Wednesday 30 September 2015

First Thoughts - Through The Breach

I finally ran my first game of Through The Breach tonight and I wanted to share my thoughts on it.

First up I had a strange realisation as I was getting to run the game; this is probably the first completely new RPG I've tried in years.  Every other "new" RPG I've played in at least the last 10 years has more or less been a variation or derivative of D20 Dungeons & Dragons, it was really odd to suddenly find myself doing something completely fresh and new.

For those of you not familiar with the game Through The Breach is the RPG set in the world of Malifaux.  Malifaux has a great backdrop and really well developed art and background so it was super-easy for my players to understand and visualise the world around them.

The big adjustment for gamers who have experience with traditional RPGs is that in Through The Breach none of the Fatemaster's (that's the person running the game) actions outcomes are random.  Basically everything an NPC does has a set value assigned to it and the players actively oppose all the actions of Fatemaster controlled characters.  I found this to be an outstanding mechanic because it meant that every player was actively involved in every action as opposed to sometimes sitting back while the Fatemaster pushed the action.

The one downside is that as new players I didn't feel the game was immediately and automatically intuitive.  There were a couple of occasions where I wasn't 100% sure we were using skills and making flips correctly but I'll figure that out before our next game.  I felt like a few summary charts or cards could have made things a bit simpler but maybe that's what the Fatemaster's Kit is for (I haven't picked that up yet).

I won't go into the details of our adventure as it is part of the ongoing Nythera worldwide event and other groups will still be playing through this adventure for a few more days and I'd hate to spoil anything.

Overall I really enjoyed the game and will definitely play it again.

-Jay

Tuesday 29 September 2015

Yep...pretty sure this means I'm an Arcanist player now...

If wrapping up the Oxfordian Mages the other day wasn't enough I finished 3 Fire Gamin tonight.  So that feels like I'm an Arcanist player now.


These were fun (and easy to paint) basically being living fire elementals/imps.  One thing I did differently than I would normally do on figures like this is that I didn't actually use ANY red.  I basically worked through 3 shades of orange and then used yellow to pick out the actual flames.  It's a very basic colour scheme but it looks very tidy and creates a pretty sharp effect, I'm happy with it.

Oddly enough there is a very slim chance I'll actually need these models in the game that I'm playing but I know if I didn't get them painted then I would definitely need them.

-Jay

Wizards!

Lately for someone who doesn't play mages in RPGs or use a lot of wizards in wargames I feel like I'm suddenly painting a lot of spell-caster models.

Today's addition is for Through The Breach although I'm pretty sure this along with a couple of more projects looming on the horizon means I'm also now becoming an Arcanist player for Malifaux as well.

The Oxfordian Mages are a set of 3 Enforcers for Malifaux who provide some spell-casting in a crew beyond the usual Masters and/or Henchmen.  Their background is really cool, they're basically magical students of minor ability from Earthside (the real world of 1901ish) who find their powers greatly amplified when they cross over through the breach into the world of Malifaux.


Conceptually I like these figures a lot and they really feel unique and not like something you're going to find in other model ranges.  The other thing I hadn't really thought of initially is that a long time ago (a year, maybe two) I mentioned I was looking for young male human wizard figs for fantasy RPGs and I'm actually pretty sure that if I need one now I'll be using the Oxfordian Mage in the running post with the purple flames creeping up his arms.

The paint job ended up being a little rushed as I need these and three other figures for a game I'm playing tomorrow but with the exception of the brown looking a little flat I'm pretty happy with how they turned out.

There should be one more Malifaux/Through The Breach update tomorrow and then back to Frostgrave for a day or two.

-Jay

Saturday 26 September 2015

Nythera rolls on....

Another week gone by and a bit of work done on updating my Malifaux collection for Nythera and some work done on adding a few things I need for Through The Breach.

First up I just wanted to highlight one of the great things about campaigns/tournament play.  I've had my last 3 unpainted Resurrectionist models sitting on my desk for months because as I moved through various games and projects I just never really circled back around to them, last night 2 of those figs got painted, it's great sometimes to have that extra little push to get you to do something that you wanted to do anyway but kept putting off.

So we'll start with 1 new figure sitting side by side with a re-based figure.  When I started painting for Nythera I did something I almost never do which is to pick a new basing scheme for an already existing force.  Sybelle and the Dead Rider got the cool textured bases from Secret Weapon miniatures and then became the leaders of my Ressurectionist force.  Fast forward 2 games and all my stuff on my old basing scheme looks a little week next to them so I've decided to go back and re-base some stuff.  I re-based the Nurse with the large syringe and then painted the second Nurse to go with her.  They're pretty basic (and one of them almost single handedly cost my me last game) but they're a great addition and as it turns out I will need them in an upcoming Through The Breach game....more on that later.


Next I still had my 2 Onryo from my Kirai box set unpainted, and once again I needed one of them for Through The Breach.  I had started these figures a couple of months ago and what was funny in the end is it took me less than 20 minutes to finish this one but for some reason I had been putting it off for a long time.


And lastly something that's a bit new for me but I will be doing more of over the next couple of weeks, this is a counter/marker for a game.  I can't say what for just yet but all will be revealed in another week.  Traditionally I have been one of those players who uses bases/coins/glass beads/whatever for counters and markers in games but Frostgrave has really encouraged me to step that up.  I got some treasure chest for that game and now I'm going to start creating some more visually interesting stuff for other games as well.


That's it for today, I have 6 more models that NEED to get done by Wednesday this week and then after that I should be able to talk more specifically about exactly what some of this stuff is/was for.

-Jay

Sunday 20 September 2015

Somebody hasn't been updating their blog lately.....

It's been one of those odd breaks again.  The truth is I've been doing a reasonable amount of 'hobbying' but I haven't been blogging much lately.  Same old same old, still struggling with photography issues and clearing workspace....some day...some day....

Lately I've been focusing on getting stuff done for three games; Age Of Sigmar, Frostgrave and Malifaux/Through The Breach.  I'll show you what's gotten done in the last week and then we'll talk about what's next.

First up; NECROMANCERS!


Painting Necromancers is nothing new for me, having many different undead and horror themed armies for different games.  What was different this time out is that these figures were assembled and painted for Frostgrave but made it to the table in 2 Age Of Sigmar games before I finally circled back around to Frostgrave.  Both figs are made out of the Empire Wizard kit with a bretonnian archer head thrown in to make the apprentice appear hooded.  These figures are fairly basic but I'm really happy with how they turned out and so far they have been HUGE contributors in the three games they've played in.

Next up: Bretonnians.....I mean Frostgrave soldiers....




I picked up some bretonnian men-at-arms a while back with the intention of using them for Warmachine or Iron Kingdom roleplaying, once I really saw how they scaled with Privateer Press miniatures I abandoned that idea.  I will be using some more of these figs for an upcoming RPG but in the meantime they made great troopers for Frostgrave.  Having painted a bunch of them now though I can't help but wondering if my Vampire Counts should have some men from Mousillon working for them as well........

Last but not least; Nythera campaign for Malifaux


I had to paint up a henchman to lead my forces in the Nythera campaign for Malifaux and having just picked up Seamus' box I decided on Sybelle.  While I was at it I also added the Dead Rider to give me a decent beat-stick for my Resurrectionists.  The bases on these models will be the basing for my Malifaux stuff going forward, now the question is just what to re-base......

That's got me up-to-date on games I've been wanting to play.  My next three projects are:
1.  Nythera Through The Breach.  This is pretty straight forward, I'm committed to running the first scenario for the campaign in 10 days, I need to get a bunch of stuff done by then.  Model selection and deadline is bascially non-negotiable.
2.  Batman.  I've got a bunch of the Batman stuff from Knight Models and I want to get it done and start playing.  The good news is I really only need to paint 5-6 figs so as soon as my current Nythera stuff is done I should be able to crank it out.
3.   A Red And Pleasant Land.  I need to get some fairly odd miniatures done for my next D&D game set is Zak Smith's Red And Pleasant Land.  I'll leave it at that until I start working on stuff but if you think Alice In Wonderland meets Dracula you won't be too far off.

-Jay