“Blood Bowl Sevens Teams Are Drafted..."

A Dwarf Blitzer (09), Linesman (05) and bareheaded Blitzer (14)

"Greetings eager sports fans, and welcome to the latest edition of Sunday Night Football. I'm Jim Maddenberg and along with my comrade-in-arms Thom Grassyglade, I’ll be bringing you all news concerning the latest developments for Blood Bowl Sevens.”

"The big news today is that the amateur game appears to have attracted the attention of an aspiring Dwarf team called the Rusty Buckets. Thom, those are some seriously old long-beards at no mistake. Do they really go as far back as the game’s classic second edition..?”

A Dwarf Kicker (01), Blitzer (10) and portly Blocker (15)

“That’s right, Jim. Remember the days of the World’s Edge Wanderers, Zhufbar Marktag, Durums Destroyers and the Dwarf Anvils..? Well, all eight of the players on this latest team’s roster stem from those heady days of single cast metal sculpts, courtesy of a much-appreciated gift from Iain White of “caveadsum1471” fame.”

“Why the club will even be re-employing an old Kicker model from the Dwarf Giants to use as a Runner for the modern-day rules. Sadly, there’s no sign of a glamorous Cheerleader or two, though Jim. But, to be honest, I doubt the Rusty Buckets would currently have the copper pieces to hire any.”

A Dwarf Blitzer (09), Linesman (07) and Linesman (05)

“So what’s the plan for these old, second-hand players then, Thom? Is their colourful yellow and blue attire going to survive the transition to the amateur leagues, or can we expect a completely new kit for these grizzled thirty-year plus veterans..?”

“Well time certainly isn’t going to be these guys’ friend, Jim, as they’re all due to be re-primed and given some particularly rusty-looking sportswear which better suits their club name. In addition, a further eight Dwarf players are impatiently ‘waiting in the wings’ to form either a second Old World Sevens side, or help bolster the Rusty Buckets’ roster to becoming a full-blown professional Blood Bowl team in the near future.”

"Thanks Thom. That just about concludes this particular Blood Bowl Sevens show. But please do join us again next time when we'll be taking a closer look at this club’s change in attire…”

Star Trek: The Motion Picture – “Citadel Miniatures”

"Citadel Miniatures" WIPs - A Security Guard, Captain Kirk and Mister Sulu

One of the best things about the wargaming hobby is undoubtedly the generosity of some of its members, and their beautiful benevolence in bestowing gifts upon their fellow gamers. One such fellow is my Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge comrade-in-arms, Iain White, who just this week sent me an extremely well-received box of miniatures from the early Eighties.

I plan to leave my review of its two well-cared for boxes of officially approved 15mm figures for “Traveller” for another day, and focus this posting’s attention upon the fantastic array of old “Citadel” Star Trek models my present contained. These truly are something of a holy grail for me, as they’re based upon the original U.S.S. Enterprise’s bridge crew during Robert Wise’s 1979 American science fiction film “Star Trek: The Motion Picture”, and were released over forty years ago in early 1980.

"Citadel Miniatures" WIPs - A repositioned Mister Sulu, a Security Guard and an Enterprise Crew member

The Paramount Pictures Corporation licenced 25mm figures were sold in twenty-four pairs, including both the central characters from the Constitution-class starship’s bridge, and a “multitude of background aliens seen in the feature [film].” Iain’s box did contain a few Vulcans and Klingons, but I thought I’d tackle Admiral Kirk and his crew first and foremost, as at least one of the Qo'noS-born warriors requires some conversion work before being pigmented.

To be honest, time has not been terribly kind to these “white-metal” models, as many of them have the remains of an all-blue uniform painted on them, which seems strangely reminiscent of the Federation attire worn in “Star Trek: Enterprise” than Robert Fletcher’s somewhat monochrome two-piece tunics. In addition, the actual detail on the sculpts is incredibly soft, almost as if they’ve been worn smooth by over-handling and Father Time himself. They’re certainly nowhere near the crispness of the castings which were advertised way back in Issue Eighteen of “White Dwarf” by “Games Workshop”.

