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...