Current & Future Projects

Post-Historicon I have been pondering what projects I will be working on for the rest of 2019 and into 2020.  After spending most of the last couple years on 7TV spy-fi and post-apocalypse, I have decided to return to mainly historical projects.  I have been thinking about this for some time as my interests have been moving back in that direction.  For instance, I bought 2 painted ECW armies at Historicon and have been researching rules options.  I plan on expanding the armies with the large amount of unpainted lead that came as part of the purchase.

A large part of my time will be allocated to painting armies for SAGA.  I am already painting my own Romano-British army, currently on the 3rd of 4 foot units and the mounted are primed.

My friend Steve in Ohio was selling his SAGA stuff recently and last week I picked up another set of Romano-British and a set of Saxons from him.  Each is a 4-point box with some additional unit packs.  I am going to paint both of these with the intention of selling them when completed.  I am going to do the Britons first as I am already in Briton-mode.

Also arriving last Wednesday were miniatures for 2 longer-term projects.  I backed a Kickstarter in May for a set of post-apocalypse miniatures based on the 1980s RPG Aftermath.  I don't remember ever playing it, but my group did play Gamma World in that long-ago time.  I got 7 giant mutated rats with guns, a couple of rat swarms and 4 humans.  As I wrote earlier, I am taking a break from painting post-apoc so they will go into storage for now.  The bag on the left of the picture is a set of 12 Earth Force Infantry from Rebel Minis.  They were having a sale and I have been looking for some humans that I could use as the garrison of an off-world base for a future Doctor Who scenario.  Apparently they are modified versions of the mobile infantry from the old Starship Troopers miniatures game from Mongoose.  I never played that game but they will do nicely for my purposes.  Quick service from Rebel, I ordered them late Sunday night and had them on Wednesday.

Doctor Mao and the Autons

The Autons are an old monster from Doctor Who.  First appearing in 1970s 'Spearhead from Space'. they have shown up as villains several times in both classic and new stories.  They are made from plastic, have guns in their hands and are controlled by an alien being, the Nestene Consciousness.  They have appeared as living mannequins and more realistic impersonations of humans.  I use mine as Autons in Doctor Who games and in 7TV games either as the original Autons or creations of Doctor Mao.   I painted them at different times in 2016 and 2017.

Doctor Mao on the right with one of his creations in metal, rather than the standard Auton plastic.  The mad Doctor's origins are unknown but he does bear a resemblance to a certain North Korean family.  Perhaps a distant relative?

Four Autons from Black Tree Design in work uniforms.  They come in two different poses.  Based on the early 70s shows, these were originally made by Harlequin and are still available.

Four more Autons.

Two mannequin-like Autons in fashionable clothing.  These are from Crooked Dice and sold as Plastons.

Two more from Crooked Dice.  The one on the right has security tags attached to his shirt, pants and jacket, which is a nice touch.

Fear the Autons!

Every Villain Wants to Rule the World

I am of the opinion that you can never have enough villains.  I have collected a variety of them for my 28mm 'spy-fi' games using the 7TV rules.  Evil masterminds, secret agents, mad scientists, henchmen, mercenaries, aliens, I have them all.  The names below are from the manufacturer's catalog unless otherwise noted.

The model on the left is sold by Crooked Dice as Jack Booted Sadist.  I think it is a dead ringer for the James Bond villain Xenia Onatopp played by Famke Janssen in Goldeneye (1995).  My favorite of the Pierce Brosnan Bond movies.

The model on the right is a Heresy miniature originally sold as the Jon Simm version of The Master in new-era Doctor Who, now sold as Edward Arterton, Supervillain.  He comes with an alternate right hand holding a pistol.

Lancelot Cray, secretive CEO of the international corporation United Radionics (left) and his bodyguard and fixer Lionel (right).  The perfect model for a conniving industrialist in an expensive suit.  Both by Crooked Dice.

Two villains who can be used in a wide variety of roles, sold by Beast in the Broch as FedSec Commander (left) and FedSec Supreme Commander (right).  The robotic hand and eye on the model to the left cast him as an alien or evil cyborg.

Kali (left) and Bolo (right), two specialists in hand-to-hand combat.  Kali has a sword in her right hand that is hard to see at this angle.  Bolo is wearing very sharp claws on his hands in case his feet don't finish the job.  If only someone made a model of Patrick Swayze from 'Roadhouse' to fight Bolo!

Two ninjas from Crooked Dice, sold as Daughters of SHIVA (Secret Headquarters of International Villainous Agents).  I was surprised at how stable the one on the left is given the pose.

"Hey, what are we doing in this post?  We're not villains, just scientists crossing ethical and legal boundaries in pursuit of forbidden knowledge."  Three scientists from Crooked Dice.

The deadly mercenary Kohner (left), from Crooked Dice and an Afghan from Artizan's 2nd Afghan War range.  

