How long have you been “in the hobby”?
How long have you been in the miniatures/painting/gaming hobby? For me, medium-ish, I’d say. Not as long as others, but the time since beginning to now is substantial. It all started when I was a wee lad in 1989 or thereabouts. There was a local hobby shop that carried trains, toys, squirt guns, model car kits, games, miniatures and paints. That is the origin story of my hobby experience. That store was pretty much all I could think about in those young dawning years. Ral Partha, Citadel, Grenadier, Marauder. Rogue Trader, Space Hulk, Advanced HeroQuest, Man O’ War, and many more. This was our mecca. From 5th grade to 9th grade were the gaming years. Not that I was a big gamer. I really wasn’t. I liked the art, painting, and building. Hobbying started to tail off a bit in middle school, then high school rolled around. 1993-1994 and that…
Modern miniatures and the uncanny valley
I’d like to revisit a topic I talked about a couple weeks ago. Modern Games Workshop models. This is a controversial topic because people are passionate about both old and new. It’s really great that people have found things they genuinely enjoy, and I do not meant to diminish anyone’s interest in anything. This is a longer article than I usual write, so if you want to skip right to the uncanny valley section, it starts in section 3. I’ve been trying to psychoanalyze myself as to what drives my personal preference in miniatures. Opinions and biases are 100% subjective. I am in no way saying something is right or wrong. I’m going to be talking about my own personal preference. I’m sure this won’t ingratiate me with anyone. To break it down, I’d say there are 3 factors driving my preference toward older miniatures. All of those are real…
What makes Blackstone Fortress so fun?
Is it the beautiful hex tiles? Is it the exotic space bazaar narrative? Is it the brilliant miniatures? Is it the intriguing characters? Is it the imaginative gameplay? Is it the vast unknown of the Blackstone itself? Or is it all of the above? I say it’s all of the above. The game has it all. Total package. But with all that going for it, it’s still not for everyone. It’s too boardgamey for hard core gamers It’s too RPGey for casual game players It’s not Warhammerey enough for Warhammer players. But it’s just enough for me, my friends and family. You roll fun dice. Explore exotic locations. Slay interesting monsters. What’s not to like? If I have one criticism, it’s the layer of abstraction laid over trading on Precipice. I think it’s there to avoid “gaming” the trading system. But I find it cumbersome, we leave it out. If…
Finished my ghoul proxies
More info here
Hand sculpted vs computer sculpted
Why do the new GW models look the way they do? Is Computer Aided Design (CAD) affecting the aesthetic? I don’t even have the words to describe how they look. They’re less-characterfull? They’re more generic? They’re overly uniform? They’re abnormally standardized? They’re too boardroom flowcharted? They’re too scale-accurate? They look like they the sculpting was outsourced and they’re designed to spec. Maybe they’re designed in-house, but the really look like they’re designed by a completely new staff. In some ways they’re great. In other ways, they do not look like a GW model. They don’t have a GW feel to them. Do I like them? Yes, I suppose. Do I own many of these? Not too many. Also, the Warhulk pictured to the right costs $55.00 USD. The days of finding an interesting GW blister pack for pocket money are long gone. I find that some of the magic, whimsey,…
Rogue Trader (My Brother is Awesome)
How awesome is this! I recently turned moderately old, and my world-class brother gave me the hardcover reprint of Warhammer 40,000 Rogue Trader. This book is so cool. It was absolutely formative in our early adolescence. Love the models from back then. Not only that, he got me a subscription to White Dwarf! Something old and something new!
White Dwarf 2024
I got my hands on the latest iteration of Grombrindal, the White Dwarf. White Dwarf 500 has rules for Cursed City, Age of Sigmar, Underworlds, and Warcry. I’m most interested in Cursed City and hope to try him out in the next week. Always Board Never Boring goes over his rules. He’s a Loremaster in Cursed City, which is interesting because his stats are very stalwart-ey and he has no spells. Oh but that axe! He’s going to do some damage. Admittedly, this is a splurge purchase and at nearly $40 US, it’s pretty steep for one single-little-itty-bitty piece of plastic. But, I’m a bit of a white dwarf collector, so I can stomach this one. Having game rules definitely helps too. I’ve been somewhat critical of the tiny pieces in some GW sets. Not so here! Look at these beautiful chunky pieces! This thing went together great, no fiddley…
A final word on Darktide
I was at a game store over the weekend and held a copy of Darktide in my hands. It was surprisingly heavy, considering the contents are pretty megre. Also, the box was a cheap tuck-box. That’s not going to hold up well on the shelf. Gorechosen, the game I recently compared it to, was $70 U.S. at retail for 4 miniatures! So, it could be worse, I guess? In any event, I’m happy to have copy of White Dwarf 500 and a physical card to play Grombrindal in Cursed City. I need to get some paint on my vampire slayer Grombrindal ASAP!!
One Man Army
Old Man Time has really started cranking the wheel hard because believe it or not, it’s been over a year ago that Warhammer Community published rules to use some truly mighty heroes in Cursed City. I printed up the cards and was ready to roll right away. I have absolutely no problem proxying minis that are a close facsimile to the originals. Take the Cryptguard ghouls for example. I’m not going to spend $50.00 US on 20 ghouls when I have perfectly good ghouls at home! However, I’m loathe to proxy character models. So I got all three. Well, I already had Gotrek Gurnisson, so getting Cursed City rules was an added bonus. I’m a big Gotrek & Felix fan -Me (2005) I really had a blast playing a couple games as Gotrek. I have to admit, I was a bit star struck. I even got everything painted up! I…
Cursed City or Blackstone Fortress
A frequent question I see online is: I’m interested in getting into a new game, should I go with Cursed City or Blackstone Fortress The Internet It’s a tough question. They’re both still currently available new, from Games Workshop or your friendly local game store. Cursed City costs a bit more, but dollar-wise it’s not a deal breaker. Also, your preference between fantasy (Cursed City), or sci-fi (Blackstone Fortress) may sway your decision. Both have: Blackstone Fortress was developed first, and came out in 2018. Cursed City came out in 2021 and is a bit more distilled than Blackstone Fortress. They both are a bit light on strategy, though some of the newer expansion heroes for Cursed City make it more interesting. Some of the things that were slimmed down for Cursed City make Blackstone Fortress a bit more intriguing to play. In Blackstone fortress, you’re frequently deciding when to…