Ravenor Returns in Abnett Omnibus!

Fans of Dan Abnett's Inquisitor fiction for the Black Library can exalt in the arrival of Ravenor: The Omnibus. This thick trade paperback collects all three of Abnett's previously published Ravenor novels. Ravenor is the physically crippled but psychically powerful Inquisitor whose adventures follow those of his mentor, Gregor Eisenhorn.

Told in the eponymous Eisenhorn Omnibus, the tale of Ravenor's one-time master is one of tragedy and difficult choices. It is during one of those moments of tragedy that Ravenor himself is forever changed, horribly burned and crippled during the massacre of the Spatian Gate. These physical injuries unlock Ravenor's true psychic potential, and he survives to continue the work of the Inquisition through his capable field operatives.

Both of these books offer the kind of Warhammer 40,000 fiction I am most fond of: small unit actions mostly not involving Space Marines. I just don't find the trials and travails of a group of 7' super-men all that compelling, but give me an Inquisitor and his eclectic band of loyal servants, some Chaos cultists as the opposition, and I am happy as a clam!

You don't have to read them in order, but if you're a stickler for such things, read Eisenhorn first, and Ravenor second. Both books also offer previously unreleased short stories by Abnett that fill in some of the gaps in continuity between the individual books. In the annals of gamer fiction, I hold these two groups of stories among the finest.

Scott

Podcast Update

Just a quick note to let folks know that there is a somewhat new episode of our podcast, WAYWO, up. We talk about RPG's, miniatures, and various other hobby-related topics.

It's a nice way to kill 50 minutes at work. This reminds that I listened to Dice Like Thunder, a Warhammer 40,000 focused podcast, for the first time yesterday. I enjoyed it very much, and wanted to plug it here.

I hope to have some more painted space orks to show off this weekend, and perhaps a few other odds and ends. We'll see.

Scott

More Agis Magic!

Agis Neugebauer is one of my favorite miniature painters; one of the best around, really. Whenever he paints a SuperFig, it's a bid deal to me. Anyway, he was kind enough to share two recent additions, The Head and the Killbots.

Anyway, here they are!





Yes, that's a certain German ex-leader's head in there. The Head also comes with a second choice, a bald head. It's also quite easy to snip either head off of the "plate" they come on and put a different head from your collection in there.

Great work, Agis! We're lucky to have you as a fan and a supporter!

Scott

Kroot Master Shaper

A few weeks back I did a conversion for a Master Shaper for my some-day Kroot Mercenary army. As an aside, I will at some point dedicate a post to the concept of "some-day" armies, a term introduced to me by grizzled gamer friend Tom Palamara years ago.

Anyway, the Master Shaper leads the Kroot Mercenary forces, and I wanted him to be impressive in body, so I used a plastic Khorne Berzerker to show that he has the Mark of the Favored Child. I gave this guy a Melta-gun and a power sword. He's also festooned with all sorts of other great gear from the Kroot plastic frame. The large shoulder pad is from the Tyranid warrior sprue.











Scott

Ducks? Really?

Well, yes. Anthropomorphic Ducks have been a staple of the Runequest fantasy world of Glorantha since its inception more than two decades ago. Seemingly the victims of a curse from some angry Gloranthan god, the Ducks are generally shunned and often unwelcome. Within the context of Runequest and Glorantha, I love them as a player character race. Others do not, and massive flame wars on places like RPG.net have sprung up over the years debating their rightful place as a player character race.

It was a few weeks ago on RPG.net that I found myself in a thread on Runequest miniatures that someone asked about Mongoose's Duck miniatures. They were released a few years back when Mongoose was going great guns with their figure lines. They were so cool I had to buy them, and I managed to paint two of them up. One of the posters in this thread, Ahrinades, asked me to post the pics of the painted Ducks, so here they are!










































These guys stand about 20-22mm tall. The details on them are exquisite. I think they might be the best miniatures Mongoose ever did. Though I do have some love for a lot of the Judge Dredd metal releases as well.

Someday I'll get around to painting the rest!

Scott

Reaper Ogre Mage

Not sure why I am showing this guy off, but he caught my eye the other day when I was re-organizing some painted miniatures in their cases.

I painted him a while back, and used him in a few mythic Japanese skirmishes where I adapted the GW Lord of the Rings rules. Worked pretty well as I recall. I really love the composition of the miniature, and I am happy with my paint job on him. Of course, it's been more than three years since I painted him, so I cannot remember most of the colors I used!

Scott

Agents of the Crown Released!

A while back I may have mentioned working on a Victorian Superhero RPG for Chaosium's BRP system. Well, Agents of the Crown is now out! Thank goodness! Two years of on-again, off-again work finally realized! Thanks to Karl Perrotton, Charlie Krank, and Dustin Wright for all of the support.

The book features low-powered supers action in the Victorian era, focusing on London, the Great Game, and anything related to them. I also wrote it to be miniatures friendly, so you can use whatever Victorian era figures you have to help show the action.

Scott

Early Halloween

Screaming Alpha blogger John Price has reviewed one of our favorite SuperFigs, Devil's Knight. Check his awesome blog out here.

Thanks, Mr. Price!

--Scott

Circling Back to the Orks

It's been a while, but I have finally started back in on my 40K Ork army. I've long wanted to do some kustom Killa Kans, but haven't had the proper inspiration until GW released the plastic Stompa kit. The water tower gun on the kit is the perfect size for a Killa Kan body--one could imagine a grot comfortably nestled (or unceremoniously stuffed) inside this wonderfully textured cylinder.

Anyway, the rest is cobbled together from various bits. I am getting the water tower bit from various eBay auctions, and I need one more to have the parts to complete a squad of three Kans.

Check my results so far:



Nice size comparison here.




The power claw arm is the only non-GW bit on the kit. It's from an awesome Imex kit. The buzzsaw on the end is from an old Epic titan weapon.








The treads are built from the old Imperial tank sprue. Man, I miss the old GW Gubbinz Bag.





Scott

Blue Monk Preview

Today I've got a preview of ZD 11 Blue Monk ($3.95), another of the new SuperFigs debuting in late August.

This lovely lady is a super-martial artist, channeling her powerful chi energies into her whirling spear-staff. She was painted by the talented Enrico Nardini.





Scott

More HOTT Stuff

Over the past weekend I finished two units of Kroxigors for HOTT. These are 10mm figures from GW's Warmaster line of miniatures. I am using them as Knights in HOTT. Fast, hard-hitting, but weaker against Behemoths, Shooters, and Magicians. I only put three each on a 40mm x 30mm stand. I have three left over I can use for character stands, or other units for the army.









Now I may start working on a completely new HOTT army: Chaos Dwarves! If I can score some Eureka 10mm stuff, I will be sure to eventually show them off here.

Scott

Scott

Another Dark Heresy RPG Conversion

Among other things over the weekend, I created another Dark Heresy RPG character from various GW plastic bits. I would likely use this guy as an Adept in my buddy Rico's DH games.

I also decided that he would be an Untouchable, a psychically blank individual who actually impedes the abilities of nearby psykers. This "talent" also has the unfortunate side-effect of making the untouchable disliked by almost everyone around him. The rules are from the wonderful Disciples of the Dark Gods supplement for DH. All I need to do is settle on a name for him.











The converted gun will count as a hand cannon, a kind of high-caliber slug thrower. I've already decided he'll be a kind of 40K tomb robber of sorts, a self-styled heretico-anthropologist specializing in knowledge and artifacts of long-dead cults, Imperial, Chaos, or Xenos.

Scott

Ferax Attacks!

Here's some shots of SuperFig code ZD 14 Ferax. He'll be out in late August with the rest of the new SuperFigs. He'll retail for $7.95.

Ferax did not start out as a commissioned SuperFig, but when I found him available for the asking, I gladly added him to our lineup!









On Four-Color Earth he'll be a member of the Hirsuine, an ancient race of bio-engineered warriors created by the Lemurians to act as enforcers and shock-troops for their terrestrial campaigns. Only a few hidden pockets of Hirsuine remain on the planet, secreting themselves away in mountain enclaves or the deepest forest. Hirsuine sitings have contributed mightily to the legends of the Sasquatch and the Yeti. Generally a non-agressive people, they nonetheless possess a warrior spirit that if stirred to action is terrible to behold. A long-lived race, Ferax is a relatively young 46 years old, and has decided to explore the world a bit. Having heard tales of superhumans, he has decided to see if he can test himself against some of them.

Whether he becomes a hero or villain might largely depend on who he meets first.

Scott

Cronos Goes to School

In addition to SuperSystem, I have written a number of other Goalsystem games, with the most recent addition being Chaos on Cronos, a pulp sci-fi mash-up featuring some really awesome "rubber-suit" alien miniatures sculpted by Bob Naismith.

Recently on the Goalsystem Yahoo group, Cronos fan Blake Radetzky posted some awesome shots of a program he ran at a summer camp where he taught the kids how to paint Blue Moon alien minis, and then play the Chaos on Cronos game. Having run Teen D&D for the Carnegie Library's Teen Summer Reading program for 5 years, I know how challenging, and rewarding, this sort of work can be. Thanks for running such a dynamite program, Blake! Kudos!








Scott

A Few Small Updates

Nothing in the way of new pics or news, yet. Just a few bullet-list items:

• I managed to track down some 10mm Warmaster Kroxigors for my HOTT army. I've decided to add them as Knights, of all things. I can fit 3 nicely on a 40 x 30mm base, and I like the hard-hitting nature of the Knight unit in HOTT.
• I've long admired Grimm's Hangar and the great paint jobs on SuperFigs and other miniatures he features there. Check it out!
• The new Batman and Robin title from DC featuring Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely is really pretty awesome. I resisted it initially, but I bought issues 1 & 2 this weekend and they are spectacular. I hear that Mr. Quitely will only be around through issue 3, so let's hope they find an adequate replacement for him.
• And speaking of comics, War of Kings #5 was incredible! If you haven't been following this Marvel cosmic saga all along, be sure to pick up the trades when they come out.
• So far I have 11 Goblins painted for Warhammer Fantasy Battle. A humble beginning, I know, but I have to start somewhere.

Scott

Weekend Wrap-Up

Long holiday weekend is over. I got a few projects worked on, including sanding the first of a series of jungle bases I plan on making. These will work for my Kroot, and any historicals or other skirmish games I decide to play in jungle climes. When the first one is done, I will snap some pics.

Also completed an Ogre Lead Belcher unit for Warhammer Fantasy Battle. Yes, I do have some interest in WFB, especially because my good friend Rico is moving back to Steel City and he is working on a Dwarf army. Of course, to get the rules, I just bought the WFB boxed set for $60 (a ridiculously good deal), and the Goblin goodness in there sold me on the little buggers. So I will slowly build a Goblin army for WFB, while learning the rules playing Ogres (I'd had some other Ogre units done from a previous aborted attempt at WFB).

Also got new SuperFig Ferax painted, so I will get some pics of him up this week. I also expect my good buddy Sky to have Major Meteor painted sometime this week, so we could have another preview as well.

Played another great game of HOTT on Sunday, with my Lizardmen triumphing over my opponent's Kislevite forces. I also discovered that Eureka has a marvelous little line of 10mm fantasy that includes some great-looking Chaos Dwarves! They'll be on my list for Historicon, which I cannot attend, but a friend will do some shopping for me.

Bit of a catch-up post today, so I hope to have some images in the next one for this week.

Thanks for reading!

Scott

Dark Man Emerges From the Shadows!

Today we show off new SuperFig code ZD 2 Dark Man ($3.95). This figure will be part of the August 2009 release. He'll make a perfect pulp hero or villain!





Scott