VBCW Game 2022- Attacking Shrewsbury

I have just got back from having a great game of VBCW in Shrewsbury. The two day battle features various factions manoeuvring close to the Free City of Shrewsbury. 

I was playing as the Wirral Socialist Workers Party who joined with the Wolverhampton and Herefordshire based socialists. They were determined to seize control of the strategically important Shrewsbury, opening up free lines of communication between the port of Liverpool and the manufacturing center of Wolverhampton (via the Shropshire Union Canal).

In my first battle my platoon ran into a a platoon of BUF determined to stop us liking up with the other Red forces. The battle quickly turned into a brutal close quarters battle, but my forces prevailed and linked up with the other socialist. 

My next battle was between my Marxist Reds and a Trotskyite Socialist collective of miners from Coalbrookdale. It came from a misunderstanding based on the collective ownership of the mine. Basically the Wirral Socialist thought the mine should belong to them, as they represented 'the people', while the Trotskyite miners thought that they were 'the people' who owned the mine.

Combat was messy, as teh sightlines were difficult to manage, with several open areas that formed kill zones for anyone moving through them. In teh end both factions agreed to a truce, and the Wirral Socialist workers managed to make off with truckload of coal and a lot of beer by way of compensation. 

The final days battle saw a combined attack of Socialist pushing into the outskirts of Shrewsbury, resisted by he Shropshire Free State, while the Royalists were too busy clashing with the Anglican League on the other side of the city. The Reds eventually broke through, forcing the Shropshire Free State to fall back, and so managed to seize a beachhead in the city with which to exploit when more reinforcements arrive from Liverpool and the Midlands. 

A great game, and a great chance to meet up with old friends and make new ones. I love the VBCW community so much. Thanks to Tym and Tom for organising it.

Coalbrookdale

 

Necromunda House

I am rather pleased with this house I made for Necromunda. Having finished my ruined factory zone I thought I might make some terrain for a Necromunda settlement. I started with this house for a scavenger. I was inspired by an old Rhino I had sitting on my desk waiting for paint. 

As I was building it a back story emerged in my brain (the result of too much polystyrene cement fumes I expect) of the scavenger who lives here. He is a devout man, which explains the shrine and the eagle above the door. He found the Imperial Fist Rhino and built his house around it...it has expanded over the years. He even has a boiler and a balcony/patio area to relax. 

I genuinely think this is one of the best things I have ever made. 

Necromunda Vehicles

I have been working on Necromunda terrain, and figures, since Lockdown, and I am making some great progress and beginning to master some new techniques when it comes to painting and modeling. 

These are a selection of vehicles I have made for Necromunda. A converted half-track Chimera, a converted GSC Goliath truck and a ganger riding a bike (made from a converted Orc bike)

I picture them working  for the guilds, shifting goods from one hive settlement to the next. Dangerous work, but potentially very profitable. 

I just need to paint the base on the biler...I haven't decided how to finish it yet. 

Necromunda: The Sump City Gor-Liaths

This is my first Necromunda gang in 25 years.

The background for this unusual gang make up is that when their leader, Brutus, was a juve he used to run with another gang who used to hunt the beastial abhumans who lived in the underhive for sport. These beastemen were strong and resilient, traits the Goliaths admired, and taking a horn or a pelt as a trophy was considered a rite of passage.

This all changed when Brutus was ambushed by three Esher gangers. He was saved by a beastman Gor named Kazgor, who leapt into the fray, and helped Brutus defeat the Eshers. Brutus and Kazgor became close friends, and the two of them realised that they had much in common, as both Goliaths and beastmen admire strength, brutality and big weapons.

When the other Goliath gang members found out about Brutus' new friend, they were less than happy, and condemned Brutus and Kazgor to death in the House fighting pits.

Brutus and Kazgor fought side by side for many house and defeated all opponents sent against them.The other Goliaths had to admit that they were quite a formidable pair. The gang were debating what to do next when a senior House member, who had been watching the slaughter in the fighting pit, intervened. He decreed that Brutus should be allowed to form his own gang, with Kazgor, and that they should be sent deep into the underhive, to some hive-begotten dome.

Brutus has recruited from both the House Goliath and Kazgor's abhuman tribe. Recently the abhumans have introduced the Goliaths to a new way of worshiping the Him-On-Earth as 'The Emperor of Skulls'. The idea that you can appease the wrath of the God-Emperor by offering him the skulls of your enemies appeals to the Goliaths.

Spooky Trees Work In Progress

These are my spider infested trees for Middle Earth Mirkwood and for Rangers of Shadow Deep. They are made from artificial Bonsai trees I bought from Wish.com. To make them all different I cut up the trees and restuck the branches in different positions with a hot glue gun. I then used more hot glue to fill in the gaps and to add more varied surface detail. I made bases using old CDs and bits of cork and bark, then sprayed and painted the whole thing. I am rather pleased with the outcome and have even ordered another eight!

These are work in progress so far as I am going to add cobwebs in the same style as the spider victims I have already shown of this blog.