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!