I feel like I’m Sisyphus with these models, Dear Readers. I’m constantly working on them but I don’t seem to be getting any closer.
Until today.
Today, I have finally finished the Elven Wizard.
And I will have finished gluing and priming the dropship.
Here’s how it went down:
I really ended up finishing the primary paint job on the Elven Wizard last night. Unable to decide between red wash and blue wash for her magic, I took a gamble and combined the two, creating what ended up being a gorgeous purple.
She turned out spectacular.
See what I mean?
Right now, I’m working at finishing up with the base. I’m using Dirt Splatter
After all that, I’m going to add on battlefield grass and likely some woodland tuft and meadow flowers from the army painter line of base finishing materials.
Like so:
And she’s done! I’m very proud of the work I did on this model, and I hope her player likes her, too!
Now back to the Daily DM’s Bane, this awesome yet stupid dropship.*sigh* I’m really beginning to hate this thing despite how excited I am to get it. The assembly and priming are just…a pain.
Here it is, with all its parts glued on:
I’m going to wait for the glue to cure, at least a couple hours, and then I will work on repriming. I have high hopes that this will work out fine.
Well, painting is going to wait some time, at least for this dropship, as I have a paid commission to work on (the barbarian).
Dear Readers, I am going to slog my way through these two miniatures if it kills me. Especially the Elven Wizard.
I mean it.
So, first, the bane of my existence, the dropship.
When I started today, there were a few places where the paint primer didn’t stick, or I missed, so I went over them again.
Then I scraped off some primer by accident.
Then I went over it again.
Then I scraped it again.
The cycle is killing me.
I mean, LOOK AT THIS!!!
GAH!!
It’s fine. I’m fine. It’s just…frustrating.
So I am attaching the landing gear. Then I will re-re-reprime the model. Sheesh.
I’ll redo the primer job tomorrow.
Then there is this beauty:
I forgot to take the step by step pictures, but I colored her hair, filled in the face that wasn’t properly painted, got the staff done, then mixed the blue and red tone to make a cool plumb that I am using for her magic.
After that, I’ll do the wash on her and then do the base.
I know this is probably getting a little old, but I am trying to finish the Wizard so I can work on my next commission, a human/not-human-but-really-a-goliath barbarian named Gundar. I believe he is modeled after a cartoon character. The model is actually a copy of the first miniature that I painted and posted on this blog! I’ll be using very similar paint schemes. It’ll turn out better than my first one.
No words yet on the speedpaints, BTW. It’s also frustrating. I’m thinking that I will just order them direct from Army Painter and I’ll likely get it quicker from mail service than if I wait for my local store to get it. Apparently, their distributors don’t even have them yet.
Yeah, I know.
Well, that’s it for me today. I hope you enjoyed this edition of Groundhog’s Day: Painting Minis Edition. Let me know your thoughts in the comments section below!
I know I provided a painting update earlier in the week, but I’ve gotten some progress done on both the Dropship and the wizard. So buckle up for a short painting update!
So far, I’ve gotten the Dropship primed!
As you can see, there are two kinds of primer on the pieces. Basically, I couldn’t hit everything with spray on primer, so I used paint on primer to literally fill in the gaps.
Here’s my issue:
These tiny pieces are not going to be able to be brush primed! How do I prime them with spray on primer? No clue.
If you have ideas, please share them in the comment section below!
Now for the elven wizard:
Mostly I did some touch-up work and some detailing.
I have to talk to the player for whom the character is for to get some idea of what the hair color is going to be. I also have no clue what kind of staff she’s holding, so I’m kind of torn on how to paint that. It’ll be okay though, I will figure it out.
What do you think, Dear Readers? Got any suggestions for me? Leave them in the comment section below.
Brandon, my regular author for “A Player’s Perspective” is currently away on a business trip until August or so. Therefore, I will be doing “A DM’s Perspective” which is a game summary. That said, I will still be doing “A Player’s Perspective” articles for when we play “Kids on Bicycles.”
After the incident with the the nilbog, the party found a dwarf, a mythical creature, alive and having been captured by the nilbog. Questioning him, the dwarf revealed that their civilization lives completely underground, with the exception of a few observation posts near human settlements due to a treaty between humans and dwarves forged some 1000 years ago when the last incarnation of the Horsemen had walked the lands. Due to how badly Famine and Pestilence harmed their people, they fled from civilized lands to the Underdark. He promised the aid of his people in the fight against Death when he comes, he departed to his homeland.
The party, having been victorious, went back to Borest for a long needed rest. After their rest, they took the remainder of the supply caravan and headed east to Mopyl. Along the way, the party was attacked by a number of humanoids that appeared to be tabaxi. After the party retaliated, they each seemed to touch their chests under their tunics and armor, whereupon they disappeared.
Continuing on to Mopyl, the people there were gathered around the town hall, where a number of tabaxi had been held captive, being accused of the raids on the town’s food supply. Seeing that some of the tabaxi were family and fellows from Winter’s clan, the party vowed to bring the real raiders to justice.
While debating what to do, the party discovered they were being watched by a strange man in robes that flew away invisible, to the north.
That afternoon, Winter was contacted by her old crew, her former lieutenant to be precise, telling her that the raids will continue unless she follows his instructions exactly, coming alone, at night, to a spot specified by him.
Against the counsel of the party, during the late night, Winter left the inn and headed outside of town. Dacyria sent her raven after her, watching as Winter activated a teleportation circle.
Aramil, the party ranger, found tracks leading out of town to the north, which the party began to follow.
Meahwhile, Winter found herself in a cage, surrounded by her former crew, as well as a strange man in dark robes…
What does the future hold for the Ingrates? Where is Winter being held?
Tune in next week to find out (or subscribe to The Blog to get an advance look at the podcast!)!
Dear Readers, as it’s a work in progress, and you’ll see why, this is, by necessity, a short post.
Welcome back!
Today we look at my new Fortress-class Dropship and see about putting it together.
First off, the one that I received was a terrible mold, with one half being oblong or two big for the other half. Here’s what I mean:
Two pieces don’t even fit together properly. That said, I am formally a member of the US Armed Forces, and we have a saying improvise, adapt, and overcome.
Don’t get me wrong, I called the kickstarter folks to get a replacement one. I shouldn’t have this level of work to put a model together.
That said, I was going to try making this work in the meantime.
First things first, I had to put epoxy on both sides on the inside of the model and clamp them down into place. That was not easy. Especially since the epoxy needs 72 hours to fully cure. Thankfully, I had a nice tough place to put it to wait for the epoxy to set.
Haven’t gotten that done, the next step was to fill in that massive gap between them, some places about 1/8-1/4 an inch.
I used my liquid putty and a toothpick to apply it.
Here’s what all I am working with:
And here’s the putty job. Not bad if I do say so myself:
As of right now, I have to snip and wash all of the metal pieces before I get to gluing them. Before that, I have to wait for the putty to set, which is going to take the better part of the day.
Additionally, I’m looking at what to prime it in, and I’m looking at Gunmetal as a very strong possibility. The best part is that I found that they have a spray-on primer with this color.
The only downside is the rather, lack of instructions.
These are all the instructions I received:
Black and white photocopy of the picture on the box with arrows.
Terrific.
Oh, well. I’ll make it work.
What do you think, Dear Readers? Got any tips and tricks for me? Let me know in the comments section below!
Dear Readers, you cannot imagine how ridiculously excited I am to do this post. Like…seriously.
*whew* Big breath…
Let me tell you a little story…
So there I was, heading home from running an errand when I saw a Gamestop that a friend works for. I thought “I wonder if she’s working? Hmm…I’ll stop in and check.”
This friend was not there but, as a reference for this story, had previously given me the Xanathar and Tiamat Pop! figures. Needless to say, I was extremely happy to receive them and wanted more.
I’ve heard this one is pretty rare. Doesn’t matter, I’m NEVER selling it.
Although she was not there, I asked the store clerk what D&D Pop! figures they had. They had the Mimic and Warduke. Okay. Cool. He began checking the other stores to see what they had while I took a gander around the store.
Then I nearly had a heart attack when I saw this on the shelf…
Then I look over, and see this!
Holy 90s childhood redone, Batman!!
They had Kellar’s Keep as well, but I couldn’t afford it. They said. They’d hold it for me.
But that’s aside the point.
The point is that they had the remake of HEROQUEST!!!
I watched my parents play this game during the 90s, and got to play a few times with them.
The premise is that Zargon, an evil sorcerer, is trying to raise an army to invade the good kingdoms. He had been previously stopped by four heroes and was rebuilding.
A benevolent patron, known to the new heroes as Mentor, sends these heroes on quests to stop Zargon’s forces from mustering.
The game is for 2-5 players with one player acting as Zargon (a sort of GM/DM), and the others playing as the barbarian, the wizard, the elf, and the dwarf. Together, they face goblins, orcs, abominations, skeletons, zombies, mummies, and even the dreaded Gargoyle.
The original game, completely remade like the original, contains 14 quests that the heroes can go on. The expansion each come with 10 quests. With an average play time of about 2-2.5 hours for each quest, the gameplay for the pre-published material amounts to about 30 hours.
Additionally, they give you a blank map sheet in the back of the quest book where you can photocopy it and make your own quests. Add even more so to this, there are websites dedicated to this game, to include one that has a quest maker with all the tokens in order to draw your own quests.
I would show you a picture of the inside of the quest book, but some of the people who will end up playing this game are readers of the Blog, so I don’t want to spoil anything.
That all said, here are the pictures of the inside of the main game:
The expansion packs come with additional miniatures, new magic item cards and their ilk, as well as a quest book with 10 new quests and the associated new board tokens.
The only downside to this game is that it only accommodates five players at most. This is frustrating as I have 6:00 to 7 people who come over to play during our family game nights.
Considering this, I am planning on running this game Saturday night of the Huntsville Comic Book and Pop Culture Expo. Normally, I run only Dungeons & Dragons during that convention, but I’ve never run any games Saturday night. This will be my first Saturday night game, and I will want the break to run something other than D&D. Don’t get me wrong, D&D is my game, but everybody needs a break once in awhile.
Side note: Billy West is supposed to be there! I am so excited about that. For those of you who are uncultured, Billy West is the voice of many characters in my childhood and even adulthood to include my favorite Futurama character, Zoidberg.
Back on topic, Daily DM!
In any case, I should get a chance to play it today with several of my kids and one of my kids’ significant other. This will give me exactly four players other than myself. I fully expect this to be a huge hit of nostalgia for me, especially sitting on the other side of Zargon’s screen!
Here we are again, Dear Readers, with another painting update!
I really made some headway into doing this mini, as it is a semi-commission, one I am doing for a kiddo at my Sunday League table (she’s brand new and I do the first mini for newbies for free and charge after that one).
With no further ado, here she is!
As you can see, I got quite a bit done. You can’t see it very well, but I got her pants painted as well, going with Commando Green, and, like the pouches on her sides, Rigid Leather.
I’m really leaning into and loving the direction I’m taking with the metallic colors, using Azure Magic, Elven Armour, Evil Chrome (the coppery color), and Bright Gold.
I’m not sure what I’m going to paint the staff, but I am leaning towards a black metallic, with the clear magic being a purple if I can pull it off (going to mix a blue and red wash and see what I get). We’ll see.
In any case, that’s what I have for today! I’ll be bringing you more painting updates throughout the week, as usual.
