Middle Earth Nature Walk: Rangers & Woses

I recently completed a bit of Mithril Miniatures for a client's extensive Mithril collection.

I do love Mithril Miniatures. They have such smooth elegant lines and realistic, not excessive, detail.

I once had a Wood Elf army for Warhammer that was about 2/3 Mithril minis.
Never should have sold those.

So this set was Rangers & Woses: two different approaches to living in the wild.

The challenge here was to match the colors & styles of the previous painter, who had painted a lot of these, so that the new additions would match.

It can be a very interesting process to duplicate someone else's style, it gets you analyzing and thinking about the process more than proceeding on your own.
And matching colors, finding the right blends to match is fun.
For a few years in university I worked as a picture framer, where you deal a lot with color theory, but never more than when someone brought in a scratched frame and you'd mix paints and inks to cover the damage.
Trying to match a color is one of the best ways to really understand the make up of the color.

So, to the Mithril:

Woses

The example one didn't have a spear, so I got to paint the wood staves in my favorite method. 

The leader's decorative paint was inspired by Magwa. Couldn't resist. 

Apparently, they do a lot of walking! 

Rangers

I do love how Mithril Miniatures handles cloaks! 

I like how these two interact...

Woman, "Why, that's no way to hold a child!

Man, "huh..what?"

Woman, "dear Iluvatar, but that is an ugly child..."

Jovian Leviathans : The Galaxy's Most Fearsome Monsters: Also a Tyranid BFG Fleet

When dinosuars walked the earth the ground shook under their weight and mammals hid in fear.

When man braved the seas their sturdiest ships were broken by the backs of the great cetaceans.

As the intelligent races of the small rocky worlds escaped their homes' gravity wells feeling themselves to be undisputed masters, winners of evolution's race, they found they were once again insignificant.

For the Jovian Worlds hold true terrors: Leviathans.

Leviathans, often called 'living space ships' since they rival the largest vessels ever built, are native to the gas oceans of worlds which dwarf the rocky inner planets of the countless stars.  Some say they are no more than very large cattle, but others believe they have a long and ancient intelligence which has spanned the galaxy, inhabiting nearly every gas giant. To make matters more dangerous, they can travel within the vacuum of space, and are fiercely territorial.

.....................................................

For a very long time I've wanted to convert up a fleet of 'living ships' for general space ship gaming or to use as a Tyranid fleet in Battlefleet Gothic. The minis that GW made were alright, but it's a lot more fun to make my own. Besides, I wanted to have a lot more variety. Different species, some more abstract, and others more recognizable as a 'creature' to a human eye. 

I always liked the idea of Moya from Farscape:

Though Moya is a 'living ship' that's been genetically engineered to function as a ship for small terrestrial beings like us.  What I was after was something a bit more natural and primal.

I used the Tyranid BFG fleet construction rules as a guide, in case I ever want to use them in that game, but in a more general sense I also wanted to have Small, Average, Bigger & Big to count as Class I, II, III & IV for War Rocket.

I've written my own fleet rules for 'Jovian Leviathans' to be compatible with the War Rocket rules, because I think they'd be very fun in that genre. One of my favorite things in MOOII (Masters of Orion II) was the space dragons & space eels that guard good planets. So why not?  Seems just as appropriate in the fun flash & pulp of War Rocket as it does for the Doom & Dark of BFG.

I'll share the fleet rules in another update soon.

I've worked on this fleet on & off for while, and it's nearly finished. But I didn't want to wait any longer for painting before I showed them ;)

Hive Ships

So you saw the preview Leviathan in the last two updates and the first picture here.  This is a 'Hive Ship' for BFG or a Class IV (actually it will be a larger 'Class V' in War Rocket) or just a very big battleship in any other system.

Miloam

I also built a very different species but also a Hive Ship or Class IV:

This species is more of a 'Torpedo' shooter and a slicer, while the first one, Miloam, relies on claws and hail of shooting shots. I took inspiration for this one from the Shadow vessels of Babylon 5. 

Cruisers

The next class down: BFG Cruisers or War Rocket Class III:

I built two of this species. The Tiger of the Jovian Seas.  A decent far striker and a deadly dorsal slicer, to rip open the ever more massive jellyfish-like floaters. 

Another cruiser.  A stalker: short range lance-like weapons and heavy jaw-claws to crush prey. 

The last of the Cruisers / Class III species. In BFG a torpedo vessel. All of the Cruisers / Class III species have a dorsal slicer as a common trait. 

Escorts

Kraken with battery fire in BFG or Class II in War Rocket

Kraken (Maybe Vanguard Drone?) with Feeder Tendrils / Class II

Watch out! Coming to get you!

Kraken with Lance-type weapons / Class II

Escort Drone with Lance-type weapons / Class I

Escort Drone with battery-fire / Class I

Some more green-stuff work & bit of filing to be done still, and need to make fighter & assault craft still.

But for the most part the fleet is done.  More than enough for some good games of War Rocket, 1500 pts or more in BFG and lots of options for whatever other system I might use. 

I'll probably have to paint them before mounting on flight stands, since I'll probably use clear acrylic stands with hex bases, so I could use them easily on battlefields in both space and over alien worlds. 

More Angles to Guess 'What Am I?'

Some very fun guesses from the last update!
I'll show more angles of the creature so you can get a better look...

Thanks to JP it's name is now "Miloam" standing for "Mother-In-Law-Of-All-Monsters"

So what do you think it is?

What Am I? Can You Guess?

Another 'Guess the Project' post...

Who/What is this?

Only one picture from one angle for this project... for now.

What do you think?

Wake for Weedbert

So I recently found out that an old friend of mine died not long ago.

He was the oldest of three brothers I became friends with long ago, and though we'd grown out of touch I'd hear updates now and then since one of those brothers remains among my closest friends, as much as I would imagine an actual brother.

Still, you aren't expecting someone who's just 51 to die of a heart attack.
But I guess it happens.

For most humans, I think the best we can hope for at the end is to have left people with some good memories, so it seems right to share some of those gaming-related memories of a fun, goofy guy who often was jokingly called Weedbert, after his favorite past-time which he often partook.

Now, of course this is Radagast, but the two fellows did have a lot in common, and the further along into life he got, the more Joe resembled Radagast! 

In my second year in University I transferred to San Francisco State and not long after living there, working in a cafe, became friends with a co-worker, and then his two brothers, who would come in for free coffee.

In talking to them, I discovered we had in common RPG gaming, though I hadn't had the time or opportunity to play since early High School.  After talking about it some we decided to get together to roll up some characters and give it a shot.  My girlfriend at the time had never played before but was interested, so we had 5 people: not a bad start!

We'd meet at the house and spend as much time joking and being off-topic as often as RPGing, but that's good fun too.  We started with AD&D 2nd edition (I still have those books) and after some time switched the characters and game over to the Hero system, using 'Fantasy Hero'.

To this day that party was some of the most memorable RPG characters I've ever known:

Calaban: the rather stoic, reluctant leader.  Elven ranger with dual fighting axes.
Beleran Chrystalfyre: the pompous, self-absorbed Elven Sorcerer.
Kievar: the half-elf,half-halfing master thief and trap expert who had a nervous breakdown.
Fauna: the stressed halfling fighter-thief who obsessed with guilt over any damage she inflicted.
Fenris: the halfling monk, master of throwing stars with a very open heart.
Door: the eager to please mimic.
Weedbert: the off-in-his-own-world human healer cleric who created some of the most unusual circumstances.

In the Hero system you start with a certain number of building points to buy your stats, skills and abilities.
You can get more points by 'buying' defects and disadvantages. So this is how his brain worked...

This cleric was something of a 'man of the common people',he'd put all of his points into healing... no adventuring party is going to turn that away are they?

In an urban adventure, filled with political intrigue, investigating who was behind a plot to spread a plague, then 'assembly-line' with vats of acid for the creation of enchanted skeletal soldiers out of the newly deceased, and the organized crime syndicate funding the project...

But Weedbert was off on his own personal side-story, trying to heal the masses of the plague, which is what you might expect from a devoted high level healer in the middle of a plague.

(Even plague doctors need a break now and then)

The characters had become pretty high level at this point, and this healer, the only one who seemed to have the ability to cure someone of the plague soon became something of a Messiah figure!  For this city, hundreds dying daily, rumors of the dead walking the streets at night, killing people while a war raged right beyond their land, the commoners believed it was the end of the world... but they had a savior!

In short order there was a new messiah-cult!
This cleric was followed by crowds of thousands wherever he went, completely devoted to him.

Nice guy right?

Welll.....

Turns out he'd used the disadvantage system to create his own mechanic whereby humans who were in his presence became increasingly subjected to the chance of contracting a fatal illness.  This would give the cleric energy points which he could then use to fuel his spells, such as *curing* the disease.

Yes, the cleric who was saving so many from certain death was in fact the source of plague itself.

The more the masses followed him, the more became sick, creating more healing power which he'd then use, triggering his disadvantage creating more plague.

If there's a more apt metaphor for much of the history of religion, I don't know it.

And then there was the time in the city riots when he was sure if he cut the bridges to the island in the river he could sail the island downstream to assault the merchant district...
Umm... well, he was often high so that might explain that.

He also made a pretty convincing Sewer Urchin!

(has to be a better picture somewhere, but I can't find it)

You know, the best thing about gaming is that it gets people together. 

It's a fun excuse: You build something, you enjoy the company, you create some memories.  

That's about all we leave behind, but it's something. 

Little Lizard for Eucalyptus Bowl 2013

A quick update for a Blood Bowl tournament I wish I could go to, The Eucalyptus Bowl.

The amount of cool stuff they have for this event is amazing.  From custom playing pitches, to scoreboards to the frill neck lizard 2013 special miniature.

I was quite lucky to be given a couple of the special miniatures before the event, and painted one and shipped him off to Australia, hoping the post gets him there in time, where he'll be a prize of some sort.

If I was wealthy I'd certainly have loved to have hand delivered it, and play in the event.
Well, maybe start saving and try for next year?

Here is the miniature:

I decided to interpret the dagger as made from a large reptile's tooth, rather than a metal dagger, but it could be done either way.

The Miniature actually comes with 4 different choices for the head, and 4 different arm choices!

The organizer requested that I use this head & arm, making him a nice choice to represent the Lizardman Team star 'Hemlock' who has the ability 'stab'.

Here are some other possible combinations:
  

I just fell in love with this little lizard, he's just so cute!
It's hard to pick my favorite head & arm combination.
My copy will undoubtedly make his way as a skink star to the Skink Stunty team I'm making.

I hope everyone who is lucky enough to attend the Euc Bowl will have fun, and I'm very envious of you!

So Who Was Chosen to Champion My Cause at the Chaos Cup?

If you didn't notice the Poll running the last few days, it's temporarily still up, but finished, in the left corner.

I had to decide, something I'm generally poor at, what team to take to the Chaos Cup Blood Bowl Tournament this year.

The Poll showed a tie for first between the Beastmen & the Voodoo Gators, with Nurglings not too far behind, and the chaos demons trailing behind.  I was surprised about the demons, I'd have thought they'd be more popular- lots of converting potential there.

So what team will it be?

I figured I'd leave it up to all of you, but you weren't much more decisive than I was! 

But not to worry, all of those teams will be made in the future.  I'm doing the 24+ remember!?

So in the end I let the tie-breaker come down to theme. Since I'm a big fan of theme. 

The Chaos Cup seems to be dedicated to a different Chaos God each year, and this year is for Slannesh. 

If you're not familiar with the Warhammer pantheons, Slannesh is the Chaos God of pleasure & pain and I'm pretty sure is the patron saint of dominatrices.  

I've always wanted to make an all Beastmen team, in pink armor, dedicated to Slannesh of course. 

A Chaos team without any chaos warriors, just the animals: Minotaur & Beastmen, and name them:

Always loved that band, and the name just seems to fit beastmen overstimmed on sensation. 

Maybe the name doesn't fit exactly into the 'place/mascot' but psychedelic is a state of mind, it could be a realm of real estate too, why not? When someone says "oh that's so Psychedelic" maybe it is like when someone says "oh it's so French" or "it's very American". 

All this time a Psychedelic Trip was actually a destination! Who knew? 

That might explain those William Shatner Priceline ads. 

So that is that!  The Psychedelic Furs will play in the tournament dedicated to their patron god, goddess, hermaphroditic deity.. something. 

I already had the team made, but the painting will be a slow back-burner project, at least until the September deadline starts getting close! 

But I'll drop a couple players every so often to introduce them to you. 

I've decided to let Chaos reign, and take just 2 re-Rolls! so I can have 13 players.  

The Team may be named 'Psychedelic Furs' but the team members have names inspired from various 80's New Wave bands.  I know which ones some of them are already, others will get their names as I figure it out, though the roster is submitted so players, skills & player names are set in stone. 

Here are two Beastmen. "Squeeze" on the left, and "Echo" on the right. 

Since I have 12 Beastmen, and there are only 8 poses I knew I'd be converting some, and what better conversion for Chaos than mutations? 

So I have 2 with tentacles, 2 with claws, one with an extra arm, and one with a scorpion tail. 

More team members to show in the future!

In the meantime, an hour and a half of some great music to get you through Monday, or whatever day you found this on. 

Enjoy!