Movie Tone News, April 2019

Another month gone by & I'm a bit all over the place tbh, (nothing new there Frank you say :) so many plans but each plan leads to more to do, so with all of that in mind I've decided to put a hold on all productions for the time been, yep I know no really what you guys want to hear (I hope).

Right so where are we at ? well since last months news I posted two things one on Space Hulk & the other the start of the HEX campaign, so lets start with Space Hulk I now have 10 doors painted up, 4 escape pods some computer tables & a couple of doors, plus the C.A.T & the dead Terminator are done so progress there & really 10 more doors & few other little bits & this is in good shape, there are other things I want to add but when their done I'll put it a side for a time.

It was the HEX campaign that really got me thinking, yes it did hurt :) now while this will be for the most part picture light it will still require pictures & I want to try make less be more if you get my point, now the script team have been working on part two but even with the bit that's done I thought what about the pictures to go with it & tbh I knew straight away I couldn't do what I wanted.

So what to do ? well like I said I'm stopping production but on the plus side we're heading into what I like to think of as the hobby time of year, warmer weather & longer days, hopefully over the next 4 or 5 months I 'll get stuff done & then the camera's will be ready to start rolling again.

Now to say I've lots of stuff to do would be an understatement, the Western buildings & models, the ship that in dry dock half painted, MDF kits & plenty of models but to name some of it, add to that I really want to do more sets in a box & to top it all off I've been watching a guy on U-tube called the Terrain Tutor & getting lots of ideas for upping my game on the terrain stuff, if you've never watched him & are interested in making top notch terrain then his videos are well worth a watch.

Well that it for this months news, so its a goodnight from me & a goodnight from him :)
As always my thanks for dropping in & if you care to leave a comment it would be welcomed :)

Space Hulk, Just when I thought I was ready.

As I said in last months news I wanted to get my Space Hulk done, so for the last few weeks I've been working on the models.

At this stage all I've left to do is the C.A.T & the dead termination, as these are just objectives & not used in many missions I was ready to go, until that is I done this.

And then this.

The doors are from one of the Killteam sets that I'd picked up on E-bay for about 20 Euro including postage & as you can see works very well with Space Hulk, there was 10 of them & I've since ordered another set to give 20 doors which is the amount of the card one's that come with the game.

But why stop there ?

In the game different missions call for you to do different things, like destroy a terminal or maybe get to escape pods, these are only ever a certain tile on the game grid you need to get to, but having a model of that thing just for me brings the game to another level.

For me the visible aspect for table top gaming is a very big part of the enjoyment of it & anything I can do to add to that I will, as well as the two sets that have the doors, terminals escape pods & some other stuff, I also ordered a different set that has other stuff on it that will like the other sets also be usable in Space Hulk & in other thing, as you can see in the last picture I've a couple of the doors painted, I've gone for a grimy effect as Space Hulks are meant to be ships that have been lost for a long time.
The only thing I'm not sure of now is should I paint all the doors the same colour or have different coloured ones as a Space Hulk is meant to be many different ships all mashed together, why is life never easy :)

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

HEX Campaign, A knock on the door

England June 28th 1936

The last nine months have been hard for Grace Simms, the grief for the lost of her friends combined with a feeling of guilt over why she should have survived when they had not, the faithful events played over & over in her mind as she watch in horror the island disappear beneath the sea.
True that she had not been the only survivor of the terrible day but of her friends the others of the Society of the Blue Blooded she was the only one to return home.
                                    

A knock on the door brought Grace out of  the trance like state that was now her normal existence, yet she made no move to go & answer just sitting in the chair looking at the large piece of wood she held in her hands, the piece that had come to the surface & banged against the boat on that faithful day, a large piece of wood with strange markings on it.

Thump  thump came the sound again, heavier this time louder, rising wearily from the chair Grace went out into the hall & opened the front door, two man stood there one unknown to Grace the other vaguely familiar, but Grace couldn't be bother to search her mind to try to put a name to the face.

"Miss Grace Simms ?" ask the unknown man, in the kind of voice that said he already knew the answer.

Without answering Grace mentioned with her arm for the men to enter & then turned & headed back to the sitting-room followed by the two men who closed the front door behind them, in the sitting-room the same man who'd spoken before.
"Miss Simms, I'm Nigel Warren of His Majesty Government & this is Honorary Doctor Charles Lipton of the Royal National Geographic Society, I wonder if we might have a talk with you ?"
 Again un-answering Grace waved to a couple of chairs as she seated herself, the name Charles Lipton gaining recognition somewhere in the dept's of her mind.

