Feeling Good

So I've gotten some of my 25/28mm painting practice figures done or near-done, and I'm feeling pretty good about them - sometimes I need to remember to "trust the technique" and not look at them from 2 inches away.

So here's the royal guardsmen, only needing some touch-ups:
A couple of elves (75% done) and a human prophet (done) in the middle:
My old dog Webster (done), in 25mm, Ordant of the Five Hands (done), and the lizard king (done):
The lizard king in close-up, need to get some vegetation between his toes later, but the painting's been wrapped up for a while:
He's in the background above, but here's a giant I've had around for 25+ years:

New Dossouye Novel by Charles Saunders

The next installment in the adventures of Dossouye, that war-bull riding heroine of Charles Saunders, is now available at Lulu. This is a full novel, rather than the collection of short stories of the first installment (also available at Lulu).

Here's the sweet cover art:Although technically her world is different than Imaro's, I'm going by the 1970's map and keeping them together for my 2mm and 10mm fantasy Africa projects. 2mm is my mass battles project using Advanced Legendary Battles, 10mm is my skirmish project using Eureka's cool figures (including war-bulls!). I just need Eureka to come up with more stuff (rhino riders, etc.).

I ordered my copy of Dossouye II last week, it should be here today or tomorrow. I'll let you know what I think. Charles' website is: here

Painting Table Update

This is the second of two belated blog updates I'm posting, although this one is doubly belated as I was defeated in an effort to post it yesterday. These are some photos, already somewhat out of date, of my ongoing practice painting in 25/28mm.

Some of my old D&D heroes, including Ordant of the Five Hands (second from left) and Swerlin the Magician on the right. The lizard king's been finished now, with some nice yellow eyes and dirty toenails.

Three dwarves:

A couple of elves centering a bike-riding ape. For some sort of sci-fi or post-apoc gaming, haven't quite decided what to do with my monkeys, particularly as I'm doing more in 15mm now. So post-apoc is in the lead at the moment. Plus they're fun!

And here's another shot of my practice Earthman on Mars figure. I need to work on the flesh a bit more, but I'm happy with it so far. Eyes, not so much. In fact, that's one reason I've been avoiding painting, I really hate doing the eyes!

In terms of my New Year's resolution, I'm still obviously working on 25/28mm painting before finishing up the 6mm that's on the table. I hope to only spend another couple of weeks on these test projects.

I'm supposed to be wrapping up cardboard terrain, and should in the next day or so. I gave myself a bit more time since for most of January I was only home to sleep, shower, and change clothes. Next up on the B table is prepping aircraft.

Blasters and Bulkheads Game 3 - Raid on the Rabid

Hmmm, this took longer than I had planned, but I have a couple of back to back blog updates that have been sitting on my camera for over a month. January is a busy month for travel for me in the real world, so the last few weeks of not much happening in terms of painting etc. wasn't surprising, but this game of Blasters & Bulkheads is from early in the new year.

As you'll recall, in the first game Chewbacca was a casualty and captured by the Imps. In the second game, the rebels successfully captured documents telling them where Chewbacca was being held. So in this third game two task forces, one under Luke, one under Han, raided the Imperial frigate the Rabid to rescue Chewie.

The ship tiles are from Fat Dragon, and most of the 3D props are too, though some are from WorldWorks and others from Micro Tactix. One of my goals in this game was to try out the Essence (aka Force) rules, using Luke. I also gave the rebels a randomly determined secondary goal of having R2D2 download data from one of the computer terminals throughout the ship. Other possible secondary missions included rescuing the other prisoner, capturing an officer, stealing a shuttle, and disabling the engines.

This first pic is from the end of the first turn, the rebels have entered the Rabid at two (randomly determined) points, on the left is Team Skywalker, working towards the engine room, on the right is Team Solo, working towards the prison cells. The Imperial patrols' direction had been randomly determined, and they were programmed to move in that direction until an alert had been given.


A close-up of Team Skywalker - Luke, R2D2, C3PO, another wookie, and a team of troopers:
Team Solo - Han, Leia, and a team of commandos:
By the end of the second turn both rebel teams have been spotted, and the rebel troopers have been whittled down in Team Skywalker. Han did a good job wiping out most of the Imperial naval troopers guarding the bridge, but there are a team of stormtroopers still coming up behind them and cutting off Leia.

At the end of turn 3, things are getting worse for the rebels. The stormtroopers won their showdown with the rebel commandos, and two patrolling stormtrooper NCO's finished off the rebel troopers in Team Skywalker. Somehow the wookie in Team Skywalker was unable to do anything to a simple naval tech in hand to hand combat!

Things are pretty much done for the rebels now, despite Han wiping out another naval patrol. The wookie is down, and R2 and C3PO have retreated back to their ships, and Luke is just finishing off his combat before retreating too.
So the rebels are in deep trouble now, the heroes barely got off ship before it entered hyperspace, and Chewie is still a prisoner.

I think I made a few mistakes in setting the game up. Because I hadn't statted up individual stormtroopers, the stormtrooper patrol consisted of two NCO's, who are better quality than typical stormtroopers should be. The techs in engineering were in the same boat, they should have been done up as henchmen. The end result was there were way too many Fate Dice in play for the Imperials.

I haven't figured out what my next game will be, I'm moving towards playing some Songs of Blades & Heroes fantasy next, and need to spend some time building some more cardboard terrain. But somehow, Chewbacca must be rescued!

15mm Sci Fi from Rebel Mini's

I had my order from Rebel Miniatures arrive yesterday, I'd placed it during their pre-Christmas sale in mid-December. It was mainly a 15mm sci fi order, although I did get their pulp Cabras pack, which I'll use as a gargolye/demon sort of thing for Solomon Kane and Cormac Mac Art historical fantasy gaming.

Of the rest, I got the Earth Marines and the Earth Armored troopers, which I like as Traveller-esque Imperial Space Marines (better than RAFM's). I'm not sure what I'll do with the Earth Marines proper yet.

I also got the Magistrates pack, which I like as being Cobra-esque, in the GI Joe sense. I also got the Black Widow mercenaries, the Scourage (terminator robots), and the Sahadeen, which are sort of like lower tech rebels. There were also some vehicles in the mix.

So, given that in 25/28mm I have Star Wars, John Carter of Mars, Space 1889, faux-Space Marines/gothic sci fi, Star Trek, and post-apoc. stuff going on, what the heck am I doing in 15mm? Well, like I hinted at, Traveller. I love Classic Traveller, but will probably not be playing it as a RPG again (I'll always tinker with stuff though), so this will be a way to keep the love going. I'll pick up some RAFM Traveller packs later this year, if RAFM does a sale again, and I've learned that Critical Mass does some nice additional Vargr-alikes.

I may do some other things here or there as opportunities arise - Starship Troopers, Firefly, or the Star Risk novels (very Traveller-esque) for example, or just generic sci fi. It may even work for Battlestar Galactica, with the Scourage as Cylons.

2011/2012

One day into the new year seems like a good time to review last year's resolution, see how I did, and try to come up with a plan for 2012. Assuming the world doesn't end in the meanwhile - we survived the end of the world twice in 2011, and while the Mayans were probably more on the ball than modern apocolypse cults, I'm pretty sure we're ok.

So first to review some of what I said at the end of 2010 (in bold):
The review is pretty simple: Lots prepped, not much painted!
Yeah, that can some up 2011 too, although I did finish the Vietnamese project I had on the table, and some terrain got done, there was too much chasing of butterflies. So after the review, I'm proposing (to myself), my plan to be more focused.

No more cleaning of figures until the backlog is cleared, with a few exceptions:
By "exceptions" of course I meant everything. Mainly it was a couple rounds of 6mm fantasy enthusiasm that caused problems, plus some aircraft prep, and one diversion for Star Trek ships.

Purchasing will be scaled back
It was, for about 3 weeks in October. I actually did scale back relative to 2010, but still spent too much. At least this year I didn't do any stupid purchases (1930's Car Wars, anyone?). 15mm sci-fi isn't stupid, and I lasted until mid-December, so there. Hopefully my plan to maintain focus will let me scale down my purchases in 2012.

Well, ok, two new projects may be allowed – 3mm ACW Terrible Sharp Sword, now that it’s released, and 6mm Hammer’s Slammers, IF they ever get released by Old Crow.
Check and check, at least I followed through on those. Some of my Ground Zero Games purchases have been in support of the Hammer's Slammers project.

Terrain purchases will include a space mat, an aerial mat (overland, already have naval), some 10/15mm pieces, 2mm Irregular, and 3mm from Simply 6 (via Picoarmor).
All good there, except for the aerial mat. And I want a different scaled space map for fighter actions. Unfortunately it looks like Simply 6 is out of the game for 3mm terrain.

2mm purchases for SYW India, my two fantasy projects (Kull, Imaro), Star Wars, and Land Ironclads.
Good there too, except the 2mm fantasy projects seem to have fallen off my mental wayside.

Star Wars capital ships from Studio Bergstrom (falling under the “completing a project” exception).
Again, good! Except I need one more Victory I Star Destroyer, and four more Mon Cal ships. And a Super Star Destroyer from Shapeways.

Then I'm good.

Some more Pulp Figures, particularly if I manage to make the Hot Lead convention in March and PF is there with a booth.
Well, Bob Murch wasn't at Hotlead, but I was. And I bought some of Artizan's pulp line, and some of Blue Moon's pulp cars. And some more pulp vehicles from Recreational Conflict.

And I still did a mail order purchase from Pulp Figures. They're still allowed for next year too. Of course, late this year Splintered Light Miniatures came out with 15mm pulp awesomeness, but I'm not that dumb. Thanks for not asking how many scales under 10mm I'm currently during the American Civil War in.

If Brigade (US version) has any sales, I’ll pick up some ERB Martian figures and VSF skirmish stuff.
If Brigade (UK version) has their summer sale again, I’ll pick up some Aeronef and Land Ironclads stuff – I hope you all admire the way I didn’t spend any money during their Xmas sale.
Yes to both. And I've avoided Brigade (UK)'s Xmas sale this year too. Despite their 15mm sci-fi, 6mm sci-fi, and great spaceship line. And aeronef, land ironclads, and Iron Stars stuff. I hope to be strong during their summer sale.

Splintered Light Miniatures have a few sales during the year, and I expect they’ll have some cool new Splintered Lands mini’s I’ll need, plus I have some of their 15mm stuff in the pending pile.
Yeah, they had sales. More of their 15mm Dark Ages stuff, their not-Firefly crew in 15mm, and a dragon to use in 6mm.

In January I expect to put in an order to round up WWII over the Pacific, there are 6 mini-starter packs that will do me, plus some spares for China. And some modern odds and ends. And I found I need another pack of D.XXI’s for the Finns. But THAT’S it.

Except that wasn't it. Some of the madness were Oddzial Osmy's Italian and French aircraft, but much of it lately has been the ongoing awesomeness of Roman, Arun and Roe, three designers on Shapeways, who've been doing 1/288 WWI aircraft for me (Roman, Der Kampfflieger) and 1/600 WWII-modern aircraft (Arun - Objects May Appear; Roe - Tinythingamajigs). Now I'm waiting for Dom to get some of the modern-era packs put together for me, so I can finish off WWII and the moderns (mostly).

At some point I’d like to place a small order with H&R for 1/300 WWI a/c, I have some gaps in my lineup, and they’re the only ones with a reasonable collection of interesting Interwar a/c.
Didn't get this one done. Am holding off on the interwar stuff in 1/300, as the Shapeway guys might get to it in 1/600. Will have to see how does the coolest stuff fastest. I'd like to wrap up WWI from H&R in one swoop, to get their 40% shipping cost out of my life.

So, my plan to focus more on painting this year is to limit the other stuff I get into - cleaning and prepping, building, etc - by fixing it to a strict schedule. I'll priortize painting projects too, but not put them onto a schedule, just work through one and then onto the next.

Painting Priorities:
1) Continue practicing on 25mm figures.
2) Finish the 6mm stuff that's been on my painting table half-started for a stupidly long time (I think I have a friend who'll paint the rest of my 6mm WWII stuff on commission for me).
3a) Vietnam air.
3b) VSF space (it's on the same tray as the Vietnam stuff).
4) Actual 25/28mm figures - VSF characters and non-Space Marines for my Gothic Earth project.
5) Star Wars fleet scale.
6) Actual 15mm's - Splintered Lands, India skirmish, dark ages, whatever's primed.
7) WWI air.
8) Star Wars fighter-scale.
9) WWII air.
10) Modern air.
11) 2mm fantasy and sci-fi.

Terrain can be done as prepped, and for the record, my definition of 'painting' includes priming.

Other projects, by month:
Jan. - Cardboard terrain
Feb. - WWII plane prepping
Mar. - Base texturing (for all the stuff I based in 2010)
Apr. - VN terrain, including hills
May - 2 and 15mm India miniature prep.
June - 2 and 3mm terrain, mainly texturing bases (India, Europe, sci-fi, ACW)
July - 6mm terrain (fantasy, WWII, modern, sci-fi)
Aug. - 3 and 6mm ACW prep. (and any Vietnam leftovers)
Sept. - Take 2 at cardboard terrain
Oct. - Build terrain from 3D puzzles and other wood things (e.g. birdhouses)
Nov. - Build 15/28mm sci-fi terrain (include the Naloomi's workshop stuff I have around)
Dec. - 6mm fantasy prep.
Bonus: Finish prepping my 1/72 marines in Vietnam.

Leftovers
If I get ahead of schedule, I'll just bump up the next month, which will help because I also have on my list:
- Modern aircraft prepping
- WWI aircraft prepping
- 15mm Indian terrain
- Spaceship prep. (Battlestar Galactica, Iron Stars)
- Basing/mounting/assembling aeronef and land ironclads
- Other 2-6mm figure prep. (may need to do some 6mm WWII prep. so I can get them off to be painted)
- Other 15-28mm figure prep.

The last two are all my lost projects: retro sci-fi, War Rocket, 3mm Cold War and Blitzkrieg Commander, 6mm moderns, 1/72 WWI, more VSF, modern spy skirmishing, more pulp, 2mm Ogre, tons of 15mm, 28mm gothic sci-fi, 2mm ACW.

Planned Purchases:
- 2 and 15mm India
- 2 and 15mm ECW (skirmishing/Solomon Kane for the latter)
- aircraft (all eras)
- mats
- 3mm fill-ins for Vietnam and ACW (e.g. the new Zouaves!)
- cardboard terrain
- a few big Star Wars and Star Trek ships from Shapeways
- Pulp Figures (a birthday present methinks)
- use my forthcoming Ground Zero Games Xmas coupon for some more 6 and 15m Sci-Fi
- Microworld's awesome 6mm dwarves should be released this month

A busy timeline, but if I can keep to that and actually finish some projects, or at least make a first dent in some of the huge ones (15mm gaming, for instance), then 2013 will let me get to all those lost projects, while actually using more of my toys. Right now my Star Wars and fantasy pre-paints, a few WWI aircraft, and my Vietnam project are all that I can play with.

Important to all this as well is resisting things that have tempted me repeatedly: ACW naval gaming (other than what's needed in 1/600 for Terrible Sharp Sword), pre-dreadnought and WWI naval gaming, 1/6000 modern naval ships (as targets for my a/c), 2mm big scale Napoleonics, the rest of the SYW in 2mm, ancients x50 projects, etc. etc.

Right, so off now to practice my big fig painting on those old 25's, and work on that cardboard terrain!

Run Through the Jungle

Before I head out for the evening, here's an AAR for game two of my Blasters & Bulkheads Star Wars experience. This was a variation of Scenario 3 (without a vehicle), where one side has to go from corner to corner through a forest/jungle.

The Imperials were the runners, the rebels were the ambushers. Since Chewbacca was knocked out, and (in my head) declared captured, the rebels also wanted to capture or kill an Imperial officer in order to find Chewie's whereabouts.

The table at game start. Luke, Han, Leia, a Wookie, and a squad of troopers are in hiding, awaiting the arrival of two Imperial field officers, a stormtrooper officer, stormtrooper NCO, and a squad of scout troopers (upper right corner). The yellow poker chips denote potential hiding spots for the rebels. They're labelled 1-10, and the five rebel characters/units are off-tabled marked 1-5. They'll be revealed either of their own volition, or if the Imperials successfully spot them. Three of the markers are in the tops of the big trees (fancy tea light holders).

Two main trail options were given to the Imperials, with one of them branching off into another side trail. Their initial plan was to get to that side trail and take it, based on where the potential ambush sites were.

Billy the Bronchosaurus is in the upper left corner, and he was supposed to wander randomly (and placidly) through the scenery, but he randomly ended up off table and I gave up on him after a few turns.

The end of Turn 1. The wookie was spotted on the Imperials second attempt (by the NCO) but wasn't initially hit. On his turn he popped out from behind the tree, shot down three scout troopers, and got in behind the tree. Unfortunately the rest of the Imperials dropped him in turn.

Luke was also revealed, in his perch in the big tree. He put a few hits on one of the field officers, then escaped down the tree to get into the action (despite being on the table in this picture, I ruled it'd be two turns to get down the tree, so he's in mid-slide at this point).

The end of Turn 2. The rest of the scout troopers have been wiped out by Luke, and the Imperials have made their initial choice of what trail to take. The rebels got their troopers on the move, to get them into a new position.

The end of Turn 3. The Imperials are progressing down the trail, spotting as they go (the other two big trees have been found clear of targets, and Princess Leia has been outed). The rebel troopers are getting into position behind a downed column of the Ancients, and Luke is trying to catch up but is hampered by the slow terrain. The red marker near Luke was the impact point of a stun grenade thrown by the stormtrooper NCO.

The end of Turn 4. Han is now in the game, and Leia has moved to her backup position (behind one of the planet's plentiful purple rocks). The stormtrooper office is prone behind some bushes, and the rest of the Imperial survivors are playing leapfrog behind terrain. You can see where the rebel troopers flurry of grenades landed (red marker between stormtroopers), but no one got hurt!
The yellow markers just indicate who moved first or second in the turn, as in the game they get bonuses. Eventually, with better (permanent) character sheets, there will be a way to do this off-table.

The end of Turn 5. The table's really getting busy now. Leia is hurt badly, Han has taking some burns, and the Imperials are still dodging from shrub to shrub. Way in the back, Luke is finally about to get free from the forest terrain.

The end of Turn 6 - we have a princess down! Now Han is really mad, and is charging along the side trail the Imperials decided not to take when they found Leia and Han in wait down it. All four Imperial characters are still in action.

The end of Turn 7. But now there aren't four surviving Imperials. The stormtrooper officer was taken out by the rebel troopers repositioning themselves, and one field officer was shot in the back by Angry Han. He's exposed to the stormtrooper NCO, but he's also going after that last officer before he can escape off the board.

A nice "movie" view of the same scene.

The end of the game (after turn 8). The officer got off board, and the NCO pretty much got surrounded and I ruled he surrendered, since he knows rebels don't shoot their prisoners. Of course, after some subsequent counselling from Han, he gave away Chewbacca's location...

And here it is, a teaser for my next game. The rebels are launching a boarding action on the Imperial customs frigate "Rabid" before it goes to hyperspace. Chewbacca is in one of the frigate's cells. The tiles and props are from Fat Dragon, with some Worldworks and Micro Tactics thrown in. This game will have Luke the Jedi Apprentice make an appearance, so I can get in some Essence (Force) powers.

The bridge of the "Rabid".

Tomorrow I'll post a review of my 2011 actual production vs. my resolutions, and a plan for 2012.