Hobby Weekender 30/11 The Verge of Christmas!

[biggabum 4565xp 2]

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz Well i’m up again with the night zombie that is Matty. Actually after a day in the crowds and noise of town i’m actually enjoying the peace.

@horati0nosebl0wer I’ve actually seen the movie Krampus (and it’s low budget rip off) and know the scene you mention. So true.

Chris, the Chef, still lives with us. It’s wierd really, the lad is a fantastic cook and does some really nice variations on meals ( His Chicken Lasagne and Korma Pie are particular faves of mine and his desserts are to die for…. not good for my Diabetes though 😀 ) but the wife says its not fair on him to be cooking all week to have to cook at home for us too. Me, I say get in that kitchen slave…

The Mini’s look fantastic, really nicely done. Shame they are such a pain to put together. Not sure if this is any good to you mate, but if you’re after another Krampus and can’t get exactly what you want, Warcradle Studios, the guys who make Wild West Exodus are currently doing a couple of Christmas specials and one of them is a guy called Krampus Rex. He might need a bit of converting though.

 

Ahh this weeks questions have arrived:

1) One of the funniest things that happened during a game, and it may be one of those “you had to be there” things was just after Matty had been bought a new sweater for Christmas. It was one of thos really fluffy ones. Well we were playing a game of Warhammer Fantasy Battle and Matty had a large unit of Metal Savage Orcs Spearmen in his army. So Matty leans over the table to move a unit of Boar Riders, and when he stands up straight again his entire unit of Savage Orcs have vanished. They were hanging off the front of his jumper. Of course he didnt see this right away and it was that few moments before he realised where they were and the look on his face when he saw an empty movement tray that was just priceless….. Although watching him and his mother trying to untangle them without damaging the jumper or the Mini’s was even funnier.

2) I love me some narrative play, and fotunately all the games we play are nicely geared up for it. We did a campain for Wild West Exodus a while ago, which started with Jesse James and his Gang Robbing a bank (I only had five deputies on the table to try and stop him). The second game in the campaign involved Wyatt Earp and a small posse tracking the James Gang to their Camp and Ambushing them at night (I had to try take care of the sentries before they raised the Alarm and woke the entire camp and if I was succesfull, which I was, Matty would have to roll seperately for each guy in his posse to see if he woke up) Jesse James actually slept through the entire game. That was followed by a breakout game, where Jesse and his gang had to escape the surrounding force of Lawmen. And then we had a final Showdown where the surviving members of both Posse’s fought it out in a small town.

3) This is hard because I love all the settings of the games we play for differing reasons. Wild West Exodus because its a “What If” game. As in what if this technology existed in the Old West how would it have shaped things. With Malifaux, its a game where the line between who are the good guys and who are the bad guys is just so blurred. The game’s theoretical bad guys, The Neverborn are only defending their homelands, whilst the good guys have major flaws, the Guild is oppresive and rife with corruption and the Arcanists are Criminals and terrorists.

I’ll have to leave it there… I have been summoned

 

[mageParticipant 20596xp 1]

@biggabum <25 Gil>

 

1) Oh no! The poor orcs! Were they damanged? 5 points. Gil I mean

 

2) Did you house rule the campaign or use one in the rules? Cannot say I am too familiar with WWX. Did you use campaign or additional or house rules or did you do it like a tree campaign with scenarios being linked and depending on the one preceding it? 10 Gil.

 

3) 10 Gil, very poignant with the Malifaux piece.

[mageParticipant 20596xp 3]

 

 

[woldenspoonsParticipant 3557xp 3]

A little hobby mojo returned. I’ve made six faction starters for a walking dead map campaign I want to run. Sadly I had to leave out The Saviours as they only have Negan so far and he is far too expensive points wise. Hmm, I could do The Kingdom.

Anyhoo questions!

(1)   Tell us a wargames funny story! An old war story with some mirth, silliness, stupidity or sadness!

Once at my local games workshop there was a veteran night mini tournament. I think this was Warhammer 6th edition. Back then Dark Elves were terrible. But I loved them all the same.

In the semi final I was paired against Lizardmen with some dogs of war crossbows.

Pretty much the whole game involved both of our forces hiding except for my horse archers spinning round his crossbows and just exchanging bolts with them. When the manager came over to see what was happening he questioned our testistional fortitude and dq’d us both. I still agree with his decision now.

(2)   Tell me your experience with campagins/narrative play. I have some with Mordheim.

