Nobody Asked Me, But...

An occassional installment musing on miniatures, reading, and whatnot.

• Gave BattleTech: Alpha Strike a thorough reading and I am immensely pleased and excited!  My review on Play Unplugged has been posted! I predict a lot of old BT players will be dusting off their 'Mechs and other units for Alpha Strike.
• Re-reading Dune--I do this every two years or so.  I keep threatening to produce a community theater version of the book and casting my various friends in the main roles.  Sometimes I think I am only half-joking! 
• I was bummed out when Fate Core arrived at my FLGS and we proceeded to sell one of the five copies we ordered.  Then I realized that a lot of the customers who would have bought it supported the Kickstarter.  We'll sell all of our copies, I am certain of this, but it will just take a while longer.  It's an interesting dynamic. Such a fine book would not exist without KS, but KS siphons some of the natural customer base for it in the shops.  
• Painting BattleMechs again is great, and the campaign system in Alpha Strike means you can play meaningful games with some story elements attached to them. I plan to add a pair of Exterminators and an Atlas to round out my company.  Best part about it was my FLGS was able to order them via distribution, and that has not always been the case with Iron Wind's stuff. 
• JoAnn and I watched African Queen over the weekend, and while it's not Humphrey Bogart at the height of his powers, it still ranks as an all-time classic in my eyes.  Makes me want to bust out the pulp miniatures!
• My copy of 13th Age from Pelgrane Press should be arriving this week, and I am excited!  It's an RPG that mixes D&D 4E mechanics with indie game design principles to create something truly new and weirdly cool.  And knowing Pelgrane, the hardcover will be a thing of beauty.  

That's all for this installment, but I should have some more painted 'Mechs to show off this week.

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

Alpha Strike Komodo KIM-2A

This week I got my second Komodo done, a KIM-2A variant, swapping 5 Medium Lasers for a single ER Large Laser.

I also have the honor of getting to review the Alpha Strike PDF, and I am in the process of doing so right now.  I am pretty pleased so far.  I'll link to the Play Unplugged review page when it gets posted.

And here is a shot of the whole Colonial Marshal unit:

I need to add a few more units, but this is plenty for Alpha Strike gaming.

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

Bones Golem Painted!

I just had to paint this awesome figure, and as I may have alluded to earlier, I have painted this guy before!  So you get some Bones/Dark Heaven comp shots as well!

On the left, the Bones Golem, and on the right, the metal version! 

Even cooler than the mini is what I did to paint him.  I took him out of the bag, scraped a few mold lines off, then glued him to a base.  After waiting for the basing pumice to dry, I then base coated him with Delta Ceramcoat Trail Tan.  I put him under a fan for 30 minutes, then hit him with some Army Painter Soft Tone ink.  After letting him dry over night, I came back the next day and dry-brushed him with Trail Tan.

After finishing the base, that was it!

So no rinsing, no primer, just right at him with the base coat and bam!

Can't wait to get more of these!

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

Possible Projects For The Week

I thought I might share some of the figures I might try to get to this week.

Nothing earth-shattering, but this stuff motivates me to pick up the brush.

Left to right: GB Dark Age Warrior, BT Komodo, Reaper Bones Golem. 

I got the Bones Golem from my buddy Rico, who picked it up at the Historicon flea market of all places!  It seems some Bones backers bit off more than they could chew, and are now dumping the stuff where they can.  Bully for me!

I may do him in a sandstone paint scheme, but we'll see!

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

Meet A Floronic Foe

I ran Pathfinder last night and nearly authored a second TPK in a row!  Luckily, everyone survived.  One of the party's foes last night was a dead goblin Druid, animated by infernal & intelligent plant matter.  Hey, it's fantasy, what do you want?

I found this awesome DC Heroclix Floronic Man mini to use for the occasion and I re-based him.  I think he fit the bill quite well, but see for yourselves!

A trifle blurry, but a scale comp does help! 

Now my Pathfinder players have got their PCs to 5th level, so we'll move on to the next chapter in Rise of the Rune Lords.

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

WFB Chaos Skirmish: Jheggel-Sagg Ready

I know I promised some incremental stage shots of my Chaos lord, but I ended up painting most of him last night.  I do think that I will go back and add some more detail to him, so if that happens, I'll do a followup post on it.

Here he is!

Now he needs to wander into the wastes and find some followers!

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

Historicon Shopping List

In addition to my buddy Lou grabbing some Old Glory Samurai packs for me, I've got a second "ninja-shopper" looking for stuff from Gripping Beast for me.  In particular, I want a box of plastic Dark Age Warriors to use for Viking Bondi.  

You can mix parts from these plastic warriors with bits from GB's plastic Viking Hirdmen boxed set, and even, I am told, with plastics from Wargames Factory.  I'll have to check that out more closely myself, but at the very least, I can get a lot of mileage out of this boxed set for some Dark Age skirmish games. 

So come Sunday or Monday I hope to have one of these boxed sets in my eager hands.  If anybody else has experience with these kits, I'd love to hear about it!

Thanks for visiting! 

--Scott

Iron Empires: Void

My good friend Chris Moeller, cover artist for many Goalsystem (and other) games, has his own Kickstarter for the latest installment in his creator-owned series, Iron Empires.  It's called Iron Empires: Void.

Iron Empires tells amazing, hard sci-fi stories about characters you can believe in.  Chris is one of those rare painters who also combines excellent sequential art and storytelling skill into his craft.

Of course I have backed it, and if you're inclined, take a look and throw some support Chris' way.

He's not a only a super artist, but a great supporter of small game companies.

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

Fate Core: Arcane and Divine Magic

I've decided to do an occasional series on Fate Core and the many ways it can be adapted to various RPG settings and genres.  Today's installment: Arcane and Divine magic for a D&D-like setting.

Here goes!

Extra: Arcane and Divine Magic

Permissions: One aspect reflecting training, magical nature, or birthright (i.e., Troubled Initiate of the Sapphire Order)

Cost: Skill ranks in a separate [Magic] skill: Arcane Magic, Divine Magic, Dragon Magic, etc.

Beings trained in Magic automatically may use it for 2 of the four types of actions. Additional Stunts may be spent to add further allowable actions.

Overcome: Use magic for divination, healing, and enhanced movement (levitation, flight, extra speed).

Create an Advantage: Use magic to alter the environment with magic or place mental and physical impediments on a target, such as Dazed and Confused or Elemental Wall.

Attack: Use Magic to directly harm someone with your power. This works in close or up to two zones away. Targets defend with either Athletics or Will, depending upon the nature of the magic used against them. Targeted magicians may use their own Magic skill to defend against these attacks.

Defend: Use Magic to defend against hostile magics or other supernatural effects. If defend is selected as an allowable action, it may also be used to defend against Fight and Shoot attacks as well (i.e., Mage Armor, Shield, Mirror Image, etc.).

Note: Any effect that targets multiple foes, or is deemed to be extremely powerful by the GM and players, should cost a Fate point in addition to the skill roll.

So when you make a spell-casting character you write up an appropriate aspect, take a Magic skill, place it in your skill pyramid (likely at +4 or +3, but not necessarily), and then pick two of the four actions it can do. Then if you want, spend 1 or 2 of your 3 starting stunts to add other actions to it.

I could also see using one or two more other Aspects to further define your specialty. For example, if I came up with an aspect called Diviner of Terrible Truths, I could spend a Fate point to invoke that when using Magic to Overcome some mystery or hidden element.

If you give these mechanics a try, let me know how it goes! 

Thanks for visiting!  

--Scott

WFB Chaos Skirmish: A Beginning

In search of an interesting project, my buddy Andrew has delivered with a very intriguing campaign idea involving Warhammer Fantasy Battle.  A true skirmish, Andrew and a few other friends of mine plan to build very small, truly personalized Chaos warbands for some interesting skirmish action.

