Throwing down the gauntlet! - WiP 2

Hi all

I hope you've enjoyed/are enjoying the bank holiday weekend. In my last post on this project I posted a video on how i started to build my modular sewer/dungeon tiles for the 7TV2e game I'm planning, I'm also planning on using them in a summer D&D campaign that my daughter will be hosting (she doesn't know this yet.....bwahahaha).

Anyway, I've completed another video on how I've put the walls together and how they fit with the tiles.  Props to Luke Fellows (Luke's APS) and Steven Fletcher (Steve's Small World) for a couple of the techniques which I have blatantly (stolen) borrowed.

Here is the link to the video

https://youtu.be/cZgCRyhfzVY

Thursday post will be the next update from Chris's excellent Nordland project, which is shaping up beautifully and then we're at Salute! I hope to meet some of you there.

hope you enjoy

dGG

Throwing down the gauntlet! - WiP

Hi all

Progress has been made on the challenge that Rich threw down a little while back.  My response to the challenge was documented here with the intention of doing a 7TV2e game.  I was determined to produce a visually stunning game to enhance the excellent ruleset from Crooked Dice and decided to scratch build some modular boards for TMNT.  This idea has been sitting in my head for quite some time and just needed the right stimulus to bring it to fruition.

Anyhoo,  I've started work on the tiles and have documented how I've done this in a video format. Sorry to those of you who dislike YouTube or watching these things but I have very few still photos of the build.  The link to the first video on how I have started the base tiles is below, there will follow further videos on the walls and other details, plus painting.  My apologies for me wittering on, on the video, this is still very new to me - hopefully they will get better!

modular dungeon or sewer tiles

hope you enjoy
dGG

Throwing down the Gaunlet - da Gobbo's response

Hi all

Before I get to the post, I've just noticed how close I am to getting 100,000 views - a figure I would not have imagined I would get near to when I started back up a couple of years ago, I'm just thrilled that people have taken to reading the stuff I put out there. So if I tip over the 100k mark in the next few days I'll bring forward the competition I was going to run in the summer to April as a thank you.

 Now we return you to your regular viewing...

you may remember last week, Rich "Nerd4Life" Gates issuing a challenge to the rest of the Nerd Herd (link is here). He of course took his beloved War of the Ring, a game none of the other Herders have taken up  before much to his annoyance.  Well I had to put my thinking cap on and come up with something special, something to grab the imagination of the lads......


7TV2e!!!



Yes! it just screamed out to be taken up by the Herd.  I've played it once before with Damon but it has fallen to the wayside as these things do, Rich and Chris hadn't even looked in it's direction before - scandalous.  For those of you not familiar, 7TV2e is the latest version of the game produced by Crooked Dice that allows us gamers to recreate those cheesy 60's and 70's TV shows that had us enthralled every week.  Love you some Capt Scarlett - it's covered, The Sweeney your jam - covered, how about The Man From Uncle, The New Avengers, Dr Who - yep, yep, yep!!  Perfection....

I've lifted the following straight off the Crooked Dice website so feel free to head over there and read the rest but in a nutshell this is how it works....

The basic rules allow you to put together a cast of between 3 and 24 (or more!) models and fight other casts in abandoned warehouses, secret volcano lairs, forbidding jungles and underwater bases – in fact anywhere you like! Use your star qualities, special effects and gadgets to get your mission accomplished before the countdown ends and the episode is over. The core rules are generic, so if you’ve seen it on screen or had a dream about your perfect lineup, you can put your cast together quicker than ever before.

Making a 7TV 2nd Edition cast

There are two ways to make a 7TV cast; open casting and using a Programme Guide. The Programme Guides each detail in full the personalities and rules for all the models from one of 7TV Studios TV shows. Open casting is the system in the core rules, and allows you to choose a wide range of generic models to fit the kind of cast you’d like to build.
First you choose either a heroic or villainous cast. Each side gets a different mix of Stars, Co-Stars, Extras and vehicles to choose from. Then you choose your cast’s ratings – both sides play with an equal ratings value). This could be between 25 for a small game to 50 or more for a climactic blowout.



