Skips, Dumptsers, and Related Rubbish

The alternate title "Down in the Dumpster" was rejected a touch too trite and a bit tropey much.

Modern urban scenery in the 25/28mm scale can be quite the challenge to locate, especially when one has determined to build a flashback to Philadelphia in the 1970s.  Did plastic trash bags exist in 1973? (apparently, yes. My old dad used to use paper shopping bags by economic choice, and those old TV averts - showing the soggy bottom falling through - bring back real childhood memories.)

What about dumpsters/skips? I remember my father taking me to one, in the mid-70's that was enormous, probably about 20', but to an eight year old, it looked like the whale what swallowed Pinnochio. It was painted red, had some steps to a metal platform, with rail guards. This was not some public dispose-all, this was on a gated site, where Dad knew the security staff.

Dad had some boxes of shredded paper he wanted disposed of...I know, that sounds a bit shady, but I think he was just blessed with a surfeit of caution...shady caution.

Anyway, my dad had me stand at the base of the steps, where the "start/stop" buttons were, while he cast in the box and indicated I should press "start". As I did, I ran up the steps, to see the great. steel piston slowly extend and press the box, crush the box, into the dark depths of Pinnochio's whale.

Unfortunately, in hindsight, I'm realising that was a compactor not a dumpster, and was probably from a customised shipping container with the engine, piston and platform purpose-built and added on. I haven't been able to find one in 28mm, or indeed ANY scale.

Which leads me back to skips/dumpsters.

The larger dumpster/skip is from Studio Miniatures. The smaller came out of a model train set. I'll need to find the manufacturer's name, becuase I like it better and would like to find more...Ω

Crucible Crush - Nice Minis, Once You Get Them...

Late in 2019, a new line of miniatures was teased by the redoubtable Bob Murch, of Pulp Miniatures. Originally at home on the Pulp Miniatures page, the Black Sun line of Weird Viet Nam War eventually moved to Crucible Crush Miniatures. Crucible is managed by Lee van Schaik, nephew and son of the RAFM van Schaiks, and the connections to RAFM are apparent from even a brief glance at the various miniature lines offered.

For starters, Black Sun is a set of rules and campaign setting for Viet Nam Weird War, set in 1968. Of course, with my current fixation on 1970's street skirmishing, my interest in the project was immediately piqued.

While I'm not much taken by the Viet Nam setting - thus the GIs and VC are of little interest to me, likewise neither are the rifle-armed Adaro/Deep Ones (if they were armed with spearguns or eldritch magic weapons that looked like spun coral or metallic driftwood, I would change my mind) - my main
interest is in the Children of Hastur.

Have you seen the Yellow Sign?

Illustration by Robert Price

Hastur the Unspeakable is reckoned the brother of Great Cthulhu, and awaits imprisoned beneath the lake of Hali, either in or near the Hyades. Hastur was created by Ambrose Bierce, expanded upon by Robert Chambers, adopted by H.P. Lovecraft and fleshed out by August Derleth.

Crucible Crush has released three sets of the Children of Hastur.

Some Black Sun 28mm figures from Crucible Crush Miniatures arrived in the post one fine day last year, and I was, and remain, well pleased with them. Sculpted by living legend, Bob Murch, these figures are excellent. Three packs of miniatures were ordered: The Children of Hastur group. Three sets of un-armed and rifle-armed Hippies. Various states of mutations are shown, none, almost none, tentacles galore. There is an excellent "Charles Mansion" in jeans and freaky beard, a rich, daddy's girl "Tanya" in headband and SMG, and a number of other, less remarkable but well sculpted extras.

For Crazy Charlie, I removed a cluster of short tentacles from back of his right shoulder, as being just a trifle much. He's chanting from an Unspeakable Tome, anything more is just dotting a capital I.

The Hippie with the pistol originally had an M-16. He was converted using a an pistol available from Crooked Dice. Crooked Dice seems to be the only miniatures company who had the stroke of brilliance in adding an extra hand weapon or head to the base of their metal figure sprues.

