The Return of Chip Spud & Tasha Stripov

                                                Nickel & Dime Productions
                                                              Presents
                                                    The Lost Twin Case

Things hadn't been going to well of late for P.I. Chip Spud, instead of getting the 50 bucks a day he likes to work for he's had to settle for 60 of late & without her Russian Vodka & Cuban Cigars Tasha could be hell to live with.

However at 11am yesterday all that changed, it was a wet & windy morning with the rain driving against the office window, pitter patter pitter patter pitter patter & once more pitter patter.
Chip" Tasha will you stop making that awful pitter patter sound & go answer the door"
Without replying she looked at him & if looks could kill the guys down at the 19th Precinct would have had a new homicide to investigate, before getting up & going to open the door.

And there she stood you know that kind of woman, legs full of varicose veins, breasts sagging down to her bellybutton & a face with great big moles that had hairs grown out of them, Chip reckoned it wasn't from age that she was ugly as she couldn't have been much more then forty, no he guessed she was the kind of baby that made the Doctor punch the mother's face instead of smacking the babies bottom.

Woman" Is this the office of P.I. Chip Spud ?"
Tasha"That's what it says on the door lady & that poor excuse for a man over there is him"
Crossing the office with all the grace of a hippo on an ice rink she came to a stop at Chip's desk.
Woman" Mr Spud"
Chip"Please call me Chip & won't you take a seat ?"

Woman"No thank you I have many of my own, Chip my name is Amber Fields & I'd like to hire you for a job, I hear you charge 50 bucks a day when you can get it & 60 when you can't ? Well you find me a generous woman, I'll pay you for ten days advance"
With that she opened her bag & took out ten big crispy 50's

Chip"Well you certainly got my interest Mrs Fields but would you mind first telling me what the job curtails ?"
Amber"That's Miss Fields & I'd like you to find my identical twin who I lost 25 years ago, his name is Ulick Fields, here a picture of him taken on our 16th birthday a week before I lost him & here a list of all the places he likes to frequent.

Looking over the list Chip quickly realized it was your normal list of gin-joints, gaming-halls & brothels that any unhappily married man might go to, well is there any other kind of married man ?

Chip" Ok Miss Fields I'll take the case on"
Amber"Thank you so much you don't know what it means to me , he's all I've got in the world & now that I'm paying for your time I won't take up any more of it"

After she'd gone Chip looked at the list again, most of the places had since closed down but there was one that he knew well was still opened, a place so low & seeded that even the cockroaches had moved out, it's a good a place to start as any he thought.
Chip"Tasha grab your hat & coat we're going out"

On the way down the stairs he handed her two of the bills," Here get yourself  something nice" he said.
"Chip you look after me so well can we stop at the drugs store on the way ?" she asked before planting a kiss on the side of his face,"A bit less with plastering me with the lipstick doll" he replied & then added"Yes there's one on the way over to the bookies, I've a tip for a nag running in the 1.45"
Typical thought Tasha all your every interested in is women with four legs, but the thought of getting Vodka & Cigars keep her spirits up.

Two blocks down Chip noticed they where been tailed, the tail was good in an none descriptive vehicle that blended in with the mid-morning traffic but Chip wasn't one of the worlds greatest P.I.'s for no reason.

After a quick stop at the Drugs store & the Bookies then came to the place, it was down on West 34th street in an area so rough & rundown that the dogs roamed in packs in fear of been eaten by the rats, by the time they got there the rain had stopped & Tasha had already smoked two cigars & downed a bottle of Vodka."Wait here in the car, while I go inside" he said taking a look in the rear view mirror, yep the tail was still with them.

Stepping out of the bright sunlight into the dimly lit place Chip waited just inside the door for his eye's to adjust, up on the stage was a dame doing a poll dance, walking over to the bar Chip call one of the bartenders over, he pulled the picture & a ten spot from his pocket.

Chip"I was wondering if you know this guy & has he been in here lately, he called Ulick Fields"
The bartender looked at the picture"

Yep I know that kid, he comes in here most Tuesdays but calls himself Burt Day" he said before whipping the ten out of Chip's hand before he could put it back in his pocket, dam that bartender was fast thought Chip watching the ten disappear into the man's pocket.
Stepping out the door into the ally,

 the first thing Chip noticed was a sharp pain in his big toe & just before blacking out he hear a voice say"Don't look for those that don't wish to be found Mr Spud"
"Chip, Chip are you ok ?" a voice calling brought him back a round & opening his eye's through a haze of smoke he saw Tasha looking down at him.

Chip"How long was I out for ?"
Tasha" A couple of hours, after I'd finished the 3rd bottle of Vodka I decided to come looking for you    "
Chip" Well don't just stand there smoking help me up my big toe is giving me hell"

Back at his office the first thing Chip did was to call the track to get the result of the 1.45 it was now 3.10 & it turned out his horse was still running, so much for that tip though Chip putting the phone down, there was nothing more he could do until tomorrow which was Tuesday when he head back down the Slags Heap & try to see Ulick.

About 7 Tuesday evening Chip walk into the Slags Heap dressed as a woman, it wasn't that he was in disguise or anything like that, it was just that he liked to wear Tasha clothes especially her lacy underwear & stocking.

He noticed Ulick sitting by himself at a table (he hadn't changed a bit since the picture been taken) & headed over to him.
Chip"Ulick Fields I'm Chip Spud P.I. I've been hired by your Sister to find you"
Ulick"I know who you are & want you want Mr Spud your not the first of your kind she's sent looking for me,oh no there's been many before you Philip Marlowe, Sam Spade, Jim Rockford, & even some Brits that guy Holmes & his sidekick Watson, Randell & Hopkirk( deceased) to name but a few, but you are the first to find me so I'm impressed.

Chip" She never told me about the others, but like you said I've found you"
Ulick"Well I guess it was going to happen sooner or later but you can tell her from me to leave me alone, she didn't lose me 25 years ago I ran off, you've no idea what it was like grown up with such a ugly looking identical twin have ? no nobody could, we couldn't go out to play with the other children no the only place we could go & play was the graveyard, so I decided on our sixteen birthday that I'd had enough, a few days later when we where playing in the graveyard she said lets play hide & seek & that's when I took my chance, she didn't lose me I ran away & we've been playing hide & seek ever since"
Chip"I see but she hired me to find you & I've got to tell her I have & where, but having seen her I do sympathize with you, she without doubt the most ugly woman I've ever seen"

Next day Chip phoned Miss Fields, voice "Hello"

Chip" Is that Miss Amber Fields ? it is, this is Chip Spud Miss Fields I'm ring to tell you that I've found Ulick down in the Slags Head bar last night, but he said to tell you didn't lose him he ran away & to leave him alone"
Amber" You have why that's wonderful news Chip I can't tell you how happy I am & you done it so quickly, fancy silly old Ulick making up a story like that to try cover up for me losing him"
Chip"Thank you Miss Fields, you did pay me for ten days at 50 bucks a day in advance & it only took me two so I'll have to refund some of your money"
Amber" Not at all Chip you've done a wonderful job so hang on to it, goodbye"
Chip"Thank you Miss fields that's very kind of you, goodbye"

Hanging up the phone Chip let out a sigh of relief, he'd given Tasha 100 bucks for Vodka & Cigars & put the rest on that pony, it was a good thing she didn't want the refund he thought.
So ended the case of the lost twin.
Cut

Designers note, This post is done a bit differently from most as there was no game played out, all I done was come up with the script & then set up a few things & take pictures nice & simple, I sometimes think all that dice rolling is so over rate :)
When I done the Murder by Death the remake these where two of the characters that was in it & tbh were the two I liked the best, so I thought why not do something else staring the pair of them.
The idea of the script just came to me out of nowhere & it just seem to writhe it's self tbh if only they all worked out so easily, hopefully we'll see more of these guys, but if you've enjoyed the movie & haven't yet seen Murder by Death the remake it's still showing at the picture house below :)
http://ifitwasntforone.blogspot.ie/2018/02/murder-by-death-remake.html

That's a rap, as always my thanks for dropping in & if you'd care to be a movie critic & leave a comment it would be welcomed :)   

Dress Rehearsals, Ripper Wars.

I love horror be it movies or books I just love to be frighten, now when I say horror I don't mean gore a bit of gore is ok but its the trill of the build up of tension that really gets me, that something seen from the corner of your eye or the classic seen from Halloween the one were the camera is focused on Jamie Lee Curtis but out of focus you can see the bad guy getting back to his feet.

