The Pledge

I like so many gamers have fallen into the loop of buying figs to paint and game with and them ending up in a drawer somewhere to be found months later and likely never painted. This has to stop.

I watched a few friends make 'the pledge' last year and surprisingly they managed to stick to it.

So my fellow gamers here we go.

'I Kevin Finlay pledge to try and paint more figures than I buy in the period from Aug 2012 to Aug 2013'. I will keep a log on the sidebar of the blog to keep track of my pledge and whether I am ahead or falling behind with my target.

P.S Needs to be at least 3 colours and based as with a tourney painting restriction.

So August....so far

Bought - Malifaux Teddy, 2 Ratcatchers
Painted - Epidemius Demon of Nurgle, 4 Plaugebearers of Nurgle, 1 Grectchin

Bought 3
Painted 6

Result!

The Friday Night Project - Before

Friday night is upon us again.

Time to get the paints out. Tonight I have set myself a small target of getting the dwarven ship from dreadfleet finished off and to get a solid start to the skin of my small group of gretchin.

As you can see I got the basecoat of the skin done the other night on the gretchin and the ship has had its first few layers.

It has been a bit of an experiment with the gretchin. Over the years of my wargaming I have never had a greenskinz army in any of the games I played.

When we started with 40k back in the late 90's Eldar was my thing, then as I progressed into WHFB Orc's and Goblins never really made it into my wanted list. This has made the skin of the gretchin a bit of a challenge and a new experience for me.

After trying out a few things I settled for the skin tone in my previous post. Its a basecoat of Knarloc Green on a black undercoat, thena Badab Black wash, then Foundry's Phlegm green and various amounts of white under I get as light as I would like.

I want these guys to look bright but not like they are on their way to creamfields!

As far as the Dreadfleet ship was concerned, I always had this in my head as a green based colour scheme so it seemed to make sense to have a go at the same time.

Pics after the session to follow ;)

Over and Out

The Blogfather

With my good lady about ready to pop any day now with my very own little wargaming apprentice, I have somewhat of an abundance of spare time this week. With nothing in the diary and nothing planned other than the arrival of our little jedi it has given me time to as I please.

This has given me the chance to get the paints out and get organised with my gaming stuff after us moving house. It has also meant that I have been able to catch up with friends blogs and with some of my old wargaming buddies. Its important just to stop every now and again and get in touch with your mates!

Now one particular old mate of mine.... Dave is really the reason I started this blog. He is a bit of a 'pro-blogger' and the sheer amount of traffic his blog gets really does put this to shame. We recently got back in touch after my 'sentence' at a northern outposts in Shetland. I cannot recommend this blog enough. Dave has a real sense of humour and Fiona often ask's why on earth am I laughing whilst reading a wargaming blog...

Now I am not going to write too much on this as I believe Dave puts it so much better than I could.
Hopefully you'll hear more of Dave and our games more in the coming months... we did make a bit of a pledge that we would try and get more games in!

Here's a link to when we recently got back in touch:

http://kingsleypark64.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/game-has-no-dice.html

and heres the main blog:

http://kingsleypark64.blogspot.co.uk/

I cannot recommend it enough.

So back to painting...

So far tonight I have managed to get a good basecoat down on my heldenhammer from some fresh motivation for dreadfleet. I have also been experimenting with skin on some gretchin that have been in my 'to do' basket for some time now. What do you think of the style I settled for? Was looking for a bit of a balance, not too bright but enough to stand out.

Dreadfleet

Yarrrgh!

It's Pirate time! My mum got me 'Dreadfleet' last xmas and whilst I had put the ship together, last night at the Kirriemuir Wargames club was the first night I had the rules out of the box.

The quality of the stuff in this game is incredible. I'm not going to be painting them to a display standard, however. It's a standalone game, for playing games with. So I'm going to paint it to a decent tabletop standard. I had managed to get the pieces that we needed undercoated before the club so we had a good start!

After some deliberation about set up and some drooling over the nice gaming mat + glossy book, we had a run through the first couple of tutorial scenarios in the rulebook.

The game flowed really well and despite GW's trademark loads of dice, the mechanics worked quite well.

So far I think Dreadfleet is a shaping up to be a good game with a simple rule set but tactical play. It's a shame that more people haven't taken to it. From this minimal amount of experience I think that the random element might be its undoing. Sometimes it feels like a ship takes tons of damage but won't sink and other times two shots are enough. Now I'm not saying this isn't totally unrealistic but random damage coupled with the Fate deck means that sometimes even though you've got the upper hand things can quickly go wrong. Perhaps this adds more balance to the game but when you're making the right choices only to lose out to bad luck it can be frustrating. Having said that it's the same in most wargames, sometimes your luck just fails you.

It has spurred my painting on, the heldenhammer is started and its basecoat is drying as i type.

back to the brushes..

Dungeon Tiles

Now whilst I already have some 90's dungeon tiles and a couple of the 4th edition d and d tile sets I was suddenly motivated to go fishing for some new dungeon scenery.

So thanks to Wizards of the coast, Mandy's printer and an afternoon laminating... voila!

I also made a rather spoovy spreadsheet (with the help of the Mr's) with a list of all the D&D miniature I own and what drawer in my new 'filing system' to find them in!

Now to get my campaign out of my head and onto paper!

Over and out!

Film's from the 80's to Inspire a Plot

Whilst trawling the internet to get some inspiration for adventures and things I came across a really good post on Fantasy Films from the 80's. At first you might think, nah these are rubbish... but i think theres a few hidden gems. Not only from a cool film point of view but also for plot hooks.

The movies on the list aren’t ranked and there is no rating. They are all worth seeing for one reason or another. Some have begun cult favourites in their own right and continue to endure as popular movies to this day. In each case I’ve provided my memories or brief thoughts about each film.  In some cases these plot hooks aren’t spectacular, but the movies listed below do represent the most basic of fantasy films.

 

Conan the Barbarian

If anyone had told you when this movie released that the star would one day be the Governor of California, you would have laughed. At the time of its release Conan was a great fantasy film that captured the imaginations of many.

Plot Hook

An evil warlord who wronged a party member long ago has resurfaced and is once again causing destruction. It is up to the party to end the reign of terror!

 

Clash of the Titans

There is a scene in this movie where the heroes are fighting a group of skeletons at the top of a cliff. The scene has stayed with me over the years as a great battle sequence full of drama. If you are looking for a film the plays up on Greek mythology Clash of the Titans has it all.

Plot Hook

Love and fate intertwine; the only way to save a romantic interest of a player is to slay a great evil.

 

The Dark Crystal

Jim Henson’s puppets are the primary draw in this whimsical tale. Regretably the plot doesn’t hold up. However, if you can suspend disbelief (it is a fantasy movie and you do play rpgs) there is certainly enough there to entertain. At the very least, it’s a break from CGI and a return to a different type of movie making.

Plot Hook

An eldritch device was damaged and broken long ago during the war of the ancients. Over time it has leaked dark magic that has deformed the world. Recently a youngster discovered the broken piece and now seeks the party’s aid to restore the item and return balance to the world.

 

Excalibur

Excalibur is the best movie ever filmed about the Arthurian legends. It explores the story fully and features high production values for its time. First Knight might have had Sean Connery, but it has nothing on Excalibur.

Plot Hook

The king requests that the party kill his bastard son, a ruthless warlord bent on conquering the kingdom. What will the party do with this new found information?

 

Labyrinth

Once again the combination of live action and Jim Henson’s puppets in this film strike a chord. Unfortunately, the plot leaves something to be desired. However, if you are looking for a fantasy movie filmed in a different way, Labyrinth may just be what you are looking for. Of course David Bowie in tights is a draw!.

Plot Hook

Goblins have been stealing children from a local village. The party must venture into their lair and rescue the children.

 

The Neverending Story

As a kid the blend of the real world and a fantastic one grabbed my attention. The theme song was grating, but the movie remains a favourite. I have after all always wanted to fly on the back of a dragon! Sadly there were two sequels to this film. I can’t say that I would recommend either.

Plot Hook

The party is resting between adventures. One night in the tavern a village elder reads an ancient story from a scroll. Unknown to all, the scroll and text are magical in nature, the events of the story begin to unfold in real life and the party must deal with the consequences.

 

Red Sonja

I remember watching this movie for two reasons. That guy from Conan was in it and Brigitte Nielsen was hot. The rest of the movie is actually rather forgettable.

Plot Hook

An artefact of great power has fallen into the hands of an evil warlord. Only the party can save the day.
~ I know it’s weak, but have you seen the movie?

 

Willow

It’s been a number of years since I last watched Willow. Some memorable quotes from Val Kilmer in the role of Madmartigan are a highlight. Epic battles, swords and sorcery what else could you want in a movie?

Plot Hook

A child of prophecy is born. Many are afraid of the threat the child represents to them and set about to kill the child before she reaches maturity. Only the party can intervene.


What is your favourite movie from this time period? Have I left a must see off the list?

The Road on the Show!

Right.... after several months on the back burner this project is back on track.

After several great sessions and a trawl through 'The Cave of the Weasel" we managed to get a group at a level with the Savage Worlds rules system. All was going rather well, Then bump...

 I believe triatheletes call it the bonk, cyclist call it the wall... we stopped.... there was a period of about 8 weeks where we just simply could not all be at the same place at the same time. The group just fizzled out. Have you encountered this problem? How did you deal with it?

So with fresh motivation and fighting spirit back where it should be, we are looking to get this show back on the road!

Tbc....