The order was late in coming, well over a month. Once I emailed CC, Lee v. S. was quick in shipping it out - so quick, in fact, that a miniature was left out and a duplicate miniature included. I'm an odd duck, in that I would like what I've paid for, so I shipped the odd miniature back, with an explanation and a printed PICTURE, from their web store.

Almost another month goes by - I actually have no reason to expect my parcel ever arrived, since the address is shared with another business, but I email anyway.  They replied that they thought my replacement went out in early July - I inform them that it's quite possible; some of my parcels did go astray, disappearing into the black void of Camden County, NJ.

So, Lee kindly offered to send another. Which arrived.

And was the wrong miniature, again.

There's a point one just stops, and this was it. Perhaps they regretted that particular mini - a Black Panther "militant"?  The game industry is busy tying itself in knots over "woke" alleged-players.

But, no, as an email reply to my inquiry assured me there was no agenda, political or otherwise, they'd just got it wrong, twice.  They did assure me they were doing their best...

That's good to know, and a bit bad at the same time. "I did my best" is an admission of failure, it's what Dad or Granddad or "Coach" told us when we lost to the other team. It's what we tell our boss, after we skew the pooch at work, hoping s/he won't fire us.  To claim one "did their best" is to acknowledge your "best" isn't really good enough. Failure wasn't for lack of trying, it was for lack of doing.

The answer is, to do better, and the remedy is to review your processes and locate where and how the errors are occurring, and fix them.

Maybe the packer is doing six orders at once "to save time".  As a university student, I hand packaged for an Aerospace supplier, and we were told NOT to work on more than one order at a time, because any time saved would be lost "times ten" in straightening out the error, and we could possibly lose the customer. "People can get parts anywhere" my boss once said. "We have to offer superior service to keep them buying from us."  That was 30 years ago, and they're still in business.

In the end, the missing figure finally showed up - Lee van S. said it was a matter of personal pride, and to his credit, he stuck to it until he finally got it right.

Animation: 5

Detail: 5

Proportions: 5

Variety: 4

 
Overall: 4.75 out of 5...Ω

The Night Stalker in 28mm

 

No urban game set in the 70s, which included supernatural elements, would be complete without including a certain newshound who, in the opinion of his editor, "looks like he just came from a road company performance of "The Front Page."

The character is question is, as you have doubtless already concluded, one Carl Kolchack, reporter and journalist, and associate of the Independent News Service.

An excellent proxy model can be found at Pulp Figures, in their "News Hounds" pack, which also includes a potential Obstreperous Editor, plus sundry other Front Page folks.

For 7TV1 purposes, I would use the "Investigative Academic" profile, and purchase 3 Luck points. Our Carl always seems to be able to pull himself out of the fire...Ω

WIP: Columbia Rumble II - The Droogs of War

 

As the Holidays approached,  my wife suggested that the dining room table (upon which rested my partially complete 28mm streets) might be a better choice for Christmas dinner than sitting in the parlour, eating from TV trays...

Her logic was inescapable.

So,  I decided to have one more scrum before I boxed up "Lockdown City",  to await next year's convention circuit...if any.

As an interesting aside,  I've found that setting up my WIP urban terrain for six months did *not* encourage me to finish it - I just moved on to other projects. The Boulevard is now going back into the workroom,  where I will once again start painting bricks and mortar. 

Using the 5PfH supplement Gangwar, along with Full Metal Anorak,  I randomly generated the next opponent for the Africanus Agency: 'Roid Gangers.  Giving some thought, and considering that Gang War is a generic Sci-Fi setting, I decided to use the Friendsies from Crooked Dice, to represent the Droogs from A Clockwork Orange.  In Gang War, they are rated as 'Psycho' and, hopped up on Milk+Vellocet, rate a d10 Toughness, are armed with heavy melee weapons, but only a single figure has a firearm (shotgun) as fire support.

