Gladiator Tuesday: Mismatches of the arena

This week, the models are some of my favorite.

First is the warrior with two swords. I wonder how effective this really was in the arena, but you can't deny that it looks really cool. Having this guy spinning two swords in a Hollywood style as he moves towards you. This is right out of a movie.

The second one is a small man with a large shield while the third man is a tall man with a buck. For some reason, I keep thinking that a good showmanship display would have smaller fighters be given oversize weapons and shields while bigger men be given small shields and short swords.

Finally, the fourth man is a equipped with cestii and would've entered the arena only with straps of leather with metallic bits on his fists. Then you send him against other fighters. As he is unimpeded, he should be able to benefit from his full mobility and vision. Unlike his opponents. This should definitely be interesting to see in an arena...

JP

Cygnar: Stryker... Alternate pose

Back in November, I posted a pic of Stryker (which I linked as the third picture here). Over the Xmas holidays, I won another nice lot. This lot was mostly for some Khador with a few Cygnar and bobs and bits. I was looking for the Khador. If you remember the converted mercenary jacks I posted, using Cygnaran models... Well same package.

One thing: it reeked of cigarette smoke so bad that I had to dunk everything in simple green, even the minis that were simply primed. The stench was horrible...

Simple green did its job. AGAIN.

So when it came to this alt Stryker, I was in a mood for simple and clean paint jobs. So guess what? Well I gave him a simple and clean job! The model looks so stiff compared to the other pose... I am thinking maybe I should've done something more exciting.

JP

More StoneHaven gnomes: The Mystic

Another StoneHaven gnome... This mini is fairly bland - as minis go. However, it has an odd character and can be used for so many different characters.

I initially thought I would paint him black, but then I relented and decided to make him into someone who could be used for a number of different roles. So I painted him in green and yellow. The camouflage is a tri-color dots that is intriguing.

The result is someone I could see as the mysterious druid or the leader of a thieve's guild or the strange hermit or the mad tinker going incognito or... Yup. A highly versatile mini.

JP

Legacies goes to Origins!

Yesterday, I finally heard back from Origins regarding the program I submitted with the good folk from Arcanis and Witch Hunter. Word came back to us that our events were approved. Allow me to share the lineup.

Why not join with PFS? Well, PFS is so big now that they can do their own thing. If I were bad, I'd say they are worried about us taking away their players, but that would not be true. I want PFS to keep going strong as it enlarges my own playerbase. The community of Pathfinder players is large enough that it can easily support two thriving organized play campaigns. Plus it allows ME to play.

What you thought I was an altruist? I am True Neutral in alignment!

93-LC-05 Legacies: Black Glass Valley Raid

By John Dow
In the fall of 93AU, the Janus Horde raided deep within the Dominion, almost reaching the gates of Hasani. The raiders destroyed the crops and took many citizens as slaves. The war mages of the Dominion gather forces to retaliate. A NeoExodus Legacies adventure for characters level 3-8. Pregens available
Slots 6002, 6130, 6394: Wednesday, Thursday and Friday 8 am-1pm

93-LC-06 Legacies: Secession

By JP Chapleau
Tensions have been mounting between the Arman Protectorate and the Imperial Alliance. The Tsarina openly disrespects the Alliance as senatorial requests are openly ignored. Many Sametian exiles have crossed the Abaddon River to rebuild their homes. One man fights alone to ensure the safety of his homeland and the integrity of the Alliance. Only one question left: what side are you on? A NeoExodus Legacies adventure for characters level 3-8. Pregens available
Slots 6027, 6210, 6378: Wednesday, Thursday and Friday 1pm-6pm

93-LI-03 Legacies: Legacy of Hate (Interactive)

By JP Chapleau and others
The First Ones have been planning to conquer and destroy the nations of Exodus. A Khaynite named Arem'shehr had an inspired plan to do just that... Only a few heroes stand in his way, the same one that inspired the plot. This interactive adventure is story binding and the results determine next years' campaign theme. A NeoExodus Legacies adventure for characters level 3-10. Pregens available
Slots 6094, 6329, 6597: Wednesday, Thursday and Friday 7pm-12pm

There will be 2 tables per slot of each of these events! Twelve seats for each slot. Yes, this means I have another GM with me. I won't reveal her name just yet, but she is a very dear friend of mine and we go back... Over a decade! Who is she? Stay tuned!

Next you ask me about why we do not run events on Saturday and Sunday. Really? In my case, I plan on attending the Arcanis Battle Interactive and my fellow GM is eyeing a Cthulhu Larp... That's right we plan to actually participate in other events!

