Wednesday Workbench 31 May 2023 (aka 27 Days Later)

 Oh dear. It seems that I dropped away from posting for much longer than I should have done. Sorry about that.

I haven't picked up a paint brush since finishing that pair of Fatties, as I've been doing a lot of test printing for Kathy Millatt's kickstarter campaign. I've also been doing a lot of design work for the Peach Trees terrain. I think I've now got the atrium walkways as good as I can get them now - I just need to adjust the positioning of the OpenLock clip holes and make some minor changes to the corner pillars. I've also test-printed enough sections to do three levels of one side:

I noticed that without the apartments behind them, the walkways sagged a bit so I quickly designed some support columns to hold them for these photos. As it is 1m (40 inches, actually) wide I found that the only space where I could actually take the photos was on my kitchen floor, so the lighting isn't as good as it could be.

A lot of research (and trial and error) has gone into these - finding images online, realising that there aren't as many showing what I need as I'd like and then capturing screen-shots from the film to get more images.

For the atrium corner sections, I think I might make sense to do them as 8" x 8" tiles (8" x 9" for the ones where the parapet sticks out beyond the pillar).

The next stage of this project will be to design the apartments, shops and other bits that are needed. The first stage of that will be to create the repeated elements like wall lights, entry-phones and such.

Finished: Fatties At War

 And that's another two figures for Block Wars painted. OK, so that's 5 out of 17 from the first wave, which means I'm a long way behind schedule. At least now that I'm out of my rut, the rest should follow on quickly.

Fats Hambo

Every fat camp has a Fats Hambo, to one degree or another. 

A militant campaigner for fat rights, they are true believers in the Grud-given gift of as much food for every fattie as they can stomach.

 

Using (and bending) the laws for arming Citi-Def units, they have managed to get their hands on powerful weaponry and just enough training to be dangerous when enraged.

Fattie Battering Ram

When a block war comes, Fatties can really pull their not inconsiderable weight.

Improvised armour will be strapped to their considerable bulk and then they will be pushed at fuill speed towards the enemy to be used as a living battering ram.

Wednesday Workbench 03 May

 

I seem to be coming out of my painting rut! I managed to get the highlighting and metal details done on the two models I first started painting (checks back - errmmm, crap - errmm - surely not that long?) four weeks ago. 

Tomorrow I'll give them a light gloss coat, black-lining wash and then varnish and base them.

It's just as well that I'm coming out of that painting rut as this arrived yesterday:

What's that? You don't seriously think I'm planning to paint a cardboard box, do you? I mean, I know I've done some daft painting projects, but that would just be too silly. No, no, no - it's the contents of the box which will be joining the painting queue.

Lots of goodies!

Everything apart from the freebie sample sprue

That's a hefty chunk of resin to clean up and paint.

Yes, my "Block wars" wave 2 pre-order has been delivered. With the CitiDef packs, I'm going to have to try to remember the paint scheme I did for the original packs.

Kickstarter: Modular Landing Pads

 The Kickstarter campaign that I have been doing test-prints for launched a few hours ago:

There's a link in the picture above or just click here: linky-link 

Some of you may know Kathy Millatt from her YouTube channel or from her time as a judge on The Great Model Railway Challenge. She's also a SciFi geek and has recently started playing tabletop games (Star Wars Legion).

She's been working on the designs for these modular landing platforms over the past few months and, boy, are there a lot of options in the package.

I've spent the last two weeks (almost) test-printing the SciFi Ring from the Galactic Set:

The ring has two levels which can be used separately (the upper ring needs basing sections for that though), or together for a taller structure. There are 14* different lower sections and 12* different upper pieces. And that's just for one of the four landing pads in the Galactic Set and before any Stretch Goals are added.

In the photos above you can see what I have printed so far - 14 lower sections and 4 upper sections. You need 12 per level to make a basic ring - I'm printing extras to show off all the options, but that means making a sort of figure-of-eight shape.

There are three pledge levels:

Core Modular Set (allowing you to build landing pads in a range of sizes and shapes) - £32

Galactic Set (SciFi Ring, Desert Ring and a Sky City one either full or flat) - £32

All-In (both sets) - £50 (or £45 if you get in early)

Considering how much you get in each set, I'd say that it is incredibly good value. Of course, once you have the files you will need to print them...

* actually slightly more - for the lower ring there are two different tops for the towers and a variant of the buttress piece which requires supports for printing; for the upper ring there are two different tower tops.

