Saying Goodbye

I was thinking today, as often happens, about one of the more melancholy aspects of running a commission studio: saying goodbye.  My fiancee often teases me when I'm done with a commission project: she'll ask 'did you say goodbye?' Because it is true, for me at least, I get attached when I spend many hours on a project, putting creative energy into it, making something unique, something that I don't already have in my own collection, and when it is finally finished looking at it thinking 'I like this.  It'd be nice to game with this."

But it is not be.  It must be packed in a case, or individual bubble wrap and sent out to someone eagerly waiting for it. Sometimes as close as my own state but often much farther.  The current ones are being sent across the country and others have gone as far as Denmark, Israel, Australia, Brazil... (come on Africa, you are the last continent holding out on me).  And the minis go out, and I wonder what is in store for them.
What locations & events they may be used in, events I may never have opportunity to play in, face opponents I will never meet.   Knowing that people they head out to will enjoy and appreciate them is the best bit about it.

It's a good and interesting wondering.  I studied some archaeology, and it was always interesting to find some items in the ground, and realize they were stone tools that must have come from across the mountains they were found in because of the type of stone, and I wonder what a globe would look like, with dots wherever minis might be that I have painted.

So goodbye most recent finished minis.  

Old West: All in a Day's Work for Bandidos: Battle Reports pt.I

The Bandidos of El Rojo had their 3rd night out last night, and this time there was a photographer on hand for the Creekbed Gazette.

The Morning (Game 1) started out like a typical daily grind for the Bandidos: Wake up, have some tequilla, grab your sombrero and head into town to rob the local bank. It was going well, they had 3 sacks of gold and most of the gang was already out of doors ready to head back to the pueblo.. until they saw that down both ends of the street were men from a Lawman's posse, aimin' ta stop them.


The bandidos start within 3" of the bank door, inside or out.  the two Vaqueros had to begin dismounted. The Sheriff seemed to know which way the Bandidos must head out of town, so he and his top men were at the south end of the street, but were immediately accosted by the CCCC: Concerned Christian Citizens of Creekbed who wanted to know what was going on and just what the sheriff intended to do about it.
The deputy was shy around the ladies.

The bandidos used their peasants to try to block sight on what was going on, but the men of the law were havin none of it. (The Vaquero conversions are not done, so a couple visiting Quar cavalry helped the Mexicans in their wealth redistribution program)

Some of the Bandits remained inside to keep the bank workers quiet and try to get some shots out the windows.

Rosarita, a real crack shot takes out a deputy who had tried to circle around them.  Moving past the citizens, the lawmen opened fire: again and again aiming for Rosarita.  These men may wear a badge, but they certainly are not chivalrous. They continue firing until Rosarita is brought down.

Fearful of scatterguns, El Rojo's men spread out, sending the peons in before them. A vaquero lassos the sheriff and he's surrounded. Duos guards their rear from the approaching posse men.

The other vaquero makes a break for it, while the sheriff is tied up, El Rojo himself trusts as little as possible, so carries a sack as well. The third sack of gold is carried by Feliz, a man with a fierce reputation that even the lawmen are hesitant to draw notice from.

The Sheriff was taken out and the hidden bandidos in the bank opened fire on the posse trying to catch the escaping bank robbers.  Their way now cleared with little threat of being followed, the Bandidos headed for the safety of the Pueblo which El Rojo rules with an iron fist.

A peon lost his life, but he wasn't the first, nor will he be the last.  More distressing, Rosarita was given an elixir to aid her healing and seems to have done her no good. She'd be in bed with fever when the band was attacked next: sooner than they'd be expecting.

The Bandidos made a small fortune however, enough to buy two rifles, pay a local grandmother the pre-burial fee for her grandson to work for El Rojo, replacing the man who died, and as a gift to show she still was favored, an Indian Tomahawk for Rosarita, who despite her injuries seemed much stronger than before, and the heavy dangerous axe would be a deadly weapon to one with her eagle eyes.  El Rojo was discovered to have even grittier huevos than previously known, and on top of that picked himself up a boiler plate.

Before they could enjoy the fruits of their labors however, a ruthless gang of cowboys had heard about the heist and came to the pueblo fixin' to steal it for themselves.

But that's a story for another day... which will be soon, don't you fret.

A couple other encounters going on in other parts nearby:

Some Lakota Souix tangled with another gang of Mexican Bandidos.