Then you choose your Stars and Co-Stars. These are highly rated, but have excellent abilities. You have to include at least one Star or Co-Star model to lead your cast. Each one has access to two or more genres, or which there are 7: Civilian, Crime, Law and Order, Military, Science, Secret and Unknown. Then you pick your Extras (and vehicles). These provide the numbers your cast will need, but you can only include a particular Extra or vehicle if they share at least one genre with one or more of your Stars or Co-Stars. Tricksy.

The Episode

There are 6 basic episodes you can play, all of which offer different rules to keep the game variable. Each episode will see 5 identical objective tokens played on the table, to represent vital info, secret plans, alien technology and the like. A win is more likely if you can grab as many as you can. Some episodes also feature the ‘maguffin’, a kind of really super objective. If you use it, make sure you end up with it!

Gadget and Countdown cards

7TV wouldn’t be complete without gadgets – cutting edge technology you can use to get your models out of trouble in an instant. You’ll draw gadget cards from the deck of 20 then choose the ones you think will serve you best during your episode. You’ll also create a shared Countdown deck of cards, which will tick down during play. Once the last card is gone the episode will end. Each turn a player can turn over 1 or 2 cards (2 gives you benefits, but makes for a shorter game!) then play the event detailed on the last card drawn.There are 45 Countdown cards, including 15 more potent Finale cards. These add a random element to the proceedings, and make each turn start with a tactical choice – speed up the countdown for the benefits during your turn, or advance it normally and get more turns to play?

Plot Points

At this point you will have a pool of plot points in front of you (you can use anything for these – pennies, glass beads, dead spiders). You use these during your own turn to activate models and use some of their special effects, remove debilitating statuses and make more effective attacks. If you’re lucky you will have enough to do everything you want in your turn, but more often, you’ll have to make some tough choices. And try not to spend them all! You’ll need to keep some for you opponent’s turn, as you need them to try to protect your models from your opponent’s attacks. Phew!


So I've chosen the game system, what do I want to do with it? Now it would be really easy just to wheel out my TMNT miniatures, which is the reason why I looked into 7TV2e in the first place, but this smacks of a total lack of effort on my part - after all what have I done differently.  But at the same time they make such excellent 7TV2e casts and it would be a shame to not use them, especially in light of Crooked Dice producing a Programme Guide for them, so they have to be in. Btw you can find my previous TMNT posts in the links here, here, here and here. So what can I offer that's different? well a couple of things really.  First of all I'm going to scratch build a series of modular boards that would be perfect (I hope!) for gaming with the Turtles, I will of course chart my progress on that project on here in a series of posts and videos for the YouTube channel so you can see the boards develop.  This I think will be visually alluring and whet the Herd's appetite for the game. Is that enough to satisfy Rich's challenge? Well if not hopefully the second part of the project will appeal to the inner nerd of any gamer and it involves a certain enigmatic.........what's that? I've run out of time in this episode for the big reveal?  Oh well in the style of those amazing TV shows of our yesteryear - "Tune in next time for more 7TV2e!"


hope you enjoy
dGG

Super Villains!

Hi all

During the US presidential elections the talented guys at Hasslefree Miniatures produced some eerily familiar faced models.  I'll let them introduce themselves...

15 years after Drumpf became the leader of the Free World, the planet is in a catastrophic state. The oceans have run dry, the air is toxic, the bees have died and we have run out of spray tan.

Maintaining leadership via the simple process of ignoring reality, the Tangerine Titan continues to hold power and in fact has seemingly grown younger, hairier and more orange than ever.

Leader of the opposition to Immortan Drumpf is the seemingly ageless warmonger Dr Evelyn Hill. Never seen without her equally ageless feline, Chairman Meow (Who some have guessed is just a series of carefully bred identical cats) or her unchangeable wardrobe.

Hill maintains her base of power from the gigantic nuclear bunker under Mount Rushmore and rumours persist that she has installed giant lasers into Washingtons eyes.

As you can imagine these quickly became a must have!  They were only produced in a limited run, in resin until the mold degraded to such a point where they could produce no more - even more of a reason to get them.  The only drawback is the price, these are very pricey models at £12.50 a pop.  A little eye-watering for some "funny little men".  However I was in luck as Missus Gobbo was in a fine mood, saw the humour in the miniatures and said I could get them.  Very quickly I placed an order, adding another miniature to the buy.  Some weeks later I received the parcel, it was weeks later because the guys at HF had had some medical problems (I really hope these are in the past now, if not get well soon guys!).  Not having any real plan for them I wasn't worried about a delay in the posting but as an apology the guys at HF added a free mini to the order! total result!  Anyhoo, a couple of weeks after receiving them I have got around to painting them.  

Now I wanted to do something special with them as they were expensive and they were awesome minis so deserved the extra effort.  To this end I thought about the bases I wanted for them. To show you how I put the bases together I recorded the assembly and have uploaded it to YouTube the link to which is here.

Paint wise, I used a limited palette for "not" Hilary, painting her Dr Evil/North Korean Dictator suit a muted grey.  Chairman Meow had to be painted in the classic Bond Villain white fur and just to add a bit of flair she is wearing light pink trainers/sneakers.

As for the "not" Donald, the skin tone had to have a very orangey feel so I added 50% Orange Brown to my flesh mix and shaded with reikland flesh wash before highlighting with the light tone mix and then adding more wash.  The Don's suit was based on recent images of the oaf's amazingly unattended inauguration with a power red tie and gold belt buckle.  I love the backwards "R" on his name tag suggesting his Russian connection or his idiocy - or both (I love the tongue in cheek humor in Kev's figures).  The troll doll is painted in the same flesh and hair tones as the main man himself.

These miniatures won't be consigned to a dusty shelf though as I fully intend to use them in some 7TV2e games, I just need to find some suitable miniatures to represent the minions.  Once I find some then the two worst candidates in US presidential history can face each other again, this time away from the dispatch box!!

However those of you who watched the video of how I made the bases (if there is anyone watching) will have noticed a third base and those of you who have paid attention to this post will have noticed I mentioned a third figure.  So i will introduce you to Leonard, my third super villain.  Here's the HF blurb...

Leonard is a man with plans to match his frame, big. Starting as a lowly bouncer at a mob-owned club, moving up to enforcer he still has his sights set on larger goals.  Seen here in the best suit he can currently afford and armed with.. himself. It's enough, trust us.

So Leonard is a man on the rise not quite in the heady heights of super-villainary yet but surely its in his future.  He can either be used as a side kick to either Drumpf or Hill or a lower level villain to combat an emergent "good" faction or a street thug gang. My version has him in a darker grey suit and a pink shirt and red tie and added to my third sci-fi base.

a fine trio of bad guys, now I need to find some gang members/minions for this lot and maybe even some good guys - TMNT anyone?

hope you enjoy

dGG

Stealing the show part two

hi guys

In the last part I went through my process of devising stat lines and abilities for the Turtle faction so they could be played in 7TV2e. This part is about their arch rivals the Foot Clan! That secretive underworld gang led by the Shredder.

So let's start with the main man himself, Oroku-Saki aka the Shredder. This crime lord rules the New York branch of the Foot clan with an iron fist. Shredder had to be the star of the faction and indeed couldn't be anything less than an Underworld Boss, however the On the Payroll star quality didn't sit right with me and I decided to swap it out with Endless Subordinates to represent the multitude of Foot soldiers he can call upon. The special effects I kept the same Leader 1, hard (all that armour!) get into place and block. Stat line wise he comes out like;

Rating    Fight.  Shoot.   Defence.   Mind.  Body.   Spirit.
10.           5.         4.         10.             3.         4.         4.

