Knights of the Dinner Tables take the Crown!

I would like to add my voice to those wishing congratulations to Jolly Blackburn. With the release of issue 301, his comic Knights of the Dinner Table has become the longest running comic by a single writer/artist, taking the crown from Dave Sim's Cerberus. Pretty astounding for a comic about a group of role-players where the vast majority of panels are just people sitting around a table. Pretty astounding for a comic book that most comic book fans will have never read and probably aren't even aware of. 

I was actually there at the beginning, reading Shadis magazine when the Knights made their first appearance as a bit of filler. I followed them over to the comics when Jolly made the jump. The first 100 issues or so still reside in my parent's house. Honestly, I can't say that I have read all 301 issues. In fact, I lost track of the Knights for quite awhile after I immigrated to England. I never completely forgot them though, and back during Covid, I found myself searching for them again. I took out a two-year print subscription, despite the painfully high price of getting them shipped across the ocean, and I certainly haven't regretted it.

If anything, the Knights have grown even more enjoyable over the years. The cast of the comic has ballooned, and while the original Knights are still the stars, they are supported by a wonderful cast of extras. Issue 301 continues a storyline I'm greatly enjoying, about a legendary game-master that comes to town and runs a game that gives players a chance to bring a favourite dead character back to life. Needless to say, the players have gotten more than they expected!

If you are an role-player, and have never heard of Knights of the Dinner Table, I strongly suggest picking up the first anthology, Bundle of Trouble #1. You might just make some life-long friends. 

Rangers of Shadow Deep: Tenebrous Citadel available PDF

I am extremely pleased to announce that Rangers of Shadow Deep: Tenebrous Citadel is now available in PDF (with print on demand to follow in a week or so).

This ten-scenario mission completes the Rescue trilogy. It's the players' biggest opportunity to strike a major blow against the Shadow Deep... but it also contains the scariest monster I have ever included in an a scenario, and its not even that snake on the cover!

You can get the first two parts of the trilogy here:

Across the Wastes

Dungeons Dark

Quicksilver

 

I admit it. Quicksilver is not my favourite Marvel character. In fact, I can't say I have much opinion on him one way or another. Really, I wanted the Scarlet Witch and he came in the box. For some reason though, I decided to paint him first, and I did enjoy it. I painted his suit a slightly darker blue than is usually seen in the comics because I thought it would better contrast with the white. I then mixed a tiny bit of silver in with the white, for no better reason than his name is Quicksilver. The black-lining looks a bit harsher in the photo than it does on he actual figure. 

I'm not sure why they modelled the figure on an exploding rock, but I'm not a sculptor, so I'll accept that it probably looks better that way. So, he's not my favourite superhero, but he's still a nice little addition to the collection.

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.