Combat Counters Kickstarter is Live!

My next Kickstarter is now up and running. This time I'm going to produce sets of dry-wip counters for tabletop games. There are several designs and 2 colour choices. If we hit some Stretch Goals then more colours get added. There's also a Designer Pledge Level where you get to brief the design for a counter and then we add it to the project. I shall bring some samples of the counters to Dragonmeet on Saturday 30th November.

Here's a link to the campaign: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1730454032/combat-counters/description

Battlepad Kickstarter is Live!

My new project is up on Kickstarter. I'll be doing lots of sample maps for this one as usual, which I'll be posting every day or two. The project has got several stretch goals ready and waiting which will add lots of extra value for backers.

Here's a link to the Kickstarter page: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1730454032/a2-battlepad-by-squarehex

Reaper II

I've had my Reaper Bones from the first Kickstarter for just over 2 weeks and now I find myself salivating at the thought of buying hundreds more of them and waiting a year or so to get them.  I actually think the models being offered are better than many of the last lot.  I'm sure they'll set Kickstarter records and can easily see it passing the $10,000,000 mark. If you haven't already taken a look check out the Kickstarter here.

Tome of Horrors Minis Kickstarter

I've been following the Tome of Horrors Miniatures Kickstarter for a couple of weeks now.  Today I decided to jump in at the $200 level (plus a bit extra for shipping and add-ons).  When the project launched I didn't think much of the initial 17 monsters they'd selected, but as things have progressed they've added some I like a lot more.  There are also some great potential additions if the next few stretch goals are reached.

The project seem better implemented than the Demons and Devils Kickstarter that Center Stage Minis ran last year (sorry I just couldn't get my head around that one).  This time they have included the option to completely customise the selection of miniatures your pledge gets you.  Added to that they are offering extras of nearly all the figures in the campaign (including some pretty big things) for just $5 each.

Otherworld Miniatures Dungeon Adventurers Range

Otherworld Miniatures are launching a range of no less than 48 minis in their new Dungeon Adventurer range.  Development of this substantial range is being funded by an Indiegogo campaign.

http://www.indiegogo.com/otherworldDA

The image below shows sculpts of the first four adventurers and I have to say they look really great, with bags of personality and real dungeon-ready equipment.

146+ Reaper Miniatures for $100

Reaper have got an amazing Kickstarter campaign going on at the moment (ends Saturday 25th August), that is smashing through its stretch goals at a blistering pace.  At present, $100 down gets you 146 miniatures delivered in March next year.  However, given the rate at which the stretch goals are being hit that number should easily hit 200+ before the end. 

The Kickstater also has great add-ons for larger figures, paints and cases all of which are priced at around half their expected retail prices.  The campaign is somewhat complex to grasp at first, but that is simply because they have added so much to it over the last few weeks.  Here's a link to the main page:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1513061270/reaper-miniatures-bones-an-evolution-of-gaming-min

Figure Box #1 Giant Cave/Rock Troll

I have a love/hate relationship with miniatures.  I love playing games with them, and I enjoy painting them, but the time I have available to paint them is very limited.

To combat this I've adopted a two pronged strategy.  Firstly, I look for clever ways to acheive reasonable painting results with minimal effort (using products like Army Painter's Quickshade for instance).  Secondly, if possible, I buy pre-painted miniatures on eBay.  However, whilst looking for figures on eBay, I often stumble across more than just piles of Warhammer regiments and WOTC D&D minis.  For a start, there's plenty of Old School lead miniatures from the 1980s.  Some of them are rare and expensive (Citadel AD&D, Grenadier Giants, etc.), but many are very reasonable.  With a bit more searching, you can also find miniatures that are not strictly intended for gaming but can still be used to great effect.

A good example is the Lord of the Rings Cave Troll from the Eaglemoss Collector's Range (in the UK they sold these in newsagents for £5.99, for a pre-painted, 60-70mm tall lead figure and magazine).  I think the Cave Troll must have been a special issue as he's 80mm tall.  Anyway, these things often pop up on eBay and many of them only reach a pound or two:

Completed eBay Auction 1
Completed eBay Auction 2

After reading Carter's Rock Troll in The Lands of Ara Compendium , I immediately thought of this figure.  Mine is shown below up against a small (soon to be even smaller) party of adventurers.  The second picture shows the troll in close-up with an Asgard Dwarf to demonstrate scale.

Paint Log 1 - Otherworld Miniatures Giant Rats

I had a great meeting with Richard Scott of Otherworld Miniatures a couple of weeks ago.  As a result, not least because of the review samples I came away with, my interest in miniatures is renewed.

It's been about 20 years since I last painted miniatures on a regular basis, so I'm a bit rusty.  Issue 7 of Oubliette will have an interview with Richard and a feature on miniatures.  In the meantime, I plan to paint the selection of figures he kindly gave me, and post a paint log for each of them.  I'll include brief details of the paints and materials used, the basic techniques, and step-by-step photos.  I'm not claiming to be an authority on miniature painting, or to have a great talent for it, but beginners might pick up a few tips on how to paint miniatures to a reasonable gaming standard.  I'll also find the painting logs useful in case I need to paint more of the same type of figures and need them look the same as ones painted previously.

Paint Log 1 - Otherworld Miniatures Giant Rats DV3a

1. Matt black undercoat (Humbrol Matt Black enamel).  If you have a matt black spray it will save time.  Sometimes I use a white undercoat, but  as the rats are going to be quite dark, black gives a better base.  The undercoat allows water based paints to be applied more easily and produces a stronger, more even finish.
2. Dark brown basecoat (Miniature Paints Umber).  Gives a solid dark brown shade.  Thanks to the black undercoat only a thin coat is required.
3. Medium brown drybrush (Vallejo Flat Earth).  The whole miniature is drybrushed quite heavily so it looks much lighter.
4. Light brown drybrush (Vallejo Light Brown).  Again over the whole miniature but with a much lighter touch.  Then heavier drybrushing on the nose, paws and tail.
5. Light flesh drybrush (Citadel Elf Flesh).  Only on the nose, paws and tail.
6. Dark brown wash (Miniature Paints Umber).  Only applied to small areas as required to tidy up imperfections left by stray drybrushing.
7. White (Citadel White).  Paint the teeth and also use as a base colour to help the eyes stand out.
8. Red (Citadel Blood Red). Paint the over the white laid down on the eyes.
9. The rats come with thin metal flagstone effect base and 25mm round plastic bases.  For me these are a little large so I made my own bases using pennies and cork discs.  I'll make use of the flagstone ones with some other figures though.
10. Glue rats to bases.
11. Black wash (Humbrol Matt Black enamel). Thin coat applied to cork base.
12. Varnish (Quickshade Stron Tone).  This varnishes and shades the figure in one go.  It softens the effect of drybrushing to give a neater finish.
13. Matt Varnish Spray (Army Painter Matt Anti-shine Spray).  This is optional and gives the flat matt finish that most painters prefer.

Here's the step-by-step photos:

More Projected Game Maps

I first posted about using a data projector in April.  Since then, I've used it a couple more times and I'm really pleased with the results.  The photos below show the playtest map for Tomb of the Snake King which I'm busy editing for Oubliette Issue 7.  Each map has a second layer of solid black added which is then gradually deleted as the players explore each area.

Aghast at Radagast

One of my players has a magic-user with a raven as a familiar.  We play with miniatures, and although I've got several wizard figures, I thought it would be cool to try and find one with a raven.  A few minutes on the internet turned up Radagast from Games Workshop's LOTR range.  If you'd asked me to guess the price of this single 28mm metal figure, I would have said £4, maybe £5.  The actual price is a shocking £7.70 or if you're in the US, that'll be $12.25 please.

I checked a couple of other places for prices of metal figures and, imported Reaper ones are £3.50 or £4.10 each, for most adventurers, and Otherworld Miniatures charge £10/£11 for 3 human-sized figures.  I then turned to ebay, and snagged a part-painted Games Workshop Radagast for £1.47 + postage.

Although I'm not a fan of Games Workshop, I might buy some figures and scenery pieces from them, but they seriously need to sort out their prices.

Dungeon Projector Rig

In our Stonehell game on Saturday, I tried out an idea I've long been toying with - a projected game map.  The idea is simple enough: take one data projector, rig a mirror at a 45 degree angle, and project a dungeon map down on to a 50 inch screen on the tabletop.  Here's what the end result looks like: