FRP Games Sale

http://www.frpgames.com/index.php

50% off any clearance item. There are some great items in that section if painting is your main thing. Not too sure about actual 'gaming' values in there mind you as I just browse around and see things I think, "I'd like to paint that", or "I think that would be a great mosnter to kill those pesky players."

Two Indiegogo Projects In: The Ito and Morgraur-Rashaar

Between work putting out the OT and my personal life taking a punch to the face and nocking some teeth loose, but not out, I haven't had much time to talk about the latest two deliverys.

http://www.indiegogo.com/bushido

Bushido is a game I haven't played or bought before but I love the look of the minis and when this was initially going, Paizo was doing a Pathfinder Adventure Path with some flavor that fit this type of thing great.

Thought their communication skills need some massive honing here. The amount of updates after the thing ended hasn't exactly been zero, but it hasn't exactly set me on fire and make me go, "I'm in!" for anything they do in the future. Mind you, if they had a fund runner for the book itself when it goes to print and it has some more to offer and I've actually got some stuff painted, I could very well be in. The minis are nice. I thought the Oni would be bigger though...

http://www.indiegogo.com/Carnevale

Just received my package with many miniatures in it. I haven't even had time to crack open the box and look at the big fellow but I did get a lot of other stuff with it as well and they look very cool. I like the rule book which is softcover and fairly well illustrated as well. A little smaller than standard RPG books but not by much.

Hope everyone is having better times then me and that your Kickstarter and Indiegogo Projects are delivering!

December Roundup of November Painted Minis

For the Dark Age Games comes a weird looking combination of Hook Horror and man. It reminded me for some reason of the old R A Salvatore novel where some innocent is polymorphed into a Hook Horror and slowly loses its mind. I bought it when it first came out at Gen Con and tried to follow the painted picture on the blister. I bought it because as a monster, it didn't have a ton of bags, ropes, satchels, and other miscellaneous bits on it. I threw it on some cork and put some rubble around the base and some of the Army Painter tuffs.

Size comparison of those I finished last month but havent' posted up yet.

This is a Dragonblood Miniature. That company doesn't exist as that anymore. Many of the miniatures wound up with either Dark Sword Minaitures or Cavalcade Wargames.

It's an interesting figure that came with a wide variety of hands. The bad thing though is the arms are a little short. I put him on a round lip based because the Shadow Sea skirmish Game uses those by default and I might make this figure one of the Order of Yosoth summoners. Bad thing about digital pictures? You can see those flaws nice and bright. The right eye for example is huge compared to how it looks on the table top. Oh well. He's done at least.

And here's that assassin I was talking about when discussing Jason Engle's artwork the other day. I went with a fairly simple paint job on him because he, unfortunately, fell into that "I want it done" status.

Dwarven Adventure Box Set by Stonehaven Miniatures

The other day I received my Kickstarter package from the Dwarven Adventures Box Set. I've only snapped a pic of the Troll, of which I ordered two. Part of that was due to its limited nature, part of it the impressive price, part of it the whismy factor of the design.

The trolls are made of resin. The dwarves are made of metal. Great casts and some great unusual things about them. They remind me of those dwarves that Games Workshop used to make that included such characters as the miners, drunks, and ninja among others.

The only thing I'm not 'impressed' by are the bases. Resin cobblestone basis for all the dwarves. If you like a little scenic to your bases, they're okay but nothing you couldn't get by using say Happy Suppuku molds on the bases. Upon thinking of it further, I was also a little surprised they went with round bases as Warhammer, Reaper's Warlord, and a few others are square.

Mind you those are minor negative observations and I will do business with Stoneheaven Miniatures in the future again.

There's a nice range of diversity in the figures. They provided all sorts of little bonus things like background cards and character sheets for Pathfinder and D&D 4th ed. Other bits as well.

The most important thing though, was a lot of updates. I cannot stress again how important updates are to the backers. Even if it's just a "Things are progressing in a slower manner than we like but here is what we are doing and when we expect to be done. Here are things we are looking at in the future." Remember, you've already got the money. Silence at this point, is NOT golden. Keep the customers, especially people who may be future customers, in the loop.

With this delivery, I move the link from Miniature Kickstarters I've backed to the oh so rare Completed Kickstarters.

Necroglyph and Steam Engine by Tectonic Studios

So putting together the Necroglyph should have been a breeze but I'm clumsy and impatient. I use that spray that hardens the super glue instantly so when I flubbed the attaching of some of the pieces, well, those pieces were on for good in that manner. I did a Army Painter steel primer spray followed by an Army Painter strong tone dip and then some green wash over it. I went with the green wash because I was thinking Necrons, despite the fact I don't actually play or own many of them. Of course I could have went with that because of the faction in Warmachine... Cyrix, who also has the green glow.

That's an unfinished Anima figure. He's tall, probably 32mm. The Necroglyph is supposed to be around 60mm tall.

The Steam Engine was another easy one to put together. I used that same primer but this time dipped it in Vallejo Black Wash and threw a few colors over it before dry brushing it with some silver. I might touch up the base a little but...

Waystone by Tectonic Craft Studio

One of the easier to punch out and assemble pieces from Tectonic Craft Studio is the Waystone. I picked this up because while I haven't actually played any Hordes, I do love the Druid Faction in that setting and figure, "Hey, one day man! One day!"

The only thing I'd tell you do to is be careful if you have multiple kits because some of the small pointy pieces can easily be mixed up for actual debris if you're not paying attention. I didn't have that problem as I'd already put together almost everything. Only the crane at this point is really making me scratch my head as I've got the two different pieces of it assembled, I just for the life of me can't figure out how those two pieces go together. Glad to hear that he'll be putting some instructions and other bits together soon.

I used some of my old Games Workshop foundation paints on this. Trying to get rid of them and test out the new ones that I bought for Thanksgiving with a good deal from my local FLSG, Games Plus.

 

I was thinking about putting some blood splatters on the center of it as the druids in the Hordes setting are not kindly individuals. You might also be able to see those limitations I've spoken of before with the methodology used here where the cutting of the non-straight parts is fairly grid or step like between movements. The other limitation is the flat surface. Mind you, it cuts a perfect symbol into the stone but no variation on the surface of the stone itself.

 

 

And another shot with a Games Workshop dwarf just for some so you can get an idea of the scope of the thing. This one isn't necessarily that large a piece but it makes a nice addition to the table.

Chaos Portal by Tectonic Craft Studios

 

Another one of the Tectonic Craft Studios pieces, the Chaos Portal. I decided to paint it purple because I wanted to see what it would look like. Were I do to it again, I might instead go with a rusted metal look.

Assembly wasn't bad. There's the one center piece, two identical middle pieces and two identical outer pieces that all go into slots in the main base.

I used Army Painter's Alien Purple spray primer and then the old GW purple foundation paint with some of the old GW Purple wash with a few quick stabbing dry brushes over it.

There are a few limitations inherent in the Tectonic Craft Studio miniatures. The first, is that unless its a straight cut, the edges are not smooth. The second, is that there is no variation in the detail. Those pieces are all even pieces so if you're relying just on drybrushing a broad flat surface your results may not come out as you are used to. Think of it like painting a big flat plane vehicle and plan accordingly.

The base is just some of that basing material from Vallejo. When using it on larger projects like this its much less expensive than the Games Workshop stuff.

The Kickstarters I'm Passing On...

With it being December and Christmas time right around the corner, even with working seven days a week sometimes, the funds are STILL limited. I don't know if that means I need to get a better job or stop spending so much money on my hobbies... Can't possibly be the later can it? Nah. Crazy talk.

Anyway, as I'm looking around, I see some with some really fantastic figures that I know I'm not going to jump into.

Eden looks great. The miniatures look fantastic. The scenery great. Its not my favorite type of genre, I don't know anyone who plays it. I'm a little leery of anything not being charged in dollars, although I fully understand why its not.

Spherewars: This looks cool. The miniatures are unique but suitible for most of the games, both RPGs and miniature wise that I play. But I've got so many of those figures already... Yeah, it's a weird thing but I think I'm going to have to pass on this one. The Werebull and some of the other figures may make me change my mind but...

Some I'm actually thinking about supporting...

Blackwatch Gultuch Rebels and Recinforcements: Honestly, this one would already be supported if they had delivered my original order from their first Kickstarter. My level was due in August. It's December. There has been a shipping charge and its supposed to be on the way. No, seriously this time. No man, really. We mean it. For reals! Still, I am a sucker for the genre, even though I don't play it and don't know anyone personally who does... but the release date on this one seems realistic.

DeepWars - Guardians of the Abyss Mini-Kicker : The first one actually delivered! I like some of the factions but not enough 'monsters' for my taste. Still, I do love the temple.

Kingdom Death: Monster: Some very interesting stuff here. Don't know if I need another board game I'm going to probably just shelf and steal the miniatures out of though.

Stuff I will probably pick up regardless due to failed Will Saves.

Imbrian Arts Minatures: They look fantastic. Like Confrontation fantastic. At the height of their awesome phase.

I think that's about it for now but things move quickly on the old funding phases so we'll see where it all is in a few weeks eh?

Tectonic Craft Studios: Well and Barbed Cage

After putting the suckers together yesterday, I realized I put the barbed cage together wrong. The clue didn't hold on the top where I threw the small piece but it did on the bottom and I know from previous experience on similar material that the glue will hold past the product's tolerance so that's okay. It is still a barbed cage without it.

So taking that and the well outside this morning at a little after five AM, I used some black matte army primer. I knocked the nozzle off when I opened the can. Done that a thousand times. Put it back on and it started spraying all over the place in a radius around the can. The nozle fell off and it continued! Thankfully I was on the back porch and had a garbage bag nearby and quickly threw it in there.

I then decided to follow this folly with some grey primer which went off without too much trouble and spent the rest of the day washing the black primer off my hand.

When I got home, I hit the cage up with tin, boltmetal, chainmail, mithril silver, all the old GW colors which I was trying to finish off. Then a splattering of the last of my old GW black wash.

If I ever order from them again, I might actually get the cage again. While parts of it were a PIA to punch out because of the narrow pieces, especially at the top of the cage, I do like the way it looks at the 'three foot rule' and it has a good size. It would make a good prop for the Shackled City even.

The well was easier to assemble and easier to paint. It has a good size, the base is a good size and while up close you can see the various ridges cut into the 'stone', even in this pics unless you view the originals up close, it looks like a standard piece of gaming terrain.

I also put together the sundial and yup, just as I predicted, part of the lower part of the sundial where the reaper and his scythe is, didn't hold. Also glued together the chaos portal. Think I'm going to go with some Purple Primer on that sucker and see how it paints up from there.

Tectonic Craft Studios: Kickstarter Rewards Part One

So many moons ago, Tectonic game out with a kickstarter to come out with some inexpensive terrain. It looks interesting and I'm always a sucker for terrain that's not too much of a PIA to put together and use.

According to my pledge level, those rewards were due in June. Didn't happen. Then the online store opened. I figure that yeah, the machinery is there and it needs to run but at the same time, where's the backer's stuff? Didn't happen. Then a Thanksgiving sale happened and I asked if we could have the stuff already done sent out. Too expensive in terms of shipping. Then I asked, "Hey man, I know you don't have everything ready but how about if I order some stuff can you send me the other stuff I already paid for?" It wasn't a problem on his end and it was delivered very quickly. If I like the stuff after all is said and done, I might order from him again for stuff that's already done.

So the things here are the chaos portal, barbed cage, and the stone well.

I have a bit of other stuff to put together...

So... I think I screaed up the cage by putting that grate on top. I think it was supposed to go on the bottom or on the inside or something along those lines.

I haven't glued the Chaos Portal together yet.

The well was interesting for a few reasons.

Overall, not bad but some of the material is so fine that it breaks. Some of it is so close together, you you better be very good with your hands. The material feels cheap, and not in a good way. I don't know how well its going to hold up to heavy use or play. I've still got to assemble some more stuff and paint it up.

But...

No instructions. Checked the website and didn't see anything. I could be missing it and I'm not saying that this is brain surgery, but having a quick video for each piece probably wouldn't be a bad idea. As a matter of fact, since the kickstarter updates have pretty much come to a crawl, putting them up might give people something to look forward too.

Heck, for some things, like the Sundial, it might be a great visual. I'm sitting there playing with it and didn't realize one piece with with another and was like, "How does this thing go together" before I realized that I didn't have the all the pieces together. Big d'oh on my part I"m afraid but if you only look at the one picture on the website, you don't see the bottom piece. Without that bottom piece, it really doesn't work because that pointer does not have a slot while the sundial has one. Thankfully that bottom piece has that.

And of yeah, that bottom piece with the reaper and the scythe? Good luck punching that out. You'll have the patience of a siant by the time you do it if you're a better man than I.

Temptation Awaits...

I'm pretty broke these days from too many Kickstarters but I can't help but find myself being drawn into at least looking at some of those ongoing. While I managed to resist the Otherworld adventure founding, which was indeed a bitch to do because it did well and wasn't that bad, doing the same for Freebooter's Fate was easier.

Mind you, it wasn't because the miniatures didn't look fantastic. They did. It's just that I don't play the game and some of those figures are of a specific time frame, even in a fantasy game and they are premium. Now when I say premium, I'm not saying their not worth the price, or that they're over priced or anything like that. There are miniature lines that are more expensive than the 'standard' and if you don't want to pay that preimum, you have to keep these things in mind.

Anyway, Eden looks to be very interesting. I've seen some of the miniatures before but never played it. Prices don't look too bad and some of the scenery and other bits look nifty.

Shadowsea is by a company that I've supported before. Doesn't look like this one is going to make it though. I'll check on it again in a few days but...

The real one erroding my will power though, is Assimiliation Alien Host.   Funded? Check. Neat figures? Check. Lots of stretch goal goodness? Check.

Wallet wimpering in the corner even as I'm prepping to go into work two hours early? Check.

Still a little over a day to go though so I'll continue to fight that urge until I can verify some other bits...

Deepwars Kickstart Goods

One of the earliest Kickstarters I backed was Deepwars. I haven't played Song of Blade and Heroes extensively or anything like that, but I like the 'Gonzo' of the game. Magic, high technology, ancient races, fallen races, all that good stuff. I went in for the three pack and as a stretch goal it made it to the fourth pack for free.

 

They arrived the other day and while I haven't done more than look at them, I thought I'd snap a couple of pictures quickly and share what they look like.

 



For a 'standard' fantasy campaign, the Dark Marines have to be the best bet for the money. They fit right into the whole Mind Flayer and Far Realm thing so regardless of the 'tech' look some of them have, they are a fairly good fit. Surprised that the 'warrior' of the set is actually kinda small compared to the 'scientist'.

These are the 'ancients' of the setting. Elves anyone? Hate to say it but m'eh. I like the robot shark though.

While I like Mercenaries, or Fortune Hunters, as a general rule, too specific to the setting. Great for those who love the setting but the only figure I think I'll be snagging for use outside the boxed set is the machine, the resin figure in the back. It can make some weird space golem or something.

Another winner, the Scaly Horde was the bonus set. Almost every monster here looks like it can be useful in a standard D&D game right off the bat. I know the one with four arms may look a little off, but hey, Spellweaver anyone? The rest need no real thinking about even if the big fish is well, a big fish. I still bug one of my friends who lost a second or third level character when third edition came out to a giant catfish. He's still not happy about it.

There were a few other figures that came with it, but I didn't snap pics of them. The cards are a nice touch. I wouldn't mind seeing those for standard Song of Blade and Heroes games. Maybe if they do some specific miniatures for the game?

I'm also still waiting on the hardcover. Mind you, this is a Kickstarter that is on time. They tried to get it out early, but that went by the wayside. Nonetheless, I'm impressed it's out on time. That is a huge thing to me. They've also been very good about keeping people in the fold.

In terms of the hardcover, I'm hearing some good things about it . I enjoyed Shadowsea, or at least the first edition, so expect this to be good as well. I'm thinking about supporting the new Kickstarter but it's not really a matter of want, it's a matter of what am I going to give up that in order to do so should I go that route.

The other problem is, I think it's too soon. There are a lot of people who may have the funds, but want to see how this game works first. They want to play with their toys. They want to paint their figures. By overlapping the Kickstarters, I think they've done their fans a disservice.

What's worse though, is that the original had a very modest goal and made a fairly decent % over its initial goal, something like $18K. The new Kickstarter has a minimum goal of $30K. Hmmm.... Math is not being friendly here. They've gotten over the old goal for Deepwars but not much further than that.. I'm still thinking it over though. It's another one of those count the pennies and see what we'll see.

There are a lot of great miniature Kickstarters now but I'm tapped out. I'd love to back more of them but the funds are lacking, and while I generally think that the miniature guys are more on top of things than the RPG guys, the ones doing Blackwater and Tectonic Craft Studio have dropped the ball in months and quarters even so there is no 'perfect' medium for Kickstarters.

Metal Kommander Sorscha and Reaper Grave Elemental

I finally finished Kommander Sorscha. I've had here sine War Machine originally came out. Yeah, a long time. I kept meaning to paint her but since I never actually played the game... Well, she's done now.

As I continue to sort out my miniatures, I occassionally come up against some that are almost done. They get a quick cleaning, priming, where necessary, adn finished off. This is a Gravel Elemental from Reaper for their Necropolis faction in the Warlord game.

And there he is finished after assembling, scrapping off a mold line I could only see from one angel, but once seen could not be unseen, and given a touch of one of the Vallejo Primers over the brown and a different Vallejo PRimer over the green that needed touching up.

Mantic Skeletons

I've already spoken about my assembly of skeletons from Mantic. Below is the semi-finished and then the finished result.

 

The above is one layer of paint over a black primer with Army Painter Strong Tone. As always, I'd recommend anyone using Army Painter go back in, especially over large flat surfaces like shields with some thinner and even it out. The other bad thing about Army Painter is that it pools. You might want to keep some clean paper tools around to dab that off.

 

 



The above picture has been hit with Purity Seal, given some basing material and well, it's done. I could go back in and dot the eyes and add some more basing, add some highlights to some of the cloth and shields and chain mail but that would defeat the purpose of using the Army Painter methodology to begin with.

Reaper Moor Hound

The Reaper Moor Hound is a nice simple figure. I initially bought mine because I thought it would make a good substitute if I wanted to do a run off of Brotherood of the Wolf or something along those lines. I figured it could be a great hunt into the moor where NPCs would get picked off left and right in ruins with a final showdown.

 

Anyway, the Hound had a minimal amount of flash and venting. It went together easy, the left arm being separate from the main body, and just a touch of green stuff to hide the seem.

Have I mentioned that I'm lazy?

When I finally do get things together, like my airbrush, I tend to see how lazy I can be. This guy's body and fur? All done with 'zenith' highlighting with different primers from Vallejo. Started with black, then a light brown from a higher angel, then an almost tan brown from almost the top.  I then hit the skin with a sepia wash and the fur with a brown wash and picked out the claws, teeth, nose, eyes, tongue and mouth. I put more 'effort' if you will into the base. That's some army painter flock and over some Gale Force Nine foundation.

Again, not my best work but... it's done right?

From the Reaper forums, here's a size comparison of the beast compared to a few Reaper figures and I believe Dire Wolves.

Skeletons: Wargame Factory Versus Mantic

For some reason, I'm always on the lookout for skeletons at an affordable price. I used to love the old Games Workshop bare bones skeletons save for one problem. They were fairly brittle and a little bit of a pain to assemble.

When I initially bought my airbrush, I wanted some inexpensive figures that I could spray up with it in a variety of colors. Skeletons were right at the top of my list.

So I bought some Wargames Factory and some Mantic skeletons.

Let's start with Wargames Factory.

What a huge pain to assemble. The feet are seperate from the legs which are seperate from the torso which is seperate from the head which is seperate arms which is seperate from the weapons.

They also seem smaller than 28mm or perhaps they are merely true 28mm. What's worse, they are fragile or at least the ones I was assembling were. Another potential issue is there are no bases. For those who have excess bases or who are using a certain type of army, you'll need to provide your own bases. After playing a few of them, they went into the bits box. I can always use bits and it does come with a nice variety of weapons, shields, and even some broken earth.  The other advantage, and it is a huge one, is the price. At $19.99 for 30 of them, even as a bits box, its worth a look into.

The Mantic Skeletons have some pros and cons to them. Compared to some other figures out there, the price is right at $14.99 for ten figures. The pack I bought was $24.99 I believe and came with twenty skeletons and a skull throwing catapult with two more figures in addition to a freebie skeleton dog and a skeleton bursting forth from the ground. It also comes with a variety of weapons and bases. Mind you, these bases are 'Mantic' bases so they're designed for Mantic figures, having a circular spot empty in the center of them for the circular base integrated into the figures.

The real benefit for me? Assembly. Most of them are only two pieces. The shield arm is integrated. On some of them you can customize the head option or the weapon option. I'm clumsy so I had a bit of a struggle with the catapult but finally managed to get it together. I've already primed them up and thrown on a few base coats and will then go onto the inking.

I'm using that picture because it has an image of the sprue of the skeletons as well as the bases and stickers that come with it.

The posts in the Mantic skeletons are a little stale but they do line up fantastically. The real problem for me is I wasn't paying attention to the fact that I might want them to line up later on and put the musician's horn standing way out to the right so whenever I assemble the troops, he'll have to go on the outside.

If price is your only concern, the Wargames Factory ones should be for you. With all the deals on the various stores though, the Mantic ones were the clear winner for me.

Reaper: Barbarian and Hill Giant plus Heresy: Stone Golem

Still painting away on figures I've had for way too long while waiting for more Kickstarter figures. Ugh. Ugh again I say. I hate that I get so caught up in something that even though I have absolutely no need for it I find myself buying it. One example is the current Otherworld miniatures campaign going on right now. I have zero need for adventurers but I'm still finding myself checking it out every now and again. Same thing with Freeporter's Fate, another one on a fundraiser that looks cool.

Ah well. Anyway...

This guy is from the Heresy range and is a 'Colossus' and is listed as being either an earth elemental or stone golem. The page has a few different jobs on it. Note that when you get it, it comes with the base and the figure, nothing special about the base as some of those great paint jobs have. As I have no problem using figures from a variety of ranges, I'm pretty happy with this one. He was easy to put together. I get nervous when a figure comes in multiple parts not because its necessarily 'hard' to do for the average person, but I am clumsy.

Outside of the black on the base, there is no paint on him. I was playing with my airbrush and zeinth highlighting. I started with black, then a shorter angel with grey, then a spray down from the top with white. I then used Secret Weapon's Concrete Wash over him a few times and that was it. If you don't have an airbrush you could do the same thing with spray primer.  My best paint job ever? Not really but a damn easy one? Yup. The base is done with Happy Suppuku Broken Earth.

Since my cleric didn't do too well in the Pathfinder game I'm in, it's time for a barbarian. Initially I was just going to use the barbarian from the 25th anniversary of D&D with the axe overhead and the while and crazy beard but I have enough unpainted figures that I thought, "Screw this" and painted him up.

While I love Reaper figures, I hate their bases. They either fall into the brocoli base or the too small base. This one has some nice sculpting to it though so I didn't cut it off but did glue it to a larger 25mm square base and used Games Workshop textured snow effect. I gave it a wash with a gray blue color and drybrushed it back up to white. Not bad for snow. Usually when I'm doing snow I never like the way it turns out but this isn't too bad.

This is another Reaper figure. The stance made me put him on a 'huge' base but he is a pretty large figure. Still not anywhere near as big as the Warlord version or the Games Workshop giant but pretty good nontheless. No assembly on him outside of gluing him to the base. I did pin his feet to the base but wasn't used to the dremell so actually punched through his leg and had to green stuff it. I could have went a lot further with this figure in terms of bringing out the details but... he's not a display piece, I'm not running anything right now, and I'm at the point where good enough is good enough.

Still have a bunch of stuff on the table that I'm working on including some Retribution for Warmachine as well as some skeletons from Mantic's range so hopefully I'll be posting more soon.

Reaper Reven (Orc) Warlord Archers

I honestly have no idea how I wound up with so many figures for a game I don't play. I've had these guys for quite a while. I went with a fairly simple paint scheme so that I could finish them relatively quickly. A few washes and some Army Painter basing materials and while they could get a few more treatments, I already had to go back in and glue the flock down as it became one mass and was starting to lift. Ugh.

Still, when I run fantasy RPGs I'll have many an orc or goblin to throw at the players.

On the bench...

I know GW gets a lot of flack for their Finecast and pricing but the Giant is an exception of value. Lots of possible variations and he is huge.

An Actual Painting Update!

Games Workshop High Elves. I've had these guys for a while. I bought them on clearance at Dice Dojo and will add them to my horde of unplayed High Elves. For some reason I've got a ton of the bastards.

Just for S&G, here are some of my 'old' High Elves. I can tell their old not because my painting style has evolved that much or anything, but because the bases are Goblin Green.

Reaper Miniatures has an undead faction for their Warlord game and this charging ghoul is one of the figures. It's hard to tell but outside of the stonework on the base there's a sewer lid on the back. Both made using Happy Suppuku molds.

That might be a little more revealing. Should have made the colors a lot more distinct between the street and the sewer. The molds allow you to press down some green stuff and then slap the mold on top of it and bam, instant base. I like the sewer base because how many things are always coming out of those things eh? I'll probably play with that one a little more because it has a ton of different designs on it. Might be good for Skaven or something as well.

Ack! My poor cleric. I went with a real simple paint job on him because I was needed to have him for a game a few days right after I bought him. And this Reaper cleric wound up going the route of dominated slave to a bugbear vampire. Boo!

Ah well, at least it wasn't a complete loss. Now I've got a big ole fat priest whenever I need that type of character.

Still have a ton of stuff that I'm messing with. My airbrushing has been at a virtual standstill because I've been working on small miniatures or units with some character to them. I hope to get back to that soon.

Good painting everyone!

The Kickstarters I'm Looking At...

http://www.indiegogo.com/otherworldDA An Indiegogo for Otherworld Miniatures. They do some great old school bits and this would be for the adventurers. I loved the old Citadel figures because they had character not just ultra bad assery going for them. These guys look to follow that model.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/centerstageminis/28mm-demons-and-devils-center-stage-miniatures Center Stage is another old school but this is focused on demons and devils. It's almost certain I'll be throwing some cash at this one.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/97182592/dominion-of-the-gods-tactical-miniatures-game Don't know much about them but I love that Cyclops and some of the concept art is fantastic. Sitting on the fence. While it has some great potential I'm looking at the others and looking at my wallet which is begging for a break.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1941357427/dungeon-crawler-minis-tidal-wave-dcm This one is for some interesting looking prepainted figs. I think it might be a little too high for the initial 'win' and I think that they may make it because they still have some time. I've seen their previous works at Gen Con and was going to buy some but they weren't taking credit cards at the time so... And of course the ONLY way to really pay with it now is credit with an Amazon account. Irony?

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/607885648/dwarf-gladiators-finely-sculpted-28mm-resin-miniat?ref=live Dwarf gladiators. I really like the concept. The problem is its very limited in use if you're not doing some 'Blood Bowl' or doing a gladiator campaign theme in your setting. Still... I'll have to see how finances are but it doesn't have that long to go. I'd love to see them do some art styles like Angus McBride's gladiators.

http://www.indiegogo.com/Carnevale I don't play Carnevale but damn does that look bad ass.

I'm sure there are a lot of them out there I"m missing. Anyone have any that they're looking forward to getting in on?

The Kickstarter Post for Minis

I generally have fewer issues with Kickstarter and Indiegogo for miniatures than I do for Roleplaying games. It's not a 'real' thing mind you. Plenty of the miniature campaigns have been late. It just seems to me that the miniature companies are way out ahead of it not needing to be asked, "So... what's going on." They're also a lot more visual and we get to see a lot of the work as its being done. They also tend to be 'cooler' in the terms of stretch goals.

Having said that, let's take a look at where some of the stuff is.

Bushido the 5th Faction Ito: Remember how I said generally? http://www.indiegogo.com/bushido shows the last update a long time ago. They've done some postings on facebook and other places but... yeah, won't be supporting them again for Indiegogo or Kickstarter. As someone who does that, I like regular updates. I like seeing WIP on the project page. I like knowing when stuff is coming out and when I should be expecting it. Making me ask? Huge mistake. Shows a lack of interest or ability on the part of the project manager. When your campaign is showing more and more and more of whats going to happen to draw in the funds, you KNOW that its bringing in more intesrest, more views and then is funded and you see nothing? Not something I'm interested in backing.

1650s Rulebook. Man, these miniatures are going to be sweet. I'm just going to have to force myself to paint them. http://www.indiegogo.com/1650rulebookandmore?c=home Not quite as quite, they've let me know what's going on in e-mail, which is often better than a general post, and I'm looking forward to seeing where it goes.

Blackwater Gulch is a bit too slow going for me. Mind you a HUGE part of this is my fault. I was running so many games at Gen Con that I didn't take advantage of their offer to pick up stuff at the convention. On the other hand, I don't like that we'll be 'buying' stuff from the store as now I have to be more involved. Can anyone tell a lazy theme for one Joe G Kushner here? http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1763460781/blackwater-gulch-gangfights-in-the-old-west?ref=live

Kings of War already sent out most of the stuff. http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1744629938/kings-of-war shows that I'll have some more goodies coming next year. I've very happy with the job Mantic did on this one. If they do more fantasy stuff, I'll probably be into it again.

Pirate Goblins http://www.indiegogo.com/pirate-goblins has been pretty straightforward and I imagine I'll be getting mine realtively soon. I went with two sets. I hope that if they do anything else in the future, they have more grunts. Part of the 'problem' I had with even ordering two sets is that the figures are just too unique and no one looks like a grunt.

The Reaper one, http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1513061270/reaper-miniatures-bones-an-evolution-of-gaming-min?ref=live , is way too far out to think about. Still, from what I understand, the stuff that can ship now is shipping now. Or soon anyway. They've been very good about updating status on different things ranging from paint and scultping, to letting the backers know when things have changed up.

Red Box, http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1103158358/red-box-games-helsvakt-horde?ref=history , shows that the man is a machine with lots of WIP jobs and apparently a deadline date that will be met soon. If you see my bitching about it next month, you know it failed.

Relic Knights is a bit too cheesecake for me but there were enough factions I liked that I wound up getting into it. Since these are the same people who did Zombicide and I actually ahve my copy of said board game, I'm good with them. http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/coolminiornot/relic-knights

The Dwarven Adventurers set has had a lot of great updates and a lot of the things, like character sheets, and WIP jobs have been posted. http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2087444096/dwarven-adventurers-box-set I'm pretty happy with the pace so far and getting to see the stuff as its coming down the pipe is nice. It's important to note that because I went with the cheap shipping, my stuff will be coming later even though some have probably already got theirs.

Tectonic Crafts Studios... yeah, I'd like to say that the updates and seeing the stuff their working on is good and all but they're a little TOO late. I get that the machinery can be complex and we're not talking about simple stuff. And I hope they do well. But I personally will not be supporting them in the future for Kickstarter projects. For purchases of stuff they have? Sure. But for something that was supposed to be sent out in... June I think, we're up to October and well, while he has indeed started shipping things out, at my level I think it's just going to mean more waiting.

Reaper, Black Orc, Games Workshop, Kickstarter and More!

I have been painting! I just haven't had a lot of free time between overtime and then Gen Con 2012 and then more overtime.  I haven't been using the airbrush that much though. I'm still working on the stuff I base coated with it from the last time I used it.

In terms of Kickstarters, I received Zombicide. I didn't go in for all the extras on this one because while I like Zombies, I don't play a lot of modern RPGs. I also backed the Reaper Kickstarter but the apperance of minis will be well and away a while. Another two I backed, 1650 and Pirate Goblins, along with Red Box Games, only recently ended. The biggest problem with the Pirate Goblins in my opinion, too many characters and not enough grunts. Made getting more then one set, despite the awesome costs, seem counter productive.

In terms of miniatures other people might be interested in that are still going on, Rafm , an old school miniature company, has some 1889 going on. There are others dealing with sports but I don't do that but wish Mantic and the others the best of luck with them.

That's one of the big boys from Black Orc Games. He's huge. Like Ogre size. And Metal. And comes with two different sets of arm. And the tail armor is optional. And he has a dino-skull head piece that is also optional.

Gnoblars from Games Workshop. Using the new texture paints for the base. I have a ton of these little guys. They make good subs for Paizo's weird goblins if you can't find those suckers not necessarily in exact terms of apperance but in 'goofy' factor.

This is a plague demon from a third party. Something like Ultra Forge I want to say? There was so much potential there but the right arm had a HUGE gap that took a lot of green stuff and of course as I was working on it I kept finding more and more mold lines that due to the nature of the model being highly detailed, I didn't both to remove since I feared destroying the detail in it. Still, an interesting piece but more at home in 40K I believe than fantasy.

A Reaper Djini. I used Happy Suppuku to do the base, using their... I want to say Sand mold. Pretty happy with it. It blended well with the base that came with the figure.

This is a Bones Reaper figure. That means he's plastic. Seeing the kickstarter for Reaper I wanted to do another one in their line. I put him on a base not because he needs it, but because he's also a figure in one of the Reaper dwarf factions and their Warlord game uses square bases.

This one is metal. I sculpted the base on trying to make it cracked cobble stone like. I would have much rather cut the figure off the base, which is way too small, but because the figure has a cloak, that whole cloak is part of the base and I've done that before and it is a huge pain in the ass.

I have a ton of other figures in various stages of preperation and some that still need more work. Hope everyone else is having a better time of it then me!