Number Five is Alive

Delvers Lost in the Dungeons of Doom! V - Law vs Chaos is now live on Kickstarter.

This superb range of Heroic Scale Old-School style fantasy miniatures by master sculptor Darcy Perry of Star Hat Miniatures are the perfect thing for your RPG table.

The boys in blue.

Two main sets of figurines are available: Law ...and Chaos (as you may have guessed);
and if you acquire both, you'll also be rewarded with a selection of bonus Epic Hero minis ...a selection which is growing as the campaign progresses.

Bad boys bad boys...

One of the Epic bonus figurines was actually based on a character from a Dungeon Crawl Classics campaign I run. It was amazing seeing Brodo, the Eternally Cursed come to life!

The luckiest unlucky rogue who ever lived.

You too could have a custom designed figure of your favourite character lovingly crafted by the talented Mr Perry, by snapping up the one and only Legendary Hero pledge!

Strike while the sculpting tools are hot!

Jump on over to check out Darcy's Delvers Lost in the Dungeons of Doom! V - Law vs Chaos now.

You won't regret it!

:)

Wandering into the Wasteman Wasteland

Recently, a friend of mine pointed me in the direction of a rather interesting looking war game he had discovered. A game set in a post apocalyptic world of mutants, weird critters, kooky robots and other totally mad and wonderful things.

The game was Wasteman, with rules and figures designed by the talented Mr Jason Fairclough.

Well, after seeing the figs sculpted by Mr Fairclough for Wasteman, and especially for another upcoming title of his, Yeoman, I was inspired (with a bit of gentle goading from my friend Lewis) to create something that may be found wandering among the desolate wastelands.

Here is the yet unnamed critter...

With teeth like that you need a good toothpick.

Party at the front, slightly malnourished at the back.

Why, hello there.

I think he needs a hand ...or a tentacle.

Mmmmm, hands and a head ...or something else?

"Is that how he started off?" asks my son ..."he looks weird".

Built upon a twisted wire endoskeleton, a thin coating of Greenstuff (2-part epoxy putty) was applied. Over that I built him up with a 50/50 mix of Sculpey: firm and Sculpey: original beige. I then finished him off with a little more Greenstuff.

Pretty happy with the result ...I have a feeling there may be more to come ;)

You've got to check out also, another who has been tempted to take up the sculpting tools, inspired as well by Mr Fairclough, to create his first figurine ...and it's brilliant! Head over to Darcy Perry's blog and take a gander.

Happy gaming!

:)

A Storm's a Comin'

Taking a bit of a break from my usual wranglings to throw a splash of paint at some greenskin archers.

Just need a dose of varnish.

Strolling through French fields. 

High five!

2-stroke shields.

They're for an avid tabletop war-gaming mate who unfortunately couldn't make it down the island this weekend.
It appears he's a touch apprehensive regarding a certain encroaching patch of inclement weather ... and likely with good reason. Cyclone Pam (who was rather cruel to the unfortunate people of Vanuatu) is but a few hours north of us and coming our way.
Here's where she's sitting as I write this...

Lets hope the chap who put our house together knew what he was doing!

Well, time to batten down the hatches ~ fingers crossed I will post again soon ...gulp.

Goblinson Crusoe

I'm happy to say it's been a productive few days here ...in creating and gaming.
With nary a minute to spare, the goblins have been completed. Well, they still need a lick of varnish ...but hey. With very little help from myself (I just did a few tidies and the basing) my young lassie has now wrapped up her first commission. I must say she looks rather relieved the task is complete; those goblins, though they look quick and easy can actually be fiddly little blighters.

Focussed on the task at hand.

The usual suspects.

Lets hope they last at least one round on the battlefield.

A little further progress has been made on pimping my copy of Robinson Crusoe: AotCI.

It came to me that a great token tray addition would be one of those 'multi dish snack platters' made from wood. I trotted down to the local Briscoes, as I had a feeling I had seen something similar there.

I was in luck; they had some sweet 3-dish trays, and whattaya know ...they were on sale. I grabbed 4 of them for a meagre $14 dollars total! They are all pretty much hand-made so each is a little different giving them a good desert island vibe. And I must say, those nice smooth curved dish sides make retrieving the tokens very pleasant ;)

Whittle me a dish Friday.

I've also had a request from another 'Crusoe player for some custom tokens. So I've been busy hunting, catching fish and baking some goodies. I still have to gather some bananas and coconuts ... a bit of fresh fruit in the diet's always a good thing.

I'm currently making 4 sets worth of the custom playing pieces (food/wood/hides/markers). One has dibs on it already, but the other three will be available for purchase once complete.

Prices have not been set as of yet and the items are currently under construction ... but if you are interested feel free to leave a comment or pm me.

Mmmmmmmm... tasty.

Speaking of RC:AotCI, my wife and I had a fabulous game last night (actually it's been on the table for a couple of evenings). It was more like "Robinson Crusoe: Adventures at the Luxury Resort".

We were playing the first mission, "Castaways", and just couldn't believe how well it went. We managed to get the short cut and hatchet very early on, wove a basket and discovered new flock. Even with a couple of dubious events that rolled in later in the game we still managed a win in round 10! Our blazing bonfire signalling the passing ship the second it came into view. It was unheard of.

It was a stark comparison to the game we had had previously; where we had been plagued by non stop torrential rain, bug bites and infected wounds, and the loss of nearly all our items ~ on top of that, we all died in the final round in separate incidents ...I (the Explorer) slipped down a bank and fell to my death while exploring, Friday (also exploring) had an unfortunate adventure, and being on one life at the time, also came to a sticky end, then finally my wife (the Cook) succumbed to the elements as a final vicious storm tore through the camp.

Ahh .. I just love the way you never know what this game's going to throw at you ;)

A tropical resort indeed!

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.

Luckily we have a good mix of both here.

:)

The Storyteller and the Goblins

With the encroaching arrival of the Teller of Tales, my daughter is having to pull finger and get to it. Partially my fault ..ok, mostly my fault, for not trimming them up with the knife & needle file and undercoating them ...sooner.

Eek ...The goblins are coming!

Anyway, a troop of devious Goblin Archers is now under way.
To keep her composed and the task progressing I touched up the odd drawing-outside-the-lines.
I also couldn't resist the goblin's charms and found I had to paint one myself ;)
And in a handful of hours over a couple of days 4 of 10 are complete ...sans basing.

It's the pointy bits that hurt the most

Pincushin' 'em boys!

She's pretty happy with herself :) ...so more green-skins on the horizon.

For Whom the Bell Tolls

Off school today with a suspected case of the Rotavirus, my son of 5 lay upon the couch watching a couple of Hayao Miyazaki's (of whom I'm a huge fan) flicks: 'Ponyo' and 'Castle in the Sky', followed by yet another, 'Arietty', oh, and then another 'Porco Rosso' - Ghibli sure do put out some great animations.

While the back to back movie screenings were in progress, I decided it was a fine time to finish one of my numerous 'partly painted' numbers I have lying around here. I had painted the chain mail on his chest and the armour plate on his belly, but for some reason, ten or so years back, had stopped there.

I'd picked him up many a time over the years and admired him, thinking "One day". Well, today was that day.

One of Heartbreaker's 'Plague Knights'.

Already has a home in a new SoBH warband.

I think he turned out not too badly, well, good enough for the table at least ;)

Elementary my dear Watson

The lens on my camera isn't too hideous ...  it unfortunately though isn't a macro. I can get some pretty good results with it shooting my minis ... but I thought, just for fun, I'd grab my old hand magnifying glass - set it up held firmly in the small vice I have here, and take a few shots through it.

I must say I was pretty happy with the results ~ and the reflections in the magnifying glass as well as the odd focal blurs I feel gives them a curious ethereal feeling.

The figures are from the small display cabinet I have on my wall above my PC; all 3 were painted more than a few years back...

 

Rogue Trader - Cyborg - Citadel.

Eldar Farseer conversion - with Vermin Lord crystal and Orc Sword - Citadel

Plague Knight - Heartbreaker

Hmmmm ....I think I shall use the magnifying glass again :)

I Smell a Rat!

If you've checked out my Pimp My Game page you would have seen I'm slowly but surely tweaking up my copy of Mice and Mystics (by Jerry Hawthorne of Plaid Hat Games). It's a charming adventure game where the heroes are mice (go figure) ...well, humans that have been transformed into mice. I'm a huge fan of this game .. I love it! My kids love it, and now, we have their friends scratching at the door (not dissimilar to Brodie the Cat) trying to get in on the action. And who could blame them. The story is a big part of the game, it's well written and really draws you in. There's action, intrigue, treasure, traps, magic and battles galore. Rats, bugs, the resident castle cat, a deadly crow ...and more!

Well, I've just thrown up my latest additions, some of the figurines, painted...

This is Filch, the Scamp - watch your pockets, he won't hesitate to relieve you of your change.

Check out the other figs on the Pimp my Game page.

:)

Like father like daughter

My daughter (aged 11) asked the other day ..."Dad, can I paint one of your miniatures?".
I rummaged around in my box, found a plastic GW Orc Archer; I gave her a couple of brushes, a tumbler of water, some paint and my home-made wet palette and I must admit I was quite surprised with how well she did. I gave her a step by step of how do do things along the way, but she did all the painting herself ~ bar a couple of touch ups and a highlight or 2 at the end I helped her with.

This was the result...

I think I've got some competition ;)

Following that, she was keen do do more. These ones she did without any 'hands on' help from me, just the occasional bit of advice...

Drumroll...

She decided this one was called Ralph

Mayhem and chaos

She then pointed up a warband for Song of Blades and Heroes, including Ralph, his two Orc 'friends', and a rag-tag band of other misfits; then proceeded to wipe me from the table without herself suffering a single casualty -_o

Good times.