Send Reinforcements: I need more Adventurers - Female Elf Adventurers

The eldest son is off at university and it comes as no surprise, he is soon to be found running a Dungeons and Dragons campaign with new found friends (and hopefully attending some lectures). The "gaming group" are obviously expanding into new character classes (or perhaps needing replacements for dead characters?) as he wants an urgent "resupply" from his toy cupboard (see below, lead figures were consequently pulled from their retirement sanctuary of the "cupboard cloisters" [after being carefully packed away on his departure] and thrown once more into the frenzied life of adventuring, with new eager young hands waiting to push them around a tabletop, trying to doing unspeakable things [and probably failing ignominiously, as I remember doing]): 

"Please send elves, female elves, I need adventurous female elves!" Dad sighs. "Don't we all son! Try the University Bar on a Friday night." The son is not impressed. "Thanks dad, I need lead figures! "Ok, looking into my side of the figure collection I bring out some old Grenadier classics. These ladies will be some forty five years old, or older. I wonder if they will survive the modern tabletop experience (see below, a female ranger and a female monk [or so I am lead to believe if I recall the listings correctly], they are painted green so they must obviously elves):

A close up of the figures and to my shame the female monk has some "chipped paint" -- gasp -- on her staff, but fear not she should still be able to blend in nicely to the forest backdrop, pity as they are destined for dungeon delving (see below, farewell my lovely ladies. I fear I may never see you again as they have been passed onto another's (un)worthy hands, I hope you get beyond third level (base) with my son and his friends as I never did - too lightly armoured for my dumb ass style of play, I always needed to be wearing chain or plate mail!):  

Final thoughts? He will be after my Orcs next, which means I will have to finish painting them! I mean I have only had them just under twenty years?

That Games Workshop Balrog!

Yes, there must be thousands of well intentioned purchases of the GW Balrog figure when "The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring" came out at the cinema and simultaneously hit the Games Workshop retail outlets. Yes, someone, with the gift of the brush, was assigned in each shop to paint the Balrog and told to "do it right" because it was going to be the centrepiece of the shop window display for the next six months (see below, my beastie was assembled years ago - no mean feat in itself and primed grey but got "stuck" in limbo):

But .. as good as the casting techniques were back then, figures of this size and complexity were always  "gappy" at the joins, so my Balrog has stayed many years imprisoned in a box awaiting the Milliput treatment, but alas the thought of rolling two pieces of epoxy putty together (the brown one always annoyingly harder than the green/yellow one) makes you want to run to the kitchen and "make a cup of tea and get very distracted from rolling Milliput" (see below, the next stage - gap filling, not Milliput but Vallejo Plastic Putty to the rescue):  

Vallejo Plastic Putty was an impulse buy, yes I have many plastic kits that would benefit from it, but if truth be told, for the, majority nobody would notice on the wargames table. The enigmatic bottle winked at me but was not put to great use, until one day teh urge took me to find the Balrog. Close inspection of a large fantasy figurine like the Balrog at a RPG (inevitably playing D&D) session is embarrassing though and it why this figure was put to the back of the painting queue (see below, horrid gaps and I mean horrid gaps at last being filled, even Sauron was smiling. The Plastic Putty is squeezed out in controllable amounts that can then be applied by cocktail stick or end of a modelling knife):  

Well if any of my D&D player characters from my ongoing campaign are looking in, firstly "Hi - stop peeking! No good will come of it!". Secondly rest assured I would not be so "mean" as to do something as "mean spirited" as introducing a large, dangerous, short tempered and obviously "too high a level" monster (with quick-kill player character eating potential) into the game, just because I have painted it, What do you take me for? Yes, of course I will quite happily wait twenty odd years until you are ready to tackle it. Please pay no attention to the Bugbear and Demon Prince figures that did that, appearing out of the natural course of events, we call those regrettable incidents, so unsightly. That was plain "mean" and I have learnt my lesson (which was go out of the room before starting to laugh out loud). Carry on, there is nothing to see here, move along Gandalf. 

That's Interesting: An International Warhammer Conference Captured on YouTube

Here it is in all its glory (see link below): 

https://www.youtube.com/@warhammerconference

The first video (see below, included so you can get a feel for it):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KNs_Gnq1Z8

I have to say that I am fascinated! In know 40K in particular is so old it has its own creed and history within its history. Fascinated to see the dedication and interest this generates!

Alternative Nativity Scene (D&D Vibe)?

Kids having fun with nativity scene (see below, Avengers figures were too large to fit in correctly): 

Well at least the Roper seemed to be the correct scale!

Waterdeep - The Tavern of the Yawning Portal

Waterdeep - The Tavern of the Yawning Portal (see below, a rather challenging task for a DM to describe to the adventurers as they are hauled up for the first time): 

Instead of walking in through the tavern door like most folk - mysteriously the party are pulled up one by one from a room (which I inserted) in the Lost Mines of Phandelver adventure! A curious seg-way perhaps but the characters seemed up for it!

"Lost Mines of Phandelver" Finish - 2023 D&D Reboot - New Adventure "Dungeon of the Mad Mage" Awaits

And so .. surrounded by the "boss" monster of Phandelver (The Spider) the adventurers "rocked it" courtesy of the Party Leader Magic-User making his experience points up to 5th Level [big time adventures await] - and this figuring out how to use the dreaded Fireball Spell. Kaboom! The room of baddies (giant spiders, bugbears and The Spider himself) was consumed in magical fire [but the party leader was careful to protect his fellow PCs]. This also weakened the stability of dungeon foundations by destroying the dungeon protector - the magical Dwarf God idol [crumble, crumble .. RPG PC vandalism .. so magic is no longer holding the structure together]. With the dungeon collapsing around them in Indiana Jones fashion the party race to a new opening which seems to be "stable" (see below, the ending of The Spider NPC and his dreams of utilising "Fell Magic"):      

A bizarre sight awaits them, a chair on a chain harness, a bucket with a sign, "One at a time. A gold coin for the bucket man" and a long dark vertical chimney with a distance white pinprick of a light, with faint sounds of raucous revelry carrying down the chimney. One by one the adventurers ascend and teh party find themselves in the surreal surrounding of the Tavern of the Yawning Portal, an entrance point to the "Dungeon of the Mad Mage" and "Waterdeep"!

In 2023 the dungeon and dragons adventures restarts with a reboot from The Lost Mines of Phandelver. The PCs also carry the secret of the demonic presence they have released onto the unsuspecting denizens - who (thought they) have troubles enough of their own.

Dungeons and Dragons .. Spoiler alerts: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHtBB3TFfDo

Although in typical Dungeon Master fashion I reserve the right to add bespoke elements and levels in to suit my whim and figure collection (present and future)! In typical strange fashion I have also gone and ordered the prequel! Dragon Heist, describing the setting of the town of Waterdeep!

28mm Fantasy - Undead Hoards - Skeletons

For reason still as yet clear to me after a short conversation with my eldest teenage son I began painting my massed skeleton (from various manufacturers) collection (see below, HeroQuest [top left], Warlord Games [top right down to bottom], Wargames Atlantic [middle left down to bottom] and there was even some Games Workshop lingering around off camera): 

My colour palette (see below, Army Painter Grey Spray Primer plus the paints shown - Citadel Base Corax White (which I think is a lovely grey), Citadel Contrast Skeletal Horde, Vallejo Game Bonewhite and Vallejo Game Dead White): 

Corax White (see below, looking white, but a grey white to my eyes, perhaps it is the primer coming through - but as a base paint it is rally rich in pigment): 

Skeletal Horde with the Bonewhite highlight (see below, I must confess to using it more as an all over wash than a selective paint so perhaps I am missing a trick here, still I like the end result):  

Dead White ultra-highlight (see below, trying "not to do too much" with a dab, giving a fine-lining highlight effect - which I find the hardest part, just to put enough on and no more): 

Thank is the bulk of the figure done, just a bit of work to do on the weapons and shields. The aim is to produce a suitably rusty grimy effect .. watch this space ;)  

Update (3/10/2022): Swap out Vallejo Game Dead White for the less bright Vallejo Game Off White, the less intense colour works better for the highlight IMHO. 

Old School Friends continue our D&D Dungeon Hack

Damn it, is it not a frustrating blast when those darn adventurers get their act together and bamboozle a clump of dangerous looking monsters (in this case a band of five Bugbears). By deft and cunning use of a magician's familiar, a Dragon Breath spell (see cotton wool below in the picture below) which as it came from a completely unexpected direction, "spooked" the monsters into stampeding into a well set up trap, aka killing zone (see below, as their "singed" [Bugbear] leader fell along side another Bugbear to the deft back-stabbing of the party's two thieves [the tiny Gnome thief dropping down from a point above the archway - a set-up that is becoming his trademark move], the "force morale" of the remaining three Bugbears crumbled [as per the three Bugbears exiting south at the bottom of the photograph]): 

Catching but a short breath the adventurers then moved onto the "next room" and came across another three Bugbears plus their Drow overseer. Two of the Bugbears and the Drow were distracted as they searching in a chasm for "something" (see the figures in the white 'chasm floor' area [top part] in the photograph below). Silence whispers and mutterings  - the PCs were up to something. Sure enough they had a "plan" very similar to their last escapade. However, the party's next assassination plan (meticulously worked out beforehand) came unstuck right at the start of its execution. The magician's familiar was this time spotted and "plucked" from the sky [by exactly "what" the party are not sure of], but at least the party's thieving duo still managed to take out the isolated Bugbear on guard duty up top, already dead as he toppled to the chasm below (see below, the party's killing spree continues, but now the enemy now know they are there):  

I am looking forward to the resolution to this Mexican stand-off in the next session.  

Dungeon Fun: Skeletons

Ain't it always the same, a room described in the most non-descriptive way .. "a room filled with a bunch of trash really, intermixed with the now skeletal remains of the former guards who once inhabited and died in this area" .. the adventures trundle in and start rooting around from loot (see below, notice the eagerness of the thieves to be 'first in'): 

Imagine their surprise and my glee as the skeletons animate and surround the party gaining a two to one attack [apparently when this happens one of the attacks comes in at advantage] which started to beat up the party until the Cleric used his "anti undead" magic .. boo hiss .. and they all relaxed (see below, figures of the skeletons [Warlord games and really nice] are only partially complete [highlights, wash and base work still to be done] but have that lovely Jason and the Argonauts feeling which defines "skeletons" in D&D to me):

So spoiler alert, they got away (how did these guys make it to third and fourth level, I am sure in Second Edition Dungeons and Dragon their numbers would have been long up) but a more serious threat in the form of a guard room full of Bugbears awaits.

New D&D Friends for 2022

Courtesy of a shopping expedition in Edinburgh, several monsters were unboxed and are due to hit the Painting tray in 2022 (see below, a Rust Monster, Beholder and "somethings" called Cricks - never met the latter as a player but it is a snakelike thing with a pointy beak): 

Please don't take me as of face value, the kind of DM who just throws high level monsters at a low level party just because he has them in figures ;) 

I am much meaner than that!

Dungeon Hack - Cleaning up the Baddies Lair (Lost Mines of Phandelver)

I like old style D&D despite it being 5th Edition rules. My teenage son favours the computerised Roll D20 with its precision and its magic lighting, but I like pulling together whatever is on  hand and improvising, making a "mash" of it. I like the organic flock and pseudo chaos of that ensues. Here are few shots from early on in the adventure (the Lost Mine of Phaldelver" used in the 5th Edition Starter Campaign). You have my old 1980's 2D dungeon floor plans resurrected from the loft and old school miniatures of the same period plus a few newbies (see below, clearing out the "minor" baddies lair under the ruins of an old manor house a classic party "snaking its way" through the dungeon): 

The rugged cavern section is covered without major trauma, then the party finds a more structured (aka "square shaped") section of storerooms and are dutifully explored (see below, when there are a series of rooms to investigate it is always interesting [fun for the DM at least] to see "who" goes [or is nominated to go] first into the 'next room', a bit of reluctant "turn taking" is always FUN (karma inducing moments) - as in who's time is it for their luck to run out and spring a trap): 

An interesting find. Rinse and repeat. Steps leading down, especially when they are narrow (5' wide which means single abreast), which is always a "bad sign". The classic 10' by 10' cube awaits at the bottom with the classic choice of two doors (see below, "Wasn't this why we brought a thief along, to go first?" says the fighter to the magic-user):

Behind one of the doors .. is a guardroom (what else would you expect) garrisoned by drunken brigands who fight at disadvantage (see below, one sleep spell later and they are tied and bound up and ready to sing like canaries): 

The party advances to meet an important bad NPC (magic user) whom escapes .. with the expense of his beloved familiar -- which all adds rich narrative texture to the adventure which is good stuff! Don't worry they meet up with him later and he has a score to settle (he was attached to that rat [as in it was his "familiar"] the party killed)!

Note: If truth be told the adventure has passed far beyond this point, as I believe the pictures are over two years old (my posting to this blog has really slowed down). The characters have advanced in levels and explored the Sword Coast ;) 

Why so few posts this year?

I put it down to computer fatigue - the screen and keyboard time associated with work have soared during lock-down. Being a home office working and spending most of my day in front of a computer, the thought of spending extra hours in front of it typing away at a blog simply does not appeal. The social interaction of online gaming is a real buzz though, as well as Virtual Meetings with other wargamers - such as those put on recently by Wargaming Developments. The high light however is the online D&D session that has rumbled on through Covid regardless (see below, a scene from my last "Dungeon Hack" session - the party gets bounced by a 'gang of ghouls' [evil laughter] lead by an "undead" boss monster with .. ooh look ... a dangerous looking 'evil' magic item - so the party's Cleric attacks the undead with "Light Domain - Channel Divinity" ability): 

More 'good news' is that I do snip away making things for my hobbies more. For some particular reason the Covid-crisis has inspired me to "put-together" plenty [too many] 28mm WWII (for Chain of Command) figures. I do seem to have organised and assessed the contents of the wargaming attic in meticulous detail - although arranging troops for my own  "big battles" has not been part of this activity. So, credit to all the other bloggers who have kept up such a prestigious rate over Covid and the good news story is that I am getting a few games of the F2F type in too, so I think the tide is a turning for the better.  

As for the Dungeon Crawl (see below, spoiler alert, the adventurers were victorious .. sigh .. [as all the undead are now really well and truly, once and for all .. er, dead .. their natural state I suppose], the adventurers may have won this particular battle but the war or rather the quest goes on!): 

PS: To all my fellow bloggers out there .. blog on .. I am still reading you .. and enjoying you all tremendously ;) 

Good Old Fashioned Dungeon Hack: D&D 5th Edition

Mixing the old with the new. Fifth Edition D&D Rules (relatively new), with Games Workshop Figures and Warlord Games (monsters) and forty year old adventurer (Citadel[?]) miniatures and "the classic floor plans" (see below, the old-timer is the Dwarven thief skulking across the large cavern floor [actually invisible courtesy of a friendly magic-user's spell] the angry pack of ghouls [represented by GW Chain Rasps] heads towards the rest of the party - also note the suspiciously "un-animated" skeletons littering the cavern floor [from Warlord Games]):

Thing was the moment we stopped the session for the night/ What they call in the movies "a cliff-hanger". To be continued ...

Beauty is in the "Eye of the Beholder"

This is a Black Tree Design "Evil Eye" which to me equates to a Second Edition D&D Monster Manual picture of a Beholder (see below, a ping pong table tennis ball with pin tacks sticking out of it and a "bitey" mouth on it): 

As they say, the beauty is in the eye of the beholder (and although it does not compare to the Fifth Edition pimped up larger model of the Beholder) and I like its rustic charm. The other nickname we gave it was "the purple people eater"! Time will tell on that one as you have to be fairly high level to be unfortunate enough to meet and greet one! 

Some Pictures of D&D Adventurers that I had fun with in Lock-Down

One of the unexpected benefits of lock-down was my rediscovery of RPG with my old school friends at the tutelage of my eldest son (whom I think has memorised the contexts of 5th Edition AND the subsequent rules changes .. respect). From the loft came out some old Grenadier and Citadel friend from the 1980's (see below, not forgetting the ubiquitous dungeon floor plans - basic set corridor grey):  

This guy in particular, children's magic party "over the top" classic D&D wizard - dressed so crazy he's got to be both mad and powerful (see below, I take my hat off to the "mojo" I had when I painted him): 

Dwarves you gotta love them and that serious looking lost Crusader paladin type in the background (see below, the dwarf female looks tougher than the male counterpart - a happy couple on an orc killing spree): 

These are the new-comers in two senses of the word - new race (Drakon) and new figure casting (sexy plastic- resin from Wizkids, Noldur's Marvellous Miniatures) - but wat is there not to like (see below, apart from the joint custody of them between me and my teenage son; he'll eventually  break my heart when the collection moves out with him): 

Last but not least, in what seems like an age ago the original LOTR's "The Fellowship of the Ring" came out and along with is GW's LOTR's miniatures started (see below, I think it is Pippin, perfect for that halfling thief that appears in every party .. well at least at the start): 

This sums up D&D or rather RPG as lots of everything coming together in one big "mish-mash" of fun ;) 

Long may you all game on!

The Finished Minotaur .. I am gong to call him Finbar

The finished "beast" (see below, pity the poor fool of an adventurer who tries to take him on alone, in a disorientating underground maze): 

I toyed with the colour scheme, originally having him much browner but my eldest son convinced me to go more "fleshy" and I am glad he did (see bellow, looking rather Spartan with his bare buttocks): 

A bit of bounce off glare perhaps spoils the total effect but up close and personal this dude is going to tear hit points off you):  

Scratch this one off the bucket list, but maybe I need one with an axe too?

Bucket List: Fantasy Monsters - I always wanted a .. decent Minotaur figure (WIP)

The Minotaur is an iconic monster and one I never had as a kid, but it was always on the "bucket list" of D&D monsters to get. Lock-down and internet browsing lets certain things happen and while "purchasing" a WW2 28mm German infantry gun (more about that in another post) from Black Tree Design something dropped into the Cart and once in I just could not figure how to remove it (see below, I think they called it a Minotaur Champion but it looks like how any Minotaur should look to me - based up on Milliput to avoid it embarrassingly falling over): 

The base texturing came from my son's hobby tip courtesy of the Critical Roll podcasts - crumple up some tin foil into a small ball and roll it over the still pliable Milliput. He took pity on his farther cursing his old school efforts with an old toothbrush. Airfix Acrylic primer under coat was added (see below, ready for the painting tray to begin proper - really impressed with this sculpt): 

Note: This one might be a race against time to get this one ready for his (or its) campaign debut! Just saying to any PCs casually reading this blog post ;)  

Georgetown University Wargaming Society: YouTube Channel

Bookmark this or whatever, just remember where this is - these wargaming talks are brilliant!

• https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCw0nVuQu5KoHv0kFiC9yX4Q

The last four talks in particular were spectacular: 

Why and how games work so well in educational settings! (Jared Fishman) Brilliant! I just wish I was a student in a class like that, in a school that taught like that .. heck to be on the faculty teaching this way would be a dream job! Serious envy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPtyNCPzYhk

War Plan Orange (Peter Pellegrino) - Myth Busting the NWC in the development of War Plan but emphasizing the cadre of naval commanders it created via its intensive wargaming teaching methods (that lead to the eventual victory over Japan): 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzwDWX8oQn8

Designing Modern Operational Naval Games (Paul Vebber), the scope of this talk is amazing!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JbSn5bevnI

The Battle of France 1940 (Peter Perla) - this campaign hold so much interest for me, in particular the first tank battle at the Gembloux Gap:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aknHj_6a2RM

And there are many more great talks in the pipeline!

Online Magazine Repositories: "The Dragon" and "Space Gamer" + bonus UK ASL Fanzine site [and AH General]

 While looking through the Internet I came across these interesting sites: 

• UK ASL Fanzine and Avalon Hill's "Sport Game" info site: https://www.vftt.co.uk/indexs.asp
• The Dragon D&D Fantasy Magazine Repository: https://archive.org/details/DragonMagazine260_201801
• The Space Gamer Sci-Fi Magazine Repository: https://archive.org/details/space-gamer_201601/page/n1/mode/2up

The interest stemmed believe or not from reading an old AI article that mentioned Traveller, and many hours later ... tons of good stuff there!

Update: The General https://archive.org/details/general_magazine [Thanks to Ed M's comment below]

GW Ghouls .. Possibly useful to terrify adventurers with

I was actually pleased to pick these GW figures up (especially since they were a "last chance to buy before they get sent back to central store" - am I just a sucker for marketing or what?). Twenty ghouls for £25 is not bad for GW prices, as in cost per figure - their strange special "leader types" can literally go for that in a single figure [PS: And I don't buy those!]. To me these are just generic fantasy monsters (see below, assembled [and there were quite a few parts to each monster] and based waiting for some painting tray action, then a dungeon to inhabit):

As a D&D gamer I always hated facing ghouls; multiple attack creatures with a paralysis saving throw required after each hit. Fail one and you were ghoul-meat. I think I lost too many adventurers to these un-dead and don't get me on the subject of "level draining" un-dead monsters!