Has a year gone by so fast?

Really, it's been two years. Very little progress on the VSF front since March 2013 or there abouts I'm afraid. I've been doing more things with Fantasy, I suppose, but even then last year was pretty empty of painting opportunities.

And this isn't going to help much, as it's about VBCW, which is something that has been simmering away under the surface for a long while now. As not much gets done re: VBCW, there's no point it having a blog of its own so I've put stuff up here before - I think about 5 years ago, I posted about some plastic Cluedo figures I'd got hold of and was thinking of using for '20s-'30s gaming (in fact here they are in their raw plastic state).

Well, that's still ongoing. What I have done is thought of some rules for them - at least, for VBCW skirmishes.

VBCW is a bit weird. The main things about it that I'm pulling into my gaming are that there are 3 factions - the Socialists, the Anglicans and the Fascists - and there are lots of card activations that happen.

So I was thinking what I could do with the Cluedo characters and decided on a few simple rules.

First - the Cludo characters would be 'card activated' too. If a player drew a card, that character would wander into the skirmish and get involved. That means I need six cards - one each for Miss Scarlett, Professor Plum, Mrs. White, Reverend Green (in versions outside the UK, I believe this is 'Mr. Green, the Businessman' but in the UK version he's a clergyman), Mrs. Peacock and Colonel Mustard.

Second - each character would grant some bonus. This I decided was quite tricky. Colonel Mustard I thought should be a combat bonus. Professor Plum maybe a bonus to shooting? A lecture on ballistics or something that increased a unit's ability to shoot. Then I realised I could pair up 'opposites'; and there are a lot of opposites in VBCW.

Third -each character would have some affiliation. The idea of affiliation is a bit weird though. There are three sides, but not every game has three sides. So affiliation can also work negatively and this is what I decided to concentrate on. Who wouldn't someone ally with?

So taking the last question first, I decided that straight off the bat that neither Colonel Mustard nor Mrs Peacock would side with the Socialists. Colonel Mustard is too military to fight for the Bolshies, and Mrs Peacock is too rich and aristocratic. They'd either fight for the Anglicans or the Fascists. So I needed to work out who wouldn't fight for the other factions.

Reverend Green obviously would fight for the Anglicans, but we already have two Anglican/Fascist characters - what I needed was two who would fight for Anglicans or Socialists, and two who would fight for Socialists or Fascists. As there seemed no reason for Reverend Green to avoid the Anglicans (in fact it seemed daft) he was down for Anglican/Socialist. And the pattern of opposites (and abilities) began to emerge.

I'd already reasoned that Colonel Mustard would boost fighting; and Mrs Peacock could perhaps show some chaps how to handle a gun, bein' a huntin' shootin' and fishin' type herself. Prof Plum could also be an expert on guns... so if I made a wheel, and put Prof Plum opposite Mrs Peacock...

That's how it came together in my head. Each character has a primary allegiance - Plum and White to the Socialists, Scarlett and Mustard to the Fascists, and Green and Peacock to the Anglicans. But because of where they 'never' go, each character also has a secondary allegiance. Plum and Scarlett, I decided, were far to unconventional ever to join the Anglicans. And I already knew that Mustard and Peacock would never join the Socialists.

So this way, in a two faction battle, each side could get three allies. In a fight between Socialists and Fascists, Mrs Peacock would join the Fascists with Miss Scarlett and Col. Mustard; Rev. Green would join the Socialists with Prof. Plum and Mrs White. In a fight between Socialists and Anglicans, Miss Scarlet would join the Socialists with Plum and White, against the Anglicans with Green, Peacock and Mustard. And in a fight between Anglicans and Fascists, White would join the Anglican side while Plum allied with the Fascists.

The abilities each has paired up quite neatly too. Reverend Green's effect on morale (a nice sermon to rouse the Anglicans, or a bit of fiery Christian Socialism for the 'redder' troops) balances Miss Scarlett's singing (I imagine her as a sort of celebrity coming to to entertain the troops); Col Mustard teaching hand-to-hand combat balances Mrs White fortifying the troops with tea; Professor Plum's ballistics lectures complement Mrs Peacock's teaching of the same subject. And the way the forces split means no-one would ever be on the same side as their 'opposite' with the same skills.

There will be two ways these characters can be used. If one draws a card with a character from 'ones own' army - let's assume, it's Socialists v Anglicans and the Socialist player draws Mrs White - then that player gets to place the Mrs White figure with whichever of his units he wishes, as she has wandered into the battle with a tray of tea 'for the lads'. All effects take one turn to come into play: for that turn the chosen unit cannot attack, but after that, for the remainder of the game, that unit counts as having a bonus to hand-to-hand attacks (exactly what bonus would depend on the games system of course). But anyway, the Miners' Militia, fortified by a turn of drinking tea, later assaults the enemy's positions with renewed vigour.

On the following turn, the Anglican player draws - calamity! - Miss Scarlett, an 'enemy' card. The Anglican player can't play Miss Scarlett in his own army but can, perhaps, still use her to his advantage. As Miss Scarlett's ability is improving morale, it would be best to 'waste' this ability on either a unit with high morale anyway (so the increment is not noticed so much) or on a unit unlikely to have to check morale. The Anglican player has a choice - place Miss Scarlett with the enemy command (where she may distract them with her singing thus possibly preventing them giving orders, depending on the system, but in any case unlikely to need an increase in morale) or with that unit of snipers hiding in the trees, who have to stop shooting for a turn in order to be entertained - even though they're unlikely to be making a morale check.

This latter effect, where a friendly character is placed by the enemy, can be regarded as the result of misinformation or deception by spies or double agents. Not the characters themselves - but whoever sent Miss Scarlett there at just that time - obviously, working for the Anglican League...

So where does this all leave VSF? I'm still working on ways to include these six into 'Torchwood: 1891' but without the three-fold alliance structure it's difficult to see how something like this is applicable. I think I might go back to my original idea to link them to D&D-type abilities: Strength, Intelligence, Wisdom (Fighter, Wizard, Cleric, Mustard, Plum, Green?), then perhaps Scarlett could represent Dexterity (and Thieving?) White could represent Constitution (generally fortitude and endurance) and Mrs Peacock Charisma - as a 'lady' she was probably born to rule...

Still thinking about that - I'd say 'watch this space' but if it's another year until I post you might get round to thinking that I was a bit presumptive!

A bit of housekeeping

As I've re-activated my old D&D campaign (at least, I'm ploughing through my old notes and attempting to cudgel them into order) I also thought it might be time to do a little housekeeping on the blog - as some time ago, the excellent 'Big List of RPG Plots' by S. John Ross of Cumberland Games went down, and I was looking for it to help with my general DMing activities.

Turns out that it's moved so I've put in the link to the current site - it's really worth checking out whether one plays old-school fantasy, sci-fi games, VSF, Pulp or whatever other genre one can imagine. Pretty much all the plots you could think of are listed with common and not-so-common twists and complications; also included are some suggestions about how to combine plots and move from one to another. A great resource to stimulate the gaming imagination. Please take the time to visit it and take a gander at the other Cumberland Games stuff while you're there - including various free downloads which I'm sure I'll be taking advantage of!

While I was sorting that out, I also took the opportunity to delete the Universal Engineering forum from the links list. It was hacked some time ago, and account details were pirated. I certainly ended up with a virus on my email account which originated the day after the forum was hacked and I can't help thinking the two things were related. The forum has now either moved or just ceased, there's no forum at the address I held anyway. Sadly Universal Engineering never really took off; conceived as a 'TerraGenesis for vehicle makers' - specifically, I suppose, sci-fi vehicles - it never attained the critical mass of modellers necessary to become a self-sustaining community in the way TG did. Partly, I think, because TG already had a huge library of articles and photos before it became a successful forum. UE didn't have that and never acquired it.

Hopefully, a new attempt to do something similar will be more successful... who knows? I'd certainly like to be able to go to a forum dedicated to the art of turning shampoo-bottles into grav-tanks and building cardboard dirigibles... it might help me to sort out one of the modelling projects I'm currently working on, some 'squad cars' for my 'space police' - 

Jo, Bo, Ho and Flo Judoon, Intergalactic Enforcers

- some Judoon from the Dr Who magazine that really need some transport. I'm sure they'll turn up at some point to bother my Torchwood and UNIT chaps... but maybe not with their hover-cars.

The Unusual Suspects

Various Victorian Ne'er-do-wells

OK, a couple of them are 'Usual Suspects' such as the cowboy chap (who seems to get into lots of photos, an Artizan Texas Ranger, I believe) and 'Ironcladman' AKA the Brass Aetherine AKA Sgt Jack Ironbridge of the Royal Aeronatical Corps.

Also pictured are 'Chap with Axe' (a lovely figure from Brigade Games' not-Gangs of New York range, not from Artizan as I had previously believed - thanks guys at the Lead Adventure Forum for putting me right!) and Ironclad's excellent dynamic duo of 'Agent H' and 'Agent L'. Obviously, still WIP but hey ho, I'm better at starting things than finishing them.

