Portraits of the Crew of The Ace of Spades 01

As I put the final touches to the next scenario of my The Ace of Spades Campaign, I thought I'd show you some portraits of the crew of The Ace of Spades. The old adage of "a picture is worth a thousand words" certainly holds true. One of the biggest drawbacks of posting a long running campaign online is that the PC and NPC figures never change. I could, for example, describe what clothes Kimberley is wearing on a particular day but the outfit might be very different to what is represented by the figure. So, too, could the weapons and equipment she carries change from day to day. There is no way round that. The 28mm scale figure of Kimberley will always look the same no matter how I describe her in my prose.
I am trying to get round this problem by using different figures to represent the same character. For example, I have just sent away for 12 space suited female figures to represent the crew when they need to venture into a area without breathable oxygen, like outer space or a planet with a methane atmosphere, etc. I only bought 12 because Celeste doesn't need a space suit. I also have old versions of some of the crew that I sculpted many years ago. They may appear at some point. My original sculpt of Kimberley is one I'm very proud of - it's based on the picture of Kimberley from the box art of Space Opera second edition.
Anyway, I have been trawling through Google Images for suitable pictures of the 13 crew members of The Ace of Spades and have found some stunning images that I want to share with you. I'll present them in alphabetical order by Christian names. This post will cover Celeste to Katja and the following post will focus on Kimberley to Storm.

Celeste - Assassin - Age Unknown
Of all characters I had to find pictures of, I knew that Celeste would be the most difficult. She is an android who is unique and her past is shrouded in mystery. I knew that I'd never be able to find a picture of an android that looked exactly like Celeste does, but this picture to the left of here came very close. The purple highlights reflect the usual colour of her armour. She has chameleon skin, so in theory, she could be any colour. The illustration has her firing a large weapon that appears to be part of her right arm, just as Celeste is configured. The head is totally wrong for Celeste but that is my only criticism and it certainly wasn't enough of a problem for me to not include this portrait. It is dynamic and full of movement and perfectly captures how I imagine Celeste being in a firefight.

This next portrait was a much closer match to what Celeste looks like, even though the colour scheme is wrong. The face, in particular, is a good match to the figure I'm using for Celeste. However, her right arm was just like a normal human arm. So, using my artistic skills I added Celeste's disruptor pistol attachment to her lower arm. I am more than pleased with the result. The illustration is not an exact match to the figure, but it certainly comes the closest thanks to my adding her inbuilt weapon. My only criticism of the illustration is that her breasts are too small. She's very flat-chested, whereas my Celeste is a lot bustier.

When I saw this image, my first reaction was that it was such a close match to Celeste that I had to include it. Yes, there some obvious differences -  the head in particular, and the inbuilt pistol is a different design - but the similarities outweighed them, in my opinion. Celeste most certainly could appear all black using her chameleon skin. She did when she took part in the hostage rescue mission on Breuse. I look on this picture as an early prototype of Celeste. Perhaps her makers wanted her to have a more human looking face and so changed it. Or maybe it's a helmet, although I can't think of any reason why she'd need to wear a helmet. Being an android, she doesn't breathe, drink, eat or sleep.

Danica - Scout - Age 110
Finding good pictures of Danica proved to be as hard as finding good pictures of Celeste. I could find loads of pictures of pointy-eared elf females but the problem was that they all had long flowing hair. Danica, however, is a Venetian, and all Venetians are bald. The only pictures of female Venetians were the ones in the N.E.W. rulebook and none of them were suitable for Danica. So, I had to get creative. This illustration to the right was almost perfect for Danica. She is armed with a katana and a slugger pistol, which closely matches Danica's long sword and phaser pistol combination. However, the illustration showed a woman who was clearly human and who was sporting a Mohican haircut. That was close enough for me. Once again, I used a Photoshopping program to alter the head. I first digitally removed her Mohican and then recoloured her skull so that she appears to be bald. Then I gave her pointy ears. Finally, I made her bustier, although not by much. Perfect! This is now a great portrait of Danica.

For this next portrait of Danica, I once again found a picture of a human female with a Mohican haircut to use as the basis for my Venetian scout. The Mohican haircut is easy to remove digitally as it shows a lot of skull. Once again, I digitally altered the picture by removing the Mohican haircut, recolouring her skull and then lengthening her ears. Although this shows Danica in a very static pose, this is how I imagine she looked like when she took part in the hostage rescue mission on Breuse. On that mission, Julia, Katja and Danica were wearing all-black Mesh Armour jumpsuits, which closely resemble the suit shown in this illustration.

