Wednesday, December 31, 2014
INQ28 - Homine Piscis
A classic fishman, as needed by all right thinking scifi games.
This one is converted from a Reaper bones figure, with Kroot arms, various Eldar bitz, and a gun made from a number of sources. (including a Marine autopistol from when they had such things)
I am still undecided if I should give him a breathing tank of some sort, and if he needs a technological lamp to go with his organic one.
The Bones material does not photograph very well, being stark white and slightly translucent in extremities, but it is super easy to convert, as a sharp knife will remove any unwanted details (in this case his original arms). I have only started to paint a Bones figure, so I can not say how easy it is over all, but it seems to take paint like normal, and of course it is super light and flexible.
Any thoughts on colors?
INQ28 - Venator
Prior to the release of the Necromunda game, Games Workshop had a set of rules released through White Dwarf that trod some of the same ground, and indeed featured skirmishes between rival gangs set in the Hives of Necromunda. However, instead of gangs based on nation sized noble houses, Confrontation had gangs based more on profession, or social status. One of those gangs was the Venators, or professional bounty hunters, as discussed here on the Leadplague blog.
Inspired by some discussion on how to kitbash a Venator, I created the following:
I still need to sand the putty again, and these are but hasty camera phone pictures, but you get the idea.
I used empire militia legs, a Bretonnian archer torso, an old Necromunda Orlock pistol, and a space marine scroll as the "warrant". The head is made from a 6th Edition empire drummer head, and half of a Sanguineous death mask.
For Inquisitor he is equipped pretty lightly with a Stubgun and a club, but most of the time I am sure that it suffices.
Inspired by some discussion on how to kitbash a Venator, I created the following:
I still need to sand the putty again, and these are but hasty camera phone pictures, but you get the idea.
I used empire militia legs, a Bretonnian archer torso, an old Necromunda Orlock pistol, and a space marine scroll as the "warrant". The head is made from a 6th Edition empire drummer head, and half of a Sanguineous death mask.
For Inquisitor he is equipped pretty lightly with a Stubgun and a club, but most of the time I am sure that it suffices.
Tuesday, December 30, 2014
Ebay Score
I do not know about you, but there are some items that I "chase" on Ebay, always submitting the same low bids in the hope that someday an item will go unnoticed by others and I will win without having to spend much money. To help me do this, I have my Ebay feed set up to show certain items, like Bretonnians, Rebel Blockade runners, or Revell Gunships etc.
One of those items is the Warhammer Chaos Battalion, which as I have previously mentioned, is a rather good deal at ~$2.34 a figure. Naturally, I wanted to pay less than full price to make it even more of a deal.
Just before Christmas I noticed a buy-it-now deal for an assembled Chaos battalion "with tons of extras". I offered less than the asked price on the grounds that "the figures are already assembled, and the shipping is expensive" and they accepted...
I was not entirely sure what I was getting in the mail, but the day after Christmas a large, and extremely well packed box turned up.
Contents:
One Chaos Battalion partly assembled, (12 Warriors, 5 knights, 10 hounds, 20 marauders)
1 painted Nurgle Chaos Lord on a horse
20 6th Edition Empire Handgunners
10 current Empire Handgunners/crossbowmen with all bitz, un-assembled.
10 assorted Horses, primed
1 Empire mortar
2 Battle Master Cannons painted
Beastmen Bitz
Skaven Bitz
Undead Bitz
Bretonnian bitz
40k Chaos Marines Bitz
plus a bunch of truly random things like an Eldar Guardian body, or Gretchen heads.
So yeah, I was am a bit excited.
What about you? Have you ever had an Ebay score like that?
One of those items is the Warhammer Chaos Battalion, which as I have previously mentioned, is a rather good deal at ~$2.34 a figure. Naturally, I wanted to pay less than full price to make it even more of a deal.
Just before Christmas I noticed a buy-it-now deal for an assembled Chaos battalion "with tons of extras". I offered less than the asked price on the grounds that "the figures are already assembled, and the shipping is expensive" and they accepted...
I was not entirely sure what I was getting in the mail, but the day after Christmas a large, and extremely well packed box turned up.
Contents:
One Chaos Battalion partly assembled, (12 Warriors, 5 knights, 10 hounds, 20 marauders)
1 painted Nurgle Chaos Lord on a horse
20 6th Edition Empire Handgunners
10 current Empire Handgunners/crossbowmen with all bitz, un-assembled.
10 assorted Horses, primed
1 Empire mortar
2 Battle Master Cannons painted
Beastmen Bitz
Skaven Bitz
Undead Bitz
Bretonnian bitz
40k Chaos Marines Bitz
plus a bunch of truly random things like an Eldar Guardian body, or Gretchen heads.
Assembled Chaos Battalion |
Bag of Empire Handgunner/Crossbowman Regiment |
Boxes of random bitz |
What about you? Have you ever had an Ebay score like that?
Monday, December 29, 2014
Christmas 2014
I hope everyone had a great Christmas. I certainly did, although with two little kids, family events, and some illness, it was busy.
I did not get much in the way of "hobby" materials this year, although I did get a Tau stealth team from my sister, and a Uniform book for the Napoleonic wars from my parents, which should be interesting reading, and useful for future projects. The final "hobby" item is a MetalEarth Eiffel Tower, which uses laser cut metal rather like photo etch to build up the Eiffel tower. Looks like a fun challenge.
The older kid got a ton of Lego, so we have been busy building all of that stuff too.
And Happy New Year! 2015 should be very interesting.
Thursday, December 11, 2014
Pro Gloria
As you might recall, Pro Gloria was running an Indiegogo campaign to get a plastic Landsknecht regiment box produced. There was some sort of stall in the campaign, and rumors of a big announcement, and now it appears that Pro Gloria has been sold to Warlord Games. Apparently Stephen Huber (the former owner of Pro Gloria) will remain connected to the project in some lesser way, which is good, since he seems to have a passion for the project.
As another plus, this should make the existing metal figures cheaper for me to get here in the US...
This seems to guarantee that the figures will be produced, which is good, but probably at best annoying to those funding the Indiegogo. This also means that Warlord is up to something like 15 different sculpting styles for their various lines, which is a bit odd.(although probably there is not that much interest in kit-bashing landsknecht bodies with roman legionary heads and soviet infantry arms, although now that I say it that way it does sound interesting)
Friday, November 14, 2014
November Army - 11/14 Progress
I managed to paint at lunch today:
Of course, I cheated and brought the more interesting portions of the army to paint, i.e. the command squad and the attached grenadier squad.
I keep saying "army" but really I am painting a rifle platoon, plus three sentinels, and an attached grenadier squad, seconded from the battalion. The rifle platoon has a command squad, 4 rifle squads, and a heavy machine gun squad for a total of 51 effectives.
I am also in the process of converting a few company level assets, such as a heavy mortar squad and it occurred to me that maybe I could build and paint a full company. Mostly because I have more conversion ideas... Yes, I am crazy.
Of course, I cheated and brought the more interesting portions of the army to paint, i.e. the command squad and the attached grenadier squad.
I keep saying "army" but really I am painting a rifle platoon, plus three sentinels, and an attached grenadier squad, seconded from the battalion. The rifle platoon has a command squad, 4 rifle squads, and a heavy machine gun squad for a total of 51 effectives.
I am also in the process of converting a few company level assets, such as a heavy mortar squad and it occurred to me that maybe I could build and paint a full company. Mostly because I have more conversion ideas... Yes, I am crazy.
Sunday, November 9, 2014
November Army - Painting Progress
This might not look like four hours of work, but it is... painted pants, bedrolls, canteens, and a few other things for the 50+ figures. I also completed a test figure for the Storm Troopers.
Under the Ott Light, you can see the difference between rattle can flat black and airbrushed Reaper Nightmare Black. One of them is extremely blue.
Under the Ott Light, you can see the difference between rattle can flat black and airbrushed Reaper Nightmare Black. One of them is extremely blue.
Saturday, November 8, 2014
November Army - Primed
Well, that did not go as planned. As I mentioned last night (this morning?) I was going to prime all my figures with the airbrush. Did not work out. I have not used the thing for 8 years, and only once before that, so I probably should have scheduled in some time for troubleshooting. And I ran out of black paint. And the Reaper "Nightmare Black" paint that I got as a Halloween freebie... is actually very dark blue.
So I stopped at Home Depot after my nephew's soccer game this morning, picked up a rattle can of flat black, and had everything primed in 15 minutes.
I still want to use that darn airbrush, but I will have to take some more time to practice first.
So I stopped at Home Depot after my nephew's soccer game this morning, picked up a rattle can of flat black, and had everything primed in 15 minutes.
I still want to use that darn airbrush, but I will have to take some more time to practice first.
November Army -Basing
Just finished the basing of my little army project... now on to airbrush priming.
I may have gone a bit overboard with basing, as I built a destroyed sash window, a wooden floor, fence, and a few other crazy things, using time that would have been better spent painting.
You can see the majority of the figures to be painted here |
Lots of people use sprue for bricks, but how many use a chopper to make them all the same size? |
Friday, November 7, 2014
Sculpting at work
Similar to my earlier post about painting at work, I have been sculpting at work lately. mostly this is gap filling and the like for my various Inq28 figures, but I have added straps, fur, pistol holsters and a few more ambitious items.
The box is one of those old Games Workshop bitz boxes that I seem to have a few of, and it suffices for this use. I carry a file, a needle pointer, a spearhead sculpting tool, and a custom made "lifter" tool I made from some sprue. I use Apoxie sculpt exclusively these days, partly because it is water soluble (meaning easy cleanup) and partly because it is in the little plastic containers and thus has not dried up. A bottom of a water bottle holds a bit of water for me to dip my tools in, piece of tape to hold figures and bitz during transit, and we are done.
Today I finished these three Steel Legionaries, two of whom have been converted to carry flamers, and one who has a single shot anti tank missile strapped to his back (for use in SGII battles).
The reason I have been converting these fine fellows? The family is out of town, and like last year, I plan to get some serious army painting in...
Monday, November 3, 2014
Plastic Landsknechts - IndieGoGo
Pro Gloria's Indiegogo campaign
€24 gets you a box of figures, including 20 regular pikemen on two sprues, and four command figures on two command sprues. Enough arms to equip with halberds, spears, or pikes, and more than two heads per figure so you can have plenty of variety. Shipped worldwide, some time in mid 2015, although it may be longer...
Higher level rewards and add-ons are of course available. As of this writing the campaign is at ~15% of its goal, but I think it will make it, if not here, than later, since the figures are already sculpted.
I do not think I am going to be taking part in this, since I have plenty of pikemen currently, but I hope that this comes to fruition sooner or later... because I will eventually need more, and they look great.
Friday, October 31, 2014
Reaper Halloween
Vinyl appears to be in my future |
When they were first announced, I sent the picture of the Boneslyvanians to my wife, and she mentioned that they were "cute", particularly "Gil" the little guy reminiscent of the creature from the Black Lagoon.
And so an order was put together... the hard part was keeping the costs contained, since my rough list of things I liked and might want to get was well over $100 (and with the bones figures running ~$2.50, you can imagine how large the list was!). In the end, I got a few figures for INQ28, a few D&D figures, a few Halloween related figures, and some bits. In my Ghoulie bag, I got a few pieces of candy, some paint, and Elise the Witch... not the most kid friendly model.
I had hoped to get the order before Halloween to get some painting done, but it did not work out, so maybe I will be painting late tonight.
Friday, October 24, 2014
Warmonger Miniatures - 10mm
You may recall my previous post about the Warmaster Army selector, writen by Dave Susco.
Well, today I discovered that he has a company called Warmonger Miniatures which sells 10mm figures designed for, wait for it, Warmaster.
Specifically he has Landsknechte Pikemen and Great swordmen, which of course would be very useful as either Dogs of War, or Empire troops in a Warmaster army (and of course as Landsknechte in a historical army)
These figures were created as part of a kickstarter campaign, which I honestly never even heard of. In any case, the campaign was partly successful, and now these two units are available from Warmonger Miniatures at the nice cost of $10 a unit. Once I finish off my warmaster army [so, 2020?] then I will be interested in adding more units, and these fit the bill nicely.
Well, today I discovered that he has a company called Warmonger Miniatures which sells 10mm figures designed for, wait for it, Warmaster.
Specifically he has Landsknechte Pikemen and Great swordmen, which of course would be very useful as either Dogs of War, or Empire troops in a Warmaster army (and of course as Landsknechte in a historical army)
Sculpted by Bob Naismith |
Friday, September 19, 2014
Photography Background
As my "construction" phase of Inq28 figures draws to a close (at least for these first miniatures), and I get closer to painting the blighters, I started to think about how to best present them. In this I do not mean "in a case" or textually, but how to make them appear to be the most suited for their environment through photography.
Presentation is something that first entered my head first I think from JRN, talking about placing a miniature in its environment through building a bit of terrain for photography. Migsula, and duo of the spiky rat pack similarly have used terrain pieces to "place" a figure in the world, and let you get a better sense and feel for the figure, rather than just using a blue backdrop.
So, with the above filling my head, I have been thinking about making a "stage" or "set" to act as a photography background for the figures as they are completed. I have been thinking about the specific elements for a few years, but have never gotten much beyond that. It is also the intent of the project to act as a testbed for various terrain techniques, both to see if I like the results, and as a way to practice what I have been reading about online for the last 18 years, but do not currently have the space to bring to full fruition.
Anyway, enough waffle, here is a picture of my initial sketch in cardboard:
There are three buildings shown, plus some extra small items to tie them together. Measurements are fairly close to my original plan, within the limitations of using scissors on cardboard! In this plan, I would end up with brick textures, three types of concrete, asphalt, wood, and a few types of metal.
My wife had some excellent input about this setting and suggested that I make it taller, increase the width of the whole setup, add a wooden texture, and consider a backdrop between the two buildings. She also thought it would be interesting to make it more modular, but after playing around with some sketches, I discarded the idea as being too complicated for this purpose.
Anyway, there it stands. Might remain cardboard for a while, or I may have a flurry of productivity, and it will suddenly lurch into completion. Any thoughts?
Presentation is something that first entered my head first I think from JRN, talking about placing a miniature in its environment through building a bit of terrain for photography. Migsula, and duo of the spiky rat pack similarly have used terrain pieces to "place" a figure in the world, and let you get a better sense and feel for the figure, rather than just using a blue backdrop.
So, with the above filling my head, I have been thinking about making a "stage" or "set" to act as a photography background for the figures as they are completed. I have been thinking about the specific elements for a few years, but have never gotten much beyond that. It is also the intent of the project to act as a testbed for various terrain techniques, both to see if I like the results, and as a way to practice what I have been reading about online for the last 18 years, but do not currently have the space to bring to full fruition.
Anyway, enough waffle, here is a picture of my initial sketch in cardboard:
The builders of Fasho IX were somewhat limited in their materials... |
My wife had some excellent input about this setting and suggested that I make it taller, increase the width of the whole setup, add a wooden texture, and consider a backdrop between the two buildings. She also thought it would be interesting to make it more modular, but after playing around with some sketches, I discarded the idea as being too complicated for this purpose.
Anyway, there it stands. Might remain cardboard for a while, or I may have a flurry of productivity, and it will suddenly lurch into completion. Any thoughts?
Thursday, September 11, 2014
Gaunt and Bone
Recently I have finished the first two novels of the Gaunt and Bone Series, by Chris Willrich. In these novels, a thief couple of Imagio Bone and Persimon Gaunt, travel to the far east of their slightly like the Earth to their not-China. In the first book, the Scroll of Years, they travel to Qiangguo, meet various people there and end up embroiled in both local politics and the affairs of dragons. In the second book, they travel west on a quest to find the Ironsilk Moths, which has been demanded as a price to get an item they most desire.
The books are pretty good, although a bit rushed as they are harried about the country/world. Bone is a 99 year old master thief, although often out of his element in combat or against wizards. Gaunt is a poet/bard/thief, and often ends up being the hero, since she is a bit more combat worthy. Both books are set in the East, and have a heavy "fantasy Asian" theme, which is alternately refreshing and bafflingly new. Reading the second book, I would have benefited more from a more detailed review of the map, since I apparently got the fantasy world mixed up with the real one, and had a different mental picture of where they were traveling.
I also liked how there were various fantasy ideas which seem ripe for theft and incorporation into your D&D game.
Examples:
Ur-Glue - magical ultimate glue that can not be undone, which is used in some pretty amusing ways.
Iron Silk Rope - rope made from silk as strong as iron, and can bear nearly any weight
Flickering Fire-gems - alchemical gems which contain candle fire
Living Calligraphy - calligraphy as spell scrolls, where a traditional saying acts itself out in some way.
Mummified Kraken - an ultimate undead monster.
Kleptomancer - creates nothing new, but steals knowledge from others using magic.
Magically cutting off an ear to be left in another location as a spy or communications method
There are also a couple of great magical libraries and plenty of weird magical creatures.
The books are pretty good, although a bit rushed as they are harried about the country/world. Bone is a 99 year old master thief, although often out of his element in combat or against wizards. Gaunt is a poet/bard/thief, and often ends up being the hero, since she is a bit more combat worthy. Both books are set in the East, and have a heavy "fantasy Asian" theme, which is alternately refreshing and bafflingly new. Reading the second book, I would have benefited more from a more detailed review of the map, since I apparently got the fantasy world mixed up with the real one, and had a different mental picture of where they were traveling.
The World of Bone and Gaunt |
Examples:
Ur-Glue - magical ultimate glue that can not be undone, which is used in some pretty amusing ways.
Iron Silk Rope - rope made from silk as strong as iron, and can bear nearly any weight
Flickering Fire-gems - alchemical gems which contain candle fire
Living Calligraphy - calligraphy as spell scrolls, where a traditional saying acts itself out in some way.
Mummified Kraken - an ultimate undead monster.
Kleptomancer - creates nothing new, but steals knowledge from others using magic.
Magically cutting off an ear to be left in another location as a spy or communications method
There are also a couple of great magical libraries and plenty of weird magical creatures.
Wednesday, September 10, 2014
Workbench Early September
I have had a bit of time to take stock of my Inquisitorial workbench recently, and I have about 18 figures "finished" to the point where they can be primed and painting can start. Another 10 or so are mostly built, in the sense that they can stand on their own base, and if they do not have all their limbs attached, there is a planned set of limbs set aside for them.
If this sounds like a large number of figures for what is nominally a warband skirmish game... well yes it is, but that is what happens when you build six Inquisitorial warbands at once, as well as various NPC and bad guy types. I fully expect to reach around 50 models just with the stuff I have currently on hand and planned.
This first picture is of a mercenary sort that I built based on the leftover chest bit from a ... that one piece sort of inspired the whole figure, and from there it was just sorting through bits to see what worked. Since I took this picture I have added a dangling skull on his lower armored plate, and a bit of wiring to his neck, but he is otherwise complete as shown.
The second picture is of a battle priest with a shotgun.
The final picture is surprisingly small given that it used the same camera as the other two... anyway, it shows the state of the workbench, including the baneblade of shame in the back, the various nearly finished Inquisitor figures, a pile of bits, and various other projects in progress, including a Necromunda gang that has been in a partly completed state since 2010...
Tuesday, September 9, 2014
Space Hulk 2014 Rerelease
So it seems that Games Workshop is rereleasing Space Hulk this weekend. This is the 25th anniversary year, so it sort of makes sense, but it feels like we just did this... oh wait, that was five years ago.
Rumor has it that it is the same as the lauded 2009 edition, with a few additional tiles to represent the boarding torpedos and a few new missions. Critically, the miniatures are the same.
I would love a copy, but I have plenty of other things to paint, a box of Dreadfleet to get to (and the Battle of Five Armies too), and so this is not going to work for me. As I said last time... maybe for the 30th edition.
$125 USD this time |
I would love a copy, but I have plenty of other things to paint, a box of Dreadfleet to get to (and the Battle of Five Armies too), and so this is not going to work for me. As I said last time... maybe for the 30th edition.
Monday, September 8, 2014
40k Warband Blogs
The more astute among you may have noticed that I added a new page to the blog entitled 40k Warband Blogs. Like it says on the tin, this is a listing of blogs I have come across that have some or all of their content devoted to 40k Warbands, which is to say Inq28, InquisiMunda, Confrontation, Necromunda, and Rogue
Trader, where the player controls 1-20 figures with more detail than in a standard game of 40k.
The blogs I have found run the gamut from people concentrating on "old school" lead figures and very early rules, to people using the most modern Citadel plastic figures in new and unusual ways to create their vision of a grim dark future.
I am certain to have missed some blogs that should be collected, so if you notice any missing (possibly even your blog), please let me know here, and I can get them added some time soon.
The blogs I have found run the gamut from people concentrating on "old school" lead figures and very early rules, to people using the most modern Citadel plastic figures in new and unusual ways to create their vision of a grim dark future.
I am certain to have missed some blogs that should be collected, so if you notice any missing (possibly even your blog), please let me know here, and I can get them added some time soon.
Wednesday, September 3, 2014
Captain Richard "Dick" Winters
My brother-in-law is a huge fan of the Band of Brothers. He has read the books, watched the show innumerable times, visited Normandy and Belgium a few times (although you might call it more of a pilgrimage)... he is a huge fan. I had been trying to think of a way to paint up something for him for a while. Something related to Easy Company, like a squad or something; but no ideas ever seemed quite right. So when I saw that the Historicon miniature was going to be a Richard "Dick" Winters figure, and further that you could buy it from Warlords without going to the Con... well, I had to act.
$20 later the figure was on its way to me, and I had to figure out what to do to get it painted before my Brother-in-law's birthday. I had thought that it might be nice to have a larger base surrounding the figure base, and dispatched my wife to look for some sort of display box at a craft store. She came up trumps with an over sized mirrored baseball display box which was approximately a four inch cube (do cricket balls get collected in the same manner as baseballs?).
I painted the figure and the display over a week, spending around eight hours altogether, which was slightly rushed. Concurrently I was also reading the book (very good!) and reading about Airborne uniforms for painting purposes.
Here then is the result, shot outside on an unusually cloudy summer day, just before being packed up for gifting.
$20 later the figure was on its way to me, and I had to figure out what to do to get it painted before my Brother-in-law's birthday. I had thought that it might be nice to have a larger base surrounding the figure base, and dispatched my wife to look for some sort of display box at a craft store. She came up trumps with an over sized mirrored baseball display box which was approximately a four inch cube (do cricket balls get collected in the same manner as baseballs?).
I painted the figure and the display over a week, spending around eight hours altogether, which was slightly rushed. Concurrently I was also reading the book (very good!) and reading about Airborne uniforms for painting purposes.
Here then is the result, shot outside on an unusually cloudy summer day, just before being packed up for gifting.
Friday, August 8, 2014
Star Wars Armada
This being Gencon time, game companies need to have new games, and Fantasy Flight Games (FFG) is no exception to this rule:
And they seem to have a humdinger here with Star Wars Armada, a new fleet level Star Wars game. Expected to ring in at $100 MSRP, this will have prepainted ships (Victory class, a Nebulon B, and a Corvette) with a wealth of accessories, chits, and cards.
So... tentatively excited about this, since big ship battles are even more interesting to me than fighter skirmishes, and it seems to have some interesting mechanics to make the ships seem slow and lumbering (stacked orders, slow movements with the ruler). The components should be high quality, and may help with the "paperwork" of fleet battles with all the integrated little dials and stats.
However, the cost, and obvious scale issues are things to keep aware of, so let us wait and see what happens and what is released.
And they seem to have a humdinger here with Star Wars Armada, a new fleet level Star Wars game. Expected to ring in at $100 MSRP, this will have prepainted ships (Victory class, a Nebulon B, and a Corvette) with a wealth of accessories, chits, and cards.
So... tentatively excited about this, since big ship battles are even more interesting to me than fighter skirmishes, and it seems to have some interesting mechanics to make the ships seem slow and lumbering (stacked orders, slow movements with the ruler). The components should be high quality, and may help with the "paperwork" of fleet battles with all the integrated little dials and stats.
However, the cost, and obvious scale issues are things to keep aware of, so let us wait and see what happens and what is released.
Very compelling indeed... |
Thursday, August 7, 2014
Warmaster Army Selector
Whilst browsing the Rick's Warmaster site today, I saw in the "what is new" section, that there was a link to a handy automatic army selector for Warmaster.
Created by Dave Susco, the army selector actually helps to build armies for Warmaster, Warmaster Trial Armies, Warmaster Ancients, and a few of the Warmaster Ancients Army book armies.
Not only does it have the rules for army building, and the upgrades, and various alerts about having 1 of x per 1000 points, it also has the ability to save and print lists, and when you print out a list, it has options to include all the stats, special rules or just the ones used, rules for magic items used, and spells (provided you are playing Warmaster Fantasy!).
It does not appear to have the additional special units added to Warmaster Fantasty, such as elite handgunners, or the Swordmasters of Hoeth, but considering those are both rare and OOP, it is to be understood.
Anyway, this Warmaster Army Selector is pretty handy if you are into any of the official Warmaster variants, or just like to play around with list making.
Created by Dave Susco, the army selector actually helps to build armies for Warmaster, Warmaster Trial Armies, Warmaster Ancients, and a few of the Warmaster Ancients Army book armies.
Not only does it have the rules for army building, and the upgrades, and various alerts about having 1 of x per 1000 points, it also has the ability to save and print lists, and when you print out a list, it has options to include all the stats, special rules or just the ones used, rules for magic items used, and spells (provided you are playing Warmaster Fantasy!).
It does not appear to have the additional special units added to Warmaster Fantasty, such as elite handgunners, or the Swordmasters of Hoeth, but considering those are both rare and OOP, it is to be understood.
Anyway, this Warmaster Army Selector is pretty handy if you are into any of the official Warmaster variants, or just like to play around with list making.
Friday, August 1, 2014
10mm Pendraken Great War
As it seems to be the season for it, I have been interested in putting together a small Great War collection of 10mm figures, aiming at a company for each of the major combatants in the West, some regimental or divisional support weapons, and a few "fun" bits like tanks and trucks and what not that give a good period flavor.
I have had a surprising amount of trouble finding online breakdowns of the composition of battalions during this period, with most of it being for 1914, and therefore not accounting for all the technological and structural developments that occurred as the war went on. When I was doing similar research for WWII I found tons of information. I guess since most of the battles were such large scale, that people must be ignoring the company/platoon level combat? To me anyway, the tactical aspects of running a company or battalion seems far more interesting than the more meat grinder aspects of clashing divisions together.
I priced out a couple of companies (at roughly 1:1) from Pendraken directly, and the Warstore as an importer. Interestingly, the Warstore comes out significantly cheaper, partly due to shipping (£19 from the UK, or $7 from NY), but each pack is cheaper as well.
The general idea is to "upsize" skirmish rules and have a 28mm figure replaced by a half squad/section base of 10mm figures. Obviously this will need some modifications, particularly with regard to "wounds" or movement ranges, but I think it will generally work well, and with some trench terrain, will look quite nice as well.
Over on TMP I saw a thread about WWI using Rapid Fire, and found this interesting basing system, where infantry figures are mounted in strips 15mm deep, and special weapons are mounted on 25mm rounds, which seems like it would work out pretty nicely.
I have had a surprising amount of trouble finding online breakdowns of the composition of battalions during this period, with most of it being for 1914, and therefore not accounting for all the technological and structural developments that occurred as the war went on. When I was doing similar research for WWII I found tons of information. I guess since most of the battles were such large scale, that people must be ignoring the company/platoon level combat? To me anyway, the tactical aspects of running a company or battalion seems far more interesting than the more meat grinder aspects of clashing divisions together.
I priced out a couple of companies (at roughly 1:1) from Pendraken directly, and the Warstore as an importer. Interestingly, the Warstore comes out significantly cheaper, partly due to shipping (£19 from the UK, or $7 from NY), but each pack is cheaper as well.
The general idea is to "upsize" skirmish rules and have a 28mm figure replaced by a half squad/section base of 10mm figures. Obviously this will need some modifications, particularly with regard to "wounds" or movement ranges, but I think it will generally work well, and with some trench terrain, will look quite nice as well.
Over on TMP I saw a thread about WWI using Rapid Fire, and found this interesting basing system, where infantry figures are mounted in strips 15mm deep, and special weapons are mounted on 25mm rounds, which seems like it would work out pretty nicely.
Wednesday, July 30, 2014
Copplestone 10mm Dwarfs
Copplestone has some new 10mm Fantasy, which is certainly surprising, as there have not been any releases for 10mm for some time. Three new packs at £5.75 a pack, which works out to about $9.70 with today's exchange rate.
The information for these figures says they are 9mm, which looking at comparison pictures of the Copplestone 11mm humans probably means to the eyes. At that size they are going to be larger than the plastic Bo5A figures (~7.5mm to the eyes), but in line with the sizes of Eureka 10mm dwarfs, and the metal dwarf archers from the very short lived Bo5A blister line. (Occasionally on ebay for ~$30 a blister)
Regardless of their size, they are lovely, I think I will have to get some. Pity there are no archers though...
Two handed axes |
Spears are pretty unique |
I like that some swords are mixed in |
Regardless of their size, they are lovely, I think I will have to get some. Pity there are no archers though...
Wednesday, July 23, 2014
Birthday 2014
This weekend we celebrated my birthday, and I got some loot that you may find interesting.
First is the TIE Defender for the X-wing Miniatures game. The Defender was always my favorite in the old TIE fighter computer game, and it should be pretty powerful in the table top game too.
Second is Justice League: Axis of Villains, which is a strategy game about defending the Justice League tower from an onslaught of villains.
Third is the King's Quest collection, which collects together the King's Quest games 1-7. I have heard that there are some problems with playing these games on newer computers, but I loved them as a kid, so I will jump through some hoops in order to play them.
Finally, we have The Landmark edition of the Campaigns of Alexander by Arrian, which I am very excited to read... sometime. However, there should be plenty of gaming ideas in that book, which I look forward to.
Tuesday, July 15, 2014
Scratch Built Dropship
Sadly, not mine, but one I saw on Iron Mitten.
I really love the idea of taking "junk" and making something practical out of it, and since I have one of these same bottles at home, I was staring at it for a while in the shower this morning, thinking about how to make it into something useful for Inq28 or other WH40k/Generic Scifi sort of games.
Unfortunately I always start to get carried away, and I was thinking about blue foam shapes for the nose and tail, a chimera turret, vector engines, windows using disposable contact packets, and adding a layered styrene skin to have panels and exposed wiring... at a certain point I need to stop thinking and just make something.
(also see this post from the Marienburg Gazette)
I really love the idea of taking "junk" and making something practical out of it, and since I have one of these same bottles at home, I was staring at it for a while in the shower this morning, thinking about how to make it into something useful for Inq28 or other WH40k/Generic Scifi sort of games.
Unfortunately I always start to get carried away, and I was thinking about blue foam shapes for the nose and tail, a chimera turret, vector engines, windows using disposable contact packets, and adding a layered styrene skin to have panels and exposed wiring... at a certain point I need to stop thinking and just make something.
(also see this post from the Marienburg Gazette)
Tuesday, July 1, 2014
6/28/14
A few days late for this, but 100 years ago Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife were shot to death in Sarajevo by Princip, a member of the Black Hand. This was of course the immediate cause of the Great War, which started a month later on 7/28/1914. While that war may seem remote to some, it is obviously hugely important to making the contemporary world, with global effects rippling out from a few pistol shots in a far away city.
As it happened I visited the Heeresgeschichtliches Museum in Vienna a couple of years ago, where they have a whole room full of artifacts from the shooting, including the car, Archduke Franz's coat, and the pistols of the Black Hand agents captured following the attack.
As it happened I visited the Heeresgeschichtliches Museum in Vienna a couple of years ago, where they have a whole room full of artifacts from the shooting, including the car, Archduke Franz's coat, and the pistols of the Black Hand agents captured following the attack.
Monday, June 30, 2014
Perry Brothers Liberated
We are aware that there are rumours flying around that we have left Games Workshop! Thought we should set the record straight and let you all know that…we have! After 36 years, man and boy, working on Warhammer, 40K and of course, for the l...ast 15 years LotR and the Hobbit we are now able to focus our energy on our historical ranges.This means more time to dedicate to Perry Miniatures, and of course Mr Jackson who we continue to make 54mm WW1 figures for. We had an excellent evening on Friday at The Trip to Jerusalem with GW, and ex-GW, colleagues and friends who got us very, very drunk - cheers!
Above taken from the Perry Miniatures Facebook page.
With the move away from metal and now from individual figures, as well as the end of the LotR/Hobbit run... it only makes sense I suppose. 36 years at GW is more than enough for anyone, although with this departure, it means that there are even fewer "names" left at GW, as they leave for greener pastures.
Celebrate by hurrying to the Perry Miniatures website and buying some figures!
Tuesday, May 6, 2014
023 Sells Army
ZeroTwentyThree is selling his WHFB Marienburg (Empire) army. While this is undoubtedly a great tragedy for him, it should be a great opportunity for someone else [or rather two chances, since he is selling humans in one lot, and weirdos in another].
Friday, May 2, 2014
Inquisitor d1000 Part 9 - Demeanor
Here is a d100 table of Demeanor as part of the d1000 inquisitor attributes project. Go back and read that post if you want to know what this is about.
Just Psyker and Stats left to go for this project, and then I will have the grand summation post, and create a page to help people find all of this "content".
As always, please let me know what you think.
Just Psyker and Stats left to go for this project, and then I will have the grand summation post, and create a page to help people find all of this "content".
Roll | Demeanor |
1 | Absent Minded |
2 | Amoral |
3 | Arch |
4 | Assertive |
5 | Bad Tempered |
6 | Barbarous |
7 | Brusque |
8 | Calm |
9 | Careless |
10 | Catty |
11 | Cautious |
12 | Charming |
13 | Cheeky |
14 | Cold |
15 | Composed |
16 | Conceited |
17 | Conscientious |
18 | Contemptuous |
19 | Coquettish |
20 | Courtly |
21 | Coy |
22 | Crotchety |
23 | Curious |
24 | Debonair |
25 | Deceitful |
26 | Depraved |
27 | Docile |
28 | Dogmatic |
29 | Domineering |
30 | Enthusiastic |
31 | Excitable |
32 | Extroverted |
33 | Faithful |
34 | Fawning |
35 | Ferocious |
36 | Fickle |
37 | Flaky |
38 | Full Of Him/Herself |
39 | Fussy |
40 | Good Natured |
41 | Haughty |
42 | Hedonistic |
43 | Heroic |
44 | Immoral |
45 | Imperturbable |
46 | Impulsive |
47 | Inconsiderate |
48 | Introverted |
49 | Inventive |
50 | Irritating |
51 | Jolly |
52 | Jovial |
53 | Languid |
54 | Lordly |
55 | Lout |
56 | Loyal |
57 | Majestic |
58 | Manic |
59 | Manipulative |
60 | Moody |
61 | Nervous |
62 | Noble |
63 | Old Fashioned |
64 | Opinionated |
65 | Passive |
66 | Patronizing |
67 | Perfectionist |
68 | Persuasive |
69 | Picky |
70 | Playful |
71 | Pleasant |
72 | Polite |
73 | Pompous |
74 | Pragmatic |
75 | Punctilious |
76 | Puritanical |
77 | Quick Tempered |
78 | Reserved |
79 | Rude |
80 | Sage |
81 | Sanctified |
82 | Savage |
83 | Serious |
84 | Slimy |
85 | Slovenly |
86 | Sly |
87 | Somber |
88 | Spiteful |
89 | Staid |
90 | Stately |
91 | Surly |
92 | Taciturn |
93 | Thoughtful |
94 | Torpid |
95 | Trustworthy |
96 | Undiscriminating |
97 | Unswerving |
98 | Urbane |
99 | Volatile |
100 | Witty |
As always, please let me know what you think.
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