Thinking Outside the Box

It's been a long time since I painted any figures for Uncle Mike's skirmish game Strange Aeons . I've had most of the models from their second edition Kickstarter sitting in a drawer, based and primed, awaiting paint jobs. Flipping through Netflix the other day I realized I was several years behind on the tv series  Supernatural , which I believe is going into its thirteenth season! That same week I found a 1:43 scale Impala to use, so I simply had to dig out the 'Remington' brothers and slap some paint on them while I was watching the show. Sadly one of the mirrors fell off the car right after this photo was taken. The last few games I played were using the solo deck with my ever-evolving Threshold list, but I quickly stat-ed up a new list for the boys and we got in a game for them against my very unlucky Lurkers (a cult leader, some cultists and a witch who fooled everyone into thinking she was hot and innocent). Although a little odd, I decided to make C...

...but that doesn't mean I haven't been busy. Since I posted last I've actually done some pretty entertaining hobby stuff. Last week I provided demos for the Batman Miniature Game on two different evenings.  Both demo evenings were good fun, and I think interest in the game is really starting to reach a peak. I think the escalation league that I've started laying out plans for could prove quite successful. Even if only half of the folks who have expressed interest end up playing, we should have a solid half-dozen players. Due to time limitations on the demo nights, games were restricted to 150 rep and small amounts of characters and objectives. Some stuff like placement was fudged a bit too (as you can see below), but the point was providing a good intro to the game mechanics. Otherwise there has been a bunch of hobby prep going down. I've been able to complete building and basing all the remaining BMG models I had, as well as plenty of stuff for Pulp City...

These certainly weren't what I was planning on being my first finished models of the year, but I was passing some time over the weekend and picked these out of the lead pile. I wanted to make some monsters that I've never used in my games of Strange Aeons and they'd been sitting around primed for a long time. There are two different sets, the first one is the original pack of ghouls from Uncle Mike's line of Strange Aeons miniatures. I'm not sure if these are still in print. The other batch are from RAFM 's "Call of Cthulhu" line. I bought them so long ago I can't actually remember if they are ghouls or some other kind of beasties. I painted them with the same skin colours, but even so they don't really look like the same kind of creatures. You can see what I mean when they're all together. The dude with the book could stand in with the UMW figures in a pinch. They're fine miniatures all 'round and will get some time on ...

I mentioned a bunch of items that I pushed across my hobby desk earlier this month, but here's a full recap of what I accomplished during the month of November. - Re-based two Heroclix for repainting: purple jumpsuit Luthor and Black Mask - Built Poison Ivy starter set for Batman Miniature Game ; started painting (4) - Built and based more serpent worshipper cultists (4) - Built new cultist minis for a brand new group, likely for Kulten (11) - Built safe box objectives for BMG (2) - Built all my Joker minis for BMG (14) - Built Arkham Inmates I booster for BMG (2) - Cleaned and based my remaining Threshold agents for Strange Aeons (9) In terms of painting I am nearly finished a 10-man Ork squad for Warhammer 40,000 . I also ordered and have received some stuff, but haven't had a chance to actually open the boxes for my Knights of Dice buildings & props or Ghostbusters Kickstarter pledge package. I've had word that my Pulp City ...

If you're like me there are times when you'd like to play a tabletop game but there are no available opponents around. I helped a little bit with some of the play testing for the 2nd Edition of Strange Aeons , but really hadn't played much since the book went to print back in the summer. Uncle Mike was really busy with model production that there was little time for gaming. Summer is also a lot lighter in terms of game time, as I do *gasp* *shock* try to spend a bit of time outside while the sun is being friendly. I've had my KS package from the campaign for longer than most, being able to pick it up locally rather than waiting for it in the mail. One of the add-ons I included was the solo deck. I didn't have much to do with this product at all, aside from providing some points about what I would like to see in a card-driven AI. With the product finally in my possession I thought I would give the solo deck a test-drive. I wasn't expecting much out of the sol...

