Comment function update

Just a quick note. I fiddled the comment function because it has been giving folks problems. The new approach seems to be be working well enough; I hope you are finding it an improvement.

Comments on posts older than 14 days are moderated to prevent spammers from filling old posts with garbage. I can't imagine who would want to spam my blog, but whatever.

More gangsters

In between other projects, I have been grinding away at some Pulp Figures gangsters I bought back in September.

I finished five more figures this past week. I was happiest with the one below because he could work for a flamboyant 1930s gangster or a crime boss in the 1980s.

These crooks seemed fine enough. Simple paint jobs but timeless enough.

I was less happy with these guys. I was experimenting with some washes to get a better grey/black. Meh. Fine enough to go on the shelf.

Up next: Probably some toxic zombies.

More Lunar Wars

Bruce took us back to the moon with four game of Artifact this week using his Airfix figures. He was porting over some scenarios from Marine 2002 so we were doing some play balance testing.

First was a Soviet ground convoy being attacked by US moon skimmers. We played twice, once with four skimmers and once with three before deciding that two skimmers is likely the right number to give the Soviets some chance to getting off board.

We then played a game with some aliens (GW figures). The alien's powers include jumping, a radiation attack, and good melee capability.

The aliens got slaughtered, in part because they may have been over pointed slightly (so outmatched). But also because my dice sucked harder than the vacuum of space.

Finally, we ran a convoy breakout versus a ground force. Here the curvature of the moon (four hex LOS) came into play. Bruce just straight up out played me, catching me one turn behind in my decision making the whole game ("I should probably dismoun... BOOM! ...//sound of no one hearing me scream//."). Clear win for the commies.

Overall, a lot of fun and a very nice execution of miniaturizing a board game. Lots of difficult tactical decisions in a very balanced game system.

Up next: Some gangsters, maybe a game at the club and then a slew of gangsters and more Zeds. Kind of burning out on zombies so will likely kick the survivors from the Toxic Mall box to next year's Zomtober.

Pandemic: Reign of Cthulhu

A long-postponed project has been painting the 35 figures that came with the board game Pandemic: Reign of Cthulhu. I think Jessica got this as a Christmas present in 2017. I planned to roll this out as a Halloween post, but things intervened... .

The figures are a mix of 15mm and 32mm figures. The cultists and shoggoth figures are smaller and really function as counters or currency to track the game's progress towards defeating the players.

The cultists were pretty simple figures. After some debate about painting belts, trim, and faces, I decided mono-colour was better. I was just about to pick up a linen colour and then switched to red to avoid having to explain they weren't clansmen at the beginning of every game.

The shoggoth were harder. I looked at a bunch of different efforts on boardgamegeek and eventually decided to go with my first take: slimy green with lost of eyes.

The counters scale well with each other but are notable smaller than the player-character figures.

Left to right below we have doctor, occultist, driver, and reporter. These were all painted to match their cards (more or less). The figures are nice enough for game pieces, but the detail was not well raised. The occultist (red cloak) was really underwhelming and would have benefited from a prop (a crystal ball in one hand?).

The second group includes a detective, magician and hunter, again, painted to their cards. I was happy with the trench coats--it took a lot of layering to get a decent effect.

The figures are a bit bigger than my 28mm and 25mm collections. I'd mix them in in a pinch.

Up close, you can really see how the detail on the game pieces is soft and needed a lot of help from layering and washes.

That said, they really improve the look of the game in play. Unpainted, the characters were a medium grey and the cultists and shoggoths were an awful teal colour.

A quick paint job really helps add mood to the game and makes it easier to tell the character figures apart. These figures should be a fun surprise the next time Jessica wants to play.

Up next: Gangsters and more Zeds.

Imperial Settlers at the Club

We had six guys out at the club this week but Red Claw was PACKED, with 22 gamers and painters. Maybe the busiest I've ever seen it on a Tuesday? I was glad Terry was there early to get a table.

Chen and Brandon played Kings of War, while Terry hosted Richard, Scott, and me in a game of Imperial Settlers. This seemed to be Scott's first time with the game and he had a lot of questions. And, of course, he was HUGELY in the lead by turn 3. Like, clearly going to win.

To everyone's dismay, I managed to sneak out a win through a combination of aggression and crafty card play on the last turn (i.e., I was a dink). Overall, a very fun game and thanks to Terry for hosting and umpiring. I think we even played the rules correctly this time!

Painting has been a bit slow, but I pushed another 10 Zeds off the table this week. Nothing fancy about them. I'm just trying to finish the Toxic Mall boxset before Christmas. I'm also working my way through the figures in Pandemic: Reign of Cthulhu.

Gangsters

Earlier this fall, I picked up some cops and robbers from Pulp Figures. The cops were finished right away but I set the gangsters aside during Zomtober.

I got back to these this week and finished three. The fellow in the grey suit has been painted up as a detective (note badge below pocket square). I need a Jim Gordon for my Batman coppers and he looks like a young Jim Gordon from Gotham.

If I can lay my hands on an older Heroclix Gordon (a la 1980s comics), I'll probably paint out the badge and he can be a gang boss.

The metals are a touch plumped than the 28mm plastics I have but I'd say they are close enough from three feet away.

Take me to church

I've been looking to add a church to my Gotham layout for awhile but have had zero luck finding one I liked. Most model railway church are clapboard country chapels. The more gothic models tend to be huge and expensive.

I was at the the model railway swap meet two weeks ago and this church was on for $3 (!!!). I fixed a bad glue job (tower was not plumb with building even though this is basically a snap-tite kit???) and added some paint, a wash, and dull coated.

I think it does a good job of conveying the impression of a church (buttresses, lancet windows, bell tower) without taking up a huge amount of space on the table or my shelves. I think this will work in either a urban setting or as an isolated country church of some vintage.