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!