Empire of Ghosts

For Sale: Customized Modular Battlewagon

2012-02-01T20:26:00.000-08:00

Well, I really hate to part with this Battlewagon but I haven't played 40K and over a year and, even when I did, I rarely used this beast.

This is a custom-built Battlewagon. IIRC, it holds ~15 Orks, at least. The Deff Rolla really does roll and both Boarding Planks move up and down. The Big Shootas on either side of the cargo bay are magnetized and fully removable. There are 2 turrets - one Zappa turret and one Big Kannon turret. The Big Kannon turret has a modular hatch - either an Ork glyph or one mounting a Big Shoota. Total dimension are 9" L x 6" W x 4" H (without the turrets) and is painted to a very high TT standard.

Considering the time and effort that I put into building and painting this, I'm looking for $40 cash/$45 trade but I will consider reasonable offers. Would also be willing to trade for:

Dark Eldar Clawed Fiend

new Finecast Isabella Von Carstein (with no large defects)

FOW British A13 Cruiser Mk IVs

FOW 8th Army Rifle or Motor Platoon

FOW 8th Army 15cwt Trucks

FOW EW German Pioneers/Grenadiers

FOW ISU-152

FOW Finnish BT-42 or Anti II Tanks

Heavy Gear NuCoal items

Heavy Gear Southern Sidewinders

Product Review: PSC 1/100 Panzer III Ausf. F/G/H

2012-01-27T10:16:00.000-08:00

For my EW/MW Panzer Company, I picked up the newly-released Panzer III F/G/H kit from Plastic Soldier Company from The War Store. Overall, this was a nice kit to build but it IS time-consuming (especially after assembling Zvezda's 1/100 models the past few days) and there are some flaws to be aware of.

To start off, as always, Plastic Soldier Company's box art and design is really great. I reviewed one of their early kits last year (the Russian T-34s) and the box art was just OK but it seems like they're really starting to do some nice, evocative scenes on their boxes. This may not be a big deal for some modellers but it is to me and I'm sure it can be a nice merchandising point for retailers.

Additionally, I've noticed that PSC is one of the very few plastic kit makers who utilize ALL of their packaging. You can see below that the sprues are really packed in well and there is no wasted space, which means less packaging waste.

Each kit comes with 5 tank sprues and instructions. The instructions and sprues aren't bad, but I think PSC really needs to start investing some time into parts numbering and more detailed instructions. Even with 15 years of model-building under my belt, I had a tough time discerning what the plain plastic rectangle pictured as being inserted in the rear of the chassis was (...it's the muffler, if you're curious, which I only found out through looking at the rear of the assembled model pic in the bottom of the instruction sheet).

This lack of numbered parts combined with a very basic instruction sheet could make putting this kit together properly very difficult for amateurs. As I mentioned last year in the T-34 review, I recommend going over the instructions thoroughly and dry-fitting all parts before fitting.

Moving on, the first sub-assembly was the turret. It's an easy enough process but there is one very big, even glaring, flaw - there is a large, noticeable casting void on the G/H model turret gun (see below). It wouldn't be such an issue if this were on the bottom of the gun, but sadly it's not.

This will obviously need to be filled before painting. Again, not an issue for a seasoned modeler but might be tough for a newcomer. Another problem is the KWK barrel is very thin and easily breakable and I'll give you a tip:

When cutting either turret gun from the sprue, CUT THE FRONT BARREL SPRUE FIRST, then cut the two holding the elevation plate.

If you try cutting the elevation plate sprues first, it will cause too much stress on the barrel, which may cause it to snap or bend. Otherwise, the turret sub-assembly is straightforward.

The second sub-assembly are the left and right tracks and, again, we run into another issue involving the casting problems. In the pic below, I've started to scrap down the roadwheels in the foreground (so you can see they are even) while I left the roadwheels in back as they come off the sprue. Can you tell the difference?

The problem is there's a slight ridge on the side which attaches to the chassis so, if you don't scrap or sand this down, it will cause the tracks to bow inwards and not be level. This can be very time-consuming and added somewhere between 5-10mins to each tank build.

The finished tracks do look very good and it is worth it to scrap/sand the roadwheels correctly.

The last assembly is the chassis build and then putting the tracks and turret on. The chassis assembly is the easiest one of the three and the main chassis has enough room inside to add a little or a lot of weight, if you're so inclined (I added about an ounce worth of lead). I should note that, when attaching the tracks, don't push them all the way up (they can easily hit the fenders, even though PSC put "pegs" on the chassis sides to "prevent" this). Instead, there's a slight lip on the back of each track that should end up sitting proud of the chassis bottom.

Below is a completed Ausf. G model.

Luckily, I have a Battlefront StuiG33b (which is an assault gun based on the PzIII chassis) to compare it to. As you can see below, both models are nearly identical in size and scale. The PSC model is only slightly longer but, being less than a 1mm difference, is virtually undetectable on the tabletop.

Pros:

-Lots of good, accurate detail

-Scales well with other Battlefront FOW armored vehicles

-Deep chassis interior allows you to add weight

-Price point is a huge savings over every other 15mm producer

Cons:

-Very prominent casting void in KWK38 gun needs to be filled

-KWK38 gun is easily breakable

-Raised areas on road wheels can make track assembly time-consuming

-Lack of parts numbering, basic instructions, and casting defects can make this a difficult build for newcomers

Mit Den Panzern in Ost und West - WIP

2012-01-24T16:27:00.000-08:00

Last year for the Early War FOW tournament at Adepticon, I ran French Fusillier-Voltigeurs and happily won Best Painted Allied Army. This year I thought I'd join the dark side and run an Axis army. Since I love the Blitzkrieg book so much, I chose to assemble a Mittlere Panzerkompanie - Medium Panzer Company - based (rather loosely) on Guderian's 2.Panzerdivision. I keeping with the 2.PZ theme, I also decided to add some Mid-War elements for play using the Eastern Front book Mittlere lists.

To start out, I bought the massive and rare 8.8cm Flak18(Sfl), AKA the "BunkerFlak". This is an excellent model from Battlefront but there are a few problems that had to be fixed. First, the armored cab needed to be extended on the right-hand side of the fighting compartment and a flip-up weapon mount added.

I also got rid of the poorly cast rivets on the armored grill, added latches to the headlamp covers, added more struts to the rear ammo crate rack, as well as a license plate on the rear-left fender. I also correctly extended the Flak gun shield downwards with plasticard, and replaced the poorly cast shell hopper and recoil springs.

Below, are the Command PzIV D, as well as 2 PzIV Ds from the Mittlere Platoon, made by Zvezda. They are nice enough models, however they lacked some major details. Using plasticard, I had to add the driver's armored shutters, the gunner's armored visor, headlamps, the glacis plate tow-hooks; as well as replacing the hull machine-gun. To the Command PzIV, I added a whip antenna.

Ah, here's my favorite - this is a PzII by Zvezda, modified to the Ausf. B "Beobachtungsturm". This was, as far as I can tell, a very rare command PzII with an observation cupola mounted on top of the turret.

I cut away the turret hatch and formed the cupola from plasticard, as well as adding armored vision slits to the cupola and over the driver's position and an antenna rack on the left fender.

A whip antenna made from guitar wire completes the vehicle's hardware.

Below are my two Panzer II platoons. The Zvezda model is actually pretty nice and really only needed armored visors over the driver's position on each tank. Otherwise, there are a couple models with the large stowage bin on the right fender (again, made from plasticard) and each command tank has an antenna rack and whip antenna. I also made some jerry cans from plasticard (I do not recommend trying this) to start stowage, and will be added more when I get to the sculpting stage.

Last for today but not least is another Zvezda model; this one a wholesale conversion. I needed to make an Opel Radio Truck from the normal Blitz model. This required removing the flatbed and building the radio cabin out of plasticard. I cut several holes for windows, added the roof, and then attached all the little gribblies to the exterior. The radio mast is made from copper tubing and 20g copper wire. I also added a stowage rack over the cab and headlamp covers.

Well, that's all for today!

Tutorial: Getting Started In Heavy Gear

2012-01-23T06:57:00.000-08:00

I've recently come across a lot of gamers who are interested in transitioning their Sci-Fi gaming from "that which shall not be named" to DP9's Heavy Gear. I also see a lot of gamers who simply don't know where to start. I was there too and ended up buying a lot of Gears and other bitz that I never ended up using.

I should state that it's not Dream Pod 9's fault that the process can sometimes be a bit confusing but rather, as any gamer will attest, we're rather like magpies with new shiny things. Additionally, there's both a lot of generic units/weaponry and also many customization options within the HG universe. Coming from a background in which nearly all armies/factions have access to the same type of unit/weaponry, this can be rather confusing.

This tutorial will hopefully answer the most basic questions for the new HG gamer while providing a framework to getting started as efficiently as possible.

1) WHAT IS HEAVY GEAR AND THE WORLD OF TERRA NOVA?

NO! Not this Terra Nova:

The HG universe is described as follows (from Wikipedia):

"Heavy Gear is set on a distant, fictional planet called Terra Nova around 4,000 Earth Standard Years from now (AD 6132). Terra Nova was once the pride of the United Earth Government's colonies. However, an economic collapse forced the UEG government to abandon Terra Nova and all its other colonies centuries before the period depicted in the game setting, leaving Terra Nova in a dark age. Eventually, City-states rose from the ashes and either through treaties or tyranny, united to form national unions called Leagues. These Leagues would in turn ally (again either peacefully or forcibly) to form the superpower blocs that dominated the temperate southern and northern hemispheres of the planet."

Because of Terra Nova's unique geography, climate, and lack of economic support from Earth; warfare has become dominated by giant, manned robots known as "Gears" (hence the title). Being a bipedal walker, the Gear combines the mobility of an infantryman with the firepower of an armored vehicle. However, Gears do have their drawbacks and infantry, armored vehicles, artillery, and airstrikes are still a part of the fighting on Terra Nova.

I should mention that the above background is just a snippet in terms of fluff and background. HG has been around in some form or another for over 15 years and the fluff is comparable to any other major game universe in miniature games today. If you're really interested in the background and learning more about the HG universe, hunt down the Heavy Gear RPG books, which can generally be found on Ebay for a couple bucks.

2) WHAT'S WITH THE SCALE!?

Yes, Heavy Gear is scaled at 12mm. At first, this may seem to be an odd choice, especially with the current market being dominated by 15mm and 25/28mm. However, it should be noted that this scale has two practical reasons.

First, even if the scale were brought up 3mm to 15mm, large vehicles and Striders (essentially enormous Gears that are more like walking fortresses) would be simply too big. At current scale, these minis can easily average 3" tall or more, which means an increase to 15mm would make them about 5" tall. Currently, even most "average" Trooper Gears like the Hunter stand around 28mm tall, making them almost 2" at 15mm.

Conversely, bringing the scale down to 6mm (as with another popular mecha game - Battletech), would reduce the size of most "average" Trooper Gears to around 10mm. At this size, the minis would lose most (if not all) of their current level of detail.

Second, 12mm conforms to about 1/150 scale, N-Gauge in model railroading. This means there are lots of nice terrain and building kits available at reasonable prices. For example, the Japanese kit makers Tomy and GreenMax produce some excellent, detailed N-scale buildings with large footprints for under $15-20 each.

The 12mm scale seems to be a compromise between level of detail, miniature size to ground-scale, and overall table size through both small and large battles.

3) WHAT ARMY SHOULD I PLAY?

The current 'armies' available in the main Locked and Loaded rulebook are:

The Northern Polar League (CNCS): One of the two major powers on Terra Nova, this is a league made up of several city-states who have formed an alliance of equals. The North is also dominated by the dogma of the Revisionist Church. This 'army' is further sub-divided into factions based on each city-state, which all have different strengths and weaknesses. Overall, Northern weaponry is fairly robust, with access to a wide range of weaponry, and their forces are well-led with good morale. An additional supplement Drop Bears Dive focuses on the Drop Bears regiment consisting of some unique air-droppable Gears and paratroop units.
The Southern Polar League (AST): The second major power on Terra Nova, this league is an 'alliance' of city-states dominated and controlled by the powerful Southern Republic faction. As with the North, this 'army' is further sub-divided into factions based on city-state, which all have different strengths and weaknesses. Southern weaponry ranges from high-tech to old-and-busted. Their forces also range from the highly-motivated, ruthless SRA to the conscripted prisoners of the MILCIA.
Peace River: This faction is both an independent city-state and the 'independent' corporation Paxton Arms. Peace River is located in the Badlands - the arid, sparsely-populated equatorial region of Terra Nova. Geographically and economically situated between the two polar leagues, Peace River has emerged as a protection force for the residents of the Badlands and a check against each league's aggression. This 'army' is characterized by high-tech Gears, with good access to various weaponry but lacking the more specialized units of the leagues.
Port Arthur Korps (PAK): Formed after the failed invasion attempt by Earth, these are the remnants of those CEF forces which were stranded on Terra Nova. This 'army' is characterized by the genetically-engineered GREL soldiers and their access to highly-mobile armored hover vehicles, as well as their use of both Southern and Northern Gears in a support role.
Leagueless: A 'dust-bin' force to represent anything from mercenaries, to bandits, to minor city-state forces like the KADA (the 'army' of duelists formed to defend the city-state featured in Heavy Gear: Arena). Leagueless have access to many common Gears and vehicles used by the North, South, and Peace River factions with an OK access to weaponry. There are also options to make a Leagueless faction broken-down and damaged or (fairly) well-supplied and led.

The supplement Return to Cat's Eye features the following:

Colonial Expeditionary Force (CEF): Formed to bring the wayward interstellar colonies back under the control of the Earth government, the CEF had almost successfully invaded Terra Nova, if not for the last-minute intervention of 'neutral' Peace River'. They still maintain a presence in the Terra Nova system. The CEF does not use Gears; preferring instead to rely on its highly mobile Hover Tank forces, genetically-engineered GREL soldiers, and occasionally bipedal Frames.
The Black Talons: Formed in response to the CEF invasion, the Black Talons are a Special Operations force of the allied Terra Novan forces. They are characterized by upgraded versions of Terra Novan Gears, equipped with stealth technology and a wide variety of weaponry.
Caprice: A planet conquered by the CEF, Caprician forces can represent the guerilla Liberati freedom fighters or the corporate interests who support both sides in an attempt to garner favor with the winning side. Caprice is a mountainous world and, as such, has developed the multi-legged Gear design known as a Mount.

The supplement Terra Nova Gambit features add'l CEF lists as well as their Utopian Colonial allies. Utopia is another world successfully conquered by the CEF. Utopian forces rely on drone-like N-KIDU units and their part-Gear/part-Hovertank Armiger control units.

