Oh Rackham, why didn't I appreciate you more when you were here?

I put together and painted another NPC for my Witchfire Trilogy game and once again dipped into my now dwindling pile of Confrontation miniatures.

Before I get to the fig itself I have to say I feel like I've  missed a huge opportunity.  When Confrontation first came out I bought some figures but I really didn't like the game play so I didn't stick with it.  I still bought the occasional cool looking miniature but without the focus of a game to play them with my purchases were a little scatter shot.  Now that I'm looking at gaming a fantasy/steampunky setting I wish I'd bought all the Confrontation figures I could have laid my hands on.  What a great well sculpted range with tons of character, and as a bonus their proportions mean they fit relatively well anywhere between 25 and 30mm.

Today's figure is noteworthy because he was originally released (to the best of my recollection) as an exclusive limited edition French language only sneak-peek into what the Hybrid line on miniatures was going to look like.  For my purposes he's a stern looking guy in a heavy leather coat with an over sized sword and a cool tri-barrel pistol.

It's interesting to me that my campaign is shaping up to have a mix of retro-styled (Otherworld) and next gen (Rackham, Privateer Press) miniatures and they all feel right together.

-Jay

Witchfire Trilogy Prep in the home stretch! (WIP)

I'm excited about this.  I have 11 more models I need to get done and then I'm ready to run the first session of my Witchfire Trilogy game!  There are a couple of other figures I would like to get done but these represent the last of what needs to be done before my players hit the table.

First up I have three of the primary NPCs for the game.  Left to right are; Father Dumas (the PCs patron), Alexia Ciannor (the objective for lack of a better way to put it) and Vahn Oberron (who is really just not a nice guy).  I'm hoping to get Father Dumas and Vahn Oberron painted before Christmas mostly because that's the time line I set for myself, I'm also stoked to get Alexia done but she is less of an urgent need.

Next up are some figures that will be doing double duty in my 'classic monsters' game as well as The Witchfire Trilogy; Pathfinder Goblins!  I can't say enough about theses figures, as a longtime D&D player I've used tons of goblin miniatures over the years but with the exception of Games Workshop goblins they've all lacked character, and the problem with Games Workshop goblins is just that they are definitively Games Workshop and somehow feel out of place in other settings.  The goblin is the iconic Pathfinder monster and they have a ton of background and are really a lot more interesting than 'orc-light' which is how they are frequently portrayed in other games.  These are Reaper Miniatures that were sculpted by Chris Fitzpatrick (of Crocodile Games).

And last but not least a peek into the possible future.  The collected edition of the Witchfire Trilogy that I got has 2 bridging adventures to create a bit more of a campaign flow.  In the first bridging adventure the PCs may encounter one or both of the beasts below.  I'll keep my explanation brief so as not to ruin anything for my players but after a fairly typical high-fantasy game with wizards and monsters and stuff in the first bridge the PCs get their first real taste of the Iron Kingdoms setting when they have an encounter with a Steamjack.

I've got another "Up On A Soapbox" coming tomorrow but it will be less my view stuff in the game industry and more or a casual observation followed by a request for some help.

-Jay

Hobby Grab Bag: It's all about roleplaying

This week in the grab bag I'll show a bunch of the next batch of RPG figs I'll be working on for both my Pathfinder game and Strategies Games & Hobbies painting contest.

First up my Alexia Ciannor figure.  This is one of those things that will be doing double duty because she is both the central character in The Witchfire Trilogy and she is a unit leader (sort of) for Warmachine's Mercenary faction.  Although the Privateer Press model for Alexia is pretty cool I've had this great Confrontation figure for years (probably more than 10 years at this point) that I knew I wanted to use for something and she's a perfect fit for Alexia.  I can't remember her name (package is LONG gone) but she was a variant of a named character for the Griffin faction for Confrontation.

Next up 2 more Thralls for Alexia.  As much as I swore I'd get away from doing undead for RPGs for awhile Alexia has some power and control over them so when it comes to gaming The Witchfire Trilogy I will need a bunch of undead figures that fit with the look of the Iron Kingdoms and I'm trying not to have them look all piratey.

