Doctor Who And The Red City - Episode One

Prop Shop........The Red City!

The 'Red City' is a large Sci Fi city that I built 6 or 7 years ago. It is made up almost entirely of plastic components manufactured and sold by Games Workshop for their Warhammer 40k game. I was fortunate enough to acquire a pretty large amount of frames at a very low cost. I sat on these for some years until I eventually decided to bite the bullet and get creative. I spent several weeks gluing these buildings and walkways together and almost hospitalised myself with the fumes from the glue I was inhaling! 

My objective was to create a collection of scenery that was both flexible and at the same time capable of providing different levels to fight over. Its primary purpose was for 25mm scale sci fi skirmish games like Necromunda. 

One of the main features that drove the design of the city was the walkways. I wanted multiple level walkways that threaded through the structure of the city. This would hopefully enable more complex firefights and add more interest to the games. 

The whole collection breaks down into separate buildings that can be connected in a number of ways by the walkways. The lengths of the walkways can be extended, resulting in a number of options and configurations.  

Designed for 25mm scale figures, the walkways are not quite as wide as I would like for my 54mm collection, but  apart from my Daleks, most just about fit.

The whole collection just about fits into two very large 'really useful' boxes and has been stored in the garage for the last couple of years. A desire to see it again and to try it out in a Doctor Who themed toy soldier game resulted in me blowing the dust off the boxes and the photos you now see. 

I Counted Them All Out...... Doctor Who And The Red City

Anyone who has followed Doctor Who, will be aware that whole episodes and in some cases whole story arcs, are missing from the BBC archives. They were destroyed at a time when the tape was more valuable than the film upon them. Sadly, I fear that in this battle report, I am going to have to ask you to assume the same thing happened. The second episode and conclusion to this game must be assumed to have been lost....or did it ever even exist? 

I decided to give my Daleks and Cybermen an outing as well as my refurbished 1950's Spacemen. 

I decided on a scenario where the Cybermen allied with the Daleks, have converged on a deserted world to gain control of  an object which would enable them to obtain ultimate power. The Doctor and an Earth Force task group have also arrived at the same time. The Doctor aims to obtain the object and dispose of it where it can't be found by the Daleks or their allies. The Earth Force are there to delay the enemy and assist the Doctor. 

The Doctor landed near the centre of the abandoned city but the Tardis was subject to the effects of a scatter dice. The Earth Force set up artillery pieces to cover the main approaches through the city.

The Daleks and  Cybermen had landed in the industrial part of the city and were now advancing through the City. Their main objective was the object of power, but  a secondary objective was the Doctors death. The death of the Doctors assistant would also score well for the alliance of evil. 

The Doctor (and the Earth Force) would win the game if he could find the object and get it to the Tardis to remove it. 

The Earth Force opened fire on the advancing Daleks but to little effect. The Dalek return fire was however much more effective and the Earth Force took several casualties. 

The 2nd Earth Force artillery team had much more success and scored a direct hit on one of the Cybermen units, killing four in one blast!

The Doctor and his assistant were moving as fast as they could towards the building where the object was radiating its presence. 

A second round of fire and movement resulted in no more casualties on either side but the Doctor was still a good few turns away from the building where the object was radiating power.

It is at this point that the episode ended ....... or rather I was unable to find the time to finish the game. Family matters (common cold all round) took a toll on my free time and I needed to clear the table for the visit of a wargaming friend for a planned Fantasy battle. 

So please accept my profound apologies for a partially completed battle report, but I know how much we all just like to look at photos of each others toys so I thought you might forgive me this once. I hope that this article at least serves as a brief introduction to my 'Space collection '.  I plan to show theses and other figures in more detail at some point, as well as another planned game on an alien planet. Hopefully this time I will get to finish it and will be able to 'broadcast ' the entire story!  

Tara a bit!

 Toy Fair Plunder & Welsh Rebellion !

Gas Masks galore!

Waifs and Strays......Stafford Toy Fair

The Stafford toy fair has yet to let me down in terms of toy soldier plunder and the one this Sunday past was no exception. I paid my £10 entry fee at 8am as is my usual practise and almost immediately found a few hollow cast figures that made me reach for my wallet. I bought four gas mask wearing British infantry at the trail, another one running with fixed bayonets, one crawling and one throwing a grenade. These seven cost me £12, slightly less than £2 each. I love buying these old figures for a pound each, but will happily pay two to three pounds each for better condition or harder to find figures. At the end of the day, they will virtually all be paint stripped and repainted, thereby reducing collectable value to zero. But I want them to repaint for my armies to play with, so value is not a consideration, but cost is. I do not want to pay high prices for figures I am going to devalue a week later! 

Within half an hour, I had found another table with lots of reasonably priced old metal and in particular, a lot of the aforementioned gas mask wearing British infantry. I negotiated a price of £35 for another ten charging, an Officer, a spade wielding figure and three line infantry kneeling to receive. A fraction over £2 each again, result!

Serendipity seemed to be in play once again, as these gas mask wearing figures are at the top of my 'wants list'. As I may have previously mentioned, I have been planning to create my own version of Dr Who's U.N.I.T. Mine needs to be turn of the 20th century appropriate however and I had been struggling to think of a suitable look that would make them stand apart from my other regiments. I eventually decided, that as the cutting edge special forces, specifically designed to deal with extra terrestrial or supernatural threats, that futuristic equipment would not be out of place. Hence the steel helmets and the 'spooky' gas masks! 

Unfortunately these figures had very rarely crossed my path and so far, including a gift from my good friend Michael, I had only recruited about seven figures. Well I now have sufficient (with a couple of planned conversions) to build all of my planned U.N.I.T. force. I still have to think of a new name for them though, as I associate U.N.I.T with the 1970s. 'The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen' is obviously not an appropriate title, but does have the sort of 'feel' that I want. Ideas are always welcome!

Steam roller with mechanic for scale

A few stalls later I spotted this little steam roller. I have been looking for a steam engine for two years now to help pull artillery. Unfortunately the beautiful die cast model steam engines that are available, are either way to big, or too small. I spotted this little model however and saw a conversion project. How much for what turned out to be a tin plate Minic model from I would guess, the 1940s? Three quid was the response from the dealer, which seemed very fair to me. Since getting it home I am tempted to just restore it as a civilian steam roller. I am undecided at present, but for some reason ,I am unusually pleased with this little acquisition!

Not more flora and fauna!

On a second sweep of the table where I bought the haul of gas mask soldiers, I spotted a box of trees, hedges and garden pieces. Do I need more of these lovely items? Not really but can you ever have too much of a good thing especially if the price is right? How much? £30 the lot was the reply.  That has worked out at 50p per item and they are in remarkedly good condition. I am sure I do now have enough flowers for my project and I certainly didn't need the flower beds. As for the trees, hedges, bull rushes etc, I can use as many as cross my path. I love turning these into little scatter scenes for the table and the cabinets. A great buy. 

As far as the pre war garden range is concerned, I now need to concentrate on buying a few select items rather than any more bulk purchases but if the price is right................

Milk crates made by Moko in the 1940s

Whilst buying the garden pieces, I noticed these two small milk bottle crates which the dealer kindly added to the purchase at no extra cost. A small item but one that scratched an itch. I have (sadly!) long been irritated by the Britains milkman holding a bottle of milk but only having large milk churns on his cart. Well no more! These are also quite rare little items and I was again more pleased than I should have been, to bring them back to Apperley Towers.  

So there we have it. A very satisfying morning out. 

A Welsh Rebellion! 

(or the founding of the Free Welsh Volunteers!)

Snowdonia snipers!

My imagi-nation forces have evolved into four contingents. The two faux British factions represent the Royalist forces and their opponents the Socialist rebels (armies red and khaki). The Socialists have an ally in the form of my faux French forces, whilst the Royalists are (hopefully) supported by my faux German forces (armies blue and grey). These four armies are largely formed, although I continue to refine the units and add items as opportunity and inspiration coincide. 

I have for some time wanted to expand these forces with the aforementioned 'UNIT' project and a 'Boer' type force. The Boers themselves would not fit into my imagi-nation world as it is confined to the British Isles with allies from Europe. It struck me however that a Boer type force could very well represent a force of volunteers fighting for a 'free Wales'! After all, the hills and valleys of Wales are ideal for a mobile guerilla type of warfare, utilising horses and ponies for mobility. 

This also gave me the opportunity to utilise a number of lovely figures from my favourite toy soldier manufacturer Replicants. No, not Boers, but various American Civil War figures (particularly some confederate sculpts), and a number of other 19th century poses from various sets Peter has released. Added to these I have a box of the Boer infantry from 'Armies In Plastic'.

