Quoth the (sort of) Raven

Today was supposed to be my first Company Of Iron game with my new Grymkin forces.  Unfortunately I decided to just stay home and be violently ill instead.

Not knowing I wasn't going to be playing today I did stay up last night finishing my second unit; the Murder Crows.

My force for Company Of Iron and/or Warmahordes currently stands at 25 points (10 Hollowmen + Lantern Man, 6 Murder Crows).  I suspect what I have will perform adequately in Company Of Iron games but I suspect that in addition to a Warlock I will need to add something with some real hitting power before I step up to a 'real' Warmahordes game.

-Jay

Something wicked this way comes....

Never say never I suppose.

After an extended absence from Warmahordes for a multitude of reasons I've finally been drawn back in.  Two things drove this decision; first a new faction The Grymkin that have a classic fairy-tale/horror theme about them, second a new play format called Company Of Iron which seems more inviting to new players looking for a smaller lower powered game.

I'll start off by saying I've always liked the Warmahordes core mechanics and thought that the games worked fairly well.  What I haven't historically been a fan of are the one-shot game winning combos (not a bad thing, just not my style of play really), and how visually uninteresting I find the game when I see it being played locally.  Dropping Warcasters/Warlocks for the smaller Company Of Iron games should drastically reduce the killer-combos, and playing themed narrative games should mean using cool 3D (normal) gaming scenery as opposed to the boring looking flat cut-outs that seem to dominate competitive play where I live.

My first unit for my new Grymkin force is the Hollowmen.

The Hollowmen are basically deserters from the various armies of the Iron Kingdoms that have been cursed to a sort of unlife due to their cowardice and dereliction of duty.

They are drawn to the eerie magical light from the Lantern Man who effectively curses and press-gangs them into the service of the Warlocks of the Grymkin.

I'm excited about trying out the Grymkin in a game and am looking forward to returning to a game I had previously walked away from for reasons that had little to do with the actual core game play.

-Jay

Thatchertown - The adventuring party who climbed up a mountain and came down a river

I think I might have broken one (or more) of my players' brains tonight...

The adventurers emerged from the magical portal not to find themselves in another world or plane of existence but to find themselves transported near the top of one of the mountains that overlooked the city.

As they ascended the mountain they were attacked by an old adversary, worse still and adversary they had already killed in the previous session.  Somehow the halfling cult-leader they had killed in the Hall-House was alive and well on the mountainside.

In addition he had some magical snow-globes that when hurled unleashed Ice Imps upon the party.

At the top of the mountain the party discovered a secret lab being attended to by Philos The Red, the NPC who's alleged death had kicked off the whole adventure in the first place.

During an encounter with Philos and his Sentinel an equipment malfunction resulted in Philos' untimely (well-timed?) death.

The party started back towards Thatchertown in some boats they discovered in a grotto behind Philos' lab but they decided to stop along the way back at the Hall-House to recover some materials they had left behind.  When they got there the house showed no signs they had ever been there, nor had any of the damage to the property or monster habitation ever occurred.  They returned up the mountain and discovered there was no sign of a lab either.

What is going on?  What will our heroes do next?

Steam punk robots and the return of an old friend

For the second session of my D&D game I will need a fantasy steam punk robot.  Awhile back I purchased the C. Hoffman crew for Malifaux with the intention of painting the robots up to use with a Leviticus crew.  Instead it looks like the Guardian will finally be making it's debut in a D&D game.

The Guardian is an 8'-9' tall robot designed for basic combat and defence operations in Malifaux.  It will be something slightly different in my D&D game but we'll come back to that in a few weeks...

While I had the Guardian out I also decided to paint the Watcher which is a flying construct for the same crew.  To be honest I'm not sure if I'll ever use the Watcher in a game but it's a unique piece so I like having it in the collection.

I also need a wizard-looking figure and I decided to pull out the Vahn Oberen that I had painted when I was planning on playing through the Witchfire trilogy and touched it up a bit for what I need.

That's feels like a lot for one day.  I've got a few odds and ends that will probably end up getting touched up between now and New Years...stay tuned.

-Jay

Zoe's World - Chloe The Robot

A few weeks ago after I painted Scrap Bot I mentioned there would be more coming down the pipe in that vein.  As I've been working on Zoe's first Pathfinder adventure I wanted to put together a group to accompany her character so it feels more like a traditional fantasy story but we're playing a single player game and I didn't want to layer on a whack or random NPCs that would potentially drive some of the direction things go in.

After watching an episode of Wolverine And The X-Men which featured a Sentinel named Rover who has befriended Marrow and joins her against the other Sentinels Zoe asked if I had a robot she could paint.  Out came the Grind Jacks and Zoe and I picked out some stuff (she really liked the claw) to make her robot companion for our game.

Chloe The Robot has a very similar colour palette to Isabeau the last figure Zoe painted so they should look good together on the tabletop.

The next (and final) step for assembling Zoe's companions will probably be an animal familiar of some sort to accompany her.

Another couple of weeks and there should actually be a game to report on as well!

-Jay

More fantasy steampunky goodness

One of the things I mentioned in an earlier post is that I was going to be painting alongside Zoe with figures that went along with or were similar to the figs she was painting.  During her last session while she was painting her armoured female paladin with blue robes I was painting an armoured female warcaster with blue robes.

I'm not entirely happy with how Ashlyn turned out.  I feel like the face ended up with too much primer on it and ended up losing some detail.  In any event it was really just an exercise in efficiency and from that point of view it went fairly well.  Ashlyn won't be winning any painting contest but she was sort of an "extra" figure I had lying around and I got her done in roughly 30 minutes.

The other figure I got done while Zoe was painting was this generic pulp style robot from Reaper.  I figured he would blend in reasonably well with some of my other steampunk stuff and he has the added benefit that he doesn't look like he's just for Malifaux or just for Warmachine.

While painting the Junk-Bot (that's what I'm calling him anyway) I did get hit by an idea for another daddy-daughter project that should both be fun and something that might be incredibly useful in a couple of upcoming games....keep watching this space.....

-Jay

Hobby Grab Bag - Works In Progress

The last little while I've been splitting my time somewhat evenly between painting and playing Warhammer 40,000 and finally getting to actually play some Pathfinder.  This has meant that I've been a bit back and forth on projects and more than usual I've become one of those people who starts a lot more things than they actually finish.  With that in mind I thought I'd show off the next few things I'm working on in no particular order.

First up is my almost finished Assault Marine squad for my Blood Angels army.  These guys are about 90% done, basically I need to do their weapons and markings (and a few blingy bits for the sgt) and then I can call them done.  The only hold up is that I will need to free-hand the squad markings and to be honest I've never been completely enthusiastic about that......

Next up I'll be filling in the biggest gap in my Blood Angels army with this Dreadnought with Multi-Melta, generously donated to the cause by my friend Dave Switzer.  I've barely started this model but given that it's a single fig and none of the things that need to get painted are all that fussy I'm sure I can paint it in one solid session if I just get to it.

Isabeau Laroche isn't for me.  This will be Zoe's next figure.  Zoe was very interested in watching my recent Pathfinder adventure so she is excited again to get an appropriate figure painted so we can play a game.  Isabeau is a heavily armoured figure so I'm hoping that Zoe and I can get her done in an hour or two of painting.  Right now it looks like this might be something we do together on Father's Day.

Last up is Ashlyn D'Elise (I think that's her name?).  She is a mercenary warcaster for Warmachine, to be honest I don't have any use for her at all but Zoe seems to do better painting-wise when her and I are working on similar figures together at the same time and I didn't have a lot of other heavily armoured female fantasy figures on hand so she was the logical choice.

That looks like it for now, but I'm also considering some appropriate baddies for my first Pathfinder game with Zoe and will probably look at adding some Death Company to my Blood Angels when the Dread and Assault Marines are done.

-Jay

I haven't forgotten about the Witchfire Trilogy....

I've been bouncing around some other projects lately but I still have (had) 2 figures to finish for my Witchfire Trilogy game.

This morning I wrapped up Julian Helstron who is the watch commander in Corvis during the time the adventure is set.

As it turns out unless the party goes crazy I probably won't need a figure to represent him until a few sessions in but it's still nice to have.  He's a great figure to add to my collection because thus far I don't have a lot of pistol armed fantasy figures.  I might delve back into the Confrontation figures to add to the city watch.

