Beards and Lasguns

Squats continue to pop up on the HUD. This last lot will pay off in the end, but I foresee a lot of work reconditioning them to their former glory. I picked up a sizeable batch of the stout folk, actually multiple small batches, and have set to the scrubbing.

Some of them are simply falling apart as I strip them. This is in large part due to the fact that it appears they were painted first, then glued together second. There's a second batch that appears to have been painted using enamel paints, and the third batch...well the third batch is holding up rather well through it all. All in all I'm hoping to salvage a good thirty to forty of the original multi-part plastic "Imperial Guard" Squats.




The bone pile o' pieces...


Here's my metal Squats who have come in intermixed and mingled. Of all the Rogue Trader stuff I've ever owned, I only had two Squats among them. There was a boxed set that included a Space Marine Landspeeder, an Imperial Guard Tarantula gun platform, and a Squat Mole Mortar. Sadly, those two Mole Mortar crew members are gone, but I feel like I've somewhat replaced their numbers. They're all gems really, but the Squat Adeptus Mechanicus in Power Armor is one of my favorites of the bunch. I've also got a Squat Medic (with a comically short chainsword, or chainknife. A Squat Servitor (which I didn't know existed), a heavy gunner, a loader model, and a cool looking character model with a Bolter strapped to his back. Rounding out all the stunty-ness is a Squat Thudd Gun.

I would be remiss if I didn't post my Squat Biker either! I will perfectly honest, this one was destined for the Simple Green, but I couldn't bring myself to it. My buddy Andy, of Little Lead Heroes, did a great job painting this guy up, and that's all there is to it. How can you not like this model either, he's a Squat Biker...it doesn't get any cooler than that!

So, the Squats continue to amass in the depths of the Mik's Minis project files. If you have a lone Squat (or more) lying around and want to donate them to the cause, please do so! Beard and beer karma will reward you!

Star Station Zero Sci-Fi Tiles

Recently I came into possession of these great spaceship tiles on DrivethruRPG. For just five bucks you get an awesome set of some really nice looking tiles, suitable for pretty much any of your "Hey, I'm on a spaceship!" needs.

What's more is that each tile has different artwork, and since you've got the PDF, you can print fifty of them if need be and layout an entire space station.

Here's what you get:

• Four 5x5 square floors
• Four 3x5 oblong floors
• Six 3x3 square floors
• Two 5x1 oblong floors
• Open and Closed Doors (in two sizes)
• Open and Closed Blast Doors (also in two sizes)
• Room Connectors
• Custom wall cubes

I really like the ways the doors work as well. They fold in a way that if you're using somewhat rigid cardstock they become quite sturdy. Also, when a door is 'closed' there are little red lights on the deck floor at its base. When the door is 'open', you can see a slot recessed in the floor and green lights on the deck, pretty clever. Also the doors come in two sizes, 10mm ones to fit within the black edge borders of each room tile, and 20mm which straddle the edges but are more stable. Making Star Trek 'door-swishing' sounds is optional.


I didn't want to show all the tiles here, but there's a great preview on the product page here. The attention to detail is really worked into each tile, and little things like the ambient lighting and scuff marks for wear and tear round them out. There's a great room with a large airlock hatch in the center of it too that could come in handy for a number of things. I'd even go as far to cut a square of black, speckle it with stars, and use it as a vacuum to go in the center of the tile. You don't want to open those doors!

The tile grids are laid out in 20mm squares, and these work best obviously with 15mm single-based figures (or classic 25mm figs). Given the huge (and economical!) numbers available of sci-fi 15mm selection out there nowadays, it would seem Star Station Zero made a timely appearance in our quadrant.

Updating the Gorgons

The only thing it seems I'm doing right now is Blood Bowl, which any reader of this blog will know, is kind of weird. Not 'cause it's Blood Bowl, but because I'm only doing the one thing instead of the usual eight or nine simultaneous projects in ten different genres and probably two or three different scales! So I'm working on my team.


My team is 99% painted, but their bases weren't flocked, so that's what I sat down to do this day. I just went with a pretty basic flock, nice and green and easy to apply. Just a coat of white glue, undiluted, and a quick dip 'n swish in the tub.


Now the team is one thing, the players that go on the pitch are good to go, however I didn't have a coaching staff until now. Digging around in the deep recesses of my most remote bits bins I came up with some gems. For one, I found another Chaos Dwarf blocker, which is good so now I can quit proxying a WHFB fig. I also found a Hobgoblin with a spear, which will serve as my team's apothecary. He's currently sitting in Simple Green. Last is my head coach, the old Astragoth model, and I forgot how cool this guy was.


So, since my team is known for a different variety of "big funny" hats, I stuck to that theme here. I went with a giant super-fro for the player. The cowboy hats are cool, but this guy will be slightly different. For the coach I went with a "Stinky Pete" prospector hat.


The head coach is also going to have a steam-powered playbook!

Where in the World is Gyro Sandiego?

I am taking a break to just keep y'all informed since its been a bit since my last post. As you know, there's a game changer in the works and these last few weeks have been the final push to get everything ready for the baby.

So last weekend we deconstructed the guest bedroom and turned it into the nursery. The bed frame was converted back into a crib. Laundry has been diligently washed in eco-friendly hypo-allergenic fluids, and sheets applied to the mattress.

Today we built the changing table, wired up monitors, stocked goods, and constructed the basinet as well as the portable crib. It's been busy around here, but it's starting to look like it's physically ready to receive a young'un. I wish I was mentally ready though!

On the gaming front, it's pretty much just been Blood Bowl, which is good given what a great game it is. We're starting up a laid-back league, the Painsphere which you can track here. So far my Chaos Dwarf team, the Gorgons of Gorgoth, are 1-1 after playing matches against Skaven and Orcs. We're hoping to get some more of the local players from our other games on board.

In addition to the Blood Bowl there hasn't been much other gaming. I've playing the XBox version of Blood Bowl a lot, cranking through a handful of tournaments as well. I've got a couple of novels under my belt, which I also need to review. I've still yet to paint a single fig for the year! Tonight we're playing in our first (of hopefully many) game in a new fantasy RPG setting centered around the world of Sarterra. It's using the FATE system and the Legends of Anglerre rules.

So there you go, personal and gaming updates abound. Enjoy!

Thirteen Times the Blood...Bowl

Needless to say, just the two hour sample of Blood Bowl we played the other day has really sparked my interest again in one of the best tabletop games around. So I went rummaging through my stuff today and drug out all of the fantasy football figs I could muster and did a legitimate inventory. Some of this stuff dates back to second edition, so there were some changes to be made, and certainly some swaps to go around.

The one thing I need to honest about here is that I simply don't need thirteen teams. But letting go of minis is so hard to do. There are obvious choices for the auction block, like my Orcs, I have three Orc teams. Three, really? I think one will do just fine. There's other choices too, like my Undead, I just never got my head around their style of play and frankly I like being more of a scoring team, not a inure-the-other-guy team. Aggressively speaking I could get rid of about half the teams I own, and maybe even use some of the money I make to pick up a sweet looking third party team and paint them up right.


The Deadrock Goyles here are pretty much a hall of fame team. Not the Orc roster, but these actual models. They were the scourge of a league we played in way back when and seeing them here makes me wince. They are definitely my 'alpha' Orcs, so they'll be sticking around. I may pull figs off the other teams to fill their ranks.


This is a bit of an expanded team of Orcs. It has the basics plus a bunch of extras like a converted Troll big guy and a couple of Goblins. It has a metal Orc here and there to boot in the form of Blitzers and regular Linemen. After I pick out whatever I need for the Goyles, this one will be fodder for sure and on their way out.


This is a stock team, straight from the boxed set. It's a very nicely painted team and although it doesn't have any extras in it, the crisp paintjob makes up for it. This is a case where although I like the team, it's my third Orc team, it's days are numbered.


Here's a great looking Human team, mostly from the boxed set and mostly awesomely painted! In addition to the plastic figs, there's four metal second edition players in there, as well as a metal star player. A large Ogre has defected from the Orc team he used to be a part of to this new Human team. The men on the team however are too afraid to ask him to change his uniform. I'll be hanging on to these guys for sure.


It's almost embarrassing looking at my first Human team. They're pretty much straight from the boxed set as well, with some fun extras too, like two metal star players (one of which will probably get snagged for the other Human team) and a fourth Blitzer figure. As you just saw though, this is one Human team too many, and these chaps are headed out the door. They'll probably be a good bargain for somebody.


They're small, they're fast, and they have armor made from cardboard. Still, you gotta love the Skaven, they have lots of options and variety, and if coached right can be solid. As you can see these guys are a bit of a work in progress as I still have some unpainted mutant figs to do, and I need to rebase the Rat Ogre big guy in the back. I'll be keeping these guys around, and probably add some basic linemen at one point in the future.


The High Elves are another team I want to hang on to. They're more survivable than their Dark and Wood Elf cousins, and are the same speed of the Humans, which I'm used to coaching. If I buckled down, I feel I could coach these guys fairly well.


The Undead here are pretty flexible under the rules we've been looking at (LRB5). I pulled a second edition Werewolf from the Human team (since they can't have him anymore) and put him on the roster. Also on the roster, in addition to the regular team, is a second edition Flesh Golem (looks just like Frankenstein's monster), a Vampire star player, and a converted Ghoul. I like the idea of the Undead, but their days are numbered.


The only thing keeping these Chaos Dwarves from the chopping block is their theme. As you can see the Dwarves (including Centaur big guy) all have converted cowboy hats. In addition to the regular team is the aforementioned big guy, a converted bluderbussier, and a second edition cyborg Orc which I'm only guessing is still legal. I'm still up in the air on this one, I never play them, so someone else might get more out of them.


