res nova

A "new thing" indeed! Not only is this the start of a new type of game for me to play (Roman gladiators), but it is literally a new game... this is the first public playtest for Furt on the LAF's new game, Blood on the Sands. A while back I picked up the em4 prepainted gladiators game, but in the box they've stayed as the rules didn't grab me and I knew that Blood on the Sands was in the pipeline. Yesterday evening I re-stickered my blank dice that I'd made for Quest (now that it has been superseded by Goblinquest I had no need for them) and made a good start on chopping up tokens:

More to come soon, I hope.

Rab

Colouring in

Much to my wife's bemusement, I have settled down in front of whatever medieval documentary she has chosen over the last week or so (apart from the evening where mini-Rab #2 had to go and get his leg x-rayed after over-exuberant bubble-chasing - don't ask!) complete with painting tray. To be fair, it is quite a while since I did any and am rather in the grip of a painting frenzy. Well, frenzied by my standards: I've painted seven figures in the last ten days! This takes my annual total to.... nine.

I was going to split them between two or three posts, just to make me feel like I'm achieving some blogging as well, but that seemed a bit naff, especially as they're all for my chivalric gaming: SBH, Goblinquest and what I hope will be a workable set of house rules to play Dux Brit but with knights in shining armour and goblins.

So, to the "hastily snapped on my phone up against an impromptu background of polystyrene" pictures! First up, a couple more of the old Citadel, now Foundry Feudal knights I picked up from Meyer over on the LAF.

I was pleased with the face of the green chap and the blue and white quartering looks pretty good in the lead.

Here is a group shot of all my knights completed so far, most of which have appeared on here at some point already:

I also painted up the first four of my Curtey's Miniatures spearmen as retainers for the central knight above, the one with the yellow and blue quartering and red cadence mark:

There are four more of these to come, with mail shirts so they should paint up even quicker. I have to admit I'd already started this quartet, blocking out their gambesons and getting the bloody fiddly spears to stay on. Have a gratuitous close-up at my first attempt to do eyes using a micro pen, just to make you feel better about your own brushwork:

Joking aside, I'm pretty pleased with their faces - I can recommend Curtey's as being really nice to paint.

And then, all ready to be oppressed and witness at first hand the violence inherent in the system, my peasant. I'm actually ludicrously proud of the way he turned out, especially his face, even though it has acquired a rather peculiar orange tinge in the photo. Very odd, considering that the other colours are almost spot on with how they look in Real Life (tm)...

I love this figure. He has a great "Get orf moi laaand" look about him.

So, there you go. More recruits for my medieval-themed madness. Oh, and I also received a luvverly, heavy box of resin buildings from PMC Games, full of thatched huts, a blacksmith, a church and other stuff. They're still in their bubblewrap but will form the basis of my next post. Also in the near future, I've got involved in playtesting "Blood on the Sands", a Roman gladiator game by Furt over on the LAF which, on a first readthrough, looks excellent.

Happy geeking,
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

GoblinAid update

Our move from rented into our first owned house continues apace so I am busybusybusy keeping on top of all that, managing builders and decorators etc and working to the planned moving date of next Tuesday! Cue nervous, manic laughter....

So, with all my geeking stuff in boxes, and likely to remain in boxes for the next few weeks while we get ourselves sorted, I thought I'd give an update on Kev Adams and the GoblinAid project. The latest report on his health is that it is improving and he'll be having an operation in the next few days to rebuild his cheek bone. A mate of mine at work had the same thing a couple of years back after a studding incident at the bottom of a ruck in a rugby game and he's absolutely fine now, so I am hopeful Kev will fare the same.

While he's mending (which we all hope will be a speedy and complete process), here are some examples of his work from recent times. Greenskins all, as seems appropriate given his Goblinmaster nickname....

Aquatic-themed goblins from Four A Miniatures

Painted by Paul Sanderson

More traditional gobbos now available from Crooked Claw Miniatures

Unknown painter - sorry!

This range is expanding all the time, made up from the old Nemesis range of goblins, as well as more recent figures: archers, an onager and a chariot, with the promise of cavalry still to come. I hope the cavalry will be mounted on the wolves pulling that chariot!

Those nice people over at Renegade Miniatures are also going to be releasing some Kev Adams sculpted orcs as part of the GoblinAid fundraiser. I've been after these since I first saw them a while back

Now, when you've been sculpting as long as Kev has, you build up quite a catalogue. These are just a few of the more recent ones, but do you have a favourite not given above? Do share!

Happy geeking,
Rab

Goblin Aid

Some of you may already know that Kev "goblin master" Adams, sculptor of some of the most characterful greenskins ever to ravage a tabletop and all round nice chap (according to anyone who has met him or dealt with him directly; I haven't, sadly), was rather savagely attacked by burglars who broke into his home on the afternoon of the 20th. According to reports, he was stabbed and struck with a knuckleduster, and will require a plate in his cheek to mend it. Fortunately for him and his family he is now out of hospital, fortunately for us lead-fiends his eyes and hands were undamaged so he should be sculpting again fairly soon.

In order to show appreciation for, and sympathy towards, a man who has given so many gamers so much pleasure for so many years, There Is A Plan - Goblin Aid. Several top sculptors have agreed to sculpt a little goblin and the funds from the sale will go to Kev and family. More details can be found on this facebook page.

Geek well, geek safely,

Rab

Mistrelry of the highest order

In the real world I'm moving house in a week, writing reports for four classes of year 11 students, and the vomiting bug has struck down mini-Rab #1, so my time for the fun stuff is rather limited to say the least!

Fortunately for Goblinquest, two geek-dads in particular have been doing stirling work as Minstrels in guiding their offspring through dark places to succeed in dangerous quests. Step forward Erny and Thantsants - is it a coincidence that they are both enthusiastic Oldhammerers?

Ayway, links to their game reports:

Erny's report

Teaser picture of Erny's game

Thantsant's report

Teaser picture from Thantsant's blog

I hope you are all enjoying your gaming, geeking and parenting as much as those fine two dads!

Rab

Initial Goblinquest feedback

First off, hello to all the new readers of this blog; thaaaasands of 'em! And thank you to those of you who've mentioned Gobinquest on your own blogs, LAF, TMP, Google+, Facebook... I've had emails and even an invitation to be involved in a podcast. It's a giddy existence, this game-writing lark...

I've had some really useful feedback from a couple of folk already (thanks Erny and Bart), which led to some interesting discussion on LAF about the wisdom (or otherwise) of player-character death in a game that is meant, at least in part, to be a way of geek-parents to introduce their offspring into gaming at a young age. I'm going to have to ponder that one quite carefully. On the one hand, it's been really useful for my lad to learn to treat the two imposters of triumph and disaster just the same, on the other I don't really want to cause any 'Platoon moments', as it was put by Erny:

"Nooooo! I don't want my character to die!"

So, a quandary. On suggestion (thanks, Scurv!) was that defeated knights would be captured and have to be rescued. Another (quick thinking, Erny!) was that on successful completion of the quest, "dead" knights could be taken off to the healers and brought back to health and further questing.

I've got a longer list of mechanics questions to consider (although fixed movement distances to speed up the game has been mentioned by everyone who has given feedback, so that looks like a given), especially around character progression (I'm giving it some proper thought, Bart), but that's going to take longer, and this weekend I shall be mainly hitting people with swords at Leeds Armoury for this year's SWASH

Thanks for all your feedback so far, and I look forward to hearing from anyone else who gives it a go.

Happy geeking,
Rab

Draft quest for Goblinquest

Ok, when I said "this weekend" I had hoped to have this ready for anyone interested so you'd be able to actually use it "this weekend", so I've met the letter, if not the spirit, of my promise.

Check out the old-school blue grid!

Mild grovelling to one side, here's a sample quest similar to the sort I've been playing with my son using Goblinquest. I've kept it really simple, but feel free to make it more complex/interesting by locking doors, giving some of the goblins bows, etc. I hope you enjoy it!

The tile shapes are based on the really very marvellous printable pdf from the marvellous Billiam Babble.

Download link: Sample Quest

Happy geeking,
Rab

Goblinquest ready for playtesting!

EDIT 12/12/2015 - This game has developed into Knights' Quest.

Click here for more info.

With a young king intoxicated by the ideals of chivalry, brave knights undertake daring adventures throughout the darker places of the kingdom. Knights seek to bring glory to their king and their lady. Sharp swords and well-forged armour protect them, and solemn vows keep them dedicated to their goal. Dare you take up the challenge of such a quest?


Goblinquest is intended for 2-6 players (one of whom runs the quest which the others must attempt to complete). A bright eight-year old can probably run a quest, but an interested five year old can easily play as an adventurer. Play takes place on standard 'dungeon tiles' split into evenly sized spaces which can be occupied by one character at a time.

I did it! The draft version of Goblinquest that I've been banging on about for the last however long is now available for all you lovely people to download and play. I hope you all enjoy it. Either way, please please please give me some feedback about it, good or bad, fundamental or petty, typo or gameplay. Oh, and share it with your friends.

Download links:
Draft rulebook
Draft quest
Character cards

I hope to get a sample quest uploaded over the weekend. Until then, happy geeking (and play my game!)

Rab

EDIT - download links updated 06/05/2014

Painty fun time

With apologies to Carmen for borrowing his blog's name as the title for this post, I took the next step in indoctrinating my boys into the Way of the Geek this afternoon while Mrs Rab was at the cinema with one of her friends. I rootled out the box of prepped plastic LotR miniatures I'd put by for just such a moment, dragged out my toolbox of paints and gave him a basic rundown of what to do along with some cheap no.3-size synthetic brushes I'd bought yesterday.

#2 son lost concentration pretty quickly, but as for #1 son, well, to say he got into it would be an understatement...

Don't distract me Daddy, I'm just putting the "top lights" on the flesh.

And, while it wouldn't exactly win a Golden Demon, he sat and finished his first miniature in one sitting, proudly refusing any help. He didn't wreck the brush, and he did a three-step base-main-highlight on the purple, the wood and the flesh, as well as black-inking the armour. His first thought had been to use 'some different types of grey to make the armour look real', but as I can't NMM to save my life I gave him metallics. Anyway, about an hour later,here you go - a bowman to support his knight in their next quest:

Do forgive my excessive parental pride - normal, self-centred, shoddy service will be resumed shortly!

Thanks for reading,
Rab