In the same store there was a global campaign. It was map based but each season there was a different mission. I don’t know how many of you remember the Albion campaign? Well it was great fun and even using my terrible dark elves I finished top. This meant I defended the castle with my naked close combat chicks and cavalry against Empire. Bristling with explosive weaponry. It went exactly as you would imagine.

(3)   Name a game setting you like and why?

I like so many, WWX and Batman, Fallout, these are just ones I like but don’t play.

What I feel like though is that even though I played Warhammer from 2nd edition, including many great years of the roleplay, I should Champion Age of Sigmar. (See what I did there?). The old world was fine but very limited. Age of Sigmar really stretches out and let’s the imagination flow. The stories it has created and the different realms have opened up it right up. Makes me wish someone had updated the roleplay and I was playing. Sneaking through chaos held realmgates to see where you appear. Goblin infested caves, the endless dead and the midwinter ogurs. Imagine setting off in your company on board a Karadron Frigate?

@horat10noseblower that Chocobo is exceptional. Please tell me it will be painted yellow. Let’s ask Luke Cage what he thinks

https://goo.gl/images/eSeQb8

[horati0nosebl0wer 19623xp 3]

I saw Krampus Rex announced on tabletopgamingnews.com and I can’t say that I was impressed. I thank you for the thought of it. Its a lot of work that went into him but it really doesn’t grab my attention in the same manner with what I picked up. That Legendary Abe Lincoln from Warcradle, on the other hand, is a beautiful piece of work. I’m reminded of the axe wielding done in Abe Lincoln Vampire Hunter and I can say its quite shiny. I know Reaper also has their own version of Krampus that was sculpted years ago and it just does nothing for me. The Krampus that was sculpted by Titan Forge was rather fun. I remember when it was just a special edition and then they opened it up to regular production. Its another figure that shows a naughty child being taken away that always gives me a little pick me up and raises my hopes that brats can be made to behave better. Yes, let them have fear that you might take Christmas away and see their faces drop as you put their wrapped presents into a sack that will go to more needy children. I imagine it in much in the same manner as you might punish a kid with making them erase their save game for their favorite game when they are absolutely rotten (you gotta get creative with some kids).

Poor Matty, I hate to laugh but there’s no helping the matter. As long as the orcs were returned to their tray then all was well.

I agree with the idea that there are no “good guys” in Malifaux. I do like the Arcanists for their steampunk motif that was cemented into their faction aesthetic from the first edition. The Ramos crew nailed it for me with “What If…?” essence but I can’t say that all of them are just criminal. I think that the spirit of being untamed might better describe them. A mad scientist, a beast lord, an avatar of Winter, a winged firebrand, a stage entertainer, a rail labor leader, a pugilist, and most recently an Asian magician. They all stand to defy some control in some manner or another.

Looking at Wyrd I’m tempted with the Nightmare edition of the Winter Wonderland version of Rasputina.

Speaking of Rasputina… here’s an awesome cover of Marilyn Manson

A Creedence Clearwater Revival cover

There’s even a cover of Prince

Now something absolutely out of the blue with wonderful creepiness that fills my twisted heart with glee

 

I can’t say that I have any funny wargaming stories or anything with narrative play.  I’ve mostly had oneshot game sessions or small tourneys at the FLGS. I am partial to a few game settings though. To stick with a standby of D&D either Forgotten Realms or Planescape for the variety of places to roam. Going for other systems Legend of the Five Rings is a great arena to run rampant with fantastic Asian inspired folklore/mythology. 7th Sea is playing the role of hero (or potentially villain) in a swashbuckling film. Changeling: The Lost (or its predecessor Changeling: The Dreaming) are where you can build the most beautiful dreams and terrifying nightmares with the only limit being your imagination.

 

@woldenspoons I’ve been looking at other chickens. I’ve gone the Way of the Weirdo (if Gonzo the Great be channeled)

I am inspired by a book I saw a while ago on Kickstarter to look into chicken plumage.

[woldenspoonsParticipant 3557xp 1]

You had me at Gonzo ?

[dawfydd 11924xp 3]

Finished blocking in Njial:

And then ended last night by hitting him with an all-over wash of Agrax:

Now admittedly in this pic the wash is still drying, but overall I dig how he looks. Got a few things I want to do when I can next get to the paint table – Nuln Oil & Badab Black washes on the cyber-raven, Seraphim Sepia then staggered washes on the pelts, maybe a light Chestnut Ink wash on the staff, and I’m sorely tempted totry getting a blue glow effect coming from his eyes & runes……

[woldenspoonsParticipant 3557xp 3]

His eyes lit up blue with tendrils leaking onto his face would look great. I imagine if you look at Thor in Avengers Infinity you should find all the inspiration you need.