Here's a good example of a rock solid team that has the basics plus a little extra. Chaos is a great team with plenty of hitting power and good versatility in their line-Beastmen. I've also got a Minotaur big guy in there converted from a Reaper fig. I like these guys, but I can't keep them all just because I like them, they're days are numbered.


If the large (and painted) Chaos team's days are numbered then these guys aren't long for the world in my neck of the woods! There's barely enough here to even take to the field, but add in a big guy and maybe a fourth Chaos Warrior and you should be good to go.


I don't mind my team having an armor value of a lowly seven if they have the speed (Skaven) or the agility (Wood/Dark Elves) to back it up, but what the heck are the Norse packing under those spiked helms? Umm, not enough to keep them sticking around! I did manage to poke around and find another official second edition Werewolf to put in there too.


Not only am I keeping these Dwarves around, they may be the first ones on the painting and refurbishment assembly line. I love Dwarves, so I see no reason why I'd get rid of these, although I need at least four more Linemen to fill out their ranks.

My Warhammer Quest

They don't make them like they used to. This post is about my copy of Warhammer Quest, which I'm happy to say this is the same set I bought back in 1995, and its grown since then. Back in the day, this was the only boardgame dungeon crawl of this level in town, and we had many, many 'beer and pretzels' nights with this one. Actually, WHQ action has even reached the blog a time or two, and that's going on a good dozen or more years after its release. I think that says a lot about its replay value right there.


Bunches and bunches of components are within


It comes with treasure cards but I've also got all three of the additionally released treasure card packs as well. These extra hundred and fifty treasure cards give so many more options for both dungeon room and objective room random treasures.





No other GW boardgame came with this many minis! Not only that, but these aren't cheap facsimiles of GW's regular figures. At the time, the figures that came in the box were the same plastic that you could find in the WHFB range too. A gaming buddy of mine, Raymundo, painstakingly took the time to paint these to boot.


Yes, even the bats and spiders are painted!


WHQ put the "tile laying" in "tile laying dungeon crawl"




Of course all of the above fits nice and snug into the main box. There's also a handful of rulebooks in there as well, one of which will take your basic heroes well beyond the first two levels and into much more advanced levels.

The game is now sixteen years old, to find one complete is getting to be more and more rare. If you can get your hands on a copy however, do so, the game is a lot of fun, and it hardly shows it age at all. If you know someone who has a copy collecting dust, get them to haul it out and give it a whirl one evening, you won't be disappointed.


I've bored you enough, so never mind the rest...

Three Times the Blood...Bowl

Pretty much on a whim, I'd say about a six hour notice, we broke out the Blood Bowl stuff and cranked out an interesting game, a three-way match. Andy's already posted on it, but I thought I'd follow up as well. As much Blood Bowl as I've played over the past seventeen years I can say this was actually a first, and it worked rather well.


The pitch itself is a geometric gem of a grid. From any point on the line of scrimmage to any point to one of the three end zones you have exactly thirteen hexes, nothing more nothing less, just like on a regulation pitch. Of course you have the three end zones, which is crazy to say the least but also a lot of fun.


Three times the teams means three times the mayhem, and also made for some very interesting mechanical differences from a regular game. Andy played Humans, a very good all-around team. I played the Dwarves, a first for me, and something of a challenge as they are slow, not very agile, but tough as stone. Biscuit was playing for the first time and coached the Orcs, another excellent all-around team. For added fun we added in a Troll 'big guy' and a Goblin as well. This is a great combo because the Troll has a skill that allows him to throw small team mates with the 'right stuff' skill, which the Goblin has!

It may have had three end zones, but it was still in-your-face Blood Bowl


One interesting by-product is what you see above. The ball has scattered deep in Orc territory and both a Human Blitzer, and a Dwarf Slayer are trying to get to the ball. That's the interesting catch, the Orc end zone is fair game for both Dwarves and Humans, meaning the Orcs are now defending their end zone from two teams!

Andy's suggested maybe having assigned scoring end zones per team. At first I wasn't sure, thinking the more scoring the merrier, but having slept on it, it does make more sense, and keeps the gameplay more balanced and solid.


Here's another curious example. When throwing a block against a foe, you can get an assist from a fellow team mate, most of the time giving you a second blocking die. Having a buddy team mate near you can cancel out your opponent's dice superiority.

In the center up above, the two Humans are about to get a two-die block on the Orc. If the Dwarf up there was an Orc instead, he would cancel out the two dice. However he's is a Dwarf, he's not on either team so his area of influence doesn't matter at all when it comes to the hit. Why does he care if the Orc is about to get bowled over?

More three-way pitch action...

Three teams, three different sets of dice

The classic post-game looks cool in this version!

My Dwarves

Andy's Humans

My Orcs (drawn from two different teams) on loan

So there you have it, a fun match out of the blue, and a very different kind of match at that! I gotta say, Blood Bowl is one of those games universally recognized as simply all-around great. Just this one match (and we only played a single half) was enough to really get my Blood Bowl juices flowing again. I think there was inspiration all around too and now there's talk of a possible 'friendly' league of sevens. We'll see!