Battletech Side Note
So I received, with my Kickstarter, a Fortress-class Dropship. I was…disappointed, to say the least, with that add-on as the mold was…not good. Here’s what I am talking about.
The top and bottom don’t actually fit together. So I contacted the Kickstarter shopper, Quartermaster Logistics, and told them of the problem, including pictures. They are hopefully sending a new one soon. It’s not even a CGL model, though, which surprised me. It’s actually an Iron Wind Metals miniature.
Yes it’s map scale and not Mech scale, but that’s fine. I have a dropship. And that’s what matters. Hopefully, in the next few months, I will be able to afford to get the Mech scale Leopard-class dropship that’s being sold on Etsy.
They discover that a creature called a Nilbog was the actual goblin leader that they hadn’t met back in the days where they originally came to Borest. After finding their lair (a forgotten dwarven fortress; dwarves are mythical in this world, at least in these parts), they found themselves facing overwhelming odds and running for their lives by way of the secret entrance, some 90′ from the main entrance that the goblins didn’t know about.
Before they leave, Dacyria and I have the following conversation (not verbatim):
Dacyria: I walk over to within 60′ of the goblins to where I can see them with my Darkvision.
Daily DM: Uh…you know they will be able to see you, too, right?
Dacyria: Yeah, it’s cool.
DDM: Okay…you go over there, and a few notice you and begin yelling and pointing.
Dacyria: That’s fine, I plant a fireball riiiiiiiight…there. (she’s pointing to the midst of them coming out of the main entrance. Most, if not all of them are within range, to include the two worgs)
DDM: sigh Roll it. They definitely know where you are now.
[Dice rolling]
Dacyria: That’s 40 points of damage. And I don’t care. I use my move to begin running the opposite direction.
DDM: sigh Okay, you are running. So, the goblins are vaporized, let me roll for the bugbears and hobgoblins…[more dice rolling]…Okay, the bugbears are gone. The hobgoblins are alive, as are the worgs…
Dacyria: How far away from them am I?
DDM: About 80 feet…they are running towards you.
Dacyria: I misty step towards Borest and keep running.So long suckers!
In this episode of the Ingrates, our heroes head back to the lair of the nilbog! What will they find and will they be able to handle its shenanigans? Find out now!
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Dear Readers, just wanted to give you a quick painting update to let you know what projects I’m working on.
First up is the Elf Wizard. This miniature is one I’m working on for one of my youth players at adventurers league. I always like painting new players’ first miniature.
Sorry I didn’t get a step by step on her, but you can see I’ve only just begun.
Next up is the Vulture/Mad Dog:
Where I began today…
As you can tell, I’m having some troubles with the cockpit. The blue that goes over the cockpit is giving me problems. I may just paint the entire cockpit gold and then try to go over the detail part with a fine tip brush.
Additionally, as you can tell, I’ve been putting the gunmetal paint onto the miniature. I know I’ve missed a few spots, and I’m going to go back and touch those up.
In any case, that’s where I’ve left off for the painting update. I hope you’re as excited as I am. The vulture is going to give me some problems as it’s a 3D Print and not one of the CGL models. Those are getting extra special treatment. Depending on how the speed paints work, am I just end up painting all of those with the speed paints. But I got to see how well the speed paints work.
Dear Readers, I know it’s not Thursday, but I was so excited to get the episode out that I wanted to do it sooner than later. Enjoy!
The Inglorious Ingrates are at it again, this time back in Borest where their adventures first truly began. And what’s with the strange goblin dressed as a jester?
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As an aside, I am taking the last week of the month to play instead of run. This is the Kids on Bicycles game. We aren’t recording that game, but I will still be writing the “A Player’s Perspective” for it.
Dear Readers, as I have said and complained about and have been waiting almost a year for, my Battletech: Clan Invasion Kickstarter has arrived (well, part arrived yesterday, the rest today; it came in two parts)!
Today I will be doing the unboxing and show you all what I have gotten.
I ordered the Merchant Caste level, giving me the following:
Want to know the funny part? For some of them, I got impatient and bought some of it from the Catalyst Game Labs Store. This also led to me being an idiot and ordering two of the same neoprene mat (remember the guy that got me two of the Wolf’s Dragoons boxes? He’s getting my extra Strana Mechty mat; it’s the least I can do)!
With no further ado, here’s the unboxing (I’m going to do a picture of the whole thing first and then go over each individual [or grouping of the same items] item):
Here’s the opening of the first of two boxes:
So excited…
I forgot to take a picture of the second box, and instead began unpacking and organizing everything. Here’s what I can up with:
So much stuff… It’s awesome.
Of note, I have a few things I was particularly excited about. First, are the Legendary Salvage Boxes.
Opening them (not pictured) I got a singular Carson Death Carlyle, and a Morgan Kell, with their Marauder and Archer respectively. Then I got 4 copies of Morgan’s Archer. I’ll be taking to the Battletech subreddit to see if I can make a trade as I already have a Carson, and 4 extra copies of Morgan.
It was at this point I stopped and looked at my list again. Then I looked at what I had. Then I looked at my original order. Something was off. I was missing a set of dice and I was missing six Urbanmech salvage boxes!
I sent an email to Quartermaster Logistics letting them know about the missing parts. I was actually very surprised to find out that I totally missed it in their initial email that stated what I was going to be receiving. Needless to say, I was a little put off. I was really looking forward to those “Urbies” as I had plans to trade one of them for another mech. I will have to tell him that there will be a delay.
Next up is my Fortress-class dropship.
I opened it up and what should I find? An absolutely terrible mold. And I mean terrible. The top and bottom don’t even fit together and there is upwards of a quarter inch gap in some places. I was even more put off at this point.
Next up are the faction dice, challenge coins, and keychains.
I read a lot of bad things about the dice, with some apparent quality assurance problems. Not sure what everybody else’s experience was, but my faction dice, other than the missing set, turned out just fine. Of course, I have yet to roll them, but they look and seem to be fine.
The challenge coins are absolutely amazing. I got Ghost Bear, Kell Hounds, and Wolf’s Dragoons.
The Daggerstar keychains are cool, although I only needed one. I’ll likely give away some to friends who like Battletech.
What do you think, Dear Readers? Do any of you play battletech? If so, what is your favorite faction? Let me know in the comments section below.
Dear Readers, I know this one is a long time coming, but since we are resuming KoB this coming week, I figured you would like a catch-up to the goings-on of The Gang.
We Begin where we left off, at Kelly Ann’s house to “work on a project for school.” We began plotting on how we would get to the Princess Theater and find the door, without getting caught after dark during the curfew.
While we were planning, we got a phone call from Neil saying that his parents are freaking out and suddenly packing everything to leave town. He promised to call when he has more information.
While doing our planning, we finally came up with a group name: the “Arkham Arcanes.”
After Kelly Ann’s parents had gone to bed, we set out, with plans to skirt the wooded area (not the woods!) behind her farm and circle around the school.
As we biked a long, we ran into Tim Fletcher, the leader of a small group of teen miscreants, smoking behind the bleachers also in violation of the town’s curfew.
Anton, feeling the sense of foreboding he had felt before watched as Tim’s eyes went black. He called out to his friends to continue on quickly. A chase ensued through a construction zone.
At one point, the boys’ arms turn into tentacles.
During the chase, Goblin wiped out and Jessica return to help.
Just as we were approaching the street to cross to the Princess Theater, a sheriff deputies car pulled onto the street.
The miscreants cease their chase, and the Arkham Arcanes barely make it by.
The gang enters the theater by climbing to a second story open window. Inside, the game was forced to walk by the front doors, which are glass, in order to get to the rest of the theater. Anton has another foreboding feeling, and sees that two teachers from school, Mr Edwards the drama teacher, and Miss Iris the biology teacher, both with black eyes. They kept repeating things like “we won’t hurt you” and “we want to return you to your parents.” Needless to say, we did not believe them.
Mr Edwards unlocked the front door with his key. As Anton and Goblin and Zane go looking for the door, kellyanne and Jessica squared off against Mr Edwards. A strange battle ensued where we were harassed by a large group of crows that surrounded the fighters.
Eventually, Goblin and Zane found at the door and began working on the puzzle to open it, while Anton raced to them. After knocking some of the teeth out of Mr edwards, Jessica and Kelly-Ann ran after the rest of the gang. After being knocked out, both Mr Edwards’ and Miss Iris’ eyes went back to normal. While Mr Edwards was knocked out, miss Iris ended up sitting down with some sort of major migraine trying to figure out where she was and what was going on.
Having solved the riddle on the door, Goblin was able to speak the password aloud, opening it. Everyone entered only to find themselves in a strange cave with a winding path that went to a pedestal of sorts with a basin of water. Looking at one another and surrounding the pedestal, Anton decided to go first and drink. The others followed suit. We felt power rushing through our veins. We had found the Titans Blood. Filling our extra vials, we made preparations to depart.
What will happen next? Who knows? What we have to face off against the forces of darkness again soon? Very likely. But this time, not without our own ability to stand up against the darkness on our own terms.
Join us next time!
Daily Dungeon Master Note:I am finally getting my Battletech Kickstarter pledge stuff! I should have it this weekend. At least half of it (apparently it shipped in two parts; one is for sure getting here tomorrow?). Once I have the entire thing, I will be doing an unboxing! Look forward to that in the near future!
Dear Readers, I know it’s been a minute since I’ve last posted. Truth be told, I’ve just been extremely busy as well as dealing with some mental health challenges.
That said, I wanted to give a short post out here to let you know that I am still alive and still writing.
A few things that I’m working on:
1) Getting ahead in my writing – this one is big for me. I need to be able to get ahead and much of my writing so that you guys don’t have any true lapses. I’ve got some ideas, but if there’s any topic you guys would like to see me right on, please let me know!
2) Anonymous Bosch and I have not given up on our YouTube channel. It’s just coming along a lot slower than anticipated, as you can well see. I recently learned the rules for BattleTech Alpha Strike, and we plan on recording some of our matches, as well as a how-to video.
3) I’m looking at commissioning and artist to do some comic work for the Ingrates. There have been way too many funny moments not to document them other than in writing and via the podcast. This one might take a little while as I have to find a willing artist!
4) I’m going to also get ahead in my miniature painting. I have my very large box of shame, meeting all of my unpainted Dungeons and Dragons miniatures, as well as a huge post of battlemechs. All of it needs painting. Part of my hesitation to keep painting is that I really want to test the new Army painter speedpaints. They look absolutely phenomenal. That isn’t to say that I can’t do things the old-fashioned way. I certainly can. I’m just really excited about those new paints. Part of the problem with that is that the basic set plus shipping comes to something around 50 plus dollars for what amounts to 10 droppers of paint. They come out later this month. The larger set, which I find more desirable, is going to cost $100 plus shipping and doesn’t release until next month. Thus my problem.
5) I’m working at keeping up with the kids on bicycles “a player’s perspective” posts. We’ve only played once since the last time I posted, I just have to gather my notes and actually get it written. See number one above. Additionally to this, we will be going to once a month in this game beginning this month.
6) I plan on doing a review of The Wild Beyond the Witchlight pre-published adventure. I’ve been running it for a bunch of early teens in my Adventurers League game. I didn’t take good enough notes to keep up with what happened from session to session so I gave up any ideas of doing game summaries. That said, I can give an overview of the adventure and how I feel it went.
