Floaty Tentacle Monsters of Doooooom!

I've been feeling in a Lovecraftian mood lately, and also feeling painty, so what better than to sit down and work on something with tentacles?

A while back I decided to put some extra Tyranid spore mines to use by slapping some paint on them and using them for extra-dimensional creatures out if space and time. They fit all the criteria: imhuman looking, float/fly by imperceptible means and trailing tentacles behind them. Here's the group shot:

I painted up the blue group first. I chose that particular coloration because it was unnatural and seemed to fit ethereal, otherworldly beings. At this point I had decided all the tentacles should be the same color, and it makes them really look like space jellyfish:

The red group I wanted to do something different with. I aimed for a more organic, fleshy look, almost as if they were covered in blood and ichor. I chose a human skin color for the accents and tentacles to make them look especially fleshy but still unnatural. I chose to leave the central tentacle red so as not to over-use the flesh and keep the red, bloody color strong:

Simple models and color schemes, but I think effective. I know they will find their way into Song of Blades and Heroes or D&D adventures for sure. I'm hoping I will be able to use them in Strange Aeons, which I will be getting to play sometime after the next couple weeks. I already have cultists to summon them!

"Forward and consume, my minions!"

Skeletower of Doom

I finally finished my Deathknell Watch! I have to say I really enjoyed working on this piece. Yes it is festooned with skulls and there are some bits that are straight up ridiculous. For example, I left out the skeleton flagger.

"Goddamn it, turn the plane left! LEFT!"

I also left off as many Empire symbols as possible without having to re-sculpt anything. I wanted it to be more generic looking, as it will probably rarely get used in Warhammer. Even then, I play High Elves and Chaos. So, yeah, the big Teutonic crosses went bye-bye.

Obviously I went with the same coloration as the base, but overall tried to keep a darker feel. I tried to lend it a damp, aged look. I'll let you be the judge of whether I succeeded or not:

The roof area I tried to give a little extra attention, so with the skull-comets I tried a bronzey look. It didn't come out quite dark enough, but I still like the way it looks.

And of course I left it free to be removed from the base so I can still have access to all that beautiful work I did earlier.

All in all, I'm very happy with the results and can't wait to get a few battles around this baby! Maybe something with a wizard on the top...

Happy gaming!

Taking It Easy

I am and extremely casual gamer. I own a PS3 instead of an Xbox 360. I take Sea Guard in my Warhammer and Kings of War Elf armies. I prefer SmallWorld to Risk. I will roleplay at the drop of a hat.

Preferably one of these.

I like my games to tell stories and I will often make decisions in them that are sub-optimal simply because "that's what my character would do." It is large part of why I am mostly a solo gamer, social anxieties aside. As a solo gamer, you have nobody to compete with but yourself. You can't really cheat, because who's going to argue? So occasionally, yes, I will bend the rules if it will make for a slightly better narrative. I will rewind a turn to make a better tactical decision or I will re-roll a die if it ends up in catastrophic failure.

"I've never seen a level 1 town guard roll so many 20s!"

That's not to say I don't enjoy some incredibly difficult and frustrating games. Many solo games use increased difficulty as a way to make sure things aren't too easy, so I'm familiar with challenges. In fact one of my favorite solo games is The Lord Of The Rings LCG.

I've mentioned before that I generally play solo single deck in LotR and that I forgo shadow effects to make it a little easier. The game is designed to be hard on two decks played at once, so I don't mind using the official "Basic game" rules to give myself a break. Despite this, my win/loss ratio is fairly abysmal and each quest released seems to be harder and harder. Passage Through Mirkwood is obviously easy but I find myself playing it more than I probably should.The other quests are just too hard for me and my single-Leadership/Tactics-deck play style. I also don't really want to construct an entirely new deck every time I want to play a new quest. I'm lazy like that. So for a while I shelved LotR and found myself only occasionally pulling it out for a game.

Imagine my delight when Fantasy Flight Games announced a new Easy Mode for players who are having the same troubles as I am! The rules aren't too flashy, but they work. First, you get an extra resource when you start. This doesn't sound like much, but it means you can get some awesome extra/expensive allies out early game to ease the initial onslaught of baddies.

"It's bear time on turn 2, muthafuggas!"

Secondly, a number of cards are removed from each encounter deck before play. The cards removed don't alter the fundamental nature of the quests, but it does ensure some of the nastier cards pop up less frequently or not at all. The Easy Mode rules have a full list of what cards to take out of every quest through Steward's Fear, but FFG is going to be nice enough to print indicators right on the cards for future printings.

