The Possessed

 

I am continuing my work on the Tox Troopers from Edinburgh Miniatures, and have just finished up these three. I believe the middle guy is ‘possessed’ of some sort of malignant spirit, while the two little guys with him are his ‘handlers’. I don’t know if that’s actually what the little guys are supposed to be, but that’s how I’ll be using them most of the time.

I don’t generally paint nude figures. I don’t often enjoy the process, and, I admit, I generally feel a little weird having them on a table. However, this guy is just strange enough that it doesn’t bother me too much, and I like how he’s got a couple bits of armour and some really heavy cables.

I also decided he’d be the one guy in the force that had no mud on him, since he floats above it all!

Solo Frostgrave & Ghost Archipelago Adventure

I’ve just received the new issue of Wargames Illustrated (398), which is always a treat. This issues also happens to include 'The Sunless River' a solo scenario I wrote for Ghost Archipelago, but which can also be used for Frostgrave! (I included conversion notes.)

As the title suggests, the scenario is mostly set on a river, with the crew in a few small boats. They have to make their way down an underground river that features several small islands with strange pylons… and there are also a lot of ‘river-skimmers’, basically giant spiders that can walk on water!

So, if you are looking for a little more solo Frostgrave or Ghost Archipelago action, you might want to check it out! (And they did a great photo shoot for the scenario as well!)

The issue also comes with a free sprue of Warlord Games Greek Hoplites. If you have no other use for them, they make pretty good Dricheans for Ghost Archipelago.

You can grab a copy from NorthStar or direct form Wargames Illustrated.

Stargrave: Species and Robots!

It’s now three months until the official release date for Stargrave, which means the book is probably printing somewhere. I honestly don’t know where, as Bloomsbury, the parent company for Osprey Games, uses printers all over the world. Normally, I would be expecting to get an advance copy in the next month or so, but due to Covid, I will likely only see the book a month or so before release.

I know a lot of people are excited to get started on their crews, so I thought I would share a little more information to get people thinking about figures. Specifically, I thought I’d discuss species and robots!

The game divides species into two-broad groups: humanoid and non-humanoid. All crew are assumed to be humanoid, but beyond that, the rules don’t care at all what they look like. They can be tall or short, hairy or scaly, have ten eyes or one. So really, 90% of the ‘aliens’ that have appeared in various science-fiction movies and television over the years!

Non-humanoid aliens are usually treated as ‘uncontrolled creatures’ and most often used as neutral monsters in scenarios. That said, creative players shouldn’t let this stop them. If you really want a crewmember that looks like a floating jellyfish or man-sized centipede, then there is nothing wrong with that. As-long-as you can make the figures distinct from one another, and make it clear to your opponent which figures represent your captain, first-mate, or specific soldier type, there shouldn’t be a problem.

Robots, on the other hand, are treated slightly different in the rules. Essentially, whenever you recruit a new soldier into your crew, you can simply declare it is a robot. This comes with a few specific strengths and weaknesses (such as not needing to breath!), and changes their interactions with some of the powers and gear available to crew. You can’t have a robot for a captain or first-mate, although you can have a cyborg who is mostly machine. So, you can include a robot or two in your crew without it changing the structure of your crew much. You could even have all your soldiers be robots, though this is probably only likely if your captain happens to be a robot expert…

Anyway, hope that gives you a bit more idea about the freedom you have when buying figures and building your crew!

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For those wondering, the 'robot' above is a mech from the new Battletech game while the human is from Anvil Industries.

Dear Joe (Age 14)

Hey me! You would not believe how much it costs to send a letter back to 1990! You are probably also wondering about the British stamps – I’ll get to that.

I wanted to write because I’ve got some good news and some bad news. I’ll start with the bad news first, because I know we always like to end on a good note!

You know that anxiety you feel a lot of the time? Well, unfortunately, that’s going to be a frequent companion for the next thirty years, at least. Oh, it’ll come and go. You’ll have periods where you barely notice it, and other times where it is the only thing you can think about. It’ll take different forms as you get older, find your weak points, and kick you when you are down. The irony, of course, is almost none of the things you are worried about will actually come to pass, and the few that do, you’ll get through. That knowledge doesn’t really help, of course. I know, the worry is rarely about what is actually likely to happen, it’s just all the imagined possibilities...

But that leads right into the good news. That imagination that often causes you so many problems is also one of your greatest strengths. See that dungeon map over there? That was part of the work you did yesterday. That’s right, work. You are going to create fantasy worlds, and with the help of numerous talented people, you are going to share them with like-minded geeks all over the planet. Thousands of people are going to want to play in your worlds. Some will even write and tell you how your games helped with their own anxieties.

But you know, that’s not even the best part. You are going to wander and explore. You are going to have wonder-filled adventures – many of them with a beautiful woman with an incredible accent! She’ll become your wife and your best friend.

Truthfully, your life will be filled with fantastic friends and family. Some will only be around for a short time, others will remain close wherever you roam. They will support you, and if you ever need them, they’ll come running when you call. Make sure you do the same for them.

I don’t want to spoil all of the surprises – and there will be many! I just really wanted to say – it’s going to be a bumpy ride, but gosh is it going to be worth it.

                                                 Sincerely,

                                                             You. Age 44.

P.S. They will make a live-action film trilogy of The Lord of the Rings, and it is going to rock.

Tox Trooper Scouts and Psyker

 

I have been powering on my Tox Troopers. Here is my first 'fire team' along with a Psyker. I really started this project just to have some bad guys to use for Stargrave, but I have been having so much fun painting these figures that I am planning to expand it to a full 'Lost and the Damned' army. I've got all of the figures in the Tox Trooper collection and am planning to add a few things from other places down the line.

I apologize for the lower quality photo. With homeschooling continuing in the dinning room, I don't have access to my normal photo set-up, so I'm having to make do with what I can do quickly in my office. 

Here's a photo I took of some of them with the old set-up.

Stargrave Plastic Figure Reveal!

 

Osprey Games and North Star have released the first photograph of some of the plastic Stargrave figures that should be available in April along with the book!

I believe these guys were built from the 'Crew' box, which is just one of three boxes that are planned for the launch! The Mercenaries and Troopers boxes are also in the works.

As you can see, each box is going to have plenty of different options for both human and non-human figures, not to mention loads of different weapons and gear. 

All of the figures have been sculpted by Bobby Jackson and the paint jobs here are by Kev Dallimore.

And what is that I notice about their feet?

Classic Osprey Advert from Battlegames

Over the last couple of months I have bought some old issues of Battlegames magazine and have been reading through them as part of my Imagi-Nations project. This magazine, which ran for 30 (?) or so issues about ten years ago, served as my main introduction to the concept, and it remained a constant theme throughout its run. The editor, Henry Hyde, continues to share his enthusiasm for wargaming at his Patreon and through his writing. I'm looking forward to his upcoming book on Wargaming Campaigns. You can still get most issues of the magazine digitally at the link above.

Anyway, I was flipping through one issue, when I came across this advert. It not only made me smile, but it brought some memories crashing back. I was the junior member of the Osprey marketing team at the time - mostly handling review copies, customer enquires, and the like. This advert was the brain-child of Mike R., and I can still remember him sitting with the designer, Julian K., as they carefully cut the shako off a Napoleonic soldier and stuck it onto the Vietnam War soldier (digitally, of course!). It took a lot of time to get it to fit that well! 

Some years later, I would also use the artwork of the Vietnam soldier as part of a gigantic poster we made for our stand at a big Family History show. The soldier was part of a timeline showing how far back in your family tree you would probably have to go to get to soldiers from different eras. I remember that we used this particular piece of artwork because there was a big debate in the office over whether or not we should edit out the cigarette! I'm not sure why this became a 'hot topic', but somehow it did. Personally, I had no problem with it as the cigarette was being presented in its 'historical context', but I didn't feel strongly about the issue. I think, in the end, we took the cigarette out. The show turned out to be a complete bust anyway. I think we spent more money printing the posters than we made at the show...

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Note 1 - Osprey had a complete set of Battlegames in their purpose printed folders. I miss that set!