VMF Member: Wild Child

Continuing with my Villain Mission Force theme, last night I re-painted Omega Flight member Wild Child. This guy's limited power set (regeneration, heightened agility and senses) makes him an ideal second (or even third) tier villain. Ever since his first appearance in Alpha Flight number 1 I've loved this character, and so using him in a game would be awesome!

I am very happy with how the paint job turned out!









And here's a shot of him going against Mr. Hyde (good luck with that, Wild Child):



Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

Marvel Villain Mission Force

I love DC Comics' Suicide Squad; I've been a fan since its second incarnation began in the late 1980's. I once ran a Silver Age Sentinels campaign that mimicked the Squad's setup: a group of super-villains get recruited by the government to go on dangerous missions in exchange for the commutation of their sentences. Many of them did not live long enough to enjoy freedom. Some liked the missions so much they stayed on.

Anyway, I thought it might be cool to run a Marvel version of this. I know they're sort of doing this now with Thunderbolts, but at this point I have little use for the Bendis-verse and its overwhelming post-modern cynicism. I'd rather set the adventures back in the late 1970's - 1980's when my own comic fandom was at its zenith. What rules should I use? Well, I think BASH UE will work just fine for this. Author Chris Rutkowsky strikes just the right tone with his rules. They possess plenty of depth while still allowing for easy character generation, and they're miniature friendly.

So the premise will be Villain Mission Force, where a cadre of lesser villains is recruited by a shadowy benefactor to go on missions to take out generally bad people, or destroy high-value targets. So the team might be sent to take out a fellow super-villain, a sadistic dictator, or something else entirely. I'll borrow from the old Serpent Society concept and have the VMF use the Vanisher to grab a villain from prison if he or she agrees to the offer of mission service for freedom.

I also envision the game itself as episodic in nature, a series of loosely connected one-shots where players might not always play the same villain from session to session (but they could if they wanted to). In this way, the VMF uses differing line-ups to confuse anyone who might want to trace them back to their source.

My goal would be to get a bunch of Heroclix figures and re-paint them to use for the game, thus providing my players with a pool of villains to pick from. Each villain would get a BASH character sheet that would include some shirt pocket notes on how he ought to be role-played, and the players can take it from there.

To start myself off I delved into my smallish collection of Heroclix and re-painted two of my favorites: Constrictor and Mr. Hyde.

Here they are:













Mr. Hyde touches the upper edge of what I might consider "lesser" super-villains. He's pretty strong by super standards (lift/press 50 tons according to the OHOTMU), but he's never been terribly successful or dangerous. The closest he's come to being major is almost nuking NYC (you should track this story down in the immortal TPB Captain America: War And Remembrance) and participating in the gang-up beating of a drunken Hercules. I think he passes the eye test for this. Constrictor is exactly what I am looking for. Gimmick costume, looks cool, checkered, almost anti-hero past. Just as an example of a villain who I consider too powerful or major for this VMF, I would say Blastaar. Another obvious one would be Kang.

The other issue is the figure. The character must have an at least passable 'Clix figure for him. It's weird, I think many of the older sets are better than the current ones, on the whole. The new machine sculpting creates strange scale issues and some unfortunate minis. That's not to say that there are not some great new 'Clix coming out, but I just find the scale and quality to be very uneven now.

Anyway, if you have some suggestions for the VMF, fire away! Remember, the 'Clix has to be salvageable for inclusion in the project. Figures I already have on my painting table for re-working are:

• Boomerang
• Wild Child
• Owl
• Trapster
• Sabertooth

Stiltman (need to get the figure!) is another one who comes to mind that fits perfectly. Let me know some other names!

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

Off The Shelf: Re-Purposed Pre-Paints

I get a lot of use out of re-purposed and re-painted Mage Knight and Hero Clix figures.

Today's post will show off a few of my favorites.

Here's a re-painted Mage Knight figure I've used for games of Dark Heresy; he/she would also work well for fantasy games:







And here's a shot of a DC Clix Parademon:



I need to get more of these guys as they make awesome sci-fi or fantasy henchmen!



Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

A China Town Diversion

While rooting in one of my unpainted minis bins I found a cool China Town figure I had forgotten about. Sort of feral looking, I thought I'd paint him up for future RPG use, and so here he is!









Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

Big Dred Konversion: Finished!

Here he is! Not as big as I might have liked, but I am extremely happy with the finished product!











And here's a comp shot with the other stock Dred:



For a complete rundown of my Space Ork related projects, check here.

Now to get some more Boyz done!

--Scott

Spacer Conversion

Following up on some other sci-fi stuff I've done of late, I worked on a conversion over the past weekend that involved a Star Wars plastic miniature body and a metal head from the Aegis sci-fi ganger head pack. The body comes from a Rodian that was part of the SW Anniversary set WotC put out a few years back. They had square bases instead of round.

When I do this sort of a conversion I am always creating a model I would want as a character in a role-play game. In this case, this guy would be for a Bulldogs game, but he would also make an excellent scum for Dark Heresy. The Bulldogs rules allow you to start with a Companion, so I included a cool Reaper robot figure as this guy's right-hand man.









I went with a weird ganger tattoo on his face for some extra character.



Of course, I had to add a knife. What self-respecting space adventurer would find himself without a close combat weapon when his blaster charges run out?

And here's a comp shot with yesterday's Acheson Saurian:



Thanks for visiting the site!

--Scott

Acheson Creations Sci-Fi Lizardman

My recent review of the FATE-based sci-fi RPG Bulldogs for Play Unplugged has got me digging into my sci-fi backlog again.

Way back in June of this year I attended Origins and had the pleasure of perusing the Acheson Creations booth--what a treasure trove of miniature goodness! Intent upon spreading my money around, I only bought one pack from the booth, the Saurian Combat Squad. At six 28mm figures for $6, they're a a steal! The sculpting might be a bit rough in spots, but the details on these figures are sharp and when I painted my first one yesterday, I was very pleased with the results!

Acheson offers a host of other sci-fi miniatures at great prices. Some really unique stuff that would come in handy in any sci-fi RPG or skirmish game. Here are some pics of my first Saurian:







And here's a comp shot with a 28mm Blue Moon alien figure:



I'll try to knock a few more of these guys so I can use them as minion squad in Bulldogs or some other sci-fi game.

Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah to all folks out there celebrating the holidays! I can't believe we've logged another solid year on the blog, and I am very thankful for all of my visitors and followers!

--Scott

A Clerical Christmas Present!

I love painting models to use as Christmas presents. This year I did not do as much as in years past, but I did do this great Reaper Sun-Priest for my buddy, Jeff. Jeff plays 4th ed. D&D and has run various characters, but never a cleric. I figure when it comes time for him to don the vestments and dish out the healing for some future campaign, this model will come in very handy!







It's funny how if you keep your eyes open, you can always learn something new from other painters. Carrie Posing, an artist friend of mine, is also a fine miniature painter. A few days back she showed me some stuff she was doing, and her color choices of blue and orange really wowed me. I thought this sun priest model would be a perfect chance for me to try the combo for myself.

I'm very pleased with the results, and I hope Jeff will be too!

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

Big Dred Konversion

I'm doing a Dred Mob Apocalypse formation for my Ork force, and today I've got pics of the unpainted konversion ready to show off!



I gave this model a slight height increase while building by adding some tread bits to the bottoms of its feat. It will stand a head or so taller than the standard, stock GW Dred.





The Kustom Force Field (KFF) generator has been magnetized for easy removal and storage.

Here's a look at the mounting area for the KFF:



And the KFF Generator:



Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

Nobody Asked Me, But....

Being an irregular collection of some random thoughts on gaming...

• It's amazing how a big, group-style event can galvanize a crew of hobbyists into action. When my buddy Andrew Lotz helped our shop, the Phantom of the Attic, become a part of the World's Largest 40K Game, folks seemed to catch 40K fever. It's spread like wildfire, and an Ork Waagh the likes of which Pittsburgh has not seen since the days of the GW Battle Tours is assembling at speed. More Dakka than you might imagine will be brought to bear on the hapless Imperials! Well, that's the plan, anyway!

• Since the Skullhamma is done, I will now focus on buffing my basic Ork Boyz unit up to 29, and adding a 4th Dreadnought to complete a Dred Mob formation. Working on that this week and I will have a post with pics of him (unpainted) up soonish.

• Been reading Bulldogs, a FATE based sci-fi RPG from Galileo Games. Great sci-fi game, and a nice, clean implementation of FATE. I may try at least a one-off of this to see how I like this implementation. It uses FUDGE dice and follows Spirit of the Century more closely than most recent FATE offerings. It's got lots of cool aliens (plus you can make your own), and includes a race of vile little furry guys who look lie teddy bears, but are cruel, lascivious, and violent. Fun! Since I use minis in most of my non-White Wolf gaming, I would need something to model these guys. I was thinking these 15mm Khurasan minis might work:

• The above 15mm Bears should be big enough to serve as 28mm teddy bears! May have to place an order after the holiday rush subsides.

• I may have a chance to play the latest version of Mage at some point in the new year, and that makes me very happy! I've run Mage before, years ago, and I have not had a chance to play the latest version. My only issue, the rule book uses some weird fonts that are tough to read. I wish WW would fix that.

• Picked up a practically brand new copy of Hero 5th ed. the other day. Something about that big, black book just really appeals to me. Published in 2002, Hero 5th revived the then moribund franchise, and if you're willing to put the front-end time in to master the system, allows you to do literally anything. Sad that the current issues at Hero Games have lead to the departure of Steve Long and Darren Watts, two creative giants in the RPG biz. If I do anything with it I would likely run some kind of one-off cliffhangers or pulp game. Something low-powered.

• Got most of my holiday shopping done. Still a few choice items left to buy. Gamers are really easy folks to buy for if you know their interests! Spouses and significant others who are not gamers, OTOH, are a whole other ball game!

That's all for now--hope to have some pics of a converted Dred Boss later this week. Maybe a few other surprises in the meantime!

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

Off The Shelf: Kustom 'Ard Boyz

I made this unit about 2.5 years ago. There are 12 all together, and each one required about 3 hours of work. They combine parts from the plastic Black Orcs and plastic Black Reach Orks.

I've tidied up their bases for the big game coming on 1/21/12.

Pictured here are the Nob and one member of the 12 boy unit.









Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

Please, Skullhamma, Don't Hurt 'Em!

Pardon the MC Hammer reference. Could not resist.

Yesterday I had some time to get some paint on the Skullhamma. Now at least I can field it, and I may "tune" the paint and weathering up some over the next few weeks.















Next I'll tune up some of my older Ork paint jobs and basing for the game.

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott