Super Saxon and the Mad Baron

Hello again, Chris here with an update on my Dux Brit progress, and a couple of other odds and ends.

I'm afraid my progress on my Dux forces is a bit lacking.  I have only managed to finish 4 additional figures, all Saxon warriors.

I don't think they turned out to badly, though the one on the right is a bit odd.  After going ahead with a red and blue paint scheme for him, with yellow edging on the tunic, I realized he reminded of Superman's costume.  It's a bird, it's a plane, it's Super Saxon!

Though I didn't make any more progress in painting, I have got the whole lot of Saxons and Britons cleaned up and based, so I'll be pressing on again soon.

In a diversion from this project, I pulled out some of my "Back of Beyond" figures from Copplestone Casting.  I've been reading a bit about this era recently, including the Bloody White Baron by James Palmer.  I was thus inspired to paint up the Mad Baron figure from Copplestone (well, at least the mounted version).

As with all the Copplestone figures I've worked on, he was fun to paint, with loads of character.  Might have to add a few Mongol horsemen to ride alongside him.

I always wanted to mention a new rules book I recently purchased,  Pulp Alley.

I have not had a chance to play it yet, but I like what I have read so far.  Looks to give an entertaining game of pulp adventure, with a small teams of 5 to 10 figures to a side.  I first heard about it over on the Lead Adventure Forum , where you can read some excellent after action reports on the game.

Well, that's all for now.  Thank you again for your kind attention, and until next time, carry on gaming!

A Festive Mikmas to You

It's very hard to believe that a year ago today I was posting news that we were going to have a new baby, and that it was my birthday to boot. Well that grape-sized, in utero critter from the ultrasound is now a six month old healthy boy, and me, your thirty six year old host, is now a thirty seven year old host.

As you can see from the birthday loot pile above, the girls know me pretty well. More on the UFO Abduction set later, having already built it though I must say it's pretty cool. As for L.A.Noire, I was pleasantly surprised especially since I hadn't even hinted towards it.

EDIT: Ironically enough, I'm not the only adult out there gaming, painting Space Marines, and getting cool Lego sets for their birthdays from the family, ahem, Sons of Twilight.

Pharaoh's Quest: 2 of 2

This is part two of my Lego Pharaoh's Quest set reviews. If you haven't checked that post out, go ahead. The long and short of it is that Lego is putting out their own line of pulp/horror goodness. This isn't a licensed product like the Prince of Persia sets either, these new sets are all Lego and really pack a punch. This is good news because we won't have to worry about licensing issues in the long run, these sets can go on for a while.


The second set in the series to be reviewed is #7307 Flying Mummy Attack. Yes, you heard right, flying freakin' mummies! You get three mini-figs in the set, plus a really cool bi-plane and new accessories to boot. Lego hasn't skimped on the details this go-round either. Almost all the mini-figs have printed torsos and printed legs, but furthermore, all of the torsos I've seen so far are double-sided as well. Also, the mummies have "two-faced" heads depending on your mood; crazy menacing, or cyclopean chic.


The mummies are the same as set #7306, but their gear sets them apart by a mile. Looking at the box I thought these were same headdresses we've seen all along, but painted anew. Nope, these are completed new headdresses without the "pony tail" in the back, making these much easier to fit with capes and certain armor pieces. Not to mention these look cool with the Horus-styled paint jobs.

The new helmets aren't the coolest things though, it's the wings. These are hard plastic, neck-hole/peg backpack style wings, and you get two of them. These look great, are multi-colored and printed on both sides.

You can also see in here our hero, Jake Raines. He's got a nicely printed torso which is a leather flight jacket and as you can see, he's got his biplane symbol on the back. He also comes with not one, but two of the blocky, drum fed machine guns. These are really parts for the biplane itself, but they're too good to pass up in you character's hands. Other than a few Batman sets, these have been kind of scarce to get a hold of.


This Egyptian obelisk is very cool and makes a great addition to the tabletop. My one complaint however is a trend I don't think we'll see Lego reversing anytime soon and that it's not printed bricks you see here, but stickers. Johnny Thunder never put up with stickers! Other than this, which I won't begrudge them too much, it's a nice terrain piece.


