Game Designer Newsletter

For those who want to keep up with everything I've got going on as a game designer, and not just a hobbiest, you can read my latest newsletter here: Joseph A. McCullough Newsletter | Patreon

The photo is just to grab your attention! 

Beastly Satyrs

 

My latest painting triumphs! (Because I consider every figure I paint to the best of my ability a triumph.) These are both Reaper plastic figures that I cut off their integral bases and put on GW bases. I plan for these guys to do double duty. They will serve as beastmen in my dungeon crawler, but I am also going to use them as evil satyrs in Warriors of Athena.  Actually, I suspect they'll appear in other places as well, I've got a Cthulhu-esque Rangers of Shadow Deep scenario that needs beast men and a Silver Bayonet one as well, both found on my Patreon. 

The Best Part...is the Gargoyle!*

As part of my dungeon crawler project, I'm trying to collect substitutes for all of the creatures found in the basic HeroQuest box, so I can run those games if I want. Thus, I absolutely needed a gargoyle. Luckily, Reaper obliged me by putting out this guy. Once again, I cut it off its integral base and stuck it on a GW style one, which I like better aesthetically and tends to be more stable. 

Generally, I don't like painting creatures that are just big areas of flesh. I find it a bit boring. So, most of this figure is painted with Speed Paints. Blue for the body and bone for the horns and talons. This left it looking a little plain, so I went back and added lots of dots. I didn't have a plan for this, I just kept dotting as long as I thought it looked good. I think it adds a lot of visual interest.

*If you know, you know.

The Crumbling Crypt

To achieve bingo on my wargaming bingo card this year, I needed to scratch build a piece of terrain. So, I did a quick-build of a crumbling crypt. The main body of the building is made with foam card and strips of cardboard. I drew the stones on the walls with a pencil. I wish I had spent a bit more time on this part, as they are a bit wobbly. I then added a few Hirstarts bits to create the doorway, the statues down the side, and the drain at the back. I think combining these two techniques makes for fast builds with some nice detail. 

The base is just more foam board, bevelled at the edges. I coated the cut edges in white glue to protect them from melting when I primed it black.

Painting was quick and easy. I used a makeup brush to quickly do a few layers of grey, with a final layer of white on the Hirstarts features. When making terrain like this, I think it can be really enhanced with flocking. I put a layer all over the base and added in a few tufts and flowers. Then I glued bits of lichen at random points to show the plants growing in the odd cracks and corners.

Finally, I added a few runes over the door and running down the sides at the front. They are subtle, but they give it a bit more visual interest and a bit more creepiness. 

Like I mentioned, I wish I had spent a bit more time on the stone work, but overall, I am happy with the results. I think it'll make a great addition to the tabletop!

 

Warriors of Rohan (Redux)

 

Over the years, I have made several attempts at painting a Rohan force, but I've never been completely satisfied with any of them. Late last year, I bought the War of the Rohirrim box set from Games Workshop, and had a go at that. It is filled with lovely figures, but I didn't enjoy painting them. They were just too small, which was exacerbated by their more realistic proportions, which made their heads and hands seem incredibly small. So, I gave up on them. I've painted enough minis now to realize, I just like the slightly chunker variety.

I have now returned to an old idea with a few new twists. I bought some metal Goths and late Roman figures from Footsore Miniatures. I cut them off their integral metal bases and glued them onto GW ones. They come with open hands to hold wire spears, but I cut off the hands and replaced them with plastic ones holding hand weapons. Finally, I gave them shields from the unused portion of the above mentioned box set.

I can honestly say, these are the Rohirrim I've always wanted. The ones that fight in my imagination when I read The Lord of the Rings. 

This is probably more work than most people are going to want to do, but the work is part of the fun. Now I've got some really unique figures. Yes, at some point I will run out of GW shields, and I still need to work out how to handle cavalry, but these are bridges to cross later.

Interestingly, my new figs scale pretty well with the older, metal Rohan sculpts from Games workshop, so that I would have no problem mixing them in the same force.

 

Polo in the Pub!

This weekend I was in the pub for a three-player, Hairfoot Polo, showdown! With three players, I decided the matches should run until someone scored two goals. We played 3 games with final scores of 2-0-0, 2-0-0, and 2-1-0, with two different winners. Guess who scored 0 in each game? Yes, I have now been shut out in my last five Hairfoot polo matches! 

From a game-design perspective, I think I made a mistake reducing the winning goal number to 2. Having 3 players, and thus 3 scoring nets, meant that scoring happened very fast. Fast enough that neither damage nor applause were major factors in any of our games. I think switching it back to 3-goals-to-win would bring both of those aspects back into the game and make it a bit more interesting.

