Archive for the ‘Hobby’ Category

Ever since I first read about and played Epic Space Marine back in the early 90s I was in love with the War Griffons and the machines of the Collegia Titanica. These fantastical war engines dominated the battlefields of every White Dwarf battle report I read. Sure, the infantry did a lot of work but these walking fire platforms were what sent my impressionable mind ablaze!

Skip forward 10 years and I still loved playing Epic (God’s Own Scale) and with Epic:Armageddon I fell in love all over again. Sure, titans were not the dominant machines they once were but were still fantastical on the battlefield and could lay down so much firepower they had to be dealt with.

20 years on again and I had resisted the urge to jump into Adeptus Titanicus (mk2) but yet my will was weak and friends sold me on Legions Imperialis.

And here we are again…

This time my painting skills and techniques have improved, the models are so much bigger and more detailed, plastic and possible and have locations ready for magnets to be inserted for quick swapping of weapon load-outs.

And again, Legio Gryphonicus walks to war…

So with high hopes and a bounce in my step I set forth to complete the Parker Barrows core box, some extras and make a start in the Dr Silas Half-Blood/Asylum crews for Malifaux.

Initially I made some good steady progress using Citadel Contrasts and Army Painter Speed Paints over a zenithal white base applied using my Badger Sotar 20-20.

With time running out on the month I decided I would delay my Silas models and give him more time in the future and work more on the Bandit keyword. In the end I completed 85SS worth of models with plenty of scope to play around and see what works best.

Call the Marshals

Posted: August 6, 2023 in Gaming, Hobby, Painting
Tags: ,

After the fun of the Henchman Hardcore demo day and seeing how badly my quick build crew was to run (Judge, Jury and 2 death marshals*) I thought I would tie in this month’s ‘Tale of Malifaux Painters’ with building out more options for my Marshals.

I have since stripped my old metal Alt Lady Justice and Miss Terious and built out the remaining marshals (Lone Marshal, Exorcists, Domodores de Cadavres) and am aiming to tackle a good few of them this month.

This at least should some better options for playing Hardcore or even at a full game of Malifaux!

I know it’s a short month with the holidays so I am not going to be too ambitious and I have only signed up to complete 15points of models this month. So far I started Lady J, Miss Terious, The Judge and the Scales of Justice, lady J’s totem. I am going for a worn leather on all the Marshals except for the exorcist who should be in black as befits their status.

* The only ones I had painted

So I am finally getting a chance to introduce some new folks to the wonderful world of Malifaux M3E. And what’s more, we are going on a road trip to the hallowed halls of Beasts of War!!

I have packed a metric ton of boards, markers, models, fate decks and assorted other paraphernalia to help these newbies to play one of the best systems currently out there.

I have been beavering away, sorting out crews, sleeving cards, printing cards ( I had to even write a Java application to split PDFs to read them into my image editor software but that’s another story) and painting up a whole heap of models to get ready.

To that end I have decided to paint up a crew that I have loved since early M2E – The Crossroads Seven. I have even signed up the to Malifaux Painters Blog to try and carry on my enthusiasm.

So far I have finished Wrath (started during Lockdown using the Contrast paints from GW) and carried on with Envy, Gluttony, Pride and Greed. Up next are Lust and Sloth. I have also completed the Carrion Emissary and primed my Shadow Emissary ready for Amy first attempt at colouring using my airbrush (purchased circa 2015 ish)

This has really lit a spark under me and I am eagerly awaiting next weekend. Get ready for photo overload!

D.

Harvey follows a lead

Posted: April 20, 2021 in Gaming, Hobby
Tags:

As a follow up to today’s run through of the Murder at the Excelsior I tried again. This time I got further and after defeating Mr Trombly I was able to continue to the rooftop and nimbly work my way down to room 212. There I managed to find clues and add them to the locket I discovered earlier.

As the Act resolved I discovered that in fact it was a vengeful spectre haunting the hotel. With the aid of sergeant Monroe I was able to reach room 245 and finally put this spectre to rest.
Case closed.

So this week seen a resupply of modelling materials. And with that a spurious effort to build some more models that arrived in the last 2 weeks.

We begin with some Lampads, Resser spirit enforcers (3 in a box, 7SS). These boys are swirling masses of ethereal fire and if an enemy dies nearby from burning, they get to become a new Lamapd, yay!

Some nice Guild models arrived in the shape of Guild Investigators, 6SS minions that can lock down enemy actions, deny scheme markers from being used and generally mess with the gameplan. Nice for Lady J, Lucius or McCabe who can bring them into Ten Thunders.

