Lord of the (Wedding) Ring

Ok, so far I haven't been very good at updating this blog thing I started, but I have a very good excuse: I got myself married!

Of course I decided to do this while I have had a couple major hobby projects going on and thus I ended up with few things to post. Now that my schedule has cleared up a bit, I hope to be able to post at least once a week. I promise nothing, but I will be doing my best to power through some things.

Also, having just returned from a honeymoon in Ireland, I am somewhat inspired to do a Dark Age or Medieval Irish warband for Song of Blades and Heroes. Anyone have any suggestions?

P.S. I spent a night in Lough Eske Castle while I was there. And I got to play some Lord of the Rings LCG while I was there. So I gamed in a castle. Be jealous.

I need a hero...oh wait, I have six!

Many years ago I was allowed to purchase the DragonQuest board game. I say "allowed" because my parents were vary wary of anything carrying the Dungeons & Dragons name and even though they had bought me HeroQuest previously, the anti-D&D paranoia was strong in culture at the time. Somehow I was immediately going to start worshiping demons if I pretended to fight goblins that weren't on a board (we now know that it takes decades for such things). But since DQ still had a board and little stand-ups, it was perfectly ok in their eyes. Of course it turned out it was really just D&D "lite" and the board really just a map. It wasn't long after that I (and possibly my new demon lords) convinced my parents to let me charge headlong into D&D proper.

One of the best things about DQ, however, is that it came with everything: Stand-ups, a map, dice, a few plastic figures for the heroes and, in the deluxe edition that I had managed to grab, there were metal versions of those figures. Of course being young, I quickly lost the plastic figures. Eventually I bought more metal figures and soon had no need for the stand-ups, so those disappeared too (and I would love to replace them without having to buy a new set). I even managed to lose a couple of the metal figures, but whilst digging around I found the remaining heroes and decided to paint them up. I even had so much fun that I purchased replacements for the lost ones and painted those too.

I really am in love with this set. I used it for all of my early D&D adventures and it most recently became the basis for my favorite Song of Blades and Heroes warband.

My favorite has always been the cleric:

The figure has always felt like epitome of the classic cleric: stoic, covered in heavy armor and wielding a huge, heavy blunt object in the name of his god. I chose blues and whites to give him a "good" appearance, since those colors are usually associated with good.

I have always liked the wizard of the set as well:

Of course, I now know that the figure was originally a cleric as well, but the robes and the staff still seem to fit a magic-user. I still think of it as a wizard when I look at it. I chose a strong green to make him stand out, but also so he could double as a druid easily. Lately he's been either an elf or half-elf too, and green seemed to fit those as well.

Next up is the dwarf:

He's always seemed tough and I love his armor because its understated but still gives the impression of being heavy. I chose the red and white coloration as sort of a tribute to the HeroQuest dwarf. I also made the buckler bronze to keep the model warm-looking but stand out from the rest of the model.

My least favorite has always been the thief:

My objections to this model have always been based on his indistinct race. He's short, but not quite short enough to be a halfling. He's not quite tall enough to be a human, but too hawk-nosed to be an elf. Still, he is a quintessential cloak-and-dagger thief. I chose purple to keep him shadowy, but retain a splash of color.

The elf was also one of my favorites:

I liked the elf so much that I played a long string of elves and I had actually painted him once before. Originally, I had decided he must be a ranger, so his first paint job was all greens and browns. It was also atrocious, so I stripped the model and re-painted him as more of a swashbuckler. The turquoise cloak suggests "seafarer" to me and the puffy white shirt says "duelist". I went with bronze again to warm the model back up.

Finally there is the paladin:

I had the most trouble deciding how to paint this one. Eventually I settled on a templar theme with white, but I wanted to stay away from red as I had already used that combination on the dwarf. I chose orange because it was still in the red family and I really hadn't worked with much orange before, so I wanted the challenge. I tried to keep the armor dark, to contrast with both his weapon and to keep him different from the cleric. I also chose blue runes on his axe to catch the eye and contrast with the orange.

All in all, I am very happy with the end result. It was fun to paint some classic favorites and I am really starting to appreciate the old Ral Partha minis again. They seemed fairly understated, had little in the way of gaudy detail, but still had more character than a lot of minis today. I know I have more stashed away somewhere, so I know more will find their way to the paint table and onto the blog.

Maybe I can still find my owlbear...

Shadows of the (Gaming) Past

Lately I have found myself looking more and more at games that come from at least a decade ago. I also find myself wondering why that is. For example, I have been recently enthralled in looking at the Guardians CCG from 1995.

I remember loving the game because it was innovative (it had a board game quality to it), had an extremely tongue-in-cheek attitude about humor and because I was 14 and it was filled with high-quality art of scantily clad babes (for reference, I am still, essentially 14).

                     

I also find myself at a loss because while I still have a load of cards,  I must have lost my actual deck somewhere and I am missing essential things like Stronghold cards needed to play. So, I immediately headed to eBay, but just couldn't pull the trigger. I think I was mostly suffering from extreme nostalgia, and I wanted to think about it more before I spent money on something old that could be used for something new.

But that really is the crux of the issue, I think. I am looking back because there isn't a whole lot of new to look forward to. I mean, I have Ogre coming from SJG via Kickstarter (that's right, I'm a backer!) near the end of the year. I have Mice & Mystics from Plaid Hat Games (adorable and you should check it out; I will most likely do a feature on it when I get it) coming in August and a new edition of Warhammer 40K sometime this year by all accounts.

Everything else is pretty underwhelming at the moment. I should be excited for the X-Wing minis game from Fantasy Flight Games, but the price is putting me off. They also pushed back their Star Wars card game, so that's off the table for a while. There are many other games I have wishlisted, but I can never seem to get them out of the queue. I just simply don't feel inspired to spend money on them.

So I go back to the games of yesteryear. I think there are a number of factors at work here:

• Nostalgia: It is hard to argue with a game that made Kid Me pants-wettingly happy. Memories of old friends and awesome nights spent playing are a huge bonus.
• Cost: I already own these games, so they are free. Dead games, unless really rare, are also extremely cheap to replace if necessary. And usually you don't need to collect everything to do so, so its a cheap buy-in.
• It is a known quantity: I know I like these games. Hell, I loved them. It is easier to plop down $10-$30 for a game I know I liked and know how to play still (mostly) than it is to drop $50-$100 on a new game I may be disappointed with.

So, yeah, I may be scrounging up old parts for WarhammerQuest (not cheap but a fantastic game; only need  a few bats to finish it off), getting a couple of starter decks for Guardians (haven't yet, but really I'm just delaying the inevitable) or hunting for an actual set of paper stand ups from TSR's DragonQuest board game (impossible as far as I can tell). Hell, I regularly pull out my HeroQuest set and it is probably my favorite game of all time actually. 

All of these games are around 15-20 years old now, but I am having a lot of fun, and that's what gaming is all about, in the end. It doesn't matter what game you are playing as long as you are having fun.

Favored Enemy: The Lord of the Rings LCG

Since I am between ideas on my dungeon project and not feeling much in the mood to do any painting, I have decided to do something a little different. This post is going to be the start of a new series I will be posting every once in a while called "Favored Enemy", which will focus on my favorite games that I am currently playing or that I want to talk about. I am NOT going to try and review the games I talk about in this series. I am just going to talk about the things I like, what I don't like and anything else that pops into my head.

The first game I want to talk about is one that carries one of my favorite themes: The Lord of the Rings Living Card Game.

The first thing that drew me to this game is, of course, the fact that it is Lord of the Rings. That's not something that necessarily makes a game an auto-buy, but it does grab my attention immediately. I have definitely purchased games that turned out to be less than satisfactory based on this (LotR HeroClix, for one), but it rarely steers me wrong and I usually end up with some great games (The LotR Strategy Battle Game is high on my list for best fantasy skirmish games).

But, the LotR name combined with the fact that it is a 1-2 player solo/co-op game made it an instant addition to my collection. I am mostly a solo gamer these days. This stems from a number of reasons, but is mostly because my regular gaming group has spread out all over the country these days, leading to only getting together for Skype RPG sessions. I also suffer from varying levels of social anxiety, so I rarely move out of my comfort zone to find new gaming partners. Solo/co-op games give me the outlet I need when playing games without having to go through the trouble of trying to find more players. I even play a lot of 2 player games solo by playing both sides. The 1-2 player nature of this game kind of lets me do both.

Lastly, it is also one of Fantasy Flight Games' living card game series. I love most of FFG's catalog and the concept of getting all the cards you need in any expansion you buy is wonderful. As a MTG player, I already get my fill of random card packs and card scrounging. While the core set of LotR lacks a few copies of some great cards, I can live without the max 3 that I can use of those cards and even if I couldn't, the cost for 3 core sets pales in comparison to some CCGs. So far, I'm good with one core set and couple expansions, but I do plan on buying more.

My solo setup. Kicking Passage Through Mirkwood's ass with my Leadership/Tactics deck.

Basically, you choose a scenario and its accompanying pre-set encounter deck to play against using a deck of player cards you assemble yourself. The core set comes with pre-set player decks you can use, but deck-building is extremely fun. By no means do you need to buy more cards, but you will find that some scenarios are harder than others, and not all decks are equal against all scenarios (even ones you build yourself). You get 3 heroes per player and you can play some favorites from the books, like Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli or Glorfindel. Other characters show up as allies, such as Faramir, Arwen or the powerful Gandalf (probably the best card in the game; never leave home without 3 in your deck!). You send some characters questing against the threats on the horizon, making progress in your quest if you succeed or raising your threat if you fail. Then, fight the foes that attack you from the deck. Reach 50 threat or lose all your heroes and you lose. Accomplish the scenario goals and you win. Simple enough.

Now, there are 2 ways to play solo: A single deck, or 2 decks and acting as 2 players. Running 2 decks works just fine with the rules as given. The challenges are pretty easy to tackle with 6 heroes and decks meant to support each other. I haven't played more than a couple games this way, but I am convinced that this is the way it was meant to be played. The scenarios just seem to be weighted toward having 6 heroes and there are some keyword (Sentinel, Ranged) that only function if you have another player. I assume actual 2 player functions the same way except that you have to deal with another person who may mess up your plan. 

A single deck is significantly harder to play and you really have to tailor your deck heavily to take on specific quests. Your deck really needs to be able to do everything. Even then, it is extremely difficult. I lost every single game I played until I decided to use the "Basic Game" rules in the back of the book and eliminating shadow cards from combat (or rather I deal one less than usual, which normally becomes 0 but some monsters add extra shadow cards). This makes combat a little more predictable and eliminates some truly nasty effects. Maybe once I feel comfortable again, I'll go back and start adding in the shadow cards to give myself a challenge. I haven't as of yet tried house ruling Ranged or Sentinel to work in single deck solo because I really haven't needed either yet, but it would be nice if they had some effect. There are still some scenarios where they can be useful, even if they don't work as written in the book.

I am by no means a master of the game yet. I have yet to attempt a quest with more than a medium (4-5) difficulty level, and I still lose 50-75% of the time (except the intro quest; that I pretty much destroy every time now). I recently picked up the Khazad-Dum set and a couple of expansion packs, so my deck has gotten a tad better and I am learning new tricks. Currently, my deck looks like this:

Heroes (Threat 30)

Powerful and versatile, Aragorn
is a consummate Hero

Aragorn (Leadership)

Gloin (Leadership)

Thalin (Tactics)

Leadership (27 cards)

Sneak Attack x2

Valiant Sacrifice x2

Durin's Song x3

Guard of the Citadel x3

Snowbourn Scout x3

Narvi's Belt x2

Steward of Gondor x2

Silverlode Archer x2

Son of Arnor x2

Sword That Was Broken x2

Longbeard Orc Slayer x2

Faramir x2

Tactics (20 cards)

Gandalf can fix any problem you might have.
Just don't expect him to hang around.

Dwarrodelf Axe x3

Feint x2

Horn of Gondor x1

Gondorian Spearman x3

Veteran Axehand x3

Veteran of Nanduhirion x3

Citadel Plate x2

Khazad! Khazad! x3

Neutral (3 cards)

Gandalf x3

That's all for the first installment of Favored Enemy. If you haven't tried it yet, I really recommend giving this game a shot. The learning curve may be high, but that's half the fun. As a card game it's expandable, relatively portable and comparatively cheap to get a good collection. If you feel like expanding past the core set, the Khazad-Dum expansion is a must have. There are lots of great cards in it and worth it for the box alone (but that's the subject of another feature).

Minor Dungeon Update

My materials (namely some small chain) finally arrived and I was able to complete the other half of the room I was working on. The part I needed the chain for was for a simple set of chains that once held a prisoner:

And with some extra room around it:

I can say I'm not 100% happy with it It definitely looks better with other things around it than on its own. I would appreciate any ideas to make it less bland. Or maybe it is better in its simplicity? I don't know.

On the other hand, I am happy to say I now have 2 full rooms in my dungeon!

Next I think I will be working on some more hallways to let the dungeon branch out some more. I'm not sure what I will be adding to those pieces but I will try to come up with something interesting.

Dungeon: Fungi and Vermin

I spent a little time working on my dungeon project, and while I am still waiting for some materials to arrive to finish off the room I am working on, I figured I'd post what I'd finished so far.

First is a patch of mushrooms in a room corner. Instead of going for crazy, bright colors, I decided to aim for a more realistic hue. I also added some mold around the bottom to hide the bases and spread it to the walls to increase the grossness factor. The mushrooms are from a GW night goblin sprue I picked up a while ago.

The other room corner I finished contains a rat's nest, partially inspired by Diablo II (I fondly remember kicking open a lot of them looking for loot). It also makes sense, since a dungeon would have its fair share of regular vermin in addition to the monstrous type. It is made from a couple of broken up pieces of wooded coffee stirrer with dead-colored static grass all over. I only wish I had an appropriate sized rat to give it more context, but I'm still looking.

I decided to use the remaining pieces of broken coffee stirrer to add some debris to the floor. I figure there probably aren't a lot of hobgoblins with brooms roaming about to clean up. I made sure to keep the pieces out of the middle of the squares so miniatures could stand in them, but they aren't so high that they couldn't be stood on. I definitely plan to add more of this sort of thing to give some extra life.

And now some action shots, first with the pieces I finished this week:

And mixed up with some of my previous pieces:

That's it for this round. Let me know what you think and thanks for viewing! Hopefully the rest of my materials come soon and I can finish off the room.

Dungeon: I Am A Tiny Carpenter

This is just a small update, but I had a go at making my first model table. It is made from coffee stirrers with bamboo skewers for the legs. Its not perfect, but hey, I'll just say its orcish craftsmanship.