Pathfinder: Someone Else's Shoes

Hi folks,

On Mondays I have been doing my best to meet up with The Trooper and Sgt Waz to continue their Pathfinder Adventure Card Game campaign. Together with KuriboGoomba, they have been playing Pathfinder fairly consistently for a number of years now. I had only played in two sessions over that time but, after we lost Goomba, it was time to step up and help keep the party going. I have inherited Goomba's Half-Orc Witch Hunter character, Imrijka, and she is is such a typical choice for him. Just flicking through the cards he has collected for her is like a window into his mind, the gamer we all know so well. Currently, she is geared up for dealing horrific ranged damage, with some spectacular conditional bonuses that allow for devastating alpha strikes when required. She also has a real eclectic mix of other junk! Some cards I just pick up and laugh at, thinking "why the hell do I have this!?" Then I remember who picked the cards and it all makes sense. Heavy crossbow: check! Frog; check! Monkey's paw: check!

The last game saw us hunting down some demonic goon through the stronghold of our enemy. The usual strategy involves closing locations to corner the main bad guy, then sending in a heavy hitter to finish the job. That would be made difficult in this scenario due to an extra location that spawns after the second is closed, providing an extra hiding hole, and giant worms protecting every site. Thankfully, Imrijka has been geared towards passing constitution checks. I was going to be busy uncapping each site, by the looks of it.

Breakfast. 

We set up the board and got cracking, uncapping sites and starting to explore. One of Imrijka's skills, which Goomba has maximised, is the ability to take additional exploration actions whenever an enemy is slain. I quickly started churning through locations, chopping through demons and rolling 3+ to continue exploring.

We quickly closed down one location then found the villain we were hunting for. We had a golden chance to end the game quickly but even the bucket-load of dice we chucked at it, including a long range shot from me, wasn't enough to bring it down. I got the blame for this (of course!), because my d4 was the last rolled and could have made the difference. I only rolled a 2 however, and the mongrel got away. Let's forget the fact that on 2d20 Sgt Waz couldn't roll above 5's ;-)

Anyone got a blessing?  Anyone!?

After that we had some idea of where the villain had moved too, so we started grinding out a (hopeful) victory. The additional location spawned and The Trooper worked hard to close it, which would allow us to unlock a powerful character to use. We were running out of time though, so after checking the number of turns we each had left, worked about trapping the villain at the expense of any other bonuses. Strategically positioning ourselves, The Trooper and I temporarily closed all of the remaining escape sites, whilst Sgt Waz dove into the last pile to root out the evil within. In that last turn, he fought demon, after demon, after demon. It was epic.

Not the first demon. Not the last. 

Finally, Sgt Waz drew the main villain; some kind of hag. After missing her early on we threw everything at her, including another long range shot from me. With all of his bonuses, Sgt Waz amassed over 40 points of damage, including 2 from my plucky d4 from across the table. That was enough to take her down. I claimed the kill (of course!), because obviously my shot dealt the fatal wounds. With a tough victory under our belts, we sifted through the loot we had accumulated and modified our decks. I got rid of some of the really dodgy stuff Goomba had put in there. Part of me felt bad doing that, but I know he would have approved. After adding my own spin to the character I am keen for some more games. Sgt Waz has hinted that he has some miniatures on the way to match our characters, and I have the urge to get myself a set of dice to play with. More about that later!

See you across the table,

Marc

Grey Knights: TO-DONE!

Hi folks,

With the bases painted I was able to get the Grey Knights finished pretty quickly. Posing them was a bit of challenge, due to the raised detail on the bases, but I think I have done them justice.

 First up we have a champion with Nemesis falchions. I love this guy; rocking two swords for close-in work when everyone else is poking around with halberds is gutsy.

Next up, a relic bearer armed with a Nemesis force halberd. This guy reminds me more of the Grey Knights I used to use in 2nd Ed. They smashed face back in those days as well.

To mix things up a bit The Trooper also equipped one with a Daemon hammer; or "comedy mallet" as I like to call them. For some reason I am reminded of an Imperial Guard home-brew character that was armed with a thunderhammer. When he used it, he would fly 2d6 inches backwards!

Next we have two heavy weapons terminators. I am pretty sure only one can be taken in a squad of five, but these guys are more for show and friendly games anyway. I love the streaming purity seals on the Psilencer terminator's halberd.

Last, but most definitely the most satisfying to paint, Grand Master Voldus. I had to trim the stone from the end of his hammer, which caused part of it to snap off. Gluing it back on in the last minutes of the project was nerve wracking! With the stone gone, though, I was free to pose him stepping down from the raised surface on the base, which tied everything together really nicely, I think. I am pretty sure I only painted half of the available detail; this figure is just mental. It would take another month for me to do it all maximum justice and I have already held on to these guys long enough!

Project complete! These guys are heading over to The Trooper's collection and will no doubt be fielded against me some time soon.

I still haven't made a new light box yet, these photos were taken with the Frankenstein apparatus pictured below. I am hoping that during the weekend I can re-purpose one of the boxes, which we used for moving, to make a new light box that I can keep set up permanently in the garage.

As these Grey Knights are the last models I have to paint for my mates, I can start really focusing on my own stuff for the first time in a long time. I have quite a few projects on the verge of completion that are burning a hole in my creative pocket, so to speak. High on the list is a bunch of models I need to complete two army lists that I want to start playing with. Keep an eye out for them over the next couple of weeks!

See you across the table,

Marc

Grey Knights: Space Hulk Basing

 Hi folks,

To finish off the Grey Knights, my mate gave me some scenic bases featuring some classic sci-fi textures. Each one has a few different types of metallic grating, as well as some piping and raised platforms that looked to me like a teleportation matrix. Going with the derelict Space Hulk vibe, I decided to paint them with some heavy chemical weathering and underlying teleportation glow. Here are the steps I took.



Step 1: Black Spray Undercoat

Self-explanatory, perhaps, to the point that I hesitated to include it. I chose a black undercoat because I would be painting a lot of metallics, which go on well over black. Careful dry-brushing would also leave black in the recesses to add depth. Simples.



Step 2: Metallics

I mentally split the grating on each of the bases into two categories, iron and copper. For the iron parts I used Leadbelchers, for copper I used Warplock Bronze. All of these surface would be weathered. I left some additional surfaces clean, as I would go over them with neat Leadbelchers later to tie the bases in visually with the Grey Knights.



Step 3: Blue Teleportation Blend

I added a graduated blend of Caledor Sky/Teclis Blue /Lothern Blue /1:1 Lothern Blue/White to the teleportation surfaces. At times I stipled it to get the paint past the raised detail. When your working on something like this, with the intention of restoring the raised detail to a metallic appearance, you really have to be careful to get your pigment where it needs to go. I left some of the surface around the edges a bit patchy, again to add a bit of shading between the blue and metallic edging later.



Step 4: Chemical Weathering

Iron chloride: I stipled Mournfang Brown, followed by stipled Solar Macharius Orange to highlight. You could use Jokaero Orange instead for this. Xereus purple/brown mix was also stipled to add further depth. I also worked away at the edges with Leadbelchers to blur the interface between corrosion and clean metal.

Copper chloride: Unlike weathering iron, I find copper/bronze more of an exercise in layering. I dulled 50% of the surface with a 1:1 Mournfang brown/Kabalite green mix. I then gradually increased the Kabalite green percentage, adding each new mix to 50% less of the same surface each time (simples?). A final mix of Kabalite green with white was added at the extremities, and a Gehenna's gold highlight to the clean bronze finished it off. 



Step 5: Leadbelchers Clean-Up

All of the surfaces that needed to be clean metal were dry-brushed with Leadbelchers. This included the borders around, and the grating over, the teleportation surfaces. I knocked some of the brightness back in parts with a Nuln Oil wash (I hear it is "liquid skill", so I considered drinking some...*).

Done.

Here are the finished products:

Now for some Grey Knights...

See you across the table,

Marc

*Don't drink your Citadel Washes folks, they are foul.

The Big Move: Part 1

Hi folks,

About 3 weeks ago my family moved to our new home down the river. Thankfully, everything has gone pretty smoothly and wifey and I have started putting together a games room. It is quickly becoming the busiest room in the house! We have ordered some display cases for miniatures but they will take a while to arrive. My paint table overlooks bushland and is ridiculously relaxing to sit at, as long as no bushfires are around. One last month came to within 80 m of the backyard.

I haven't been the head right headspace for painting for a while, but the past couple of nights I have been trying to get The Troopers Grey Knight terminators moving forwards. I don't have a lightbox set up yet, but here are some shots from my phone.

I have only wet blended the blue on one side of the halberd, to reinforce that they are single edged weapons. I'll do both sides on the swords.

Hopefully during the week I'll get some more work done on the games room. We also need to get our internet connection up and running. Blogging using my phone is killing me :-)

See you across the table,

Marc