None-the-less, there were many jokes about pigs, turkeys, and mole-rats, lots of dice-rolling and wall-crashing, and a good time was had by all!

Warhammer 40,000 Combat Patrol - 4th Edition

This weekend I met up with a couple of friends for a big round of gaming. We started with two games of Warhmmer 40,000 - 4th Edition - Combat Patrol!

For the first scenario, I volunteered my Inquisition forces to be the sacrificial lamb, in a scenario where they tried to escape with a chaos artefact. Unfortunately, neither the Sisters of Battle nor the Eldar were too keen on me getting away! All three rhinos were quickly disabled. One squad was pinned down by a large squad of Eldar, the other by the sisters.

For a moment, it looked like salvation might have arrived, when two groups of chaos hounds showed up to cause problems. This led to my favourite moment when the Eldar warlock bravely tried to use his powers against the hounds - but failed - and was horribly eaten. This distraction allowed my Inquisitor and his retinue to sneak around and catch the large Eldar squad on the flank. However, this resulted in mutual annihilation, and the game when to the Sisters.

For the second game we played a three way capture the flag. The half of the army I left on the defence did well holding back the sisters, but the offensive force couldn't make much headway against the Eldar, and they eventually won the game.

It took a bit to remember the rules, but 4th edition isn't that complicated in most parts. I appreciate this older edition because it retains more of the 'simulation' aspect of wargaming, whereas more modern editions have gone heavier for the 'gamey' side, if you know what I mean. 

Anyway, a good time was had by all. Enjoy the photos! 

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...

 

Rangers of Shadow Deep: House of Spiders

Can your Rangers uncover the secrets of the House of Spiders? This new Rangers of Shadow Deep mission is available in PDF and Print on Demand from DriveThruRPG!

The Briarwood Bombers!

 

I finished painting my Wartnose Jousting team! I had a lot of fun with these guys. They are painted with a mixture of traditional and speed paints (the goblin skin, as well as the bodies of the centipede and mole rat). I really enjoyed the bases as there was plenty of room to add bits of scenery - so lots of skulls and broken weapons. 

I've now got one Hairfoot team and one Wartnose team. I figure that way I can meet any challenger on equal terms, or run the game myself pitting the two teams against one another. 

The Wisdom of Agatha Christie

'The human mind prefers to be spoon-fed with the thoughts of others, but deprived of such nourishment it will, reluctantly, begin to think for itself - and such thinking, remember, is original thinking and may have valuable results.'

Agatha Christie

from The Moving Finger

Dungeon Update

 

Not the best photo, but I just wanted to show a quick update on my Dungeon progress. It's been slow and steady work, fit around a lot of other painting and modelling. I've still got a bunch of pieces cast, enough for several more sections. 

I've decided my goal, for stage one, is to have all of the dungeon tile pieces that came in the Advanced HeroQuest box set. There is no specific reason for that. It's just something to shoot for and should give me plenty of pieces to make small dungeons.

Gnome Adventurers

A pair of recently painted gnome adventurers for my Dungeon Crawler project. I didn't really have any specific need for gnomes, but these guys just looked fun to paint (and they were). 

Again, these are Reaper Bones figures, I believe from the most recent Kickstarter. 

Joseph A. McCullough on Holiday!

 

This is a photograph of my great-great grandfather, and namesake, Joseph A. McCullough. That's him standing up near the front with the great moustache. I don't know the year... though I'm guessing somewhere around 1890?

It's just so a great photo, I thought I would share! 

Ogre Muster

I have completed Phase 1 of my Ogre project. I have painted all of the conventional forces from Miniature Set I. I haven't painted the 2 plastic Ogres yet, because I already have 3 metal ones. I'll get around to them, but there is no rush. With these forces, I can play the basic scenarios for the game.

I have never enjoyed painting large groups of similar miniatures, so these are a bit 'quick and ditry', but I do think the blue with yellow highlights really pops and will help them stand out on the table.

Long-term, I hope to expand this collection to include all of the official miniatures. I have recently purchased a large collection, but it is 'at home' in the USA, so it'll probably be awhile before I get them. (Though I do have an Ogrethulhu here - thanks to a generous soul). 

Hairfoot Polo!

 

A few months ago, it occurred to me that I could use my Hairfoot Jousting rules to play a more traditional ball game. I could use the same figures, rules, and templates - I just needed a ball! (Mine is a bead covered in greenstuff.)

It took a little time to work it out, but I think I've cracked it. I have made those rules available free to my Patreon supporters. 

Alternatively, you can buy the rules directly from Patreon for $3. Although, a monthly membership only costs $5 and gets you access to the rules I wrote for Alternate Hairfoot Mounts as well as everything else I have written for Patreon. So...

Either way - here's the link: Hairfoot Polo! | Patreon

Sunday Night in the Hulk

 

No pub this weekend; instead we met a member's house for a bit of Space Hulk action (plus some really nice barbeque - that's pulled pork for those of us from North Carolina). 

We played 'The Ship's Log' scenario from the Deathwing expansion, though it strangely uses very little actually found in that expansion. With three players, I took the aliens, as usual, while the guys took a squad of marines each. We play it a bit less 40K and a bit more Aliens, and even had the Aliens soundtrack going in the background. 

This is an extremely tough scenario for the marines (in a game already slightly tilted towards the aliens), and unusual in that it forces them to go up the table, grab an objective, and then take the objective back to the start.

First squad advanced quickly up the middle, while covering the left. Squad two set-up a perimeter on the back and right. This worked well enough, but left a very tricky situation near the objective room, where numerous aliens had massed. With some clever use of the flamer; however, they managed to get a marine into the objective room.

At the same time, I had built up my aliens in the lover left corner, and when I saw an opening, I took my chance. With an all out charge the aliens rushed down the corridor. The marine covering the corridor shredded several aliens before his rifle ran empty. He reloaded, but didn't have enough time to stim the tide. The aliens swept over him into the unsuspecting man behind him. 

While the objective made it back to the middle of the table, the marines no longer had enough men to cover all of the approaches, and the speedy aliens could pick them off from behind. 

In truth, the marines made it further than I expect them too, and with a bit more luck probably could have succeeded... it was a tough one!

Blogging in Circles!

A few weeks ago, I posted about playing Ogre in the pub, and accompanied it with an unfortunately blurry image. A couple of days later, I received an incredible honour - a comment from the game's designer, Steve Jackson!

Two days ago, that honour increased when Steve Jackson mentioned it on his company blog, The Daily Illuminator. Not only is this cool because it's Steve Jackson, but also because The Daily Illuminator might just be the oldest, continuously running blog on the entire internet! 

While I love Ogre, and just finished painting up some new heavy tanks for it (see above), it is another Steve Jackson game that truly plays a huge part in my life and development as a games designer - GURPS. I have written a chapter about GURPS in my gaming autobiography, which I am slowly releasing on my Patreon. In thanks to Steve Jackson for his wonderful games, for his comments, and for linking to my own blog, I have made this chapter free for anyone who wants to read it: Influential Games: GURPS. 

Nod Teaplanter and Gloria

Nod Teaplanter (yes, those Teaplanters!) and his mount Gloria (left), join Tubby Tinkerpot and Reginald on my slowly coming together Hairfoot Jousting team! As I came to paint both of them with red shirts, I've decided to name the team 'The Redjackets' after that nasty variety of wasp often seen during the summer, especially in southern parts of the Sod. 

After ten years of writing games, this might be the first time I'll have a bespoke team to put on the field before the game comes out! Maybe... probably... I've got 10 days until the UK release to get one more member of the team painted.

Warrior Priestess

I have finished the first 'hero' for my Dungeon Crawler, a warrior priestess from Reaper Miniatures. This figures is cast in the new Bones USA material, and I've got to say, I was seriously impressed by both the amount of detail and the crispness of the casting. She took me about 50% longer to paint than a normal mini, but I think the effort was worthwhile. Every party needs a cleric, and she looks like she can bring the pain to monsters while providing healing spells for the good guys. 

The Dungeon Grows!

I've finished up a few more pieces of my dungeon. It's not a fast process, but the end results are extremely satisfying. I've got my first small room as well as my first T-junction. Now that I've got a room, I can really see how the doors work. I was a bit worried about how they would sit on the table, but, actually, they are working great. 

The biggest challenge of the project now is trying not to rush it. Keep it slow and steady, adding pieces here and there, trying to make each one as best I can, and enjoying the process. Do a couple of tiles - paint a few minis. Might paint up a hero next!

The Ogre Advances

In the dim light of the pub, the Ogre MkIII advances, while its commander carefully checks the maximum range on the enemy howitzer. 

I was quite excited to get this Steve Jackson classic back on the table. It's just an incredible piece of game design. Really simple, completely asymmetrical, yet finely balanced. My friend (a new player) and I, got in two games. In the first game, I took the defence throwing my army against his gigantic cybertank. I made a couple of mistakes, but I think one lucky turn and I could have stopped him. As it was, the nearly weaponless tank crashed into my command post. In the second game, I took the Ogre. My opponent gambled on my strategy, but guessed wrong, and left me with a relatively easy run to the target, blasting it with one of my few remaining guns.

I didn't take any of my metal Ogres to the pub, as I don't have great transportation for them. I need to look into the that. Still, a lot of fun was had and plenty of lessons were learned!