29 March 2015

PSA/quiz for Gaming Entrepreneurs

PSA/quiz for Gaming Entrepreneurs. A friend just brought over a pile of promotional loot for me from Adepticon. There's a major difference between the four on the left and the four on the right. Can you guess what it is?

Undead Progress Musings

I'm still indecisive about the elite/armored skeletons. The two ideas at the top of my list are to either use Perry WotR Foot Knights and pack them 4 to a base like the regular infantry, or get some of those Warmachine Bane Thralls and put them 2 or 3 to a base, depending on how many will fit.

Neither is [i]exactly[/i] what I am looking for, but I could work with them. I would prefer if the Perry figures were a little bigger (or I could find some beefier/"heroic"/fantasy equivalents at a similarly affordable price.) My biggest concern with the size is that they will be in the army with those giant GW skeletons I just posted. (I suppose I could trade those in for some smaller ones, in the future...) The Bane Thralls might be OK if I could tone down some of the more ridiculous design elements, like the giant shoulder plates and the iron fences they seem to be wearing on their backs. Since they are plastic, this might not be too hard to deal with.

The deciding factor may be the number of figures per base and the total number of bases I will get for the money. I would prefer the look of densely packed infantry, though I am willing to make concessions on that for the Thralls. However, if I can fit 3 per base, and my minimum unit size is 4 bases, I'm still short by 2 figures for just a single unit. On the other hand, a box of Perry figures will get me 8 bases with 4 figures each, and I would still have some left-overs for other projects.

Something else I'm thinking more seriously about now is a group of non-human skeletons. I made a few skeletal beastmen with the GW kit (not in pics yet) and just received a few of the old Cursed Company figures. I could even mix in a few "normal" skeletons as some non-humans might still look pretty similar to humans when all their meat is removed. I still like those Ral Partha skeletal beastmen & ogres suggested elsewhere. But I'm still on a tight budget and looking to "get the most bang for my buck," so I am focusing on the things I can do with smaller cash outlay.

What I should really finish next is some cavalry. I have some Undeadish (more Germans) and some GW Black Knights to clean, assemble, and paint. I'd also like to paint that Colossal Skeleton from Reaper, but I haven't decided if/how to replace the big weapon (like a hammer made from a gravestone) and possibly do a bit of re-posing.

28 March 2015

Skeletons & Undeadish Ogres

Done painting. Once the bases are done, they should stand out a bit more.

Also finished a few more skeletons again, so here's a pic of the entire group so far.

Mercenary Ogre

Finished up a few more skeletons, and an overdue mercenary ogre for the Good Guys.

Gave him some ridiculously bright (more than usual) colors to break up the unit, which has a lot of reds & greens already. This makes six, which is what a good unit size for gaming. BUT, it's still one ogre short of having the full set.

18 March 2015

First Skeletons Almost Done

Still haven't finished the undeadish ogres, but the first batch of skeletons is mostly done. I need to finish the standard (stuck for an idea) and add one more skeleton to that same base, just behind the standard bearer. And basing, of course.

13 March 2015

Skeleton Test Subjects

Got a little distracted and skipped ahead of my own plans/schedule. Tested out a few paint & wash combos on some skeletons.

I'm looking for some armored skeletons to use for elites. Preferably heavily armored.

If there aren't any actual undead to fit what I'm looking for, I've been contemplating a few different historical ranges and then swapping some of the helmets for skulls and "roughing up" some of the other equipment.

11 March 2015

...And I Feel Fine!

I haven't played Warhammer Fantasy (or Ancients) in years, but I have been following this End Times thing with a sort of morbid curiosity. Most of my info is second hand summaries, or bits of leaked scans, excerpts, etc. From what I can tell, it's all pretty awful. From any angle -- gaming, setting, fiction writing, etc.

However, I can't deny a bit of nostalgia. I still like the basic premiss of the setting, and I did play various versions of the game(s) for a good 30 years.

So why should I feel fine about the end of the (Warhammer) world? Because it ceased to matter to me a long time ago. Or at least what GW did with it ceased to matter. It was a good setting when it was skeletal, but the more it got fleshed out, the less it was a mystery, the less it was an empty home for hobbyists to furnish. I think the popularity of the game was as big a factor as anything. Players increasingly demanded more storyline, more fiction, more "support" (which, as far as I can tell, is just Newspeak for "sell more stuff.") The games -- both the rules and the way in which games were played -- became more competitive, more stagnant, fixated on formulas, and list-writing, and tournaments. And "meta." God, I cringe every time I hear or read the term "meta" applied to gaming. Makes me feel like vomiting all over the speaker/writer.

I think that the End of Imagination was as much a blow to the Warhammer as the End Times. More so, as the End Times mean little for those who have still got a bit of Imagination left. The games are still there, as are other rules, and the entire concept of creating your own settings, your own campaigns, and not being so uptight about how you & your friends push little toy soldiers around on a make-believe battlefield.

On a related note, and speaking of nostalgia...

I recently wanted to flip through my copy of WFB 3rd. ed. for some inspiration, but couldn't find it with any of the rest of the gaming stuff that is (mostly) packed away in the attic. So I bid on, and won, a used copy on the dreaded eBay. Naturally, a couple days later I found my old copy. But I don't feel too bad about it. My old copy is a softback, and has been falling apart since it was in heavy use back when it was the current edition (and even a couple years after 4th was released) and I think a few of the template & reference pages from the back might be missing. The new one was "used" but was in even better condition than the seller described. Almost like new. And a hardback (though my memory has faded a bit... didn't those fall apart more easily than the softback counterparts?)

I doubt I will be playing 3rd ed. (or any WFB) anytime soon, but it's nice to have back on the shelf as I'm trying to "reconnect" with the hobby in some sort of way.

05 March 2015

The Horde Grows...

Not the best photo, but I finished some more of the undeadish (still thinking up another term for them...) infantry. This should be enough to get me started, so I'm going to work on finishing up the rest of the ogres, and then on to some undeadish cavalry.

01 March 2015

Undeadish Giant

Mostly finished the giant, though I think I may go back and clean up that awful mold line I missed (and one other small one that's not visible) and then touch up the paint. She's a Reaper Bones figure, and the first I've worked on. The figures seem nice, but my two complaints are the mold lines -- which seem more numerous and prominent than on metal or traditional plastic figures -- and the bendy weapons. I did fix the latter, but somehow one end slowly bent itself back out of shape.

I'm including three figures for scale comparison. I had initially thought the Reaper giants were a bit small. They are smaller than many of the competition. But after painting this one, I'm actually thinking I prefer their size & proportions to many of the others. I might have to pick up some others. The sculpts look really good.

Again... basing will be done in a big lot, after I've finished some more figures.