I used to swear by chestnut wash. So sad GeeDubya no longer do it. My old recipe for bandages was ice blue on the bandages followed by lashings of chestnut ink. Great effect, think tomb kings.

I made the starter force for The Kingdom in my Walking Dead map campaign, however Ezekiel costs too much. Shiva is the only current true member in there. Luckily she is amazeballs in game. Not so lucky for the other crews.

[elessar2590 18207xp 3]

Massive thanks to @mage for hosting

I had a game of Dust on Saturday with two friends. I’ve ordered a SSU army from the States so a friend lent me one of his and we had a three way game. The minis were amazing, the table was amazing and the game was amazing.

Then Sunday I had a game of Bolt Action to test out my new Early War French for a tournament run by a friend of mine in two weeks. No pics of that since my little frogs aren’t finished yet.

My only Hobby has been two Dust Heroes and an IS-2 both still not finished.

[horati0nosebl0wer 19623xp 2]

5 minute epoxy is my friend. I placed the left limbs in place without issue and the right foreleg where I thought it fit the best. I’ve done a second dry fit for the rider’s right leg and the right rear for the “chocobo” for where they should end up. Once more I’m astounded by the fitting tolerance. I don’t remember Malifaux having this kind of issue of fitting because they normally key the joins to make the edges align in the most obvious fashion. I did get them to sit properly and I was right in my first assessment of how I’d need to paint the model as separate elements before final gluing.

The leftover epoxy I used to fix Krampus’ goat legs in place and seal the wrapping for a Christmas gift. Waste as little as possible.

[evilstu 15298xp 3]

@horati0nosebl0wer That’s not a bad turnaround time for Black friday loot, especially given how busy I can only assume all the retail and delivery outlets must be. Some really nice looking pieces you scored there. Glad you are taking the cautious approach and planning the project – If it was me I would have doused the thing in superglue and magic spray and then shouted profanities when I couldn’t get the parts to align 🙂 Hadn’t heard of rasputina before, thanks for the signal raising 🙂 Sounds like a slightly darker Emilie Autumn (and that’s a solid starting point to begin from regardless 🙂 )

@dawfydd I always love to see your WIP posts, partly because I feel like I’m in good company as far as having masses of minis on my painting bench, but also just for the impact of the sheer scale of the projects you tackle. Shock and awe for the win 🙂

@woldenspoons I still haven’t picked up any of those holders. I really should give one a go – have heard nothing but positive things about them – which is highly unusual given this is the internet… Hrm… Glad your hobby mojo is coming back online 🙂

@mage Happy Birthday! BSB was probably close to 10 months from assembly to completion, most of that was waiting on decals for the barding though 🙂 Sounds like a great mix or warbands for Mordheim! Only option really missing is Sisters. (and if you do decide to heavily invest in the campaign in the future and head down that path – Raging Heroes ‘Daughters of the orphanage’ would do nicely as proxies – just be careful as a lot of their minis are NSFW, hence the no linking from here 🙂 ) Any pics of the Mordheim tourney you can share? At least let us know if it was a fun day (I can’t help but imagine trying to run and rules assist would be at least a little taxing..).

@biggabum hope you are recovering from all of that dangerous fresh air you were exposed to – deadly stuff that. And christmas cheer no less?!? On a somewhat related note does anybody know where I can pick up black tinsel. Kidding 🙂 (Kinda…).

@elessar2590 that dust game looks fantastic, what a great tabletop! I have to confess I was seriously looking at reich busters – but only to combine it with Dust and K47 for some homebrew Weird World war nonsense 🙂

@matador84 which new ones were you looking at? Was it Dust minis? Also welcome!

Only other hobby I have gotten done was to prep 2 dozen landsknecht with zweihanders for when I have a gap in my painting schedule (figured it was a good idea to get some assembly and priming done before the weather got properly hot). You know the drill – planned for use as either proxy empire greatswords,  historicals or for Kings of War… Priming in metal seemed to work OK last time so going to give it another go here

Also saw the events list for Cancon next month – was really nice to see all the Tourney organisers focus on sportsmanship (to the point that many weren’t even going to declare a ‘winner’ for the weekend). I might see about trying to get invested in one game enough to enter something in a year or 2 maybe, will definitely be heading along to spectate and for retail action this time around though 🙂

Also Vikings s6 is on free to air starting this week so I need to catch up on the second half of S5 🙂

 

[biggabum 4565xp 2]

@mage No fortunately the Orcs survived intact…. which is more than can be said for the jumper 😀

We played the game before Warcradle started releasing their own campaigns, so all the special rules n stuff were decided by Matty and me. We thought about it but decided against a tree campaign we went for something more linear with the results of each game affecting the next.

