The Wild Harvest

You realize you are an adult when you vacuum up a LEGO and you just don’t care.

A couple of weeks ago, my parents crossed the Atlantic to spend time with the family, see our new house, and do a few touristy things here in Kent. As we wandered around, my mother commented several times about the profusion of wild blackberries. Back home in North Carolina, the birds would have picked the bushes clean.

Combine this with a few other important facts.

1. Little kids love to eat berries.

2. I have two little kids.

3. Berries are kind of expensive.

So a couple of days ago, I took a break from the writing, got an old ice-cream pot, and went on the hunt. (It is important for us pasty-faced computer jockeys to get out and see the sun now and then.) About five minutes from my house there is a massive area of wild blackberries. Within fifteen minutes I had collected a good pot full. Such a pot would have probably cost £5-£6 in a grocery store.

I don’t think picking wild blackberries is a big secret or anything, but I am somewhat surprised that very few people seem to be taking advantage of this free food. Thankfully, my mother-in-law is one of them as she makes a fantastic blackberry and apple crumble.

Now, how do I make jam?

Another Crewman

Just a quick update for today. Here is another crewman, I finished up to join with Big Red on her adventures in the Ghost Archipelago. It's another figure from the female crewman pack sculpted by Bobby Jackson. 

I thought she was looking a little plain, so I decided she needed an 'eye-catching' shield. Digging through my decals, I found this one on a sheet of hoplite shield designs. I had to cut it down to fit, but, now that its on there, it's hard to tell that it wasn't designed for it.

New Ghost Archipelago Crew – In Progress

When Ghost Archipelago was first released, about a year ago, I painted up my first dedicated crew, led by the mighty Heritor, Collandra, known to all as ‘Big Red’. While I enjoyed playing with that crew, I was never completely happy with it. Thus, amidst all of my other painting projects, I have slowly been assembling Collandra’s new crew.

I started out with a new version of Collandra. Now that she’s a bit more experienced, and got a bit of money, she’s decided to dress a bit better. Plus, I decided I would use the colour blue as a unifying them for the crew. So far, I've painted half of them.

I’m still deciding on the rest of the crew, but I think I’m going to say that in her travels she befriended a group of snake-men outcasts. I really want to use the snake-man herbalist as my Warden, and one of the snake-men Heritors as a scout.

In the meantime, here is the first half of the crew investigating some jungle ruins, and finding more than they bargained for! The scenery is by Things from the Basement. They do a lot of MDF terrain themed for Frostgrave and Ghost Archipelago in their ‘Buildings on a Budget’ range. They are really nice pieces.

The hyper-cool matt is from Cigar Box Battles. It took me a while to get to use this matt, as on its arrival, it got swiped by my wife and kids to play with dinosaurs. Then, it spent a long time in the living room serving as the blanket for the sofa. I’m not kidding, the matt is actually that large, comfortable and warm. It is also double-sided, and looks fantastic.

I’m sure Collandra and crew will have no problem with a few stray zombies, but she’d going to need some more help if she’s going to continuing venturing deep in the Archipelago!

A Good Book Day!

Yesterday was a good book day, as I received books from two, undisputed genre masters. First I received my pre-ordered copy of The Fall of Gondolin by J. R. R. Tolkien. As soon as I got it out of the package, I removed the dust jacket and put it in a Brodart ‘Just-a-Fold’ book jacket protector. I first discovered these back when I worked at a rare and used book store in Chapel Hill, and have been using them for my most treasured books ever since. They are a bit fiddly to apply, but otherwise, I can’t recommend them highly enough.

I’ve only had a quick flip through the book, but it looks good. It’s 300 pages, of which the ‘original tale’ takes up about 80. The rest of the book covers the writing, evolution, and related bits of the story, including pieces of other and earlier versions.

The book also includes several new paintings by Alan Lee – including ‘Glorfidel and the Balrog'! Though my favourite is the one repeated on the back cover, ‘Ulmo Appears Before Tuor’.

A few hours after that arrived, I also received a package containing The Call of Cthulhu from The Pulps Library series from PS Publishing. This slender volume (approx. 120 pages) contains the full text of H. P. Lovecraft’s master work, ‘The Call of Cthulhu’, along with an introduction by Lovecraft scholar S. T. Joshi as well as several associated essays by other well-known names in the field. The book is liberally illustrated by Pete Von Scholly. It’s part of a series that appears to be covering all of Lovecraft's tales in individual volumes. Intriguing, to say the least.

Expect full reviews of both books in the near future. Now, which to read first...

Lovecraft Country by Matt Ruff

A month ago, I was having an email discussion with an old friend about modern Lovecraftian writers, and he strongly suggested I check out Lovecraft Country by Matt Ruff. Well, I’ve just finished it, and it is a fantastic piece of writing.

Set in Chicago in the early nineteen-fifties, the novel follows an extended family of black Americans as they deal with the double threat of societal racism and a cabal of sorcerers. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the novel is its structure. It is told episodically, with each section focusing on a different member of the family. Each section is almost its own little short story, and draws upon a different tradition of speculative fiction: gothic, science-fiction, modern horror, urban fantasy…

The main characters in the book are a strong, interesting, and diverse lot, and even the antagonist is memorable and intriguing, if not overly sympathetic.

I have two minor complaints about the book. The biggest one is that after such a strong narrative, the ending comes off a bit flat. It’s a little easy and lacks a real crescendo. The other is that, despite its title, it isn’t really Lovecraftian. It certainly borrows a few elements, mostly early in the novel, but actually lacks any kind of Lovecraftian tone. This doesn’t bother me much, but might annoy some people who come looking for a classic Cthulhu Mythos type story.

These points aside, the book is a triumph of creativity and writing, and I would recommend it to anyone who likes fantasy or horror.

I see that HBO is developing a series based on the book. If they pull it off, it should be an awesome spectacle, with some seriously good characters…

Purity Seal – I’m done with you!

For nearly twenty years, a light spray of Citadel ‘Purity Seal’ has been the finishing touch for every figure I have painted. Normally, I would paint about five figures, and then spray them together in a little batch. Every so often, however, something went wrong, and the figures would be ‘frosted’. At worst, this looked like an actual layer of frost covering the miniature, at best it dulled and blurred the colours. It was frustrating when it happened, and there were factors that could lessen the probability of it occurring, but in the main, I just considered it a necessary risk in painting.

Well, over the last year or two, it seems that more and more of my figures have been suffering from frosting, and I don’t think I’m the only one. Just google ‘Purity Seal Frosting’ and you’ll see what I mean.

Looking for an alternative, I sent an email to Jamie Gordon, who is best known in the wargaming world as the author of Outremer: Faith and Blood, a fun skirmish wargame set in the crusades. Jamie is also responsible for painting the Frostgrave demo figures used by Osprey Publishing. Having recently played with these figures again at GenCon, I was impressed not only by the paint job, but by the sealer. The sealer, whatever it was, seem to really preserve the colours underneath and also appeared to provide a better level of protection than Purity Seal. If you really want to test your paint jobs - use the figures for a weekend full of demo games!

Jamie told me that he uses Army Painter ‘Anti-Shine Matt Varnish’ on his figures, so I decided to give it a try. It comes in a little dropper bottle and has to be painted onto the figures. I’ve recently tested it out on a few figures, and I’ve got to say, I’m very pleased with the results. The varnish adds just a tiny bit of shine to the figures, which I think actually enhances my paint jobs, but otherwise doesn’t change the colour at all. Also, it feels like a much stronger level of protection.

It’s early days in my use of the Army Painter varnish, but I’m happy enough with the results that my Purity Seal is headed for the bin! (Or however it is I am supposed to dispose of aerosol cans these days.)

Just so people don't think this is an anti-Games Workshop post, I am still happily using Citadel Chaos Black primer as the first step in painting all of my miniatures, and very happy with it.

((Update)) As some readers have pointed out, Games Workshop dropped 'Purity Seal' in favour of 'Munitorm Varnish'. I don't know if this is more than an name change or not. I have used Munitorm a bit and had some of the same problems. So, for now, I'm going to try paint-on varnish, to see if I continue to get better results.

The Diamonds of Elias Skull for Ghost Archipelago

Isn't it always the way. In my last post, I presented a list containing everything I've written for the world of Frostgrave, and less than a week later it is out of date.

A couple of days ago, I received the new Wargames Illustrated, Issue 371, that contains my mini-campaign The Diamonds of Elias Skull for Ghost Archipelago.

The campaign consists of three scenarios, all of which take place on the same island. In the main, it's a classic pirate treasure hunt, filled with traps, monsters, and a fight in a cave behind a waterfall!

So, if you are looking for some more action for your Heritor, and a chance to pick up a unique treasure, check it out.

You can get the new issue from North Star Military Figures, which means you can order a copy at the same time you order your Frostgrave minis...as you might need some more swamp zombies...

There are several other interesting things in the issue, including a long article on the new edition of Black Powder, featuring lots of shots of John Stallard's game room, where I was once lucky enough to play a game of Black Powder. Also included is an article about the complex campaign run by one of the Perry brothers - who wouldn't want to play in that!