I just got 'funneled' in Stennard

 In case it's not already obvious; I like gaming with miniatures, I mean I REALLY like gaming with miniatures.  One of the odder ways this manifests itself is that even when I'm playing an RPG that doesn't need or require miniatures I paint them anyways.  Case in point, I recently got to play in a Twitch stream run by Nick from Breaker Press Games on Goodman Games official Twitch channel.  Obviously playing remotely and we were not using miniatures but...I've got to be me, so I painted up the three characters I would be playing in our level 0 funnel.

A funnel is the concept in Dungeon Crawl Classics where a player players usually four, but in this case three, 0 level extremely fragile characters some, most, or all of whom won't survive to the conclusion of the adventure and then when it's time to play a traditional level 1 starting character you choose the one you enjoyed the most from the funnel.  These are the three adventurers (not heroes) that I played with through The Precipice Of Corruption with.

I should also point out that every time I play through a funnel I seem to follow two traditions or patterns but I'll get into those in the additional entries below.

First up is Aels Crowgrounder.

Aels is a Forrester and statistically was neither very good at anything, nor exceptionally poor at anything (which for me makes him above average!).  Unbeknownst to the rest of the players Aels was in league with the villains of the adventure and was destined to turn on the group at a key moment.  To this end Aels fulfilled the first of my traditions when playing a funnel; I was playing the scummiest character in the group.

Next we have Ehns Logsplitter.

Ehns was a Woodcutter from the nearby community of Hillwood Camp and was statistically my best character.  She was going to fill a warrior role in the group and had above average physical stats as well as being armed with one of the most damaging weapons 0 level characters had access to.  Ehns fulfilled the second of my traditions in that from start until almost the end she was the character I thought would become my main level 1 character at the conclusion of the adventure.

And finally we come to Vandiss The Blinding Light.

Vandiss is a Legerdemainist who is new to the area and is slightly below average statistically as well as being armed with a mediocre weapon and some starting equipment that really doesn't work well with their stats and bonuses.  Having said that Vandiss turned out to be a great utility character who was excellent at playing a support role.

So how did the funnel go?  Aels betrayed the party at a key moment and not surprisingly met a gruesome (no, seriously GRUESOME) fate that he clearly deserved.  Ehns bucked the spirit of the game by in fact being a heroine!  We played for about 5 hours and through 4 3/4 of those hours Ehns was a tank that absolutely demolished every obstacle in the party's way...but man those last 15 minutes were rough.  Ehns squared off against the adventure's big bad and fell to a single crushing blow.  I have to say it was really impactful, no pun intended, because as soon as she died the entire rest of the group seemed very aware of how much danger they were in.  RIP Ehns, you were too good for this world.  And so we come to Vandiss.  Vandiss spent most of their time on the fringes avoiding direct confrontation and not being particularly brave or cowardly.  In our first of two sessions Vandiss did manage to get off an attack with some flash powder that greatly assisted the melee characters in the group, so overall they had a positive impact on the group as a whole, but they also made the decision in the closing moments of the final battle that there was in fact no place like home and broke for Stennard before the battle's conclusion.

Overall I really enjoyed The Precipice Of Corruption and anyone looking to run a Dungeon Crawl Classic funnel should definitely pick it up at Precipice Of Corruption 

I also really like the figures I painted up to sit on my desk alongside me while we streamed this game and highly recommend this box set from Fireforge Games for anyone looking for 0 level characters for their low level RPGs or specifically Dungeon Crawl Classic funnels.  It's a rare box set that includes both male and female figures as well as a mix of both actual and improvised weapons.

And as always I picked these miniatures up from my Friendly Local Game Store.  Please support both your FLGS and small publishers online!

Thanks for checking in

-Jay

Wotan Tamar March Militia

 Continuing through the 1st Sommerset Strikers campaign I'm getting ready for Episode 3: The Taking Of Wotan.

From the Inner Sphere side of the campaign there are two scenarios that use a substantial amount of non Sommerset Striker mechs, this is one of them.  One of the issues from a model collecting point of view is due to the repetition of the animation in the TV series the campaign is based on a player will need 9 Centurions and 8 Wolfhounds by the time the campaign is done.  The current (excellent) boxes of mech models from Catalyst are full lances or stars of mixed mechs, so I would have to buy 17 boxes of mechs (and end up with 51 EXTRA miniatures) to make the ancillary forces I need for the campaign.  To this end I have gotten some 3D prints of the Centurions and Wolfhounds to fill out my mooks.

In episode 3 of the Battletech Animated Series the opening sequence is Nicolai Malthus and his star wiping out the last remnants of the Wotan Tamar March Militia.  In the scenario the Militia is made up of two lances of mechs made up of some substandard quality mechwarriors.

Lt General Ansel Cabrillo's Command Lance

Lt Pam Genaro's Recon Lance

TMM Mauler

TMM Centurion

TMM Wolfhound

I might circle back to these figs later and add more red trim to accent the figures.  I also have to say one thing that confused me (not being familiar with the lore of the time period) is that when I looked up the Tamar March Militia online for colour-scheme their logo was a variation on the Federated Suns logo, but when I looked at their history they are listed as being a Lyran Commonwealth unit.  If anybody wants to fill me in please do.

