"They're Made Of Plastic. Living Plastic Creatures."

Two of these models are from "Crooked Dice" Game Design Studio's 'Minion Mob'. They are actually “Unarmed Minions” but were first ‘converted’ with their sprues’ optional pistol hand, and then given two coats of Fenris Grey (and a wash of Asurmen Blue). This was in order to give the impression that they were wearing boiler suits (similar to those worn by the Autons in the January 1970 Doctor Who TV story “Spearhead From Space”). Their Emotionless Mannequin heads were painted with Tallarn Flesh, before their face plates and ears were highlighted with Elf Flesh. Both of these areas were then washed using Ogryn Flesh.

This simple ‘single-colour’ painting scheme was also applied to 'Pandora King' (Also by "Crooked Dice Design Studio), but this time I used Adeptus Battlegrey and a wash of Badab Black.

I planned earlier this month to simply turn these four of Cooked Dice’s “Advancing ARC Astronauts” into versions of the Doctor Who ‘monster’ the Vashta Nerada by simply picking out their space helmets’ visors with Chaos Black. However in a moment of madness I changed my simple plan and decided I'd try to actually show the creatures skull heads. So instead I removed all of their astronaut heads, and replaced with some plastic skulls taken from the old Games Workshop PBS5 Skeleton Army Boxed Set.

However, I quickly shelved my other idea to replace some of the astronauts’ hands and limbs with some taken from the Skeleton Army box after just the first ‘conversion’. The plastic skeletal fist proved just too difficult to superglue ‘securely’ to the 28mm metal miniature, and as a result, I repositioned the figure’s arm (in an uninspiring pose) in order to ensure the fist was securely fastened to the rest of the model.

My hopes to quickly paint the models up using a watered down wash of Astronomicon Grey over the top of their Skull White Spacesuits also proved disappointingly unrealistic, owing to the number of buttons requiring ‘picking out’ on the figures’ breathing apparatus.

COMING SOON - Currently recovering from a 'flesh-wound' received at Wenley Moor, this Captain will prove to be the Brigadier's dependable deputy...

"And Who Are These Friends Of Yours In Fancy Dress?"

These models are from “Crooked Dice” Game Design Studio's ‘Corn Doll Hoedown', and are sculpted by Mark Evans. The four 28mm miniatures come with separate arms and two different torsos, so they were assembled in order to create four distinct poses. As I wanted them to represent the animated scarecrows utilised by Son Of Mine in the June 2008 Doctor Who TV story "The Family Of Blood”, I opted for their sack heads to all be uniformly painted with Calthan Brown and Devlan Mud, and their straw hands and tufts to be painted with Iyanden Darksun and Devlan Mud. In addition all of the Corn Dolls’ rope was painted using Dheneb Stone and Devlan Mud.

It was then a case of giving each scarecrow their clothing’s own unique (dirty) colour scheme. This was achieved using a variety of different paint and wash pairings: Fenris Grey and Asurmen Blue, Dark Flesh and Devlan Mud, Mechrite Red and Devlan Mud, Blood Red and Baal Red, Macharius Solar Orange and Devlan Mud, and Knarloc Green with Thraka Green.

As with all my models (these days) the bases had already been undercoated Chaos Black before being drybrushed with Dark Flesh, then Dheneb Stone, and then washed with Devlan Mud.

This Needle Monument is from “Terrain Warehouse UK” and was quickly painted using an undercoat of Dheneb Stone followed by a heavy wash of Devlan Mud. The ‘Aztec head’ feature was picked out using Burnished Gold, Skull White and Blood Red, before being treated to a combination of Thraka Green, Ogyrn Flesh, Baal Red and (oop) Red Ink washes.

Beneath The Surface - Part One

Having spent the weekend reading the "7TV" rulebook by "Crooked Dice" and continuing the theme of "Doctor Who And The Silurians" and its potholing adventures, I plan to build and paint up a number of pieces of cave-based scenery so as to replicate an underground network. However, rather than build specific terrain boards, I plan to base my rock formations and cave pools individually. Then they can simply be placed upon a brown cloth at irregular intervals across the table and (hopefully) generate the impression of a cave system, ready for exploration.

The larger of these resin pieces are from the ‘Battlefield Scenery Rock Formations’ range by “Terrain Warehouse UK”, whilst some of the smaller rocks, areas of rough terrain and cave pools are from “Total System Scenic”. In addition, there are a couple of pieces from the ‘Eccentric Range’ of “Frontline Wargaming”, specifically “ER10 Movie Power Units.” All have been based on either pieces of wood or plastic in order to make them sit flat upon the surface and to increase their stability.

A couple of the larger rocks, as well as the Needle Monument (all from “Terrain Warehouse UK”) have also had their bases covered with sand, in preparation for these to be drybrushed first with Dark Flesh, and then Dheneb Stone, before being washed with Devlan Mud. This will bring all the scenery in line with the basing colours used for the "Crooked Dice" 28mm models. In addition the Needle Monument has also been given its first undercoat of Dheneb stone.

"I Take It You're Another Member Of The U.N.I.T. Team?"

This model is from “Crooked Dice” Game Design Studio's 'Minion Mob', and has been painted alongside two more ‘hard-hatted soldiers’ in order to bolster my Unit Nations Intelligence Task (UNIT) Force. As this miniature is going to represent the military organisation’s Scientific Advisor, Doctor John Smith, I gave him one of the Peaceful Space Explorer Minion heads and then gave him a much larger nose using ‘green stuff’.

Having re-watched the January 1970 TV Seven-parter "Doctor Who And The Silurians", I decided to put a couple of coils of rope around the cave explorer’s shoulders (using string) and, despite it not actually appearing in the televised story) also gave Doctor Smith a sonic screwdriver. This was quite a simple conversion as having chopped the model’s right hand off I simply replaced it with a crowbar-wielding hand from a plastic “Heroclix” Lackey miniature. I then snipped the ends of the crowbar off and stuck a suitable looking jewellery bead on the end.

I also noticed that the Scientific Advisor wears a different darker set of overalls to the UNIT soldiers, so painted his attire Calthan Brown and then washed it with Devlan Mud. His hair was simply undercoated Astronomican Grey before a combination of Devlan Mud, more Astronomican Grey and Skull White were applied.

COMING SOON - Continuing my "Crooked Dice" themed month, these models are also from the Game Design Studio's 'Minion Mob', but use some of their Alien Heads. I've also done a simple conversion (for fun) in order to try and answer the question "Do you take milk and sugar?"

"Hello, Sweetie."

These models are from "Crooked Dice" Game Design Studio's ‘ARC Astronauts’ and include their Melody Lake miniature. I have assembled them to represent three members of the Strackman Lux expedition who encountered David Tennant’s Tenth Doctor in the May 2008 Doctor Who TV story "Silence In The Library”.

As I planned to use the Melody Lake model to represent the archaeologist Professor Song, I wanted her companions to better represent two of the explorers who accompanied her; namely Proper Dave and Other Dave. As a result instead of super-gluing an astronaut head to one of the ARC Astronaut Datapad bodies, I attached one of the Peaceful Space Explorer Minion heads instead. In addition, I chopped the model’s right hand (with datapad) off and replaced it with a clenched fist from an Unarmed Minion body.

All of the ARC Astronauts were then given an undercoat of Astronimicon Grey before being given two coats of Skull White. Their flight suits were then washed with watered down Astronimicon Grey. Whilst Other Dave’s face was painted using Dark Flesh and Devlan Mud, the skin of Professor Song and Proper Dave were treated to an undercoat of Tallarn Flesh, before being highlighted with Elf Flesh. These areas were then washed using Ogryn Flesh.

A future painting project will be to turn four of the Advancing ARC Astronauts into versions of the swarming, carnivorous Vashta Nerada. These models have already had their out-stretched arms repositioned (i.e. bent) in order to make them all appear in slightly different ‘menacing’ poses. As all four models have also been painted Skull White, each miniature now only requires a watered down wash of Astronimicon Grey, and their visors being picked out with Chaos Black.

COMING SOON - Continuing my "Crooked Dice" themed month, this model is from the Game Design Studio's 'Minion Mob'. He should prove an invaluable scientific advisor to the small collection of models I've assembled to represent members of the Unit Nations Intelligence Task (UNIT) Force from "Doctor Who And The Silurians".

“Don't Worry, Brigadier. People Will Be Shooting At You Soon."

Corn Dolls, Femdroids, Robo-Rodents, Minions and Scary Statues are due to be launched against the planet Earth during the next four weeks, and nothing but a College Professor, his Sidekicks, some Astronauts and some Minions of his own stand in their way…

These models are from "Crooked Dice" Game Design Studio's 'Minion Mob'. They are part of a small number of models I have been assembled to (hopefully) represent members of the Unit Nations Intelligence Task (UNIT) Force who accompanied Jon Pertwee's Third Doctor in the January 1970 Doctor Who TV Seven-parter "The Cave Monsters". Because the story features the military organisation hunting for Silurians in the caves of Wenley Moor two of the models simply consist of (Hardhat) Human Heads on Armed Minion Bodies. Though clearly their Scientific Advisor has been tinkering with their rifles…

As their leader had to be Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart, one of the (hardhat) Human Heads was given something of a green-stuff moustache. This is somewhat larger than that of the TV character, but I wanted him to stand out from a distance. In addition, his pose needed to be different to that of his soldiers, so I used an Unarmed Minion body instead. Even that though, wasn’t enough to make the model stand out as much as I wanted, so I chopped his right hand off, and swapped it with the datapad hand from one of the Game Design Studio’s ARC Astronauts. The datapad was then painted as if it was a folded map of the cave system/collection of papers.

The soldiers’ uniforms were simply painted using Dheneb Stone, and their pouches with Dark Flesh. Both areas were then given a wash of Devlan Mud. Their helmets were painted Skull White and washed with watered down Astronimicon Grey. The models’ skin was treated to an undercoat of Tallarn Flesh, before being highlighted with Elf Flesh. These areas were then washed using Ogryn Flesh. The soldiers’ weapons were painted with Boltgun metal and Badab Black.

COMING SOON - Continuing my "Crooked Dice" themed month, these models are from the Game Design Studio's 'ARC Astronaut' range, and include Melody Lake. I've assembled these models to represent some of the explorers who accompanied David Tennant's Tenth Doctor in the May 2008 Doctor Who TV story "Silence In The Library". As a result, two of them are called Dave, but which is the proper one...

"These Aren't The Droids You're Looking For."

Since January 2010 I've been trying to purchase enough of the Star Wars (pre-painted) Miniatures by “Wizards of the Coast” to use for a game based upon the “War of the Ring” rulebook by Games Workshop. Unfortunately as I predominantly wanted to use the minis from the “Rebel Storm” initial release set the entire project has become somewhat cost prohibitive, and essentially 'sat on the shelf' for the last twelve months.

No longer. Having written a 'War Of The Force' homemade ruleset similar to that which I've previously 'showcased' as Unternehemen Seelowe, I've finally managed to get some games in, and thought you may like to 'see' the summary of one in action. Unlike the Weird War battle reports I've not tried to explain the rules along with the narrative, but can do in future if there's any interest in me doing so.

Currently I have only re-based a number of Stormtroopers, Scout Troopers, Imperial Navy Troopers, Rebel Troopers, Tauntaun Riders and a few character models. But I hope to expand upon this over the next month with some Scoundrels, Bounty Hunters, Jawas, Ewoks and (if I can get them cheap enough) some Dewbacks. Though as the models of those cold-blooded reptiles from Tatooine are at least twice that of the Tauntauns (and they cost me a pretty packet at Salute a couple of years ago) I doubt I'll have the numbers I'd like to have.

This first in a series of battle reports covering the Galactic Empire’s search of the galaxy for the missing schematics of the Death Star (after they were ‘lost’ following the pursuit of a Rebel Blockade Runner) sees an Imperial force, lead by Lord Vader, attempt to capture five droids located within an industrial complex on the planet Mustafar.

Once the table was laid out, using pre-painted scenery purchased from the Industrial Range of “Tablescape”, five droid models (objective markers) were placed (at least 10 inches from either deployment edge and from each other) for the forces to battle over. The clash would last for six turns. The Rebels, flanked by two units of Tauntaun Riders, held the southern floor of the factory; with General Kenobi leading three companies of Rebel Troopers beside some large piping in the South West, Princess Leia commanding some Troopers behind some crates in the centre, and Luke Skywalker marshalling a handful of Troopers in the South East.

Lord Vader’s Imperial Force was spread across the Northern length of the factory. The Dark Lord of the Sith, accompanied by a Platoon Leader and a Stormtrooper armed with a T-21 light repeating blaster, personally led a large number of Imperials located close to a pressurised reactor plant in the North East; whilst three squads of Imperial Stormtroopers formed up behind a large collection of radioactive barrels in the centre. A mixture of Imperial Navy troopers, Stormtroopers and Scout Troopers spread out amongst more radioactive barrels in the North West.

At a gesture from Darth Vader, the Stormtroopers and Scout Troopers positioned behind the radioactive barrels in the factory’s North West corner, pushed forward, hoping to find shelter behind a series of large pipes just in front of them. The Imperials were met with a volley of Rebel DH-17 pistol fire. A large number of the blaster bolts struck the Stormtroopers distinctive white plastoid body armour, but only three of the Galactic Empire’s elite soldiers fell. Meanwhile, General Kenobi ordered the Tauntaun riders to the West, to gallop north, straight towards the collection of radioactive barrels some of the Stormtroopers were positioned around. The patrol mounts loped forward, catching the attention of the nearby Scout Troopers who aimed their Holdout blaster pistols only to fire short of their targets.

A squad of Imperial Navy troopers moved up alongside the Scout Troopers, and fired at the riders with their (standard) BlasTech Industries E-11 blaster rifles. These weapons had a better range and badly wounded one of the reptomammals. Concerned that the edge of the Tauntaun’s charge may be blunted by Imperial firepower, Obi-Wan Kenobi directed the surrounding Rebel Troopers’ attention to the surviving Stormtroopers hiding behind a large pipe. Blaster bolts roared into the Imperial position, but were harmlessly absorbed by the Stormtroopers’ armour.

By now the Rebel Alliance’s mounts had galloped even closer to the Scout Troopers, giving the specially trained Imperials, another chance to prove their marksmenship. One of the beasts fell to the ground, despite its thick blubber taking the brunt of the Scout Troopers’ combined firepower. Another Tauntaun was killed by the Imperial Navy Troopers, and for a moment it looked as if the charge was going to fail.

Urged on by their veteran Clone Wars General, the Rebel Troopers desperately tried to pin the Imperials down, and give the remaining Tauntauns some covering fire. The last of the Stormtroopers finally fell before the withering hail of Rebel blaster bolts. However it was still not enough to stop the ‘crack-shot’ Scout Troopers from bringing another of the mounts crashing down. But then with a grunt, the sole-surviving ill-tempered beast was amongst the Imperials and its horns gorged one of the Scout Troopers to death. The victory was only short-lived though, as the rest of the Imperial marksmen dragged the Rebel rider off of his mount, and blasted him at point-blank range with their Holdout pistols.

Enraged by the death of their comrades, the Rebels opened fire upon the remaining Scout Troopers, who dived for cover amidst the pipes surrounding them. One was cut down by the DH-17 pistol fire; whilst another was thrown against one of the nearby metal constructs as a result of a Force Push by General Kenobi. The Scout Trooper’s lightweight armour was no match for the crushing impact.

Sensing his Force’s Western flank was losing ground; Lord Vader dispatched two squads of Stormtroopers (one carrying a T-21 light repeating blaster) towards the remaining Scout Trooper. Then, with a deep rasp, turned his attention to the East where a second patrol of Rebel Tauntaun Riders were fast approaching the Imperial positions. Feeling the eye of the Sith Lord upon them, a nearby squad of Stormtroopers fired a salvo of rifle bolts at the (exposed) beasts, and managed to bring one of the patrol mounts down. Realising that the Imperial soldiers already had their range, the Rebel Tauntaun Riders spurred their reptomammals onwards, losing another one of their number to a hail of E-11 blaster rifle bolts.

However, the gap between the charging Rebels and the Imperial Stormtroopers had closed fast, and with a cry from their riders, the Tauntauns had crashed into the elite soldiers of the Galactic Empire, trampling two into the factory floor.

Darth Vader sensed the fluctuations in the Force, and realised that the Hoth creatures must be held, if he was to capture the droids for his Master. With his lightsabre singing, Palpatine’s apprentice raced towards the Stormtroopers bravingly battling the Tauntauns; whilst at the same time ordering the rest of his Imperial Forces forwards in an attempt to encircle as many droids as posssible.

As he watched the Imperial Forces capture an RA-7 protocol droid that was dithering on a gantry bridge in the centre of the factory, General Kenobi realised his Rebels would never get their hands on more than the Artoo unit and GNK Power droid they’d already rescued this day. With a wave of his lightsabre, he ordered his Rebel Troopers (who were still using the factory’s pipes as cover) to fire a final salvo at the approaching Imperial forces. When that failed to do nothing more than bring down a solitary trooper of the Imperial Navy, it was clear that little else could be done this day to further the Rebel Alliance’s cause, so together with Princess Leia and Luke Skywalker, the Jedi Master signalled the Rebels to retreat. Darth Vader had captured three droids and won the day.