A Grand Day Out

I had a good time today at the Wakefield and Districk Wargames Scoiety's anual show, Recon, in Pudsey.

This is possibly my favourite of the local shows, it is a bit smaller than most, but has a friendly atmosphere that the bigger ones can lack.  I also remember the first Recon show in a church hall over in Headingley, which was tiny, so its always nice to see things grow.
Apart from having a good look around, and a chat with T'Other One, I did get some goodies to keep me busy over the next several weeks.

All this, plus a bag of things from the Bring and Buy

West Wind's Yeti.  I think they will look good as Ice Trolls for Frostgrave. A bit small perhaps, but I like the shaggy coat.

Midlam Miniatures Black Panther.  With a lighter paint job it will do for a snow leopard in Frostgrave.

West Wind's Piranha Men,  they will make nice Deep Ones for Savage Aeons

Reaper Bones Young Fire Dragon, because you can't have too many dragons.

From the Bring and Buy, one of GWs Giants of Albion.  Lovely old figure, and a huge giant.

Also from the bring and buy (most of ) the Emperor's gryphon, Deathclaw.

I am pleased with all my purchases, and for once didn't come out thinking "I wish I'd bought..."

I am not sure if I should paint up the giant or sell it.  It is complete, and pretty hard to get, but i do like it, even though I'm not sure what to use him for.

I already have the Karl Franz figure to go on the gryphon, shame the beast is missing a front claw and a tail, still at £5 for both I couldn't say no.  If I can work out some form of replacement it will make a nice centrepiece for my kingdoms of Men army in Kings of War.

The Uncharted Empires book looks good.  It could be said that it is a good way for disenchanted players of other mass battle systems to re use their armies, now that their rules are no longer 

supported.

Both T'other One and myself have collections of 15mm armies, Skaven, Lizardmen, Khemri and Empire.  These new lists will allow us to dust off the old armies and use them in KoW.  All we have to do is base them appropriately and decide what ground scale to use.

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.

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.