Four-Color Figures

RoboFire: Blue Moon Walker

2012-01-30T06:00:00.001-05:00

I decided to add a little variety to the Knights of Saturn RoboFire force with a Blue Moon walker.

It's a very different style from the Rebel Miniatures figures, but I think the paint scheme ties it in.

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

VMF: A Secret Invader?

2012-01-27T06:42:00.005-05:00

One of the core premises of my Villain Mission Force RPG using BASH is the idea that the player characters have a secret benefactor who bank-roles the VMF and instructs the Vanisher who to make membership offers to.

The PCs don't ever see this person--it's like Charlie's Angels in that way. So if it's like Charlie's Angels, wouldn't I need a Bosley character? A majordomo of sorts. I settled on a Skrull. Why? Not sure, just thought it would be a fun juxtaposition of images.

I did not want to use the name "Bosley"--too obvious. So I settled on Rothby. A little ostentatious, a trifle exotic. Maybe kind of cool. With concept and name in mind, I set about converting a Heroclix model into an appropriate Rothby.

I started with the Aaron Stack (Machine Man) 'Clix figure. This really is a dynamite figure for conversions.

Here it is:

I sawed off the head and hands, and replaced them. The head came from an older 'Clix Skrull trooper figure. The hands came from a Star Wars Weequay Thug figure.

Then I re-painted him. Here he is:

I like this conversion so much I want to play him in somebody else's game!

Anyway, in issue #1 when the players first met him, they asked Rothby where he came from. I think someone said, "Are you really a Skrull?" He replied, "Yes, the Facilitator rescued me from an ignominious fate in some cow pasture."

So yeah, had to stick that little Marvel Universe history nugget in there.

Hopefully I'll have time to do at least one RoboFire post this weekend. We shall see. I have some Merc painting that needs doing, and a few other family related activities, but a late night or two may bear some fruit!

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

RoboFire: 2nd Mauler Trooper

2012-01-25T06:00:00.001-05:00

Got a second Rebel Miniatures HAMR Suit done; I am calling them Mauler Series "Trooper" RoboFrames in my sample background for RoboFire.

I added a bit more color variation to this one, employing some blacks and some Vajello Dark Sea Blue.

And here the Trooper is with another member of the Knights of Saturn, the robotic Arcus-V:

Arcus-V is a robot from that dynamite Khurasan crew pack.

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

RoboFire: First RoboTanks Done

2012-01-23T06:00:00.001-05:00

One of the nice things about the RoboFire rules I am working on is that players can use just about any models in their collections, and the rules should handle scales running from 6mm to 15mm.

I'm also working on the "RoboSquad" sample campaign background for the book, and this will be in 15mm scale. I've ordered and received some awesome 15mm scale HAMR and Titan suits from Rebel Miniatures to do my play-testing.

I got two painted this past weekend. Here are some shots of the finished figures.

I'm going to call this one a Mauler Series "Trooper" in my own background. It'll be a standard, medium weight RoboTank. The above machine belongs to one Ace Sullivan, and here he is with it:

(Slightly out of focus! Sorry!)

Thal Grimm gets a machine as well! I am calling it a Reaver Series "Gunslinger." Here it is:

And here is Thal posing with his machine:

Here's a final comp shot:

I painted the RoboTanks using GW Khemri Brown, used a medium gray for the weapons, added some Foundry Phlegm Green A and B for the camo and canopies, and hit the whole thing with a coating of Army Painter Soft Tone dip. I'm quite happy with the military final look I got.

More to come!

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

RoboFire: Meet Thal Grimm

2012-01-22T07:00:00.000-05:00

The next member of the RoboSquad Knights of Saturn team I'd like to feature is Thal Grimm. In my RoboSquad world background, the Vat-Born constitute a whole new class of sentient beings. Genetically engineered humanoids, the Vat-Born can come in all shapes and sizes.

Thal Grimm was bred to fight. He makes a perfect RoboSquad pilot! He's another figure from that awesome Khurasan crew pack.

Here he is with Ace Sullivan from last post:

As you can see, he's big. Close to 20mm or so. But he fits in nicely with my RoboSquad concept, adding a touch of the exotic to the team.

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

RoboFire: Meet Ace Sullivan

2012-01-20T07:00:00.003-05:00

Every cool mecha show needs a lantern-jawed hero to lead the team. I'm developing a sample campaign background for RoboFire called RoboSquad--just a small group of heroes and their amazing fighting machines!

Anyway, my plan is to use Khurasan (with John's kind permission) miniatures to model the crew of the featured RoboSquad team, the Knights of Saturn.

Here's a test paint for Ace Sullivan, the team leader.

This weekend I hope to get a vehicle or two done. We shall see!

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

The Book That Launched A Thousand Games

2012-01-19T06:17:00.008-05:00

3025 was a very good year. At least as a 16 year old kid in 1986, it seemed so to me. That's when I first bought the BattleTech Technical Readout 3025, a very dog-eared copy of which I still own today:

Perhaps it was the Duane Loose BattleMech artwork combining original designs and some "borrowed" ones from Harmony Gold's RoboTech franchise, or maybe it was the clever writing and arrangement that made me feel like I was reading some futuristic Jane's publication. I think it was a little of both.

The profiles of famous 'Mech jockeys with each machine's write-up were the clincher. I especially loved the account of Quickdraw pilot "Frownin' Jack" Breslin and his 60 ton Quickdraw, long one of my favorite 'Mech designs.

That quirky Quickdraw was Breslin's life, and as I began to play BattleTech and later other sci-fi and fantasy games, I adopted those sorts of role-play elements into my gaming more and more.

Here's a pic of an Ostroc and Quickdraw I painted two years ago:

In 1996, after having been away from miniature gaming for a few years, my interest in the hobby became re-invigorated by the arrival of Heavy Gear and Dream Pod 9's Vehicle Compendiums.

It took a while, but now dP9 finally has a line of miniatures to live up to the amazing material contained within these two books.

As gamers we'll spend just a small portion of our time actually gaming. It's the time spent reading, talking, and thinking about gaming that can be the most fruitful and fulfilling way of filling the gamer's existential vacuum. That's where books like the Technical Readout and Vehicle Compendium come in.

I have no doubt that the hours I spent pouring over the BattleTech Technical Readout 3025 represented formative moments in my gaming life. It's a testament to this book's magic that I can still pick it up today and lose myself in its yellowing pages.

In my mind, 3025 will always be a very good year indeed!

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

Heavy Gear: Bear

2012-01-18T07:00:00.004-05:00

I've been messing around with RoboFire again, and I want to try a few new wrinkles out in the rules. Some of the stuff I want to do will occur in 15mm, and I ordered some Rebel miniature HAMR suits for that.

In the meantime, to scratch my mecha itch I pulled out another Heavy Gear mini from my backlog. This time a Bear to go with the Mad Dog-R I painted last May. This batch of minis is part of a slow-burn Northern force I am putting together. The idea is that they would be deployed in a mountainous area. Anyway, the Bear represents a successor variant on the Mad Dog chassis.

And here are some shots of the pair of Gears together:

As Gears go these would be considered older models, long ago outgunned and out-developed by the high-tech Grizzly.

I've got another two-pack of these guys to go, and the nice thing about it is you get the parts to build two full models, and can do one of the three variants: Mad Dog R, Bear, or Den Mother. Next I'll do a Den Mother. I may do a Hunter or two first, as any good unit should have some standard trooper Gears.

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

Off The Shelf: Mythic Japan

2012-01-16T07:00:00.004-05:00

Four or five years ago I ran some skirmish games set in Mythic Japan using the Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game rules.

I painted a bout a or more figures for it, and here are two of my favorites.

The Ogre is from Reaper and the human is from the old Legend of the Five Rings line.

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

Marvel Villain Mission Force #1

2012-01-15T20:05:00.005-05:00

Last night I ran the first issue of my BASH Villain Mission Force RPG. The player characters were recruited by the mysterious Facilitator to rescue a very special individual from Arcade's Murder World.

Set in 1985, Kim Jong-il had not yet come to power in the North Korea, but he was already a villainous sort by this point, so a group of North Korean expatriates and others pooled their resources to have him kidnapped and slain in Arcade's Murder World! So I needed a Kim Jon-il figure in 28mm, but where do you get that?

I had a spare Murch Pulp Figures Chinese gangster in my bits bin, so added some hair and sunglasses, and I had a decent facsimile of the future "dear leader."

Here he is!

In the end he was successfully rescued, and the VMF enjoyed a riotous victory on their inaugural mission. The team consisted of The Owl, Scorpion, Mr. Hyde, Ghost, and Hydro-Man, who was brimming with fun facts about water!

Rolling on the tables I'd made turned out to be a blast as well. I plan to run another session in a few weeks.

In the meantime, I'll show off more figures as I get them done. Here's the Scorpion:

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

VMF: More Models

2012-01-13T05:25:00.008-05:00

I got three more models done for the VMF game. Two player character models and one NPC.

Whirlwind will make an excellent VMF member, I just need to stat him up and work him into the chart.

His super-speed spinning and whirling blades will make him formidable at 25 pts.

Ghost is already on the table and statted up. Here he is:

His suit allows him to either turn invisible or intangible, but not both at the same time!

Now for an NPC, Arclight, a big, tough mutant suitable for crunching some VMF heads!

She actually points out pretty well at 25 pts., so she could be included as a PC, but I think I will leave her as an NPC for now.

Here are all three of the new characters side by side:

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

VMF: Hydro-Man and the Tables

2012-01-11T07:00:00.005-05:00

I did a quick and easy re-paint on Hydro-Man the other night. He needed very little as I loved his translucent blue plastic body and appendages. As you can see here, I just re-did his flesh, hair, and shirt.

Now, onto the tables I am using for the first issue of my BASH Villain Mission Force game featuring bad Marvel villains in the starring role.

Villain Mission Force (VMF)
The year is 1985--the Bronze Age of the Marvel Universe, and the world needs villains to complete sometimes unsavory missions.

The Villain Pool
Players choose (or roll randomly) the villain they want to play from the table below.

Roll 2D6:

2 = Anaconda
3 = Blizzard
4 = Boomerang
5 = Constrictor
6 = The Ghost
7 = Harpoon
8 = Hydro-Man
9 = Mr. Hyde
10 = The Scorpion
11 = Vertigo
12 = Wild Child

Incarceration Tables
Once a player selects his villain from the available pool, he or she should roll on the following tables to determine what the character’s most recent misdeeds were that ended in them being incarcerated. Players may also choose from the tables, but the GM should point out that choosing isn’t very fun!

Crime (roll 2D6)

2 = Assault (roll again on the Victim table below)
3 - 4 = Racketeering
5 - 6 = Kidnapping (roll again on the Victim table below)
7 - 9 = Bank Job
10 - 11 Grand Theft Auto
12 = Attempted Murder (roll again on the Victim table below)

Victim Table (roll 2D6)

2 - 3 = Rich Heiress
4 - 5 = The Mayor
6 - 7 = Famous Actor
8 - 9 = Famous Scientist
10 - 11 = Famous Religious Figure
12 = Subduing Hero’s Family Member/Significant Other

Subduing Hero or Team

2 = Speedball
3 = Daredevil
4 = Captain America
5 = Spider-Woman
6 = Iron Man
7 = Hulk
8 = Spider-Man
9 = The Defenders
10 = The X-Men
11 = The Fantastic Four
12 = The Avengers

Place of Apprehension

2 = The Sewers
3 = Main Street
4 = The Suburbs
5 = Rooftop of a Skyscraper
6 = The Docks
7 = The Wilderness
8 = Underground Lair
9 = Naval Base
10 = Mountain Stronghold
11 = Space Station
12 = Blue Area of the Moon

Accomplice

2 = White Rabbit
3 = The Mandrill
4 = Purple Man
5 = Circus of Crime
6 = Nitro
7 = Klaw
8 = Kraven
9 = MODOK
10 = Super-Skrull
11 = Baron Zemo
12 = Dr. Doom (roll again on the Doc Doom Accomplice Table)

If you happen to roll yourself, roll 2D6 again:

Result
2 - 11 = Roll again until you get an accomplice other than yourself!
12 = You were working with a clone of yourself!

Doc Doom Accomplice Table
Result
2 - 11 = It was just a Doombot! The real Dr. Doom would never work with you!
12 = It was Doc Doom! Gain +1 Hero Point to begin the session!

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

VMF: The Ladies

2012-01-10T07:00:00.000-05:00

Did up two female characters as possible VMF (Villain Mission Force) members: Anaconda and Vertigo.

Ever since I first picked up Marvel Two-in-One #64, I've loved Anaconda! A super-strong, female ex-steel worker from Pittsburgh? What's not to love?

Next post I'll share my re-paint of Hydro-Man, and a few of the cool charts I'll be using to get players into the game.

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

WH40K: Crimson Fists Dreadnought

2012-01-09T07:00:00.001-05:00

I painted the plastic Dreadnought from the Black Reach boxed set for Mr. B., one of my best merc painting customers. This was a Christmas gift, and I am happy to report that Mr. B. seemed to really enjoy it!

Anyway, on to the pics!

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

VMF: Hawkeye?

2012-01-07T07:00:00.003-05:00

Hawkeye has long been one of my favorite Avengers, but throughout his long career as a professional adventurer, he's had several stints as a villain. Or at least a "perceived" villain. Heck, he began his career as an Iron Man foe during an era where a loser like the Melter (man, I have to recruit him for the VMF too!) could actually threaten 'ole Shellhead.

Anyway, Hawkeye will work as either a VMF member, or a foe. One of the ideas I'd like to try out with this role-play concept is to have all of the figures and their BASH character sheets out, along with RPG cards or notes giving players clues as to what the characters' core motivations are. So a character like Hawkeye might have something like "Hero on the run" or "Rogue Avenger"--he'd still make an ideal leader for a VMF strike team.

As to the Heroclix figure itself, well, this is an old one that I never had much regard for. When I'd seen it in the past, it was always so caked with paint that I thought there was no saving it. The other day I found a really clean version and snatched him up. Once I cleaned off his mold lines and hit him with some Dull Cote, he took paint quite well!

And here's a shot of him with Wild Child and Wolfsbane:

Next up, a couple of more ladies will join the VMF!

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

Pig Iron Trooper Number Two

2012-01-05T06:32:00.002-05:00

Got a second one done, and I had an idea that my old Starship Troopers plastic APE walker might be a good match for these guys.

I'd need to match the paint, but I am liking the scale match between them!

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

Imperial Science Fiction: Thousand Suns, et. al.

2012-01-03T07:00:00.004-05:00

The concept of Imperial Science Fiction began in the 1950's and featured tales of vast galactic empires battling over whole planetary systems. My favorites of this brand include the works of Jerry Pournelle and Frank Herbert.

Over the weekend I received the copy of Thousand Suns 2nd ed. I ordered from RPGNow. It's Imperial Sci-Fi at its best, and got me inspired to paint up one of my Pig Iron sci-fi troopers that had been languishing in my backlog. Here he is:

I really feel that this very simple paint job really brings out the hard-sci-fi feel of these excellent models.

I need to move forward and finish the rest of the force in this scheme!

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

VMF: Harpoon

2012-01-02T07:00:00.001-05:00

I've always liked the Marauder named Harpoon. He possesses the power to energize his harpoons and throw them at foes, or use them in melee. He was responsible for much mayhem against the Morlocks during the Mutant Massacre storyline.

Anyway, he's got a great Clix figure, and I was quite happy with my re-paint on him.

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

VMF Foe: Sabertooth

2012-01-01T07:00:00.002-05:00

Whether you like Sabertooth or not, he's kind of grown into the roles of big-time bad-guy/anti-hero in the Marvel Universe. He might be too big to us as a member of the Villain Mission Force, but he would be a great foe!

I did simple re-paint on one of the earlier versions of Sabertooth, and this one features one of his 1990's costumes.

Here he is with his erstwhile partner, Constrictor:

And here he is in battle with an overmatched Wofsbane (another recent re-paint):

Thanks for visiting, and Happy New Year!

--Scott

VMF Member: Wild Child

2011-12-31T07:00:00.000-05:00

Continuing with my Villain Mission Force theme, last night I re-painted Omega Flight member Wild Child. This guy's limited power set (regeneration, heightened agility and senses) makes him an ideal second (or even third) tier villain. Ever since his first appearance in Alpha Flight number 1 I've loved this character, and so using him in a game would be awesome!

I am very happy with how the paint job turned out!

And here's a shot of him going against Mr. Hyde (good luck with that, Wild Child):

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

Marvel Villain Mission Force

2011-12-30T14:41:00.008-05:00

I love DC Comics' Suicide Squad; I've been a fan since its second incarnation began in the late 1980's. I once ran a Silver Age Sentinels campaign that mimicked the Squad's setup: a group of super-villains get recruited by the government to go on dangerous missions in exchange for the commutation of their sentences. Many of them did not live long enough to enjoy freedom. Some liked the missions so much they stayed on.

Anyway, I thought it might be cool to run a Marvel version of this. I know they're sort of doing this now with Thunderbolts, but at this point I have little use for the Bendis-verse and its overwhelming post-modern cynicism. I'd rather set the adventures back in the late 1970's - 1980's when my own comic fandom was at its zenith. What rules should I use? Well, I think BASH UE will work just fine for this. Author Chris Rutkowsky strikes just the right tone with his rules. They possess plenty of depth while still allowing for easy character generation, and they're miniature friendly.

So the premise will be Villain Mission Force, where a cadre of lesser villains is recruited by a shadowy benefactor to go on missions to take out generally bad people, or destroy high-value targets. So the team might be sent to take out a fellow super-villain, a sadistic dictator, or something else entirely. I'll borrow from the old Serpent Society concept and have the VMF use the Vanisher to grab a villain from prison if he or she agrees to the offer of mission service for freedom.

I also envision the game itself as episodic in nature, a series of loosely connected one-shots where players might not always play the same villain from session to session (but they could if they wanted to). In this way, the VMF uses differing line-ups to confuse anyone who might want to trace them back to their source.

My goal would be to get a bunch of Heroclix figures and re-paint them to use for the game, thus providing my players with a pool of villains to pick from. Each villain would get a BASH character sheet that would include some shirt pocket notes on how he ought to be role-played, and the players can take it from there.

To start myself off I delved into my smallish collection of Heroclix and re-painted two of my favorites: Constrictor and Mr. Hyde.

Here they are:

Mr. Hyde touches the upper edge of what I might consider "lesser" super-villains. He's pretty strong by super standards (lift/press 50 tons according to the OHOTMU), but he's never been terribly successful or dangerous. The closest he's come to being major is almost nuking NYC (you should track this story down in the immortal TPB Captain America: War And Remembrance) and participating in the gang-up beating of a drunken Hercules. I think he passes the eye test for this. Constrictor is exactly what I am looking for. Gimmick costume, looks cool, checkered, almost anti-hero past. Just as an example of a villain who I consider too powerful or major for this VMF, I would say Blastaar. Another obvious one would be Kang.

The other issue is the figure. The character must have an at least passable 'Clix figure for him. It's weird, I think many of the older sets are better than the current ones, on the whole. The new machine sculpting creates strange scale issues and some unfortunate minis. That's not to say that there are not some great new 'Clix coming out, but I just find the scale and quality to be very uneven now.

Anyway, if you have some suggestions for the VMF, fire away! Remember, the 'Clix has to be salvageable for inclusion in the project. Figures I already have on my painting table for re-working are:

Boomerang
Wild Child
Owl
Trapster
Sabertooth

Stiltman (need to get the figure!) is another one who comes to mind that fits perfectly. Let me know some other names!

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

Off The Shelf: Re-Purposed Pre-Paints

2011-12-29T08:11:00.004-05:00

I get a lot of use out of re-purposed and re-painted Mage Knight and Hero Clix figures.

Today's post will show off a few of my favorites.

Here's a re-painted Mage Knight figure I've used for games of Dark Heresy; he/she would also work well for fantasy games:

And here's a shot of a DC Clix Parademon:

I need to get more of these guys as they make awesome sci-fi or fantasy henchmen!

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

A China Town Diversion

2011-12-28T10:16:00.002-05:00

While rooting in one of my unpainted minis bins I found a cool China Town figure I had forgotten about. Sort of feral looking, I thought I'd paint him up for future RPG use, and so here he is!

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

Big Dred Konversion: Finished!

2011-12-27T07:00:00.002-05:00

Here he is! Not as big as I might have liked, but I am extremely happy with the finished product!

And here's a comp shot with the other stock Dred:

For a complete rundown of my Space Ork related projects, check here.

Now to get some more Boyz done!

--Scott

Spacer Conversion

2011-12-26T07:00:00.005-05:00

Following up on some other sci-fi stuff I've done of late, I worked on a conversion over the past weekend that involved a Star Wars plastic miniature body and a metal head from the Aegis sci-fi ganger head pack. The body comes from a Rodian that was part of the SW Anniversary set WotC put out a few years back. They had square bases instead of round.

When I do this sort of a conversion I am always creating a model I would want as a character in a role-play game. In this case, this guy would be for a Bulldogs game, but he would also make an excellent scum for Dark Heresy. The Bulldogs rules allow you to start with a Companion, so I included a cool Reaper robot figure as this guy's right-hand man.

I went with a weird ganger tattoo on his face for some extra character.

Of course, I had to add a knife. What self-respecting space adventurer would find himself without a close combat weapon when his blaster charges run out?

And here's a comp shot with yesterday's Acheson Saurian:

Thanks for visiting the site!

--Scott

Acheson Creations Sci-Fi Lizardman

2011-12-25T07:00:00.004-05:00

My recent review of the FATE-based sci-fi RPG Bulldogs for Play Unplugged has got me digging into my sci-fi backlog again.

Way back in June of this year I attended Origins and had the pleasure of perusing the Acheson Creations booth--what a treasure trove of miniature goodness! Intent upon spreading my money around, I only bought one pack from the booth, the Saurian Combat Squad. At six 28mm figures for $6, they're a a steal! The sculpting might be a bit rough in spots, but the details on these figures are sharp and when I painted my first one yesterday, I was very pleased with the results!

Acheson offers a host of other sci-fi miniatures at great prices. Some really unique stuff that would come in handy in any sci-fi RPG or skirmish game. Here are some pics of my first Saurian:

And here's a comp shot with a 28mm Blue Moon alien figure:

I'll try to knock a few more of these guys so I can use them as minion squad in Bulldogs or some other sci-fi game.

Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah to all folks out there celebrating the holidays! I can't believe we've logged another solid year on the blog, and I am very thankful for all of my visitors and followers!

--Scott

A Clerical Christmas Present!

2011-12-24T07:00:00.004-05:00

I love painting models to use as Christmas presents. This year I did not do as much as in years past, but I did do this great Reaper Sun-Priest for my buddy, Jeff. Jeff plays 4th ed. D&D and has run various characters, but never a cleric. I figure when it comes time for him to don the vestments and dish out the healing for some future campaign, this model will come in very handy!

It's funny how if you keep your eyes open, you can always learn something new from other painters. Carrie Posing, an artist friend of mine, is also a fine miniature painter. A few days back she showed me some stuff she was doing, and her color choices of blue and orange really wowed me. I thought this sun priest model would be a perfect chance for me to try the combo for myself.

I'm very pleased with the results, and I hope Jeff will be too!

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

Big Dred Konversion

2011-12-22T06:47:00.004-05:00

I'm doing a Dred Mob Apocalypse formation for my Ork force, and today I've got pics of the unpainted konversion ready to show off!

I gave this model a slight height increase while building by adding some tread bits to the bottoms of its feat. It will stand a head or so taller than the standard, stock GW Dred.

The Kustom Force Field (KFF) generator has been magnetized for easy removal and storage.

Here's a look at the mounting area for the KFF:

And the KFF Generator:

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

Nobody Asked Me, But....

2011-12-19T06:58:00.006-05:00

Being an irregular collection of some random thoughts on gaming...

It's amazing how a big, group-style event can galvanize a crew of hobbyists into action. When my buddy Andrew Lotz helped our shop, the Phantom of the Attic, become a part of the World's Largest 40K Game, folks seemed to catch 40K fever. It's spread like wildfire, and an Ork Waagh the likes of which Pittsburgh has not seen since the days of the GW Battle Tours is assembling at speed. More Dakka than you might imagine will be brought to bear on the hapless Imperials! Well, that's the plan, anyway!

Since the Skullhamma is done, I will now focus on buffing my basic Ork Boyz unit up to 29, and adding a 4th Dreadnought to complete a Dred Mob formation. Working on that this week and I will have a post with pics of him (unpainted) up soonish.

Been reading Bulldogs, a FATE based sci-fi RPG from Galileo Games. Great sci-fi game, and a nice, clean implementation of FATE. I may try at least a one-off of this to see how I like this implementation. It uses FUDGE dice and follows Spirit of the Century more closely than most recent FATE offerings. It's got lots of cool aliens (plus you can make your own), and includes a race of vile little furry guys who look lie teddy bears, but are cruel, lascivious, and violent. Fun! Since I use minis in most of my non-White Wolf gaming, I would need something to model these guys. I was thinking these 15mm Khurasan minis might work:

The above 15mm Bears should be big enough to serve as 28mm teddy bears! May have to place an order after the holiday rush subsides.

I may have a chance to play the latest version of Mage at some point in the new year, and that makes me very happy! I've run Mage before, years ago, and I have not had a chance to play the latest version. My only issue, the rule book uses some weird fonts that are tough to read. I wish WW would fix that.

Picked up a practically brand new copy of Hero 5th ed. the other day. Something about that big, black book just really appeals to me. Published in 2002, Hero 5th revived the then moribund franchise, and if you're willing to put the front-end time in to master the system, allows you to do literally anything. Sad that the current issues at Hero Games have lead to the departure of Steve Long and Darren Watts, two creative giants in the RPG biz. If I do anything with it I would likely run some kind of one-off cliffhangers or pulp game. Something low-powered.

Got most of my holiday shopping done. Still a few choice items left to buy. Gamers are really easy folks to buy for if you know their interests! Spouses and significant others who are not gamers, OTOH, are a whole other ball game!

That's all for now--hope to have some pics of a converted Dred Boss later this week. Maybe a few other surprises in the meantime!

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

Off The Shelf: Kustom 'Ard Boyz

2011-12-17T13:55:00.005-05:00

I made this unit about 2.5 years ago. There are 12 all together, and each one required about 3 hours of work. They combine parts from the plastic Black Orcs and plastic Black Reach Orks.

I've tidied up their bases for the big game coming on 1/21/12.

Pictured here are the Nob and one member of the 12 boy unit.

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

Please, Skullhamma, Don't Hurt 'Em!

2011-12-15T07:02:00.005-05:00

Pardon the MC Hammer reference. Could not resist.

Yesterday I had some time to get some paint on the Skullhamma. Now at least I can field it, and I may "tune" the paint and weathering up some over the next few weeks.

Next I'll tune up some of my older Ork paint jobs and basing for the game.

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

Warhammer 40,000: Skullhamma Konversion!