While this sleepy pueblo was about to erupt in an armed shootout between rival ranchers.

Stay tuned for the fighting coming its way for El Rojo's Bandidos that very evening. 

Saga of the Missing Package

It's the trade-off.  It's what our ancestors probably dealt with all the time back in the days of ordering from the Sears catalog, hoping their box of iron skillets, mustache palmade & a gunny dress (whatever that might be) wouldn't get ambushed by an aggressive gang of Bison.  After too much of that, Americans slaughtered the bison and used the newly installed land duo-rail to plant cities and suburbs over every conceivable square inch and fill the gaps with mini-malls, so that people could go to neighborhood stores to buy everything without fear of packages going missing.  But Bison would have their revenge: they invented the internet, so that people wouldn't have to walk to their car to go the mini-mall across the street, but could instead order from the catalog once again.. and the aggressive bison wait in their stealth ships, ready to strike out and cause postal mayhem in revenge for the near-genocide more than a century ago.   

 

-Prehistoric warning sign that your shipment of mousterian use-flakes should come with tracking. 

Or so I learn from Wikihistri 

So I am sure this is not a new story, and many others have had similar experiences. But this one is mine. 

Last month, checking TGN in the morning, which is my daily ritual, I saw that Hydra Miniatures was having a sale.  Oooooh.. tempting.  20% off?  Smaller 'boutique' gaming companies don't do sales too often typically: understandably: they can't: the profit margin is small enough as it is.  I'd first seen pictures of their spaceships a year or more before, again on TGN, and loved the look of them, but I'd decided to wait for the class III & IV ships before deciding which fleet(s) I might want.  I'm a sucker for spaceships, and do enjoy a nicely done retro or pulp style. 

 Look at that: the definition of cool. How could I resist? 

Not to mention that they have nice paint-rack organizers, and I've outgrown my old method of organizing: more than 300 bottles of paint starts to get out of control, so I gave in and placed a large order.  

After ordering I got an email saying that unfortunately, the computerized system had given me the option of selecting a medium flat-rate priority box, but that there was no chance of it all fitting in that. They were sorry, but could either send it priority for an additional $13 or by parcel post for the same price, if I didn't mind a slower delivery of 7-10 days. Seeing how I had too much to paint to start with the ships soon anyway, I said the slower method would be fine.  He also said that a couple of the bigger flight bases were out of stock, they'd be sent later, no extra postage due, and the main shipment wouldn't be delayed. Fair deal. 

This was July 18.

In a cave somewhere some bison slowly rubbed their hooves together in malevolent anticipation.  

I waited a couple weeks, patiently.  I checked the calender, thinking, perhaps they'd just waited for the extra bases anyway, and so marking out 10 or so business days... yeah, it could still have not shown up.  

I'd just wait. 

Then on August 11 I got another email saying that the bases had been mailed.  Odd.  Does that mean the entire order just got shipped?  Or the main order had already been shipped and it was on it's way? So I asked these questions and he said he had sent the main order out weeks ago: I should have got it by now.  Luckily, he'd got tracking for it.  Tracking showed it had gone to my region's hub city, then to my city, been marked 'insufficient address' and returned to the hub where it was marked as "expect delivery by July 30." 

Uh-oh.  

So where was it?  He, being Matt, of Hydra Miniatures, contacted the post office and they told him it was likely on its way back to him. But when I called the post office I was told it had gone back to my city! I went to the post office, the big location where packages go to die, much like an elephant graveyard, and they did some hunting. 

Result: 

....

Good news!  It was scanned in here a 2nd time. 

 --Awesome!  That means it is here in the building right?  

Well... Maybe.  

  --Maybe?  If it was scanned in, not scanned out, then it should be here right?  

Well... it is a big building...  

 --Yes. I can see it is a big building... but at least we know it IS here. Right?

Not necessarily... maybe someone didn't scan it when they sent it out for delivery.  Maybe they delivered it to the wrong address.  

  -- Maybe it was stolen?  (I'm thinking Bison.)

No, No. I'll have a manager look into it and expect a call by Monday.

....

I spent the weekend wondering what kind of scenario could explain this

But by Monday I had an email from Matt that the package had shown up returned to him!

Whoo hoo!

Matt said the package had had the shipping label ripped off in transit (again: Bisons) which explains the 'insufficient address' at my local post office.  He'd repackage it and send it out priority, and today it arrived safe & sound.

When ordering from a company for the first time, you never know what it is going to be like. Will they respond quickly and with concern to any problem that arises? Or will your emails go unanswered and ignored (I'm still waiting for a reply from one, from 5 months ago.  Not naming names, but I doubt I'll be ordering from that company again).  Happy to say that this is one time where I couldn't be happier.

Matt did everything he could and kept me informed.   I'll be ordering from him again without reservations.

Internet Shopper: 1,  Bison: 0

Blood Bowl WIP: different style for dark elves

Been working on a dark elf team for awhile: it's been slow but fun.  Perhaps different than the majority of dark elf teams: instead of dark & sinister, black & purple, (though nothing wrong with that: pretty partial to it actually) these have gone for a more bright uniform choice, inspired by a certain super-villain... which the coach is emulating. The next team up should be just as fun, and a completely different visual feel than this one, so I've been enjoying the variety.

The client built the team, so all conversion credits go to him there and I converted the cheerleader & coach skyboard riders, as well as the tokens which you can't quite see in these pictures. The team is almost done now, and like so many I'm looking at it thinking "wow I'd like to keep these" and " I bet I could do this color scheme with a different team..." and the mind starts spinning off..

A couple quick workbench shots from last week:

BLA: Battle Report: test driving the monkeys

Last night we tested out the modifications we've been working on of the 'Chaos in Cairo/Carpathia' rules for a way to play early years Weird World War II... I've been thinking of it as 'Chaos in Crimea' since we were thinking of an Eastern European theater for the start of the setting.

We weren't worried about having equal or balanced forces as much as seeing how the points values felt for a variety of unit types when all mixed together and seeing how the activation system and force organization would work.

This would be a training wargames between the British MI13 commandos and the newly arrived force from the Belgian Congo.

The British consisted of the superhero Union Jack, Seamus the Irish Druid, a veteran rifle squad, an anti-tank commando unit and a walker boiler suit.  The Druid has a few magical abilities, including being able to spot at long distance rather than only within 8" and ability to summon a variety of creatures to aid him: a strong force to be reckoned with.


The Belgians had a larger force: Professor Poireau, an officer with leadership and mind skills & his assistant Beatrix, the military authority character Octavian the chimpanzee, Agrippa the Gorilla character and 3 lesser Gorilla characters, a unit of riflemen and a unit of recruits: monkey soldiers.  Recruits are less skilled than standard troops, and I modified their profile from human recruits: gave them sharp senses and higher agility, but lowered their strength and damage resistance: hard to hit, but when shot fall pretty easily.  The Gorillas were adapted from Werewolf rules, removing vulnerability to silver as well as the benefits from the moon.
The Belgian walker model is quite a bit bigger, but the stats were identical to the British walker.

The Belgians outnumbered the Brits and out-powered them a bit, so we decided on a scenario where the British were hiding in the woods, a few blind markers indicating possible locations: some would be real, some would be decoys, and the Belgians set up about 20" away from the closest, none in hiding.

For activations we each had 4 cards per turn, plus an extra card since we both had a character with the 'Leader' skill.  So while the Brits could activate each unit individually on its own card, if the Belgians wanted to move everything each turn they had to brigade-up a couple selections that were in range of each other under a character and activate together.

Unsurprisingly, the British remained hidden in the first turn, holding actions, taking advantage of their hidden positions. The Monkeys are the first to move forward, having no problem moving through the woods as all simians have the skill pathfinder: no penalties for moving through woods.

The Gorillas will follow after, though the monkeys failed to spot what might or might not be hidden in front of them.

Meanwhile the Belgian rifles get attacked by a creature made of smoke! i think it looked something like this:

But the Belgians were not afraid and knew how to take cover from dangers in the jungle.

The gorillas outpaced the monkeys and went to flush out the enemy, finding only a decoy: helmets on sticks, and fish & chip wrappers littered about.

The Greystoke walker moved forward and the enemy walker shrugged off some camouflaging branches and opened fire: if it wasn't for a reroll on the damage resistance dice the Greystoke would have gone down to the first volley!

Hearing the shots, Agrippa and his apes leaped to the branches and dropped down on the walker,tearing open hatches and ripping panels from it: their first attack didn't destroy it, but it didn't have much left to sustain itself.  Meanwhile, Union Jack sees this and prepares a counter attack.

