Karr-Keel zombie update

Here are those zombies freshly cast in lovely metal. You know you want to buy some, both for yourself, but also so that enough are ordered that it is 11 or 12 in a set, not "just" ten.

Those contact details are either in my last post, or directly at this facebook link.

The zombies of Karr-Keel

There's this American chap (let's call him Brian, because that's his name) who turned forty at the start of this year. Aside from general, broad-spectrum satisfaction that a, by all accounts, decent fellow had reached that particular milestone, we fantasy gamers should be especially celebratory. Why? Because instead of a dodgy haircut and a motorbike he chose, as his present, to commission a set of zombies by Kev Adams and is now making them available for sale to the rest of us. Nice!

Here they are:

And then a couple of close-ups:

Table Titans comic and kickstarter

Readers of this blog will not have failed to notice that I've discovered a new/old gaming love - fantasy roleplaying in a D&D early edition style. The nostalgia element is not really a surprise as I like my WFB in 2nd or 3rd ed. flavours, and my miniatures to be about as old as I am.

Thanks to a problem with my addblocker plug-in I got a "recommended post" on FB the other day for Table Titans, a D&D webcomic that is having a kickstarter for a rather swanky dead-tree version (Must. Resist.). I've never been so glad to get an advert in my life. Seriously, go read it, it's free and it's great. It really feels like you're at the gaming table. I love it. Click on the picture below to visit them.

Or go and check out their kickstarter:

Enjoy,

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!

Stuff from the interwebz #8 - Warmonger miniatures

Aaaaaaaand.... it's live!

I've got a bad feeling about this...

The bad feeling? Not that there'll be another set of abominations like Episodes 1 to 3, because this looks absolutely, hysteria-inducingly, excellent. No, the "bad feeling" is like every penny in my wallet suddenly cried out in terror, and were suddenly silenced.

You see, as well as focussing my oldhammering on a few specific models (Got a C31 hill troll spare? Send it my way, there's a good fellow!) to round out warbands I've accrued the lead for already, I've been captured by the idea of the Star Wars: X-Wing game and will hopefully be getting it for my birthday in a few weeks time.

Tokens! Dice! Pre-painted ships! Star Wars!

Like a GW boxed set, however, there's only so much you can do with the included models (an x-wing and two ties) and I've been pricing up gaming mats, more fighters, the Falcon (of course - duh!), and possibly a larger ship or two. I blame two things for my fall into a new game, aside from that trailer above. First, my dad took me to see the whole trilogy as my first cinema trip, aged about five. Second, the amazing LucasArts fighter sims for the pc, X-Wing and Tie Fighter. What chance did I have in overcoming the Jedi mind tricks after that?

May the force be with you,
Rab

Stuff from the interwebz #7 - bood wargames

Every now and again, a crowdfunder comes along when I think "wow!" - but usually my inner Scrooge steps in and stops me from indulging. Or I catch sight of the, by my standards, large pile of unpainted lead in my basement and the cold hand of restraint firmly clutches the purse-strings closed. Fantasy cavalry tends to overcome both these purchasing blocks. There was the Crooked Claw indiegogo for their wolf riders, and now there are dwarfs on ponies from Bood Wargames (no, I'd never heard of them before either!).

Photo taken from their website

Stuff from the interwebz #6 - Ewal Dwergar

Some of you that read this blog will already be aware of the self-professed Pickford-o-holic, Clam. He's been working with sculptor John Pickford to commission a truly great set of oldhammer-esque chaos dwarfs (the Ewal Dwegar) over the last couple of years - here is a unit of them, beautifully painted (as ever) by Blue in VT:

What sculpts! What smooth brushwork! What fun!

Stuff from the interwebz #5 - CP Models

One of the more interesting, and frankly unexpected, outcomes from the resurgence of interest in scenario-based fantasy and sci-fi gaming with an 80s aesthetic (i.e. Oldhammer) is that not only are old molds having the dust knocked off them but new models in a sympathetic style are being sculpted.