And last but not least, the start of my pig-faced-orcs.  I have the day off tomorrow so if all goes to plan these will get finished tomorrow and then I might, emphasis on 'might' have enough time to do a third entry for the Immortal Brush Competition.  I just started these guys but much like my gnolls the figures are so crisp and well textured that they are super easy to paint.

That's it for now, got to put a rush on the orcs but those other figs probably won't resurface again for several weeks, I've also got some more Blood Angels waiting for my attention around here somewhere.....

-Jay

Project Scrapheap: Prelude

One of the tough things about the miniature hobby is that sometimes you like the figures but you don't like the game, sometimes you like the game but you don't like the figures, and sometimes you just find yourself a victim of your own shortsightedness and have to make do.

A couple of days ago a friend of mine invited me to join him for some Hordes/Warmachine gaming.  Awhile back I played a ton of Warmachine using my Cryx army and I really liked the game.  After awhile though the group I was playing with lost interest and we transitioned into some other games instead.  Having been bitten by the Warmachine bug again I had one immediate problem; all my painted Cryx stuff it out on loan to another friend and I won't be able to get it back in time to start playing.  The secondary problem is having played the game before and dropped it I'm hesitant to invest in a whole new army.  So the solution is to speed-paint a new army using the odds and sods I have kicking around from my last run at the game.

Is this a good idea?
Let's weigh the pros and cons.
PROS
1.  I've got a pile of stuff just kicking around that I might as well get painted anyway.
2.  When it's done and I get off my lazy butt and pick up my existing Cryx stuff I should have around 90 points worth of models for a big game.
3.  It will be the first time I've ever built an army and felt like it was free!  (yeah, I know I actually paid for this stuff at some point but that was awhile back)
CONS
1.  All of this stuff for one reason or another didn't make the cut (for a variety of reasons) to make it into my army the first time around.
2.  As it really is all odds and ends it's not designed to work together so I won't be able to get off the combos that seem to be what Warmahordes is all about.
3.  I have a bunch of really cool Mercenary stuff that I won't be able to use because it's not Cryx friendly.

At the end of the day it doesn't matter because I'm going to do it anyway.  So what will be in my force?
Skarre Queen Of The Broken Coast
Harrower Helljack
Machine Wraith
2 units of Bane Thralls (using Confrontation Dirz figures)
This will give me 15 of the 35 points I need.  I'm going to keep digging through my backlog looking for other stuff I may have that can fit in there but ultimately I'm assuming I'll have to buy 1 more Warjack, other than that I'm determined the rest will be made out of what is on hand.

The goal is to have 35 points done by the Monday after next, which gives me 13 days, shouldn't be a problem (assuming I can find some more models!).  So at this point I have to assume you can all see why I'm calling this "Project Scrapheap".

Incidentally I would really appreciate any advice any of you would like to offer in the comments section on how to use the figures I ultimately end up choosing and painting, I said I played alot, I never said I played well.

Wish me luck!

-Jay

A blast from the past: re-based, re-used and re-cycled

Quite awhile back a group of friends and I decided to give (at the time) new upstart fantasy skirmish game Confrontation a try.  We were all drawn in by the amazing looking models which hold up extremely well to this day and alot of my friends in backlash against the "big" miniature companies of the day loved that the models boasted free game rules in every blister pack.

Did I mention how awesome looking the models are?  Fantastic, because the rules were (in my opinion) terrible.  For starters they were poorly translated, incomplete and favoured the tactic of whoever has the biggest beat-stick whether it's a monster or a special character wins.  I played a handful of games and then decided that it wasn't the game for me.  None of that ever changed the fact that the models were and still are amazing...so I kept painting...

Fast forward to now-ish and I've been playing Malifaux.  Malifaux is (again just my opinion) a great game with great models.  I love everything about it, but when it first came along there were gaps in the model range as there always are with new games.  I wanted to do up a Leviticus crew which is basically a combination of necromantic and mechanical abominations but there was 1 figure missing, I needed a giant-undead-steampunk monster as the threat in his force.  This was a great excuse to re-base and touch up my old Confrontation Aberration!

The Aberration is a really nasty looking hybrid of monster and machine that is basically ogre-sized for 28mm games.  So far he's only been to the table twice in games of Malifaux but I'm sure I'll be finding more uses for him soon.

-Jay

Aberration (front view)

 

Aberration (side view)