Some of these guys will perhaps see action in a new theme I'm working on inspired by HG Wells' classic tale 'The Food of the Gods', in which a new growth-promoting chemical formula causes wasps, ants, rats, plants, and ultimately people to grow very large. Obviously the Agents (from the Ministerial Investigation Board, the governmental organisation that keeps watch on the strange and unusual... and Torchwood:1891, which counts as strange and unusual all on its own) will be coming around trying to hush everything up; Chap with Axe is likely to be some villager from Kent or Surrey defending life and limb from hypertrophied rats and whatnot.

Whether I get further with a 'Food of the Gods' project, only time will tell, but I may as well assume I will I think...

Polls have closed, the masses have spoken

Thanks to those who voted in the 'Name my UNIT commander' poll - 4 of you means a 33% turn out which isn't bad I guess! - the extremely difficult tallying has gone ahead and the result is a resounding victory for 'Commadore Archibald Frazer Lethbridge Stewart'.

I'm very glad, as that's the answer I favour too. That means in a stunning reversal of tradition, I'm not going to ignore this result and do what I think is best anyway! I'm going to respect it and do what I think is best anyway!

Hopefully there will be more shenanigans soon, I've been a bit busy of late, but, it was ever thus...

The Adventures of UNIT...

Members of UNIT are called to investigate a strange object that has appeared overnight in a Sussex field...


















Sergeant Benton, clutching his Galvanic Projector, approaches the alien device, while Old Jeb looks on warily...



















Are you sure that's a good idea, Commadore Lethbridge-Stewart?



















The Commadore suddenly remembers an important engagement he must attend in Godalming...



















Re-establishing order, a stand-off ensues...

WIP shots of my various forces

Apologies for the bad lighting, but in the end I figure that bad photos are probably better than no photos.

This was the state of my painting tray about 3 or 4 months ago, round about mid-May. Since then very little has happened (a few arms glued on, that sort of thing) but hopefully more will occur this weekend (and it'll be months before the pics surface, probably...)

First up are the members of UNIT - the Uniformed Naval Infantry Territorials - who will sport rifleman green uniforms and khaki Glengarry caps, as a nod to the 'classic' look of UNIT in 1970s episodes of Dr Who, as modelled by the second and third chaps in the first column. Part of the point of the photo was to demonstrate the relative lack of poses with the Wargames Factory figures. Two Body types, and two rifle positions, and two head designs, means 8 basic figures. There are a couple of 'loading' arms, and I've used one to make a chap actually loading his rifle (I can never remember if these are Lee-Mitfords or Martini-Henries) and another I've used to give the sergeant an alien or future-technology weapon.




Close up of the UNIT sergeant (Sergeant Benton, I did think of making him Petty Officer Benton but then decided that he could have a Royal Marine rank instead) with his 'Galvanic Projector' AKA lightning gun (AKA laser rifle, though the concept makes no sense in the late 19th century). It's bodged from two bits of sprue, and yeah, maybe it looks it. Never mind, these are toys for playing games with.


Some of my Victorian characters in various states of paintiness - the first two columns are all from Ironclad, third column is Westwind and fourth is Artizan. I tried to show how they all look next to each other but it doesn't work very well.

Thanks to the three people who voted!

The poll as to whether I should give my walker pilot a Pith Helmet or a Glengarry Cap has now closed - and, perhaps in line with expectation, it has ended with a convincing win of 100% of the (three) votes being cast in favour of Pith Helmets.

I suppose I'd better tell you why I've decided to give him a Glengarry then.

I'm hoping to use my VSF forces primarily for Battles by GASLIGHT (BbG) games. In BbG, individual units are grouped together into commands which activate together, when their group commander activates. As my entire combined British (and allied) force for GASLIGHT consists at the moment of 11 units (though many are unpainted as yet), I thought it made sense to split the elements 3,4,4 - that's obviously the most even way to do it, and if I get round to it, I might add another unit to the '3'.

As my Aetherine Group - consisting of 10 infantry, a mechanical walker (the Warhammer 40,000 Space Marine Dreadnaught I showed a few weeks ago), a steam tank (the Space Marine Rhino, likewise) and a heroic Aetherine special character in a flying armoured suit - already had four elements to it, it made sense to switch the second walker, the open-topped one I needed a pilot for, to my UNIT group, which up until that point only had two elements in it - a unit of 10 infantry, and a commanding officer.