Perfect Storm, the latest supplement, features the forces of NuCoal, an upcoming alliance of city-states, with Port Arthur at its core. The New Coalition features a ton of new Gear and vehicle designs, as well as rules for fielding special Gear pilots (like Aces or Duelists) for most factions.

So there are a LOT of options, which leads us to...

4) WHAT SHOULD I BUY? - INITIAL PURCHASES

If you're sure of which army you'd like to run, the Starter Army boxed sets are a great place to begin for the most common factions and army lists. These will generally provide you with one Core unit, one support unit (usually an Auxillary choice, described below), and the main rulebook. In the case of forces featured in a supplement, either the supplement is included or an appendix is added to the Locked and Loaded rulebook. Another nice feature is that the forces provided are more than adequate to play a standard game of Heavy Gear: Blitz! right out of the box.

If you'd like to play either North, South, or even Leagueless and are unsure of which choice to make, the Two-Player Starter set is a good place to start and I've reviewed it previously here. From either set, you can expand your collection with unit boxes, unit blisters, or 2-Gear blister packs.

If you are totally unsure about what force you'd like to play, I recommend skipping to the next step.

5) ARMY LISTS AND GEAR GARAGE

Probably Dream Pod 9's best-kept secret is the army builder program known as "Gear Garage", available here and on the DP9 forums. A simple interface allows you to select any of the available HG forces and build detailed army lists. As I mentioned above, if you're confused or unsure of where to start, this program is a god-send!

Another great resource is a thread on the DP9 forum started by Gambit listing good "starter" 800TV armies for new players and a detailed listing of what purchases need to be made for these lists.

TV stands for Threat Value, simply another word for the points value of an army. 500-800 total TV is generally a fairly good-sized army and seems to be the "norm" among veteran players. Skirmishes can be fought between 250-500TV and large-scale battles involving multiple units are generally in the 1000TV+ range.

Unit type requirement is governed by the Priority Level (PL) of the mission. For example, a PL2 mission (described in the HG rulebook as a standard meeting engagement) requires the inclusion of at least 2 Core unit choices (usually a General Purpose Gear unit or Infantry unit), and the choice to include up to 3 Auxillary choices, 2 Specialist, and 1 Elite units. Unit type differs between armies and also within an armies' sub-factions.

The Priority Level also dictates how many units can be upgraded to Veteran Status. Making a unit Veterans generally allows their skills to increase, gives them access to more Gear types, and allows them to equip special weaponry.

As an example, the typical G.P. (General Purpose) Gear unit for most Terra Novan forces consists of between 4-5 individual Gear minis, with various weapon options, and is a Core unit type costing an average of 200TV.

6) THE BARE MINIMUM TO PLAY

There are no size or point cost limits - either minimum or maximum - to play Heavy Gear:Blitz! and the game scales well from a small skirmish up to large battles. So, here's the very least you'll need to play a game:

The Locked and Loaded rulebook and Field Manual update addendum - anywhere from $20 for the PDFs to about $70 for the large-format full-color books
1 Core unit (generally an Infantry squad blister or G.P. Squad box) - $20-30
D6 dice
Rule
A 3x3 table

Well, that's about it. I hope you found this tutorial helpful!

Dream Pod 9 Swag!!!

2012-01-22T10:12:00.001-08:00

This past week has NOT been a good week. So, when I got home on Friday, I was pleasantly surprised to get my prizes from winning DP9's Golden Gear contest.

A very cool little trophy, a nice certificate, 3 packs of Fighting Piranha decals (Southern, NuCoal, and Arena Sponsors), and a Southern Fire Support Squad (which is what I chose with my $50 credit). This helped make the week a lot more bearable.

Big thanks to Robert at DP9 for his great communication throughout the process and the staff at Dream Pod 9 and Fighting Piranha!

Necromunda Tournament Rules Update and FAQs

2012-01-19T07:22:00.000-08:00

I received an interesting question via email today in regards to Redemptionist gangs in the tournament. Specifically:

"I know that you cannot recruit new fighters as per the tournament rules. But Redemptionists have this special rule:

The death of the faithful only serves to fuel the belief of the

devout and may attract new Devotees to join a gang. So as

redemptionists fall others take their place. After a game in which

a Redemptionist of any type dies (11-16 on the serious injury

chart) roll a D6 for each member of the gang who died. On a 4+

the gang gains a Devotee armed with a knife for free. Additional

equipment may be given to the new Devotee using the gangs

stash or income.

Does that rule still apply or not?"

That's a really great question and one I haven't been faced with before. So now I'm faced with a difficult ruling to make in regards to this issue.

On the one hand, I can see how this fits with both the established Redemptionist fluff and the prevailing "horde strategy" of many players. The title of the rule in question is "A Gathering of the Redeemed", which assumes the mob holds some form of macabre revival in an effort to recruit more followers after one of their previous fighters dies. It's an interesting rule even outside the tournament setting, as it allows the Redemptionist player the ability to utilize their biggest strength - keeping a large contingent of fighters on the board in the late stages of campaigns, when most other gang's manpower is depleted through injuries, capture and deaths.

On the other hand, I can easily see how this could be viewed as unfair in a tournament that limits recruitment. First, it can be seen as a backdoor recruitment process, circumventing the overall rules set. Second, an unscrupulous player can exploit this rule to their decided advantage.

Redemptionist players running a Mob benefit greatly from this rule, as their Leadership score is based on the highest Ld model + the number of friendly fighters on the table. In this way, it's easy for the Redemptionist player to keep both a high model count and a high Ld, when most gangs would have a smaller model count and, occasionally, less Ld (if their Leader is killed).

It's a tough call...

In the spirit of fairness, I'm willing to make a compromise. The "A Gathering of the Redeemed" rule is amended for the tournament, as follows:

The death of the faithful only serves to fuel the belief of the

devout and may attract new Devotees to join a gang. So as

redemptionists fall others take their place. After a game in which

a Redemptionist of any type dies (11-16 on the serious injury

chart), roll a D6 for each member of the gang who died. On a 5+

the gang gains a Devotee armed with a knife for free. Additional

equipment may be given to the new Devotee using the gangs'

stash, so long as it conforms to the Devotee's weapons limitations.

The maximum number of Devotees who may be recruited in this

fashion is limited to (2) two for the entire tournament.

I hope all players are satisfied by this ruling. If not, feel free to write me a sternly-worded email peppered with aspersions to my general character and ancestry!

Also, here are some FAQs:

-The rules state that bonus credits may be spent on two (2) Rare and/or four (4) Common items. Is this a choice between 2 Rare and 4 Common or a combination of both?

Players may purchase any combination of add'l items, so long as they do not exceed the total of either Rare or Common items.

-Does purchasing items "at full cost" mean that an item with a variable price costs its base price PLUS the maximum variable cost?

Yes.

-Can items be left in the Gang Stash for later use?

Yes, but be aware that equipping a model with something from your Stash later in the tournament must conform to the WYSIWYG rule.

-My gang is allowed to purchase items from either the normal Trading Post or the Outlaw Trading post. Can I by add'l items from just one or both?

You can buy any combination from either Trading Post, so long as you do not exceed the 2 Rare/4 Common item limitation.

Adepticon 2012 Necromunda Tournament

2012-01-12T20:29:00.000-08:00

It seems like the Adepticon staff was just beginning plans for Adepticon 2012 yesterday, even though it's been nearly 4 months at this point. It's funny to look back and see myself saying "A baby won't change me.", but it did. Mostly, it reminds you just how quickly time passes. I feel that, when you spend the majority of your day just caring for another living person, your perception changes to something like a survival routine - the dreaded Eat-Poop-Clean-Sleep routine - and that change in perception is mirrored by a change in mentality. Everyday living becomes more basic, more primal.

And time is one of those primal things we so often miss in our busy life. We set dates and appointments and generally remember what day or month it is but we forget just how fast it comes and goes. But I digress from waxing poetic, my point really being that this will be the fourth year I've run the Necromunda Tournament at Adepticon and I thought it might be nice to bring back some of the previous scenarios in a revised and updated format.

For starters, I brought back the old monster-hunting staple "It Came From The Sump" from 2009. Essentially, this scenario revolves around killing a giant mutant monster before your opponent does. When I first used this scenario, I was extremely hesitant to make the monster tough and, unfortunately, this was an extremely easy win for several players. Not this year! Each table will receive one unique giant monster from my collection (if you follow my blog, you could hazard a guess at what's coming) who are all terrifying. Additionally, I've added some unique special environmental conditions to make the hunting really difficult.

Again from 2009, The Lamplighters' War has a second coming. I initially developed this scenario - a battle between rival Lamplighters to see who can light the most lamps in one night - after reading the excellent Necromunda novel Junktion. If you aren't able to attend Adepticon, I'll be posting the PDF of the mission packet when the convention is over and this is definitely not one to miss.

If you are playing in the Necromunda tournament this year, feel free to bring up to two of your own 28mm minis - one to represent the Lamplighter and another to represent a Chaos Magus....well, that's all the hints I'll be dropping this year. Stay tuned!

Captain Kelian Durak

2012-01-10T08:01:00.000-08:00

A recent mini I finished for a Rackham painting contest.

I couldn't get the lights right when taking the photos, so there's some color bleeding of the red cape. It's actually shaded quite a bit more from purple shadows to a deep red in the highlights.

I'm not one to re-do posts but the prior pics really annoyed me. So I toyed and toyed with re-taking pics of this mini, and the following is the best of the worst. Again, the red appears much too bright than its actual shade in real-life and it's very hard to get a sense of the shading up from purple through deep red and on to bright red throughout the cape itself. This seriously bugs me because, for the first time, I really felt like I've captured a realistic shading of red and my camera....just won't take a clear photo with blowing the luminosity of the red through the roof!

FINALLY!

Pro-tip: White balance and indirect lighting are your friends. I believe that, with my model of camera, this is about as good as it's going to get and it's about 98% true to life.

Special thanks to generalpoleaxe at Lead Adventure and the Redditors on /r/minipainting for the useful tips!

Saying Farewell to 2011 With A Bang!

2011-12-31T20:09:00.000-08:00

Another year older and a new one's just begun...so let's ring it in with some Heavy Gear Arena Duelists!

I managed to pick up a Northern Dingo and decided to convert him into a duelist. I removed the parachute packs on its torso, constructed new armored skirts for the upper legs, and added a crash bar to the V-engine. It's armed with a Snub Cannon and Heavy Spike Gun for some intense close combat action! This is arguably one of my favorite Gears as it seems right out of the Front Mission video games...

Next up is a Basilisk. I added a giant fighting staff made from copper tubing and a buckler to the right arm. Also, I sanded down its Light Rocket Pod to change it to a Medium Rocket Pod.

Last, an unbased Copperhead. The only conversion here was mounting the Light Rocket Pod vertically on the right shoulder and adding a Spike Gun to the right forearm.

Now on to painting in 2012!

The Bizarre Bazaar

2011-12-20T11:10:00.000-08:00

I threw together a small marketplace in a few days this past weekend. I was inspired by Nevermore's thread on Lead Adventure on how to make simple market stalls from matchsticks and foamboard. The tutorial is really simple and the only changes I made were adding a second crossbrace to the end pieces and using pre-printed fabrics on the roofs.

I used some charms as small sculptures, rolls of fabric, some dollhouse cutlery and dishes, and various weapons to round out the goods offered.

The sack stacks are made from oven-baked clay. I just rolled out a length, cut small pieces and tapered the edges before building up the stack and using a piece of canvas to add texture to the surface of the stacks. 30 minutes of bake time and 30 minutes of drybrushing and a wash and viola! - instant sacks!

I won Golden Gear 2011!

2011-12-20T07:29:00.000-08:00

Well, this is a nice little pre-Christmas present - I managed to win best Heavy Gear Arena mascot in Golden Gear 2011! My "Kegerator" - the Cascade Breweries' beer-shooting Hunter Gear managed to take first place in the Mascot category. I'm honestly rather stunned, especially considering it was the first Gear I'd ever assembled and painted.

Here's the promo sheet:

I won a $50 credit from DP9, a Fighting Piranha Graphics prize, and an awesome little Golden Gear trophy! Thanks DP9!

Here's some more pics of the Kegerator in case you missed it here:

The Purple Tremors

2011-12-19T19:53:00.000-08:00

Just a quickie before the holiday today - a re-paint of a pre-paint, Reaper's Legendary Encounters Great Worm. I mounted this on a 60mm base and built up its "entry hole" with slate pebbles and gravel. Then I re-painted the main body, focusing on eliminating the out-of-place silver highlights between the upper and lower torso, and finishing with a reddish-pink mouth and brighter teeth.

A quick drybrush over the pebbles and gravel to bring out the highlights and a purple wash and its done. Disgusting!

And the original, just as a comparison:

Get Your Stinking (Metal) Paws Off Me!

2011-12-11T11:55:00.000-08:00

A little conversion of Reaper's "Ape-X" I did recently. Mostly this consisted of replacing his right weapon-hand with a Mutant Goo Cannon made from brass tubing and Armorcast's Cinematic Effects fluid stream. I also added a small pressure valve to its backpack.

Here's a scale comparison with Eureka's NBC-suited Soviets. That's one big, scary gorilla!

The Completed Shanty Town

2011-12-04T15:01:00.000-08:00

Well, it's not as nice as I wanted it to be but for a few days work (total), I think it makes a fairly nice board. Mostly, I'm frustrated by the fact that the weathered wood tutorial I found online do NOT work the way the author pictured (which is why much of the wooden pieces appear white-washed, rather than weathered).

Just 15 (scale) Miles to the...LOVE SHACK!

2011-11-26T19:24:00.000-08:00

I'm finally finished with work on the shanty town and wanted to post pics of the finished pieces before painting and small details. I mentioned how they were built in my previous post so I won't re-hash that here.

I will say that the doors are made with cardstock and plasticard. The corrugated roofs are corrugated plasticard - a departure from the siding so I could cut away at the edges and make them look rusted out. Shanties with cardstock roofs will have sandpaper glued on top of them to simulate tar paper.

Shanties built from pieces of cement buildings had acrylic modeling paste added to edges and smeared on surfaces to simulate rough cement pouring. I'm debating whether or not to add rebar to the edges of the cement walls before painting...

At this point, everything's done and they've had a coat of clear satin sealant added to ensure the sand remains on the base. Once the weather gets dryer again here in Chicago, I'll begin priming and painting, as well as adding small final details. Enjoy!

Terrain WIP - Shanty Town

2011-11-23T17:03:00.001-08:00

In a fit of despair over The Great Recession, I decided to whip up a "few" simple shanties....this, like most things I undertake, devolved into an entire town of 17 shanties! Most everything here is super cheap or made from re-purposed materials - in keeping with the spirit of real-life shanties.

