Sorcerous Portal

Greetings folks… sure, shock and surprise, I am alive, and in fact posting. The horrible truth is that I have been working on plenty of hobby related tasks, but I have been terrible completing projects, and even worse at taking pictures. What I have to share with you all is a quick piece of terrain I threw together over the past three days. I am playing in a Warhammer Fantasy Escalation League, and one of the really cool features of the campaign is that everything is achievement based (instead of solely win/lose). Players accrue achievements but building unique armies with various restrictions, pulling off feats on the game table, and engaging in the hobby side of the game. There are achievements for conversion work, having your army painted by the last Friday of the month, creating a unit filler each month, and finally for creating a piece of terrain.

I had every intention of achieving all of those milestones this month, but it simply didn’t happen. Instead I am staring down five half way finished projects, and I realized that I would earn no extra achievements… unless I could find some focus.

Enter terrain making. As I have mentioned before, I have gotten into casting with Hirst Arts molds. Sadly I have spent the last three months out of Hydrostone, but that situation has changed. A family trip down to Sacramento (Alpha Fired Pottery Supplies) and I am happily sitting on 150lbs of the precious gypsum based material. Upon returning home, casting commenced with great gusto, and I was averaging 5 casts of 5-6 molds each time per day. My collection of building bits grows.

Now staring down the looming deadline of the last Friday of the month, I latched on to the idea of a terrain piece as a last result to pick up an achievement. Since the latest edition of Warhammer Fantasy was released, I have wanted to build at least one piece of each special terrain mentioned in the big red book. To that end, I started looking at what cast pieces I had, and what terrain features we always seem to be missing a piece for. I settled on the Sorcerous Portal.

My initial plans for the piece, and what it evolved into are very different, and I have to admit that it is one of the things that I love so much about the Hirst Arts bricks. You casts hundreds of blocks, looking at some of the pieces and wondering “when the heck will I ever use that piece…let alone 20?” Then you start playing around, dry fitting pieces, and you learn that the obscure and scorned brick suddenly become integral to your plans.

I decided to give the piece a quick desert paint job to go along with the army that I am playing for the Escalation League, my Knights Templar Bretonnians. I will hopefully be posting some images of the work that I have done on that force in the near future. But until next time, good luck, and get creative!

Bastion of the Templar

Alright folks, more of a teaser this time. When Warhammer 40k 6th Edition first released, I remember Travis (I believe) asking folks what they were going to do to create Bastions and other terrain pieces for their armies. I know that he was specifically thinking of non-Imperium and xenos, but I felt that my Black Templar needed something special as well.

This is what I have come up with for my chosen of the Emperor.

As you can see, it is a structure with two floors and a battlement on top. All of the floors are removable, so models can be placed inside if I like (though aside from the battlement, I do not have to with the new rules.)

The basic structure has been built with Hirst Arts blocks, and other little bits. All that remains is to add the weaponry... namely the four heavy bolters and the Quad Gun.

As Templar do not have official air power at the moment, this will be one part of my anti-air defense system. For 125pts, the structure can hold two squads (1 inside the building, and 1 on the battlement), provides armor 14 protection, and has 5 weapons to hide my anti-air weapon from destroyed results.

Now I just need to get this finished...along side all of the other final projects... for this weekend. Norcon approaches!

Full Steam Ahead!

That’s right, slow but still here, my lack of posts does not stem from a lack of hobbying.. quite the opposite.. I just wish that I had a photographer to hang around and snap photos while I work… It would be much easier! With Norcon (our Northern California Wargaming Convention) just around the corner, I have been spending every possible moment painting models and building terrain for the upcoming tournaments and games. I realized that I had to post something to show you all what I have been busily working on, so here is a peek:

Dystopian War terrain!

That’s right, with a few games under our belts in public, I have grown tired of playing with scraps of miss-matched flotsam that myself and Gramut pretend are islands. Therefore, I present the following:

Based on thin MDF Board, as using flock, clump foliage, sand, balsa wood for the buildings, plaster, lava rock, bark, and foam core I now have four decent sized islands to be proud of.

I also have used model railroad plaster molds to create the smaller rocky islands scattered about in the pictures (purchased at our local RC Hobbies and More).

Sure, I need about three more larger islands to properly outfit a four by six foot table, but that will have to wait until after Norcon.

Just for interested parties, another major project that I am working on is a Bastion for my Black Templar 40k Army. I do not have images yet, but expect to face it on the field of battle at Norcon!

That’s all for now folks, I hope to see you at Norcon!

Turning Japanese

Greetings or perhaps konnichiwa would be more appropriate … it has been a long time since I have updated the ‘ol blog, but I hope to remedy that situation. So without further ado, cue the a-tonal woodwinds and taiko drums, because we are heading into the mysterious East!

It is my turn to wear the “Game Master” mantle in my roleplaying group, and breaking from my traditional venue of 7^th Sea, I have traded game systems with Grant (from 2D6) and will be running another favorite from Alderac Entertainment: Legend of the Five Rings.  

For those unfamiliar with the setting, think of game heavily influenced by Feudal Japan and Samurai… but that happily borrows culture, traditions, and stylistic elements from other Asian countries like Korea, China, Thailand, and even the Philippines. It is honestly one of my favorite games, and I am really looking forward to seeing how the players interact with my story!

Legend of the Five Rings (referred to as L5R for the rest of the blog) is not a miniatures based roleplaying game, and aside from a small, easily over looked sidebar, there are few rules that make using miniatures intuitive. However, our gaming group counts many wargamers among its members, and if we can incorporate models and terrain, we would like to do so. Also, I must admit that in our previous campaign, our Game Master Jon (from Retreat Condition)introduced terrain and had us use measuring tapes for the fight scenes… and it was epic! So there is the real reason… like iron sharpens iron (or perhaps it’s just a sick gamer form of keeping up with the “Joneses”), I must now make terrain for a feudal Japanese game.

So here is the start of what I have been working on over the past few weeks. None of the pieces are actually finished… though some are getting close. Still, I’m sure that you have all come to expect that (I do not hide the fact that I have completion issues!) At this point you can see that I am working on terrain for a small Japanese village: and I have two smaller homes, and one slightly larger (for a village headman), two sections of rice paddies, a Torii arch, and a stone courtyard that I will use as a dueling arena.

The buildings are coming along nicely. I used Hirst arts blocks for the foundations, and created the raised floor out of foam core with scored balsa wood. The Walls were built with foam core, detailed with balsa wood, and anchored in place by the balsa wood pillars (that are actually sunk through the floor and are glued to the base of the terrain on the larger building).

From here, I plan to finish painting the buildings, add flocking and foliage (with aquarium plants) and finish the roofs. Because these are peasant buildings, I bought a broom, and will be cutting the bristles and gluing them to a foam core base to make thatched roofs. They will of course be removable so that we can move models around for our games. I also will attempt to make small modular “rice paper walls” that I can set inside the buildings to create different rooms. Of course, we will have to see how this actually works out.

Next, the rice paddies look simple to make, but they were the most time consuming, and it was mainly because I chose an insane method of creating the rice. The trouble was that I liked how it looked… so I had to keep going with the technique. Here is what I did. First, everything is based on MDF board for stability… every terrain piece I make from now on will be made with detail AND durability in mind! I then took thin balsa wood and glued it around the edges, creating a “berm” and when this had dried, I glued sand over it to create the texture. I primed the terrain at this point, and then painted everything (water green, berms brown. Then the “fun” began. Using tweezers, gap-filer glue, and very small pieces that I cut from an aquarium plant, I began to “plant” my rows of rice. Honestly… it took hours! It became a project that I didn’t want to work on, but knew that I had to finish, and it was looking so good as it slowly came together. I began bringing it to my sons swim practice and kung fu classes, getting the work done an hour at a time when I couldn’t be distracted by computers and chores.

Finally finished, I used GW water effects, poured it in, and let it dry for about three days.  At this point all I need to do is add some flock and maybe a few plants to the berms. Again, it took a long time, but I do plan on making three more at this point, all angular but in different shapes so that they can be set up together and still make interesting patterns.

Next you can see the Torii Arch, which is one of my favorite pieces that helps to tie the theme together… It screams “Japanese” and was actually fun to make. Everything was done with round dowels and balsa wood. To finish the base needs to be flocked and plants added. Also, I want to paint the arch a shade or two brighter in red, and if I can find the right piece, I might hang a scroll from the top lintel.  

Then there is my stone courtyard / dueling arena. Honestly, I was playing with spare Hirst Arts blocks, creating patterns, and I saw something that I could use. The piece has been primed grey, and needs a lot of painting love, but it will be ready to soak the blood from one or two Iaijutsu duels in the near future!

Finally, here is a collection of walls that actually started this whole Japanese terrain project in the first place. I want to create a samurai “compound – walls surrounding a few buildings: shrine, dojo, living quarters. These pieces were again built using the Hirst Art blocks. I then glued balsa wood and filled the top portion with spackle to create the “plaster” look. I am still casting the tiles that top the walls, and adding plaster to the corner pieces, but they are coming along nicely. Ultimately I will work on building a working gate, and I am currently torn over whether I should base the pieces on thin MDF or just leave them free standing…  there are advantages to both.

From here, I would like to add some more buildings. I am sketching plans for a temple (picked up some cheap Buddhas is different poses to act as the Rokugani fortunes) and I would love to build a pagoda. I just placed a “father’s day” order for five more Hirst Arts molds, so we shall see what inspiration they give for more projects.

Well, that’s it for the moment. Next post I will take some time to show you some of the models that will be battling on this terrain… that’s right, I have samurai! 

Super Dungeon Explore FTW!

Greetings folks, and welcome once more to the musings of an ADD gamer. Once more (well, to stay par for the course) I will be showing off a number of different projects that I currently find myself working on. First off, as I showed in the last post, here is my finished Standard Bearer for my Bretonnian (Knights Templar) forces – Philip of Milly.

He was entered into the Armory’s Single Fantasy Miniature painting contest, and though there was a decent turnout with some absolutely gorgeous figures (Howard and Eric, they were both amazing), I was able to squeak out first place! I have to say that I absolutely love that we are starting to get more local painting contests, as it keeps pushing us all to do our best, and experiment with new techniques. It also gives me a chance to drool at some brilliant brush and conversion work, and remind me how lucky I am that the Northern California wargaming crowd really does have some top notch hobbyists.

With another painting contest down, I now set my sights on April 20^th as the due date for Scotty’s next Warmachine painting contest – this time with the theme being Warcasters. Now I am a dabbler in Privateer Press, and though I love the game, I don’t put as much time into building my Warmachine forces as I do for other systems. I love the genre, and the look of most of the models (though Khador Assault Kommados, how I despise you!) but I think my problem is the sheer number of special rules. Sure it gives the game amazing flavor, and something to distinguish it from everything else in the wargaming genre, but for me, I enjoy knowing what each army and unit can do in each game, and I can never seem to memorize everything in Warmachine. I like to know that I have lost a game because I was truly outplayed… not because I was ignorant of the plethora of special rules for each caster and unit add-on. I’m sure this gets better when you get more games in, so hopefully this will slowly fade as a liability the more games I get in.

Still, with all of that said, I do have a really nice Khador army, primarily infantry based, and painted in the color scheme of the 5^th Border Legion (drab green). Looking to build a force that I currently own, I did decide to choose a Khador warcaster for the painting competition, and settled on Kommander Oleg Strakhov – founder of the Khador Assault Kommandos (I did mention I hate those figures right?)

Actually, Strakhov is a great looking figure, and I am struggling right now with two major questions. The first is actually what I can do to make his base more dynamic. I mean really, after the swirling leaves on the Wilder from earlier this year, I have set a bar that I have to continually raise. The next question is whether to paint the Kommander in the drab green of the 5^th Border Legion like the rest of my forces, or actually go Khador red, and use him as the beginning of a new “force” within my army. Both are appealing, and I will just have to wait and see what I decide.

Alright, so up next in the gaming world (for the months of April and May) a local gamer, Don, will be running a Mordheim campaign. Now I absolutely love Mordheim, and am really looking forward to this series of games kicking off. I’ve played many different gangs in the past, but my favorite has to be the pirates – what is not to like about a gang that gets to carry around a boarding cannon! I have a human pirate gang all painted and ready to go, from past years of Mordheim action, but I decided to use this as a spring board for another army that I am very slowly working on: my Warhammer Fantasy Pirate Orcs.

Therefore I am using the standard pirate gang rules, but all of my characters will be orcs and goblins, and this will give me a chance to brush up on my Green Stuffing skills and try to build on the basic theme. As you can see here, this is what I have created so far. The goblins are the easiest, as their legs can fit standard Empire Militia bodies and arms, and there is only a little greenstuff work needed to attach the heads.

The more difficult will be the orcs, but I think these test models show what can be accomplished with a little time and creativity. I actually have a decent collection of Empire figures (to act as casualties for the bases of my Wood Elf army) so I have been taking anything with big feathers or black powder for my salty orcish dogs. (If anyone has spare parts lying around, please let me know and maybe we can work out a deal… I am definitely looking for all of the pistols and handguns for my orcs, as well as older empire militia bits for my goblins!)

Which brings me to my final musing and the reason for the post’s title. Super Dungeon Explore! No, seriously, this is a great game developed by Soda Pop miniatures that I have been having an absolute blast playing. Sure, it was a beast to assemble, and if you are only a board gamer (not into miniature wargaming) and you open the box, you might be overwhelmed with what is required of you just to play your first game. Soda Pop is obviously a miniature company first, so a lot of time and detail went into their figures, and it does take some effort to get it all looking right.

But that said, as a miniature gamer, once the figures were assembled, I knew that it would be an absolute crime not to paint these figures, and give the game the special treatment it deserves. Now to get everyone ready for some brush love, there was a decent amount of green-stuffing required, but the extra time will definitely be worth it in the end. I went ahead and chose white primer for the heroes (not sure if I will do it for the minions) mainly because I wanted the cheery bright (nay, neon) colors that the game’s artwork screams for.

As you can see below, I’ve really just begun, and this will be a project that will take a bit of time. For one, it is working in a palette of colors that I am definitely not used to (can we say the grim dark 40^th millennium!) Still, with my first hero painted, I really love how it is all turning out

Up first is the Barbarian, a totally murdering mistress of mayhem in the game, and currently my wife’s favorite character to play (hence the fact that it is the first one finished!).

Next is the Royal Paladin, and one of the most important characters in a party due to his amazing ability to heal. I really love the anime eyes!

Though this is becoming a huge project (and derailing me from finishing some of my other commitments) I really look forward to this game being totally finished. I actually ordered the Battle Foam custom trays for this game, which should be arriving on Thursday so that I can protect all of the painted figures.

My next step is actually going to be making custom 3D boards using the Hirst Arts molds and casting in Hydrostone… I really do want to go all out on this game.

Well, I talked so much about the modeling, but the game play is amazing as well. In Super Dungeon Explore (SDE) one player takes on the role of the Consul (essentially the Dungeon Master) and the other players : 1-5, take on the role of Heroes intent on raiding the dungeon and defeating the boss at the end. To destroy the heroes, the consul has access to minions and mini-bosses, which spawn from spawn points like the arcade game Gauntlet, and in the end the final boss (a dragon in the base set). Though the players can all choose to “go it alone”, the game play and difficulty make it necessary for the players to band together and work as a team. To be successful players need to focus on burning down the spawn points, and really learning how to distribute loot and potions to keep the team ready for all threats.

Playing the consul, it is your job to defend the spawn points, and keep the players occupied killing mobs so that the final boss shows up amidst a great swarm of minions, and make the job of wiping a party that much easier. As my players are starting to really get the game mechanics down, and are working well as a team, it is getting harder and harder to defeat them. Sadly, I think the main goal of any Consul should be to focus on one poor player and absolutely destroy them so that there are less heroes by the time the dragon spawns. Unfortunately this has the negative consequence of having a friend sit on the side as everyone else plays (potentially for an hour or so) with nothing to do but watch and wait for one of two resurrection items in the entire game. Still, this is something I will need to work on.

Well folks, thanks for the patience (and perseverance to finish reading such a long post)… I get a bit wordy at times… just ask my wife, or my roleplaying group!

Be Glorious!

Yes folks, here is the mid-week update that I promised, and to keep with my painting theme we have titled this post with the battle cry of the Knights Templar “Beau Seant” – Be Glorious!

Behold Philip of Milly, the Battle Standard Bearer of my Knights Templar that have found themselves thrown into the Chaotic Warhammer world. Were he to remain on earth, he would go on to become the 7^th Grand Master of the Templar order, after Bertrand de Blanchefort (my army’s general) but in this new world there is no telling what his ultimate fate will be.

Obviously there is much work to be done before I turn him in for the painting contest on Saturday, but I promised to give some shots of what I was working on (and this way I could also prove that I really do have this many projects on my burner). Once I get the main colors completed, I would like to go back and do some free hand work with patterning, at least on the banner, but eventually on the blanket (caparison I believe) and tabard as well.

I absolutely love the Knights Templar, (which originally drew me to the Black Templar for Warhammer 40k), and I do look forward to playing against an army of Chaos Daemons and setting about smiting them with my religious warriors of Awesome!

In other news, I received a parcel slip in the mail sent from Cool Mini or Not (supposedly the package was too big to deliver to my door… thanks USPS!)… so that means that by tomorrow afternoon my copy of Super Dungeon Explorer will be in my hands! Huzzah!

They have a Cave Troll!

Greetings folks, it’s another week, and well past time for another post. Sadly it was a busy week in real life, so I was late in posting new content, but we are remedying it now! In real world news my eldest son started swim team again, and we both started Kung Fu as well (Wu Ying Tao with sensei Blain Cort) so that has been keeping us busy, but I have made a lot of progress, especially with my Lord of the Rings project.

Which brings me to the hobby side of my week. Painting-wise this week was actually very fruitful. First, a shout out to all of my paint-night homies! It was a successful night and I really enjoyed getting together and hanging out while trying to motivate each other to get our figures looking great. In fact, this week’s paint night was the catalyst for finishing my 750 points of Isengard for Lord of the Rings. That’s right, four warbands with leaders fully painted and flocked.

And we begin with the leader of my force, Braagash. He’s an Uruk-Hai captain armed with Heavy Armor and Shield to make him a hardy beast and a tough one to take down (Defense 7). He was also created from a basic Uruk-Hai warrior though I shaved off the smaller helmet crest, and built the full sized one you see above out of plastic card and a little greenstuff.

Next we have Ugluk, though in my force I am using him as another Uruk-Hai captain equipped just like Braagash above. I would love to use Ugluk in my army (as he has Might 3!) but his special rule is difficult to use with the expensive Uruk-Hai in my force, and he only has a Defense of 5…which is actually one of the lower in my force. Since he leads a block of warriors with pikes and shields, I need him to be able to take a few hits in combat, hence the more armored setup I run when he is generic.

We’ve already mentioned Mauhur, and though he only has 2 Might, he is still perhaps my favorite named Uruk-Hai character. He continues to make me proud with his 3 attacks, and his ability to upgrade Uruk-Hai scouts to Marauders.

Finally rounding out my characters in the 750 force is Vrasku, another named Uruk-Hai. With 3 Might and a crossbow that can fire twice each round, what is not to like about this plucky commander. He is always deployed slightly behind my main line, and leads my crossbow armed warriors. Still, I often try to keep him in range of other Uruk-Hai as his 3 Might has plenty of uses in my force. I’m still waiting to be amazed by my missile troops each game, but thankfully Vrasku usually does fairly well for himself, and I know a few dwarves are still recovering from his lucky shots.

Now this last Friday I got to play through 2 battles: the first at 750pts vs. Sensei Cort’s Ent/Eagle army; and the second a 1000pt battle against Joe’s Grey Company with The Hunters. The first game was an eye opener. Even though my opponent only had 6 figures on the field, each had Fight 7, Defense 8, 3 Attacks, 3 Wounds, and caused Terror. Aside from the struggle of actually getting into combat (Terror tests in Lotr SBG suck) my main frustration was the Fight 7! This meant that if the opponent rolled a single six (on three dice) then there was no way I could win the battle, and with a Strength of 8, it usually meant 2-3 dead Uruk-Hai in each exchange. I did some wounds, but not enough to bring the mighty forest spirits down. Now I am set with my current 750 list, so I need to take some time thinking up tactics to use against this foe. My current thought is to set up further back and trust in some lucky crossbow shots… see if I can bait the eagles forward into a confrontation away from the Ent battleline. Otherwise, it truly depends on the scenario. The one we played was “kill the other guy”, but I think he would have been hard-pressed to win one of the objective scenarios… We will just have to see! Next time good sir, next time!

And here is the newest member of my growing army. Of course I am still working on him- his shield is being painted, his base needs flocking, and I will need to add some white hands to his armor as well (I am thinking of adding a big three fingered troll hand as well… I think he would be jealous if only the Uruk-Hai got to finger paint!) The troll was a treat, purchased with my Gift Certificate I won from the Warcaster Attachment painting competition from February. He currently does not have a place in my 750 force, but I made room in the 1000pt. I’m just happy to have the figure, and remember when it first came out how much I wanted to paint it even though I did not play LOTR back then.

Well the 1000pt game went better for the forces of Saruman, and we took to the field against rangers and elves in a Grey Company list. To make the battle more epic and appropriate, my opponent Joe included the Three Hunters: Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli. The battle was objective based, and I believe that this actually played to my army’s strengths. The battle was supposed to be fought over 5 objectives, one placed in the center of the board, and the other 4 placed by the two players, I placed both fairly close to the center line, and Joe placed his further back (playing to the strengths of a missile heavy force). Thankfully I have played plenty of Warhammer 40k which is often objective based, so taking a look at the field I knew that I had to hold 3 objectives, and could forget about the others. Therefore, I set up to defend the central objective and the two that I had placed, as the three could be supported by each other.

The battle was Epic! To be fair, my force was broken first, though the good guys soon followed, and there were some heroic battles to keep everyone entertained. Highlights for me began when the ever troublesome Gimli was finally laid low by my stalwart Uruk-Hai. For once I Yahtzee’d on my dice, and sent Gimli deep into the dirt (isn’t that where dwarves like to be anyways?) Next I had an ongoing engagement with one of my Uruk Hai captains (with pike support) and my cave troll against Aragorn. We ran through his Fate, ground him down to 1 wound, and then he got away, running from us and staying just out of our reach. Finally (seeing Legolas within striking range) my captain gave up the chase, and turned his attention on the Prince of Mirkwood, and my troll pulled a Fezig… The moment Aragorn head came into view… I hit it with a ROCK! (I know, I know, my way is not very sportsman like). Sure it was a lucky throw, but it was nice to see the hope of all of the Free People ended with a rock smashed to the skull… moral victory for evil! TO add insult to injury Legolas went down as well, and when the mission finally ended (because my forces had been reduced to only 25% of our starting numbers, my Uruk Hai were sitting on four objectives, uncontested. Victory Isengard!

Alright, and now for a change of game systems, this week will be all about Warhammer Fantasy. This Saturday (at 1:30pm) the Armory is hosting a 2500pt Warhammer Fantasy Tournament, and I will be leading the hosts of Athel Loren with my wood elves.

There is an image of the “free wood” my army gets to place before deployment. Many of the locals have seen it, but I am fairly proud of the piece, and wanted to give it as an example to other wood elf players of what we can do.

Along with the Tournament, there is a painting competition that Chris mentioned. He said “Paint a fantasy figure from Warhammer Fantasy”… well, with that said I have to put something forward. It doesn’t have to be from the army that I am playing at the Tourney, so I have decided to put some attention into a Bretonnian Knight. So I have less than a week to assemble and paint a Bretonnian knight in the Knights Templar color scheme that I am going for. Wish me luck. My hope is to put up another blog entry before the week is over showing any work that I have done on the figure.

Well, it was a bit long winded, but I am done for the time being. Off to paint some Knights Templar and get myself ready for a weekend of Warhammer Fantasy… playing so many different war games means that you really need the time to get your brain thinking under the right rule set!