Liebster Award!

I have been honoured, in the past month, by being nominated twice for the Liebster Award. I was delighted to have received the award from fellow 28mm superhero nut Pulp Citizen and from JP, a VBCW fanatic and all round good egg. I am constantly delighted by such positive feedback to my humble blog, and I am always pleased to receive comments about my postings. 

Upon receiving a Leibster award, the following rules need to be observed. The second part of the award is to nominate five fellow bloggers using the following rules listed below.

• Copy and paste the award on your blog linking it to the blogger who has given it you.

• Pass the award to your top 5 favourite blogs with less than 200 followers by leaving a comment on one of there posts to notify them that they have won the award and listing them on your own blog.

• Sit back and bask in the warm fuzzy feeling that comes with knowing you have made someone's day!

• There is no obligation to pass this onto someone else but its nice if you take the time to do so.

Without further ado, I would like to nominate the following blogs for Liebster Awards, for the continued contributions to wargaming!

Shed Wars, by Eric the Shed; For his ongoing contributions to many areas of wargaming, and for having a REALLY cool gaming room!

Miniatures, Painting and Hobbies, by Adam; For steadily populating the Canadian city of Havensburg with a massive horde of the living dead.

Jon's Wargaming Minis, by Jon Ward: Always beautifully painted and photographed- from VBCW to the Dark ages. Cracking stuff.

Wargaming Buildings, by Old West: Some of the most stunning terrain and buildings for wargaming you will see- diorama quality buildings which remain eminently practical for wargaming too. The blog concentrates on cowboys and zombie apoc.

Saxon Dog Wargames Blog, by Saxon Dog: For lots of stunningly painted Dark Ages and medieval figures

I would strongly recommend you take a look at these blogs- they represent some of the best wargaming blogs around.

I would also add a honourable mention to Brummie's Wargaming Blog and Pulp Citizen. I would have nominated both of these, but I couldn't, because they have already received the award. 

Force on Force Transports

  Although I haven’t had many chances to play Force on Force, I continue to plod on with gathering models and scenery for my FoF campaign set in the fictional civil war-torn West African country Zugando. The latest additions are a couple transports.

  The first is a civilian Ford Transit van, in dark green. This will be used as a transport for the Zuganda People’s Resistance Army, the militia force opposed by a coalition of UK, USA and African Union. Alternately it can be used as a piece of static scenery, or even in Zombie games. This model is a resin/metal model made by Sloppy Jalopy, and was given to my by my good pal Leon (cheers mate).

  The Second one is a Unimog. These trucks are made by Mercedes-Benz, and are widely used by various armies around the world, including the SAS, who used them during the Iraq war for long range patrolling, in conjunction with snatch land rovers. Their serious rough terrain capabilities makes them suitable work horses for the coalition troops in action in Zugando. This model is die-cast model made by Solido. I picked this one up on eBay, along with a white UN one. It scales nicely with my other stuff. I still need to add some mud and dust to this model, as it looks far too clean for Zugando.

Super November 4 : Alien Predator

Little is know about the Alien Predators, but what is certain is that their culture is based on the need for their young warriors to test themselves by hunting the most fierce threats in the galaxy. And what could be more of a threat that a superhuman? 

For decades Alien Predators have been coming to earth in small numbers, and in secret, to hunt superhumans  They have no moral qualms about who they hunt- Hero or villain  it makes no difference to them. 

This Predator is one of Copplestone Casting's Future Wars Range- it was a delight to paint, as has been every Copplstone figure I have ever painted. There is something about Mark Copplstone's neat, clutter-free lines that I love. This particular model was off my old mate Leon- who was chucking it out. Thanks mate.
The observant might notice that this figure is based in the manner of my Sci-Fi skirmish project, not my superheroes campaign. I will confess this is because I haven't got round to basing/spraying any more figures for Super-November, and this one was on the work bench waiting to be done.  The cold/damp weather has been playing havoc with my figure spraying schedules., but at least it means that I am getting some of the 'hanging-around-figures' dine at last. 

British Police Special Operations Officers

Here’s a little ‘aside’ from Super November- Three British Police Special Operations Officers. I am not sure who makes these figures, but they are rather nice: I bought them on Ebay a while ago. They will be very versatile, as I will be able to use them in my Superhero campaign (set in Britain), and in Zombie scenarios. In 2013 I intend to expand my range, adding more British police, and possibly some terrorists or other nasty criminal classes.

Super November 3: MARI

  This is a photograph of MARI (Mechanical Anthropomorphic Research Instrument), an android developed by the near sentient computer Supervillain Master Mind. She was originally intended to assist Master Mind in developing a human-behaviour model to assist Master Mind in its schemes for world domination. The trouble with MARI occurred because Master Mind was too successful, and MARI began to develop ‘human emotions’ including guilt, grief and love.

  MARI fell in love with the Superhero known as Rapid, and rebelled against Master Mind when the super computer tried to force her to destroy Rapid. She assisted Rapid and his teammates defeat Master Mind. Following this she has been attempting to make amends for her earlier villainous behaviour and now works along side Rapid, helping to manage the teams secret base, and assisting with technological problems.

This figure is by Reaper, from their Chronoscope range. Obviously it’s a fairly simple paint job, but I am generally please with the way it turned out as I am not that good at painting metal. This is my third Super November entry- and is posted a day late because real world matters have got in the way- I hope you can forgive me. 

Super-November 2: Jet Stream 2012 (Retro Styling)

 In early 2009 I added a superhero called Jet Stream to the blog. I always like the idea of a pop-princes superhero, and Super-November has given me a chance to go back and revisit the character, with a new model and an ultra cool 50’s retro styling.

 The original text for Jet Stream’s 2009 blog entry read, “ This is Jet Stream, the latest hot thing to hit the super world. The media are in a frenzy trying to get pictures and gossip on this teen idol, and she is certainly not shy of the limelight. She has a jet pack that her Daddy had made, and wields a pair of heavily modified Colts with awesome accuracy.”

This Jet Stream model is the same spoilt rich girl a few years on. She has gained some experience, and in many ways has become tougher. She is still, however, the darling of the fashion press, and her stylish retro look for Autumn Winter 2012 has been heralded as ‘trend forming’ by the fashionistas.

The original 2009 Version of Jet Stream, from the early days of this blog.

Amazingly, this new figure is by a different sculptor and even by a different company, and yet it is perfect as an up to date version as she has the same equipment and a similar hairstyle as the 2009 version. The new Jet Stream is by Reaper in their Chronosope range. The original Jet Stream is by Haslssefree Miniature, although I altered it slightly by repositioning the head and adding a jetpack. 

Lest We Froget

In the words of Robert Laurence Binyon; 

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning,

We will remember them.

I bought this War Memorial at the Wolverhampton Wargames Show a while back to use for VBCW. I thought it was a fitting figure to paint for Remembrance  Day. 

Viking War-band

Following my trip to the Beast Towers (Gripping Beasts HQ in Evesham) for the VBCW Big Game 5, I felt very inspired to paint my SAGA Viking war band. Gripping Beast produce a wonderful range of Viking Age miniatures, and they had display cabinets stuffed with countless beautifully painted (and slightly dusty) Vikings, Saxons, Normans and Crusaders. 

 I bought the plastics for this last year when I went to BG4, but apart from putting them together I havn't made much progress since. Determined to get a four point war-band together to face my Angle-Danish Warband, I finally made some progress. I have a few Work-In-Progress too, so I should finish my war-band by the end of the week, and be able to schedule in a game or two soon. 

Viking Warlord Ragnar the Fell-Handed

Ragnar's trusted battle-brothers (and his wolf-hound Fenris)

Wild-eyed Berserkers

Ragnar is a West Wind model with a head-swap for a plastic Viking head by Gripping Beasts. The Battle-Brothers are (left to right) Wargames Foundry, Gripping Beast, Crusader and perhaps Crusader. The Berserkers are Black Tree Designs. 

Super-November Part 1: Reject X

Reject X is another sad, but never the less very dangerous, product of the wicked experiments of Dr Otto. The mad scientist continues to try to produce a viable super soldier program, despite his previous dreadful failures. Having adapted the mutogentic virus he used on  Strongarm, Dr Otto used it on his latest test subject, mild mannered weakling Ted Topps. The mutagenic virus was partially successful, greatly increasing Topps' muscle bulk, stamina and resilience  Like Strongarm, some of Todds' limbs failed to mutate, and Dr Otto sought to overcome this difficulty by amputating the weaker limbs and replacing them with cybernetic enhancements.

Unfortunately, perhaps as a result on the mutagenic virus, or the traumatic cybernetic surgery, Topps' mind was shattered. All that was left of Ted Topps was a rage filled monster with little concept of the world around. Attempts to install a cybernetic behaviour modifier failed, and Ted Topps was confined to Dr Otto's list of failed experiments. Being the tenth such failure, he was assigned the code name Reject X.

This is a Chronoscope Super-villain produced by Reaper. His name is Jack Hammer.  This figure is rather small, an effect enhanced by the fact that he is hunched over. I added him to a base with a curb to make him look a bit taller but generally I was a bit disappointed with the size of him. If he had been big enough to have gone on a 40mm base he would have looked amazing!

Zomtober Round Up and Super-November Launch

With October  Zomtober over with it's time for a bit of reflection. Over all, I think it was a success. I have added ten  (or 91/2) Zeds to my horde, which was quite a result, considering I also had to paint some VBCW figures for the Big Game 5. Leon (aka Pulp Citizen) also clocked up 5 Zeds. Our wargaming table will be groaning (no pun intended) under the weight of so many walking dead! As Leon is a very slow painter this represents something of a herculean effort for him- so well done Leon. 

Adam added five more zombies to the massive horde of walking dead populating Havensburg, including a zombie priest! Mean while Brummie, caught flat-footed without any zombies to paint, built up a colony of 11 survivors! Well done Brummie. It looks like the human race might not be done for just yet!

I think you will agree that Zomtober has qualified as a success, and well done to everyone involved. I thought it was fantastic reading you blogs and seeing what progress you have made. 

Which brings me on to November. Now, at the beginning of Zombtober Leon and I agreed that this would not be a regular feature, as it was really just an excuse to get some more minis painted, but evidently Leon works well with a deadline. He has asked me if this November can be Super-November. Basically I think he has a number of superhero models he needs to get painted and wanted a bit of a kick up the arse. I have agreed, mostly because I am feeling a bit guilty that this blog, which is supposed to be devoted to 28mm Four Colour Superheroes, has lost the plot a bit in the last twelve months or so. 

And so, Super-November was born. Same drill as Zomtober- We will each paint five figures by the end of Super-November with a superhero theme. If you want to join in, you are welcome, but if that's not you bag, then just sit back, relax and watch us frantically trying to finish our minis before the dead line. 

And I promise that there will be no theme in December. Well maybe promise is too strong a word...