Warren"Miss Simms before I begin I most emphasize on you that what is said is of the up most secrecy"Grace nodded her head & he continued,
"On the 9th of June a message from a German U-boat was intercepted, the massage read, Whiled surfaced we wear approached by a German fishing boat who in their nets had found a sealed container within was a written massage,If found please bring to the attention of  Major Klaus von Barlow Thule Society, Ultima found gain Knut Fraenkel's journal & follow if able"

When Grace made no reply Warren continued.
"To say we wear puzzled as to what it all meant would be an understatement, at first we thought that maybe Ultima was a person & it was only the fact that one of the team trying to work it out had heard of Fraenkel's journal that put us on the right track & lead us to the R.N.G.S, where Doctor Lipton informed us what  Ultima was & that the Society of the Blue Blood were the real experts on the subject"

Grace without lifting her head & in a half whisper"Forbes was the expert"
Warren"Pardon, what did you say ?"
Lifting her head & looking at them with hard cold eye's Grace repeated"Forbes was the expert & it costed him his life as well as the life of others, now if you Gentleman wouldn't mind seen yourselves out"

Lipton stood to leave but Warren remained seated & put a hand out to stop him.
Warren"Before I' leave Miss Simms there's one more thing I need to tell you, the massage was signed Uwe Gloup & dated 23 of November 1935"

Grace"What that can't be he was with Del & the others on the island as it blow its self apart & sank"
Warren" Its no mistake Miss Simms, we're reliable informed that von Barlow has already set sail on a U-boat for Ultima Thule in the company of this woman (handing a picture to Grace he continues) these are dangerous times Miss the Nazis are building up for war & searching the world for any artifacts that they thing might aid them"

The realization that her friends might yet be alive brought Grace to a more agreeable stat of mind & there was now a lot more vigor in her voice.
Grace"The date is 3 weeks after we lost them & if Gloup survived then its a fair bet that the other did as well, we've got to go get them & the woman is Helga she was on the island & escaped with us , I think she an Archaeologist "

Lipton now spoke for the first time.
Lipton" Miss Sim..
Grace" Oh stop with all this Miss Simms stuff my names Grace"
Lipton"Grace, from what I know of Ultima Thule which I admit is not a lot it all seems like a fantastical tale, a world inside the Earth that nobody ever been able to get to, or at least if they have then have never been able to get back out"
Grace"Fraenkel found away out"
Lipton"Fraenkel was found dead on an island on the other side of the world from where he set off, who's to say they weren't carried on the winds in their airship & came down on White island ?"
Grace" Yet not a trace of the airship was found or any sign of the others"
Lipton" It could have came down in the sea with only Fraenkel surviving & swimming to the island"

Grace" That's possible but all very unlikely & if that was what you gentlemen truly believed you wouldn't be here, so what is this really all about ?"
Warren" Either story seems as unlikely as the other, but the Nazis seem to think there's something in it & then there's the massage from Gloup is there any information you can give us that might help ?"

Grace" There are lots of names for what your calling Ultima Thule, Hyperborea, Shangri-La, Atlantis to name but a few, there might be some stuff in the library but like I said Forbes was the expert have you tried talking to his daughter Elaina ? she might have some of his stuff on the matter.
Warren" We've been in touch with Lady Elaina but she refuses to talk about it, it seems the tragic events of her father's death has hit her very hard"
Grace" I seen what happened to her father & nobody should ever have to see that happen to a loved one, I'll help you but on one condition, I'm going on the expedition"
Warren" I didn't mention any expedition but I can see your a very shape woman " & smiling he added " I was hopping you'd want to tag along, find what you can & be at this address in Whitehall at ten pm tomorrow"
With that they stood to leave.

As soon as they were gone Grace headed into the library & in something close to a frenzy spent the rest of the day pulling books from shelves & emptying draws, by the time she called it a day she had what she hope would be enough to be helpful, including translated copies of  his journal & massages that Fraenkel had sent to a friend.
That night Grace had a fitful sleep, the morning just couldn't come quickly enough.

To be continued.

Designer note, What you've just read was the first part of a new campaign I'm doing, it will be a bit different then what I'd normally do in that in some post there will be like in this one very few pictures, what kind of movies are these Frank ? I can hear you guys scream we want a refund :)
Well tbh with you guys my amount of stars & sets are quite limited & while I love nothing more then shown you guys pictures it can be limiting in what I can do, so I hope you guys will stay with me for what I hope will be a trilling adventure :)

As always my thanks for dropping in & if you'd care to be a movie critic your commend will be welcomed :)

Movie Tone News March 2019

Sorry there was no news last month but there really wasn't any news to bring you guys :)
Since the turn of the year the two busies departments have been make-up & script but at least last month did see a release with the concluding part of Secret of Corpse Diamond Temple.
                               

This has lead me in away I didn't expect, if you seen the movie you'll know that I used my Spacehulk tiles & that got me thinking of doing some Spacehulk stuff which then lead to another project that I've wanted to do for years that has been started & dropped a few times, but I'll come back to that later.

So what is Spacehulk (SH) some of you might know & some of you mightn't, SH is an old GW two player game set in old abandoned spaceships which has Space Marines fighting Geanstealers, think of the movie Aliens for an idea of it.

The Spacehulk set up for the first mission with the Marines ready to enter.

Like I said SH is a two player game that with one or two changes works very well as a solo game, now as is often the case with a lot of GW boardgames if your a 40K player the models will end up been used in your 40K army & this was the case with me.
Now the Geanstealers models I still have but painted in away to suit an army long gone so need a repaint, while the Marines where sold off as part of another army, so a couple of years back I bought some more Marines which where also to be part of the other project, did some work on them & that's how they've been the last couple of years until now.

What's this ? no clear bases this time but I need two bases for each Marine as the 40mm bases don't work for Spacehulk, as you can see they have magnets in them as have the feet of the Marines

So the plan is to get SH up & running first with just what's needed & then add other stuff which I'll cover at another time, so on to the other project which I'll call Anphelion & is based on a Forge World book called Imperial Armour VI The Anphelion Project, which pitches the Imperial forces of  which the Space Marines are a part of against the Tyranids of which the Geanstealers are a part of, see its all starting to make sense now :)

In January's news I talked about a budget linked to movies idea, well to get the above project up & running I took Ivor's advice & blow the budget out of the water so we can forget all about that, thanks mate :)

The two main stars of The Anphelion Project, on the left Ordo Xenos Inquisitor Solomon Lok & on the right Commander Carab Cullin of the Red Scorpions Space Marines.

This project will take years & I'm not sure if I should keep it here on have it in a different studio, but I've been missing my Sci-fi & its a setting I know very well & am comfortable in, the plan is to go back to a time before the advents of the book & build up to the book  using Spacehulk & other games.

I going to leave that for now, so in other news how many of you remember the picture below ?
                              
                                                         
Its alright if you don't as I wasn't expecting you to but give yourself a pat on the back if you did :)
The picture is the last scene  from the Perilous Island campaign, now the plan was at the time was for this to lead into the Lemuria campaign but somehow the book for it just doesn't do it for me, so I looked around for something else & found a RPG book called Hallow Earth Expedition or HEX for short & have decided to run with that as it gives me a lot more freedom.

The plan is to use the 45 adventure rules set for the games, but like a RPG this will be as much story driven as game driven, anyway the opening chapter has already been scripted with just a few scenes to be shot & should be released soon.

Well that's it for this months news, so it's a goodnight from me & a goodnight from him :)
As always my thanks for dropping in & if you'd care to leave a comment it would be welcomed. 



 

Secret of Corpse Dimond Temple Reel 4

After the ship was loaded Chip & Tasha were brought on-board, it took 3 days for the ship to reach (name) island, without a harbour large enough for the ship to dock all the cargo had to transferred to a smaller boat to be taken the rest of the way, Chip & Tasha were put on the first boat & once a shore blinded folded, lead away & then locked in a small room.

Before I started the game I let Chip have a brains test to see if he noticed he was going underground, had he passed it would have given him a +1 bonus at the first junction to pick which way to go, sadly he failed. 

Turn 1 Chip"We need to get out of here"
Tasha"That shouldn't be a problem" & with that she removed her hairpin which was really a lock-pick & set about opening the door, in no time there's a little click.
Tasha"Got it"

Chip & Tasha have 20 turns to try to reach the main room & stop Archie's plans, after the 20th turn Archie will role  at the end of each turn to try to get his new giant robot to work, needing a 6 on the first roll,  decreasing by 1 each turn he rolls, a long the way each time they get line of sight to a new part of the board 2d6 will be rolled, with a double meaning there's a grade 1 tug in that area, also when they enter a room they can search them, there are 6 possibles, explosive's,their weapons & a plan of the complex, 2 that are nothing & 2 that are grade 1 tugs, to search a room needs a brains test.  

As Tasha opens the door Chip see's one of the tugs in the corridor &

First roll for an area & its a double, while it made sense that there would be someone on guard, it wasn't the start I was hoping for :)

Chip rushes at the tug & with a quick one two knocks him cold.

Turn2
Chip heads to the junction followed by Tasha

Chip fails the brains test, which then meant a dice roll to see which way he went to take.

Turn 3
Chip turns left & heads up the corridor,

The doors maybe be locked or unlocked, this is decided by a dice roll

by Tasha.
Turn 4
The door is unlocked so chip opens it & heads on.

Turn5
Reaching the door Chip opens it, its leads to the outside.
Chip" Tasha we've come the wrong way head back.

Tasha turns & runs back the way they've come.

I used a rule that when backtracking the characters could use the run rule

Turn6
As Tasha get to the door she finds it locked.

Tasha has the safe-cracker ability which along with her lock-pick gives her a +2 to opening locked doors.  

Turn7 Tasha gets the door open in no time &

steps in followed by Chip.
Turn8 No sooner had they started to search the room when another door opened & a tug is stood in the doorway.

The goon turning up was a result of the search

Turn9 Tasha been a natural acrobat flips over the guy leaving him for Chip to deal with him.

Tasha has an acrobat ability which allows her to flip off someone on a successful dodge test, if she fails they get a free attack on her.

Chip rushed the goon & while he lands a good blow on him its is not enough to put him down.
Turn 10 As the goon takes a swing at Chip he ducks under it & coming up lands a knock out blow, while Tasha gets the door open up ahead.

Turn 11 By the time Chip gets to the room Tasha has already had a good look around but found nothing.
Tasha"What keep you ?"
Chip"That guy just didn't want to see things my way, but in the end he agreed"

The search of this room was one of the nothing results. 

Turn 12 Tasha"Which way do we go Chip?"
Chip"This way & he opens the door & heads off
Turn 13 Tasha turns & calls after him "Are you sure ?"
"Pretty sure" Chip replies as he opens the door to the next room.

Turn 14 Searching the room Chip finds some explosives, these could come in handy he thinks.

Turn 15  As Tasha joins him in the room Chip"Here take some of these" & he hands her some explosives.
Tasha"Thanks, you really know how to show a girl a good time Chip"
Chip"Don't mention it,now see if you can open this door as its locked"

Turn 16 Tasha sets to work on the door but this one is a bit of a bugger & it takes all her years of practice to get it open, at the end of a short hall is another door.

Turn 17 This door is unlocked & opening it they step into another room were they find their weapons & a plan of the complex on one of the walls.

Turn 18 The door they wish to take is also unlocked, opening it they here a humming noise as they head down a corridor.

Turn 19 as they follow the turning corridor the noise gets louder.
Turn 20 Opening yet another door they enter a large room & there at one end at some control panel is Archie

Chip fires off a shot & yells"More away from there Mr" Archie pays him no heed & carries on.
While Chip only had his eye's on Archie, Tasha looks down at the other end of the room.
Tasha" What in hell's unholy name is that thing ?"

Turn 21 Chip"You try & get the explosives on to that thing while I try to stop Archie" but it looks like Tasha will have to deal with the small bot first, she fires as it advances towards her but to no avail.

& with that he runs towards the scientist, landing a couple of blows on him & pushing him back from the controls.

Archie could only roll for to active the giant robot if  hes in contact with the control panel.

The smaller bot slashes out at Tasha with tentacles, but she dodges them.

Tasha now tries to break away from the combat but gets hit on the arm for her troubles.

 Over confident, Chip gets sucker punch by Archie & staggers back a couple of feet.

Turn 22 This give Archie the chance he needs & he punches some buttons on the control penal &
with that the great machine comes to life.

Knowing the game was up Chip"Tasha we've got to get out of here" & he turns from Archie.
Tasha"I hate to fight & leave but maybe another time"

As Chip reaches the door,

she does a couple of back flips away.
Their only hope now is that the ship hasn't left yet & to somehow make it back to it.

As they run Chip thinks, Fifty bucks a day isn't enough to take on that thing.
Cut
Designers note.I really enjoyed this game & the 45 Adventure rules work excellently for it, the hardest part of setting the whole thing up was trying to work out how many turns to play out before Archie would try to get the giant robot to life, to many turn's & it would be to easy for Chip & Tasha, to few & they never make it.

After working out that if everything went perfectly they could make it to the room in 15 turns, I decided to go for 20 which as it turns out was the amount of turns it took, so that brings this little tale to a close & over all I think it worked very well & hope you guys enjoyed following as much as I enjoyed playing it out :)

As always my thanks for dropping in & if you'd care to be a movie critic you comment would be welcomed :)