JP

Circle Oroboros: Benji and Cafee

I recently won a number of random auctions, one of which included a starter box of Circle Oroboros. Those who have been reading this blog for a long time know that I thought about getting into Hordes for the longest time because of the look of this faction.

After everything, and I finally had my own, I must say the sculpts did not disappoint. It is a story I posted two years ago. Though tempted I won't repeat it here.

So this time, it was not new to me. I had experience with the models. It is always more fun to get to revisit model you painted before and see how you changed as a painter. You can compare the minis to the previous ones here. As I write this, I am comparing the two. I really like the all-white scheme.

Now about the title... my parent have a dog called Benji with white fur. And my sister has one with brown fur. Now I did not think about it as I painted them. The first time ActionMan saw the model, he immediately made the connection.

These guys are EBay-bound...

JP

Gladiator Tuesday: Light fighters and pro wrestling

Three guys up today, two are reitarii (using a trident or spear and net) and one had an unnatural axe.

You will notice the variety of skin tones used in my gladiators. There are a number of purposes here.

First, is to show the diversity of fighters Romans liked to see. I imagine that good gladiator shows were something akin to watching a modern-day wrestling event. There is hype about matches; fighters with a variety of backgrounds clashing over ancient affairs, different origins and a good measure of faces and eels. Could you, as a promoter of fights have a fight between "Marcus the Hiberian" face "Fluvius the Nubian", pitting a light vs dark skinned fighter not come up with all types of schemes to encourage betting, and boost attendance.

Like when Sergeant Slaughter fought the Iron Sheik in the early 90s... It's could be a completely fabricated affair (Marcus was born in Rome and Fluvius is not really from Nubia). But for the crowd, the showmanship. A black guy vs a white guy... That's money in the bank!

Professional wrestling does this best: they fabricate all kinds of feuds between its fighters then gets us, the audience to pick a side. One time, its the sympathetic white guy set upon by a mob of fighters, another time its the down-on-his-luck fighter who wins against the established guys. I can see gladiator trainers and promoters use the same scheme.

And they would've worked then as well as they do today (WWE events are pretty full all the time!) Now who can resist it: muscled guys beating each other up with interludes of scantily clad ladies, dwarves fighting and doing high flying maneuvers, guys shouting threats at each other and moves for the crowd to chant or mimic. This is a winning recipe that's been around since ancient times!

Wow. That pun was horrible. But oh-so à-propos... Horrible and awesome.

There are no Christians vs. lions today but that's something I'm fine with. I mean who could we throw to the lions like that these days? I'll let you fill the gap here. But there are many WFB players we could do without...

Back on track. Second, I wanted to paint some "black" and "brown" skin. Since I did not want to paint them with flashy colors for their loincloths, armor or weapons, I fell back on what was most visible: skin. I should take a group shot of the guys together. It makes a rather colorful display and really drives home the variety.

JP

Mercenaries Monday: Anastasia di Bray

Okay... I put up a bait and switch on you. From "Minion to Merc"...

This is a model I really dislike. She has a really cool art with a dynamic pose. The model for her looks still, and completely un-dynamic. In many ways, I think she might be one of Privateer Press's more boring models. Which is too bad because I really like the idea of an assassin that can run from the side of the board.

Although a lot of people chose to paint her in black, I decided to go with a green camouflage. Her coat, I use a flower pattern.

If I were to play her regularly, I would more likely look for an alternative model. With a quick search, I would most likely go for one of these Reaper miniatures. They have more character and look much more dynamic. The first model in particular looks to have been sculpted from the art.

JP

Sunday Funnies: Tintin in R'lyeh

If you don't know by now I spent my youth reading Tintin and other European Bandes Dessinées. So when I saw this, I thought it was hilarious! And so totally awesome.

So many awesome possibilities!

JP

StoneHaven Gnomes are great!

I have been raving about the StoneHaven miniatures ever since I back their Dwarven Kickstarter. I will keep on supporting and backing these guys whenever they have a project of interest to me. (I didn't feel like getting into their elves). One thing that endears me is that they deliver what they actually promise, in the time they promise to do so. Like many, I have been burned by projects I despair at ever seeing *cough*Relic Knights*cough

I backed two groups of gnomes and was delighted by the quality of their sculpts.

This model is a gnomish bard. I really like the classic look/feel of the headdress. My daughters used to have a bonnet like when they were babies. I thought they looked so cute.

JP

Legacies to allow Crafting! Item crafting rules for review

I have been talking about this for years now. I know years. From the start, it was my intention to allow crafting into the Legacies campaign. The problem was always to maintain game balance. So that crafters could benefit from their choice but not overpower the game.