The bases are all used CDs, while the walls are made from foamboard (which I got free!) and covered with imitation corrugated sheeting made from packing boxes. "Lumber" was from an old basswood sheet I roughly snapped into pieces or from coffee shop stirrers (note: Starbucks and Caribou coffee have excellent wooden stirrers - much tougher than balsa/basswood, sized correctly for 25/28mm, and free). I tried adding some interesting bits and pieces to the groundwork as well.

Right now they lack windows, doors, roofing, and stovepipes but you get the general idea. The nice part is about this set is 75% of it can be used in various genres - Pulp, modern, or Post-Apocalypse settings.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Golden Gear 2011 Duelist Entry

2011-11-12T10:56:00.000-08:00

Following up my conversion of the Dark Cobra into an Engineering Cobra, I finally had the entire piece painted last weekend. Here are two shots of the finished piece:

Considering it's in-universe background as a heavy construction vehicle, this Gear was much too shiny and new, so I decided to try out a new weathering technique using oil paints. And, I think we can all agree, the finished Gear seems much more appropriate....

So, Ladies and Gentlemen, making it's first appearance in the Arena Dueling Circuit........The Wrecker!

Necromunda Terrain

2011-11-06T19:52:00.000-08:00

A small sampling of some of my Necromunda terrain, I had actually assembled these two pieces last year but never got around to painting them. With 10+ tables to fill for this year's Adepticon however, I really needed to get on the ball. I laid down basecoats and some large-pattern weathering with an airbrush. Everything else though is simply drybrushing with a few details picked out on each piece.

Mine Head (this is my wife's favorite piece)

Refining Tower

A lot of the current crop of terrain was re-purposed from my original set and it's interesting to look back on my Eastern Fringe thread and remember what these once were...

"Necromunda By Night" sells out in 3 days!

2011-11-03T13:08:00.000-07:00

I did something radical for next year's Adepticon and changed the time to an evening tournament on Saturday night. In discussions with players over the past three years, it seemed like there was some conflict between Necromunda and 40K, so this was an attempt to smooth things over a bit.

...And I can't say I'm disappointed! It's been only 3 days since the Adepticon 2012 registration site went live and we've already sold out the first block of tickets! But, don't fret...another second block of tickets is going live today, so there's still a chance to come join the fun.

Now, if this second block sells out, there may not be more room, as terrain considerations have to be taken into account after the first 10 tables. That doesn't mean a third block becoming available is an impossibility, just that the Adepticon staff and I will have to make a review of the space and terrain constraints, while having a wait list set up.

So, if you're interested in playing, you may want to sign up ASAP!

Heavy Gear Leagueless Army WIP

2011-10-31T07:33:00.000-07:00

Well, it's taken me several weeks but I'm finally finished assembling my Heavy Gear Leagueless army - the Terra Nova Liberation Front, a group of political refugees and anarchists bent on eliminating the tyranny of the Polar Leagues.

Note that their V-Engines aren't on yet, as I'll be painting those separately.

The Army Commander Kodiak

The Army Commander Support Group - 2x Badlands Pythons with scratchbuilt MRPs, a Wild Ferret, and a Crusader IV.

The Recon Group - Pitbull, Wild Ferret, Chieftain, Silverscale, Pitbull

The Standard "Assault" Group - Jager with MBZK (there's some Gundam inspiration here), Spitting Cobra with VHAC, Flame Jager. Black Adder with linked MRPs, and a Dartjager.

Some of these were just a bear to assemble (bad mold lines, heavy pitting, etc) and some were a breeze (notably the Crusader IV, which required about 5 mins of filing). I could have easily contacted DP9 about some of the really bad pieces but, I do like a challenge!

Free Stuff - Happy Halloween!

2011-10-30T07:43:00.000-07:00

Wargames Vault and Drive Thru RPG are offering several free PDF games and supplements on their sites through Halloween (Oct. 31st). All you have to do is track down the pumpkin images and click on them.

If you get a "treat", a free item will be automatically added to your account. If you get a "trick", it'll come up with some odd pic or video. Note that each site, while affiliated, has different games available and you'll have to check them out separately to be totally free.

So far, I've found the following:

50 Fathoms Figure Flats
Dead Heat
E-Z Dungeons: Mummy's Tomb
Kaiju Kaos
Plague City
This Quar's War

The Best Little Hellhouse in Texas

CoC: Midnight Harvest

Fear and Faith

HINT: You'll need an account to find them all! Good luck...

Shoatima, Otter Ranger

2011-10-06T09:54:00.000-07:00

I was lucky to pick up one of Reaper's limited edition "Legion of Justice and Cake" minis - Shoatima, the Otter Ranger. Ever since the preview image came out, I thought this would make a great addition to my Mousling collection and I was not disappointed. The cast was very clean and there's a lot of detail for such a small, straightforward mini.

Golden Gear 2011 Mascot Entry

2011-10-01T16:27:00.000-07:00

"Ladies and gentleman! Welcome to Heavy Gear Arena! Tonight is another great Cascade Breweries' TM Free Beer Nights. Even if you don't have a drink, The Kegerator is here to spray the crowd down with his awesome Keg Cannon!.....Young children please exit the Arena at this time..."

This is my entry for DP9's 2011 Golden Gear Contest - Arena Mascot category. One of the sponsors, Cascade Brewery, has an interesting "Free Beer Night" that can help your Arena team gain more Rep during a match. I thought it'd be interesting if they also had a dedicated Gear come out and spray the crowd with some free brew! The Kegerator is based off a stock Hunter Gear, with the addition of some CB flags, a pressurized Keg, and a giant beer cannon.

Heavy Gear Cobra Conversion

2011-09-26T10:31:00.000-07:00

Recently, I found myself burdened with a Black Talon Dark Cobra, even though I don't play Black Talons and you can't field this Gear in the Arena. What I really wanted was an Engineering Cobra - the construction vehicle of the HG universe. So....

This conversion required the following:

-drilled and added crash bars made of 20G copper wire and brass tubing
-5min epoxy putty for enclosed cockpit, added crash bars as above
-clipped BT V-engine stacks, replaced w/ nickel tubing and plasticard
-drilled out right hand, added hammer shaft from brass tubing, hammer-head from GW Pit Slave Hammer Arm
-added HCS to left arm, made w/ GW Chaos chainsword & plasticard
-base is various plasticard sheeting and sand/gravel mix

15mm Trenches on a Budget

2011-09-24T16:08:00.001-07:00

15mm trench lines can be prohibitively expensive for those of us on a budget. Luckily, I figured out how to make trenches out of Sculpey; which is an oven-bake polymer clay. For this tutorial, you'll need the following:

-Original Sculpey

-X-acto knife

-Ruler (to use as a backing when pressing out trenches, as well as measurement)

-Large and small-handled brushes (for making craters, as well as painting)

-Aluminum foil

-Baking sheet

First, lay out enough aluminum foil to cover your work surface and accommodate as many trench lines as you plan to make.

Next, take out a hunk of Sculpey and begin kneading it together for a couple of minutes - just enough for it to take on a smoother consistency. When done, begin rolling it out into a long 1" diameter strip. You can make the diameter smaller or larger - this will just make the trench slope shorter or wider, respectively.

Using the ruler, measure out however long or short you want each section to be (mine are 8" for Flames of War). You can reasonably cut each section a little shorter than what you want the final section length to be, as squashing the sections down will make them a little longer. Lay each section out on the aluminum foil as you plan to bake it, as you want to pick the sections up as little as possible from this point until baking.

Now, position the ruler along one long edge of a section - this will now act as a backing while you squash the slope out. Try to keep the ruler at a 90° angle to the section. If you're using a metal ruler, the stamped markings will also make quick woodboard-like indentations in the rear slope (which can later be painted in). Begin on one end of the section and begin squashing the section down, making the opposite long edge "slope" upward into the long edge with the ruler backing. This provides the visual trick of making the troops behind the trench lines look "dug in", without having to alter the tabletop itself. Don't worry about smoothing out the slope. The small indentations and ridges your fingers will make are more realistic. Continue until all sections are sloped.

Again using the ruler, cut down each section to the desired length, again try to keep a 90° angle to the section, so that each section lines up correctly on the tabletop. Corner pieces can be "sculpted" out simply by making sections the same width on all sides as each section and "sloping" two of the four sides.

Once done, you can make bomb craters by using the non-brush end of a brush. Just push it into the slope and work outwards to make a shallow, concave pit. Blast ridges are easily made by making radiating cuts or indentations with a knife or sculpting tool.

Sandbags can be added by rolling out a small diameter of Sculpey, cutting off small pieces, and GENTLY pushing them into the top of the trench slope. Keep a small dish of water close by and dip your finger into it every so often - this keeps the Sculpey from sticking to your finger, rather than the trench.

Once you're done, preheat your oven, stick the sections in and retrieve when finished. You can now paint them as you wish!

The best miniature I ever made...

2011-09-24T15:47:00.000-07:00

It's been a fairly eventful week here at the Empire.

Last Friday, September 16th at 2AM, my beautiful, amazing wife went into labor. By 9:59PM, we welcomed our firstborn son, Alexander Olsen, into the world. After being in the ISCU for four days, he finally came home to the Olsen household and things haven't been the same since...

Hide Your Kids, Hide Your Wife....

2011-09-14T08:54:00.001-07:00

As we're expecting our first-born son any day now, my wife and I have been on Baby Watch 2011 for the past week and I needed a little something to occupy my time. I acquired these excellent Reaper Chronoscope figures several months ago, but never really had a use for them. Recently, I've been watching a lot of bad B-movies and reruns of MST3K and, from those terrible images, an idea was born...

The "reef" is sculpted in Original Sculpey and glued to a wooden plaque base. I then sculpted in the starfish and sea anemones before placing the figures. Honestly, this was simply a chance for me to try something different, as I had never really done an "underwater" scene. In hindsight, the diver's shorts are too orange and the glowing scales effect I was trying to achieve in the mutant fish monster isn't really my best work. Oh well....it was nice to try something new and fun. Enjoy!

Liberating America after the Apocalypse!

2011-09-04T09:40:00.000-07:00

Inspired by the excellent Metallica video for "All Nightmare Long" (it really is a great video, even if you don't like their music, plus the song itself is inspired by the H.P. Lovecraft story The Hounds of Tindalos), I thought it might be fun to add some Soviets to my ongoing post-apocalypse mini collection.

Eureka Miniatures makes these excellent "1980s Soviets in NBC gear" and I ordered Set #2. This gave me more than enough minis for a small squad to help "liberate" the shattered remnants of post-apocalypse America. This includes a medical officer, 2 troopers, a specialist with flamethrower, a specialist with light DP machine-gun, and 2 specialists with the ubiquitous RPG-7.

"Do not fear, American comrades! We have come to liberate you from capitalist oppression!"

French Fusiliers Motcyclists Platoon

2011-08-22T10:27:00.001-07:00

It's been a long time coming but the Motocyclists Platoon for my EW French is finally complete. This platoon marks the completion of 1500pts worth of my 59th DLI started in March for Adepticon at only 900pts.

As mentioned previously, this platoon is made converted extensively from True North Miniature's Belgian Motorcyclists packs by sanding down the pith helmets, GS'ing a center ridge to duplicate an Adrian helmet, adding stowage, and my terrible attempt at replicating a Hotchkiss M1914 MG on the side-cars.

All in all though, I'm happy with this platoon, especially the characterful Command team, lost somewhere on a French road....

Product Review: Heavy Gear Blitz! 2-Player Starter Set

2011-08-16T11:10:00.000-07:00

I've always been interested in Dream Pod 9's "Heavy Gear" universe but I never found the system very approachable without a proper starter set. That changed earlier this year, when Dream Pod 9 released their Blitz! 2-Player Starter Set, and I finally decided to take the plunge and buy in.

The "universe" of Heavy Gear revolves around the colony world of Terra Nova. In a nutshell, Terra Nova was a typical Earth colony for 500 years until the Earth abruptly left and threw the world into turmoil. Terra Novans were quick to adapt to their new found independence and, due to the quirks of Terra Nova's landscape and manufacturing base, the Gear became the principal machine of warfare. A Gear is a large robotic walker piloted by a human, able to traverse nearly all types of terrain with a large weapon load-out for its size. Over the ensuing years, two major powers began to consolidate their control over the polar regions of the planet - The Confederated Northern City-States (CNCS) and the Allied Southern Territories. This power balance changed suddenly when the Earth returned to reclaim its wayward colony and the powers of Terra Nova were thrown into a brutal war with their former masters.

I should start out by saying that, at a $65 price point, I'm rather pleased with this purchase. I honestly bought it for the Locked & Loaded rulebook and the Jager miniatures but the set itself is quite impressive. First, the box is well-packed and of a convenient size for everything included. There are no issues of excessive or un-necessary packaging.

The box itself is simply a nice, white cardboard box with a glossy cover detailing the set contents. When opened, everything is packed nicely and there's some extra packing material to make sure none of the contents is damaged in transit - something I've never seen in any type of boxed miniature I've bought! Additionally, the box is sturdy and just big enough to fit 1-2 squads of assembled gears inside (with the addition of some foam protection).

As to the contents, this box set includes the core rulebook, the "Field Manual" rules addendum (more on that below), a branded ruler (in both inches and centimeters), 6 d6 in a resealable baggie, six Gears (3 Northern Hunters & 3 Southern Jagers), and some additional weapons.

There's also a nice single sheet introduction paper detailing the above contents, the "Gear Garage" software (essentially a free army building program, available on the Dream Pod 9 site), and a general overview of where to proceed from this starter set. What I found most appealing about this is, unlike certain other companies' starter sets, this intro sheet isn't one big glossy marketing ad. Dream Pod 9 seems more concerned that the player make informed choices before proceeding, rather than simply "OMG! Buy our miniature$$$!!!".

Intro sheet

If I have one complaint about this set, it's the rulebooks. While I appreciate the smaller-sized rulebooks (I've worn out the binding on both my 40K and FOW mini rulebooks within 6 months of purchase), there's simply too much material on each page to condense it down to a ~4"x6" size, thereby making the fonts miniscule. I think older players and those with poor eyesight may have a serious issue finding and digesting information at this scale and, if this is an issue for you, I highly recommend skipping this set and instead buying the large format rulebook and/or downloading the rulebook PDFs via DriveThruRPG.

LOTS of tiny writing!

I won't go into the rules in detail in this review, as they are simply too comprehensive to delve into here. I will however say that, even though they are small, they're literally packed with rules, background, fluff, army lists, weapons guides, and indexes. Additionally, while the "Locked and Loaded" core rulebook is a huge improvement over its predecessor, it's not very stream-lined and there are some editing errors throughout. Interestingly, instead of making yet another updated core rulebook, DP9 instead added the "Field Manual" rules addendum (making it free to users who had paid for and downloaded the "L&L" PDF via DriveThruRPG...again, something you rarely see in the miniatures industry today).

I should stop and make a short note on army building here. All armies in Heavy Gear are based on the typical "points" system, expressed as "TV" for Threat Value. Units are a given number of "TV", with options and upgrades costing additional "TV". Players agree on a point total for a game but the choices available to building that army are governed by the mission's "Priority Level", agreed upon by the players. For example, at "Priority Level 2" an army must take a minimum of 2 Core groups, and may also include between 2-3 units each of Aux., Specialist, and Elite choices.

The "Field Manual" is a HUGE step forward in easing new players into the HG rules and there are three noticeable differences which make this little book a real gem. First, many procedural rules (i.e. whether a model can "Lock On" to a target and fire) are given simple flowcharts to satisfy the inner geek in you. Instead of having to plod through paragraphs of text, one simply chooses options and proceeds accordingly. Second, weapon ranges have been brought down from the overly complicated mess of 5 range bands (essentially, point-blank/short/medium/long/extreme) to the more conventional 3 range bands (i.e. Short/Medium/Long). Third, ALL current models have their datacards updated to reflect rules changes and the new weapons ranges in the back of the "Field Manual".

A Ranged Combat Flowchart

Last (and certainly not least) are the Gears. The Hunter and Jager are the standard trooper Gears of the Northern and Southern Leagues, respectively. They are average in stats, skills, weaponry, and pilots (usually); and are the backbone of each armed force. They stand roughly 25-30mm high, are multi-part models, and are mounted on 25mm hex bases. The starter set comes with three of each Gear, packed with all parts for each individual miniature in its own compartment of a six-cell plastic case. This makes it especially easy for new or younger players to assemble the minis without mixing up parts.

A single Gear from a single cell-pack

Additionally, there are some extra weapons for the Gears and 2 separate heads to make a command Gear for each of the forces. Unfortunately, there aren't enough Gears in this set to make a full unit for either Northern or Southern forces. Leagueless and PAK lists could run all 6 Gears in a single unit, just not North or South specifically. They are still a good value and there's enough miniatures here to run some practice games.

Pros:
-Good value, especially for beginners who don't know where to start
-Well-packaged contents (probably the best I've ever seen in a miniature game)
-Small size works well for portability
-"Field Manual" rulebook is a real gem
-One Gear/one cell-pack setup is excellent for ease of assembly

Cons:
-Font size on mini-rulebooks could be an issue for those with poor eyesight
-"Locked & Loaded" rulebook is somewhat 'rough around the edges'
-3 Gears do not a Squad make

Compiled Inquisimunda Rules PDF!

2011-08-06T14:56:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm pleased to announce that the Inquisimunda rules are now available in one, compiled PDF; formatted to fit with the "official" Necromunda rulebook design. However, I can't take credit for this...

Dennis Biegel of Brueckenkopf Online spent a lot of time and effort making my rather shoddy-looking rules packets into one streamlined PDF. I can't imagine how long this took him but I ask that, anyone interested in downloading this great little set, please drop Dennis a quick thank you via email.

The compiled Inquisimunda ruleset is available here.

French Heavy Artillery & Anti-Aircraft Platoon

2011-08-06T14:03:00.000-07:00

It's been a little while since I posted anything because the Chicago weather has been extremely humid the past few weeks, which makes it fairly difficult to prime and varnish minis, especially when temperatures are in the 90s and the humidity level is around 60%. I did, however, finish two platoons for the Early War French recently. Below is the Motorised 155mm Artillery Battery:

As with the 47mm ATG platoon, this battery uses converted Axis & Allies Unic P107s for artillery tractors. I toyed with the idea of giving the guns the same two-tone camouflage pattern as the tractors but decided against it in favor of making them similar to my Motorised 75mm Battery guns.

Battle Honors makes great Hotchkiss 25mm Anti-Aircraft guns for the French, which is great since they appear to be the only manufacturer which makes them! Unfortunately, they didn't come with seats for the gunner, put I made mine out of a paper clip and some plasticard.

With both platoons, guns are manufactured by Battle Honors, crew are by Peter Pig (whose WW1 French Artillery crew includes nifty little seated figs!), infantry are by Forged in Battle, and Unics are by A&A.

French 47mm Anti-Tank Platoon

2011-07-26T08:44:00.000-07:00

Progress continues on my FOW Early War French very slowly. Much of the delay was looking for suitable gun tractors for the 47mm ATGs and 25mm AA guns. I agonized for awhile about buying Peter Pig's very nice little Renault 2-ton truck but they're a little pricey vs. their usefulness.

I was finally able to find a good deal on some Axis & Allies Unic P107s over at 12-7 Games. For $2.50, they were a steal. All I did was add some oil barrels and ammo crates from plasticard and painting the windshields and darkening the green camo stripes.

Figures by Peter Pig, 47mm ATGs by Battle Honors, P107s by Axis & Allies (ver2.0)

Arbites Ogryn

2011-07-25T08:45:00.001-07:00

Well, my WIP Ogryn for the Adeptus Arbites Patrol Squad has finally been finished. It's been a little difficult to get in painting lately as my wife recently fell and broke her foot. This guy's big enough though to be a constant reminder on my workbench and I used some free-time this past Sunday to finish him up. I'm rather pleased with the result...

And here's a shot to show just how massive this Ogryn is next to the Arbite Proctor:

Miniatures by Games Workshop, Bases are scratchbuilt.

Chicago LARPers(?) busted in Millenium Park

2011-07-10T09:09:00.000-07:00

The Sun-Times, WLS, and the Chicago Tribune are reporting that at least one Chicago resident has been arrested and charged with "disorderly conduct" in what appears to be a LARPing session go awry.

It seems to have started yesterday, when a "suspicious package" (which, upon further police investigation, turned out to be 2 bricks) was spotted under the 'Bean' sculpture in downtown's Millenium Park at 5:36pm. This prompted the police to cordon off the area, stop all traffic on Michigan Ave., declare a Level 1 HazMat situation, and call in the arson and bomb squads!

It seems that 3 people were arrested, but only 1 is officially facing charges. I can't find any info on what the actual LARPing game in question was but it appears to be some sort of non-fantasy LARP.

It's insane that it took 4 hours, the closure of a portion of a major city, and numerous police and firefighters to figure out this was all part of a live-action game. Although, you would think LARPers would have chosen a less-conspicuous park to hold their game in...

59eme DLI Fusilliers Motocyclists

2011-07-09T10:04:00.000-07:00

Finally got around to completing the last work needed for my next 500pts of Early War French - my Fusilliers Motocyclists platoon. I've had my eye on this platoon, and it's attending list, ever since I first bought Blitzkrieg a few months back. The issue was finding suitable figures and no one - not even Battlefront(!) - makes any type of French motorcycle figures I've found.

Enter True North's Belgian Motorcyclists pack. I ordered 3 packs for a full platoon from FRP Games for $24. Each pack comes with 4 motorcycles, 2 sidecars, 4 cyclists, and 2 sidecar troopers.

The Belgian uniforms are pretty similar, the main difference being they are somehow equipped with Pith helmets! I've found several source photos of French Motorcycle troops but they all differ in the type of headgear worn. Some have British-style helmets and others have a Fallschirmjager-style helmet.

Instead, I decided to give them all the venerable Adrian helmet, which was simply a matter of sanding down and rounding off the helmet and then adding a small line of Brown Stuff for the "ridge" on top.

Below is the HQ figure. Some of the riders have this odd pose, where they seem to contemplate "What bloody jack-ass thought pith helmets would be a good idea for combat troops in Europe?". So I added a guardrail and a small signpost. Apparently, French military maps weren't very good...

The second problem with these minis is none of the sidecars are armed. So I had to scrounge together some kind of machinegun out of Green Stuff and wire and the results are rather....lackluster. So I won't be doing any close-ups until they're painted, sorry.

All in all though, this is a nice little set of a fairly rare aspect of the French army not normally seen on the tabletop.

Tutorial: "Polishing" Metal Models for Painting

2011-07-08T13:55:00.000-07:00

It took me several years to pick this little trick up and, since then, I haven't finished one miniature without using either one or both of these methods.

The issue I always had was that my paint would never really "flow" well over the miniature. It was very prevalent whenever I'd use a wash and the wash would seem to "settle" throughout the area, instead of seeping into recesses and leaving high areas without shading. This was always a side effect of the metal miniature underneath.

The cause is partially a factor of the metal itself but also an aftereffect of the casting process. Both of these things together cause the miniature's surface to develop very tiny ridges and valleys, giving the surface a "Flat" or "Matte" appearance or finish. I discussed finishes in more detail in the Paint 101 Tutorial for those interested but it's enough to say here that whatever else is put over this finish - primer, paint, washes, etc - takes on the same or similar properties.

While a nice, low profile Matte finish provides a good foundation (or "ground") for paint adhesion; a severe Matte finish can cause paint to flow incorrectly, to take on a Matte finish when one is not wanted (as in the case of Gloss finishes), and/or for the bumps in the metal to become evident in the final piece. "Polishing" attempts to solve this somewhat. The methods below are an attempt to grind or sand the metal surface into a Semi-Gloss finish - just enough to provide a good ground for paint adhesion, but not severe enough to affect paint flow and properties.

FYI, re: Greenstuff and "Polishing": Always be sure to polish your mini before attempting any greenstuff work or sculpting. The instructions below only work on white metal/lead surfaces and will damage any delicate greenstuff work.

Method 1: Steel Wool + Time = Polished Mini!

This is a good method for highly detailed minis where a Dremel could easily destroy detail or for those of you who don't own a Dremel (note: WTH is wrong with you!? Go buy a Dremel, it saves tons of time!).

What you'll need:

A white metal (pewter, lead, tin, etc.) miniature
Fine Steel Wool
(Optional - for sanding out "micro-pitting") Jeweler's files and/or sandpaper

Step 1

Once the miniature is ready for polishing, rinse it well under cool water to remove any excess dirt, dust, or metal shavings. Any of these can scour or scratch the surface of the mini where you don't want it.

For this tutorial, I'm using Reaper Chronoscope's Natalya. This is a slim, well-detailed mini that could easily be damaged by using a rotary tool to polish. It's pictured above, totally unpolished...

Step 2

Some minis have been incorrectly cooled following casting and suffer from "micro-pitting". These are tiny pits in the metal surface and must be sanded or filed away before polishing. This can be done with either jeweler's files or sandpaper. If the pitting is too deep or filing would destroy detail, you can skip this step for now and fill the pits with Green-stuff after polishing.

Remember, if you use sandpaper to remove "micro-pitting", to rinse the mini before continuing on.

Step 3

Using the steel wool, begin "sanding" the surface of the miniature all-round. I find it helpful to start from the top and work down the miniature. Try to focus on large flat areas for now. If you're worried about destroying raised details, use soft indirect pressure and "polish" in a circle motion.

Compared to the last picture, I've begun polishing from Natalya's head downward to her waist. It's a little hard to tell from the pic but you may notice the mini's surface is smoother and shinier.

Once you've given it a good once-over....

Step 4

Break off small bits of steel wool and try to fit them into the gaps and crevices, sanding with medium pressure, in any direction possible.

Below the mini has been fully polished. Compare this to the 1st pic, especially in the thigh area in the foreground, and you'll easily spot the difference. This largely smooth surface is much easier to paint than the rough, matte surface the mini originally had.

A super-polished, glossy surface isn't necessary and, in the case of small miniatures devoted to gaming, is not advised. A super-polished surface provides little to no paint adhesion and is really only good for large display miniatures.

Step 5

When you're comfortable with the finish, stop and fully wash the mini with warm water and dish soap. Rinse well under warm water and let it fully dry before priming (or adding Greenstuff details).

Method 2: Dremel + a Delicate Tough = Polished Mini...in less time

A quicker method that takes a little practice but can save time.

What you'll need:

A white metal (pewter, lead, tin, etc.) miniature
Water
Dremel or other Multitool (I use a Dremel Stylus)
Brass Wire Brush (Dremel #530)
Carbon Steel Wire Brush (Dremel #428) or Stainless Steel Wire Brush (Dremel #535)
(Optional - for small spots) Cylindrical Wire Brush (Dremel #443)
(Optional - for "super polishing") Nylon Bristle Brush (Dremel #404)
(Optional - for grinding out "micro-pitting"/cracks) High Speed Cutters (Dremel #125, etc.)

A note on safety: Whenever using ANY of the above brushes or tools, ALWAYS wear some form of eye protection, no matter how low your RPMs are set! It's common for wire brushes to "shed" a bristle now and then and it's easier to scoop them into the trash or pluck them out of your skin, than out of your eye.

Bristle Brush Stiffness

From my experience, here's a list of the the bristle brushes from above, graded from most to least stiff:

Carbon-Steel: VERY stiff, recommended for low to no lead content miniatures only
Stainless Steel: Stiff, a good all-round bristle for all but the softest metals
Brass: Somewhat stiff, good for detailing
Nylon: Hardly stiff at all, ideal for super polishing (if you're so inclined)

In reality, the only two brushes you truly need for this process of Stainless Steel and Brass. I've included the others here for those who are so inclined to use them.

Step 1

Step 2

Alternatively, you can attempt to grind the surface of the miniature down around the pitted around by using a High-Speed Cutter. This should ONLY be attempted on areas that lack highly-detailed surrounding surfaces. It is ideally suited for pitted areas that lack detail, such as billowing capes, rumpled clothing, etc.

For this I recommend either a Dremel #192, 117, or 125:

Begin by setting your multitool ~10K RPM (Speed 3-4 on the Dremel) and carving around the pitted area, attempting to blend it into the surrounding area. You may have to set your speed higher or lower depending upon the depth and width of the pitted area.

Don't try to get it entirely perfect with the high-speed cutter. It's impossible really, as the cutter isn't designed for really smooth, delicate work. Instead, switch to either a Carbon-Steel or Stainless-Steel bristle brush, working from the outer edges of the affected area inwards. This provides a smooth transition between the non-affected areas surrounding the cuts.

Note: Some of you may be asking "why not just use the bristle brush to dig out the pitting?"...Well, I've tried this and it will ruin a perfectly good bristle brush in no time. A bristle brush tool isn't designed to handle the pressure and intense heat that digging out the pitting requires. This is why you start with a heavy-duty tool bit and work downwards to more delicate bits, both in this step and throughout the entire process.

Remember, if you use sandpaper or a Multitool to remove "micro-pitting", to rinse the mini before continuing on.

Step 3

Using the your Carbon-Steel or Stainless-Steel bristle brush, begin lightly polishing the surface of the miniature all-round. I find it helpful to start from the top and work down the miniature. Try to focus on large flat areas for now.

Start around 7,500 RPM (Speed 2 on the Dremel) and use light pressure, just ever so slightly hitting the surface of the miniature. Don't attempt to apply heavy pressure. Instead, if you find the surface difficult to polish, increase the speed to ~10K RPM (Speed 3-4), use a moderate pressure, and try to make multiple passes around the miniature.

Increasing the pressure significantly will have two negative effects. First, you can easily ruin raised details in a matter of seconds. Second, and most importantly, you will begin building up heat within the metal. The problem with heating the metal like this is, as it is focused in one area, the metal will heat (and cool) unevenly, weakening delicate parts. Additionally, heat will begin to build with the bristle brush, shortening its life and making it easier for individual bristles to "shed" while the tool is going at speed, which can lead to injury.

The main purpose of this step is to polish out bad areas (see Step 2) and to give the miniature, as a whole, a good even polish, NOT to make it super-shiny or to focus on individual parts. For this, we go to....

Step 4

You should notice the mini is noticeably more shiny, especially in large flat areas and raised parts. The mini still may have some areas you were unable to reach into, like between collars and shirts, under slung weapons, and inside coats or other outerwear. Now, focus on those areas.

Using the Brass wire brush on a higher speed, attempt to get into recessed areas being sure not to apply too much pressure and always checking the area after a few passes. This is the step where I try to move the miniature into different positions to get a smooth, even polish.

Step 5

If you're really, super inclined to get a great finish, put your multitool aside for now and use the steel wool process above. At most gaming scales (6-32mm), this step isn't needed and will generally be more work then its worth.

Step 6

If you're satisfied with the finish at this point, wash your miniature with soapy water to remove any excess metal dust or bits, dry for a couple of hours, and either continue unto the next step for super-polishing or prime and paint...

Step 7

Super-polishing really isn't necessary and can sometimes provide a surface too-smooth for good paint adhesion. I honestly don't recommend this for any miniature you plan on handling and/or throwing in a storage case for any amount of time. On 54mm or larger scale miniatures meant for display, this step may come in handy. As always, YMMV...

Using a Nylon bristle brush on ~12-15K RPMs (Speeds 5-7), begin by working over the surface of the miniature applying light pressure and making passing in a circular motion. You're attempting to get a highly polished surface and it may take some time and a lot of patience to achieve. As above, try to avoid building up excessive heat and/or pressure.

WIP Arbites Ogryn & Molotov Cocktease

2011-06-28T06:38:00.000-07:00

A lot of greenstuff sculpting over the weekend led to the minis below. I think I'll put the Arbites Ogryn aside for a few days while I mull over what else I want to do with him. I'm thinking it might be cool to mimic the winged skull every Arbites figure has on their shotgun stock with one of the Ripper Gun body and I think the neck/helmet could use just a little detail.

The winged fist shoulderpad was incredibly difficult to get even halfway right, even when I split it into two separate pieces (fist and wings). If I could do it over, I would have left the Ripper gun unpinned, so that it didn't get in the way as much.

Here's a super sneak preview of the Molotov Cocktease mini I'm currently working on. I think it may be fun to try and assemble the main characters of the Venture Bros. in miniature, especially after my son is born and I won't have a lot of free time to actually game with any miniatures until next year.

The mini itself is a Reaper Chronoscope "Natalya", I sculpted on the open-back of her jumpsuit (leaving the front zipped up, as I thought it was a nice little detail), her eyepatch (which was infuriating to get right!), and her knifeholder armband.

Due to her pose, I'm going to try and make it look like she's thrown her knife....now I just need a Brock Samson mini for a target!

59eme Division Legere d'Infantrie

2011-06-25T09:11:00.001-07:00

This was my first Flames of War army and the first 15mm miniatures I'd ever painted. Luckily, it was also the first to win me a Best-Painted award at the Adepticon 2011 EW FOW tournament. I actually finished this just before Adepticon back in April and, through my terrible procrastination, never got around to posting clear pics of anything! So, here it is...the 59th Light Infantry Division.

Below is a pic of the next ~500pts I have planned - 155mm guns, 47mm ATGs, and a 25mm AA battery. These are a mix of Quality Castings, Forged In Battle, & Peter Pig.

The backbone of the 59eme - a small selection of the Fusilliers-Voltiguers.

The HQ section and its Mortar section. In an attempt to make this platoon stand out visually on the tabletop, I gave each CC team its own medic having a white helmet with a red cross. This is somewhat historically accurate, as there were dedicated medic Adrian helmets during WW1, however I could find no mention of them in WW2.

81mm Mortar Platoon

HMG Platoon

"The little tankette that could" - the Renault UE Carrier, designed for supplying troops in static defenses, they were generally abandoned in the wholesale retreats of 1940. The Germans then found limited use for them by mounting an ATG on the deck, perhaps as a precursor to the PaK RSO tractors?

The 75mm Artillery Battery - this is probably my favorite platoon out of the entire army. The guns themselves are great little models and these troops look so happy to be far from the front line! I made a small vignette out of the Observer team - 2 snipers holed up in a partially burned shed.

As with the Renault UEs, I handpainted small French tri-colors on the gun shield. Vive la France!

The Renault R-35 - a nice little tank severely outclassed in the mobile warfare of the Blitzkrieg, then later outclassed by its (at that time) thin armor when used by the Italians in the Sicilian Invasion. The command tank is named "Emile", probably the commander's lady, as was customary throughout the armoured corps. Additionally, I was able to hand-paint the roundels and the "diamond" unit markings on the turret.

The 59eme Objectives. A RR-crossing somewhere between Sedan and Boullion and a French border checkpoint. Both are built from scratch (yes, the RR tracks are actually plasticard!).

Reaper "Sasha Dubois"

2011-06-23T06:06:00.001-07:00

My first Steampunk mini and one I've had my eye on for quite some time now - Reaper Chronoscope "Sasha Dubois". I'm fairly proud of this piece since it's the first time I've painted a female face convincingly.

Miniature by Reaper, base by Dragon Forge Design

"Angry Maxwell"

2011-06-20T19:04:00.000-07:00

More Em4 miniatures Post-Apocalyptic goodness, the Street Warrior "Angry Maxwell". It was tough to get the greying hair around his temples right...

Here's a shot of him with two other Em4 P-A minis I did last year, just so you can see how much my painting style has changed between then and now. There's a big difference in only a year's time.

Minis by EM4, Bases by me!

Product Review: Tetris: The Card Game

2011-06-18T14:56:00.000-07:00

Most every American child of the 80's enjoyed the Nintendo game, Tetris. I played it, my wife played it, my friends played it. If you've been living under a very large rock, in the middle of the Sahara for the past 30 years, the mechanics and aim of Tetris were simple - assorted blocks of various shapes dropped down from the top of a matrix and the player must fit them into open spaces, eliminating blocks of lines as they are filled, without the running out of room. Simple.

Fundex has been nice enough to provide us with the game in card form, for those times when you lack either a Nintendo and/or electricity (or, as in my case, you simply have an addiction to picking up games that look odd and quirky). Tetris: The Card Game retails for $6.95USD and I was able to pick up a copy at Barnes & Noble. The box is small and light enough to be carried nearly anywhere without a problem.

The game consists of its instructions and 102 cards. Each card has 2 sides. The face (here called the "Tetrimino") has one specific block shape, while the reverse (called the "Matrix") has a set of blocks already in position within the Matrix.

The card game's mechanics are simple and straightforward, as shown in the pic above. Each player (in this example, we have 2 players - myself and my wife, Amanda) is dealt out 10 cards, arranged in 2 rows of 5 cards each in front of them. This is the Score Pile and is (usually) used simply to keep track of how many lines that player has completed. Each player is than dealt 1 card to make up their "hand" (here called the "Queue"). The remaining cards are placed, Matrix-side up, in the middle of the table to form a Draw pile. A Discard pile will be placed next to it.

Each turn the active player draws 1 card from the Draw pile and places it in their hand ("Queue"). The player then looks at the top card of the Draw pile to see what its Matrix looks like and consults his or her 2 cards. If one of those shapes on the "Tetrimino" can fit somewhere within that Matrix, the player places that shape in the Discard pile, tells the other players how it will fit and how many lines it will complete, and than turns over as many cards in their Score Pile as the number of lines completed.

If a player cannot place either of the shapes in their hand in the Matrix shown, the player must "Drop" 1 card into the Discard pile, gaining no score that turn. The first player to fill 10 lines/turn over 10 cards in their Score Pile wins.

In the example above, it's my first turn. I play the red shaped block into the Discard pile and say that it completes the 4th line from the bottom on the Matrix shown in the Draw pile. I than flip over 1 card in my Score Pile (in the lower right), to shown that I completed one line.

Later, my wife is able to complete the Matrix shown on the Draw Pile by placing her blue line block in the Discard pile and showing that it completes 2 lines. She than flips over 2 cards in her Score Pile, now needing to complete seven more lines to win.

Simple, right?

The fun comes in playing the "wild cards" on your opponent - Reverse, Power Up, Drop 2, Drop 4, and Bomb. Reverse allows the active player to change the direction in which play proceeds (normally clock-wise), which can be helpful in a multi-player game. Drop 2 (pictured below) and Drop 4 all force your opponent to "lose" 2 or 4 lines, respectively, from their Score Pile. In the pic below, I'd be forced to flip back over 2 of the 4 winning lines I have.

Bomb is another card useful in multi-player games, as it forces all other players (except the one playing it) to "lose" 1 line from their Score Pile.

Power Up is probably the most potentially powerful card in the game. When played, the player may switch the Power Up card with any card, still placed "Tetrimino" side up, in any players' Score Pile, take it into their hand, and then immediately try to place it in the Matrix shown. Depending on number of players, that means you could have anywhere from 1-40 cards to choose from. In the pic below, I swapped my Power Up with the purple shape block and completed 2 lines in the Matrix pictured.

Overall, this is a nice little game, easy for most players of all ages to master and a nice bit of 80s nostalgia.

Pros:

-Perfect for Nintendo/Tetris fans, capturing the feel of the video game in card form

-Cheap

-Easy to learn and carry around

Cons:

-NADA!

Arbites Ogryn Custodian/Jailer WIP

2011-06-16T13:18:00.000-07:00

Well, I got around to procuring a second-hand Blood Bowl Ogryn. I really liked the base model as it closely resembles an Arbites model with little extra work needed, it just needs a little cosmetic work and some weaponry. For the extra bits and bobs, I used a lot of leftover Inquisitor-scale (54mm) bitz. His Ripper Gun is a bolter from the Bolt Weapons pack and his keys/flail are from another Inquisitor model.

The main issue with this mini is the pose, which is much too static. As such, I shifted the waist to a slight right-leaning stance, positioned the left arm slightly forward while the right was brought inwards towards the torso. I also added some grenades from the Artemis Inquisitor model.
Now comes the greenstuff work!

Arbites Patrol #450

2011-06-06T17:01:00.001-07:00

FINALLY got around to painting these excellent old school GW Arbites figures. Believe it or not, they have been sitting in my drawer, primed, for almost 10 years now! These were some of the very first minis I ever bought way, way back in 1996.

The blue basecoat was laid down, zenithal-wise, with airbrush paint. Everything else is Reaper Pro Paints (which I'm becoming addicted to). This is also my first attempt at NMM...what do you think?

Miniatures by Games Workshop

Inquisimunda Updates - Let's Ride!!!

2011-06-04T12:03:00.001-07:00

I'm happy to announce that, in a fit of inspiration, there are now rules for riding beasts. Inspired partly by Warhammer Historical's great (but ill-fated) Legends of the Old West rules, the Rules Addendum now provides rules for mounting and unmounting beasts (and vehicles), shooting while mounted and at mounted riders, and Hand-to-Hand combat with mounted models.

With that in mind, there's also a new "Riding Skill" table and some new Beasts in the Beast Corral PDF. This list replaces the previous Bestiary with some extra beasts, updated rules, and some mounts. Additionally, there are now rules for "Burrowing" movement underground, as the Ambull is wont to do.

Enjoy!

Inquisimunda Updates & Arbites WIP Pics

2011-06-01T15:42:00.000-07:00

Way, wayyyy too much times on my hands right now so I've been perusing the Inquisimunda PDFs and doing some general housekeeping of the files. So far, I've gotten around to the following:

Species and Races have been edited and now include some more Tyranids and 3 different Necron models
The Expanded Armory (which I thought was done) also received some edits. Mostly stat changes for the Assault Cannon and a long-awaited correction the Shuriken Catapult. Also, the addition of some more Gauss weaponry and Jokaero Digital weapons
The Legendary Armory is now up! This provides rules for incorporating special Daemonic, Holy, and assorted Xenos weapons into Inquisimunda and are entirely optional.

Additionally, I've started my own warband of Adeptus Arbites to attempt to keep the peace around these parts. Considering these models sat in a drawer for 12 years, I'd say it's a good start!

Enjoy!

Henchman "Gary", Hench-4-Life

2011-05-30T08:07:00.000-07:00

For all you Venture Brothers fans, here's my Sci-Fi homage to Henchman #21, "Gary". Enjoy!

Miniature is by Heresy Miniatures, Base is by Dragon Forge Design.

Inquisimunda Updates - Hurray!

2011-05-27T14:57:00.000-07:00

Happy Memorial Day weekend, everyone!

To celebrate, I've updated a few of the Inquisimunda Resources for those of you seeking the downfall of the mighty Imperium! ("We'll throw a party and dance on the ashes of civilization....although it may be difficult to find restroom facilities for everyone...").

Chaos Covens receive an update to reflect the Beta rules for Mark of Chaos put out last week. Slaaneshi warbands will also find some nice new friends are now included to celebrate with. Genestealer Cults also receive some added biomass muscle and will want to check out the updated Species and Races list.

But never fear, defenders of the Imperium! You also have some updates in the Species and Races list - notably the Jokaero, for those of you clamoring for it since the release of Codex: Grey Knights.

Lizard with a Laser-gun!

2011-05-23T06:26:00.000-07:00

I seem to be doing pretty well lately with painting figures. This is a mini I picked up at Adepticon, he's from Badger Games and is called "Slee'Zan with Rifle VIII". Personally, I think he could do double duty as both a Tarellian in Inquisimunda and an alien bad guy in Doctor Who!

I based the color scheme on a real-world reptile, the European Green Lizard. The basic green bodywork was laid down using an airbrush with a mixture of Vallejo Livery Green and GW Goblin Green. It's blue front torso is GW Ice Blue.

The base is meant to portray a cooled lava floe and I achieved it by building up acrylic modeling paste in several layers and painting it with a black undercoat and successive drybrushings of lighter and lighter greys.

Happy Rapture Day!

2011-05-21T14:49:00.000-07:00

Well, it's 5/21/2011 and the end is nigh! To celebrate the occasion, I finished painting the Arch-Zealot of the Redemption today!

Happy End of the World, everyone!

Inquisimunda Updates - Hurray!

2011-05-20T16:06:00.001-07:00

Well, I finally got around to uploading the BETA rules for Xenos Strike Forces. They are available here. If you have any suggestions, as always, post a comment here or on the Inquisimunda forum itself. Sorry for the delay, as I've actually had the basic rules written and formatted since last month but, with Adepticon and everything else, it was hard to remember to publish them!

Additionally, I have added rules for Marks of Chaos directly to the Rules Addendum itself. You'll notice that any radical model can take a MoC, not just Radical Ordos or Chaos Coven members. I did this to expand a little on the options available to Hired Guns and to more "neutral" factions, like Mutant Mobs. Adding the rules straight to the addendum makes it easier for players who don't play Coven lists.

Enjoy!

MicroArt Preview Beautiful MDF Catwalks

2011-05-17T06:03:00.000-07:00

It looks like MicroArt is getting into laser-cut MDF terrain and their first planned release should have all Necromunda players jumping with glee. Here are some pics of the new "HDF Sci-Fi Catwalk" line of products:

No word on price yet, but here's the post on their site.

Product Review: Castle Ravenloft Tabletop Game

2011-05-16T06:25:00.000-07:00

Castle Ravenloft was the first expansion I was introduced to as a kid in the late 80s. I can always recall the interesting mix of gothic horror imagery in a fantasy setting and, being one of my first exposures to tabletop gaming, still holds a special place in my heart. Those of you who know me though, know that I'm not a big RPG player, due to either my penchant for being a visual thinker or my lack of any sizable attention span. Probably a little of both.

So, my interest was piqued when WOC introduced the Castle Ravenloft Board Game. My wife was able to track down a copy for me this past Christmas and, after not having a lot of time to play it earlier in the year, I finally got around to playing a few games.

The box cover (that's Count Strahd BTW, D&D's answer to Count Vlad Dracul)

First impressions - this box is substantial! It's roughly 15" square and about 6" deep and weighs in somewhere around 5 or 6 pounds. All markers/tiles/player cards are printed on thick, heavy-duty cardstock in full-color and must be "punched" out of the sheets they come in before playing. There also appears to be a thin plastic film over all the cardstock, so it slides well and seems better protected. Once finished, there's a plastic insert in the box designed to comfortably hold all the cards, tiles, markers, and figures (though I supplemented mine with some plastic baggies to keep everything tidy and easier to find).

The dungeon tiles (sturdy, colorful, and evocative!)

The box contents (PBR not included!)

As you can see in the picture above, there's certainly a lot of stuff included in the game. There's roughly 40 miniatures, 40 tiles, 10 Hero & (major) Villain tiles, 200 cards (divided into Hero Powers, Encounters, Monster, Treasure, and a few misc. decks), a rulebook, "adventure" book, a D20, and something like 200 various markers/tokens/counters.

As a person who loves miniatures, these certainly don't disappoint! All 40-some minis are cast in that semi-soft/hard plastic, which is sturdy enough to handle some abuse but could still be crushed with enough force. Moldlines are either non-existent or so well camouflaged that you can't notice them. Each "class" is cast in its own particular color - blue for Heroes, grey for Villains, off-white for undead, clear for spirits, and rust red for animals. Each mini has its name embossed in raised plastic under its base. A quick wash with some black ink would make the name and the details stand out well.

Obviously, the centerpiece is Gravestorm, the undead dragon. As you can see in the picture above, he's a good 6" or so tall and an imposing Villain. The "Spirits" are also very nicely sculpted and include a flaming Skeleton (née Ghost Rider) and a Wraith. Personally, I think the only weak point here are the Hero minis, which could have been more dynamic in their poses and (in the case of the Elf wizard and Dragonkin Fighter) much more substantial. That isn't to say they aren't nice, it's just that - after looking at all the cool monsters - everyone just wants to use those minis!

The Hero/Villain tiles

Gameplay is pretty straight-forward, let's call this "RPG lite". Players choose an adventure from the Adventure Book, choose a player character tile & model, and a set number of special Power cards. These can be anything from certain attacks, to healing powers, to magic. Each PC has 4 attributes and one constant "complimentary" power that helps other PCs. The 4 attributes are:

AC (Armor Class) - your defense. Traps, attacks, and magic must roll higher then this amount to damage the PC

HP (Hit Points) - your life. Each attack causes a certain amount of damage, which is subtracted from your HP. If a PC's HP reaches 0 at the beginning of his Hero Phase, and he cannot heal with a Healing Surge, ALL PCs lose!

Speed - the distance you can move in squares. Each dungeon tile is 4x4 squares (not counting walls)

Surge Value - the amount of HP you regain when a Healing Surge is used.

Right out of the gate, there's an issue here - Monsters & Villains both lack a Speed attribute. This can be confusing as, when a monster activates in the Villain phase (more below) and must "move", it simply moves 1-3 tiles towards the Heroes (usually). But there's no mechanism for where within the tile the monster moves to. This is both good and bad. For new players (especially new gamers entirely) this is abstract and simplistic enough to (generally) get the monsters into an attack on the heroes). For more experienced players, it can get confusing and a little boring at times.

Anyway, moving on, let me show you the first Adventure - a solo adventure named "Escape The Tomb". Here, the PC is trapped in the Strahd's Crypt tile and must escape to the Secret Staircase tile before the sun sets and Strahd awakes.

"Forever Alone."

The initial setup. I've taken my PC tile, a selection of 5 Power cards, 1 Treasure card (to represent booty from previous adventures), the Strahd Villain figure and tile (not in play yet), and placed the Hero figure on the Strahd's Crypt tile. I then shuffle the Secret Stairway tile into the Dungeon tile stack somewhere after the 8th tile down.

The first phase is Hero Phase. The active PC can either Move+Move, Move+Attack, or Attack+Move. Here, I've chosen to do nothing as, when you hit an Unexplored Edge (a tile edge with an unoccupied square that does not have another tile next to it, yet) you must stop. Next phase is Exploration. As I'm the active PC (well, the only PC, technically) and I'm on an Unexplored Edge, I take the first tile from the top of the stack and lay it with it's arrow facing my edge.

The new tile has a black square so I must draw an Encounter card. I draw the Spear Gauntlet trap. Not good! I lay the relevant trap marker down on my current tile (Strahd's Crypt) and keep the Trap card in my "Monster pile". The next phase is Villain phase, any monsters or traps I have in my "Monster pile" now activate, so (since I occupy a tile with a trap on it) I roll the D20, add the trap's Attack value, and compare the total to my AC.

Balderdash! The total is 21, 4 more than my PC's armor class of 17. I therefore take 3 damage and subtract 3 HP. No more monsters or traps so I go again. Hero Phase = Move+Move to the next Unexplored Edge. Exploration Phase = I draw another Dungeon tile (this time a hallway, black spaces are walls), an Encounter card calling for a Monster, and Mr. Flaming Skeleton arrives (into my "Monster Pile" he goes).

In this Villain phase, I now have a Trap and a Monster and each are activated in the order I drew them. First, the Spear Gauntlet is still within 1 tile of my PC, so can still attack. I roll but it does not exceed my AC, so it does no damage. Mr. Flaming Skeleton ("'Ello!") then activates and I follow the Tactics on his card. He's in the tile adjacent to me, so moves unto my tile and attacks with a fireball, so I roll the D20 again and add it's Attack value. A miss, so I take no damage ("'Cor blimey, guv'nah!")

This Hero phase I decide to Move+Attack. I move away 5 squares into the adjacent tile and use my Necklace of Fireballs card on Mr. Flaming Skeleton. It hits and does 1 damage. Mr. FS now has 1 HP. I've come into contact with another Unexplored Edge so I draw a Dungeon tile with a black triangle. The Encounter card I draw is Ambush. I roll the D20, add the Attack value, and am hit. I take no damage from the Ambush but suffer a Slowed condition, reducing my Speed to 2 (squares) until the end of my (next) Hero phase. Mr. FS attacks in the Villain phase but misses.

In the next Hero phase, I Move+Move to the next Unexplored Edge, draw a Dungeon tile with a white triangle (in this adventure meaning that the "Sun" sets 1 space lower to sunset and Strahd's awakening), no Encounter is drawn (because of the white triangle), and Mr. FS (being out of attack range, or 1 adjacent tile from me) moves 1 tile towards me.

With the slowed condition discarded, I elect to again Move+Move, again draw a Dungeon tile, an Encounter card ("Deadly Shadows" - which is discarded as it only affects a game of 2+ PCs), and Mr. FS moves another tile closer to me and attacks, missing.

In this Hero phase, I've elected to Attack+Move. I use my Trapping Strike power, roll D20, add Attack value, and hit; killing Mr. FS. I now remove the Mr. FS mini, take his card and its' Experience Points, and draw 1 Treasure card for my use. I then move 5 squares to the next UE, draw another white triangled Dungeon tile ("Strahd's right eye twitches in the darkness...").

Experience from destroyed monsters is handled in 2 ways. If I have 5 or more EXP and a PC draws an Encounter card I don't want, I may spend 5 EXP to cancel that card. Additionally, if my PC rolls a natural 20 on the D20, I can spend 5 EXP, flip my PC tile over, and now use the Level 2 PC on this side, who's obviously a little tougher.

Nothing really happens for a few turns until I draw the "Cyrus" Encounter card, what I refer to as the "Why-the-hell-did-you-follow-an-Igor-you-fool?" card. I draw a Dungeon tile, move to it, then draw 2 Monsters (a Gargoyle & Kobold Skirmisher).

There's a lot of back and forth and Running Away going on and inevitably, I reach 0 HP and decide to use one of my Healing Surges, bringing me back to 5HP and keeping me in the fight.

I'm eventually able to defeat the Kobold, gain a treasure, and move to reveal the Secret Staircase just as Strahd wakes up. The end!

Pros:

-Quick, easily accessible gameplay for all players

-Nicely sculpted miniatures & full-color Dungeon tiles

-Big list of adventures

-Real sense of cooperation in multi-player games

-Sense of escalating terror reinforced by Encounter mechanism

-Reasonably priced @ ~$60USD

Cons:

-No movement attribute for monsters , can be frustrating and confusing

-Some villains can be insanely powerful (i.e. Klak the Sorceror and his Teleportation/Horde of Monsters tactics)

-May be too simplistic for "Hardcore" D&D players

-Being forced to split from other players/team may mean near-automatic failure

-No expansions scheduled for release; though game is compatible with Legend of Drizzt and Wrath of Ashardolan games (thanks to TheMightyFlip on Lead Adventure for this info)

-PCs may only "level up" to Level 2

Eldar Void Dragon Phoenix

2011-05-13T09:55:00.000-07:00

Well, I finally got around to finishing up the Forgeworld Eldar Void Phoenix I picked up secondhand last summer, unfortunately the previous owner's prime job wasn't the best and it started to pull away in certain areas when I laid the first coat of paint down! So, if you look closely you can see there's some peeling in the crevices. As such, I didn't go through as much of an effort as I had planned, as I know I'll eventually just have to strip it again and start from scratc

Dark Eldar Wave 2 Releases

2011-05-11T11:04:00.000-07:00

GW finally posted wave 2 of their Dark Eldar line, notably the Battleforce set, Talos, Chronos, Venom, and Scourges. I'm quite impressed by the Talos (which will be remarkable as a Chimerea for Inquisimunda) and the Venom transport (also good for Inquisimunda, and Eldar Corsairs).

FOW T-34 Pansaaris

2011-05-07T07:10:00.000-07:00

In addition to the objectives, I also got around to finishing my captured T-34 Pansaari platoon. These represent T-34s captured during the fighting of 1943. First, is the command T-34/85 (so named due to the up-gunned larger turret with an 85mm cannon). Very few of these tanks were captured by the Finns but they were highly prized, some serving well into the Cold War era. This tank will serve as the CC tank of the Pansaari Kompania I'll be putting together once I can get some Zvezda T-26s and 2 T-28s.

It is still in its original Russian dark green color. The three skulls are an imaginary affectation I included.

The three T-34/76s will primarily serve as Armor support for my Rajajaakari. They are painted in the 3-tone "spring" camouflage pattern many Pansaari units hastily adopted in 1944. Unfortunately, this was a difficult scheme to duplicate as there is no "standard" pattern, other than artist's interpretations. Surviving examples seem to show both an overall "waveband" pattern (brown/green/light grey/etc. along the entire hull) and a brown/green "waveband" pattern with light grey splinters, depending on the vehicle. I've chosen to do the latter.

Haakaristis (often confused with swastikas by the casual observer) are placed in their historically accurate areas, notably the front glacis, rear turret, and both right and left sides of the forward turret.

AndreasLarka.net was a huge help with these paint schemes.

FOW Finnish Objectives

2011-05-06T07:00:00.000-07:00

I finally got around to finishing up my objectives for the Finnish Rajajaakari Kompania (Finnish "border jaegars" or border guards) for the Mid- to Late-War periods. On the left is a KO'd Russian T-34/85 tank and on the right is a small troop shelter/bunker.

The T-34 is an extra I had left over from the PSC boxed set (you can see unpainted pics here), with the addition of 2 Battlefront Jalkavaki figs and a Russian crewman. The tank slogan can be loosely described as "what the T-34 crew is thinking right now". Other than the crewman, the tank is basically stock. Both the slogan and the Soviet markings are hand-painted.

The troop shelter was built using bamboo skewers for the 'logs', some scale lumber, and a metal tube for the stovepipe. I may (eventually) change this objective into something more interesting but, it'll do for now.

RPG Documentary Now on Hulu

2011-05-04T08:56:00.000-07:00

"The Dungeon Master", a 2008 documentary following the lives of 3 RPG game masters, is now available on Hulu.

Ainsty Classic Doctor Who Pieces

2011-05-03T14:05:00.000-07:00

Ainsty Castings, bought several years back by Old Crow Models, recently returned to its own ownership and subsequently released several "classic" Doctor Who pieces. The range includes:

The "Constabulary Communications Cabinet" - both clear and blue

and the Central Console

All are available under their "Professor What?" range.

Converting Axis & Allies Panhard AMD-35s for FOW

2011-04-22T16:33:00.000-07:00

I recently found out via TMP that the second version of Axis & Allies collectible miniatures are now "true" 15mm - at least the vehicles and infantry. Always looking for cheap alternatives to Battlefront miniatures, I was intrigued, so I went over to CoolStuffInc and ordered an entire platoon of Panhard AMD-35s for $7.50 shipped! Technically, this miniature is the captured German version of the AMD-35, the Panzerspahwagen 204(f) from the North Africa expansion.

