Where Have all the Miniature Gone?

I know that Miniatures Monday has been missing for that past several weeks, and I apologize for that.  Things have been quite busy, and while I have been painting, I haven't been finishing, which of course is trouble if I actually want to post anything.  I do have one completed that I may try to photograph and get up on the sight tomorrow.  If not, by hook or by crook, he'll be up for August 11th.  In the meantime, I took a quick shot at some works in progress.  These should be finding their way to the blog in the coming weeks and months.

Some partially painted miniatures.

 

I Like Star Wars

Let me say it without reservation.  I like Star Wars.  I grew up on star wars and have always wanted to pilot the Milenium Falcon.  I also love role playing games, and have been playing them since I was 10 (which was quite some time ago mind you).  I have however never run a Star Wars Roleplaying game.  Enter Edge of the Empire.  I like the system.  Character creation is a bit heavy lifting for my taste, but it gets the job done and the dice mechanic is very nice and does a great job of providing story/color opportunities for the game.  It would seem that with all of those things lined up that Edge of the Empire would be my go to game, but it's not.  It's just not the genre that really holds me as a Game Master, and that makes me feel bad, because it incorporates a lot of things that I love, and it had a gorgeous rulebook.  I'm a sucker for gorgeous books.  But it's not my own free flowing world that I can craft to reflect my vision.  It's still at some level George's vision.  I am torn.

100 years ago today..

The aging Emperor the the Austro Hungarian Empire, Franz Joseph declared war on Serbia, officially beginning a war that would change Europe and much of the world forever.  He would not live to see the world that resulted.  Not an auspicious anniversary.

Perhaps it's time to break out my copy of Avalon Hill's The Guns of August.

Star Wars Cantina Fight!

After a two week hiatus due to illness and out of town visitors, we returned tonight to a galaxy far, far away.  The party, fresh off their victory over the Tusken Raiders managed to capture a Bantha and use it to tow the repulsor rickshaw back to Hobo the Hutt's palace outside of Mos Gamos.  Once at the palace, they learned that Meffyx Thar, Hobo's majordomo, who has slipped away during the fight with the Tuskens was in fact helping the Black Suns to move in on Hobo's territory.  Hobo dispatched the party to track Meffyx Thar down and end his miserable life.  The party tracked the errant majordomo to a seedy cantina in one of the roughest parts of Mos Gamos.  Here we see the party as they put their plan for rooting out Meefyx into action:

The cantina just before the fight broke out

Chaph Losac went in through the front door to scout around, while N.O.R.M-4N kept watch over the Kitchen entrance.  After Chaph deiscovered a guarded side room, we called Sair Nartano in throug the kitch to surprise the guard.  Shots were fired and Kelsera came in through the dancer's entrance, while N.O.R.M-4N came in through the kitchen and avoided the wookie cooks who were distracted while dealing with a grease fire.  Sair tricked the pilot into opening the side room door with some splendid mimickry, and he and Chaph shot the two people with Meffyx.  Meffyx threw a stun grenade disguised to look like a thermite grenade and in the confusion fled the bar, only to be gunned down by Kelsera with her Tusken slugthrower.

Miniatures Monday - Carrion Crawler

A loathsome carrion crawler prepares to snare another victim with its paralyzing tentacles!

Miniatures Monday - Purple Worm

A gigantic purple worm erupts through the cavern floor seeking adventurers to snack upon!

Last Night in a Galaxy Far, Far Away...

Last night we played the second session of our Star Wars Edge of the Empire.  This week, our "heroes" were joined by two new companions.  The party is now as follows:

 Sair Nartano, a young and impulsive human explorer with a fondness for the ladies
N.O.R.M-4N, a droid mechanic an pilot with a strong attachment to the ship
Chaph LoSec, a human assassin of few words
Kelsera, A Twi'lek bodyguard for the infant leader of her clan

Following the events with the thermal grenade at the moisture farm, the group found themselves attacked in the desert by a horde of Tusken Raiders.  They managed to acquit themselves quite well in combat, killing most of the sand people and driving off the rest, but three of the party were wounded in the battle.  Chaph LoSek made a heroic but sadly unsuccessful attempt to dive onto an out of control speeder, but alas, all of the party's transport, except for a repulsor rickshaw were either destroyed or absconded with.  The party now finds themselves facing the unpleasant task of finding their way back to civilization.

In the heat of the battle, Meffyx Thar, majordomo to the Illustrious Hobo the Hutt fled the scene...

I must say the Edge of the Empire dice system goes pretty well with my tendency to make it up as I go. :-)

Miniatures Monday - Berserker

A savage berserker looks to add to his collection of skulls!

Miniatures Monday - Spartan

A mighty female warrior, her bronze armor gleaming in the sun,  stands ready to defeat any foe!

Miniatures Monday - Manchego!

He is the toughest hombre in the west!  He is Manchego!

Miniatures Monday - Cold Drake

A deadly Cold Drake prowls the frozen caverns of the underworld searching for frozen food!

I was practicing my dry-brushing technique on this miniatures which is from an old Ral Partha cast.  I think the result was rather good.

Batman: The Cult - Jason Todd's finest hour

Looks like we're out of places to run to...  Guess we stand and fight.  At least we'll be going out in style.

A lot of folks seem to remember Jason Todd's time as Robin with little if any fondness.  He really didn't have much of a chance, starting life as a clone of Dick Grayson and then being changed into a street punk after the whole Crisis on Infinite Earths business.  I had stopped reading batman before Dick Grayson left and didn't come back to it for some time.  When I did come back to Batman, it was through a graphic novel that I came across in Phantom of the Attic.  It was the summer of 1988, and I had just started college.  The cover of the book was embossed with a manhole cover surrounded by bloody handprints.  Batman in the sewers; that seemed right up may alley.  I was about to get my reintroduction to Batman, and it was also to be my introduction to Jason Todd as Robin, and he kicked ass.

The Cult is primarily focused on Batman and his struggle to overcome his own fear, but it's Robin who is the hero of the story.  It's Robin who has to rescue Batman (multiple times), and hold Batman together so that he can eventually defeat Reverend Blackfire.  Batman is weak and broken, but Robin is the man of action.  So for me, I can't help but fondly remember Jason as Robin in a story where he didn't have to be a pain in the ass street kid who stole the wheels off the Batmobile, but rather got to be the hero who saved the Batman.

Miniatures Monday - Adventuring Bard

An adventuring bard keeps both his lute and his sword handy!  Here we have a bard from Reaper Miniatures.  Certainly not my best work, but still passable I think.  I've never been that good at painting either blonde hair or white shirts. :-)

Happy Star Wars Day!

And May the 4th be with you!

I was looking though my Star Wars junk the other day and came across these.  Back in 1977, Wonder Bread released a series of I think 16 Star Wars trading cards.  You got one in each loaf of Wonder Bread, so that was a lot of crappy bread to eat to get some cards. :-)

Free Map - My Old Tunnels & Trolls Campaign Map

Here we have the map for a Tunnels & Trolls game that I ran back in the 90s.  Petty cliched stuff and quickly drawn, but I recall the game still being a lot of fun.  Once the 8th edition arrives, I may have to dust this off. :-)