Miniatures Finished - 16/03/19

In addition to painting new miniatures, I've also been through some of my older ones, making repairs and touching up the paint jobs now that I'm a little better at painting than I was when I started this project.

Union Jack: Originally completed for games of 1949 Secrets of the Third Reich, Union Jack came out for use in my SS4 RPG campaign. His knife was a little bent, so he got a new one, courtesy of a Space Marine Scout. Converted Heroclix. 

The Haunted Tank: Another figure that saw use in SOTR, this Haunted Tank was always intended for a big supers WWII game that I never really got my shit together to run. A new coat of wash and this piece was sold on to a Chain of Command player. Heroclix. 

GI Robot: Last of the SOTR heroes, I promise. I can't remember why, but I felt I really needed this obscure DC character on my gaming table, so I threw one together. Converted Warlord. 
 

Kirby: I have been looking for a 28mm Kirby for years! And I'm still looking, as this one's a little big, really. Some fudging of the scale is necessary though, as a "heroic" 28mm Kirby would be around 5mm tall. Toy. 

Ghost Rider: A little research on 1930s motorcycles and Heroclix and I was able to find a Ghost Rider suitable for Maximilian 1934. It's a bit tricky to tell from the picture, but he's painted in brown leathers for a more era-appropriate look. Converted Heroclix. 

Small Town Sheriff: Technically, this represents Sheriff Daltry, the alter-ego of obscure Marvel character Captain Fate and was painted for my MI-13 campaign, but serves well as a civilian for most games. Reaper Bones.

Miniatures Finished: Latverian HMG Team

Been going through all of my unpainted miniatures and getting stuff finished, which means stuff that I haven't used in years is complete. Yay? Anyway, here's a HMG team for my Weird World War II Latverian army.

 

Wargames Factory models with Games Workshop and Rackham parts. 

I have enough figures for this army that I really need to find something else to do with it, unless West Wind are good enough to release Secrets of the Third Reich 1949 2nd Edition at some point. 

Miniatures Finished: Latverian Aufklarer Squad

As I've discussed before, I made myself a Latverian army for the West Wind "Weird" World War 2 game Secrets of the Third Reich [SOTR], as an alternative Axis force that would enable me to play games against both allied and axis opponents. The rationale being that Doom and signed on with the Axis to begin with, but when Hitler's lack of stability started to show, he struck out on his own, utilising superior Latverian technology to even the odds against larger countries. The army is a combination of converted Wargames Factory Greatcoat Troopers and Heroclix for the most part, once I'm happy with the bulk of it, I'll get some full army shots taken. 

This Aufklarer (Scout) Squad has been sitting undercoated but unpainted in a figure case for a couple of years, so it was about time I got it done.

In SOTR, an Aufklarer squad totals six members, of course, I did all of the extra options. 

 

Squad NCO with Radio and two Scouts with Assault Rifles. 

 

Panzerschreck RPG and Anti-Tank/Mech Rifle options. 

 

 Flame Throwers. 

I used to play a bit of SOTR at my local club, but the rulebook is poorly laid out and has a few inconsistencies, so people slowly stopped playing to avoid the arguments. I'm really hoping West Wind get around to a second edition sooner rather than later so I can break out the Latverians and British again, maybe even get around to building that Chinese Partisan army I keep thinking about. 

Minitaures Finished: Latverian Paratroopers

I finally got around to digging out some of my Secrets of the Third Reich [SOTR] Latverians and finishing them off. Rumors of a 2nd edition of SOTR keep bubbling away, but even if this never happens, I'd like to get back to the game at some point. These units represent the basis of my "Drop Armour Platoon" a variation of the German list which relies heavily on power armour and paratroop deployment. 

 The "full" platoon (missing scouts and vehicle support), all miniatures modified Dust Americans. 

 Command Squad with Medic, Engineer and Lieutenant, according to the rules, the squad leaders have the radio in the squad. 

 Each squad has a mix of Packed LMGs and Anti-Tank Rifles. 

 Although the Dust minis came in boxes of three, it ended up working in my favour for the full platoon of fifteen. 

Once I get my Sci-Fi stuff ready for the upcoming club campaign, I should be able to finish up the Latverians and maybe even get a few games in. Stay tuned. 

