Duke Morrison and the Great Zeppelin Raid at Cold Wars

   At Cold Wars last weekend, Buck Surdu and I ran a Pulp game in the morning entitled, "Duke Morrison and the Great Zeppelin Raid".   We had decided to do this scenario, because Buck had received, and build, a huge 6' long Zeppelin kit from Kickstarter last year, and after a successful game with it on New Years Eve, we decided it would be fun to do a game with it at a convention.
   

A long view of the zeppelin.

   We used the always fun GASLIGHT rules for the game.  The scenario involved Buck's perennial game hero, Duke Morrison, and his Army buddy "Wrench" Webb, and  Navy pal "Boats" Morgan, along with some of their Army and Navy troops, defending the zeppelin of the great scientist, Professor Serafini Nannini.  Along with the professor were his lovely daughter, Gianna, and a couple of his lab assistants.   Also helping guard the zeppelin were Crash Corrigan and his Rocketeers, and a unit of the city's finest policemen. 

She-Wolves advance as the Gangster leader "Slasher" (orange shirt), cuts his way through some sailors at the back of the airship

      The reason the zeppelin needed such a strong security presence, was that the professor was transporting a new invention that the forces of evil coveted.  For security reasons the invention had been broken down into 6 components, and hidden around the airship.  The fears of our heroes were not misguided for attacking the zeppelin was a combined force of Nazis and Gangsters. 

"Wrench" with one of his Soldiers, and Giana, with a couple components, begin to converge on the Rocket-sled

        The game was set up as a race against the clock.  It started at 9:00 AM, and after a quick rules brief we got under way at 9:30.  At that time the victory conditions were announced: the God Guys had to get all 6 components of the invention into Nanni's rocket-sled, which was in the cargo bay of the airship; then at exactly 11:30 by real-time, the rocket-sled would auto-launch out the cargo bay doors. (there was no way to launch before that time, or delay it.)  The more pieces of the invention aboard the rocket sled, the better the Good Guys' victory.  The Bad Guys had to prevent this, and steal the pieces of the invention for themselves.  To make things even more difficult for the Good Guys, only a few designated Heroes were capable of piloting the rocket-sled: Duke, "Wrench", Boats", Nanni, and his Daughter.   So at least one of them had to be kept alive.

Crash Corrigan helps stem the tide of the Gangster horde that stormed the front of the ship.

      The game was a ton of fun, with daring deeds on both sides.  The Gangsters on the zeppelin dock quickly overpowered the policemen defending the entryway to the ship, while Nazi Rocketeers and She-Wolves snuck in through one of the engine nacelles.    More Gangsters were disguised as passengers and hidden in crates in the cargo hold.  The Heroes certainly had their work cut out for them!

An aerial shot of the game.

     One by one, the Heroes were able to gather up the invention components; except for one, which a pair of gangsters dragged to the back of the ship for safe keeping, staying near it to make sure no wandering hero might snatch it from them.    The sides were slowly wearing each other down, but the Heroes made steady progress.

"Boats" makes to the sled with another component and the desperate final battle begins as the She-wolves storm the Rocket-sled.

        In the end, it came down to "Boats" Morgan in the rocket-sled being the sole survivor.  Opposed to him were the two gangster mooks who had hidden out in the back of the ship with their prized component.  They had decided to advance just in time, and they approached the sled from a a gangway over the cargo hold.  "Boats" fired his trusty pistol at the pair, but missed; then one of the gangsters returned fire, and hit "Boats"!   The player rolled the Save dice and....failed!  "Boats" was dead!  The clock read 11:28.   Evil had prevailed. Wow what a finish!

The She-wolves are cut down, but "Wrench" is killed, as a couple of the Gangsters attempt to board the craft.  

      All the players had a great time, as did we as the GMs.  You couldn't ask for a better edge of your seat last-minute ending.  We had such a good time that we are considering bringing the game back to Fall-In in November. 

The end.  All that left is pair of gangsters in a zeppelin full of carnage.  

They Saved Hitler's Brain!

...And put it inside 10 tons of big stompy armor. Or, at least, that's the thinking behind my latest scratchbuilt project. I was greatly impressed when I recently saw the scratchbuilt Goldfish Mecha Walkers posted on the Irrational Number Line Games website, (See: Here ). These were so imaginative and cool, I knew I wanted to do something similar.  Since I like Pulp and Weird War II gaming, I immediately landed on doing the same thing, but with Hitler's brain.
(Click any photo to see it larger)

It wasn't hard to find the required parts, taking my guidance from the Goldfish Mecha.  i had a few of the Mech Warrior clicky walkers lying around, and a quick trip to the grocery store got me the bubblegum machine prize capsule.  To make the brain I immediately thought of a Tyranid Adrenal Sac, which i had a sprue of in the bits box.  For the tray for the brain to rest in I used the soft cap from a ECW plastic figure sprue.  The mounting rod, was just a piece of generic plastic sprue.

I first removed the Mech from it's clicky base by letting it sit in the freezer overnight, and then popping it of it's base with a hobby knife. I then glued the Mech to a 1.5" fender washer. Next, I had to cut down the head of the Mech model as it was sloped, and I wanted the brain capsule to sit flat. So a few slices with an hobby knife, and the head was nice and level.  I cut a thin crevice down the center of the adrenal sac to make it look more brain-like, and filled in the underside of the sac with some putty to make the brain look more full. Then I assembled the brain, pan, and support rod with plastic glue. To glue the rod to the base of the capsule, and the base of the capsule to he Mech, I used E-6000 all purpose glue.

Next I sprayed the whole thing with Krylon Flat Black Camouflage with Fusion Spray Paint.  I then drybrushed it with a Panzer grey shade, and then a lighter shade of grey for highlights. The brain was painted shades of pink, and the tubes leading into it (which are an inherent part of the adrenal sac sculpt) I painted alternating dark blue and copper.  Finally I added some red details and some metallic bits,and then applied some German decals I had.

When the painting and decaling were complete and dry, I flocked the base of the model. My final step, when the base had dried, was to spray the model with Testor's Dullcote. Then, and when this was dry, snapping the clear capsule into place.

All in all, I'm really pleased with how this turned out, and it really wasn't that complicated to make.  It will be a great addition to my Weird War WWII Collection.

 

 

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"Santa Claus vs The Nazis" G.A.S.L.I.G.H.T. Game at Cold Wars '13

Last Saturday night, at Cold Wars '13, I ran my "Santa Claus vs The Nazis" game using G.A.S.L.I.G.H.T. rules, and 28mm figures.  The game description, as it appeared in the program, was:

Bent on obtaining fabled and occult objects from across the globe,
Hitler sets his sights on the magical factories of Santa's North Pole
workshops. If these factories could be turned to munitions
production for the Third Reich, nothing would be able stop the
Nazi war machine. The Fuhrer dispatches a team of commandos to
capture Santa's workshops. Can Santa, his elves, and toys stop the
invaders, or will evil prevail?

I had a nice turnout of kids, teens, and adults, and every one of the 8 gamer slots was filled. The game begins with each of the three German players selecting one of the woods patches surrounding the North Pole workshops for their initial deployment. One player's forces per woods.  The North Pole Defenders start at random locations around the compound.  The objective was for the Germans to capture four of the six main buildings in the compound.

You can click on any photo to see it larger.

An overview of the table

The Germans began by attempting to soften up their targets with long range fire.  In the end this may have been a mistake, as their superiority in firepower was reduced at long range, and they lost precious time that they could have used later in the game to achieve their goal.

Panzerkopf, the MkIV, and Major Shaub and the MG squad enter.

The North Pole defenders, began by concentrating on the German's MkIV tank, knowing taking this out was a major key to their success.  Luckily, fate was with them, and the tank's engine conked out in the bitter cold (The player failed the vehicle's Sustain roll with a roll of 20) and the tank was left immobile on the edge of it's initial deployment woods for most of the game.

The North Pole defenders stiffen their defenses on the western wall, as the Teddy Bear Cannon, and Hot Chocolate Catapult take pot shots at the German tank.

The Tank was only supported by one German squad with a machine gun,  and the Nazi's overall commander "Panzerkopf". A fierce battle developed on that side of the compound as Santa himself, and his pet, Polar Bear, charged into combat. Santa heading straight for Panzerkopf, and Polar bear for the MG team.

The German commander attacking from the north marks a hit on one of the Toy Soldier Squads, as the Toy Soldier's commander looks on.

 After a melee that lasted several turns, Santa finally defeated Panzerkopf, and Polar Bear was making bear kibble out of the machine gun squad. Eventually though, Major Shaub, the German's second in command, was able to get the drop on Santa, and eliminated him, while survivors of the MG squad were able to deal with Polar Bear.  Ultimately a charge from the North Pole Elf Militia  finished off the Germans in this area, leaving only the tank.  A pair of  Mechanical Santas with their hammer-arms, moved up to hopefully finish off or permanently disable the tank.

The carnage on the "western front" Panzerkopf, Santa, Polar Bear and the MG team are all dead, with only Major Shaub and the tank still functioning.  Note the markers on the tank indicating the broken engine, the mechanical Santas moving up,  and the North Pole Elf Militia behind the wall on the right preparing to charge.

Meanwhile, on the north side of the compound the Toy Soldier squads were taking their toll on the attackers, and were able to eliminate one German squad entirely.

 On the "eastern front" the She Wolves and a squad of troopers shoot a squad of Snowmen into slushy puddles.

It was on the North Pole Compound's east side, that the defenders were their weakest, and the Germans had their most success.  A squad of She Wolves, and one of regular troopers were able to cut their way through two units of Snowmen (Aim for the magic hats!) and the Germans were eventually able to occupy two of the buildings on that side. 
That however was as far as they got, and with their numbers severely reduced, and the North Pole defenders having several units still unscathed, the game was determined to be a victory for the North Pole team.
  A great time was had by all!

Painted Target Pulp Rocket Sippy-Cup

I was able to paint up one of the Target sippy-cup Pulp Rockets over the weekend, and thought I'd show how it turned out..  These cups are currently on clearance at a number of Target stores across the country.
   Overall, I'm pleased with the results.   Deciding to prime black was a mistake, as it took several coats of the light colors I chose for the color scheme to cover the black undercoat.

Here is the final result.  I took the color scheme from an old Buck Rogers tin toy.

The original cup.

First, I pulled out the plastic straw. Then I primed with Krylon Fusion Flat Black

I cut a small piece of card to fit in the window where the hole for the cup's straw was located.

And I added a washer to the bottom to create an exhaust port. In retrospect these modifications should have been done before priming, but I was so excited to get it prepped for painting that I primed it before I thought about what modifications I wanted to make.

A view of the reverse side.

Another view at a slightly higher angle.  I used some old Space Marine vehicle decals to add some detail. 

A view looking down from the top.

Pulp Rocket Sippy-Cup at Target

Fellow HAWK, Greg Priebe, alerted me to these great Pulp style rocket sippy-cups that are currently on clearance at Target stores. Below are three views, shown with 28mm figures. Oddly, at the store where Greg found them they were on clearance for $1.49, and at my local store they were on clearance for $2.08. They will make either great Pulp style rocket ships, or regular sci-fi dropships.  Hopefully in the next couple days I will be able to post some photos of a repainted one.

The famed aviatrix, Red Eagle, and her mechanic, Max, pose with their trusty dog, Spike, in front of their new planet-hopper class rocket ship.

GASLIGHT Thark Unit Completed

As Historicon quickly approaches, I am rapidly trying to complete all the Martian units I'm contributing for the big 20 player Mars Extravaganza GASLIGHT game Buck Surdu and I are running there. This week, I finally finished up my unit of 10 Tharks (six-armed green Martians). These figures are from Bronze Age Mniatures, and I really like their large size and dynamic sculpts.
There's also a lot of detail on the figures so, they were an ease to paint.

Shown with the Tinman John Carter figure to give a sense of size.

Happy Meal Mystic Portal

My latest terrain project is this Mystic Portal made from a McDonald's Happy Meal toy. It's intended to be similar to the Stargate, or the portal seen in the classic episode of Star Trek (Original Series), guest starring Joan Collins, entitled, "The City of the Edge of Forever".

It all began a couple months ago when my wife and a colleague stopped at a McDonald's while returning from a meeting, and on a whim ordered Happy Meals. The toy included with the meal was from the Happy Feet 2 movie. It consisted of a plastic disc-shaped snow mound with a rotating disc in it, that when you spun it, the disc made yodelling sounds.

My wife, knowing I had made things from Happy Meal toys before, brought hers home for me. When I saw it I was immediately struck by how the snow texture resembled a rocky outcropping and the idea of some sort of ancient portal came to my mind.

First thing I had to do was separate the front and back halves to remove the 'guts' from the toy. I thought this would be easy as it appeared to be only held together by three screws in the back. This was not the case. After removing these screws and doing lots of prying and hacking I finally separated the two halves. The problem is that there are five internal glue points as well as the screws. They really don't want kids swallowing the electronic sound components that were inside the toy.

Separating the two halves had left lots of bangs and dents in the seams where I had used a screwdriver to pry the halves apart, but these were easily covered when I used miliput to fill the screw, and speaker holes, as well as help smooth the seam between the two halves.

I then cut down a CD to make a base, and glued the toy to it, as well as some gravel and sand around the edges. It is shown above with a 25mm figure.

Next step was to spray it with black primer. I used Krylon Flat Black Camouflage with Fusion technology to help it stick to the plastic toy.

After priming, I drybrushed the exterior of the toy and the gravel and sand on the base with various shades of grey to give a rocky look. I then glued assort foliage on the portal, and flocked the base. The final step was to fill the opening in the portal with pillow stuffing to give it that misty void look.

Overall I'm pleased with the result, and can see this being used as an objective, or a source of reinforcements in any Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Pulp, or VSF game. I have a second one of these toys so may make a pair of portals which would make for some interesting scenarios where figures can actually transport across the battlefield.

French Foreign Legion troopers on Venus investigate a mysterious artifact of an ancient civilization.

Dum Dum Dugan Figure Conversion

So now that I had a movie style Captain America figure, (see previous entry), I decided I wanted to convert a Dum Dum Dugan figure. Dugan is one of the Howling Commandos, and is recognizable as the soldier wearing the distinctive bowler hat near the center of the picture below.

I did a bit of scrounging around in some of my boxes of unpainted lead, and was able to come up with the two necessary components I was looking for: An old Foundry Wild West gunslinger wearing a bowler hat(who also had a nice big mustache), and a pack of Harlequin Miniatures U.S. BAR Gunners.
I selected one of the BAR Gunners that was sculpted wearing a scarf, as I figured it would help hide the neck seam. After two quick head removal operations, I glued the bowler hat wearing head onto the G.I. body, and voila...a passable Dum Dum Dugan figure!

Below, a look at the Heroclix Captain America next to the Dum Dum Dugam figure. Size wise they match up pretty well.

Another picture of Cap', and Dugan, this time as they battle a sinister Nazi robot!