Ghosts!

Or maybe some water elements? Hard to say. Chen very kindly swapped me some 28mm minis and the first ones I painted up were these folks. 

These were cast in a medium blue, translucent plastic, which gave a cool see-through effect but made it hard to see the details. I did a light set of dry brushes and then a wash.

Up next: More crypt-dwellers plus some crypt terrain!

One-off building

I spent much of early November renovating my gaming room so painting has been slow.

I did finish this single railway building. It has kind of haunted house or mad scientist vibe.

Up next: Not sure. Maybe some fantasy!

Some Gaming

I've been doing bit of afternoon gaming with Bruce lately.

We playtested a campaign mechanic for generating miniature battles for his 1920s gangsters. The mechanics entail tough decisions and should give players reasons to interact as well as fight.

We also play tested a grand strategy game called Swords Around the Throne. Basically point-to-point movement, 22 locations, card-driven, and super hard choices (made worse by only getting half of you card deck (at random) for the first half of each turn (a turn is a year and you have six actions per year). I would love to play this again now that I understand the rules!

25mm Star Wars Villain

Things are slow on the work bench right now. Awhile back, I had the idea to use up some old bits and extra WEG Star Wars figures by creating "hero" bases.

I grabbed an extra Boba Fett figure and some industrial debris. The lights seem to be washing out the washes I used to make the debris seem beat up and weathered. Bottom picture does a slightly better job at showing the open hatch.

Up next: Zero idea. Maybe some more HO-scale buildings. I'm rapidly reaching the bottom of the paint pile.

Pulp terrain

I finished another of the rehabbed HO-scale buildings I got at the spring model train swap meet. I missed this fall's swap meet but, honestly, do I need more buildings?

This model was really beaten up when I go it. It needs some decals to pop, probably signage in the windows. I don't have nay rub on decals left but maybe I could print out some reversed text (white on black) and glue it into the panes? Some posters hung on the walls might also help. That might be a winter project.

Up next: Maybe a Star Wars figure for Xenos Rampant?

15mm fantasy

I've been grinding out a few more 15mm fantasy figures for Dragon Rampant. Today, I have some plastic game tokens from LotR Risk. 

These are, I think supposed to be Moria goblins. I did 30 of them and I have another 30 based and primed for when I get desperate in the winter. I think the figures look okay. The sculpts are pretty 2-D but whatever--they cost pennies apiece on fleabay.

I also had a few extra riders from the Joan of Arc game that I finished up.

Up next: Some HO-scale terrain.

Fistful of Dice Endgame Mechanic

For the past couple of weeks, Bruce and I have been playing some Gangster scenarios using the Fist of Dice rules. The rules work very well for skirmish games and I played a short superhero campaign with them the spring.

One of the mechanics Bruce has been experiencing with is a turn limit one. Instead of a fixed turn limit or the game ending when an objective is achieved, he's been rolling 1d6 at the end of each turn and adding the following:

• +1 for gunfire having occurred in the game
• +1 for machine-gun fire having occurred in the game
• +1 for each figure KIA'd in the game

(Each modifier reflects how player behaviour increases the priority the police would give to responding to game events.) When the roll plus mods equals 12, we enter the end-game staged.

At this point, a random number of cops appears at a random board edge and play continues. At the end of each subsequent turn, the cops on the board take two moves towards (1) any visible figure or (2) towards the objective. If they make contact with a figure, then the figure is arrested and removed from play. A random number of new cops also arrives at another random board edge. Players can shoot the cops but the cop figures just recycle. 

The effect of this is pretty cool. The game plays on but there is much more pressure on the players to take action (i.e., chances) to win before the cops nab all of their figures. Basically, it feels like sudden death overtime. The random arrival also make its hard to plan and adds to the sense of pressure.

This mechanic could probably be used in almost anytime there is some kind of authority structure. For example, a shoot out in a space port could trigger the arrival of stormtroopers who detain everyone, including maybe any Imperials they run into (you never know who is secretly Rebel scum).

Overall, a pretty neat mechanic to change the tempo of the game at the end. It also encourages players to think about when they want to shoot and kill. In a hostage rescue, sooner may be better. In a search-and-rescue game, players (or some players) may want to avoid gunfire.

In a bloody game, the average point at which the end phase would be triggered is likely turn 6. But it could happen as early as turn 3 and as late as turn 9. You can, of course, fiddle the target number to shorten or extend play. Anyhow, a fun little add-on idea.

BSG Land Ram

A couple of years ago, I got an mdf kit with an order of figures. I promptly mislaid the kit, then rediscovered it, and finally built it.

This is my first mdf model and I had to learn a few things "(Gentle, Lenny. Gentle."). Overall, it went together pretty well, even without the instructions. I added a gun to the cupola from the bits box and also made a hatch cover.

There was a lot of laser-etched detail that I didn't want to ruin with heavy paint so I sprayed and drybrushed this and then used a wash. I think I should have done something to fill in the glass but I was too far into the build when I figured that out. Guess I could make and add some kind of blast shield? Meh?

No joy finding useful decals in my boxes so I handpainted these based on the movie. 

I also cut a plastic figure to make a removable commander to it in the hatch.

I also found a piece of plastic to drop in show the hatch as buttoned up.

Overall, kind of fun and it more or les looks like the movie version (just shorter).

15mm mounted

Today, I have a job lot of plastic 15mm mounted. These are from the Joan of Arc board game.

There were four of these Genghis Khan horse archers. I also ended up with five armoured knights.

I was really surprised how bad the sculpts were (especially the horses) until I primed and drybrushed them and realized that they are undead riding skeleton horses. Which explains the poorly define musculature on the horses!

Up next: Probably some HO scale buildings and some 15mm goblins.

28mm furnishings

I'm not sure where these bookcases, chairs, and sofa came from (they are a touch big for 28mm).

Whatever! They are close enough that they'll work and they add some much needed furnishings to my collection.

Up next: Some 15mm mounted.

HO-scale buildings

Today, I finished some of the beat-up HO-scale buildings I got at the model railway swap meet in April. 

These required some significant work to salvage and, I see now, that I should have taken them apart entirely to adjust the joins. Oh well. A box of buildings for $10 means you get what you get.

Up next: Some 28mm furnishings and 15mm mounted.

15mm Billmen

Welcome back! This week, I've got the last of the 15mm billmen from the Joan of Arc game. I did two groups of 10: one with red and yellow tunics and one with yellow and white.

I also had some dudes with horns and swords to finish. There are still a few mounted guys in the paint pile before I turn to some goblins.

Up next: Some more refurbished HO-scale buildings.

HO-scale pulp buildings

In the spring, I picked up a bunch of model buildings at the railway swap meet. One box was 10 or 12 badly beat up buildings for like $10. I fixed up four of them.

Three I painted using full strength colours over a black primer. The fourth (the orange one) I primed back, dry brushed white, and washed. They got similar detailing. Honestly, there isn't much to choose between approaches.

The buildings required a lot of rehab, including being disassembled entirely in two cases. They all needed roofs, and window glass. I also had to fabricate a front door (and then hide the fabrication with an awning). 

For like $5, this was a helluva a deal! I have no shortage off buildings but more is always better. They could use some decaling when I get a chance.

Up next: I'm going to take August off from posting to enjoy the summer. I'll be back in September with some more 15mm medievals and HO-scale buildings.

15mm knights, billmen, and arquebusiers

 This week, I finished another 30 of the 15mm medieval figures from the Joan of Arc game. First up are 10 knights, nine with axes and one with a warhammer.

These scale pretty well with the various Battlelore heavies that I have. They also match alright with the Splintered Light fellows, although the Splintered Light benefit from a bit of extra height on their base.

I also painted up a unit of 10 arquebusiers. These were fun enough to paint and had nice detail.

  

And finally, I knocked of another unit of 10 billmen in the same livery.

Up next: A bunch more 15mm medieval figures and some more buildings. 

Firehall

Back in April, I picked up this firehall at the model railway swap meet. I think I paid $10?

It needed a bit of TLC, so I touched up the paint, fixed some broken pieces, and gave it a wash and gravelled the roof (which was a wreck of broken off pieces). Then I pulled out some Pulp Figures monsters to do a double date and here we are.

I'm pretty happy with this. I might add some graffiti decals if I get ambitious (and run across the water slides).

Up next: Some 15mm medievals.

25mm Star Wars Smugglers

One of the challenges of collecting old figures is that you end up with a lot of duplicates. This is great news if the duplicates are stormtroopers. Less so if the extras are named characters. How many Han Solos do you need? My solution is to paint up a bunch as generic smugglers for Xenos rampant units (probably as some kind of skirmishing light infantry).

I thought about breaking out some sculpting material to add hoods and capes and other details to mix up the look some. Then I decided it was just better to get them painted. Lots of Hans and Lukes, plus a Lando and the pilot from Jedi.

Up next: A bunch of 15mm knights, billman, and muskets. 

15mm Elven archers

I painted up some more of the 15mm Joan of Arc figures I bought. I wasn't sure what these mounted archers were supposed to represent in medieval France (maybe Saracens for the crusades?). Anyhow, they looked more like elves to me, so that's how I treated them.

They are pretty decent figures for game pieces, with nice detail and no mould lines. The bases were tiny so I ended up putting them on washers.

They are notable bigger than the Risk pieces I used for light elven cavalry, although this is less obvious when you look down from above.

The Battlelore sculpts also have quite a lot of variation in size so whatever. 

Up next: Some 25mm Star Wars smugglers. Then more 15mm medievals.