I spent a quiet Remembrance Day at home and observed a few moments of silence being thankful for the freedoms I enjoy, not to mention that I wouldn't exist if my grandparents hadn't been brave, brave folks. The freedom I enjoyed on my day off was a relaxing breakfast with my girl and then a day of hobby time and conversation with a friend. I didn't get anything painted but it was a highly productive day in my opinion. First up was a large batch of cultists from Pulp Figures  for more games of Strange Aeons . These guys have been languishing in a box for a long while, and I figured it was high time they got some attention. I did some quick hand swaps and have four more dudes to add to my serpent man cult that I showed off years back . There were another eleven cultists from the same order and decided to put those all together as well. I'm pretty sure I know what I'm going to do with these, but I'll keep that to myself for now. There is a Black Sun operative...

Director Silver lowered himself down into the creaky, worn chair and tried to rub feeling back into his numb left hand. It never helped. He used to be a much fitter man, but the omnipresent, squeezing ache in his chest reminded him that the years were catching up to him. Years in the field, followed by more years behind this damned desk, while good men and women were out doing the job he yearned to do. But the reality, reality of horrifying beasts, daemons and fool cultists was too great for him to be running around out there. He was needed here. Random images, sounds and even smells from the past still threatened to overwhelm him from time to time, when the nightmares and memories came to mind more clearly. He knew he was lucky, unlike most, he had survived beyond the extremely short life expectancy of an active field agent. Silver raised his head from his hands, not realizing he had even moved, and noted a small sheet of paper in the middle of his cluttered-but-neat desk. Folded ...

A bevy of new stuff has arrived at my door since the month started. In my excitement I didn't take much in the way of photos, but here's a quick recap. Mantic Games sent a combined package with the final pieces from the Dreadball Xtreme Kickstarter campaign. It included the season 5 and 6 books, loads of new teams, a campaign set, a lovely mouse-mat style Dreadball original board and all the stuff for building new teams and playing multiplayer in Dreadball Xtreme. The amount of stuff I have for these two games is embarrassing, and a little sad, since I've not played Xtreme yet despite having it in my possession since last December. That same package also included a few bits and bobs from the more recent Kings of War  second edition campaign. No army sets yet, but some tokens and templates, the KS-exclusive Blaine and Ronaldino the Bard all showed up. Additionally I received both the hardcover and the gamer's edition of the rule books. I have an older starter set ...

Here's a quick post to finish off the month of August. I bought the Games Workshop "Garden of Morr" several years ago, with an eye to using it for games of Strange Aeons or possibly Empire of the Dead .  Some of these pieces even made an appearance in a game or two of Batman . A few months ago I had done most of the painting required on the fences, but more recently I added an extra set of all the walls from friend who had used parts for another scenery project. Some repair work had to be done on that set, as the spikes on all of the walls had been removed. I needed some patience but was able to glue appropriate pieces back in place. Some of them look like they've been bent down or replaced. Painting was accomplished largely through dry brushing using my standard colours for stone and dirt. I did use some P3 Cryx Bane Base to give it a bit of green before painting the foliage. I opted against painting all of the roses sculpted in, I thought it would look to...

Director Silver, This news clipping was forwarded by Agent Jackson Daniels to you. It arrived this morning. No other information was attached. ---- Calgary Weekly Herald Published: Monday Feb 23, 1925 By: Peter Bikram A local lawman, Carl Selinger, and one as of yet unidentified man were found dead last week in the ruins of the old Victoria Park Asylum. No eye-witnesses to the incident have come forward, although reports from local residents state that gunfire and 'ghastly' noises were heard on the night of the 17th. Authorities were contacted to provide statement but have refused to comment; only fueling further speculation. Shotgun shell casings, as well as small caliber cartridges were found in the vicinity of the bodies. However, an unnamed source stated that no gunshot wounds were found on the bodies. Requests to examine the remains in detail have also gone unanswered. Underbrush in the immediate area appeared trampled, and strange 'inhuman' foot prin...

