Quickshade (quickly shading) minis

This is old hat to many grognards and wargamers - a quick short cut ot painting your army is to quickly shade it with some wood stain. I have no idea the history of doing such things but I learned about it this year (2013). Some are against it and consider it cheating, for others this is the only way they can get an army on the table and not have them be unpainted. Myself, I like ot use it when I've got to put out a good amount of minis. For instance:

If I need to paint one miniature that may be  used as a Boss or a player character I'll give it a good go at old school painting. Layers and shading and all. Well... more like wash and highlight.

If I need to put out 6 guys in chainmail with crossbows, I'll speedpaint. Pick a few colors and:
1) Base with appropriate sized base.
2) Spray a base/primer coat.
3) Flock base with sand (optional)
4) Paint flesh, clothes, outer things.
5) "Dip" in quick sahde medium of choice.
6) Flock with grass (optional)

I've turned over 8 minis in a 24 hour period (minus drying time for quick shade which is 1 or 2 days). Here's one:

 

 

There's even a specialized product called Army Painter Quickshade:

You can get it anywhere and it works great. That crossbow dude above? Army Painter Quicksade "dark tone". I've seen it on the net for $17 a can (then add some shipping to it) and $30 at my friendly local hobby/game shop. I'm comfortable with spending an extra $3 to support my FLG/HS. They work hard and deserve some purchases.

That said, cheap-skate tip: Minwax Polyshade works the same and is, generally, less than $10 a can and you can get it at your local hardware store, Walmart, Home Depot, Lowes... what ever. Works fine, though some say you must mix it with some mineral spirits. It is a bit thicker than the Army Painter Quickshade. I've used it straight out of the can and it has worked fabulously. The "thickness" of it is a boon too as it seems to put a good protective coat on your plastic or metal mini.

Color comparison, what has worked for me:
Minwax Poly "Pecan" = light
Minwax Poly "Walnut" = strong
Minwax Poly "Mahogany" = dark

"Dip" is a dubious term. You are instructed to actually dip your mini in the can. It's messy. I brush it on instead.

All these products dry glossy so be ready to dull it up with your dulling product of your choice. I use a matte spray or some Vallejo acrylic dull coat. I have used Testors Dullcote product (brush on) and it's been iffy at best. I have no idea why it's not working for me.

Someone else's work.

Just a quick link to my friend's blog regarding his latest All The King's Men game (54mm figures). His opponent was a friend of his:
http://tinzeroes.blogspot.com/2013/10/punctually-and-in-good-order.html

He learned a lot about set up during this session.

Me? Been busy the past week. Work has been busy as well as hme life. Got Halloween coming up and that's a busy time for us at my house. Getting some painting projects down though - got another 2 points of Saga Viking hearthguard painted and dipped after one of my cats wrecked some of them. Got a viking a-frame house almost donw. Got some wattle fencing finished. Starting to paint some Reaper Bones minis for my friend Brandon in exchange for some leather work. Starting up... or renewing really ... a Pathfinder Kingmaker game that has been on hiatus for almost 2 years.

Also - setting up for a big Zombie Squad showing at OryCon (panels, party, and fan table). Had to cancel a hunting trip because of how busy I am but getting ready for hunting next year. Hoping ot get a salmon fishing trip in before the end of the year here.

Happy Halloween!

Pathfinder - Rise of the Runelords campaign

I am currently in a Pathfinder game run by my friend Brandon. At the table are my wife Gretchen and friend Jason. I've been gaming with Brandon and Jason for ... 10 years now? They are my current core group. My wife got into Pathfinder via me and has been being baptised in fire and blood for about a year now.

First - Edition Wars aside, Pathfinder IS a hard game to learn for an unexperienced player. I love the shit out of it but I see new people struggle with it quite a bit. I'm not hte best teacher so it's better for me to let Jason and Brandon handle that aspect as they are better teachers than me.

Second - I took a break for all table-top roleplaying 2008--2010. The longest I had been away from gaming, and I have been gaming consistently since 1979 when I was a we lad of 8 years old. Even while I served in the Navy I was able to find a way to game every month or so.

We play with 3 players. We had a 4th but he dropped as he had never played PF before and kind of didn't like it. Cool with us. Instead of bringing in a 4th player we decided to ghost an NPC - a tank-type. Right now Jason is playing the 4th NPC but, when at appropriate level, I will choose the leadership feat and take the NPC tank over as my cohort.

My character is a paladin named Balder. He is not your typical paladin, though I think most people that try to play a paladin can be quite unimaginative about playing a paladin. Balder is archery focused so not a plate-mail/mounted/lance/sword/knight type of paladin. He is also not lawful stupid ... and not because of an intelligence score which is pretty low anyways as we created our PCs via point-buy and something needed to get dumped to make Balder somewhat effective.

Ehr... Powergamer? Why, yes. Why not? The Pathfinder/3.x system is designed for powergaming, and by "powergaming" I mean "making your character as effective as you can within the scope of the rules". No munchkining (tweaking and exploits) but...

... here's an analogy:
You are playing the part of a hero that is trying to "save the world" for the most part. 3.x rules mandate this for the most part. You are playing the star, the hero, the saviour, the professional. Kind of like a pro football player. Why would you then opt to try to not maximize your effectiveness to do battle with the super bad in your game? If I knew that the guy oppressing my people was some ancient Lich from 2000 years ago risen, why would I not try ot get the best armor, sword, training, and skills I need to defeat it? IRL I do a lot of outdoor stuff. Sleeping on the ground can get uncomforable. To solve this I went to work (adventured), saved up some money from pay (loot), and bought a higher-end airmatress, an ExPed Downmat (a +2 mattress of warmth) to replace my older foam pad (standard, 2002 era, Z-lite foam pad).

Enough, enough.

So, Brandon is running us through the revised Rise of the Runelords by Paizo. We are in the second "chapter" called the Skinsaw Murders. It's awesome. We are following the trail of some evil psycho murderer and the deeper we get into it the more we are finding out we are the targets and not just the ones trying to stop it. There's actual "horror" going on, it get's kind of spooky at times. The party is a mercenary company called The Blue Ribbon Company (more on that later). Balder, sworn to something else, is "in advisement" only with the BRC. The others are Priestess Mikk of Desna (a gnome priestess played by my wife Gretchen) and Zelbathor (a wizard played by Jason). The NPC tank is Orick (standard platemail and sword frontline guy).

Our stats dictate our roleplaying personalities. Mikk is a haughty little gnome - passion rules her as she is always running on her emotions. It works out though as she is the one that speaks for our group and makes deals, contracts, and calms people down when that needs to happen. She's also very perseptive and empathic.

Zelbathor is very intelligent. We know because he tells everyone how intelligent he is. Why would he not do such things. He's a powerful wizard too. He tells everyone that too. He also proves it from time to time so there is no problem with him stating so. He's just being honest - He's smarter than almost everyone else and he wields arcane power that most do not.

Balder is a great guy. He smiles a lot. He's handy and handsome (imagine Alcid from True Blood but with a bow and smiling all the time and never gets angry). If you're having a bad day and he walks into the room he will help you. He's also great with animals and manual labor, which is when he takes off his tunic as that restricts his movements. He just doesn't notice things well, or know a lot of stuff about stuff or is able to deduce or process information beyond A and B. He does know that he is not very bright so that is why he has his friends around. He also knows that if one is not smart, than to be strong and helpful in other ways like mending a farm's fence, tending the animals, and fighting the evil that threatens a community.

He knows that Erastil has favored him, he's even been called a chosen warrior of Erastil, but he does not consider himself a "paladin" like that one who took him under his wing a few years ago and taught him honor and dignity in work. He is humbled and will not squander the gifts Erastil has given him. He was squired to Sir Egil Nortsson of Irori. He was killed in battle against a tribe of goblins that ambushed him and his followers while Balder was out hunting meat for the group.

In Balder's words, yesterday's session:
We are still on the road south to Magnimar. The murders heavy upon our shoulders as the community we serve is under the chains of fear. Being as we are capable we do not bather humble farmsteads for hospitality as the farms have been under strain the past month or so. Animals are afraid both wild and domestic. Rumors of scarecrows coming alive and attacking farmhands and innocents abound. Though capable, we decided to play it safe tonight and take rest at a more established farm, The Grump Farmstead.

Old man Grump gave us hospitality but we immediately heard his tales of the recent history of the area and he showed us a creature he cleaved with a shovel just yesterday. It was identified as a ghoul by Zelbathor and Mikk, Orick and I just happy the thing was dead and not something we had to do and also impressed that Old Man Grump had some fire in him to do such a thing. We also believed this ghoul was something from the sanitorium we fought the necromancer at a few days ago but Mikk and Zelbathor beleive the source is something different and in relation to what we sought.

We supped with Old Man Grump as I calmed his oxen in his barn. The general health of his animals was good, and a testament to the man Old Man grump is. Bless him.

In the morn Grump directed us to the Hamble farm down the road. We followed his directions and immediately fell into an ambush of more of these scarecrow creatures Grump told us of. Almost getting lost in the tangle of unkept crops we found our way via Mikk to the safety of the longhouse after a battle at the stead's barn. We also found Svetlana and her brother, captured and near turned into these ghouls

In the main longhouse we came upon more of the undead. We defeated them handidly but we found that all the Hambles had perished before we could aid them. We did secure the life savings of The Hambles and will be looking for the next of kin as they have the rights to the silver we found, which is under my protection.

-Balder, son of Sloan, chosen of Erastil

Music: metal, indy, hip hop, punk, and variations in between.

I like music. I've always been into it and I have many in my life to thank for my tastes that I was introduced to when I was young and my tastes now.

1) My Dad Valton. He used to have a huge vinyl collection, well, when I was a kid it was huge. More like 100 or so albums. Mostly Pink Floyd from what  I could remember but also some old honky tonk, ELO, Blondie. 70s and early 80s stuff. He also gave me my first record player and "real" album - AC/DC Highway to Hell.

2) All the stoners I knew when I was a pre-teen brought to me metal. Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Slayer, Black Sabbath... good shit with some blues influence or lyrics about the devil, wizards or murderers. On top of that I played Dungeons and Dragons - had a big target on my back in the 80s.

I must mention, as most of us were little idiots at that age, I did delve into some liking of lame metal bands too. Too me that was Motley Crue, Def Leapard, Warrant ... "smiley metal" crap like that.

3) Not sure "who", if anyone, introduced me to punk/HC music. That was more about me being a pissed off little boy and discovering Black Flag and The Clash. Rollins-era Black Flag answered a lot of questions for me that no one else would touch. It was pretty much my "guide" for weal or woe. I do remember watching Cro-Mags video for We Gotta' Know on MTV's 120 Minutes. That was monumental. I even taped it on VHS and watched it over and over again. I wanted to be that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BLcCM8nPYQ

4) By junior high and high school I started exploring "new wave" as we called it. To me that was The Smiths, New Order, Depeche Mode, The Cure, Joy Division, ... all the usual subjects. I still try to figure out why I liked it (and still do). I think it was because I was crushing on all the waver and gothy chicks at first and then later I found out I liked the music and some of it was poignant to me. None of those chicks liked me anyways and thats what The Smiths are all about so I was right in that audience!

5) Jason LeMaster introduced me to prog and "lesser knowns". He may deny it but it's his fault. A lot of the stuff he liked I did not but it was the concept that he introduced and educated me about. Add to that the passion for music. Jason, if you are reading this I thank you for exposing me to another opinion. It's made me more critical of the music I listen to today.

So, other than punk/HC, my musical tastes were from my Dad, Jason, stoners, and waver chicks.

As an adult I have learned to like indy rock and hip hop. This was the result of me working at The Crystal Ballroom 2002-2003. I saw a lot of shows back then. I loved the indy rock shows as it was new to me and I was infatuated with the technicalities thrown into a pop-rock song. It was like they said, "Let's do a rock song the hardest way we can." and I dug it.

All the hip hop shows I worked were just fun, except for one that was all fights. Truth be told, hip hop shows were the least violent shows to work at my time at The Crystal except for that one. The shows and music was fun, women were flirtatious, men were having a good time and spending money.

Ok, that's it in a nutshell. Will be back in a few days with more nerd/gaming stuff.

Edit: failed to mention what I listen to now:
Metal - I like the "hipster metal" that so many deride. The Sword, High on Fire, Sleep, Electric Wizard... mostly doom and stoner metal. Also Gwar.
Hip Hop - Like most white people, I'm about 15-20 years behind in hip hop. Wu Tang, NWA, Missy Elliot, Jay Z, Beastie Boys.
What I call "My 80s": New Order, The Cure, Joy Division, The Smiths, Slayer, American HC stuff (Black Flag, Circle Jerks, DRI, MDC, et al.), and I will include some Specials and The Selector.
And Clutch, Morrissey, Motorhead, Bon Iver, Iron and Wine, Butthole Surfers, Smog/Bill Callahan, Brian Jonestown Massacre, Dandy Warhols, David Bowie, Erasure, Wolf Parade, Viva Voce, Tool, Primus, Postal Service, MC5, Barry White... on and on and on...

I actually have content to get out right now - More Saga Wargame... YAyyyyyy

Got them all built. Now time to paint them.

Again, I have been painting minis since 2002. It's a hobby I picked up reluctantly but had the need to do it. Always thought it was cool but it is a hard thing to do. Now, still mediocre at it, it is how I meditate. I paint them one at a time though. Need a gibbering mouther for a game session in 2 week? Blam!

New game, new party of mighty adventurers? Blam!

Pretty simple stuff.

For wargames you need to put out 20-200 minis, in specific patterns, with some uniformity. That's not bad but these are dark ages vikings. They had no real organized army or uniform so your color palette for a rag-tag band of Norse raiders would be a wider spectrum than space marines or Romans. You end up with something like this:

How I did this is not a secret or anything like that. I sprayed them all with a 2in1 spray paint (prime and color), then brushed flesh and brown leather. Then other details like hair (these are the old guys with bows... so grey) and gave a good coat of black on the bases. After all that I was finished with my base coat.

I used the putty tack stuff to stick them to a paint stir stick (free in a little bucket at the Home Depot paint encounter). Less fingers on the mini and I can rip out a few minis at a time.

Welp... this is good for the day. More pics for you as I know from some experience on forums and modding, "pics or it didn't happen!"

Saga - Dark Ages Skirmish Wargame, putting the minis together

This last spring (2013) a friend of mine that is an ex-gamer and now a Father of twins was looking to get into some wargaming. I never really wargamed before, most of the gaming I do is table-top and board gaming. He got into All the King's Men and other musket and pike type games. Also we were interested in Saga - The Dark Ages skirmish game out of the UK... or France... or some Euro country... probably the UK.

I'm totally down with some viking stuff. I used to be in the SCA and am now trying to get an older Regia group back up and plan to make combs and junk like that. Saga is a game by Gripping Beast who also does some other wargames like Tomahawk. I'll go more into the  Saga details later as we have not played it yet. here is a link though:
http://www.grippingbeast.com/

The primary step is getting minis and painting them. I wanted to go cheap as I was not sure I was into it yet. I got a couple Viking boxes from Wargames Factory:
http://www.wargamesfactory.com/webstore/hammer-of-the-gods
I went with the Hammer of the Gods line, one box of Viking Thegns and one box of Viking Huscarls. My friend is going to be Saxons so he did likewise though the Saxons. I got them for about $18 a pop, each box has 30+ plastic minis in it with no bases and you need to assemble them. Torso, head, arms, weapons, shields.

Here's my first pic of the assembled warband!!

Some details - 28mm scale or 1/72. Bases are steel washers, bought at the local hardware store, 100 for $8.99, and glued on with Zap-a-Gap. Tamiya plastic cement was used to piece the plastic parts together. "Warlord", center behind the sweinfilka, is mounted to a 1 3/4 inch washer, as per the Saga rules that is so you know it is the Warlord. Not required but OK to do.

There is a point structure ot the warband but we'll get into that later.

Mind you all - there is a bit of blogger blogs about Saga. Most stemming from last year (2012) and from Europe. Saga is not as popular in the US as it is in Europe for many different reasons of varying degree. There was some Saga tournament up in Tacoma at some time, like last year? Us hippies in Portland don't really follow it much though as we seem to be into the more common games like Flames of War, Warmachine, and Warhammer. Others are being played but not like those 3.

Back to putting together 40+ minis in the manner I did - it was a PITA (pain in the ass). Quite tedious as a matter of fact.Miniatures is one of my hobbies. I'm no pro and probably on the bottom 20% when it comes to skill and experience. Actually, if you are reading this thinking you are going to get pro-tips than you went to the wrong blog. I'm not awesome at this, though I do love doing it. Putting these guys together was like work with no pay. Next time I'm buying way more expensive metal figs by Gripping Beast or something like that.

Wargames Factory puts out a fine product. I like what they do and in proper circumstance I will go with them again. It was me and my skill/patience level that was the issue. Maybe, now that I am drenched in the mud, it will go better next time. No major drama or issues, just doing it right took time and I had not done something at that level before.

My bench is rigged up for painting minis at a "character" level. That is, I play some paladin, I am painting a paladin mini. Making an army is a whole different species.

More pics:

Warlord Viga Hrolfr!! The base is bigger fore he is the Warlord.

I'm Blogging

After pummeling my friends and fellow gamer geeks at PDXgamer (a google mail list) with posts about my summer and fall of dipping my toes into wargaming, it was suggested that I do a blog. OK. First, I hate blogs. Second, here is a blog that I am writing. It's going to be about wargaming at first but I'm sure I will either:
1) Blab about a ton of crap that 4 people will read.
2) Get board and this blog will die like so many others.

BTW, don't you hate that? You google-fu something you want to learn about, you find a cool blog that starts off strong and has bits about EXACTLY what you are looking for, it has 3 posts, and then you notice the part that says - 2010 18 posts ... 2011 3 posts... and then zilch.

Note: I spell like shit and gave up caring about that. I'm not that smart so...
Also of Note: I've never blogged before nor am I that awesome with technology. I'm sure this thing is intuitive and all and if I'm getting paid or forced to do something I can become proficient with it but this is a hobby/lifestyle blog here so I'm not that invested. Not that I don't care, I've got things I'd like to share and this seems to be the feasible form of media for my needs.

Things I am interested in and you may see me blabbing about on this blog:

 I'm a wargamer and I paint miniatures.

 

 I play RPGs, table top. Right now it's Pathfinder and Savage Worlds.

I like the outdoors. I just got into fishing in 2012. Hunting this year, 2013. I bushcraft and hike and do some short distance backpacking.

I'm in Zombie Squad. I'm the President of the Oregon Chapter ZSC011. I'll explain later what I do and what it is.