The latest lot to catch my eye are these horrible little gribblies from CP Models:

New spacelords sighted

That lovely man, Doug, from em4 miniatures has been slaving away over hot moulds to return the sadly departed Spacelords range into active service. Well, there is actual lead you can buy from him now. This needs to be done directly by email, rather than through the website (enquiries AT em4miniatures DOT com).

As an appetizer, here are some ship's crew:

Spacelords

Several of you, dear readers, may be well aware of the (mostly) excellent line of miniatures that formed the Metal Magic Spacelords line. Some of them have been available, quietly, from em4 miniatures for quite a while. Indeed, it's where my brilliant Phagon beastmen came from not too many weeks back. Doug at em4 is a good chap to trade with, by the way, so give him all the custom you can... not least because he's gradually bringing back the rest of the line! Woo-hoo!

There's a pretty lively and enthusiastic thread running over on the LAF where Doug is taking votes on the next codes to reintroduce. Vote for your favourites to get them made again! I'm particularly hopeful that some of the S.E.C.S. troopers make it back into the lead as they may be just the ticket to solve my RT imperial guard conundrum...

I'll play you out with some of the fabulous pictures that Viruz from the Metal Magic Forum has kindly made available from the collection of images that he and others have painstakingly built up over the years. If you want higher resolution pictures, you'll just need to join that forum as well!

Aliens

Nope, not Giger face-hugger types or their imitators *cough*genestealers*cough*, but some new and shiny sculpts cast before us all as an Indiegogo project. These are from the talented putty-pushing fingers of Pierre-Francois Jacquet ("PF" online) who has been whipping up a delightfully motley band of non-humans in moderate carapace armour and blasters. It's almost as if he set out to produce a Rogue Trader pirate band...

It's almost enough to tip me over into sci-fi, along with the fun that is obviously being had by other Oldhammerers when they swap their shields and hand weapons for bolters and lasguns (Erny and Whiskey Priest, I'm looking at you!).

Pictures:

They're multi-part with two alternate heads per model for maximum flexibility

Indiegogo link:

Blog link:

http://15mmspaceopera.blogspot.fr/search/label/New%20federation%20project

New year, new toys?

Happy new year, one and all!

I hope you've had a healthier Christmas than poor muggins here. Nothing properly serious (thank God!), but some viral thingummy that has reduced me to dabbing ineffectually at the rivers of snot because I daren't blow my nose in case I get another fifteen minute coughing fit. Shitty, but not long term and not serious. As someone who is generally in robust health, it's come as a bit of a shock and knocked me a bit off kilter. No painting, no gaming, just being short-tempered with my nearest and dearest. I have not been jolly!

Anyway, whingeing over - show us the lead! There are two temptations for the post-festive wallet that caught my eye over the last couple of days, both eminently suitable for oldhammer-style gaming. First, the old Asgard barbarians are back in production through Alternative Armies, and at a tasty 20% discount until 7th January.

Click >here< to go to their blog/store for more details and a nicely painted sample or two. These sculpts rampaged across many a tabletop back in the 80s and look like they'd make luvverly chaos thugs.

The other is an Indigogo campaign being run by Michael Schlossarczyk from Crooked Claw miniatures; new Kev Adams sculpts of vicious smirking goblins and their warmachines. It only needs fifteen quid more to reach its goal, so why not help a brother out? I'm going to wait for the last Christmas bill to come through, then I'll probably go in for the wolf-rider pack at £25. Nice!

Indiegogo campaign link

Happy new year once again,
Rab

Purple kniggit

Wotcha, chaps!

It turns out that moving house, laying two floors (cellar and loft), building cupboards and shelves and stuff takes quite a while, which is why it's been so dreadfully quiet on the blogging front for the last couple of months. Fear not loyal readers, for I have been spending money on geeking to make up for having all  my stuff in boxes and inaccessible.

First, I backed the Itar's Workshop kickstarter at the Basic Dungeon set which gives me a whacking 70-odd bits of resin dungeon for $65 delivered to the UK. Now I'm just dithering over whether to extend my pledge to get more corridors, treasure chests etc. They should ship in October this year. Expect 2nd edition Goblinquest to be in 3d!

