Vampires or Winged Demons

I love miniatures that work for multiple settings, such as these Vrykolakas. They are part of the North Star range for the The Silver Bayonet, part of the new figures for The Carpathians: Castle Fier. I'm sure I will use them for that, but I can also seem them appearing as medium demons in Frostgrave and maybe even as space demons or space vampires in Stargrave.

Painting these guys was a breeze. I hit them with Vallejo 'Gory Red' paint, gave them a black wash, and then layered it up by mixing in yellow. Just a bit of hair, eyes, teeth, and the base and they were done. Despite the minor effort, I think they've come out great! 

While painting these guys, I kept thinking of a line from Solomon Kane's Homecoming, 'And I have seen winged demons fly all naked in the moon.' It's a fantastic poem by Robert E. Howard.

Queen Valdea

The latest figure to come off my painting table is Queen Valdea, who will serve as the first mate in my Stargrave crew. A warrior queen, Valdea defied the Daleks until the bitter end; until her planet was destroyed around her. She only survived through the intervention of the rogue Timelord, Chance. While she has never forgiven Chance for his interference, or the curse of her rescue, she has vowed to fight the Daleks wherever they are found. Travelling with Chance gives her the best opportunity. 

I built this figure using the Frostgrave Wizards II and Stargrave Mercenaries II sets. As you can see, the sets are fully compatible, which is no major surprise as they are both sculpted by Bobby Jackson. I really love the juxtaposition of the two sets - the wizardly robes versus the cybernetic arm and the massive carbine. I had a lot of fun painting this one and can't wait to get her onto the tabletop! 

The Original Boba Fett

Twenty-five years ago, I was living in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Ostensibly, I was there to get my university degree, but I actually spent most of my time in the legendary gaming store, Cerebral Hobbies. One year, the owner Steve and his wife, went off to GenCon.

Upon his return, he presented me with this signed photo of Jeremy Bulloch, the original Boba Fett. Although I've never been one to collect signatures, Steve knew I was a big fan of the character, and I have treasured it since.

Jeremy Bulloch passed away a few years ago, and really, the character has never been as cool since he played him. Boba Fett is a great example of a character that became less cool the more that was known about him. Creators beware, characters are often cooler left in mystery. 

Still, it's a great photo and a little link with another time.

 

Me, the Time Lord

 

Last week I got a real desire to paint a Doctor Who figure, but I couldn't figure out exactly what I wanted. Then I realized I had a pretty good Time Lord figure sitting in my lead pile. What I had, was a miniature of... me. This figure was sculpted as a gift when I left Osprey Publishing. I was given a copy of the figure painted by Kev Dallimore and several bare metal ones. Until now, I've never had the courage to paint one, but I got inspired. Now I'm planning on him leading my new Stargrave crew!

This is the rogue Time Lord known as Chance. In his stolen Tardis he has rounded up a crew of desperate freedom fighters to battle against the Daleks (and possibly the Time Lords) in an effort to protect people during the Time War. 

I debated how to depict his Tardis. Logically, there is no reason it should look like a police box. In fact, it could literally be anything else. But, if it can be anything, how do you know its a Tardis? I toyed with using the cola machine miniature I've got, but it didn't look quite big enough. In the end, I think, if you want a Tardis on the wargaming table, it's got to be a police box. Luckily, I've had this one for years. It's a resin piece, but I cannot remember where I got it.

Now to get to work on the rest of the crew!

The Power Generator!

 

On my return from taking the kids to school the other day, I saw half of a plastic Hubba Bubba gum container lying by the road. Doing my bit for the planet, I decided to recycle it.

I started by pealing the stickers off the side, which thankfully wasn't too tough. I then cut off a little lip on one side to get it to lie flat. I glued it onto a piece of cardboard, covered the rest of the cardboard in little rocks, and sprayed the whole thing in a neutral, industrial grey. I then gave it a brown wash and haphazardly applied two layers of lighter greys, to give it an old, worn appearance. Finally, I stuck on a few tufts of grass for a touch of colour, shot it with varnish, and called it done. 

To me, it looks like part of the famous 'power generator' from The Empire Strikes Back, so that's what I'm calling it. Really, it could be any old piece of machinery. It makes a nice bit of scatter terrain and works well with the rough colony I'm assembling for my Dropship Down project. 

I also finished up another trooper for the Colonial Marines, this one assembled from the Stargrave: Mercenaries II box set.

There is an important lesson here - I probably had as much fun making this terrain out of a bubble gum container as I do with most sets I buy...

Free Growth Potion

As a little 'thank you' to all the fans who have supported my work over the last year or so, I present this 'Growth Potion'. It can be used for Frostgrave, Ghost Archipelago, Rangers of Shadow Deep, and even Stargrave (though you might not call it a potion for that game!). I even had a couple of friends turn it into an attractive card which you can download and print off. You can download your free Growth Potion Card here: GrowthPotion_card 

Since I've got your attention, I thought this might be a good time to review some of the stuff I have put out recently. First off, hopefully you've seen my creator-zine, Old Bones. This self-published, PDF or print-on-demand magazine contains little bits and pieces for all of my games, including new rules, scenarios, magic items, monsters, etc. If you play any of my games, it should have something for you. You can buy Issue 1 and Issue 2 on DriveThruRPG now.

Although it was a while ago now, I'm still pretty happy and excited about Grave Mutations, my unofficial supplement for Frostgrave (that can also be used for Stargrave, Rangers of Shadow Deep, and Ghost Archipelago with a little imagination). This book is basically just a single d1,000 mutation table with everything from body spikes, and explosive sneezes, through extra-long arms, and blinding auras. With a beautiful cover by aRu-Mor and hilarious interior artwork by Barrett Stanley, its a fun, if somewhat esoteric, addition to the game. 

The latest release for Stargrave was Side Hustle, a deck of 40 cards which add a load of depth to individual scenarios. Essentially, each player draws a card before the game, which gives them a secret mission/side quest/side hustle to try to complete during the game. Most of these are kept secret from your opponents, but that doesn't mean that what you are trying to do won't conflict with what they are. What I really like about these cards is how they layer on top of existing material, bringing fresh twists to classic scenarios and increasing the narrative.

In terms of official Frostgrave, Osprey Games has just released Wildwoods! This chunky new supplement is basically my 'Wilderness Survival Guide' for Frostgrave. It has rules for playing in the different types of terrain that surround the Frozen City. It also has a system for keeping track of your warband's supplies when journeying in the wilderness, including rules for cargo transports. Add in a bunch of new monsters, scenarios, and magic items, and its a pretty hefty expansion to the core game! 

Although it took awhile, I did manage to write a supplement for The Silver Bayonet! Osprey Publishing recently released The Silver Bayonet: Carpathians: Castle Fier. This supplement is kind of my love letter to Dracula, and includes both competitive and solo scenarios, as well as new soldiers and monsters. It's short, sweet, and bloody! For Rangers of Shadow Deep, I finally released Tenebrous Citadel, the third and final part of The Rescue Trilogy. Put together, those three books form the largest campaign I have ever written for any game. It ends with a show-down like no other I have written. It's a climatic end to a desperate adventure! 

The best news, perhaps, is that there is more to come for all of those games! I have written another supplement for Stargrave and The Silver Bayonet, and I'm currently talking to Osprey about another Frostgrave book. Meanwhile, there is another Rangers of Shadow Deep project in advanced stages. So keep your eyes open, I'll talk more about some of those soon!

Pumpkin-headed Bugbear!

Long-time readers know that I've got a 'thing' for pumpkin-heads. I don't know where it comes from, or why it has endured, but I just love painting pumpkin-headed creatures. There is just something so weird about them - maybe the contrast between something as silly, harmless-looking, and inherently squishy as a pumpkin and a horrific, gonna-kill-you monster. I will say, that painting wise, it tends to give you a really nice contrast between the orange pumpkin and the rest of the figure.

Anyway, it was only a matter of time before I painted up this strange Reaper bones miniature, which it calls a pumpkin-headed bugbear. I don't know if this ties into anything specific or if it is the product of a Jason Wiebe sculpting session on Halloween after eating too much candy. Either way, I love it.

It was a pretty easy paint. The body is all various shades of brown, which contrasts nicely with the kermit-the-frog ruff of leaves and the pumpkin head. The head is just a mix of browns, oranges, and yellows, with heavy brown wash for the gooey mouth. 

A great little addition to the collection.