Couple of hours in The Gimp, using the tutorial from the link in previous post. Quite chuffed with myself, first time I've ever done anything like this in Gimp or Photoshop.
Showing posts with label Random Waffle. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Random Waffle. Show all posts
Friday, 5 April 2013
D&D Map in Gimp
I made a pretty.
Couple of hours in The Gimp, using the tutorial from the link in previous post. Quite chuffed with myself, first time I've ever done anything like this in Gimp or Photoshop.
Couple of hours in The Gimp, using the tutorial from the link in previous post. Quite chuffed with myself, first time I've ever done anything like this in Gimp or Photoshop.
Thursday, 4 April 2013
Getting the best from Basic D&D
We partook of more Basic D&D last night. I'd managed to successfully divert the party from the task of finishing the Caverns of Quasqueton (Module B1) whilst they were resting in the nearest town of Westwald with the timely arrival of merchants for market day, one of whom had narrowly escaped an orc ambush on the road up.
They took the bait, and offered their services as escort for the returning caravan. This gave me lots of scope to really stretch the different roleplaying required with Basic (compared with the local staple of 4ed.)
For example, as the day wore on, one of the NPCs in the party had vanished into the forest next to the road, and I kept getting the dwarf to make Constitution rolls against falling asleep in the warm afternoon sun. The players missed the point of this, however, they picked up the far-off wolf howls when calling out for the NPC.
After a while, after much hinting, one of the party remembered the seemingly inconsequential telescope they'd bought in Westwald. The Cleric jumped onto the back of the wagon, and promptly failed an intelligence test to use it. He decided to go ask the NPC Wizard - in another wagon with the NPC Thief - only to discover they'd nodded off in the afternoon heat (it was the crash of the collective penny dropping regards the Cons rolls for the dwarf which woke them). Wizard, once woken, spots a large wolf pack some way off.
The wolf pack, when it attacked just after dark, also gave me more 'BD&D is better' ammo; the Cleric, on his own, saw two wolves break off from the shadowing pack and streak in towards him. Needing to describe his actions - rather than just pull out a daily power and roll a gazillion dice - he stalled by asking how far away they were;
"250 feet and closing fast"
"ummm"
"200 feet"
"I'll, erm, err"
"150 feet"
"Throw my torch at them" (rolls a 13)
"The torch goes 30 feet... 100 feet and closing"
"Right, I'll, erm"
"50"
"I'll quickly..."
"Too late, roll for initiative"
Great fun as DM, really puts the players under pressure to think fast. So much more refreshing than simply presiding over a sequence of players calling out which special power they want to use.
After the session, some puffing of cheeks with "wow, that was tough" was interesting - it wasn't, they defeated a dozen wolves and a dire wolf in dribs and drabs without too much effort. But being put under pressure to think fast, think clearly, and act decisively is mentally exhausting if previously you've had plenty of time to do things.
The other cool bit was the realisation that only the failed Int check to use the telescope had made them discover the sleeping Wizard and Thief, otherwise they'd have faced a wolfpack with only a dwarf, a cleric, and an NPC fighter.
Now I just need to think how the inevitable Orc ambush is going to unfold, and how I can challenge the players in a similar fashion.
Tuesday, 2 April 2013
BD&D DIY Maps
One thing I've always loved about BD&D was the classic style of overland mapping - mostly usually seen on a hex grid. Vast dragon infested snow capped mountain ranges intersecting kingdoms, huge forests stuffed full of goblins, and endless windblown steppes with implausibly sited ancient fastnesses of evil wizards.
Just the thing I want for my BD&D campaign, and just the sort of thing you can apparently make with Fractal Terrains software. However, I'm stuffed if I'm going to throw £70 at some (admittedly impressive) cartography software, and even if I would, I can't because I'm a Linux house and therefore incompatible with 94% of the world. (Anyone mentions WINE they're to go and sit at the back of the class)
I have The Gimp (open source photoshop alike), and with a bit of Google-fu, I found this;
Clickable Goodness
I've never bothered learning how to use Gimp properly, but 45 minutes of mucking around on my little Samsung NC10 netbook yielded this;
Tomorrow I'll go again on the bigger 15" notebook (also Linux, before you ask) and get stuck into it properly.
Just the thing I want for my BD&D campaign, and just the sort of thing you can apparently make with Fractal Terrains software. However, I'm stuffed if I'm going to throw £70 at some (admittedly impressive) cartography software, and even if I would, I can't because I'm a Linux house and therefore incompatible with 94% of the world. (Anyone mentions WINE they're to go and sit at the back of the class)
I have The Gimp (open source photoshop alike), and with a bit of Google-fu, I found this;
Clickable Goodness
I've never bothered learning how to use Gimp properly, but 45 minutes of mucking around on my little Samsung NC10 netbook yielded this;
Sunday, 31 March 2013
You start at the Inn...
Gygax and Elmore. Two great uncredited influences on my life. I really started wargaming with roleplaying at primary school, aged 9 in 1985 (if I recall). Red Box rules - aka BD&D, Elmore artwork, crappy dice with a white crayon, and an excellent DM who went onto to a professor of pure mathematics at Cambridge.
Nothing else needs to be said except that I played 4e recently, but didn't like it; too much like WoW or Skyrim for those terminally short of internet connection. Too much combat, too much dice, nowhere near enough roleplaying.
Recently chatting to one of the original primary school RPG group on Facebook, and we decided to invest some time with Roll20 online gaming and take a trip down memory lane. This led me taking my original 1983 rules round to another mate's place on Friday evening. He too started with BD&D, so we could roll up some characters.
He's going through rather a tough time at the moment, so once he'd rolled up a cleric (his favourite character type whatever system we're RPGing) I somewhat spontaneously decided to keep him distracted for the evening by pulling up an original TSR module from the netbook's hard drive and have an adventure with his cleric and my new halfling (played as an NPC).
Despite me not having DM'd in any capacity for a quarter of a century, and not having prepped even a little bit, we had a blast for 2.5hrs of fire beetles, a couple of troglodytes, and a smattering of kobolds.
So Saturday evening we reconvened and carried on, only this time skyping in another of the regular gaming group (a BD&D virgin, but well versed in 3.5 and 4e) for further dungeon bashing.
I relearnt a lot of things about being dungeon master;
1) The players will always do exactly the opposite of what you've planned for
2) come prepared with a list of names for the various NPCs they bump into along the way
3) It's bloody good fun, arguably more enjoyable than being a player
The adventure continues!
Nothing else needs to be said except that I played 4e recently, but didn't like it; too much like WoW or Skyrim for those terminally short of internet connection. Too much combat, too much dice, nowhere near enough roleplaying.
Recently chatting to one of the original primary school RPG group on Facebook, and we decided to invest some time with Roll20 online gaming and take a trip down memory lane. This led me taking my original 1983 rules round to another mate's place on Friday evening. He too started with BD&D, so we could roll up some characters.
He's going through rather a tough time at the moment, so once he'd rolled up a cleric (his favourite character type whatever system we're RPGing) I somewhat spontaneously decided to keep him distracted for the evening by pulling up an original TSR module from the netbook's hard drive and have an adventure with his cleric and my new halfling (played as an NPC).
Despite me not having DM'd in any capacity for a quarter of a century, and not having prepped even a little bit, we had a blast for 2.5hrs of fire beetles, a couple of troglodytes, and a smattering of kobolds.
So Saturday evening we reconvened and carried on, only this time skyping in another of the regular gaming group (a BD&D virgin, but well versed in 3.5 and 4e) for further dungeon bashing.
I relearnt a lot of things about being dungeon master;
1) The players will always do exactly the opposite of what you've planned for
2) come prepared with a list of names for the various NPCs they bump into along the way
3) It's bloody good fun, arguably more enjoyable than being a player
The adventure continues!
Sunday, 24 March 2013
Mass Battles with Splintered Light
The unmistakable thud of a lead filled Jiffy bag hitting the door mat resounded through the halls of Castle Tangent yesterday, heralding the arrival of 70 more of the Splintered Lands range from David McBride at Splintered Light Miniatures.
The general idea behind increasing the SL collection from 'a lot' into 'the entire catalogue' is twofold; Firstly, it gives yet more options for Song of Splintered Lands, and secondly it means we can play some mass battles using Sabot bases.
The whole mass battles thing is something I've not done for a long time (Dystopian Wars excepted), but I've been collecting rules for some time. The closest I've come to actually liking any of them is Doc McBride's (David's father) Pride of Lions. An interesting system, and shows Doc's considerable experience in pushing lead around the table.
However, it is aimed more at the 15mm fantasy crowd - using what appears to be an evolution of the HotT basing regime, with each unit having three 40mm x 40mm bases. Although basing size and regime is not important, the whole thing is prevaricated on the three-base-unit concept. This would turn an SL 20mm 'mass' battle into 'bloody enormous' battle and would need a 6x4 board to really do it justice.
