Crocodilian!

The rare but deadly crocodilian lurks in the deepest, darkest swamps...  Having just finished up this Reaper Bones figure, which I think was part of the last Kickstater, but which I got second-hand, I decided I needed an excuse to get this guy into some games! So, included below are stats for using giant crocodile/alligator-men it in Frostgrave, Stargrave, Ghost Archipelago, Rangers of Shadow Deep, and The Silver Bayonet.

Crocodilian for Frostgrave, Stargrave, Ghost Archipealgo, & Rangers of Shadow Deep

	Move	Fight	Shoot	Armour	Will	Health	Notes
Crocodilian	6	+4	+0	12	+3	18	Amphibious, Deathroll, Large, Submerge, Strong, Tip Boats. Stargrave Only: Hatred of Gunfire, Primitive Weapons

Deathroll – If this figure wins a fight while in water (shallow or deep) and causes damage, then the figure that took damage must make an immediate Swimming Roll with an additional -3 modifier, suffering drowning damage as appropriate. This has no affect on the figure's next activation.

Submerge - If this figure is in water, no figure more than 6" away can draw line of sight to it.

Tip Boat - If this figure is in the water and attacks a figure that is in a small boat, then after the combat is resolved, every figure in the boat must make a Move Roll (TN12). Figures that fail are moved the minimum distance required so that they are no longer in the boat.

Crocodilian for The Silver Bayonet

Crocodile
Speed	Melee	Accuracy	Defence	Courage	Health	Experience Points
6	+3	+0	13	+4	16	1 or 2
Attributes: Amphibious, Damage Reduction (3), Deathroll, Submerge, Strong,
Equipment: None

Amphibious – This figure never suffers any penalties for being in the water, automatically passes any checks made for the purposes of swimming or movement in the water, and never suffers any damage from drowning.

Deathroll – If this figure is in water and it makes a melee attack against another figure that cause 1 or more points of damage, that figure must make an immediate Courage Check (TN10). If the figure fails, it suffers drowning damage equal to the amount by which it failed, as it is spun about under the water. If the check is passed, no additional damage is suffered.

Submerge – While this figure is in water, figures more than 6” away cannot draw line of sight to it.

Stormcast Eternal

It only took (how many?) years, but I have painted my first Stormcast Eternal from Games Workshop. I must admit, when they first released Age of Sigmar, I was unimpressed with the Stormcast. They have changed a lot over the years though. They've grown taller and more proportional. They sometimes go without helmets. Women have joined their ranks. etc.

I still probably wouldn't have bought any, but I wandered into W.H. Smith and saw the first issue of the Stormbringer, partworks magazine for £3. It included this mini and a hobgoblin I have yet to paint. I figured it was worth the punt.

I certainly got my money's worth. It took me ages to paint this figure. At least twice what I spend on most figures, but for the most part, I enjoyed it. There is a lot of detail, but not the overwhelming amount found on some modern GW stuff. 

I enjoyed it enough to buy another issue of the magazine that has 3 more stormcast... although this time for £9. See how they suck you in?

Here's an amusing size comparison. The stormcast standing with Thor from Marvel: Crisis Protocol, and a GW Imperial Guard Medic figure from the 1980s. Those GW minis have grown a tad!

Old Bones 2 is Out Now!

Old Bones, Issue 2 is now available in print-on-demand and PDF at DriveThru.

In this issue, you will find:

* Meta-Magic in Frostgrave - Ten new spells that directly effect other spells.

* Web of Lies  - An Oathmark scenario with a very big spider!

* Hoverchairs - Getting around in Stargrave without legs.

* The Headless Rider - A solo scenario for The Silver Bayonet.

* Books of Illusionary Form - New possibilities for the Illusionary Soldier spell in Frostgrave.

* A Dangerous Message - A solo scenario for Rangers of Shadow Deep, featuring just the ranger.

* Alladorean Lucky Penny - A little bit of luck for Rangers of Shadow Deep characters.

Slaying the Dragon by Ben Riggs

I just finished reading Slaying the Dragon by Ben Riggs - the story of the downfall of TSR. While I knew the tale in broad outline, there were a lot of stories and detail that was new to me. Any easy read, and an important addition to the history of role-playing. Recommended.

Going to put it in the permanent library between my copies of Empire of Imagination and Designers & Dragons.

Retro - Chaos Blood Bowl Players!

 

On a recent trip home to the USA, I discovered these guys in an old box of miniatures. These are the survivors of my very first Blood Bowl team! The year must have been 1996 or 1997. I was attending the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, but I was a lot more interested in hanging out in the legendary game store, Cerebral Hobbies, than I was in my academic studies.

A new Blood Bowl league was starting up (CHUBB – Chapel Hill Underground Blood Bowl), and I jumped right in with a Chaos Team. I don’t think I did particularly well in that season, and I soon realized that a Chaos team really didn’t fit my preferred play style. Still, I had fun, and evidently had fun painting the figures.

I wasn’t a great figure painter back in those days – though perhaps these aren’t the best figures to judge by. I obviously fully leaned into the ‘chaos’ idea, painting the two chaos warriors with a riot of colours.

What is really amazing is, that despite being over 25 years ago, and only playing with them for one season, I still remember two of their names! The figure on the left is Uncle Remos, which is easy to remember because he’s got a bluebird on his shoulder! The figure was a metal chaos warrior of the time with his weapon clipped off. The bird, which has it wings cut off, must have come from another kit.

The other chaos warrior is called ‘Billy Bones’. I remember this because he was originally named ‘Jolly Roger’, but that guy got killed during the season, so Billy was his replacement.

Look at the flocking I used on those guys!

I admit, I can’t remember the name of the beastman in the centre, but he’s a pretty unique character. During the season he got a strength increase and a mutation which gave him 4 arms! This is not the greatest combination in game turns, but made for a fun conversion. The base figure is a metal minotaur. The additional arms come from… a harpy.. maybe? They are pretty seamlessly added to the figure, which is impressive for my skills at the time – I expect I had some help from Joe or Mark, who were much better miniatures guys than me.

For some reason I decided to keep these three, even though the rest of the team appears to be long gone.  Perhaps I should get them some help and give them one more ride on the Blitzbowl pitch?

Medical Rhino 'Mercy Me'

Having busted out my old Demon Hunters army to use as protagonists in my games of Space Hulk, I thought it was about time the army got some reinforcements. In truth, with 3 squads of Stormtroopers and 2 squads of Imperial Guard, it doesn't really need anymore infantry, and as I have always seen them as a 'light' force, I don't want to give them any big tanks or artillery. So, after a little bit of thought, I decided I would make a medical rhino. This would go well with the other 3 rhinos that serve as the main transports for the force, but also be unique.

As it turns out, the humble rhino APC is getting a bit hard to come by. Games Workshop isn't sending it out to shops anymore, though you can still order it straight from them. It is truly the end of an era! This version of the rhino has long been my favourite sci-fi APC. Still, the four I've got are probably enough.

After doing the basic assembly, I raided the bits box for stowage. I figured, as a support vehicle, it is more likely to be carrying extra stuff, so I stuck boxes, a tow-cable, a shovel, and a large tarp on it, as well as a few other random bits just to give it a bit of a unique look.

The biggest challenge was the caduceus, the medical symbol. 40K has their own version of the symbol, without the snakes, but kind of like a winged, sharp-edged double helix. For the first time ever, I tried to print out my own decals using the symbol... and it failed completely. Not sure what I was doing wrong, but after I put them in water, they turned to sludge. So, I gave up and decided to hand paint it. Well, mostly. I decided to do my own version. I started with a skull decal I had, and then painted the symbol around it. It's far from perfect, but I think it came out okay, and it certainly stands out on the table top! 

I was originally going to name it the 'Mercy Wagon' and write that in Latin... then I saw the length of the translation and decided to keep it in English. Then I painted 'Mercy' and realized I'd never fit 'Wagon', so it was re-christened the 'Mercy Me', which I kind of like, even if my hand-painting of the name isn't too good.

The plan is to crew the Mercy Me with 4 doctor figures and 4 guard troopers. I've got one doctor in the Army already (pictured). I also have the Vostroyan doctor figure that I need to paint up.  I'd really like to get one of the old, metal, Sister of Mercy figures, but they are a bit pricey on ebay... so I'm holding off. (If you got one spare, please send me a message!).  Since I want to keep the figures in the army 'all metal', I'm not sure what I'm going to do for the last one. There is the Tanith doctor figure, but I'm not a huge fan of it. There are some much older figures, but I'm not sure how well they would fit with the ones from this era. I'll just have to see. Anyway, it's nice to have a new addition to the army!

Genestealers!

 

I am continuing to work on my first edition Space Hulk set and have painted five of the genestealers. I'm pretty sure these guys set the record for the longest time between buying and painting (I estimate 31 years). Truthfully, I'm astounded by how well these models hold up. They were loads of fun to paint and have some great detail. Okay, they only have one pose, but it's such an 'arms everywhere' kind of pose that it doesn't bother me as much as it would for some figures. Just turning the figure slightly gives it a very different look. The one pose aside, I honestly think these are better figures than the current ones that Games Workshop is selling - and the original designer deserves some big kudos! 

I didn't want to spend too long painting these, so I went for a relatively simple paint job. The main colour is Vallejo Middlestone. I then hit it with a black wash and reapplied the Middlestone. I added a bit of white to the Middlestone for the claws. The colourful bits are painted Vallejo Magenta. This gives some really nice contrast to the models, and I think makes them nice and 'buggy'. This is especially important as I plan on using them in other games such as Stargrave and Operation: Last Train as well.

So, truthfully, I only used 4 colours for these figures (not counting the two for the base).

Five down, 17 to go!