Thanks

-Jay

1st Somerset Strikers - Aerospace Assets

 As of now I'm almost done the 1st Somerset Strikers (as far as the published scenarios go).  I still need to paint the Packrat command vehicle as well as one more mech.  That will do it for the unit itself, and then I'll be moving on to painting an additional Mauler, 4 Wolfhounds and 8 Centurions that make up 2 allied units the Strikers end up being supported by in some of the later scenarios.  So 14 more models and I'm done!

But today's project are the twin Banshee Aerospace fighters that provide the Striker's air support.  These models are 3D prints and I think they both turned out fairly well, although they do have the look of the Colonial Viper from Battlestar Gallactica about them.

I had a slight panic moment as I was prepping for my first 2 games when I realized the Banshee as an illegal design that was never really meant to make it into the game never got a card for Alpha Strike.  It turned out to be a non-issue as at least through the first 2 scenarios the Banshee is basically handled like an off-table asset and doesn't really need to be represented on the tabletop.  Having said that I had put out a call to the Battletech community on Twitter to see if anybody knew where I could find Alpha Strike rules for the Banshee.  It turned out that none existed at all but a really kind member of the community named Scott Boehmer took some time out of his day to produce a card for me.  So this is his work below, not mine.

If you're reading this, thanks again Scott!

I'll be taking a short break from Battletech this weekend to get my Lunar figures finished and then it's time to go nose to the grindstone on a fairly large fantasy scenery project.

Thanks for checking in!

-Jay

1st Somerset Strikers - upgraded with new clan technology

 Although during the Battletech animated series there was a TON of repetitive re-use of the same few mechs over an over again (I see you Centurion, Wolfhound, and Mauler) after a few successful raids and some intel gathering Major Steiner's 1st Somerset Strikers were rewarded for their efforts with some newer tech that was uniquely their own.

Ciro Ramirez had been captured by the clans and had his Wolfhound shot out from under him anyway.  Valten Ryder had lost his father's Centurion (it's okay, there's tons of those things laying around).  And even Major Steiner briefly lost his beloved Axman.  FedCom came through with some new mechs along with a two battle armour suits for their pilots to use while on the ground.  The only hold over from the original lance was Captain Hawkins who continues to perform his intel/recon functions from his 90 ton Mauler.

Major Steiner received an awesome new Awesome assault mech.  I had to re-watch a few episodes online to remind myself that the Awesome was in the patchy tan and brown camo used by FedCom forces and was not done in the colours of Steiner's previous Axman (not sure why I remembered it that way).

Valten Ryder got a Bushwacker a mech I have to confess I know next to nothing about.  I was basically getting out of Batteltech when the Bushwacker made it's first appearances back in the day so I'm really unfamiliar with it outside of the animated series.  The one thing that strikes me looking at the Bushwacker is given it's body shape and somewhat odd arm design and positioning I'm kind of curious if back in the day at the graphic design phase it was intended to be a new land-air-mech.  No idea, just speculating.

In addition to upgrading two of their mechs FedCom came up with two designs based on the Clan Elemental armour; the Sloth, and the Infiltrator.  The Sloth has always struck me as kind of a neat design.  Whereas the Infiltrator (and the Clan Elemental suits) always seemed like a fairly generic take on sci-fi power armour, the Sloth feels far more unique and distinctive and looks more like something that belongs firmly in the Battletech universe.

I've really enjoyed painting this small characterful force.  I still have four more models to finish for the Strikers themselves and then I'll be reviewing the scenarios before painting a bunch of Wolfhounds and Centurions to fill out their attached allies for some of the later scenarios.

On a personal note HUGE thanks to my friend Nick from Breaker Press Games for getting me the Sloth and the Infiltrator.  That stuff is hard to come by up here in Canada.  Nick has his own sci-fi miniature line and publishes a ton a great content for Dungeon Crawl Classics.  Please check out his work at: https://breakerpress.storenvy.com/   

And once again if you're looking for Battletech rules and models please support your friendly local game store!

Thanks for checking in.

-Jay

 

1st Somerset Strikers - original lance

 I'm getting ready to play some more Battletech, both Classic and Alpha Strike, using the sourcebook for the Battletech Animated series.  So allow me to introduce you to the original 1st Somerset Strikers.

The 1st Somerset Strikers are lead by Major Adam Steiner in his Axeman mech.  House Steiner pioneered the hatchet or ax armed battlemech.  The Axeman has a mixture of missiles, lasers, and a fearsome melee weapon.

Captain Miles Hawkins is a FedCom intelligence officer that pilots a 90 ton Mauler.  The Mauler is a cool looking mech but I've always found it a bit funny because in my head I think of FedCom Intelligence within the context of mech lance or company as being akin to a recon function and yet Hawkins drives one of the heaviest mechs in the Inner Sphere.

Captain Valten Ryder is a merc who joined the Strikers to escape some debts and obligations.  He's a hotshot maverick mech pilot but he starts the series off piloting a Centurion which in the animated series (and arguably in the game itself) is the most average mediocre mech going.  This is something that will improve later in in the series...we'll come back to the subject in a future.

Lieutenant Ciro Ramirez rounds out the original version of the Strikers in his Wolfhound.  Ramirez is a loyal FedCom warrior and a fierce believer in the old Star League but he's a bit of an uptight pain in the butt for his squad-mates.

This lance is a bit of a mix of models.  The Centurion is an old FASA plastic figure from their last CityTech box set.  The Wolfhound is a current Catalyst model available in the BattleTech Inner Sphere Striker Lance.  The Axeman and Mauler are 3D prints, those same 2 models are also available from Iron Wind Metals in metal, but personally I felt the 3D prints scaled and matched up better with the current Catalyst plastics.

Thanks for checking out the 1st Somerset Strikers, and please check out your friendly local game store for BattleTech rules and miniatures.

-Jay

The Silver Bayonet - British Warband and an assortment of monsters

 I finally got around to playing my first few games of The Silver Bayonet by Osprey Games.  For those not familiar The Silver Bayonet is a skirmish level wargame set against the backdrop of the Napoleonic Wars.

Although the mechanics of the rules are different than Frostgrave the structure of the game and it's scenarios are very similar.  To that end I'm planning on painting all the monsters needed for the 14 scenarios in the game as well as a few odds and ends from the random encounter table.  This will also be the kickoff for my plan to start building a collection of historic based/themed fantasy figures not only for The Silver Bayonet but for an assortment of other games and scenarios I'm planning on playing this year.

First up my Silver Bayonet Warband is led by Lt Archibald Tavington III.  Archie is a proper gentleman on loan from the 95th rifle regiment.

Along with their Lieutenant four rifleman have been seconded to the unit to explore and battle the unknown.  Two of the riflemen are by Warlord Games and two of them are from Perry Miniatures.

Accompanying the chosen men of the 95th is Doctor Theodore Theopolis.  The good doctor is proper soldier and in addition to his medical skills is not afraid to use his pistol to see off any hobgoblins that might be found harassing the countryside.

Lastly Angus McHaggis is a highlander from Scotland.  Angus keeps to the old ways and carries a great claymore to mete out the king's justice to the forces of the unnatural.

For my first batch of baddies I painted a bunch of Dark Wolves.  For these models I used the WizKids wolves.  The thing I like best about these wolves is that they scale properly with 28mm figures as they are the size of a large dog, and not the size of a horse that could be ridden by a man-sized figure.

Next up are the goblins.  I used the Hobbit Escape From Goblintown goblins which are some of my favourite goblin figures EVER.  I have used these for a bunch of other projects and I'm sure I'll continue finding more uses for these excellent figures.

No horror game set in this era would be complete without ghosts.  Again WizKids had the perfect ghosts.  These are great transparent figures that fit the theme of the game perfectly.  I particularly like the ghost lady carrying her severed head and floating through the headstone.

One of the figures I struggled with the most was the Hobgoblin.  The description of the Hobgoblin in The Silver Bayonet doesn't really match the design or aesthetic of any of the hobgoblin miniatures I am aware of.  I decided to ignore the names on packages and actually landed on a Reaper orc that seemed like a perfect fit for the description in the game.  I'm really happy with how this figure turned out and could see adding more of these style orcs down the road.

One of the other models I struggled with was finding an appropriately scaled Scarecrow.  Surprisingly (to me at least) most of the Scarecrow miniatures on the market are surprisingly large and over-scaled compare to man-sized figures.  Once again WizKids had a model that was both a great size and had a nice look to it.

I'm off to a pretty good start.  I have a few more packs/units of monsters to add as well as a bunch more single figure entries to be completely ready for the full campaign.  I'm hoping to get at least another dozen miniatures done this week, and then I might switch gears to scenery next week just to change things up.

And as always remember The Silver Bayonet and all the miniatures I've painted here are available from your friendly local game store.

Thanks for checking in,

-Jay

Space Truckers

 Last year I started working on some figures to play Stargrave with.  I managed to play one game before things started getting all lock-downy again.  With extra time at home I got interested in running a (then) new RPG called Those Dark Places which a rules-light industrial sci-fi game and thought these figures would be perfect, so I kept working on them.  After spending months slowly picking away at these figures the company that produced them are now releasing a game called Violent Dark that these will be folded into.

Okay.  So a lot of vague 'maybe this, maybe that' allusions to what I might want to use these figures for but why should you care about a theoretically random collection of figures?  Well.....

The crew of the Nostromo

Dallas and Kane

Brett and Parker

Ash and Lambert

Ripley and Jonesy

(I finally have a space cat in my collection!)

I would say if you're a fan of sci-fi horror (or just sci-fi....or just horror) you should definitely check out Black Site Studios collections.  They are very much a 21st century miniatures company as you have the option to either buy physical models from them, or STL files for those of you with 3D printers.

There is definitely a lot more Black Site Studios figures in my near future.  Keep watching this space, where incidentally; no one can hear you scream.

-Jay