2011-12-14T06:43:00.005-05:00

My local FLGS, Phantom of the Attic, is lucky enough to be partaking in the World's Largest Apocalypse game for Warhammer 40K. Folks who read this blog regularly likely know that I own a large Ork army, and so I decided to "freshen" it up with a new piece worthy of this really big game.

Looking through my Apocalypse rule book, I decided to convert an IG super-heavy into a Skullhamma Battle Fortress. I was able to trade some painted minis for an assembled IG super-heavy tank, and then the last few days I've gone over it with my collection of Ork bits to make a proper "konversion."

Here it is in its unpainted state:

Yes, that's Space Marine Razorback I'm using as the Big Gun turret. I needed some kind of "box" to house the big gun, and I saw a badly assembled Razorback in my FLGS' used mini bin, so I grabbed it and hacked it up! I've magnetized it to the Skullhamma hull so it rotates and comes off for easy storage.

I still have a number of minor details to add before I begin painting, but I'm getting there!

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

OG Pathan Swordsman

2011-12-11T20:14:00.004-05:00

I painted a lot of Space Marines for a customer this week, so I did not have a lot of time for stuff for myself, but I did knock out this great Old Glory Pathan tribesman!

He'll work for Victorian RPG's and skirmish games, Strange Aeons, and even a fantasy RPG or minis game with an exotic setting. I've long maintained that OG's Pathans comprise their strongest line of 25/28mm historical figures. This guy will also go well with other Pathans I've done in the past.

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

--Scott

Strange Aeons: The Lurker Leader

2011-12-08T07:00:00.000-05:00

Here's the leader of my lurkers--they'll have an Asian theme. This guy is an old Grenadier model, and I really like him quite a bit!

Meet Weng Chiang!

Here's a comp shot!

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

Strange Aeons: Baluchi Bodyguard II

2011-12-07T07:00:00.000-05:00

Here's that comp shot I promised for my new Baluchi with the Threshold Agents!

Later this week, a shot of my first Lurker team model.

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

Strange Aeons: Baluchi Bodyguard

2011-12-06T07:00:00.001-05:00

Rummaging through my bits box I found a small cache of unpainted Foundry Baluchis. I could not resist modding one for Strange Aeons. I sliced his left hand off at the wrist and replaced it with a left hand from a cowboy holding a revolver. I think he translates pretty well into the 1920's setting.

Tomorrow I'll show off a few comp shots with two other members of my Threshold Agent team.

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

Fantasy Elf Civilian

2011-12-03T19:08:00.004-05:00

In between working on my next piece for Strange Aeons, I finished another fantasy civilian. This time a Meg Minis Elf messenger. Nice figure, and Mega Minis has a lot more cool civilians from various fantasy races.

Here's a comp shot:

Bruegelberg: My First Mini

2011-11-30T07:00:00.000-05:00

Finished my first Bruegelberg miniature. He's a laborer, and will be a dandy addition to any RPG crowd scene!

And here's scale comp with my D&D Half-Orc Ranger (from Reaper):

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

Nobody Asked Me, But....

2011-11-29T07:08:00.007-05:00

Being an occasional feature where I share my thoughts on various gaming related topics.

Strange Aeons is really cool! Not such a surprise that I think this--especially if you've read my last few posts, but it bears repeating anyway. I'd love to see what Mike & Co. could do with another genre, or even see them adapt the battle against the Elder Gods to other settings, like ancient Roman Britain. Fancy some "Worms of the Earth" skirmish?

My buddy Rico and I are working on a fantasy RPG of our own. It will use a heavily modified version of the FUDGE rules, so we will release under OGL License if and when we get to that point. Although FUDGE dice will be an option, I think we're going to use a D6 - D6 mechanic made popular in many FATE-based games. I am always working on a few projects at once, so I'll provide semi-regular updates on this as we move along. Don't want to give too much away until we have more to show for our work!

I turned 41 earlier this month, and aside from marching ever closer to my ultimate oblivion (comforting thought, I know), I did get some lovely gifts from friends. Among them were some of the awesome Lead Adventure Bruegelburg fantasy civilians. I'll be painting at least one of these great minis up this week and posting photos of him here.

We're playing D&D 4E this weekend picking up our Forgotten Realms campaign and returning to Neverwinter. Now that we're at 3rd level, things are getting even more interesting.

Steve Long and Darren Watts are leaving Hero Games. Sad news. Both guys are true pros and I wish them all the best!

I have to admit that the new Necron plastics really entice me. I know that a fellow whose blog I follow and really like, Rushputin has sworn off of them due to problems with the list and background, but since I was never a fan before, I am not sure I'll have the same issues. We'll see. I need to sell off or trade my Tyranids before diving into another 40K army. I have the Orks (3,000+ pts.), and I will never part with them. But I don't have the desire to play the Tyranids much anymore.

It may seem like heresy to some, but I am really starting to like paper minis! There, I said it. The sort of stuff put out by OneMonk Miniatures really grabs me. I may experiment with using them in some of my RPGs when I get a chance. Plus, it's a heck of a lot cheaper to get some nice paper minis made in this style than it is to get 3D minis made. As much as I love collecting and painting minis, there is no cheap way to get your own made.

That's all for now! I promise more pics of painted minis later this week!

--Scott

Strange Aeons: Kung Fu Tussle!

2011-11-26T12:02:00.006-05:00

My rule book arrived, and it is a thing of beauty! A little, spiral-bound, full color wonder of a tome, and on first blush, very well written. Cannot wait to dive into some games!

Looking at the listings for agent teams, I was pleased to see a Kung Fu Expert as an option--so pleased in fact that I went to my backlog and dug out a Pulp Figures Chinese gangster! This guy required the removal of his open right hand (meant to hold a polearm) and I replaced it with a closed fist from a miscast SuperFig I had laying around.

This guy's name is Kuan Po, and he makes the fourth member of my now very much international team of Threshold Agents.

I do think the next member of my team will be both female, and American! More on that in a later post.

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

Strange Aeons: Getting to the Fight!

2011-11-24T21:42:00.003-05:00

I understand that Strange Aeons does not have detailed vehicle rules; that's fine. We're not after a rules set for crash derby or drag racing, but when I build a force, I like to build a story around them. I figure my Threshold Agents get to the scene of cult activity in a junky looking truck that conceals their true nature.

A while back I picked up an old toy, added some Sloppy Jalopy wheels to it, and then painted it for gaming. This truck will make a perfect vehicle and terrain piece for our SA games!

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

Strange Aeons: The Russian Is Coming!

2011-11-23T07:00:00.001-05:00

Whenever I make Pulp crews, no matter for what game, I like to go for an international flair.

I also think Pulp warbands should have a scholarly type or two. When I came across this Blue Moon Russian Agent in my backlog, and I thought, there's my scholar! Olof Neski will be my Threshold team's linguist, but I also figure him as a pretty solid brawler as well.

Once my rules arrive, we'll see just how he stats up, but I am liking the flavor he'll add to my band!

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

Strange Aeons: A Stalwart Sikh Ally

2011-11-21T07:00:00.006-05:00

I'm a firm believer that every rugged pulp character needs a stalwart ally! The leader of my Strange Aeons warband will rely on the solid support (and well-oiled Bergman) of Satbir Singh!

The name "Satbir" means "true warrior," and this man is just that!

And here is a comp shot with him and Hogarth Smythe (my team leader):

I actually painted Mr. Singh a few years ago, but I just re-based him for this project. He is a nifty conversion of a Bob Murch Pulp Figures Chinese trooper with an Old Glory NW Frontier Sikh head.

Later this week, the team gets some wheels, and maybe a new member or two!

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

Strange Aeons: Building A Force

2011-11-20T18:01:00.004-05:00

My buddy Rico and I are thinking about getting into the Strange Aeons Cthulhu skirmish game.

I've been looking for something to get me inspired over the last few months, and I am hoping this does the job! After a quick flip through his copy of the rules, I ordered a copy for myself!

So while waiting for my rulebook to arrive, I dug into my backlog of unpainted miniatures to start building my first group. I a found an awesome figure from Blue Moon's American Agents pulp pack, and painted him up today!

Here he is:

I'll be showing off more figures and stuff as the week goes on and my warband grows!

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

MechWarrior Dark Age Re-Paint: Centurion

2011-11-17T07:00:00.001-05:00

Just for something different I did a quick re-paint of a Wizkids MechWarrior DA Centurion 'Mech.

This one will go with the other stuff I've done in this style.

This might get me going working on RoboFire again, but whenever I finish a rule set (as I've just done with B&B), I go into a bit of a post-project malaise).

No matter what, it was fun to get this done!

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

Blasters & Bulkheads Released!

2011-11-15T07:00:00.000-05:00

Blasters & Bulkheads arrives! Joe Dragovich did a bang-up job on the layout, and a number of play-testers stepped up and did yeoman work to make the rules really tight. Thanks to those guys, you can get the rules from the usual suspects linked in the Shameless Commerce area of this blog (upper left corner). Retail is $9.95 for 101 color pages, and also includes a printer friendly B&W version.

As it stands, it is only PDF, but one never knows about future print editions.

Thanks for your patience and encouragement over the last few months!

And thanks for visiting!

--Scott

Off The Shelf: Armies Lost in the Warp

2011-11-14T08:16:00.003-05:00

I've painted a lot of armies in my time in the hobby, and I have sold off a lot of armies too!

The other day I came across this pic:

This was one squad from a Redemption-style Warhammer 40K army that I did back in the early 2000's. It was primarily composed of Necromunda Cawdor gangers. Sold it off to some fine fellow years ago, but I hope it's still out there battling for the Emperor, somewhere in the Warp!

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

15mm Sci-Fi: Mixing Scales

2011-11-10T07:19:00.003-05:00

We took a lot of pics for Blasters & Bulkheads, but I particularly like this one. It shows again how you can take a figure from one scale (a 28mm Mage Knight fig) and place it with a 15mm sci-fi infantryman (Blue Moon Nova Patrol), and get a nice result. This works particularly well with monsters, as shown in my recent post with the 15mm fantasy stuff and the D&D Minis scorpion.

Anyway, here's the pic:

We hope to have the B&B rules out by Sunday, so keep your fingers crossed!

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

Blasters & Bulkheads Preview Page Shots

2011-11-06T19:47:00.004-05:00

Blasters & Bulkhead is almost here! Joe Dragovich has been hard at work on the layout of the rules, and I am now going through the final product proofing and checking for last minute goofs. We're also still waiting on the cover, but that should be showing up any day now.

In the meantime, here are a few preview pages to whet the appetite!

I'm extremely pleased with Joe's font choices and page designs--they really evoke aspects of the Space Opera genre! We'll also be releasing a "stripped down" version that will be easier on printer cartridges. You'll get both versions when you purchase the PDF. Final page count looks like 100 pages, and the price will be $9.95.

Again, this is a PDF only release that will be available through my usual online partners. If all goes well I think we could have it ready by week's end. We shall see!

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

Hordes: Fenblades and Friend

2011-11-05T07:45:00.004-04:00

I've got a small Trollblood army for PP's Hordes game, and for a while I've been meaning to complete these Fenblades, and so I am in the process of doing so!

This post also includes shots of a completed Stone Scribe Chronicler.

Much as I love Madrak and crew, there's a chance this army (when finished) will go to a friend of mine. I love my Minions Barnabas force, and I am finding I can only keep the rules for one PP army in my feeble gamer's brain, so that will be the one for keeps.

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

It Came From My Backlog: Armorcast Steam Walker

2011-11-03T12:10:00.006-04:00

While rooting through some stuff from my backlog the other day I found this nifty resin steam walker from Armorcast. I bought it at Origins 2002 and sat unpainted until now. Just a quick and dirty, rusty scheme, but it is now ready for use in any number of games.

Check it out!

The turret rotates and the legs come off, so it's pretty easy to store. With it being resin, it is also light and fairly chip resistant.

Here's a comp shot with a 28mm Mage Knight re-paint I did:

And here's a shot with a Rebel Minis 15mm sci-fi trooper:

He might scale better with 15mm stuff!

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

15mm Fantasy: Mind Flayer Attacks!

2011-11-01T22:15:00.003-04:00

I've had this old Ral Partha 15mm Mind Flayer for years, but now I've finally pulled him out and painted him up!

A great little figure that scales well with current 15mm/18mm offerings.

Here's a comp shot of him going against a Copplestone Northlander:

I wish I still had the rest of the monsters from this Mind Flayer's pack, but I can't find them! I think Reaper has some 15mm monsters coming up in December, so we'll be watching for those!

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

Off The Shelf: Necromunda Wyrd Beastmaster

2011-10-29T07:00:00.000-04:00

I painted this guy a year or two ago, and he's always been my favorite of the three Beastmasters GW produced for the Necromunda game.

Incidentally, I was in correspondence with a regular reader of this blog, a fellow from outside the USA, and I was going to send him an extra copy of this guy I had laying around. Well, I lost his e-mail and address!

If you're "that guy", please e-mail again at srpyle AT gmail DOT com.

Sorry for being so scatter-brained!

--Scott

Knight of the Autumn Gate

2011-10-27T22:47:00.003-04:00

This Dreamblade pre-paint will make a cool heavy in some future D&D or other fantasy game. I decided to just re-base him and add a few accents of color.

'

And here's a comp shot of him with a Mega Minis fantasy civilian:

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

WotC Classic Vampire Re-Painted!

2011-10-26T07:00:00.004-04:00

In the midst of various household chores I managed to finish the re-paint on the Wizards of the Coast floating vampire model.

I'm quite happy with how he turned out, and I am pretty keen to use him in some sort of game.

Maybe I will try to work him into some sort of skirmish game before I use him in an RPG. He'd work well as a re-awakened ancient vampire in Chaos In Carpathia. I'm glad I gave this guy a new lease on un-life!

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

Halloween Horror Mini-Projects

2011-10-24T21:21:00.006-04:00

I don't really feel like focusing on any rules-related projects this week, and I am not feeling the 15mm stuff right now, so I decided to try my hand at two mini-horror pieces in honor of the imminent Halloween holiday.

First up, I dug out my old Wizards of the Coast D&D 25th Anniversary floating vampire! I painted this guy way back in 1999, and I have been meaning to re-base and re-paint him. Here is what he looks like now:

And next up, a Dreamblade pre-painted Knight of the Autumn Gate:

Not sure what I am going to do with him, but I have now sawed him off of his goofy base, and re-based him and the Vampire onto washers. We'll see where this takes me in the next post!

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

15mm Fantasy: Blue Moon Alien vs. Copplestone Northman

2011-10-22T07:37:00.004-04:00

I thought folks might what to see a scale comparison of the Blue Moon Tawanax aliens next to one of the Copplestone Northman models.

Anyway, here they are, battling it out in some temple scenery!

And here's a shot of the latest warrior I painted next to his fellows:

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

Reaper Idol

2011-10-21T07:00:00.005-04:00

Sometimes a figure or terrain piece just works better in a scale it was not originally intended for. I really believe this is the case for this awesome Reaper idol. This thing makes an awesome 15mm graven idol to be found in some tomb, or to sit at the center of some dark cult's worship.

If you check the pic at the above link, you can see the one I have is pretty badly miscast, but I feel it only adds to its character!

Next post I'll show off a pic or two of the above Copplestone Northlander going against another Blue Moon alien model.

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

Hordes Commission: Mordikaar

2011-10-18T08:49:00.002-04:00

Every now and then I like to share pics of some of the commission work I do. I did Mordikaar, a Hordes Warlock, for a friend of mine named Zach who is currently away at school. He'll fit with some of the other Hordes stuff I've done for him, and he happens to be my favorite Skorne warlock.

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

15mm Fantasy: A Gothic Guest Star

2011-10-16T07:00:00.003-04:00

Blue Moon offers an awesome 15mm/18mm Horror line. Exceptionally sculpted by Bob Naismith and Chris Hughes, many of them will work very well for 15mm fantasy games, and today's post shows that idea off.

There's a much larger Werewolf from this pack that I intend to paint up to add to this one. As I develop SoloSystem, I'll want the option to include multiples of the same type of monster in a given scenario.

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

15mm Fantasy: Part III

2011-10-15T12:12:00.004-04:00

Managed to finish another Copplestone Northman--this time one with sword and shield. This guy also has a lovely wolf-skin cloak. Check him out:

These guys practically paint themselves, a credit to Mr. Copplestone's exceptional skills.

Tomorrow I will feature a Blue Moon 15mm Gothic Horror Werewolf miniature (also painted this morning), showing that you can take figures from different periods and use them in 15mm fantasy. He'll be pictured doing battle with today's featured mini.

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

SoloSystem!

2011-10-14T12:05:00.004-04:00

Well, after knocking some basic rules together and trying them out, I think there's enough substance there to make a small skirmish game. As the title implies, this set of rules will be written with solo or cooperative play in mind. You'll be playing against the game!

I've never written a game like this before, so I am working things out as I go. I'm writing this with 15mm miniatures and a 90 cm x 90 cm (2' x 2') board in mind, but the usual caveat of changing measures from cm to inches will prevail and allow people to easily use 28mm scale stuff.

It's not Goalsystem. I wanted a break after writing two rulesets in the last 10 months. This one uses 2D6 for players and playing cards for the "game's" actions.

If you're interested in helping me with this set, let me know. Contact me at:

srpyle AT gmail DOT com

Thanks!

--Scott

15mm Fantasy: Part II

2011-10-13T07:00:00.000-04:00

Another modest addition for today--the first figure from the Northmen pack from Copplestone's 15mm Fantasy range.

And a slightly better look at the scorpion, who is proving harder to photograph than Sasquatch!

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

15mm Fantasy: Part I

2011-10-11T07:00:00.002-04:00

After spending all of last week painting 10 ships for Dreadfleet I needed a break. A palette cleanser if you will.

I've had three packs of Mark Copplestone's brilliant 15mm Fantasy figures sitting on my desk since just after Labor Day, and I decided it was high time to dig into them. Today's post represents a modest beginning. One figure and something for him to "play" with.

You see, the great thing about 15mm fantasy is the wide swath of monsters it opens up. A mere irritation to a 28mm hero becomes a behemoth to a 15mm champion. So I dipped into my D&D mini collection and did a quick re-paint on a medium scorpion. Instant menace!

And here he is facing off against the "giant" scorpion:

More characters and monsters later this week!

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

Dreadfleet: Comp Shots

2011-10-08T07:00:00.001-04:00

As promised earlier this week, here are a couple of comp shots of the first two DF vessels I painted. Since completing these I have painted 6 more--just two left to go for Sunday! We'll see if I can do it! I'll try to take some pics Sunday.

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

Off the Shelf: Sci-Fi Dozer

2011-10-07T07:19:00.006-04:00

A couple of years ago I picked up some Russian-made plastic sci-fi kits from a hobby store in the area, and I want to say that they're Zvezda kits, but I cannot be sure. With the boxes long gone and the many bits used on other projects, I definitely got my money's worth out of them.

Anyway, one piece was so good that I built and used it pretty much as is. It's a sci-fi mini-dozer or excavation vehicle. Below I've included some shots of it in a game of Savage Worlds I ran a while back:

The buildings you see above in the foreground were custom made by my buddy, Brian. Just excellent sci-fi "Western" styling on these. He even cast the window grates in resin himself.

Here's a closer look at one:

We were originally using these for 28mm Inquisitor and 40K skirmish games, hence the Imperial Eagles on the window grates. Here's one more shot of another of his buildings made in the same style:

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

Dreadfleet: The Black Kraken!

2011-10-05T07:00:00.001-04:00

Leave it to the Chaos Dwarfs to provide what is for me the coolest piece in the Dreadfleet game--the Black Kraken! This mechanical squid can attack while submerged and wreak havoc on the enemy craft at the bowline. Looks good doing it, too.

Next post I'll show off a few comp shots of the Black Kraken and the Skabrus side by side.

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

Dreadfleet: The Skabrus!

2011-10-04T07:00:00.003-04:00

I was lucky enough to be tasked with painting Phantom's store copy of Dreadfleet, so last night I knocked out the Skabrus, the Skaven ship that comes in the box. For those not in the know, Dreadfleet is Game Workshop's new limited edition boxed game. Hearkening back to their old Man'O'War days, DF offers a small scale naval game with all of the fantasy trimmings, and all in one tidy, fat box.

Anyway, the Skabrus is an undead leviathan crewed by some nasty undead Skaven!

Here's the pics!

Nothing fancy here, I simply followed the pics in the White Dwarf and tried to match them as best I could!

Anyway, I'll show off another vessel, my favorite, in my next post!

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

WFB Skaven: Hellpit Abomination Comp Shots

2011-10-01T07:00:00.002-04:00

Here are some comp shots of my newly painted Hellpit Abomination:

This massive piece also possesses some amazing rules, and he is, shall we say, aggressively costed at 250 pts. You get plenty of bang for your buck with this guy!

Undead beware!

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

WFB Skaven: Hellpit Abomination!

2011-09-30T11:50:00.005-04:00

In getting ready for the Halloween WFB events I'll be playing in, I've made a radical change in direction as to the army I will field. I'm returning to Skaven! My buddy Rico has decided he wants to do a small Chaos force, so it makes a lot more sense for me to team with him using Skaven rather than Dwarves.

Since I have 1400 pts. of rats already, I just need to freshen them up a bit. Enter the Hellpit Abomination! This massive plastic kit had been sitting unpainted at Phantom for a while, so I cajoled them into letting me have a go at it.

Here's my preliminary results (I may re-visit him and add further details):

As you can see above, I have him on a huge base. His base was missing when I got him, so I made one from styrene and guestimated the size. I think he looks pretty good, but it might be a tad large.

I did not consult a painted image and decided to just go my own way on how I would paint him. I included lots of earth tones--befitting a creature who began its life as a worm!

Tomorrow I will feature a couple of scale shots of the Hellpit Abom next to some normal Skaven and a Rat Ogre.

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

SuperFigs: Grannok-5

2011-09-27T07:00:00.000-04:00

When I was in Chicago a few weeks back I hung out with my buddy, Jan (known as "Skip" in our comments section). Jan showed me his painting area, and I was wowed when I saw his version of Grannok-5, one of my top 5 favorite SuperFigs.

Jan was kind enough to send me a couple of pics of the finished version to share with folks here.

A talented artist across several mediums, Jan possesses a masterful eye for color, as evidenced with this paint job. Makes me want to bust out my own Grannok-5 and run some SuperSystem!

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

Off The Shelf: Murch Pulp

2011-09-25T20:29:00.003-04:00

I painted these guys a few years back and I am still very happy with the results. I've got around 60 of these figures, many from Bob Murch's Pulp Figures line, but a few also from Old Glory's various lines. It's enough figures to populate a small Chinese village in the Pulp era.

Many will also work for Victorian games as well.

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

Off The Shelf: Reaper Dragonborn Chain Fighter Conversion

2011-09-22T07:00:00.001-04:00

A couple of years back when D&D 4E first came out I did a conversion for a Dragonborn Chain Fighter based on a Reaper Miniatures Reptus Longstriker and some of their chain bits. I posted this on RPG.net before I had my blog, so I thought I'd share it here as well for those folks who did not catch it there.

I'll illustrate the whole process with some pics I took as I went along.

Stage 1
Examine the base miniature. Here are all of the components of the Longstriker:

Below are the components from the Reaper chain weapon pack that I used:

Stage 2
Taking a jeweler's saw, I carefully sawed the tail off of the body of the Reptus figure (Dragonborn do not have tails). I did this in several steps, and was careful not to saw into any of the other neighboring details. I then used a sharp xacto blade to clean up the area. Since the area of the cut is largely obscured by the model's clothing and armor, and the cut was clean, no greenstuff putty was needed to clean up the area or fill any gaps.

Stage 3
I then had to cut up the separate right arm, removing the pieces of the halberd on either side of the hand. I decided to leave a large piece of the leather wrapped handle in his hand, and mount the chain to either side of it. The illustration of the spiked chain on pg. 220 of the PHB shows a pair of handles, so I figured I'd include one central handle.

Stage 4

Using a bit of greenstuff epoxy putty, I positioned the lower right arm into the socket hole of the main Reptus body. I used greenstuff for this instead of super glue because I wanted to retain some posability as I fiddled with the chain pieces in later steps. It takes a while for greenstuff to set up, so you have some time to move things around. I would later strengthen the bond with some superglue applied using a toothpick so as not to slop it onto other areas. Here's the model with the complete right arm assembly:

Stage 5
At this point I super-glued the Reptus into the slotted base. I chose a round slot because I prefer them to squares for character models. I then took two pieces of chain from Reaper's chain weapon sprue and dry-fit them into the upper section from the left hand to the bottom of the handle in the right hand, and the bottom of the left hand to the slotted base. After some pain-staking bending and re-bending, I finally found a fit and look I liked for these first two sections of chain. I then applied very small blobs of greenstuff to all three contact areas (bottom of the handle, top of left hand, bottom of left hand). This gave me enough adhesion to settle the chains into place and then fiddle with them a bit to get them right. Once I was satisfied, I again applied some superglue with a toothpick to solidify the hold.

I should add that I use Zap-A-Gap brand Gel super-glue almost exclusively. It's the best in terms of hold and control. It's the one with the green label. Here's a pick of stage 5:

Stage 6
Even though this Dragonborn would be a Chain Fighter, I wanted him to have some backup weapons. I took a sword from Reaper Weapon Pack I and cut it down a bit to make a long knife. I placed this into the gap in his armor plates over his right hip using a blob of greenstuff to get it into proper position.

Stage 7
In stage 7 I attached the lower bludgeon to the chain weapon. I decided to use one of the spiked cylindrical pieces. I cut the spikes off one side to create a side that would lie flat on the base. I put a small blob of greenstuff on the flat side and dropped it on the base near the chain. Then I used my xacto blade push it over into line. I used a bit of greenstuff on the end of the chain to make a nice meeting between the two. Once I flocked the base this would all be pretty invisible. Here's a look at this stage:

Stage 8
In step 8 I positioned a third length of chain over the model's back, connected to the upper half of the handle. before attaching it using greenstuff and a little glue, I dry-fit it, bending it to the desired position, then I attached the bladed bludgeon using, you guessed it, some greenstuff. Once I was satisfied with the way it rested over his shoulder and down his back, I added some superglue with a toothpick to key points along the model's back armor area.

Here is the pic of this stage:

Stage 9
Final details included adding a last-minute pair of throwing knives to model some ranged attack ability, and a heft of rope give him that look of an adventurer. Both of these came from the Mordheim equipment sprue. I desperately wanted to add a small pack or pouch, but there was just no room. I tried, but the figure looked too crowded, so I ripped them off.

At this point I also added some Renaissance Ink Medium Flocking Gel to the base for texture and to hide some of my messy conversion work. I like this stuff more than sand; when it dries it's like concrete and it takes paint very well.

Oh well. Any way, here is a shot of the finished, unpainted Dragonborn Chain Fighter:

Here's a shot from another angle:

And the finished, painted Dragonborn Chain Fighter!

As always, thanks for visiting!

--Scott

Out With The Old...

2011-09-20T18:45:00.002-04:00

I am trying to lighten my load by moving some of my old painted miniatures along to new homes.

I've posted a message on Lead Adventure with details.

Thanks for looking!

Nobody Asked Me, But....

2011-09-20T07:28:00.002-04:00

Being a few brief shirt-pocket notes on various activities in my gaming life.

Over the weekend I played Dragon Dice again after more than fifteen years! The collectible dice game once owned by TSR now enjoys the sage control and management of SFR Inc. I bought one of their 2-player starter sets and played with my buddy Chris Moeller, who is a big fan of the game. We had a great time, and I fully intend to grab another starter and build up my Goblin army. If you like rolling cool dice, this is your game!

We're playing D&D 4E again this weekend, with master DM Rico once again leading us into plunder and peril amidst the chaotic streets of Neverwinter. My Half-Orc Ranger will reveal himself as a Harper this week, and as that once august group now stands in disgrace and disarray, things could get very interesting.

I continue to work on Dwarves for the October Halloween game at Bill and Lou's. I think I may expand my Dwarf warrior core unit to a full 30--6 across x 5 deep. The models from the old boxed set are simply a breeze to paint and my current method has them looking pretty good. Figure I might as well max them out.

Finished reading A Game of Thrones, and I am taking a break before I dive into the next one. In the interim I am re-reading Katherine Kurtz's first Deryni series book, Deryni Rising.

At some point in the near term I may team up with Rico to do something with Privateer Press' new boxed starter set for Warmachine. I will finally get to do plastic Men of War troops! Yes!

Enough musings for today! Later this week I'll feature an old project log that details one of my more successful conversions.

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

Warhammer Fantasy Battle: Dwarf Runepriest

2011-09-19T07:00:00.000-04:00

Got my Runepriest done this weekend, and a few more basic Dwarfs!

He's a Reaper figure from their Warlord line. Here's a scale comp pic:

And now with the unit:

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

Dungeons & Dragons: Half-Orc Ranger Redux!

2011-09-16T07:00:00.001-04:00

We've played two sessions in Rico's awesome 4E Forgotten Realms Neverwinter campaign, and now we've reached 2nd level. I originally chose this model as my miniature:

Now don't get me wrong, I love this figure, and I am super-happy with my paint work on him, but I was originally hoping to score this guy:

However, Phantom did not have him because he was unavailable to shops. Last week I decided it might be cool to place an order directly with Reaper for some other OOP minis, and I added Kanaag to the list. Well, he showed up two days ago and I had to crank him out due to his super-coolness!

I still need to finish his eyes!

And here's a comp shot with him next to the old Morgul Gladeglum:

So this change in minis will actually drive an interesting story development. In Neverwinter characters can select from a number of Themes to further define them. I picked Harper. At the time of the campaign's start, the Harpers (a group of heroes bent on protecting the weak and confronting the evil of the Red Wizards) are in disarray, suffering from a terrible betrayal, and with their surviving members largely scattered and hidden.

In my cloaked guise as Morgul Gladeglum I was actually hiding who I really was, the Half-Orc Harper Kargun Thornspur! In the next session I plan to cast off the cloak and phony ID and go public. Perhaps Kargun's recent successes have made him overly confident, but he wants to openly re-build the Harpers and train young new heroes through the orphanage that he and the other PCs are sponsoring.

I'm sure the Red Wizards may have something to say about this! I'll keep you posted!

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

Goalsystem: The Department Hits Its Goal!

2011-09-15T15:04:00.004-04:00

Just a quick note to let folks know that my buddy Joe Dragovich has met his goal to fund his Goalsystem game, The Department. You can read more about the good news on his blog right here.

Congrats, Joe! Goalsystem fans are all looking forward to what you've got coming our way! But first, be sure to finish the layout on Blasters & Bulkheads! ;-)

(The above pic is from an old boxed set of Shadowrun minis, and one particularly suited for use with The Department.)

--Scott

WFB: Dwarf Update

2011-09-13T07:00:00.001-04:00

Just a quick update and a few pics for the Warhammer Fantasy Battle Dwarf project!

I think I've hit on a scheme that will allow me to get the Dwarf Warrior and Gunner units done quickly and easily. Army Painter metal spray. Instead of priming black as I normally do, I tried some of the metal spray. Then I hit the whole model with Badab Black wash, and then I added details and highlights.

Here's the finished product:

I can finish a Dwarf using this method in 30 minutes, not counting basing.

Anyway, I hope to knock out 5 - 10 more of these guys this week.

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

More OG Rioting Peasant Mobs

2011-09-12T07:00:00.001-04:00

Last night we played Rico's D&D 4E Neverwinter game, and since my Half-Orc Ranger (Scout) has decided to support a local orphanage in the city, I decided to help the DM out by painting up some non-combatants for him to threaten.

Old Glory's Revolting Peasant Mobs provided some great additional characters to add to some of the fantasy civilians I've already had done for a while now. Their details are not sharp, but they look pretty good with some paint on them.

The two older ladies seen above will act as the "minders" of the Orphanage.

Although perhaps the woman above does a little something else on the side? Who knows!

This cabbage hurling lad will surely benefit from the positive influence of my Half-Orc's steady hand!

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

GF9 Tree of Woe

2011-09-10T07:00:00.001-04:00

I needed a terrain piece for our upcoming Halloween terrain event, so instead of making one, I decided to cheat and buy one. Gale Force 9's Tree of Woe seemed a really cool piece to use for the games, and I could also see myself using it again in some skirmish games.

This excellent resin piece comes fully pre-painted, and looks great right out of the box!

I plan to dress it up with some Reaper pumpkins and other appropriate extras.

Here are some quick shots of it!

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

Goalsystem: The Department's Final Push

2011-09-08T15:22:00.003-04:00

Act Now!

Folks, Joe D. tells me there is only a short time left to contribute to his Goalsystem Kickstarter project for the Department. For those who don't know, The Department will be a miniature battle game that blends both cooperative and competitive play elements, and uses a unique investigation mechanic to tell sci-fi Noir stories on the tabletop.

You can find out more on the official Department page here.

This Kickstarter is an all or nothing gambit, so if Joe does not get the funding, the book does not get made. If you've been thinking about contributing, now is the time!

Thanks!

--Scott

Warhammer Fantasy Battle: Dwarf Ancestor Spirit

2011-09-06T12:19:00.007-04:00

Now that my vacation is over (along with the flurry of merc painting that went into financing it) I need to re-focus on my WFB Dwarfs so that I can make 1000 pts. for our 2 - 3 week Halloween Horror-fest. My buddy Bill is running a big game where a few of us will face off against him and our other buddy Dan. They're playing undead.

I'm trying to get some Dwarfs going, and Rico will be allying with me using Ogre Kingdoms. Our buddy Lou will also pitch in with something from his vast collection of classic armies. The man literally possesses one of each army. Should be fun!

Since our games will be narrative and rely heavily on Storm of Magic to generate some neat monster action, I decided to spruce up my core unit of Dwarf Warriors with a monstrous element.

An animated statue sounds really "dwarfy", so I secured a D&D mini Dwarf Ancestor Spirit and re-based him to fit in the center of my planned 20-man Dwarf Warrior unit. Rules-wise, he'll just effectively act as 4 Dwarfs, but he'll look cool, and he'll save me from painting four additional dwarves, which will free me up to finish the unit faster and do more models for my Slayer unit.

Anyway, here is the finished Ancestor Spirit (thanks to Lou for the model!):

I felt the need to cut his "noodly" weapon haft out and replace it with a piece of steel rod. I then reattached the hammer and end pieces to finish it off.

The base is from the older Battle for Skull Pass boxed set.

And here's a comp shot of the Ancestor Spirit next to a Dwarf Miner for scale:

In the next two weeks my goal is to finish the 16 Dwarfs needed for the unit, and then I can take a shot of them on their move stand with this guy in the center. Should be a cool visual!

In the meantime, I have one last Miner to finish today, and the 25 man unit is done!

Progress!

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

Off The Shelf: Cobalt Abhors

2011-09-04T07:00:00.000-04:00

I've raved in the past about Black Hat's Cobalt line, so here are a couple of minis from the Abhors faction. I painted these guys almost 10 years ago! They've served me well as villains over the years in everything from sci-fi to supers.

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

Attack of the Man-Eating Cactus!

2011-09-02T07:00:00.002-04:00

I had wanted to do a man-eating Cactus figure for my little Aegis Figures line, but issues with shipping and order processing (i.e., I hate doing it) caused me to put the brakes on the project. However, my friend David Gonzalez sculpted a man-eating cactus for me, so I bought the green and stowed it away. That was last February.

Fast forward to last May, JoAnn (my wife) and I had a lovely anniversary dinner at Phipps Conservatory here in Pittsburgh. It was there where I ran into this guy:

Thanks to JoAnne for recording my close encounter with this dastardly denizen of the plant world!

This spurred me on to get the master mold of the Man-Eating Cactus (or MEC) and a few other things done. Anyway, I finally got around to painting a sample, so here he is!

Here's a quick shot of him menacing a LotR Corsair of Umbar:

Not sure if I'll ever release him, but who knows.

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

Cygnar Jack

2011-09-01T07:00:00.002-04:00

This past weekend I knocked out a Cygnar Warjack for a regular customer of mine. I've painted a lot of Cygnar stuff for him in the past, so the "formula" for these pieces has become almost second nature.

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

P. S. I may not be in easy reach of a computer for the next few days, but through the miracle of scheduling, you'll hopefully still see new posts popping up here. If I don't reply right away, don't fret, I'll read and address any comments when I get the chance. Thanks!

WH40K: Crimson Fist Scouts

2011-08-30T07:00:00.001-04:00

I recently painted up some Space Marine Crimson Fist Scouts for a customer of mine. Here's a quick shot or two of the results!

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

Margul, Half-Orc Ranger Sizes Up

2011-08-28T07:00:00.000-04:00

As promised, here are some shots of Margul (my Half-Orc Ranger for D&D 4E) with some other Reaper minis I've painted.

As you can see I generally prefer to base my RPG minis on rounds, but sculptor Tre Manor made the half-orc's stance a bit wide, so it was impossible to get him onto a conventional 25mm round. My supply of larger washers was low, so I settled on a 25mm square. He'll still fit nicely into a grid square, which is all that matters!

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

Dungeons & Dragons: Half-Orc Ranger!

2011-08-27T09:03:00.004-04:00

My buddy Rico is running a D&D 4E game tonight, and I decided to try a race and class combo that I had not dabbled with before--Half-Orc Ranger. Since we're using all Essentials books, I went with the dual weapon wielding Scout build for my Ranger. He'll be a Striker in 4E parlance--a dude who runs up and does damage. Not the most durable, but someone who can help the party by hurting its foes.

Last night at Phantom I found this Reaper Half-Orc Rogue to use as my model:

My Ranger will wield twin short swords, so this model's over-sized knives will work out fine for the concept. Last night I burned the midnight oil and got the character painted. I give you Margul Gladeglum, Half-Orc Ranger, and Harper of Neverwinter!

Tomorrow I'll show off some comp shots of Margul with some other Reaper minis I've painted for D&D. And hopefully he'll have survived his first adventure!

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

Off The Shelf: Salvage Crew

2011-08-26T09:00:00.003-04:00

Painted these guys up a couple of years back, and thought I'd show them off again!

I hope to knock a out a new figure or two this weekend, and I will try to get a new post up Saturday or Sunday.

Thanks for visiting!

--Scottt

ITEN 2.0 Released!

2011-08-23T07:42:00.006-04:00

The Forge of War Group (including your own humble blogger) have finished In the Emperor's Name 2.0, and lead author and chief rules wrangler Craig Cartmell has released the the rules on his blog.

Here's the new cover contributed by Joe Urban:

Can't wait to give the official revised rules a shot this weekend!

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

Dark Heresy: Hab Worker Civilian

2011-08-21T07:00:00.002-04:00

A few years back my friend Brian B. made some excellent40K civilians with various plastic parts and the skillful application of some green stuff. He gave a few of these figures to me, and they've sat unpainted for a while now.

Today I dusted one off and gave him a quick paint job.

You can never have too many sci-fi civilians!

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

Off The Shelf: Reaper Barbarian

2011-08-20T11:05:00.007-04:00

I saw the new Conan movie last night and I was very happy with just about everything. Mr. Momoa played an excellent Conan, and the supporting cast was aces! Costumes, effects, and script were all solid.

One of my only complaints was that the sound in the theater was so damn loud that it sometimes washed out the dialog. Oh well. This one will be a must buy on Blu Ray.

Anyway, in tribute I dug out a Reaper barbarian I painted a few years ago--not sure I ever photographed him before, so here he is!

This gamer's advice, don't listen to the bleating of critics who don't understand the sword & sorcery genre, go see Conan and expect to have some fun!

--Scott

Verminspeaker Conversion Parts List

2011-08-17T08:31:00.004-04:00

I thought folks might want a breakdown on the parts I used to make the Verminspeaker.

Head = Chaos Marauder (top knot cut off, green stuff hair added)

Torso = Catachan Jungle Fighter

Lower Torso/Legs = Chaos Marauder

Right Arm = Chaos Marauder

Right Hand = Mordheim/Empire Militia

Left Arm = Catachan Jungle Fighter

Left Hand/Staff = Skaven Beastmaster (from Rat Ogre boxed set)

Knife = Kroot sprue

Pistol/Tech Ramage = Kroot sprue

Dark Heresy: Verminspeaker

2011-08-16T23:02:00.005-04:00

Well, I decided to use Creatures Anathema and make a Verminspeaker for my character in Dan's crime-based Dark Heresy game.

A while back I made a Wyrd Beastmaster for just such an occasion, but I decided I'd like to have a go at making another, and here he is.

I realized I need to go back and highlight his eyebrows, but I'll do that sometime later this week.

Here's a shot of him with a Necromunda Millasaur:

And one with the Underhive thug I did this past weekend:

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

DH Conversion: The Eyes Have It

2011-08-14T07:00:00.000-04:00

After looking at the Dark Heresy figure I converted yesterday, I realized the head I picked did not have eyes in the sockets! Those zany Empire Flagellants!

Anyway, I remedied the problem with a bit of green stuff in each eye.

Here's the fix!

Handsome devil, ain't he?

--Scott

Dark Heresy: Criminal Campaign

2011-08-13T09:57:00.003-04:00

My buddy Dan has proposed running a crime-based DH game set deep in some Imperial Underhive. Though not a straight "Necromunda" game, it will have that vibe. As a lover of all things DH, I of course eagerly agreed to play, and last night went to work on a possible model for my character.

I say possible because I may later settle on an Adept (scientist-type) instead of just a thug, so I may change things up. We'll see.

Anyway, this guy will get good use in a few different quarters, including for ITEN, and yes, also in a DH game.

Here's a quick rundown on the parts I used:

Head = Empire Flagellants
Body = Mordheim/Empire Militia
Right Arm = Cadians
Left Arm = Mordheim/Empire Militia
Legs/Lower Torso = Catachans
Big Knife = Kroot
Pouch = Bretonians
Pistol = Heresy Miniatures (metal)

And here's a comp shot with an older conversion (one of my own kit-bashed Stormtroopers):

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

Blue Moon Robots Final Pic

2011-08-11T07:00:00.001-04:00

A while back I painted 13 multi-part Robots for Blue Moon's web site. Here is the final pic courtesy of Blue Moon's store page.

They look pretty cool all lined up like that!

I can't stress how cool and adaptable the minis in this boxed set are. If you like robots, get them!

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

Nobody Asked Me, But...

2011-08-10T08:06:00.009-04:00

Being an occasional feature where I discuss a little bit of this and a little bit of that.

My enthusiasm for the free rule set In the Emperor's Name prompted me to join the Yahoo Group and get involved in shaping the second edition. Craig, the lead writer and developer is incredibly gracious and open to feedback. I think the rules are rounding into nice form, and they were already quite good before any of the recent upgrades!

My buddy Rico from Play Unplugged got back from Gen Con with a few goodies for me. I now have to read and review the new RPG Part-Time Gods from Third Eye Games. I am about 25 pages in and I am really loving what I am reading. Players run humans imbued with the power of low-powered gods in a modern-day supernatural setting. So you might be the God of Knives--anything that has to do with cutlery is your domain. You could just as easily be the God of the Laundromat. Sounds weird, huh? But it works, and when I began reading it reminded me of that day way back in 1990 when I wandered into Walden Books and picked up that first Vampire the Masquerade softcover rule book. Anyway, look for my review on Play Unplugged later this month.

I also got a copy of the Kereboros Club (Fate Edition) from Gen Con. My Saturday game group (and hopefully the Sunday morning crew as well) have begun exploring Fate-based games in earnest, so a Victorian Supers setting using Fate is right up my alley. It's a big, thick book of RPG goodness that I will not get to until after Part-Time Gods gets its due. Very excited to delve into it, though.

I am nearly finished painting a bunch of Skorne stuff for a customer. I like the models, but after painting all of that heavy armor with recessed details, it makes painting simpler models like Kroot and 15mm sci-fi so much more refreshing.

I really enjoyed the recent Batman Retroactive from Lein Wein and Tom Mandrake. Mr. Mandrake has long been one of my favorite comic book artists, and his stuff has lost none of its power over the years. And it was just nice to read a new comic with thought balloons.

Batman Dark Knight Rises continues to film here in Pittsburgh, and as I write this, the film crew is outside my door making it snow in August! I love the movies!

That's all for now--thanks for visiting!

--Scott

Kroot Konversion

2011-08-08T23:43:00.005-04:00

ITEN spurred me into dusting some of my Kroot off and touching them up, but last night I got an idea to convert a Kroot with a Pulse Carbine. It's not easy carving out the hands so they can properly cradle a Tau Pulse Carbine, but subtle application of a jeweler's saw goes a long way.

I also gave him the royal treatment when it came to the paint job--almost no inks were used. A lot of blending and highlights.

Can't wait to field this guy at the head of my Kroot Recovery Team on Sunday!

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott