JP On Gaming

Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Hordes: My Daughter the pig

If you don't know, my eldest is a big fan of pigs. She loved the animal - the fact that they are pink certainly has something to do with it... She loved them since she was 8 months old. Santa sent me some models to paint for her... She unwrapped those at Christmas and oinked for a while. It was pretty funny.

I painted Lord Carver to be pretty similar to my Magnus (somehow I keep seeing these two guys as potential allies). I put a copy of Magnus for comparison. Something I really like with this blog is that I can go back and see what I was doing all the way back (in this case, January of 2012!)

The other model is a warhog. I painted it pretty simply.



JP

Monday, December 30, 2013

Commissions: What Santa brought me (for others)

This year, Santa brought me a few new friends for whom to paint minis to. These included my new Venture-Captain, Chad-N and his lovely bride-to-be, Holly.

If you ever asked Chad what his character(s) is(are) in PFS, you get the MOST evasive answers EVER. I did not wish to tell him "I am painting a model for you, tell me which character!" I must say that I waffled for a long time. When I finally came upon these two gladiators in my model pile. So I built them up, added magnets to their base. Which is odd because I don't usually add magnets to commission work. I guess I must have simply done them while I was doing a batch of them... I guess he can now put them on his fridge! These two are from Wargames Foundry' awesome sculpts I bought years ago... I must say on Ebay in a job lot.

Now, unlike Chad, if you ask Holly about her character, she will tell you about her halfling rogue... This model is pretty cool, but fairly bland for a painter - no large pieces of clothing: skin, armor, sword. The cloak being the only place the one place to make a statement. As a rogue, I did not what to make this a bright color or a sharply contrasting design. So I used a muted green for the base. But after that was done, I felt the model was... unfinished. Like it was missing something... So I added a single band of flowers linked by vines. I think the result works and keeps with the muted/roguish feel I wanted to give it while giving a nice little accent.

JP

Sunday, December 29, 2013

Sunday Funnies: Overstressed!

Yup.

JP

Saturday, December 28, 2013

Menoth: Converted Templar heavy warjack

The last of the heavy jack from the EBay super lot. This conversion was a little more involved than the others. I started with a Crusader chassis and turned the mace into a flail. Then I created a multi-layered shield using plasticard. The unpainted version had obvious flaws I painted over. In the end it came out nice.

Like the rest of the wonder-lot, all of the Menoth heraldry had been cut out, so I decided to make one shoulder pad with the "Holy Text" motif and the other one with a "tamer" gold symbol of Menoth on a purple background. Though I had not planned it at the time, this model creates a bridge of sorts between the two painting schemes.

Painting the shield was interesting. First I thought (and started) covering it with holy texts (on the white AND purple areas). But it looked really bland. So I covered the purple and added the flame design. That really made the model pop. Added a Menoth cross in the center and that model was done.

Definitely my favorite of the lot!



JP

Friday, December 27, 2013

Menoth: Converted Guardian heavy warjack

From the two-player box, I got another crusader... Well I quickly decided to change it. I opened my Protectorate book and looked at the heavy jacks. I came upon the Guardian. Conversion was simple: add a piece of wire, tweak weapon, add flags. Yes flags! Now you know why I "came upon" the guardian and why it drew my eye... IT HAS FLAGS!

The black writing on purple does not look as good as I thought... that's why I painted the ones on the weapon in white.

JP

Thursday, December 26, 2013

I received art for Christmas

For Christmas, I received a lot of nice pieces of art from my kids. I returned the favor by painting minis for them (you'll see them shortly). As a

The first is the card my eldest did for me. Very colorful!



Now from my second daughter, it should read "Dear Daddy, the kisses are yummy and it's an I love you"



Finally the boy gave me a card (you can see him and me) then it's Santa's sleigh with wheels and an engine.



Happy and proud dad

JP

Wednesday, December 25, 2013

Merry Xmas and FOE sale!

Merry Christmas to all, and the best holiday wishes from everyone here at First Ones Entertainment.

Our first few months have been nothing but exciting - all thanks to you. As we go forward, we will offer you more GOSTOR products and NeoExodus Legacies adventures! To prove what we are saying, we are releasing two adventure - on Christmas! But more than that, we are also running a sale!!!

NeoExodus Legacies: 93-LC-01 In sickness and in health for just .99c!
NeoExodus Legacies: 93-LC-02 Silver Lining for just .99c!
Gostor: Skill Encounters for only 2.49!

JP

Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Menoth: Converted Devout light warjack

This model was one of those that was twisted. One foot had been ripped off, the right forearm was torn from the top of the arm (and the top was still attached to the body), and the blade had fallen off from the pole. So I had to drill the arm, change the arm's position so I could fix it and rebuild it all. The pole is still curved - which I left that way as proof. I added a piece of axe blade from another source to change the weapon from a spear-like weapon to something more like a halberd: instant Devout!

Monday, December 23, 2013

Menoth: Converted Dervish light warjack

Now the first of the converted warjacks from the Ebay haul. This is a dervish built using a revenger. His right arm shortened the blade from a halberd to something more like a sword. The left arm has a trimmed Khador axe blade as its blade.

Like the rest of this lot the Menoth symbol was removed, leaving me with yet another large flat area. I think this one was the first model I painted and where the Holy Text appearance idea came from.

Really like the final result.

Friday, December 20, 2013

Menoth: Repenter light warjack

Part of the super-pack from Ebay, this one had an oddly-twisted flail. So using a hard piece of wire, I rebuilt it the flail. One of its feet was broken off its leg. Another operation using my drill and the same hard wire and this guy is ready for action. Perhaps sturdier than before!

