Evil Goblin!

 

This scary little guy comes from the Reaper Bones kickstarter (I didn't back it, but I picked up a bunch of the figures from The Shop on the Borderlands). I have been looking for some goblins that were a little more classically fey, with a true look of malice - I think I found them! 

I've added him to the bestiary for my dungeon! 

Demonhunters Combat Patrol (Old School)

 

This weekend I'm planning a little throwback gaming - Warhammer 40,000, 4th Edition, Combat Patrol! Fourth Edition is the only version of the game that I ever played with any kind of regularity, and the only one I manged to paint an army to use. 

For the upcoming games, we'll be using the Combat Patrol rules from the back of the rulebook. It's essentially the same game, but you can only use small (400pt.) forces.  I've assembled mine! 

Here's the force list:

Inquisitor Squad

Inquisitor +20
            Power Armour +10

            Power Weapon +15
            Needle Pistol +5
Warrior w/ Plasma Gun +20
Warrior w/ Melta Gun +20
Sage +10
Sage +10
Rhino Transport +50 (Subtotal: 160)
 
Storm Trooper Squad 1
Storm Trooper w/ Plasma Gun +20
5 x Storm Troopers +50
Rhino Transport +50 (Subtotal: 120)
 
Storm Troper Squad 2
Storm Trooper w/ Melta Gun +20
5 x Storm Troopers +50
Rhino Transport +50 (Subtotal: 120)
 
Total: 400pts.

It's probably not a very 'good' list, but then the Demonhunters were never a particularly good army unless they took Grey Knights. I don't care. They look awesome, and I'm going to have fun with them, even if they get wiped out.

Barbarian!

 

It's an unwritten rule that every dungeon crawler must have a barbarian as a potential player choice. Well, I'm glad to finally add one to mine. I am particularly proud of this one because it's a minor conversion. It's a Reaper Bones figure from the latest Kickstarter. Originally, he had an axe in his left hand, but I thought this made for a silly pose. So, I replaced the axe with a plastic shield I had lying around. I then made a strap for the shield out of green stuff. The strap is pretty rough, but it gets the job done.

Its been a while since I worked on my dungeon project, so it was good to get this figure finished!

Hairfoot Polo - Three Team Arena!

 

He shoots! He Scores! 

Last night the jousters gathered for the first official 3-team Hairfoot Polo match ever played! For those not in the know, Hairfoot Polo is my Patreon published expansion for Hairfoot Jousting. It's the same basic game, but with the Hairfoots trying to score goals while poking each other with sticks. I haven't written any rules for playing with three players, so I basically invented them on the fly. I set-up a circular arena, with three equally spaced goals, and a couple of random stumps to add interest. Each player had two jousters. 

The ball began in the middle of the pitch. Any player could score by shooting the ball into either of the opposing goals, which meant there was always another team nearby ready to steal 'your goal', if you left the ball too close. 

We played two games, and it was not a good night for my Redjackets. I showed off an incredible ability to roll '3's for movement, often leaving me huffing and puffing behind the general rush. Poor Tubby Tinkerpot was knocked out of the first game. 

By the final whistle, my boys had failed to score all night, losing 2-1-0 and 2-0-0.

Oh well, the rules worked well. There was a lot of laughing, and we managed to complete the second match in 45 minutes! 

Dropship Deployment

One of my summer projects was painting up a new dropship for my Demon Hunter forces! Not that they needed a new dropship, specifically, but the Arvus Lighter is just such a cool kit, and the army hasn't gotten an upgrade in a long time. 

Actually, this ship works a lot better on the table top than the Valkyrie I already had. It has a much smaller footprint, which makes it much easier to use.

Painting wasn't hard, but it took forever. In order to get a colour match with my army, I have to use black primer, but this means painting 4 or 5 coats of the red to get a good finish. After that, I just painted on a lot of black lines, black dots, and black details. There is no other highlighting or shading - it just didn't seem necessary. Obviously, picked out a few details with other colours, especially the canopy, but this was really minimalist painting.

Can't wait to get this express elevator to hell on the table! 

Space Marines! (My Own Take on Salamanders)

 

I recently felt like painting some space marines, like the ones I had as a kid. I don't mind the new style ones, but there is something about the old 'beaky' marines that just takes me back. Thankfully, Games Workshop now produces just such a kit as part of the Horus Heresy range (and I am a fan of the book series).

I got a box and split it with my 8 year old son, as a project we can work on together.

My son decided to paint his as Imperial Fists, because he likes yellow.

I decided to paint mine as Salamanders, for a few reasons. First, because they could be used for both the Horus Heresy and Warhammer 40K if I so desire, as the chapter was around for both. More though, the Salamanders are, in my opinion, the closest thing to a 'good guy' chapter, as they are known to go out of their way to protect others, even at the expense of personal safety or strategic efficiency. 

I enjoyed the painting process, which is pretty easy compared to most other miniatures of any kind on the market - probably part of the secret of their success. So easy, I had to give them a little extra challenge, painting the flames on one leg and the stripe down the helmet. I was going to use decals for their chapter symbol, but found applying decals to the curved shoulder guards a real pain. So, in the end, I painted the chapter symbol myself - but with my own spin. My Salamanders have an 'S' stylized as a dragon spitting fire. I like how this makes them Salamanders and yet my own unique version at the same time. I'm sure some 40K (or 30K) purists are gasping, but hey - my toys, my rules! 

I gave them a very neutral base so that I can happily use them on a spaceship, in a dungeon, or in rocky terrain!

Now that we've each got two done, I think we might use them for a game of Deathship One. 

I'm looking forward to painting a few more.

Frostgrave is 10 Years Old!

Frostgrave is 10 Years Old! To celebrate, I have written the story of its creation, as best as I can remember it, and put it up on my Patreon free to everyone.

As part of the celebration, Osprey Games is releasing a Special Edition of the rulebook.  You don't need it - it doesn't contain anything new - but if you like beautiful books...