Salute 2023 - The Loot

Yesterday saw me make my pilgrimage to the ExCel Centre in London for Salute 50. Unlike most years, I wasn't traveling from home, as I'd been down at my sister's in Sussex for a couple of nights. I had planned to catch the 0836 train and got there in plenty of time to buy my ticket, but that train was cancelled so I had to get the 0906. Oh well, at least I had time to buy a coffee at the station before boarding.

I eventually got to the venue just before 11am and aftr a few minutes negotiating my way through the crowd of runners pre0registerign for the London Marathon, I made it to the show entry hall just after 11am. There wasn't a queue by then, so I was able to walk straight in (after showing my ticket and getting the goodies-bag).

Another difference to previous years was that I didn't take my camera, so I wasn't taking photos of all the games which allowed me to just visit the ones that interested me (I'd marked up a copy of the show map from the list on the website). I did make a couple of small purchases whilst doing that, but most of my shopping came later on.

I didn't spend as much as normal, or as anticipated, as several items I had on my list weren't available at the show (note to self - pre-orders make good sense!)

At lunchtime I attended the "Bloggers, Vloggers and Podcasters" meet-up which was a good chance to chat with people I hadn't seen for ages and to meet a few people I've only ever chatted with online before. Disgracefully, Ray wasn't there - I'm told he was "under the thumb". *lol*

After that I spent about an hour doing the rest of my shopping before heading to The Fox for drinks with other CLWC members. Four pints of Guinness later, it was time to head home - I think I got in about 9pm - unpack my bags and take some photos of the loot. Apologies for any blurriness - I was slightly inebriated when I took them!

All The Loot:

TT Combat:

I bought this set thinking it would be using the same patterns as the walkways I painted last year. On opening it up for a look, I found that not to be the case.

Blotz:

SHQ:

A vehicle tray for 4l/9l Really Useful Boxes.

Oshiro Model Terrain:

Clear acrylic skirmish movement trays that will be handy for Judge Dredd mobs.

Pendraken/Minibits:

Of the five VMC paints, three were on my list as definitely needing to buy and the other two I know I'm gettign close to finishing; they didn't have the two others that I am almost out of though. I also bought a handful of the Express Color paints to try out. 

Great Escape Games & Too Fat Lardies:

OK, I succumbed to the temptation of a new ruleset...

"OK, great loot, but why haven't we seen you post anything for the last two weeks?"

Basically, I haven't really had anything to show. I did start painting the next set of Block Wars figures (all base coats done) then got busy with a couple of other things. The first of those is doing a load of test-prints for a Kickstarter someone is going to be launching this week (printing things, providing feedback, printing revised things, providing new feedback, rinse, repeat...). The secodn is that I got a bug in my brain about designing some 3D-printable terrain for Block Wars based on Peach Trees from the 2012 Dredd film - so far I've modeled the atrium walkway parapets (I think I've got them close to spot-on) and the next step will be to add the walkways to go behind them. Once those are done I can work on some modular apartments, shops, etc to complete the upper floor sets. Eventually, I will be modeling the ground floor entrance and mall, plus the Med Centre.

Finished: Riot Control Judges (and a couple of Lawmasters)

 

And that's the first three figures from Wave 1 of the Block Wars expansion done and dusted. As mentioned on Wednesday, I took the opportunity to also paint two Lawmaster bikes which had been sitting primed in the drawer for over a year.

Riot Control Judges

The Riot Control Division is made up of Judges who don't make the grade for Street Division, but have the necessary qualities and aptitude for dealing with the frequent riots and block wars that occur in Mega City One.

The one without a riot shield is armed with a riot foam dispenser - the foam hardens rapidly, trapping anybody caught in it allowing them to be cut free, arrested and sent to the Iso Cubes when the riot has been dealt with. The other two are in assault mode; one with a disrupter gun (which temporarily* disrupts the target's nervous system), the other with the ubiquitous Daystick.

I will admit to being a little confused as to why Warlord didn't sculpt them with Lawgiver pistols, which they should all have as back-up weapons.

*usually...

Lawmasters

Somewhat over a year ago I painted up the Cadet Judge and SJS Judge Gerhart models, including riding pose for the latter (I'd lost one of the arms for the riding pose Cadet, so it's still un-primed) but not the Lawmaster bikes from their packs. They had been primed, just not painted for some reason.

Cadet's Lawmaster

SJS Judge Gerhart's Lawmaster

I'm not happy with the headlights and tail lights on the Lawmasters - I might go back and repaint those at some point.

Wednesday Workbench 05 April 2023

 

Well, that is what I got primed a week or so ago. Most of the figures are "model railway people"; some I am leaving as greyscale to use as "average citizens" for Judge Dredd games, the rest will get painted up to bulk out the "Resident Mobs" for Block Wars games (at least until Warlord decide to t=do the obvious and release further Resident Mob packs - the two from the starter pack and the ten in their own pack just won't be enough for one player, let alone two). I also primed all the figures from the first wave of Block Wars.

"Average Citizens" - I need to get some 30mm round bases for the rest.

Wave 1 of Block Wars

Speaking of Block Wars, Warlord announced the Wave 2 releases for pre-order last week and I might have ordered them as a birthday present for myself...

I did make a start on painting the Wave 1 figures last Friday, doing the flesh on all of them. I then got distracted and didn't return to them until today. I decided to start off with the easy job - doing the Riot Judges and remembered that I still had two Lawmaster bikes that needed painting as well, so added them to the workbench:

I actually finished painting them all today, and I'll be varnishing them tomorrow. Then it's onto this bunch of nutters:

I'll probably do these in small groups over the next few days.

Wednesday Workbench 22 March 2023; Judge Dredd - Block War

 

As you can see, there's actually nothing on my workbench right now. That is a purely temporary state of affairs, of course, but I haven't decided what project to tackle next. It hasn't been completely empty since the end of the Challenge - yesterday it had my airbrushes in various stages of being deep cleaned, but that's all done now.

On Monday I took delivery of a pre-order I'd placed in January:

Yes, the Block War expansion for Judge Dredd, plus a couple of freebies.

Para carrying casualty - I've already got this, so I'll make a gift of it

1812 Russian line infantry, to add to all the other sample sprues I have.

Block War Expansion

The pre-order was for the expansion, plus the first three associated packs. Looking through the rules, it looks like another eight packs are set for release later on (from bits mentioned in the rules but without previews, there should be more).

Block War

The expansion contains an A5 format rulebook, a pad of record sheets for players' blocks in the campaign, 2 figures of belligerent residents, 3 new Armoury cards and 15 Block War cards (which replace the Big Meg cards from the main game).

Mega-City Resident Mob

The pack contains 10 belligerent resident figures and 3 cards (1 x stats, 1 x Armoury, 1 x Big Meg)

Fatties At War

The pack contains 2 "fatty" models - Fats Hambo and a fatty battering ram, and 4 cards (2 stats cards, 1 x Armoury, and 1 x Big Meg)

Justice Department Riot Control

The pack contains 3 figures (2 Riot Judges, 1 Assault Judge) and 4 cards (2 stats cards, 1 x Armoury, 1 x Big Meg).

I've had a read-through of the rules and they look as though they should make for an interesting campaign between 2 or more players. There are 12 scenarios split into Early, Mid and Late phases (4 for each). There is an escalation factor in the games - in early phase scenarios you get 75 point, mid phase 100 points and late phase 150 points (NB - points/models available can be affected by certain block upgrades, details of the scenario, special abilities, Block War cards and results of preceding scenarios). Added to the rules are heavy weapons emplacements 

Each player selects their Block from one of 65 types, although it's not clear (other than through their random number of block upgrades) what effect beyond the number of structural points the block has on the game. Maybe just for a bit of "colour" - how many levels and how many residents per level. Winning a scenario will cause structural damage to the loser's block.

Update - on taking another look, the type of block does have an effect and (in one case) the population/level. However, the number of levels seems to have no effect. 

For the block factions, players get to select their roster from the Block Gang, Citi-Def, Fatty, Robot lists and any non-Judge characters. There isn't a Justice Department faction, but one of the block upgrades and certain Block War cards can bring in one or more Judges under your control during mid and late phase scenarios - as four of the 15 cards can do this and each player picks 3 cards from the deck, there is a very good chance of both players being able to bring in and control Judge models (although Judges can never target each other). Each block must have a "champion" - there are stats (and special rules) for these, but I don't see why the Champion couldn't be a Block Gang Lieutenant, a Citi-Def Lieutenant (figures not released yet) or one of the two named Fatties (Dick Porker and Fats Hambo); you could add the special rules for Block Champion to them by upping the points cost.

I've got pretty much all the scatter terrain I need for the 'tween-block plaza scenarios, but might get a few more pieces. 

This expansion is definitely positioned as a perp vs perp game, whereas the main rules (the scenarios at least) are aimed more as Judges vs perps which can lead to a major imbalance in the activation system if you don't use one of the house rules that have been suggested by players and one of the designers). From figure previews that have been seen, it looks like "The Day The Law Died" will be the next expansion and that will pit Judges vs Judges - also a more balanced game. The heavy weapons and new Citi-Def models might also suggest an eventual Apocalypse War expansion.