From TamsinP: Doghouse Days (225 points)

Well, I did say in my terrain post last week that you'd be seeing my Strontium Dog figures very soon, and here they are!

When Warlord Games announced that they would be releasing a Strontium Dog game it caused a surge of nostalgia in me. I remember back as a little kid encountering Johnny Alpha and Wulf Sternhammer in the very first issue of Starlord (which got merged after a few months into 2000AD, its sister magazine).

For those who don't know, in 2150 there was nuclear war on Earth; the radioactive contamination, mainly from Strontium 90 (hence "Stronty" as a term of abuse),  resulted in large numbers of mutants being born. The "norms" shunned the "muties", forcing them into ghettos like Milton Keynes. They were banned from most work and denied most normal benefits. Some norms wanted them all wiped out; some "muties" decided to fight back to protect their kind.

All the figures were zenithal-primed (in retrospect, I might have been better going with a black wash over white primer) and then painted with fairly thin paint, finished off with a wash of Army Painter dark tone thinned 1:2 with Vallejo airbrush flow improver. I took this approach to simulate as far as possible the look of comic/graphic novel art. I did do some highlighting, mostly on metals where I went with a basic NMM - for the first time I've done it, I think.

I make no apologies whatsoever for the number of photos in this post - there are lots of them! Accompanying text about the various characters is either fro the Warlord Games website/Strontium Dog rulebook (in italics) or from my own knowledge (not in italics).

Enough of the blather, on with the many photos!

The Main Dudes

Wulf, Johnny and the Gronk

"Number 3 cartridge!"

Johnny Alpha is the mutant son of Nelson Kreelman, a leading anti-mutant politician. Johnny ran away as a teenager and joined the mutant resistance, giving his surname as "Alpha" as he feared what their reaction might be if they knew who his father was, and what might happen to his mother and sister if the "norms" found out that he was in the Mutant Army. He showed talent and leadership, eventually becoming one of their generals. After one of the mutant revolts, he was tried and exiled from Earth (although he has returned, sometimes covertly and at least once on official business).

Johnny could pass for a "norm" if it wasn't for those piercing, white eyes which allow him to see through most walls and also to mesmerise people.

After his exile, he took the only work available for muties, as a bounty hunter with the Search/Destroy Agency. Like most SD agents, Johnny spends most of his time between jobs at "the Doghouse" as the SD Agency's orbital station is known.

His missions have taken him back through time (on several occasions) and to other dimensions (at least once).

Despite often trying to do his best to help his fellow muties, he has been shunned and regarded as a "traitor to his kind" thanks to false information put out by Earth authorities.

"Ahh, my old cucumber, let me introduce you to der happystick, ja?"

Wulf Sternhammer is Johnny's longtime partner and friend, an actual Norseman brought forward in time from the 8th century when he got caught in a time rift. He frequently despairs of Johnny's habit of giving money away. Although he can use his pistols, he is usually more happy getting stuck in wielding "der happy stick".

I'm not sure why Warlord did this sculpt of Wulf without the Gronk pelt (see below) as they did add it for him in a couple of the expansion packs (the skimmer and mork rider packs).

"Oooh, my poor, weak heartsies!"

The Gronk is a frequent companion of Johnny and Wulf. Actually it is the second Gronk they encountered, who happened to be the brother of the first Gronk and recognised his pelt being worn by Wulf to honour his memory.

The Gronks are a peaceful alien race, but prone to heart attacks (fortunately very rarely fatal) when they are frightened. They are excellent medics which has proved useful on many occasions as has their ability to digest metal - licking cell bars with their acid saliva facilitated many escapes.

More of Johnny's Allies and Partners

Archibald "Middenface" McNulty

 Middenface McNulty, leader of the Tartan Terrors, was another general in the mutant army and was exiled along with Johnny.  He quite often joins them on missions for the SD Agency.

A stereotypical Scotsman, he enjoys drinking, gambling and "dishin' oot the laldy".

Kid Knee

 Kid Knee's nerves are shattered, and he resorts to the MacMac to calm himself down enough to work.

Blubberlips

 Actually one of two characters called Blubberlips. He makes a loud, terrifying noise to distract/scare opponents.

Maeve the Many-Armed

Maeve dresses as her namesake, the legendary Queen of Connacht. Her many arms allow her to wield multiple weapons.

I did my best to freehand some patterns on her cloak. There was no way I was going to be able to do the Celtic knot pattern on the band, so I went for something a little simpler.

Durham Red

Ahh, the vampiric beauty that is Durham Red. Sometime partner and lover of Johnny, she is often seized by a lust to drink the blood of slain opponents.

Looking at the photos, I see that I made a bit of a botch of the eyeshadow. I might have to go back and fix that at some point.

The Stix

Well, three of them...

"The Stix brothers come from an unknown number of apparently identical mutants, all of whom are contracted to the Search/ Destroy agency. They are on the whole utterly mercenary and without scruples – ice-hearted killers who affect the look of gunfighters from Earth’s Old West, with an unflinching and laconic demeanour to match.

"Nobody is sure how many Stixes there are. There seem to be an endless supply to take up the family feud and cause trouble across the galaxy. On the planet Freedonia there is a town called Stixville full of Stixes, including Stix women and children."

