What Santa brought the Fat Man

Santa was generous again this year... a lot of things found their way into my library this year! I am extremely thrilled of my haul. I will get to read a LOT of philosophical treatise next year, book I always wanted to read. Classics and such.

- A set of home made fruit cake AND banana bread (YUM!)

- A polar scene painted by Jojo

- A Nashville Predators car plate kit

- The Art of War by Sun Tzu

- Thaw of the Lich Lord for Frostgrave

- Lost to the West by Lars Brownworth

- The Canterbury Tales by Chauncer

- The Book of Five Rings by Muzashi

- The Prince by Machiavelli

- Undercity game for Warmachine

Thank you, Santa

JP

Deadlands Party

Today's offering from the Reaper Bones II comes in the form of a party of Deadlands adventurers. Any Western game really, so Legends of the Old West or Victorian Sci-Fi could also use them.

The sculpt on the mad scientist is fine, but the casting I got was really bad: half of his face was completely poorly cast so I gave him a big nasty scar as his face must have been burned in one of his many colorful experiments.

I am fond of the Indiana Jones sculpt with his machete most of all. He looks good.

JP

Doctor Who: Open letter to Steven Moffat

Okay I watched this Christmas' Doctor Who special: The Husbands of River Song.

What a waste of my time.

The whole episode would have been an AWESOME opportunity to have River MEET the Doctor. Not follow his time stream and thus keep the whole "Every time I meet him, I know him more and he knows me less" which was an awesome thing. But now they keep meeting all the time along the same lines.

What a waste.

I fell asleep on it the first time around about a quarter of the way in.

I should have done the same on the second viewing... At least keep some illusion of awesome.

I have been analyzing the episodes of Matt Smith and Peter Capaldi, and I don't recall ANY of these episodes I wanted to see again after an initial viewing. I think I re-watched The Impossible Astronaut episode again at the end of the series... But otherwise.

I have long-since come to the realization that it is time for Steven Moffat to let someone else run the show. This whole season, has been one bore-fest after the other. Shall I mention the Statue of Liberty, to which I was screaming OH! HECK! NO! when it happened.

I seriously find myself bored with the predictability and the lack of wonder. Why is it that when anything by Russel T Davies, the previous show runner comes on, whether is is Christopher Eccleston or David Tennant or Torchwood, that I have no issue re-watching them. I love them. But the Moffat stories I watch once then on a second viewing I go "okay what else is on."

All this build up and the departure of Clara Oswald: rubbish. "Me" storyline: rubbish.

I am definitely can't wait for a change of the guard and for someone to really invigorate the show and change the style of its stories.

Please Stephen Moffat, LEAVE THE SHOW and focus on Sherlock!

Please.

Please.

JP

Monster Monday: Chimera

This is my Reaper Chimera. Simple job really: I chose a red dragon head and based it for Frostgrave.

Christmas Break List

I think it would be a good idea to set a few goals for myself during the Xmas break this year. I know the break has already started, but it is nevertheless worth putting it down so I can then re-read it. There are so many ideas clashing in my head right now that I decided to organize everything.

A previous boss who I respect a lot (shout out to you, Roland-P) recommended to me that I make list when I had a lot of things I wanted to do. In the almost two years since I last saw him, I decided to take his advice and found myself surrounded by lists and post it notes. I must say that my personal productivity increased a lot.

So here it is. JP's holiday list.

1 - Finish writing ToS1-07 Sailing Down the Kiflan

2 - Get my Arcanis outline into something that can be accepted by PCI (they didn't outright refuse the first draft, but I have a number of issues to work on)

3 - Play at least three games of Frostgrave with the kids

4 - Play at least one game of Pathfinder during the hols (hopefully Chad's RoW)

5 - See Star Wars The Force Awakens with ActionMan

Bonus points

- Play a game of Warmachine

- Outline the Saggakar special for Gencon

- Take both girls to Star Wars

- Expand my outline for ToS1-08

JP

What Daddy gave his kids for Xmas

For a while now, I had those little guys painted up and ready for the kiddos. These minis I got as part of the Kickstarter by Impact Miniatures. As I have many others to post, and I will provide a more detailed review of these models. Today is a day of celebrations.

ActionMan got the pirate. As he is painted in a more boy-ish tones. Plus he's a pirate so what's not to like?

Jojo got Twilight Sparkles, the nerdy one (but don't tell her).

Finally, Kitty got Rainbow Dash (after finishing my paint job, I realize she was a pegasus... So I angst over it, but eventually decide not to worry and give her the mini).

All three were really excited about these models. So Daddy win! Now to get them to play Ponyfinder.

Dear old girlfriend: Glad you are back with me

For the past few days, I have been finding Inspiration very hard to come by. What I put on the page just felt flat. Uninspired, if you will. However, I put some time into the adventure I am working on. Little by little, it took shape, out of a number of disparate elements. A combat here, an interesting encounter there, a map here, all coming together as the ending took shape.

On a related topic, I have been reading a lot of blogs from other writers (shout out to Colleen-S) and their tricks to beat their own writer's blues and how they keep engaged with their work. I knew I would get out of it, but that didn't really help.

Still, perseverance pays off and I hope to roll out a few new adventures in January. This time, something less political and more outdoorsy. The wip title is Sailing Down the Kiflan. It is an indirect sequel to ToS1-00 Out of the Mists. A few fan-favorite make a return appearance...

Not only that, but I have a number of ideas to publish some Savage Worlds products, an Arcanis adventure AND some Mutants and Mastermind (superhero). This funk may yield a lot of different things.

Here is a temporary blurb:

Winter is coming and one ambitious hajit captain seeks to make one last run before the river ices up. What can go wrong when all you will do is sail down the Kiflan River? An adventure written for APLs 3, 5 and 7 (character levels 3-8).

JP

Terrain Thursday: Larger Table Decorations

Working through the Reaper Bones...

This post contains a number of larger items to decorate my tables of Frostgrave. The pics pretty much speak for themselves.

Of note are the last two pieces, which come to me from Jeff-E (Shout Out!). Having already one Lich King on a thrones, I decided to remove the lich from his throne and make him a downed statue. Painting hides the work I had to do to make it stay down, which I consider a success. Now I have an empty throne and a fallen statue. Woohoo additional elements!

JP

Time for a Star Wars Organized Play?

With the release of the new Star Wars movie, I have been thinking about playing Star Wars again. In particular, I was thinking back fondly on the Living Force campaign which ended way back in 2005. I really enjoyed it, finding it imaginative and exciting. My idealistic Jedi consular from Naboo did a lot of fun things in that campaign, the least of which was to confront a rancor beast and getting it blown out into space, or when I met with ArchChancellor Palpatine.

Yes there were issues, most of which I attribute to its d20 backbone, mostly because all high-level characters dipped into Jedi classes. With the new Fantasy Flight system, I think there might be a way to circumvent the issues of the original campaign and make something nice and fun. Of course, there is an issue with Disney/Lucasfilm having to approve every step the project.

To the powers that be, please consider the creation of an organized play campaign. With such a campaign, I would fork the cash for the game, something I won't consider the way things stands now. Having some devoted, quality authors working on material provides us locals a chance to play different styles of game, not just a single GM's style.

I guess they heard all that already and didn't think worthwhile. But I think it might be a great(er) way to expand the game.

Sigh. I need to find me a good group to play Star Wars with...

JP

COMMISSION: THREE STAGE GNOME PART 3

Remember the Three Stage Gnome? Part 1 and Part 2 Well I "lost" the pictures for part 3. I know its really stupid of me, but I had no idea where I put the pic. Oddly enough, I put it in a directory ordered with the rest. As proof of the name of the file, it's been painted for almost 15 months...

Enjoy this gnome! In three stages!

Aethercon IV: JP's interview

If you missed my Q&A with Dustin at Aethercon, here is your chance to listen to my chat with Dustin-S. I think I succeeded in being both entertaining and informative!

Topics range from Gostor to Saggakar to history to NeoExodus to Arcanis to the creation of FOE to LPJ. A lot of topics covered, and a great job by Dustin to keep me from rambling.

Nice one, Dustin!

JP

[Terrain Thursday] Bandit Camp

Here is my next offering for the Terrain Thursday. This time around, I have a number of leather tent for use as a bandit camp. The leather is made using paper hardened with PVA glue. Then painted, dipped and sealed. The painting was a wet job to make it look worn and dirty.

Tyrants of Saggakar in paperback!

Hey guys!

Finally you can order your very own copy of Tyrants of Saggakar in soft cover. Including - for a limited time - the 2015 edition. Click here for CreateSpace. If you have already purchased the PDF, get in touch with me (by email)

I also have a few copy for those I will see in person (winks towards Chad & Brumback). They should be just in time for Xmas!!!

JP

An Entire African Village

Ever since I got into wargaming, circa Y2k, I have collected colonial miniatures. This has led me to research a lot about the 19th century, an era I know little about. Wow is that an exciting time: the rise of science and industrial revolution. But also the conquest of the world-spanning empires, the Great Game, and so many colorful troops to paint and collect.

I still have quite a collection of African warriors: from the Masai to the Congo, these guys are super versatile as minis go. You can use them from the Age of ancients all the way to Pulp adventures in the 20th century! Not only that, but they are really easy and quick to paint!

One thing I found with black skin is that it is easy to paint, they do require a touch of care to make them "look right". And I think they came out right. This set is composed of women and children. Perfect to represent villagers, objectives, prisoners, or slaves. Again, very versatile models...

(Click on the picture to see larger version)

Two bands of knights

I recently got my hands on the Lion Rampant rules by Osprey Publishing. I really like the rules though I have yet a chance to play them, I like what I read about them.

The first group is the obligatory Templars knights: white with red crosses.

The second unit is that of an eastern European nobles: from Russia, Poland through the Balkans, these guys can mimic them all.