Bugs and crystals

A couple of quirky purchases from Bad Squiddo Games.  The first is a set of 93(!) assorted bugs.  Somewhat preposterously, I chose to cut them all out individually and collect them into bug types on a set of 2p coins.

But the end result is a colourful collection of creepy crawlies which can be used as additional hazards in games like Perilous Tales.

The second purchase is a set of crystals growing out of the ground which will provide interesting scenery for sci-fi games.  I painted them in a few shades for depth and then drybrushed the edges in a lighter colour to highlight the facets of the crystals, finishing with a gloss varnish to make them shine.

Egyptian Ruins

More scenery!  A set of plaster cast Egyptian scenery from eBay seller charlesglenis.  This excellent value set includes a wide variety of pieces - columns, sphinxes, palm trees, even a mummy in a sarcophagus!

With some 28mm soldiers to show the scale:

 

Statue water feature - old and improved

I bought an MDF/perspex kit at Warfare three years ago which made a water feature with a plinth for two interchangeable statues - and I used a couple of unused Salute freebies: Richard the Lionheart and Hannibal

I found them again recently and thought I'd refresh them (not that they've actually been on a table yet!).

Richard the Lionheart got a thin turquoise wash to represent tarnish on the bronze statue.

And Hannibal got repainted in grey and drybrushed in a darker grey to represent pollution staining.  I made a couple of pigeons out of Milliput and glued them to the statue, along with the evidence of their previous perching.

Ruined church

More MDF scenery, this time from eBay seller banksjohnedward.  This is a ruined Gothic church or abbey I plan to use in World War 2 and Horror-themed games.

The kit came quickly and was already pressed out...

...and went together very easily to form four separate pieces.

I sprayed the kit in grey primer before deciding that it needed some texture to give it more character.  I filled the slots where the kit was fitted together and then glued kiln-dried sand over all the surfaces except the window and door surrounds.

The kit was then sprayed grey again before dry-brushing, adding stains and the finishing touches of moss, grass and flowers growing on the ruin.

I'm really pleased how this turned out.  Here's a couple of final photos with some figures to show the scale.

Episode 106: We're doomed. Doomed!

First game introducing Perilous Tales to someone else.  Andy controlled the Dad's Army characters and I ran the game mechanism and rolled for the villains - the Tentacled Aliens  

The mission started with another telegram from Colonel Pritchard outlining the three objectives:

The playing area featured a couple of buildings, a pond, some trees, the searchlight and three switches. The threat markers were set up in Standard pattern.

The villain and peril stats were as follows:

The Home Guard proceeded as a group round the back of the Nissen Hut, triggering and eradicating baby aliens (I may need to increase their number of wounds next time).  

Jones took some wounds when the Mother Alien was revealed but was healed effectively by Godfrey.

As a lurker, the Mother Alien retreated enabling the team to start activating the switches.  The Mother took a lot of hits but a horrendous roll on the Threat Level check saw her remove three wounds and more baby aliens appear.

Eventually, Pike managed to finish off the Mother Alien and Captain Mainwaring took a photograph of the body as evidence.  Meanwhile, Wilson and Godfrey located the radio in the Nissen Hut but then prompted the appearance of the ARP Warden, who attacked Godfrey viciously.  Unfortunately (for me as spectator), Godfrey successfully convinced Warden Hodges who he was, and the Warden joined the team.

Pike reached the 2nd switch and managed to turn it on in his second attempt, using the Last Ditch option.  Mainwaring ordered him onto the third switch but Pike failed again, and with the threat level now at 10, it was too late to turn on the searchlight.

Final score: 3 for finding the radio, 3 for taking the photograph, 2 for two switches, 1 for Leader surviving and another 1 for losing no team members.  Definitely need to make the aliens harder to kill.  And I failed to increase the threat level each time a switch was made and the photo taken.  But "a truly heroic performance" by Andy.