Great Day for Cosmic Comics!

If you like cosmic supers, and anyone who reads this blog regularly knows I do, today was a very good day.

Realm of Kings: Imperial Guard came out from Marvel, and DC released issue #10 of R.E.B.E.L.S.

Both books feature top-flight creative teams and tie into larger stories. They get my highest recommendation!

--Scott

Final SuperSystem Cover Image

Here it is with the spiffy official logo!



Kudos to artist Joe Urban and layout man Dan Yauger for their fine work!

--Scott

15mm Sci-Fi Skirmish

Ever since the days of the Traveller RPG folks have used 15mm figures in skirmish and role-play. I am slowly building a collection of 15mm sci-fi minis that will allow me to do the same.

One thing I've discovered, and it should have been obvious to me, is that 15mm figures paint up really fast--there's just less area to cover!

I knocked out 6 yesterday. Check them out!









The figures are a mix of RAFM and GZG space pirate types.

I also did this little runabout grav car from GZG:








My goal is to populate an entire star-port full of 15mm sci-fi figure. Should be fun!

--Scott

SuperSystem Cover Art Revealed!

Hey, folks! We're getting closer to the release of SuperSystem 3rd ed. Here's a sneak peak of the cover painting by Joseph Urban. The logo is just a place holder--we'll be using our traditional orange and yellow logo for the final version.



This great piece depicts a battle between Thunderfist and the Ego-Bot!

We're finalizing the layout now, so a November 22 release looks good. I am also working on getting a small number of books printed out in a spiral bound format, with color covers and b&w interiors. Lulu is also an option. We'll see.

Separately, I still have a number of Superfigs model stats to revise for the free PDF release of the Official SuperSystem Teams and Characters.

I'll post more on this when I know it!

--Scott

More 15mm Garn

I recently re-based some of my 15mm Garn from Khurasan miniatures. I like them better on their own washers.










The above image is a comparison shot between a Garn and a Rebel Miniatures Sahadeen fighter.

I've got a plan for taking this single basing into account in my 15mm rules I am working on. I'll share more on this when things with the rules have firmed up a bit more. In the meantime, I should be seeing orders arrive from GZG, 15mm.co.uk, and RAFM in the next few days. Brisk business at the PO box!

--Scott

A tad late for Halloween, but...

I had to show off some pics of this great old Crucible mini I dug out and re-based for my buddy Rico's Warhammer Halloween event this past Saturday. This guy was one of a necromancer's lackeys guarding his tower against ravening hordes of treasure-seeking thugs!

He met a bad end at the hands of some Dwarves. Oh well...









Should have included a 28mm minis for scale, but this guy is about the size of an Ogre. That's a GW 40mm monster base he's on.

--Scott

Painted Skaven Doom Wheel

Last Sunday I finished the advance copy of the Doom Wheel sent to my local shop, Phantom of the Attic. It's now in the display case there until the official release date. My buddy Danny was kind enough to take some pics of it for me, so here they are:















I am the kind of hobbyist who puts stuff together and then paints it. Almost religiously. I hate painting separate pieces, then assembling them. So I painted a fully assembled Doom Wheel. It was a mistake, IMHO. I should have painted it in pieces, at the very least, leaving the side armatures off for better access to the interior rings. Oh well. It was a bear, but it is done.

Fantastic kit, all around. Skaven players rejoice!

--Scott

More 15mm Musings...

The rules I am working on for 15mm sci-fi are starting to coalesce nicely (or is that congeal?).

Kidding aside, I've decided to also include a skirmish rules set for 15mm in the same book. I figure the way we intend to do the basing, there should be the ability pop figures in and out of a movement/unit stand. This way players can switch to gritty skirmish inside ship bulkheads or in tight sewage tunnels.

I checked out some of the cool, Lazerburn old school sci-fi adventurers and pirates from http://www.15mm.co.uk/. Very neat stuff. At only .30p per figure, I ended up buying 11 figures. The total was $14 with shipping included. Not bad from UK to the U.S. I eagerly await the package!

I hope to get some more 15mm pics up soon. I've re-based some of my Garn on their own washers. The washers are about 17mm and the perfect size. Again, I'll post pics when I have them.

--Scott

Alien Legion Earns Omnibus

As a kid growing up in the 1970's and 1980's, I was fortunate to be exposed to a lot of sci-fi in various forms. From Star Wars to Buck Rogers, to Battle Beyond the Stars, I absorbed elements from the sublime to the ridiculous with equal fervor and relish.

Aside from a few Star Wars comics in the late 1970's and early 1980's, I didn't really get my sci-fi from the funny books until Alien Legion. Developed in 1983 for Marvel Comics' Epic label, Alien Legion was created by writers Carl Potts and Alan Zelenetz, and first drawn by talented artist Frank Cirocco. It filled a void I didn't really know was there. It was military sci-fi--like the French Foreign Legion in space! What could be cooler? My friends and I all bought it. We picked our favorite main cast members. Mine was the profit seeking Torqa Dun, but there were so many cool aliens and characters that everybody could pick someone different.

Now Dark Horse Comics is set to publish Alien Legion's very first Omnibus, collecting the first 352 pages of Legion comics in one nifty color volume. I can't recommend this collection more highly, and when it hits the stores December 16, 2009, treat yourself to an early holiday present, or better yet, add it to your gift list and let one of your loved ones buy it for you! Either way, it'll be $25 well spent.

--Scott

Tom Crandall Reviews 15mm

An old friend of mine named Tom Crandall maintains an awesome web site that reviews mainly 15mm miniatures, with a focus on modern and sci-fi stuff. The site is:

http://www.miniaturereview.com/

One of the best things about Tom's site are the many useful scale comparisons between 15mm manufacturers, and Tom has done a wonderful job digging up older gems from the distant past of 15mm sci-fi.

Great work, Tom! We'll be watching for more!

--Scott

Zogar the Goblin Monk

The other day I came across some pictures of one of my favorite miniatures we've ever done. He's Zog, or Zogar, the Goblin Monk.










Zog was part of our Terronus D20 release. Alas, we jumped on the D20 band wagon far too late for it to be a success, though I am still quite proud of the work we put into it.

--Scott

Chaos In Cario Set for October 25, 2009 Release!

Chaos in Cairo 2nd ed. will be released October 25, 2009. The initial release will be PDF only, print on demand copies hopefully available some time after that date. We'll provide more details on a dead tree version when we have them. In the meantime, take a look at the wonderful Chris Moeller cover for this dandy new Goalsystem release!


The core rules are my own handiwork, but lead Cairo designer J. Lee Howard really brought this project to life. Here's his blurb explaining what you'll find in this slick new book:

Chaos in Cairo, the sequel to Chaos in Carpathia, is a set of fast-play rules based on the Goalsystem engine and designed for skirmish-level miniatures gaming. The game pits two-fisted pulp adventurers against menacing supernatural creatures and their minion set against the backdrop of 1920’s Egypt. The book contains four new warbands (Mummies, Archaeologists, Cultists and The Sons of Ra), six new scenarios, rules for vehicles and mounted models and new weapons, traits and combat maneuvers. Chaos in Cairo is a complete, stand-alone game and is compatible with Chaos in Carpathia, allowing players to mix and match warbands, weapons and scenarios from both books.

We know this one has been a long time coming. Thanks for your patience and we hope you'll agree with us that the long wait has been worth it!
--Scott

The Garn From Khurasan

My Garn arrived from Khurasan yesterday, and I busily set about getting some stands of them done. BTW, nice service from Khursan--the order arrived in my PO Box less than 3 days after I made it.

These 15mm sci-fi minis are great! I had a wonderful time paint these guys up. The casts are lovely and required minimal clean-up. I am painting and basing them for play-tests of the platoon/company level rules I am working on, but the minis are so nice, I may individually base a few just for fun. I've always had it in the back of my head to one day try 15mm minis for RPG 's.

Anyway, here's the pics!







And here are some scale comp shots with the Rebel Minis Sahadeen I did a few days ago:







I should add that the Garn are intended to be massive, hulking brutes, so the scale difference here works wonderfully.

I've got the command stand nearly done, and another stand with a heavy weapon. Now I have to cobble together and appropriate walker and APC for them. Suggestions are welcome!

--Scott

15mm Sci-Fi Rebel Minis

I've been painting a lot of Skaven of late, and I wanted a break from that for a little while. It looks like I may be working on a 15mm sci-fi rules project soon, so I need to paint up some models to play-test with.

I've got plenty of singly based 15mm sci-fi stuff, but the rules I have in mind will allow you to move 3-8 man units around on 40mm bases. Here's my first test using some Rebel Minis Sahadeen.










I like the way the 5-man unit looks on the 40mm base. I'll need to paint up a few more before I can start any play-testing.

I've got some sci-fi lizardmen on the way from Khurasan. I'll likely mount them 3 to a base.

Sometimes switching scales like this can clean the palette and recharge the batteries. Let's hope!

--Scott

SuperSystem Layout Update

I've seen most of the pages for the layout of SuperSystem 3rd ed. and I am very excited! Dan the layout man is really doing an excellent job, and I think folks will be quite pleased.

In the meantime, I am churning away the revisions on the official SuperFig characters for the game. As I have said, that will be released as a separate PDF, and soon after David Lewis will have them up on his character generator at the SuperSystem Annex.

It's looking good for a mid-November release!

Also, work has resumed (albeit slowly) on the molds for the new SuperFigs. We may see them by year's end. Not sure yet. I think what will happen in 2010-2011 is that we may move toward releasing a bunch of SuperFigs in 15mm. This could be a mix of 15mm versions of existing figures and entirely 15mm SuperFigs. We'll see. It's early yet and things could fall through.

--Scott

Painted Clan Rats

Got the first 10 done! Working on 10 Slaves now.







I need to add the Warp stone "ringer" to the bell for the musician, and I also need to do the eyes.

--Scott

New Skaven Clan Rat Pics!

I've been given the honor of painting up some of the new Clan Rats for my local game shop. These are preview sprues, arriving ahead of the official release date in November.

Anyway, here are some shots showing them ranked up and comparing their scale with the plastic Plague Monks.







The box will come with 20 total Clan Rats, but its cleverly divided into 2 sprues, with 10 more heavily armored Clan Rats and 10 lightly armored guys that will work better as Skaven Slaves. All can be equipped with Spear and Shield if you like, but I think the idea is that you buy multiple boxes and group all of your Clan Rat types into units and all of your lightly armored slave guys into separate units.

More as I paint it!

--Scott

Skaven Plague Monk Standard Standard

Finished the standard bearer for my Skaven. I went with the smaller, less ostentatious standard in the box.






I love the half-skull head on this guy. The separate heads in the Plague Monks boxed set are a nice touch. The new Skaven Clan Rats will not have separate heads. This is a good thing IMHO, because between building them as Slaves and as normal Clan Rats, you will need to build and paint up at least 6 boxes (120!) and that is a conservative number. Not having to clip, remove, clean, and glue 120 heads is a huge time saver.




This week I will finish the Plague Monk unit at 25 members, then move on to more Rat Ogres. I'll snap a pic of the finished unit in its movement tray later this week.

--Scott

Queen of Stone--Capsule Book Review

I've been reading Keith Baker's D&D Eberron novel, Queen of Stone. I must admit that it was the Wayne Reynolds cover which drew me in while browsing the shelves of Barnes & Noble:



Beyond the great artwork on the cover, Keith Baker weaves a nifty tale of fantasy espionage and intrigue. All of the standard Dungeons & Dragons conventions exist in the world Eberron, but they're all slightly changed to fit a world-view that accepts certain intelligent monstrous races (Medusas, Goblins, Orcs, Trolls, Ogres, etc.) as equal to the normal fantasy fare (Dwarves, Elves, Gnomes, and Halflings). No one knows Eberron and its many quirks better than Mr. Baker, as he created the world some years ago and saw it to publication through Wizards of the Coast.

Queen of Stone follows the adventures of Thorn of Breland, a female half-elf, and a member of the Dark Lanterns of the King's Citadel. She and those of her ilk act as covert operatives for Breland, one of six nations jockeying for power in the once war-torn lands of Eberron. Thorn must undertake a seemingly impossible mission to Droaam, a nation composed of the many intelligent monstrous races normally seen as cannon fodder by most D&D players. While posing as a diplomat she must seek the stony form of a once great warrior, and force the medusa who petrified him to free him.

Intrigue abounds in this ripping yarn, and Thorn is left wondering just whom she can really trust. Could her best chance for success rest in trusting to the baleful gaze of the Queen of Stone? Possibly. For folks who already dig Eberron, or those looking for a non-traditional take on D&D type fantasy, this one is a winner!

--Scott

The Minions of Moulder

Still chipping away at my Skaven project. This time around I've got my first two completed Rat Ogres to show off. The Plague monk unit is coming along as well, and I'll show them later in the week.

I think my army will focus on Clan Moulder, the Skaven faction that focuses on breeding Rat Ogres and giant rats.



The plastic Rat Ogres kit is one of the main reasons I am doing Skaven for WFB.




The kit gives you many options when building these brutes.



I wanted to make at least albino Rat Ogre, so I gave this one a shot.



I love the hood and the many scars and pustules on this guy!





And of course you need a Pack Master to keep them in line!

--Scott