So there you have it, it’s my future plans. I still will have podcast previews on Thursdays starting this coming Thursday again. We had some lapses in games due to me picking up covid and is playing Kids on Bicycles. I talked to my producer about it and we’re both kicking ourselves for deciding not to record that game. We’ve had some really awesome and some really funny incidents that should have been recorded. Oh well.
What do you think, Dear Readers? Are my plans to ambitious? I don’t think so, but let me know your thoughts in the comment section below.
Dear Readers, it’s been an extremely busy week, but I did get some painting done.
Here’s some pictures of what I have gotten accomplished:
Yes, the Vulture is still a work in progress, but he’s a print and I had to re-glue on one arm. As it is, I’m just happy to get some paint on him.
Then there is my MadCat:
All I have here is the shading and then redoing some of the dry brushing.
This bad boy is another old Iron Winds Metal miniature that I’ve had that I’m painting up in Clan Ghost Bear colors. The base is a print, however, as he won’t fit on a standard pewter one.
For those of you who are waiting on some sort of D&D miniature painting post, it is coming. The only issue is that I really want to do it with the new speed paints that are coming out. I intend on having them on pre-order, but they don’t come in until the 19th of this month. **sad Daily Dungeon Master noises**
Oh well.
The good news is that once I get them I will be doing a review of them. As of right now I will be getting the starter set of them, and if they work out well, I will be getting the larger mega set of them. So far, with the videos I’ve seen, they are absolutely phenomenal. But I think I’ve already discussed that point.
*shrug*
What do you think, Readers? Let me know in the comments section below!
Dear Readers, as you may well have guessed, Battletech has been a big part of my hobby lately. Like, a big part.
In any case, I browse and occasionally post in the r/battletech subreddit. During a particular conversation between myself and another Redditor, whom I won’t name, he expressed willingness to trade his Legendary MAD-3R *Marauder* of Grayson Death Carlyle, with cards.
I told him something to the effect of “Seriously, I’m interested! Let’s move this to direct messages!”
After some negotiation, I traded him a *Commando* and a *Rifleman* for the Legendary *Marauder*.
After we swapped addresses, I soon ended up at the UPS store, sending him my two ‘mechs. Then I waited. Due to weather and his work schedule, there were many delays. Then I got the message “Dropship inbound!” followed by the USPS tracking number. It arrived today.
Here’s what I got!
First, his note-
Very sweet of him. He really didn’t have to do what he did, and I wish to one day repay him. Because of what else he sent…
As well as:
An insanely ancient Battletech toy!
For scale, with what I actually traded for…
Added the Warhammer toy for scale.
All in all, it was a great trade, and I am happy to have a new friend, albeit halfway across the country!
Hope you liked this post as much as I enjoyed writing it!
What do you think, Dear Readers? Did I make a good trade? Let me know in the comment section below!
I’m writing today to give a game review (my first ever- please don’t hate me) of Pokémon Legends: Arceus. Just to know a little bit of my gaming background, I have been a long time fan of both Pokémon and RPGs. My first ever Pokémon experience was with Pokémon Gold. Not Heart Gold, just Gold. I started out when Johto was first introduced, when Ash felt his defeat in Kanto, then set off for new “great adventures”. Yeah, I’m old… er. Anyway, I’ve played a lot of Pokémon through the years. I have also played red, blue, and yellow (I have been unable to get my hands on a copy of Green), I have played every other Pokémon game in the series including games like “Hey You, Pikachu” (N64), “Mystery Dungeon”, and “Snap”. Also, I am a long time collector of Pokémon cards. Lately, my gaming fixation has been on all things Nintendo Switch and I’d like to share my review of this newest addition to Pokémon. I have been awaiting this game’s release since it was first announced, even preordering two copies since I have no one close to trade with (hoping I can still trade and unsure of any online capabilities). I am, and have always been, one to buy every option of Pokémon game available to get the entirety of Pokémon available to each region. If you are considering Arceus, I hope this review helps you decide if this is a game worth the cost.
Pictures courtesy of Game Freak, Pokémon Legends: Arceus
From the very start of Arceus, it delves into a long ago past even going so far as to use words like “thee,” “thou,” and “thyself.” The town and interior of buildings show older style Japanese furnishings and clothing. It pulls you into an intense story with the legendary Pokémon, Arceus, leading the way. Literally, Arceus pulls you into the story. Adding to the feel of being in a long ago past, the Pokédex even appears as an actual book, paper pages bound with rope. It was a pleasant surprise for me as I became more and more enamored with the feel of this world and setting. The beginning was unsettling and intense, dragging me immediately into the story and had me on the edge of my seat begging for more.
Pictures courtesy of Game Freak, Pokémon Legends: ArceusPictures courtesy of Game Freak, Pokémon Legends: ArceusPictures courtesy of Game Freak, Pokémon Legends: Arceus
This time, there are not region specific beginner Pokémon to choose from. You are able to choose from Cyndaquil (fire), Rowlet (grass), and Oshawot (water). Your first introduction to these possible friends is from Pokémon Professor Laventon. These mischievous little monsters run off, which was when I first realized that this was no ordinary Pokémon game. It is from this point that the tutorial begins and you take off to first discover a phone. Yes, the first and only real piece of progressive technology you are given is a phone. Known simply as the Arc Phone, this is your gateway to everything to do with the map and managing missions or requests simply. This piece of tech also guides you to where you need to go for any mission or request you choose- quite a handy device.
Pictures courtesy of Game Freak, Pokémon Legends: ArceusPictures courtesy of Game Freak, Pokémon Legends: Arceus
From this point until its completion, the tutorial goes on. The tutorial, to someone who has been playing Pokémon and RPGs for the last 24 years, feels excessively tedious and like hand holding (much like how Pokémon is normally); however, Arceus takes you beyond simply catching Pokémon and locating buildings. This walks you step-by-step through nearly every game mechanic. It changes the format of the tutorial every so often, utilizing hint screens instead of long dialogue. Unfortunately, the dialogue is still there and, to me, felt excessive. Even the hint screens felt excessive. I would have happily walked off alone into this wilderness, even if it meant being beaten to death by these cuddly pocket monsters. Truth be told, that was a real possibility.
Once I was finally released to be able to take in the scenery, I was absolutely stunned by the graphics and this new world. The graphics were so stunning in the water, I found myself running through it for several minutes as I immersed myself into the atmosphere and quality of the game and graphics. I will admit, however, that there were moments where the shimmering water caused awkward straiations around my character that I worried on how this would affect further game play. Those of you who disliked Sword and Shield’s awkward tree appearances in the wild area will undoubtedly notice the awkwardness of how the trees and grass look, but I am happy to note that they do not simply vanish or reappear within your path as you run along your journey. They are smoothly and simply there, swaying in the breeze. The most annoying aspect of the graphics is the awkward shimmering that appears around some trees, plants, rocks, or even your character. I also found moments where the trees and grass flashed on screen, clearly the glitch many expected. Though these shimmering and flashing moments are gone rather quickly and happen infrequently, I felt it diminished some of the immersive feelings I had as I progressed through the game.
Pictures courtesy of Game Freak, Pokémon Legends: Arceus
Pictures courtesy of Game Freak, Pokémon Legends: ArceusPictures courtesy of Game Freak, Pokémon Legends: Arceus
Game Freak (Pokémon’s developer) clearly wanted players to get a sense that this is truly a completely different world to Pokémon. From the very beginning, the NPCs give constant reminders that this is not the typical Pokémon world. From the newest (or oldest?) Pokémon Professor, Laventon, to the villagers, there are constant reminders that people in this world are afraid of Pokémon and these are not the cute and cuddly friends we are accustomed to. Glowing red eyed Alpha Pokémon roam amongst the vast land, giving an eerie and mildly terrifying feel as you navigate the land trying to “catch ’em all.” Arceus gives a challenge to those who are familiar with RPGs in a way that the previous games could not deliver. Also, just a bit of a heads-up, if you are considering allowing young children to play or watch you play, there are moments where the game seems dark and foreboding which I found my 5 year old (who does not scare easily) had moments of hesitation as he watched me progress in the game. Neither of us were expecting the beginning Pokémon to lash out and attack the main character, but they did. It added a level of excitement I haven’t felt for quite some time to the Pokémon battles, causing me to be far more cautious and sneek around far more than I ever have before.
Pictures courtesy of Game Freak, Pokémon Legends: Arceus
There are numerous new world gameplay mechanics that surprised and delighted me as I continued to explore for items and see what was available in shops. I discovered a field where you can request to have crops grown. I discovered that Pokémon are kept in pastures, not computers. You are able to access your Pokémon storage (so to speak) by visiting with select individuals throughout the game. It also appears that Jubilife, the main town you are working at, is continually being built further, alluding to additional game play in the future. Catching Pokémon is a challenge as the game progresses. I constantly found myself running away rather than the Pokémon I was attempting to catch running from me. These were new features that kept me coming back for more.
The mechanics of battles have also changed quite a bit and took some getting used to. There are far more options available than I have seen before. From different battle styles to choose from, to leveling up your Pokémon moves, to being able to simply toss any of your 6 team members at the opposing Pokémon. I also found myself struggling in the beginning to figure out how to utilize items within a battle. Also, it turns out, tossing your Pokémon at another Pokémon begins a wild Pokémon battle. I often found that my Pokémon were hidden behind trees or rocks to where I was unable to view the entire battle scene. This gave a more realistic feel that I was not expecting. Though the battles are turn based, they are not typically turn based as in the previous games. I often found my Pokémon or the opposing Pokémon not using a move immediately after the other. Certain types of moves did not work in exactly the same way as they had in the past. I found myself trying every type of move available to see what new and improved effects they produced. With all of the new additions to battles, there is always a great amount of work to do, changing a battle each and every time.
Pictures courtesy of Game Freak, Pokémon Legends: Arceus
The mechanics of leveling up and training Pokémon has also changed drastically. Each and every Pokémon has a set list of moves to which you are able to unlock or change any time between battles. Leveling up moves and statistics of Pokémon happens while battling and there is a select NPC that can also help. Catching Alpha Pokémon gives you stronger Pokémon that know moves others of their kind do not know. Evolving Pokémon is by choice- removing the need for everstones, though there are other stones to assist in evolution still. Overall, I felt the new aspects of leveling up, training, and evolving Pokémon created a more challenging and rewarding experience.
Pictures courtesy of Game Freak, Pokémon Legends: ArceusPictures courtesy of Game Freak, Pokémon Legends: ArceusPictures courtesy of Game Freak, Pokémon Legends: ArceusPictures courtesy of Game Freak, Pokémon Legends: ArceusPictures courtesy of Game Freak, Pokémon Legends: Arceus
The largest and most inviting game mechanic that has been added is a series of missions and requests. Missions are given from a military-like group known as the Galaxy Expedition Team (aka Galaxy Team). This was a bit of a shock to this player, considering everything from their logo to their name appears to be like the Team Galaxy (a Team Rocket like group, or the antagonists) from Diamond and Pearl. The only part I disliked from the missions and requests was the fast travel to your main base out in the field. Travelling to different areas is less open world than I would have preferred. There is a fast travel mechanism which automatically transports you to the area, or field, that you select rather than allowing you to simply walk into the vast wilderness from the town. I have been too used to simply walking out of a town into a field or area to catch Pokémon so this felt clunky and out of place. Even still, there is so much to do for every mission or request, that the fast travel was quickly erased from memory as I set off to explore. The, for lack of a better term, wild area feels very open world. You are able to climb up to most high up areas, jumping down from cliffs can injure your character, and there is always something to find around every corner. In additon to missions and requests, each individual Pokémon has a set of research tasks for you to complete, found in the Pokédex. I found myself running through the pages of this Pokédex far more than I ever needed to in the past.