,

Whilst I was planning to use a few hollow cast models for artillery and cavalry, I have now decided that  this relatively small force, will be almost exclusively plastic. The design and style of the plastic figures, doesn't fit well with the more rigid hollow casts.  After some minor conversions, I have now started to paint some of the figures for this project and thought I would show the first few efforts here. 

Replicants Napoleonic 95th Rifleman (Hagman?), slightly converted and recruited into the FWV

 I have plans to go for about 36 infantry, 12 mounted figures (to represent the mounted infantry), a small gun with crew and a command group. Somewhere around 55 to 60 figures in total. So far I have prepared the 36 infantry and the command group. I need to convert some artillerymen and purchase some mounted figures. This last unit is a bit of a challenge as I can't immediately think of a suitable figure range, apart from converting American civil war cavalry and mounted cowboys?

CIV regiment and staff

I did originally intend to use my 'slouch hat' (CIV) mounted figures that formed half of the mounted force in my army khaki. The more I looked at them however, the less I wanted to make them look more irregular. I like them as they are and a spin off  from this project is that I have expanded the 8 original troopers to 2 squadrons of 6 and added a 13th mounted officer to the staff group of the army. A kneeling figure with binoculars has also been added and I am very pleased with the outcome. I could still use the cavalry as 'stand ins' with my 'Free Welsh Volunteers' (FWV), until I have recruited some suitable replacements.

I will need some mules as well for the light artillery piece. In an ideal world, a Britains mountain artillery gun and pack mules would be the solution. I just need to source a set at a reasonable price! Good luck with that I hear you all say! Until then, I have a small gun and a couple of plastic pack mules which will do just fine.

Command

A few thoughts about blogs

I think  I had 14 followers. I now seem to have 13. If I was of a different disposition, this might be slightly worrying, but fortunately I don't really mind. I started this blog to share my toy soldier frolics with like minded individuals of whom I suspected there would be a very small amount. We are a niche, within a niche, but we are all passionate about our 54mm madness and toy soldiery. As long as my blog articles entertain and appeal to you, my like minded friends, I don't mind how many followers or views I get. So, whoever unfollowed me, I'm sorry to see you go, but I'm sure you had your reasons and you will always be welcome to return!

This thought does bring me to a topic which may be sensitive in some quarters.....blog adverts! Is it just me? I find adverts sometimes too intrusive. I don't know much about this topic, but I assume the adverts are a choice made by the author of the blog? Is everyone else is ok with adverts? I'm curious what you all think? 

My second blog is now set up but will not be launched for a few weeks. The working title is 'Ratspike and Renegades' which may mean something to those of you steeped in early Warhammer and Games Workshop terminology. It is a blog dedicated to my 25mm sci fi and fantasy activities and I am thoroughly enjoying writing articles for it! I don't think it will have a detrimental effect on this blog, as it will consist of shorter single articles, which won't take as long to write. I hope some of you will find my efforts there of interest as well, but I suspect I will mainly attract a new audience. Anyway, you will hear all about it here first, as someone once said!

Tara a bit!

The Peasants Are Revolting and the Vikings aren't much better!

I have been busily painting a few of my (seemingly) never ending 'medieval' stash. This was prompted by my experiments with the new 'speed paints' that I wrote about a few weeks back. As I said then, I was pretty confident that these new paints were very well suited to the more realistic style of sculpting of Peter Cole, than the smooth lines of my hollowcast veterans. As such I wanted to try out some more and here are the results. 

These are wonderful figures, that, as is often the case with Peters work, fill a niche no one else has ever attempted. Yes they would not have been a big seller to me at the age of seven, but at nearly seventy, they appealed immensely and I bought a few packs.  

I have ended up with a nice 'unit' of 12 villagers with various 'close combat weapons', which will no doubt add flavour and quick casualties to a medieval skirmish I am planning. You never know however, they may manage to ambush a weakened unit of archers or suchlike, only time will tell!

One of the figures is armed with a slingshot and after buying multiple bags I found I had three of this smashing chap and wondered how I could use him. It was then I remembered the three Saxon archers I had (from Peters 1066 collection) and thought I would make up a mixed skirmishing unit of six figures. My favourite rules system for this era is probably Lion Rampant and a unit of light skirmishers is composed of six figures. 

Whilst painting these lads and lasses, I also decided to experiment on three more Saxon/Norman figures. I have another two dozen Saxon shield wall poses to paint in due course, which will double as Norse raiders in my games.

Speaking of Norse raiders, I acquired four unpainted castings of Vikings by DSG from an old friend some time ago. I don't really use many Britains detail figures in my armies but I was particularly struck by the shield maiden and was happy to add these characters to my 'Norse' collection. I think they have painted up quite well and they don't seem to be figures you see every day. 

Sadly, I sold all of my Timpo Vikings during a period of my life, when I needed money more than toy soldiers! I hope to never be in that situation again and whilst I don't generally regret selling my Timpo collection, I do miss those Vikings! I might start picking one or two up again if I can find them at a reasonable price.

Whilst in a 'medieval' mood, I also painted the Crescent Robin Hood set up in my usual painting style. I had painted the Sheriff some time ago and Robin and the gang kept looking at me reproachfully whenever I opened their box! Lovely classic figures, all of which have the Kellogg's logo on the base, denoting their origins in packets of corn flakes. Not sure why I have these, (other than they are brilliant figures!) but they now make up the third painted Robin Hood character set in my collection. The others are from Peter Coles Replicants and the best of all time, Herald. My Herald set is still missing Little John who will be on my shopping list for the Plastic Warrior show in July. My Sheriff is mounted on the wrong horse but I am happy with that as the correct horse is fairly rare and consequently expensive. 

On a slight side note, Peters villagers sets also include a modified version of his Alan a Dale figure. The original has our minstrel leaning against a tree stump strumming his instrument. The new version has had his tree stump removed (which sounds jolly painful!) and is now more useable in different scenarios. I painted one of the two copies I ended up with and will dispose of the spare at Plastic Warrior.

Last but not least, I bought a second copy of Peters carter figure which originally accompanied his fantastic medieval tumbrel cart. Sadly the cart proved too difficult to keep in production and there are I believe, less than a dozen or so complete ones in the wild. I am very pleased to own one, but wish I had snapped up two or three! Nonetheless, the carter figure is still being produced and is ideal for leading stubborn mules or other carts and wagons. I might even pick up a third copy if Peter has any for sale at Plastic Warrior. A super figure, which tells a story in its movement and pose. Highly recommended!

A lick of paint ........... Famous Monsters!

Well perhaps famous is stretching it a little, but I remember buying a copy of a black and white 'famous monsters of filmland' magazine in 1965, featuring all of the usual suspects....Dracula, Frankenstein, the Werewolf etc. I have always had a fondness for said 'monsters' and found them again when I ventured into the world of fantasy wargaming in the very early 1980's. My love of Tolkien's work and science fiction and fantasy novels generally, led me to the first edition of Warhammer fantasy battles and a lifelong enjoyment of  non-historical wargaming.

Werewolf 

This is a topic which divides opinion in the general wargaming world but I have happily indulged in all genres and historical periods with no issues whatsoever. I do however feel that my wargaming is now almost two separate hobbies. My 54mm gaming is the primary focus of this blog and has been the dominant force in my gaming for the last 5 years. I don't see that changing as I am still getting excited at the thought of 'projects' which I haven't found time for yet. 

At the same time, I do still indulge in fantasy and sci-fi games in 25mm scale and find it a refreshing change, both from a gaming and a painting  point of view. I find swapping scales occasionally a good 'palate cleanser'  and I have been doing just that amongst the medieval painting shown above.

Goblin and Wolves

I have been sorting out my 'pre slotta' lead fantasy figures and couldn't resist painting a few before putting them away. I thought I would show what I have painted as most have been further experiments with the speed paints, combined with some more traditional techniques. 

Angelic Hero

I am conscious that a few of my regular readers are not particularly interested in this side of my gaming. This has led to me giving serious consideration to starting a second blog, devoted to my exploits with my 25mm fantasy and sci-fi . I have not made a firm decision yet but would be interested to hear your views. In the meantime here are a few more pictures of my efforts. 

Ent

Fire Daemon

Were Creature 

Trio

Frost Giant

Hydra

Well that's it for this update. I hope to share some progress with my 'Viet Taff' soon. Its very early days but my 'Free Welsh Volunteers' are beginning to take shape in my mind, even if they don't exist as painted models yet. 

Tara a bit!