Now needless to say that using model figures with still shots on a blog such a scene could never be done, but I think you can build tension & atmosphere, can you be drawn in so that you care enough to route for the side of good or evil ? well going on how people told me I'd have to rescue Carter on the O.W.I The Base post I think maybe you can & I believe that's the key to most stories are characters that people care about, the 3 things combined can  make a good horror :) well that's enough waffling out of me for now, I'll instead let the script writer see if he can create a little atmosphere for what's going on.

In another place & time stands the village of Whitehurst, there was nothing remarkable or outstanding about Whitehurst & the people went about their lives in a peaceful & harmonious way, but about 6 months ago all of that started to change, first it was the glimpses of a strange man roaming in the woods, then the howling heard in the night.

But worst still was to come, the disappearance for loved one's dragged off into the night, who would then be seen a short time later wondering as undead lost souls after dark, now the people of Whitehurst live in fear but the disappearance's keep happening is there to be no end to this nightmare ?

Right what this post is all about is me trying out Ripper Wars which is a Gothic Horror set in Victorian London & has all your classic horror villains from werewolves to Dracula, now I don't have any such models but do have some that can fit into horror if I move the time & setting.

The game is meant to be played at 1K plus points on a 6x3 table but to make things a bit easier I cut the sides down to just over 500pts & set up a 4x4 table.

 Now I have to point out that when playing a game I like to have a book (call me old fashioned) but I got these rules from over on Vagabond's blog which has a link in the blog roll to the side & if you never pay it a visit you really should,( that's another advertisement you'll have to pay for John) a link to the rules are in a comment by Eduardo so my thanks to him.

Anyway where was I, yes trying out the game the idea behind this is I'd like to expand the type of movies I make :) & horror is one of the types I'd like to do, at this point in time however I don't want to invest in more model's as the make up department is busy enough, did I ever mention I don't like painting ?

So after one game how did I find Ripper Wars ? well I've got to try to be fair to the game here & there was somethings I did like as well as some I didn't.

The good, the activation which is done using cards works like this, each unit is deal a playing card at the start of each turn & acts on the card number starting with the joker followed by aces & working you way down to the two, units can go on hold & then act on a lower number is they wish, this I find works well especially for solo play which I should point out the game is not design with solo play in mind.

The units are pre-made up but you can give them some upgrades which is also good, but if you just want to throw a game together quickly you could just put a couple of units for each side together.

There's a terrain table for picking what terrain in on which area of the table which divided in to six parts & each player set up the terrain on his side of the board in the way he thinks will be to his advantage.

 Random events that can happen through out the game, now I know a lot of people don't like this kind of thing but I'm not one of them plus when playing solo I always find it to be good if you don't have complete control over things.

The bad, there is no real indication as to how much terrain you should put in each area & terrain seems to play a bit part as it can slow units down & give cover, with from what I can see the evil side having very little shooting this is very important.

Hard to kill units, now this could be just my crap dice rolling or maybe just the units I used but it did feel like it was hard to kill things, while hero's should be hard to kill I think the other units shouldn't be so hard.

Bennies, these let you do a few different things like rerolls (which I dislike tbh) or if a model is shaken undoing it without needing to roll to do so.

Line of sight & who do I shoot or hit, it might be just me missing something but there doesn't seem to be any indication as to how either works, is it true line of sight ? I think it has to be, but the bigger problem is in shooting & close combat, when a unit shoots do you shoot model by model with each one picking a target ? or do they all just shoot together at one unit, also which models within the unit takes the damage, this is very important as models within a unit can be shaken on a one by one bases & if a shaken model takes damage its removed from play, same for close combat but you could do this on a model by model with the fight between each one that's in base to base.

Final thought's, like I said above I don't want to be to hard on the game as only trying it once is not really enough & some of the faults like who shoots at who are easy to fix, things like units been to hard to kill wouldn't be, I'll most likely try it out once or twice more as I'd like to be able to play a horror game & this feels like it would switch easily to a different setting, Eduardo also put a link to another set of horror rules set in the wild west by two hour wargaming, but as a revival studios uses rules which around this is set I don't want to go down that road.

Now before I go here are some picture's for John (Vagabond) but I'll add the link for anyone else interested :)   

These things are pencil sharpeners but are cheap enough if you order a few together to help with the postage, this wagon I think works very well with 28mm scale, as you can see from the 28mm model I put in the picture. 

 To use the carriage inside need's a bit of work removing the sharpener, but I did that on the car below with out to much problem. 

 This wagon is not as good scale wise & I don't think would work in a western setting but would be ok in some others imo

 The car I think also scales well, but the problem is you won't know what does or doesn't work  untill you buy them unless you've seen someone else use them, so it's a case of pay your money & take your chances :)

 Here's the link to the site.
http://sharpenking.com/

That's a rap for this post as always my thanks for dropping in & if you'd care to leave a comment it would be welcomed :)

O.W.I Episode 2 What Next

                                               Nickel & Dime Productions
                                                              Presents
                                              Outer Worlds Investigations
                                              Episode 2 The Beast's Head

Makay"So what now ? we surely need to spring Julian"
Unsworth"Lets all calm down shall we, we need to proceed with the mission"
Makay"But...
Unsworth"No buts Charlie we've gone to a lot of trouble to try find something that will link Orr to Neaster & that's what we're going to keep on doing, Andrea have we anything from Orr's computer that might help ?"

Raponi" Well there's a mail from his son Paul the one that has the antique business, it appears that he sold an item to Neaster which he'd bought  only a couple of weeks earlier that has turned out to be a fake, even though all the paper work had all been in order & seemed above board when he bought it, the problem now facing Orr's son is that at best something like this could ruin his business & at worse see Paul getting a prison term"
Unsworth"Ok we've got what seems like the link but still nothing that shows Orr has done anything wrong, but my instinct would tell me this is some kind of blackmail sting all very nicely set up by Neaster but to what end"

Lapin"That would seems very likely sir but how do we go about trying to find out what Neaster is trying to get from Orr?"
Unsworth" That's the question Ford & the only place I can thing of to find the answer is the Beast's Head, this thing that's going to happen in the next day or two could it have anything to do with Orr & Neaster ? we need to go back there & try find out.

As they entered the Beast's Head, Unsworth"Start mingling & see what you can find out"

 Unsworth & Makay head off to the pool tables,

 but fail to learn anything.

 

Lady" What do you mean ? what kind of girl do you think I'm ?"
Raponi" Sorry Madam I think you misunderstood me"

Guard"You some nerve coming back in here after what you've pulled"
Lapin" You got paid for the uniforms & as your here I take it no blame came to you"
Guard" Yep but had I known what you wanted them for it would have cost a lot more"
Lapin" Well if its more credits your after we might be able to do a deal, I'm lookingfor some information & willing to pay well for it"
Guard" What do you need to know ?"

Women"I think I can help you, I've a list here that I'm sure you would find very interesting I was just about to send it to Commandant Orr from Mr Neaster, but it will cost you"

"If you don't mind I'm trying to listen to the music"
Unsworth" Oh sorry"

Man" Listen carefully I can't talk for long, go to landing bay 19 two nights from now"

"Who the hell are you & what's with all the questions ?"
Lapin" Look mate I'm only new around here & trying to find a bit of action to earn a few credits from"
"Ye well beat it while you still can"

 

"You should have gone when I told you to but it seem you & your mates are not the brightest"
Raponi" If these guys are any good in a fight were in trouble"

First to be rushed was Makay.

Then Lapin made a move for the guy who been doing the talking throwing a couple of quick punches.

Tables & stools went in all directions as a mass brawl  broke out.

Makay was the first one to go down under the blows.

One of the tugs pulled out a weapon to hit Lapin from behind with, but was put upon by one of the bouncers as weapons are not allowed to be used in brawls &

 these bouncers are not very forgiving to anyone trying to use one.

Numbers won out in the end & each member of the team was giving a hell of a beaten by the end of the fight, leaving them to head back to their accommodation blooded & bruised but with enough information to carry on with the case.
Cut
Designers Note As I'm using this tale to try out new rules I've made up I needed this scenario to be completely different from the first one & it helped me nail down somethings while other things still needs more work.

Well that's a rap for this post, as always my thanks for dropping in & if you'd care to be a movie critic & leave a comment it would be welcomed :)