Shelling Out

Every year, the normally pricey miniatures for Fallout Wasteland Warfare get somewhat drastically reduced in price for Black Friday.

Every year, I either forget this fact or don't have any spare cash as I'm busy buying Christmas presents.

But not this year.

Due to reasons I won't go into, I found myself with a bit of cash to spend on myself around Black Friday. Some of it went on Shelob, whilst the rest went on a few bits and pieces from the Modiphius website.

A pair of Mirelurks were first in the basket as they are, for me, the most iconic Fallout gribblies given the amount of time I spent slogging my way through sewers filled with them in Fallout 3.

I also like them because they are reminiscent of the Garthim in Jim Henson's The Dark Crystal, which I learned today was an influence on their design, along with (would you believe) the Droideka Destroyers from Star Wars, Episode I: The Phantom Menace.

They are resin miniature which comes as a pair (both the same sculpt) and were remarkably easy to put together with only a little bit of clean up required.

As they are based on the Mirelurks in Fallout 4, I opted to go for a paint scheme reminiscent of how they appear in that game using the paints I had available.

I also figured that this would be easier than the more cartooninlsh colour palette of the Fallout 3 Mirelurks.

A black undercoat was first dry brushed with Vallejo Brown Violet, before a lighter dry brush of Vallejo Khaki. I picked out a few details including the claws in Ratskin Flesh and the smaller pickers were picked out in Wraithbone. I then gave the whole model a wash of Seraphim Sepia before giving the face and edges a light dusting of Wraithbone to pick out details.

And that was it.

Sculpted bases were done quickly and the Mire lurks were ready to lurk in my games of Fallout Wasteland Warfare.

I enjoyed doing these so much that I'm half tempted to do something similar when I finally get round to painting my 30 year old Genestealers.

Acquired: -95

Painted: 526

Lead Mountain: 210

"Let go of him, you filth!"

I know I might have said that I was sorting of doing a Men of the West force for the Tale of 4 Hobbits series, but as you can see. I've gotten a touch distracted.

I've wanted the Shelob miniature for a long time, but have never gotten around to buying it. It has dutifully sat on my Christmas list each year and been steadfastly ignored due to Mrs Cheaphammer's profound arachnophobia.

However, with the impending arrival of a new plastic version made me realise that I did want the classic metal model before it disappeared and so we cut a deal that as long as Shelob is never left lying around, the last child of Ungoliant to trouble the unhappy world could enter the house.

To put it bluntly, this beast is an absolute swine to assemble. Spindly legs, a bulky metal body, indistinct sockets and no instructions combine to make for a frustrating experience.

Throw in the fact that trying to slightly adjust to stance of the back legs caused me to snap them and gave to pin them on again and I was left wishing I'd waited for the plastic model.

I found painting equally frustrating as there's not actually much to work with on what is pretty much just a big black spider with tiny eyes.

I've seen plenty of people, including Games Workshop, lean heavily into real world spider colouring (particularly black widows) or more exotic patter choices to make Shelob more vibrant.

However, I went for something more film-based which seems to be patches of more fleshy coloured areas, especially around the head. I'm satisfied with the end result, but I feel I could have been more ambitious.

The In the Clutches of Shelob set comes with Frodo all wrapped in webbing. Although there is a separate base provided, I decided to use him a scenic detail on Shelob's base as I can't think of a meaningful reason for having a separate miniature apart from as terrain in a single scenario.

The set also includess Sam armed with Sting and the Phial of Galadriel, which is a miniature I'm not massively impressed with, as the face is a bit janky (on the other side) and there are quite large blocked in sections between the cloak and Sting.

I will probably stick with my original Sam for most purposes.

Am I happy to have finally added Shelob to my collection? Yes, but...in hindsight I might have been better off all round waiting for the almost certainly significantly more expensive plastic set, which would be easier to assemble, have clearer details and include a better version of Sam.

Ah well...

Acquired: -95

Painted: 524

Lead Mountain: 212

Take It To The Bridge

I've recently got hold of the December STLs for the Carnevale Tribe on MyMiniFactory and they've left me a touch confused.

There was another file for a street tiles, but it's circular. No idea how to use more than one of those. There are some pillars, but nothing for them to support.

This has meant that, for now, I've gone in a slightly different direction.

I decided that I'd have another play with printing a miniature, despite only having an FDM printer, and whilst I was printing that I would paint up the last of the four bridges I bought when I first got into Carnevale.

The character in question is a Black Lamp, mysterious figures charged by the Guild to carry enchanted lanterns that grant a degree of protection against the magic wielding factions.

Meanwhile, the bridge is the Ringhiera Bridge, a slightly more fancy affair than those I'd already painted.