Game balance and crafting was always twice as important to keep in mind because one of the setting's most iconic class, the machinesmith, is greatly based on crafting. However, overfocus on game balance can kill interest in crafting.

So, how do you maintain both?

So we discussed and listened to our players (yes, our ears are always open around the table for ideas), and we wrote the guide.

Enough teasing. You can find the file under the "Legacies/ Reviews" section of the First Ones Entertainment website (FoeLegacies.com). Have a look, let us know what you think!

JP

Menoth: pKreoss

Today's warcaster is pKreoss (as in Plastic-Kreoss). When I got to this guy, I had already painted the warjacks from the mega-lot. So I painted him with a scheme that unified the jacks with the infantry. I added the flames to his robes. I like how they came out, but after I was done, I got a different idea on how to paint them, which I later tried on Severius.

But JP, you say, you posted Severius more than two weeks ago! And you would be correct. Although I posted Severius first, I had completed Kreoss WAY before - as in December of last year. Yeah, he languished in my post queue this long. Though the reason is because I simply forgot about him...

JP

Conglomeration: A mini con-report

This past weekend was my first time attending Conglomeration here in Louisville, KY. Actually, it was on perhaps the best of all the possible venue: less than 2 miles from my house! Such an awesome location for me!

So, a quick recap of the weekend. It started on Friday evening for me. The table of PFS I was scheduled for (Weapon in the Rift) was cancelled. AGAIN.

This was the second time that table was cancelled. The first time was at Cincycon last month. My options were to play the Confirmation (again). The rest of the games just did not call to me (actually the ones that did were already full). So I decided that I would simply leave, and take my family out. We had a nice steak dinner. It was great.

Saturday morning, I woke up early and took my two princesses. The girls love to dress up when they attend a Pathfinder session. They were so excited to get to play with our VC, Chad. They love him.

We played "Library of the Lion" together with Russel and "Buster" from Frankfurt. We did quite well in the adventure, with only one miscommunication between Chad and us. Bah in the end it didn't really matter. Does it ever matter with PFS? But that's a rant for another day.

For the rest of the day, I ran Brandon Hodge's excellent "Feast of Ravenmoor". Definitely one of my favorites among Paizo's module. The guys did very well and they managed to all survive, in spite of my best efforts to the contrary.

Sunday morning, I got there early to run the final premiere table or 93-LC-03 Sugar and Spice. After running it a few times, it really presents some of the things Legacies represent: difficult non-trivial choices presentedin a way that neither blindside the PCs nor has a clear and obvious answer.

I must say I left on a high note. Met many new people. Converted some new players to NeoExodus. Will have to organize more Neo Exodus games here in Louisville. A great weekend indeed.

I got to speak with Jake Lovell who ran the gaming room and we exchanged some views about the con. One thing i would like to see change include the con badge. Particularly for kids. I got the girls in on a technicality and only paid for 1 badge. Bad JP. Though both had a badge.

70$ for two kids for a 4h game felt excessive. I don't mind the adult badges so much but young uns should be encouraged to attend. Esp when under 12.

Denver had the best thing of all: Con Jr. Kids loved it, was convenient, exciting for them to attend. Think of it, I will tell Jake about that so he can pass on the idea to the admins.

Another thing I would like to see here in Louisville would be a purer game con. With Fandom and now ComicCon. I think Conglo has a great opportunity to position itself as the #1 Gaming event here in KY. I saw many rooms pretty much empty of people for events. Yet Saturday' gaming room was in full swing all day!

Whatever my thoughts about how to improve. It was a great event. Easily the most exciting and best run one I attended in Kentucky so far. I will definitely be back next year. And that time I hope to be able to run and offer a full spread of Legacies adventures.

I want to thank Chad who gm'd for me and the girls. A big thank to Jake and his crew who really ran everything very smoothly so I just had to show up to my tables to play or run. They pimped out my games so I got to run with full tables throughout the weekend. And of course a big thanks to the players who attended.

Thank you all very much!

JP

Gladiator Tuesdays: Exotic Weapons

A second set of gladiators. This time a number of varied weapons. I like how the spear-armed fellow could be added to a Greek/ Macedonian army, but with a non-standard spear. Also the one on the left with the buckler and falcata (forward-facing sickle-sword) I have a particular liking to.

I can't wait to play with them.

JP

Minion Mondays: Gudrun the wanderer

Coming up on the final Minion Monday for a while as I will begin posting new things.

This is Gudrun the Wanderer, the ogrun bodyguard. A simple paint job really.

JP

NeoExodus Legacies: The new Campaign Guide is coming!

I am including a few points of particular interest from the upcoming Legacies Campaign guide. Were is the FAQ and some errata. Yes, these are effective as of this posting.

NeoExodus Campaign Guide

Q: I can make poison with my blood, how many can I make between adventures?

A: You may start each adventure with a number of vials equal to your Constitution modifier (min. 1) at no cost.

Q: What is the base religion of the Sasori?

A: The Sasori’s base religion fits under “shamanism”.

Q: Can I play an Inquisitor/ Oracle / [any divine caster class] of the Kaga?

A: Yes.

Q: If I do play an Inquisitor/ Oracle / [any divine caster class] of the Kaga, do I count as an arcane caster?

A: No, only the Cleric of the Kaga archetype changes its magic type from divine to arcane. All other classes are unaffected. How the Kaga sponsors such worshipers is unknown.

NeoExodus Legacies Questions

Q: Can I play a rogue?

A: Yes. This was an oversight on our end. Rogues are an integral part of the NeoExodus campaign setting.

Q: Can I take a second trait?

A: No.

Q: Can I play a class from Ultimate Psionics?

A: Yes. Classes and option allowed through the additional resources are legal for play.

Q: I play a Cynean and none of the armor I found thus far is sized for me. What can I do?

A: If armor is offered to you at the end of an adventure, you may pay the base cost of the armor in extra gold to get it “sized” for you. (+100gp for a chain shirt, +1,500gp for a full plate).

Q: When can I do day jobs?

A: You can make a Day Job roll after any adventure, module, side trek, interactive. Basically any time you get a Legacy Record, you can make a Day Job. The only exception is when you get a special cert.

Q: When I use my favor points, does it lower my score with that faction?

A: No. Using a favor point does not lower your faction score.

Q: Can I use many favor points from various sources to receive NPC spell casting?

A: Yes. To receive the benefit of a raise dead spell at 4th level, you need to gather 10 favor points. The origin of these favors can be from any nation or faction, as long as your current score with that faction is not negative.

Q: Are the “Treasures of Exodus” used in the campaign?

A: Yes and no. Yes, you may encounter these unique weapons during the course of the campaign. However, owning these products does not allow you to use them. They might become available to you in the course of the campaign, through an LR. In those cases, to use the item, you will be expected to have a copy of the appropriate pdf.

Q: Do you use Paizo’s erratas?

A: Yes, the campaign uses the Pathfinder RPG rules and the errata is considered to be part of the core rules.

Q: Do you use rulings from Paizo’s forums?

A: No.

Writing for the Campaign

Q: Can I write material for the campaign?

A: Yes, we are constantly looking for quality new author. Contact us at FirstOnes@FoeLegacies.com

Q: What type of adventure are you looking for?

A: We are looking for any type of adventure: dungeon crawls, exploration, investigative, combat-heavy, social-heavy. Send us an idea!

NeoExodus Campaign Setting Errata

The following errata are applicable for the Legacies campaign only.

Gevet (female): gevet females without the ability to cast cure spells, gain the ability to cast cure light wound as a spell-like ability once per day, using their level as their caster level.

Gevet (male): all gevet males have 1d6 of sneak attack, even if they do not have levels that grant them that ability.

Kalisan: All kalisans have darkvision 60ft.

Menoth: Feora

Getting (almost) to the end of the Menoth mega-lot.

Feora is a warcaster and a definite focal point. I debated whether to paint some flames on her and decided not to. As I look at her now, I feel I should've... Then again I really do like the clean color.

JP

FOE: Writing updates

It's been a while since I posted an update on the many writing projects I am involved with and things you can expect from FOE.

First Ones Entertainment/ Legacies

As of right now, we are working off two drafts for the Origins adventures and working our way up to building the interactive itself. It will be offered at PaizoCon and Origins, and maybe others (I am thinking Fandom Fest here is Louisville, but the jury is still out).

Both of those adventures deal with Sametia. Also, for the first time, one of the adventures will be a direct tie-in to the interactive. This means that ideally you get to play them back-to-back for the full experience. Don't worry, if you don't do so, then you aren't lost, but the whole story comes to life.

First Ones Entertainment/ Art

I have commissioned a couple of art pieces from someone who is doing some awesome work! Here is a preview of someone we call "Jawbreaker". She is a female enuka barbarian.

First Ones Entertainment/ Big new project

I have begun putting down the basis of a new writing project I am working with a number of other people. This is gonna be something big that is unlikely to come together in the next few days. You will see more of this new "Secret Project X" updates in the coming months. Right now, I am still getting some initial feedback on an rough draft.

The best elements of Planescape, Ravenloft, NeoExodus, and other bits and bobs combined. Something big this way comes...

First Ones Entertainment/ Small projects

I am working on a number of small projects for FOE. One of those I started working on and it keeps ballooning. Requirement creep you say? Yes.

I am also working on the Gladiator mini game re-issue I mentioned yesterday in my post about gladiators.

Witch Hunter RPG

Yes, I know! I know! I'm lagging WAYYY behind on getting this done. I'm still working on it. It is nearly to the point where it can be play-tested.

LPJ Design

I am not currently involved with any project with LPJ Design. This might change in the future.

JP

Gladiator Tuesdays: Hoplomachii Part 1

A few weeks ago, I won a lot of more than twenty or so gladiators. Originally I was planning to use them in a game that would serve as a revitalized version of the Gladiator rules I created almost fifteen years ago. The FOTOG (Fall of the Ohio Gamers) group was to run a game day early in April.

I have been thinking about that little rule set and how easy it was to play it with kids 7 through 12. It might be make for a great future release for FOE... Ha! possibilities!

These four are the first of a series of gladiator-related posts. I hope to have the rule touched by the end of the series... At least until I run out of post for a weekly series.

They are equipped as hoplomachus, with the round shields, helmet and sword. The hoplomachus was inspired by the greek hoplites.

For these models, I realized that I did not have shields for all of them, so I dug into the bitz box.

JP

Minion Monday: Farrow Bone Grinders

If you read my battle report from yesterday, you have already learned of my Farrow Bone Grinders. I started on them with flesh tones but finished them with a definite pink hue. A simple color for the clothing and we have pigs! And a happy daughter.

JP

Sorscha vs. Karver a Battle Report with the kids

Today, I offered the kids a chance to play with some minis. They were all excited. By the time I had some terrain ready, 17 point forces together and gone over the rules (about 20mins total), a friend came to the door and one was gone. Leaving Kitty, ActionMan and myself to play.

Kitty was really excited to play with her pink minis while ActionMan and I took over Jojo's Lord Carver force.

The Pictures came out pretty bad, so I kept them small.

Sorscha's Army (Kitty)

Sorscha
Destroyer
Juggernaut
3x Manowar infantry

Lord Carver's Army (Jojo)

Lord Carver, BBMB, Esq. III
War Hog
2x Gun Boar (not fully painted)
6x Farrow Bonegrinders
Lanyssa Ryssyl (not legal, I know but she wanted a girl)

The Action

With ActionMan in charge, the farrow surged forward behind the big pigs. Kitty replied by surging forward with her jacks on her right flank. Though the gun boars got the first shots off, they failed to damage the big jacks. The destroyer's guns hurt the gun boar, but failed to take it down.

The second turn saw ActionMan leave to pursue more active pursuits (including a monster truck). Carver's turn saw ineffective shooting from the gun boars, including one shot at Sorscha (which amounted to nothing). The War Hog tried to charge the destroyer, but the charge failed. Lanyssa moved to the side of the manowar to try and force Kitty's hand and leave the farrow in the center. Kitty wasted no time, destroying the gun boar with the juggernaut and maiming the war hog with the destroyer in hand to hand. Her manowar charged the bone grinders and killed two. She also charged Sorscha to try and take out Lanyssa, leaving the juggernaut just out of reach.

The third turn was an all-or-nothing for me. The gun boar and the war hog went berserk on me. I killed one of the manowar, my berzerk war hog damaged the destroyer but failed to seriously dent it. Kitty destroyed the war hog but failed to kill the gun boar. The juggernaut moved back into Sorscha's control again.

My fourth turn left me with little choice. Lord Carver charged Sorscha. I threw everything I had at her and just barely managed to kill her, last fury, last attack.

All I had left was a seriously damaged gun boar, 4/6 bone grinders and Lord Carver... It was the only chance I had to win it or I was getting tabled.

By a 7 years old. I'm so doomed.

Here is an overhead shot of the situation at the end of the game. You can see the 2 heavy jacks ready to shred whatever I had left. I really pulled this out of my rear end. However, Kitty was quite happy with the performance of her army. She will no doubt want to play some more. Those Khador monsters are TOUGH. Sheesh. I usually faced them with mercenaries or the Legion, never with minions before (especially a small number of point army). How I missed Taryn...

It was a good way to get Kitty to practice her math while playing a game. To keep the rules simpler, we did not use any caster magic or feat. The goal was for the girls to learn the game and do some math.

My Indian village really caused the kids to wonder whose village it was. I had to explain to them that whoever won kept the village. That was something quite complex for them to understand.

JP