Insta-what-now?

Blogging has been the thing that has continued to feel like a drag since more-or-less recovering my mojo after a slump in pretty much everything last Spring. It has felt like a chore; like something I ought to be doing and it has hung over me somewhat.

Utterly daft, considering this hobby is my escapism from real-world responsibilities!

So, I've gone down the micro-blogging route for now. Maybe that's where I'll stay, maybe I'll run them side-by-side (certainly Averaigne reports won't work anywhere but here), maybe I'll end up back solely here. We'll see.

In the meantime, if you're interested in keeping an eye on what I'm up to (including my newly added interest of gaming the English Civil War in 10mm), I can be found on Instagram as @rabsgeekly.

Maybe I'll see you there?

Lego Talisman

While I do get enthusiastic about things pretty easily (I like to think of it as a childlike sense of wonder), it's not often that I'm reduced to gibbering excitement. This is one of those times.

Just. Look. At. This!

Yes, that's a full Talisman 2nd Edition board made out of Lego!!!!

Michael Christiansen is the genius behind it and you can see all 104 photos he's posted at this album over on flickr.

A. Ma. Zing!

Arthurian illustrations

A large part of my interest in the medieval fantasy that can be found in the games I mostly play (WFB, Dragon Rampant, my Averaigne Basic Fantasy/D&D campaign, Knights' Quest and various other dungeon-crawling games) is the combination of folkloric and chivalric legends. In some ways I'm quite Victorian in my enthusiasm for chivalry and its modern incarnations of gentlemanly conduct, while recognising the sometimes restrictive gendering aspects that don't sit well with some. I'm also a big fan of the works of painters such as Burne-Jones and other pre-Raphaelites, with their medievalism. When the two combine, I'm a happy man - and I've discovered a new artist that hits the spot that I wanted to share.

Katharine Cameron, a member of the Glasgow Art School in the late 1890s, worked as a book illustrator (among other things) and for me captures that slightly naive, watercolour/stained glass effect (I'm sure there's a proper artistic term for that). What caught my eye were these illustrations she did for Mary MacGregor's 1907 Stories of King Arthur's Knights that formed part of the Told to the Children series.

3D dungeons, part 2

Following on from this post...

It turns out that Frank is not just a modelling inspiration for yours truly, but also an open-handedly generous and helpful chap. Within a few daylight hours of me emailing him to ask how much silicon he'd needed for his mammoth project, I'd had two detailed replies and plenty of good advice.

First, it turns out he needed FIFTEEN kilos of silicon just to make the moulds (Side note - mold is the American spelling, mould the British - both are used for the black gunk that grows in damp corners AND the cavity to pour plaster or resin into. Fun fact!). Fifteen! A quick scan of ebay suggested that this would come to about £250. Gulp! Add in Frank's estimate that the resin needed to fill those moulds the requisite number of times (just over 25kg), and that's another £300. Or more. And that's assuming I don't make any mistakes, which is unlikely since it would be my first casting project, and without the cost of making the original masters.

Sigh...

Dammit, Frank!

Around about this point in the year (October half term for us teachers), I start thinking about what gaming projects and ambitions I want to set for myself for next year. For painting miniatures, I've got three priorities: more progress on my Chaos project, finish the World's Edge Wyverns bloodbowl team, and crack on with all the space orks I bought over the last month (more on them over the next couple of months as well). BUT, that's not the only part of this hobby that I enjoy, I also like to write and refine rules or scenarios (I'm excited about contributing to Whiskey Priest's dark ages mythology skirmish... thing for example), and increasingly to build terrain.

So, there I was, idly browsing t'internet and pondering future projects, when Frank happened.

Corrupting the youth - or is it the other way round?

Mini-Rab #1 had just started at a new school and, as a way of getting to know the other kids, has joined almost every club going - a bit like a university fresher, but without the alcohol-fuelled excess. I hope. He is only nine!

Why is that relevant to this blog? Well, one of the clubs he's joined is run by his science teacher and seems to be a general "geek club", including lego robotics... and Warhammer 40k in its latest incarnation. Yes, despite my best efforts, he is desperate to join in as they push hordes of unpainted, badly glued lumps of expensive grey plastic around. Fortunately I had a squad of kroot in a box and his automatic assumption was that he'd paint them "at least a bit" before they saw table time to see if he likes the game. He wants to paint for about an hour each weekend until they're finished, so they're a bit more painted each week as he plays with them. Good lad! Perhaps 8th Ed will float his boat, perhaps oldhammer will keep him - as long as he's playing with his friends, and will indulge me in my oldschool gaming preferences from time to time, and having fun, who cares?

So, he sprayed...

Peg pirates

About ten days ago I was playing a new tabletop pirate game with my two sons. Each player had a small wooden ship about seven or eight inches long, with painted peg dolls representing the crew. It felt a bit like a cross between playing an episode of Captain Pugwash, a kid's game of make-believe, and X-Wing (for the movement). We had so much fun, laughing and joking, with outrageous boasting and comedy accents aplenty.

And then I woke up.

It's been a little quiet...

...around here for a while. Aside from some fairly significant developments at work (good, bad, and just time-consuming), the main reason is that I just haven't felt like doing much geeking in what spare time I've had. Why? Well, as a couple of you were kind enough to enquire, this is why.

My Dad
31/10/1952 - 06/02/2017

Random results without tables

Now, I love a random table as much as the next nerd. Whether it is a simple d6 affair to select a scenario when you want a quick pick-up game that isn't just "line up and fight", or pre-battle weather effects, or the warped and contradictory glory that is the interlinked set of tables of GW's 1988/90 Realm of Chaos warband generator:

Fantasy Warlord

About a week ago, a fellow Oldhammerer on the FB page enquired about the value of a copy of Gary Chalk and Ian Bailey's 1990 publication, Fantasy Warlord. Now, I'd been aware of this, vaguely, as being the source of some of Gary Chalk's fabulous illustrations alongside the first eight Lone Wolf books, Talisman, the Redwall books, etc, but never really looked into it.

Cue a 1p + postage purchase on Amazon, and I have a copy myself.

Planning ahead

Assuming that the fallout from the more unexpected political events of 2016 isn't actual fallout, I've made some hobby-related plans. Although last year's Geekstarter worked quite well, I'm going to go for something even simpler, if no less grand in its aspiration. My plans are...

[drum roll]

Main Goal
Complete a 3,000 point Chaos army, as per the Big Orange Book*, but with the simplified equipment points costs (and centaurs) from Warhammer Armies. I'm going to give it its own Page tab at the top.

Optional Extras
I've various other bits and pieces I'd like to get sorted as well this year and will turn to when I want a break from my Main Goal.

• finish my orc Blood Bowl team
• add "water" to my terrain board dry rivers
• trees for the terrain boards
• finish the retinues for my medieval reskin of Space Hulk, Catacombs
• get more gaming rules writing done, and shared

And that's it! I'm going to assist in maintaining my focus by also undertaking a Pledge

Pledge
Not to buy any new miniatures for myself. Ok, I'll allow myself a couple of exceptions: bargains, if they won't be available again, or if I've sold a similar number already. Ideally, I'll end the year with no more miniatures than I started it.

There you go. That's it. Do you have plans? Feel free to share them in the comments below.

Happy new year,
Rab



* i.e. the 3rd Edition Warhammer Fantasy Battle rulebook

Mid-Deadcember

So, we're about halfway through the annual painting event that, by way of a slightly laboured pun, celebrates the bony and the bloody, the revenant-king and the mindless minion alike.

This year I suggested the theme of "the quick and the dead" and, while not everyone has stuck to the theme, some of the painters have been quick off the mark and finished their entries already. Here's a round up of what we have so far.

From the Oldhammer Community Facebook group:

1) Alexander Ainsworth
From HeroQuest zombie to pirate skeleton; what's not to love?

A generous man

Today I received a box sent to me by what many outside the online geekery circles would call a stranger. There is a better word from the Winnie the Pooh tales, however, and that is an unmet friend.

Here is the box:

What is in the box? Well, in local lad John Bunyan's allegorical tale, A Pilgrim's Progress, the hero Christian asks for a box of truth at Vanity Fair; there wasn't one to be had. This isn't a box of truth either, but it is a box of generosity. Look!

A softback copy of Basic Fantasy Roleplaying for each of my school gaming group, a bestiary, and three adventure/sourcebooks. There's even a hardback of the rules still in the post for yours truly. And all this as an unsolicited gift from a man on the other side of a lot of water who I doubt I'll ever meet in person. Extraordinary.

He has asked to stay anonymous, and I shall respect his wish, but wanted to support the promotion of gaming with youngsters and isn't in a position to do so himself (I often forget that for those outside education, mingling semi-informally with teenagers is pretty rare and the desire to do so is often considered suspect) having been supported in his own geekery by a teacher when he was a boy.

After the political turmoil of the last couple of months all across the globe, my faith in the general goodness of others was in serious need of a boost. This has given me that boost; I doff my cap to you, sir. Thank you.

Rab

Pre-game prepping

As well as needing to get set for Friday's game session, a poll and subsequent discussion on the Swords and Wizardry G+ community about how DMs treat time (specifically combat rounds vs. ordinary turns) got me thinking and sent me scurrying to my books. Turns out I've acquired quite a few, mostly in charity shops, but my trusty old Mentzer "Red Box" is there, along with dice and character sheets from over twenty-five years ago. Between then and last Autumn I hadn't roleplayed at all, but I'm making up for it now. "Participating" in medium-low medieval fantasy is great and my current novel (Robin Hobb's "Royal Assassin" from her Farseer trilogy) is also tickling that spot nicely.

What do you turn to for inspiration when preparing your games, whether they are miniatures-based scenarios or rpg sessions?

Now where did I put my copy of Pendragon....?
Rab

Squirrel!

So, there I was, searching for the best product to fill my rivers with (pictures of the first flocking tomorrow, I reckon), when

Squirrel!

Terrain boards - 02

Hills. Rolling countryside. A realistic landscape over which medieval, fantastical, and futuristic antagonists can pursue their goals. That's what I'm after, anyway. I'm learning that it's just as tricky as one might expect from the preponderance of flat green battlefields that dominate gaming events and internet photographs!

Nevertheless, it was to the internet that I turned once again to help me de-flatten my terrain boards. In particular I referenced three fabulous projects, two of them by the same person:

1 - Captain Blood's French & Indian War board
Anyone who has even accidentally stumbled across the Lead Adventure Forum will be aware of this hobby giant. Not only does he imbue, among others, his War of the Roses miniatures with an almost luminous quality of colour (they've appeared in at least one print magazine as well), but he also produces fabulous and realistic terrain boards.

The full build log can be found here: LAF link

Blue and white dwarf

After yesterday's sad news about Wayne England, there was only one choice I could make for last night's hobby time - my first dwarf (one of the Imperial dwarfs by the Perry brothers), in the classic blue and white combination that Wayne popularised.

Still a WIP and snapped on my phone, but my own little tribute to a man whose artwork has given me so much inspiration over the years.

I can see me getting into painting dwarfs of this era. I have a few, but....

Rab

The Mysterious Cities of Ulysses 31 the Barbarian

To misquote Gaj's Warhammer for Adults blog's strapline, do you remember when cartoons were inspiring fiction and not just extended adverts for toys?

I do, and they looked like this:

Ulysses 31

(plenty of RT inspiration)

Mysterious Cities of Gold

(for planning expeditions to Lustria)

Thundarr the Barbarian
(Realms of chaos? Skirmishes on low tech worlds for RT?)

I thought about analysing style, storylines, theme music, characters, international collaborations of animators... but like so much of the nostalgia-rush that is Oldhammer, I am chary of spoiling the magic by peeking behind the wizard's curtain. So I shan't! Are there any other cartoons (apart from Dogtanian, naturally) that should also be included? I nearly included the Dungeons & Dragons cartoon but my recollection is that the stories were a bit cheesy, and the characters fairly irritating. I still watched it, of course!

Otherwise, sit back and enjoy the magic. That is all,

Rab

Gaming table - part 1

Hello readers,

I'm back from my (very enjoyable) family holidays, caught up on the excellent post-BOYL reports and pictures, overcome the jealousy of not being able to go this year, and ready to restart the geeking!

One of the things that leapt out from the game pictures, aside from all that lovely painted lead, was the difference to the aesthetic (and thereby a large part of my enjoyment of gaming in general) that a good set of terrain makes. Here are a few examples from various blogs that I hope the owners won't mind me sharing:

One of the Foundry's more dramatically-landscaped tables 

Stuff from the interwebz #9 - shields as art

This time of year is rather full for me at work (report writing, working out the impact of new exam syllabi etc.) and in the garden (I'm rather proud of the new shed that I've built), so most of my geeking has been in short bursts and of the writing (or miniature purchasing!) variety. I'm continuing work on Knights' Quest in light of the feedback I've received from the playtesting (really positive, but with two aspects that could be even better) and am dabbling with a linked set of scenarios for GM-led narrative oldhammer skirmishes.

To get me back to the painting desk I was browsing the Lead Adventure Forum and found some lovely brushwork by a chap going by the name "Hobgoblin" who has something of a knack for shield painting as you'll see below. One of the things that has always been an intrinsic part of the old school fantasy gaming aesthetic, regardless of the vintage of the figures themselves, is the intricate freehand detail lavished on shields and banners. This is something I'm particularly keen to work on in my own painting and have been resolutely plugging away at improving the face-shields on my orcs each time I paint another.

Here are six of Hobgoblin's pieces....