Napoleonics, Dr. Who, and Mad Scientists

LSNC: Napoleonics at War Horse Farm
LSNC: Napoleonics at War Horse Farm

This was a gaming weekend.  Friday was HAWKs night, and we tested the Schlegels’ Kursk game for Cold Wars using LSNC: WWII.  Then Duncan, Chris, Dave, Tommy, and I drove to Gettysburg to play Look, Sarge, No Charts: Napoleonic Wars with Sam Fuson and a couple folks from his unit.  The Napoleonic game was great fun.  We had French vs. British and Spanish fighting for control of key river crossing points. The game went back and forth all day.  There were six flags on the table to be captured, each worth one victory point to whoever controlled it at the end of the game, and one more victory point for the side that had inflicted the most casualties.  When we stopped, after about 4.5 hours, each side had three flags, but the French had destroyed about 1/3 more enemy battalions.  It was the most fun I’ve had gaming in a couple of months.  I think the rules are working for people who know Napoleonics as well as those who have come to believe that Napoleonic games cannot be fun.

Sunday, between church, indoor field hockey, and walking around the neighborhood so Sam could attempt to sell chocolate bars for a school fund raiser (with little success), I finished some figures I had been working on and off for a week or so.

Five Doctors
Five Doctors

A couple of months ago, I bought some FASA Dr. Who figures from Greg that were duplicates for him.  Among them was this pack of the first five doctors.  I remember Tom Baker (the fourth doctor) as a kid, but my buddy Simon from the UK really turned me onto Jon Pertwee (the third doctor).

The Third Doctor, Romana I, and Jo Grant
The Third Doctor, Romana I, and Jo Grant

This picture will cause fits among Dr. Who purists, since this is the third doctor with Romana I (my favorite Romana), but she was the fourth doctor’s companion.  Jo Grant (in the outfit from The Carnival of Monsters) is one of my least favorite companions.  My favorite, you ask?  It’s a tie between Liz Shaw (third doctor) (who is a scientist and holds her own pretty well) and Sarah Jane (fourth doctor) (who is the best looking of the companions).

The Fourth Doctor and K-9
The Fourth Doctor and K-9

Okay, maybe K-9 is my favorite companion.

Davros and Three Daleks
Davros and Three Daleks

And what’s not to like about Daleks?  I had no idea that there were so many different paint schemes for these until I googled “Dr. Who Dalek color scheme.”  These are painted as Skaro Daleks.

Three Time Lords
Three Time Lords

So why all the Dr. Who figures?  Well, I’m working toward a Dr. Who GASLIGHT game for Cold Wars.  I think I’m just about there.  Dr. Who purists likely will protest my combining of elements from different doctors and episodes.  The scenario is loosely based on The Green Death (third doctor, Jo Grant), in which maggots have been mutated to huge carnivorous creatures that seem to infect those they bite and cause death.  The scenario will take place in 1940, where Lieutenant Lethbridge-Stewart (the brigadier in the Dr. Who series) and Private Benton (Sergeant Benton in the series) are serving in the Home Guard.  During an exercise, they have come across the mutated maggots and begin the game hunting out nests of them to kill them.  Unfortunately, rifles do not penetrate the shell like exterior they have developed.

These maggots have one useful mutation:  they poop jethric.  Jethric is described as one of the most important compounds in the universe during the Key to Time story arc.  Well, these little babies now poop the stuff.  That’s the good news.  The bad news is that Sontarans and Daleks want jethric too, and they have just landed to capture some of the maggots and destroy the rest.  If all goes well, a Churchill tank might come to the aid of Home Guard.

In this scenario, the good guys will have The Doctor (third doctor), Romana, and Elizabeth Shaw, each controlled by a different player.  (Lots of Dr. Who continuity problems there — particularly if I add K-9 as well.)  This will give them three characters who might figure out why the Sontarans and Daleks have landed so that the Home Guard can destroy the maggots before the bad guys run off with some.

Three Ice Warriors
Three Ice Warriors

The Ice Warriors won’t be part of the game; although, I’d probably add a stack of Silurians if I had them.  These were in the bag with everything else, so I painted them up, which wasn’t hard, since they are a single color, green.

RAFM Johann Ripponoff and Doom Ray
RAFM Johann Ripponoff and Doom Ray

In addition to all the Who-lishness, I also painted two more sets of figures from RAFM that I received for Christmas.  Above is Johann Ripponoff and his Doom Ray.  Below is Dr. Frankenstein.

Mad Scientists
Mad Scientists