These two models should look familiar to any Roger Moore-era James Bond fans.  Jaws (left, The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker) and Nick Nack (right, The Man with the Golden Gun).  I think these are very accurate representations of the characters by Crooked Dice.

A regular 28mm model in the middle to show the scale.  I think Jaws is about to crush his head with his bare hands.

Two miniatures from Black Cat.  On the right is a mad scientist with a penchant for hideous experiments.  He has a half-lizard, half-cat in his lap. He doesn't have an official name yet, but I think Devious Doctor Finn has a nice ring to it.  His butler is on the left.  I think he is required to go by Jeeves.

 Never trust a mad scientist's butler, he may be holding a pistol behind his back.

Two of the mad doctor's test subjects.  These are great models, sold as Failed Experiments by Crooked Dice.  The heads and non-human arms are separate; there is also an ape-like head and a mechanical claw arm that I haven't used yet.  Was the one on the left transformed in a horrible accident or did he anger the doctor once too often?

 

 

 

Thanks for looking!

Jason

Games I Ran At Historicon 2017

I ran two games at Historicon 2017 using two of my favorite rules sets: the Doctor Who Miniatures Game (DWMG) and 7TV.

First Game - DWMG
Saturday morning I ran a scenario titled 'Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Daleks'.  I modified a scenario originally created by the authors set during the Doctor Who episodes 'Army of Ghosts' and 'Doomsday'.  It had 6 players, each with their own objectives.  The good factions were the Police, Torchwood and the Preachers; the bad factions were the Criminals, Daleks and Cybermen.

The board setup on a 6x4 foot area:

The factory doors are opening.  What danger lurks within?

 My newest building, a Police station by TT Combat.

A lone Dalek glides down the street.

The good guys from Torchwood move to intercept the Dalek.  Some of the Criminals are visible in the background.

 Torchwood and the Dalek battled it out for most of the game.

The other two good factions work their way towards the factory where the Cybermen are converting captives into more Cybermen.  The Preachers are on the left and the Police on the right.

A Cyberman stuns a Policeman and drags him back to the factory fpr conversion.

On the other side of the factory.  The Criminals are making their way up the board towards their objective, the Green building at the top.

The BBC always have a camera crew on location.

The captured Policeman has been converted into a new Cyberman.

A second Dalek makes a brief appearance.

The Dalek-Torchwood battle continues.

The Doctor (in the brown coat) has joined Torchwood.  His assistance helped to turn the tide.

The Criminals have robbed the jewelry store (their main objective).

A lone Policeman attempts to stop the Criminals but is quickly outnumbered.

Having dispatched the Daleks, Torchwood and the Doctor join the assault on the factory.  The Police and Preachers made it inside before taking heavy losses fighting the Cybermen.

The Criminals take the opportunity to mug a defenceless skater before exiting the board.

The last stand of the Cybermen.

I have run this scenario several times over the years and it is always a fun game.  This is the first time both the Daleks and Cybermen were wiped out; the Daleks' dice really turned against them.  The Criminals managed to complete their objectives while the good guys managed an overall victory.


Second Game - 7TV
After a short break to rearrange the table, on Saturday afternoon I ran a game using the 7TV rules by Crooked Dice.  It is one of my favorite games and a lot of fun.

The scenario was creatively named 'Spaceship Down!'.  An alien spaceship has crashed in London and the British army is moving in to secure the wreckage.  Meanwhile the evil corporation United Radionics has summoned all available forces to recover the advanced technology on board.  Each side had 3 players with a cast of around 30 points each.  I tended to take a few pictures whenever I had the chance so I missed some of the action.

Some shots of the board after setup.  There were 5 pieces of wreckage, each with an objective marker representing salvageable technology.  The spaceship pieces are from an old Games Workshop set.

A villainous Double Agent sneaks ahead to secure the first objective marker on the right flank.  You can tell he's a villain by the eyepatch.

A squad of Minions advances to support the Double Agent.

More Minions advance in the center of the board.

On the other end of the board, the British Army moves in to secure the alien ship's cockpit.

Another objective is claimed by United Radionics.

The first soldier is down.  His comrades take cover and return fire.

On the left, the android-like Plastons created by UR's Advanced Research Division advance in formation.

Back on the right, hand-to-hand combat has begun.

On the roof of the building are 2 survivors from the spaceship.  They take turns shooting at both sides as casualties mount.

I don't seem to have any pictures from the end of the game but it was an overall win for the villains with 3 of the 5 objectives and heavy losses on both sides.

This was the largest 7TV game I have run.  It didn't get through as many turns as I thought it would but it did come to a conclusion.  I plan on running 7TV games at Historicon 2018 and am leaning towards doing 3 different 1-on-1 scenarios simultaneously.  I think it would allow the games to move faster and also showcase the wide variety of settings that you use with these rules.

Thanks for looking!
Jason