So, I've set about hacking Song of Splintered Lands about to make it fit what I'm trying to achieve. Fairly easy so far; just tweaking the movement, combat, and morale engines to suit units rather than individuals. In keeping with my love of the simple, I'm trying to keep it to four pages max.
At the moment, it reads/feels like a mix of WFB, SoBH, with a sprinkling of HotT thrown in. The current bit I'm pondering is how individualism to create between unit types.
For example, should a unit of Fox Spears be different from Squirrel Spears? To create a difference big enough to drive tactical challenges requires more stat lines, which brings complexity and that slows the game.
The general idea behind increasing the SL collection from 'a lot' into 'the entire catalogue' is twofold; Firstly, it gives yet more options for Song of Splintered Lands, and secondly it means we can play some mass battles using Sabot bases.
The whole mass battles thing is something I've not done for a long time (Dystopian Wars excepted), but I've been collecting rules for some time. The closest I've come to actually liking any of them is Doc McBride's (David's father) Pride of Lions. An interesting system, and shows Doc's considerable experience in pushing lead around the table.
However, it is aimed more at the 15mm fantasy crowd - using what appears to be an evolution of the HotT basing regime, with each unit having three 40mm x 40mm bases. Although basing size and regime is not important, the whole thing is prevaricated on the three-base-unit concept. This would turn an SL 20mm 'mass' battle into 'bloody enormous' battle and would need a 6x4 board to really do it justice.
So, I've set about hacking Song of Splintered Lands about to make it fit what I'm trying to achieve. Fairly easy so far; just tweaking the movement, combat, and morale engines to suit units rather than individuals. In keeping with my love of the simple, I'm trying to keep it to four pages max.
At the moment, it reads/feels like a mix of WFB, SoBH, with a sprinkling of HotT thrown in. The current bit I'm pondering is how individualism to create between unit types.
For example, should a unit of Fox Spears be different from Squirrel Spears? To create a difference big enough to drive tactical challenges requires more stat lines, which brings complexity and that slows the game.
Sunday, 17 March 2013
The '80s called... they want me back.
Some things never leave your system. Mostly, prized possessions I've sold and then regretted ever after. My '86 Mercedes 190E 2.3-16 is one such example, not only because they rapidly appreciated afterwards, but because I'd utterly gelled with it; It was magnificent.
Another one of these stuck-in-the-system is my 80s Bretonnian army. I started this in 86/87 I think, around WFB 3.ed, and slowly added bits to it until it numbered over 100 miniatures (not an inconsiderably amount of lead when you're 10 years old). It was all Perry, mostly C26 and slightly later. In the end I sold it, for about £20 if recall correctly, sometime around 93.
Anyway, recently I've noticed something fad/trend called Oldhammer seeping into the blogsphere. This, seemingly orchestrated in concert with the Ansells, seems to involve friendly non-tourney tournaments (at Foundry) using 3.ed rules, and whatever miniatures you fancy, as long as they feel and look 80s.
I'm unlikely to ever go to Nottingham for anything, least of all wargaming, but it has turned the nagging thought of getting another classic Bretonnian army built into a fully fledged wading-through-websites-and-putting-things-in-baskets type affair.
Whilst eBay is full of massively overpriced original Bretonnians, fortunately Brian Ansell made off with the moulds for 90% of the range when he left GW... so they're all available at Foundry. Then there's the current Perry HYW range, which is very much in keeping (and hopefully size) to their 80s work.
More soon.
Another one of these stuck-in-the-system is my 80s Bretonnian army. I started this in 86/87 I think, around WFB 3.ed, and slowly added bits to it until it numbered over 100 miniatures (not an inconsiderably amount of lead when you're 10 years old). It was all Perry, mostly C26 and slightly later. In the end I sold it, for about £20 if recall correctly, sometime around 93.
Anyway, recently I've noticed something fad/trend called Oldhammer seeping into the blogsphere. This, seemingly orchestrated in concert with the Ansells, seems to involve friendly non-tourney tournaments (at Foundry) using 3.ed rules, and whatever miniatures you fancy, as long as they feel and look 80s.
I'm unlikely to ever go to Nottingham for anything, least of all wargaming, but it has turned the nagging thought of getting another classic Bretonnian army built into a fully fledged wading-through-websites-and-putting-things-in-baskets type affair.
Whilst eBay is full of massively overpriced original Bretonnians, fortunately Brian Ansell made off with the moulds for 90% of the range when he left GW... so they're all available at Foundry. Then there's the current Perry HYW range, which is very much in keeping (and hopefully size) to their 80s work.
More soon.
Wednesday, 6 March 2013
Sabot Bases
Massed Fantasy Battles. Those three words together in that order can bring about a wide variety of reactions from wargamers. For some, they hark too closely to the Marmite world of WFB, or the incomprehensible HotT.
Me, I used to love WFB when I were a kid. 3rd Edition. Bretonnians, when Bretonnians were basically HYW English/French with a wizard. Since those heady days, I've not played anything which required regiments of units, and the associated stuff that goes with it.
I've got some rules on the hard drive, including Pride of Lions. I've got some printed rules too, including WAB and WFB 3rd ed, and the aforementioned cryto-analyst's wet dream which is HotT. Closest I've come is my half-complete abandoned 10mm Napoleonic armies from Redline, and the now-sold 28mm early Saxon army from Musketeer.
Not played any of them though, mainly because I can't be bothered with painting several 'undred of basically the same miniature, to then spend an afternoon getting wound up over wheeling units, facings, charges, and so on.
However, I do miss the fun of pushing large armies around, and of course the visual aspect. So, on and off over the last few months, I've been hammering Song of Splintered Lands into something more suitable for mass battles. Rather than rebase everything, or buy a whole lot more SLM, I decided to utilise the large existing collection with sabot bases from warbases.co.uk (be prepared for a not very good website if you visit).
Dunno why they're called sabots. A sabot to me is a kinetic dart for use against armour, not a piece of laser cut wood. Anyway, bought 20 of the 3x2 for units of 6, for use in my cut-down SSL version.
Turned up to they did. Very nice, for the 80p each, and saves a lot of work. Just need to get the pumice gel out and get them to match the basing scheme. They'll also double for 15mm Dux Bellorum (or whatever it is Stuart bought).
Sharp, clean, cuts. Good price. Good services from warbases. Recommended.
Me, I used to love WFB when I were a kid. 3rd Edition. Bretonnians, when Bretonnians were basically HYW English/French with a wizard. Since those heady days, I've not played anything which required regiments of units, and the associated stuff that goes with it.
I've got some rules on the hard drive, including Pride of Lions. I've got some printed rules too, including WAB and WFB 3rd ed, and the aforementioned cryto-analyst's wet dream which is HotT. Closest I've come is my half-complete abandoned 10mm Napoleonic armies from Redline, and the now-sold 28mm early Saxon army from Musketeer.
Not played any of them though, mainly because I can't be bothered with painting several 'undred of basically the same miniature, to then spend an afternoon getting wound up over wheeling units, facings, charges, and so on.
However, I do miss the fun of pushing large armies around, and of course the visual aspect. So, on and off over the last few months, I've been hammering Song of Splintered Lands into something more suitable for mass battles. Rather than rebase everything, or buy a whole lot more SLM, I decided to utilise the large existing collection with sabot bases from warbases.co.uk (be prepared for a not very good website if you visit).
Dunno why they're called sabots. A sabot to me is a kinetic dart for use against armour, not a piece of laser cut wood. Anyway, bought 20 of the 3x2 for units of 6, for use in my cut-down SSL version.
Turned up to they did. Very nice, for the 80p each, and saves a lot of work. Just need to get the pumice gel out and get them to match the basing scheme. They'll also double for 15mm Dux Bellorum (or whatever it is Stuart bought).
Monday, 30 January 2012
I Are Fanboy
The Litany of Lead, procured from David at Splintered Light Miniatures
David always looks after me as a customer, doubtless because I have spent rather a lot with him over the last couple of years. Working from memory, here's what I have; (asterix denotes just ordered)
Faithful Warband
Mouse Spears
Mouse Command
Otter Rogues
Badger Lords
Badger in Plate
Heroes
Heroes 2
Villagers
Squirrel Command*
Rebel Warband
Heroes
Fox Archers
Heroes 2*
Fox Command*
Beastlands Warband
Minotaur Guard
Dwarf Warband
Dwarf High Command
Dwarf Heavy Cavalry on Bears
Goblin Bat Clan Warband*
Goblin Bat Clan light cavalry on bats*
Giant Eagles*
Romano-British Army - approx 70 figures
Saxon Army - 50 figures
Plus there's a Faithful warband I bought for Mike, and a Kobold warband I bought for Pete, plus some odds and ends like an Ice Dragon.
It's rather obvious which faction is my favourite, but looking forward to getting the Goblins in the next week or so, and getting them ready for a game against Mike's Faithful when he's down next.
Some SLM Otters, yesterday.
David always looks after me as a customer, doubtless because I have spent rather a lot with him over the last couple of years. Working from memory, here's what I have; (asterix denotes just ordered)
Faithful Warband
Mouse Spears
Mouse Command
Otter Rogues
Badger Lords
Badger in Plate
Heroes
Heroes 2
Villagers
Squirrel Command*
Rebel Warband
Heroes
Fox Archers
Heroes 2*
Fox Command*
Beastlands Warband
Minotaur Guard
Dwarf Warband
Dwarf High Command
Dwarf Heavy Cavalry on Bears
Goblin Bat Clan Warband*
Goblin Bat Clan light cavalry on bats*
Giant Eagles*
Romano-British Army - approx 70 figures
Saxon Army - 50 figures
Plus there's a Faithful warband I bought for Mike, and a Kobold warband I bought for Pete, plus some odds and ends like an Ice Dragon.
It's rather obvious which faction is my favourite, but looking forward to getting the Goblins in the next week or so, and getting them ready for a game against Mike's Faithful when he's down next.
Some SLM Otters, yesterday.
Thursday, 8 December 2011
2011 review, and plans for 2012
As 2011 fizzles out, I'm starting to look at next year, and what I'm planning to get painted/played, and also look back on this year and review how it went.
As it turned out, this year has been pretty good, all in all. I painted a 15mm Romano-British warband, sort of started a Saxon warband to fight against them. Got plenty of Splintered Lands painted, and bought - Dwarfs and Beastlands. Also invested in a fair amount of scenery.
Gaming-wise played Brytenwalda a few times, but then got diverted back to my favourite of Song of Splintered Lands. Played a bit of Song of Arthur & Merlin, and a couple of other randoms such as Sturmovik Commander.
Next year I'm planning on the following;
Saga; already got a load of Musketeer early Saxons unpainted. Think I'll get some bigger shields for them to make them later, then painting them up for Saga and Song of Arthur & Merlin
Splintered Lands: lots of painting to do here, and hopefully lots of games.
Bag The Hun; Already have enough 1/600 to replay the Battle of Britain in 1:1, so just need a hex mat/map. Discovered a website with aerial reconnaissance photos of Blighty taken by the RAF in 1946. So, stitched together a load of them from Woodmancote - a village about 5 miles North of here. Slowly colouring them in, and will get that to a Graphic/Printers to be printed on a 4 x 6 vinyl mat with hexes over the top
The actual image I'm working on is currently 13mb and enormous - haven't worked out what scale it'll be in when printed at that size, so may need to add bits later on. Strangely therapeutic process, and enjoying mucking about with Gimp trying to recreate fields to the human eye.
So what's in the pipeline for you next year?
As it turned out, this year has been pretty good, all in all. I painted a 15mm Romano-British warband, sort of started a Saxon warband to fight against them. Got plenty of Splintered Lands painted, and bought - Dwarfs and Beastlands. Also invested in a fair amount of scenery.
Gaming-wise played Brytenwalda a few times, but then got diverted back to my favourite of Song of Splintered Lands. Played a bit of Song of Arthur & Merlin, and a couple of other randoms such as Sturmovik Commander.
Next year I'm planning on the following;
Saga; already got a load of Musketeer early Saxons unpainted. Think I'll get some bigger shields for them to make them later, then painting them up for Saga and Song of Arthur & Merlin
Splintered Lands: lots of painting to do here, and hopefully lots of games.
Bag The Hun; Already have enough 1/600 to replay the Battle of Britain in 1:1, so just need a hex mat/map. Discovered a website with aerial reconnaissance photos of Blighty taken by the RAF in 1946. So, stitched together a load of them from Woodmancote - a village about 5 miles North of here. Slowly colouring them in, and will get that to a Graphic/Printers to be printed on a 4 x 6 vinyl mat with hexes over the top
The actual image I'm working on is currently 13mb and enormous - haven't worked out what scale it'll be in when printed at that size, so may need to add bits later on. Strangely therapeutic process, and enjoying mucking about with Gimp trying to recreate fields to the human eye.
So what's in the pipeline for you next year?
Tuesday, 1 November 2011
Beards and Cheese
Looking back over the blog, it's been interesting to note my gradual loss of gaming mojo in the last twelve months. Of late I've painted nothing, gamed even less, and displayed the classic symptoms of a gamer scratching around for inspiration.
So, last weekend I embarked on a proper tidy up of the lead pile. The intention was to spark a bit of interest in my hobby, and to give myself the opportunity to sift through the vast mountain of stuff and perhaps sell a few bits.
Typically I didn't find anything I really wanted to sell, having sold off all the really useless stuff a few years back. Nonetheless, a tidy workbench is a productive workbench. Probably.
Alongside that an incident with the boiler at home (no, not that one, the one which heats the water) prompted local chum Stuart at the Great Game to offer to buy my 28mm town scenery from me - some of which can be seen here;
I've had it a number of years, made for me by a bloke in Oz. It's probably only been used in anger no more than a dozen times, and has spent the last couple of years languishing in another friend's gaming hut/shed/thing. Stuart has a son and they're both into 28mm WW2 at the moment, so it'll be going to a good home.
This sale is rather convenient in terms of timing and funds. A week or so ago I was in a cantankerous mood, and decided to email the local gaming circle about restarting Blood Bowl. For reasons which would take ages to explain, Blood Bowl had become the byword for Beardy Cheese Play and after running in a very active league, we all dropped it. I was surprised, therefore, when all bar one person readily agreed. So now I need to buy a team.
The person to blame for this, I've decided, is Laughing Ferret Labs. Quite apart from having a bloody brilliant blog, detailing a steady descent into gaming madness, he's also a dab hand at painting things. Especially Blood Bowl teams. If I wasn't reading about his Blood Bowl teams so often it never would have occurred to me to mention it to anyone. Honest.
My previous BB team was a Shadowforge Bunny Girl team, supported by a Heresy Ogre. They looked brilliant, but were pretty crap on the table. Not entirely their fault it must be said, as I've never been a great tactical player, especially with the wonky rules GW tend to turn out. The girls were sold a number of years back for a rather large sum of cash, so the hunt begins. It might be a short hunt, truth be told, because Impact! Miniatures do a Scotling team, and being descended of the mighty clan Hamilton that appeals to me. (I should state I am in no way Scottish. I'm Sussex.)
Last but by no means least, Mike of Little Odo's Blogspot is probably going to make the perilous journey South West from his vast mansion in Kent to push lead round a table, eat food, and generally talk rubbish. Games we're intending on are Song of Splintered Lands, and probably something Dark Ages like Saga.
This may happen in November. Which November is entirely open because both of us work and have families, so getting to play with toy soldiers for any length of time requires planning and co-ordination which makes Overlord look like it was jotted down on the back of a Woodbine packet.
So, that's that. 28mm WW2 is now to the bottom of the pile for me - which is a touch sad, because it's what got me back into wargaming back in 2005. Blood Bowl rears it's ugly UgoIgo head again. I've got even more to paint. And, I've still not painted anything.
Just to finish, here's some Splintered Light Badgers and chums lurking about the woods looking menacing. 'You want some? You want some? Grrrr... I'll bite yer face off'
So, last weekend I embarked on a proper tidy up of the lead pile. The intention was to spark a bit of interest in my hobby, and to give myself the opportunity to sift through the vast mountain of stuff and perhaps sell a few bits.
Typically I didn't find anything I really wanted to sell, having sold off all the really useless stuff a few years back. Nonetheless, a tidy workbench is a productive workbench. Probably.
Alongside that an incident with the boiler at home (no, not that one, the one which heats the water) prompted local chum Stuart at the Great Game to offer to buy my 28mm town scenery from me - some of which can be seen here;
I've had it a number of years, made for me by a bloke in Oz. It's probably only been used in anger no more than a dozen times, and has spent the last couple of years languishing in another friend's gaming hut/shed/thing. Stuart has a son and they're both into 28mm WW2 at the moment, so it'll be going to a good home.
This sale is rather convenient in terms of timing and funds. A week or so ago I was in a cantankerous mood, and decided to email the local gaming circle about restarting Blood Bowl. For reasons which would take ages to explain, Blood Bowl had become the byword for Beardy Cheese Play and after running in a very active league, we all dropped it. I was surprised, therefore, when all bar one person readily agreed. So now I need to buy a team.
The person to blame for this, I've decided, is Laughing Ferret Labs. Quite apart from having a bloody brilliant blog, detailing a steady descent into gaming madness, he's also a dab hand at painting things. Especially Blood Bowl teams. If I wasn't reading about his Blood Bowl teams so often it never would have occurred to me to mention it to anyone. Honest.
My previous BB team was a Shadowforge Bunny Girl team, supported by a Heresy Ogre. They looked brilliant, but were pretty crap on the table. Not entirely their fault it must be said, as I've never been a great tactical player, especially with the wonky rules GW tend to turn out. The girls were sold a number of years back for a rather large sum of cash, so the hunt begins. It might be a short hunt, truth be told, because Impact! Miniatures do a Scotling team, and being descended of the mighty clan Hamilton that appeals to me. (I should state I am in no way Scottish. I'm Sussex.)