This is a great thing because it means FFG has actually been listening to its entire fan base rather than the very vocal hardcore-buy-every-card-nightmare mode players. They have realized that maybe people want a better than 10% success rate every time they play. It shows that they want people to experiment with thematic decks and worry more about having fun than exact card counts.

It is also genius because FFG has managed to do it without costing their players and arm and a leg. They have revitalized an entire section of the community and made entrance into the game easier for new players by simply publishing a free PDF. They saw the need and responded without even really being asked. I know it will work out fantastically for them because I've already pulled out my cards, started playing again and am planning future purchases when I had just about given up.

The Easy Mode rules have also gotten me thinking about how I play. Because of these rules, I have started experimenting playing 2-handed, played around with adding shadow effects back in (I still prefer without for a less random game) and trying out new deck lists. I have tons of options to play with. The recognition by FFG that it was a little too hard also makes me feel less like I'm keeping the training wheels on and more like I have a valid choice in how I play. I know there will still be hardcore players that will scoff, but at least I can make the choice myself without totally breaking the rules.

So, now my LotR games tell better stories for me and that's really what it's all about. I can relax a little each game and enjoy what's happening on the table. Cold mechanics and optimized deck building are not really for me. When I play, I want to be part of the action and watch my favorite characters create epic moments. I feel like that can happen in the LotR LCG now.

So thanks, FFG, for bringing the story back to the game.

The Well of Souls

First day of May and already I have a post! Given that I am probably the laziest git on the planet, I'm pretty proud of meself.

But on to the post!

For Christmas this year, my lovely wife's parents gave me the gift of terrain (among other things). Terrain is a gift that keeps on giving, since it can be the backdrop of countless battles, even though the armies may change. This particular gift was Games Workshop's Deathknell Watch. I do recommend this kit for fantasy players as a whole since a) it is relatively cheap for GW, b) everyone needs a watchtower to fight over and c) the base can stand alone as a separate piece. It is covered in skulls like all GW stuff but, unlike a lot of complainers in this hobby, I actually like that sort of thing.

The tower itself will be the subject of another post, since today I wanted to focus on the base. The base is some sort of arcane well and I wanted to be able to use it while I worked on the rest of the piece. I was able to knock it out super quick and despite this, I am very pleased with the result:

 And the obligatory action shot:

I've come to really enjoy painting terrain. It almost always looks nice even with the most basic techniques. In this case, I used a similar method to my dungeon terrain but changed up the base color for the brick with a golden brown instead of the grey green (which I used on the rocks). As you can see, even with the same final drybrush color, there is plenty of definition between the base coats. The inside of the well is just green layers of drybrushing, with a final dry brush of rotting flesh color on the giant skulls.

I can't wait to play a battle around this. It may take a while for me to get the tower all set, but I've already got a great piece to use. It already gives me ideas for scenarios.

Dead Dwarves Drink No Ales

Another quick update on the dungeon project. The Mines of Moria boxed set has been invaluable so far in providing a little extra "lived-in" feel to my dungeon. With the addition of the crypt pieces I just finished, I figured it would be fitting to add some corpses. So I tackled the last 3 small pieces in the MoM set:

And here they are in the dungeon itself:

And finally, creeping out some living dwarves:

"I feel like maybe we should go back..."

With these done, the only piece from the MoM set I have left is the giant door. I don't think that I will be painting that anytime soon, though. It doesn't work well with the dungeon pieces and is kinda boring. Not at all spooky like dwarf skellingtons.

Dungeon: Corners and Crypts

Well, it has been a while since I've posted any real progress on my dungeon. Life just hasn't given me much time to work on anything, and some other projects have had to take precedence. However, I was getting tired of seeing plain white pieces in places, so I broke out the paint and did up a few small pieces.

As you can see, I chose some short wall pieces so that I could get some slightly larger rooms. I also did up some hallway caps so that I can have passages that end in something other than rooms or stairs. But I am particularly excited about these:

The corner wall pieces I have been meaning to do for a while. I love not having to be stuck with perfectly square/rectangular rooms anymore. The skull wall was also fun to paint. I love having a wall with buttresses and the skull, while kinda rough, is still creepy. Of course where there are skulls, there are crypts!

On the left you can see the tomb piece that came with the Dungeonstone set itself. On the right is Balin's tomb from the Mines of Moria box set that I had painted almost a year ago. I'm not a huge fan of the DS piece. It is kinda plain and blends in with the surrounding dungeon:

I think it will get used sparingly as a secondary crypt. Balin's tomb, on the other hand, looks suitably impressive:

Of course having all those pieces painted together means I can now assemble one heck of a burial chamber:

 Just watch out for angry wights!

With those pieces, all I have left are hallways for my dungeon, which means I am essentially done with the meat of the project. I will have to start looking for more furniture and monsters to populate it with! Reaper Bones Kickstarter, wherefore art thee...

The Lich King of Tir Norak

All right, time for another dungeon crawl! It's been a while since I've had time to work on my 3D dungeon and I've been itching to do some more playtesting on my solo dungeon crawl rules. So this time, instead of busting out a pile of half painted plaster-resin, I decided to use some of the stacks of D&D Dungeon Tiles I have lying around.

Behold its 2D mystery!

My SDC rules are a mix of Song of Blades and Heroes and its companion dungeon rules, Song of Gold and Darkness, plus a bunch of custom rules to populate the dungeon. Someday I may actually write some of them down, but for now they mostly occupy my head and a few tables in some spreadsheets. The biggest thing I need to playtest are the rules for scenic items (which sadly don't pop up much in this report; yay random tables!).

I had been working with a campaign system, but after some imbalances and a total wipeout of the party after my last (unrecorded) adventure, I decided to start anew and focus on the basics. I whipped up my party from the pre-experience days and threw them back in the dungeon fresh. And here are the heroes!

Our brave adventurers have learned that the tomb of the Lich King of Tir Norak has been uncovered by some bandits. While the lich has not been seen, the promise of riches has been drawing evil things to the tomb, and it is only a matter of time before he has been woken from his slumber. The brave heroes sally forth to destroy the lich before he can be awakened!

The heroes find themselves at the door to the tomb. The thief detects a trap rigged to the door, a needle laced with deadly poison. He is able to disarm it, but the trap foretells trouble ahead.

What luck! Behind the door lies a chest! From the scuff marks on the floor, it appears to have been dragged from deeper in the dungeon and left here. Hopefully its owners don't come looking for it soon. The chest is quickly unlocked and 400 gold is found inside!

The heroes move down the hallway, but are soon alerted to the shuffling feet and coarse laughs of a troop of bugbears! There are howls of rage and it soon becomes clear who had left the chest.

The heroes rush down the hall to meet them, and the elf wizard manages to enchant the bugbears, freezing them in their tracks. One shakes off the spell and deals the thief a stunning blow.

Short work is made of the frozen bugbears, but the free one leaps past its fallen comrades to press its advantage and slays the thief!

Enraged, the paladin rushes forward, swinging his axe. A burst of magical lights from the elf wizard blinds the beast, letting him be cut down easily. Checking the bodies, the heroes find strange spider tattoos on the necks of the bugbears, possibly slave marks. Saddened by the loss of their friend, they press on and hope there are more traps...

Opening the next door, the heroes see two dark shapes studying the door across the room. Dark elves! A witch and her bodyguard by the looks. They turn and the bodyguard rushes forward to block the elf ranger's path while the witch ensnares the templar warrior with bands of black energy.

The elf ranger quickly fells the dark elf in front of him, leaping forward to engage the witch and clearing a path for the paladin to do the same. Surrounded, the witch is swiftly hacked to pieces. They find 600 gold on the corpses, plus a magic mace that is given to the templar when the spell holding him finally wears off.

Obviously intrigued by the door the dark elves were inspecting, the heroes move forward and open it, ignoring the warning runes etched into it long ago. Behind the door they find a wizardly skeleton on a throne flanked by two statues. Three long-dead bodies lie on the floor. As the heroes enter, the skeleton on the throne rises and shouts an arcane spell, causing the bodies on the floor to rise. Looks like they found the lich!

The crypt guardians shamble forward to engage the heroes while the lich freezes the paladin with a spell. The paladin shakes off the evil enchantment and the heroes press into the room aided by some magical support from their own wizard.

Fearing the banishing power of the templar, the lich weaves a spell around him, enveloping him in magical darkness. The elf ranger smashes a guardian to the ground, opening a pathway to the lich.

The lich is surrounded and immobilized by a spell before being hacked to pieces. The templar shakes off the now weakened spell and uses his holy power to banish the lich's soul, thereby ending his power forever! The heroes loot the room finding 800 gold! Now it is time to hit the tavern for food, wine and possibly find a new thief.

This crawl taught me a couple things. First, my 3D dungeon is nice, but the tiles offer me more variety and space to maneuver in. The 3D dungeon is a little cramped. I won't be switching to tiles exclusively, but I will probably be using them a little more often in the future.

Second, spell-casting enemies need extra support to make them a challenge. The dark elf fight went rather quickly and the witch wasn't much of a threat with only one bodyguard. Meanwhile, I added an extra guardian to the lich fight and that felt like a real fight. The lich wasn't too tough to handle, but I felt like a wrong roll with all that magic flying around could make things go badly very quickly. I'm going to have to re-jig my encounter tables a little in the future.

So that's it for this quest. Happy adventuring!