RoboFire and EM-4 'Mechs

If you're a follower of the Baron's blog, you know I've been working on a set of Goalsystem "mecha" rules for the last couple of months. The Baron and his crew have been kind enough to kick the tires on these rules and give me some excellent feedback. I really think we might be ready for layout in the next six weeks or so.

In the meantime, I needed to figure out what to do for pictures of Mech miniatures for the book. These rules are not tied to any specific minis line, and they're really designed with the intention to let people play with whatever they have at hand. I needed access to some figures that I could use in the book without "entanglements" from other well-known Mech properties. Enter EM-4.

These folks were kind enough to grant me permission to use their plastic Mech kits for photography in the book. Having a few of these sitting around the work-shop, I pulled one out and gave it a quick sample paint job using Model Color Dark Sea Blue as my primary base coat. I then highlighted with the same color cut with a bit of GW's Deneb Stone. Added in some weathered metal for the gun barrels, a bit of yellow for the cockpit, and job's a good 'un!

Here it is!

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And here's a comp shot with a BattleTech Crab:



I need to get some more of the EM-4 kits soon and do a whole unit in the Dark Sea Blue scheme.

Thanks for checking out the blog!

--Scott

Comics Plug: Suicide Squad Trade

I usually stick to miniatures topics, since this is a hobby blog along those lines, but I had to take today to heartily recommend Suicide Squad: Trial By Fire, a TPB collecting their Secret Origins appearance and issues #1 - #8 of the classic 1980's DC Comic of the same name.



Although steeped in the politics and events of the Reagan-era that birthed it, Suicide Squad offers a lot to new readers. DC's current "villain-centric" comics like Secret Six, and the previous limited series Villains Unlimited owe almost everything to the Suicide Squad.

Writer and creator John Ostrander took some of the least popular, castoff villains of the DC Universe and made them compelling characters by exploring what made them tick, and the gritty Luke McDonnell artwork complements these largely dark and brooding stories of low-powered supers engaging in acts of espionage and counter-terrorism.

You can get this TPB on Amazon, or better yet, find a copy at your local comic shop here. That's where I bought mine!

Either way, you won't be disappointed!

--Scott

Mage Knight Re-Paint: Wood Elemental

I've had this guy ready for a re-paint for months, so tonight I pulled him down from the "limbo" shelf and knocked him out. This is a great miniature from the Mage Knight line. I've long since lost his base, so I cannot accurately ID him. I'm hoping some keen-eyed reader will step in and do so!

Of course, this guy could be used in D&D, and he would work great in my SoBH Garden Party warband!

Anyway, here he is!









And here's a comp shot for scale:



Thanks for checking out the blog!

--Scott

D&D Essentials: A Kobold Champion

I've got plenty of WotC D&D miniatures to use for foes in my games, but sometimes I like to mix in miniatures from my collection of painted metal and plastic figures to spice things up. The figure featured in today's blog has hung on Phantom's shelves for better than five years, and I finally freed him from his "prison" yesterday and painted him up for this weekend's Sunday morning game.

He's from Goodman Games excellent line of metal Dungeon Crawl Classics miniatures. He'll make an excellent named foe to give my 1st level PC's fits!







Incidentally, we've already played the first part of this delve, so my players are wise to the fact they'll be facing more Kobolds as the adventure progresses--so no spoilers here!

Thanks for checking out the blog!

--Scott

D&D Essentials: Tiefling Paladin!

The early morning D&D Essentials campaign could contain a Tiefling Paladin, so I had to come up with a mini for him, and Reaper once again has delivered! Their "Hellborn" make perfect Tieflings, and this guy is no exception.









Taejas, the guy playing this character, asked that he have a trumpet; it's part of his back-story, so I obliged by adding a horn from the Bretonian Men-At-Arms sprue:



A simple conversion, but it works well. Here's a comp shot with my own Dragonborn Druid:



I picked up the Essentials DM's kit boxed set on Friday and it is really excellent. A great way to re-experience 4th ed. D&D.

Thanks for checking out the blog!

--Scott

Hordes: Croc Proxy

My 25 pt. Blindwater Congregation force contains no duplicate minis (except for my conversion of the Croak Hunter), but I have a 20 pt. build where I'd like to use a second Bull Snapper, that 3 pt. Light Warbeast that is hell to build and practically impossible to convert into a second pose.

Clearly, I needed a proxy. Enter Impact Miniatures. Their slick range of Sarcos croc models contains some medium sized figures just big enough to work as alternate Bull Snappers. I picked one I liked, ordered him, and when he showed up, I gave him a quick paint job. Here's the results:





And here's a comp shot with the actual Bull Snapper:



Not bad, works for me!

This weekend, more role-play models!

Thanks for looking!

--Scott

D&D Essentials: Dragonborn Druid Animal Companion!

Finally got my pack of Reaper figures in to do my Dragonborn Druid's animal companion. In Essentials, the Druid can choose the Spring or Summer aspects. Spring gets a wolf, Summer gets a bear. I chose Summer because it better reflects the fact that my Druid is armed with a staff/shillelagh. I didn't want to use an actual bear model, so to better reflect the Dragonborn race of my Druid, I chose a lizard-like animal companion.

The Lizard Hunting Pack was perfect for this. I picked one of the two lizards in the pack and went to town, sticking to my white scheme. Here's what I ended up with:









And here's a shot of the pair:



I may do some additional blending and touch-ups, but I am now ready for my first Essentials game.

Thanks checking out the blog!

--Scott

SuperFigs: Chrononaut!

I've got a number of unreleased SuperFigs in the hopper, most of which I've shown off on this blog over the last couple years, but this weekend I painted another one that I had never shown before. He's a very slick conversion from one of our existing alien henchman miniatures, and I call him the Chrononaut!







This guy's name is Gulg, he's Chrononaut 717A, an operative of the 36th Century's Time Agency. Their job? Make sure no one from the past mucks with the flow of time. Using his Chrono-staff and the other gadgets in his power armor, Chrononaut 717A has traveled back to Four-Color Earth to make certain that Mr. Cranium does not complete his latest device: a time-convergence apparatus!

Here's a few comp shots of Chrononaut and a couple of the heroes he'll team up with:



The Golem is no stranger to the passage of time, although as a virtual immortal he's taken the "slow path" from his time as a hero of WWII to the current era.



Lucky Strike's fortune altering powers make him an ideal companion to the super-scientific Chrononaut.

At this point, Chrononaut and the other unreleased SuperFigs only exist in master form and I am uncertain if and when we will ever make production molds for them. If you'll pardon the pun, time will tell.

As always, thanks for checking out the blog!

--Scott

Hordes: IronBack Spitter!

I know I said I would swear off painting minis for skirmish or other miniatures battle games for at least a week, but then the Ironback Spitter showed up at Phantom, and I had to work on it!

I've blasted PP in the past for bizarre mold-making decisions that lead to hellish assemblies. The Spitter suffers from no such issues. For a Heavy Warbeast, it goes together quite well. I would even dare say that it's design is ingenious.

Anyway, I went with my version of the studio paint job--I thought about working some green in, but I ended up happy with where the paints took me, and the basing ties him to the rest of the force.













And here are a couple of comp shots for scale ref:





Look for more RPG minis this weekend!

Thanks for checking out the blog!

--Scott

Old Glory Rioting Peasants

In my effort to add more role-play figures to my painted miniatures collection, I dug out a trio of OG's Revolting Peasant Mobs and gave them a quick paint job.

The sculpting on these figures is crude, but they take paint well and are super to fill out the populace of a town or village. They make great minions for the player characters to mow through.











At $35 for 30 figures, you can't beat the price!

Thanks for checking out the blog!

--Scott

D&D Miniatures Retrospective Podcast

I'm pod-casting again! Well, at least a little bit! My buddy Rico started an awesome news site called Play Unplugged that covers the adventure gaming industry, and he asked me to participate in its inaugural online radio podcast, a retrospective on the now defunct D&D Miniatures sets released by Wizards of the Coast.



He and I gab for more than an hour on our favorite, and least favorite, D&D miniatures. You can listen to it right here.

Thanks for checking it out!

--Scott

Another Bugman Warrior Painted

I've had a 4th Aegis Bugman Warrior prepped for painting on my table for quite some time. In my effort to spend some time painting role-play minis over the next week or so, I decided it was his turn, and here he is!







Once again Foundry Butter Fudge comes through--this is becoming a really useful color for all manner of jobs. And here's a comp shot showing my quartet of Bugmen Warriors:



Later this week I hope to nail down my D&D Dragonborn Druid's animal companion, and maybe a few other surprises!

Thanks for checking out the blog!

--Scott