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.