Without giving too many spoilers away as to the plot, the second episode features a range of creepy crawlies of varying sizes, including fly swarms and maggots, something that I do not have in my collection.
Until now...
I spent a little bit of time online looking a STLs for 3d printing, and although there are some good options out there, I'm loath to send money when I'm not sure that a file will work with my printer.
I did find some options, but before handing over money I had a think about other options such as buying cheap toy flies and maggots, using green stuff and so on.
And then inspiration hit me...
I remembered that I still had a load of Cybermats from the Warlord Games Cyberman sprues I put together years ago.
I've never used them because I'm not that much of a Doctor Who fan to need loads, I already have a metal Cybermat which looks very different and I'd half though about using them as proxy scarabs in a Necron army for 40k.
However, I realised that I could easily use the Cybermat as maggots with a different paint job, and, spotting that some didn't have bases, I figured I could try to turn them into swarms.
A gentle bit of drilling and the insertion of a metal rod allowed me to get three 'flies to a base' (three is a swarm, right?). I've gone with smaller bases as it serves the double purpose of not requiring too many flies whilst also meeting the profile card rules that use a 3" template which assumes a smaller base.
Black contrast paint, gloss varnish, red eyes and ivory 'teeth' was the limit of my painting here, and then I used small sections of plastic bag (the bit at the bottom with a crease already put in) and glued them to the flies backs.
To my mind, these are quick and cheap options for something that I'm actually likely to use just once.
The maggots took even less work. A coat of Gulliman Flesh contrast paint, dryprushed with a cream paint (I used Wraith one) and then putting the contrast paint back over the mouth parts and they were done with a coat of gloss varnish to make them slimy.
I went with two per base to make them more visible, a factor that cause me to change course in terms of basing. I was intending to use a more scrubland basing material, but the pink maggots would have totally disappeared into it.
Another factor I need to consider is that the scenario needs quite a lot of unarmed teenagers. I'm not actually sure if I have enough, and I don't want to use my Walking Dead miniatures again as they don't mix well within casts due to basing and bulkyness.
Therefore I went looking for miniatures I could use, and found this temporal traveller's assistant from Crooked Dice, which fit the bill. As I don't own the correct Doctor to accompany Jo Grant (I don't even know which one it is), I seen no problem using her as a generic ternager. I've based the colour scheme on Shannon Doherty's character, Heather, from Heathers, which I felt would give her an eighties vibe.
I've also had this chap part painted for a long time, as he came with one of my original casts for 7TV. The rest of the cast were British police officers and I felt that he didn't quite fit with my Juliet Bravo theme, despite clearly being a reference to The Sweeney.
I'm not sure if he'll get used in Night Terrors, but I can see him popping up in future storylines.
I'm pleased with my problem solving on this one. Obviously there are better models out there, but these will serve more than adequately for the next scenario, haven't cost me anything and have used up some bits I had no real plan for.
Acquired: 119
Painted: 484
Lead Mountain: 232*
*I can't remember if I counted the Cybermat as individual models when I first tallied the Lead Mountain, but I'm assuming I did. I'm planning on doing a recount over Christmas anyway as I'm pretty sure that after several years my numbers are wrong.
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