Clown (Joker Henchman)

This Clown Henchman with Knife represents another BMG mini down, but this Joker Henchman is not the start of my next crew, instead he was started simply as some of the colours used matched my Blackgate Prisoners.

With the face I tried to go for an effect of carelessly applied greasepaint. I am happy with the white base, less so the dark eye make-up.

Like I said above, I am not doing a Joker crew next. Instead, I am planning on a Black Mask crew with a few supplements from what if have fully or partly painted: Riddler; Deadshot; Turk; and Prisoner with Tube.

I have had recent discussions about the game with buddies, and I think I have identified my biggest problem with it; that is that there is such disparity it seems between swarms and low model-count 'elite' crews. The latter suffer as they simply cannot contest enough Objectives without Henchmen. That leads me to wonder if the game would not be more satisfactory if the number of Objectives per player was scaled to game size. Something along the lines of 1 Objective per player per full 150 Reputation would give the elite crews a fairer chance I think, but so far that is purely an intellectual exercise and not yet gamed out or tested.

I am awaiting an order of bases before I can assemble my next batches of BMG minis; they were ordered a few weeks ago and will hopefully arrive in the next two to three weeks. I have now met my 2015 target for painting BMG minis, but I expect to exceed that. I have Black Mask and a Henchman ready to be under-coated, so hopefully, I will make some progress soon on those.

BMG Painting Summary
BMG characters owned: 83 (added 17 more models since the last one was finished - I was able advantage of some good timing for eBay auctions...)
Percentage of owned characters painted: 13.3% (11 models)

Woldwatcher

After a recent focus on building terrain, and before that readying a painted playable BMG crew, I have recently returned to some 'other painting' after a lay-off of a couple of weeks from the hairy sticks.

I started this Circle Orboros Hordes Woldwatcher mini a few weeks ago, before I dove into getting that recent terrain done, and started it again in the last few days.

With this force, I have gone for a slightly simpler painting approach, which helps with speeding up painting. That said, the ropes on the Woldwatcher, and before it the Woldwyrd, have been a bit of a pain as I have found them quite fiddly to do.

Like the Woldwyrd, this Woldwatcher is a Light Warbeast, and each clocks in at 5 points. With the Shifting Stones that takes me to 12 points of painted minis so far. If I take my planned Baldur Stonesoul as my Warlock, then I need to paint another 8 points or so of stuff. I could drop out the Shifting Stones to allow room for a Heavy Warbeast, which would require a 1 point addition, such as a Feralgeist which I have part-painted. I shall see how I progress. This will probably be a bit of a slow-burn project, but that progress may also depend on how my gaming buddy Rob gets on with his Khador stuff. If he adds more, that will spur me on, no doubt.

Quarter 1 2015 Painting Summary

Well that was an interesting three months of hobby stuff. I painted minis, I built new terrain pieces (not yet used), attended a 3-game tournament for a game I had not previously played, and more importantly I got some painting done.

Painted in Q1 (+6 from Q1 2014)

• BMG: 10 minis (yeah, some are simple, but I still count them)
• Anima Tactics: 2
• Hordes: 4

I set out for the year with two targets in mind: a bare minimum of 50 minis over the 12 months, and an ideal of 63 if everything got painted that I wanted for each range I had set a goal; that has since risen to 68. If I hit 50, then great, if I hit 68+ and meet every smaller target I have set, then that may prove to be my best year yet in satisfaction terms.

To hit the 68, I need to paint roughly 17 minis per quarter. In quarter 1 in 2015 I painted 16 minis, despite getting a lot of other hobby stuff done by my usual standards, so pretty satisfactory in all. That said, I am way down on my Anima Tactics target and that will be the hardest to recover I think. On the plus side, I am 1 mini short of my year-total BMG target, so that is positive!

Fabled Realms: Damaged High Street House (III)/Backstreet Hovel (II)

More 4Ground Fabled Realms buildings!

Damaged High Street House (III)
(Fabled Realms Damaged High Street House 1) This has been the most complicated to assemble, and was constructed in a little under 4 hours over a few days. I honestly didn't expect it to take that long, as I had not anticipated the additional time needed for the extras it has compared to the other High Street Houses. Mostly they were not too difficult to complete, but they all took time.

Compared to the other two ruins, this effectively has a usable third storey due to the exposed attic space.

Although this one took a lot longer to put together, it adds some more variety to the array of buildings I have, so I think the time was worth it.

This kit was more expensive than the other two Damaged High Street Houses, and has an rrp of £36. Unlike the others it is a little more expensive than its undamaged counterpart.


Backstreet Hovel (II)
(Fabled Realms Mordanburg Backstreet Dwelling 1) This building arrived in the days in which I finished the last one, and was, like the first Hovel, pretty quick to assemble, taking roughly 1 hour 25 minutes.

The rrp is £18, but they can be found cheaper if you look around.

Currently there are no ruined versions of the Backstreet Dwellings, but if any are made I think I would get at least a couple. Speaking with the guys from 4Ground, they plan to make some ruined versions within the next couple of years.


The Town Grows
I have really enjoyed putting these 5 buildings together, and want to add more, but going forward I think I need some variation. So I hope 4Ground add to the range, and stuff like a blacksmith's or a warehouse would be really nice options in my opinion, and which they have also indicated may happen.

The next release planned is a City Watch Tower I hear, and even sight unseen I know I want it!

Fabled Realms: Damaged High Street House (II)

I was so enthused  about building my last Fabled Realms building, that I immediately started another one! I have found these surprisingly enjoyable to put together.

This kit is Damaged High Street House 03, and like the one in the previous post an undamaged version is also available at the same price (approximately £24 GBP; some retailers may have them a little cheaper).

Constructing the first Hovel and the first Damaged High Street House has helped me understand how 4Ground put their Fabled Realms kits together, which in turn has meant this third building was put together in just under 1 hour 40 minutes, so not that much longer than the Hovel, and definitely getting quicker in relative terms.

The building splits into two main assemblies once fully constructed, again making it accessible and functional. As before, Freebooter's Fate minis are used for scale reference. As an aside, it is nice for me to start seeing a few of these buildings together, acting as a spur to gaming.

Going forward, I have ordered some pre-paint stone walls; I have 3 resin pieces representing assorted wares to prepare and paint; and I have another Damaged High Street House to be built, and a second Hovel on order. I have some coursework pending in the next couple of weeks, so productivity on these will probably slow a little, but hopefully I will have all that I want completed in the next couple of months. Then again, I do have a kit waiting to be built...

Fabled Realms: Damaged High Street House

I have had some motivation for assembling these things after the first kit (posted last week), so here is another: Damaged High Street House 03.

Each of the High Street Houses in the Fabled Realms range has a 'damaged' version available also. It is these that are more useful to me in gaming terms, so they will be the ones I focus on, although the smaller Backstreet Hovels are useful as small, low-rise line of sight blockers.

This building costs approximately £24 GBP, and the undamaged versions sell for the same price as damaged versions.

The time to build this kit was just under two and half hours. I didn't build it in one sitting, instead I worked on sub-assemblies then left the glue to cure while doing other stuff, but keeping track of time taken while I went. I am no expert hobbyist, so I reckon others could probably whip one of these out in under a couple of hours.

As with the previous kit, Freebooter's Fate minis are used for scale reference. The building splits into 3 main assemblies for ease of gaming, leaving a pretty functional piece in my opinion. It has a little trap door in the ground floor, and two areas that can be left as they are or made to look like they are sunken (which I did), It also comes with a ladder. At the price point it is something I am very happy with, and definitely recommend.

As I put these things together, I am learning a little about the 4Ground design process, so a couple of the initial sub-assemblies were a little misaligned, but that will help me as a proceed with the next building which is already under-way.

Putting together these Fabled Realms buildings has really stoked up my enthusiasm to get playing Freebooter's Fate, and so I have been scouring the rule-books and have started in on the fluff. I can't wait to get some fantasy pirate gaming in!

Fabled Realms: Mordanburg Backstreet Hovel

My latest table-ready scenery piece required some building, unlike a lot of stuff I have bought more recently which has tended to be pre-painted and pre-made.

However, after seeing the Fabled Realms range from 4Ground at Salute 2014, I was very interested to say the least. Rob and I had already embarked on painting our Freebooter's Fate crews, but we were a little undecided about terrain for Longfall (the primary setting for Freebooter's Fate), and both agreed that this range could be pretty much perfect for our needs. I can also see me using the buildings for Anima Tactics having seen some screenshots for the related video game.

The build time was approximately 1 hour 30 minutes, although that was not continuous as I allowed assemblies to dry at various stages. I have 3 other buildings from the range, all two-storey ruins, so I expect they will take considerably longer to complete.

One of my favourite things about the kit is the illusion of uneven construction created through the use of layered components. I think 4Ground have done a great job in executing the design.

I am very happy with the results and when considering scratch build would take far, far more time, I am happy with the price (£16 GBP approximately) and quality. The only extra painting I did was the lugs that can be seen in the roof and the edges of the top piece to over-paint the burnt-MDF edges to disguise them a little. In all, a highly recommended kit and I will probably get at least a couple more from the range.