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With PAX only four days away, my preparations have kicked into overdrive. I've have a ton of office work to get done before can I go, and I still have a bunch of painting I'd like to get done as well. Given that, my free time this weekend was all about speed painting.

First off, I'm signed up to play in a couple of different Living Forgotten Realms RPGA sessions. I'm not usually a Realms fan (I'd rather play Eberron or Pathfinder), so I wanted to play something straightforward that I had a good sense for the lore - which for me means dwarves. I can't quite decide what class to play yet (I'm torn between Paladin, Warlord or Cleric) but I knew I wanted a good-looking mini to put on the table.

I was surprised how hard it was to find a good dwarf model (especially considering that I was limited to what I could find locally - as I have no time left to order anything.) I finally settled on one of the Warhammer Fantasy Runelord models. Warhammer dwarves are a little shorter than I'd like, so I mounted him on a fancy Micro Art Studio resin base. I painted him up in just under a couple of hours. Now that I see it in the photo, there are a few little details that I need to touch up, but all in all, I like him, and I think he'll serve me well on the table - especially when put up against the cheap plastic WotC miniatures.

I also put the finishing touches on a lance of battlemechs I've been working on from the BattleTech Introductory Boxed Set. I'd like to have all of the mechs needed the three introductory missions painted up for PAX, but we'll see how far I get. This group represents the mechs required for one side to play the first couple of missions. I'd like to get the opponent mechs painted as well (red, of course, so we can have some iconic Red vs. Blue action.)


On an unrelated note: Thursday night some folks at my local game store were playing a demo copy of the new Space Hulk, and I have to admit, I was impressed. The game has some nice production values and really great "table appeal." I never played the original, but watching them play this one, I found myself really wanting to pick it up. It might just be able to scratch the 40K itch without having to actually play 40K! Just what I need - another game.

The new Space Hulk. The minis look really great.

Labels: BattleTech, Board Games, Dungeons and Dragons, miniatures, RPGs, Warhammer 40K, Warhammer Fantasy

I made it back from my vacation with a pocket full of pesos, a second-degree sunburn and the flu as a souvenirs. The trip itself was phenomenal, but the week since has been hell. It hasn't been until the last few days that I've started to feel better. Also, I'm watching the Super Bowl halftime show as I write this, trying to figure out how the hell Bruce Springsteen got so famous. I just don't get it.

I'm going to be a little a heretical today, and in a couple of different ways. First, I'm going to put my fanboyism aside to talk some shit about Privateer Press, and then I'm going to show off my latest painting project - and it's Games Workshop. Before we jump to conclusions, I'm not giving up on Warmachine or anything, but every so often I need to switch things up and paint something different. When you are working on an army, you tend to paint the same kinds of things with the same colors over and over again. Eventually, my enthusiasm starts to wane and I find that I've gone several weeks without painting at all... when that happens, I usually go pick up something not Warmachine just to "cleanse the palette." Think of it as a sorbet for the painter's mind.

But before that, I just have to ask... what the hell is up with consistency of the Privateer Press range lately? I came back from my trip excited to see what was new on the PP preview pages... I found Molik Karn and the Shadowhorn Saytr. I don't know what it is, but the quality of the sculpts seems to be getting spotty lately. The Shadowhorn isn't terrible, but it's also kind of cartoony and posed horribly. And Molik Karn's face... I'm not sure what to think. The armor looks great, but that face... that mouth... it just looks ridiculous. Maybe I'm still bitter from my 2-dimensional Black 13th models, but it sure feels like they are slipping. I hope they get a handle on the sculpt quality - I got into the game because I had never seen a range of miniatures as consistently beautiful as the Warmachine/Hordes line. I'd hate to see that slide.

Now on to my weekend project. I just haven't had the will to get back to my Sword Knight UA, and so I decided I'd like to paint something other than Cygnar just to get the juices flowing again. I ended up playing quite a bit of Warhammer Online while I wasn't feeling well, and I really think the mounted dark elves in the game look cool, so I decided to try my hand on a unit of Cold One Knights.

They are really nice models with quite a bit of detail. Paining scales is always a lot of fun, and the dinos were definitely the high point. With my Warmachine painting, I don't get to do much drybrushing these days, and I kind of forget what an effective technique it can be.

For all the concern about Privateer Press going to plastic, this just cemented in my mind that not only do I not care - I welcome it. Assembly was easier, I dropped him twice while painting him and my heart didn't jump into my chest, and best of all: I got an entire unit of five cavalry models for $20. That’s not too bad when you compare that to $100 for a full unit of Storm Lances.

I'm still working on my sci-fi RPG plans. I've got some ideas, but I'm probably going to set up a separate site to put all that information on, so I don't overwhelm Gamehole with it. More on that soon.

Labels: miniatures, MMORPGs, RPGs, wargaming, Warhammer Fantasy, Warmachine