"Citadel Miniatures" WIPs - Captain Kirk, Lieutenant Uhura and Lieutenant Ilia

I had initially considered simply throwing the miniatures into a bath of detergent or some such in an effort to remove the remnants of their former paint-jobs. However, I’m really a little unsure as to just what impact such a dunking would have upon such old metal figures, especially as those which have suffered the odd hard impact during their lives would appear to be a little crumbly in places.

As a result I’m planning to treat the models as simply being pre-primed, and use both some watered-down layers and shades to bring out what detail remains on them. In addition, I don’t actually have all the Bridge Crew characters, so intend to use some of the duplicates for Spock and McCoy, whilst utilising some of the alternative casts of Admiral Kirk for the likes of Captain Willard Decker…

Resin Miniatures Seconds Box - “We Print Miniatures”

Resin Miniatures Seconds Box - Filled with an assortment of figures and 'bitz'.

Recently I spotted an advertisement from “We Print Miniatures” stating they were now selling their Resin Miniatures Seconds Box at a 60% discount for just £20. This box was described as containing “a random selection of faulty or imperfect miniatures from our range” where each of the miniature’s 3D printing went a “little wrong” so were “maybe missing a foot or a head or something more drastic.”

As I’ve become increasingly interested in this new method of manufacturing models, and been very impressed with the figures “We Print Miniatures” have in their different ranges, I thought purchasing a box would probably be worth it. After all, at the very worst I expected to be sent a selection of damaged models which I could at least hopefully use as dilapidated statues for my “Frostgrave” or some generic fantasy-based tabletop.

Some Shark/Lizard Space Helmets, Twelve Cat Warriors and a one-footed Scholar

Upon its arrival I must confess my first impressions were a little tepid due to the lack of size of the actual box. Measuring approximately 17cm x 11cm, and only being 2.5cm deep, I was somewhat concerned as to just how much it could contain. Yet upon opening it up, I did feel that the company had tried to live up to their hype of it being “crammed with as many of our failures as possible.” In addition, it clearly contained a number of weapons, heads and other hand-held items which I wasn’t expecting.

I therefore started sorting out the figures in an effort to establish which ones could actually be used as gaming pieces with a little tender loving care, and which miniatures would be condemned to becoming either statues or just spare parts. One model I was especially delighted to spy was Billy the Bone; a skeletal pirate captain who was clearly missing his pistol arm. This excellent sculpt ordinarily retails for £10 from “We Print Miniatures”, and frankly, despite his limb loss, I’m planning to just paint him up as is.

What did both surprise and disappoint me though was the sheer number of failed prints I received of a female cat warrior. I was entirely prepared to receive two or three ‘castings’ of the self-same sculpt, as I did for both the aforementioned Billy the Bone and some sort of Dwarf Librarian/Mage. But I certainly wasn’t anticipating twelve of this particular feline figure; whose biggest fault seems to have been the printer’s inability to finish the final few strands of rope she is carrying in her right hand.

Billy the Bone, an assortment of sci-fi weapons/tools, and one of three Dwarf Librarian/Mages

Of course, I should be able to 'save' a fair few of these Bast-headed models by replacing the broken appendage with either a hand-weapon or, in some cases, a foot taken from one of the numerous plastic “Frostgrave” sprues produced by “North Star Military Figures”. However, I do get the distinct impression that someone simply ‘bunged in’ a dozen just to fill up my box without too much rhythm or reason, rather than believing a gamer could somehow turn them into a nice-looking Egyptian-themed unit with a bit of drilling/pinning, or use them for other conversion projects.

Perhaps this deal’s biggest asset though, was found amidst all the predominantly science-fiction based ‘bitz’ and consisted of eight Shark/Lizard helmet heads. These are just awesome, and will soon be put to use on either some extra-terrestrial “Stargrave” crew members, or perhaps even a semi-small squad of Carcharodon Space Marines for “Warhammer 40K”...