Working on #8, #1, #11

So santa was very good to the ole lead addict, and came through with the Litko ITS Mega Bundle. Its all kinds of Industrial tower and walkway goodness.

So I decided to jump right in and make a huge mess in the basement and wirk on #8 from the Winter projects list: #8 Build Base for ITS Towers. I'll be making 4 of these for use with Necromunda but primarily Mutants and Death Ray Guns from Ganesha Games. Great, fun system.

What a mess

2'x2' precut MDF base with varying heights of pink insulation foam as a base. I wanted to do a canal and some drainage ditches so during combat you had obstacles to maneuver around and through and provide lots of reasons for the walkways.

you can see the canal that runs from top to bottom on this picture. also there is a ramp on the right side. It reminded me of the docks/port map from battlrefield 2142.

You can see the piling lining the canal with I beam supports, and the landing leading into the canal. This is to allow figures to have an exit point from the water without having to waste a turn climbing out , or making strength tests to haul themselves up.
Close up of the ramp. Figs prone on the ramp can get cover from the sides.

Walway across the canal. No cover. Better run!

Just a detail of how I am doing the surfaces. Thin card main surfaces, with vacu formed grid and sheet styrene details. Also some plastruct channels and t's for detailing and some dowels. Simple. I want the ITS pieces to do the talking too.

So the D&D Heroes figs(#1) is going well. Here's the first 15 completed. More glamour shots as I finish the lot of 30. I need to get some halflings. I realized I don't have any.

And here's the next lot. A barbarian lot, some more Elves, a couple of dwarves, and more humans.
And here's a sneak peak of the builds I am doing for #11 Post Apoc Rubble Buildings. I have 2 completed and painted, this one is basically detailed and ready to paint. I have 5 more after that, plus 2 big governmental buildings.

Winter Projects

Lucky 13. Thats the number of items on the list.

Since I have a hard time staying on target, I thought I would publish another winter project list. This one looks different than last years. I accomplished about 3 things of last years list, but I would say that I focused on my Nappy Brits for a good while and it was nice to get Phase I of that project done. Even though it has 3 more phases to it.

There was a lot of wishful think on the last list, so I hope I am much more focused on this list. So here it is:

0. Redo The Closet of Doom
1. 28mm D&D Heroes (2-3 dozen)
2. 28mm Dungeon Denizens (about 100 mixed)
3. Board mount SkeletonKey Games tiles
4. 15mm Sci Fi
5. Rebase 15mm Fantasy for Battle Lore
6. Make Ground Cloth and terrain for 15mm Fantasy
7. Build Litko ITS towers
8. Build Base for ITS Towers
9. Paint 4-5 Warbands for Mutants and DeathRay Guns
10. Paint 28mm Hudson and Allen Buildings
11. Finish Post Apoc rubble Buildings
12. Start Wralord or Arthur Armies inspired by Bernard Cornwell

0. Redo The Closet of Doom - the Closet of Doom needs a really bad make over. I am tired of the chaos. I plan to totally redo the closet and redo all the shelves and lighting and storage. This will probably coincide with the biggest speed bump in fornt of me for painting - A full basement redo. The wife and I are planning on a full basement remodel (new ceiling, new wiring and lighting, paint, new hardwood floors, new bar and poker table, new big screen tv and custom entertainment center, custom book shelves). this will seriously cut into painting and projects if it happens, but we shall see.

1. 28mm D&D Heroes (2-3 dozen) - Talked about these guys last post. I have over a dozen done, I am doing 1-2 a night average. So should be done by end of xmas.I also may paint during lunch at work. Should be done by Jan 1. :)

2. 28mm Dungeon Denizens (about 100 mixed) I have so much fantasy lead and plastic that picking 100 will be the hard part. It will be ratmen, lizardmen, gnolls, orcs, kobolds, trolls, spiders, owl bear, bugbears, undead, etc. All kinds of varied stuff for the Heroes to fight.

3. Board mount SkeletonKey Games tiles - I have about 30 sets of the wonderful Skeletonkey Games Tiles. I will print them and mount on foam core for a quick project that makes them a little more permanent (even though I have about 30 Hirst arts molds I want to have these so we can game quicker).

4. 15mm Sci Fi. I got bit by 15mm Sci even though I resisted it for years. Not sure on rules yet, but I like the GZG stuff a lot, and I also like Quick and Dirty Sci Fi Rules. I hope to get the Dog aliens and Lion Aliens for xmas to go with my Garn, Karks, Alien Mercs, and Arc Fleet.

5. Rebase 15mm Fantasy for Battle Lore - Played BAttle Lore at the Barons for the first time a couple of months ago. Loved it. I have all the Demonworld Armies still unpainted (except for the wood elves and orcs which are mostly done) and a ton of other painted 15mm fantasy. the BAron and I are going to rebase our 15mm fantasy armies to play BattleLore on the tabletop.

6. Make Ground Cloth and terrain for 15mm Fantasy - Need to make a ground cloth and hex grid for the tabletop version. Also terrain.

7. Build Litko ITS towers - I asked Santa for some of these great Litko ITS towers that harken to the days of original Necromunda. If I get them we will use them for Necromunda but probably more for Mutants and Deathray Guns. Can't wait.

8. Build Base for ITS Towers - I will need to make an industrial base for the ITS stuff. I dont want to play on a flat table. I will use pink stuff and make some similar to the ones on Litkos website, influenced by the videogame Battlefield 2142. I have so much stuff I can scratch build for this its sickening.

9. Paint 4-5 Warbands for Mutants and DeathRay Guns - If you are gonna have terrain to fight on, better have some figs for it. This is a left over from last year. Combination of NEcromunda figs, Pig Iron Figs, Copplestone figs, and anything else I have.

10. Paint 28mm Hudson and Allen Buildings - I have about 20-30 beautiful Hudson and Allen buildings and the GW plastic fantasy buildings and Mighty Fortress. I need to get them painted.

11. Finish Post Apoc rubble Buildings - A project I started in 09 to get a break from Nappies. I have 2 completely finished and I think they are the best terrain work I have ever done. I have 1 more thats been detailed and needs to be painted. I have 6 more to do. They are urban multi story buildings perfect for after the fall of civilization or for just really bad urban decay. Take your pick.

12. Start Warlord or Arthur Armies inspired by Bernard Cornwell - The biggie. I have been wanting to do this for a while. I just don't know which one to start. I have most of the figs already. Time will tell.

Well thats it. I am going to restrict myself to working on something on this list only. That way I can hopefully stay focused on fewer options. Its still an overly ambitious list that I know wont get completely done, but hopefully I will have enough done to :

1. Play with painted minis and monsters on high end graphic geomorph tiles for D&D .

2. Play Necromunda and Mutants and Deathray Guns on a fully 3D industrial tower layout.

3. Play Song of Blades and Heroes on some really great looking terrain.

4. Play Battle Lore with miniatures as a dedicated tabletop mini game.

5. Start a project that will last a very long time (Fall of Rome to Dark Ages).

I hope that in the end I will have 2 of these fully realized by the end of the winter, assuming the basement redo doesn't get in the way.

On the lead acquiring front, I really need to catch up with the Pig Iron releases, and there is so much good 15mm sci fi out there. And I know I may need to fill in here and there with a few fantasy figs.

Happy Gaming and keep your ferrels clean.

A little bit O RPG madness

Well maybe a lot.

I have been rebitten by RPG madness. Specifically D&D Basic and Gamma World. The Baron and myself are trying a couple of things using blogspot and available resources on the interweb to try blog roleplaying. Its going pretty good. Its slow, but thats ok.

Here's the links:
http://hrothgarsfolly.blogspot.com/

http://burningwastes.blogspot.com/

These are the two we are starting.

I also have been totally energized by the romance of the D&D basic/expert rules (red and blue) and I am also playing tabletop versions with my sons and the Baron and his son. Totally fun.

I also have been invited in by the mad chgowiz to participate in trying to see how well google wave can be used for RPG online. this should be a great experiment.

chgowiz's blog has really energized me as well.

chgowiz's website:
http://oldguyrpg.blogspot.com/

google wave website:

http://wave.google.com/help/wave/about.html

the is also something of a great idea in rpging that has probably been a round for a while, but has really come to light for me getting back into old school rpging, which is the idea of a sandbox world. and the best idea surrounding this was and idea that is known as the West Marches. A campaign that was run by the guy at the ars ludi website, Ben Robbins. http://arsludi.lamemage.com/index.php/78/grand-experiments-west-marches/

It is a totally open environment but it is different. No meta game plots, just adventure and it is player driven. The DM is just the set up guy. All rolls are done in the open, no fudging. Death abounds. But its not players vs DM its players vs environment. Its a great idea and I am using it for my new D&D campaign games. check it out if you like roleplaying.

On the painting front, I have been painting characters for D&D in 28mm. I only have about 200 siuitable models. Its been fun painting the specific characters that match the ones Baron and the Boys have been playing. I found out I need to find a female cleric for my Niece. I have about a dozen done. It has been really fun. Pics when I finish the characters.

another dozen then I will do dungeon minions. Which I have tons. I want to play on all the Skeletonkey games dungeon tiles I have.

I picked up a bunch of discount GW stuff at a discount store. I got my hands on a GW giant for practically nothing. It will be a blast to paint up and play with.

Going to start a winter project based on Bernard Corwells books. Torn between doing vikings and saxons from the warlords novels, or the late roman/arthurian briatain stuff. Got all of the lead sitting in boxes, any suggestions?

The BAron and I have also decided to base up a bunch of our painted 15mm fantasy (I'm drwoning in it, Demonworld mostly) to be played with the great BAttleLore rules. I will do a big terrain mat with hexes and 3d terrain. I t should be a lot of fun, and BattleLore is a great fun no argument game.

As always stop by the Barons site for more updates than I do, and the Basement Generals site for our gaming groups blog. since the Baron tends to be the most active, you will get some double posts on the BG site from the Barons personal site.

Generals:
http://basementgenerals.blogspot.com/

Baron:
http://baronvonj.blogspot.com/

Happy painting and gaming over the holildays.

Ken

15mm Sci Fi

Its been a while. I have been busy playing, gaming, RPGing, world building, and painting and acquiring.

I have been painting a good bit.

I have finished my 28mm SoBH armies for Human High Fantasy, Undead, and started the Wood Elves.

I have done some detailing and painting on my Post Apoc buildings.

And finally, i have gotten sucked into 15mm Sci Fi. GZG, Critical Mass, Khurisan, and a blog called Dropship Horizon have just been too much to handle.

Here's an initial take at the Garn from Khurisan. Alien Reptile/Alligators.

Overall force. My vision is that the Garn are an uplifted species on a predominantly sauran world. Who were they uplifted by? Who knows...And they have enslaved the other Sauran species of their home world. The Garn are big figs for 15mm.

The initial Army is 8 stands of regular Garn troops, 2 stands of heavy support(think miniguns) Garn, 2 Leaders, 4 stands of walker weapon support platforms, 1 stand of Giant controlled Carnisaur, 1 Giant controlled Triceratops, 2 stands of fire breathing Dimetrodons with controller, 1 stand of Giant Stegasaur with side baskets and Grenade launchers, and 2 stands of crazed tribal Lizardmen (partially uplifted).

Garn leader

Garn normal units

Garn Walker Units - GZG walkers. 4 stands.

I have Critical Mass recon guys to do, Khurisan Karks, GZG Alien Mercs too.

I love this. and upcoming - Space lions/cats and space dogs and space mind flayer squidcrabs.

Nappy Game II - Russians vs French

Well here are the pics for the latest nappy game we had. 28mm. All from my Bro in law Al and his buddy Mike.

We are still using Age of Eagles, but are tweakiing the movement and range scales. We used 2x the 15mm chart and thats just too much. We used 1.5x this time and it was much better. We will try using 15mm range and movement with 28mm figs next time. I think 1.5 will be the best.

French vs. Russians with a British Dragoon brigade in observation.
18 infantry units, 9 cannon, 10 cav units a side. 8 players.

started at noonish(didnt really start til 1:00). declared a marginal victory for the french at 6:30.
Great time. Had some new faces. And it was great to see the ol' 16' table put to good use again.
Here's the pics:

Initial Setup
Left Flank - 10 French Cav units vs. 7 Russians - Bad News for the Russians

Looking back down the line at the start of the game

Engage!

The Russain middle

The mass of Russians slowly advancing to cover

Right flank - a skirmish action on the other side of the river.

Wiating fo rthe French cav victory that hasn't happened yet because of the stalwart Russian guard cav holding them back. A good delaying action by the Russian cav if I do say so myself.

French get antsy and finally charge russian left flank - why have the french cav not broken through?

Russian cav getting whittled away by the superior numbers of the french

French grognards break through on Russain left.

French cav enboldened by the Frech sloggers breaking through, almost has the russian cav broken.

Russian cav reforming for one final defense

The fortress like russian center, pounding the weaker French middle as they come in to attack.

Russian Grand Battery surrounded by troops

The middle is about to get hot.

That's all the pics I took. In the end the French Cav and the infantry break through on the left gave the French, what was all agreed to, a marginal victory. the delaying action the ta the Russian cav performed gave the Russian army valuable time that it never expolited fully. The entire Russina middle was fresh with the french starting to take some heavy casualties.

All in all a great game. Thanks for everyone who showed up.

28mm Nappys at Mike's

Hey all,
Had a great couple of games of 28mm Nappys with my bro in-law Al, and his friend Mike.
Mike and Al both have the most beautiful and prolific (and still painting) collection of 28mm Nappy's ever. Its amazing.

Mike graciously hosted us and a great time was had by all. We did French Vs. Austrian and Russian. Played Age of Eagles, the Napoleonic rules based on the original Fire and Fury rules.

I'm not very good at photgraphing and playing, so some pics ara little blurry.

We played two games. First was a starter, get your juices going kinda game, the second had 12 infantry brigades, 4 cav brigades, and associated cannon.

Austirans always look pretty, but the dice gods hate them. The French were gods. and the Russians were salty as hell.

Enjoy the eye candy. All figs painted by Mike.

Heres some of the action: