Channel Hopping

Do you ever have that feeling when you can't decide what to watch? You end up jumping about from channel to channel, never really focusing on anything.

Do you ever have that feeling with miniature painting projects? This blog is clear evidence that I do.

Do you ever have that feeling with regard to miniature painting projects related to TV and film for 7TV? Well...

I woke thim morning with no real focus for my painting and so decided to turn my attention to a variety of individual models related (in different ways) to 7TV, if not necessarily related to each other.

First up are a cheerleader and road sign I got as stretch goals for hacking the Night Terrors feature pack campaign. I've not really paid much attention to this so far as I'm still trying to source a cheap train and track for the second scenario of Vlad's Army.

The cheerleader is a typically clean sculpt from Crooked Dice as really easy to paint. The trickiest part was trying to pick out the raised lettering on her jersey, although this is because it's small as the words are actually really well defined, especially given that it's a metal model.

I liked painting the sign (I got a similar one with 7TV: Pulp) although I did have to mend it as the supports were snapped. Fortunately, as it's 3d printed in resin, super glue does the job really quickly. However, it's quite fragile, so I'll have to be careful with it.

This model was also a freebie with a Kickstarter campaign, but this time for the 80s supplement - this explaining the outfit.

The model is very clearly based off of Kelly Lebrock in Weird Science, although I forgot that she was meant to be wearing leggings and so, amazingly, I've managed to objectify her more than the film did.

I have absolutely no idea what I would use this model got, but as I've based her on asphalt (she's holding a basketball, grass would have made no sense) she might find herself in zombie or superhero scenarios as a bizarrely scantily clad civilian.

Yet another Kickstarter freebie (I think this one was with the launch of 3rd edition) is this director, that might possibly be meant to be Steven Spielberg.

Despite really liking this miniature and enjoying painting him, I genuinely have no idea how I would use him.

Crooked Dice have a habit of producing characters and macguffun tokens that are linked to film and TV production and in theory I could build a group of miniatures that could sit off to the side of games of 7TV.

It would be quite meta.

The final miniature is the Irma Kraangdroid from the 2012 version of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, in which April O'Neil's school friend is revealed to be a alien inside an impossibly large robotic disguise.

This is clearly a riff on the appearance of Kraang in the classic 1980s cartoon, even though the 2012 series went a very different route in the portrayal of the Kraang as an invading force rather than an individual character.

The model is a Heroclix sculpt I've had for a long time. I opted to just tidy up the existing paint work rather than do a full repaint mainly because the glasses are much better than it could ever manage myself.

I've quite enjoyed painting a few random bits, and this little collection has reminded me how much I enjoy painting Crooked Dice sculpts, and I probably need to restock my supply at some point.

Acquired: -124

Painted: 473

Lead Mountain: 244

Distractingly Sexy

I'm off to another 7TV even in Darley Dale in November. This one has been named 'Open University' and so this seemed like an excellent opportunity to break out my Mad Science cast and deliver a lecture in whupass.

However, I needed to add to my cast as this event will be at 40 ratings, and so I present the newest intern in the Faculty of Cryptobiology and Pseudoscience, Russian exchange student, Ivana Benderova.

I should really explain that the post title and the rather hideously inappropriate pun are both references to the rather foolish comments of Nobel prize winner Tim Hunt at a conference in Korea in 2915 (I think) and the subsequent Twiiter storm in response.

The model itself is a now out of production Crooked Dice miniature which was part of their not-Doctor Who range which was pulled when Warlord Games got the official licence. It's a very good likeness of Karen Gillan as Amy Pond, but as I already have Amy in her police uniform, I figured I wouldn't need a second. The long coat doubles very well as a lab coat.

As an added bonus I've tried to paint her with a nod towards Gwen Stacy as played by Emma Stone in 'The Amazing Spiderman' so that I can use her in my Marvel games (I did have a notion to paint her as Mary-Jane anyway.

She'll be joining what I'm now referring to as the 'Lost Faculty', a group of scientists engaged in projects that are so cutting edge, they are regularly drenched in blood.

The faculty is led by Proffessor von Schteppyonde, the world's leading expert in mutagenics and pink goop. He is ably assisted by: Dr Connor Kurtz, Herpetologist; Dr Alban Vladislav, Pain Management; Sylvia Smother, HR; Bob the Janitor. They are accompanied on their lecture tours by their most successful experiments, including 'Ze Vurm'.

As I needed to add a few more ratings, Baxter Stockman will be a guest lecturer in robotics and non-terrestrial technology, but will be using a different profile than his TMNT card.