Pictures courtesy of Game Freak, Pokémon Legends: ArceusPictures courtesy of Game Freak, Pokémon Legends: Arceus
I am also happy to report that there is still a trading mechanism, though diluted from past games. It seems as though the step forward that Game Freak made with Sword and Shield’s wild area and DLC was put on a back burner for this game. Players are still able to trade via the internet, but I have yet to discover anything further in the realm of multiplayer online options, like battles or even exploration (as Sword and Shield presented us). Still, with so much more to do in Arceus, I did not find that this diminished the quality of the game play.
Overall, there is so much more to explore and do within this new world, Hisui. I am honestly finding it exceptionally hard to stop playing to write this article. Game Freak has finally taken Pokémon into this century by taking us into the past. Anyone need a sword and shield for protection? Yes, pun intended. It is a beautifully written and well developed game. I would give this game a 9 out of 10 stars, only lessened due to the graphics glitches and the almost painful tutorial. In retrospect, I would guess that the tutorial is for young children new to the series, because this is anything but a typical Pokémon game. Without knowing how Pokémon works in general, I can see how the tutorial would be severely needed.
I hope those of you who choose to play this game enjoy it as much as I do.
Dear Readers, I know I am late to the party, so to speak, as this game’s been out for quite a bit, but I just had to do a review. That and it’s one of two games I had access to on my Switch while in quarantine.
Paper Mario, for the uninitiated, is an interesting take on the Mario world, where just about everyone is a 2 Dimensional (2D) paper cut out. The plotline of the various renditions of the game vary, as is the “schtick” that each game introduces to make that particular rendition unique. The series also tends to poke fun at itself, sometimes breaking the fourth wall, to make the occasional joke, relating to their paper state. Lastly, the game is usually set up as an RPG where you get upgraded weapons and health as you progress in the game.
The newest rendition of this series is called Paper Mario: The Origami King. The premise is that an origami being has seized control of the Mushroom Kingdom. The Origami King begins transforming Bowser’s 2D minions into “folded soldiers” which are 3D origami versions (and sometimes oversized paper mache versions) of themselves.
As you may be able to tell, the “schtick” in this rendition is the idea of things being folded, particularly into other origami things.
An example of this revolves around the side-quest of saving toads (the little mushroom people) that have been affected by the Origami King or his minions. These toads can be crumpled up “wads of paper,” origami bugs, rolled up in a hole, etc…
The other unique feature of this game is the combat system which revolves around a literal wheel, specifically, a disk that has concentric rings that are then broken up into sections. The idea is that, using the rings and segments, one must “line up” the enemies on the disk, giving a bonus to damage from your attacks. This is done by rotating the concentric rings and sliding the segments, all with a limited number of moves and within a limited amount of time.
Image courtesy of polygon.com
Attacks are based on range and weapon type, with long range being jumps with boots or “hurl hammers” or with a regular hammer, like so.
Image courtesy of polygon.com
Additionally, you learn special attacks based on some story related fights/events (trying for no spoilers here!).
A word on the primary bosses (minor spoiler): they are absolutely hilarious. The primary area bosses are all paper related in their natures. For example, one is a stapler, another a scotch tape dispenser! And their dialogue is something else, funny to read.
All in all, I give this game a solid 10 out of 10. I’ve always been a fan of the Paper Mario franchise series but this one is easily my favorite so far. I highly recommend this game to anybody who is a fan of the Mario universe.
What do you think? Have you played any of the Paper Mario games, and did you like them? Let me know in the comment section below!
Dear Readers, this won’t be a “normal” painting update, as I did not take incremental pictures of this guy.
I also know that I promised a different post today, but after getting to paint something after almost 2 weeks, I couldn’t help myself and wanted to share, shunting the other post to tomorrow.
I mean, I took some early pictures, but I did all of the rest last night.
With no further ado, the Atlas AS7-D, Wolf’s Dragoons, Zeta Regiment!
As you can see, the Dragoons’ logo showed up better. Much better. After the lessons I learned doing the Black Knight’s logos, I put a daub of very light colored paint (next time it’ll actually be white instead of the light grey I used this time) in the spot I was putting the logos.
I also messed up the Ζ on the leg, but didn’t notice until after it was done (don’t ask).
All that aside, I’m happy with how it turned out.
What do you think, Dear Readers? Let me know in the comment section below!
This means that soon, oh so soon, I will be able to go back to painting and playing. Even better is that I got a new painting desk (or rather, Mrs. Daily DM got me a new desk!) with a lovely new ink blotter to protect said desk from the ravages of paint, glue, modeling knife work, etc…
Needless to say, your Daily Dungeon Master is excited.
The best part is that it’s the cornerstone of what is to be my new gaming room. I’m getting a new gaming table tomorrow. I’ll might take some pictures. We’ll see. Definitely will take pictures of the new desk.
Oh, and feature of the new desk? No need for my toolbox any longer! It all fits quite nicely inside.
This isn’t to say that I won’t use the toolbox for going to a painting party, but for at-home use, the desk is king.
In any case, I wanted to let you all know that I am on the mend, and I will be out of quarantine beginning tomorrow, I believe.
I’m not quite done with my post about the RPGs I’ve been playing, but it should be up tomorrow.
Thanks again for hanging in there with me, Dear Readers!
So, Dear Readers, you may have noticed my lack of posting this week. And that I am posting on a Saturday. Lemme explain.
It started yesterday when I began to have a tickle in the back of my throat and a mild cough.
Now, I am vaccinated. I have the booster. But…
I tested positive for COVID-19 today. I will be locked away in my home, isolated from my family for the next 10 days. Lovely, right?
So you won’t get any painting updates. That said, I have Roll20! I will be able to do some pick-up games most likely. I’ll give y’all some game summaries as I can get them out and play them.
This assumes that my fatigue doesn’t knock me out. I already have chronic fatigue from my MS, so this doesn’t really help things.
That all said, I will attempt to get a post or two out, even if it’s about something I read that I can review. Something.
Thanks everyone for your patience and understanding.
Dear Readers, I think I might have a problem. An addiction if you will. You see, when Catalyst Game Labs decided to re-release the Battletech game with affordable plastic miniatures and put them out on the market, the Battletech community went wild.
You have to understand, the only way to get Miniatures in the past were these cheap paper stand-ups or rather pricey pewter miniatures that you had to assemble. If you remember, the first BattleTech miniature that I painted was one of those metal pewter ones by Ironwind Metals. A good miniature to be sure, but a pain to assemble and paint, what with all the washing, pinning, and glueing. Then CGL comes along.
They show up with a box set of all the rules Plus 8 battlemech miniatures all for the low low price of $60. $60 used to be the cost of around 3 to 4 miniatures of the pewter variety. In fact, you can still buy packs of mechs at that price from Ironwind Metals. I know because I consider buying them.
Then they start coming out with what they callech packs. These are groups of mechs that form some sort of unit or another. Like a command lance or a heavy striker lance. Things like that.
And for those of you who are not schooled in all things Battletech, battlemechs are organized thusly: with the Inner Sphere faction, 4 mechs = a lance, two lances = a company, 3 companies = a regiment. For the Clan faction, a battlemech is a point, 5 points are a star, two stars are a binary (with three being a trinary), and two to three binaries/trinaries = a cluster. For the ComStar faction, a mech is a Level I, 6 mechs are a Level II, and it goes up from there. There are larger organizational structures than this, these are generally not used during gameplay.
Generally.
That said, I have the equivalent of a larger organizational group equivalent of Mechs for both the Clan and Inner Sphere factions. For the ComStar faction, I only have a single Level I. Poor ComStar.
In any case, here is what I am adding to my collection(s):
Not sure what to do with my Shilone yet. I mean, it is an inner sphere aerospace fighter, so I might be able to incorporate it into my Alpha Strike game.
Next is my ComStar Level II.
Of note, in this particular set, it comes with a Guillotine and a Crab. Yay!
Unlike the rest of my Inner Sphere mechs, which I will be painting up to be Wolf’s Dragoons, this group will most definitely be painted up to be ComStar. My Kickstarter is still on the way (at least that’s what they tell me!), which includes another two Level II’s, so I will have a nice, small ComStar unit.
Now let’s get to the inner sphere mechs:
I really wanted all four of these battlemechs, if for no other reason than for collector value.
A Banshee, Grasshopper, Centurion, and a Hatchetman. All good and solid mechs.
I was really excited about this next lance, the Inner Sphere Urban Lance.
Man, did I want this set! A Victor, a Hunchback, and a Raven. Sure the Enforcer is a good mech, but a RAVEN!! Now I have that sweet, sweet ECM (Electronic Counter Measures) capability. So excited.
Last up for the Inner Sphere is the Heavy Battle Lance. I wanted this box almost more than ANY other box. Why? It has my absolute favorite battlemech inside! The Nightstar!
There he is, on the bottom right. Ahh… So pretty.
Of course it comes with some other solid mechs as well: the Bushwhacker, the Crocket, and the Cataphract.
Now on to my Clan Faction finds:
First up, the Clan Heavy Battle Star:
Of this one, the only mech I was truly excited for was the Ebon Jaguar, as it’s a Clan upgrade of the Bushwhacker. The Turkina was a nice one, too.
Next up, the Clan Striker Star:
I’m not familiar with the majority of these mechs, with the notable exception of the Piranha. The rest look pretty cool, though.
Lastly, we have the Clan Ad Hoc Star:
Not gonna lie, I’m not familiar with the vast majority of these mechs either, with the exception of the Kodiak. A staple of my favorite clan, Clan Ghost Bear, I was excited to pick up this set.
The last three things I got were a Stana Mechty neoprene battle mat, a Wolf’s Dragoons challenge coin and a Clan Ghost Bear challenge coin. The latter two are late birthday gifts for my Dad, along with the Black Knight I previously painted.
The battlemat on the other hand… I goofed. I goofed hard. I realized today that I already had that mat on order with my Kickstarter. Oops. I guess now I have two? Maybe I will find someone to give or sell it to.
So that’s it! That’s all I got today. Of course this only covers a portion of my overall collection, but I’ll end up showcasing those as I finish painting them. My goal is to finish painting my Inner Sphere mechs and my ComStar mechs by end of year. I may get sidetracked and start painting on my Clan mechs. We’ll see how it goes.
All that aside, I still have commissions and other painting jobs I will be doing for D&D miniatures as well, so those of you who like to see those won’t miss out either.
Thanks for tuning in to my current obsession. Tell me what you think in the comments section below!
Dear Readers, it’s been a great holiday break, and now that my kiddos are back to school, I can return to our regularly scheduled posting schedule!
It should go something like this:
At least one, if not two, painting updates – my current obsessions lay with my Battletech miniatures, but I’ll try to give you some step-by-steps of more D&D miniatures. I know I have tons in my “box of shame.”
One “A Player’s Perspective” or a “DM’s Perspective” per week, likely on Wednesdays. My writer for “A Player’s Perspective” is going on a long-term sabbatical, so he won’t be playing or able to write.
At least one “Premium Content” post per week. I have ideas.
One “How-To” post per week. Due to my current obsession, I am going to start my series on Battletech, particularly with Alpha Strike, as it’s probably the easiest to learn.
I’m going to try and get one “DM’s Story” posted per week. Anonymous Bosch has a good one that I want him to tell about his Cyberpunk game.
That’s the plan. We’ll see how it turns out. There is also the chance that I might do a “Class Spotlight,” “Monster Highlight,” or a “Battlemech Spotlight” to fill in any gaps.
In any case, I hope you had a wonderful break and hope to see you back here soon!
Dear Readers, as you can tell it is coming up to Christmas!
I just want to wish everyone a Very Merry Christmas by sharing with you two adventures that I had purchased off of The DMs Guild (www.dmsguild.com).
How The Lich Stole Christmas by Wizard Sleeve Studios, Steve “Jaspor” Orr, and Bill Putrino
Currently on sale for $2.95.
The primer for this adventure is as follows:
“You’re a foul one, Mr. Lich Your flesh smells like decay For the crimes you have committed There will be hell to pay When the heroes come to save Christmas Day “How The Lich Stole Christmas” is a short 3-4 hour one shot holiday adventure for characters of all levels. The encounters include variations for adventuring parties of each tier of play. The story unfolds through melodic rhymes that are certain to get the players into the spirit of the adventure. Does your party have it what it takes to save Christmas?”
I have to admit that this is a wonderful one-shot adventure to run around the holidays. In fact, I ran it for the Ingrate last night to everyone’s delight (no, I did not mean to rhyme!).
Without spoiling it for any players out there, the entire adventure revolves around the concept surrounding the title, but is scalable from tier 1 all the way to tier 4. This ended up being really wonderful so that my party felt challenged as they went through the various encounters. There’s even an enjoyable puzzle in the middle of it as well. I highly recommend this one.
Danger In A Midwinter Wonderland: A Christmas One-Shot by Asa Wheatley
Currently $2.99
The primer for this adventure is:
Everyone has heard of the festival of Midwinter, the great Winter’s Father and his dutiful Toy Makers. They are the core of the Midwinter celebrations and there is no better place to visit than the Noel Isles and see the Winter’s Father in person during these celebrations. Each year the Toy Makers decorate the Isles with such splendour that it can only be fully appreciated in person. But this year something foul is afoot, the Winter’s Father is missing and the Noel Isles are too quiet. Something is definitely wrong but you’re not quite sure what. All you know is that you sense Danger, in this Midwinter Wonderland.
I haven’t run this yet, planning on running it for the TPKs (my monthly game) this coming Wednesday night.
It has great reviews and is rated at four and a half stars. I greatly look forward to running this one.
What do you think Dear Readers? Do you have a favorite holiday adventure to run? Let me know in the comments section below.
When we last left the gang, they found themselves underneath the burned out ruins of Dr. Ford’s old home, in a room filled with purple crystals, and a large spinning contraption, all hooked to a table.
Upon further investigation the gang found that the machinery was upwards of 60+ years old, dating back to the 1920’s, looking like a primitive particle accelerator. Additionally, upon the table there appeared to be stains that looked like blood.
His curiousity getting the better of him, Neil pulled the lever on the machine, causing the gyroscopic ball of energy to spin faster and faster, after which a strange robotic creature appeared from the ruins off to the side of the room!
A fight ensued, with Anton sliding his bat to Kelly-Ann, who grabs it. Jessica throws a rock at it causing a large dent! The gang spread out, preparing to attack, and Anton grabbed Kelly-Ann’s crowbar from her backpack and heroically ran up to the contraption and savagely attacked the bottom and legs, causing sparks to fly! Kelly-Ann took the bat and hit hard at its legs, this time felling it. Unfortunately, in the felling, it fell on top of Anton, pinning him to the ground.
After many tries and much consternation, the gang was able to finally free their companion.
Upon further examination of the room, the gang found a door surrounded by glyphs, much like the ones at the base of the particle accelerator, and that had a single silver keyhole. Peering inside, through the keyhole, they found what appeared to be a sort of office, with a desk and chair.
Goblin attempted to kick the door, only to be thrown back by some sort of electrical energy, causing her hair to stand on end. Not finding any sort of key, the group vowed to return to this room once we had more information, also promising not to say anything to the two boys, Liam and Miller, back on the top, lest they want to explore the dangerous place.
Of note, found and gave to Anton, the user manual for the strange robot. The gang also each took a crystal and the robot’s eye lens as trophies of their encounter with the thing.
The gang then headed back topside and had Miller and Liam lead the gang to their hideout.
There they got to the clearing, but did not enter, as in addition to the clubhouse, the gang saw a rusted out pickup truck and the beleaguered Mr. Lovecraft, whose son had gone missing two months ago, and whose spirit was allegedly haunting the clubhouse.
Anton, being the talkative one, headed up to Mr. Lovecraft, followed by Goblin. Mr. Lovecraft said he was here looking for his son Stuart. He showed Anton and Goblin a book of drawings by Stuart that were…strange. Various animals, and over and over again, an eye with a slit for a pupil. He claimed that Stuart was looking for “Black Liquid” and said Stuart was…different. And weird. Having not found him and having had one too many beers, he walked home, leaving the truck and the keys in the ignition.
The rest of the gang, including Liam but excluding Miller, entered the clearing. Miller, while claiming not to be afraid of the clearing, refused to enter the clearing.
Upon examination of the clubhouse, the gang indeed found writing on the walls, drawings similar to the book Mr. Lovecraft had shown Anton, along with many of the slitted eyes. Of note, written on the wall was “HALP ME,” and “I DONT NO WERE I AM” in red chalk. Eerily, there were also the letters “I C U” written in the same red chalk nearby.
Investigating the area nearby, the gang found some other things of note: a partially burned note saying that Stuart was being suspended for throwing a chair out of a window. Liam explained that he remembered that day, having seen the incident first hand. Stuart claimed “they were watching” him through the window, and threw the chair to make “them” go away. The gang also found a strange scrapbook of sorts, showing hand-drawn (obviously by Stuart, and neither Miller nor Liam recognized it), and some toys. Pictures included a man passed out surrounded by beer bottles, a woman and girl with halos, a boy beaten up by other kids, a boy at night surrounded by eyes with a single slit, and a boy at night with black light coming from a point out in front of the clubhouse.
After talking with Liam further, it was discovered that Stuart had…powers. He could move things without touching them, and one time even killed Liam’s hamster. It was after this questioning that Liam’s eyes glazed over, and he entered the clubhouse followed by Goblin and Anton. Liam grabbed chalk and scribbled onto the wall “HE IS HERE.” A large sound was heard, and Anton and Goblin scrambled outside to find the trees of the clearing (and only surrounding the clearing) were moving and swaying violently, with the sound having been the crack of a tree falling. Anton, Goblin, and Zane went to check on Miller, as the tree fell near his location. The unthinkable had happened: the tree had fallen on Miller, who was now dead. But something strange happened…his face dissolved and a disembodied hand formed and began clawing its way towards the gang!
Zane then warned the gang that something…he didn’t know what, but something big was coming their way!
It turned out to be a snarling, rabid-looking bear!
Everyone rushed to the truck, except Kelly-Ann who had the keys to the truck (to prevent Goblin from just taking the truck; poor decision in hindsight), who was attempting to usher Liam to the truck, Liam still in some sort of daze. Kelly-Ann, while in the clubhouse, saw all of the drawn eyes looking around, then staring right at her!
Goblin, thinking on her feet, hotwired the truck and managed to get it running when a tree fell behind the truck, trapping us in the clearing!
Three hikers came out of the forest, gaping at what they saw, only to be killed by a large, rabid-looking elk! They, too, melted, and began forming disembodied body parts.
A vision was seen, of a boy in a ball, weeping in the darkness. Tentacles reach out for him, the boy screams, and suddenly we found ourselves back in reality.
A large pit of darkness opened in front of the clubhouse, out of which a number of writhing tentacles emerged. The disembodied body parts, sans head, coalesced into some sort of creature roughly the size of a boy, and began to amble towards the gang!
Despite her best efforts, Kelly-Ann could not hold on to Liam, and Liam was dragged into the pit of darkness! Next, in her attempt to get into the truck, Jessica was pulled into the darkness as well. Refusing to let Jessica go, Kelly-Ann threw a handful of salt at the creature ambling towards the gang and jumped in after Jessica and Liam.
Not knowing their fates, but assuming them dead, Goblin drove the truck into the treeline, only to get the truck stuck. Anton, Neil, Goblin, and Zane made a run for it, trying to flee from the nightmare they witnessed.
Meanwhile, Liam, Jessica, and soon afterwards Kelly-Ann, found themselves in some sort of rocky void, with tentacles reaching from below and a large tentacle coming out of a source of light at the end of the cavern. Stopping Liam from moving forward, the two girls saw what appeared to be a bulbous cocoon, upon which lay Stuart’s head, his body being consumed.
Heading over, Kelly-Ann examined it while tentacles reached for her. A voice said that it needed only one more victim to return, and Kelly-Ann, in an act of bravery and courage, chose to end the existence of what was no longer Stuart, slicing the cocoon open with her pocket knife. The voice screamed “NO!!!” as the tentacle from the light receded, though the tentacles from the deep cracks still grabbed on to her.
Suddenly, a great horned owl flew down and transformed into the Strange Man, who told Kelly-Ann to grab his hand. After a moment of trepidation, she did, as did Jessica.
The rest of the gang, bruised and beaten, scared out of their wits, stumbled away from the horrific carnage that was the clubhouse glade, until they reached a curious sight: another clearing with the Strange Man crouched over Kelly-Ann and Jessica, with Liam sitting to the side, playing with his Star Wars toys.
Other than being a little dirty, the three looked perfectly fine, and felt fine, like everything that had happened was naught but a bad dream.
The man turned to the gang at large and introduced himself as a Mr. Lyon, and that we had prevented Shaggoth from returning by escaping as he would have taken us and been stronger for it. He went on to say that, while we can see the darkness, it could see us, and that we should look out for ourselves and each other. He bid us farewell, telling us that we should come visit him at the Twilight Lodge sometime. Disappearing, he left behind a single owl feather.
What has become of our heroes? What, if anything, will they tell the authorities? What will they discover in or at the Twilight Lodge?
Join us next time, Dear Readers, for the continuation of our story!!
Dear Readers, I’ve made some good progress on this miniature this week.
Here’s how she looks:
I ended up using Wraith Black for her hair, which didn’t turn out quite as dark as I had hoped. I will likely do a dark wash over the hair to darken it up a little.
I used white for all the fur trim and for her cowl. I plan on making the wolf pelt she is wearing look more like a winter wolf, adding some blue dry brush or a light blue wash.
I went and also touched up a bunch of areas that needed it.
I know I haven’t posted any updates on my Battletech miniatures, but with the work I’ve been doing on this Goliath barbarian, in the hopes that I get it done before this coming Sunday, I really haven’t had time.
Tell me what you think in the comment section below.
The Ingrates’ battle with WAR is now over, but what about the rest of the kingdom? What are the consequences of this conflict? The Ingrates find out what’s in store for them!
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Dear Readers, as previously stated, I am taking a break from the Ingrates for a bit to get a chance to play. Arkon’s player is running a modified Kids on Bicycles campaign, using “Tales From the Loop” rules. The Ingrates will continue soon. Additionally, the last week of the month will be the KoB (Kids on Bicycles) campaign to keep me from burnout and to enable me to keep writing. With no further ado, enjoy!
It’s the Friday before the last week of school, and all of “the gang” are meeting up. Anton, the bookworm, Goblin, the junkyard weirdo, Neil, the computer geek, Kelly Ann, the hick, Zane, the rocker, and Jessica, the popular girl.
Everyone lives in the small New England town of Arkham Falls, Massachusetts.
The town, while fictional, is based on a real town in New Jersey, location-wise
Leaving school, the gang stopped by Smokey Joe’s, the local convenience store, to buy pop before our meetup.
Anton
Goblin
Jessica
Kelly-Ann
Neil
Zane
Meeting up at Goblin’s family’s junkyard where our hideout is (two side-by-side aluminum Airstreams; decked out with a generator and lights and such), the gang found out that one of Goblin’s brothers (one sibling of 12) was missing. He was found inside the gang’s clubhouse with two other children, his age (9), one of whom was crying.
Assessing the situation, the gang learned about Dmitri’s (Goblin’s brother) friend Liam said that his deceased friend Stuart Lovecraft (who was not well liked; the rumor is that he died of apparent suicide in Miskatonic Lake but no body was found) was haunting their clubhouse. The other friend of Liam said that Liam was making up the story for attention. According to Liam, he had taken a nap in the clubhouse, had a nightmare where Stuart had grabbed him from behind, and when he woke up, had two handprint bruises that Liam could not have made himself. He also mentioned some writing on the wall but that he didn’t catch what it said.
When asked where their clubhouse was, they proudly announced that it was in “the Woods.”
This was a place best avoided after dark, as it was well-believed by children that it was haunted.
The gang, seeing the hour, decided to head to Park Ranger Briggs Johnson, a close friend of Kelly-Ann, where we acquired one of a pair of maps that Ranger Johnson had found by accident, both located behind a picture, likely left behind by the previous park ranger. This map contained the information we were looking for (known trails in “the Woods”), as well as markings for other places, some with a question mark. Decided that we would not be entering into “the Woods” until the morning, we parted ways, each to our own homes, except Liam, who stayed the night at Goblin’s house with Dmitri.
After asking our parents, most of us got the runaround when discussing the Lovecraft boy, only noting the sadness of the situation.
Goblin’s conspiracy-theorist/doomsday prepper father, on the other hand, told Goblin about Mr. Lovecraft’s wife and daughter had been allegedly murdered some years ago, with the former town doctor, Dr. James Madison Ford believed to be the culprit. When brought to trial, it ended in a hung jury, acquitting Dr. Ford. It was also discovered that Dr. Ford had apparently died in his home during a freak house fire.
Each member of the gang made their own preparations the night before, Anton having made a copy of the map using tracing paper, and Neil using his computer to create a database to cross-reference, and others deciding what to pack for the day to come.
The gang met at Goblin’s, and headed out, at 8 am. As they passed Smokey Joe’s, Anton spied a strange man, someone that, after some thought, seem to have been following him of later. While trying to relay this to Neil, he blacked out, seeing a strange arcane sigil, one he couldn’t keep in his head, crashing to the ground. Kelly-Ann chased after where Anton said the man had been and found only an owl’s feather; a horned owl’s feather – one that was not native to the area…When checking for tracks, the tracks ended at the feather.
The Strange Man following Anton
Heading up the road, and west, staying north of “the Woods,” Liam led the gang south, starting from the North/Northwest corner. After some time on a known trail, Liam stopped his bike, and revealed a hidden trail that we re-covered and continued onwards down.
Twenty minutes later, the gang was led to a large clearing, in the center of which was a hill, and upon that hill was a burned out house! There was no question as to whose home this was: the late Dr. Ford!
After examining the ruins, from where Liam said he and his friends get materials for their own clubhouse in the woods to the other side of the hill, the gang found several things of note: first, that this was an older teen’s hangout, second, that there were many pieces of paper with strange physics formulae on them.
Liam, with his binoculars, began checking the scene for his clubhouse and to “make sure it’s clear.”
While checking out the house, Kelly-Ann’s dog began clawing at something in a wall. After moving a heavy piece of dilapidated furniture, a hole in the wall was discovered, with a metal ladder going down.
The gang headed down this hole only to find a basement of some kind with strange purple crystals and a large ball of purple energy!
What is going on with Liam’s clubhouse? What’s with the Strange Man following Anton? What is the purpose of this bizarre room under Dr. Ford’s burned out home?
Dear Readers, it’s been an interesting last few years, hasn’t it? I mean, with this Biblical-proportion seeming plague going throughout the world and all of us wanting a return to “normal” (whatever that means), things have been crazy.
And thus part of why I began this blog. To have something awesome to do during the plague. And boy howdy has it been awesome.
As we come into the holiday season, with family visiting, it will be hard to give you regular updates.
That said, I can promise the following: 1 painting update, 1 A Player’s Perspective, and 1 Premium Content post a week until after New Years. Yeah, I know, I’m the “Daily” Dungeon Master. That doesn’t mean that I won’t get out an extra Painting Update, or an occasional DM Story. It just means that my posting schedule is going to slow down through the holidays.
Thanks for your patience and understanding, and I hope you continue to have a wonderful holiday season, however and from wherever you celebrate it!
Dear Readers, I have developed, as the title suggests, an obsession with painting my new pewter Battletech miniatures. Like, I have almost totally abandoned my Dungeons & Dragons miniatures in favor of painting my Battletech ones.
And I couldn’t be more excited about it.
As my main shipment of Battletech miniatures should be on the way and arriving any day now (yes, I know I have said this before, but I’ve seen the Kickstarter update), I want to get a head start and painting my battlemech armies, both Clanner and Inner Sphere.
As I have said before, my intention is that my Inner Sphere battlemechs will be Wolf’s Dragoons, while my Clanner mechs will be Clan Ghost Bear.
Here is where I’ve gotten:
Black Knight:
Status – Done
Issues – I might have put the decals on the wrong side of the mech. Frankly, I don’t care. It looks good. If I had to really make a complaint, it would be that the decal doesn’t show up very well on top of black, meaning that I may have to put a white dot underneath the decals in the future. That will be how I do my Atlas just to see how it turns out.
Photo:
For those wondering where I got those wonderful decals, I found them on Etsy. I bought both Clan Ghost Bear and Wolf’s Dragoons. In total, I think they cost me maybe $20. Not bad.
They are simple enough to apply, simply dip them in water slide off the decal from the cardboard backing, and apply it to your Mech. I will warn you, you have to do some serious finagling when it comes to the tinier decals, but as long as you cut them out well enough, they should stick just fine.
According to the coloring scheme website that I found, the decals should have been on the right side of the mech. Lesson learned, and I will be doing the future mechs on the right.
I’m not quite sure how that is supposed to work out with the zeta painted on the left leg as well, but I will figure it out.
That’s what it’s supposed to look like on a Marauder, but I’m not sure about other mechs.
Next, the Atlas.
Status – unfinished
Issues – he is a very big boy. He is going to take a lot of paint. I want to make sure that I have enough of the colors that I need to make sure that he is done.
I plan on having his weapons painted and a good dry brush completed this evening. That should carry me until I can figure out where and how I’m going to apply his decals.
MadCat/Timberwolf:
Status – unfinished.
Issues – still working on the atlas first. That said, I’m really hoping that the wash that I end up using will darken up the colors significantly on this mech. The simple fact is that the deep blue that I found is not deep enough. At least for this color scheme that I’ve chosen. To add insult to injury, after looking over it, I found that my initial paint job is poor, and that’s giving myself a lot of credit. I missed a lot of lines and nooks that I really shouldn’t have.
That said, I have found a great resource as to where to put the decals:
That color scheme website shows slightly differently, but I think that’s because placement is depending on the shape and style of the mech. The only issue I’m having right now is the size of the decal compared to the size of the mech. According to the picture, I rather large decal on this particular model will be needed.
Personally, I’m thinking that either the second or the third smallest decal should work just fine.
So what do you think, Dear Readers? Do you like my new obsession? Let me know in the comments section below.
I do have another miniature that I plan on painting during this, a female Goliath Barbarian, that I’m painting for a friend.
I would really like to have it done, ideally, by next Sunday. We shall see.
The Ingrates slowly gathered themselves on the outskirts of Borest trying to account for every member after they had successfully found and lightly raided the goblin outpost in the dwarven cliff fortress. With the final member assembled, the party members assessed that their raid had pointed out some obvious weaknesses and traps of the goblin forces, so they planned to return and finish the goblin forces and their Nilbog leader. At dawn’s early light, the troupe made their way back to the fortress, and upon their return, the defenders had made measures to ensure the fortress was impenetrable by blocking all known entrances and portholes. However, the band was pleased to see that the desperate goblins had not found the secret entrance the party had used on their previous visit, so they companions once again delved into the depths in the hope of freeing Borest from this plight.
Plans and strategy was devised as the party soon discovered the goblin forces spread throughout the fortress awaiting the return of the Ingrates, but magical scrying had shown the Nilbog surrounded by only a handful of guards. The scrying also revealed a still living dwarf being tortured by the Nilbog. Determining this to be a good of a time as any to take on the Nilbog while his forces appeared spread thin enough, the Ingrates moved into the main temple of Falinora trying to keep an almost silent presence, and one would they would have succeeded in not drawing attention. However, the goblinoids proved to be far more patient and treacherous, for a dozen hulking and raging bugbears accompanied by hobgoblins jumped from the corpse pile to surprise their unwanted visitors. The companions rolled with the brunt and powerful strike from the bugbears and hobgoblins, but a moment later the Nilbog, as if expecting the intruders, flooded into the temple with additional goblins to make matters worse.
In the course of the battle, several party members fell and were wounded in horrendous manners, and at times it seemed this may have been the final fight the group had picked. At one point, the Ingrates whittled down the dastardly goblinoids forces to only a couple veteran hobgoblin fights, but the Nilbog proceeded to call upon his cursed magical connection to take form in a hulking stone dwarven statue. This pinnacle moment proved to be the final stage of this battle, for once the heroes were able to crumble the statue’s defense, the Nilbog’s corporeal form left the statue and moved to take control of another statue. However, the combined divine and arcane magic of Avery and Dacyria disrupted and disintegrated the Nilbog’s form who only let out a maniacal final laugh as it vanished from existence. The Ingrates looked to their exhausted and wounded compatriots for reassurance the fight was over, and they were pleased to find they had once again made it through the throngs of adversity…
Dear Readers, I am usually wary of certain things sold on Etsy.
But then I came across these…
If you are unable to tell, they are clear dice with flowers in the center, specifically, daisies.
They are a gift for someone very special to me that absolutely loves daisies and loves the occasional nerdy gift.
They turned out absolutely beautiful, as you can tell. They also seem to roll pretty well.
3DEGOS notified me after a few weeks telling me that there was a quality assurance problem with my original order and that they would get another set made and sent out as soon as possible. As compensation, as it was taking so long, they offer to send me another set of dice, completely complimentary.
did a quick browsing of their shop, I found a set called Necromancer Bone. They look pretty cool, so I requested those.
They are absolutely stunning!
But there is a catch…
As you can see, the daisy set is normal sized.
Then there is the Necromancer Bone set…
They. Are. Huge!
I had no idea they would be that big!
Don’t get me wrong, I love them all the same, they are just so huge for a dice set.
All in all, 3DEGOS did a wonderful job, had amazing customer service, and both of the sets are great. I will definitely be buying from them again in the future. Their quality rivals the best of even the biggest names in dice makers, like Kraken Dice and Dice Envy.
So check out their shop and tell me what you think!
Then there is my set from Dice Envy. And oooh boy did they deliver yet again! The $35 subscription has shown this dice goblin that it’s still worth it!
It is a metal set, with a brushed feel to it, with a purple shimmer, which I really like, and are called The Sorcerous Grasp set.
The set came with the following description:
“The subtle shift that occurs just at the edges of these dice has an air of mystery to it – what’s lurking in the shadows of This brilliant purple set? Could you catch it if you turn it fast enough? From closer up? From further back? Maybe. Why don’t you find out?”
They have an interesting font, as you can see. The zero is fairly interesting to say the least. They say that it’s a custom font that they chose specifically for these dice, called “Mage Hand.”
As they are metal dice, you can imagine their weight, which is considerable, even for metal dice. If I had to give one complaint, which really isn’t a complaint, it’s that it has rather sharp edges and points, which will leave dents in most tables. I would recommend rolling these in a dice tray or on a dice mat or something similar. I really wouldn’t recommend rolling this on your character sheet or on a bear table, as it is very likely that this will leave behind indentations in anything else they roll on.
Here we are again, dear readers with an update on my BattleTech miniature painting. As you will undoubtedly see, I have been hard at work painting these miniatures.
With no further ado, let’s get started!
First off, we have the Atlas, the pain in my backside.
Remember how much primer it took to get this guy?Well, this is what I used, as the base coat, for the Wolf’s Dragoons mechs.
It took… a considerable amount of paint to get this guy looking good with his base coat.
The Black Knight, on the other hand, has been much kinder to me.
As you can see, I was able to get his base coat done as well as start working on the gunmetal I used for his weapons.
Unfortunately, due to my busy schedule, that’s all I have for right now. I look forward to seeing you guys next time!
Hello Readers! I’m back to give a player’s recounting of the events the Inglorious Ingrates have faced since last time I have posted. Not all has been quiet since the fall of War and his forces near Red Fern, but rather the next chapter has begun to flesh out the interwoven storylines of our heros and where they will go next. This will primarily hitting up high points the party have encountered, so my notes may be a little shorthand as to what really happened.
With the defeat of War consequently causing his forces to become nothing more than a unorganized mob, the Ingrates and the forces of the Kingdom of Endyr were able to vanquish the rest of the followers and declare victory at last! There was much celebration and rewards were handed out like candy to the Ingrates for the pivotal role in bringing War down. However, unnerving reports shortly began to circulate in the capital of Red Fern of the true costs of war had wrought on the people of this kingdom. Tales of rampant famine, civil unrest, and troublesome raiding were taking a toll on the common folk who bore the brunt of the losses in the battle with War, and the Ingrates suspected the remaining horseman of Famine, Pestilence, and Death and their lieutenants were behind these most recent troubles. Seeking to restore a sense of order and security from the King of Endyr, the Ingrates were hired to escort a caravan containing supplies for several towns hemorrhaging for food and miscellaneous supplies, and our party soon set out for the closests town of Ryhb.
It did not take long for the rumored troubles to face the party head long, for only a few hours into the trip to Ryhb a group of raiders attacked the caravan. The party was clearly outmatched by figures resembling Tabaxi, yet a keen eyed revealed them not to be true feline humanoids. Before the party could gather more information, the raiders magically vanished into the darks of the plains surrounding the caravan, and they left the wounded party members with hesitation as to what the rest of their journey had in store for them. With a spring in their steed’s steps, the caravan was finally able to make it to the decent-sized city of Rybh (a medium sized town of about 5000 people who relied on shipping and fishing for income) along the western coast of Endyr. The Ingrates pulled the wagons into the gates of the town, and were expecting a night of full rest to recover their thoughts. Fate had other plans for our heroes for as soon as the gate was shut, the air became charged with a hostile energy as the guards sought to take Dacryia and Avery away to face trial for being of nobility, responsible for the town’s hardships. This turn of events did not bode well for the guards, for they were quickly dispatched by the Ingrates. The situation further evolved when a mob led by a disheveled man called King Randal came to parley with the group, and the party soon discovered the recent events that had led to this town’s new governance. The arcane members of the party used their magical deduction and investigations skills matched with expert negotiation skills to convince King Randal and the people of Rybh their woes were the direct effect of recent magical stones that had rained all over the kingdom after the passing of War, and to fix the problems they would need to gather those stones scattered throughout the nearby region and destroy them. In exchange for this information and the food from the caravan, the Ingrates requisitioned a ship to travel to their next destination which was the town of Borest.
The party sailed the burrowed galleon filled with food supplies to a beach close to the town of Borest, and discovered the town was plagued again by goblins blockading and bullying the folk. The difference this time facing the heroes was that a creature described as a Nilbog was leading the goblin hoards, and quickly made his presence known by assaulting the Ingrates with his hobgoblin and bugbear bullies. The luck of the Ingrates held out as they were able to vanquish the gang of goblinoids, and townsfolk of Borest revealed that the forces typically originated from the uncharted forest north of the village. Seeking to once again free the people from the strong arm of the Nilbog, the heroes traveled into the forest, and they found an abandoned fortress purposely built into a cliffside. Not seeking to fall into any likely trap laid in preparation by the goblin forces, the Ingrates identified and entered a well hidden entrance at the side of the cliff that appeared to lead towards the fortress. Inside, the companions discovered that this place was a home to the mythical and long forgotten dwarven people, but most surprising of all was that many dwarves had recently been killed in a great struggle for the fortress. A myriad of finely crafted dwarven items and iconography pointed to the evident worship of Falinora by the dwarves, and stranger still was the implications of the goblin forces taking over such a well defended location. The investigation of the area finally led the party to Nilbog who had prepared a deadly welcome, but caution and luck enabled the Ingrates to escape with no bodily harm while inflicting chaos and losses on the goblinoid forces.
I will be taking off from Sunday, 21 November, until the following Sunday for Thanksgiving. I’ll be super busy with family coming into town that posting will be difficult, if not impossible. I’ll be returning to post that following Monday, the 29th.
2) Inglorious Ingrates
As I’ve posted before, I’ve hit a brick wall and I’m suffering from very severe writer’s block. My group and I, meaning the Inglorious Ingrates, have agreed that I’m suffering from a little bit of burnout. There are six episodes left that have yet to be released for our Premium Subscribers to preview.
The Thursday premium content will still be released, but different. I’ll be working on my “How-To Paint Minis” videos. We may even record the Kids on Bicycles game, I don’t know. Just know that I won’t leave you hanging. Hopefully by then I will be back up and running the Ingrates.
Speaking of, the Ingrates will be releasing now all but the last week of the month, where we will be playing / continuing the Kids on Bicycles game. What this means is that one week a month, I get a break where I can play. This also gives me some extra time to campaign plan. I’m sure you fellow Dungeon Masters out there understand.
That’s all I have today, Dear Readers. I’m going to go back to writing so I can finish up for tonight, for the Inglorious Ingrates’ last adventure for a time while I rest and recuperate, and hopefully get over my writer’s block.
Hey Dear Readers, today I’m going to continue on with painting my Battletech minis. I don’t expect this to be a very long post, mostly because I will be priming my two Inner Sphere mechs, and doing a base coat on my Clanner mech.
Also, update on my shipment from Catalyst Game Labs, I got the link for my downloadable content, which I am guessing/hoping means my stuff is being shipped.
In any case, on to the painting:
Here we have my big boy, my 100 ton Atlas. Ain’t he a beaut!
It’s Primer Grey time!
This guy really is big, it took me two large dollops of paint to get about 2/3 of him primed…
And I still have a ways to go! Also, it doesn’t help that he has tons of nooks and crannies.
Two more dollops of paint got me done. I may see something later after it dries, but I’m calling it good for now.
Now for the Black Knight.
I’m still working at priming the base, but for all intents and purposes, he is done. Now he and the Atlas just have to dry.
Last, putting on the base coat for my Mad Cat/Timberwolf.
I was looking for a good color, a dark blue, to match the blue for the Sigma Galaxy. And I found this:
Personally, I think it’ll turn out great, especially after shading is done.
Here we are prior to painting, after being re-primed:
I know the other day that I said that I was going to go with the Rasalhague Galaxy paint scheme, but I ordered Ghost Bear decals and don’t want them to go to waste. I know it won’t be 100% accurate due to the fact that the Sigma Galaxy uses a green hued decal, but I think I’ll just be fine with the regular decals.
Here is their paint scheme:
A nice dark blue with gray highlights.
So here he is with the base coat. Remember though that the blue will be a slight shade darker once I get done with doing shading.
Although it does look very similar to a certain blue of ultramarines, they are different. This one is actually a little lighter. If it wasn’t so dang expensive, or I had actually thought about it, I might have used Macrage Blue. C’est la vie.
In any case, what do you all think? I hope you’re enjoying this little installment of me painting my metal battlemechs. Let me know your thoughts in the comment section below.
Dear Readers, you may remember these guys from last week when I repaired or put together for the first time, these guys:
Well, I’ve decided to try my hand at painting these metal ones before I try working on all of my plastic ones.
I’m going to, as usual, start with priming. The Timberwolf is already mostly primed, but due to rough handling on my part, needs redone.
For reference, I am using Army Painter Grey Primer.
As you can probably notice, there are some splotchy looking gray spots, some are light gray, some are dark gray. The difference is that the last time I primed this, I primed it with a spray paint primer. Today I’m using the Army painter primer to cover up the previous spots. It shouldn’t really matter in the end.
I was next going to work on the Atlas, but there is only one problem: when putting them together, I totally forgot to wash him.
Unfortunately, this same problem comes with the Black Knight as well.
So a washing I will do!
Notice the shine has disappeared?
This is what happens when you don’t take your own advice! Now I have to wait for those to air dry for a day before I can actually touch them for painting.
Oh well.
I’d love to paint the Timberwolf more, but I realized, while making this post that I don’t have a dark enough blue to do the paint configuration that I want for the Ghostbear Dominion/Rasalhague Galaxy paint scheme.
Observe:
As the entirety of the base color is this very dark blue, I’m stuck. Especially since the highlights are what are silver and gold.
Today has been a lesson in poor planning.
Lesson learned.
Speaking of Battletech Miniatures, I’m supposed to be getting all of my Kickstarter stuff any time now. And it will be considerable. I’m hoping to get it by December at this point. Here is hoping.
Well, Dear Readers I’m sorry I didn’t have a longer post for you today. Poor planning on my part and all that. I’ll have a better update for you at a future time this next week once I have the paint that I need.
Though they missed opportunities to assassinate him on multiple occasions, the party had never come this close.
The joyless game of cat and mouse had persisted for months. But now, at the worst of times, here he is, right at the doorstep of their new allies.
In their own environment, the Bugbear tribesmen can handle Hobgoblin cavalry. What they cannot handle is HIM.
“Having just conducted a wedding for these guys, my character kinda wants to do whatever to make sure they don’t like die right away”
“Well yeah, I mean they at LEAST need time to… ya know… SEAL THE DEAL”
So the party of five mounts their horses and rides out of the woods: darting around trees, leaping over streams, racing towards their enemy. If they can pull off a successful delay action, the tribesmen can vanish into the forest and slowly make their way to the vales of the Kelna Mountains.
