28mm Dr Who Silurians

So these Silurians are not the  ancient Welsh warbands that fought the Romans back in the day, rather the lost 'Homo Reptilian' race that have lived undetected, deep in the eartth's crust, until disturbed by human oil drilling activities. None the wiser? Well they are part of the Dr Who universe!

Two unpainted Dr Who Monster Army figures

The club is well in to its forray into the Whoniverse and the next sceario that John is dreaming up will see the Silurians teaming up with their old comrades - the Sea Devils. My task has been to bring the Silurian forces to a tabletop ready status.

16 figures completed so far - 4 x tabletop squads?

So I now ave 16 completed Silurian figures, plus two more that I just found in a box, to make a total of 18 of te little guys.

Another view

As can be seen I have opted to use 'cheap' plastic figures to build thi sarmy - utilising the Dr Who Monster Army packs that are easily available on eBay. They were originall give away packs on Dr Who magazines some years ago. In my opinion most of the figures are pretty good. 

That said some in the range are much better than others - the Daleks are head and shoulders the best followed by the Weeping Angels who are in turn better than the Silurians, Ood, Silence and Judrons who are all pretty much on a par. The Cybermen fugures in this range, in my opinion, are awful so avoid them. 

Also the Sontarans are a little too small for my liking, I know they are meant to be short - typical angy little men but I think just too short in ths range....  

And another, the figures are obviously all in the same pose -
a throw back to 1970/80s wargames vibe....

Any way I digress, figures are ainted with speed paints, standard acrylics and washes. A good cream undercoat in thi scase, grey tousers, dark brown boots, gunmetal armour and green flesh. Army Painter Slaughter Red speed paint was used for sleeves and belt as well as eyes and mouth. 

Now I digressed fom the standard grey sleeves - seen on many images and instead added some muted red colour to brighten up these guys. I also atted bright silver highlights to the guns and to the arm bands, bracelets and boot tops to add focus points.

A green wash was used on the skin and Nuln Oil wash was used over the rest of the figure to help give definition. An orange spot and when dry, some red wash was added to the laser gun to show it's businss end!

Close-up of one of the completed figures,
they won't win any painting awards but will work on the table top

So the final figirs look pretty good. Some additional caveats - some of thes efigires have some prominent mould lines - to remove these would be way to fiddley and risk damaging the figures beyond use. Additionally these figures are very slender, their legs can be prone to bending - so I will be applying a lot of varnish to add strength to these!

Next-up, I'm not sure. I've been looking at doing Dalek Civil War minitures and I have loads of Dalek figures but I can't decide on the best colour schemes for the two factions. Painting white  Daleks with gold domes is a pain in the b*&t! I like the esthetic of black & silver Daleks so will likely go with those for the Imperial side (Yes, I know that this is not 'historically' accurate!) and I may stick with silver Daleks for the Davrovian side.

I also like the idea of Post-Civil War Dalek factions mutating into different sects and continuing the fight for dominance of the Dalek universe...

Friday Night Games: Battle of Magnesia, 2mm Romans v Selecuids

Friday 22nd August saw Dave put on a 2mm game of the 190BC Battle of Magnesia. Figures supplied by Dave and he used the 'Strength & Honour' rules system. The Romans played by Mat & Mike N. Whilst the Selecuids were commanded by Steve & Rupert.

End result, the Selecuids were able to disrupt and defeat the Romans.

Photos below show Daves 2mm kit.

The Roman Army

The Selecuid Army

2mm Selecuid Heavy Cavalry

Selcuid Chariots

Roman Light Infantry

Roman Allies

Roman War Elephants

The Right of the Roman line

Left of the Selecuid line with allied warbands

A 2mm Forest!

28mm Dr Who v The Daleks

On Friday 15th August John put on his first Dr Who scenartio, trying out the rule set found in an old Wargames Illustrated (Issue 130: Exterminate. Exteminate. Exterminate by Tony Yates). As ever the rules were adapted a little to meet our needs for this scenario, which was umpired by John himself.

Daleks wer played by Mat, Dave, Nigel &Mark whilst the Humn forcs were played by Mike W, Mike N, Jane & Steve. Rupert took the part of the good Doctor and his glamourous assistants.

The setting was a 6' x 6' table with a range of human settlements spaning the ages, from ancient ruins, to local hovels and some hi-tech futristic locations.

Mayan ruins in the centre, where the Doctor landed,
Chemical Works in the distance

Each location on the board had a number of secret items located for the players to find. The scenario involved a number of Dalek landings as they hunt for human captives and tech plunder, whilst the humans were largely represented by UNIT troops patroling the area to counter reported Dalek sightings.

Forest and swamps, with the ruins inhabited by the Weeping Angels

The Doctor was searching for a spare part for the TARDIS, which needed replacing and which he'd hidden in the area some years ago, but whise location he'd forgotten.

Hovel Village just visible at top of photo

The game opened with a Dalek spacecraft depositing a squad of Robomen, under Mat's command,  near to the Orbital Beacon building and the ese guys proceeded to search the area for humans and loot.

First Dalek Robomen squad land at the Orbital Beacon

Game turn 2 saw the two Mike's deploy their UNIT squads in the hovel village which they proceeded to recce and then set-up defensive positions upon hearing firing from the nearby Orbital Beacon location.

UNIT Squad enter the Hovel Village

INevitably the Daleks headed towards teh hovel village, once Dave & Mark had deploye dtheir Dalek squads to re-enforce their initial positions. Meanwhile a third UNIT squad arrived at the wrecked Chemical Factory where they discovered large quanties of toxic waste.

UNIT Squad approaches the Chemical Factory

UNIT troopers devending the village
take out their first Dalek

Dave's Dalek squad approache dthe Hovel Village and were engaged by Mike W's UNIT squad with rifle fire, to everyone's surprise the plucky humans took out a Dalek. In subsequent rounds the defending UNIT squad took out 3 more Daleks but at a terrible cost to themselves - loosing 5 of the 8 troopers in teh squad during the game.

A Weeping Angel attacks the Robomen

The Robomen at the Orbital Beacon, were also having issues as they encountered a Weeping Angel in the Ancient Ruins that they were exploring, leading to the loss of two of their number. 

Robomen defend the Orbital Beacon as the Weeping Angel attacks

Over the other side of teh table the Doctor and his assistants had arrived and the meet wit hteh third UNIT squad to plan a search pattern. This rendez-vous was gatecrashed by a Dalek Roboman squad, commanded by Negel, who opened up a withering fire on the Doctor and neutralised his two assistants.

UNIT Troopers and the Doctor Rendez-Vous

A firefight then broke out between Steve's UNIT squad and the Robomen, in which significant casualties were taken by each side.

Surprise attack by Dalek Robomen on the Doctor

Meanwhile, Mike N, moved hs UNIT squad to re-enforce Mike W's depleted squad whilst also trying to link-up with Jane's Special forces squad which was deploye din ambush positions across the tabletop.

Steve's UNIT Squad is initially isolated on the wrong side of the Dalek spacecraft

Mike N's UNIT Squad move through the Hovel Village

The space time continum shifted and the game came to an end, with honours pretty much tied!

A good shot of Mark's Spacecraft

A somewhat lonely Doctor fights of fthe Robomen

28mm Stargrave Figures

 I have recently come across the Norsth Star Miniture Stargrave figures and what a delight they are! There is an integrated range of Spaceshop Crew, Mercenaries, Troopers and Scavengers, all in male & female versions.

Each box has a multiture of various heads 0- human and alien and all sets have interchangeable arms and equipment, they also fit in very well with the Wargames Atlantic 'Cannon Fodder' range, to enable even more variations.

I have just completed 5 figures each of the Female Spaceship Crew and eth Male Mercenaries, which I presnt below. Painting is by my usual methods and I have based them in an urban setting to fit in wit hthe club's Dr Who / Sci-Fi vibe that is goin on at the present.

First off a couple of Scavengers, I have 3 more still on the workbench. I have built these guys with a distintly alien look, heads supplied on eth parts fram and done the skin tones in a deep purple / pink to make them stand out.

Two scavengers, more to come.

Close-up, this guy carries a sighted AK-47 like blaster

This second scavenger, carries a machette and a blaster 

Next up are the Mercenaries, I envisage these as local groundside security personnel, lightly armed and not particularly highly motivated.

Figures come five to a frame, they are stationed on an
Earthlike world in a Galaxy far, far away!

Close-up of the Science Liasion Officer,
with pistol and Computer Terminal

Section Commander, with Slugger

Rank & File member of the team. This guy is an alien - Vagr
(for those who remember the Classic Traveller game)

Another Rank & File member,
armed with a 'Blooper' Grenade Launcher

Final guy in the squad, carring spare ammo or whatever!

Last but not least the Spaceship Crew, all female on this frame, but in my opinion that's refreshing to see such equality in the distant future!

Again five figures on the frame

Crew's Science Officer with Blaster Pistol

Another alien, this time an Aslan cat woman!

Deck hand with an energy weapon

Deck hand with a blaster

Crew commander with a pistol

Mark's Workbench Update!

A real quicky post here - three photos of gear that Mark is working on for future games...

As with others at the club, Mark's fancy has been tickled by Sci-Fi topics in recent weeks,
here are various pieces of machinery.

Amid the worktop, a couple of WW2 Italian armoured trucks.

A Condor Legion Heinkel He 51B-1,
being paintd for Phil's SCW collection

28mm Dr Who - Dalek Robomen

More on the Dr Who Project! This time some Dalek controlled Robomen, inspired by the 1960s film. In the film the Robomen wore shiney black jumpsuits and black helmets with a red stripe. I checked these drtails after I'd painted the first couple of these guys & girls....

Lets call these the Robomen in Mk 2 oufits, matt jumpsuits and red helmets trimmed silver! Figures are from the excellent Wargames Atlantic Cannon Fodder sets (both male & female)

Mk2 Robomen, right is the Energy Weapon, most have blasters or pistols.

More Robomen

In game terms these guys will be cannon fodder! pretty poor stats all round but they do have access to an Energy Weapon, whhicjh if they can hit somethning would do a lot of damage....

The whole group.

Bases have been done to look like pavements in an urban area with scattered debris.