Low-Life Kickstarter

Folks, just wanted to quickly plug Andy Hopp's Low-Life Kickstarter!

I love Andy Hopp's quirky and fun artwork, and I dig Savage Worlds and his rulebook that goes with it, so minis were a natural for this world. And Jason Wiebe's amazing sculpts are really doing Andy's artwork justice!

You also get a nice selection of minis for $50--something like 13 at this point.  Not too shabby! 


So if you've any interest in supporting the kind of project KS was really meant to fund, check Andy's page out!  If anything, watching the video will give you some laughs! 

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

Off the Shelf: Sci-Fi Dozer

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

The Quar!

This is a long story about how I learned to love the Quar, but I think it's worth telling.

It's funny sometimes when you let your players participate in RPG world-building with you. Six months ago I ran a 3-part, Savage Worlds Steam-Opera mash-up that was basically Star Wars, but with all of the major tropes replaced with steam-punk equivalents. Blasters were Lightning-Guns, and the Force became the Essence. Hyper Drives were replaced with Essence Accumulators, and the list goes on and on...

I wrote a up a roughly 10-page breakdown of the campaign environment, populating it with cool races that I new I could readily get minis for. I used Bob Naismith's Aruks, because they kick ass, and I had a bunch of them from way back. I threw in plenty of re-purposed Mage Knight steam robots for the various Automatons in the setting (the functional equivalent of droids), and I added some cool tentacle-faced guys I called the C'Thul, a cursed but noble race.

I also left it up to my players if they wanted to create a race, they could add it in. That's when my good buddy Rico created Colonel Apa Pok. Apa Pok happens to be a Quar, and Rico had taken a liking to the miniatures before I started my game, traded for some, and now was looking for an excuse to use one. So the Quar entered my Steam-Opera universe as residents of one of the Six Moons, part of the planet Kulthea (a name and world map ripped from my awesome Shadow World Master Atlas published more than 10 years ago by ICE).

I had not thought much about the Quar when they were released; they were cool, well sculpted (Aaron Brown, I am a big fan of yours!), but maybe I thought them a bit silly. That is until Rico brought Apa Pok and his two bumbling henchmen into my campaign--one is an Aruk, the other is a Sligg (Reaper, you need to make more Sliggs, please).

Here is Rico's dynamite paint job on the illustrious Colonel Apa Pok:



He fits in great in the campaign, and as I mentioned, he comes with two hilarious henchmen who often do more harm than good! Here are the three of them together:



We adapted Savage Worlds' excellent follower rules to create a special Merc Captain edge for Apa so he could have two Henchmen at the Seasoned level. It has worked out fine so far.

So I got the itch to return to this campaign, and I was looking through the character sheets and saw Apa Pok's sheet, and I realized that I really wanted to paint up some Quar of my own to use in the game. I promptly traded Rico unpainted metal for unpainted metal, and took possession of 5 Quar troopers. I also popped onto Zombie Smith's site and ordered a couple of their excellent Quar Militia troopers.

Anyway, here's my first test-paint on the Quar. I have to say, these figures are very cool, and fit my campaign very well.











And here's a comp shot for some scale with a normal 28mm human figure:



Anyway, more Quar to come over the holidays, I hope!

Thanks for reading!

--Scott

A Horror From the North Woods!

Ever since reading X-Men 139-140, and then Hulk #272 as a kid, I've been fascinated by the idea of the Wendigo, that vile spirit of the Great North Woods who Native Americans whisper can possess a man who engages in the dark act of cannibalism while in the wilderness.

My buddy Bill has had a pulp RPG brewing for some time, and this week he announced its imminent start, but there was a twist! We will be called the Arkham Avengers, a group of lower powered, 1930's supers out to battle supernatural threats. I love the whole idea! So I needed a character concept. The game would have a BPRD feel, for sure. We'll be using the Savage Worlds rules and the Super Powers Companion. I decided I would turn the whole Wendigo thing on its head. What if the poor sap who committed that terrible act of cannibalism in the Great North Woods could somehow get control of his curse?

He could turn a terrible negative into a positive! So while browsing the racks at Phantom of the Attic, I spotted the newly released Yeti Warrior from Reaper. He would be perfect for my character. And for his alter ego, the haunted French Canadian trapper, Greg Laroque? I will use a Pulp Figures Tramp Steamer sailor for his human form.

Last night I whipped out the paint brush and had at it! Here's the results!









We're starting at Seasoned level, so Laroque's monstrous alter ego will possess low-level super-strength, enhanced senses, regeneration, fearlessness, and a few other minor powers.

Bill runs a great game, so I can't wait to get playing!

P.S. For anyone "scoring" at home that is one figure from the backlog, and one new figure. Not bad!

Mage Knight Re-Purposed

I've always maintained that there are a lot of great, usable figures left over from the CMG boom of the 2000's. Case in point, Mage Knight. This line is a treasure trove of great skirmish and role-play minis in 28mm, and some of the non-human figures are well suited for use in smaller scale games like HOTT. Today I'm showing off two MK figures from a recent batch I got on eBay. These are the Technomancer and the Khamsin Pistoleer. Both will make great NPC's for my Savage Worlds pulp game I am currently running.

Here's what I managed for re-paints on these figures:






























The Technomancer was converted by cutting the staff hand off at the wrist and adding a GW plastic hand with a techno bit in it. He'll also be useful for Dark Heresy.

I've got a lot of MK models sitting around waiting for re-purposing, and I will be sure to share more in future installments!

--Scott

They Came From My Backlog!!!

Sounds like a bad horror movie, but no, they're just a few figures I had languishing in my backlog. The first is a little seen, limited release figure from Pinnacle (the folks who did Deadlands and Hell On Earth, and who now do Savage Worlds). When they released Hell On Earth way back in 1998 or so, they had a special offer with a t-shirt and 4 - 6 limited edition miniatures. This is one of those minis, sculpted by the inimitable Bob Naismith!









The pics are a bit blurry, but in the game this figure is a gun-toting rad-mutant, and one of the "iconic" characters for the game. A very cool and dynamic figure that will work well as a PC in any number of Pulp or sci-fi games.

Next up, a lone Shield Drone from the SuperFigs line. This little guys was just sitting in a pile of stuff on my painting desk and I had a spare half hour on Saturday, so I whipped him out and voila, instant automaton companion!









--Scott

Weekend Review

Had a nice holiday weekend with the wife and family, but also managed to sneak in some gaming and painting!

Saturday night I ran a one-shot Savage Worlds RPG session for 3 of my buddies. I used the Tombs of Terror fantasy one-sheet PEG provides free on their web site. I bulked it up with a few additional encounters prior to the PC's arriving in town. Of course, Savage Worlds is built for miniature use in play, and I employed a mix of pre-painted D&D miniatures, re-based Mage Knight stuff, and some metal minis for good measure.

I also managed to paint one of Kallistra's sci-fi future savages. This is a small, but nifty little range of 28mm figures. They are on the large side of 28mm, but still fit well with GW Necromunda, Heresy, and other lines. I painted the third guy on the top row--one of the spear-gun wielding future savages from this line. Very cool. I'll try to photograph him this week. GW's Devlan Mud wash and their Foundation Khemri Brown make a great combination.

Scott