Gwendoline Papillion - Nurse - Age 25
Ah, sweet Gwendoline! Finding good pictures to use for Gwendoline was very easy. This illustration to the left immediately caught my eye as being perfect for Gwendoline. I haven't changed anything on it, as I didn't need to. She is clearly some kind of scientist, or perhaps a nurse or doctor. Gwendoline is both a nurse and a scientist, so she fits the bill perfectly. This portrait shows her in a serious mood. She has her long hair tied back in a ponytail, which is something I think Gwendoline would do under certain circumstances, especially when working in the sickbay. Gwendoline doesn't need glasses but I think she suits them. Perhaps they're high tech polarised, day-night anti-glare glasses. This is Gwendoline in professional mode and I think it's a superb picture of her.

This absolutely stunning piece of artwork shows Gwendoline geared up for an exploration mission. She's in the process of slinging her phaser rifle (which she always keeps on Stun setting) over her left shoulder. The outfit she's wearing is so typical of the kind of clothing she would wear - stylish, sexy and just a bit revealing but also a bit quirky. The beanie hat is such a typically cute Gwendoline touch! The bare midriff and see-through top, showing her bra is totally in character. Gwendoline likes to make a statement, and quite often that statement is "hey, look at me!" If I saw her walking down the street looking like this I'd definitely stop and stare at her and wistfully wish she was my girlfriend! She has such a beautiful face and a personality to match. She doesn't have a bad bone in her body. Gwendoline is one of the nicest people you could wish to meet.

Once again, as soon as I saw this illustration, my first thought was, "that's Gwendoline!" And once again, this is Gwendoline dressed for an exploration mission. This time her outfit is even more sexy and revealing than before. This is an outfit designed to turn male heads and attract attention. Note that her phaser rifle has been fitted with a scope sight. At the time of writing she hasn't acquired this upgrade, but she will do soon. As the campaign progresses you'll see Gwendoline becoming a more proficient marks-woman but her attitude towards killing will remain the same - it is to be avoided if at all possible. She'll always prefer the Stun shot to the Kill shot.

Yet again, I was instantly taken with this next picture due to the fact that the heroine so reminds me of Gwendoline. Gwendoline has an uncanny knack of getting into all sorts of trouble. The fact that she is surrounded by a horde of space zombies should come as no surprise. What is surprising, however, is that she is being carried aloft on the shoulders of a pair of zombies. What's that all about? Is she being taken captive to face an undead necromancer or some such arch villain? Is she a sacrificial victim? Most probably. She doesn't look too happy here, so she's clearly in some sort of peril. Someone ought to make a film of it and call it The Perils of Gwendoline. I'd certainly go and watch it!

Speaking of The Perils of Gwendoline, let me tell you about how her character came into being. In 1984, there was a French film released called The Perils of Gwendoline in the Land of the Yik-Yak, which was based on the erotic comic strip, The Adventures of Sweet Gwendolyn by John Wylie (note the different spelling of Gwendoline). The film was originally called Gwendoline but latter versions lengthened the title. I have no idea why!

From left to right are Gwendoline, Beth and an Amazonian.

The plot follows the adventures of sweet and innocent Gwendoline (played by Tawny Kitaen) in which she travels as a stowaway to the Far East with her sexy best friend, Beth (played by Zabou) on a mission to track down her father, who has mysteriously disappeared whilst on a mission to find a mythical butterfly. Rescued from a group of lecherous seamen by hunky adventurer Willard (played by Brent Huff), Gwendoline persuades him to make up their trio and embark on a daring adventure to the land of the Yik-Yak, a country ruled by a diabolical dominant Amazon queen and an army of female fetish-clad Amazonian warriors. There, Gwendoline must defeat the evil queen and prevent Willard from being forced to spawn a new race of female warriors - or face certain death!
This film is one of my guilty pleasures as I just love it! Sure, it is a cheesy piece of soft-core pulp fiction and totally ridiculous... but despite that, I fell head over heels in love with the character of Gwendoline. When I began my Space Opera campaign I based my character of Gwendoline on the heroine of this film. I gave her the surname of Papillion, which is French for butterfly and yes, in the film, she does indeed find the mythical butterfly. I have the uncut version of the film on DVD (running time of 105 minutes as opposed to the 88 minutes running time of the U.S. and UK theatrical releases) and it is one of my most watched DVDs. If you were wondering why I love my character of Gwendoline so much, this film is the reason why!

Jeanette Grey - Gunner - Age 28
This illustration of Jeanette is a perfect match for the figure I'm using for her. She is in almost the same pose and the face is identical to that of the miniature figure. It was a lucky find! What has changed is her clothing and armour and her weapon appears to be some sort of sub-machine gun and not a laser rifle. This is all good, as in this post I want to showcase The Ace of Spades crew in costumes and outfits that are different to that of their miniature figures. Seeing this illustration makes me wish she was available as a 28mm scale figure. She looks great.

This next illustration shows Jeanette dressed for a covert mission in a form-fitting armoured suit, night vision goggles and carrying her high quality laser rifle. Jeanette is still a member of the Bureau of Intelligence (BRINT) arm of the United Federation of Planets (UFP). The rest of the crew of The Ace of Spades are unaware of this fact, and have no idea that she is spying on them. Her mission is to keep close tabs on Celeste. This is Jeanette as a BRINT agent and certainly not as a gunner on an independent explorer scout ship.

The third illustration I chose really caught my eye. It shows Jeanette with her hair loosened. She usually wears it in a ponytail. I like how serious looking she is here. She is clearly on the alert, checking her surroundings for danger. Holding her phaser pistol in a two-handed grip is a good move and indicates she has had combat training. Her jumpsuit is not too dissimilar her miniature figure is wearing. Jeanette could very well appear in my campaign dressed like this.

This next illustration again emphasises Jeanette's military background. This is Jeanette in field combat mode. Once again, her hair is tied back in a ponytail. She is quite proficient with pistols but much better with rifles and here we see her with a sniper rifle. Whilst not as good a marks-woman as Julia, she is still a good shot.

Judith Kramer - Doctor - Age 31
This was another find where, as soon as I saw the illustration, I knew it was the perfect match for the ship's doctor, Judith Kramer. I thought it would be fairly easy finding good pictures of sci-fi female doctors but that didn't prove to be the case. Indeed this illustration was found under sci-fi civilians. Even so, I do think she looks like a member of the medical profession. Whereas Gwendoline is a nurse and an independent explorer, Judith is just a doctor. She spent 12 years at college and university studying medicine, followed by 6 years as a doctor. This exploring business she has now embarked on is all new to her. Indeed, she much prefers staying on board in the sickbay doing research than going off planet on exploration missions. Note, this changes in my next scenario, Alien Base where she is part of the scouting team. Judith is the oldest human on The Ace of Spades at 31. I think this excellent illustration reflects the fact that she is not as young as the others.

As I said, finding good pictures to use for Judith proved to be a tough challenge. Only after much searching did I come across this second illustration. What immediately attracted me to it was her short blonde hair, which made me think of Judith. The outfit she is wearing is ridiculously extravagant, almost regal like but there is no denying it is as classy as hell. Initially I wondered if Judith would wear an outfit like this but then I got to thinking, why not? Maybe she likes to dress up when off duty. She has to relax sometimes. Note she is still carrying a clipboard, so she hasn't entirely forgotten about work. I like to think of Judith appearing like this when she is visiting some prestigious research facility and she wants to make a good impression.

Julia Frostorm - Bounty Hunter - Age 28
Julia was another character for whom it was easy to find decent looking portraits of. Doing a Google search of sci-fi female bounty hunters and assassins brought up lots of interesting results. This picture to the right was the first one I found and to me, it just screamed out loud that this is Julia! I had to save it and include it here. This is Julia out in the field, stalking her quarry. Julia has had sniper training when she worked as an assassin, prior to becoming a bounty hunter. This illustration just captures the whole essence of Julia's character - the long dark brown hair flowing in the wind, the camouflage armour (which she sometimes wears), pistol in holster at her side and of course, the huge, deadly looking sniper rifle. She looks like she means business. I wouldn't want to mess with her!

When I saw this second illustration that I chose to represent Julia I could not believe how closely it resembled her 28mm scale figure. The costume is a very close match to that of the figure. The only problem with the portrait was that the head looked nothing like Julia. Anyway, I so wanted to use this picture for Julia that I decided to redraw the head. I'm really proud of how the head has turned out. It was copied from a photo of Donna Ewin (see below), my inspiration for how Julia looks. In this illustration, Julia has left her sniper rifle behind and is armed with twin disruptor pistols. I imagine Julia keeps her own arms locker on board The Ace of Spades filled with all kinds of weapons. She is most likely on a mission here that requires close in killing, which explains why she isn't armed with her trademark sniper rifle.