This is the "before the stretch goals" set - I'll be getting twice as many pieces but in unpainted grey resin

I also got carried away looking at the pre-painted resin thatched buildings from pmc games on ebay and bought a whole village worth, including blacksmith, church and peel tower. I shall use them for Song of Blades and Heroes as well as for the tinkering I'm doing with Two Fat Lardies' Dux Brittaniarum to turn it into a mythical high-medieval ruleset (knights and peasants in the main, but dealing with goblins and other nasties from the Arthurian myths). Yes, this will allow me to use my SBH/Goblinquest figures again. Nifty, eh?

As my first miniature at my newly established painting desk (in the cellar, of course, away from all the civilised parts of the house that visitors might see...), I've slapped some paint on this chappy below. He's an old Citadel Feudal miniature, now back in production again via Wargames Foundry, but this particular figure (and the other half dozen I picked up from Heyer on the Lead Adventure Forum) dates back to the 80s. Fun to paint, even if the GW purple wash I used to blend in his surcoat has given it a rather visceral glossiness. I might go back and neaten up the star on his shield if I get time, but given my slow progress generally (only my second figure this year), I don't see that happening any time soon.

He has the usual hex-base that I'm partial to, but this time cut from 3mm mdf using the laser-cutter I have occasional access to. I've also cut some slightly larger hexagonal sections, but that's for another post.

Look at me! I've got a poorly painted freehand shield!

It's good to be back in the saddle, painting and posting again.

Happy geeking,
Rab

Sponsor a dungeoneer, guv?

Well, it seems like people power is the new black, especially in the form of crowdfunded projects. I considered the Reaper kickstarter, had my mouse over the contribute button for the Fractured Dimensions orcs kickstarter that I posted about a couple of weeks back... but resisted. Now I've got another temptation: Otherworld miniatures, who produce some of the finest and most characterful 'old school' monsters, are finally moving onto the adventurers with an Indiegogo project. Kev Adams is evidently on a break from sculpting brilliant goblins and this is the first set of greens:

I like them. A lot. They have that grizzled professional look on their faces which hints at them being used to glorified tomb-robbing, but not having been made rich from it. There's also not a demi-god amongst them. And they're laden with kit. A little pricey, perhaps, at about £4 each, but they do appeal. Will I resist this time?

http://www.indiegogo.com/otherworldDA

Happy geeking,
Rab

Yet another kickstarter - pig faced orcs

I've been waiting for these pig-faced orcs from newish company Fractured Dimensions for ages as a potential SoBaH warband, doubling up as dungeon dwellers for my (stalled -sigh-) Quest rules, and tripling up as encounters in Swords and Wizardry. Have a mosey on over to the link and see if it takes your fancy.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/138453512/fractured-dimensions-orc-warriors

I think I'd probably take off the topmost chain from the mace off the orc on the right to give him more of a classic morningstar but, otherwise, I rather like these and the other standard sets. The death cultists I'm not so sold on but you get to choose your packs so I may still dive in.

Apart from the Otherworld ones, are there any other decent pig-faced orcs out there at the moment that you know about?

Keeeeeeeep geeking!
Rab

A yearning for oddly shaped dice

Look at these dice; aren't they lovely? Don't they whisper to you of deeds to be done, evil to be defeated, and glory to be won? Of dragons? Perhaps to be found in dungeons?



Gripped by nostalgia, I popped up into the loft to retrieve my 'red box' basic Dungeons and Dragons set . As well as some of the above dice, it also had an introductory adventure module that I got as a get-well present from my parents (thanks, Mum and Dad) when I had my tonsils out, aged about ten, complete with the pencil marks left by my younger self. I always had to be Dungeon Master because I was the eldest, it was my game, and my siblings and friends of the time "wouldn't have done it properly". I'm still a bit of a control freak today :/

Suddenly, having volubly mocked roleplayers for years as being the sorts who can't separate reality from fantasy, I want to do it all again. I want to roll up a dwarf adventurer, or human cleric and get stuck in, in true 0e style; I've even downloaded two of the apparently best retro-clones. Properly old school, I'd love to play with a DM who runs it smoothly, puts some life into it, and always leaves open the possibility of a total party kill if the players do something stupid.

So, my (online) name is Rab, and I want to roll funny-shaped dice.