Woods

I recently picked up a set of the plastic Citadel woods to add to my graveyard.

The trees in this set are like something from Sleepy Hollow, with their Brothers Grimm, Tim Burton aesthetic.  Very suitable for inclusion in my graveyard terrain in other words.

My graveyard is painted to match my wasteland terrain set and so I painted the trees to match the dead bits of wood that feature on my Scourged Forest gaming mat.

I had originally planned to leave the trees devoid of the foliage pieces supplied but when I assembled the kit I decided that I liked the unusual looking leaf pieces too much to simply leave them in the box.

In a moment of madness I decided to add magnets to a number of the tree branches with corresponding magnets inset into the underneath of the leaf pieces.  Now the trees can reasonably represent both autumn and winter or living and dead.

Sort of fun to do?  Yep.  Easier to store as a result?  Probably.  Worth the trouble?  Nope.

Like the trees themselves I painted the large plastic base supplied to match my gaming mat.  I dont think that I will end up using the base very often as I plan to use the trees as freestanding single pieces.  Nonetheless I figured that I might as well paint the base alongside the trees anyway: who knows when I might decide to use the woods in that fashion?

Lastly the tree above (which I showed along with Santiago a while back) got painted at the same time as the GW set.  Its a plastic tree supplied with the Horrorclix starter set from a few years ago.

I based the tree so that it would have the regulation footprint for representing a “hanging tree” in Malifaux games.

I am currently working on a another couple of sets of Renedra gravestones to bulk out the graveyard set, then I will be fully finished with it.  Once I am done with those I will try to get some half decent photos of the whole thing set up for a game.

Ursa Miners: Jotunn Heavy Hailstorm Cannon

Next off the Ursa Miner assembly line is this artillery piece: the Jotunn Heavy Hailstorm Cannon.  It bears quite a resemblance to a piece of 1980s 40K nostalgia known as the “Thudd Gun” too, not that I am complaining.

The Jotunn is quite a large, chunky piece.  It was a little awkward to assemble.  Nothing major, but I should have plonked the kit in hot water to remove the small amount of bowing/warping in the kit before I started gluing.  It wasnt a big deal though, definitely not something that should put anyone off.

I had a couple of issues with a pot of Devlan mud that decided to misbehave while painting this piece.  Between that and the hassle with assembly I was glad to see the Jotunn finally finished.  If I get another of these models tableworthy it will take me about half the time I reckon.

In keeping with trying to keep the fantasy element reasonably low I chose to avoid the runic script and iconography normally associated with dwarfs/squats.  I decided to add Tau transfers to the Jotunn (the white writing just about visible on the top of the camouflaged shield above) as:

1. I had a couple of those transfer sheets handy
2. The Tau transfers look a lot more anime or sci-fi than the usual gothic/grimdark, roman numeral heavy transfers that I own loads of.

More Space Dwarf stuff to come.

Ursa Miners: Squat Engineer

This cheerful looking guy is the only Squat miniature that Games Workshop has made since they quietly retconned the race out of existence in the mid-nineties.  The figure was exclusively available to White Dwarf subscribers in 2010 and represents an incarnation of the magazines mascot, the White Dwarf himself.

Various internet sources hysterically claim that the figure is not a Squat but the White Dwarf in a Halloween costume, as evinced by the grey alien costume wearing gretchin (the Black Goblin?) that features as part of the model.  ”Its not a Squat, its a joke miniature!” they cried, oblivious to the fact that every single miniature in the WH40K range is inherently a joke miniature by concept and definition.  A dwarf in a spacesuit manufactured by Games Workshop is a squat as far as I am concerned and thats that

Seeing as dwarfs in space suits are the toy soldiers du jour at Sho3box Towers I tracked this peculiar but beautifully sculpted and cast miniature down on Ebay a week or two ago.  I painted the figure to match the colour scheme used for the rest of the Ursa Miners.

The contrast in the photo did something weird to the figures beard, it looks less chalky in real life, honest.

Ursa Miners: Stormrage Veterans

The second squad of my Ursa Miner space dwarfs finished are more Mantic Forgefathers.  This time its the veteran troopers, busily stormraging-it-up with their heat cannon and large calibre projectile weapons.  And astro-hammer thing.

Unlike the plastic Steel Warriors and just like the veer-myn, these guys are made from Mantics “plastic resin”.  Im not sure what makes the stuff plastic resin rather than simply resin, but the net result is that its rigid grey stuff.  I found it far easier to work with than the rubbery texture of GW Finecast.

These guys look a little stylistically different to the Steel Warriors.  In particular the designs got some online flak regarding the armoured “beards”.  Considering that a number of genuine real world cultures take facial and head hairstyles very seriously I am fine with the notion that these guys do too.  With that in mind I dont really object to the figures featuring beard armour, but I didnt feel the need to paint those elements different colours to ensure that they stood out either.