You will be able to get a copy of the revision notes  for their lecture tour in a few weeks time.

Acquired: 190

Painted: 179

Board For Brum (Part 3)

And so it came time to pack up my cast and my board and drive down to Board in Brum, a great little gaming store in Walsall, or the day itself. Once there I preceded to set up my section of New York City.

I’d decided that there needed to be a bit more cover in the middle of the table, and so I took along a few more vehicles and set up a bit of an accident with a spilled load in the middle of the crossroads.

Whilst I was doing this, others were arriving and setting up their own dizzying array of boards, with themes that included spy-fi, post-apocalypse, gothic horror and even Action Force.

Take a look at these...

And then came the games.

Mike, who organised the event had set up a storyline based in the studios of Barron Productions in which each game featured special rules that reflected Sidney Barron’s lack of investment. Lights on the blink, a labour dispute and food poisoning in the catering van would all have an effect on roceedings.

On top of this, we were all given slogans for popular consumer brands in the 70s and had to force them into the game with gratuitous product placement in order to gain the benefit of additional plot points.

All of this silliness in the studios set the scene for each of us to develop our own narrative throughout the day. We didn’t even have to worry too much about who won or lost as there were no prizes for such meaningless concepts as victory.

Therefore, I present my TMNT spin-off mini-series...

FOOT SOLDIERS

Episode 1: Hostile Takeover

Having had an agent in deep cover in Baxter Stockmsn’s former employers, TCRI, Shredder became aware of the company’s further experimentation with trans-dimensional mutagen, and decided to break in to steal their secrets, and enable him to generate a horde of hybridised monstrosities to flood the sewers and finish off the Turtles once and for all.

However, having discovered the Foot’s infiltration, Dugo Hrax, the CEO of TCRI  decided that not only did he want the spy killed, but he also sought to use the Foot Clan as a test of his latest creation...the Apetopus!

As Hrax looked on from above the action, Foot Clan ninjas swept out of their dojo and down the street towards TCRI.

However, they apparent ‘accident’ in the road was a trap and a monstrous primate-cephalopod hybrid slithered it’s way across the wreckage towards them, followed by SMG toting minions that unleashed a barrage of fire that ended Steve, the ninja who’d been undercover in TCRI’s HR department.

Undeterred, the ninjas swept forwards and shuriken whipped through the air, dropping minions left right and centre.

The minion commander found himself suddenly attack from the rear by Baxter Stockman’s Mousers. As they were powered by Energizer Batteries, they kept going and going until he was dead.

Meanwhile, Shredder leapt fearlessly into the fray with the Apetopus...well...fearlessly until he got close to the tentacular terror and despite using an ancient sushido choke move to temporarily incapacitate the beast, his caution prevented him getting too close to finish it off.

Determined to record the Apetopus’ performance accurately, and also because he minion bodyguards had just been killed by well placed exploding eggshell, Hrax used his jet-brogues to hover down for a closer look, and was delighted to see the octopoid-baboon regenerate its wounds and seek to engulf Shredder.

However, the Master of the Foot Clan eventually mastered his fear and sliced and diced the creature into something resembling a bush-tucker trial, leaving nothing to stop the Foot entering the TCRI research labs.

However, Hrax has seen all he needed to see and after a few parting shots, jetted off to refine his Apetopus formula for future applications.

Episode 2: The Splinter Cell

Having infiltrated TVCI, Baxter Stockman wastes no time in locating the mutagenic samples he would need to unleash formless spawn into the sewers, and the Foot Clan were on their way out of the labs with their prize.

Suddenly, figured seemed to flow out of the shadows ahead of them. Shredder recognised them as agents of SHIVA, a worldwide secret organisation the Foot Clan has once been part of, and they were led by non other than Kali, the Daughter of Death.

Ninjas swept forwards towards Kali. It seemed impossible that they’d be able to defeat SHIVA’s most deadly assassin, but as their Adidas sneakers flashed briefly on screen, Shredder shouted to remind them that impossible is nothing.

However, it turned out that impossible was actually something and they both died, leaving  the two martial arts masters facing each other.

The titanic showdown never came, as Shredder saw that his ninjas were outgunned and in what can only be described as a Jedi-leap, pounced on the SHIVA minions and began to slaughter them.

Meanwhile, Baxter Stockman was lurking behind machiney keeping the mutagen safe, but found himself attacked out of nowhere by Kali’s acolyte, who made short work of the mutated scientist and took the deadly research.

Realising that they were being out-ninja’d, the Foot Clan began to back away.

Any attempt to fight back saw them cut down.

This left Shredder isolated, and as he closed on the final minion, he was struck from behind by Kali and left for dead. The agents of SHIVA made off with their prize, certain to wreak more havoc with it than just flushing amphibians out of the sewers.

Episode 3: Foot Race

Shredder and his men woke up in a cargo container somewhere in the mid-west. Emerging into the light, Shredder realised that Kali had planned a fate worse than death for him as he looked to horizon and saw that SHIVA had unleashed a gibberish horde of Apetopi in heart of America that were even now slithering towards the Foot.

They would have to run!

What’s more, the Turtles had been on the trail of the missing Foot Clan, and Shredder could see their hated green forms closing in. And yet they too were were now facing the same Apetopocalypse.

The day could still be a success if Shredder could feed his mortal enemies to the advancing horde whilst saving himself.

Baxter Stockman buzzed to the roof of a diner, reached into his pocket and used a device that encased Michaelangelo in a bubble of energy that plunged him back towards the gibberish horde.

Aware he could not outrun his fate, Mikey decided to sell his life dearly, and with a defiant ‘Cowabunga!’ disappeared amongst the tentacles.

Meanwhile, Shredder and the ninjas were running for their lives when one of the ninjas tripped over a fuel can, spilling gasoline everywhere and bringing the other ninjas down on top of him.

An exasperated Shredder turned and shouted, “What are you waiting for? A Polaroid picture? All you have to do is keep up with me. It’s a simple!”

At that moment a loose katana scraped on a stone, creating a spark that ignited the gas and set all of the ninjas’ robes on fire. In the ensuing panic, all of the ninjas fled back towards the encroaching Apetopi and were lost...although the air was filled with the pleasant smell of fried calamari.

Aware they were being tracked, the remaining Turtles flung a variety of missiles in BCter’s direction, but none of them hit.

Shredder and his remaining henchmen closed in on their quarry and took down some of the Turtles companions from the local police force.

Baxter Stockman saw an opportunity to take out another Turtle and spat acid at a departing Raphael.

Furious at this and the loss of his brother, the notoriously bad-tempered amphibian halted his flight to deliver a solid beating to Baxter Stockman, leaving the scientist at mercy of the Apetopocalypse.

Only Shredder, the three remaining Turtles and Channel 6 reporter April O’Neil made it to safety. At least she’d been filming and now had a story for tonight’s show!

THE END

And that was it. A great day’s gaming where the focus was more on the gaming than being gamey, which is as it should be.

A quick shout out to my opponents Andy, Alistair and Matt for fantastic games, to Simon and Mike whose excellent boards I played on, to everyone else for being really friendly, to Wayne for bringing a lucky dip of miniatures for everyone who took part (the tally is now: Painted 6 - Acquired 9), to Simon and Jez at Board in Brum for hosting an excellent day, and especially to Mike for organising such a fantastic event.

The next one is in September. I’ll definitely be there.

Board For Brum (Part 1)

I’m off to a 7TV tournament in a couple of weeks, although I use the term ‘tournament’ loosely, as 7TV seems designed to obstruct overtly competitive types with random silliness. 

It’s being held at Board in Brum in Birmingham, which is not somewhere I’ve been before, and it’s their second 7TV event. They have a really nice feature of asking participants to take along a terrain board (if they want to) which matches their cast.

I’m taking my Foot Clan along, and so I shall also be taking along my urban terrain and may. Although my simplistic terrain won’t really match up to some of the outstanding boards I saw photos of at the last event, it’s a good excuse to finish off some jobs that I’ve been putting off for a long time, such as this...

Yes, I know you’ve seen it before and it was assembled and painted years ago at the start of my journey into the Batman Miniatures Game, but if you look closely, you’ll nitcive something has changed...

Yep, I’ve finally painted the steps and railings. I’ve kept things simple to fit with the flat, comic book feel that I did the other buildings in. I decided to go with black railings as it evokes cast iron which is more transferable through the different eras I use this building for.

I’ve also painted the holes on the chimney pots, which was something else I’d inexplicably not done, and reglued the back wall on the top floor, as it was beginning to come away.

Along with the building, I’ve done the first of a couple of jobs to make my board a little more TMNT specific.

This is a BMG billboard that originally had a Vicki Vale radio show design etched into the mdf. However, try as I might I could never get the poster to look right as the colours alway faded into the mdf.

Cue today and a much simpler approach. Paint it black and stick a printed poster over it!

TCRI (or Techno-Cosmic Research Institute) are a nefarious company that feature in several iterations of the Turtles. I know them best from the 2012 animated series, where TCRI are the front company for the Krang invasion of Earth.