 Additionally, as I could see the repetitive aspects of another solo game, I added an additional mission from Mean Streets, by First Command Games: Bring Him Back Alive; an associate of the Africanus Agency was stranded in hostile territory, and needed an escort back to HQ.

Of course, "hostile territory" can be a relative term - in this case, Clancey Clark,  the Agency's "Banker", had stopped for a barbecued-pork sandwich at a local bistro...that was deep in the enemy gang's deployment zone, while the 'Roid Gangers descended on the West Boulevard.

Miniature by Brigade Games

The Game:

The first two turns were spent either hunkering down behind some cover (if you with the Agency) or advancing headlong towards melee, (if you were the Droogs/Gangers) your leader shouting vaguely Shakespearean insults about 'vengeance arising from a black and hollow shell..." or some such.

"These cats wear cricket whites and talk fancy - probably from Drexel..."

Reverend Bright moves to set up a cross-fire.

Turns 3 and 4: Once the Gangers entered effective pistol range, the Agency let them have it. Due to the chemicals in their bloodstream, the Gangers were difficult to put down, but a suppression is a suppression, and the hail of gunfire slowed them a bit.

The shotgun-toting devotchka, having fallen back to cover by the '63 Oldsmobile, let loose a blast that suppressed Alonzo. 

Turn 5 and 6: It was here that the dice, once again, failed me. I'm not entirely certain what the odds are of rolling two ones, twice in a row, but it sure felt personal. In any event, any advantage the Agency had was now lost, as the Droogs had initiative, threw off their suppression, and charged into melee.

Once again, Dame Fortune uses me a hussy...

Interestingly enough, while I had been dreading a melee, it was in melee that the Agency's higher quality made itself known. Defensive fire from Afrodite Jones had dropped Dimitri-the-Droog during the charge, leaving Leader Alex to attack alone. In FMA, melee resolution is decisive, and a bad roll is often not only a miss, but a self-wound. This is what happened now - Leader Alex bombed out on his melee roll and received a critical wound. 

With their leader and henchman down, the Droog's morale broke, and they scarpered off back up the Boulevard. The Agency had made another permanent enemy. 

"Time to head home for a bit of spatchka..."

Their secondary objective, Clancey "C-Note" Clark, following the gunfire, came sidling up the pavement, up to the nudie bar. He had cash for the Agency, and by his clock, it was lunchtime.

"Hey guys! They're open for lunch!"

Post-Game Thoughts:

This was a quick game, with the Psycho Droogs advancing toward melee and closing by the end of the second turn. Without a lot of firepower, they just muscled their way into the teeth of all that Scipio's posse could throw at them, only to be taken down by rotten melee dice. While I found it a bit anti-climactic, that's life on the Boulevard.

Mean Streets is a useful supplement for the combined Gang War/FMA rules set, and introduces primary and secondary missions to the street fight, also a means of incorporating police reactions - especially to gunfire. I'll need to paint up a few more Coppers, since when they arrive, they arrive in force...Ω

            

28mm Droogs for Gang War

 

28mm Miniatures by Crooked Dice

"There was me, that is Alex, and my three droogs, that is Pete, Georgie, and Dim, and we sat in the Korova Milkbar trying to make up our rassoodocks what to do with the evening..."

With that out of the way, allow me to present the Friendses by Crooked Dice. The miniatures are well cast, with good animation, and the heads are interchangeable. Just what's needed to deal out a few tolchoks and lashings of the old Ultra Violence. 

During my 1970s Gang War campaign, I found that I needed some hopped up 'Roid Gangers as random opponents, and I naturally thought of Little Alex and Co, a particularly nasty bit of business, yes? Only they needed some fire support, by way of a shotgun-toting little devotchka, modified from the Modern Heroes line, currently available from Lone Gunman Games.

Caveat Emptor: I haven't actually ordered anything from Lone Gunman Games - my set were had from eBay, and the seller (napthyme) shorted me a mini, so...there you have it. You have been advised.