Next up is Warlord Krang. Krang was stranded on dimension X inside his technologically advanced battle fortress - The Technodrome.  Shredder relies on Krang for his steady supply of robot Foot soldiers.  With his mechanical body, Krang produces more and more weapons in order for Shredder to get his revenge on the turtles. With this in mind it's simple to call Krang a villainous co-star and I made him a mad scientist (I'm not using Baxter in the faction otherwise he would be the mad scientist). Because Krang is responsible for supplying shredder with the mutagen for Beebop and Rocksteady I left his star quality as "spontaneous mutation" and left his special effects as shown on the card - force shield, gadget, repair, invulnerable but I did adjust his stat line to take into account his robot bod...

Rating    Fight.  Shoot.   Defence.   Mind.  Body.   Spirit.
 6.           3.         4.           9.              5.          3.          3.

Providing the muscle is Beebop - a mutated Warthog/Man and Rocksteady - a mutated Rhino/Man. These meat heads were created by Krang to help Shredder destroy the turtles, however although the boys provide the muscle power, they are sadly lacking in the brains department and end up being mostly comic relief.  For 7TV2e then I have made them Thugs, a villainous extra.  as this category fitted them so well i didn't feel the need to alter any part of it and they have the special effects of Hard, Follow Up and Block

Rating    Fight.  Shoot.   Defence.   Mind.  Body.   Spirit.
  3.           4.         4.           9.             2.         4.         3.

Last but not least (well maybe a bit least!) are the Foot Clan soldiers.  Not true ninjas, they are in fact robot servitors of Krang, loaned to the Shredder to replace the criminal gang members lost to him by constant fighting with the turtles.  This is a bit of a departure from the original comics as the Foot were humans, at least to start with, however they eventually go over to robots.  With no thought Shredder throws countless numbers of these in an effort to thwart his enemies.  These guys are outright minions so that's what I used for the game. with the special effect Block their statline is below

Rating    Fight.  Shoot.   Defence.   Mind.  Body.   Spirit.
   2 .           3.         3.           8.             3.         3.         2.
(5 rating for 3 models)

so thats the Foot Faction, let me know what you think.  I will eventually get around to doing a batrep for a game, potentially the one i played recently - who knows!!

Finally i've added below a link to a comic reading website with the Color Classics (yes the US spelling is deliberate) for TMNT so anyone interested can have a little read of the original run of TMNT comics.  Interesting note is that all the turtles wear the same colour (proper spelling) bandanas and are only differentiated by the weapons they carry.  I think the different colours were introduced with the cartoon to help the kids a bit more (i could be wrong).

http://www.hellocomic.com/teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles-color-classics/c1/p1

enjoy
dGG

Stealing the Show!

Hi all

I played my first game of 7TV2e a little while ago and I must say I thoroughly enjoyed it!  I was persuaded to use the system by some fellow bloggers and their enthusiasm for the game which showed in their reviews and batreps featuring the system.  I needed a gaming system for my TMNT collection and this seemed to fit the bill completely - lots of action, plot twists and general cartooniness (not sure that's a word...) 

In order to play the game though i had to first decide the stats, characteristics and skills of each of the "actors".  now i'm pretty sure that there will be disagreements and discussion around my choices and thats just perfect as i want to know if you think i'm on the right track or heading back into the cutting room for an edit.....

Firstly i had to think about the nature of each of the characters, their strengths and weaknesses, personalities and presence in "the show" and try to match that to a particular character from the 7TV2e game as a basis.  I would then tweak the profiles, skills and star qualities to get the best match to my thoughts.  to this end I looked at a lot of the backstories of each of the characters in the TMNT comics (i prefer the original comics written by Laird and Eastman) and I have added this background previously to my posts reviewing the models in order to share the rich setting of the turtle universe.

Right with that in mind I looked at the Turtles faction first, now this gave me a lot to think about. If i was to make each of the turtles a star in their own right the game would be massively slanted and unbalanced, so they would have to be co-stars.  This fit better as the turtles strength is the fact they work as a team.  In fact every time they try to fight Shredder one-on-one they get their shells battered. I also decided to drop the points cost from 6 to 5 ratings each so would need to adjust their profiles accordingly, i did this so they could be fielded as a 20 ratings unit for certain episodes. I also decided that they should all have Spy - to reflect their ninja training, Hard to reflect the protection granted them by their shells and Martial Arts to reflect their combat skills.  Having decided this I then looked at each individually to see where they fit in best.  

Starting with the field leader of the turtles - Leonardo.  Leo is a very pragmatic, down to earth, loyal and brave warrior. Trained in the use of the katana and wakizashi (duel swords) he is a very proficient fighter and totally dependable, which sometimes drives his brothers a little crazy! For 7TV2e then, I decided to start him off as a Dependable Deputy, mostly for his "Take Charge" star quality.  His special effects were nearly all changed to become - Aware, Brave, Hard and Spy.  Profile wise the only change he had was a drop in the "Body" stat to 3 from 4 purely as a cost to bring him to ratings 5 (I'm pretty sure i've got the costings wrong as i'm just using the beta test pdf and not the published game, plus i just don't care that much...) His stat line then reads

Ratings     Fight     Shoot     Defence     Mind     Body     Spirit

5                4             4           9                   3          3             3

Next up is Michaelangelo. Mikey is the joker of the pack, constantly goofing off and larking about much to the consternation of his sensei - Master Splinter.  Splinter knows that Mikey has got the most natural ability of all of the turtles but never quite lives up to his potential due to his laid back attitude. Mikey has totally adopted the stereotypical surfer type approach to life including surfer catch phrases and an almost pathological obsession with pizza... For the game I went with Angel of Justice as a base.  His Star Quality of Roundhouse was perfect and i kept the skills Dodge and Follow Up before adding the obligatory Hard and Spy to round him out. His stat line had the spirit dropped from 4 to 3 and is the same as his more straightlaced brother Leo.

Ratings     Fight     Shoot     Defence     Mind     Body     Spirit

5                4             4           9                   3          3             3

Onto Donatello, my fave turtle as I was growing up - geeky and awkward, not as gifted martially but more than made up for it with his scientific mind.  Donny although still formidable in combat is happier when he's wielding a keyboard rather than his trademark Bo staff.  For him then Crazy Inventor just seemed about right!  Star Quality - Cobble Together to reflect his technological prowess. Special Effects of Gadget (of course) and Repair (yes) as well as Hard and Spy.  In order to downgrade his cost I lost his photonic spanner and replaced it with the obligatory shuriken.  I also dropped his shoot to 3 and bumped his fight to 4. His stat line then is

Ratings     Fight     Shoot     Defence     Mind     Body     Spirit

5                4             3           9                   4          3             3

So that leaves Raphael.  Raph is not the most clinical fighter and ranks below Mikey and Leo in pure skill, instead he relies more on brutality and passion than finesse, battering his opponents to the ground with pile driving blows and whirring Sai.  Raph is also nearly permanently angry, his sense of exclusion from society and hatred for what he perceives as acts of injustice leave him bubbling just below the surface.  Although Mikey and Donny like to tease their brother because of his stern nature, they try not to push him too hard in case he explodes!  that said Raph is fanatically loyal to his brothers and often puts himself at incredible risk to protect them.  For the game it had to be Strong-arm as a base for Raphael.  The only tweak i needed to make was to replace lucky with Spy as he is already ratings 5.  He has the Star Quality Beat Back, Special Effects - Hard, Block, Spy and Mighty Blow

Ratings     Fight     Shoot     Defence     Mind     Body     Spirit

5                5             4           9                   2          4             3

So where does that leave the rest of the cast?  

Master Splinter had to be cast as a Star - really I hear the gasps! yes really, after all he trained the turtles, he also kicks ass at the highest of levels.  In the literature, Master Splinter was revealed to be a champion of the Battle Nexus, a multi-dimensional-spanning contest where the greatest combatants of various dimensions come together to fight each other for the title of Battle Nexus Champion. That rat can rock n'roll with the best and in nearly all confrontations with Shredder has beaten him to at the least a draw, only losing with interference by outside influences. So yes he is a star,  with that I chose Action Hero but he did receive the most tweaks so it's almost impossible to totally categorise him as this....  Star Quality is Burst of Action, Special Effects - Leader (1), Dodge, Hide and Spy (no shell = no Hard!)

Ratings     Fight     Shoot     Defence     Mind     Body     Spirit

10               5             4            10               4          4             5

April O'Neil and Casey Jones are left and they have been used as Extras.  April O'Neil is the plucky Computer Programmer/Journalist/Antique Dealer and heroine of the genre.  Later on in the universe she starts to beef up and receives some training from Splinter but in my game she starts as a Technician.  Her stat line stays the same but she exchanges Repair for Brave (to reflect her penchant for not backing down in the face of danger, even though she often gets into more trouble...)

Ratings     Fight     Shoot     Defence     Mind     Body     Spirit

1                 2            2            8                  3          2             2

Casey Jones is, during the day a superintendent of a building (like a an oddjob repair man) but at night he is a psychotic vigilante! his backstory shows a lad who grew up watching vigilante TV shows following a brutal attack on himself and his father.  This has left him a little unhinged, but he strikes up an unlikely friendship with Raphael and eventually the rest of the turtles which given the brutality of his attacks is sometimes a mystery.  I started with Survivalist for Casey and really didn't tweak him at all, except to get rid of his hunting equipment and replace it with two handed weapons to represent his hocky stick and bag of bats!  Special Effect - Hide, Loner, Sure Footed, Repair and Unique. His stat line is

Ratings     Fight     Shoot     Defence     Mind     Body     Spirit
4                4             4           8                  3          4             4

so there you have it, the Turtles Faction.  Next time the Foot Clan.

enjoy
dGG

TMNT - mutated muscle!

hi guys, sorry i couldn't wait till Friday to post this (I'm going to have a mid week post for a little while as i have 9 posts backing up as i'm getting loads of gaming time in!)

Following on from my TMNT posts, the last reinforcements for the Foot Clan faction have muscled their way in.  Thought to be two original protaganists of the Turtles, Bebop and Rocksteady didn't make it into the lineup until the Turtles cartoon had taken off in 1987 and were actually a marketing ploy as the manufacturer of the TMNT action figures -Playmates told Peter Laird (co-creator of TMNT) that they needed more mutants to oppose our heroes.

Rocksteady and Bebop from the live action film due to be released

Bebop and Rocksteady were introduced in the series as part of a human street gang in New York City that was employed by Shredder. Rocksteady was a short and stocky blond Caucasian man, Bebop was a taller African American man with a purple Mohawk. With the other members of their gang, they were sent out to stop a Channel 6 reporter named April O'Neil from doing a report about crime in the city. April ran down into the sewers while being chased by the street gang and met the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, who then defeated the gang in a fight.
After this humiliating setback, The Shredder developed a plan to defeat the Turtles by mutating members of the street gang that Rocksteady and Bebop are a part of so that they would have abilities greater than the Turtles'. Rocksteady and Bebop both volunteered to undergo the procedure (though neither was particularly aware of what it would entail) first with the promise that it would allow them to exact revenge on the Turtles. As the result of being brought into contact with a common warthog and a black rhinoceros that Shredder had abducted from the zoo, Bebop mutated into a humanoid mutant warthog while Rocksteady mutated into a humanoid mutant black rhinoceros.
Although the transformation did make them larger and stronger, they remained incompetent simpletons and were completely inept at stopping the Turtles or carrying out Shredder's plans. Throughout most of the series, they tried to attack the Turtles with brute force, without applying knowledge and strategy.

Before I show my humble efforts I also need to introduce you to another addition to my Foot Clan faction - Warlord Krang!  Krang was a warlord from Dimension X. To punish Krang before sending him from Dimension X, Krang´s brain was stripped from his body and his body reduced to a brain-like form. Banished from Dimension X, Krang ended up on Earth.
While on Earth, Krang allied himself with the Shredder, who, along with his robotic Foot Soldier army, moved into the Technodrome. In exchange, the Shredder had to design and build a new body for Krang, a human-shaped exo-suit. Shredder lived up to his part of the bargain, in no small part because he was unable to deal with the Turtles and needed Krang's help. Krang's ultimate goal is to take over the Earth; it probably only became his objective after he was exiled on the Earth, but this point has never been made clear. Every plan Krang conceives is either aimed at that goal, or towards the short-term objective of powering-up the Technodrome. He does not share Shredder's obsession with the Turtles and Splinter; while Shredder sees them as mortal enemies, Krang seems to regard them more like annoyances to be destroyed when they interfere in his plans. He and Shredder are constantly bickering about tactics and often take pleasure in the other's failings.

from the upcoming live action film



Evil Inc, the boys from the Foot altogether

 So here's my version of Bebop, Krang and Rocksteady.  the figures are from Greebo Games and are part of their Fantasy Footbal range.  I've tried to paint them up with the original colours from the 1987 cartoon series as the mutants did not make it into the comics until afterward.

Rocksteady and Krang were fairly easy to paint up - Krang is citadel's Warlock Purple shaded with Carroburg Crimson and his robot body painted up in human flesh shades. Rocksteady in various shades of grey with Vallejo's German Fieldgrey for his combat pants and Vallejo khaki for his workboots.

Bebop was a bit more of a challenge as i wasn't really able to decide what flesh tone to for him, is he browns or greys? i went for both in the end with a Vallejo sea grey washed with 3x coats of reikland flesh tone to give a unique skin tone ;-P

All of the figures are multi-part metal models which is a major pain in the backside with lots of pinning, superglue, filler and swearing involved in their construction as well as the now obligatory polyfilla base.  Apart from the oversized hands on Bebop which are ridiculously big and heavy looking, these models and the other Greebo Games figs for this range are amazingly good.  Really decent sculpts, joyful to paint and look spot on for the TMNT genre.  Other figs that I didn't buy were a Baxter model and his mouser robots and the foot clan ninjas (i prefer the Crossover sculpts) The Turtles themselves in the range conversely, while still excellent sculpts, don't do it for me and i'm more than happy with the figs i got from MyWay miniatures and i said earlier i prefer the Crossover ninjas than the Greebo's.  The only problem I had with Greebo's, apart from the slow delivery (still within their promised delivery date though, just slow compared to what we are used to!) is the prices.  The minis are quite expensive, with the cheapest at nearly 7 Euros each and the bigger ones nearly 8 each so it can be quite prohibitive but I couldn't help it when I clapped eyes on the figs.

Now i've painted all of the models for each faction up I need to game with them and I intend to use 7TV2 as the system as a bit of a trial and see how we go.  I will report back to you to see how it goes.  In the meantime.....

enjoy

dGG

16:15 (-1)
Figs bought:figs painted (difference)

This is April O'Neil reporting for Channel 6.....

Hi guys

*please note the pics of the miniatures are my own feeble efforts and not the much better quality of Rich's*

Last time I showed you some TMNT stuff it was members of the foot clan, that shadowy criminal organisation of ninjas that provide the majority of the muscle for a certain sinister, armour clad master of ninjitsu - Oroku Saki aka The Shredder....

the shredder

Oroku Saki is the younger brother of Oroku Nagi who had been killed by a fellow ninja Homato Yoshi (the owner of Splinter, the Turtles' mentor) in a feud over a woman named Tang Shen resulting in Yoshi fleeing with Shen to the United States.

Angry at the death of his older brother, Saki joined the Foot Clan and trained to be a ninja. He quickly became one of their deadliest warriors and rose up the ranks and was chosen to lead the Foot's American branch. Operating in New York under the name of The Shredder, Saki used the opportunity to avenge his brother by killing Yoshi and Shen. Under Saki's leadership, the Foot participated in variety of criminal activities, including drug smuggling, drug running and assassination.

Shredder was mostly represented as a Japanese male dressed in stylised samurai armour, enhanced by bladed bracers, Sode (pauldrons) and Suneate (greaves). in the 2014 movie he became more mechanised by Michael Bay (Transformers Director) and imho a little bit ruined, I enjoyed the film but much prefer the traditional image of the Samurai.

robot Shredder.... :(

Anyway this is my interpretation of the Oroku saki, the model is from Greebo Games, an Italian firm.  There was a little bit of stress getting the figures shipped with a bit of a delay, but he was well worth it! A little bit pricey too....

I painted him in the traditional purple - Citadel Xeres purple and shaded with Leviathan purple ink.  His breeches were Fenris Grey and inked with Drakenhof Nightshade.  The rest was Runefang silver and Shining Gold.  the base is one i've scratched up with polyfilla (spackle).

Facing off against the Shredder and his dark minions is Master Splinter

Splinter was the pet rat of a ninja named Hamato Yoshi in Japan. Intelligent for his species, Splinter was able to learn his master's art by mimicking his movements while he practiced. Without a home, Splinter was forced to run away and live in New York City's sewers. Due to a traffic accident, four baby turtles and a canister of radioactive ooze were sent down into the sewer, where they mutated both Splinter and the turtles. Splinter named the four turtles Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael, and Michelangelo (after a book on Renaissance artists that he found in a storm drain) and trained them in the arts of ninjutsu, so that they should take revenge for his dead master, while still raising them as his own sons

from the 2014 movie

This is my intepretation of Splinter, the miniature again from Greebo Games part of their Fantasy Football series.

I've painted him up in a red kimono, which is the one he seems to be wearing in most of his incarnations, whether it be comic or cartoon or film.  I thought I would use a yellow trim instead of black as it gave the mini a little more colour and set the kimono off better. The base i tried to get to look like a sewer grate.

Lastly for this post I bring you some much needed allies for the turtles - Casey Jones and the glamorous face of the franchise April O'Neill...cue pics of a hottie!! oh and a pyscho....

Casey Jones played by Stephen Amnell of Arrow fame

Megan Fox - yum yum

When Jones was young, his father, Arnold Casey Jones Sr., owned an auto shop. A group of Purple Dragon members (led by a young Hun) burned the shop down, killed his father and took his mother and sister hostage. The badly beaten Casey refused to lay down and take Hun’s blows. He attacked Hun with a knife, stabbing him in the neck. Enraged, Hun had beaten him to within an inch of his life. It seemed that the beating he took from Hun as a teenager resulted in several mental and emotional disorders, explaining his often violent and erratic behavior.

New York City, where Jones is from, was overrun by criminals. Enticed by examples from TV, Casey decided to do something about the crime in the streets. After equipping himself with a hockey mask and various sports clubs, he began his vigilante campaign.

He started his career with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles when he ran into Raphael beating up a pair of muggers. When Raphael let them go, Casey proceeded to "finish them off," but was stopped by Raphael. The two clashed but eventually helped each other take down additional muggers that appeared after their fight.

In the original Mirage Comics storyline for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, April O'Neil was a skilled computer programmer and assistant to a famous yet nefarious scientist Baxter Stockman. She helped program his MOUSER robots but, after discovering Baxter was using them to burrow into bank vaults, she fled his workshop. Robots chased her into the sewer where she was promptly saved by three of the Turtles. The Turtles later successfully fended off a MOUSER invasion.

After leaving her job with Baxter, April decided to open an antique shop. The shop was subsequently destroyed in a battle between the Turtles and Shredder and the Foot Clan. April and the Turtles retreated to a farm house in Northampton, Massachusetts to recover and during this time she suffered recurrent nightmares about the Foot Clan's attack.During the mid-1990s, April became romantically involved with the violent vigilante Casey Jones, and the two of them eventually adopted a child named Shadow.

In later incarnations and the films she is portrayed as a journalist and news reporter for Channel 3

So here are my efforts, again from Greebo Games, Casey Jones is listed as Hockey Joe but it is definitely the vigilante.  April O'Neill is sculpted with bare legs for the football game by Greebo but I painted her with black leggings as i did not see it as practical for a reporter or computer programmer.....

Casey was painted using a series of greys and grey/blues for his clothing with white hockey equipment.  April I used Citadel Inyanden Darksun and shaded with Sepia.

More to come but for now enjoy....

16:12 (-4)

figs bought:painted (difference)