I opted to try printing the Black Lamp as the sculpt did not feature a lot of extraneous detail (something FDM struggle with) as most of the model is swathed in a heavy robe.

I opted not to print the separate hand holding the lamp pole as there was no way it would print successfully, and so instead I raided the bolts box and found a hand holding a staff (from a Frostgrave wizard sprue) and a lantern and kitbashed a replacement. I also needed to replace the short blade that snapped during support removal.

Happy with my construction, I tidied up the rest of the model as well as possible so that you really have to get close to see issues and got painting.

It's pretty much all contrast paints over Ghoul Grey from Colorforge, with metallics picked out. I highlighted the skin and used Hexwraith Flame technical paint for the eldritch flame of the lantern.

All in all, I'm really pleased with how this came out and I'll be experimenting a bit more with printing some of the sturdier looking Rashaar sculpts.

The Ringhiera Bridge is a more ornate and fancy bridge and so I added more colour than the other bridges I've painted and included some good as well.

I think I'll use this near the bigger and more ornate buildings, helping to indicate a more wealthy area.

Only a little bit of progress, and as I had a bit of a splurge on Black Friday and picked up a few bits and pieces here and there, and with Christmas round the corner, I feel like I might be going a little bit backwards.

Acquired: -91

Painted: 522

Lead Mountain: 219

We Don't Need Another Hero

I've already painted two versions of Aragorn and Legolas, so why on Earth have I done another version each?

Well, a couple of reasons really.

The first is simple, I have the models. I still have about a dozen Lord of the Rings miniatures knocking about unpainted after I lost impetus when Matt ruined everything by drowning Frodo in a swamp.

To address this issue I've joined in another 'Tale of four...' series on Arbitorian's YouTube channel, with the aim of putting together a 500 point force for the newest version of the game, culminating in an event in February.

Looking at the motley assortment of heroes I have, I've decided that the best fit would be for me to paint up a 'Men of the West' list featuring Aragorn, Legolas, Gandalf, Merry, Pippin and a handful of Men of Rohan.

I'm not sure if I'll actually go to the event for several reasons: I don't actually own the newest version of the game (and don't intend to buy it); the event is in London; and I think this list is likely to be a bit rubbish.

This is a shame because otherwise there is absolutely no reason to have second cloaked version of Legolas.

At least he's painted.

There's a slightly stronger reason for having another Aragorn as this model is the armoured Battle of Helm's Deep version of the character.

I still intend to play through the Helm's Deep scenarios in the War in Rohan book, and so he will be useful then

The astute amongst you (which is both of you) will probably be aware that this is the wrong model for Aragorn at the Black Gate in the Men of the West list.

I don't care. He's incredibly unlikely to ever be used in that context and this flimsy excuse is getting things painted, which is something I need to do as I keep buying and printing new models.

Acquired: -94

Painted: 520

Lead Mountain: 218

The Big City

It makes sense that not every part of 18th century Venice is going to be filled with ornate, brightly coloured villas. There must be some poorer areas as there are in any city at any point in history.

My latest addition to my Venice board build does something about that.

I'm working on a basis of expanding my board as I go, and for each building I print, I am printing enough street tiles for it to stand on.

Technically, I could have go away with just printing two more this week, but four gives space for people to walk and fight.

The house itself comes from a designer called Terrain4Print and is actually a free sample pack (look for 'Italian Village' on the usual platforms) of STLs which include this piece, the 'medium' house, a shed, some walls and a 'big' house.

I've made a point about the size descriptors as this is a chunky building that eats a hefty amount of filament (the mind boggles as to how much the 'big' house uses), standing 5' off the street, and allowing 6" jumps if you chain jump off the chimney pot (this can be important in Carnevale).

It's not only a large building, but there's also a noticeable scale difference between this and the Hartolia Miniatures buildings I've already done, with this building being more in scale with the Carnevale range. 

However, it is a very serviceable building and I like the chipped plaster effect and smaller, less ornate windows, giving very much the impression of a poorer residence, or even boarding house.

The difference in style actually works to my advantage in dealing with the difference in scale as it doesn't make sense for these building to be side by side, so if I keep them apart on the board.

The doors are the biggest giveaway, so the yellow house could even go next to the new building as it's doors aren't that visible. I will have to keep it apart from the red building.

I'm not sure if I'll print anything else from the pack (maybe the shed), but I suspect that the next set of additions will allow me to put together a serviceable 2'x2' table.

Acquired: -98

Painted: 518

Lead Mountain: 216

A Plague On Both Your Houses

Work on expanding my Venice set up to a useable board for Carnevale continues with the addition of a second house, more street tiles and a couple of other surprises.

This printing lark is infectious.

The second house is from the same bundle of STL files I got from Hartolia Miniatures and is very much in the same style, only it's a single unit rather than two, and printed with a separate balcony, stepped porch and roofs.

I do like this building although scale issue with it being a little small is more noticeable than with the first house as the doors (which are the most telling feature) are much more visible.

Additionally, and frankly a bit weirdly, the fit of the parts was nowhere near as good and so gluing the piece together was much more awkward.

However, the balcony is a much more accessible feature than on the first model and the pitch of the roof is less precarious for models intent on attacking from on high.

I'm taking my lead on painting from the cardboard buildings that came in the starter box to try to capture the right feel, although I've gone for more pale grey than white on the stonework.

Additionally, I've done another four street tiles for it to sit on, which is causing Venice to expand and allowed me to start to add my MDF bridges to the set up.

As I was printing all of this. I came to the end of a roll of filament, and so, not wanting to waste it, I decided to print a barrel and a crate (found on the Bambu Handy App), which came out fine.

The top of the barrel was a bit plain, and so to add some visual interest I added a rat from one of the Frostgrave sprues I have knocking about.

The rat also added to a theme, given what else I printed.

This is a Plague Doctor I gained the files for from the Carnevale MyMiniFactory tribe. I wanted to experiment with whether my FDM printer should handle these files that were clearly designed for resin, and the answer was yes...to an extent.

There is a rather messy bit on the back of the cloak under the fold, and I cut off the lower part of the cane and replaced it (in fact I came close to replacing the whole hand). Also, the jack if a face and slightly ragged look helped out, along with the mainly black colour scheme.

However, the outcome was a pleasant surprise, especially as I'd had a bit of a disappointment with my subscription to the tribe.

On the MyMiniFactory page the November download included bases, which. In the advertising, look exactly like those I've been using. Obviously I thought this would be a great way to save money.

However, it turns out that the files are for bases that look nothing like those shown and I was a touch annoyed.

And yet, learning that I should be able to print at least some of the miniatures I get files for has softened me to this disappointmen, as has learning that the big building I got files for actually fits on my build plate.

I'm going to stick with the tribe as my version of Venice grows, but I'm going to keep a close eye on whether I feel like I'm getting value for money, which probably means at least two useable steps each month.

Acquired: -106

Painted: 513

Lead Mountain: 216

Night Terrors #2: Horror at the Drive In

After the first episode of the Night Terrors feature pack for 7TV, I was keen to get on with the second installment, and. As regular readers will be aware, made sure that I had everything I needed should the opportunity arise to get another game in.

Needless to say, the opportunity arose.

Whereas the first episode of alien artefacts and FBI cover ups was clearly inspired by films like E.T. and other 'kids on bikes' tales of youngsters in genuine peril from adult dangers, the second episode directly draws from the B-Movie horrors of the 1950s of the kind actually being shown at the drive in.

Strap in for an all out creature feature.

The story picks up with the captured alien being transported by Operation Blacklight to a secure location.

Unfortunately, as the motorcade passed the Moonlight Drive In, the aliens psychic emanations latch on to the heightened emotions of dating teens at an all night monster movie marathon, causing the celluloid horrors to crawl out of the screen to attack.

The terrified teens subjected to this attack were as follows:

Lisa Armstrong, straight A student (star)

Troy Bryers, high school quarterback (co-star)

Albert Jefferson, Drive-In manager (co-star)

Vincent Ash, rebel without a cause (extra)

Kimberley McKenna, Cheerleader leader (extra)

Lori Reynolds, outcast new girl (extra)

6 Teenage Moviegoers (extras)

Any resemblance to teen characters appearing in other sci-fi or monster related franchises is entirely due to the limits of my miniature collection.

The movie monsters would appear in each act as different films appeared on the silver screen and disgorged their villains into the drive in.

Human Fly (co-star)

3 Giant Flies (extras)

3 Giant Maggots (extras)

2 Clouds of Flies (extras)

Giant Ant Queen (co-star)

2 Giant Soldier Ants (extras)

3 Giant Worker Ants (extras)

A Gigantic Spider would be superimposed in layer during post-production through the use of specialist Finale cards.

ACT ONE - Frankenfly (1956)

Screams ring out across the drive-in as huge mutated flies and maggots start emerging from the screen, shortly followed by the movie's villain: the human-fly hybrid, Frankenfly.

Whilst some run in panic, and others fail to notice due to being 'otherwised engaged' in their cars, some of the teenage patrons are perplexed by the creatures, especially the human-fly hybrid, asking each other if it's just the janitor in a mask.

Meanwhile, as others stand dumbstruck, quick-thinking valedictorian and 'girl most likely to leave this dump of a town', Lisa, immediately realises that she needs to shut down the projector and rushes to the managers office to take action.

New girl, Lori, spots Lisa and, recognising someone with a plan, follows.

Over in the centre of the lot a furious melee erupts. Top jock, Troy, and bad boyy Concentrate in the thick of the action, whilst Kimberley back flips into the fight.

Lisa reaches Mr Jefferson who explains that she needs to use his keys to turn off the projector at the fusebox.

Lisa grabs the keys and runs. Seeing the weird new girl in front of her, she tosses the keys to her shouting extremely clear instructions in the manner that won her the inter-state debating competition. Twice.

Surprised to be even acknowledged, let alone included by the high and mighty Lisa Armstrong, Lori grabs the keys and runs, yanking open the fusebox and ripping out everything she can.

The image on the screen briefly flickers and dies, the mutant flies start to fade and a smug. Self-satisfied smile starts to form on Lisa's perfectly formed face until there's a whirring sound and the picture returns.

Mr Jefferson shouts, "it's the back up generator! Behind the diner!"

Realising they are fighting a losing battle, Vincent, Troy and several others behind to back away from the mutated flies. Unfortunately, Vincent's date, regretting being impressed by his leather jacket, falls behind and is literally swarmed to death.

Frustrated, Lisa spots that preening pom-pom (but admittedly athletic), Kimberley McKenna, and the very, very muscular (concentrate Lisa!) Troy heading for the diner and formulates a new plan.

"New girl. Lori, isn't it? Get the keys to the jocks. They'll move quicker than us."

ACT TWO - Atomic Mandible Massacre (1954)

As one horror come to an end, a new one begins, and giant ants begin to scuttle out of the screen.

More teenagers succumb to the swarm whilst Vincent, wielding his dad's gun, starts popping slow moving maggots.

Having took instructions surprisingly well from the weird new girl, Kimberley flips into action, taking the keys as fast as she can to the generator.

Always able to read a play, Troy sees what is happening and acknowledging that he's not currently calling the shots, and goes long behind the diner.

Back in the car park 'Troy's date' (that's all she's credited as) is overwhelmed by the mutated flies.

However, as the creatures devour the unfortunate spandex-clad eye-candy, the are distracted long enough for Vincent to squeeze off two shots, blowing the head of the hybrid apart.

Nevertheless, the Ant Queen and her brood. Acting with inhuman intelligence, we're already on the move.

Lisa finds herself beset by swarms of flies but fends them off with clever use of her hairspray and a lighter.

In case anyone asks, she found the lighter on the floor. It definitely wasn't hers, mom.

After turning off the back-up generator only to find that the monsters were still coming, Troy goes into hero mode, grabs the keys off Kimberley and makes a run for the fuel store. Intent on burning the screen.

However, he runs straight into an ambush laid by the Ant Queen, almost as if she knew what he would do.

Suddenly, a cartwheeling vision in red somersaults into the fray, stamping on the head of one ant and cheering, as she had done many times before for Troy to go all the way (at least that was the rumour).

With well practiced skill, Troy slipped his guard and made a dash for the end zone...erm...I mesn fuel store.

ACT THREE - Night of the Death Weaver (1958)

The film now changes again, the screen lit by an ethereal light not emanating from the projection tower and massive spider's legs behind to emerge.

Even the ants and flies briefly stop to stare in horror.

But not the malevolent malice of the Ant Queen, who chases Troy down like a six-limbed linebacker and dragging him down, the keys sent sprawling into the long grass.

The girls find themselves cornered, but rather than falling into helpless despair as the femme fatales in the movies, the spirit of sisterhood kicks in and they employ every means at their disposal (sarcasm, hair flicks, side-eye, cutting insults and death stares) to kick some ant ass.

But the Queen's rampage continues and as Kimberley and Lori fall, Lisa finds herself as literally the final girl and prepares to fight for her life.

But suddenly, the creatures all around her begin to shimmer and fade. Unbeknownst to Lisa the cause of these horrid events has moved out of range, saving her and a few others, but taking the horror on to a new location.

A distraught Lisa limps over to her new friends and checks to see in they are still breathing.

Roll credits.

***

That was a really fun and engaging game. The asymmetric objectives made for a fun challenge and although I'm not entirely sure that completing the task of reaching four objectives and burning the screen is doable in only seven turns, the final result was very close, with only a point in it.

I liked the staggered arrival of enemies themed to different films and handling the spider through finale cards was clever.

The next episode sees us rejoining Teddy Tucker as he makes it to his school where the roleplaying club are for some reason still there after midnight and things take a decidedly fantastical turn.