Then after all of that reasoning and justification, I ended up having to paint the mouth region of the helmets with a little silver anyway in order 1) to tie them in with the Steel Warriors and 2) to give the dark colour scheme a few more areas of visual interest.

The scheme used matches that used on the Steel Warriors.  If I paint some more similar squads its possible that I will come back and add squad markings of some form or another.  Maybe.

Ursa Miners: Huscarl, Hound & Objectives

Huscarl Max and Freeway the cyber-mastiff

My Space Dwarf mini-season continues with a leader and his trusty mecha-mutt.

The leader is the off-the-peg Mantic Forgefather leader figure: he is pretty boss I am sure you will agree.

The pooch is from the Mantic Dwarf (the non-spacefaring variety) command sprue.  The dog is armoured and has a handle on his back (they cant keep up with marching dwarfs on foot apparently and therefore have to be carried.  Apparently the dwarfs also use the handles to lob the dog at their foes).

Undeterred by this already absurd miniature I decided to push the envelope by adding goggles from the Forgefathers sprue too.  I regret nothing.

One of the aspects of painting toy soldiers for gaming with that I enjoy most is preparing little oddball figures for use to further the in-game story.  Painting and modeling Maguffin figures gives me a disproportionate amount of satisfaction for some reason.

So while I worked on my Ursa Miner project I made sure to add in a few goofy bits and pieces as I went (such as the dog).

The guy in the middle of the photo above is a Mantic plastic piece that is supplied with their plastic fantasy dwarf range.  Like the mastiff above, COM had a drunken dwarf that he was willing to part with.

The drunken dwarf was unmodified.  As Mantics Warpath miniatures are often retooled versions of their fantasy figures it came as no surprise that the dwarf fits right in as a Forgefather.

These two tied up trollslayers were supplied in the Warhammer “Skull Pass” starter box from a few years ago.  I wouldnt have had any in my possession only that I bought a few of the tents from that set off Ebay a few years ago and two of these trollslayers were included.

I figured that I would never use these figures at all, but I remembered them while painting the Steel Warriors, so I decided to include them in this project.  Their hair is goofy and their hopping-while-80%-tied-up look is absurd but I think that they will be fun miniatures to use in rescue themed games.

Ursa Miners: Forgefather Steel Warriors

Recently I decided for vague and uncertain reasons to start painting some space dwarf figures.  These Forgefathers were the first little guys off the painting conveyor belt.

Planning

Criteria for the colour scheme chosen were as follows:

1. It had to be very quick to paint.  I find it important to minimise the number of places that can cause a project to stall and an overcomplicated colour scheme is a big trip hazard for me.
2. I wanted the colour scheme to stand out a little bit on the table: there is no point in painting up a gaming piece that doesnt have enough contrast to make it pop some bit at least.  That said, gaudiness isnt really desirable either.
3. Colours used had to reflect a sci-fi rather than fantasy setting: while these guys are undeniably science fantasy, I didnt want my space dwarfs to look like Gimli holding a gun all the same.  Therefore I wanted no earthy tones in the uniform.  I also wanted to avoid using a lot of metallics.  Many painters seem compelled to use multiple metallics on sci-fi dwarf figures, which suggests fantasy more than I want.

Half of the figures shown have capes.  As far as I was concerned it was crucial that these obvious fantasy elements were toned down a bit.

I checked out a few photos of camouflage cloaks in various online places, often those used on sniper and scout miniatures.  I figured that with these being interstellar rather than subterranean dwarfs that painting the capes to look like they might have a function on a sci-fi battlefield was the way to go.

With that in mind I did a tiny bit of research into urban camouflage and I came up with the colour choice and pattern shown on the figures above.  I dont know the first thing about real camouflage, but the above effect was reasonably fast to apply and looks believable enough for my purposes.

The blues in the cloaks contrast nicely with the yellow shoulder trim.  The pseudo-urban camouflage pattern definitely doesnt suggest fantasy to me, so I am happy enough about the look overall.   I am interested in what any of you folk think about it.

Execution

The figures were sprayed black and then drybrushed dark grey all over.  The weapons were then quickly drybrushed gunmetal while the magazine/ammunition was painted in copper/bronze.  Flesh, ochre (for the yellow) and red areas were blocked in.

The capes and tabbards were painted in a dark blue-grey, followed by roughly geometric areas blocked in in a mid-grey, followed by more areas added in black.

The whole of each model was then washed with GW Devlan Mud.

Every colour used was then given a quick highlight/layer in an appropriate colour.  That was these guys finished bar varnishing and basing.

Comparison shot next to one of my Sin Eater Chaos Space Marines. The Ursa Miners are short little guys.

Conclusions

Pretty quick stuff overall really but a decent enough result.  The figures themselves are a little old school looking, reminiscent as they are of GW kits from decade or so ago, but as filler grunts for gaming with they paint up fast and give a pretty decent result I reckon.  After painting up a lot of delicate, finely detailed Wyrd miniatures recently it was pleasant and productive working on a durable set of chunky, fun little guys to plonk on the table.

If I could change anything about the end product it would be to find a way to add some of the blue-ish camouflage to the front face of the miniatures, which are possibly a bit too drab.  Curiously, these guys are possibly the only miniatures that I have ever painted that are more interesting to view from the rear (insert joke of your choice here).

More Ursa Miners will be showing up here soon.

The Ursa Miners: Space Dwarfs

I have recently started painting some space dwarf miniatures from various sources.  I didnt really plan it: it just sort of happened.

After I came back from Salute I immediately painted up eleven veer-myn over a week or so.  Generally I tend to avoid batch painting like that as it often causes me to burn out.  Surprisingly however I found that getting a decent number of miniatures painted in a relatively short period (by my standards at least) was more enjoyable than I expected.  Therefore as soon as the veer-myn were finished I hunted around through my many assembled but unpainted miniatures for a suitable project to get stuck into.

Being both small and not very heavily detailed miniatures the Mantic Forgefathers that I got in my Warpath starter box last year seemed to fit the bill.  I picked a very simple colour scheme that wasnt too labour intensive and managed to start firing out little bearded guys from space.

The Brotherhood of the Bear (the “Ursa Miners” to their friends) will start showing up here from time to time, starting on Wednesday 

Edit: starting on Tuesday actually

Project Pandora: Grim Cargo Review

Project Pandora: Grim Cargo is the first sci-fi dungeoncrawl boardgame from Mantic Games. The mechanics of the game are very similar to those for the Dwarf Kings Hold series from the same manufacturer.

I am a fan of dungeoncrawl boardgames and sci-fi dungeoncrawls in particular. I havent played every dungeoncrawl game out there, but I have played plenty.

At the time of writing I have only played four games of Project Pandora , which is a bit early to base a 100% conclusion on to be honest.  So far it has been good fun and a good addition to my already dungeoncrawl heavy boardgame collection.

Miniatures

Project Pandora: Grim Cargo is supplied with twenty miniatures, ten Corporation Marines (Colonial Marine/Mobile Infantry/Imperial Guard type humans) and ten Veer-myn (space ratmen).

The figures game are made from a rigid resin with a plastic-y texture and are very nice in terms of detail. While the miniatures in Fantasy Flight games have become far better in quality over the years (the Gears of War figures being the best FFG figs that I have seen so far) the figures in PP:GC are more crisp and of better quality than those. Its not that surprising considering that the game comes from a dedicated miniatures manufacturer, but its worth noting.

The figures require assembly and dont slot together sufficiently well to be able to play with straight out of the box. Getting Pandora ready to play takes nothing like the amount of work required to get something like Dreadfleet or Space Hulk 3rd edition up and running for example, but it is worth noting for those who are all thumbs.

Also of note is that an exploded diagram of the components is not supplied, so it might take a little bit of fiddling to work out which pieces go where.  I looked up some photos on the Mantic site to confirm a few things while I was assembling my miniatures. It wasnt a big hassle for me and I see that sort of thing as part and parcel of miniature gaming, but I can imagine it being a little more daunting for someone who is coming from a boardgame background. At an estimate, assembling and gluing the figure parts together should take a leisurely hour or so in front of the TV I reckon.

Cardboard 
The card components feature nice artwork and are perfectly adequate, but in a post Space Hulk 3rd edition world full of games like Gears of War and Claustrophobia they are not going to blow your mind. You wont mistake this game for an FFG one for example.

The tiles are a little bit thin. Apparently they are thicker than those used in Dwarf Kings Hold, but they are still a lot thinner than the tiles in most modern games such as Descent: Journeys in the Dark or the like. Again, its not a deal breaker for me but if you tend to be very rough on your game components then maybe its worth thinking about.

The boards are not designed to connect together like a jigsaw as they are in many similar games like Space Hulk or Descent: Journeys in the Dark: the Grim Cargo boards just butt up together like those in the Gears of War boardgame.

Obviously it would be better if the boards did jig together, but it didn’t cause me any significant problems. Maybe if you tend to play in a Teflon factory or while off-roading near a major fault line it might be an issue, but on my felt covered table it wasn’t a problem.

Gameplay
Players are supplied with nine order chits each. Players alternate selecting and using one chit each turn. Each chit allows the player to move or shoot or take a “special” action with a small number of their miniatures.

Once a chit has been used it cannot be used again until the player essentially misses a turn, which then resets his hand of chits.

Each side has a unique spread of chits, including chits that allow them to do something characteristic to that force (the ratmen swarm forward to overwhelm in close combat while the humans gain opportunity fire for example).

The dice mechanics involve opposed rolling of dice and comparing each players scores in descending order. Modifiers effect the number of dice rolled rather than the results on the dice, which makes combat resolution both fast and straightforward. I dislike games with lots of fiddly modified results and Project Pandora: Grim Cargo avoids this.

Scenarios dictate the forces, maps and objectives for each game, as is pretty standard for the genre.

Opinions
I have played only four games of Grim Cargo so far, the first with a guy demoing it at the Salute Wargames show in London a couple of weeks ago and the remaining three at home.

I have enjoyed playing it so far.  The system for choosing and replenishing orders is fun to use and makes for some awkward decisions. Also, as the orders are significantly different to the usual action point systems used in dungeoncrawl games it makes the game feel different to the other sci-fi dungeoncrawls on my shelf.  That is just fine with me.  In itself that is a good enough reason for me to have this game in my collection.

Also of note is that the classic Space Hulk style, few-against-endless-horde format isnt quite what players get here. The veer-myn get reinforcements alright, but only from a limited pool. That reinforcement pool is replenished with veer-myn killed in the game, but only if the veer-myn are killed under certain in game conditions (usually the veer-myn has to buy the farm on a tile designated as “Dark” in order to qualify). These conditions can be manipulated by both players, which is quite fun.

This conditional re-spawn combined with the fact that the veer-myn have ranged attacks helps to make the veer-myn more interesting to play than say genestealers in Space Hulk or zombies in Last Night on Earth. It also helps PP:GC to stand out a little from some of the other similar games around.

Conclusion
As an enthusiastic miniatures painter I was very happy with the figures in the game.  The cardboard components are not as nice as I have come to expect in modern boardgames, but they are more than adequate all the same.

The gameplay is streamlined, fast and fun and I am happy to have Project Pandora sitting alongside my other similar games. I am hopeful that I will be picking up further additions to the series featuring Forgefathers, Plague, Marauders and the like in the not too distant future.

More Graveyard

I recently got another couple of items finished for my graveyard, the open grave and the crypt in the foreground of the picture above.  The photos are a bit poorer than usual Im afraid, as I dont have a set up decent enough to take photos of anything much bigger than a 28mm figure for the time being.

The one on the right is a plastic piece that came from one of the GW Lord of the Rings boxes, kindly donated by PB a few years back.  I sprayed it with GW Roughcoat back then which was a mistake as it obscured some of the details on the lid of the sarcophagus.  I enjoyed painting the books strewn around the base.  I like painting miniature books for some reason that I havent quite worked out yet.

I traded some bits and pieces with COM in exchange for the resin grave piece above.  I dont know where it originally came from, but I think that its a Grendel piece.  In my haste to get it finished the painting came out a little more lurid than I had intended.  I am tempted to go back and tone it down a bit but I probably wont.

The piece originally had a tombstone, but that was mislaid at some point before I got my hands on it.  I made up the stone shown with an old piece of Foamex board that I had lying around since 1995.  I used Instant Mold to copy the pattern on the sarcophagus lid and stuck the copy to the Foamex as a quick way to make the headstone look a little more authentic.

Veer-Myn

One of my Salute purchases was Project Pandora: Grim Cargo.  This sci-fi dungeoncrawl game  is supplied with twenty Mantic miniatures, ten of which are veer-myn (space rat-men).

In order to have painted miniatures to play the game with I started work on these guys last week and finished them today.

I did a pretty fast job on these.  They paint job looks fine on the table but doesnt stand up to heavy scrutiny.

The “official” colour scheme used by Mantic for these guys is a bright yet dirty yellow reminiscent of a warning sign.  I liked that a bright colour was used as it helps to set the figures in a more sci-fi setting that the usual dirty browns and greys seen on skaven.  The yellow Mantic guys look to me like they are wearing plastic rags, rather than the usual brown material, which I think looks pretty cool.

I figured that a bright toxic waste green colour would still be artificial looking (and therefore sci-fi) plus it would make my veer-myn look a little bit different from the photos on the box.  Additionally I like painting bright green so it was an easy fit.

Finally this unpleasant looking guy: a Night Spawn.  This large figure isnt supplied in the Grim Cargo box, but I picked one up to paint anyway.  I wouldnt normally go for the somewhat adolescent blood-drenched-drill look, but in this case I thought that the red gore would contrast nicely with the green armour.

These figures will be getting used in Project Pandora games staring tomorrow evening.  They are also likely to feature in some 7TV games that I have planned.  They will also fit in as mutants in post apocalyptic games.

 

Addendum:

I gave COM the Corporation miniatures from my copy of Project Pandora so that he could get them painted up while I did the veer-myn.  He will be giving me replacement Corporation miniatures once he gets his own copy of the game.

The net result of that was that we were able to get three fully painted games of PP:GC played last night.  A week and a half turnaround while not record breaking, is pretty swift around these parts