@horati0nosebl0wer No worries about Krampus mate. I’ll keep my eye open for you, see if I spot any more on my journeys, let you know so you can have a look.

Yeah I know what you mean about Abe, between him and Custer i’m finding it very tempting to build a Union Posse.

I am a Ramos player myself… mainly. I have tinkered with Rasputina and Marcus the Beastmaster but Ramos is my go to Master. I hear Malifaux 3 E is on the cards soon so i’m wondering how the story is going to move forward.

@dawfydd Njal coming on realy nicely.

@elessar2590 Nice pics from your game of DUST… that table is amazing. Nice work on the Mini’s.

@evilstu Its no joke mate, its a proven fact that too much fresh air can be dangerous to a man. One day you’re spending a few hours shopping and the next thing you know you’re arranging camping holidays in the Welsh mountains.

As for the Tinsel…. can you not just spray it black 😀

 

[limburger 21692xp 1]

I had almost forgotten the weekender … but I’m here 🙂
Still reading Carnevale and I’ve had the desert campaign expansion book arrive from bootcamp.
Plus I had my ‘dead men tall no tales’ kickstarter and today I also got my wave 2 for Star Saga (big box of plastic goodies).
I think ‘Dark Souls’ wave 2 is heading in my direction soon-ish as well.

I did mention it was Kickstarter season for me, didn’t I ?

(1) Tell us a wargames funny story! An old war story with some mirth, silliness, stupidity or sadness!

‘t was at Bolt action desert war bootcamp.
I had a light mortar team as one of my last surviving soldiers … and the enemy had a forward observer (the British have one that has a radio with a monkey).
So I thought … what could possibly go wrong if I charge them ?

*eh* … yeah … a lot.

/me rolling bad (two attackers) and the enemy rolling better than expected.
I kind of pictured it as the monkey going bananas and really ruining the day for the poor DAK soldiers …
I do have to say that up until that point the team had performed with distinction across all of the battles during bootcamp.
From rolling perfect on a morale check to hitting their target on the first attempt building (straight through the roof).

Anyways … I hate monkeys. The little *beeping* pests. Next time I’ll target them with artillery fire, because there’s no kill like overkill.

(2) Tell me your experience with campagins/narrative play. I have some with Mordheim.

My experience is minimal. The campaign like structure that @oriskany provided at the FoW and Bolt-action bootcamp was fun though. It gives even a simple skirmish a bit of meaning.

(3) Name a game setting you like and why?

At the moment I’d have to pick Carnevale, because the art of the game is so pretty and the potential for narrative and action is awesome. The rulebook has a lot of scenarios that link to the history of the setting, which makes me wish games like 40k would do something similar. Killteam definitely also has potential with this sort of stuff.

[horati0nosebl0wer 19623xp 2]

@woldenspoons I’d say look into the old Palisades Toys collections for Gonzo figures that would be of merit. I remember going to their head office building once because a friend of mine had done some IT work for them at the time and he got a pre-release Muppet Labs set for his wife.

@elessar2590 Swanky setup indeed. A good table really raises the immersion to the play.

@biggabum Ramos has a special place for me with gameplay. The mad scientist mayhem is great. I got the Avatar of Invention as a planned project that has become part of my Hoard of Shame. I’ve gotten together some odd bits and pieces of random detritus from the roadside that will look great as electrical stanchions in the same motif as the fixtures in the b/w film Metropolis (the anime by Tezuka was pretty good too).

It’s been too quiet. I feel that we must summon @sundancer and more metal to the forum

[biggabum 4565xp 0]

@horati0nosebl0wer great idea with the electical creations, i’m not that great a scratchbuilder myself so went with the out of the box version. Funny with the EC that you end up killing more yourself (especially with Joss for the extra Scrap counter) than your opponent.

Mmm I wonder if Matty fancies a game at the weekend, he’s a Neverborn player…. Lilith mainly (Although he does have Guild, Outcast and Ressurectionist gangs that he likes to spring on me on occasion).

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