R.I.P. Adam West

Adam West, best known for his portrayal of Batman in the trippy 60s television series has died at the age of 88. :-(  While his was never my favorite version of Batman, I have very fond memories of watching him and Burt Ward socking villains after school when I was a child.

Miniatures Monday (Special Edition)

Look what has arrived from new Zealand! These are latest miniatures from Star Hat Miniatures.  Another great set from +Darcy Perry I still need to assemble the troll.

I'm so very far behind on painting that I'm note sure when I will get around to these, but I've singled out three for priority painting!

Star Wars Turns 40

     Wow.  It's hard for me to believe that Star Wars is 40 years old today.  I was 7 1/2 when it was released, and I was already a fan of science fiction and fantasy films.  I loved the Buster Crabbe Flash Gordon serials that our CBS affiliate would run as filler for movies that didn't cover their entire time slot.  I watched Star Trek reruns on Sunday afternoons, because football was boring.  I was glued to the TV on Saturday afternoons to watch hokey sci-fi films from the 1950s.  Monsters in rubber suits and ray guns that fired sparks were kind of my thing, but none of that prepared me for what I saw when my parents took me to see Star Wars.  It was awe inspiring.  I'd never seen anything like it before.  My imagination didn't need to fill in the blanks created by poor special effect and black and white film stock.  It was all there on the screen, and it looked real!
     As great as the film was, there was still another surprise waiting for us in the autumn of that year.  The toys.  My friend Keith had pre-ordered the first set of action figures, and I remember him brining them in to school in second grade.  They were the coolest toys ever, but of course, nobody wanted to get stuck with the droids! :-)  My own collection of toys started soon after.  I had 4 Boba Fetts from sending in proof of purchase labels from other action figures.  I had an X-Wing and lost the clear canopy somewhere.  I had Darth Vader's tie fighter, and like everyone else, I struggled to keep its wings on.  I had the Death Star, and I can't count the number of times that Boba Fett and his three clones shoved farm boy Luke into that trash compactor.  I spent hours recreating the movies and making up my own Star Wars stories.  Those were great times, indeed.
     More films followed.  The Empire Strikes Back was a thing of beauty, even better than the original.  Return of the Jedi was a little bit of a letdown though.  I was almost 14 by that time, and the Ewoks just weren't cool to me.  Star Wars had begun to lose a bit of its magic I guess as I got older.  Other things were just cooler to a teenager I guess, but fortunately, that didn't last.  Somewhere along the line, in college, I managed to recapture what I loved about Star Wars, and I'm a fan to this day.  I doubt that many people would have predicted that 40 years later we would still be getting new Star Wars films, or that there would still be Star Wars action figures on my desk.  The later films of course have been a mixed bag, some good, some less so.  But when I hear that John Williams score, I'm reminded that even a so-so Star Wars film is still Star Wars.

Happy Birthday Star Wars!

R.I.P. Roger Moore

He was never my favorite Bond, but it's difficult to deny his charm.  Though it often ranks as one of the lesser Bond films, I'll always admit The Man With the Golden Gun as a guilty pleasure.  I know what I'm watching tonight.

These Tiki are now the ultimate power in the universe

In honor of Star Wars Day, my wife bought me this set of amazing Tiki mugs!

Now I need to set about creating some Star Wars themed Tiki drinks. :-)

Miniatures Monday

This week, we take a trip into the sewers to visit a Ratman champion.  Ratmen are usually kind of pushovers, but this guy seems to be carrying a hill giant femur as a weapon, so I'm not sure that I'd mess with him.  The sculpt is by Ben Siens from Reaper Miniatures and is 02761: Skrattle, Giant Ratman.  Its still available from Reaper for just $7.99.

Miniatures Monday

Deep beneath the earth in perpetually lightless caverns dwells this fearsome creature.  Though rooted to the stone floor, its flailing tentacles and gaping maw allow it to make a meal of anything unlucky enough to wander within its grasp.  The figure is from Reaper Miniatures 2658: Stone Lurker ($9.99) sculpted by Bob Olley.  I'm not overly happy with the way that the eye turned out.  I think that I need to rework that a bit.  Its been a few weeks since my last Miniatures Monday post.  This isn't because I haven't been painting, but rather because I haven't been photographing my work as regularly.  With the weather improving, I'm hoping to increase my output a bit.

Another map made with Hex Kit (and some further thoughts)

I started playing around with layers in Hex Kit, and I'm pretty pleased with the results.  I really love the art style used in the application.  It sort of reminds me of the board icons from the Avalon Hill version of Titan.  I'm a real sucker for hand drawn things.  So far, the beta of Hex Kit seems pretty darned stable.  A couple of minor bugs such as duplicate icons being placed in adjacent hexes, but that may be something that I'm doing wrong.  It seems to be able to handle maps up to 999 x999 hexes, which is way bigger than I would ever use, so it should cover the needs of most people.  In any case, based on what I'm seeing so far, the release version is going to be awesome.

A quick map made with the beta version of Hex Kit

I'm looking forward to playing with this more over the weekend, but so far, I'm really liking it.

Miniatures Monday

This is the stuff that nightmares are made of.  For this week's Miniatures Monday, we continue the recent monster theme with several photos of this giant spider.  I've always found giant spiders to be particularly horrific, and I honestly didn't expected to ever finish this figure.  It's 03049: Huge Spider from Reaper Miniatures and is still available for $17.99.  I bought this one years ago and it requires a bit of assembly.  Each pair of legs is separate, and it took a bit of trial and error to get them in the right order.  I love the end result, but it does have one drawback.  It has no base.  So, when used, the paint on the legs tips tends to chip off. :-(

To remedy that situation, I decided to make my own base for it.  I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, but integrating a base with the figure does limit it a bit.  I guess now it's a desert spider.

So, what do all of you think?  Base or no base?  I'm really still on the fence about it.

Miniatures Monday

This week, Miniatures Monday continues the theme of large humanoids with big bellies.  Here are a couple of photos of a rather angry looking Cyclops.  It's not a particularly large Cyclops, but that spiked club could really do some damage.  The figure is from Reaper Miniatures and is 02953: Cyclops.  You can get your own for only $5.99 U.S.

Miniatures Monday

Miniatures Monday returns with three photos of a Half-Ogre Adventurer.  I made some recent touchups to this guy, but overall I'm pretty happy with how he turned out.  On a figure of this size, eyes become even more important to the final result, so I'm glad that I fixed them on this guy.  The figure is from Reaper, 02966: Gorevane, Half Ogre Fighter, and it's still available at their online store for $8.99.  An interesting thing about this figure is that it came in two parts, but the second part was just the sword on his back, making the main figure a somewhat unusually large cast.

Fearsome From the Front

That's an interesting way to carry a sword...

I wouldn't want to get in his way.

Weird Adventure Wednesday

This week's weird adventure idea:

On a cloudy evening you are greeted by a swaggering but obese bravo in a busy tavern.  The bravo tells you that 7 days journey to the northeast, within The Profane Crater of Demented Sleep can be found The Forbidden Tentacle Tunnels of Eternal Slaughter.  It is reputed that there can be found The Skull-adorned Chaos Flute of Blood.  The bravo informs you that he knows of a buyer who will pay 7,500 gold coins for that enchanted item.  But beware, for the bravo warns you that The Enchanted Skull of Perversion is said to guard that place!

If you enjoy Weird Adventure Idea Wednesday, be sure to check out these other free resources:

1,001 Weird and Wacky Adventure Ideas

and

1,001 More Weird and Wacky Adventure Ideas

The picture above was inspired by a photograph taken by a friend of mine in Switzerland.  The photo is far more impressive than my hand drawn version, but it doesn't have as many tentacles. :-)

R.I.P. Captain Apollo

Actor Richard Hatch, known for playing Captain Apollo on the 1970s science fiction television show Battlestar Galactica has died at the age of 71.

Miniatures Monday

This week, we have twin barbarians posing before looting an ancient temple.  I liked this miniature so much that I painted it twice.  The figure is from Reaper Miniatures and is #03216 Brom the Barbarian, and you can get one of your own for only $4.99!