But they need time.
Bursting from the forest, the party gazes across windswept plains. Though several hundred yards away, he is not hard to spot: his armored cuirass gleaming in the sunlight. But no one is fooled by his noble front.
“F*ck … this… guy”
The Hobgoblin Republic may know honor, but this ‘paladin’ certainly does not. If ever his heart harbored courtly love or divine grace, a sickness of sadism has consumed him. He is more akin to a butcher, reveling in the blood of innocents and combatants alike. A legacy ruled by atrocity.
“… F*ck it. I draw my Zweihander and dash forward”
With a sense of duty, or rage, or fear, or some combination of the three, the party gallops to meet him in the field.
It ends today. “Vunker the Cold” will not see the sunset.
…
Hooves and paws pound into the earth, racing to meet one another headon. As the distance closes, spells fly and arrows soar, but before long the shattering of spears and ringing of steel echoes across the plain.
Mounts passing, crashing, and wheeling through the chaos. The party throws everything they have at this most hated of foes.
“I cast Hunger of Hadar”
“I use my action surge”
“Right as my mount begins to go down, I’m gonna use my action to sprout wings and take to the skies”
The skirmish continues for several minutes, but eventually, the party gains the upper hand. A massive “Wall of Fire ” separates Vunker from his unit, and a well placed rogue’s arrow pierces his worg’s heart. throwing him to the ground.
(Damn… they have some serious area control spells…)
Vunker is thrown to the ground and stumbles forward, limping and cursing. It is clear that one more hit should end him once and for all.
“Well… I know its only been like 4 rounds… but I’m a warlock so… Eldritch blast… does a 24 hit?”
And it is done.
Vunker, the shameless and vile general of the Hobgoblin legions, now facedown in the dirt, just like so many of his victims before.
Seeing their commander down, most of the cavalry flee
“Hahaha they’re also like ‘he SUUUUCKED’”
But one soldier remains.
…
A Lieutenant rides over, dismounts, and stands over his master. To the party’s surprise, rather than paying respects or attempting to retrieve the body, the soldier rummages around, frantically searching through his master’s corpse for…something.
It doesn’t matter… he doesn’t find it.
Instead, he screams.
Smoke emits from the corpse, swirling about the Lieutenant and consuming the body. The officer pulls his dagger and, in a fury and a frenzy, hacks at the corpse.
Suddenly, a hand shoots forth amidst the smoke and blows. With authority it ignores the violence and grasps its attacker’s neck. The Lieutenant attempts to shout, but the party hears nothing; fingers close and crush his throat.
Fingers stripped of red flesh… bare, naked bone remains.
The hobgoblin’s eyes go wide with horror as he desperately flails to escape. But with the flick of a wrist, the hand snaps the Lieutenant’s neck. And as the limp body falls into the grass, another rises, emerging from the ruinous corpse of Vunker.
A being of rot and ruin… a mantle darkness resting upon charred, blasted armor. Even in broad daylight, through the smoke, into the decay, the party can see red eyes beam through the cloven helm. His icy gaze finds them, looks deep, and fills their innermost places with dread.
Paralyzed with fear, the party witnesses a summoning: motions and shouts… a brief red pentagram…a steed bellowing flames.
“…oh sh#t…”
And as he rides into the sky, a new truth dawns on the party.
Vunker the Cold is no longer the disgraced Paladin of the Hobgoblin legions.
Sorry Dear Subscribers that this took so long. This delay was due to several reasons: 1) Technical difficulties 2) The fact that this episode was recorded in two parts, both relatively long (I’ll get to that later), and lastly 3) Life got in the way
The reason it was recorded in two pieces was due to the fact that, about an hour or so into the first part, which was supposed to be Episode 16, I got the call from my wife that we had a family emergency. I rushed home.
Most of you know the rest of the story that involves me living out of a hotel with my family for over a month and a half.
In any case, with no further ado, here is Episode 16!
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Well, Dear Readers, I finally got some more Battletech stuff. Unfortunately, I still haven’t gotten my “big” order from the Kickstarter.
Sad mech noises
But, that didn’t stop me from buying some of the pewter Iron Wind Metals battlemechs!
So I am going to share a couple of things with you all today, the repair of my two other Mechs (battle damage, I’m sure), the Atlas and the Mad Cat/Timberwolf, and the easy assembly of the BL-6-KNT Black Knight, a wonderful Inner Sphere mech.
First, the repairs…
I will start with the atlas. One of his arms fell off as well as one of his legs. Additionally the hex base I had for him originally did not work out. It was too small for the Mad Cat so I had to use one of the printed bases. That’s fine.
It was all well and good until a leg came off. I should have pinned it, but oh well. Gather the pieces… At least now he’s standing on his own. Finally assembled! He looks so handsome on his new base!
Next we have the repair of the Mad Cat. This one made me a little mad. One of his lasers, as you look at him, the right side, was being difficult when I tried to glue it back on. It doesn’t help that the part is super tiny and I have big fat sausages for fingers. I ended up pulling out a set of tweezers to be able to hold it in place while it held. You will see what I mean.
That white spot on the main body is where the laser goes. Stupid Medium Pulse Laser… All pretty on its base.
Next is the assembly of the Black Knight. I pulled up a YouTube video detailing how to put it together, but the moment I saw them putting the arms on before the arm mounted cannon I turned it off. Here is my step-by-step:
I am kicking myself because I forgot to wash him. Oh well. I’ll wait for the glue to dry and give him a good scrub down.Got to clip those… I sanded around the parts of the arm, the shoulders specifically, to make them a little more smooth after having clipped them off of the mold. See? You put the cannon on first as it’s a smaller part. Then you go ahead and mount the arm.Like so. The miniature is all done now. Next is gluing him to the base.And he is done! All that is needed is to be primed and painted.
There you have it, Dear Readers.
I hope you enjoyed and stay tuned for when I paint the Black Knight!
As many players read this blog, I know that many of them are DMs. This post is for you folks.
Dear Readers, I am in a bad slump. My MS has been acting up and with that comes my depression and anxiety. I’m sure many of you know how it goes with that!
To add insult to injury, I’ve hit a wall. Bad.
I’ve developed a horrible combination of DM Burnout and writer’s block.
Usually, I can work through bouts of burnout with holiday breaks and such helping out. Not this time. I know where the story is supposed to go, but I’m having a hard time getting there.
And this is for the Ingrates.
As the youths would say: Big mood.
Fortuitously, one of my players (the guy that plays Arkon in the Ingrates) recently picked up a copy of the “Kids on Bicycles” RPG. He liked the concept but not the rules, so he’s using another system, Tales From the Loop.
He offered to run it for a few months while I get past my writer’s block and burnout.
I, of course, accepted.
The concept is that we live in the town of Arkham Falls, Massachusetts. We are all kids between the ages of 12-15 (I think about half of us are 13, the others 14). I am playing a “bookworm” (that’s the class) who is the type of guy who’s friends with just about everyone.
We have a computer geek, a hick, a weirdo, a popular kid, and a rocker. It’s looking to be great game. I will likely be writing summaries of our sessions, under “A Player’s Perspective.”
In the meantime, to give our GM time to finish preparing, I am running two more sessions, taking a break for Thanksgiving week, then beginning our story in Arkham Falls.
But I was able to get my new painting station set up (for the most part; you see a trend?), and got a little bit of painting done.
Unfortunately, this afternoon, I ended up having to drive to my local VA hospital for an appointment that I nearly forgot about (it’s an hour and a half away), where I spent the time getting my eyes checked out, to include getting my pupils dilated.
Then I had to wait.
Why, you may ask?
Because I’m an idiot, that’s why.
I drove myself an hour and a half away, got my eyes dilated and then couldn’t drive home right away. Because my eyes were dilated. So I had to wait and wait, at a Burger King no less, because I was able to drive that far at least, and get my Impossible Whopper and onion rings on.
Until I could drive again.
Yeah…
So here I am, at home, and finally able to at least give you a small painting update on the death tyrant I’ve been painting, as well as a short story on a future project.
He still had a bit to go and as you can see, his base coat is using quite a bit of paint. No surprises there, as he’s not a small miniature.
He’s coming along, but there are still small areas I’m seeing that I am missing. Some intentional, and some not so much.
Like this one:
Below, it is with most of the base coat done. I want him to dry out before I tackle the second coat. I want to also have better light so I can better see anywhere I may have missed.
I can already see some spots I missed by his jaw. I’ll tackle it Wednesday most likely.
So that’s the work I’ve gotten done on him.
On to the next part.
The other day, I was heading out to my game store to pick up the Battletech stuff that I’d ordered. Cool, right?
Well, my 4-year old heard the magic words (the fact that I was leaving the house) and insisted that he wanted to come with. My wife put on the biggest smile and said “Yeah, of course you can go! You can even get a mini!”
Wait…what?!
“Uhh…” I began.
“We’ll get a dragon mini, mommy!” my toddler exclaimed.
“Uhhh….” I continued. “That’s a $15 mini!”
“Who cares. Take your son with you. Get the mini.”
“Umm…okay…”
And thus how I came back home with this:
Truth be told, I have zero plans to paint him any time soon. I am going to need so much paint for him, possibly even spray paint. He’s not small.
But that’s still a project I can do for another day.
In fact, I still owe the Nalfeshnee demon painted to someone who asked to see that one done.
One project at a time, folks.
Well, that’s what I have for you today. Hopefully I’ll be able to get back to a more consistent posting schedule.
I’ve also, for my Premium Subscribers out there, been told that the latest and greatest preview of the Ingrates will be done this week! So stay tuned for that. If you aren’t a Premium Subscriber, consider becoming one to get access to our game podcast before we release them!
So the guys are finishing up the house today! All of my furniture should be back in which means I’ll be able to go back to painting and making regular posts again!
As a consolation, here are a bunch of memes:
So thank again for your patience and understanding. I know I’ve said that a lot, but I’ll be back on a more normal posting schedule soon!
My house is nearly done, and it’s done enough that I can move back in!
Which means…
I got some painting done!
Not a lot, mind you, but I got some painting done on a new miniature.
As you can see I don’t have a whole lot of accomplished on him, not even the first coat. But I had some extra time so I wanted to get something done.
Here’s the palette that I’ll be working with:
That’s just what I’ve come up with so far. I’m sure that I’ll have more to add later.
Additionally, I wanted to tell you all about something that I acquired while I was out of town. A mystery dice bag.
It comes with, of course, a hand sewn dice bag with an internal lining to boot! In addition to that, I have a random set of dice and a random miniature as well as one of the buttons that one of the owners makes, particularly an alignment button.
As you can see I got a beautiful set of green dice, that chaotic good button, and a male human sorcerer!
It’s from Syndicate Games, based in a little town called Kearney in Nebraska. I happen to have been passing through and discovered this gem. This past weekend they were at Anime NebrasKon.
Courtesy of their Facebook Page
If you ever happen to be in the area or passing through, I highly recommend dropping by to see their handmade wares, and maybe catch a game of Warhammer or some D&D. The owners are all amazing and friendly and it’s a great atmosphere in the store.
Well, that’s all I have for today. Thanks for your awesomeness and your patience as I begin to ramp back up my posting.
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