Grubby Adventurers

 Hi!

Just a quick post this evening with a sneaky peek at some adventurers that I put together from the Frostgrave plastic range.

I painted them with a mixture of my usual acrylics and some of the Army Painter Speed Paints 2.0 range and I must admit I'm really pleased with both the figures and the paints!

The Frostgrave miniatures go together well and are rather characterful with a good selection of grubby looking types for a great price and have enough options to ensure that no two are the same and have enough interesting accessories and details to be fun to paint without being fiddly. My only criticism of them is the cast on knives that the figures all have at their waists are a bit blobby but as they're mostly covered by arms its not really noticable.

 Similarly the detail on the entertainingly massive two handed sword hilt is a bit vague but it still paints up well but otherwise the figures are cracking and just what I needed to get out of the hobby slump and represent a bunch of suitably shady types for hire!

As I mentioned, I used a small selection of the Army Painter Speed Paints and I love them. Burnished Red applied by itself on a grey undercoat gives a rich dark brown that is easily highlighted while slightly watering it down and applying it over mid brown basecoat makes for a really nice wash. 

I've got a couple of other colours namely Red, Blue, Green and Yellow as well as Rosy Flesh and they're making painting fun and a relatively speedy experience again and while I'm probably not using them as intended, they are absolutely doing the job to the point I think I'm going to expand my collection in coming months!

I've still got another 15 miniatures from the original box to construct and paint and at present I'm not sure if I'm going to make them all blue themed or make a few different groups but the figures will come in handy for all manner of games which is why I went for a fairly neutral base with light texture and some washes of browns and orange.

While I've now got some goons, i want to paint up some heroes to do battle with them so I'll have a rummage in my bits box and pile of shame to see what I can find.

In the meantime, All the best!

New Giggles Clan Sighted!

 Hi!

As promised, here's some more painted figures in the form of two Giggles clanners from Ramshackle Games:

Camshaft Giggles

Camshaft is armed with a bionic limb and heavy pistol. Went for a dirty yellow to match the portrait I did for her a while back but instead of giving her the pale tan skin gave her a somewhat unhealthy pink instead.

Darius Giggles

Darius was a bit of an experiment to see how different colour combinations would look on my Giggles clan as I don't want to make them all the same colour as they're supposed to be a bunch of techno grafting crazies so matching outfits would be a bit boring. 

Game wise, I must admit I've no idea how I'd equip Darius but he's another really characterful sculpt!

I really enjoyed painting up these two. They're one piece resin casts and do require a bit of clean up and prepping before painting but the sculpts are just so characterful that once you get going on them, they almost paint themselves!

I've got a couple more on the paint table which I want to get finished as it will allow me to field a decent sized party of the crazies in Planet 28 where they may be making a bit of an appearance in the not too distant future once the pacification of Bore IV is complete.

In the meantime, All the best!

Self Isolation Project Part 4: Karn Darkest Suns

 Hi!

Another quick post today to update my Self Isolation Project! I'm back at work and feeling a lot better but wanted to finish the project, especially as it's such a small and easily completed one so have been chipping away at the Karn faction of the original Havok boxed set.

Karn Darkest Suns

I decided to try and go for a brighter look than my Nexus Rebellion forces so ended up giving them a bright yellow armour and quite like how they turned out.

Unsurprisingly these figures took a lot more effort to paint up than the Nexus ones as they suffered from having more noticeable mould lines and the soft plastic they're made from means cleaning them properly is nigh on impossible but I persevered and think that they're pretty nice figures to add to my collection.

Again they're sculpted by Bob Naismith so have loads of character and would fit in nicely with any Rogue Trader era figures and their power armour, bolt pistol and hand flamer make for some nice assault troops!

I've only got the Karn Form Warrior and Battleform left to do along with trying to fix up the scenery and the whole set will be complete which is really exciting as it will be another boxed set that I'll have completed to go along with my Deadloque set which I completed a couple of years back now. It appears that this sort of mini project is a good way to keep focussed and chip away at small collections of figures and actually get them all painted up so I'll have to keep it up!