Miniatures Finished - Heroes unite!

Feels like ages since I got a superhero off the painting desk, and in the past week there's been a few! 

 Spitfire, Drax Restored, Invincible, Adam Warlock and Invisible Woman. 

 Drax and Adam will serve duty in a club Frostgrave campaign as well was as supers gaming, I just couldn't be bothered starting yet another project. 

 Invincible and Spitfire. Lady Falsworth will also be pulling double-duty, being my stand-in "Maxwell" for Secrets of the Third Reich, what with being a throroughly British Vampire and all... 

 New Sue Richards in matching visible and invisible forms, for the pedant in me. 

 

Miniatures Finished: Von Doom I of Latveria

Finally regaining traction on the Ultimate Alliance project with a couple of villains. 

 Vector of the U-Foes (Clix) and Victor Von Doom (Knight Models). 

Vector was basically just a rebase and got some subtle washing to bring out the details. Doom was my first Knight Model, and I have to say that he looks great finished. That said, I got him with a gift voucher and given the filling I had to do to get the cape to sit, I'm not sure I'd pay the $25AUD for one out of my own pocket. I had to get Doom though, he's one of my favourite Marvel characters and this beauty just had to be the centerpiece of my SOTR Latverian army. 

The Greatest Generation [GA]

June 1940, the Allied forces have been beaten out of France and the German War-Machine is nearing its height. With the United States of America still reluctant to fight, the tenuous alliance between Great Britain and the USSR is all that holds the march of Fascism back from global domination. MI-13 and the NKVD are thrown into turmoil when the SS and SWD announce that they have a genuine Super-Human in their arsenal. Der Flieger was super-strong, could fly at supersonic speeds under his own power and bullets bounced off his skin; all of this wrapped up in a perfect Aryan form and manipulated directly by Goreing and Hitler themselves. The propaganda coup alone would have been enough to encourage desertion and fifth-column activities, let alone the impact on the war raging in Africa. Both British and Soviet intelligence immediately embarked upon programmes to level the superhuman playing field of the war.

Can even "Fighting" Jack Churchill hope to stand against Der Flieger? 

Having had a reputation for being a land of legend and wonder since ancient times, England was primed, in this time of apocalyptic conflict, to produce an array of defenders. Figures from history and mythology, including the great wizard Merlin himself, came forward in the nation's hour of need, the result being that MI-13 had little work to do in order to fill the rosters of their own "team". The USSR however, despite their large population, found superhumanity a bit harder to garner. Rituals and unrestrained experimentation finally yielded a handful of results for the NKVD from the hundreds of selfless "Comrade Volunteers" that were willing to sacrifice their own humanity to stop the Nazi Monsters flying through the skies of Eastern Europe. Before long, costumed warriors are being spotted in Poland, France, Italy and even the USA. 

Kilroy and Jacques Noir operate deep behind Axis lines. 

Who doesn't love some four-colour action? Two-fisted pulp heroes putting boot to Nazi backside and saving the plucky, determined (and pretty) correspondent girl? From classic Eisner through to Atomic Robo and New Invaders, WWII, weird science and pulp have been a fertile ground for comics since their inception. When I got started on playing supers, the Golden Age was my first stop outside of Marvel and DC. Playing Secrets of the Third Reich helped get me grounded in the setting, and now I'm ready to invade historical wargames tables and cause mischief by having caped lunatics throwing tanks around. Excelsior! 

Doctor Doom and Doctor Manhatten

Had this fun and pretty interesting article come up on the Lead Adventure forum; it relates to two themes important to this blog, The Secret History of World War Two and Mad Scientists. 

http://www.theverge.com/2015/1/11/7529111/doom-of-los-alamos 

Enjoy. 

Getting Started in Supers - Part 1

SuperSystem 4th Edition is on its way! The Kickstarter is live (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/222965736/supersystem-4th-edition-super-miniature-battles?ref=live) and a mere $6USD will get you the rulebook. Pretty cool huh? 
To celebrate, I thought I'd take a look at just how easy it is to get a team together for this fantastic game. To that end, I pulled out 5 miniatures from my collection (almost at random) that I purchased for games other than Supersystem and I'm throwing together some quick fluff for them to be a team. 
Turns out that it's a villain team, not sure what that says about my minis collection... 

Introducing: Crocomanagator, Kaptain Killa, Hug-Bot, Splashback and The Baron. 

 

Kaptain Killa (Classic 40K Ork Freebooter): A vicious alien pirate from a distant galaxy, KK was shipwrecked on Earth when a team of nosy "Superheroes" prevented him from stealing the Millennium Dome. To exact his revenge on humanity, KK gathered other criminals to aid him in his campaign to destroy every monument and landmark on the face of the planet.

Splashback (D&D Water Elemental): Few people realise that, sometimes, water just goes bad. Not merely stagnant, but occasionally, downright evil. Splashback evaporated into a bad cloud and shortly thereafter started its rain of terror. Despite its hatred of all "solids", Splashback is forced to work with them, because it needs an occasional topping up with a hose. 

The Baron (Eureka Pirate): Born on the Bayou, this former Accountant turned to crime the day he discovered that he could keep the money he stole if he ran a church. A Google search on Voodoo later, the Baron was born. The Baron has no powers to speak of, but is excellent with money, especially hiding it from the Government. 

Hug-Bot (Horrorclix Carnage Bot): Hug-Bot was designed only to love. Programmed by a lonely scientist, Hug-Bot was intended to provide companionship for geeks who couldn't talk to women. Fortunately for Hug-Bot, there was a flaw in its program and it started a killing rampage. Nothing makes Hug-Bot happier than killing, so it got a job as hired muscle for Supervillains; nothing's better than getting paid to do what you love. 

Crocomanagator (Hordes Gatorman): Crocomanagator was hired by The Baron to be his personal bodyguard and dependent (for tax reasons). He is relied upon to do most of the actual crime, which suits him fine. No one is too sure where Crocomanagator came from, but his Facebook profile lists "Twin Peaks" as his hometown and "Sicily, Alaska" as his place of birth. Guess he likes TV. 

There you go, Villain Team origins from random minis in 30mins. Hopefully this may tempt a couple more people into Supersystem. Although I'm pretty sure most of my followers play it already. 

 
 

Thinking Objectively

As much as I enjoy Superhero games, it's always more fun for me when there is an actual mission going on and not just an all-out brawl. Having to rescue hostages, recover stolen goods, escape the authorities and so on. Glass beads, cardboard chits and spare dice are all well and good, but I like to have something a bit more special on my table. After all, I spent all that time making the terrain and painting the miniatures, why not take the time to work on some nice objecives? 

A, very kind, remark about one of my objectives on the Lead Adventure Forum inspired me to put together a look at my growing collection of gaming markers and objectives, you'll notice that many are on 50mm bases to be used for Secrets of the Third Reich, but they still work fine for Super System. 

HeroClix 

There are some great pieces hiding in the various Heroclix ranges, especially the Organised Play Rewards, which can go for quite cheap once they've fallen out of the meta. Above you can see the Clix M'Kaann Crystal and Cosmic Cube as well as Young Hellboy (great for Golden Age games) and a fun little marker that came with The Question. 

"Classic" Objectives

A couple that see service in SOTR, a stack of containers and an injured soldier still work for Golden Age Supers and pulp games. A packet of 1/35 Jerry Cans and some bases can give you all the objectives you'll ever need. 

Games Workshop

 

I was given a couple of these GW Tyranid "growths" a while back in a box of spares and thought I just had to do something with them. Some Liquid Greenstuff and a few spare parts later and I came up with these two grotesque beauties. I tried to paint them a bit like the "Creep" from StarCraft to make them more generic. 

Scratch Builds 

 

I love scratch-building. Its a challenge and it clears out my bits box (bits garage, whatever). Above you can see "The Football" and Mjolnir, my two favorites of all my objectives. The football is a 1/35 briefcase, zombie hand and a piece of chain from something. Mjolnir is a small rectangle of carved foam and the handle from a GW Beastman weapon. Both simple, both look great. 

  

A few smaller objectives that I did specifically for Super System; the bomb is spare bits and plastic rod and was originally made for The Joker to use in a Batman SS3 game. The Spear of Destiny and Dragonballs are for a big SS3/4 game that I've been working on for a while, both are scraps from other projects with a little Greenstuff. 

Hope you gleaned a few ideas to add that little more to your games. 

- James