Great Dungeon Tile Paint Scheme
Here’s the steps
Halloween Hobbytime!
This is what I’ve been busy working on this week. I’ve been getting ready to play Castle of Darkness! Sure, sure. Radukar the Beast is for Cursed City Nightwars. But he’s a big vampire, so he counts. I’ve been working on him on the side so he’ll be a surprise when the big reveal happens. I’ve been trying to avoid too, too many spoilers myself, but I know he exists, so I can’t unlearn that fact. Plus, now he’s painted and completes the entire lineup for Nightwars. I’ll post all the minis here sometime. The Dire Wolf proxies, also below, go with Nemesis, but I was on a roll and knocked out 10 more minis from the backlog. Pictures are links to store or 3D source for the models. Note: the big wolf (lower, center) is this one.
Halloween is right around the corner
With the leaves falling and a chill in the air, there’s no better time to turn to THE CASTLE OF DARKNESS!!!!!!! If you’re not familiar with Littlemonk and his Warhammer Quest 1995 expansions, join his runboard and take a look. They’re pretty impressive. I do wish that he’d credit artists though. This is a fun group of adventures featuring Universal Studios themed monsters. Yes, normal WHQ has mummies and vampires, but Littlemonk has provided rules for three tiers of wolfmen and Frankenstein’s monster. I’m really hoping to get this on the table before October is through. Here’s a list of suitable miniatures (all free)
Blood (Blitz) Bowl Geheimnisnacht Special – Halloween Edition
I’m a Blitz Bowl player by nature. For whatever reason, Blood Bowl never appealed to me. I’m just a smaller game kind of guy. But! I love Halloween! So this very Halloween themed bonus is easily tied into Blitz Bowl. Good News! Blitz Bowl Ultimate Second Edition has rules for the Necromantic Horrors in Blitz Bowl! Love these models: I do have a Shambling Undead team that I’ve been meaning to get to. Not enough hours in the day! These are the two things that are easily ported into Blitz Bowl:
Abandoned Blogs
There’s something wistful about abandoned blogs. Someone started a site and poured their creativity into it, then, eventually… stopped. Maybe their interests changed, maybe they got out of the hobby, maybe they got too busy, maybe they had kids, or maybe the march of time caught them as it will catch us all. The most poignant aspect is the lack of a farewell. It’s a normal post with a future ahead of it. But then, that’s it. There’s no wrap up. No conclusion. It’s a cliffhanger. It could happen to any of us, even me. Disclaimer: I don’t know anything about the owners of these blogs. My most sincere condolences to those that are not longer with us. I hope everyone is still painting and playing. Take care of yourselves and others. Hug those kids, even if they’re all grown up! So here are some of the best abandoned hobby…
3D Print Skarburn Zapdakka for Blackstone Fortress
One of the fun things about Blackstone Fortress is that you can have NPCs tag along. Now this is something I haven’t worked into a game yet, but I really want to give Skarburn Zapdakka a try. A brief blurb about Retinue Characters is available here: https://www.warhammer-community.com/2019/12/03/blackstone-fortress-building-your-retinuegw-homepage-post-1 If you can get your hands on old White Dwarf Magazines, or the 2019 Blackstone Fortress Annual, you’ll have all the details. You play a mission to “unlock” the new characters, then they can hop into your outer space adventures. Skarburn Zapdakka appeared in the October 2019 White Dwarf. I’m sure GW a Flash Git model can be procured, but there aren’t many available for less than $30 US. Though I do really like the “Flash Git with Targeting Squig“. So instead of dropping real money on a real model, I went with an amazing 3D print from Lost_Heresy: https://cults3d.com/en/3d-model/game/ork-big-shoota I think it…
The Merry Mushmen
Have you ever heard of the Merry Mushmen? Now, I know that sounds like weird lyrics to a nursery rhyme from the 1700s, but it’s very much modern. But old-school. They’re contemporary is what I mean to say. The Merry Mushmen publish some EXTREMELY cool RPG stuff. They have their own games but most content is very much rules-agnostic, though heavy in the D&D universe. Their contributors, art, and layout are second to none. Take a look at their freebies, especially CRACK! They’re absolutely worth a look.
Check out this awesome UR-025
From reddit, painted by bunface123.
Blackstone fortress terrain
Also check out Cursed City Terrain. One of the keystone differences between Blackstone Fortress and other Warhammer Quest game family is that combat employs cover. To indicate cover, lines are printed on the game tiles. Here’s a video that explains it. The gentleman in the video is non-coincidentally the designer of most of the terrain that I use. I REALLY like using the terrain. Without it, I guarantee I would forget about cover effects every single time. I really need those vertical elements for me to notice them. I haven’t inventoried every single tile so there may be an enormous map that requires more terrain than I have. I’ll deal with that if it comes up. Me – 2023 The tiles have three themes: tessellating geometrics, rocky crystals, and sci-fi elements. I’m not particular about when I use them, and many are tile-specific. There are also some blocking hex elements…
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…