No, no, no, I'm not advocating any kind of violence towards others during the holiday season (even though you might have some dangerous thoughts while all of your family is starting in on their fifth Christmas carol round the piano). "Season's Beatings" is the name of a Yuletide events chart for Strange Aeons . You can download it, as well as two holiday-themed scenarios, over at www.strange-aeons.ca in their Resources section. I've also linked directly to them below, but head over there anyway. There's a lot of other good stuff to see too! - Season's Beatings - Nightmare on 34th Street - Christmas With Krampus I'll shamefully confess that I have not played either of these scenarios, nor have I used the event chart. However, I was reminded of them after receiving some holiday gaming goodness from jolly old Uncle Mike. As I was going through all those lovely resin bits, I remembered my Black Goat special Maniac Santa figure! I had meant to paint ...

These were among some of the first pulp-themed figures I purchased. Come to think of it, I believe I've had these for nearly three years! They're one of the original sets of investigators from Uncle Mike's Worldwide , purveyors of the fine game Strange Aeons . If memory serves I based and primed these figures nearly two years ago, after which time they sat on my priming board atop the refrigerator, awaiting paint. I've got dozens of figures in the same condition, and several others sitting next to my painting desk in partially completed states. I don't know why I decided to paint these, other than the fact that the stuff on my desk all looked less than appealing when I sat down to paint the other night. Currently my Threshold list doesn't need new members, but I know how that can change in an instant. It's always good to be prepared when dealing with unfathomable nightmarish creatures, dastardly cultists and fickle dice that constantly test ones sanity. ...

November 25, 1924 From: Carl Selinger To: Director Silver, Calgary Field Office RE: Case File SA2-141125-MA Last week my team was investigating the rumours of a large creature near Dead Man's Flats west of Calgary. The rumours proved to be factual; we found the beast near the small church north-east of the settlement. It was easily double the height of a normal man with pallid oozing skin, no visible eyes or mouths, and copious amount of tentacular appendages. The beast proved surprisingly agile and was nearly upon us in moments. Dynamite seemed a prudent choice and we were lucky Agent Moreau was able to tap into her psychic abilities to help Agent Carter focus his efforts. Randolph ran forward and landed a lucky shot with his incendiaries, but was immediately pounced upon by the monster. We feared him dead as the beast continued its pursuit. My own gunfire proved ineffectual in slowing the tentacled mass, but Agent Daniels valiantly jumped in its path and disappeared scr...

Any of my regular readers will know how much I like Strange Aeons . It has a lot of great things going for it: top looking models, low entry price, great game play and a local designer who has become a good friend. Over the past few years I've been invited to provide some small input on rules and scenarios, which has been a ton of fun and I'm very happy to have helped out with the game in some little way. The game has grown and evolved a lot, and reached the point where Uncle Mike's Worldwide  has made the decision to create a second edition of the game. The campaign has run rampant, making its initial funding goal in 28 minutes. That's an astonishing fact for a small publisher like Uncle Mike. It hasn't slowed down much since that initial blast. Last I checked they are on track to top 50k before campaign end. I could regale you with tales of heroism and woe that I've experienced playing the game, but you really just need to go check it out for yourself...

Just because I think crowd-funding is interesting, I thought it would be worth going through some of the many campaigns I've supported and give a brief run-down on where they're at. If you're not into Kickstarter or crowd-funded games, you can click here to read something else . Coming Soon: Age of Conan expansion - Starting tomorrow (October 9th, 2014). This one is really interesting in the sense that FFG has let the original designer/publishers have their remaining stock. The expansion should modify Conan's role within the game, although I don't know how or to what extent. Disappointingly this expansion won't add space for additional players to the game. Currently Running: Carnevale - An interesting one here in that it's both and expansion and a second edition in one campaign. I supported Vesper-On a few years ago and picked up the entire range at that time. I'm in for the new book and Strigoi (vampires!) faction, but it's doubtful I'...

September 3, 1924 From: Carl Selinger, Commanding Field Agent To: Director Silver, Calgary Field Office RE: Case File SA-140903-F Director, Our past few months in the field have finally borne some fruit. Our investigation into reports of strange occurrences near the village of Sundre led us to an abandoned shack near a quiet river crossing. As we approached we were set upon by zombies, seemingly commanded by an Egyptian mummy! Miss Moreaux's newly discovered psychic abilities proved useless against our undead foes. She, Agent Daniels and Agent MacIntyre were quickly swarmed by a human zombie and a pair of surprisingly fast zombie hounds. I've never seen the like of these before, and moved to their aid as quickly as my crippled body would allow. I was able to destroy the zombies, and then fend off the mummy long enough for our team to escape. Miss Moreaux escaped unscathed, and Daniels was fortunate enough to suffer only a minor arm wound. The unimaginable has h...

Last week I had a chance to play a quick game of Strange Aeons  v2 with Uncle Mike. I didn't have a Threshold list, so I quickly put one together and we rolled off a scenario, "Escape...Into Danger!" I had forgotten my phone so all I can provide is a briefly play-by-play of the action: - Mike's cultists (high priest, shotgun, mad midget and pistol cultists) set up near mid-table for good positions to shoot / attack from. My agents first move was to bring everyone all up into cover.  My female agent tried to activate her psychic powers. I hit my psychic guess and had her clairvoyance unlocked for the game. She used it on my boss to get give him an extra action to shoot at the midget...he missed. - The high priest casts barrier on the shotgun cultist, who lands a minor injury on Jackson. The resulting morale checks are passed by everyone except my boss, who goes face down. The cleaver-wielding midget charges him and causes a major injury. Two rounds in and I'm alr...

Had some time yesterday work to with Uncle Mike on more 2nd Ed stuff for Strange Aeons . Mike and I played through the "Treasure Hunt" scenario. I love the deep one model from Uncle Mike's Worldwide  but haven't painted mine yet so I provided the mat, Mike provided the scenery and models. We both agreed that the table looked awesome. The Threshold deployed first, meaning the deep one had to start farther away that I would have liked. That river looked refreshing however, so he jumped right in on his way to a Lovecrafty snack. Footsteps on the bridge echoed through the river waters, distracting the deep one from his easy meal. Unfortunately for the scaly beast, the agent on the bridge hates deep ones, and won the combat...allowing him to retreat from the dripping claws. Blinded by hunger, the deep one foolishly pursued the agent. In the ensuing combat he was unable to catch the slippery agent and cold blood was spilled. Capitalizing on th...

I was away for a business trip during the second half of January and did very little gaming or hobby stuff during that time. During my trip I did however have a chance to meet a fellow gamer down in the Tampa, FL area. Patrick (aka styx) was kind enough to show a few of my co-workers and I around during some of our downtime. You should go read one (or all) of his blogs... - Army of the Week - Dice of Legends - Strange Aeons Adventures After I came back it took me some time to get back into my regular schedule. Actually, I may still be working on that. In terms of miniatures I haven't finished anything new yet, but I've got a batch of SuperFigs  on the table that should be fun once they're finished. I've received several more items from my Kickstarter -craze last year. Sorry for lack of pictures, all I have is a list of text. - Incursion : buckets of blood level t-shirt. Pretty nice, and I had forgotten I was getting this! - Hell Dorado, Inferno : complete shi...

December 17th, 1923 From: Carl Selinger, Commanding Field Agent To: Director Silver, Calgary Field Office Director Silver, It has been several months since my last update and I have much to share. Our last outing went badly, very badly. Simply put, Professor Armitage and Dr. McDermott were both killed during our investigation of the stone circle. In our attempt to flee from the area we were captured and held by a man named Hemler. At least, that's what all of his followers referred to him as. The man wears a grey uniform identical to his followers, but atop his head is a gleaming silver mask. To my knowledge, he never speaks. However it seems his minions receive directions from him in some manner while in his presence. I hesitate to suggest telepathy or mind control, but after all I've seen in my work I certainly wouldn't rule it out. While held captive they asked us innumerable questions about our mission, who we work for, what we know about the stone circle. I...