As I have said before, and as was proved in the Raid on Sterling scenario, Julia is an expert sniper. This superb illustration shows Julia holed up in a high vantage point as she takes careful aim at her target, who most likely is far away but still within range of her Transfarer R43 Fireflash Microwave Sniper Rifle. One shot, one kill, is Julia's preferred modus operandi.

This next picture of Julia is actually a photograph of former page three model, Donna Ewin. I include it because it was this very photograph that inspired me to create the character of Julia Frostorm. I could have sculpted a figure of Julia dressed like this but in a different pose. However, I had  a figure of a Citadel female fantasy fighter, which I thought would fit in far better for Julia. She was standing with her right hand resting on the hilt of a two-handed sword. I thought if I replaced the sword with a rifle, I'd have my figure of Julia. And that is what I did. Donna looks quite stern in this photo and so I decided to make Julia a cold-blooded killer who doesn't make friends easily. When I first played Julia in my original Space Opera campaign she was very much a loner. Now, in my N.E.W. campaign, she is slowly becoming more sociable as she learns the value of friendship. I have kept this photo of Donna for many years now, along with many others of her. Of all the page three models, Donna was my favourite. I used to write to her and always got a nice reply back. Her nickname back then was "The Body" and it was well deserved! Even now, when she is in her forties, she still looks amazing.

Katja Sondquist - Scout - Age 27
Katja was another character for whom I found it easy to find appropriate pictures of. There were lots of blonde, long-haired female sci-fi warriors in my Google Images searches, but only a few made me think of Katja. This illustration to the left was the first one I found that I thought most closely resembled Katja. What immediately attracted me to her was her figure - busty and curvaceous, just like Katja. That costume is extremely revealing and put me in mind of Vampirella's. Secondly was her choice of weapons - a foil and a laser pistol. Katja uses a laser sword and a phaser pistol (as well as a disruptor rifle) but I think she would be happy to substitute them with these two weapons. Katja looks different to the portraits in the next three pictures and to the figure I have of her and that is because in this instance she has tied her hair back in a pigtail. Actually, in the original illustration, the pigtail stretched all the way down to the back of her knees. I digitally shortened it.

This second portrait is closer to how Katja normally dresses for a scout mission. This time, she has tied her hair back in a ponytail, which I think suits her better than the pigtail. I am not a fan of pigtails but I do like ponytails. The rifle she has slung over her right shoulder is a good match for her Galactic Concepts KRH16 Starbird Disruptor Rifle that her 28mm scale figure is armed with. The armour plating she is wearing looks like medieval plate armour but will actually be some high tech metal of which there are numerous examples of in the N.E.W. rulebook. Given that it protects less than half of her body, I'd class it as some form of Light Armour. There is a photo-realistic quality to this portrait. The way the light reflects off her armour is incredible. My one and only criticism of it is that I don't like her boots. They look awkward to me. Flat soled would have looked much better, in my opinion.

Now we're getting closer to Katja's normal look, at least in terms of her hairstyle. At first glance it looks like she is part of a military team but this could just as easily be her when she served in the Survey Scouts prior to joining The Ace of Spades. I really like the look of her, although I'm not too keen on her being armed with that huge rifle. It looks like a rail-gun or an auto-cannon to me. Katja is not skilled in the use of heavy weapons, but that doesn't mean she couldn't use one. Apart from the rifle, I wouldn't change anything on this portrait. It's a stunning piece of artwork.

Compare the face of Katja in this portrait to that of the previous portrait and they are practically identical, even though they have been drawn by different artists. This was the fourth picture I found for Katja and it is my favourite out of the bunch. The uniform she is wearing is very different to that worn by her miniature figure, but it still has a lot in common with it in that it shows off her curves to maximum effect. I love the flash of cleavage and the bare right leg is a curious touch but one I like a lot, even if it is not wholly practical. It looks sexy and that's fine in my book. I do hope the straps holding her holster in place are comfortable otherwise I'd give her one word of caution - chafing! The AK47 with under-slung grenade launcher is an anachronistic choice of weapon. Perhaps she's operating on a planet with an Advancement Level similar to our present day (AL:5). (My campaign takes place in an AL:9 universe.) Maybe she has acquired the rifle from a foe she has defeated. It's as good an explanation as any for why she'd have such an old fashioned firearm.

The Organisation Space Pirates 04

In this post I'm showcasing three more rank and file space pirates who are part of the galaxy-wide criminal empire known as the Organisation. These three figures were all made by Citadel Miniatures for Games Workshop's old Rogue Trader game, the first version of Warhammer 40,000. These were sculpted by Bob Olley, who did a lot of work for GW at that time (late 1980's). His figures have a very distinctive style. These three ne'er-do-wells work for three pirate captains who I have detailed previously.