And our first games will feature just 1 miniature.  That's all.  A lone warrior, seemingly chosen by the Chaos gods as a champion.  To do this the five of us started by splitting a box of Chaos Marauders.  We each threw in $7 or so and got to pick three sets of the same mini from the sprues.  This will allow us to personalize our champion as he grows in power as a result of his battles and his wanderings.

After game 1, each Champion will slowly attract a retinue of followers. I plan to use a small coterie of Beastmen and eventually add a Dragon Ogre.  This wide open, RPG-based project can include any troop or creature from Chaos' considerable list of options. Daemons, Warriors, Beastmen--all are fair game!

Anyway, converted my champion, Jheggel-Sagg, today.  Here he is in his first incarnation, a simple Marauder wandering the wastes beyond his native Kislev, alone, visited only by weird visions and ghostly voices.

My plan is to paint him later this week.  I'll try to do a few posts of some step-by-step work on him as I go.

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

Fate Core Character Building

I've been reading a lot of Fate Core lately, and so I built a D&D style monk to try some character generation out.

Name: Tharkesh, Half-Orc Monk
Description: Tall, rangy Half-Orc, light brown skin, bald, wears green robes and tan pants
Refresh: 3

Aspects
Renegade Half-Orc Fighting Monk (high concept)
Hunted by the Dynasty (trouble)
________________________________________

________________________________________

________________________________________

Skills
Great (+4) Fight
Good (+3) Athletics, Physique
Fair (+2) Empathy, Stealth, Will
Average (+1) Lore, Notice, Rapport, Shoot

Stunts
Dazing Counter (Athletics)
Sprinter (Athletics)
Deflect Arrows (Fight: Use Fight in defense against Shoot attacks)

Physical Stress
[1] [2] [3] [4]

Mental Stress
[1] [2] [3]

Those three empty lines above represent 3 additional aspects that need to be filled in via a group character generation session--chargen in Fate Core is best accomplished in the company of your fellow players. 

I'd like to try running a few Fate Core games at some point soon.  The rules remain loose enough to allow for tremendous creativity, but also provide sufficient structure to build solid characters and stories around.  I also feel like the zone rules for movement and position facilitate the use of miniatures to show relative position.

You can now order Fate Core right here!   Or order it from your FLGS!

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

BattleTech Alpha Strike Anticipation

The release of Catalyst Games' Alpha Strike fast-play BattleTech rules are imminent--maybe just a month or two away!  In anticipation I'd like to feature my recently painted 70-ton Grasshopper. This new design of an old classic features a torso mounted cockpit and nifty vambrace mounted weaponry.

I painted this 'Mech in my Colonial Marshals scheme.

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

Repainted D&D Half-Orc Monk

As promised, here he is!

Ready for action vs. Reaper Golem!

Of course, when this Golem comes out in Bones, I'll paint him again! 

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

Weekend Project: D&D Minis Half-Orc Monk Repaint

I once did a partial repaint on this old D&D Miniature a few years ago, but he went away in a trade.  I have since acquired a new one, and I think I'd like to take time to repaint him this weekend.

Here he is pre-repainted:

Really a dynamite mini all things considered!  We'll see what I can make of him!

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

Fate Core At My Door!

  My copy of Fate Core just arrived yesterday, both reaffirming my faith in Kickstarter and jump-starting my creative juices.  The question becomes, what to run with it?

With a bit of tweaking, anything seems possible.  Mage comes to mind, or some combo of Mage and Feng Shui, another of my old favorite RPGs.  I'm also tempted to get really daring and do some kind of Dark Sun conversion for that post-apoc fantasy vibe.  Perhaps painting another Bugman Warrior has got me thinking in this direction?  Not sure. 

Now I also await my cool new Fate/Fudge dice to use with the game.  Who doesn't love new dice?

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott