The wargaming world of Nozza

This blog entry has been inspired by three things. Firstly, the release of the "When Nightmares Come", "a skirmish wargame for investigating and battling the supernatural mysteries of the modern world". Secondly, a story in the Judge Dredd Case Files 44, where Dredd and Judge Anderson investigate a ghostly Judge seeking revenge from beyond the grave. Thirdly, I have a sizeable collection of Mongoose Judge Dredd figures. As a result, I've put together a 'Nightwatch' team. In my canon, the team is part of the Psi Division and is responsible for investigating supernatural reports. The team is made up of a Tech Judge (Wright in game terms), Exorcist Judge (Weaver in game terms) and two Street Judges (Wardens in game terms). Mobile Base of Operations The Nightwatch Team - Tech, Exorcist and Street Judges "Let's Roll!"

Having rescued the gold in the last game, the Miners have holed up at a hideout for the night. They're not safe as the other three gangs are still after the gold. Their only hope is to wait for the cavalry to arrive. This game takes place at night and visibility is restricted to 12". There are four sacks of gold in the building being defended by the Miners. What's different in this game is that size of the gangs is determined by the Renown Points accrued in the previous two games. The Native Americans have 7 gang members The Miners have 6 gang members The 'Bad Hombres' have 5 gang members The Marshal and Posse have 4 gang members Each gang would receive 2 Points for each enemy they kill, 1 point for each enemy they would before the end of the game and 5 points for each bag of gold they have at the end. Turn 1 The 'Bad Hombres', the Natives and the Posse all advanced under the cover of darkness. The Miners prepared to defend the gold. Unfortunately for the ...

I got sent these two figures by mistake by an ETSY seller. Rather than send them back, the seller said I could keep them. I was informed by a friend that these are 'Chaos Spawn' from Warhammer 40K. Now, never having dabbled in the world of Warhammer 40K, I had no idea of how to paint them. Looking online and it seemed to be a case of go with the flow.  Eventually, I settled on using the brightest coloured paints I have and see what they look like.

In the Star Wars game Jedi Survivor, there is a character called Turgle. Turgle is a male frog-like resident of the planet Koboh. At the moment his species does not have an official name. However, that hasn't stopped anyone from designing 3D versions of the race. I picked up these 'Smuggler Frogs' from PeakModels on Etsy. Using Turgle as an inspiration for a clour scheme, I now have another gang to populate a galaxy, far, far away. The Frog Boss Loyal Gang Members

'When Nightmares Come' is a recently released miniatures wargame about modern day monster hunting and occult investigation.  The game requires three levels of 'Dark Spawn' (think monsters). Vermin - Have a Free Move and 1D6 Action and have one trait. Hordes - Have a Free Move and 2D8 Actions and have two traits. Terrors - Have a Free Move and 3D10 Actions and have three traits. Depending on where you are in your campaign, you will face a mixture of Dark Spawn. Ultimately, the Dark Spawn are led by a leader called an Atrocity and you face the Atrocity in the final game. Anyway, given the game is miniatures agnostic, I've been going through my collection to find some suitable figures to use. My Atrocities L to R, Vermin, Horde, Terror Last up are Alphas. These are like a 'mini-boss' and appear in Game 3 (a D6 Alpha and a D8 Alpha) and in Game 5 (D8 Alpha and D10 Alpha). They have two wounds and different traits from the standard Dark Spawn. Various Alphas

A Bounty Hunter designed by EC3D and printed by 3DKingdoms.

At the end of the previous game, the 'Bad Hombres' had got away with the gold. All they needed to do now was get the gold safely away to their hideout. Unfortunately, the Natives, the Miners and now Marshal Bill and his posse are after the gold. The aim of this game was for a side to get the horse and wagon containing the gold of the opposite side of the table. The 'Bad Hombres' started with control of the wagon and the other sides deployed around the table edge. Turn 1 The 'Bad Hombres' wasted no time in trying to get wagon along the road. Those armed with rifles deployed to provide cover for the wagon. Those armed with pistols moved to head off the encroaching Natives. The Miners advanced out of the woods. Turn 2 Having seen how effective the Natives were in the prvious game, the 'Bad Hombres' decided to get up close and personal with them. Sneaking around the rocks and trees and taking shots when the opportunity arose. ...

Going through my painting box, I found some resin scenic pieces that I had no recollection of buying. Anyway, a quick undercoat and then it was a case applying some paint to them. The oil drums will be used as objectives for a variety of games. However, I did find some old 40K transfers, so I applied them to the drums so that they look like gang tags or graffiti.  Next up was a fridge, fridge-freezer and a washing machine. Finding some pictures online, I painted them up to look abandoned and dumped. Last up, some old fashioned metal rubbish/garbage bins.

Another Etsy order. This time some Pop Mini models printed by FutureForgeOnline. Here we have the four main characters from the original Jurassic Park film, namely John Hammond, Alan Grant, Ellie Satler and Ian Malcolm. Printed at a 30mm scale, they have more realistic proportions than other 28mm figures, so appear slender compared to other figures. If I was ordering again, I would go for the 32mm option. Grant, Hammond, Satler & Malcolm

Back in the early 1980s, the BBC did a television adaptation of Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Tangent Miniatures produce a set of figures based upon the characters from the BBC series. Arthur Dent, Ford Prefect & Zaphod Beeblebrox Marvin & Trillian

More designs by EC3D and printed by 3DKingdoms. These are billed as a set of 'Bounty Hunters' and they wouldn't look out of place in Star Wars. I was really happy with the paint jobs I had done on these. I varnished them with matt varnish on the hottest day in the UK (so far). So, imagine my surprise and disgust the following day when I discovered that the varnish had turned snowy. As it had been a hot and dry day when I varnished, I can only think that my varnish had reached the end of it's life. So I tried the usual trick of applying Satin or Gloss varnish and wait and see whether that would fix it. For the most part it worked, but there's still places where I can spot that the original varnish had gone snowy and that's ruined my joy at the original paint jobs.

Billed as 'Explorers and Scientists', these figures are designed by EC3D and printed by 3DKingdoms. Listed as 28mm, I would say these are on the more heroic side of 28mm. Designed for sci-fi/cyberpunk games, I got them for the two figures holding datapads. To my eyes, one is a Vulcan/Romulan and the other is wearing geordi LaForge style VISOR. So, both will be useful for a Star Trek game. Vulcan/Romulan and VISOR equipped scientist The other two figures are wearing some sort of environmental suit - so ideal for a landing party or away team.

Another pack of figures from Tangent Miniatures. This time they are based on characters from the TV show 'Xena: Warrior Princess'. There are four figures in the pack and they are easily recognisable as Xena, Gabrielle, Callisto and Autolycus. Xena is armed with a Chakram (the trademark weapon of Xena). Once thrown it has the ability to ricochet off objects and return to the thrower. The figure is supposed to be throwing the Chakram, but no amount of pinning or glue would keep the arm upright for a bond to develop. As a result, Xena is holding the Chakram down be her side. Xena and Gabrielle Callisto and Autolycus

Picked up some figures based on characters from the Conan the Barbarian and Conan the Destroyer films starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. The figures are produced by Tangent Miniatures. The male figures are quite easy to identify. As you can see from the pictures below, we have Conan, Bombasta and Akiro 'The Wizard'. Conan and Bombasta Conan and Akiro 'The Wizard' There are two female figures included in the pack. At first glance they appear to be either Sonja (from Red Sonja) or Valeria (from Conan the Barbarian). The problem I found is that the clothing doesn't completely match either character as they appeared in the films. The figure with the raised sword looks like Red Sonja from the comicbook, but again isn't a complete match. So, in the end I painted one as Valeria and the other Red Sonja. Valeria? and Red Sonja?