Starting at the left is Rico Little, a brawny human gangster who follows celebrity gossip. He grew up as a farmhand on the rich agricultural world of Hathor 3 in the Terran starsector. Hathorians are noted as staunch supporters of the UFP. Both his parents served in the Planetary Defence Force before settling down on a large ranch. Rico, therefore, grew up with a respect for the military, an attitude he still holds today. In fact, he holds an intolerance for most civilians who have never served with any of the armed forces. He performed very poorly at school in his academic subjects. However, what he lacked mentally, he made up for physically. He could have been a fine sportsman but he lacked discipline and focus and he was forever getting into trouble. His parents were appalled at his behaviour and frequently chastised him. When Rico ran away from home, aged 13, they made no effort to find him. He soon found a new home with a gang of street thugs. He was just 16 when he badly beat up a waitress at a bar, who had rejected his advances. He was swiftly arrested and sentenced to six years imprisonment. Upon his release, he was exiled from Hathor as an undesirable and he drifted aimlessly for  awhile before he was recruited by a gang of smugglers as a muscle-man on board their small Class III fast attack ship. He served with them for four years and found this new life very much to his liking.
Five years ago he transferred to a larger pirate ship, The Golden Dagger, captained by Kort Kosyga. Kort worked for the huge crime empire known as the Organisation or "the Big O." Rico was recruited as a member of the Organisation and has become fanatically loyal to them. In combat, he is a vicious psychopath and unless instructed otherwise, he will always try to kill an opponent instead of subduing them and taking them prisoner. One unusual quirk about him is that he is fascinated with celebrity gossip and he reads the trashiest tabloids. Rico is rank grade:5 and he is armed with a disruptor rifle and a large knife.

In the centre of this group is Alvim Dunbar, a nimble human pirate who has over the top military mannerisms. Alvim was born and raised on Pluto (Sol 9) to parents who were both members of the UFP Starfleet. Upon leaving school, he immediately enrolled with the Starfleet Academy, with a view to enjoying a long military career. From there, he served a two year tour of duty as a Marine Cadet. His performance there was of such a high standard that he was assigned to an elite UFP Special Forces unit as a scout. For the next eight years, divided into two tours of duty lasting four years each, he frequently operated behind enemy lines, mainly undertaking reconnaissance missions but also, a fair few firefights. It was in one such firefight that his military career came to an abrupt end. He and his small unit of scouts were on a mission on Eta Cassiopeia, an independent planet, where the UFP were aiding a group of rebels to overcome the planet's corrupt government. Whilst on a raiding mission, his unit was ambushed and almost wiped out. Dunbar was badly wounded but was one of the few survivors. The planetary defence force of the government imprisoned him and his men. He spent seven years in a military prison. Because he was on a covert mission, the UFP denied all knowledge of him and his men. He was hung out to dry. This rankled him greatly.
Upon his release, he sought employment as a mercenary. However, the person who offered him a job was pirate captain Rufus Scurvy, leader of the Scarlet Scourge pirates. He recognised just what a useful asset Dunbar would be and couldn't care less about his criminal record. Dunbar saw this as his opportunity to strike back at the UFP. He is now second in command of the Scarlet Scourge and a loyal member of the Organisation. He is naturally cautious, aloof and is slow to anger. He is especially noted for his over the top military mannerisms; he always salutes Rufus Scurvy and he expects his men to salute him. Having been brought up in the military since birth, it is a habit he finds very difficult to break. Alvim Dunbar is rank grade:7 and is armed with a Daywide GA80 Plasma Hunting Rifle and a high quality blaster pistol.