I might get another pack of these chaps - you can never have enough Stixes.

The Weerds

"The Weerd brothers, Cuss, Hiss and Silent, fought alongside Johnny Alpha during the first mutant war. They joined the Search/Destroy agency at the end of the war to cash in on their deadly skills.

"Becoming somehow trapped in an alternate dimension, Hell-World, they stole three tickets back to Earth, and would have escaped, but lost them in a fight with Johnny Alpha, against whom they swore revenge.

"After they eventually escaped back to their own dimension, they were employed as Gronk poachers by an alien gastronomic terror called Cruso Slugg. Their slaughter of thousands of Gronks on the planet Blas for their master to eat was intended to lure Johnny Alpha into a trap. Attracting the ire of Johnny and his partner Wulf did not go well for them, and the three brothers were overcome a second time by their sworn enemies."

Hiss Weerd

Cuss Weerd

Silent Weerd

Darkus and his Howlers

"Not all bounty hunters are mutants. The dangerous, yet potentially lucrative, lifestyle also attracts unsavoury aliens such as the vicious Darkus and his fellow Howlers from the planet Kunghung. The Howlers are said to be happy to kill for fun even if they weren't getting paid!

"Darkus and his Howler henchmen fell foul of Johnny Alpha, Wulf Sternhammer and Middenface McNulty as they vied for bounties during the end of the amnesty in the 49th Territory on the notorious planet Burrito. Things got out of hand when both groups fight for the chance to claim the massive 6,000,000 credit reward on galactic criminal Xen the Brainwraith."

Darkus

Howlers

There are some other Howlers in the range - Bubo and his Bad Boys, but I haven't bought that pack.

Slabhead and his Dervish Dogs

"During The Schicklgruber Grab storyline S/D agent Slabhead leads his two mutant 'Dervish Dogs' on the hunt for the 1,000,000 credit reward for bringing Adolf Hitler to justice, as ordered by the Committee for Ultimate Retribution. His two dogs slice through WWII German Panzers like butter but they and Slabhead are neutralised by Johnny and Wulf."

Ahh, yes, the Schicklgruber Grab storyline. I might have some figures in another post as a start toward being able to play that as a campaign. I just need to get hold of a suitable figure for Herr Schicklgruber...

Slabhead

The Dervish Dogs, Spiro and Gyro

Fly's-Eyes Wagner

"Not all S/D agents play by the rules – in fact, not many worry about the law at all! Sometimes a Strontium Dog goes too far and ends up becoming the hunted rather than the hunter. Fly’s-Eyes Wagner is such a case in point, going rogue after killing his partner. This was just the beginning of a story that would lead Wagner, Johnny Alpha, Wulf Sternhammer and The Gronk through the very planes of Hell and back!"

Yes, that was the adventure mentioned above with the Weerds.

Max Bubba and his Gang

"Max Bubba was an outlaw who eluded capture bt taking over a time portal and escaping to Norway in 793 AD, There he hatched a mad plan to eliminate the vikings, and eliminate humanity in revenge for its treatment of mutants. He was thwarted by Johnny Alpha, who had been sent into the timeslip and made an alliance with a viking known as Wulf Sternhammer.

"Bubba waited many years until Johnny and Wulf had retired. He tracked them down to their humble shack and ambushed them. His men pinned out the Strontium Dogsto die from exposure, but was forced to gun down Wulf when he tore free of his bonds. Alpha faked his own death and, driven by vengeance, hunted down and executed Bubba and his henchmen."

Ragnarok/Rage was probably the longest storyline for Johnny, starting with the ambush, then looking back to how the feud began, then going on to Johnny's quest to find and kill Max and the gang.

Max Bubba

Brute Mosely

Drat! Just spotted that I must have painted some of his teeth blue.  I'll have to fix that later.

Skull

Impetigo Jones

Low Down McPhee

Some Random Mutants

These are made from the "Build A Mutie" pack. You get five leg sets, five torsos, eight or nine heads and lots of weapon arms.

These could be perps or could be extra muscle to assist SD agents on a mission.

Goons

Generic corporate/municipal hired muscle. I went blue/no-red for these to help distinguish them from the...


Wasters

Generic thug types, extra muscle for criminal gangs. I Went red/no-blue for these guys.

It was fun painting these up, although it meant a painful number of paints out on the desk (the pain was more when it came to putting them all back in the racks!).

Now, scoring. There are 37 foot figures here and the nominal scale is (I believe) 32mm. I've measured them and the average height is 35.4 mm sole to top of head (which confirms the nominal 32mm scale). I understand that the precedent is to score them as 28mm figures, so that would give me 185 points at 5 points each; but if Lee wishes to score them somewhere between 28mm and 40mm figures, who am I to object?

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What a fantastic bunch of figures. I'm probably not as 'well read' as you Tamsin (I was more of a Dread fan) but I've read a handful of Strontium Dog stories and these figures are making me feel very nostalgic. I enjoyed the write up about each character as well. Very nicely done. 

Given their size I'm going to treat these as halfway between 28mm & 40mm so I'll score them as 6 points each. And I've enjoyed reading this so much (and enjoyed the painting of course) I'm throwing in three more bringing the total score up to 225 points. 
Lee