Sadly, I made a bit of a mistake when sticking the printout to the billboard and it’s a little off centre. I couldn’t change it as I discovered today that if you use pva to bond paper to mdf, it bonds instantly. It looks fine but it will annoy me. 

There are a couple more small jobs I want to do to the table to ‘Turtle it up’ a bit before the event at the end of January.

I forgot to mention my painting tally last week. This is part of my resolution to paint more than I acquire and with the three tanks and these two terrain pieces (I’m counting the stairs railings and chimney as one ‘model’) my tally currently stands at:

Acquired: 0

Painted: 5

That’s a good started, but I’m going to have to pick up the pace because something happened last week that is going to upset the apple cart very early in proceedings. I’ll give more details in a few weeks, but I will say that it’s not my fault.9

Small Victories

I’m currently trying to get on top of a miniature backlog that has grown somewhat over the past six months, and so getting some small victories and easy wins seems the order of the day.

And victories don’t come much smaller than these guys...

They are Mousers, the robotic servitors of Baxter Stockman in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and they are a custom sculpt that I believe might have been a limited run. I was lucky enough to hear about them at the right time.

In terms of painting, they were incredibly simple and the bases actually took more work, which wasn’t much.

In terms of 7TV, the Mousers serve as a good fillets for my Foot Clan, instead of random scientists and bystanders, as they are economical with plot points (they get a free move if they don’t activate), and surprisingly fast (they can get to almost anywhere on the board as a special action), which makes them good as objective grabbers or an ambusing force.

Although these particular models are probably not still available, Greebo Miniatures do a not-Mouser in their not-Turtles range, and Heroclix have mousers in varying numbers which would be perfectly acceptable. However, neither of these are massively cheap options for large numbers of Mousers as Greebo have prices to match the quality of their range, and the Heroclix Mousers are rare, which adds to the cost. Nevertheless, if you only want a couple, then either will serve well.

Mentors, Mutants and Masked Vigilantes

Continuing in the spirit of finishing things off, I’ve completed almost all of the batch of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles miniatures I picked up just after Christmas.

The models are all Heroclix sculpts as most of the characters are fairly hard to find proxies for. Also, Heroclix, even if ordered from across the pond, are cheap as chips and, for the most part, decent models hidden under ropey paint jobs.

As such, I have simply tidied up the paint work on these four and thrown a wash over them.

Yes, I’m lazy. But I’m my opinion, it works.

Of the four, Splinter is probably the model I’m least happy with. This is mainly because, as ever, these photos jave down up some bits I’ve missed, such as the toes and trim of the robe which I’m going to have to revisit. However, it’s also a bit of an odd model.

I actually bought a Splinter proxy some time ago from TT Combat’s Rumbleslam range. Unfortunately, I’d never seen the miniatures in the flesh and, quite frankly, it is massive, about the size of a GW Black Orc.

There are actually plenty of alternatives for Splinter out there. Obviously there are probably Skaven options amongst the GW back catalogue, but I can’t be bothered tracking them down, Greebo Miniatures do a couple of excellent, if expensive, versions, and Mantic have a suspiciously Splinter-like coach amongst their Dreadball range.

However, for the moment I’ll simply tidy up the missed bits and be happy with what I have.

Rocksteady and Bebop, the Shredder’s loyal, if stupid, minions are quite characterful miniatures. If I have a complaint about these two, it’s the fact that they are small, my Turtles tower over them. However, in the 80’s cartoon, they weren’t big and they are only extras in the 7TV rules and so shouldn’t be too imposing as they won’t last long against the heroes in a half-shell.

Again, Greebo Miniatures do two impressive sculpts for Rocksteady and Bebop, and certainly Rocksteady is big enough to be given the large trait in 7TV. If I’m feeling flush at some point, I might place an order with Greebo, however, pricey models, shipping costs from Poland (I think) and the fact that my TMNT casts aren’t really in regular use, might mean that this will some time in the future.

The vigilante, Casey Jones, is the model that there are most potential alternatives for out there. Hockey-mask wearing thugs are quite popular and easy to find, however, seeing as I was buying the other, more specialist, models, I figured it wouldn’t hurt to spend another pound.

As it happens, Casey is probably the one of the four I’m most happy with and which required least tidying up.

And so both my Turtles and Foot Clan casts are complete...well, almost...

I have the Krang to consider. I still have a model for Warlord Krang to paint, however, I will probably wait until I have something to use as the Krang Droids...Necrons or Terminators (based to match my TMNT stuff) are probably most likely, I just need to work out a way to put Krang aliens in their bellies.