At the far right is Iselin Gorman, a tough as nails human ex-prisoner who is addicted to nicotine. Iselin grew up on the planet Summer (Summersun 4) in the Byte starsector. Summer is noted as the headquarters of the Summersun Mercenary Co-op (SMC), the most prominent mercenary company in the Old Frontiers and surrounding sectors. The entire population of Summer (12 million humans) is made up of combat troops, support personnel or dependents. However, well over  two million of those "support personnel" are not military at all, but farmers employed by the various mercenary companies. Iselin's mother worked on one of those farms. His father was a mercenary in the SMC and was quite often away from home on off-planet missions. Iselin showed no interest in farming. Academically, he was a poor student but he did excel at sports, particularly in throwing events. However, any chance of a sporting career was curtailed by his bad attitude and lack of discipline. He'd pick a fight at the slightest provocation. His mother couldn't control him and he soon drifted into a life of crime. He was soon in trouble with the police and it was inevitable to them that he'd go too far. Sure enough, after a particularly vicious bar-room brawl, he was arrested and sentenced to four years in jail. Being a prisoner just toughened him up and did nothing to curb his anger or surly attitude. He stabbed another prisoner, who would have died but for the timely intervention of the prison guards. However, whilst they subdued him, he wounded two of them very badly. This earned him an extra nine years in prison. It could have been much less but he kept getting turned down when it came time for him to be paroled. Eventually, after 13 years inside, he was released.
He left planet and was accepted as a space jockey on a small smuggler ship. He spent just four months on board before the captain offloaded him at a starport because he clearly did not fit in. As luck would have it, pirate captain Lynda van Brack was there when he was dismissed and she offered him a similar post on her ship, The Silver Stiletto. Lynda knew she would have to break him and the first time he bad mouthed her she punched him so hard that she broke his jaw. He soon learned his lesson that the captain was not to be disrespected or disobeyed. Iselin is a foul-mouthed bully, always swearing and he is addicted to nicotine. He smokes at least 20 cigarettes per day. He is rank grade:5 and he is armed with a disruptor rifle, blaster pistol and a knife.

Xenomorphs - A N.E.W. Scenario Book

Xenomorphs - The Fall of Somerset Landing is a 60 page scenario book for the N.E.W. sci-fi role-playing game by EN Publishing. Written by Russ Morrissey, Darren Pearce and Angus Abranson, this is a re-imagining of the film, Aliens. In a similar way that 7TV has re-imagined films and TV series from the 1960's, 70's and 80's, so WOIN Studios have brought out their version of a well-known classic sci-fi film.
Xenomorphs - The Fall of Somerset Landing is the blockbuster sequel to WOIN Studio's award winning 1979 film, Xenomorph. The film sees a return to Lethe, one of three moons orbiting Melinos, an enormous gas giant, some 40 light years from Earth, which also featured in the first movie. Lethe's main role in the first film was the site of the alien ship that the crew of the Viola discover when responding to a distress signal. As we all remember well, deep within the bowels of this alien craft death and madness awaited the Viola crew. Decades on, Lethe now boasts a small colony that is terraforming the planet to make it more habitable for mankind. The planet is still a harsh environment, wracked by freezing rain and relentless winds, but the air is at least now breathable and temperatures are slowly rising - now reaching just above zero Celsius around the equator and the main outpost.

Xenomorphs charts the events just prior to the colony's loss of contact with the Chen Zua Corporation, the company behind the terraforming technology that oversees the United Planets Terraforming Contracts, and the events that take place during the black-out.
In the late 22nd century, mankind has travelled some 50 light years from Earth, but has not yet encountered any intelligent alien civilisations. Colonies - usually financed by the massive Chen Zua Corporation - litter known space, mining, terraforming and researching, as humanity slowly pushes its frontiers forward. Back on earth, much of the wasted space - Antarctica, the great deserts - has been terraformed and the planet is crowded, resources are running low, a situation which is driving the push out into the galaxy.
This book is divided into three sections:
The Setting. the first part of the book describes the overall setting, its main features, player races and careers, and a brief overview of the section of the galaxy that humankind has explored. You can use this section to run your own adventures and campaigns in this setting.
The Colony. The second part of the book describes a sample colony, Somerset Landing, some 12 parsecs from Earth. You can run adventures of your own on Somerset Landing, or you can use the adventure in the third part of the book.
The Adventure. In the third and final section of this book, you'll find an adventure scenario called The Fall of Somerset Landing, a dark horror adventure in which alien xenomorphs invade the colony...
Players can play their own characters or use any of the ten pre-generated characters found at the back of the book. It is suggested that players begin with rank level 5 characters, as per the default starting rule. Non-human races do not exist, apart from androids, but there are variant human types.

Make no mistake, this is not an easy scenario for the PCs to win. PC deaths are expected and it may happen that no PCs survive. The tension and horror of the scenario just racks up and up. This is a scary place to be. The Xenomorphs are frighteningly powerful. They come in four varieties and the book has a handy guide that shows the lethality of the Xenomorphs in the encounters.
Breed-spawn. Small semi-sentient insectoid (5d6). An easy fight assuming it doesn't get you.
Xenomorph Hunter. Medium semi-sentient insectoid (6d6). A challenge in a one-on-one encounter with a starting PC.
Xenomorph Warrior. Medium semi-sentient insectoid (8d6). Powerful, use singly; this creature can wipe out a party of starting PCs.
Xenomorph Matriarch. Large semi-sentient insectoid (10d6). Extremely powerful. This will TPK (Total Party Kill) even a veteran party if they don't have some clever way of beating her.

I don't want too give too much away about the plot but anyone who has watched Aliens will be familiar with what can be expected. This is my one and only criticism of the book. If your players know the film and recognise the plot of the scenario it'll be hard for them to distance player knowledge with that of what their characters should know. If you can overcome that hurdle then you will have a terrific role-playing experience. This is an exceptionally well-written book that has translated so well into the N.E.W. system. Yes, it is very familiar, but therein lies much of its charm. It has been done in a respectful manner that pays homage to its source material. I can't recommend it too highly. I'd give it a 10 out of 10 rating.
You can purchase this book from RPGNow for £14.49 for the soft cover book or for £8.15 for the PDF version. Here's the link for them - https://www.rpgnow.com/product/225096/WOIN-Xenomorphs-The-Fall-of-Somerset-Landing?
If any of you are wondering, will I be using this book in my The Ace of Spades Campaign the answer is probably not. To me, what happens in this book takes place in a different universe and dimension to the one I created for my The Ace of Spades Campaign. 

Knights of Gaia

These three figures that I'm showing here are produced by Space Vixens from Mars and are labelled as Knights of Gaia. I bought them to use in my The Ace of Spades Campaign as members of the Star Knights organisation - the intergalactic guardians of peace, law keepers with special powers, and legendary heroes (and villains) of old.

From left to right are Tristan Du Lac who is fond of expensive cigars, Isolde La Belle who is fascinated with classical literature and Mark Cornwall who likes to study history. Tristan is armed with a Phaser Rifle, whilst Isolde and Mark are armed with Phaser Pistols. Hidden from sight, they also carry Laser Swords, the traditional weapon of the Star Knights.

I haven't worked out their stats for the N.E.W. role-playing game yet, and I'm pleased I held off. Very recently, there was an article published in EONS, the official on-line magazine for the WOIN role-playing systems entitled The Last Star Knight. It greatly expanded on the rules for Star Knights given in the N.E.W. rulebook, adding lots more exploits for a Star Knight player to choose from. I need to go over this article very carefully before I create the stats for these three characters.
These 28mm scale figures cost just £2.00 each and can be found here - https://spacevixensfrommars.com/product-category/figures/figures-personalities-of-svfm/page/2/
I suppose you could use them as bodyguards, corporate killers, gangsters or whatever - the choice is yours. They are well sculpted figures at a very reasonable price.

Assorted Aliens 01

My The Ace of Spades Campaign is filled with many alien races. I have combined races from N.E.W., GURPS Space and Space Opera. But the universe is a vast place and there a lots of other aliens not covered in the books that go to populate the worlds of my campaign setting. Here I present five unique aliens produced by Moonraker Miniatures from their Future Skirmish Aliens range. Note that these were originally sold by EM4 Miniatures as a boxed set of fully painted figures, and it is these that I am showing here. All I did to them was base them, add texture to the bases then paint the bases. The figures sold by Moonraker Miniatures come unpainted, but otherwise are identical to mine.

I have no idea what their races or names are so I'll resort to using the descriptions given to them on the Moonraker Miniatures webstore. From left to right are 0467 Feeder, 0464 Hunter, 0466 Ghost, 0465 Grey and 0468 Cockroach. There is something very Gigeresque about the Feeder and the Hunter makes me think of Predator. Ghost is my favourite figure out of this range. He looks the most menacing. As for the Grey, in the N.E.W. alien bestiary, there is a race called the Greys, but I don't think this alien is one of them. I suspect he's just been called that because his dominant colour is grey. Finally, Cockroach is a good variant type Bug alien with an amazing paint job.

I must admit that when I received my set of these figures I was highly impressed with the quality of the paint jobs. Whoever painted them came up with colour schemes I wouldn't have thought of. I have yet to come up with stats for any of them but for now they'll come in useful as background figures to populate scenes like a starport bar or an arrivals/departure lounge or some cosmopolitan city.
These are all one-piece metal castings and they come with hexagonal-shaped slottabases, which I replaced with 25mm diameter circular slottabases. Each one costs £2.00, which is very reasonable in my opinion. Here's a link to their webpage - http://moonrakerminiatures.com/aliens.htm

Gobber Chavs

In the Alien Humanoids section of the Bestiary on the WOIN website (a fantastic resource, by the way) is an entry for a Gobber Scavenger. Gobbers are gibbering, scrappy, little goblinoid thieves which attack in packs. They are rank grade 5 and individually are rather weak, but in numbers, they can be quite bothersome.

These five figures were sculpted by Kevin White for his Hasslefree Miniatures company but sadly, are no longer available for sale. From left to right are Wakka, armed with two Slugger Pistols, Asbo, armed with a Laser Pistol (it's tucked into the right side of his jeans) and a knife, Arkid who is armed with a broken bottle (counts as a knife), Aylaa, armed with a laser pistol, and Stella, armed with a blaster pistol. Note that Arkid has his left hand thrust down his pants as he plays with himself!

Gobbers have three special exploits -
Pack Attack. Gobbers work together well. Any allies adjacent to the victim count as flanking, gaining the +1d6 bonus to attack. When four or more Gobbers are adjacent to the victim, the victim becomes overwhelmed, and becomes Fatigued at the beginning of their turn.
Snatch. A Gobber can make an attack to snatch a weapon or item from an adjacent foe.
Death from on High. Gobbers can drop down on their opponent from at least 5' above him, making a claw attack. This knocks the opponent prone as well as doing the Gobber's normal damage (2d6+2 piercing damage).

These are fun figures, who would work just as well as perps in a Judge Dredd game. I do like that they are all dressed as Chavs, which just seems so appropriate for them.
To the left of here is the illustration used for a Gobber Scavenger in the Alien Humanoids section of the Bestiary. I think these figures are a good match for him. There is a good chance that this group will pop up in my The Ace of Spades Campaign as a minor distraction for the crew.

Vampifan's Views 01 - Plans for 2018.

I thought I'd outline some of my plans for this blog for 2018. There are at least five books and supplements that are coming out for the What's Old Is New systems this year that I'm very interested in. First up will be Xenomorphs: The Fall of Somerset Landing supplement for the N.E.W. sci-fi RPG. This is a campaign setting loosely based on the Aliens film franchise and was recently offered as a Kickstarter. Also, in the package, was version 1.2 of the N.E.W. rulebook, with an exclusive new front cover showing one of the Xenomorphs. I already have PDF versions of both books for backing the Kickstarter and I can say that both books are excellent. How does version 1.2 of N.E.W. differ from version 1.1, which is what I've been using up till now? There are lots of additional rules and rule changes, made due to feedback from existing players. The page count has increased considerably, making the book even better value for money than ever. In short, it has taken a great game and made it better. I approve of all of the changes.

Sticking with N.E.W. there is supplement in the works that concentrates on the Venetian race, called The Holds of Vendalyr. This will accompany the race-related supplement, The Moons of Boria for the Borian race. I am particularly interested in this supplement because one of the crew members of The Ace of Spades, Danica, is a Venetian. It'll be useful to have more information about her race.
In addition, there are two new rulebooks coming out that I'm very, very excited about. First, is the N.O.W. rulebook, which covers gaming in the modern day setting. I can think of a few campaigns I'd like to play using rules for the contemporary period, including a post-apocalypse zombie campaign.

But of all of the books coming out, the one that has me the most excited is Judge Dredd and the Worlds of 2000 AD. It was the announcement of this set of rules that first got me interested in the WOIN games. Rather teasingly, EN Publishing have been previewing parts of this rulebook these past couple of months and all they have done is whetted my appetite for the rulebook. The sooner it is released, the happier I'll be, I will definitely be running a Judge Dredd campaign on this blog.

The Ace of Spades Campaign will continue and the next scenario should be ready to post soon. Most of it is already prepared but I need to paint half a dozen security robots first. I am working on them now and as soon as I finish them, I'll begin posting the scenario, which is called Alien Base. It is an exploration and rescue mission based on old Space Opera scenario published in 1981. The crew of The Ace of Spades are independent explorers, so this is exactly the sort of mission that they would take. In this scenario. I'll be focussing on just five of the crew - Storm, Danica, Judith, Lynda and Rebecca. Apart from Danica, they didn't see much "screen time" in the first scenario. One of the things that I had to do for this scenario was to sculpt and convert some new figures. It has been a very long time since I sculpted any figures but I found I still hadn't lost my touch. I'm very pleased with what I produced.
I also have loads more figures that I want to show you. I do own a vast collection of 28mm scale figures which I've amassed these past forty years and so far, I've only shown a fraction of them. I'll continue my figure reviews over the next few posts until I'm ready to start the next chapter of my The Ace of Spades Campaign.