Switch Theme:

Graven's Bloggit: Samurai Skaven (blood bowl)  [RSS] Share on facebook Share on Twitter Submit to Reddit
»
Author Message
Advert


Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you:
  • No adverts like this in the forums anymore.
  • Times and dates in your local timezone.
  • Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance.
  • Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely.
  • Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net.
If you are already a member then feel free to login now.




Made in sa
Mad Gyrocopter Pilot





Northumberland

Love the white armour on Gamorra, nice one. Lord Fancyhat and the fat friar are great, I like his morning star.


One and a half feet in the hobby


My Painting Log of various minis:
# Olthannon's Oscillating Orchard of Opportunity #

 
   
Made in ru
Decrepit Dakkanaut






Mostly, on my phone.

Slinky wrote:Eric is great, what a characterful wee chap!

I know, it's great that the humans are just as whimsical as the goblins, faeries and the rest. And he's a lynchpin of so many list - he's practically an auto-include for any Commonwealth force with a Noble and/or Soldier in it, and you'd be pretty hard pressed not to have one or other if playing Humans (I don;t play Gnomes, which is the other Commonwealth sub-faction).

Don Qui Hotep wrote:
Most folks take a chainmail vest and keep their arms free, looks like Brother Flavius took a bit of a different approach. Moonstone models are a ton of fun.
Really like your Guardians, the Ronan power glow is great and I like how you tied their bases together. Same with the Mysterio and Goblin, it helps sell the sense of urban conflict. How'd you do the caution tape?

They really are great figs, and I've got a stack more getting primed. The tape is just hazard tape GIFs that I've printed and cut/stuck, nothing complex.

Viterbi wrote:You've been very productive, great way of incorporating the puppy' bite
Love all the Marvel stuff and now I know that the price for the Hulkbuster is actually fair, what a massive mini
Moonstone looks really interesting with every additionally painted mini.

I'm pleasantly surprised with the value of HB. I'm getting a Juggernaut to look at so I might change my mind there... we'll see Moonstone is just stunning, and the gameplay is magnificent. Really looking forward to getting the humans in at those pesky Goblins of the boy's now that they're all painted!

Olthannon wrote:Love the white armour on Gamorra, nice one. Lord Fancyhat and the fat friar are great, I like his morning star.

I'm one of those weird freaks who enjoys painting white If I'm not careful it'll be White Scars at some point although Heresy Death Guard are attempting to corrupt me...

What with it being mother's Day over the weekend, and finally the parquet flooring finished, we've been mostly doing stuff for Mrs Graven plus putting the house back together again after weeks of various anarchy. Got some more MCP built: Wolverine, Sabertooth, Domino & Cable, to get on with X-Force, and Ms Marvel - I've added some of the extra scrap from the Magneto set, (which is actually for Toad's base) to hers, just to tie her two bases together further.

There's also some DC into prime (well, why not eh?) - finally tackling WW84, Sinestro and his corps - along with Moonstone (faeries and pirates) and allllllllllllll the Core Space.

Talking of Core Space... THE PURGE!

Hurrah for killer robots! I've tried to go for a Lost in Space (TV reboot) vibe on the 5 Harvesters and 2 Devastators, a bit more low-key on the Assassin (the black-ish one) whilst the Live One, being a reassembled alien, is acting as a test for my many, many First Born - it's a very simply scheme running mostly off Vallejo Terracotta, Cayman Green and (of course) Deck Tan. Although the colours on the robots are not exactly as depicted in the art (Harvesters ochre, Devastators Red and Assassins white), I wanted to keep them non-setting specific for any model agnostic gaming - I'm thinking Mechs for Judge Dredd in particular, but also Stargrave et al... they even have a reasonable Deadzone/Dreadball vibe. Also, assassin bot looked just plain daft in white.

Had a great game of Block Mania with the spawn last night, love a bit of retro gaming goodness. It is eurogame levels of token fetishism, and has too many rules, but still great.

Perhaps shouldn't have quite so enthusiastically firebombed his block though :flamed

Other oddments I've been working on are Dormammu's summoning circle (it was lost in the mahoosive bag of bases) - it was actually weirdly interesting trying to replicate a base I'd already painted a couple of months ago - and another street sign for MCP which I may destroy for Magneto or Juggernaut.

Also, continuing the basing theme and my general loathing of Flight stands, I'm planning to use the 3-D printed small tree for Vespa, the faerie wasp-rider.

I'm channel-hopping a bit (good old hobby ADHD) but it has been good to paint something different whilst attempting to clear the backlog. Still got Aeronautica Fire Raptors and Avengers to build, along with the DC/Moonstone stuff that's getting primed on sprue, but after that it's just (just!) the X-Men to tackle. That's pretty impressive, I think. Don't worry, there's always something else around the corner to distract me
Graven

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2022/03/30 09:52:11


Theophony"... and there's strippers in terminator armor and lovecraftian shenanigans afoot."
Solar_Lion: "Man this sums up your blog nicely."

Anpu-adom: "being Geek is about Love. Some love broadly. Some love deeply. And then there are people like Graven.  
   
Made in gb
Longtime Dakkanaut






UK

Is that the cardboard terrain from the Battle Systems kickstarter behind the Purge (who look v nice, btw)?

I have 2 boxes of it somewhere awaiting a project to get going - Maybe Horus Heresy Zone Mortalis is the way to go?

   
Made in gb
Decrepit Dakkanaut






Mostly, on my phone.

Slinky wrote:Is that the cardboard terrain from the Battle Systems kickstarter behind the Purge (who look v nice, btw)?

I have 2 boxes of it somewhere awaiting a project to get going - Maybe Horus Heresy Zone Mortalis is the way to go?


It is indeed (and thanks!) I'm very impressed by it, even more so than the stuff from First Born - really generically useful. It's going to see a lot of use for Deadzone also, I'll wager. See pics below for more.

Not much more paint progress, just building, building, building. I'm at that stage. However, I did get... one or two things from Asmodee... Wingspan (plus expansions), Equinox; The Hood, War Machine and Sinister Motives for Champions; and for MCP Omega Red, Honey Badger/X-23, Juggernaut, Gambit/Rogue, Colossus/Magik, Nick Fury and the Agents of SHIELD, Shadowlands Daredevil, Elektra and Hand Ninjas AND another apartment block, which is now primed in its different colours. That lot should help the Easter holidays nip by Truth be told, I never get as much P&M as I think in the Easter break as the wife's birthday falls in it and kids are just SO DARN DEMANDING Indeed, what we have been doing is playing - and after all why hobby if you can't play your games when you get the chance? I love that we have managed to get some serious geek on. We've pushed into Core Space, played through the first 3 scenarios in Mad Titan's Shadow (Champions), dipped into Heroquest and even broken out the Cluedo! Classic, and always a rare treat when the Mrs joins us (indeed, she was the one who actually bought Cluedo for us as a family).

Nevertheless, a spot of painting has been done, of the Core Space variety:

A Liege and Iconoclasts (murder dudes)
I have slightly broken a golden rule of board games here and added some base scatter. But honestly, they needed something to break them up.

The Talos are spacemagic stone golems that defend stargates, basically.


First Born Drones and Rock Worms. Drones beetle about patrolling and scanning and are generally a nuisance but can be avoided, and the Rock Worms are... Well, what it says on the tin, really.

Painting the many, many, MANY, First Born will likely break me. Magik will likely leapfrog the queue as I want her in my Convocation list, along with a mid-shapeshift Mystique, though Core Space has replaced MCP in our immediate priorities. So... We're going on a bug hunt! We're going to catch a big one! What a beautiful day! We're not scared...

Great scenario (First Born Campaign #3), tricky but made a *bit* easier by having bought docking thrusters for our clapped-out ship, so we could enter the board at a different airlock. We rescued the Game Hunters, resisted the urge to mug them for their stuff (which is a pleasingly legit option in game), and persuaded them to join our crew in search of bigger prey. We're going to take a brief break from it so we don't get bored but it is a pretty crunchy game so we don't want to forget everything.

More board gaming ahead, definitely need to tackle Wingspan and Equinox this week as they're for review (and in the case of Equinox, giveaway, as I have been sent two copies). Holidays a-go-go baby!

Graven

Theophony"... and there's strippers in terminator armor and lovecraftian shenanigans afoot."
Solar_Lion: "Man this sums up your blog nicely."

Anpu-adom: "being Geek is about Love. Some love broadly. Some love deeply. And then there are people like Graven.  
   
Made in gb
Calculating Commissar






Reading, Berks

I vaguely recall playing Block Wars about 25 years ago. I've been very tempted to pick up a copy...

Great work on all of the Core Space! I'm glad you're enjoying it (and the setup process!)

   
Made in gb
Decrepit Dakkanaut






Mostly, on my phone.

Something rather different today :

A custom crisis card holder I made for MCP, as we always want to refer to the crises and they always wander off under piles of tokens.
I wanted to make a freestanding version of the billboard that comes in the NYC apartment but still using official parts. The solution came in using the blank store sign from the set and a spare Daily planet sign from the core set newspaper booth. A couple of notches cut in and filed - perfect fit!

I didn't glue the billboard into the base, and the tolerance means it's perfect as a card holder - also works perfectly for Marvel Champions for the Villain, Main Scheme and a side scheme (though granted I should've put them the other way round!)

For the rust and weathering, I use VJ Flame Orange along with stirland battlefield for texture and agrellan earth as a crackle medium, washed with (variously) sepia, brown, black, watered down with dirty paint water.
For the graffiti I was inspired by the morbius / spiderman tag and a line from the brilliant British cyberpunk comic Killtopia which seemed very fitting. All in all a fun little side project, and adds a bit of variety to my NYC layouts to boot.

And continuing the Marvel theme, how about the most mysterious of ladies, Mystique?

The transforming paint scheme was inspired by Sorastro on Instagram, though he did the transform across the other side of the body; I exploited the build/mould lines around the left arm/shoulder as it gave a natural delineation. Rather proud of this one.

And finally Magik, as promised.

She and her giant manga sword. Not a particular fan of the character, but she's brutal in game and gives Convocation the punch they need.

Elsewhere, we've been getting more review stuff in left right and centre. Oh, tis a hard life We tried Equinox first, from the brain of legendary designer Reiner Knizia, a curious and magical game of making legendary, mythic creatures to inhabit folktales. It's a quirky concept, but once you get your head around it, this becomes an elegant game of bidding and bluffing.

Each turn you are aiming to ensure your preferred faerietale creature survives; you play cards for each, and once all the creatures have a value, the lowest is eliminated each round - so do you bid up and hope you don't lose the one you're betting on, or try to undermine the ones your opponent seems to favour? Good fun, light but crunchy enough, with good quality components.

We also had a shot of Wingspan, an astonishingly simple, elegant game that is genuinely beautiful, educational and fun. You aim to build the most attractive habitat, across Woodlands, Grasslands and Wetlands, whilst meeting specific (random) goals each round; as the rounds progress, your number of turns (and therefore actions) decreases, ramping up the pace and pressure.

Despite only having 4 actions available per turn (play a bird, lay an egg, gather food or draw a card) it has plenty of tactical weight as you figure out which action to take to maximise your resources; do you play the short game, and go for the round's goal, the long game, and work towards the bonus cards (objectives) for the final scoring, or try to reach a balance? As you take your actions, birds in that habitat will activate also, such as raptors hunting for smaller birds from the deck (to bonus score), prolific critters laying extra eggs for you to hatch, hoarders finding extra food, and so on. It's stunning and a worthy addition to any collection for any gamer, casual or competitive. It's light enough even for the non-gamers, but has the tactical weight to really challenge the hardcore among us. As if I haven't made it clear, this a must-buy modern classic, and deserves to go down as one of the greats.

Unfathomable was the last of our new boardgames. In essence, it's a reskin/revised edition of Battlestar Galactica, the game of secretly being a Cylon and stabbing your mates in the back, but here the action is transplanted to a transatlantic liner in the twenties, and one of your chums is gleefully planning to sacrifice all to the unknowable horrors of the deep. We really enjoyed this, and to my surprise my 12(ish) year old loved it, describing it as a mix of Cluedo and Among Us. Unsurprisingly, he did a great job of hiding being the secret saboteur, messing with the ship and sacrificing us to the Dark Gods of the Deep.

In the game you use your skill cards to save passengers, find useful cargo, keep the engines running and solve various Mythos crises - and whilst you can help one another, your help is also hidden (cards played face down), meaning you can be secretly sending your cohorts to the bottom of the ocean. Desperately, the players race to cross the ocean and cast banishing rituals, but like any Arkham Horror game, your chances of victory are pretty slim. It's a great game, a bit card heavy - mind you, it's not token overload for a change - which means there's quite a lot of hand management and just keeping track of the physical table space. On balance, we all liked it, as did our old chum and super-critic Drew (it passed the Would Play Again test), and where in Galactica you kind of thought that humans ultimately stood a chance of winning, weirdly you just accept that the likelihood of losing and going bonkers in this Mythos version of it. I'm delighted that it'll be entering our regular rotation of family games.

All in all, not a bad few days
Graven




This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2022/04/08 08:36:38


Theophony"... and there's strippers in terminator armor and lovecraftian shenanigans afoot."
Solar_Lion: "Man this sums up your blog nicely."

Anpu-adom: "being Geek is about Love. Some love broadly. Some love deeply. And then there are people like Graven.  
   
Made in gb
Decrepit Dakkanaut






Mostly, on my phone.

Hey gang.
Not done much over the last few days, ended up on hospital with concussion from falling off a unit whilst fixing curtains at 5am yesterday. Nothing too bad, CT scan clear, just bloodied and bruised.
So, the billboard was a taste of things to come; here's the second NYC Apartment Building, this time built up as Josie's bar.

Little nod to Jessica Jones with the Alias sign above the door, and Vote Cage is a reference to the current Devil's Reign storyline, where Luke ousts Fisk as mayor of NYC. Fun with the Josie's sign too.

So if you get the squiggle reference, you win a cookie. Funky Skull games make the cracking 70s gang rumble game Street Wars NYC, which is very much based on The Warriors - but I had to marvel-ise it. I'm really happy with the cherry blossom mural, too, on the rooftop stair.

I went for a back alley pizza vibe on this side, again with some marvel references thrown in. I used stickers from Big Potato Games' hilarious P for Pizza.

And a view of the back with some classic posters.

Set up with minis.

Street View, top down.

Another view of the city streets.

And the Crisis Board in action. Not too obstructive or anything. All in all, productive, under the circumstances.

Graven




This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2022/04/10 20:12:31


Theophony"... and there's strippers in terminator armor and lovecraftian shenanigans afoot."
Solar_Lion: "Man this sums up your blog nicely."

Anpu-adom: "being Geek is about Love. Some love broadly. Some love deeply. And then there are people like Graven.  
   
Made in in
[MOD]
Otiose in a Niche






Hyderabad, India

"Aw snap!"

Too soon man, too soon.

 
   
Made in jp
[DCM]
Incorporating Wet-Blending





Japan

That's quite the set-up. Your work on the MCP buildings gives me a real Sesame Street vibe-- never having been to NYC, that's how I imagine the city to look.

I'm glad to hear you're OK after your fall. Head injuries scare me.

Now showing more Samurai Marines, Bad Squiddo Amazons, and an Oldhammer Chaos Thug!

Painting total as of 3/28/2024: 21 plus a set of modular spaceship terrain

Painting total for 2023: 79 plus 28 Battlemechs and a Dragon-Balrog

 
   
Made in gb
Calculating Commissar






Reading, Berks

Is the squiggle to signify the alley formerly known a Prince street? Glad you survived the tumble too! Lesson learned… no climbing on things as 5am…


 JoshInJapan wrote:
That's quite the set-up. Your work on the MCP buildings gives me a real Sesame Street vibe--


I now want to see Big Bird as an avenger!

   
Made in in
[MOD]
Otiose in a Niche






Hyderabad, India

 endtransmission wrote:
Is the squiggle to signify the alley formerly known a Prince street?


OMG if that's true that's brilliant.

And I used to work on Prince Street!

But what's the '3?' mark?

 
   
Made in gb
Decrepit Dakkanaut






Mostly, on my phone.

Kid_Kyoto wrote:"Aw snap!"
Too soon man, too soon.

well, I needed something to go with Thanos Was Right

JoshInJapan wrote:That's quite the set-up. Your work on the MCP buildings gives me a real Sesame Street vibe-- never having been to NYC, that's how I imagine the city to look.
I'm glad to hear you're OK after your fall. Head injuries scare me.

Thanks man, I am a bit of a disaster area. It's not the worst I've had, that was a few years back when the attic ladder swung down and knocked me out cold. Had to take a fair bit of time off and lost about 48hrs of memory. Though funnily enough in that 48hrs I built Mortarion (who I'd planned to paint unassembled)! Thanks for kind words on NYC, I don't know how authentic it is but I think I have a pretty decent downtown vibe going on.

endtransmission wrote:Is the squiggle to signify the alley formerly known a Prince street? Glad you survived the tumble too! Lesson learned… no climbing on things as 5am…

JoshInJapan wrote:That's quite the set-up. Your work on the MCP buildings gives me a real Sesame Street vibe--


I now want to see Big Bird as an avenger!

I am quite sure the Muppet Avengers exist out there somewhere though anyone who suggests Ms Piggy as the Hulk (You wouldn't like me when I'm hungry ...) Is a dead man.
Nope, squiggle is a Marvel reference (Agent Carter related) albeit with a passing resemblance to the Purple One's squiggle.

Kid_Kyoto wrote:
OMG if that's true that's brilliant.
And I used to work on Prince Street!
But what's the '3?' mark?

Sadly not, I am not that clever
The 3 is underneath the tag for The Warriors - the warriors 3 being companions of Thor.

Back out to space! Got my first crew done:

The crew of the Eidolon, which come in the First Born box. They have a real Rebel Scum vibe; they're really characterful, fun models.

One of my favourite things about the game is how characterful the humans and alien crews are. Really excellent, quirky sci-fi minis. But hey, let's have some proper aliens:

Cerberosa. They are VERY stabby. Very, very nasty.

The gang meets the beasts.

Well, Hopper the robot is off doing his own thing whilst everyone else deals with murder monsters. As usual...

Got some more holiday gaming in with the kids, Jaipur (mad 2 player trading game, good fun), Marvel Mayhem (Dungeon Mayhem reskin, but good nonetheless) and Azul: Queen's Garden (tough, crunchy, but enjoyable).

All in all, holiday going well, I think
Rest of the core space first born starter box will hopefully be done in the next few days, then on to Fury of the Mad God so I can call all the of the KS box done. Mebbe
Graven

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2022/04/13 21:19:21


Theophony"... and there's strippers in terminator armor and lovecraftian shenanigans afoot."
Solar_Lion: "Man this sums up your blog nicely."

Anpu-adom: "being Geek is about Love. Some love broadly. Some love deeply. And then there are people like Graven.  
   
Made in gb
Longtime Dakkanaut






UK

Loving the space crew.

Glad to hear you avoided dashing your brains out, too!

   
Made in gb
Calculating Commissar






Reading, Berks

 inmygravenimage wrote:

I am quite sure the Muppet Avengers exist out there somewhere though anyone who suggests Ms Piggy as the Hulk (You wouldn't like me when I'm hungry ...) Is a dead man.


There is indeed an official parody... and this one

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2022/04/16 19:48:31


   
Made in gb
Decrepit Dakkanaut






Mostly, on my phone.

Slinky wrote:Loving the space crew.
Glad to hear you avoided dashing your brains out, too!

Well, it's not like there was much in there anyway...


genius

More days, more games. Finished off Mad Titan's Shadow for Champions with the boys, Loki is a really, really tricky final boss - deeply frustrating and irritating, so I suppose absolutely spot on. And inexplicably Enchantress kept on seducing Rocket. weirdo
Also played the first half of Guardians of the Abyss, mystic Egypt scenario expansion for Arkham Horror, really felt like we were exploring Cairo and desert dig sites to solve drive ancient mystery. Having uncovered the nefarious cult we now must venture on into the abyssal darkness and beyond. Good times!

And the long ongoing process of completing the Core Space First Born is... done!

And a few shots of the various bits:

I repainted the two Iconoclasts I'd already done, wasn't happy with the paintjob. Much better now.

Similarly, I wasn't happy with the Liege I'd done. But now they're all matchy matchy.

The Live One and Somnambulant.

The Mad God and his Guardians.

Big fella.

And finally, the big Game Hunters.

Great fun to paint, lovely characterful sci-fi sculpts.

All squared away. Now ain't that a satisfying sight?
Reckon I'm going to go back to Moonstone for a bit next. Onwards!
Graven


Theophony"... and there's strippers in terminator armor and lovecraftian shenanigans afoot."
Solar_Lion: "Man this sums up your blog nicely."

