I love collecting, painting, converting and scratch building terrain. I even get to play a game once in a while. I'm a big fan of gamification as part of teaching - I'm an elementary school teacher.
This blog covers my hobby work and 'teaching through gaming'.
I've made a short 'how to play' video for Hardwired: Cyberpunk Skirmish Gaming. In the video, I quickly go over the core mechanics of the game covering:
Agent types
Dice pools
Using skills and abilities
Shooting and cover
Very quick basics video, but my be of use to some people. I really enjoy playing Hardwired, the games are quick and easy to setup. So it's a great little solo game.
Remember you can hear Patrick Todoroff (the author) talk about Hardwired and design philosophy in this podcast.
Enjoy.
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How do I blog: http://bloodbeard.blogspot.com/2020/09/how-do-i-blog-how-am-i-using.html
The Star Saga Goliath was a big mosnter (and expansion) unlocking way back at the very end of the kickstarter campaing. The model is a huge, nasty clunk of alien plastic - a really great monster I think.
I've never really gotten around to playing Star Saga, but the miniatures are ace and I'm using them for all manner of stuff. I stille play Deadzone sometimes, so he goes in there as well. But this guy I decided to paint up for the This Is Not A Test expansion - It Came From The Waste.
In this expansion the warbands need to fight giant monsters - all with the strength of an entire warband.
There's a battle report using the model right here.
Painting
It was really quick for me to paint the beastie. I base coated the entire model alien purple with a spray can. The armored areas where done with a greyish bone color. Then the rest of the models was actually done with several layers of washes. The bone areas were washed with strong tone.
The skin and tentacles were washed with purple and blue washes. Some areas got more layers for a darker color. I've also gone over some areas with gloss varnish for a wet look.
Critters
Can't really recall the members of these little guys. But there's some small quick looking things and a bunch of ink spurting things. I gave my Behemoth the spawn rule in TNT, so it had to have some offspring to let loose during battle.
This small ones were done as the Goliath. Purple base coat and lots of washes.
And a small family photo of the entire nasty gang.
First time playing some Hardwired on the stream. Recorded live and uploaded to Youtube. The Let's Play is also embedded below. In this scenario the four agents Brick, Gator, Conduit and Spotless are going into a market to deliver some stolen data. The contact is a member of the Purple Hands gang.
Setup
Took out a bunch of terrain from the collection and tried building a buzzing neon lighted market place. All my cyberpunk terrain stuff is collected here.
A couple of miniatures painted to play the first scenario in the Tor Varden series of Rangers of Shadow Deep. First there needed to be a blood vulture - a vulture with wing tips painted red. Corrupted servants of the Shadow Deep.
I found an old Deadzone Plague bird, lovely model I've been saving for the right thing. Painted asphalt dark grey (nearly black) and a super dark blue. The wing tips have been painted with a bright red. Then the entire model have been painted with either a blue or red wash. I think the result is nice. Though he's not really a vulture.
The scenario at the river crossing has a chance to free a men-at-arms from the Lorenthia. The country having been swallowed by the Shadow Deep. I painted up one of my Dunkeldorf Miniatures for the occasion. I added an old GW empire soldier shield to the miniature, fit perfectly.
The Zona Alfa Facebook community is super active and author Patrick Todoroff is making some good competitions over there. There's been a 'make a single human miniature' competition and I decided to enter.
The model is made with Warlord Games bits. Legs, AK and head are from the modern military sprue. The torso and pistol arm is from the zombie survivors. The backpack is a Warlord Games ww2 sprue bit. The straps on the AK and backpack are made from thin paper. He has a respirator in the belt, resin from Anvil Industry.
The colors on the model are inspired from two different bandits from the Stalker PC game.
Disclaimer: I've been send a review copy of Frostgrave: The Wizards Eye by Osprey Games
Frostgrave 1st edition is concluded! Long live 2nd edition!
... not that any of the old expansions are now invalid, no no. But the artwork will now be made by aRu-Mor and no longer Dmitry and Kate Burmak.
Wizard Eye is a collection of every single piece of artwork done from every released piece of Frostgrave up until 2nd edition. It's a mighty hardback tome of 256 pages a4 size - it's huge.
I've never been one for special editions of PC games and that's what I think of when thinking artwork books. I've ordered my share of special collectors editions. The Witcher, Elder Scrolls, Duke Nukem. I've gotten some artwork books from various kickstarters. They've all been given away or sold. Not enough content or depth for me. I love The Elder Scrolls series to death, Morrowind is still the most atmospheric fantasy game I've been in. But artbooks... nah, no need.
But I really wanted this book, the Wizard Eye. Why? Because I love Frostgrave, I have all the expansions and the novels. I've spend countless hours of my life in this game. And the artwork is amazing - having it all collected in one place is awesome. But this book not only has all the art.
All the pieces comes with text, explanations of the art. There's thoughts from Joseph McCullough and words from Dmitry or Kate. This book offers a way to look at the cooperation between writer and artist. A thing Joseph mentions in the intro "I get all the credit, my name is on the book - but the success is from the entire team. The feel comes from art, editing and miniatures as well".
I've spend time now, looking through the book twice. Just flipping through. Reading some of the pieces, not reading from cover to cover. I want to take my time. And you know what? I see new stuff, stuff I've missed despite having flipped through the rule books a hundred times.
This photo right here - the sigilist. It's the cover of The Grimoire, the spell card box and it's in one of the books. I've never once noticed the Witch in the background. And the Wizard Eye will do that, let you see new stuff.
All the double pages in the book contains art, describing a piece, showing the finished one and concept sketches. The book starts with the rulebook and each chapter will then cover an expansion. I'm in awe of this book, it shows just how big Frostgrave really is - how fleshed out the system and setting is (despite not having too much fluff written).
I love these characters, I think it's a great strength that Dmitry and Kate have reused the wizards from the schools, seeing them again through many different situations.
This is another kind of review than normally. There's no rules, campaign, updates or mechanics to go into. Should you get this book as a fan of Frostgrave? If you enjoy the full aspect of the hobby then yes. It's great, perfect for fans. Even if you're not into the miniature game itself, the book is just smack full of inspiration for RPGs.
The Wizard Eye is going to live on my bedside table along some good picture books from Simon Stålenhag (Tales from the Loop etc).
Thank you Kate and Dmitry for your contributions to this amazing setting. Thank you Osprey Games for making a collection of the art, in a publication that acknowledge and focus on this awesome amount of work.
It's gonna be fun to see in four years where Frostgrave is and which characters aRu-Mor will have added to the universe.
Book flipthrough Also flipped through the book, talking some Frostgrave, showing off some miniatures and talking campaigns.
