Saxon War Band Grows

Gripping Beast, who are hosting the VBCW game in Evesham, are perhaps better known for their range of Dark Ages miniatures. They have just brought out an exciting new skirmish level game for this period called Saga.

In preparation for my forthcoming purchase of the Saga rules when I down to Beast Towers, I have been adding to my nucleus of a Saxon war band, with the addition of these stalwart defenders of England.

Here's a picture of my completed-to-date shieldwall. I recon I am about half way there, and then I have got to start on their foes- the dreadful Vikings (to be commanded by my old chum Leon- he has no taste for this Dark Ages nonsense but has agreed to play if I paint the figures).

The figures are Gripping Beasts excellent plastic 28mm Saxons. The guy without a helmet has a head off a Warlord Games British Tommy.

Crimson Dragon Back From The Grave

In certain circles, the name Crimson Blade is whispered in hushed tones- for many believe that even to speak his name is to risk invoking the terror of the undead samurai.
No one knows the origins of the terrible night-creature, but what is certain is that he is one of the most deadly fighters in existence; the fearful combination of the relentless martial arts training of the samurai, combined with the unnatural vigour and agility of a vampire make him a lethal opponent- one who can easily stand toe to toe with a pure blood alpha werewolf.

I am not sure who manufactures this figure: It might be Reaper. I got this one of Leon in a grab bag of old hand-me-downs he no longer wanted because they have integral bases (which I removed).

I painted it up, naturally as a super villain for my supers campaign, or as a Necroplane villain for Pulp City, but also, somewhere in the back of my mind I can see him in a game of Vampire the Masquerade. My plan is to paint some more vampires in the style of the movies like Blade, Underworld etc.

Old School Citadel Miniature Adventure

Many years ago, when I was a small boy of 10 or 11, a misguided but well meaning chum introduced me to Citadel Miniatures. I am, of course, going back somewhere around about 1983, so the very earliest days of the hobby. I have, since then, been irrevocably hooked on little pieces of lead.

Some of the earliest Citadel Miniatures I can remember owning were part of a box set of adventures which I had got as my 'main' Christmas present one year, entitled 'Dungeon Adventurers Starter Set'. I have no idea what happened to those figures- I can remember painting a few of them, and no doubt they got used in various games of Warhammer and Dungeons and Dragons.

A few months ago I was browsing on Miniature Heroes website- looking for old Judge Dredd and Rogue Trooper miniatures for my SciFi collection, when I spotted the same box set that I had received for Christmas all those years ago. Talk about a trip down memory lane!

I bought them at a very good price, and when they arrived in the post I was delighted to find that they were in fantastic condition, and that the box was intact too!

Given the age of the miniatures the sculpting and the casting was of a very high standard- much better than I was expecting. My plan is to paint them, as a occasional range, as well as I can manage- after that, who knows? I guess I could use some of them for Conan or Lord of The Rings, but given their venerable age and sentimental value, I will probably just sit them on a special spot in my display cabinet and revere them.

This Elven mage is, according to the box, called Andriel. The pit marks are, unfortunately, on the figure, and not because I mixed my paint to thick- in real life it doesn't look half as bad as when it is blown up to this size. You have to remember that this figure is at least 25 years old.

Miniature Heroes is a great website, and they sell a wide rand of miniatures, both old and new- including Reapers Chronoscope range, and a cracking collection of vintage Citadel stuff. You can find them by following this link. Just don't mix them up with the chocolates.

New Officers for Chester Royalists (VBCW)

I have continued to add figures to my VBCW armies ahead of Octobers Big Game. This time it is the part of the Royalists, in the form of commanders for my Chester Local Defence Force.

Brigadier Lord Gerald Grover,

of the Chester Local Defence Force.

It's 1938, during the Very British Civil War, and the Duke of Farnham, the most powerful landowner in Cheshire, has been entrusted by King Edward with the defence of Chester, and with continuing to maintain the Chester Line against the dastardly Socialist rebels in Liverpool and the Wirral.

At the outbreak of the civil war, Lord Gerald Grover, the Duke's nephew, was serving as a Captain with the 9th Lancers, one of the old cavalry that in 1936 had been converted to a tank regiment. At The Duke's request Lord Grover immediately resigned his commission in the army, and took on the role as Brigadier in the Duke's private army, the Chester Local Defence Force.

Like the Duke, Brigadier Lord Grover is a keen exponent of mechanized warfare, and is hoping to turn the CLDF into a truck mounted infantry brigade. So far a lack of fuel and suitable vehicles has thwarted the Brigadiers attempts, and only a modest portion of his force is mechanized. He also intends to train a portion of his force as light horse cavalry, to fight as mounted infantry, as he has more ready access to horses than vehicles.

The Brigadier's striking and stylish uniform was designed for him by the Duke of Farnham's mistress, as well known Parisian fashion designer, and it is based on the Brigadier's own hunting coat and jodhpurs.

Captain Archibold Warren; Adjunct to the brigadier.

The captain served with distinction in the trenches of the Great War.

Captain Dmitri Asadov, a White Russian poet and emigre, now CO of the Duke of Farnham's much feared 'Black Russian' assault company.

VBCW Card stock Terrace Houses

I have been on the look out for an inexpensive way to represent industrial towns like Ellesmere Port and Birkenhead in my VBCW games. Warbases make one in MDF, but I need loads- enough for a 2 foot by 4 fot are at least, and the cost of the Warbases models is just too much for what I had in mind. To solve this problem I ordered ModelBuilder by Evan Models form America. ModelBuilder is a program that let's you design, print off and build your own buildings.
Here are a couple of pictures of my 28mm scale terrace house prototype. The program is very versatile and can make models in various scales. I have been working on some 15mm buildings for my 15mm Zombie Apocalypse games too.

Pumpkin Teaser

I have been busy making some markers for a secret Halloween project for this blog. At the moment it is so tippty-top secret that I can't let on what we are going to do with them (it's a surprise).
I sculpted them from green stuff and stuck them onto 40 mm resin bases.

Trick or treat?

More VBCW Reds for the Wirral Socialist Workers

Work continues on expanding my Socialist force for 1938: A Very British Civil Was (VBCW for short). This comes ahead of the Big Game 4 to be held in Evesham at the end of October.

In my VBCW game, my force represents the paramilitary forces of the Wirral Socialist Workers Council. The WSW Control most of the Wirral, a peninsular in the North West of England. They are in conflict with the royalist forces based in Chester, and are allied to the besieged Liverpool Free State. The so called 'Chester Front' is a line of trench works and defences across the southern portion of the Wirral, stretching from Whitby to Burton. As yet the Royalists have failed to make significant in roads into the Wirral, instead concentrating the bulk of their forces on besieging Liverpool, while the WSW lack the manpower and resources to push their lines any further. Perhaps all that is about to change.

The Maxim HMG is a veteran of a weapon, having seen service in one form or another in every major conflict for the last fifty years. The WSW have recently taken delivery of a handful of these precious weapons from supporters in Russia, via their allies in Liverpool.

Soviet army instructors have been schooling snipers from Liverpool and the Wirral. In accordance with their doctrine the Sniper Platoon has been reinforced by specially trained 'spotters' armed with PPD35 SMGs (again, thanks to their Russian patrons)

Communication is vital in modern warfare. In 1938 radios are bulky, rare, difficult to maintain and unreliable. It's far better to rely on the tried and tested methods like semaphore, runners, field telephones and alike. This heroine of the socialist movement has been trained in semaphore and attached to the WSW Brigade head quarters.

During a civil war moral can be difficult to maintain. To ensure that the Socialist workers of Wirral are following their orders properly the Party has appointed a number of 'Political Officers'.

The political officer and the HMG are by Black Tree Designs (from their NKVD range). I clipped off the top of the gun crew's peaked caps and added a blob of green stuff to make flat caps. The spotter is by Black Tree Designs too, from the Soviet army range. The signalswoman if converted from a Copplstone castings Bolshevik Heroine.

Some Sillyness I Have Been Sculpting

Sometimes I get overtaken by odd urges.

These usually come when I have been spending too long looking at other peoples 'greens' (by which, I mean their sculptures for figures, so called because they are usually made from a green putty known as 'green stuff'). When I am overcome by these urges I have to break out my tools and have a go myself.

Unfortunately for me - and fortunately for the countless small companies making miniatures who would be my natural rival, I am not actually very good at sculpting. Unless you have actually given it a go, it is hard to appreciate just how difficult it is, and how much skill is possessed by the men and women who make 28mm figures for us wargamers to enjoy.

An alien bug-creature, evolved on a low gravity world, where it's tiny tentacle-like legs can shift it's massive bulk.

A giant alien leach creature.

I can't tell you what this is for, it's a surprise!

Dockyard Showdown

Last week my old mate Leon and I fought a brutal battle in the dock yards of Pulp City. Leon has made an amazing battle report, in the form of a comic strip- you can see it on his blog 'Pulp Citizen'. It has to be seen to be believed.
Rather than trawl over old ground and report the same battle as Leon here is a couple of pictures of the two teams involved in the battle. All the figures and scenery are Leon's, so I can't take any credit.
I did take the pictures though.

Leon used a hero team, Blood Watch: Sergeant Bale, Red Riding Hoodo, Six Feet Under, Blood Rose, Loup Garou and Moon Child/Moon Coyote; With Jane Summers and some Vigailntes in the back ground.

My team, A.R.C the mutant primate supervillains consisted of Howler, Le Murtiple, Silver Ager, Doctor Red, Chimp Chi and Guerrilla. And a couple of stolen sentry bots programed and bobby trapped by Doctor Red.

Pop over to Leon's site for his fantastic battle report- not to be missed.

Mmmm...Tiny Brains....

I have been rather busy of late, getting my VBCW brigade ready for the next Big Game in Evesham in October (I will post pictures of some of the new VBCW stuff soon), but I have found time to add a few more zeds to my growing (or should that be groaning?) horde of 15mm zombies from Rebel Miniatures. I think I have got much better at painting them, as I am starting to get used to the smaller scale figures.

This larger zombie-lady is a stripey summer dress.

The vertical stripes are quite slimming.

A couple of unfortunates seen at the local mall.

This is my favorite. This victim was still in bed when he was attacked. Mercifully for us he was in his PJ's.

As you can see, these zombies are basically the same model twice over- The pack of zombies has 22 figures in it, with 11 unique sculpts. I bought two packs, so I have four of each figure in my horde. I have been careful to paint them differently, so they stand out as individuals.