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!

Smashy Smurf

 

My latest blue abomination! Actually, the blue isn't that dark in reality; I'm not sure why it came out so dark in the photo... Anyway, it's a pretty cool figure. It's supposed to be the titan Atlas, and comes from the Mythic Battles Pantheon game. I acquired it, semi-intentionally, as part of a trade. 

I'm not sure why I painted him blue. I think the idea of painting all that 'flesh' just bored me, so I decided to spice it up a bit. For a board game figure, he's got great detail and proved easy to paint. He's the only true 'giant' figure I've got, so he might see play a variety of games. I included the Reaper figure just to show off his size.

Inside the Space Hulk

The battlecarrier Black Moab has discovered a lost scientific vessel, floating in interstellar space. Although the ship is swarming with lifesigns they aren't the good kind. Unfortunately, the ship probably contains extremely valuable scientific data that must be recovered. Inquisitor Lord Voulgaris has ordered officers to secure the ship.

The main docking points on the ship have been locked internally. Thus, a single squad was sent over in a shuttle to work their way to the docking control station. If these locks can be overridden (or even destroyed) then a larger assault can be attempted.

Having busted out the Space Hulk the other night, I decided to give the solo rules (found in the Deathwing expansion) a try. Re-theming the game as a mission for my Inquisitorial Stormtroopers (but using the standard rules), I set up the first mission.  

The game started out extremely fortunate for me. The first turn saw only a pair of genestealers enter play. Meanwhile, on the first two turns, I had a total of 11 command points (out of a possible 12). This allowed me to quickly advance the sergeant and the flamer. Although the genestealers got more reinforcements on the second turn, I was able to flame the board section adjacent to their entry point and keep that group pinned there for a couple turns.  

Things still managed to get pretty hairy at the end, as a swarm of genestealers appeared near the top. The sergeant was able to blast his way up past the last crucial turn, allowing the flamer to slip in behind him. However, the only way to secure the victory was to flame the board section containing the sergeant. This prevented any further stealers from stopping the flamer from achieving victory, but also cost the sergeant his life. The only flaw in an otherwise perfectly executed mission.  

The solo rules actually make the game a bit easier, as the stealer blip placement doesn't always make the smartest move. I had to overrule it a couple of times. That's okay though. I've always though the game was a little too hard for the marine player anyway, so this is a nice leveller. 

Mission Report

Sergeant Kastin led the team from the front, with flametroooper Rutiz just behind him. I had the middle position, with Pvt. Traklin behind me, and Pvt. Passenfar bring up the rear. The Sgt. and Rutiz advanced quickly through the corridors while the rest of us covered various side-passages. There was little movement at first, but when the enemy appeared, they did so in force. Passenfar got the most action as he held the rear, gunning down bugs by the handful. Traklin and myself only managed occasional shots as bugs flashed past deeper in the ship. We lost line of sight to the Sgt and Rutiz, so could only follow their exploits on radio. The Sgt. apparently led the charge, while Rutiz laid down flamer fire to stymie the bugs approach. 

    I hate to comment on exactly what happened at the end. As near as I can make out, the Sgt cleared the way for Rutiz to have a clear shot at the objective, but at the last moment, a bug came out of nowhere. Responding instinctively, Rutiz flamed the area... and unfortunately caught the sergeant in the spray. Considering the darkness, the close confines, and the speed of the enemy, the mistake, though tragic, is understandable.

Cpl. Taglon 

After Action

Casualties

K.I.A. Sgt. Wen Kastin

Confirmed Kills

Sgt. Kastin: 4

Pvt. Rutiz: 2

Pvt. Traklin: 1

Pvt. Passenfar: 8

 

A Strange Little Time Capsule

I've carried my first edition Space Hulk game with me for around thirty years, including across an ocean, but I've only rarely played it. Hoping to change that, I got it all out last night. Pictured above are all the things that were in the box that aren't part of the game.

First, you've got things that kind of make sense.  You've got two blast templates that were used in early editions of Warhammer 40K, and were probably used as extra or replacement flamer templates in the game. There is also a set of sustained fire dice and a scatter die, again all needed for early 40k. There are also a few model bits that belong to the same game: an original plastic Imperial Guard lasgun, a broke knife (I think from the first box of space marines), and a weapon casing for a vehicle-mounted weapon. 

Things start to make less sense after that. There are two small cards which I think belong to Advanced Space Crusade, a game I am not sure if I ever owned, some broken bits of landing gear from a model that appears much too small to be at 28mm scale, and a small piece of paper, covered in tape, that I think says 'Gondor 1'. There is a counter for Silent Death, my favourite space fighter game

Slightly more interesting is a small card listing some comic books I was looking for back in the day. Remember when you actually had to physically write such things down and carry it with you just in case you stumbled across them in a store? Apparently I was after:

Avengers Spotlight 28 (love me some Hawkeye!)

Kitty Pryde and Wolverine 3 - 5 (I think I've still got those)

Wolverine: Limited Series 1 - 4 

Wolverine hologram card (during my Marvel card collecting phase, I guess).

Finally, there 8 'tickets' of the kind given out in arcades in the 80/90s. If I had to guess, I would say these come from a skeeball machine at Putt-putt. This is where me and my friend, Peter, my main opponent for Space Hulk, spent many a Saturday morning, and skeeball was my favourite game.

Okay, so it's not exactly 'treasure', but it all amuses me and reminds me of some happy times.

Tenebrous Citadel in Print on Demand!

For those who have been awaiting Rangers of Shadow Deep: Tenebrous Citadel in print, today is the day! You can order it now from DriveThruRPG!

Knights of the Dinner Tables take the Crown!

I would like to add my voice to those wishing congratulations to Jolly Blackburn. With the release of issue 301, his comic Knights of the Dinner Table has become the longest running comic by a single writer/artist, taking the crown from Dave Sim's Cerberus. Pretty astounding for a comic about a group of role-players where the vast majority of panels are just people sitting around a table. Pretty astounding for a comic book that most comic book fans will have never read and probably aren't even aware of. 

I was actually there at the beginning, reading Shadis magazine when the Knights made their first appearance as a bit of filler. I followed them over to the comics when Jolly made the jump. The first 100 issues or so still reside in my parent's house. Honestly, I can't say that I have read all 301 issues. In fact, I lost track of the Knights for quite awhile after I immigrated to England. I never completely forgot them though, and back during Covid, I found myself searching for them again. I took out a two-year print subscription, despite the painfully high price of getting them shipped across the ocean, and I certainly haven't regretted it.

If anything, the Knights have grown even more enjoyable over the years. The cast of the comic has ballooned, and while the original Knights are still the stars, they are supported by a wonderful cast of extras. Issue 301 continues a storyline I'm greatly enjoying, about a legendary game-master that comes to town and runs a game that gives players a chance to bring a favourite dead character back to life. Needless to say, the players have gotten more than they expected!

If you are an role-player, and have never heard of Knights of the Dinner Table, I strongly suggest picking up the first anthology, Bundle of Trouble #1. You might just make some life-long friends. 

Rangers of Shadow Deep: Tenebrous Citadel available PDF

I am extremely pleased to announce that Rangers of Shadow Deep: Tenebrous Citadel is now available in PDF (with print on demand to follow in a week or so).

This ten-scenario mission completes the Rescue trilogy. It's the players' biggest opportunity to strike a major blow against the Shadow Deep... but it also contains the scariest monster I have ever included in an a scenario, and its not even that snake on the cover!

You can get the first two parts of the trilogy here:

Across the Wastes

Dungeons Dark

Quicksilver

 

I admit it. Quicksilver is not my favourite Marvel character. In fact, I can't say I have much opinion on him one way or another. Really, I wanted the Scarlet Witch and he came in the box. For some reason though, I decided to paint him first, and I did enjoy it. I painted his suit a slightly darker blue than is usually seen in the comics because I thought it would better contrast with the white. I then mixed a tiny bit of silver in with the white, for no better reason than his name is Quicksilver. The black-lining looks a bit harsher in the photo than it does on he actual figure. 

I'm not sure why they modelled the figure on an exploding rock, but I'm not a sculptor, so I'll accept that it probably looks better that way. So, he's not my favourite superhero, but he's still a nice little addition to the collection.

Rogue

Every so often I see a miniature I just have to paint. That was the case with this Reaper Bones USA figure sculpted by Bobby Jackson. It just perfectly captures the idea of 'Rogue' for me when used in an adventuring gaming context. The mask, the dark cloak, the downturned dagger... but under that, the tough practical armour and clothing of an adventurer.

The Bones USA material is fantastic at capturing detail - certainly the best plastics that Reaper has produced. I do find it a bit difficult to work with, in terms of removing flash or mold lines, as they just don't want to come off - but these have been few and far between. As I've come to expect from current Bobby Jackson figures, this one was an absolutely joy to paint. He's a painter's sculptor, no doubt. 

In honour of the sculpt, I really gave it my all. While I wanted to preserve the 'man of the shadows' look, I was also conscious of not wanting the figure to come out 'dark' as this often makes it visually uninteresting. That's why I gave him the striking blue mask and tunic. There is just enough of it to bring some pop to the figure without overloading. I used that same blue to highlight the cloak. I wanted him to have slightly rough, travel-stained look, so I used slightly heavier washes than normal.

A highly-recommended miniature, who I'm going to have to work into some gaming!

Silent Death: The Ptolemean Wars: Scenario 6.3

 

After a slow start to the year, I finally got back to the gaming table with the third scenario of the Ptolemean Wars for my favourite space fighter game, Silent Death! 

Actually, this was probably the best game of SD I've played in ages. The scenario was very well constructed and consists of several waves of fighters entering the table, before I had to make an attack run with my two torpedo boats against some (off screen) capital ships.

After a bit of back and forth dog-fighting, I was feeling good as my two 'Revenges', carrying their torpedo load, enter the table. I still had three medium fighters in support, while my opponent was down to one battered heavy fighter and another newly arrived heavy fighter. While he still had serious firepower, I didn't think he had enough ships to contain me. Then, the unthinkable happened. My opponent fired his last four torpedoes at one of my Revenges. I launched a decoy, but it only managed to divert one torp. That still left my point defence systems with a 60% chance to take out each one. Of course, my dice failed, and all three got through. I expected to take a major hit, but my heart sank when I took a critical engine hit, leaving the Revenge unable to move!

This actually led to an interesting situation. Since the Revenge couldn't move, it had no reason to preserve its torpedo load and launched all of them at the oncoming heavy fighter, which was obliterated in a cataclysmic strike. This allowed my other Revenge to make it safely across.

I didn't bother to count up the exact victory points, but we called it a draw since one Revenge made it and the other didn't. 

Fantastic scenario. A real show piece for the system, and I can't wait to get into Scenario 4!

I did suffer a few 'casualties' during the game as I snapped some fighters off their stands. All too easy to do. But we'll get the mechanics on it, and get those fighters back out there!

Old Bones #1 Now in Print-on-Demand

Old Bones #1 is now available in print-on-demand from DriveThruRPG.

The Winter Guard

 

I recently finished painting the Crimson Dynamo, which also means I have finished painting all of the Winter Guard (at least as have been released for Marvel Crisis Protocol). These guys all came from my local gaming store, and I had a blast painting all of them. I wasn't sure about Dynamo, since he's basically a big hunk of red metal, but it actually gave me a bit of practice at highlighting red, which can be difficult. Essentially, instead of mixing white into the layers, I used orange. The effect is subtle, but noticeable. 

On the comic book front, the publisher Panini is now releasing monthly collections of Marvel Comics, that appear in Sainsburys and W.H. Smiths. Each collection contains 6 or 7 issues, revolving around one hero/team/theme. I have greatly enjoyed the ones I have picked up, as the issues contained have clearly been chosen with care. Not every month focuses on a subject that interests me, but for £10 I'm willing to give most of them a try. It's a nice, low-commitment way to read Marvel comics.

Old Bones 1

Old Bones is my new zine that presents fun little bits and pieces for all of my games. I often have ideas that don’t fit well into larger publications because they are too short, too obscure, or just too weird. While I previously used Spellcaster to present these ideas for Frostgrave, I wanted to expand that idea to cover all my games. At the same time, I wanted to keep it small, punchy, and cheap! Sort of a gaming snack between bigger releases.

Old Bones is now available on DriveThruRPG as a PDF for $8.  In the next couple of weeks it will also be available in print as a print-on-demand booklet for $12 (which will also come with a free PDF).

This first issue contains:

The Slippery Slope – A solo scenario for Frostgrave, Ghost Archipelago, Rangers of Shadow Deep or Stargrave.

Carnival Charnel – A competitive scenario for Silver Bayonet.

The Decrapolis – A scenario for Oathmark.

Alternate Poisons – For Frostgrave, Ghost Archipelago, Rangers of Shadow Deep or Stargrave.

Quasar Cola – Rules for soda machines in Stargrave.

Diskos – A new advanced technology weapon for Stargrave.

Adar – Rules for Great Birds in Oathmark.

Double Crossbows – Rules for Frostgrave, Ghost Archipelago and Rangers of Shadow Deep

Grave Wraith

Continuing my work on some classic-style fantasy, here's a 'Grave Wraith' from Reaper Miniatures. It's a nice Bob Ridolfi sculpt that almost paints itself. Really, the painting was mostly just taking bright green and then incrementally adding white to layer up. The intricate folds make this so easy. There is some fantastic detailing on the sword. 

Wraiths are just such perfect boss-level encounters for a low-level party. 

Classic Fantasy

I have been reading Pathfinder for Savage Worlds - which I thankfully purchased before recent RPG events made a lot of fantasy RPG physical core rulebooks temporarily hard to come by! I have been a fan of Savage Worlds since it was released a couple of decades ago (perhaps even earlier as I was also a big fan of Deadlands and The Great Rail Wars, which the system is based on). Meanwhile, I started reading Pathfinder a few years ago. I like the system, but I really like the setting! So, really, the only question is why I didn't pick it up sooner! 

Which is all just a long-winded explanation for why I have been in the mood to paint some classic, RPG style fantasy miniatures. Thankfully, I had a small supply of Reaper miniatures tucked away for just such a contingency. 

The cleric is a figure that Reaper released for their last Reapercon. Thankfully, Mighty Lancer Games got a small cache of these, and I was able to pick up a few. I really love the simplicity of this figure. She's got her holy symbol, mace, and shield, plus a small bag, and that's basically it. I admit, my colour choices drew heavily on Anna from Frozen. I added a bit of gold trim on the bottom and sleeves of the robe, just to give a bit more visual interest and to tie in with the colours of her holy symbol and shield. This figure was a 'Bones USA' figure, which is a material I haven't worked with much, but I have to say is pretty impressive when it comes to holding detail.

The tomb is a Reaper Bones figure, and it is slightly warped at the bottom (which I suspect is why they aren't making new figure in that material). Still, it's chunky enough to not be that noticeable. It's a pretty neat piece with some nice detail. I especially like the bands, or straps, holding the lid on. As though the straps are going to stop something that can lift a stone lid that heavy! 

Some good, fun painting!

Industrial Tower

If you have ever walked down the street, saw some trash lying in the gutter, and thought 'that would make some great miniature terrain' - then you might be an old school wargamer.

That's what happened to me the other day. There has been a lot of work on our hill lately, with people digging up pipes and internet cables, and I suspect that is the origin of this piece. I think it is some sort of end-cap for a pipe, but I'm really not sure. As soon as I saw it, I knew I needed it for my junk terrain build. 

To start, I had to saw off a couple of bits, a pair of tabs on the bottom that kept it from sitting flatly and a little handle on top that just gave too much indication of scale. After that, I shot it with a heavy shot of grey primer and a dusting of black primer. Then I sponged it with lighter grey to enhance the worn look.

The name of the company is written across the middle of the pipe: HellermanTyton. I thought this name sounded suitable generic, and the lettering was the right scale, so I roughly painted it in with red/brown. A blast of varnish, and I called it done. I suppose, by itself, it doesn't look like much, but I think it will make a great addition to the rough, industrial town I'm slowly working on.  Just need a few more lucky finds! 

No Zombies Jumpin' My Claim!

 

I got in some good painting time over the Christmas holiday, including continuing to slowly work my way through my Zombicide: Undead or Alive game. I'm now up to 11 figures painted, including these guys above. In truth, I probably shouldn't spend as long as I do on these figures, especially the zombies, but they are well sculpted, and it is fun to appreciate that with the brush. Plus, I expect I'll be using these figures for playing Deadlands at some point too! That said, with nearly a dozen identical copies of each of the zombies, we will see how long my enthusiasm holds out! 

The log cabin is a resin terrain piece I've had for ages. I can't quite remember where it comes from. I think I picked it up at the Overlord convention in Abingdon about 15 years ago. It's a solid little piece and fits in well on a lot of tables. 

When possible, I'm moving my miniature photography outside due to the much better natural light. That said, everything here is soaked, so I had to wipe the bin lid dry to give myself a place to take the snap, which explains the brick background! 

The 2022 Painting Tally

With a good chunk of free time yesterday, I painted one final miniature in 2022 - Darkstar from Marvel: Crisis Protocol. I actually broke the model during assembling - where the tab connected her foot to the glowing energy ball - but manged to get it back together with glue and greenstuff. This might have resulted in a slightly higher 'knee kick' than was intended by the sculptor.

I really enjoy the bold colours of superheroes and the general lack of excessive detail found in some modern fantasy miniatures, which makes painting these minis so much fun. On the flipside, they are extremely expensive. I just need to paint up one more figure to complete my 'Winter Guard' subset of Marvel Minis.

At the end of the year, I like to take stock of what I've painted. In total, I painted 116 miniatures in 2022 - which is remarkably similar to the number I painted last year. As usual, my painting was all over the place in terms of periods, games, and ranges. The biggest winners were Marvel (16), Colonial Marines (13), Dol Amroth (12) and Zombicide (11). As you can see, my four largest categories don't even account for half of the minis painted. This doesn't bother me at all, as I like the diversity. That said, I do expect to be more focused in the coming year, probably on those four projects. Then again, that's probably what I thought last year about this time...