Otherworld Adventurers

For those of you who are not burnt out on crowd funding following the very successful Reaper Bones kickstarter, old school miniatures favorite Otherworld has entered the arena with an appeal for funds to launch a new line.

First figures are already sculpted

Instead of more monsters to fill out their excellent range inspired by the Monster Manual, they are now turning to adventurers, and rather than dribble them out over years, they want to launch a complete range all at once.  Which is where the crowd funding bit comes in. Using Indiegogo, they want to raise a paltry $5,000 to hasten the release of the various boxed sets they have planned. 

I personally like the look of some of these, and am eager for their success.

d100 Supplies

Sometimes you and your fellow redshirts are on an extended away mission, and you need a teleported case of supplies.  In exchange for one cubic meter of local valuables collected by the long range teleporter system, the ship then sends you one cubic meter of supplies.

Typically this will be just what you need for the current adventure, such as glow sticks, synthetic fur clothing, laser pistol recharges, dried rations, trade goods, the lovely new ensign from  the medbay etc, but sometimes the teleporter computer gets a bit.. confused.  It is after all a 3000 year old relic that was drifting alone in space for the majority of that time, and it apparently wrote over its request parser about 2999 years ago, after it ran out of blog posting space.  Now when it hears "20L water", only the dice know what it hears and returns...

Random Things

Here are some random things I came across online today, because I have still been too busy to generate my own content, although I did add some Tiger style vision slit covers to my Baneblade the other day; because, hey, anything that helps me keep it in the "modeling" phase and away from the "painting" phase is a good thing right?

Post-Harry-Potter-World for a D&D game.  Hogwarts as a mega-dungeon.  Setting everyone knows something about.  Ridiculous pseudo-Latin spell names. Harry as a more explicit messiah figure. Go!

Converting a Deimos Pattern Predator.  Ping pong ball, Predator kit, and some plastic card mix together to make a retro style tank.  Clearly the next predator I build must be retro. (not sure about having a Flamestorm cannon or the long barrel auto cannon... solved by magnets?)

Original:

From Stuff of Legends

Reproduction:

More closely matches the newer Forge World version

An Introduction to a GM Book.

White Dwarf Relaunch

Apologies for the gap in posts, but I have been particularly busy with work and planning a family vacation.

One news item that I could not resist posting on regards the Games Workshop house magazine White Dwarf.

I have had a long relationship with White Dwarf, stretching back almost 16 years, and I have about 15 years worth of issues in various boxes around my house.  I loved the magazine in the late 90's and early 00's in particular, when 40k 3rd edition was king, and the new Specialist games were coming out every year or so.  In my opinion the Dwarf declined after the introduction of the Lord of the Rings content, and the decline of both Chapter Approved and Specialist games.

At the end of 2011 I let my subscription lapse, and while I am "supposed" to be renewing it, that has not happened.  At its current price and content, it has seemed like a lower priority, although I do miss reading through it with my wife, the pictures of new models, and the occasional article of interest.

The news on White Dwarf is that there will be a relaunch, replete with new staff, pictured below, a change in the branding, and better paper.  The changes will take place in the next issue, published in time for the UK Games Day on 9/23/2012.

Here is the motley crew

There are also rumors of a £1.00 price increase (to £5.5) and a page increase. The price increase will bring it in line with the $9 US price, where as the page increase is very interesting indeed.

So I am cautiously optimistic about this, and will try to grab up a copy when it comes out at the end of the month.  Who knows, maybe the Dwarf of yore will be back, and I will plunk down my cash for a subscription.  Worth a look to see.

Open Fire!

Like many gamers, I have an interest in WWII.  Something about titanic tank battles and the industrial capacity of the whole world turning to wartime production is captivating.

The primary game that I have played for WWII (if you do not count the innumerable battles with soft plastic army men I staged as a child), is Axis and Allies, which is an abstracted high level game covering the entire conflict post Pearl Harbor. As I mentioned yesterday I just got Duel in the Dark, which is a abstracted game about British bomber fleet raids.

Another game that I have always been interested in, is Flames of War (FoW).  FoWis the simplified company plus level game produced by Battlefront, with glossy rules and supplements, and boxes and blisters packed to build units in the game.  It uses 15mm miniatures, and has rules that many have compared to Warhammer 40k (often derisively).  I bought some figures and tanks five or so years ago to get into it, and subsequently they have languished in boxes. (like a good number of my projects, although I did build up a Panzer IV)

Battlefront has recent released the third edition of Flames of War, and as a follow on has now revealed their starter boxed set (does this model sound familiar to anyone?).

(Pictures cribbed from Battlefront)

The game will come with two platoons of Sherman Vs, two Sherman Fireflies, a STUG platoon, a company of German Grenadiers, and a platoon American paratroopers.  Plus a V1 terrain feature.  (Must be for Market Garden?)  The Germans look pretty good from the preview pictures, but the Americans do not look quite as good.  And the Shermans seem a bit... squashed.  In any case, I am cautiously excited about this boxed set, and hope that it builds local interest in FoW again.  I am also hopefully that ebay sellers will follow the GW game starter model, and break up the components of this game for sale individually. I could certainly see getting that German company, or the American paratroopers if the price is right.

August Update

Apologies for the long gap between posts. (nearly a month?!)  A number of things have combined to reduce my time and energy for posting, including being busy at work and planning an overseas trip.

I had a birthday recently, and got a number of lovely presents that I will be talking about at some point in the future.  Including: a GW Ent kit (which is intended to serve as a DnD and LotR figure), a new roll top desk to house my modeling tools and projects, decoration for the hobby room, and the board game Duel in the Dark, which I am very excited about.

I have already played a solo game of Duel in the Dark, a feature that will ensure I am able to get a game in from time to time.  (and I won too, defeating the British for that night)  The components are fantastic, and it was only $15 on Amazon, so you really ought to check it out.  I will try and post a more through review once I have played a few more games... and have some more time.

Neo-Soviet Power Armor

The wife and child were out of town a few weekends ago, and I had a bit of time to myself.  It used to be that such time was converted into 99% hobby time, but alas and alack, I spent most of the time doing various chores that had accumulated.  I did have some time to try out a figure conversion that I first dreamed up a while back.

I had been looking around for power armor to accompany the lovely Copplestone Neo-Soviets (comparison picture here).  They are largish 28mm figures, and I wanted something that looked a bit like the MAK designs.

I somehow hit on the idea of kit bashing Space Marine legs and a Tau Stealth Suit torso, and over the next few months, collected the various bitz I needed. Then they sat in a box for a few years like most projects of mine.

Here is the result of a few hours of cut and paste and some Aves:

Parts from seven different GW kits.

Now I just need to crank out another four of these, and get them painted.  A 40mm base seems more suited to the size as well.  Then maybe even paint the Neo-Soviet section I started painting four or more years ago...

What do you think?  Does it work?

Red Box Games Kickstarter

Red Box Games, Tré Manor's line of miniatures, is having a kickstarter to transition the HelsVakt Gynnade Krigare figures from metal to Trollforged plastic-resin. Backing at $25 (Plus shipping?) means that you get five figures, when normally they go for $40 in metal.  So a good deal if you are looking for properly scaled chaos warrior types.

Tré is a great sculptor, and used to (still does?) produced the odd figure for Reaper as well. His figures have a great musculature, and always seem to be loaded down with gear the way real people would be in battle, or better, when exploring a dungeon.

The current Red Box line has some great figures, so I am watching this one eagerly, and hope that it allows Tré to re-release a number of his lines into cheaper plastic-resin.  So please give eagerly!

Rolang's Creeping Faith

Rolang, of Rolang's Creeping Doom, has been posting some great stuff lately in regards to Clerics.  One of the most interesting is a form to help you figure out, or record, the details of a particular faith in your setting.  If you are building a more structured, or at least non-gonzo world, inevitably you are likely to have a major religion, which has a structure, dictates, temporal power, and clergy (which may be where the clerics of your world come into the picture).

While many probably just run with a fantasy version of the Roman Catholic church circa 1200 with minor gods subbing in for saints, or possibly a Greco-Roman style pantheon, occasionally you want something more complicated, either for the RP purposes presented, or because it fits your setting better.

Enter this form, which helps you to work through the details of said religion, creating in effect a "character sheet" for it.  Here is one for the Orthodox Shepardic religion in my Deepest Sea setting:

Deity Name: The Shepard	Pantheon:None
Titles, Aliases:	Image or Symbol: Crozier
Church Name: Orthodox Shepardic Church
Domains (Purviews): Creation
Alignment: Lawful Good
Color: White
Special Spells: Remove fear [plus 1 turn per level]
Forbidden Spells: Cause wounds, other reversed spells
Rituals: Mass, wind baptism, burial
Offerings: Burnt livestock portions, money.
Special Clerical Requirements: Use of blunt weapons, celibacy Specific orders may require poverty or other restrictions	Physical Description: The Shepard is not depicted in person, but sometimes is seen as a cloud, or as a man seen from behind with a flock.
Taboos: Dead animals, blood	Notes: Orthodox oath: I will to my Lord and Master the Shepard, be faithful in all things, love all which he loves and shun all which he shuns, according to His laws and the order of the world. Nor will I ever with will or action, through word or deed, do anything which is unpleasing to him, as He will hold to me as I shall deserve it.
Enemies: Sufic Shepardic tradition, other monotheistic religions
Attributes on scale of 1-20
Strictness : 15
Jealousy : 16
Revelations : 15
Organization : 19
Wealth: Astounding at all levels, but diffusely spread amongst the various dioceses.  Tithing is a set 10% of income.
Popularity: Popular where ever humanity is found.  Particularly strong in Brémdy and Chénez (19), and large basilicas are found there. Less popular in Turq lands (5).
Holy city and places: Empty pastures, and churches, various sites related to saints.
Potential Afterlife(s): The endless field, where humanity flocks together under his guidance.

This looks like it could be useful, however, I wonder if it would make sense to use some of the ideas from Stars Without Number factions for the organization of the church itself, i.e. Hit Points, Force Rating, Cunning Rating, Wealth Rating,  and FactionCreds, as well as Assets (armies, agents, and influence), and Tags (Machiavellian, secretive, plutocratic etc.) .  Working with the SWN system in a fantasy setting should help to figure out how the organization interacts with other political players, and for a major world spanning faith, could be set up for functional sub-divisions, such as the church in a certain country, or a synod.

Anyway, food for thought, and certainly a useful tool.

Dungeon Room Key Layout II

In response to my previous post about Dungeon Keys, FrDave asks: What would this look like with a monster out in the open and what would it look like if those monsters were hidden (in an ambush, for example?)

Basically, monsters or hazards out in the open are listed in the obvious category, and those which are hidden are either in the detail or DM section depending on how easily they could be found.

Here is an example with some goblins and a troll:

The goblins are obvious to a party opening the door to the chapel, where as the obvious detail of the bone covered alter obscures the sleeping troll until it is either looked at in more detail, or the troll wakes up following a battle or other loud noise.

Thoughts? Comments? Refinements?