Getting ready for; Last Days!

We're about a month away from the release of my friend Ash's first game from Osprey Games; Last Days.

I'm gearing up to play some games ahead of release so I'll save a review until actual release week but I thought I'd just touch on a few things as I dust off a lot of the models I was painting back when I started this blog.

First up Last Days like all Osprey Games I'm familiar with is miniatures-neutral which means you can play it with any models you already have in your collections, or you can go out and cherry-pick all the coolest stuff.  This means for anybody already playing a zombie miniature game you already have everything you need, if you're one of those collectors like me who just buys cool models hoping to one day have rules to use them with you're all set as well.

Back during Ash's first pass at the game the forces were themed (cops, survivors, bikers, etc) so I tended to collect and group my figs that way.  Now you can mix and match as each model represents a trope rather than part of a traditional 'force' of soldiers.

In addition to each player's chosen force you will need a small collection of zombie models.  For anyone who's been into the genre previously this will be a non-issue but for newer gamers there are a ton of options for easy cost-effective zombies to fill out your ranks.  Walking Dead zombies are easily available and great durable figures, Warlord Games produces the old Wargames Factory zombies, even board games have some decent quality zombie figures these days, I've personally used a bunch of zombies from Last Night On Earth.

If there's one piece of advice I would give a new modeller collecting together different zombie and survivor figures it would simply be to base them the same (or at least similarly) so they take on the appearance of one coherent collection.

This is my trip through one old figure case, I plan on painting a few new figs up this week to add in, and hopefully you'll all see a full game review in 3-4 weeks.

-Jay

Strange Aeons - The investigators return home

I've gotten the chance to play a lot of Strange Aeons this past year and I've really been enjoying it.  The only place the game fell short for me was in my own pulp figure collection which is very slim and had an entirely desert-theme.  So after a full year of searching out the mysteries of the unknown in faraway lands our intrepid team of Threshold agents is ready to return home and continue their assignments in the new world.

The two figures here are meant to be new versions of Rick O'Connell and Nigel Bottomtooth, two of my existing team members.  Rick is now attired in his suit and ready for undercover work in cities and towns across North America, while Nigel has traded in his bolt-action rifle for a Tommy-gun and is ready to sweep the streets clean.

Here is old Rick and new Rick side-by-side.

Likewise new Nigel and old Nigel side-by-side.

I'll be painting a few more period specific figures when time permits over the next couple of weeks.

-Jay

Hobby Grab Bag - Year End

I've got 4 days left in the year and 4 small projects I want to get done before the ball drops.

First up; Harry The Hammer.  Harry was done as a special edition for the 25th anniversary of Warhammer.  I like the model but don't play a Chaos army for Warhammer so he's sat unpainted in a box for 6-7 years.  I've got an idea I might need some big evil-looking warriors for in the new year so it seemed like it was time for Harry to finally get some paint.

Next up; some replacement investigators for Strange Aeons.  I've played a lot of games of Strange Aeons this past year and I really like the investigator figures I've been using but they are very middle-eastern themed, so I'd like some domestic versions of those exact same characters.  Rick O' Connell and Nigel Bottomtooth should be my first 2 replacements.

I recently picked up the new/current Blood Angels Codex and I would like to make a few changes and upgrades to my existing force to introduce some of the newer elements.  I definitely want some grav weapons because I've been primarily fighting Chaos Marines and I know there are some big Tyranid models coming up against me in the future.  These guys will be the new sergeants for my 2 existing Tactical Squads.

...that leaves my current 2 sergeants out in the cold.  I've decided they will join Captain Fails-a-lot to form the basis of my first Death Company unit.  They will be going through some minor repaints and then I will need to add at least 2 other marines to form a minimum sized unit.

Hopefully you'll see an update a day for the next 4 days!

-Jay

  

Strange Aeons: Threshold vs Serpent-Men!

My painting has been pretty varied over the past year but over the last couple of months the only game I have played with any consistency is Strange Aeons.

For those of you unfamiliar with the game Strange Aeons is basically a Cthulhu skirmish miniatures game where one player controls, grows an develops a team of investigators known as Threshold Agents, the other player plays an ever changing roster of monsters and horrors from beyond time and space.

For today's game my team of Threshold Agents was raiding a tomb wherein a cult of Serpent-men were holding a dark ritual and concealing an ancient spellbook.

My team snuck up to the inner chamber of the crypt and with a few lucky rolls were able to almost immediately neutralise the high-priest of the serpent-men.

Everything seemed to be going my way until reinforcements began pouring in.  A surprise attack took out Diana Skully before she even realised what was happening as she was struck down by a magical bolt from one of the newly arrived cultists.  Nigel Bottomtooth was next to fall to a Serpent-man in close combat.  The agents intrepid leader Rick O'Connell held out on his own for two more turns and even took out another Serpent-man on his own before the weakness brought on by serpent poison made him easy prey for a final attack.

The Threshold Agents will return to fight another day!

-Jay

She started out as as skeptic, but now...

The third member of my initial Threshold team for Strange Aeons is Dianna Skully.  I picked her colour scheme and look based on Dana Scully from the X-Files slightly re imagined as a pulp period character.

I mentioned in my previous post that I wanted a mix of skill types for my characters and Dianna is filling the academic role.  This is a tough character in the game to develop because her lack of combat skills and upgrades has made her survivability (through my first 3 games anyway) quite poor but she hasn't yet developed the skills to be particularly useful as a treasure seeker/researcher.  I did catch one lucky break early on, she sustained a major injury in her first game and got a lucky roll on the recovery chart so she is now basically fearless.

So far I'm happy with what I have but I think I need to add 2 types of figures to this collection so I have some other choices when I inevitably need a replacement for a fallen team member.  First I need at least one and hopefully two generic armed men in suits as replacement Threshold agents if I want another combat oriented character, secondly I need to paint up a couple of legitimately academic looking (students, professors) characters so that I can potentially replace a single fallen Threshold agent with multiple cheaper civilian characters.

-Jay

Two war buddies with the Innsmouth Look

Over the years my gaming hobby has had a strange relationship with H.P. Lovecraft and the Cthulhu mythos.  I've always been a fan of the background and I've read all of Lovecraft's better known works but even though Call Of Cthulhu is one of those RPGs that's been around for ever I have only ever played it once, and that was about 20 years ago.  I'm not sure why it's never been a game system or setting that I've used but I suspect a lot of it has to do with the fact that I'm not entirely convinced nameless horror and not being sure if you're going insane or not works well with a group dynamic.

Fast forward to now and there is a new way to game Cthulhu, Strange Aeons, a skirmish miniature game that none-the-less has some narrative and story telling elements anchored in Cthulhu mythology.  In preparation for my first games I dug through my backlog (by the way the one thing it turns out I don't have a lot of is 'pulp' miniatures) and I came up with these 2 figures to represent my first two Threshold Agents.

For my first 3 Threshold Agents (the third one should be done tomorrow) I took a mix of skill types and equipment.  My leader is Rick O'Connell (the guy with the 2 pistols) and he's an all-round solid fighter type who is brave and decent at either ranged or close combat.  His buddy Nigel Bottomtooth will eventually be filling a sniper role on my team, I say eventually because until he's acquired another skill or two he's actually nothing special with that rifle.  My final team member is more of a scholar but we'll cover her tomorrow.

If you're considering another skirmish game I would definitely give Strange Aeons a look.  The rules are balanced and there are some interesting scenarios in there.  My only knock against it would be that starting out it isn't really possible to end up with any characters that feel like the hero or protagonist of a story...but maybe that's really kind of the point.

-Jay