In other news, I spotted that Modiphius is having a bit of a clearance of their Mutant Chronicles RPG so I picked up the complete pdf collection for £5.00 so will be having a bit of a read through to see if I can gather some ideas for a future Planet 28 project.

Interestingly (not to mention super temptingly!), they're also having a big sale on their Siege of the Citadel boardgame with the core and all supplements available for £120. I must admit that I'm sorely tempted to pick it up as even if I don't end up playing the game, the big stack of figures and tiles would come in super handy but its £120 which is still an awful lot of money to splurge on my hobby...

With the kickstarter for Warzone Eternal on hold, I may end up picking it up as it would give me seven different warbands and a host of villains to populate a campaign with but I'll have to have a good think about it before spending so much cash...

In the meantime, I've also got a load of other bits and bobs I've been painting my way through and will post another update in the next few days so All the best!

Planet 28 Skirmish: Testing Some Shooting

 Hi!

I managed to play out a bit of a game of Planet 28 last night to playtest some mods I've been pondering and it resulted in a really great little skirmish!

Martinez and Dmitry 

Nameless Security Drones 

The game was set in an abandoned settlement somewhere on the frontier and as I was playtesting some mods to the rules, I just went for a straight up fight with the two mercenaries entering from the left and the security troopers coming in from the right and attempting to kill one another.

I'm using Planet 28 but with the D100 mod so instead of characters stats being single digit, they are double digit as I love the extra little bit of crunch it gives.

The modified rules revolve around ranged combat at present with the introduction of critical hits and jams. Every ranged weapon has a 10% chance of rolling a critical which causes maximum damage minus the targets armour save and a 1% chance of doing a kill shot which does the same as a critical but means no save from the target at all.

Jams occur when you roll a double on your D100 dice and require you to spend an action to unjam the weapon. A missed shot jams as normal but a successful hit roll does mean the shot hits but you've run out of ammo. I'm pondering adding the Necromunda option of taking reloads for your guns as it feels more characterful for small games like this where running out of ammo at a critical moment can be truly unfortunate for the character.

The other rule I'm trying out is the Aimed Shot action which means you get an extra D8% chance of striking the target but at the cost of taking an action to do so. The bonus is that a successful hit gives you D4 extra damage. In game, this worked out really well as it resulted in some impressive shots from the lowly security troopers who managed to hit and damage my characters who were taking cover.

Finally I've also fiddled with the wounded effects so once a character gets down to 50% damage, they loose 10% to all their stats automatically as usual but once they get to 75% damage, they loose 50% to their stats. This represents a character who is badly shot up really not being much use in a fight and encourages you to play a bit more carefully. 

The game itself was great fun as always and saw my adventurers get themselves caught in a bit of a crossfire of laspistol fire taking a number of small hits before Martinez forced one security trooper to flee with some impressive shooting. 

Dmitry took quite a few hits that even being in cover and wearing medium armour didn't entirely stop and suffered from multiple jams with his SMG and eventually tried to climb onto the cargo stack to shoot at his tormentor and managed to fluff his agility roll and fell over resulting in much hilarity.

Despite this, he did eventually manage to wound and pin down the remaining guard long enough to cover Martinez who made a rush towards him. Surprisingly, the guard held his nerve and with his last shot managed to catch Martinez a glancing blow as he emerged into the corridor but his gun then jammed and Martinez cut him down with his big knife.

As always, Planet 28 is great fun to play, especially for super small skirmishes on terrain covered tables and I liked the way the mods I trialed worked as it resulted in quite a few cinematic moments and I plan on continuing to tinker with the rules to see what I can come up with to further improve the gaming experience!

With the kickstarter for 2nd edition coming into its last few days, I'm eagerly awaiting the new rules so I can delve into the game further and plan on continuing to bodge, tinker and pootle around with them as I go.

I'm also trying to get my Tiny Troops Junkers some opponents in the form of Syntha AI's but as I'm at work until Thursday and off to Liverpool over the weekend, I suspect I won't have much chance to work on them until next week now but until then, All the best!

Dark Angel Combat Squad

 Hi!

I needed some quick Space Marine reinforcements for my ongoing Planet 28 project so had a rummage in my lead and plastic pile and selected some of EM-4 Miniatures Space Rangers to act as proxies.

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The figures are 3 piece plug together models with somewhat static poses but they really remind me of the old Space Crusade marines as they come with a selection of rather awesome heavy weapons. 

I decided to batch paint them just to get through the lot in a reasonable time and it worked out pretty nicely, if tediously and it reminds me why I'm so rubbish at painting armies these days. Despite being around since the mid 90's they're surprisingly good sculpt though so it wasn't too onerous a task to complete the squad, hardly a surprising fact as I believe they were sculpted by Bob Naismith.

I do need to pick up some transfers for them to give them a properly uniform look though, rather than doing my usual hand painted force insignias but they will do for the time being.

The sergeant comes with a power sword and a combination of chunky las pistol and a power drill but game wise, I suspect it will represent a plasma pistol instead. Of all the weapons that come in the kit, the sculpted on sergeants weapon is the poorest and would take considerable work to remove and replace with a bolt pistol or similar but otherwise, the figure is great with is terminator style shades and 90's flat top haircut.

The heavy weapon dude comes with a HMG which I used as a heavy bolter, a large calibre gun that could easily represent a las cannon and a plasma weapon that is perfect for a heavy plasma gun but as I only plan on using them for small skirmishes I figured using the more powerful weapons options was overkill.

The troopers are armed with high tech looking rifles which are nicely detailed and are nice sculpts too, if a bit monopose. I remember back in the day, my wargaming opponent picked up 100 of them to represent a full company but never painted them.

I must admit that I'm tempted to pick up a few more of the sets as they are literally cheap as chips at £3.99 for five and painting up several boarding parties for different chapters ala Space Crusade but noticed that EM-4 have actually sold out so will need to keep such crazy ideas for another day.

Still, I now have a nice elite fighting force to deploy in small skirmishes and I look forward to deploying them on the battlefield in the near future to slay some xenos scum! 

Hopefully I'll get the three remaining Zombies for my ongoing Rangers of Shadow Deep project painted up this weekend but as I'm working, it may take a bit longer but until then, All the best!

Dark Age Brutal Quest Project: Adventurers!

 Hi!

Sorry about the quiet spell here on the blog but with work, an exploding oven and other odds and ends I've not had much time to get on with the important business of hobbying but I have finally finished my first three adventurers for my Dark Age themed Brutal Quest project!

Osgard Thane of Farpoint (centre) leading Beorngar (right) his trusty drinking companion and strong right hand and Ceolwyn the Fyrd (left).

Osgard is the Thane of Farpoint, a small fortified settlement on the border of the great forest known as The Wode Wood, a wild and untamed place inhabited by fierce beasts, bandits and at least one court of the Fae. As such, Osgard is often forced to venture forth into the ancient wood to deal with the many threats to his land.

While Farpoint is a small settlement, it lies on the ancient Roman Road that still acts as a trading route that connects the many scattered settlements that make up the Kingdom of Lost Albion and Osgard is determined to keep his holdings free from the ever present threat of both the wilds and the Northmen who have been raiding ever further inland in the last few years.

Beorngar the Black is one of Osgard's most trusted henchmen or dugud and has served as both staunch shieldbearer and drinking companion over the years and his family call Farpoint home. While a taciturn fellow, Berongar is a well respected warrior who has fought at his lords side for over a decade.

 

Ceolwyn is a Freeman who holds a farmstead just outside the settlement of Faerleah and has answered his. Thain's call to duty and while he is relatively poorly armoured, he has an encyclopaedic knowledge of the area surrounding the settlement, partially due to his skill at poaching. 

Shield designs

The figures are all Victrix Anglo Saxon's and were lovely figures to work on with crisp detail and painted up surprisingly quickly. I had intended to get some of the rather lovely shield transfers that Victrix do but ended up going for some vaguely historically accurate hand painted designs. I have tried to settle on using mostly muted colours for the project with brighter elements being reserved for shields and the odd bit of gold here and there and am quite pleased with how it's turned out thus far.

I hope to expand on the setting a bit in the coming week to give a rough outline of the area and the assorted denizens of the frontier and have a few figures that I'm working on at present which I hope to finish off tomorrow which will add a few more interesting elements to a mini campaign I'm thinking of putting together in the coming weeks.

While my setting is going to be loosely based on Anglo-Saxon Britain circa 800AD, it is going to be its own distinct place which resembles the country but is also quite different as there will be lost legions of Romans, the Fae and other, exotic characters making an appearance as well as a bunch of NPC's and a few monsters too! 

Somewhere on my old laptop I have a load of gubbins about an alternative Britain that I wrote up about a decade ago where the Fae returned to reclaim the land and I plan on incorporating elements of it into this so there will be plenty of excuses to introduce all manner of interesting bits and pieces as I go...

Osgard's party clash with Churlish bandits on the outskirts of the Wode Wood

It may take quite a while to flesh it out but I now have enough figures painted to get a start with the campaign so expect to see a battle report this weekend with Osgard and co setting forth to deal with some bandits who have been plaguing outlying homesteads and travellers along the old road.

In the meantime, All the best!

Dark Age Brutal Quest Project Log Part 3: Miniatures Arrive and Testing the Waters

 Hi!

I've got the delivery of my assorted gubbins for my Brutal Quest mini project set in an alternative Dark Ages but before I set to painting them I wanted to test the waters and see if I could paint something in a different style from my usual bright and cheery 90's way and something a bit more grim and grimy.

With that in mind, I noticed that the new Wargames Illustrated came with a sprue of Caesarian Legionnaires from Warlord Games and I grabbed it to use them as test pieces for my new project. 

Primed black then given successive drybrushes of grey and then white in as close to a zenithal style as I could get without spray paints (I fished my rattle cans out of my cupboard and discovered they'd dried up some time ago) and then painted in a quick and grimy fashion with quite a few washes of browns and rust.

I also changed my usual flesh tone, moving away from a healthy and rosy tan to a pallid bone with a brown wash. It worked out pretty nicely and despite repeated panics that I was making a big mess, I think they turned out ok and I now plan on painting up the remaining two to complete the set. I do want to do something a bit more interesting with the bases, be it add some scatter material or some fallen leaf litter but they look a tad bland with just a drybrush of brown and some static grass. 

Still I've now settled on a style that should work out pretty well for some Dark Age Mythological shenanigans and I plan on trying some different washes for the remaining Romans to see if I can get a more interesting finish that doesn't look quite so unhealthy...

I had originally ordered a sprue each of Victrix Saxons and Vikings and really am impressed with the quality of the figures and look forward to beginning on working on them. 

I'm really impressed with the combination of bits, dynamic sculpts and mixture of armoured and unarmoured figures and reckon I have enough to represent a couple of decent sized warbands which will be a good starting off position for the project.

I also accidentally ordered a set of Warlord Games Saxon Fyrd (UPDATE: They're actually Gripping Beast plastics!) at the same time and while the detail is not as crisp and the figures somewhat more simplistic, They're pretty cheap and will make decent low level Levy, ruffians or angry villagers.

My plan is to get the two test Roman figures out the way and then paint 3-4 Saxons and a similar number of Vikings which should allow me to get some games of Brutal Quest in before adding some more fantastical touches, be they monsters, ancient beings or some souped up humans and I will be posting battle reports of my progress as I make it so watch this space but until then, All the best!

The Joys of Gaming!

Hi!

Just a quick post today as I'm headed out to work soon. I managed to play a quick game of Planet 28 last night with Inquisitor Fisher's team facing off against a bunch of Orks with a grudge.

It was great fun as always and I plan on playing another attempt at the mission and posting it as a full battle report in the coming days but it got me thinking about just how much fun a good game can be and what a pleasure my hobby can be!

There's something really pleasing about playing a game and finding myself rerunning it in my head and thinking about possible future missions and new models I want to paint up and it's got me champing at the bit to get more gaming in.

 Not only that, I'm actively looking for other games to try out and I'm also planning on having a bit of a rummage through my own collection for games I own but have never played. 

One such game is War of Ashes Shieldbash which is a lovely looking game and I have a fair few figures painted up for it but need a few more to get a decent warband sorted. In the meantime, I may use the figures I have in Brutal Quest to allow me to get them into use!

I've also been perusing Guerrilla Wargames awesome Lets Play videos over on Youtube and am liking the look of Relic Blade:

It seems to have a lot of plusses, namely low model count, quirky figures and simple rules. I do believe there is even a UK distributor so I may have a peek at them in the coming weeks but in the meantime, I want to keep the momentum going and keep on gaming!

Hopefully I'll get some more battle reports posted up soon and finish painting a few more models to add to my warbands but in the meantime, All the best!

Battle Report: Unexpected Encounter in Freeport City

 Hi!

As promised, I managed to play another game last night featuring Inquisitor Fisher and her loyal retainer Geralt the Wolfbane who encountered some old foes in the slums of Freeport City!

The Background

Inquisitor Fisher has heard rumours of more Orks than usual being sighted in the rundown slums of the capitol of Farpoint, Freeport City and has decided to investigate. While it is not uncommon to see several of the more 'civilised' clans such as Bloodaxes, Badmoons or even Deathskulls, the rumours identify the Orks as Goffs and such warlike Xenos infiltrating the Orkish enclaves no doubt is a sign of trouble to come.

While heading to meet with a local Ork representative in one of the less salubrious parts of town, Fisher spots furtive movement and as the Inquisitor and Geralt draw their weapons, a group of Goff Boys burst into view, their ambush spoiled by Fishers keen eye and charge forward bellowing warcrys and firing wildly.

The Forces

As I am using a bit of a hodgepodge of rules, I put together a sample of the forces stats and feats that they can carry out by using Hero Points. 

Inquisitor Fisher is accompanied as always by Geralt the Wolfbane while the Ork force consists of four Goff Boyz all armed with bolt pistols and axes.

The Setup 

The game takes place in one of the slums of Freeport City. It is a warren of dark alleyways, buildings constructed from a plethora of materials ranging from adobe to plascrete and scrap. The street, such as it is, is littered with junk and smells vaguely of boiled cabbage, a sure sign of Orkish inhabitation.

Fisher and Geralt begin the game on the southern edge of the board whilst the Orks begin at the north. The Inquisitor needs to survive the encounter and if possible exit the board's northern edge. The Orks are out for blood and must kill Fisher but will settle for Geralt if the opportunity allows it.

The Game

As I already mentioned, I am using a bit of a random mix of gaming elements, some of which may get bodged further as I play.

Each turn begins with a dice roll to see if any Hero Points are generated using my old Space Crusade dice with the red dice being the Hero's and the white the Villains. These points can be used to perform feats, be they impressive attacks, extra moves or in the case of Fisher, glaring.

Turn one begins with Fisher seizing the initiative and moving confidently forward towards the approaching Orks, snapping off a shot at the distant figures with her las pistol but failing to hit the leering xenos. As the Orks move towards the Imperial agents, Geralt uses his Move It! feat to sprint forward towards one of the Boyz who has foolishly split away from the rest of his companions.

Turn two sees no Hero Points rolled and the Orks take the initiative with the lone boy on the flank rushing towards Geralt firing wildly with his pistol but failing to damage the Wolfbane. In return, Geralt bellows his clan's warcry and charges the Ork.

A stellar couple of dice rolls sees the surprised Ork badly wounded by Geralt's blistering attack and things may be looking up for the Imperials.

The second Ork, seeing the approaching Inquisitor, opens fire with its bolt pistol and despite her armour, Fisher takes a point of damage.

 

Cursing as blood begins to trickle from the graze on her cheek caused by the shell exploding on her shoulder pad and hearing Geralt's warcry, Fisher activates her power sword and lunges at the Ork who fired upon her. Unfortunately, she fails to damage the Ork who nimbly ducks under the glowing red blades swing and loses the spike from the top of his helmet instead of his head.

The remaining two Orks rush down the alley on the western flank, determined to get behind Fishers party and attack from the rear.

The Imperials win initiative in turn three and roll a Hero Point too and Geralt runs his blade through the Ork he had been fighting. As he kicks the corpse of the greenskin off his blade, he hears hobnailed boots pounding down a nearby alleyway and hurries towards Fisher, aware that she's about to be outflanked.

Fisher uses a Hero Point to perform her Imperious Glare feat on the Ork as it tries to swing at her and her piercing ice blue eye makes contact with the red of the Goff and he quails under the judging stare (he had rolled a really good attack dice and the re-roll resulted in him rolling poorly!) Taking advantage of the creatures momentary pause, Fisher sweeps her power blade and sends the beasts head flying from its shoulders.

Unfortunately Fisher doesn't get chance to savour her victory as the two remaining Orks burst out of the alley behind her and one opens fire with his pistol at her unprotected back and sends the Inquisitor sprawling. Bellowing in victory, the greenskin rushes forward to finish the job brandishing its axe but is surprised to find the supposedly deceased Fisher pull herself to her feet and meet his charge with a curse.

The second Ork, sees Geralt emerging from the other end of the alley, covered in green blood from the Ork he slew and opens fire but Geralt avoids the shells and they scream past his head before ricocheting off a nearby wall. 

Turn four begins and once again no Hero Points are rolled. Inquisitor Fisher and the Goff in melee with her exchange a flurry of blows but fail to find their marks but Fisher is keenly aware of the fact that the shot to the back has pierced her armour and she is bleeding pretty badly.

Geralt rushes the Ork that fired on him and in another brutal attack wounds the beast, driving it backwards with a flurry of swings with his punisher sword. In response, the Ork fails to damage the Wolfbane.

Turn five one again sees a decided lack of Hero Points and the swirling melee that continues sees Geralt stagger as the wounded and now throughly enraged Ork smash his axe into Geralt's side, cutting through his armour and into his flesh. Grunting in pain, Geralt swipes at the beast, failing to damage it but driving it back somewhat.

Things are looking equally grim for Fisher as the Ork fighting her proves that a wounded Ork is a dangerous Ork as it scores another wound on her and she fights down the pain and snarls at the beast, determined to wipe the sneer off its face if its the last thing she does.

Turn six begins with no Hero Points being rolled once again but Imperial pluck wins out as focusing all her rage into a well timed thrust, Fisher runs the sneering Ork through and disembowels the greenskin. Pausing to kick the dying creature in the head, she staggers towards the Wolfbane who is bleeding like a stuck pig as the Ork he is fighting scores another hit, breaking his sword arm. 

Before the creature can celebrate, Geralt lifts his pistol and sends an explosive bolt into it's head sending it sprawling to the ground, skull shattered and quite dead.

Conclusion

Geralt slumps and groans, not sure where hurts more, his cracked and broken ribs or his badly mangled arm but sees an equally bloody Fisher glaring down at him. "Come on Geralt, there's no time to lie around feeling sorry for yourself. I'm sure there are more of them out there so suck it up". Sighing, the Wolfbane pulls himself to his feet and painfully follows his boss towards the safety of a local agents compound wondering if he can have a day off after this and plaintively wishing for a drink or ten.

So there we go! Fisher and Geralt have avoided an ambush but what are the Orks motives? Is this a simple attack of opportunity or is there more at work than it appears. Hopefully once they've both been patched up, the Inquisitorial team will be able to get to the bottom of it!

The bodged rules went pretty well and it was a good fun game with the two heroes fighting off a group of goons and my only regret was I didn't get enough hero points to perform any really powerful attacks but I had great fun playing the game and will need to play another soon!

I'm really enjoying playing games with only a handful of figures a side as I can get a game in quickly and don't have to paint too much to get a new force into play either which is a definite bonus.

I've got today off and have a vague plan of playing a game of Planet 28, one of Song of Blasters and one of Brutal Quest which will give me lots to post about in the coming days so watch this space but until then, All the best!