. This is a more up to date version of Ruby and is my vision of her as a 21st century character as opposed to a 1950's woman. Perhaps this is the original Ruby's grand-daughter. This figure is another Turnkey Miniatures civilian and is their Business Woman on Cell Phone (price $1.89). I liked the figure but I had no idea what to do with her until I remembered a comment by Clint, who said I must include a figure of WPC Ruby Gates in my collection. Okay, so she doesn't look too much like Joyce Grenfell (see photo below) but instead she is a re-imagining of a popular old school character. Once again, the figure is posed talking on her mobile phone. She also carries a small handbag. My thanks go to Clint for his most excellent suggestion. Do you have any ideas for which subject Ruby should teach? I'm thinking computer studies.
Finally, we come to the sultry Miss Maupassant, the foreign languages teacher as played by Caterina Murino in St. Trinian's. Finding a suitable figure for her proved surprisingly easy. I remembered that Black Cat Bases made a figure of Miss Scarlet (price £3.00), one of the suspects from the popular board-game Cluedo, or if you live in America, Clue. She was just perfect. The figure comes with a choice of six right hands, all holding one of the six weapons featured in the board-game - dagger, iron pipe, revolver, rope, spanner and torch. I decided a dagger would best suit her and so she hides it behind her back. In her other hand she holds a cigarette in a cigarette holder, which just adds to her elegant poise.
I leave with photos of the four characters as they appeared on screen. There is more to come for this project, but not for a while yet. Don't worry, I haven't forgotten the St. Trinian's scenario I promised you all. It will appear soon.

Beverly Whittaker, the school secretary and archetypal blonde airhead. "Would you like an upper or a downer, love?" She speaks with a broad Yorkshire accent.

Miss Dickinson the English teacher arrives at St. Trinian's on her first day, full of enthusiasm and bright ideas. She's in for a rude awakening once she steps inside!

WPC Ruby Gates, or Gatesy as she is often referred to, in civilian clothing. A rare early photo of her in colour. I do have a suitable figure of her in her police uniform but you'll see her in a future post. (Sorry, Clint, you're just going to have to wait a bit longer.)

Miss Maupassant the sexy foreign languages teacher teaching French to her attentive class. If my French teacher looked like her I'm sure I'd have taken more attention in class. Yes, I flunked my French "O" level.

Assorted St. Trinian's Staff 01

Up until now I have been building up a large collection of St. Trinian's schoolgirls, which currently stands at 23 with more on the way. But as we all know, a school cannot run without any staff. So last month I rectified that problem as I actively sought out suitable figures to use as staff members. Once again, I am mainly concentrating on the two most recent St. Trinian's films, with one notable exception - the character of Flash Harry. In St. Trinian's Flash Harry was played by Russell Brand, a person whose face I could never tire of hitting with a baseball bat! He was easily the worst character in the film. No, for me, there can only ever be one Flash Harry and that is George Cole's version from the first four films. On this occasion, old school is better than new school.

At the far left of my two photos is undoubtedly the most important staff member, Camilla Fritton the headmistress. In the first and second St. Trinian's films (The Belles of St. Trinian's and Blue Murder at St. Trinian's), headmistress, Millicent Fritton (a relative of Camilla) was played by Alistair Sim, a male actor. For the two more recent films, the producers kept this concept alive and chose Rupert Everett to play Camilla, and yes, she does look remarkably like her namesake, Camilla, wife of Prince Charles. After much Internet searching I found the perfect figure to represent Camilla Fritton. She is Black Cat Bases old fashioned sleuth, Agatha Rutherford. What I particularly liked about this figure is that she came with a choice of four items in her right hand. The one that best suited Camilla was the umbrella. The other three items were a knife, a pistol and a torch. What I love about this character is that she is totally loyal to her girls and supports them 100%. For example, in St. Trinian's, when the girls are discussing how best to blow up the sewer gates beneath the National Gallery, it is Camilla who suggests the best type of explosives to use. Every headmistress should be like Camilla!
I mentioned Flash Harry above in my introduction and this is my version of Harry Edwards, a spiv and one of the few adults trusted by the schoolgirls. This figure is one of the Turnkey Miniature's civilians - Teenage Thief. I had to lose his long hair and I added the trilby hat to him, which totally transformed him into the lovable rogue, Flash Harry. I wish he'd been a bit taller but even so, I think he's a good find. You're probably asking what's he got in his inside coat pocket? It could be a set of tools or it could be a silver cutlery set. Who knows?

At the far right of this group is Miss Cleaver the sports teacher, as played by Fenella Woolgar in St. Trinian's. Miss Cleaver is a gung-ho teacher with a very aggressive manner. She is based on one of the Wargames Factory plastic female survivors and this was the first time I had made one of these remarkably versatile figures. The head was the female head wearing a stetson but I cut off the sides and back of the hat and filled in the top with Milliput to make a baseball cap. I also lengthened and bulked out her hair with Milliput. The arms came from the plastic male survivors set as I wanted her armed with a baseball bat and an Uzi Sub-Machine Gun. Yes, she does use an Uzi. In the St. Trinian's film she is seen in one scene teaching a fourth form class anger management skills as she blasts away at full auto from her Uzi at a row of plastic ducks. Miss Cleaver would probably be more at home teaching army recruits. Somehow I don't think that a zombie apocalypse will faze her.
Agatha Rutherford can be found in the Cthulhu Investigators section of BCB's webstore and she costs £3.00. Be aware that BCB are being incredibly slow in dispatching orders. I placed an order with them over a month ago and I'm still waiting for it to arrive. TKM's Teenage Thief costs just $1.89, and even though TKM are an American-based company they were very quick to send out my order.
As part of my new improved service, I leave with photos of the three characters featured in this review. Next time I'll review more staff members.

 Headmistress Camilla Fritton, played to perfection by Rupert Everett.

The original and still the best, Flash Harry. The unforgettable and much missed George Cole.

Miss Cleaver, with baseball bat, shouts instructions to her hockey team from the sidelines.