Remote Gaming over Google Hangouts: Escape from The Dark Sector (Boardgame)

I have played a fantasy board game called "Escape From The Dark Castle" over Google Hangouts with friends several times with good fun results. There, each character's abilities was represented by a special RPC "dice" that scored a result appropriate to their class' abilities - basically their contribution to overcome the challenge card from the story deck. Remotely all the players needed to do was convert a normal d6 to their character dice, as in a simple lookup table (or let me roll the dice for them). I wanted to see if its sister sci-fi board game, "Escape from the Dark Sector" could also be played remotely as well (see below, instead of a castle you have done something wrong in space, and your spaceship is impounded, so you hatch a cunning plan and break out):   

"Dark Sector" is more complicated in that it allows two modes of combat, "ranged" and "close" combat, basically guns of various forms or stabby-spikey-shocky things picked up. This posed a problem as there were far more special dice involved in the range combat. Everybody had to trust me as I rolled the dice (I was also walking through teh rules in the first play but the players were good friends and very patient). It was engrossing and despite the odds our "first time playing the game" luck held (see below, the reverse of the box shows the various its components - notice lots more dice):   

It worked well "as a casual pick-up" game (we finished it over two sessions) and we definitely be planning another outing (a nice dark night sort of game).

Board Game Geek (see link below): 

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/280748/escape-the-dark-sector

Send Reinforcements: I need more Adventurers - Female Elf Adventurers

The eldest son is off at university and it comes as no surprise, he is soon to be found running a Dungeons and Dragons campaign with new found friends (and hopefully attending some lectures). The "gaming group" are obviously expanding into new character classes (or perhaps needing replacements for dead characters?) as he wants an urgent "resupply" from his toy cupboard (see below, lead figures were consequently pulled from their retirement sanctuary of the "cupboard cloisters" [after being carefully packed away on his departure] and thrown once more into the frenzied life of adventuring, with new eager young hands waiting to push them around a tabletop, trying to doing unspeakable things [and probably failing ignominiously, as I remember doing]): 

"Please send elves, female elves, I need adventurous female elves!" Dad sighs. "Don't we all son! Try the University Bar on a Friday night." The son is not impressed. "Thanks dad, I need lead figures! "Ok, looking into my side of the figure collection I bring out some old Grenadier classics. These ladies will be some forty five years old, or older. I wonder if they will survive the modern tabletop experience (see below, a female ranger and a female monk [or so I am lead to believe if I recall the listings correctly], they are painted green so they must obviously elves):

A close up of the figures and to my shame the female monk has some "chipped paint" -- gasp -- on her staff, but fear not she should still be able to blend in nicely to the forest backdrop, pity as they are destined for dungeon delving (see below, farewell my lovely ladies. I fear I may never see you again as they have been passed onto another's (un)worthy hands, I hope you get beyond third level (base) with my son and his friends as I never did - too lightly armoured for my dumb ass style of play, I always needed to be wearing chain or plate mail!):  

Final thoughts? He will be after my Orcs next, which means I will have to finish painting them! I mean I have only had them just under twenty years?

Welcome to the Jungle: Purple Haze - Vietnam Tactical RPG

I was closely watching this game (Purple Haze) , having spotted it a long. long time back and although I did not step in at the Kick Starter phase I joined the fan-base when I pre-ordered it through Zatu Games (after too much sitting on the fence). It is Vietnam, it is very atmospheric, the playing material of of great quality, the mechanisms look very intriguing and apart from the game itself (that looks so good) it meshes with my existing 20mm kit and in the end it was just too good not to get (see below, can you hear the Hendrix guitar rifts and "All along teh Watchtower" kicking off in the background? I can"): 

The unboxing took quite a lot of time, this was a very heavy box! Elements of it will also graduate to teh tabletop.

That Games Workshop Balrog!

Yes, there must be thousands of well intentioned purchases of the GW Balrog figure when "The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring" came out at the cinema and simultaneously hit the Games Workshop retail outlets. Yes, someone, with the gift of the brush, was assigned in each shop to paint the Balrog and told to "do it right" because it was going to be the centrepiece of the shop window display for the next six months (see below, my beastie was assembled years ago - no mean feat in itself and primed grey but got "stuck" in limbo):

But .. as good as the casting techniques were back then, figures of this size and complexity were always  "gappy" at the joins, so my Balrog has stayed many years imprisoned in a box awaiting the Milliput treatment, but alas the thought of rolling two pieces of epoxy putty together (the brown one always annoyingly harder than the green/yellow one) makes you want to run to the kitchen and "make a cup of tea and get very distracted from rolling Milliput" (see below, the next stage - gap filling, not Milliput but Vallejo Plastic Putty to the rescue):  

Vallejo Plastic Putty was an impulse buy, yes I have many plastic kits that would benefit from it, but if truth be told, for the, majority nobody would notice on the wargames table. The enigmatic bottle winked at me but was not put to great use, until one day teh urge took me to find the Balrog. Close inspection of a large fantasy figurine like the Balrog at a RPG (inevitably playing D&D) session is embarrassing though and it why this figure was put to the back of the painting queue (see below, horrid gaps and I mean horrid gaps at last being filled, even Sauron was smiling. The Plastic Putty is squeezed out in controllable amounts that can then be applied by cocktail stick or end of a modelling knife):  

Well if any of my D&D player characters from my ongoing campaign are looking in, firstly "Hi - stop peeking! No good will come of it!". Secondly rest assured I would not be so "mean" as to do something as "mean spirited" as introducing a large, dangerous, short tempered and obviously "too high a level" monster (with quick-kill player character eating potential) into the game, just because I have painted it, What do you take me for? Yes, of course I will quite happily wait twenty odd years until you are ready to tackle it. Please pay no attention to the Bugbear and Demon Prince figures that did that, appearing out of the natural course of events, we call those regrettable incidents, so unsightly. That was plain "mean" and I have learnt my lesson (which was go out of the room before starting to laugh out loud). Carry on, there is nothing to see here, move along Gandalf. 

Twilight 2000 or is it really Twilight 2025?

What I have recently acquired having missed it first time round in the 1980's I decided to get the "reboot version" (see below, a seemingly innocuous pile of gaming material seems to be steadily growing): 

But anyone reading the news lately can be forgiven for thinking it is more like (see below, an ad-hoc bespoke to the game cover): 

We seem to be talking about the same part of the world!

That's Interesting: An International Warhammer Conference Captured on YouTube

Here it is in all its glory (see link below): 

https://www.youtube.com/@warhammerconference

The first video (see below, included so you can get a feel for it):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KNs_Gnq1Z8

I have to say that I am fascinated! In know 40K in particular is so old it has its own creed and history within its history. Fascinated to see the dedication and interest this generates!

Another go at "Ghosts of the Jungle"

In the interests of diverse game play I introduced my D&D group to Ghosts of the Jungle to see how these lads (RPG'ers, aka none mainstream wargamers) played it (see below, I was also experimenting with new novel markers [sourced from the random wood decoration department in "The Works" shop] - 'big feet' markers to say that a square had been entered, and as a "trail" marker [VC tracker to pick up, but teh method was a bit cumbersome]):

As I explained the rules, appropriate beverages [for the Aussies at least] were imbibed (see below, the exotic range of non-standard glassware down to what was left in the cupboard - aka stuff that teenagers like to drink their fizzy pop from): 

Sarge leads his troops off into the jungle and stops when he sees something suspicious. Is it a villager or VC? (see below, green squares are jungle vegetation hiding spots, red ones rural village houses, the warped cardboard sufficed as make-shift road [appropriate as it is a poor quality dirt track]): 

The gameboard gets a bit more complex as the VC and village encounters pose challenges for the strung out ANZAC patrol. The RPG'ers tried not to "shoot first and ask questions later" as the D&D "send the thief scouting forward" strategy came through in droves (see below, edging forward quietly and then ... the shooting started and all hell burst forth): 

Things looked bad as the SAS LRRP got trapped in a mathematical puzzle (insufficient actions to safelt do it and nobody wanted to get stuck in the middle) in trying to safely cross the road (despite all those scary 1970 BBC educational cartoons helping children to cross the road safely), but eventually they "reset" and went round the longer way (see below, the end result was a pile of VC [or are they really just innocent villagers] as the SAS exited safely off table):      

The RPG boys found the rules at first a bit of a challenge in understanding the [simple] game play, but their RPG problem solving skills ensured collaborative play so they got out alive and made devasting use of the "grenade" rule (when the VC attraction to noise makes them "clump" together). All-in-all a  nice diversion, but back to wizards, orcs and fireballs next time!

Waterdeep - The Tavern of the Yawning Portal

Waterdeep - The Tavern of the Yawning Portal (see below, a rather challenging task for a DM to describe to the adventurers as they are hauled up for the first time): 

Instead of walking in through the tavern door like most folk - mysteriously the party are pulled up one by one from a room (which I inserted) in the Lost Mines of Phandelver adventure! A curious seg-way perhaps but the characters seemed up for it!

Charity Shop (II) Sci-Fi - 15mm Shuttle

Along side the 50p 10mm house there was a second bargain to be had (£8 .. well I am calling it a win). For fans of 15mm Sci-Fi Traveller, Star Grunt, Dirt Side I and II players .. your ever useful Universal Carrier of the stars - shuttle or scuttle bug (see below, this one looks very workmanlike and suitable more for your engineer and low class Traveller types - VIPs would complain of the cramp conditions and lack of facilities): 

This should go well with my ad-hoc collection of 15mm Traveller figures from Ground Zero Games!

"Lost Mines of Phandelver" Finish - 2023 D&D Reboot - New Adventure "Dungeon of the Mad Mage" Awaits

And so .. surrounded by the "boss" monster of Phandelver (The Spider) the adventurers "rocked it" courtesy of the Party Leader Magic-User making his experience points up to 5th Level [big time adventures await] - and this figuring out how to use the dreaded Fireball Spell. Kaboom! The room of baddies (giant spiders, bugbears and The Spider himself) was consumed in magical fire [but the party leader was careful to protect his fellow PCs]. This also weakened the stability of dungeon foundations by destroying the dungeon protector - the magical Dwarf God idol [crumble, crumble .. RPG PC vandalism .. so magic is no longer holding the structure together]. With the dungeon collapsing around them in Indiana Jones fashion the party race to a new opening which seems to be "stable" (see below, the ending of The Spider NPC and his dreams of utilising "Fell Magic"):      

A bizarre sight awaits them, a chair on a chain harness, a bucket with a sign, "One at a time. A gold coin for the bucket man" and a long dark vertical chimney with a distance white pinprick of a light, with faint sounds of raucous revelry carrying down the chimney. One by one the adventurers ascend and teh party find themselves in the surreal surrounding of the Tavern of the Yawning Portal, an entrance point to the "Dungeon of the Mad Mage" and "Waterdeep"!

In 2023 the dungeon and dragons adventures restarts with a reboot from The Lost Mines of Phandelver. The PCs also carry the secret of the demonic presence they have released onto the unsuspecting denizens - who (thought they) have troubles enough of their own.

Dungeons and Dragons .. Spoiler alerts: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHtBB3TFfDo

Although in typical Dungeon Master fashion I reserve the right to add bespoke elements and levels in to suit my whim and figure collection (present and future)! In typical strange fashion I have also gone and ordered the prequel! Dragon Heist, describing the setting of the town of Waterdeep!

Cthulhu RPG

If your character is frightened and paranoid then I think you are probably playing it right (see below, be afraid, be very afraid):  

Then some more. Did I just see a tentacle, or two? 

The Beholder

Sometimes all it takes is a little push, so when my eldest son said he needed a monster for his D&D club (an at school activity) to chase a bunch of newbies (giving them a head start at 5th Level) around a dungeon - he asked would I paint the Beholder that had been lurking primed and shaded on the shelf for over a year, it was enough of a prod (see below, the paint went from pot to brush to figure and before you know it, my mojo was back):  

Not someone or something I would want to meet any day down a dungeon! The Whizzkids model is much more animated and scary than the previous one I painted.

Personal D&D Highlight of the current Campaign: "Elven Magic User, do you remember the time when, ..."

Snuggly settled into a quiet corner of a tavern, the players reminisce together: "Elven Magic User, do you remember the time when, ..."

" ... You got scared after a Spectator hit you with a ray and you sprinted off down a random dungeon corridor screaming at the top of your voice until you were out of sight? And then, when we eventually found you, weren't you chained to a large rock, barely clothed, shivering in the middle of a cavern surrounded by [as yet] unanimated skeletons? 

We rescued you but you kindly forgot to tell us about, ... the fact that a Wraith had put you there as bait to lure the party into the cavern and he was coming to get us?" ... pause ...  "And, as the Wraith was 'getting us' you were totally without any magical powers of any sort to help us - being striped of spell books and ingredients for spells, by the clever Wraith. 

And ... if it wasn't for the fact that 'Beady' our lovable, but slightly murderous Gnome thief was secretly [as in unbeknownst to the rest of the party] possessed and under the malevolent power of an ancient, evil, intelligent artefact - which made Beady hand itself over [that is the evil artefact, aka a 'Mark of Chaos' - which everybody is now agreed as a "bad ass" thing for him to pick up in the first place and not tell us] to the Wraith which was then .. to our complete surprise .. was consumed by an unnatural red ball of energy that opened a dimensional portal, out from which stepped forth a Greater Demon spitting forth lightning and destruction - which we narrowly ducked, despite it bringing the roof of the cavern partially down?" 

Gasp of breath and sip of beer, then the Dwarf continued ...

"Which meant that, instead of being simple undead servants of the Wraith, we were alive but now responsible for releasing a terrible monster into the realm of men-elf-dwarf-gnome, the likes of which has never been seen in centuries and something we are desperately trying to hide from all the authorities, despite their persistent questioning?" 

Now that is a good tale for a long, dark, wintry, night in a tavern - providing it doesn't end up in a bar room brawl (see below, the scene in question from the adventure, proof that 'a fellow party character in need' [magic-user chained to a large rock] is definitely a pest of the highest order): 

Meanwhile back at the bar ...

"Yes?" said the Elf rather truculently, "I do kind Dwarf, I do remember the incident in question, but what of it?". "Well I only ask," said the Dwarf sipping his tankard of beer which was almost empty, "because I thought, isn't it your round at the bar?"

Purchase Number 2: Hero Quest Expansions

As I picked up Warlord Games Epic Napoleonic I came across a "must buy it or regret "scenario. I have acquired an original Heroquest but the revamped re-edition has also pushed out the two expansions .. and an irresistible force met my wallet (see below, no regrets .. even on the figure count it was worth it .. and there was some cool dungeon scenery bits too):  

The beasties inside need painting and I now feel as if I have enough undead zombies to chase unwary adventurers through the catacombs) .. Game On!

Old School Friends continue our D&D Dungeon Hack

Damn it, is it not a frustrating blast when those darn adventurers get their act together and bamboozle a clump of dangerous looking monsters (in this case a band of five Bugbears). By deft and cunning use of a magician's familiar, a Dragon Breath spell (see cotton wool below in the picture below) which as it came from a completely unexpected direction, "spooked" the monsters into stampeding into a well set up trap, aka killing zone (see below, as their "singed" [Bugbear] leader fell along side another Bugbear to the deft back-stabbing of the party's two thieves [the tiny Gnome thief dropping down from a point above the archway - a set-up that is becoming his trademark move], the "force morale" of the remaining three Bugbears crumbled [as per the three Bugbears exiting south at the bottom of the photograph]): 

Catching but a short breath the adventurers then moved onto the "next room" and came across another three Bugbears plus their Drow overseer. Two of the Bugbears and the Drow were distracted as they searching in a chasm for "something" (see the figures in the white 'chasm floor' area [top part] in the photograph below). Silence whispers and mutterings  - the PCs were up to something. Sure enough they had a "plan" very similar to their last escapade. However, the party's next assassination plan (meticulously worked out beforehand) came unstuck right at the start of its execution. The magician's familiar was this time spotted and "plucked" from the sky [by exactly "what" the party are not sure of], but at least the party's thieving duo still managed to take out the isolated Bugbear on guard duty up top, already dead as he toppled to the chasm below (see below, the party's killing spree continues, but now the enemy now know they are there):  

I am looking forward to the resolution to this Mexican stand-off in the next session.  

Dungeon Fun: Skeletons

Ain't it always the same, a room described in the most non-descriptive way .. "a room filled with a bunch of trash really, intermixed with the now skeletal remains of the former guards who once inhabited and died in this area" .. the adventures trundle in and start rooting around from loot (see below, notice the eagerness of the thieves to be 'first in'): 

Imagine their surprise and my glee as the skeletons animate and surround the party gaining a two to one attack [apparently when this happens one of the attacks comes in at advantage] which started to beat up the party until the Cleric used his "anti undead" magic .. boo hiss .. and they all relaxed (see below, figures of the skeletons [Warlord games and really nice] are only partially complete [highlights, wash and base work still to be done] but have that lovely Jason and the Argonauts feeling which defines "skeletons" in D&D to me):

So spoiler alert, they got away (how did these guys make it to third and fourth level, I am sure in Second Edition Dungeons and Dragon their numbers would have been long up) but a more serious threat in the form of a guard room full of Bugbears awaits.

Dungeon Hack - Cleaning up the Baddies Lair (Lost Mines of Phandelver)

I like old style D&D despite it being 5th Edition rules. My teenage son favours the computerised Roll D20 with its precision and its magic lighting, but I like pulling together whatever is on  hand and improvising, making a "mash" of it. I like the organic flock and pseudo chaos of that ensues. Here are few shots from early on in the adventure (the Lost Mine of Phaldelver" used in the 5th Edition Starter Campaign). You have my old 1980's 2D dungeon floor plans resurrected from the loft and old school miniatures of the same period plus a few newbies (see below, clearing out the "minor" baddies lair under the ruins of an old manor house a classic party "snaking its way" through the dungeon): 

The rugged cavern section is covered without major trauma, then the party finds a more structured (aka "square shaped") section of storerooms and are dutifully explored (see below, when there are a series of rooms to investigate it is always interesting [fun for the DM at least] to see "who" goes [or is nominated to go] first into the 'next room', a bit of reluctant "turn taking" is always FUN (karma inducing moments) - as in who's time is it for their luck to run out and spring a trap): 

An interesting find. Rinse and repeat. Steps leading down, especially when they are narrow (5' wide which means single abreast), which is always a "bad sign". The classic 10' by 10' cube awaits at the bottom with the classic choice of two doors (see below, "Wasn't this why we brought a thief along, to go first?" says the fighter to the magic-user):

Behind one of the doors .. is a guardroom (what else would you expect) garrisoned by drunken brigands who fight at disadvantage (see below, one sleep spell later and they are tied and bound up and ready to sing like canaries): 

The party advances to meet an important bad NPC (magic user) whom escapes .. with the expense of his beloved familiar -- which all adds rich narrative texture to the adventure which is good stuff! Don't worry they meet up with him later and he has a score to settle (he was attached to that rat [as in it was his "familiar"] the party killed)!

Note: If truth be told the adventure has passed far beyond this point, as I believe the pictures are over two years old (my posting to this blog has really slowed down). The characters have advanced in levels and explored the Sword Coast ;) 

Good Old Fashioned Dungeon Hack: D&D 5th Edition

Mixing the old with the new. Fifth Edition D&D Rules (relatively new), with Games Workshop Figures and Warlord Games (monsters) and forty year old adventurer (Citadel[?]) miniatures and "the classic floor plans" (see below, the old-timer is the Dwarven thief skulking across the large cavern floor [actually invisible courtesy of a friendly magic-user's spell] the angry pack of ghouls [represented by GW Chain Rasps] heads towards the rest of the party - also note the suspiciously "un-animated" skeletons littering the cavern floor [from Warlord Games]):

Thing was the moment we stopped the session for the night/ What they call in the movies "a cliff-hanger". To be continued ...

Beauty is in the "Eye of the Beholder"

This is a Black Tree Design "Evil Eye" which to me equates to a Second Edition D&D Monster Manual picture of a Beholder (see below, a ping pong table tennis ball with pin tacks sticking out of it and a "bitey" mouth on it): 

As they say, the beauty is in the eye of the beholder (and although it does not compare to the Fifth Edition pimped up larger model of the Beholder) and I like its rustic charm. The other nickname we gave it was "the purple people eater"! Time will tell on that one as you have to be fairly high level to be unfortunate enough to meet and greet one! 

Nurgles .. Fun with Painting .. Nominally Fantasy/Sci-Fi

The good thing with good old "make-it-up" fantasy and science fiction is that nobody can really tell you are doing it wrong and really anything goes, especially when you are talking boiling beasts of  Chaos like GW Nurgles (see below, this was a little bit of an exercise in dry-brushing, first pass Army Painter Primer [Grey], then Vallejo Brown Dipping Formula, then Vallejo Dark Flesh, using a slightly worse for wear GW/Citadel Dry Brushing Brush): 

Just for experimentation I decided to throw an ink glaze (Vallejo Skin Ink) over it to get a wet look (see below, admittedly most of this would be lost when I dry brush but inaccessible places will still look dark, dank and wet): 

I now have a wet looking band of Nurgle miscreants (see below, the "game" they are being painted for is a "Party of Demons in Hell" take on FrostGrave - which should be interesting, I intend to mix and match to make an "old ball bunch"):

I then stopped the batch process and took one through to completion, or at least very near completion (see below, dry brushed passes of 50:50 Vallejo Caymen Green/Camp Green, Vallejo Camo, Vallejo Rotten Flesh on the main body): 

Another, this time close-up view, in the unnatural light of day for this "demon-thing" (see below, Vallejo Blood Red, for flesh - boils Vallejo Vermin Brown "tapped" on some with with Vallejo Off White): 

I also plan to use these as standard "biggish monsters" for RPG [Undead and Chaos]. Painting wise I experimented here and there on the other bits, such as introducing Vallejo Blue Ink into the guts finding an old guide to painting miniatures useful, but having to convert "old" GW to closest Vallejo. I had fun basically :)