Anpu-adom: "being Geek is about Love. Some love broadly. Some love deeply. And then there are people like Graven.  
   
Made in gb
Fixture of Dakka





6 foot underwater

Nice work on the marvel terrain bits, and liking the first born stuff - may have to look into that, some of those look ripe for chopping up...

cyborks & flyboyz : http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/300067.page
heretical ramblings : http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/302773.page
imperial preachings : http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/0/303365.page
Da Waaagh-ky Races : http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/325045.page
Briancj: You have the Mek Taint, MT, and the only thing we can do is watch in horror/amazement.

 
   
Made in us
Decrepit Dakkanaut






Madison, WI

Love those Core Space models. Wonderfully done graven!

Anvildude: "Honestly, it's kinda refreshing to see an Ork vehicle that doesn't look like a rainbow threw up on it."

Gitsplitta's Unified Painting Theory
 
   
Made in gb
Decrepit Dakkanaut






Mostly, on my phone.

monkeytroll wrote:Nice work on the marvel terrain bits, and liking the first born stuff - may have to look into that, some of those look ripe for chopping up...

Well, they're generally very well priced; the best way to get them is pick up Reinforcements pack, if you're not interested in cardstock terrain or the game itself.

Gitsplitta wrote:Love those Core Space models. Wonderfully done graven!

Cheers man! I enjoyed them, I have a lot more Crews and Civilians to do but I'm going to take a wee break as switching tack seems to be keeping me productive.

Little bit of Moonstone next, trying to get through my Leshavult (faerie tale creatures) and a bit of headway on the other Commonwealth humans. So, first up, The Wendigo!

I love the contrast of terrifying nature spirit with tiny bird nesting in its antlers. It is the combat monster for the Cult subfaction (well, they have a giant too but he's rubbish).

And speaking of monsters, The Revenant:

Zombie human noble. He's literally unkillable in game.

Brother Daniel

Happy little prophet of doom

Flashbacks to doing servitors with all that scrollwork
Natty the Slum Thief

Not at all modelled on my 6 year old

Enjoyed doing the coat.
And a group shot

So, a productive Easter weekend indeed!
Next up, super secret project
Graven

Theophony"... and there's strippers in terminator armor and lovecraftian shenanigans afoot."
Solar_Lion: "Man this sums up your blog nicely."

Anpu-adom: "being Geek is about Love. Some love broadly. Some love deeply. And then there are people like Graven.  
   
Made in gb
Decrepit Dakkanaut






Mostly, on my phone.

Right, so, odds and ends, starting with more Moonstone.

Sir Guillemot Poppycock. I have been avoiding my Commonwealth as they have so much detail on them and tend be in a lot of armour (and I'm avoiding metals, generally).

He's a stunner of a fig. I've invested in some decent sables and it's really helping with control, especially for faces.

And, Sir Hogswash.

Loads of fun to paint, very Labyrinth.

I love the Boar's slightly googly eyes

I have 10 more Moonstone figs based and primed, though I may take a wee break as these have been rather stressful.

Next, for some light relief, some rapidly painted rats on bases.

One is a set I printed (mistakenly on a 30mm) and the other a mix of Reaper Bones and Heroquest rats. I needed two bases' worth for an extra troop selection for my Veer-Myn forces (for Firefight, because minimum unit size) and left them entirely generic for general use.

And finally, the major source of stress at the moment: the Super Secret Project:

Yup, it's a book nook, featuring a Sandworm. The Sandworm has been nightmarish to print, but on attempt 5 it worked... and then I ran out of resin however, I'd always intended to part-sculpt the mouth. And then there's this...

I'm not actually sure why I'm so determined to cause myself massive stress by wiring it also, but there we are. The aim is for a dim spice glow from within the gullet.

Painting begun. I have about a week to get this bugger painted, though the exterior of the nook is mostly done.

Other than that, I've got all the Marvel that's built (mutants, mostly) pre-shaded, so I'm on track in terms of what I'm working on generally, at least in my head
Graven

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2022/04/21 21:02:08


Theophony"... and there's strippers in terminator armor and lovecraftian shenanigans afoot."
Solar_Lion: "Man this sums up your blog nicely."

Anpu-adom: "being Geek is about Love. Some love broadly. Some love deeply. And then there are people like Graven.  
   
Made in gb
Longtime Dakkanaut






UK

Well, as we know, the spice must flow Good luck!

   
Made in gb
Decrepit Dakkanaut






Mostly, on my phone.

Slinky wrote:Well, as we know, the spice must flow Good luck!

Indeed!
Better pics


And further work on the Sandworm, LEDs in place


Theophony"... and there's strippers in terminator armor and lovecraftian shenanigans afoot."
Solar_Lion: "Man this sums up your blog nicely."

Anpu-adom: "being Geek is about Love. Some love broadly. Some love deeply. And then there are people like Graven.  
   
Made in gb
Using Inks and Washes





Great Moonstone stuff, love the guy with his feather cape.
   
Made in de
Longtime Dakkanaut






Second Marvel building looks great too, love those pizza stickers

And my word have you been busy with the other stuff too, great work on the sci-fi and fantasy minis. Moonstone looks more and more fun every time I see new models.
   
Made in us
Grisly Ghost Ark Driver






Sandworm is looking great! The glowing gullet works well.

See what's on my painting table Now painting: Kruleboyz Gutrippaz 
   
Made in gb
Calculating Commissar






Reading, Berks

Mmmm that book nook is great!

   
Made in ru
Decrepit Dakkanaut






Mostly, on my phone.

aku-chan wrote:Great Moonstone stuff, love the guy with his feather cape.

Thanks, he wasn't... Quite as stressful as I'd feared
Viterbi wrote:Second Marvel building looks great too, love those pizza stickers
And my word have you been busy with the other stuff too, great work on the sci-fi and fantasy minis. Moonstone looks more and more fun every time I see new models.

Buy Moonstone! it's a great game with quirky, quality rules.

Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll wrote:Sandworm is looking great! The glowing gullet works well.

Thanks! It's not strictly canon, but it fits my head-canon, as the spice is manufactured by the worms so they must be sparkly inside, right?
endtransmission wrote:Mmmm that book nook is great!

Cheers chum!

Not an enormous amount of P&M done over the weekend (at leas tin terms of quantity), partly because I was playing Firefight with the spawn (more on that below) but also because I was working on something... big. Colossal, even:

So, the Unstoppable Colossus.

The miniature (can you call it miniature?!) is Juggernaut from MCP; however, there is a scenario pack for the Unstoppable Colossus and, given that I've already printed and painted up a Juggernaut, I though I'd try to paint up this bad boy.

Doing the lines on the arm was stressful; I did consider gs'ing them, but I think they've turned out ok.


And a comparison shot with my 3D printed version.

As mentioned, I got a review copy of Firefight, the new mid level wargame from Mantic, and so here's a review (obviously) and a batrep. But hey, if you're only here for the p&m that's fine

Review

The game box is a great big lump of stuff, first of all. Two full forces with over 70 hard-plastic miniatures between them, for Marauders - Orcs, to you and I - and Enforcers, power-armoured "peacekeepers" of the GCPS (Humanity's Galactic Co-Prosperity Sphere). Let's be clear that this is not a grim, gritty, grimdark future: it's a corporate, power-hungry future, though not a sleek, cyber future either (albeit tinged with neon) - Mantic's Warpath universe is more akin to the pages of 2000AD, Firefly, Brian K Vaughn's Saga or the rich, alien-infused writings of CJ Cherryh. Indeed, one of its real strengths is a deep and engaging fluff that draws you into its conflicts believably. It's the world of their companion games Deadzone and Dreadball, and so if you're already invested in either it will obviously appeal, but it's satisfying enough to get the attention if you're not already familiar. The fact that over half the core rulebook is given over to the background might seem odd but it really enriches the game as a whole.

I mustn't forget to talk about the quality of the plastics themselves. Now having built every generation of Mantic plastics, resins, restics, metals, and PVCs I can say that these are by far the best I've seen from them.

Also, the game's real strength is in its immense simplicity, with clear rules designed to speed up play rather than create tactical equivocations. Can a unit leader draw line of sight to a member of an enemy unit? Fine, they can all see it. Is there a big enough gap in the wall of that building to shoot through? Well whether it's a huge hole, or tiny chink, that's enough to use as a firing position. The game heavily emphasises smoothness of play over obsessing over micro-managing. Yes, there are (actually really extensive) rules for covering certain circumstances - particularly around potentially problematic situations that can arise with vehicles - but for the most part it's extremely straightforward. Universal special rules are covered in a couple of double-pages in the rulebook, and the unit references in the accompanying Force List book are clear and concise (with the added bonus of reference cards info for all the box contents).

At a basic level, you play with roughly 50 models each across a 4x4 board plus some scatter terrain (not masses though - this isn't Deadzone). Players take turns across a number of rounds, taking (typically) 2 actions per unit (move/shoot/duck, mostly). Using suppressive fire tactics to pin down the opposition is key, making them lose actions, whilst judicious use of Command points (your commander(s) giving out-of-sequence activations, negating pins or granting faction-specific abilities) is also vital. The game is d8 (rather than d6) based, which creates a better randomisation curve and adds balance overall, as it allows for a wider range of ability scores and building more variety into the different factions.

Whilst all of the factions have some degree of both ranged and melee options, there are definite tendencies within each. From the starter set, the Enforcers are well-armed and well-armoured - power-suited super-soldiers, in the classic sci-fi mold - whilst the Marauders are less disciplined but more numerous; however, these are not the chaotic ork swarms you might expect, but rather an insurgent force of dispossessed mercenary aliens that are sick of working only to satiate human greed. For swarms, look to the Veer-Myn (yay!) and all their innumerable rats with some nasty mid-range firepower and a lot of teeth and claws (the Deadzone 3rd edition starter proving an excellent base to build from), whilst the GCPS (also available in the DZ starter) are your "regular" human infantry, the classic average soldiery. If you prefer your hordes shambling rather than skittering, Plague are the zombies and monstrous creatures of nightmare, an ancient sentient virus run riot, a ceaseless swarm of host bodies; at the other extreme, the Asterians are an elite, aloof mecha force at the bidding of unknowably ancient elven minds, with impossibly advanced weapons mounted on drones. Finally, the Forge Fathers use tanks, battle-suits and more armour plating than you can shake a very pointy stick at to resist all who would try to defeat them. I'm hoping we'll see other factions from the universe at some point, particular The Nameless (a mysterious cephalopods swarm with lots of psionics) and the Rebs (disparate, dispossessed aliens and humans that fight the corporate tyranny of the GCPS).

If you're familiar with Deadzone, many of the mechanics will feel intuitive, but even if not Firefight is a very fast game. Now, yes, whilst there is a place for a whole day of shuffling tiny man-dolls around a tabletop, more often than not you want to be able to setup, play, and wrap up in a couple of hours, and Firefight does this in spades. Partly, this is because - somewhat unusually - the game does not make use of masses of terrain (a bonus, as entry level product), but it's more than that. The rules are so streamlined that you're never spending ages agonising over a decision, with a well-organised, logical rulebook that immediately resolves any possibly queries. To test this, my elder spawn and I deliberately didn't use the forces that come in the starter (with their extra rules reference cards) but broke out his Asterians and my Veer-Myn - plus, stubbornly, I always prefer to play with painted models - and we were pleased to whizz through the intro scenario in the course of an afternoon. With more than a dozen other scenarios in the rulebook, there's plenty of variety to keep you occupied and tackle your tactical preferences. If I have a critcism then maybe the fact that it requires a 4ft play area can be a bit limiting if you're playing in the house, but then if you're going for a big-box wargame experience then you'd be expecting this anyway. The smooth rules do have some compromises - the way hills affect LOS but not movement feels a little odd, for example - but it's a small price for such a slick, quick game experience overall.

Overall, the 2 player starter set offers fantastic value (though of course you could just dive in with the rulebooks) - the buy-in is comparable to a high-end boardgame, and if you've got a friendly regular opponent then you could always get yourselves a copy apiece and double your forces for an absolute steal. If you've previously picked up Deadzone 2nd, it uses the same factions (though not same models), so is a great step-up from that also. Definitely going to be seeing more forces on the Warpath!

Batrep

So the elder spawn and I decided to test the game with our existing Deadzone forces. A standard game of Firefight is supposed to be around 1000 points, which the boy could easily manage with his pricey Asterian mecha force, but my rodent horde from the DZ 3rd ed starter barely clocks in at 600. Still, the intro scenario is designed to be played at 500-750 so that was ideal, as it turned out.

Veer-Myn win the Recon roll - which is one of their strengths, as they bring a lot of commanders to the table - and choose to setup/go second.

We used the tile terrain as Hills, rather than getting into the Building rules for our first game; each hill elevation counts as 3" of extra range when determining LOS up. So, the Veer-Myn Brood Mother took the high ground opposite the centre of field where most of his drones were concentrated, with my assault heavy group on one side (mirroring the Asterians) and my more ranged to the other to try to counter his Sky Razors and prevent flanking manoeuvres.

Marionette drones and the Phantom advance, ignoring the largely ineffective attacks from the Crawlers and Rumbler cannon (even with boosts from the Master Creeper alongside them). The Rumbler cannon's chem sprayer has the It Burns! rule, where units hit have to make a Nerve check or lose their next action. Drones, being robots, are all Nerve 2+ (on a d8)... the boy consistently rolled 1s for his Nerve checks ALL game (well, 6 out of 7)

Kalyshi are the space witch elf analog for Asterians, absolutely horrific melee machines with counterattacks to make you weep. My poor rats went to soften them up... And annihilated them. True, they were themselves destroyed (18 wounds to 2 2 health models will do that) but not before they did enough to wipe out the murder chicks. Never underestimate an angry rat, it seems.

This is not to say the boy didn't do well. Mindful of mistakes of old playing smaller skirmish games, he concentrated on scoring objectives and whittling down my troops at range, chewing through my right flank and holding the centre at the same time. Incidentally, we used the physical Mantic objective markers as we owned them, rather than the tokens from the set, purely for looks. The mat is a Gaslands mat that seemed to fit the feel.

After the smoke cleared, he'd lost his Phantom (big mecha), Black Talon (elite mecha commander) and most of his cyphers (superior ranged mecha) but had in the process chewed through my left flank, wiping out the rats, Stalkers (melee grunts), Nightmares (elite heavies), Maligni (ranged support bodyguards) and Pack Leader (murder melee commander). Even without a commander, mechs will keep functioning, alas, albeit not as efficiently.

My few surviving crawlers and progenitor (buffing commander) chipped away at the last of the Cyphers and Marionettes before being sacrificial wounds to keep the Brood Mother alive in a hail of Sky Razor fire.

Final round and I have the initiative, Brood Mother shoots with her chem staff at the sky razors - and It Burns! They roll a 1 on a d8 (needing 2+), losing their activation - a victory for Veer-Myn!
An absolute nail-biter, we were both very impressed by the game. It hits the sweet spot of being complex ENOUGH without being either turgid or simplistic.

Rematch of sorts will likely be this coming Saturday, but I think I'm going to try to get the Enforcers built up as suggested in the box and run them - plus I have definitely got some of the older figs knocking about, including a sniper commander and Strider (big old battlesuit that dreads naught). They won't be painted though so we'll see, that goes against my principles. I've still got piles of MCP and Moonstone to wade through - and maybe even some DC. Shocking.
Graven

This message was edited 5 times. Last update was at 2022/04/30 09:29:26


Theophony"... and there's strippers in terminator armor and lovecraftian shenanigans afoot."
Solar_Lion: "Man this sums up your blog nicely."

Anpu-adom: "being Geek is about Love. Some love broadly. Some love deeply. And then there are people like Graven.  
   
Made in us
Decrepit Dakkanaut






Madison, WI

So much I've missed while I've been away!

Love Natty and the goofy knight especially.
The worm turned out wonderfully!
What is a "book nook"?
Nice to see you getting another game in with your boy.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2022/04/26 10:16:43


Anvildude: "Honestly, it's kinda refreshing to see an Ork vehicle that doesn't look like a rainbow threw up on it."

Gitsplitta's Unified Painting Theory
 
   
Made in gb
Dakka Veteran




Lincoln, UK

Great review of Firefight, and a really clear batrep - thanks for those!

My copy is in the post.

One thing you mentioned caught my eye - the background fluff. Done right, it helps you to understand why these forces are fighting each other. It's one if the things I never really got from Beyond the Gates of Antares, and I think the game suffered for it - all the background felt disconnected from your platoon of grunts.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2022/04/26 12:27:21


 
   
Made in ru
Decrepit Dakkanaut






Mostly, on my phone.

Gitsplitta wrote:So much I've missed while I've been away!
Love Natty and the goofy knight especially.
The worm turned out wonderfully!
What is a "book nook"?
Nice to see you getting another game in with your boy.

Thanks, I really enjoy doing the moonstone stuff, but I sometimes wonder if people find it a bit too daft for here A Book Nook is a vignette or diorama designed to slot into a bookshelf that depicts a scene from a book. They're like a little Easter Egg in your home for visitors to spot Yeah, we really enjoyed Firefight and definitely want to give it another go at the weekend.
Momotaro wrote:Great review of Firefight, and a really clear batrep - thanks for those!
My copy is in the post.
One thing you mentioned caught my eye - the background fluff. Done right, it helps you to understand why these forces are fighting each other. It's one if the things I never really got from Beyond the Gates of Antares, and I think the game suffered for it - all the background felt disconnected from your platoon of grunts.

Good man! And, welcome! You actually reminded me, I forgot to mention that I'll have a copy of the game for giveaway over at Big Comic Page at the May Bank Holiday. Yes, I really like the fluff; it also explains the logic of Firefight as a mid-sized game, given that it's set against a backdrop of pockets of Marauder insurgence, long-forgotten Asterian outposts, small Dwarven mining crews, stowaway Veer-myn Tribes, outbreaks of The Plague and the various human surgical strike forces sent to clean up the mess. It would seem to be perfect for the other Warpath universe factions - maybe less so Mazon labs, I grant you, but I'd really love to see Rebs in action. I guess they don't want to over-expand, as they've been bitten before.

I'll admit to feeling a bit of hobby stress. The pile of shame is starting to run away from me again, and that's not good. I've got all the Enforcers primed but it will take a deal of time to get them assembled I do at least have a clear colour scheme in mind (black with Space Wolf Blue/grey armour plates).

So, if in doubt, paint something else

Mr Sinister. Now, this is a funny one. I have ZERO affection for, or interest in, the character (I'd even go so far as to say I dislike the character, he's like a low-rent R'as Al Ghul) - so as a result I was happy just to batter through him.

That being said, I part-painted him with the cloak done separately so I could get in about it, which I would never normally do.

It's a tremendous sculpt and was actually really enjoyable to do.

April is always a productive month for painting I find. Colossus and Omega Red are in the WIP pile also, but the long weekend's hobbying is likely to be given over to building squillions of Enforcers, and then try to get a game of Bank Holiday Monday. That being said, I have fudgeload of board games coming for review (Dunwich Legacy for Arkham Horror, Yak, Libertalia, Esacpe the Dark Sector, Unlock! Star Wars, Star Wars: Rebellion, Star Wars: Out Rim, Star Wars Jabba's Palace... there's a certain May theme emerging...) so we'll at least try to get some of them out and on the table. Probably the non-SW games first, as that article's going to drop for Kenobi. If you're interested in the board/card game review side of hobby (I mean I know I dropped the Firefight review here, but that's different), head over to bigcomicpage.com in the Geeking Out section . Loads of stuff in the current giveaway (Azul Queen's Garden, Deadpool & Bob for MCP, Marvel Mayhem, Wingspan deluxe eggs and Reiner Knizia's Equinox), what's not to love about that? Firefight giveaway will be up on Monday, and the elder spawn has a Transformers/Marvel Legends giveaway dropping next week too.
Good times
Graven

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2022/04/29 08:26:23


Theophony"... and there's strippers in terminator armor and lovecraftian shenanigans afoot."
Solar_Lion: "Man this sums up your blog nicely."

Anpu-adom: "being Geek is about Love. Some love broadly. Some love deeply. And then there are people like Graven.  
   
Made in us
Humming Great Unclean One of Nurgle





In My Lab

I was directed to this thread from this one, since you, inmygravenimage, are apparently well-versed in Firefight.

Am looking through this thread and the reviews and such now, but I'd like to hear a general summary if you can?

Thank you!

Clocks for the clockmaker! Cogs for the cog throne! 
   
 
Forum Index » Dakka P&M Blogs
Go to: