The Evil Genius's Lair...

After the Martian Invasions of the Earth had concluded and before Humanity became embroiled in the Great Steam Wars Mankind had to contend with an evil from within! An evil that few knew about but threatened every living creature on the planet. An evil so twisted and bitter that it knew no bounds in its evilness. An evil that stood out from all the evils of the past. An evil that became much to its own chagrin the dreaded arch enemy of Captain Darling. This evil had a name and the name was...Doktor Victor Von Hades.

Here are some photographs of Doktor Victor Von Hades' Secret Evil Lair. Surrounded by a homely white picket fence and a picturesque forest it is totally invisible to the average passer by...well excepting of course for those who notice the multiple large cannons, the Evil Henchmen guarding the front entrance, the victim's graveyard, the sand bag entrenchments, the African slaves and of course the "Evil Genius's Lair" sign...

Well every Evil Genius has to have a Lair and thanks to Sarissa this one has. Yup the Sarissa Power Station that features in my WW II skirmish games will double as Doktor Von Hades' Lair. Being an industrial building with a chimney Von Hades will not only be able to carry out his regular evil activities such as capturing fair wenches and torturing hero type good guys but will also be able to indulge in evil experiments and the manufacture his evil creations!

Stay tuned to see how the forces of Goodness react to Doktor Von Hades!

Introducing Captain Darling's Evil Nemesis Doktor Victor Von Hades!

The name Doktor Victor Von Hades first came to light in a secret report to Britain's Military Intelligence by one of Her Majesties top SOE (Stealthy Overseas Executive) Agents, Edward Bigger. The report uncovered Von Hades plans for world domination through evil scientific means. It surmised the only way to defeat him was to mount a military raid on his secret Lair! Bigger believed there was only one man in Queen Victoria's employ up to the task and that was Captain Edward Darling. Bigger's report detailed how during the Martian Invasions of Earth Von Hades was a little known scientist working for both the German and Russian governments carrying out work on inventions to counter the superior technologies of the Alien attackers. After the defeat of the Martians he abandoned his government research role and followed the career path of an Evil Genius!

You dear reader will learn much more of Doktor Victor Von Hades in the coming months...

Doktor Von Hades and his Henchmen...this picture shows Von Hades gesticulating with his cap while leaning on his sword cane, also on the roof tojp with him is his Top Henchman, Steel Balls a retired Great White Hunter and in the courtyard in the red tunic is the commander of his Native African Guard, Nobby Johnson...

Next Time; Where does an Evil Genius Live?

Three Captain Darlings - 28mm Figures!

I say chaps what else could stir the cockles of your heart more on a cold winters eve (Southern Hemisphere!) than; while enjoying a quality Port and an exceptional Cheroot viewing these fine period pictures of Captain Edward Darling in 28mm...

In an earlier post I revealed Captain Darling, the arch typical dashing Victorian Era Officer and Dandy in 28mm. I have now added two more renditions of the good Captain to my miniatures collection...

The three Captains...

Darling poses in his dress uniform for the Victorian paparazzi in front of his terraced house in a most fashionable suburb...note he is brandishing his favourite firearm a Webley Mk4 revolver while his service Pattern 1845 sword hangs majestically from a concealed belt so as not to interfere with the cut of his custom cashmere tunic...

Here we see Darling striking a defiant pose in his Coal Fibre Armour while aboard the Gunboat HMCS Protector traversing the Yangtze River during the Second Martian Invasion of The Earth. Darling continued to use this body armour during both the First and Second Great Steam Wars and even during his service in the Great War early in the Twentieth Century...

This well known picture was taken of Captain Darling during his mysterious stay on Easter Island. It shows him sporting the dress he favoured while in the Antipodes and Darkest Africa. That said there are surviving photographs of him wearing this outfit else wear...

Next time more excellent stuff!

Introducing the Steam Powered Armoured Tri-Ambulator Mk I 1877

The deadly weapons wreaking devastation on battlefields of the First Great Steam War made infantry movement in the open and during charges lethal. Many manufacturers created various types of armour to improve the survivability of foot soldiers most of which helped marginally but the True blue British firm of Sozzled and Pickled went a step further and presented to the Imperial War Departments Provost Marshall their patented Steam Powered Armoured Tri-Ambulator being impressed it was handed over to the highly secretive Military Intelligence and S.O.E. (Stealthy Overseas Executive) for further evaluation.

The machine was accepted but not for infantry use as to supply it to all the troops in the army was cost prohibitive but to the newly mechanised cavalry units. The Armoured Tri-Ambulator Mk I and Mk II where both to be used for reconnaissance ahead of the Landships and Armoured Steam Wagons. The Mk I model was to be armed with a rapid fire rifle weapon, popularly known in the Press as a "machine gun" and the Mk II carried a light auto cannon. Due to their size the Tri-Ambultors were quite fast and manoeuvrable. The armour offered the single crewman excellent protection and the telescopic viewing blocks used in the vision ports allowed extensive and long range viewing all around, essential for their roll. There were two areas where Military Intelligence and S.O.E. asked for development firstly ammunition storage it was limited and secondly increasing the operational range of the unit. The super high pressure boiler allowed the vehicle to sprint along at a top speed of 15 miles an hour on level open ground but the small fire box which could only be filled by engineers prior to action and could not be accessed by the crewman allowed for a maximum range of 5 miles. This was viewed as sufficient for combat operations but to become a truly great reconnaissance vehicle it would need to be improved.

Captains Darling and Ball evaluated the Tri-Ambulator and gave it the right Royal Thumbs Up! It was quickly deployed to the 1st British Heavy Steam Brigade where it was first photographed when deployed to the village of Little Tinkle, Essex. Below are two pictures of the daring Captains posing by the Tri-Ambulator Mk I they had used during testing...

Building the Armoured Tri-Ambulator Mk I

Well it was Saturday it was wintry and all my chores were done so i came up with the Armoured Tri-Ambulator Mk I. A friend of mine who always passes on model kit stuff he decides he doesn't need gave me a whole pile of 1/35 Panther wheels I thought they'd be good for a VSF vehicle. After some Coopers Pale Ale and nibbles I'd come up with a plan to make a three wheeled armoured car with them using a Trenchworx 1/56 scale FT 17 turret. I picked up four of these ages ago as I knew with Steam wagons and Landships they were bound to come in useful, in fact I just ordered four more to go with Trenchworx WW II late war Kickstarter but that's another story. Anyway this is what I started with...

A bit of assembly and I got things looking okay...

Because I used Super Glue I was able to get some rattle cans of paint out and then use some acrylic highlights and all done!

I like how this worked and will build four of them then I'll have to think about what a Mk 3 would look like to improve the range with a bigger power plant. Anyway red wine and dinner beckon so that's all for this time folks!

Next time the same as my last post before this little project got in the way...