The biplane itself is a very cool model. Let's face it, compared to the original Thunder biplanes, this one is amazing! I thought the engine could've enjoyed a little more detail, but the twin machine guns up top more than make up for it. It did have a very lame "sky hook" attachment underneath (so you could fly by the obelisk and snatch the diamond) but I didn't bother with it...and neither should you!


So the intended action in set #7307 is pretty cool. You've got a hunk of treasure atop an obelisk. Swooping in to snatch it away you got a daring pulp hero pilot, but wait, freakin' flying mummies are here too! They want the diamond and at the bidding of an yet-to-be-revealed master, they aim to steal it first. Barrel rolls and machine gun chatter fill the skies above the desert as biplane and flying mummy dance their aerial tango.

Pharaoh's Quest: 1 of 2

A couple of Lego Pharaoh's Quest sets made their way into my stocking this year. The adults of the family all draw names, and I'm terribly easy to shop for, just imagine whatever a ten year old kid would want, and this thirty six year old kid will be content!

These new sets are great, just great, and really put the Johnny Thunder sets that came out over a decade ago to shame in a lot of ways. This says a lot, 'cause Señor Thunder was the bomb, and he got say things like, "Bring the THUNDER!" Okay, he didn't actually say that, but he could've if he wanted to.

Johnny Thunder started out very pulpy, tomb raiding in the Egyptian deserts. He moved on to South American jungles, and eventually found himself in the Himalayan Mountains. It wasn't until near the end when Johnny and friends started to fight unexplained and supernatural foes. This sounds cool huh? It's all Lego!

These new sets have a named hero in every one, and there's an even grittier / pulpier vibe going on. Plus, right off the bat this newest incarnation goes more of the style of the Mummy movie franchise, and less of a classic Indiana Jones route.


First up we have set #7306 Golden Staff Guardians. For a ten dollar set you get a very nice collection of mini-figs and accessories, and let's be honest, it's the mini-figs we do this for, right? Essentially all this set really boils down to is a mini-fig collection builder.


The Guardians themselves are awesome, and very menacing. New accessories include the wicked-looking khopesh swords, and very nice looking scarab shields too. Of course there is also the Golden Staff itself, another new piece. The head-dresses aren't new, but this the first time I've seen them in black. Then there's the figs themselves, with printed torsos (front and back), double-sided heads, and printed legs too. The red glowing eyes tell it all, these aren't husks lying around in a sarcophagus, but undead (sentient?) guardians wielding weapons they know how to put to good use!

Two different faces on the same head, and two sides to the torso are a nice touch


Mac McCloud is pure pulp hero. He's got the five o'clock shadow, oil stained tank top, suspenders, cocky smirk, and even a bit of an injury on his face. Another nice touch is that his torso is also double-sided. His motorcycle is awesome as well, it's two separate frames and comes equipped with a rifle and a bundle of dynamite. The rifle has been around, as has the helmet and goggles he wears. The dynamite isn't new, but unless you picked up the right Power Miner sets, you probably don't have it.

I like the dynamite, but a shovel would've made more sense...maybe both


There you have it, just ten bucks and it's loaded to the wrappings with pulp fighting horror goodness. The little altar you build with the set is pretty solid too, it's a small terrain piece, but it's not just slapped together. The human could pull off many different roles in many genres, and the mummies are pretty versatile too. Of course a lot of the equipment works just as well on a starship or in the 1930's, ancients, or whatever in between.

Fall-In! Table Gallery part 3

Here you go folks, more of those beautiful tables Fall-In! had to offer. This is what I took pics of, and there's more actually, but I had to do some gaming too! As good as these look, imagine playing on them, it was worthwhile to say the least. All right, enjoy, and hold still for yet another round of these terrain and table pics believe it or not!

Fall-In! Table Gallery part 2

If this first pic of a fantastic zombpocalypse game doesn't grab you, you don't have a pulse! I thought this would be the final post with table pics, but writing it up I just had too many, so stay tuned tomorrow for the third (and a fourth?) installment of Fall-In! terrain and table pics. I've still got to finish up day two and day three's games I played in to post up too!

From the "What-If?" Files

Hardsuits take up position amongst the infantry...


Dino-frenzy! German troops prepare to close with hungry carno-raptors!

Hairy Horrors, Charismatic Characters, Adept Agents, and Savvy Civilians

Two hair horrors recently seen in the last Strange Aeons game. I did not paint the Werewolf on the left, that one was done (quite well I might add) by Flounder over at Imaginary Lives. The Sasquatch on the right however I did paint. Both figs are from Reaper, and both are great models even before you start to paint them up! Mine was the 'Yeti' figure, but I painted him up as a bigfoot nonetheless. Honestly, I had Alpha Flight's Sasquatch in mind in terms of color scheme. In Strange Aeons the Werewolf is, obviously, the Werewolf, and the Sasquatch represents the 'Missing Link' creature, both from the main rulebook.


I have been dutifully sitting on my entire collection of Chaos in Cairo figures since first edition came out. I never got around to painting them until now, and I'm glad I did. These paint up fast, but still retain a lot of depth and character. Technically the bald guy up front is a bad guy, in the Chaos in Cairo universe, here I'm using him as a Theshold character (leader). The blonde in the back is also going to be a Threshold character. For him I did do a simple weapon swap with his right hand, upgrading his knife into a bolt action rifle.

On the far left is a stalwart 'agent' level figure. I didn't notice until I was painting him that he had some pretty bad mold lines on his left arm I'll have to go back and fix. I like his look of composure and his gentlemanly stance. The last fig on the far right is another agent (although he did play a civilian in the last game). He was fun to paint up as well.


I had taken all of these photos to go along with the last Strange Aeons batrep. I realized the quality was pretty decent though and I could by with these as my 'gallery' photos, and not have to a second shoot with a better light source (ie, outside). Because of that, these fellas like the Werewolf, were not painted by me, but again by Flounder of Imaginary Lives, and again executed rather well. This agent team was smaller by a man, which meant more build points for equipment. They're led by a great "Indy" knockoff and supported by a trenchcoat/fedora wearing tommy gunner and a heavy gunner with a BAR. I love the BAR model but why, oh why, aren't there stats for these things in the book?

The figs in this post were all of the ones we used in our last game. Both Chris' took control of one of the Agent teams above, while I played the lurker models. Points-wise it was rather interesting because just two of my models equaled the same as the seven Threshold agents you see here. Overall, though we're still learning the rules, this continues to be a great game. It also really inspires you paint figs for specific scenarios. Well that's all I've got for now, enjoy!

Threshhold Agents; They're What's For Dinner

If you hear strange growling in the woods at night, it might be the stomachs of creatures better left forgotten. Thus was the case on that fateful evening in the Spring of 1922.

A logging camp in the backwoods of the Pacific northwest had to shut down operations unexpectedly. Several of the workers had turned up missing, and no amount of searching turned up any clues, save one. An impossibly ancient building made of dark stone was found deeper still in the woods. The architecture resembled that of medieval Europe than anything else, which in and of itself was baffling. Two mysteries were now at hand; first and foremost, the missing loggers needed to be found, or at least there fates determined. Secondly, the structure found needed to be investigated, cataloged, and its origins ascertained.


Threshhold agents were dispatched immediately. Two teams of agents with different specialties were to converge in Seattle, then take locomotive to the last stop on the line, then ride by flatbed truck, and eventually horseback from there to the abandoned logging camp.

One team was a combat specialist team, with expertise in xenobiological conflict resolution. They came prepared for anything, hefting a 1918 Browning Automatic Rifle, a Thompson Submachine gun, and led by whip wielding, 1911 pistol sporting character.

The next team had combat individuals on hand as hand, but also a scholar who specialized in dark age and medieval histories. The leader of the second team was also well versed in the arcane writings and forgotten tomes of the old world.

It wasn't long until the agents were able to get to the camp itself, and thanks to directions from the logging search team, they found the structure as well. Its stonework was impossibly old, and it was covered in runes and glyphs that would be unknown to most. The scholar was making good headway translating some of the symbols that were reminiscent of a Byzantine derivative. That's when the agent teams heard the howls, and movement crashing through the woods.

It sounded like they were surrounded, noises coming from all around them. The agents spread out and prepared, not being daunted by the noises, or the animalistic growls. They did have trouble pinpointing the beast's direction. Or was that "beasts", plural? The answer came quickly as an agent rounded the bough of a large tree and locked eyes with a large creature standing upright twenty yards away. It was the shape of a hunched man, a large hunched at that, covered in fur, and had the head of a snarling wolf or dog. It was an animal, through and through, yet it also had a cunning about its gaze that spoke of something greater within.


The agent fired off his Thompson, but to no avail as the beast charged him, long canine teeth gnashing, and large, powerful hands ending in wickedly sharp claws. To the agent's credit, he did not lose his nerve as the beast closed in hand-to-hand combat with him. He threw his Thompson to the ground and drew his stag handled Bowie knife from under his coat to defend himself. Unfortunately he was no match for the beast who towered over him.


The leader came running to aid his fallen agent and came up short seeing the carnage. He knew immediately what foe he faced and cursed himself for not being properly prepared. His hunch had told him a rogue Sasquatch was in the area, he didn't consider a Werewolf. He fumbled with a belt pouch with one hand as he ejected the magazine on his pistol with the other. As one magazine loaded with lead bullets hit the ground, another magazine with silver bullets was seated in the pistol. He was quick, practiced, and flawless, but not quick enough as the Werewolf closed with him next. He held his own, moreso than the Thompson agent, but in the end the Werewolf powered through the leader as well. The strength, the teeth, the claws...all more than a match for a man, no matter how well schooled, experienced, or not.


The other team of agents couldn't act as backup because there was still movement in the woods, they had to guard the flanks. It was difficult for them to hold their ground as they heard the gunfire, and the screams of fellow agents. As they rounded another of the large trees they too were greeted by a sight unfamiliar to most humans. This was no Werewolf however. Standing nearly twice the height of a man, with twice the thick fur of the Werewolf stood this newcomer to the fray. Whereas the first adversary had an elongated snout, this one had a head and face more akin to a man. This "missing link" wasn't unknown to the agents though, and as the Sasquatch bellowed its inhuman roar, all but the scholar held their ground.


While the second team came to grips with the Sasquatch, the surviving member of the first team squared his shoulders to face the Werewolf. He fired off round after round with his BAR, wounding the creature, but not killing it. Like the two agents before him, the heavy gunner put up a brave fight, but it was to no avail as he became the third to fall.


The Sasquatch was as formidable as the Werewolf, and its thick, fur-covered hide seemed to repel the agents' bullets. His large, lumbering arms seemed to swat agents aside left and right like dolls. It was as if there was nothing they could do to stop them. Of what is known of Sasquatches they are mostly solitary creatures, not prone to outward violence. This one however had an odd bent to it, and had they not been fighting for their lives, the agents might have noticed the excessive foam at the missing link's jowls. It had been bitten by the Werewolf, was rabid, and was slowly becoming a hybrid Were-Sasquatch.


The agents saw their doom as both hulking monsters linked up. One-on-one, each team might have had a ghost of a chance with their foes, but with the first team out of commission, the second team now faced both creatures at the same time. The scholar fled.


The scholar wasn't fast enough, and was yet another to fall at the claws of the Werewolf. The agent who excelled at dueling pistols was next to fall, but he was still in the fight firing blindly from a prone position and kicking out with his feet. He didn't know that he was the last agent still conscious, nor did he know that both creatures bore down on him.


As if they were two children at the dinner table fighting over the last bit of cake, the two hulking monsters tore into the last agent. He screams were cut short and echoed throughout the woods where no other human ears would hear. The mystery of the ruins would remain just that, unknown. As for the missing loggers, they must have shared a similar fate.