The Smoke Monster came back for a second attack on the Belgian lads, and while it didn't do any damage, it was certainly holding up their progress.  Glad it hasn't learned this trick:


The Gorillas make some smoke of their own as they finish off the British walker:

Only the 3 Mountain Gorillas were involved in this, Agrippa stayed out of this, so he could activate on a different card on his own...

Agrippa's attention was elsewhere...

Before Union Jack could act Agrippa launched himself at the man in tights. They proved evenly matched: First Agrippa attacked, having the benefits of charging, but Jack's damage resistance proved up to the challenge.  He then attacked back on his own activation, but couldn't damage the Great Ape either. They were both different in design, but with similar results when pitted against each other: Jack didn't have quite as many dice in an attack, but Agrippa didn't have much defense: no combat evade: it just isn't in Gorilla nature to bob & weave. But the Gorilla had a great deal of resistance. In reverse, it was harder for Agrippa to land a blow with enough to get the extra damage dice because of Jack's greater combat defending skill, which was good for Jack because his resistance was a little less.  They each attacked each other 2 times with no effect.

Meanwhile two others challenged each other: with the troops fighting smoke monsters, and later living trees, Octavian moved forward to flush out the Druid. But Seamus interrupted him and used his most powerful attack yet: lightning!

Yes, there was much references to 'Shock the Monkey'.. including a pause as we heard the origin of this expression. All I can say is, if that is true, then wow Australia.. you are wrong.. just so very wrong. ;)

The lightning hit Octavian hard and did 3 damage to him, which was all the vitality he had. Since he is a character though, and it didn't exceed his vitality, he was permitted a knock out resist roll: which he passed! Phew!  However, that meant the next damage he took would take him out of action, no save possible.

So he charged the Druid:

Octavian's attack succeeded and exceeded the Druid's vitality, so Seamus was removed.  -Some shockingly bad dice rolling on his damage resistance roll. '


By now, the Gorilla pack came to Agrippa's aid.. encircling him.. things look bad for the Hero of Britain!

While big stars make the newsreels, it's the grunt soldiers who are the unsung heroes.

The Monkeys advanced, but the British commandos were ready for them, interrupted, made their spot check and opened fire: Monkeys are small and had cover and used their monkey paws to roll some good dice: no hits. Can easily see the advantage of starting in cover hidden though!

The monkeys returned fire and the unlucky dice returned for the Brits: 9 wounds.  The veteran squad was taken out in total.  The Gorillas finally got a point of damage onto Union Jack, but that looked like it'd be a long fight.  Seeing that the majority of British forces were out of action, Jack called for a retreat and the exercise was drawn to a close.

What we learned: At first it seemed the Gorillas were too powerful in combat with a vehicle, but when considering their points were about 50% more than the vehicle and it took 2 turns to destroy it, it seems about right.  Besides which, the terrain favored them, but that won't always be the case.  Also, in 'superhero vrs superhero' combat, these guys are so sturdy with so much fate they might beat on each other for days with little effect... but then, that is what you'd expect isn't it? The supers duel which then frees up the armies to get on with their job. The trick is positioning to be able to use them to some effect before you must commit them to tying up the enemy super-something.  The Druid was a very powerful utility knife yet vulnerable personally, so he seems balanced.

I special ordered the Dust Tactics gorillas from the store we play at, and picked them up that night.
I was surprised, but pleasantly. The miniatures are a good deal smaller than I expected.  I had only seen pictures of the box art, and had assumed the bases were 40mm and so the Gorillas would be very large. The bases are closer to 30mm, which puts them a bit smaller than AT-43 Karmans, and a nice size compared to an average 28mm human.  I'll probably post up some comparison pictures of them and a review of them since I'm liking them quite a bit.  I'm looking forward to painting them.  Agrippa is a Karman character I repainted for fun & a contest a couple years ago.  I'm very pleased with it, so I don't think I'll be rebasing him.  For his basing, perhaps he's breaking into a Nazi secret lab!

Hope you enjoyed the report.  Cue music and roll credits:

BLA: Uplifted Monkeys of the Congo

In the Belgian Congo, Professor Poireau has had to shift gears to be ready for the missions into Europe.
With intelligence comparable to man, and the natural stealth and dexterity of monkeys, these non-human soldiers should prove to be a formidable force.  Armed with new, specially designed weapons to be lighter in weight, these monkeys are ready to do what they can.


Monkey soldiers!

Deadly aim with a grenade... flinging unsavory items comes naturally to them!

Monkey Panzerfaust .. affectionately known as banana blasters.
(a couple of them arrived with broken rpg's, but since there is only one pose, and it was only two I didn't bother asking Eureka for more or converting them to fix. It's fine)

Light machine gun teams. Too heavy to be carried by one alone.

Communication officers on the new device created by Professor Poireau, the Radiograph.
Despite their intelligence, human speech is still limited for monkeys, and while they can communicate with each other with verbal ease and understand human speech, the most effective long range communication to humans is done in writing.

Octavian leads the simian commandos into battle!

More to come.  In the meantime, enjoy the music!

BLA: Professor Poireau

The driving force behind the Belgian Liberation Army is Professor Maximilian Poireau. 

Maximilian Poireau was born in 1880 in Brussels, Belgium.  

His Father, Philippe Poireau, a French-speaker and clock-maker, and mother, Denys Poireau, a Flemmish woman, raised their only son in a comfortable home and provided the boy with as good of an education as they could provide, seeing how even from a young age he proved to be remarkably clever.  

In 1897 Maximilian left for America and settled in New York City.  It is here he saw a demonstration of a radio-controlled boat, in Madison Square Gardens by Nikola Tesla.  He resolved to work for the man and learn everything he could. Tesla soon relocated to Colorado, to establish a lab for even more esoteric research .  Maximilian, due to his tenacity and willingness to work for room & board was brought on as an assistant.  In the short year of the Colorado Springs laboratory, Maximilian learned a great deal.  

He saw the potential for unfettered energy transmission and its application for devices to better mankind. 

He also had the good fortune of meeting the author, Mark Twain, a friend of Tesla's.  Perhaps here more than anywhere else lay the seeds of change for Poireau, when over a cigar Twain remarked on Maximilian's theorizing of machines and their great potential, "Undoubtedly man can change anything he wishes, except himself."  Not knowing what to make of this at first, Maximilian remained silent, but it is an idea he would revisit many times in the coming decades. 

When Colorado Springs shut down in 1900, Maximilian traveled around America, working as an engineer, designer and minor inventor.  When the Great War broke out he returned to Belgium and worked as a military engineer.  Seeing devastation close up he wondered about Twain's remark again, and vowed to find a way to change mankind. At the close of the war he entered the University of Leuven, but as so much had been damaged in the war, he soon transferred to Paris where he studied biology.   

Becoming increasingly frustrated with the preconceptions of the professors, Poireau left for the Belgian Congo in 1923.  With his parents now dead, he sold his family home and the shop, took what loans he could and created a laboratory in the Congo, studying monkeys and apes.  His theory was that by selective breeding and exposure to X-rays he could elevate the lower primate species. If he could master this, then it only followed that the same could be done for humanity.  Mankind's race to technological perfection had only lead to more destructive weapons. He had seen this first hand.  Technology did not improve life: it only allowed man to be more powerful, more of what he is: flawed.  Mark twain was correct, but Poireau set about changing that. 

Over the next 15 years Poireau has got very close to succeeding.  But he has been racing against the rest of humanity bent on ever greater destruction. A new war is rising in Europe, one with ever greater machines of destruction, and in dark chambers, far more foul pursuits both technological and arcane.  The grim reality must be faced: perhaps in another five years, ten? Perhaps if he had more time.  But the time is out. If he does not come to the aid of Europe, the destruction and shadow that is released will leave nothing for him to save.  

With meager resources at his disposal, and with the aid of his assistants, the uplifted chimpanzee Octavian, and gorilla Agrippa, he begins modifying and training monkey soldiers and gorilla shock troupers.  

An alliance of Man, Ape and Monkey to save Europe, and save the world, for all of our species. 

I've done a minor conversion on the Warmachine Cygnar Neemo, to give him a Tesla-inspired rifle. 

Kept the paint job simple to make it fit in better with the more modern looking Belgian soldiers,

but it is Weird WWII after all, so a bit of strange devices is a good thing.  

Here is the professor with his assistant Octavian and field researcher Beatrix. 

Up Next: The Monkeys!