28mm Miniatures by Crooked Dice and Lone Gunman Games

Admittedly, she does look pretty good in the mix. After she was finished, I was surprised to find a female padroog in the very first scene of "A Clockwork Orange", in the Korova Milk Bar, along the left-side screen, sitting with other white-clad droogs. She was also blonde, and had a black head wrap. 

The subconscious mind is an interesting thing. 

The new gang, who I'm thinking of calling the Drexel Hill Droogs, has already scrapped with the Africanus Agency on the West Boulevard, the subject for an upcoming post.

Viddy well, my brothers. Viddy well...Ω

Finished 28mm Civilians for The Boulevard

 A wet October weekend hereabouts gave me the time to finish several small painting projects: One being some civilians for my urban-style 7TV/Gangwar setting: The Boulevard. These will also serve as additional investigators for my 1970s Call of Cthulhu game.

Pictured herein are some modern civilians from Old Glory's Civilian Pack 1. While OG describes these as "32mm" they're really closer to 28mm, and are shown next to some 28mm Crooked Dice police for scale.

Figures by Old Glory and Crooked Dice

These where cleanly cast and fairly straightforward to paint - a series of earth tones, blue jeans and polyestre. I plan to add a Jimmy Hendrix decal to the shirt of the guy in the red & white jacket, once I gather up enough nerve. 

28mm Figures by Old Glory Miniatures

28mm Figures by Old Glory Miniatures

The kid in the middle is another photographer - this one is a young cub, like Jimmy Olsen. I like the James Dean hair. The woman on the end is another favourite of mine, wearing that "Casual with Jacket" look of the late 70's.

The other projects compleated this past weekend were for my D&D game. Those interested are invited to view my Fantasy Blog: Countless Hours of Real Effort...Ω

Boulevard Reinforcements in 28mm

This past weekend, I took a break from working on West Philly buildings in favour of painting some reinforcements for the Norton Agency.

Reverend Iley Bright operates the Bethel Baptist Bible Mission, a store-front church that aids and supports the neighbourhood, (and occasionally, the Agency) spiritually and financially. A blood-and-thunder preacher, he has been known to take to the streets in a righteous cause, brandishing a shotgun and the Bible, because "You get more respect with a shotgun AND a Bible..."

Miniature is a modified Reverend Grimme from Deadlands.


The next miniature hasn't yet had a character name (actually, I like the name of Dynamite Jackson...) assigned; he reminds me of the fellow from Black Dynamite (a jolly great film, btw). Action Jackson is from RAFM, in their Modern Heroes category.

He so cool, he give Morgan Freeman pneumonia. I used him straight out the box. I would love to see a pack of disco/leisure suited investigators, some in shades, to round out "That 70's Look".

Can you dig it?...Ω

Rocking the Lurex

One of the fascinating aspects of 70's wargaming is 70's fashion - a cavalcade of man-made fabrics that would burn like a chemical fire should misfortune strike. Still, it was visually stunning.

Lurex is one such fabric. Quoth Wikipedia, Lurex is "...yarn is made from synthetic film, onto which a metallic aluminium, silver, or gold layer has been vaporized. "Lurex" may also refer to cloth created with the yarn."

Lurex is still extremely popular in the music industry, but we've all seen it: Julie Newmar's cat suit from the original Batman TV show was made of Lurex. Now I understand the name.

I decided to attempt a Lurex outfit, based on a picture of Swedish model Ulla Jones. Two types of glitter-based craft paints were employed; a gold glitter with smaller spangles, and a clear glitter with larger ones.

The miniature is available from Casting Room Miniatures as part of their "Tedious Hippie Scum" set.

These are the third set of pictures, taken with Megz' I*Phone - it allows me to compensate for the myriad of different light bulbs used in our home.

The bit of gloss on her hair and skin is a side effect of the paint-on dullcoat - it ain't dulling.  I might need to hit the fig again to take off the last on the sheen, without dulling the sparkle of the sequins...Ω

WIP: 28mm Columbia Rumble

Most of my readers already know that I don't like to show gaming on unfinished projects - it's simply one of my little peccadilloes. The lock down, however, has me stalking about the house, muttering like the mayor from "Jaws" - "Get past Memorial Day...Maybe we can save the summer...etc..."

And so I decided to have a wee scrum, using Nordic Weasel's Gang War rules and Full Metal Anorak, setup on some terrain that will eventually look like 1970's West Columbia Boulevard, Philadelphia.

Please excuse the foamboard pavement and unfinished buildings. Also, don't mind the gaps - they will be covered with crossing lines and other road markings.

Scipio's Squad L to R: Scipio, Ravelle H., Afrodite J., Alonzo H.

The scenario was generated using Gang War, with some modifications to make it less Apocalyptic. Five orange "Points of Interest" were set up around the 4-foot square playing area. These are either worth money ($100 each), are worthless, or result in a hazard (large sink hole, crazy wino, crack head, etc.) As these can remove a figure from play, they are best collected after resolving all game combat.

Also, it's a smoggy night, and all missile ranges are limited to 9".

Scipio "Africanus" Norton and his agency squad are cruiz'en the hood, collecting debts and looking to keepin' it peaceful, when they spot a group of Tong Boyz fixing to expand their territory. The squad sets up to defend.

Red Elephant Oriental Boyz

"Get some cover!"

The Boyz are the Red Elephant Tong; in FMA terms they are Trained/Motivation 3, with some Improvised Hand Guns. They are rated for Gang War as 'Aggressive', meaning they will advance on their opponents by half their movement at least, and will use available cover. Their leader is rated Average.

The Boyz advance

Scipio and his Agency are slightly better - all are average, with MOT 3, and armed with pistols, except Ravelle (who is rated 'Trained' and armed with a shot gun).

Turns 1 and 2: were spent with the Tong Boyz advancing and Scipio's Squad taking cover (using "In Position" markers for an additional bonus).

Alonzo and Afrodite take cover by the Chevy Chevelle

The Tong Boyz gather by the Pontiac.

Turn 3: Two of the Tong Boyz peeled right to flank Afrodite and Alonzo, who have taken cover by a 1970 Chevy Chevelle (as seen in the 2K release of "Shaft"). The leader and his two Tong-mates took cover by the phone booth and yellow Pontiac. Ravelle fired his shotgun at the lead Tong and missed. The Tong returned fire at Ravelle (crouching by the cab) and managed to knock him out/seriously wound him. "This game is rigged!" he muttered as he passed out.

"Do Not Scratch the Trim!"

Turn 4 and 5: With Ravelle down, Scipio was outnumbered. The lead Tong member fired, missed and then charged. Scipio shot him down...mutha&#@%!  This while the two Tong flankers, sheltering in a burned out building, negotiated the uneven ground over the two turns.

"One Saturday Night Special, coming up!"

Turn 6 and 7: Scipio put the charging Tong down, when the leader followed in a shoot-then-charge moment. Scipio was hit, but shrugged it off ("Ain't no thing at all...") and capped the leader with a Spectacular Death.  The rest of the Tong failed their morale, except the phone booth shooter who charged. 

"Nuh-uh man. Big mistake..." BLAM!

Turn 7 (continued) Scipio took a point blank shot at the charging Tong, and missed. The TongBoy then failed morale, and ran for the cover of the phone booth. Scipio put one into his back, and the TongBoy went down. That was enough for the last two survivors, who fled down the boulevard.

The result was a clear victory for the Agency. They made an Enemy of the Red Elephant Tong Boyz (We'll Be Back!), but between picking up POIs and winning the scenario, they netted $600. Ravelle had a local "Doctor" check him out, and the wound was light, only keeping him out of the next tussle.

Scipio was thinking "It doesn't get much better that this..." when his fav'rite bar suddenly opened for business.

"The Light is On and I'm Open for Business..."

"Well, Aw right!"

Post Game Thoughts:

This scenario was originally being prepared for a 7TV 1st Ed. game, only I hadn't finished adapting those rules from their British oeuvre to an American, Blaxploitation-themed one. Full Metal Anorak is flexible enough to handle this well.  Nordic Weasel's Gang War, though set in a post-apocalyptic world, also adapts well to handle a vigilante campaign, revolving around a neighbourhood "fixer" and his cohorts.

The odds are in favour of our protagonists. Despite that, Ravelle went down in the first exchange. I made a mistake with the Tong leader, as I should have sent him down the right side with the other two Boyz - I thought about just arbitrarily moving him, but then I heard Scipio (in my mind) say "Don't you mess wi' them figures, boy." I decided to let the action unfold automatically.

There was a bit of after-action drama - one of the POIs turned out to be a hazard...

"We Had a Noise Complaint..."

A successful Save vs. Int and a Franklin disarms the situation...Ω

28mm Civilians from Old Glory

Work continues apace on my 1970's game. In searching for some civilians as collateral damage/light backup, I discovered Old Glory's SuperFigs Civilian Pack #1. These are listed as 33mm on the Old Glory website.

SuperFigs Civilians #1 by Old Glory Miniatures

These were living in my cart for a bit, whilst I debated how much bigger 33mm was compared to 28mm.  As it happens, at least in this case, the answer was "not appreciably".

Below, the same miniatures are presented on a 1-inch grid, alongside a 28mm Copplestone Casting, painted as John Shaft. Taking into account the height of the slotta base, one sees immediately that the minis, even if mounted on standard washers, are size-compatible with regular, non-heroic 28mm.

Figs by Old Glory Miniatures and Copplestone Castings

Especially pleasing is finding two figures as a news team, and one as a photographer. Two of the figures will join my Funkadelphia street crew, as will the gentleman with the wine bottle. The rest will become random street civilians  The boy with the ball is interesting - obviously a football/soccer ball - but not appropriate for 1970 Philly unless he's attending one of the private academies...

...I think I'll paint it as a basketball and name the figure "Little Foul" as he's leading with his foot...Ω

28mm Soul Sisters

STOP!, in the Name of Get Christy Love!

Several packages arrived earlier this month from various manufacturers, and the one which leapt out and demanded painting was "Destiny" from the nice folks at Hasslefree Miniatures.

Miniature by Hasslefree Miniatures

Despite Kev's obvious talent, I don't order a lot from Hasslefree - I might have a baker's-dozen HF miniatures at best. Kev's interests are far more eclectic than mine, and his modern figures tend to follow the lines of Post-Buffy, Post-BSG, Post-GoT and suchlike. Not that this is a bad thing, just not my cuppa rosy...

However, once I saw 70's icon Teresa Graves aka Christie Love sporting her best Charlie's Angel's (the original series, not the wretched wreboot) pose, it was an instant purchase, along with several other figures to round out the order.

Painting the blue jeans on this model was a lot of fun, as was the 70's-style vibrant colour palette. I'll need to go back and shade her platform shoes a bit, then find her a car model - maybe a 1969 Corvette Stingray.

Also jumping out at me was one of Copplestone Castings Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang series, titled the Soul Section. These minis shout "SHAFT!" (watch your mouth). I often wonder why this period failed to achieve greater popularity as a gaming genre.

Miniature by Copplestone Castings

I tried to simulate a late 60's/early 70's print pattern for her dress, plus nylon stockings. Once the orange colour started flowing, the metallic orange wig seemed to fit. The contrast is very attractive, I think.

Next up will be the other two minis from the Soul Section pack - a Richard Roundtree analogue and a shotgun wielding street preacher...Ω

Painted 28mm Tcho-Tcho Gang from Black Cat Bases

Figures from Black Cat Bases

The first batch of Tcho-Tchos are finished, and I must admit, I'm rather pleased with the result. I decided to use a mix of US army green and Chinese grey for the trousers, as though the gear was scavenged.  I leave the details of that to your imagination...

Here's another pic of recent finished figures for height comparison:

Left to Right: Crooked Dice, Black Cat, Reaper

Until next time...Ω