Thursday, December 19, 2013

Menoth: Revenger light warjack

Part of my Menoth lot... A number of Revengers... I built one in the traditional way. This one I used the holy writings and added a sun motif. Again the Menoth symbols had been stripped. Gave me a large surface to paint.

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Historical Figures of Renown: Le Cardinal de Richelieu

When I was born, my parents lived in a small 'burb (used to be distant 'burb, not so much anymore) on the banks of the Richelieu River. This peaceable river flows gently northwards towards the St Lawrence. But if one goes south, one reaches Lake Champlain (and from there one can sail down the Hudson to New York).

The name "Richelieu" meant very little else to me.

But as I grew up, I learned of the man behind the River's name and always felt a strange attachment to him. I know it sound strenuous, but it is true.

The Cardinal was a man ahead of his time. A Catholic, he applied principles of that would one day be known as "Realpolitik", to steer France towards the Golden Age that would follow under Louis XIV. Unwilling to bow to the more powerful Habsburg who ruled Spain, Austria and the Netherlands, he allied himself with Protestant powers like Sweden. He sent ambassadors to Muslim Turkey. In North America, he expanded the colonies (my own family came here around the time the Cardinal was named Prime Minister).

Thus under Richelieu, we find the seeds of what would make France great for the next two centuries(ish). Through him and his iron-fisted rule also form the seeds that will destroy the house at the end of the 18th century.

He was a man of vision, but not an easy man to get along with. He does not take orders, but gives them. He was more powerful than some princes of the realm were. He made himself immensely rich, and continued the appeasement policy of Henry the Fourth while breaking the power of the Huguenots - allowing Louis the XIV to revoke the Edict of Nantes fifty years later.

I can see how modern day storyteller find in him a good villain, but really he walks the razor between friend and foe throughout "Les Trois Mousquetaires". He appears as a complex man with complex goals. He dislikes Ann of Austria (and though I do not remember, I believe he would have been in conflict with the Queen Mother at the time of the book), but his dedication to France and the King is unquestioned and undoubted.

For all these reasons, Richelieu is a man who makes a great ally/rival/enemy. He is nominally on the same side as the PCs, but his goals frequently put him at odds with them. The PCs have to walk a similar razor edge to avoid becoming him permanent enemies, and force him to act against them. More likely, they will act against one of his lieutenants, such as the Comte de Rochefort or Milady de Winter.

The "Richelieu" type is one of the NPCs that I like to use a lot and often in my own games. I find that it makes the world feel richer, especially when contrasting them with the more single-minded type who takes the more Manichean a "with me or against me

Using him (as an ally) perhaps the best and most interesting way to use him. As someone extremely powerful, he has his own agenda and set of goals he wants to accomplish. When planning elements of the campaign, think of ways for him to be "mostly" on the PCs' side, but every once in a while, their goals are at odds with each other, over a third party. They all know they are on the same side - mostly - but not on this.

Using him (as an opponent) as a man of power, he cannot "simply" be removed with major consequences. Here we are not talking about beating down his door and exacting some righteous revenge. He is a competent stateman and his removal may not bode well for the faction the PCs support. Like him as an ally, he is likely to make overture to his enemies to work together against a third power. Yet he would work tirelessly to promote his own goals.

JP

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Menoth: Two Crusaders

The great lot of minis I won last month included a number of heavy jacks. Among those were a number of Crusaders. As you will see in the posts I'll share the next few days. One of the things I noticed is that the previous owner cut all of the Menothian symbols from the models!

GAH!

Crusaders have a bad reputation all-around but I think they can definitely be of use in an army. Plus, these are metal models.

I painted one with a purple and flames. I think he came up pretty nice. I think he looks like a really heavy version of a Crusader.

The other one, I used the flat shoulder panels to put on holy texts to Menoth, with a a few larger words to make draw the eye.



JP

Sunday, December 15, 2013

Sunday Funnies: NSFW How Uther took Ygraine

Okay this is borderline NSFW, but OH MY GOD, I laughed out loud like five times before this. I know so many players who would take that route as well!

JP

Saturday, December 14, 2013

Menoth: Idrian Skirmishers

I will admit that I first thought of adding Idrians to my collection to add new models to a pMagnus theme force (that I will likely never play). So when I won an auction for them fairly cheap, they joined my Menoth army. I like the contrast they add to an army that is entirely clad in metal armor to have a small band of light, leather-clad skirmishers.

The leader, I gave blue hair to create a focus point. However, after the whole unit was complete, I find the blue gets lost in the unit. What should've been a flashpoint is now just another piece of the puzzle. It's not bad, but the bam-wow effect is just not there. I debated changing it, repainting them, but I like it, in spite of it not being exactly what I intended.



JP

Thursday, December 12, 2013

Menoth: Holy Zealots

It is impossible to separate any Menothian idea from the Holy Zealots. These guys are the typical zealots: bomb-carrying, mobbing fellows.

The monolith bearer is something I have a particular fondness for: this ridiculously large piece of rock carried by a man. That's one of the thing I like in my fantasy... Plus it looks really good!

The unit leader is nice and would make a good cleric-type character. I especially like the pose of the fellow throwing overhead. I really like these guys as they would make awesome models for Alchemist in Pathfinder. I nearly used one for a character of mine before settling on the evil cultist mini. That still does not rule out a future alchemist character...







JP