Last but by no means least, Mike of Little Odo's Blogspot is probably going to make the perilous journey South West from his vast mansion in Kent to push lead round a table, eat food, and generally talk rubbish. Games we're intending on are Song of Splintered Lands, and probably something Dark Ages like Saga.
This may happen in November. Which November is entirely open because both of us work and have families, so getting to play with toy soldiers for any length of time requires planning and co-ordination which makes Overlord look like it was jotted down on the back of a Woodbine packet.
So, that's that. 28mm WW2 is now to the bottom of the pile for me - which is a touch sad, because it's what got me back into wargaming back in 2005. Blood Bowl rears it's ugly UgoIgo head again. I've got even more to paint. And, I've still not painted anything.
Just to finish, here's some Splintered Light Badgers and chums lurking about the woods looking menacing. 'You want some? You want some? Grrrr... I'll bite yer face off'
Monday, 19 September 2011
Commissioned Scenery
Nothing has happened in my world of wargaming of late. I bought a Splintered Light 'Beastlands' warband a few months back, half started painting them, then lost interest in the whole thing. The reasons for this are manifold, and beyond explanation in print as they'd really need a supporting powerpoint presentation, and I do enough of that with the day job.
This morning, an unexpected email appeared from the chap I'd commissioned four or five months ago to make some 15mm scenery. To be honest, I'd given up expecting anything from him, and was considering cancelling the cheque.
So, the email was most welcome for this reason, and primarily because it contained pictures of what he's made.
Now, suddenly, I'm looking forward to turfing out my Saxon warband to paint them up to fight my Romano-British - probably using Saga - and will also crack on with the Dwarf and Beastland warbands for Splintered Lands.
Happy gamer.
More pics when they arrive and I've got my grubby palms on them and scattered toy soldiers artistically across them.
This morning, an unexpected email appeared from the chap I'd commissioned four or five months ago to make some 15mm scenery. To be honest, I'd given up expecting anything from him, and was considering cancelling the cheque.
So, the email was most welcome for this reason, and primarily because it contained pictures of what he's made.
Now, suddenly, I'm looking forward to turfing out my Saxon warband to paint them up to fight my Romano-British - probably using Saga - and will also crack on with the Dwarf and Beastland warbands for Splintered Lands.
Happy gamer.
More pics when they arrive and I've got my grubby palms on them and scattered toy soldiers artistically across them.
Friday, 29 July 2011
Out of the Forests
Way back, in the dim distant past, before I took up breeding, smoking, debt, paying tax, and before I understood EBITDA, Dense Wave Division Multiplexing, and how to sell stuff, life was a simple affair; Could I complete my paper round in less than 50 minutes? Would Claire go out with me? (she did) How could I raise funds to pay for the latest wonderous thing from Citadel? What fighter plane would I fly when I joined the RAF?
My ridiculously vivid adolescent imagination was fired in no small part by the artwork which always accompanied the Games Workshop products. Space Marine box art by Jim Burns remains, to me at least, the seminal box cover of any game, anywhere - it is exactly how my imagination portrayed the legions of identikit genetically enhanced super soldiers of the future (only much later did I realise the nod to De Niro's 'Leetle Friend').
Burns' solitary work apart, the only artist which really defined the whole period for me was Paul Bonner. Then, as now, an unknown outside of the gaming world, it has been argued that he influenced the GW spiral death dive into comedy space orks, or that his comic-esque lantern jawed hapless Guardsmen were the opposite of the gritty depravity of Blanche's work which defined the preceeding Rogue Trader era.
However, I like to recall the pen & ink work he did for the Adeptus Titanicus rulebook, including the feature panel work for the Warhound Princeps narrative. Or remember the obsessive attention to the minutae - spent cases, toolkits, etc. Or observe the expressive faces, the dynamics of the interaction between the subjects in the art.
So, some years ago, I decided to email Paul and see if he'd sell me any of his originals. To my surprise he replied with the unsurprising news that GW had retained all his artwork, but countered this with the welcome news that he had a book coming out.
So I bought his book.
Out of the Forests by Paul Bonner
It is, without a shadow of doubt, the best book I've ever owned. I'd recommend this to anyone interested in fantasy wargaming, or fantasy art. Simply stunning. It's also the only book in my considerable library that I would not part with, ever. Spanning his early work, his time in-house for GW, his work for Rackham and onwards, and his stunning Nordic themed Dwarfs and Trolls.
If you only buy one book this year, spend it on this, it's that good. If you aren't completely blown away by it, you have no soul.
Years after buying it, I still get it down from the shelf from time to time, and immerse myself in a world all but lost to me now; the world of my imagination fired by fantastic art.
Saturday, 23 July 2011
More Splintered Lands
Sooo, I may have possibly sent some more money in the general direction of David @ Splintered Light... again...
This time I'm blaming it on my virtual pal Mike - although I think we've got a reciprocating he made me do it . In truth, I think Mike commented on my Splintered Lands Druid's Children a while ago, and then I suggested he take a look at Songs, and specifically Song of Splintered Lands. Then David @ Splintered Light decided to have a 20% sale for his regular customers (now extended to everyone), and the rest, as they say, was inevitable.
As I was getting a warband on Mike's behalf, I thought it prudent to, erm, save on the shipping, and get myself a Dwarven warband (of the Bob Olley Splintered Land variety, rather than the tiny 15mm fantasy range sculpted by Whiff Whaff). I also got my youngest the rather spiffing Fire Dragon to paint - she's rather positive about Dragons.
As I'm an old 80's Citadel type of chap at heart, I find the Bob Olley sculpts just tick all my boxes - and they have leapfrogged the Splintered Light Saxon warband on the painting table. As of this afternoon, all of them have been stuck on coin of the realm, sprayed black, and painting is underway. They'll be Saxon themed - mainly because that's the colours I've been using of late - so not many grey hairs, but lots of blondes, stripes, and so on. Slapping some more paint on tomorrow, so should have the first five completed - will post pics accordingly.
What else has occured in the tangential world of my wargaming? Well, the scenery commissioned from Paul's Modelling Workshop is still WIP, so waiting for that. Also, I picked up four 2' x 2' TSS scenic tiles from someone off a forum - cheap at £4 a tile. I've been looking at these for yonks, but never taken the plunge - something I regret doing now - they're brilliant.
So, if all works out, should soon have a nice load of spiffing scenery to put on my new tiles, and fight over with Romano-British, Saxons, Dwarves, and Badgers. Can't go wrong. Well, can go wrong, and seemingly is going rather wrong, but that's another story.
Oh, last bit of news - in my capacity as copyreader for WSS, I've blagged myself a copy of Bag The Hun 2, reviewing, for the purposes of. Major problem with this is that I don't have a bloody great hex mat - so the coming months may see a sudden lurch back into flying things. Pete and myself gave the rules a small run out the other evening, and I really liked some of the elements of the rules.
That's all for tonight folks. Pictures of painted things next time, promise.
This time I'm blaming it on my virtual pal Mike - although I think we've got a reciprocating he made me do it . In truth, I think Mike commented on my Splintered Lands Druid's Children a while ago, and then I suggested he take a look at Songs, and specifically Song of Splintered Lands. Then David @ Splintered Light decided to have a 20% sale for his regular customers (now extended to everyone), and the rest, as they say, was inevitable.
As I was getting a warband on Mike's behalf, I thought it prudent to, erm, save on the shipping, and get myself a Dwarven warband (of the Bob Olley Splintered Land variety, rather than the tiny 15mm fantasy range sculpted by Whiff Whaff). I also got my youngest the rather spiffing Fire Dragon to paint - she's rather positive about Dragons.
As I'm an old 80's Citadel type of chap at heart, I find the Bob Olley sculpts just tick all my boxes - and they have leapfrogged the Splintered Light Saxon warband on the painting table. As of this afternoon, all of them have been stuck on coin of the realm, sprayed black, and painting is underway. They'll be Saxon themed - mainly because that's the colours I've been using of late - so not many grey hairs, but lots of blondes, stripes, and so on. Slapping some more paint on tomorrow, so should have the first five completed - will post pics accordingly.
What else has occured in the tangential world of my wargaming? Well, the scenery commissioned from Paul's Modelling Workshop is still WIP, so waiting for that. Also, I picked up four 2' x 2' TSS scenic tiles from someone off a forum - cheap at £4 a tile. I've been looking at these for yonks, but never taken the plunge - something I regret doing now - they're brilliant.
So, if all works out, should soon have a nice load of spiffing scenery to put on my new tiles, and fight over with Romano-British, Saxons, Dwarves, and Badgers. Can't go wrong. Well, can go wrong, and seemingly is going rather wrong, but that's another story.
Oh, last bit of news - in my capacity as copyreader for WSS, I've blagged myself a copy of Bag The Hun 2, reviewing, for the purposes of. Major problem with this is that I don't have a bloody great hex mat - so the coming months may see a sudden lurch back into flying things. Pete and myself gave the rules a small run out the other evening, and I really liked some of the elements of the rules.
That's all for tonight folks. Pictures of painted things next time, promise.
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