Inspiration 2

With 2020 coming to a close, and it having been quite a difficult year for a lot of folk out there, I thought I'd revisit the topic of inspiration. I've said it before and I'll say it again, inspiration comes in many forms. If you want to see what has already inspired me head back to the previous inspiration mentions Welcome to 2018!

Everything I listed previously is still important to me, but I wanted to pick out and name a few new different places on the internet I have found myself hanging out over the past few years.

Honourable Mentions from the Internet

Graeme Davis's Blog is a catalogue of interesting articles and is a must for finding inspiration. It covers such a diverse range of topics it is always worth checking out.

Royal Road is where up and coming authors can post their works. Like I said in my last inspiration piece, sometimes a story can provide you with the spark of inspiration you need. If you don't get inspiration from Royal Road, at least you will enjoy the stories.

Black Magic Craft is a youtube channel centred on making terrain for all sorts of games. I like both Jeremy's style and also his approach to crafting. I'd highly recommend you check him out.

Miniac is a youtube channel centred on everything around painting miniatures. I'm nowhere in the same league of Scott when it comes to painting miniatures, but if you want some down to earth, tell it like it is miniature painting you can't get better than The Miniature Maniac.

Old World Podcast is a website and podcast focusing on Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay (4th Edition). This is my new favourite podcast for all things Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay.

GM Word of the Week is a website and podcast all about words. Words for your games, what more could you want? A fantastic resource and well worth taking a look.

It's funny that even though 2020 has been a terrible year, and we are not venturing out as much (I miss visiting my gaming club) I really really haven't been on social media as much I have been in previous years. I don't believe that social media is as social as it's made out to be and the cynic in me will tell you it's all marketing and advertising rather than anything to do with community, but the one place I have found myself lurking about these days is on Discord. Most games and groups have a dedicated Discord server and on the whole I like these (a little bit more) than other social media platforms and social media sites. I originally joined Discord so I could keep up with news and information on Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, but since joining that initial server, I have joined and contributed to quite a few others. I now have a regular gaming night on Discord every two weeks.

Take what inspires you and run with it!

J

Playing Call of Cthulhu 7th edition

I am currently playing Call of Cthulhu 7th edition and I am liking it, a lot. I have played Call of Cthulhu before, and the last time I ventured into the realms of this horror fiction was sometime in the mid to late 1990's (which should make it Call of Cthulhu 5th edition). I have also played Call of Cthulhu before that, and if I recall correctly we played using a battered copy of the 2nd edition rules sometime back in the early 1990s. I like the Cthulhu mythos, and have read various works by H.P. Lovecraft who's writing the game is based on so playing Call of Cthulhu wasn't a step too far off the beaten track.

The reason Call of Cthulhu came about is one of the GMs from my local gaming group wanted to play Delta Green, a modern version of Call of Cthulhu. I played a couple of games of this and as feedback I attested that Delta Green was not for me; I just didn't feel comfortable in the game, especially as I felt with my background in science and engineering. Delta Green wasn't far enough displaced from my own life (where strange things do actually happen in my own world of science and engineering but which have nothing to do with horrors lurking in the background) and so I was reluctant to continue playing Delta Green. The GM then suggested playing Call of Cthulhu (1920's version) and this I jumped at.

The big difference for me between 1920's Call of Cthulhu and Modern Call of Cthulhu (such as Delta Green) is that I can believe my character might not have as deep a grasp of science and engineering and default to more superstition with regards to strange goings on. In today's modern world, especially with information at our fingertips it is easy for everyone to have some passing knowledge about things, and I feel this along with my own science and engineering background was my problem when we played Delta Green.

Free rules?

Chaosium the publishers of Call of Cthulhu have a set of quickstart rules, some character sheets and introductory adventures all for free and this is a great way to start in Call of Cthulhu. I picked up the quickstart rules and made a character off the cuff; I actually making my character the hour before we played our first game!!. For those more dedicated groups there is also the Starter Set for purchase from Chaosium. The introductory rules in the starter set fill in some of the gaps in the quickstart rules (like the list of skills and their descriptions).

Beyond the Starter Set

So far we have played Crimson Letters, a scenario based in Arkham and set in and around the Miskatonic University. This was the first scenario I have played using 7th edition rules, and although I was not very prepared (I rolled up my character using the Quickstart rules about an hour before the first session) this game was great. We didn't win, but we didn't lose our minds or die, so that was nice.

The next scenario we played was Blackwater Creek, set in a village of the same name. As our characters didn't die in the previous scenario, we brought them forward to this one and I tweaked the character using the proper rules (after getting my hands on the Investigator's Handbook). This scenario was more frustrating than anything else, as throughout the adventure you did feel like there was no way out (unless you decided to just get up and leave Blackwater Creek itself). That being said we, as a group, made good progress and managed to thwart the existential horror lurking in the hills, just before we all died; in a spectacular fashion; and just as we thought we had won. Absolutely amazing!

The most recent game we are playing now is the Masks of Nyarlathotep campaign. We are playing the revised edition and have just completed the seed adventure which brings the party together. New characters were put together for this and having a couple of adventures under my belt I am really enjoying playing Call of Cthulhu again. Maybe our characters will die, maybe they will go mad before the end of the campaign, either way it should be fun!

J

The Pflugzeit Hare and Éostre, Goddess of the Spring

I am a massive fan of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay and so it makes sense, in my mind at least, that the things I do tend to revolve around WFRP; and so it was one chocolate fuelled Easter Sunday evening I decided to compile a very quick creature for WFRP 4th Edition to capture the essence of the Easter Bunny, The Pflugzeit Hare. The following year, after another chocolate fuelled Easter, I revisited this work editing where necessary. When I was revising The Pflugzeit Hare, I couldn't just leave it out there on it's own as there had to be a reason for the Hare to be about in the Spring, so I created a new god for WFRP, Éostre, Goddess of the Spring to tie in to the Spring festival.

For those of you who are curious as to how I came up with Éostre the following basic research put me on the correct path - Easter is the English form of Éostre. Éostre is derived from the Proto-Germanic goddess of the Dawn, Austró. Éostre has recently found a new lease of life in Neo-Paganism with the veneration of Ostara at the Spring Equinox. There is more detail in the research and if I ever update either of these in the future I will list it all here.

The Pflugzeit Hare

Stories of the Pflugzeit Hare are common across the Empire. Everyone has heard the stories of the springtime spirit who rewards good children on the first full moon after the Spring Equinox (9th Pflugzeit). When children leave out brightly coloured and decorated hats or baskets on the night of the full moon, the Pflugzeit Hare, fills the hats and baskets with eggs of those children who have been good.

Few have seen the Pflugzeit Hare, but those that have seen it have described it as a monstrously large hare, who walks on its hind legs standing about 7ft tall, with mottled grey fur and yellow eyes. Some say it also glows with a magical light, although no-one has been brave enough to hang about long enough to confirm any of these details.

Traits: Bite (2), Bounce, Clever, Dark Vision, Fast, Fear (2), Magical, Size (Enormous), Tough,
Ward (9+)
Optional: Arboreal, Stride, Hardy, Magic Resistance (2)

Éostre – A Provincial God

Whilst the goddess Éostre may not be actively worshipped, and indeed may be long forgotten by name, she is still well known in most rural areas across the Old World through her sphere of influence. She is said to be the goddess of the Spring and of the Dawn. Éostra may be a remnant or an aspect of the Old Faith which has been handed down across generations. When Éostre is said to travel the world, she is accompanied with her companion or familiar, the Pflugzeit Hare.

Notes: There is no formal cult nor any shrines to Éostre, although she is praised by those who believe in her giving their thanks for the dawn.

Éostre's Feast

The night of first full moon after the Spring Equinox (9th Pflugzeit) is known as Éostre's feast. Although the use of the name may have slipped out of fashion in the last century or so, bonfires are still lit all over the countryside, and folk gather to feast, make merry and worship the goddess of the Spring. It is during this feast, when Éostre is being venerated, that her companion stalks the land.

I have used the following material to help me generate Éostre and her festival: Imperial Calendar by Dave Graffam, In Search of the Old Faith by Alfred Nunez Jr, Carnivals and Festivals by Jackdays, Realm of Divine Magic by Ken Rolston, WFRP 1st Edition Rulebook, WFRP 2nd Edition Rulebook, WFRP 3rd Edition Tome of Blessings, WFRP 4th Edition Rulebook.

I may decide to update both of these again in the future (probably on another chocolate fuelled Easter weekend!)

J

Solo Gaming ...or Playing With Yourself

Stuck indoors? Can't go out? Gaming club shut? Can't bring friends over? Why not play with yourself instead?

Whilst the social aspect of gaming has been hit hard in these current times (insert here your apocalypse of choice - today it's COVID-19) most of us in the gaming and crafting communities are looking for things to do. Whether it is to work through the pile of shame, to complete those previously incomplete projects, to begin a new project, to join an online community, to play games over the internet, or as in my case end up sitting in the house and playing with myself [*giggle* sorry, I just couldn't resist that pun!].

Knowing that a lock-down was coming, I had a few days to prepare so I looked for some games I could play solo. Thanks to one of the members in the Causeway Giants Gaming Group they shared a link to some pay what you want (PWYW) games were on DriveThru RPG (DTRPG). Having a quick look I decided to grab some of these and print them out.

I downloaded some of the Micro RPG games by Noah Patterson, https://www.drivethrurpg.com/browse/pub/9707/Micro-RPG The main games I downloaded were two of the Micro Chapbook RPGs and the first set of One Page Dungeons.

The one thing I will say about these games is, if you like rolling dice a lot, you will love these games.

One Page Dungeon -

Don't let the title fool you. Whilst the game page is indeed one single sheet, there are several pages of rules and background included with these.

These use D6 dice pools and the success mechanic is rolling 4 or higher. Blood points are the currency won and lost throughout the game, and levelling up is a case of spending gold. The dungeons are generated randomly through dice rolls, as are the monsters, traps and items that populate the dungeon. Once you generate your character, and memorise the sequence of play, the game page is pretty much all you need. The game finishes once you defeat the Boss Monster.

There are several games in this series and they are loosely linked together so you can play them in sequence to get a sense of a campaign. As the games progress, there are additional rules to keep things fresh. They are re-playable as I have played a few of these multiple times.

A few points to note:

1. If you like rolling dice, these games are for you. You roll dice for everything.

2. As you roll dice for everything in these games, the inherent randomness means you are as likely to succeed as you are to fail.

3. Once you succeed a couple of games and level up to improve your character things get a little bit easier, but there are still lots of dice to roll.

I really enjoyed playing these. The one page thing is great, the basic game mechanic was pretty straight forward once you played a few times, but with the different variants across the games, having to have the rules close at hand detracted from the one page playability somewhat. All in all this has kept me entertained for a good few days.

Even though there are lots of dice to roll, it isn't so bad once you get the hang of things with regards the mechanics as you can quickly read the outcome of your roll, then it's just a matter to pick up the next lot of dice to roll the next step on the game sequence. The only thing that slows this down is on the Boss Monster fights where their attack keeps changing every round.

Chapbook RPG -

This is a little self contained game book. The entire thing fits on one double sided page (and this is more of a One Page game that the self titled One Page Dungeon by the same author).

These use D6 dice and the success is to roll equal to or under your score on 1D6. Proficiency adds 1D6 to the roll. Levelling up is a case of spending gold. The dungeons, monsters, and items are all generated randomly through dice rolls.

You will need the Chapbook for gameplay, as most of the randomly generated monsters and items, have a random value attached to them (heal points, attack damage, etc.) and all this has to be looked up in the tables in the Chapbook as some of them are D3 and not D6. The game finishes when you defeat the Boss Monster.

There are several games in this series and they are loosely linked together so you can play them in sequence to get a sense of a campaign. As the games progress, there are additional rules to keep things fresh. They are re-playable as I have played a few of these multiple times.

A few points to note:

1. If you like rolling dice, these games are for you. You roll dice for everything.

2. As you roll dice for everything in these games, the inherent randomness means you are as likely to succeed as you are to fail.

3. These are almost impossible unless the Dice Gods favour you, you have increased your character, or you have better equipment and items.

I didn't enjoy playing these. There is more dice rolling than before, and looking up who does what to determine the dice rolls for this game, especially when it's 1D3+1 for the value. They are almost impossible to finish without a bit of luck on your side. With the roll equal to or under under your score on (more often) only 1D6, it can be difficult to succeed in a hurry, and in a fight this can go wrong so very quickly.

I had four attempts at this and died every time. It may seem you are doing well but then after a tough fight with bad rolls on your part, you can generate in the next room the max number of skeleton warriors (the monster below the Big Boss), which will definitely finish you off (as happened to me on four occasions).

I love the concept of solo rpgs, simple rpgs and one page rpgs. Whilst I didn't enjoy the Chapbook RPG due to its overly elaborate dice rolling detail, and the fact you are doomed from the start based on the dice rolls, I liked the concept behind this and this is something which if reworked could easily be more fun.

The One Page Dungeon's were much better. Yes there is a lot of dice rolling in this game, although as I have said, once you get a handle on the rules and memorise the general sequence of things you can quite easily determine the outcome of your dice roll, then just pick up the next lot of dice and keep rolling. Based on this I will pick up the “Season 2” One Page Dungeon “Frostmire” and see if this will keep me entertained for another few days.

J

A Cardboard Dragon for your tabletop game

As part of the regular DnD 5e game I play in we encountered a Dragon! I play a Druid, Erik Bathmoss, and we are working through Storm King's Thunder. I wrote a bit about that here. Anyway, the GM left the game on a cliffhanger with the appearance of a blue dragon, and from the cryptic clues to the description we assumed it was an Ancient Blue Dragon, one we had been told about in a previous session.

We had a long break from 5e, and this blue dragon was always sitting in the back of my mind. It was during this break I was watching some crafting videos and came across Bard's Craft on youtube. I watched a couple of videos where he crafted dragons form cardboard and a sudden thought struck me, why didn't I make a dragon for our next session! Give or take a few more weeks of indecision as to how to start, I came across a really nice blue acrylic craft paint and thought this would be a the perfect colour for my cardboard dragon. This was my impetus to actually knuckle down and begin crafting. So I got to crafting, using a combination of the templates from Bard's Craft to get my dragon shape. I enlarged the templates on my copier in work cause this was meant to be an Ancient Dragon!

The basic dragon shape all went together relatively quickly, and I had a body out of foam and cardboard, cardboard wings and cardboard head. I decided to add the legs and the feet at this point although I did come to regret adding the feet at this ponit in time as they kept catching on my fingers and falling off later on in the build. I decided to add some basic details before adding the scales, and although I don't regret the decision, with the delicate nature of card and glue at times, I was worried about handling the dragon when adding the scales. I would have been better adding all the detail after adding the scales, but that is a lesson for next time.

The next step was adding the dragon scales. Wow, such a long and tedious task to cut all those scales and place them individually! I had thought about giving up at various points but I persevered and I am glad I did cause it was great in the end. To build the body and add some basic detail took me about half a day, and to cut and place all those scales took the most of two full days, although some of this was drying time as I was using white glue. Once all the scales were on and had dried for a couple hours, I added final details to the dragon before allowing to dry fully overnight before painting.

As painting was up next I looked at some photos of blue dragons (especially DnD dragons) and found them to be a blue and yellow scheme. I wasn't really fussed by this so want for dark blue / light blue scheme. It might not have been the best paint job, but I am pleased with the results. It might not come out on the photos, but I found some pearlescent white craft paint and gave the dragon a final drybrush with this.

Turning up to our next DnD session I was a bundle of excitement with the dragon in a box to maintain the surprise, and I couldn't wait to once again describe the dragon to the party, as I revealed the dragon on the table. The reveal went down well and was a welcome surprise to everyone. after the session, I left the dragon in the capable hands of our GM. You never know when he might need it again.

J

The Virus - A short story

On the other side of the world, reports are coming in of the outbreak of a new strain of virus. From the initial news reports it seems to spread rapidly, affecting mainly the elderly and those with underlying health conditions. The death toll is low for this particular virus, but the speed of it's transmission hasn't been seen before. The country at the centre of the outbreak locks down the country in an attempt to control the situation. The reaction from the rest of the world is slow, politics coming to the forefront as it is a case of us versus them. We don't want to get involved with their problems, and we also believe that this will not affect us in any way whatsoever. We continue on with our lives as normal, no precautions, no forethought.

A few days later, reports now come in of the same virus in other countries around the world. Some of these countries are our global allies, some of them are our neighbours. The reaction again is slow, again politics taking control. Those newly infected governments play down the virus so as not to panic the populous, telling them they have things under control.

A few days later the first of our neighbouring countries goes into complete lock-down, closing schools and shops, banning mass gatherings, and telling people to stay in their homes. People begin to panic buy, shops are stripped of food, medicine and toiletries.

The first case of the virus is now reported locally. The government decides to wait and see how things develop. Cases multiply rapidly, and the dead are now being counted on the news, with each bulletin bringing in ever increasing amounts of new cases and an ever increasing death toll.

Panic finally arrives to us all. Some have looked to what our neighbours are doing, and isolating themselves for the duration, only venturing out when necessary and stocking up on supplies when they do. Others just laugh in the face of this adversity telling their friends and neighbours that they are overreacting, remaining at large and singularly ignoring the advice issued in other countries on how to curb the spread of the virus.

Things go from bad to worse and the ensuing outcry from the public finally pushes the government into action, closing schools, banning mass gatherings, and telling people to stay in their homes. The few who ignored advice still say everything is a overreaction, and continue to ignore the advice given to them. The government are now forced to legislate, bringing in new powers to fine and arrest people who are at large on the streets. Even those who have been prudent and were self-isolated long before any official advice are being stopped and quizzed by the police on their way to buy essential groceries or medicines.

Initial reports state that the virus, and lock-down procedures will last 3 to 4 months. The latest reports now state this may last for over a year, coming in waves.

This is no work of fiction, this is reality. Novel Coronavirus is here.

You may have seen in the News that novel coronavirus, Covid-19, is affecting daily life, and with sweeping lock-downs across many countries, many of us are now forced to stay at home. The social aspect of tabletop gaming is taking a battering with gaming clubs closed and people told to maintain social distancing. However, having enforced time to ourselves allows us more time to paint those unfinished minis, craft that scenery for your table, and refine those home-brew rules you've been talking over with your gaming friends. With new online services people can still get together to meet, share and discuss their hobby, as well as take part in online tabletop games. Some of us might even have time to update our blogs.

Myself and my family are all well, although I am still working (for the time being). Look after yourselves and remember:

Stay at home
Wash your hands
Maintain your Social Distance
Protect your Health System

Welcome to 2020

...and welcome to the League of Omicron

A lot has been happening since my last post. I've been crafting, playing 40k, playing DnD, playing Delta Green, and playing boardgames.

40k (Warhammer 40 000) has been my sci-fi wargame of choice since I started gaming, and if you have read some of the other blogs, you will know I love Space Marines. I'm really an old school fan, and have been collecting and playing 40k since the mid 1990s. I was never a fan of taking a chapter from the rulebook, and even back when I started I had been designing my own chapter. I didn't want to stray too far into uncharted territory with my chapter and so I opted for a chapter based off of the Ultramarines Chapter. This made it easy (in terms or describing to others) who my Chapter was.

All I needed now was a name, a colour scheme and a logo and I was good to go, and so was born the League of Omicron. I took the Ultramarines vibe and ran with it having a uniform colour for my chapter, the League of Omicron being purple, and the logo was the Ultramarines log turned upside-down with the tails cut off. This way I hoped to be able to use the Ultramarines transfers to make my life easy.

For a long number of years, my love for 40k waxed and waned, as it seemed to be a non-stop race between new rulebooks and new army lists, and god forbid if you wanted to play someone and you weren't using the most up to date rules or army list. My biggest loss of love for 40k, and one of the reasons I stopped playing for a long time, came about somewhere starting around 4th Edition of the rules when Games Workshop retconned some of my beloved Space Marine units. Yes I could play in friendly games, and yes I could modify rules to allow my units to be on the field or even place proxy units, but it didn't just feel the same. My Army Standard Bearer, and my Apothecary on a Bike were sadly no more. With this the League of Omicron died and I didn't do much with the chapter since then.

When 8th edition (the current edition as of writing this) came out and my friends were enthusiastic for the new rules and new army lists, once again I was nonplussed. Yes, I would eventually field some minis for a game, and learn the new rules, but I cannot say I was as enthusiastic for the game as my friends were. All that changed when I saw what Games Workshop were doing, and boy was I pleased. No only did they release a free primer for the rules (basic rules to allow anyone to play the game), but they also released a couple of army list books listing all the old units which they had previously released minis for over the years. This got me hooked, and I borrowed the Index Imperium book from a friend to see if my beloved Space Marines were listed - they were!

With this the League of Omicron was reborn! I have had quite a few games with the new rules, and I like them, especially since I can use my older minis which are no only out of production, but where they haven't had rules for a many number of years. I really want to do the League of Omicron justice and complete them as a Chapter, with background and heroes. Over the many games I have played I have built up the potential for such background and heroes, I just need to commit them to paper now. Stay tuned and follow the League of Omicron.

J

Boardgame Bonanza - Part 1

Boardgames are great. I like boardgames. When I was growing up I played boardgames with family and friends. Yes everyone played Monopoly in the way back at some point in time, but after several arguments it really loses its appeal. I enjoyed other boardgames with my family, like Cluedo , Scrabble and Trivial Pursuit. Somewhere in a cupboard in the famly home there are several boardgames which I got as a teenager which are more logic or puzzle boardgames. Once I left for college I didn't play many boardgames, except the occasional games of Scrabble at  Christmas when I was at home with my family for the vacation.

Fast forward to a few years ago when the Causeway Giants Gaming Group used to meet in a local bar. Boardgames were brought along by some of the members as they were easy to transport and could be played in a few hours. I decided to contribute and so sourced myself a new boardgame so I could add to the fun. I picked up Castle Panic (see below). This was a great game which went down well. Since then several members of the Causeway GIants will meet and play boardgames. I have played boardgames in folks homes of an afternoon or an evening, as well as meeting in OTT to play.
I have also discovered Print and Play games (PnP). These are great, as you get a pdf of the game rules / board / cards / tokens etc and you print it out and play it. Generally these are low cost (the ones I got were free or had a free offer at the time of purchase) and you oftern have the option of purchasing a quality print run version if you like it enough. Some of these games I have here also.

Some of the games I have played recently are:

Castle Panic

   https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/43443/castle-panic   

"Castle Panic is tower defense strategy game in which players work cooperatively to protect a castle from monsters... ...The objective of the game is to kill the monsters invading from the forest before they can destroy your castle." - Wikipedia entry, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle_Panic

This is a simple tower defence game which relys on luck as well as skill. Sometimes you might get unlcky with the monsters draws, but usually if the players work together they can defeat the monsters. I also picked up the expansion for this, which includes more monsters and a few special rules to make the panic set in quicker. All in all I love getting this game onto the table.

Agricola

https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/31260/agricola

"Agricola is a Euro-style board game created by Uwe Rosenberg. It is a worker placement game with a focus on resource management. In Agricola, players are farmers that sow, plow the fields, collect wood, build stables, buy animals, expand their farms and feed their families. After 14 rounds players calculate their score based on the size and prosperity of the household." - Wikipedia entry, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agricola_(board_game)

I've had a couple of games of Agricola. It good, I like it, but it is also tough as I feel there is quite a steep learing curve with it. You do really have to focus on the game right from the start, and strategise well to maximise your farm. I've only played this a couple of times, and it has taken me three or four turns to get into the swing of things, which makes my farm suffer in the long run. I didn't disgrace myself, but I could have planned better in the first few turns. Sometimes the cards you are dealt for occupations and improvements help out and maximising the farm output is easy, sometimes the cards are difficult to use, especially at the start due to restrictions which need to be in place before use, and this can limit your farm growth. All in all I enjoyed this game and look forward to playing it again.

Runebound (2nd Edition)

https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/21523/runebound-second-edition

"Runebound is a high fantasy adventure board game created by Martin Wallace and Darrel Hardy and published by Fantasy Flight Games in 2004. A second edition was published in 2005. A third edition was released in 2015. In Runebound, one to six players take the roles of adventurers who seek out quests (indicated by markers on the map). The quests are then resolved with either victory for the player, or a loss of some item. Each player is seeking quests and trying to gain experience which results in greater power and combat skill." - Wikipedia entry, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Runebound

Imagine a basic version of D&D in a boardgame, whats not to like about that. Take your character, roam the land, fight monster, gain treasure and equipment, fight the big bad evil guy and win the game. It is quick to learn this game, and with a bit of strategy (and some luck on dice rolls) you can progress your character relatively quickly to end up facing the end boss. Great game, and would love to play more.

Goblin's Breakfast

https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/164760/goblins-breakfast

"In this card game, players take the role of Goblins at the Breakfast table, scrambling to eat as much food as possible and to prevent other players from doing the same." - DTRPG entry, https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/135134/Goblins-Breakfast

This is a great game and I got this as PnP. It's easy to learn and easy to play and I have had great fun playing this with friands. You also know its a good game when you are playing with a few friends and once finished someone says, "Do you want another game". Makes me smile inside when that happens.

Anyway, thats a start into the boardgames I play so until next time.

J

Blue Stuff - Is it art or science?

You may recall from a previous post,  here , I mentioned I had recently purchased a load of second hand Space Marine minis to help boost my Warhammer 40k army. I acquired some bikes, some assault marines, some characters and some other random minis. Most of these were in good condition, although some of the bikes, assault troops and random minis had bits missing. I needed to replace the missing parts to allow all the minis to be successfully assembled.

I took a rummage through my bits box to see if I had anything spare I could use to replace the missing parts. In the bits box I found a few other tactical marines with parts missing, and so began the job of chopping up the models and assembling everything I had to hand.

At the end of this phase, there were still quite a few bikes, and a small number of assault and tactical marines with parts missing. As there were not too many missing parts for each mini, I decided to look online for spares. Wow! I had no idea buying 40K bits online could be so pricey. To just kit out the bikes alone with the minimum to make them functionable would cost somewhere in the region of £60, and so I decided I was going to try and replicate the missing parts instead. I only needed a few of each part, so I thought this was the best option.

I wasn't sure what my best plan was. Silicone moulds and resin pours? Push moulds out of Green Stuff / Milliput? Scratchbuild? I took a look on-line and found a few videos where folk used Blue Stuff (never heard of it) and Milliput to make one off bits for their minis. This looked exactly what I needed and so I took the plunge and bought two packs of Blue Stuff from Green Stuff World (and I picked up a couple packs of Green Stuff for the hell of it), oh and I bought some Yellow / Grey Milliput.

Blue Stuff is a thermoplastic resin; that is to say it melts when hot to become soft and malleable, and hardens when cold to the consistency of a hard rubber. Getting the temperature right for the Blue Stuff, getting the part aligned into the Blue Stuff correctly, and getting the amount of Milliput to fill the mould right were all trial and error. On the tutorial videos it looked simple and I can say now it was anything but, especially for my first few attempts. After several attempts I managed to get the hang of it and I started by making those items of low number requirement first. This way one or two casts and I am done to move onto the next one. The reuseablility factor of Blue Stuff is key here as even if your mould didn't turn out correctly, just re-soften it in hot water and start again.

The results were not too bad, especially considering this was my first attempt at making anything from Blue Stuff / Milliput.

I will continue to play with the Blue Stuff and Milliput as I still need one or two extra bits going forward. The temperature of the hot water to soften the Blue Stuff is important, too hot it sticks to everything including the container, too cold it doesn't shape well. I only made the Milliput in small amounts, generally just what was needed to fill the mould and no more. Mixing Milliput was also trial and error. Whilst it is forgiving in terms of ratios of the Yellow / Grey component to mix together, I found different batches had different curing properties, with some of the bits I made still soft the next day.

The Blue Stuff / Milliput worked out well as it was (reasonably) quick to make the mould, and the short cure time for the Milliput meant I could make several components across a full day. Milliput also did not stick to the blue stuff too readily, and scrubbing the Blue Stuff under cold water with a brush soon loosened any flakes of Milliput still adhering to the mould once demoulding was completed. The Milliput was also easy to work with in terms of removing mould lines and generally tidying up the item. This was mostly accomplished with a sharp blade, but a rotary tool and needle file helped out also.

J

Where's Julian?

Well the good news is I haven't disappeared in a cloud of white smoke and been transported to the pages of an entertaining series of books in my stripey jumper! I'm still right here where you left me, you just needed to look harder!

Lots of things have happened in the past few months, although not as much has happened in my gaming life as I would like. Work and family commitments have again consumed my time, leaving me very little time for gaming, although I have been able to squeeze one or two hours in over a weekend for the past few months to keep up with my gaming and hobbies.

In December 2018 I took part in a Warhammer 40k narrative mega battle, Vigilus Laid Waste, at OTT. I really enjoyed this, even though I lost my game. It was a great event, and on socialising and speaking with other members there, they were able to point out a few aspects of my army which could be improved.

I considered the suggestions given to me for my 40k Space Marine army, and two things I decided to improve were my fast attack and assault options. So with this in mind, I spent my Christmas money gifts on trawling through eBay to find some second hand models I could put to use in either a fast attack unit, or an assault unit. 

I have spent a bit of my time over the past few months sorting out my new 40k mini acquisitions.

I picked up quite a few Space Marine bikes, although most of them are missing parts in some way or other. Most of the bikes don't need the paint stripped off them (which is a relief) and so with a bit of repair and rebuild work I will get these assembled into a couple of units. Now I have most of the bikes stripped down and cleaned up, the next job is to either buy or cast the missing parts for the bikes.

I also picked up a couple of squads of Space Marine assault troops, although the paint job on most of these was quite heavy handed, so they are currently sitting in a jar of cleaning fluid (I am using methylated spirits with reasonable results). Once I get these out and cleaned up, I will get them reassembled and added to the paint queue.

It is difficult to not buy more than you need when shopping online, so when I was shopping I decided to pick up a few more Space Marine character models I needed to flesh out my army. As most of these were metal minis these were quite easy to strip the paint off, so I tackled these first. I have just completed the rebuild of these and have added them to the paint queue with a couple of the other character minis I had had lying in a box for the past 10 years. I am hoping to get these all painted before the end of this year! lol

The rest of my gaming and hobby time over the past few months has been spent on one of those crazy projects which sounds good at the start, but a few months in you think to yourself “what am I doing?” I decided I needed a library, and not just any library. This was no simple wizards study, or large reading room in a manor; this was to be the grand library for the Frostgrave Library scenario.

I needed to be able to fill about a 2ft square section with bookshelves and tables. The tables I will consider later as I have some tables from the Heroquest boardgame that would suffice, so what I really needed was bookshelves; and books, loads of books!

The building of the bookshelves and books is not difficult, but is quite laborious considering how much I have to actually produce. I have some books, potion bottles and scrolls already made so I have a head start on these, but what I really needed was bookshelves. The task started out quite easily, but when I began to lay out the space, I quickly discovered I needed a lot more bookshelves than I had originally believed. With this in mind I have been steadily building the bookshelves over the past few months. I am on the final dozen or so bookshelf carcases so hopefully in the next few weeks I will be painting and filling these with books.

So, on the whole, even though I haven't achieved much over the past few months, everything has been moving along slowly and steadily, albeit there has been only two main projects on the table so far.

J