Prepping for Play-tests

We're getting ready to do some internal play-testing on SuperSystem 3rd ed. I am gathering figures for my primary play-test team. Of course I'll use Star-Krong, but I am trying to add figures around him that will provide some interesting contrast.

I often find some inspiration among the Blue Moon line of 28mm figures. There's a metric ton of them out there, and most have been sculpted by Bob Naismith, the chap who has done the lion share of our SuperFig line. This time I found a gem in the British Spies Pulp pack.

The figure I picked, and my paint job on her, is below:







I think I'll call her Nemesis and make a her a blaster (energy projector) in the play-test games. One of the things I like so much about this figure is that Bob was not afraid to give her some very real proportions, so she's got an ample backside, which is something you don't often see in 28mm female miniatures (usually its the front that's a bit over-large). Anyway, she's got loads of character and she'll make a great team-member for Star Krong.

Scott

Fast and Dirty 15mm Sci-Fi Battles

We played a game of FAD this weekend. Great fun after cranking out 32 infantry and 3 vehicles this past week.

Scott

Guardians of the Galaxy #12 (some spoilers)

Things are shaping up nicely for our space-faring heroes. The team looks to be coming back together as Drax, Phyla-Vell, and a certain bald psionicist (not Prof. X!) look to be re-joining the ranks for the beginning of their part in the War of Kings storyline. Big doings over in Nova's book as well. Keep up the great work, DnA!

Also, I'm waiting on another new sculpt from Bob Naismith for SuperFigs. This would should satisfy some pulp fans out there. Am I being intentionally cryptic? Perhaps a little...

Scott

A 15mm Non-Sequiter

Anybody who knows me and my gaming habits knows I have many varied interests within the hobby. One of them is 15mm Sci-Fi. I've always loved Stargrunt II, but it's a demanding game to play, very chit-heavy and lacking in a points match mechanic.

One of my gaming group (Joe D.) put me on to Fast and Dirty, a generic and freely available rules set for 15mm or 28mm TTG. I downloaded it, printed it out, had it bound, and I am very impressed with what I am reading. Can't wait to try it! in preparation I am going to paint some of the GZG Israeli Hard-suit troopers I've had stashed away since they came out a year or so ago. I also have some vehicles from Old Crow that I'll be using.

Joe is going to use some of Rebel Miniatures' excellent new sci-fi troops.

No mention of 15mm sci-fi gaming should be made without also plugging the great Dropship Horizon blog that covers this corner of the hobby so brilliantly.

We'll see how it goes!

Scott

Busy Weekend (SuperFig Re-Paints)

In addition to working on some stuff for my War of the Ring Dwarves, I managed to re-paint 10 Shark-Troopers (both Hydro-Blasters and Tridents) and Lord Tridan. I used a Reaper master paint 3-step yellow (Sandy Brown, Sandy Tan, Sandy Yellow) and a Foundry 3-step green
(Phlegm Green).

Here's a group shot:




And the Hydro-Blaster henchmen:





And the Power Trident guys:



And Lord Tridan himself:




SuperFig fan and miniaturist Grimm also does some pretty amazing stuff with the Shark Troopers. His site is a real feast for the eyes. Check it out!

That's all for today!

Scott

Re-Paint Update

Every now and again I re-visit old SuperFigs I painted. I either paint a completely new version of the figure (like I did with Siberian a while back) or I do a re-paint of the old paint job (like I did with Megladon a while ago). Either way it keeps my SuperFigs "juices" flowing.

Today here's a pic of a Shockbot re-paint I did a few months ago. I need to re-work the base on this one to reflect my current basing scheme.



This weekend I intend to re-paint Lord Tridan and some Shark Troopers in a similar scheme to the re-done Megladon. I plan on using them in a Slipstream campaign I am planning to run in May.

Scott

Necessary Plug

Just a quick post to plug the re-release of an RPG book I worked on a few years back, Savage Worlds Necessary Evil. It's a great concept that has the players take the roles of super-villains forced to fight for the Earth when alien invaders have killed all of the planet's greatest heroes!

It's got one of the coolest tag-lines ever: "The fate of the world rests with the scum of the Earth!"

Anyway, this nifty new explorer-sized edition (it's roughly digest-sized) is one of the best -looking books the fine folks at Pinnacle have ever done. It's full color and has lots of nice artwork from Storn Cook and others.


Here's a shot of the cover:




Scott

SuperFig Civilians Review

A customer named John Price sent me a link to a review of one of our packs of Civilians, and it reminded me just how much I love those packs, how well they have sold for us over the years, and how we should really get around to doing more. You know, you can never have too many options when it comes to modern civilians.

I have dreams of whole packs of firemen, or maybe a Diner boxed set where you get a cook, three waitresses, and some customers ("I love you, honey-bunny.") Miniatures maven J.D. Lauck at Mega-Miniatures already does a lot of cool civilians, but like I said, you can NEVER have too many options when it comes to civvies.

Can I get an amen?

Scott

Trinity Battleground

This was an old miniature skirmish game from White Wolf. It was based off of the company's sci-fi Aeon-Verse continuity. In the game, the heroic Psions battled mutated Aberrants who threatened the safety of the earth. These one-time heroes were corrupted by their own powers.

The game included some great miniatures by Bob Naismith, and its feel and dice pool mechanics spurred me to make my own game, and SuperSystem was born shortly thereafter.

Anyway, here's a couple of shots of two of my favorite minis from the line (which I own in its entirety, and in multiples):



The above mini was one of the bad guys.




The guy above was Holt, one of the heroic Psions.

If you ever see a copy of the box at a decent price, pick it up. It's a great little skirmish game.

Scott

R.E.B.E.L.S. #2

A brief statement of praise on R.E.B.E.L.S.

Ok, this is fast becoming my favorite DC Comics monthly title. The latest issue was amazing. Vril Dox is a bastard, but I love him!

Check it out if you dig space-faring superhero action.

Scott

SuperSystem 3rd ed. Update

I am pretty much working every day on SuperSystem 3rd edition, adding something here, changing something else there. I've decided to implement some of the changes to the post-battle scheme that I used in Chaos in Carpathia. Unlike SuperSystem 2nd ed. , the post-battle won't be a straight goal roll. You'll first make your Resolve goal roll, and for every 2 goals you score, you get a +1 to a D6 roll on one of two tables, KO and Coup de Grace. The latter tables carries a -2 penalty for the severity of being neck-stomped by some super-baddie. A good goal roll prior to rolling on this table can negate the chance of dying, but a poor roll means there will be plenty of drama when you roll that D6 and apply the -2 penalty.

The Cosmic Powers special event will still allow you to return from the dead at some later point if you're fortunate enough to have that going when you get gacked.

I think with this system dying will still be pretty rare, but there is more of a real chance of it than in previous iterations of the game.

Anybody think death should be even more prevalent in a supers miniature game? Perhaps I should include optional "enhanced lethality" rules that increase the penalty on the Coup de Grace table to -3 or even -4?

Feedback is appreciated!

Scott

Another Sneak-Peek

I've gotten more requests to separately release the figures from code SU9 (the Homunculoid) than almost any other. A while back we re-did the big Homunculoid as the brick-archer Strongbow. I wanted to do the same thing with the "mid-sized" figure of the pack. Release him separately, but change him up a bit so he becomes his own unique SuperFig.

Behold, the Eel!






He's fast, deadly, and available in the upcoming 2009 release.

Scott

War of Kings #1--Buy It!

Just a quick post to urge folks to pick up the War of Kings crossover series from Marvel. Normally I am not one to go in for big crossover events, but WoK from Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning is awesome.

I do recommend the alternate cover by Ron Lim. Not sure what Lilandra is doing on that main cover at the above link, but whatever. Paul Pelletier and Rick Magyar do phenomenal work on the interiors of this gem. The Inhumans versus the Shi'ar Imperial Guard? Yeah, sign me up.

Scott

Kustom Ork Dreadnought Done

I promised some shots of the Kustom Ork Dreadnought. Here they are. This guy did pretty well in his debut battle for me.







Five attacks on the assault is nothing to dismiss lightly. Dare I say it? WAAAAAAAGGGGHHH!

Scott

Press-Gang Re-Revealed!

Folks have been clamoring for better pics of the Press Gang, one of our Henchmen packs (code HE15). It's one of those dumb things you let go, and let go, and let go, until it becomes ridiculous. I should have had these posted somewhere years ago! Anyway, here they are. BTW, I need a new digital camera.








Not the best shots, but better than nothing. These guys will have a lot of uses for various genres. Super-Science Team, sci-fi spaceport crew, lab technicians, etc. I've used them as characters in supers game at least two different times. The bald guy in the center is currently Doc Dynamite in my buddy Bill's Golden Age M&M game.

Scott

Weekend Gaming

Just wanted to log a quick post on the weekend's past gaming. I finished the last session of my 5-part Mutants & Masterminds campaign. This cosmic campaign combined elements from both Marvel and DC universes, and used re-based Heroclix as well as my own SuperFigs and other models. In the end, the players prevented Thanos from raising Galactus from the Black Galaxy and using him as a pawn to woo Lady Death. Fun was had by all!

I also wanted to post a pic of a repaint I did on Megladon, one of the largest SuperFigs we've ever done:



Here's a size comparison between Megladon and the unreleased Star-Krong:



I also finished and had my first game with the second Kustom Ork Dreadnought. I'll post pics of it later this week.

Scott