Here are the AMD-35s as I received them. What I initially thought was a poor casting line on the left side of the turret is actually correct. Unfortunately, I learned that after I had cut down the turret and made it even.

The biggest problem are the front wheels are the incorrect width, much wider than the back wheels (which are just about right). I was able to solve this by sanding down the inside of the wheels with my dremel and then finishing them off with a jeweler's file.

The second problem (which may not be one to some gamers) is the flange on the turret. This holds the turret down unto the body itself. The turret is still able to turn with or without it, but it's not easy to take the turret off (to add smoke) with the flange in place. I simply cut mine off with an X-acto blade.

The pic above shows that these minis really are true 15mm, this is the 204(f) next to a stand of Forged in Battle French infantry.

First, clean the mold lines. There were only a very few - 2 under each rear storage panier and some excess flash on the inside of the wheels, easily scrapped down with the edge of an X-acto blade.

Here, I cut off the commander's hatch and then, using a Dremel burr grinder, bored a shallow hole under where the hatch was. Then, using the cut-off hatch, I cut a replacement hatch out of thin plasticard and glued it in the "open" position. I then took a spare French artillery crewman, cut off his legs, and glued him into the open hatch.

To make the unique radio aerials that the AMD command car was equipped with, I took a 20mm length of guitar string and unwound the outer string with pliers, leaving a 1-2mm length of outside wire at the bottom to simulate the aerial mounts.

By unwinding the opposite wire, I was able to make enough wire to mount the aerial itself on the rear fender. The nice part about the AA mini is that there is a small upraised circle molded into the fender right where the rear aerial would be mounted.

To mount the front aerial, I cut a small length of plasticard tubing and glued it into the front left fender.

To give the minis a little weight, I simply used some spare pewter slottatabs from 25mm minis and glued them inside the body.

After the addition of some stowage made from greenstuff and a second crewman mounted in the turret rear doors, the cars were almost done. The only thing missing was a small armored visor on the front driver's hatch and one on the rear drivers hatch. I simply cut and glued some plasticard strips on them and they were perfect!

Before priming and painting, be sure to wash your Axis and Allies minis in very warm water with dishwashing liquid and to rinse them well!

Total savings vs. Battlefront AMD-35 platoon - $37!

THE most expensive WW2 rulebook...

2011-04-13T13:05:00.000-07:00

Now that Warhammer Historical has been subsumed under the umbrella of Forge World, it was only inevitable that their prices would rise....this is just ridiculous though.

Today, WH-H announced their new 20mm ruleset Kampfgruppe Normandy, a 348-page rulebook for only.....(wait for it)....$78USD!!!

No one can complain about Battlefront being too expensive now...

Product Review: Plastic Soldier Co. Russian T-34 tanks

2011-04-10T11:07:00.000-07:00

Ever since I've been interested in Flames of War, I've been looking for a cheaper way to field armour. Coming from 40K, $8-10 per tank isn't too bad but, when you want to field them in large numbers or they become an ancillary part of your army list, it just doesn't make sense to drop $40-50.

To fill that inexpensive niche, Plastic Soldier Co. (along with Russian model maker, Zvezda) has started to release several new hard plastic 1/100 scale kits. PSC released this T-34 boxed set along with a Russian infantry set (not reviewed here because I play Finns, not Russians). There's also word on TMP that PSC is set to release a Panzer IV kit, which may also be of interest to Finnish players (contrary to Battlefront's army lists, Finland did field a few PzIVs in the Late War period.).

This set includes parts to assemble both T-34s, armed with either 76mm guns or 85mm guns. Because the sprues include separate turrets, guns, and hatches for each version you could easily assemble everything included and just switch out the turrets to suit your army list! I purchased my set from Sgt. Major Miniatures, who seem to be the only US distributor.

For 5 tanks, I only paid $31 including Priority Mail postage. That's less than $6 a tank!

Packaging is fairly neat and spartan; all five sprues fit into a 6" square box. There are no paper instructions but a diagram on the back of the box shows how to assemble and paint the tanks. While the sprues are well-organized, I would suggest going over the assembly diagram and dry-fitting parts when you begin assembling your first tank.

Assembly (once you get the hang of it) is simple and quick. One of the few bad things about this kit is the fact that the chassis doesn't fully connect with the tank body, leaving a small void right behind the upper track assembly. While this is fairly well-covered by the tracks and the wheels, if you plan to remove/bend/damage the fenders and/or wreck one or two of them (like I did in my objective below), the void may be noticeable and will have to be filled with putty.

The body is (mostly) a one-piece casting. For some reason, the engine deck is a separate piece that is glued unto the body rear. Additionally, the hull machine gun ball is also a separate piece - be very careful not to lose it!

Both turrets are in 2 pieces. On the 76mm turret, the upper piece slots internally unto the lower turret piece. On the 85mm turret, both pieces are joined just near the bottom, this unfortunately leaves a small joint in the side of the turret. It can be solved by cutting off the extra plastic from the inside of the top turret piece to either side of the main gun. Additionally, the 85mm gun must be placed or glued unto the bottom turret piece before joining both halves (remember what I said about dry-fitting!?). On the 76mm gun, the mantlet and gun are a separate piece. The hatches are separate, so can be modeled open or shut.

The road wheels are all one piece and the diagram doesn't make it very clear which way they face. I had to look up reference photos to figure it out! FYI, the smaller wheel (pictured below, on the right) goes towards the front.

Below is a Battlefront Finnish rifleman for reference to scale. The height and width seem just right for 15mm, even though I'm not too bothered about exact scale size. All in all, assembly (including the objective) took me only about 4 hours.

Making the wreck for this objective was relatively easy. I scrapped off the molded-on tow cable from the left fender, using my #428 Dremel wire brush and also thinned it out, which made the damage look more realistic. I also cut out the rear engine access hatch using a scribing tool and an Xacto, so that it looks like it popped open from the blast.

I then punched a ragged hole in the left rear of the tank body from the AT shell. I then took an extra Russian crewman, cut off his legs, glued him into the hatch, and then glued both hatches down (but slightly open).

Next, I took the left wheel assembly, cut off the rear wheel, and bent the last bogey at an odd angle. Then, I cut off about 2mm of the tracks and (using the extra track links) glued them unto the bottom track assembly, so it appears the tank moved a few feet before meeting it's end. Some Finnish riflemen and tree stumps and it was complete!

Pros:

-CHEAP!

-Great quality

-Relatively easy to assemble (if you take your time)

-Extra bits (stowage bins, fuel drums, extra track, & commander) included

Cons:

-Small gap between chassis and body

-Joint in 85mm turret

-No decals

-Tow cable molded into left fender about halfway back

RIP Brandon Kutka of Black Sun Games

2011-04-07T08:58:00.000-07:00

Brandon Kutka, co-owner of my FLGS Black Sun Games, passed away last night at the age of 40. Unbeknownst to most all of my fellow players, he was suffering from leukemia and passed due to complications.

I'm not entirely sure what to say but I think he deserves to be remembered here, since his (and fellow co-owner Tom Wright's) store, really got me back into gaming seriously when they opened in 2008. I can't say we were close friends - we didn't hang out or talk much beyond gaming - but we were acquaintances and I'm definitely going to miss seeing him around.

Felix's blog has a nice tribute, as well.

It's not much, but I've made a small donation to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society in his name. If you'd like to make a donation as well, you can do so here.

Additionally, a collection has been setup at the store to help his family defray medical costs.

Adepticon 2011 Coverage Part 2

2011-04-05T05:33:00.000-07:00

SUNDAY

Sunday tends to be a full day for me. For the past 3 years, I've run the Necromunda tournament on Sunday, usually between 10-4. This year we got a late start, going from 11:30 to 4:30pm. By Sunday, most of the events are winding down and it's been rather difficult to get attendees.

To drum up attendance and be more accomodating to 40K players (who are generally playing in the Gladiator or Team tournaments during the day), next year I'm going to run 'Necromunda by Night', an evening tournament that includes special conditions as the night wears on.

Necromunda Tournament

This year I expanded the rules a bit to include elements from Inquisimunda. The 2011 scenario pack is a good way for newcomers to Inquisimunda to get into the added complexity beyond the rules for Necromunda itself.

Anton Zaleski's Spyrers (with Ogryn buddy) try to hide from incoming fire.

Jason Lewis' Van Saars surround The Stranger (the only surviving member of Matt Sears' Escher gang)!

Tyler Brummit's Orlocks fire from cover, as Mike Donaker's Sniper stealthily deploys atop the watertower...

Shawn's Redemptionists rush forward to burn the heretics!

I was answering so many questions (you know who you are!), I figured I'd try and make some money!....

Can't blame a guy for trying...

Mike Donaker's Orlock Heavy and Sniper hired gun search for targets...

As always, prize support is awesome, even for a tiny tournament with 6 players!

First place this year went to Mike Donaker, who's Arbites-inspired Orlocks took the field with 34 total points. Second place went to Anton Zaleski and his Spyrers with 31 total points. Third place went to Shawn G., the first Redemptionist player we've ever had, with 29 total points.

Thanks again to all the players and staff who helped make this tournament what it is!

That's all, folks! So long...and thanks for all the fish.

Adepticon 2011 Coverage Part 1

2011-04-03T17:51:00.000-07:00

Well, another Adepticon has come and gone.

I feel like I can finally take a deep breath after so many weeks and months of hard work, intense concentration, and nervousness. After 3 years of playing, organizing, and running an event, I wish I could say that things get easier....but life has a funny way of throwing a wrench in even the best planned mechanisms and it can be pretty difficult to focus on gaming with tiny metal miniatures when things like "real life" are hard.

It's rewarding in the end though. All that hard work, all the frustration really does pay off when you get an entire weekend devoted solely to a hobby you love and enjoy. It's especially rewarding to watch players truly enjoy the work you've put into a tournament. My superego would probably say that I simply enjoy the praise but it's much more than that - it's watching something you've created come to fruition and the happiness that creation engenders in other people.

But, I digress.....on with the pretty pictures!

FRIDAY

I do this every year....I queue up for pre-registration and then figure out, 15 minutes later and halfway to the front, that I'm in the wrong damn line!

Flames Of War - Early War Tournament

I had registered for the Early War FOW tournament organized by Game Korps only about 2 month ago. Being really new to FOW and having a relatively simplistic grasp of the ruleset, I can say I was more than a bit intimidated going into it with so many other players. And, I made the mistake of getting in the wrong line again....*sigh*

I will say though, that this was one of the best tournies I've ever had the pleasure of participating in. All the players were pretty laid-back, my opponents were willing to let me take my time, and by the end (in 3rd to last place) I was simply playing for the hell of it!

The tables were absolutely stunning (with many pieces being supplied by Battlefield Accessories):

As were many of the other player's armies:

As I wrote about before, I tried to do something very historically accurate in the French 59th DLI. Inevitably, this ending up replicating the spring of 1940 in miniature, with lone French units getting cut off and surrounded by Axis forces.

In the end, I finished 3rd to last but....I won Best Painted Allied Army, ending up with a nice award and some Polish Tankettes (looks like I have the start of another EW force for next year).

Flames Of War - Mid-War Tournament

On the other side of the Harry Caray ballroom was the Mid-War tournament. I didn't play in this but it was fun to see everyone's armies and watch a few games. Not having much to do, I returned Saturday with my grandfather so he could watch and we spent about 2 hours just looking around and watching the various games.

If I can get my Finnish RajaJakaari Kompania finished by next winter, I may just enter...

Flames Of War - D-day Omaha Beach Landing Demo Game

I really can't say enough good things about this. Probably the nicest made, most intensely researched demo game I've ever had a chance to play in. Evocative, fun, and hard as hell to win!

SATURDAY

Being ineligible to play on the Malifaux tournie I'd entered, I returned late Saturday to poke around....

Coolminiornot Booth & Crystal Brush Awards

CMON was a newcomer to the vendor hall this year and they made quite an impression. Most everyone I spoke with asked if I had visited their booth yet and the actual presentation did not disappoint.

I haven't received any further emails from Soda Pop Miniatures (even though I'm signed up as part of their marketing program) but it appears that several new enemy miniatures are coming out for the intriguing Super Dungeon Explore game, notably Dragons...

I had also entered my Eldar Farseer in the Crystal Brush painting contest. I didn't win anything (and certainly didn't expect to) but it was fun to see him next to so many other nicely painted minis.

Marike Reimer (of Destroyer Minis) was able to take home the $13K prize this year and she certainly deserved it! I was able to talk with her a little on Saturday as she painted an anthropomorphic Red Panda. She was gracious, and inviting, and a true professional.

Who knows? Maybe next year I'll have a real chance at winning....

Privateer Press Games & Displays

(IIRC) Returning for their 2nd year, Privateer Press also made a good impression on me. Their display tables were simply amazing and it appeared that they had a really robust prize support for their tournaments. Their staff seemed really professional and willing to teach new players. Those Croc-men miniatures might actually get me to play!

40K Team Tournament

As always with the 40kTT, there are just too many great armies to photograph and discribe.

Continued...

Sadly Relevant - Harry Coover R.I.P.

2011-03-30T12:43:00.001-07:00

The Washington Post reported Monday that Harry Coover, age 94, has passed away due to heart failure.

How does this relate to gaming? Mr. Coover was the inventor of Super Glue.

It's discovery is tangentially related to wargaming, as well:

In 1942, as a chemist with Eastman Kodak, Dr. Coover was tasked with developing a plastic rifle sight for use in World War II. One of the compounds he tested, cyanoacrylate, was incredibly durable but had one annoying drawback.

Road To Adepticon: The Malifaux & Co. Puppet Show

2011-03-26T08:25:00.000-07:00

Well, I finished my Malifaux crew last Wednesday. Unfortunately, I was then informed that the Malifaux Adepticon tournament would not accept proxy miniatures! So, I now have al day Saturday free...and it looks like I'll be entering this in the painting competition.

Collodi's Marionettes - these are TOR Gaming's 'Britanan Troopers' and carry over Collodi's general appearance and uniform colors. While I really like these minis, pinning their tiny wooden legs to the display bases was an absolute nightmare. You can tell, by looking closely, exactly where I punched through the leg and had to repair it with CA glue (as the mini was already painted).

The Wicked Dolls - Again, these minis are from TOR Gaming, the 'Britanan Grenadiers'. While they suffer from the Troopers brittle legs, they were a little easier to assemble. Since I wanted these dolls to be easily distinguishable from the Marionettes on the tabletop, they are painted in a bright orange color which, unfortunately, pictures can't do justice to. Out of all the models in this crew, these little guys are my favorites.

Insidious Madness - this proxy mini began life as a D&D pre-paint, I then used it in the 1st Adepticon Necromunda tournament as one of the "monsters" in the 'It Came From The Sump' scenario, and finally it ends here. I cut off the integral base, scraped off what little paint there was (the mini is actually clear, which makes it perfect for a ghost), then repainted the 3 tongues and teeth. After a coat of gloss varnish, it was done.

And, one final behind-the-scenes shot! Enjoy!

The Road To Adepticon: Un citoyen va à la guerre pour la France

2011-03-25T13:39:00.000-07:00

'We have gone to war with a 1918 army against a German army of 1939. It is sheer madness.'

-General Weygand, in conversation with French PM Reynaud 25 May 1940

This Early War force represents elements of the 59eme Division Legere D'Infantrie (59th DLI) shortly after the German breakthrough at Sedan, upon its formation around 20 May 1940. The French Light Infantry Divisions began forming from the scattered elements of both Active and Reserve Infantry Divisions that were routed after the fall of the Meuse River defense line.

Before the breakthrough, the French GHQ - fatally believing in the 'impenetrability' of the Ardennes forest to German mechanized divisions - stationed several Reserve Infantry Divisions along the Meuse River in X Corps, under the command of Gen. Huntzinger.

Contrary to popular belief, many of these divisions initially had high morale and unit cohesion. However, due to constant shifting of units and changes in leadership (including the imprisonment of an officer for performing target practice with one of the division's few anti-tank guns) led to confusion. The divisions were further handicapped by having little to no anti-tank and anti-aircraft weaponry.

Unfortunately, the Ardennes had no measurable effect on delaying Guderian's Panzer divisions. Sedan was the 'hinge' upon which the Wehrmacht's "Sickle Cut" would begin, pushing enemy divisions into the Allied rear and towards the coast, dividing the Allied forces in two. On May 12th, lead elements of the Wehrmacht crossed the Meuse and entered the city of Sedan against little resistance. As German forces advanced beyond Sedan, they met stiff resistance and heavy artillery fire. These successes were short-lived as Luftwaffe air attacks, and the X Corps virtual inability to counter them with either AA fire or fighter interception, led to a general rout of French forces.

A counterattack by French armor on the 14th came too late to exploit the Panzer

divisions' precarious hold on its bridgehead on the 13th and suffered heavy losses. By 17 May, German forces had broken through the French lines and began driving, unopposed, to the coast.

On 20-21 May, surviving elements of the 55th Reserve Division, 71st Reserve Division, 147th Fortress Infantry, & 7th Tank Battalion were re-organized under the 59th DLI. It is represented as accurately as possible by containing no anti-aircraft or anti-tank weaponry, having a depleted Fusiliers platoon, strong artillery support (X Corps possessed nearly 200 artillery pieces before the fall of Sedan), and R-35 tanks (standing in for the more common FCM-36).

59eme DLI

HQ Platoon

CC Rifle Team, 2iC Rifle Team

60mm Mortar Team

Resupply Section (3x Renault UE Carriers)

Combat Platoons

Fusiliers-Voltigeurs Platoon (Cmd. Rifle Team, VB Team, 6x Rifle/MG Teams)

Fusiliers-Voltigeurs Platoon (Cmd. Rifle Team, VB Team, 4x Rifle/MG Teams)

Weapons Platoons

Fusiliers-Voltigeurs HMG Platoon (Cmd. Rifle Team, 4x HMG Teams)

Support Platoons

Fusilier-Voltigeurs Mortar Platoon (Cmd. Rifle Team, Obs. Rifle Team, 4x 81mm Mortar Teams)
Horse-Drawn 75mm Artillery Battery (Cmd. Rifle Team, Obs. Rifle Team, 4x 75mm Artillery Teams)
Light Tank Platoon (3x Renault R-35s)

Pics coming soon!

Munchkin + Axe Cop = EPIC!

2011-03-11T09:10:00.000-08:00

Well, just when I thought the legendary saga of the comic "Axe Cop" couldn't get any more awesome, Steve Jackson Games announced today that the newest expansion to their genre-spanning card game Munchkin will be.....Munchkin: Axe Cop!

From the Daily Illuminator:

"So . . . you guessed it . . . that big new Munchkin announcement we've been promising is Munchkin Axe Cop!

Axe Cop and Munchkin are a perfect match. Doing this project will be total fun for me. Axe CopMunchkin story . . . kill the bad guys, take their stuff, and level up! has a manic energy that goes with the

Munchkin Axe Cop will be a third-quarter release, featuring the art of Ethan Nicolle. It will be a stand-alone Munchkin core set."

If you're unfamiliar with Axe Cop, it began as a collaboration between Ethan Nicolle (the comic's 29-year old illustrator) and his 5-year-old brother, Malachai (who comes up with the storylines and characters). Yes, you heard that right, it's a comic essentially written by a kid...and it's awesome.

Road To Adepticon: Malifaux Collodi & Zoraida

2011-03-11T07:08:00.001-08:00

My Malifaux "Collodi" - the puppetmaster. Since there's no 'official' miniature for this character yet, I simply took an Iron Kingdoms Curator (adding a GS-sculpted hat) and replaced the Discerning Beast with an OOP GW Marrionette Familiar.

This is obviously Zoriada - the voodoo witch. I GS-sculpted her dress as I thought the original model was a little gratuitous, rather than menacing. Her Voodoo Dolls (while nice) were really difficult to paint with any kind of definition. It's a shame too, because they're such an interesting touch.

Finally, here's another preview shot of the puppet stage display base. Enjoy!

A Fantasy Skirmish System? What would YOU like to see?

2011-03-10T11:40:00.000-08:00

Prior to my work on Inquisimunda, I had thought a lot about developing a system that mixes elements of both tabletop gaming and role-playing games. I'm sure there are a lot of gamers who think "well, there's always Mordheim." and I do agree. However, I've found Mordheim to be more than a little restrictive with model/warband types and constrained by focusing on the GW Warhammer world.

My idea is to develop a system whereby players can take miniatures from ANY manufacturer and build small-sized forces from the ground up. The system would be primarily focused on 28/30mm models, but could easily be adapted to larger (40mm, 54mm) or smaller (15mm) scales. For example, I have a few old Rackham Ophidians and some Reaper human figs and I'd like to make a force with them. The system would then be:

-First, choose Race/Species; giving basic cost and stats
-Next, choose background; giving access to initial skills, weapons, and classes
-Choose Class
-Choose weapons, armor, & equipment
-Costing complete, unless choosing an initial upgrade such as veteran, leader, etc.

Do this for each and every model in your group. All players then choose an initial unit cost cap (think '1000pt game') and play their game(s). Additionally, there would be a campaign system so players could link games, build skills, increase stats, etc. Each class would have it's own skill "tree", with the option of limited Class-switching at certain experience levels.

This is the basic framework I'd like to provide players with but I'm sure I've left many good ideas out. My question is - what do you think? If you're interested, what are some things you'd like to see incorporated into a ruleset such as this?

Feel free to respond in comments or join the discussions at Dakkadakka or Bartertown

The Road To Adepticon: Only 1 Day Left to Register!

2011-03-10T10:30:00.000-08:00

Just so everyone's aware, there's currently 29 hours left to register for Adepticon, if you haven't already done so. The webcart closes tomorrow at 5:00pm CST.

There are still 5 spots left in the Necromunda tournament, as well. Information available here.

With 22 days left, I've just finished my Malifaux crew and pics should be incoming within the next few days. Additionally, I've already started putting together my Early War French Fusiliers-Voltigeurs Company and should have some WIP shots coming this weekend and/or next week.

Space Marines have officially 'Jumped The Shark'

2011-03-09T10:20:00.001-08:00

Grey Knights are now on Advance Order, the "new" DreadKnight above can be yours for the astronomical price of $53.75! And new plastic Grey Knights can be yours for $33 for 5 models.

Hurray.....?

To save or not to save? Voluntarily Failing Armor Saves

2011-02-25T07:50:00.001-08:00

My 6+ Armor Save defeats all incoming attacks!

A thread on the Adeptus Windy City forums recently came up re: players "purposely" failing armor saves in 40K. Several users have come out in support of players "volunteering" to fail a save, whilst some are interpreting the rules as players must make any valid armor saves.

I've played 40K for awhile now, though not so much recently, and I've always felt that both RAW and player etiquette is consistent on this issue - if a player wishes, he/she is not forced to make any armor saves, even for those which may be valid.

The rules for taking an armor save states the following - "Before he removes any casualties, the owning player can test to see whether his troops avoid the damage by making a saving throw." (p. 20)

In this instance, the term 'can' is paramount. This term denotes a choice on the controlling player's part. Whenever a roll or rule is mandatory in RAW, the term 'can' or 'may' is non-existent or the term 'must' is used.

In every other instance of the terms "can/may" coming up in the rulebook, they are considered to be optional and their use is at the discretion of the controlling player. Would anyone say that the following are also mandatory?

Rapid Fire Weapons - p.28

"Models armed with rapid fire weapons can move and fire two shots...models armed with rapid fire weapons may instead fire one shot..."

Consolidation - p.40

"...they may consolidate. This means that they may move D6"..."

IC joining units - p.48

"They can join other indepedent characters...alternatively, an independent character may begin the game already with a unit...an independent character can leave a unit during the Movement phase...

Psychic Powers - p.50

"Psykers can use one psychic power per turn."

Force Weapons -p.50

"The psyker may then take a psychic test to use the weapon's power..."

USRs - p.74-76

May/can are used throughout to denote player choice. Must is used when a rule or roll is mandatory.

In support of the argument that armor saves are mandatory, several users point to subsequent rules which state the term 'must'. For example:

"Roll a D6 for each wound the model has suffered from incoming fire and compare the results to the model's Sv characteristic. If the dice result is equal to or greater Sv value, the wound is stopped." - p. 20

But all these instances are written upon the proposition that the controlling player has already decided to attempt an armor save. As such, they neither make their antecedent rule mandatory nor explain it. Additionally, rules in latter sections again use the terms 'can' & 'may' in relation to taking saving throws, specifically:

"Invulnerable saves are different from armour saves because they may always be taken...even if a wound normally ignores all armour saves, an invulnerable saving throw may still be taken." -p. 20

"...you can carry straight on and roll the saves in one batch....Models struck and wounded in close combat can attempt armour saves...even if the rules for a weapon or attack states that no armour save is allowed, an invulnerable save may be taken..." - p. 39

Even Space Marine armour fails occasionally

Additionally, mandatory rule supporters attempt to argue that the terms 'can' & 'may' grant permission, and this means that the permission is situational (i.e. that is a save cannot be made because of AP, etc., then is it ever not taken"). However, a look at the definitions of rules versus permissions clears this up:

Permission
[per-mish-uhn]
–noun
1. authorization granted to do something; formal consent:

Rule
[rool]
–noun
1. a principle or regulation governing conduct, action, procedure, arrangement, etc.: the rules of chess.

The latter governs procedures, the former grants consent. Permitting someone to do something is different then making them do something. If someone were to tell me "You can buy this miniature.", it doesn't mean I must buy said miniature.

It appears that this issue may be addressed in the INAT FAQ and I can only hope that the council rules in favor of voluntarily failing armor saves.

Road To Adepticon: Malifaux Puppets

2011-02-18T08:20:00.000-08:00

One of the tournaments I'll be playing in at Adepticon is the Malifaux 40-Soulstone Brawl that runs most of the day Saturday. I had originally wanted to do Collette Du Bois and her Showgirls, but realized that, even at 40 Soulstones, I'd only be able to take a handful of showgirls, with Collette and Cassandra.

Instead, I decided to do a Collodi & Zoraida "Evil Puppet Show" theme. Along with Collodi & Zoraida, I'm doing about 4 Wicked Dolls, 1-2 Marionettes, 2 Stitched Togethers, & a Voodoo Doll mounted on an integral "stage" display base. Here's a little preview of the backstage area:

So fa, I've finished the Stitched Togethers and the Voodoo Doll.

The Stitched Togethers are Wyrd Miniatures & the Voodoo Doll is an OOP Rackham Darkness Familiar.

Completed Minis: Urban Legend Sophie 72mm

2011-02-13T09:23:00.000-08:00

I had a bit of painter's block with this mini. The wings offer such a great large-scale area to work on but I was concerned about screwing up the nice paintjob I had achieved thus far, so here's the finished mini.

Here is the NSFW version

This is the first time I've used Reaper Master Series paints, specifically the "Dark Elf Flesh" Triad. I have to say that I was very impressed with the set and will be buying more of them in the future.

My wife calls this "an artistic marvel...even though she forgot to put on panties when she dressed for battle this morning!"

Mich. Toy Soldier Co. Owner Gets Prison Time

2011-02-10T13:37:00.000-08:00

Just a small update from an earlier story...

The Detroit press is reporting that Rick Berry, owner of Michigan Toy Soldier Co., has been sentenced to 10 months in federal prison as part of a plea bargain that was agreed upon last Sept. As part of the plea, Berry will serve 10 months in prison and has agreed to paying restitution in full.

Inquisimunda Updates - Hurray!

2011-02-09T14:33:00.000-08:00

Yeah, I've been pretty lax in updating the blog and the boards recently. I've had a lot of good and bad personal issues to deal with in the past month and, with Adepticon coming, have not had much impetus for Inquisimunda.

As some of you know, my wife and I are proud to announce that we're expecting our first kid sometime this fall. We're very excited and a little nervous...

Unfortunately, I was recently laid off from my job and it's been rather difficult to find any new work. Though it doesn't pay the bills, I do have more time to write and I'm trying to fill up some of my free time with expanding the offerings for Inquisimunda. It may not look like it, but the write-ups are a lot of work to create and maintain and there are a lot of times where I have to force myself to write and get shit done.

Here's what's new:

-The Mutant Mobs list has be re-uploaded to properly reflect version 1.4

-The Arbites/Expurgators list has gotten a little bit of a clean-up, in terms of editing and proofs. This really wasn't anything to warrant a version update, so it remains at version 1.2

-Chaos Covens have FINALLY gotten an update, making them a bit more balanced & formidable. You can now take Chaos Marines (don't ask how I left that one out!) and there are BETA rules in the addendum for summoning.

-The cost of all beasts in the Bestiary has been lowered by 5 Geld!

-Genestealer Cults got a small update, making them more consistent with other horde lists.

-Species and Races got a HUGE update! Costs lowered across all species to more accurately reflect their costs being ported from Necromunda, as well as certain mutations. The only exception are Gholams/Chimerics, which actually increased by 10pts. to their base cost. True Grit is expensive!

-The Addendum has BETA rules for Summoning and Starvation added.

The Nobilist and Xenos Strike Force lists should be ready before the end of the week. For now, enjoy!