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Lamenters Update: The basing begins!

November 20, 2012, 6:48 pm
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Here we go with all ten Tactical Marines painted and standing on their new bases. I just need to add their blood and gore splatters on the base, their greaves, and on the occasional combat weapon.


Here are the last two Marines to get the treatment. The guy on the right was, of course, the model  used for the yellow tutorial from a couple of posts back.


And finally, some of the feet kind of hung over the edges of the bases. As I wanted the models to be standing in the blood and gore, I needed them to be standing lower inside the Secret Weapon Miniatures Bone Fields bases. To achieve this it was a fairly simple matter to slice out small slivers of the sides of the bases, as you can see in the photo above.

Next step, adding gallons of gore!

Cheers
Dave
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Lamenters Update: Death Company Tycho/Janus and other news.

November 24, 2012, 11:36 am
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Here he is, Death Company Captain Janus (my version of DC Tycho, thanks to Brien for the name). Constructed primarily from Sanguiary Guard bitz, he also sports a combi-melta that was cobbled together from other models. His paint scheme matches the other Death Company models in the army, with the addition of a little more gold. I hope you like him. you can see him pre-paint here.


And here is my first attempt at the gory basing. I wanted the blood to be a little translucent and splattered in just the right places. Let me know what you think.

Now, on to the other things...


My buddy Alex has just re-opened his Battleroad Games & Hobbies website! You can get there via this link: http://battleroadhobbies.com/ and he has a Black Friday deal running until the end of business tomorrow (November 25th). The discount code is BRGLaunch


And my moustache continues to grow. I decided yesterday that I would match all donations taken between Nov 23-30 dollar-for-dollar. I've had $30 kicked in since then, so I'm asking you all again to consider donating. Now is certainly the best time as I'll basically be doubling your money : )

You can get to my MoSpace here.

Cheers
Dave
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Free Mars!

November 27, 2012, 9:20 am
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There are just under 24 hours to go in the Kickstarter campaign for the space-rock-opera comic written by my friend (and occasional nemesis), Dave Pauwels.

If you like your sc-fi loaded with musical nods and homages to the great sci-fi movies of the 1980s, then you really should have been reading Free Mars for the last two years. Written by Dave and drawn by Nicolas Giacondino (perhaps better known as Anerion the Faithful for all his excellent 40K inspired pieces), Free Mars is a lot of fun. I highly recommend you visit their website here.

Once you've familiarized yourself with the gritty dystopian future of life on the Red Planet, head on over and pledge a few bucks to their already-funded Kickstarter. I recommend the $25 level if you are just interested in the comic, or the $45 level if you like your comic characters in miniature form. Myself? I pledged at the $150 level in order to score an original piece of art for the wall of my mancave.


To break up the vast amounts of yellow (Lamenters) and blue (ACW Union troops) I've been painting recently, I started on this little guy. Should be a fun deviation ; )

Cheers
Dave
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Scratching that itch...

November 30, 2012, 5:00 am
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Sometimes you see a couple of models that just speak to you, and sometimes they beg to be converted. That was the case with the new Warriors Of Chaos Warshrine, or more specifically the two beasts that lug it around. Combine this with having just finished reading Graham McNeill's Priests of Mars and there was no stopping me. Using a variety of bits from other kits I've turned the shrine bearers into vat-grown, slab-muscled plasma cannon-toting servitors for my Adeptus Mechanicus army.






And yes, this is my final plea for your donation dollars. Please donate to my Movember team, and I'll match your donation dollar-for-dollar too!

Visit my Movember page here!

Cheers
Dave
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Flames Of War - Late War Germans

December 5, 2012, 6:26 pm
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Just recently I completed a quick(ish) commission for some Late War Germans. The client was very keen on the color scheme and we had a good chat beforehand about the approaches we wanted to take. 

The vehicles are done in a fairly straightforward German scheme, and were done like this:
• Basecoat with the War Paint (FOW) German Armour spray (which matches the Vallejo Middlestone exactly)
• Airbrush on the brown dots using Vallejo German Camo Medium Brown
• Airbrush on the green dots with Vallejo Model Air Tank Green
• Wash the tank with GW Seraphim Sepia
• Light drybrush of Vallejo Middlestone
• Very light drybrush of Middlestone mixed with Vallejo Pale Sand

The rest of the detailing was pretty straightforward, and I used Vallejo Hull Red to pick out the areas where the Panther's zimmerit had chipped off (above).


I painted the infantry in much the same way as the Early War Germans I painted last year. However, quite a few of these troopers had camouflage smocks and helmet covers on. I basecoated these in German Camo Medium Brown, the green was Reflective Green, and the bone color was German Camo Beige.




The infantry models are all still photographed on their painting sticks as the client is going to do the basing.


The heavy mortars above were easier to paint once assembled on their artillery bases. Instead of using Middlestone for these, I basecoated them with German Camo Ochre.




The 18 halftracks were painted in much the same way as the Panthers at the start of the post. The only difference amongst this group were the 6 transports in the last photo. They were painted with larger areas of camouflage, with the intention of creating a roughly equal balance between the gold, brown, and green.

I hope you like these models. Hopefully I'll be able to put together a but of a tutorial on different ways to do the camo patches on German armor.

Cheers
Dave
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No, he's not dancing...

December 12, 2012, 12:29 pm
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I promised you some more yellow, so here it is. While I've been messing around with other projects too, I've also been slowly building up the paint on the Furioso Dreadnought for my Lamenters. As you can see from the shots above and below, I've had some fun messing around with tonal gradations much more extreme than I would have even two years ago. Obviously there's still a lot of work to be done, but it's nice to see some progress.



And I'd also like to draw your attention to an interview I did with Tyler Mengel as part of a series of interviews he is doing with folks he admires in the hobby. I'm very honored to find myself amongst a crowd that includes guys like Chris Borer and Mathieu Fontaine. If you've ever wanted to ask me a general hobby question, you might find the answer on Tyler's site. And while you're there, please take the time to check out all the cool hobby work he has done.

Cheers
Dave
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A Civil War - Guns of April-style

December 15, 2012, 10:43 am
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The 2nd Wisconsin Regiment, miniatures are converted Perry plastics

I just wanted to take a few minutes to point out the project that a group of friends (The Guns of April) and I are working on for Adepticon 2013. For 2012 we built armies and a table to play out a "what if?" scenario from the Battle of Salamanca (1812) in it's 200th Anniversary year. You can see shots from that game here.

Following the fight, we stood around and pitched a couple of ideas for 2013 and we settled on a "what if?" scenario for the first day of the Battle of Gettysburg, in the year of its 150th Anniversary.

Well, each of us has been plugging away on our troops, be they Union or Confederate, and there are now quite a few posts up on the Guns of April blog. I urge you to head on over there and see what the team has been completing recently.

The 6th Wisconsin Regiment, miniatures are converted Perry plastics.

The 6th Pennsylvania Cavalry, mounted, Perry plastics

A stand of the 2nd Wisconsin. We are using five stands per infantry regiment for a total of 30 figures.
The jackets have been extended to create frock coats and the hats have been built up to create Hardee hats.

The wonderful banners are available from GMB Designs.

Cheers
Dave
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A time for Tradition

December 24, 2012, 11:29 am
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I hope you'll indulge me a little, in this post with no toy soldiers.

The end of the calendar year is laden with tradition. Some folks celebrate various holidays, while others choose not to, but regardless of how you do it, you probably have a few things you always do, because you've always done them.

My family celebrates Christmas (despite not being religious at all), and one of the things my Dad has always done is cook a Christmas pudding (or six). I remember one of dad's old friends coming over each year, and the two of them would spend a bit of time in the kitchen, then head down to the garage to boil the Christmas puddings in an old "copper". That would take time, so they'd amuse themselves with a few beers and a lot a chatting about all sorts of things.

In the end, we'd have a lot of traditional Christmas puddings. One would be consumed on Christmas Eve at the aforementioned friend's place (with his family), and another one or two at Christmas lunch with my Mum's whole family (when there was only one for lunch it was a real race to get a piece as they'd disappear in a flash).

Well, I've celebrated the last 10 Christmases in the US, 12,000 miles from my old family traditions. Well, almost all of them. Mum and Dad would send me a Christmas pudding each year. Sometimes after three weeks in the care of two countries postal systems I'd need to cut a bit of mould off the pudding before we could tuck in, but they were always great. I'd take it along to the Christmas Eve dinner with my wife's family, and share it around (although there has often been a distinct lack of good custard).

Anyway...


This year I thought I'd save my parents $50+ in postage (those puddings can weigh a tonne), and I decided to make my first Christmas pudding. The somewhat disgusting looking stuff in the bowl above is the batter. The ancient recipe my Mum sent through called for raisins, sultanas, and currants. Here in the US, all of these things are referred to as raisins (of some description) so I had to make a few compromises. In addition to loads of dried fruit (which is soaked for 24-hours in rum, for those interested) the ingredients list is nice and simple: flour, butter, eggs, bicarb soda, and some lemon peel.


After mixing the ingredients and pouring them into the center of the pudding cloth, it was all boiled for 4 hours. This shot is of the pudding once it has been removed from the pot and left to firm up completely. It hung like this overnight. I remember some years when there would be up to eight of these hanging from the ceiling of the garage for a week or more.


When it came time to cut it open on Christmas Eve dinner (actually held a few days early this year), I found that a few of my adjustments had worked, others needed a tweak, but it was well received by my wife's family.

Sometimes traditions are not good, sometimes they do more harm. We should seek to remove them from our lives, particularly if they hold us back or prevent growth.

But those traditions that are, at their core, about love and family and growth, should be cherished and evolved and spread. One of my cousins back in Australia also decided to try her hand this year (and apparently she was a little more successful than I was) so for the first time in more than 40 years, Dad could relax a bit during December, without the worry of shipping deadlines, or working out how many orbs of delicious pudding the clan would devour on Christmas Day.

The torch has been passed... although I have a sneaking suspicion he'll make one anyway, just for those late night snacks ; )

To all I wish you a happy and healthy end of year period, with plenty of "family", either the one you were born into or the ones you've met along the way!

Cheers
Dave

PS. Toy soldiers should be back in the next post ; )
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Feeling the chill...

December 29, 2012, 11:47 am
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Snow Storm

Sitting here in my basement, I can feel a slight chill seeping in under the door. Although we didn't get the projected 1-3" of snow, it did snow for quite sometime. Just perfect weather for painting up these Malifaux models for my friend Thomas.

You'll have heard me mention Thomas before, whenever some laser-cutting needed to be done. He is the guy who reverse-engineered my Imperial truck design and turned it into the files you can find here. He has also helped me with loads of other stuff over the last four years. So, I finally thought I should start paying him back. To that end I'm painting up his Malifaux warband for the tourney at Adepticon. Here you can see the first nine models complete, only six more to go.

The bases are from Dragon Forge Designs, the Ice Kingdoms round-lipped bases.

Ice Gamin

Essence of Power and Wendigo

The Warband so far

I hope you like them.

I'll try to squeeze in another post before the new year, but as hectic as the last few weeks have been, I wouldn't count on it ; )  If not, I wish you all a safe celebration, and I'll see you on the other side!

Cheers
Dave
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Happy Birthday Blog, and a recap of 2012

January 2, 2013, 12:39 pm
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Yes, the Dreadnought is almost finished, more shots in the next post.

Well, as f today, this blog has reached the grand old age of FOUR! I can scarcely believe it. It has certainly been a fun ride, and I'm sure she has many more years left in her. I figured I'd do another two-part post about what I did in 2012 (part 1), and what I have planned for 2013 (part 2), so just bear with me a bit.

First things first, thank you to all the folks who read this blog on a regular basis, especially those who have clicked on the Follow button, this year the blog cracked 1,600 followers (currently 1,623 at the time of posting). The blog currently averages around 30,000 page views a month, which helped to push it over the 1,000,000 page views mark since I started the analytics thing back in May 2009.

2012 was a little bit quieter on the hobby front, but not by too much. My two wonderful daughters continue to grow and develop and explore and I'm happy to give them more of my time : ) Still, I managed to paint up 441 models in 2012. Pretty good really, not 10 a week, but more than one a day. I'm pretty sure I'll be able to keep that pace rolling on through 2013, with all the many projects I'm currently lining up.

I also managed to cut back pretty dramatically on the number of models I purchased, which meant that when I felt a strong pull to convert something up (like the Adeptus Mechanicus plasma cannon servitors) I didn't feel guilty in picking them up. The vast bulk of the 325 models I did buy where purchased in three transactions: 180 Early Napoleonic French to help out my friend Alex, 44 Napoleonic Polish sculpted by Paul Hicks (because I wanted them), and 56 models in Dark Vengeance  (well, that's what I ended up with after I traded the DAs for CSMs). Amusingly enough I haven't painted a single model from those 280. The rest of the models (45 of them) purchased fit into some other project or other along the way and were certainly assembled and primed (if not painted).

So here's what I worked on each month:

January - Work continued on my Napoleonic British army for the Guns of April Adepticon event, as well as getting a decent number of models under my belt for my Army of Morr.

February - More Army of Morr, as well as quite a bit of Napoleonic stuff (including some Russians that really have gone no further).

March - Much more Napoleonic stuff, as by this stage I was helping paint units for the other side (inspiring in me a desire to build my own French army). There was also a sneak peek at the heads I sculpted for my Army of Morr.

April - Knights of Morr and some talk about competition painting was the order of the day on this blog, and I'm sure I was posting quite a bit on the Guns of April blog too, as we successfully ran our Salamanca game at Adepticon 2012!

May - This month was ALL about the Army of Morr (with plenty of repetitive puns). You got to see a little of the madness that goes into making a unique army like that (custom heads, arms, shields, and spears)!

June - Talk about paints, my new FLGS (Dropzone Games in Glen Burnie, MD), and an extensive look at the display board for my Army of Morr.

July - The in-store results for Armies on Parade, the scramble to finish off a few additions, and my entry in the diorama category for Golden Demon.

August - A review of what I took to Games Day, a plug for Infamy Miniatures, and a glimpse of my latest 40K project - the Lamenters.

September - More Lamenters, a few tales of my early games of 6th Edition 40K, and a look at the coolness in plastic from Dream Forge and Wyrd Miniatures (some of their Malifaux fun).

October - Puppet Wars in plastic, a few thoughts on building a horde of daemon engines, and more Lamenters yellowy goodness.

November - This month was all about two things - more yellow Lamenters (including my tutorial for yellow), and Movember. I was very pleased that our team was able to raise over $3,000 to go towards men's health initiatives around the globe. Oh, and a little converting for my AM army.

December - A real mixed bag here: you got to see more Lamenters, a good chunk of Flames Of War Germans, my ACW units so far, and even some ice blue Malifaux models.

So, quite a lot of stuff. Nowhere near the same number of posts as 2011 (75 posts vs 110 posts), but still pretty healthy, averaging just over six posts a month.

Anyway, next posts we'll see where things are going in the new year...

Cheers
Dave


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And on into 2013...

January 5, 2013, 10:50 am
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Anyone ready to suggest a name for my Lamenters Furioso? 
And yes, I still have to add the pools and splashes of blood and gore.

Well, I took a look back at my goals for my hobbying in 2012. Some of them were achieved, some of them were not (more the latter than the former), but strangely enough I'm nowhere near as troubled about that kind of thing as I was 12 months ago. Regardless of all that, I thought I'd jot down a few more goals to achieve this year.

Lamenters - I've made a pretty good start on this army, and it has helped pushed my painting a little bit outside my standard comfort zone (see the Dreadnought above as an example of that). My goal is to reach 1,500 points with this army and win a couple more games with it (currently I'm at about 50% of the painting and "winning games" thing).

Iron Brigade - I have these down for completion before Adepticon, where they'll be used as part of our Guns Of April annual game. With 100+ models already completed and roughly 70 to go, I think these one won't be too tough.

Adeptus Mechanicus/Mechanicum Army - I worked on this army eight years ago (I think), and after recently reading Priests of Mars and re-reading Mechanicum (both by Graham McNeill) I'm really psyched about re-working these guys and adding quite a few more odd, esoteric models to the mix. These will be models that have no apparent purpose in a 40K game, so you've been warned.

INQ28 - I've been keeping an eye on a cadre of great storytellers (and painters and modelers) who live, for the most part, in Europe. They've been doing some inspiring stuff that taps directly into the essence of the 40K universe and I'm hoping to use the power of the interwebs to work with a few of them over the coming year.

Everything else - No doubt there'll be a lot of other things that I'll turn my hand (and this blog) to, many of which are currently obscured from my sight. It'll be an interesting journey that will hopefully include some more Warhammer fun, maybe a little more Napoleonics and Flames Of War, and almost certainly some Horus Heresy goodness (Loyalist Death Guard are the way to go!).

So, I hope you all enjoy the journey with me, or at least chuckle heartily as I somehow get massively distracted!

Some Mechanicum fun in the next post (I think).

Cheers
Dave
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Adeptus Mechanicus... reborn

January 7, 2013, 6:03 pm
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Back in November I showed you a couple of conversions I'd done using the monstrous bearers of the new Chaos Warshrine. Once I'd finished painting the servitor above, and after reading Graham McNeill's excellent Priests Of Mars (and re-reading his Mechanicum), I've decided to go back and revamp my old Adeptus Mechanicus army. It's been hanging around for seven or so years, and it is certainly time for an update. 


As well as bringing the existing models up to date, I'm also going to create a whole host of new Adepts, Magos, and servitors. At the moment, if I had to pick a codex to use with it, I think I'd have to go for Chaos Space Marines, but we'll see how things develop.

I hope you enjoy the journey as much as I'm sure I will ; )

Cheers
Dave
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The Hammer of the Emperor

January 13, 2013, 10:22 am
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While I work away at the projects I recently laid out for 2013, I thought I'd show you the finished photos of a tank I finished up last weekend. This is a Baneblade I painted up as a favor for a good guy in Las Vegas. A good wargaming friend of his passed away well before his time, and this guy took on the task of helping his friend's widow keep her head above water by selling off his wargaming collection. His Vostroyan army was sold off with the promise that I would paint up the Baneblade.

For some unknown reason, we never decided on a deadline, and as such this tank never really registered on my priority listing, despite the obvious need to get it sorted. After too long a time, I finally got it all squared away and shipped off to the new owner. The tank arrived yesterday and I'm really hoping it was a) a good tribute to the departed friend, and b) worth the wait.




The tank is magnetized where it is needed, and can be switched out to sport heavy bolter OR heavy flamer sponsons (in any of the three spots), and can also be switched up to be run as a Hellhammer, as you can see below.


It was great to be able to see the finished model head out the door after almost two years of lurking around the edges of my painting table. Tim, may your Baneblade smite many foes of the Emperor!

Cheers
Dave
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From the margins of the mighty tomes...

January 15, 2013, 12:57 pm
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From the moment you open the 40K 6th Edition rulebook, you'll spot all sorts of cool (and small) servitors flitting around in the margins, and the same can be said for many other 40K books too. When I started looking through my collection for inspiration, I knew I'd have to add a host of these tiny aberrations. So, I present to you my recent servitor constructs, built from Night Goblin bodies with some greenstuff and a variety of Empire, Necron, Imperial Guard, and Dark Eldar bitz.


 
 




And here are two shots of one of my favorite spreads (at the moment) from the 6th Ed. book. True Blanchian/Mechanicus madness. Don't worry, it's been highly inspirational ; )

Crazy Adepts up next.

Cheers
Dave
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Building something bigger

January 17, 2013, 9:14 am
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Continuing to use the "madness" of John Blanche (some might say "vision") as inspiration, here are anther couple of models I've been building for my Mechanicum army. 


This guy started out as a Tech-Adept or Magos of some kind. At the moment he seems fairly un-augmented, but that will change once the paint starts to go onto the model. Of course, the giant mechanical insect/arachnid that he's using as a palanquin keeps things fairly interesting. I've seen quite a few excellent Mechanicus/Spider centaur/Drider-type models, and was tempted to go down that path, but hopefully I've created something a little more unique to my army.


This one started off planning to be THE arch Magos in my army, but he has kind of grown (and at the same time diminished) into some kind of massive Praetorian monstrosity.


The basis for his tracked unit is a FW Grot tank, clad in a layer of plasticard to tidy things up a little. The autocannons are from the Aegis Defence Line quad gun. I'll mount this guy on a large, oval base and perhaps he could be used as a Forgefiend.

Cheers
Dave
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And the madness continues...

January 20, 2013, 12:30 pm
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Following on from my last two WIP posts, I present the latest strangeness to be added to the army.


Obviously this image was the genesis of the model. When I took a closer look at this John Blanche painting I was excited and intrigued to see servitors or adepts that seemed to be bonded to the back of this crazy floating thing. As I pondered the reason why, it came to me that perhaps this machine was used for some kind of repair duty. There are lots of clamps and cutters and welding bits and wrenches.

I knew I had to tackle something similar. I hope you enjoy the result of my interpretation.







Cheers
Dave
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Tutorial - Making Cables

January 24, 2013, 7:08 pm
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After my last post, quite a few people asked me about the cabling I've used on my recent Mechanicum models, and I figured doing a full post on it would be best. So here goes...


On my recent models I've really only used two types of cables: thin greenstuff (above left) and cast "guitar string" (above right). This is because I had misplaced my "tentacle maker", which I have now found and created a ridged greenstuff cable  (above center).


For the two greenstuff cables, I typically start with leftover green stuff that I've been using for other projects. The two methods below work best when the greenstuff has lost its "stickiness" but before it has become too stiff to manipulate.


For the thin cables I push the greenstuff into a long, thin, if irregular, tube. Then, while laying on a smooth surface (in this case a sheets of plasticard), I take a small metal ruler and start to thin out the tube.


By vigorously moving the ruler back and forth along the length of the tube at a slight angle, you can slowly thin it out.


Keep rolling until you reach the thickness desired.


I then attach one end of the tube to the edge of the lamp on my painting desk, leaving them to dry.


Over the course of several sculpting sessions, your excess greenstuff can now become a great collection of flexible hoses, perfect for conversion work.


For the ridged cables, I've used the Tentacle Maker from Greenstuff Industries. Again, just start with a sausage of expiring greenstuff and place it on the base plate.


Put the top plate in place and roll it back and forth... 


...until you reach the desired diameter of cable.


I then typically hang the "tentacles" from my hobby lamp, just as I do for the thin tubes.


And finally, I love using these cast, white metal "guitar string" cables. They are very flexible, hold their position once shaped, and really look the part. There are a variety of diameters available for a great price at Dragon Forge Design. Just tell Jeff I sent you ; )

Cheers
Dave
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Cold snap!

January 26, 2013, 11:02 am
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And now I have completed the Malifaux crew for my friend Thomas. I don't pretend to understand the game, but he told me the other night that all the models I had painted for him were those with the Cold Heart ability/special rule/connection, sounds suitably chilly for this cold snap we're having.

When we talked through the scheme at the start of the project we agreed on a palette composed primarily of pale blue, purple, and bone. It was a lot of fun to try and restrict everything to these colors, as well as taking cues where possible from the original "studio paintjobs". As a refresher, here are the first batch of beasties.



This Ice Golem (on the left) was interesting to paint, and by interesting I mean it took me four times as long to finish as I thought it would. lots of layers over the entire model, and even the there could have been more.


Here's the whole crew assembled. I hope you like them : )

The cool bases are from Dragon Forge Design. The clumps of snow on the bases are from Secret Weapon Miniatures crushed glass kit.

The list of paints I used for the project are as follows (in manufacturer groupings):

GW Seraphim Sepia
GW Thunderhawk Blue
GW Averland Sun
GW Boltgun Metal
GW Mithril Silver
GW Rhinox Hide
GW Nuln Oil

P3 Morrow White

SWM Amethyst
SWM Storm Cloud

VGC Black
VGC Hammered Copper
VGC Glorious Gold
VGC Hexed Lichen
VGC Turquoise
VGC Tan 
VGC Dwarf Skin
VMC Pale Sand
VMC Deep Sky Blue
VMC Beige Brown
VMC German Grey

Perhaps you'll seethem on the Malifaux tables at Adepticon : )

Cheers
Dave
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New Mechanicum stuff, and a Kickstarter plug!

January 31, 2013, 1:22 pm
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First up I have the latest construct in the growing ranks of my Mechanicum army. Another Tech-Adept, this time based off the wonderful Forgeworld Nurgle Daemonic Herald model. I was lucky enough to pick one up on eBay (thanks for the assist Jeff), so he immediately got the "robes and cables" treatment. The gun that is his right arm is from the Dark Eldar Talos kit (as is the rounded armor plate), and the shoulder and upper arm are from the Imperial Guard Sentinel chainsaw arm. The cabling are the fruits of my labors from this tutorial : )

I have a few servitors that are almost painted, you should see them soon.

And now, onto the plugs!


My friend (and Armies On Parade nemesis) James Wappel has a Kickstarter currently running to raise funds to create and distribute his "Painting Pyramid" DVDs. James paints professionally and has a very distinctive style that always draws a crowd.

I invite you to check out his offering here, and pledge to the effort. There are many wonderful things to be learned from Mr Wappel! You can also checkout his blog here.

The second Kickstarter project I'd like to draw to your attention is from my friends Rick Priestly and John Stallard - Beyond the Gates of Antares.


In recent times (ie. 2012) there were a number of "incredibly successful" Kickstarter projects that raised hundreds of thousands (even millions) of dollars, all on the back of very strong offers and pledge rewards that had all been very carefully conceived and developed prior to the launch of the project. In quite a few cases these Kickstarters were essentially pre-order systems for a direct sales model. A few store owners I have spoken to recently have not seen significant sales of (for example) Zombiecide, yet have dozens of gamers who bought their sets through the KS and are playing in-store.

Obviously this is a valid selling strategy, and we must realize at the same time the sort of impact it might have on our local FLGS. I've been involved in quite a few interesting discussions over the last week or so, and it seems that most folks were agreed - Dark Space Corp were tackling their KS differently, possibly even in the "spirit of the original intention of Kickstarter" (no Constitutional scholars need apply).

Instead of a slick presentation of initial ideas, a low target goal, and dozens of ready-made stretch goals, the Beyond the Gates of Antares KS was launched with a concept, a dream, and a target that reasonably matched actual development costs.

That dream is to build a core set of backers who all get to have input into the development of their game. While at first glance this kind of thing might seem "Tom Sawyer-esque" (as commented on TGN), I know that for Mr Priestly that ideas for game rules that work are never a problem. It would have been quite easy for him to write a new set of sci-fi rules, but this is a new approach, an approach made possible by the collaborative tools available online.

So, if you checked out the Beyond the Gates of Antares KS in its early days and steered clear because there seemed to be no clear and obvious piles of figures that you'll never paint, I urge you to return and see what's come of the discussion over the last five weeks. A lot of great ideas, concept sketches, and gaming rules are evolving before our very eyes.

Kind of makes you glad to be a toy soldier geek ; )

Cheers
Dave
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Finally got around to him...

February 3, 2013, 7:04 am
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Despite converting him at the same time as his three-legged brother, it has taken me a little while to get this plasma cannon-toting servitor painted up. The flesh was painted at the same time, but I became distracted by other things and only just wrapped him up last week.


Here he is in the grey/green stage.


And with his shiny, new paintjob.

Hope you like him : )

Cheers
Dave
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