10mm Fantasy Project

Posted on 09/07/2012 by sho3box

Image borrowed from somethingawful.com

I am more of a sci-fi nerd than a fantasy nerd.  Observing this distinction renders me a quantum nerd.

Although I have read a number of fantasy books and played numerous fantasy games over the years, I would always rather that a setting included a robot than it included a horse.  A robot horse would be ideal.

Robot House HORSE!”

My enthusiasm for Warhammer 40,000 and Star Wars confuses the issue further, as both settings are very much science fantasy or space opera rather than hard sci-fi.

With that predilection in mind, and with Monte Figuero ever expanding, I traded away 99% of my unpainted 28mm fantasy figures earlier this year.  One of the few fantasy projects that I held on to was my 10mm stuff.  Even more surprising is that I have actually done some work on them.

SOS (AKA The Otto Von Bismark) and MT have had Warmaster armies painted up for a decade or so.  MT was kind enough to donate the core of an Orc and Goblin army that he knew that he would never get around to painting a couple of years ago.  I subsequently added some more bits and pieces from various 10mm sources to the Warmaster models that he gave me, so I have loads to keep me going for now.

I hope to get some Warmaster played with these figures.  I would also like to try Hordes of the Things and the upcoming Song of Armies and Hordes from Ganesha Games too.  Mantics Kings of War looks like a system very well suited to that scale and base configuration (despite the fact that it was developed for a company to help them to sell 28mm figs) so I plan to try that out also.

Some photos of my 10mm Orcs and Goblins should be posted up here later this week.

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Back to the (Grim Dark) Future: Warhammer 40,000 6th Edition

Posted on 29/06/2012 by sho3box

deadly embrace:

  1. a standstill resulting from the opposition of two unrelenting forces or factions.
  2. A stalemate that occurs when two elements in a process are each waiting for the other to respond

Events have conspired: I will be playing Warhammer 40,000 this weekend.

One of my 40K figures which may or may not be used in a game of 6th ed in my house this weekend.

I have been keeping half an eye on the scuttlebutt about sixth edition for the last couple of months, mostly because of how fear of change has given dull competitive players diarrhoea of the soul.  Hi-larious.

Regardless of all of that, I didnt plan to pick up a copy of the sixth edition rulebook any time soon.  By way of example, I picked up a second hand copy of the 5th ed rulebook in a trade a month or two ago and I have yet to read it.  Considering I have waited four years to read fifth edition I was in no rush to get sixth ed.

The Nob here may well be used in 6th ed games this weekend, but it depends. The ally rules seem very suitable for use with small forces like my Gorkamorka Orks, Da Bigdogz

For unrelated reasons I have a gaming weekend planned starting this evening running until Sunday.  The other half of this man-date is MT, a gentleman human that I got to know over a 40k table over a decade ago.  We had no specific games planned for the weekend, although boardgames are our usual choice these days.

These 40k figures are highly unlikely to feature in games this weekend, but I may squeeze them in somewhere just because I like them.

Unexpectedly however MT used his massive leverage on the Irish gaming scene (read: none) to get his hands on the rulebooks today: a day before release.  This was all we needed to make us engage in an activity that we had sworn to give up numerous times in the past.  We also decided to play 40k.

Therefore this evening we will each be sitting at a scenery covered table opposite one another, each with a ludicrously expensive hardback book in hand (a copy each, naturally).  As we both have access to hundreds upon hundreds of painted miniatures for this specific game, we figured “Why the hell not?  How bad can it be?”  Watch this space…

Astro-Pat here will make a good MaGuffin for a scenario, so I will try to get him to feature.

The last time that we played 40k is documented here in five easily digestible chunks (with my most recent 40k games before that being an eye watering eight years ago in 2004).

Rereading about those 2010 games a couple of years later it seems that I enjoyed them more than I remember now, which is interesting.  We played five small games in rapid succession, so maybe we might stick to that formula.  Or maybe we wont, who knows?

This guy is old school awesome. I am definitely going to play a game using him.

I will take some photos one way or another.  I havent rolled and dice on my new Zuzzy terrain mats yet either (Malifaux uses cards instead) and they are crying out for it.  Dice make a soft rumbling noise as they land on the mats, like chestnuts wrapped in felt landing on a waterbed.  Lovely.

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Malifaux Project

Posted on 22/02/2012 by sho3box

I have started yet another project.  Its Malifaux this time.

Malifaux is a skirmish miniatures game set in a steampunk Western dystopia with horror elements.   It appears to me that this odd mashup occurred because Wyrd Miniatures produced an eclectic range of figures before the game was even conceived and then decided to shoehorn the lot in to the game.

Despite how dodgy this sounds, Wyrd did manage to create a game world that feels unique and pretty coherent.  The fact that the majority of Wyrds miniature output is really very nice also helps.

There are a number of reasons why I have decided to add yet another project to my already ludicrously big list for 2012:

The first and most important reason is driven mainly by the fact that I have found a local miniature gaming opponent and he and I are trying to get a regular Mancave mandate going.   For this to work it will involve a little give and take regarding what games to play and paint miniatures for.  My opponent (hereby known as COM) has a number of Malifaux forces painted up, as well as all of the necessary rulebooks and the like.  Therefore painting up 5-10 figures for the game is an easy buy-in for me.

Secondly I already own a Malifaux starter box of five figures.  I bought them back in ’09 because I liked the look of them and without any plans to play Malifaux.  Because of their cowboy aesthetic I had planned to use them in post-apocalyptic games.  I had not got any further than priming the figures so this gave me an opportunity to return to an old project and get some closure.

Thirdly my post apocalyptic terrain, in particular the Standard Falls stuff  is well suited to the setting.  It is visible in some of the photos of games shown in this post.  It lacks some of the more steampunk elements from the Malifaux setting but a few features that resonate with Victorian sci-fi are easy to add at a later date.

Lastly, it is a very small project and quite easy to achieve.  At the time of writing I have five figures painted with work beginning on others.

Those five figures from my Lady Justice/Death Marshals set will be going up daily here, starting in a minute and continuing daily until Sunday.

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Plans for 2012

Posted on 01/02/2012 by sho3box

I was looking at the miniatures plans for 2012 at Phreedhs Mini Stuff the other day and two things struck me:

  1. thats a very big list.
  2. I also have a very big list of plans that I will be lucky to complete a fraction of.

But I decided to make a list anyway.  While I have an interest in completing all of these projects, it really is hard to say which ones will bubble to the top.  Sometime the obvious projects dont hit the table properly for years, while the oddball ones occasionally get done in a surprise bout of enthusiasm.

So below is a list of projects from which my output this year is likely to come, in no particular order.

———————-

Adeptus Mechanicus:  I spent a big wad of money on Mechanicus related figures last summer when I had a little bit of spare cash.  As I have already done a pretty big chunk of work on these guys they probably get my vote for “Most Likely to Actually Get Done in “2012”.

Gears of War: like Doom: the Boardgame before it Gears of War: the Boardgame is supplied with ~28mm scale miniatures.  The quality of the figures for the Gears game is a big step up from Doom.  Despite the failings of the Gears of War video games I do still enjoy them an awful lot, so painting up the Locust bad guys from the boardgame is something that I am looking forward to.

Dreadfleet: another boardgame, Dreadfleet consists of a variety of improbable pirate ships having ridiculous fights.   It sounds like fun to me and as a project of finite size it has a clear start, middle and end.  What does hamper this is that it isnt sci-fi.  I find it rare that I get enthused enough about non-sci-fi projects to get working on them.  It will happen at some stage, but I dont know when.  This project gets my “Least Likely to Actually Get Done in “2012” award.

Judge Dredd: I made very successful headway into my Judge Dredd project last year, but I still have loads to do.  As well as more judges I have lots of perps to do.  Apes, robots, mutants, gang members, batters, fatties… the list is huge.  As I have made quite a bit of progress with this project already it seems likely that more progress will be made throughout 2012.

Inquisitor Warbands: I have been reading 40K fiction recently and I have been taken with the idea of playing some games involving Inquisitors and their retinues in James Bond like scenarios, but not using actual Warhammer 40,000 or Inquisitor rules (for obvious reasons).  It is a nice way to get to paint figures that are definitively 40K but that rarely show up on the tabletop, like Astropaths or Navigators or whatever.  I have a ruleset in mind and a whole cast of guys that will each make nice quick sub-projects themselves, so this one looks likely to be tackled.  In fact my recently painted assassin fits right in here, so its started already really.

Standard Falls post-apocalyptic terrain: I have a load more post apoc terrain bits and plans sitting in a box that are crying out to be assembled and painted.  I also plan to revisit my dreaded post apocalyptic fort to work on some of the elements that I am least happy with.  Before I tackle any of that however I want to finish my…

Zuzzy Mats: I bought two of these last year.  I suspect that painting them wont take more than a day or two each, with most of that being drying time.  Until I get those done I wont be tackling any other terrain elements.

Graveyard Terrain:  I plan to quickly paint enough graveyard terrain pieces to populate a 4×4′ table.  I hope that Inquisitors can investigate cult activity around them and the like.  It will also be suitable for Buffy games whenever I get around to that.

Colonial Marines: always bridesmaids these guys, they never seem to get the attention that they deserve chez sho3box.  Right now I dont think that I will get to them in 2012, but with Prometheus coming out maybe that will get me back focused on those tough hombres.

Riddick: this is a bit of a cheat as it involves only one figure.  I recently decided that I actually like the Riddick franchise, which surprised me as much as it probably surprised you.  With that in mind I want to paint my own miniature version of the character.  The figure will fit in nicely to the Dredd and Inquisitor projects.

Titans: researching my Adeptus Mechanicus project got me thinking about playing some more games of “Mighty Monsters” and its upcoming sister ruleset “Samurai Robot Battle Royale” using 40K titans.  I have a load of suitable scenery pieces waiting for paint so those and the titans themselves constitute yet another project that I would like to get off the ground.

Zombies: I always seem to come back to these guys.  With Resident Evil 6 and Operation Raccoon City lined up for release on Xbox this year it seems that I will not be short of inspiration to get working on more living impaired.

———————-

So, loads of stuff to do there.  Some of it will definitely get done.  When it does I will document it here.

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Mancave Upgrade Complete

Posted on 04/01/2012 by sho3box

I finally got my hobby room tidied up and functional again on Xmas eve.  It was driving me nuts because of the state of it for the last couple of months.

The room now looks like this:

Many if the items on the shelves need to be rearranged a little, into some sort of order but that can wait.  For now at least the room is operational again.

A knock on effect of this de-cluttering was that some actual miniature painting was completed over my Xmas break.  This was somewhat satisfying as I havent managed to finish painting a figure since last August.

Assuming that I get a half decent chance to take a few photos over the next while I will be able to start regularly posting here again.  The posts are all written, I just need to get the photos sorted.

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Mancave Upgrade

Posted on 23/11/2011 by sho3box

My spare time for the last week or so has been occupied with putting up shelves and the like.  When I am finished the place should look pretty decent, but right now it looks like this…

 

Having that room in such a mess means that I haven’t been able to get much actual hobby stuff (rather than hobby related stuff) done.  This state of limbo will likely continue for the next week or two, which is a a pain.

At least it will mean that my major work space will be prepped and ready to go for during my Xmas holidays and into 2012.

Hopefully I will have something more interesting finished and photographed to put up next week.

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2011 So Far

Posted on 02/11/2011 by sho3box

I have been preoccupied with a number of non-toy soldier related issues for the last couple of months.  Some of the distractions have been dull real life things but others (like a holiday in the US and various Xbox things) have been very pleasant.  The downside of course is that the hobby stuff suffers.

In response to this and in the hope that it will get my juices flowing I decided to do a round up of the hobby things that I have done in 2011 so far, in roughly chronological order.  Click on the pictures to go to the relevant posts for further details.

Things got off to a rocky start (sorry) with the quick bits of terrain above.  Goofy and more than a little crude I have got good use out of them and they are eminently practical.

Next up were some more Left 4 Dead inspired zombie characters.  Nice Tengu miniatures with paint jobs that vary from “adequate” to “quite nice really”.

One of the most successful projects that I finished this year involved these guys.  I got a lot of positive reaction to them and while they became a bit of a drudge by the end, I am very happy with the finished batch.

One of the bigger sub projects that I got stuck into this year was the fort shown above.  That is exactly one quarter of it actually, the thing is massive.

There are a few things that I would do differently if I did it all over but largely I am pleased to have finished it.

Or at least, nearly finished it.  I ordered some suitable bits and pieces to cover the cruciform windows recently, so a minor update to this will happen soon, probably early in the new year.

Keeping with the post apocalyptic theme I retouched and varnished my giant mutant rats in May or so.  I also added some creepy crawlies and a few tents.

…plus some post apocalyptic objective markers.

Running concurrently with the rats, the fort and some other things was the Gorkamorka project.  Lots of orks in other words. No group shot yet though.


Painted alongside the orks were some post apocalyptic vehicles for them to ride around in.

The post apocalyptic stuff kept on coming, with development of my PA shanty town, “Standard Falls”.

The photo above doesnt really do the buildings justice: they look quite nice on the table together.

These vultures got finished while I threw together the signpost above.  The signpost helped to pull the Standard Falls stuff into the Judge Dredd setting, ideal for my most recent project…

The most recent of these is one of the first Mega City One specific perps, the Jimp

So thats what I have managed to get done so far this year.  Its a pretty respectable amount I think, amounting to ~100 miniatures and ~45 terrain items.

Considering that I have done nothing since early August (plus have to go to work and sleep and all of those other boring things) its a pretty decent chunck of geek stuff.

I have a lot more projects and sub-projects in the pipeline as usual but I dont know what will get done next.   Going through the last ten months output for this post has been satisfying though 🙂

Its a Judge Dredd game set in the Cursed Earth up for posting next week.

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See you at Halloween-ish.

Posted on 28/09/2011 by sho3box

 

 

Im going to take a few weeks off from this blog.  I have a number of other things eating into my time at the moment, so the toy soldier stuff will have to go on the back burner for a little while.

I should be back up to speed by Halloween or so, mid November at the latest.

 

 

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Seasonal Delays

Posted on 03/08/2011 by sho3box

 

As often happens at this time of year (to me at least) my toy soldier output is slower than usual right now, so no new pictures of my stuff today.  Boo.

This more haphazard state of affairs is likely to continue until mid-September I suspect.  While I will likely get some stuff ready to post before then, I cant really be sure of when or what.

I have a lot of projects trundling along, with another batch of Judge Dredd related stuff close to finished and loads more of those in the pipeline.

Scenery wise I have some more bits and pieces coming up for Standard Falls, with plans for sci-fi city stuff also going on.  I will be sticking with the post-apoc scenery for a while yet though as I want to get that entire terrain set finished before I get stuck into any other scenic stuff.

I *should* be a bit better organised with photos and all that jazz ready for next Wednesday.  Fingers crossed.

 

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Land War in Asia Competition

Posted on 25/07/2011 by sho3box

Donogh at Land War in Asia is running a fun competition.  One of the criteria for entry is that I highlight three of the posts from his blog here.

Land War in Asia: Ambush

1)

First up is a shot from a recent post about modern Afghanistan gaming.  The only modern gaming that I do involves zombies, so its safe to say that I dont really game in the modern period.  Its all cheesy sci-fi for me in one form or another.

Therefore I think that its worth noting that this post grabbed me anyway.  Mainly this was due to all of the nice details that are worked into the terrain.  I like the numbered objective markers, the dusty, dirty die cast car and the like.  The overall impression from the table is fantastic.

Land War In Asia: A Good Day To Die - Setup

2)

Another desert game although this time its not set on this planet.  Again it is the coherent look of the whole table that appeals to me.  From the troops to the vehicles to the outcrops to the buildings all of the models look like a matching set.

Although I have been pushing in that direction with my stuff for a while my tendency to flit around the place regarding my projects can often make for an less coherent look on the table than I would like.  Therefore I am envious of Donoghs harmonised set-ups and enjoy checking them out.

Land War in Asia: A Good Day to Die - Scenario

3)

Lastly, the post illustrated by the image above shows the amount of work put in to one of the games set-up on LWiA.

Its safe to say that I am the guy in my gaming group that drives things forward and generally does the majority of the prep work for our gaming. I dont tend to go into the detail shown above though, although it pleases me to see that some people do.

So, thats enough shilling for one day 😉

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