So my entire force would be:
(Command Group 1)
Commadore Alexander Cameron Lethbridge-Stewart;
10 Uniformed Naval Infantry Territorials;
UNIT Mechanical Conveyance, 'Stormwalker';
To this, I may add a steam tank, which may be called (for reasons as yet not entirely clear) 'Mrs McNulty'

(Command Group 2)
Sergeant Jack Ironbridge, Royal Aeronautical Corps, in experimental Rapid Action battlesuit;
10 Royal Aeronautical Corps Aetherines;
Royal Aeronautical Corps War-walker 'Goliath';
Royal Aeronautical Corps Steam Tank 'Victorious'

(Command Group 3)
Colonel Reginald Hammond-Mustard;
10 troops under Major Smith, 1st Battalion the Trumptonshire Regiment;
10 troops under Captain Skarpvulder, Combined Atlantean Rifle Brigade;
10 troops under Overseer Zedeldun, Morlock Atlantean Native Infantry Corps

Some painting, but no pics yet

I managed to get some paint onto a few minis yesterday - test schemes for my UNIT 1891 troops, and the beginnings of the scheme for my Dwarf Britannia 'Combined Atlantean Rifle Brigade'.

I've been thinking about GASLIGHT because it's my intention to actually try and play some games of it this year. To that end I've been thinking about how to build, paint and stat up my forces. 10 chaps in a unit seems like an obvious place to start, with a small number of characters.

It occurred to me that, as I'm unlikely to be playing British and Ruritanians at the same time, I might be able to get away with using some figures as either British or Ruritanian. So, along with serving as Kolonel Kartoffeln-ohne-Umlaut, my yellow-jacketed Zendarian Vampire Hunter, the chap at the bottom here (from Westwind Miniatures' Vampire Wars range) could also serve as Colonel Mustard, redoubtable British commander... similarly, his companion (not shown) with a monacle and sabre might make both a fine officer for any Molvanian Jaegers under Ruritanian command, and also (cunning use of dark green jacket and trousers here) as a leader for my UNIT troops, who have essentially a Rifle Regiment uniform. No lesser personage than Commodore Lethbridge-Stewart, UNIT's commander. I think 'Commodore' is equivalent to 'Brigadier' anyway.

I didn't find out until recently that it's thought that the dark green of the rifle regiments might have been inspired by the British employment of Jaeger regiments during the American Revolution. So it sort of seemed fitting that the same figure could stand in as a commander in either army.

Because I'd also mixed up some khaki for UNIT's Glengarries, I thought I may as well get it on the Dwarfs' Pith Helmets. Not sure if it works, we'll have to see when the rest of the scheme is done (basically standard British infantry of the mid-late Victorian period - red jacket and blue trousers).

Then as I was painting a dwarf I had another idea - I have some Warhammer Dwarfs with guns, only I've never been much of a fan of using black powder weapons in Warhammer, so I wondered about making them a unit for GASLIGHT too - the Morlock Allied Native Infantry Corps. That may need more thinking about, but it does potentially mean I'll be able to field 5 units of infantry fairly quickly (redcoat Dwarfs, 'native' Dwarfs, UNIT riflemen, Aetherines, and my lovely Line Infantry from Ironclad). Quite pleased with the way my little force is developing...

Dilemma dilemma (please see poll)

I've set up a new poll. Why? you may ask. Or may not, it's your choice. But I'll tell you either way.

I'm having trouble deciding if my GW Sentinel scout walker should belong to my Aetherines (pilot in blue uniform, wearing Pith Helmet) or my UNIT 1891 troops (pilot in dark green uniform, wearing Glengarry).

So the choice comes down to that - UNIT or Aetherines? Glengarry or Pith Helmet? I can't even decide which head to put on until I know, I can't assemble the walker properly until I've painted the uniform... help me, oh generous souls who come visit my humble page! For without your guidance, I am as an idiot with a sack on his head.

More minis! Hurrah!

I've begun putting glue to plastic to get my Riflemen and Aetherines together, as well as my GW walker that's been lying around in bits. The Wargames Factory British look like they'll be OK for what I want them to do, and after a very fine chap called Mors (as detailed in this thread on the Lead Adventure Forum) gave me some heads in Glengarry Caps, I have enough to make a unit of 10 in Glengarries, which makes statting GASLIGHT units much easier I believe.

My idea is that these fellows will be a dual purpose unit - either the fictitious (but plausible) Northdale Rifles, a Victorian incarnation of one of the fictional army units in the lists; or, when I'm feeling a little more 'way out', or when Torchwood 1891 need a bit of firepower, they can be Uniformed Naval Infantry Territorials, or 'UNIT'. Their uniform I'm thinking (in an homage to the 1970s UNIT uniforms) will be green jackets and khaki caps. I did consider black with red caps like the modern iteration of UNIT, but... nah.

I also have started, with the other 10 bodies from the Wargames Factory pack, putting my Aetherines together. They will have Pith Helmets; after all, they may fall out of their airships, and bang their heads, so they need something more robust than a Glengarry cap. But on the other hand, Home Service spiked helmets might be a liablity when ballooning; hence the Pith Helmets.

I've also started the process of building the breathing apparatus for these chaps, for high-altitude assaults, or fighting on Mars or Venus. I wonder when I'll finish the experiments and actually get the minis ready... Don't hold your breath, as the saying goes.

And the walker... the Pith Helmeted Wargames Factory heads seem to fit the pilot OK; perhaps it could belong to the Aetherines.

Pictures to follow I hope soon.

Lead Adventure Forum and Lead Painters' League

Well, I think I have to at least try to enter The Lead Painters' League at the Lead Adventure Forum this year, even if I don't complete 10 new entries or indeed paint to a very high standard.

I'm a bit dubious as to whether I can manage to get enough done to make it worthwhile, but I plan on giving it a go. The point after all is to get more stuff painted not to get points particularly, so it doesn't really matter if I don't get all the bonuses.

Round 1 should be OK, I can finish my Cluedo characters and enter them as civilians - I need to find a good way to base them though.

Round 5, Africa, is possible - my current thinking is the Northdale Rifles vs Kapitein Jango's Boer Commandos, which would mean getting a 5 or so chaps to serve as Boers. I hope to have my Riflemen built by then, as long as I can resist showing the pics on here it should be OK.

Round 10, the film round, is very tough. Thinking of films in which 2 groups of at least 5 people face each other in a fight isn't too hard, but finding minis for that and working out how to do it over the next 13 weeks or so (while still doing everything else) is a bit tricky. Still, I've got a few ideas and I'll give it a go...

Of course, I do have a massive pile of lead (and plastic) to paint - not a single lick of paint on my Dwarf Britannia chaps, or the gorgeous figs I got from Ironclad last month. Maybe Captain Nemo and his Henchmen could be one of my entries, that might be fun...

Anyway, onward and upward, if I am ever to conquer the Lead Mountain!

2011 has begun...

...officially, with my first dose of lead of the new year.

I have received a small Ironclad order, consisting of Ironcladman, Captain Nemo, Agents H and L, and 4 Evil Henchmen.



Ironcladman will serve for the moment in Her Majesty's Royal Aeronautical Corps, as an Aetherine hero in an experimental Battle Suit.










Agent H and Agent L will be attached to the Torchwood project, seconded there from the Ministerial Investigation Bureau - no, Board is a better word for a Victorian institution I think (a secret government department tasked with overseeing paranormal investigations, known by field agents such as Torchwood as the 'Ministry of Interfering Busybodies', or sometimes something even less polite; 'Mostly, Irritating Bores' and 'Magically Incompetent Blockheads' are two other versions - I've been thinking about what 'MIB' could stand for all afternoon...).







The Captain Nemo figure (with his Evil Henchmen) will serve as an enemy of Rivets and Whimsy... damned sky-pirates. The Henchmen look like they'll also see action as Ruritanian terrorists and general fin de siecle bad guys.













And I've also snagged a copy of 'The Heart of Princess Osra', the prequel to 'The Prisoner of Zenda' - revelations about Ruritanian history will no doubt follow.

All pictures taken direct from the Ironclad site at Ironclad Miniatures

New picture of the 1930s investigators

Improvements in the sensitivity of the Aetheric Tempograph enabled this slightly better shot to be taken of the 1930s paranormal investigators... however, the background has become very strange, they appear to be standing in a gigantic library which includes some books that haven't been written yet (in the 1930s).

Curiouser and curiouser...

Look to the Future now...

Sorry, no more gratuitous Christmas references.

It's not VSF, but I thought I'd post a photo of something in the heady future of the 1930s or there abouts - scientifical-speculative fiction for VSFers of course, but due to an imbalance in the Chronic Aether, it has been possible to extract a kind of temporal luxograph... the colours may be a bit washed out (which is why everyone looks grey) but there it is.

These are the members of an elite Investigation Unit of the 1930s... now, to make a 1890s version...