Sparks was my next assembly. A gremlin who can make a model a construct and gives Mei Feng a nice assist for rail walking or better yet can make Mei a construct and then Lazarus can copy her actions. Useful lil green guy!

Another little guy was the Alt Tanuki that was available in some box sets or as a promotion for store purchases. These poison pandas can be slippery with their Defensive trigger and are able to use scheme markers to give out poison. Who wants Sake?

I also based up a female gunsmith. Love the pose of this model and will definitely take her when I go Mei Feng Arcanists.

A custom bayou base was needed for McTavish and his gator. Some cork tile and a little clip, tear, scratch and slice and the job is done. Will add some water effect when I get round to painting him.

Lastly I assembled my first building from TTCombat. Their range of Venetian buildings for Carnevale are lovely. This is their Townhouse A, a 2-storey building with a large footprint. A few more of these and I will have a nice mix of buildings (with extendable floors for extra height) that can either be used flat, or with the addition of some walkways, create a Venetian board with canals and limited open ground.and choke points around some bridges.

Just looked at the last date I posted and realised it’s been 18 months. That’s not good! I haven’t been sitting on my rear doing nowt in the between times but I guess I have neglected this blog.

Let’s see…

Malifaux, my primary love, I have been collecting and assembling anything Ten Thunders related that has been released (and yes that means non-10T where I can use them with dual-faction masters) as well as expanding crews for some other masters (Molly, Lilith and Justice) but I’m always looking for new ideas for crews

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For some time now I’ve been using resin bases for all my Malifaux models. Nice cobblestone bases from Fenris Games. The quality is, variable, and the colours not always consistent and there has been a noticeable trend on the 40 and 50mm bases to be thinner than usual. I also discovered that there’s some significant size creep meaning my 40mm are about 43mm and 50mm are a joke.

But my entire Malifaux collection is on the same basing so what did I do? Went with a new supplier using resin base inserts instead. I’ve kept all the unused bases from all my Malifaux models so at least I had something to work from.

My next action was to find a supplier that had what I needed and I got them! Gladius Game Arts do resin inserts in 30,40 and 50mm with victorian flagstones. They also do other ranges and styles. Very nice, consistent casting and readily available.

And so began the task of freezing all my miniatures and carefully slicing through the superglue join and reattaching to their new bases.

A number of Kickstarters arrived over the last few months and one that I was really interested in was Blackwater Gulch. This Western-horror skirmish games had a revamp and the miniatures in the Kickstarter were re-sculpted and were beautiful. I went in on 2 rulebooks and 3 crews, Lawmen, Outlaws and Cursed. The other faction, Beasts, did not appeal at the time but since the Kickstarter arrived they ran another successful Kickstarter to provide minion re-sculpts to add more support to the crews.

A nice twist on Blackwater Gulch is the creator has supplied Photoshop templates and the rules allow you to create your own stat cards to use models in your collection. And with that I went straight to work and created a Death Marshal force for Blackwater Gulch.

[Update] Since creating the cards, the publisher has shown how minion cards are used and they are typically costed in groups of 3 so the death marshals should be triple the cost on the card.

 

Arkham Horror LCG

Posted: January 25, 2017 in Gaming, Hobby
Tags: , , , ,

The new hotness from FFG this game seamlessly combines a rich RPG experience with their innovative living card game (LCG) format.

Players take on the role of investigators and build their own player decks either using the pre-built format or with a customisation element to build their characters how they wish. The core game provides 5 different characters but only enough cards to build 2 decks. The game is designed to play anywhere from 1-4 players. Each player deck contains assets and abilities to use but crucially also has a character flaw that must be included. Will paranoia grip your character at a crucial moment?

Games can be played individually or linked through a narrative campaign where a player deck can be enhanced through gameplay or certain cards can be removed as they are affected by the game. Other cards can be upgraded using experience points to make them better.

Each game is a series of Acts to which players must meet requirements in order to progress. against there Acts there are Agendas that will be set in motion should the players take too long to complete an Act. Players travel to Locations and perform up to 3 actions each turn to achieve the requirements of the story. A random deck of monsters and events is used as AI Dungeon Master working against the players.

Another innovative mechanic in the game is the chaos bag. This replaces any dice rolling that is required in standard RPG games while if you like other type of games like casino games you can also try the johnny kash casino to make some money as well. The chaos bag contains a handful of tokens with various numerical modifiers. The contents of the bag can be tailored to change the level of difficulty during a game or campaign. When a character is required to make a skill check or a melee attack he consults his profile for the stat, can discard as many card from his hand that enhance the stat and then draw a token out of the chaos bag. If the final result equals or beats the required target it is a success, otherwise it’s a fail.

With 1 deluxe expansion already published and 2 Mythos Cycle packs released for the expansion this game has some major support behind it. There are also 2 stand alone scenarios available currently. These can be played as standard games or brought into the campaign – Curse of the Rougarou and Carnevale of Horrors.

I have pimped my game out with a box organiser, a special chaos bag (Elder Sign bag) and the official playmat from FFG. Very much looking forward to more games in the future.

D.

  • The new hotness from FFG this game seamlessly combines a rich RPG experience with their innovative living card game (LCG) format.Players take on the role of investigators and build their own player decks either using the pre-built format or with a customisation element to build their characters how they wish. The core game provides 5 different characters but only enough cards to build 2 decks. The game is designed to play anywhere from 1-4 players. Each player deck contains assets and abilities to use but crucially also has a character flaw that must be included. Will paranoia grip your character at a crucial moment?Games can be played individually or linked through a narrative campaign where a player deck can be enhanced through gameplay or certain cards can be removed as they are affected by the game. Other cards can be upgraded using experience points to make them better.Each game is a series of Acts to which players must meet requirements in order to progress. against there Acts there are Agendas that will be set in motion should the players take too long to complete an Act. Players travel to Locations and perform up to 3 actions each turn to achieve the requirements of the story. A random deck of monsters and events is used as AI Dungeon Master working against the players.Another innovative mechanic in the game is the chaos bag. This replaces any dice rolling that is required in standard RPG games. The chaos bag contains a handful of tokens with various numerical modifiers. The contents of the bag can be tailored to change the level of difficulty during a game or campaign. When a character is required to make a skill check or a melee attack he consults his profile for the stat, can discard as many card from his hand that enhance the stat and then draw a token out of the chaos bag. If the final result equals or beats the required target it is a success, otherwise it’s a fail.With 1 deluxe expansion already published and 2 Mythos Cycle packs released for the expansion this game has some major support behind it. There are also 2 stand alone scenarios available currently. These can be played as standard games or brought into the campaign – Curse of the Rougarou and Carnevale of Horrors.I have pimped my game out with a box organiser, a special chaos bag (Elder Sign bag) and the official playmat from FFG. Very much looking forward to more games in the future.D.

  • The new hotness from FFG this game seamlessly combines a rich RPG experience with their innovative living card game (LCG) format.Players take on the role of investigators and build their own player decks either using the pre-built format or with a customisation element to build their characters how they wish. The core game provides 5 different characters but only enough cards to build 2 decks. The game is designed to play anywhere from 1-4 players. Each player deck contains assets and abilities to use but crucially also has a character flaw that must be included. Will paranoia grip your character at a crucial moment?Games can be played individually or linked through a narrative campaign where a player deck can be enhanced through gameplay or certain cards can be removed as they are affected by the game. Other cards can be upgraded using experience points to make them better.Each game is a series of Acts to which players must meet requirements in order to progress. against there Acts there are Agendas that will be set in motion should the players take too long to complete an Act. Players travel to Locations and perform up to 3 actions each turn to achieve the requirements of the story. A random deck of monsters and events is used as AI Dungeon Master working against the players.Another innovative mechanic in the game is the chaos bag. This replaces any dice rolling that is required in standard RPG games. The chaos bag contains a handful of tokens with various numerical modifiers. The contents of the bag can be tailored to change the level of difficulty during a game or campaign. When a character is required to make a skill check or a melee attack he consults his profile for the stat, can discard as many card from his hand that enhance the stat and then draw a token out of the chaos bag. If the final result equals or beats the required target it is a success, otherwise it’s a fail.With 1 deluxe expansion already published and 2 Mythos Cycle packs released for the expansion this game has some major support behind it. There are also 2 stand alone scenarios available currently. These can be played as standard games or brought into the campaign – Curse of the Rougarou and Carnevale of Horrors.I have pimped my game out with a box organiser, a special chaos bag (Elder Sign bag) and the official playmat from FFG. Very much looking forward to more games in the future.D.

Oh MY!

Here’s a shot in the arm for TenThunders players. Looking forward to getting these on the table ASAP.

Master Queeg is Black Sheep and is available for use with McCabe.

Mechanized Porkchop (aka Robopig) and Sparks are available to use with Mei Feng through the Foundry characteristic.

Both Jorogumo and Obbsidian Oni are true TenThunders but Jorogumo can be taken with Misaki in her Outcast role.