ITEN: Inquisitorial Warband

We managed to play a game or two of In the Emperor's Name (ITEN) this past weekend, and I am very happy to say that it is great! A skirmish game that is free, allows you to dip into your collection of old GW and sci-fi minis, and plays fast? Sign me up!

I built a 120 pt. Inquisitorial warband, and this gave me an excuse to finish my Space Marine Scout models that I use as Stormtroopers. I added my own Sci-Fi Ganger Heads to these guys to give them a neat, individual look. Overall, I am quite pleased!






Above you can see Inquisitor Galesmythe slightly converted from the plastic SM agent included in one of the old 40K boxed sets (Battle for McCragg, I believe). I gave him a power maul.




Above is my Interrogator. I used this guy in a game of Dark Heresy a while back. He's made from parts from Empire Militia and IG plastics.




Here's a close-up shot of one of my favorite heads on one of the plastic scouts:



It's a bit of a kludge in the rules, but I just count the Scouts with Shotguns as Stormtroopers with Hellguns.

I'll try to update this post or follow-up with an actual written up list detailing what these guys have in the game. Later this week I will show off my Kroot warband. Yes, Kroot live in ITEN!

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

A Rogue Trader If I Ever Saw One

Got another Cobalt-1 figure to share today, and he's a Rogue Trader if I ever saw one! This guy is officially listed as COBC10 Merchant in Black Hat's online store.

In the 40K universe Rogue Traders often possess exotic doo-dads and dress in fine clothing. Check and check for the following mini!







And a comp shot with my version of Major Callon from the same Cobalt-1 line:



Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

Inquisitorial Skirmish?

Why, In the Emperor's Name, yes! While visiting the Lead Adventure Forum (one of my favorite online haunts), I came across a link to this awesome-looking set of Warhammer 40K skirmish rules. It's a free PDF, and the fine folks at the Forge of War Development Group have done a great job distilling the GW fluff and rules into a simpler skirmish system.

Over the next couple of days I intend to finish up enough new models to make some kind of retinue for this game, and I hope to take it for a test drive on Sunday!

--Scott

The Inquisitorial Agent

I've really been enjoying getting after the Cobalt-1 figures from Black Hat. So much character and dynamism, and lots of easily paintable details!

Tonight I knocked out the Major Callon character. Sculpted by Bob Naismith, this guy features some very cool gear and attire, but after priming him, I decided I did not like his gun. Instead I busted out the jeweler's saw and removed it and the right hand entirely, replacing it with a right hand from a plastic Catachan Jungle Fighter and a metal blaster pistol from Heresy miniatures.

Here he is:












And here's a comp shot for scale:



I really like the results. If I played him as a Dark Heresy or Inquisitor character, I'd make him either bounty hunter, or a Psychic Blank--those untouchables used so well in Dan Abnett's Eisenhorn novels.

Hopefully I can get to another one this week, but I do have Dwarves to paint and an RPG adventure to prep for! We'll see....

Black Hat Cobalt-1 Character

Got my Black Hat Miniatures Cobalt-1 order in on Saturday! These are some great sci-fi minis from Bob Naimsith, very suitable for Dark Heresy (or Strands of Heresy, for that matter!).

Anyway, this first guy would make either an excellent Rogue Trader or Inquisitor.







And a comp shot of this guy with Mean Machine:




Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

2000 AD Mean Machine

A while back a few of us did a Foundry order and I picked up the 2000 AD Mean Machine figure to use for a sci-fi game. At the time I was not sure which sci-fi game, but of late, I had been looking at Mr. Mean Machine as an excellent Inquisitorial henchman, or a good foe for some PC's in a Dark Heresy style game. Well, I dug him out and painted him up to stow away for future use as a villain in just such a game.

Here he is!












And here's a comp shot with an Urban Mammoth future thug:



Funny thing, I did not set out to do it this way, but Mean Machine is a Foundry figure painted with just about all Foundry paints.

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

Strands of Heresy?

I've gotten the urge to run the Dark Heresy RPG again, except this time I don't think I am going to use the DH rules. I want to run the sort of high-powered DH game that emulates the Eisenhorn and Ravenor trilogies. I've run a lot of FFG's DH and I do not feel like I can effectively do it using those rules.

So instead I plan to use the FATE engine and specifically, Void Star's Strands of Fate. This "toolkit" approach to FATE contains everything I think I will need to run high-powered DH stories where one player runs an Inquisitor and the others run characters in his personal retinue. Of course, we'll use miniatures to show the characters locations in various zones, and to "freshen up" my already large selection of sci-fi minis suitable for DH, I placed a small order for some Bob Naismith's newer Cobalt-1 miniatures from Black Hat. So many of those figures are so perfect for DH! I'll show them off as I get them painted.

So in between painting dwarves and working on Blasters & Bulkheads, I'll be prepping to run a FATE version of DH--nothing like another project to keep me busy!

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

WFB Dwarves: The Steam Drill!

The Dwarf Miner unit grew a little bit more this week, and I did manage to finish one of my favorite pieces, the Dwarf with the steam drill. This device adds +3 to its user's Strength and +1 to the unit's deployment rolls when they deploy in reserve. Handy!







As you can see, wielding the drill has really given this dwarf some massive pipes!

Thanks for looking!

--Scott

Off The Shelf: Parroom Station Mars Stuff

A while back I painted these guys for a still unfinished project. In my mind, the old Parroom Station figure line still remains my favorite of the Edgar Rice Burroughs inspired miniature lines.

These figures are closer to "true 28mm" than most new lines out there. Very elegant and dynamic minis!







Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

Avatars of War Plastic Slayers

I've assembled and painted the first two plastic Slayers from my Avatars of War boxed set. Check them out!









And a comp shot with a GW Dwarf Miner:



Thanks for looking!

--Scott

WFB: Taken By The Storm!

I was moving blithely through my gaming life, quite purposefully ignoring Warhammer Fantasy Battle and all of its trappings when my friend Bill suggested a thematic WFB game for Halloween.

I then decided I could cobble together a cool Dwarf army from stuff from the Battle for Skull Pass boxed set--stuff I could get in trades and cheaply from here and there. Off I went, still not thinking too much about WFB, really more focused on a cool game with friends.

Then I walked into Phantom on Sunday morning and cast my eyes on Storm of Magic, a sweet new hardcover supplement for WFB that allows you to play games with all sorts of cool new (and old!) monsters. And the book itself? Amazing! It has a spinner in it! A little device to determine which way the winds of magic are blowing each turn! A spinner! I am a sucker for cool looking books, so I snatched it up and it is very cool. There's even a chance for the Dwarves to get in on the action!




Anyway, I am now more enthused about WFB than I have been in a while. Here's a shot of some more Dwarf Miners I finished this weekend:



I want this unit at 25 strong, so I also bought the boxed set of Miners to mix in with them.

Later this week I will show off the plastic Avatars of War slayers I managed to snag. Very nice figures indeed!

Good thing I am doing a Dwarf "Monster Hunter" themed list, because with Storm of Magic, there will be plenty of monsters around to hunt!

Nobody Asked Me, But...

An occasional feature where I discuss odds, ends, and various projects.

• Work proceeds on Blasters & Bulkheads. The Baron and his crew are doing some play-testing and I am getting some useful feedback from them. Joe D. is working on his cover for the book, and I am hopeful we might be able to release the PDF in October. We shall see!

• I got hold of a box of Avatars of War's plastic Dwarf Berserkers, and I will be using them as a unit of Dwarf Slayers for the Halloween WFB project. I partially assembled one this morning, and I am liking the kit quite a bit.

• On the RPG front, I ran the 3rd session of my Dragon Age game last weekend and it was a bloody, dark affair. I ran a published adventure called "Amber Rage", and it forced the players to make some pretty tough choices. The rules perform well, but I feel like they lack a heroic spark. Often times my players felt pretty ordinary. I think I could fix this by introducing some one-hit mook rules. If I do this when we play again, I'll report back on it here.

• In other RPG rules news, I pre-ordered Ashen Stars from Pelgrane Press. I got sucked in by the cool art, the amazing concept, and the fact Robin Laws is responsible for most of the content. He's long been one of my favorite game designers. The Gumshoe system stresses investigation, but uses a unique system that allows players to find critical clues at the right time. It can also handle action fairly well. Pelgrane makes gorgeous books, and this will be a nice one to read on the train when the wife and I take our vacation to Chicago in late August.

• Meanwhile, I am toying with running Legends of Anglerre. It uses FATE, and I have already run its sister game, Starblazers (also from Cubicle 7). If I do this it will likely be a high-powered campaign set in Sigil (Planescape).

Hopefully I can get some stuff painted to share this weekend, but we shall see!

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

WFB: Dwarf Miners!

The lure of easy plastic was too great, and so I have decided to work on some Dwarves for my friend Bill's Warhammer Fantasy Battle Halloween game.

I am starting with stuff I can get easily, and in some cases free! The Dwarf Miners from the older Battle for Skull Pass boxed set are nice, and several friends have them and have had no compunctions about trading them off to me. So this will be my first unit. Here are the test models.





Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

More Kislevites

Well, my Kislevite proxies, anyway!

Here are three more members for the band! Turns out I may also make use of these guys in a special Halloween Warhammer Fantasy Battle event my buddy Bill will be running.

We shall see....

Here's a group shot:



And a closer shot of the leader (a Foundry Cossack):



And a closer shot of the swordsman (an OG Cossack Wars character):



And the gem of the trio, my Sorcerer (an old Grenadier Horse Raider artilleryman) :



Thanks for looking!

--Scott

Blasters & Bulkheads Demo Pics!

Here are some pics of the demo/play-test I ran at Origins last week:









Thanks again to Dan, Mike, and Enrico for helping me out with this! I gathered valuable feedback from the game play, and had a great time running it!

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

Mordheim Kislevite Bear Proxy?

Ever want to kick yourself for not buying a miniature when you had the chance? Around ten years ago (that long already?) I had the chance to buy the Mordheim Kislevites from GW. I passed, and I forever regret it. Now they're OOP, and hard to find!

The band featured a trained bear and his trainer among the cool options. Here's a pic of the trainer:



That's an image I found online--wish I owned him!

Anyway, at Origins I found a Mage Knight bear that got me thinking I should just make my own Kislevite warband using various proxy minis. So last night I worked on the bear, and here he is!









And here is a comp shot for scale:



I'll drop in more articles on this project in between some more 15mm stuff as time permits. Thanks for visiting!

--Scott