I set about printing this with the idea of using it as a centrepiece for 28mm scale gaming (more specifically 7TV). By doing some back of the envelope calculations I worked out that I would need to scale the files up in order to meet my favoured 1/48 vehicle scale for gaming.
So then the printing began……and it took a very long time indeed.
Back in March I was keeping a log of how much time the individual print jobs were taking. I soon gave up adding this up, but lets say we are talking about well over 100 hours worth of printing at least.
As per usual for scenery and vehicles I printed this using my FDM printer, a CR-10S by Creality. I originally chose this printer for the larger than standard print bed size and this was very useful when printing out this model.
I did use my resin printer for some of the smaller parts like thrusters and cargo pod feet.
The print quality (and tolerances) I am getting at the moment are really good, which helped significantly with this model as it did require quite a bit of fitting and assembly. The one weak point was the landing gear which have snapped numerous times and have been continually super glued back together.
At this point I started to think about painting and colour schemes. Rather than paint up in the traditional TV series colours I decided to merge this with one of my other ongoing projects – Action Force in 28mm scale. At this point I need to take a slight diversion, promoted by this project I have recently got into collecting the original toy line of 3.75″ (1/18) scale action figures and vehicle sets. One of the vehicles I have recently aquired is the Space Force Cosmic Cruiser. It is this that I decided to base the Eagle paint scheme on.
An original Palitoy Cosmic Cruiser Action Force toy.
Due to the current long summer hours and (occasional) decent days of British summer weather I switched my airbrushing to outside. This has been aided by the aquisition of a new mini-compressor. The completed model after getting an all over undercoat of black from a spray can was ready for airbrushing.
The outdoor painting setup
The main body and cockpit were given coats of progressively slightly lighter coats of grey.
The four ‘legs’ of the craft were then completed using the same technique with blue.
Finally the engines were also airbrushed using a base gun metal followed by a silver highlight. All paints were from the Vallejo Game Air or Model Air ranges.
I switched back to traditional brushwork for the orange of the frame. This was mainly because I would have struggled to effectively mask the model for airbrushing on top of the work I had already done.
I went to my stash of decals and transfers to add some detail (including some small reporduction Action Force logo toy vehicle stickers). The one thing I wasn’t able to source was the Space Force specific logo. While in the past for miniatures I have hand painted this I wasn’t confident I’d be able to do a good job of this freehand at this scale. I may subsequently add something to the nose cone of the ship if I can figure out printing on decal paper on my Inkjet printer.
The final stage was weathering, and as per usual I feel I may have gone a little overboard here. I used a mix of Plastic Soldier Company and Modelmates weathering spray cans for this, plus a sponge chipping technique using a dark brown paint. I do think the engines came out looking pretty good.
All in all I am really please with the result and I look forward at some point in the future (when face-to-face gaming can resume in earnest) using this in a game of 7TV. Perhaps as part of a Space Force versus The Argonauts game (the latter of which I am eagerly awaiting delivery from the most recent Crooked Dice Game Design Studio Kickstarter).
In the meantime here is a selection of images showing a Space Force Eagle Transporter being prepared for a mission by Action Force personel. All figures are from Gripping Beast and are heavily inspired by the original action figure line.
All are based on 7TV 2nd Edition core profiles with just names and profile pictures changed. I had to be a bit creative with the pictures. Wanting to stick to comic art rather than photos of the minis or original action figures I was reminded just how little Space Force featured in the Battle Action Force strips. Therefore not every character is accurately represented in pictures.
So presented below are the cards. Commander Connors is based on the ‘Military Mind’ profile, while the remainder of the team are ‘Armed Astronauts’. My re-purposed SHADO mobile transport is for gaming purposes stated up as a Land Rover.
This last weekend I made the journey down from Chesterfield to participate in a 7TV campaign day at Board in Brum in Walsall. This is the second such event held at this venue and my first time visiting.
Pitched as a campaign day rather than a tournament (which nicely fits in with the ethos of 7TV), this saw eighteen players come together to play three games each. Participants were encouraged to bring their own boards and this resulted in some suitably epic backdrops for the action that was to unfold.
MOD Base
Board in Brum is a new venue to me. Based in the upstairs of an office block on an industrial site in Walsall, it looks quite unassuming from the outside. However inside is a gem of a venue, including a well stocked shop (including not only Games Workshop and Warlord Games products but other interesting lines such as Gangs of Rome, Batllesystems Terrain and a range of board games and accessories), as well as a large gaming area. The gaming area consisted of nine 6′ by 4′ tables and looking at their events calendar looks well utilised, and as indicated by the footfall on the day a great local hub for hobbyists and gamers.
Upon arrival I met some of the participants, many of whom I knew from the 7TV Productions Facebook group. As always it is great to put names to faces. I had at the last minute decided to bring a board myself. This was quite quickly knocked together and consisted of some high rise MDF office blocks (an eBay purchase last year), a recently acquired 4′ by 4′ city map from Antenocitis Workshop (originally designed for Infinity) and (of course) a flying saucer.
Downtown UFO Landing Zone
As more folk started arriving I got a view of some fantastic tables and layouts. These included a Nazi Moonbase, an abandoned MOD site, a desert compound, a post-apocalyptic wasteland, a concealed secret base and downtown New York (complete with mutant turtles).
Nazi Moonbase
Post Apocalypse Town
Secret Base
MOD Base
Desert Compound
Downtown New York
The amazing effort and eclectic nature of the boards was matched by the casts that were brought along on the day. Again another thing I love about 7TV is the ability to field pretty much whatever you like without worrying about balance or theme – after all we are making a television programme.
Wayne Bollands’ excellent Time War Veterans
A repainted Avengers toy formed the centrepiece of this impressive sci-fi board
Talking of the TV background, Mike Strong who was running the event on the day had written a detailed and amusing back story for the day’s ‘filming’. Against a back drop of industrial action and union unrest at Barron Studios we were to shoot 3 episodes (games) with some specific scenario stipulations to match the problems the ‘studio’ was experiencing. So for example due to budgetary restrictions (in actuality the fact that Mr.Barron had never bothered upgrading the studio electricity meter to metric in the early 70s and was now down to his last few half crowns), episode 1 saw the ability for us players to choose to turn off the studio lights in certain situations. The in game effect being to reduce ranges and visibility at random. This added a real fun flavour to proceedings!
What horrors lurk in wait?
In addition to these scenario specific rules we were also tasked as players to get as much product placement into our shows as possible to aid the ailing fortunes of the production studio. Each player was given a product and catch phrase to try and shoehorn into the narrative in as appropriate a way as possible (with the benefit of gaining extra plot points to spend as a result). Now I must admit I kept forgetting about this throughout the day (I like to think that I was very much in the mindset of a BBC rather than ITV director), but I was myself the victim of some excellently placed advertising, including a well timed ‘I bet he drinks Carling Black Label’ as a sniper (with a Jezzail) took out once of my armed astronauts!
So to the actual games. I had chosen to rock up with my Action Force Space Force cast, including my re-purposed SHADO Mobile (acting in game terms as a humble Land Rover).
When is a Land Rover not a Land Rover? When it is a re-purposed SHADO Mobile.
Game 1 saw the Space Force team go up against Alistair’s SHIVA cast on my city board. I made the mistake of not piling everyone into the transport first off and very quickly my chaps were picked off by the aforementioned sniper and some nifty sword work by the daughters of SHIVA. The highlight of this game for me was the ‘set dressing’ event card which saw a continuity error/set problem move one of the office blocks mid-episode. Well those are the breaks I guess when you’ve not paid your stage hands properly for months and you’ve got the union on your backs!
Chuck Connors about to get a beating
Look how close that objective token is…..he didn’t make it
Moondancer and Skyraider survey the scene
Special mention here also to my product placement which I failed to pull off. I was just waiting for that moment to express the slightly amended catchphrase ‘M&Ms, melts in your FACE not in your hand’ as I blasted a member of the opposing cast away with lasers. That moment never came to be.
Game 2 followed a chippy lunch and saw a switch to the excellent secret base (which was nominated for and won best setup on the day). I setup in the base and faced off against a cast comprising a tough detective, a ghost, a tomorrow person and some Victorian police officers. For this episode budget cuts meant that certain abilities for stars and co-stars were reduced in effectiveness, although due to the choices myself and my opponent Steve made this didn’t have too much effect.
Look out its the rozzers
Space Force hide in the trees
Truncheons versus lasers
The hidden base
This time I decided to load up the transport and try and nip around collecting objectives as fast as I could. This worked to a certain degree, but upon disembarking and dealing with the ghost and blocking off the progress of my opponents stars and co-stars I only really had the police to deal with. The moral of this story is never underestimate police brutality. Overly confident my spacesuit clad specialists could easily ‘zap’ their way to victory, I underestimated the power of the good old British police truncheon. And it hurt. It hurt a lot. So another great game played in excellent spirit, and no real chance to get off my advertising slogan (‘all because the lady loves milk tray’)!
Simon Quinton’s excellent PA board
The final game of the day saw a move to a sci-fi cityscape board and opposition in the shape of Shaun Pike’s ‘The Laundry’ cast (based on the The Nightmare Stacks, a novel by Charles Stross). Now this was a fun episode! Staff shortages in the studio kitchens and an under cooked chicken curry had led to a number of cases of ‘the trots’ and cast members having to very quickly exit to the nearest facilities. In game this was represented by a ‘line of doom’ gradually moving across the board, with both casts having to keep ahead of this, deal with each other and collect objectives and exit off the board at the other side. Any cast member caught by the line would have to be removed from ‘the set’ as the dodgy chicken curry caught hold.
Race for the exit (not for the loo)!
Ha! Thinks I (being all cock of the walk). I have a transport that I can load up and drive fast across the board. No problems. I even sort of apologise to my opponent up from. Oh dear, as someone once said a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away ‘your overconfidence is your weakness’. I had not factored on the luck of the draw when it comes to the countdown cards in 7TV. For those who don’t know in 7TV at the beginning of each turn you draw a countdown card. This is an event that may of may not be of advantage to either yourself, your opponent or some combination of the two. These might include things like wobbly sets (scenery disappearing or moving), continuity errors (cast miniatures from each side suddenly swapping places on the board) or special effects malfunctions (often resulting in unexpected explosions in the vicinity of your cast).
Now unfortunately I was the victim of a couple of these, which resulted in my transport driver swapping places with an enemy minion, who promptly drove me in the wrong direction to the line of doom (at least once). Couple this with an enemy cast member driving a tracked motorbike around and dropping explosive devices to block my exit and let’s just say that the Space Force crew yet again didn’t cover themselves in glory.
Transport hijacked!
Again another splendid game and like all the games played no real notice was taken of winners and losers. I think combined with the freedom of choice when it comes to settings, figures and genres, the creativity that this enables with board design, the quirky meta-game of creating a TV programme/film, the easy to understand and flexible rules and most importantly a community of players that embraces narrative and a good time over competitive play really reinforces my love for all things 7TV.
So a massive thanks to Mike for organising the day, to Simon and Jez at Board in Brum for a great venue and everyone who attended. A special shout out to Wayne Bollands who brought along a lucky dip bag of out of production miniatures that everyone got to delve into.
Finally of course thanks to Karl at Crooked Dice for 7TV itself.
If you’re interested in finding out more about 7TV, check out the Crooked Dice Games Design website or the ultra friendly 7TV Productions community on Facebook. The next events which are both in my diary are:
7TV Day III at Board in Brum (which should by this time have expanded into the rest of their building) is happening on Saturday 21st September 2018 (I’m already starting to think about a board for this, let’s just say it involves a lot of biscuit tins and coffee jars!)
One of the most unique and recognisable toys from the second wave ‘Baron Ironblood’ era of Action Force was the Roboskull. One of the last vehicles to be released prior to the switch over to repackaged GI Joe figures, this was an amazing piece of kit (and something as a kid I never had, but coveted intensely).
Back in the world of 28mm scale wargaming, I have recently blogged about the expansion of my Space Force ‘cast’ for 7TV. These guys really need something to go up against in games, something outer space based…., something robotic….., something skeletal.
The Roboskull even transitioned over to Cobra, where once again it went up against Action Force
When looking at vehicles for the project so far I have tended to concentrate on converting existing model kits or die-casts, and have dipped my toe a bit into 3D printing as well (more on that in a later post). However getting hold of something to represent what is a very strikingly unique vehicle as the Roboskull was proving challenging. I had thought that this might have to wait until I was able to invest some money and time into getting into the 3D printing hobby myself, or trawling through Thingiverse for someone who might have had a similar idea. Then I thought back to a Heroclix model I remember stocking when I ran a games shop. A quick ‘popular auction site’ search and behold a few days later in the post….
DC Heroclix Brainiac Skull Ship
This is a Heroclix ‘Brainiac Skull Ship’ and it’s going to need a fair bit of work to get it into shape. The basis for a Roboskull is there though and it’s going to be an interesting ride. Plasticard, hobby saw and bits box at the ready!
(For more info on the Roboskull check out the excellent Blood for the Baron website, and also the video below which is a great documentary by Analog Toys on the production of the memorable original.)
Many years before Space Force was a real actual thing (maybe), they were the eyes and ears of Action Force monitoring the skies and protecting the Earth from afar from the evil machinations of Ironblood.
Along with Q Force (the underwater team), I think it is fair to say that they were not quite as popular as their ground based infantry comrades in Z Force and the SAS. Part of it was down to the more limited range of toys available and the fact that they didn’t feature as much as other teams in the comic strips.
In fact the overt sci-fi stylings of Space Force did seem to clash a bit with the modern militaristic feel of the rest of the range. It was not actually towards the end of this era of Action Force toys that the Red Shadows had anything ‘space-related’ to field against them, with the awesome Roboskull.
A couple of years ago I picked up the excellent ‘not Space Force’ miniatures from the Woodbine Design Company (part of Gripping Beast) and as part of this very long running project have just started to think about vehicles and transport for them.
Rather than go down the ‘spaceship’ route I’ve tried to mix the militaristic with near future sci-fi and have started to paint up a vintage IMAI model kit of the Shado Mobile from Gerry Anderson’s UFO.
Initially undercoated using an Army Painter Wolf Grey spray can. I have so far gone through and added some additional darker blue to match the general livery of Space Force vehicles from the toy range; as well as blocking out colour on the tracks and wheels.
The ‘Action Force’ logo sticker is from a reproduction set scaled for the toys. Next step will be adding some Space Force logos (which I will freehand) and some weathering. My target game system for this is of course 7TV!
Twisted Pinnacle 