I'm also contemplating a quick scenery detour.  I've got a bunch of extra Warhammer Fantasy buildings I haven't built yet so I was thinking I might hit Home Depot and pick-up some piping and tubing and see if I can steampunk them up a bit.

-Jay

Thrullg (I swear that's not a typo)

Finished up one of my optional baddies for my Witchfire game today; the Thrullg.

The Thrullg is a really cool monster from the Iron Kingdoms setting, it's basically like the Rust Monster but it "eats" magic rather than metal.  I also like the figure because in a pinch I think it would be a good substitute for a generic Cthulhu monster if I ever needed one.

I also wanted to share an "ah ha" moment I had while prepping to do some photographs today.  When Wyrd first released their Terraclips scenery the one thing I didn't like about it is that there is a grid of one-inch squares printed on all the base pieces.  It was never an issue for Malifaux but if I was playing a game where sometimes guessing distance is an issue I wouldn't want it to be there, however now that I'm gearing up to run an RPG in a fantasy steam punk setting suddenly discovering I have a ready made set of floor tiles wasn't exactly a bad thing.

-Jay

Thunderwicket and the new Technical Paints

I finished up my antiquated, poorly-maintained Warjack last night and while I was at it I experimented with two of the new Citadel Technical Paints.

First up Thunderwicket itself.  If I end up needing it in my game Thunderwicket is an old out-of-date and poorly kept up Warjack that has been retrieved from an unsavoury part of the city of Corvis.  I started off by painting Thunderwicket in basic Cygnar colours and then went back over it to weather and distress it.

So let me give you my two-cents on the two Citadel Technical paints I tried out while painting this model:
NIHILAKH OXIDE; I liked the effect I got from the Oxide paint but to be perfectly honest I was still a little underwhelmed.  Years ago while doing a big table for Games Day I got an almost identical effect from watering down Hawk Turquoise.  So even  though it works fairly well  I just didn't find it really represented anything 'new' under the sun.  I would also recommend anyone using it dilute it before applying because I found it a bit thick for what I wanted, though to be fair that could just be me.
TYPHUS CORROSION; My experience with this was the exact opposite to the oxide paint.  WOW!  This stuff is absolutely fantastic, my only failure with this model is that I used too much, but that's a learning for me not a short-coming with the product.  The colour and density is great and the grit in the paint/wash really gives the model a terrific corroded texture as opposed to just looking dirty.  I can't recommend this paint highly enough!

-Jay

Vahn Oberon

One of my main antagonists for the Witchfire Trilogy Vahn Oberon is now done!

Normally I would use this space to editorialise a bit about the model I just painted but it's hard to talk about who this guy is without spoiling some of the details of the adventure I'm going to be running.  To stick to the basics Vahn Oberon is a wizard living in Corvis in the Iron Kingdoms campaign setting.

That does it for me for 2013, tomorrow; the year in review!

-Jay

Church Of Morrow

Father Dumas is now done!
I experimented with a new way of doing off-white robes and it almost/mostly worked out the way I wanted.  In hindsight I should have washed each section individually and then moved on to the next section after the first dried but that's a lesson for next time.

My two key representatives for the Church Of Morrow will be Father Dumas and his young acolyte to be named later.

So far so good, now off to work on a villain or two!

-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

Up On A Soapbox: badly sculpted vs badly designed

The other night I assembled and primed 2 more Iron Kingdoms figures for my upcoming Witchfire trilogy game and I found myself having an odd thought "these figures are really well sculpted...but kind of badly designed...huh...never seen that before..or have I?"

Anyone who's collected miniatures for any length of time will have unfortunately ended up with some poorly sculpted figs (details too shallow, arms that run off into bodies, proportions that are just wrong, etc) it's pretty common and is happily pretty easy to avoid.  But what's a lot more rare is when you get a beautiful, well-sculpted figure with lots of great texture and detail but still suffers from some sort of critical design flaw you just can't get past.

So, I assembled Father Dumas and Vahn Oberon the other night and was immediately struck by the fact that neither of these guys have feet!  Now to be fair they're both sculpted with long flowing robes that would for the most part conceal their feet but each of them has an area where the left foot (oddly the same on both figures should be visible.  On Father Dumas the left side of his robe is slightly raised...but there is no foot underneath, on Vahn Oberon the back left side of the robe is slightly raised...but still no foot.  Honestly I like both of these figures (you should see them painted before Christmas) so I kept looking at them trying to justify in my own mind why they're sculpted this way, but I really just ended up making it worse for myself.  When you trace Father Dumas' leg outlines through his robes it starts to look like he's got some weird knock-kneed stance going on and rather than conveying a sense of movement it looks like his robe is getting blown up from underneath a-la Marilyn Monroe (which doesn't really seem appropriate for a priest).  Vahn is slightly better but his legs are posed like he is walking to his right while he's twisted at the waist significantly to his left and his staff is pointed at a roughly 90 degree angle to the left of his body while his eyes are turned roughly 45 degrees to the left...it's not awful....it's just weird.

Neither of these figures is so bad that the odd design choices are a deal-breaker for me but it got me thinking; how many other figures are out there that are well sculpted but oddly or illogically designed?
Any thoughts?

-Jay

Return to the hobby grab bag

A bunch more stuff in-progress today.

First up 2 items from project scrapheap; the long awaited final 5 Revenant Crew and Skarre herself!  When these models are done all I'll be left to finish are 2 Revenant Crew Cannons and something worth 2 more points.....

....unless I switch gears and add a 4 point unit and drop 1 or 2 other things!  The circle of life came full circle for these Black Ogrun figures last week.  I had bought them during my first go round painting Cryx, decided I wasn't going to paint any non-undead, gave them to my friend Jordan, who also didn't paint them for 4-5 years, and now he's given them back to me!  These guys fit extremely well with my pirate themed force and will give me some punch in a force that has only 1 warjack.  I'm extremely excited to have these.

And last but not least, slow progress continues on the Gnolls.  I've started up my test model and he should be done by tomorrow (hopefully).

I'm also going to working on another project on the side.  This is a bit like Project Scrapheap in that I'm going to by building a force for a game out of some figures I have on hand in-spite of the fact that they are not the 'proper' figures for the game in question.  The idea was inspired by 2 elements; first my buddy Darren showing off his cool Mortis engine, and secondly my realisation that if I'm not going to be using my vast collection of D&D pre-painted undead models for roleplaying then they might be able to do something else for me instead.....

Stay tuned!

-Jay

Another blast from the recent past: Warmachine Cryx forces

When I started project scrapheap the goal was to get a playable Cryx force out of stuff I had lying around without having to go out and get miniatures because I already had a collection of painted Cryx miniatures I just didn't have ready access to.  I still haven't played my first Warmahordes game of 2013 but guess what found it's way back to me......

First up are my Cryx solos, casters and infantry unit.  These guys are the basic components of any army I've played in the past but the one thing of note in this batch is that The Withershadow Combine is something I painted but never got a chance to play with.  Those might be jumping into a game alongside the forces of project scrapheap.

Next; the jacks!  This is really what Warmachine is all about.  Giant steam-powered-fantasy-robots who can kick, punch, shoot, etc.  One thing I've always liked about the Cryx jacks is that they have a wide variety of rules and options at their disposal and are always interesting.

And last but not least my Cryx 'cavalry'.   The Soulhunters are probably still my favourite Cryx models although in my last few games they had fallen on hard times.  To be perfectly blunt about it; I don't win very often at minis games and after the Soulhunters almost single-handedly won me 2 games in a row I started to rely on them WAY too much to do everything.

Work on project scrapheap will continue because as you can see even though I have a decent sized collection I still need some infantry units anyway and along with the return of my own painted figs 2 of my friends contributed some unpainted and new figs I can add to my force (more on this tomorrow).

-Jay

Project Scrapheap: Harrower

After a day of building and two days of painting the Harrower is done!

I had a lot of complaints about the assembly and fit of this model but I have to admit when it's all put together and painted it looks pretty sweet.

Harrower - Right side

 

Harrower - Left side

 

For Project Scrapheap zombie pirates are up next but I need to make a quick diversion to make good on a lost bet first.....

-Jay

Project Scrapheap: Harrower (WIP)

My return to Project Scrapheap tonight has me taking on the most daunting but also potentially the most satisfying piece in the force, The Harrower.

I mentioned previously that everything I was using in Project Scrapheap had for one reason or another been something I didn't use the first go around with Warmachine.  In the Harrower's case it wasn't due to the rules (which I think are awesome) or the model (which looks cool) but the packing that kept it from making the cut.  When I originally purchased The Harrower it was missing a leg and unfortunately it took long enough to get a replacement that by the time it arrived I had moved on from Warmachine and was playing Malifaux.

So far I'm tremendously satisfied with how the Harrower looks.  It's a cool piece with tons of character and even in a world of steam-powered magical robots this one stands out as something unique.  I am definitely looking forward to using it on the tabletop.  Having said that I have also decided that this will be the last metal warjack I buy/paint/assemble.  I'm not swearing off Warmachine or anything crazy like that but this model was a nightmare to build and I'm convinced if I pack it to take to a game it will bust into a million pieces.  Fully assembled there are 7 pins inserted into the model holding it together, which for a model with only 13 pieces seems excessive, and the legs are glued into holes drilled into the base due to their narrow contact points.  Plastic is the way of the future anyway so it's not like I'm making any grand pronouncement here but I figured I'd put it in print so that if I get tempted to stray into the realm of insanity again someone can use this blog to talk me down.

Hopefully tomorrow the Harrower will be finished and I can get the zombie pirates done in the next week.

-Jay

Project Scrapheap: Now slightly less "scrapheap-ey".....and Bloody Bradigan

I finished another model for Project Scrapheap today, but more interestingly (for me anyway) I found all the rest of the models I need and ended up with a themed force in the bargain.

About 7-8 years ago Games Workshop published a Zombie Pirate list in White Dwarf.  I thought it was awesome but I can also be painfully lazy when it comes to building and converting so I found a bunch of sources for zombie pirate miniatures elsewhere and placed a bunch of orders.  My biggest single order unfortunately did not work out at all as I had planned, I ordered a ton of zombie pirates from the Reaper Warlord line which all look fantastic, but are all way to big to fit in with Warhammer models.....so I put them away in a box....and forgot about them.....until yesterday!

So I have now revised my list and Skarre will in fact be leading a Cryx pirate force with a couple of other models thrown in to round things out.  My new list is:
-Skarre
-Harrower
-Bloat Thrall (from the Helldorado line)
-Machine Wraith
-Bloody Bradigan
-10 Revenant Crew Of The Atramentous (from the Reaper Warlord line)
-10 Revenant Crew Of The Atramentous (from the Reaper Warlord line)
-Revenant Cannon (from the Reaper Warlord line)
-Revenant Cannon (from the Reaper Warlord line)
*  This leaves me with 2 more points for a 35 point game.  I have a few other models I'm trying to choose from to finish it off.

I mentionned the other day that I was disappointed I couldn't use most of the Mercenaries I bought with my Cryx army but apparently I had bought 1 model who isn't too choosy about who he works for.  Bloody Bradigan is basically a brawling berzerker who fights for the sake of fighting.  Thematically I struggled to figure out why he would be hanging out with a Cryx force without any other pirates around but once I decided on the zombie pirates he sort of fit in with them.

He drinks your milkshake

 

Now that my force feels more coherent I'm definitely feeling alot of enthusiasm for the project and I can't wait for the zombie pirates to hit the table.

Aaargh!

-Jay

Project Scrapheap: Machine Wraith

I'm pleased to report that I was able to get my Machine Wraith done in one sitting last night.  It's great when you are speed painting and you get a model that has this much texture, you can basecoat it, hit it with a wash and then just go back and do some detail work and you're done!

I'm still struggling to figure out what use the Machine Wraith will be against a Hordes army but a buddy mentionned that because the Wraith is on a 40mm base I can use him to screen and protect a more valuable model on a 40mm base from shooting and magic effects early in the game.

I've got my first unit of proxy Bane Thralls (Confrontation Dawn Warriors) prepped up and I'm off to a decent start.  I just need to pick up some putty tonight to do a little work on Skarre and then I can get started on her as well.

Any thoughts on tactics anybody?  It sounds like I'll be playing my first couple of games against Circle and Everblight.

-Jay