Another Raider For the Crew

In between working on stuff for customers, I knocked out another Wargames Foundry Viking last night. The detail and crispness of these figures really makes them a joy to paint. This guy will make an excellent NPC in my upcoming Dragon Age games, and he'll certainly find a home in my Viking warband. I believe he makes 24 total Vikings done now.

That should at least be enough to take on a lightly armed abbey!









Thanks for checking out the blog!

--Scott

Picking a City...

The Dragon Age tabletop RPG from Green Ronin feature a great system and rich background born from the highly successful computer game of the same name. But it's a bit thin on details in some areas. Namely cities. As I get ready to run the game, and set my campaign in Denerim, the largest city, I found myself with no city map.

Not having the time or desire to make my own, my choices were either crib one from an existing book, or buy a generic one. I popped over to RPGNow's web site and after a quick search, I found exactly what I needed! 0one's Blueprints!



I almost immediately bought the Great City, a super product at a great price ($1.65)! This includes a nice sized city map with generic quarters, the ability to print as a standard sized sheet or a poster map, and lots of added details. Building out from the Great City, you can buy detailed packs on each of the quarters that feature maps on the various locations, including popular taverns, places of business, and temples. I also bought the Dock Ward to check out the more detailed ward sections, and this was also a dynamite buy at $1.65. I imagine that I will eventually buy them all.

I'll be doing a more detailed review of these products for Play Unplugged in the coming weeks, but suffice to say that for fantasy games using any system, I heartily recommend them!

Thanks for checking out the blog!

--Scott

Someone Call the Guard!

How many times has that imperative wrung out in a fantasy RPG? I've been getting ready to run my first session of the Dragon Age RPG from Green Ronin, and I've decided to set a lot of the campaign in the city of Denerim, the largest city in the nation of Ferelden. It's a teaming 'burgh, as cities go in this campaign world, and I realized I would need a crack unit of City Guard to enforce the major laws, or perhaps engage in a bit of institutional corruption themselves!

I decided to use some Bretonnian Men-at-Arms models. I re-based these guys on 20mm metal washers, and used some muted tones for their uniforms.







Although it is a magical world, magic is neither frequent nor accepted enough to be used to make everyday things like communication easier. Taking advantage of all of the cool bits on the Bret. sprue, I decided the Denerim City Guard would use trained birds to carry messages to and from their barracks. This could let them call for reinforcements, or report on a pressing investigation, or perhaps even make a corrupt sergeant aware that his smuggling contact had just entered a certain tavern.

Here's the Guard Sergeant with one of his messenger birds:



This is a perfect example of how sometimes fleshing a concept out in miniature can spawn new ideas for my campaigns. It's why I believe so strongly in using miniatures for most of my games. Anyway, I've got at least two more guardsmen to work on, and then I will move on to some other characters.

Thanks for checking out the blog!

--Scott

LotR Plastic Goblins: Comparing Methods

In between working on pieces for clients, I managed to paint up a fourth LotR Moria Goblin, but this time I used my more traditional methods. I've included some comparison shots between one of the Goblins I did earlier using the dip and this latest one with Devlan Mud and highlights. I am much more pleased with the second method, and I will be shelving the dip until further notice.





In the two shots above, the Goblin on the right is the newest one--the work is cleaner and more controlled. Here are some shots of him alone:





Not counting priming time with Gesso, this piece took me 45 minutes from start to finish, including dry-brushing the base and painting the rim.

Here's the shot the current quartet, ready to menace some party of adventurers:



Thanks for checking out the blog!

--Scott

LotR Plastic Goblins

I have had a box of these sitting on the shelf for a while, so I busted three out and gave them a quick paint job. I experimented with Armory's dip, but I had only the lightest shade, and I did not get the best results. Tomorrow I will go back to my Devlan Mud + highlight method, and then I can do a comparison here.

I think for the time being, I am done with dip. Not enough control for my taste.







I'll be using these guys as Darkspawn in an RPG called Dragon Age that I hope to start running in April. It's a nifty little boxed set game from Green Ronin. I'll be talking more about it in subsequent posts.

Thanks for checking out the blog!

--Scott

Reaper Hook Hulk!

Here's another offering from my backlog! I've had this one primed and based for five years at least! Anyway, he was Reaper's attempt to mix two highly iconic D&D monsters, the Hooked Horror and the Umber Hulk. Makes for a slick looking monster, doesn't it? I think I'd be inclined to use him as an Umber Hulk, or maybe something else entirely in a different fantasy game.

Anyway, when painting this guy I played up the German cockroach angle, going with some deep red browns.







And here's a comp shot with a Reaper chain fighter for scale:



Thanks for checking out the blog!

--Scott

From My Shoebox With Love: Foundry Viking

Here's another single figure I just cranked out, also drawn from my shoebox of abandoned projects. I love Wargames Foundry's Vikings, and I have 22 of them painted to this level. This guy males 23!







Thanks for checking out the blog!

--Scott

Dreamblade Re-Paint

The last couple days I have not felt like painting much of anything. I don't want to work on any big projects right now, and so I dug into that magic box of abandoned projects (a shoebox in my basement) and found a neat Dreamblade pre-painted plastic mini I had re-based a while back. As you'll soon see, he's a fat miniature, and there are not enough of those, IMHO. My buddy Rico from Play Unplugged would agree, as he too is a big booster of the fat mini.

Anyway, I hit this guy with some clear coat and then re-painted him tonight. I figure I will use him as Bugbear named character for an RPG, or maybe in a Song of Blades and Heroes band. Check him out:







The "fanny-pack" in the above shot is from a set of 54mm resin accessories for U.S. WWII grunts. He can fit several brown-bag lunches in there!



And here's a comp shot for some scale:



The mini he's menacing is a D&D Metal Jozan I converted a couple years ago for a D&D game.

It's funny, when I sat down at the bench tonight I was totally unmotivated to do anything, but with a bit of effort, I dug this guy out, and as I painted him, my enthusiasm level skyrocketed! Sometimes it just takes a little curve ball to get the juices flowing again. Now I am eager to use him in a game, and so it goes...

Thanks for checking out the blog!

--Scott

The Thing in the Woods!

Reaper makes a lot of great monsters, but this werewolf-type from the talented hands of Ben Seins has to be one of my favorites. I painted him using a couple of Foundry paints, and the excellent musculature on the mini provided a perfect guide.

I'd love to use him in some gritty, Medieval skirmish games, or some Mordheim-like scenarios as a foe for a single warband of desperate hunters.





I mounted him on a Flames of War base because of his long pose, and I like the look it creates.

Thanks for checking out the blog!

--Scott

Warmachine: Cryx Bloodgorgers!

This week I knocked out a commission for my regular customer, Bill. He wanted a unit of Cryx Bloodgorgers, plus their special character figure. In all, the job called for seven corrupted Trollkin models, all on medium bases.

The assembly was pretty easy by PP standards, and I fell in love with the figures as I was painting--so much so that I needed to share them here before delivering them to Bill today! If I ever do a Cryx force of my own, these guys will be in it.









Thanks for checking out the blog!

--Scott

Warmachine: Thor Steinhammer!

Here are some quick shots of solo Thor Steinhammer--just finished him!







Thanks for looking!


--Scott

Goalsystem Fantasy

A number of people have recently asked me about a fantasy version of the Goalsystem engine. One does exist. We initially published it in our Terronus: Isle of Goblins book, but now I sell it by itself as a small, $2.95 PDF at both Wargame Downloads and Saber's Edge.

Here's the cover:



Anyway, it's a small rule set that allows for players to create their own fighters and expand the game in any way they see fit. At some point, I'd like to re-visit this and do a larger version with more options.

Thanks for checking out the blog!

--Scott

Off The Shelf: OG Hussites!

I painted these guys a while back for a "someday" Vlad the Impaler army for Warhammer Historical. As you can see, I never got beyond six of them. I may re-visit the project one day, or at least make use of these guys in some kind of RPG.

OG's Vlad the Impaler range is one of their best (although I wish they had more pics on their site), and these figures take paint very well!












Thanks for checking out the blog!

--Scott

Warhammer 40K: Kroot Load-beast

Every now and then I pull out my Kroot and work on them some more. This past week I converted a Star Wars Reek to use as a Great Gnarloc proxy. The official Forgeworld Great Gnarlocs are cool, but they're not tough enough to justify my spending $90 a piece on them.

I went this route instead!









I simply added some equipment attached to a band of green stuff! Easy and effective!

Thanks for checking out the blog!

--Scott

Warmachine: The Rhulic "15"

I managed to finish 15 pts. of Rhulic stuff this past week and even had a game today! I lost, but the game was fun and I learned a bit about my nascent force.

Without further ado, here are some pics:











I would have done the High Shield Gunners first, because they provide 'Jack marshaling that would be quite useful in a 15 pt. list, but my boxed set came without 4 left arms! This has since been rectified by Privateer Press customer service--great work, folks! So this week I will try to knock out 5 more points, this time adding a solo (Thor Steinhammer), and a second light Warjack (a Gunner).

In the meantime, I have work for customers to do too! And a few other surprises!

Thanks for looking!

--Scott