A Bit of Stuff

Just a quick mention of Recon, Wakefield and district Wargamers annual show at Pudsey Leisure Centre.  It's usually a good show, and I hope to be there tomorrow (7th December).

I don't often recommend things, especially outside of the hobby, but I've recently been enjoying The Case of Charles Dexter Ward podcast.  a well done reimagining of the classic Lovecraft tale set in the present day.  Not all reimaginings work for me (War of the Worlds, I'm looking at you), but this is outstanding, and I'm listening to it as I paint ogres and marines (not the marines you are probably thinking of). 
This series came out a while ago, and there is a new story, The Whisperer in the Darkness, that I'm looking forward to.  Makes me think about running Call of Cthulhu or Delta Green again.

A Question of Scale

Today I finally found some of my old Call of Cthulhu miniatures.  I bought quite a few of these old Grenadier sculpts back in the 80's, though in the end we tended to use the silhouettes provided in the old boxed set.  I even expanded my collection with some of the Citadel Gothic Horror range.

Looking at them they are nice sculpts.  Clean detail, especially with the Grenadier ones, the Citadel are less fine, with a realistic look that, for me, fits the subject matter.  I also have some of the creatures, but they haven't surfaced yet.  

Still, plenty to go at for building Threshold teams if and when I get round to Strange Aeons.

Then I put them next to the exorcist I painted for SA.

Oh Dear.

Well I suppose it has been something like 30 years, but even so.  The exorcist is on the short side next to some of my Reaper Bones too.

I can just about/nearly get away with this, after all, people are different heights.  But I am still a bit disappointed that the scales are not a little closer.

More Mythos Madness

Two Mythos kickstarter campaigns have caught my attention.

Firstly a relaunch of the excellent Delta Green background.  The rules have been rewritten and lots of new material, as well as reissues of old stuff, will be available.  Better still it will be available in December, possibly beating Call of Cthulhu 7th edition.

Also a whole new set of supplemental material for Cthulhu Wars.  I played a couple of games of this recently, and found it great fun.  Helped perhaps by my having Great Cthulhu himself controlling the earth in the second game.

Check them out while the stars are still right.

Something Gribbly This Way Comes

I have just about completed the first two of the Strange Aeons starter pack of minis.
Firstly the bonus exorcist figure.

It's a long while since I painted anything 'realistic', so I simply googled 1920's fashions to get some idea of colour palette.  Paints are a mix of my old GW colours and Vallejo paints.

This wonderful gribbly is one of the lurker models, it fits in nicely with some of my D&D pre painted minis, and in fact will get to see some action in tonight's D&D game.

I haven't yet decided what to do about basing these.  I may go with my standard round bases with flagstone or similar texture on top, but this seems a bit odd for the Threshold agent.  If I go for the more traditional sand texture with static grass they will fit in less well with my fantasy figures, though i can see little call for  a 1920's exorcist in D&D.

they also need some form of protection, probably a coat of gloss followed by a coat of matt (or a spray of anti shine), though the monster might look quite good in gloss or silk, as though it is oozing moisture.

Strange Aeons

I picked up a parcel today containing my Strange Aeons kickstarter stuff.  I vaguely remember that it had been dispatched, but it was still pretty much a surprise, and a pleasant one at that.

What unspeakable horrors lurk within?

I will admit to a certain amount of 'post backing dissonance' with this campaign; not that the idea didn't appeal, but more a case of 'will I ever get to use it?'

The game is a revamp of the original Strange Aeons; a 'skirmish' level game pitting mankind against the horrors of the Mythos.  I actually know very little yet about game play, I saw an early bird pledge level free and snapped it up, and now here it is.

I received the rulebook, two packs of cards, the starter set of resin miniatures, and a bonus bag of unlocked stretch goal minis.  The rule book looks nice; its spiral bound, so no awkward pages flipping over by themselves (or by some unseen and malign agency).  Print quality looks good, and the interior artwork is fine.  There is some colour, but a nice touch is that many of the creatures are shown as black and white photos of the relevant miniatures.

Heroes

and villains (Deep One back left, cultists, Formless Spawn front)

and a bonus bag

The miniatures are all resin cast, a material I am less familiar with than most.  Whilst I have seen more detailed minis, especially in metal, these are fine for the game, and many have great character, and yes, the librarian chap is HPL himself.  There is some flash, but it should be easily removed, and generally avoids areas of detail.  Sadly HPL does have some faults on his back (and a bubble  giving him a cleft chin), though a bit of liquid filler should sort that out.

The Formless Spawn has a separate tentacle, and I think it may well be making an appearance in the D&D campaign.

The cultists are a bit of the 'robes and hood' cliche, but I can see several additional uses for them, such as in Empire of the Dead, and they may well receive reinforcements from the new plastic cultists in Thaw of the Lichlord.  The psycho midget is especially characterful.  The Deep One is OK, but not quite what I think of for Deep Ones.  

I haven't read the rules yet, so have no idea what the pumpkins are for, but the exorcist and the madman look fun, and the tomb is that of Pickman for extra atmosphere.

I may rush a couple of these up the painting schedule just to see how they look when done.  Results, of course, when I have something to show.

If the game takes off I have a lot of extra minis that can see service, not to mention the Mythos expansion in Bones 3.

Oh, nearly forgot, there are also three crates and a chest, cast in brown resin.  compared tot he quality of the other pieces these look rough, but I have plenty of scatter pieces already (e.g. for Frostgrave), so that isn't a problem.  The chest may even become a spare Frostgrave treasure token.

Cthulhu Wars

I tried Cthulhu Wars for the first time last night.  A friend of mine (The Other One) backed the kickstarter and duly received a humongous box of stuff.

The game looks good and plays well, though we were a little shaky to begin with.

The Yellow Sign and The Crawling Chaos

The Black Goat of the Woods

Mighty Cthulhu 

The aim of the game is to dominate the earth with your Great Old One, which you achieve by amassing power to build gates and summoning monsters.

The two player game has four factions on the board, and I suspect it would flow easier, and be more competitive, to have more players, with one person per faction.

Still, a good game, and one  that will probably be great fun once we have the rules fully learnt and more players to join in.  The pieces are great; well designed and cast, and probably have many other uses outside the game.  Now if only I could get a separate faction of my own.....

Kickstarter Mythos Madness

Just a quick mention of the various Mythos inspired stretch goals in the Reaper Bones 3 Kickstarter

One stretch goal is Shub-Niggurath, and another is a new expansion pack themed around the Mythos.

My Cthulhu Mythos love hasn't had much mention here yet, but I will be very excited by all these minis.

The only problem is I want them now.   (Well that and finding someone who wants to buy one of my kidneys).