Autumn (Re)Painting Blitz

I built TONS of models during August and September, and even applied some paint to a few figures. Most of them are Heroclix repaints / rebases, but there are a few actual paint jobs in the lot.

First up is a little-known board game that I picked up on discount years ago. Herocard: Champion of New Olympia. It came with two figures, and the other two were single character expansions. The figures were a sticky plastic with low detail, but I rebased them and repainted them anyway. The game is actually pretty fun.

To'a King, Ferrion, Deva, Talon

Next up, for some reason I got on a roll doing Fantastic Four stuff. I'm not a huge fan of the team, but I had a great Thing figure built and primed from Knight Models, so I decided that he needed his pals. The other three figures are just rebased & touched up Heroclix from the "Fantastic Forces" set.

Invisible Woman, Mr. Fantastic, The Thing, Human Torch

I've always been a sucker for She-Hulk, so when I found a She-Hulk figure I set her aside. I've already painted a version of her, but I knew she'd been a member of the FF at some point. I also added an invisible version of Sue (no paint required), Silver Surfer and Namor. Other than Sue, these three figures were completely repainted. I didn't bother stripping them first, I just painted over top.

She-Hulk (freehanded '4' insignia), invisible Invisible Woman, Namor, Silver Surfer

In the midst of all this madness, I remembered a short arc I had read back in the 90s where the original FF was supposedly killed off and had to be replaced by a whole new team. I dug through the bins and found figures for that too. Ghost Rider and Hulk were full repaints, Spidey and Wolverine are just touchups with washes and highlights applied.

Ghost Rider, Wolverine, Mr. Fixit, Spider-Man

Finally, I'd had a few other Hulk-related characters set aside for a while and decided to get them finished off as well. These two were easy, done the same way as Wolverine. Slight touchups, a wash and some highlights over top.

Red She-Hulk, Red Hulk

It's nice to get some stuff through the paint queue, even if they're mostly just repainted models. I think they turned out nicely and I had a good time getting them finished.

Update: What the Hell Have I Been Doing Lately

I realized the other day that I have posted very little over the past year or even more. Why? Well the short answer is that my life has changed a lot in the last 2+ years. I've moved cities, am studying for a complete career change after 20 years, and have put a lot of time, money and focus into growing my business o2media.

I won't bore the few of you who read this with the details. They're not that exciting. What I did want to share was that my company has been developing some gaming figures of our own. A few weeks ago I announced a license agreement with Xion Studios, which lets us play in their amazing "WatchGuard" universe. I'm  really excited to showcase our first two figure sculpts: The Scintillating Spider-Squirrel and his partner, Trash Panda!

These 35-mm scale figures will be cast in resin and each model will include a profile card for use in the superhero skirmish game "Super Mission Force," by Four-Color Studios. Thanks to Scott for granting us permission to use his rules.

The first two figures will be available for sale in Q4 2018, with hopefully many more to follow soon after. I'd love to hear your opinions on which characters you like, ideas for the character cards or really just anything you want to comment on!

The Valiant Card Game - Ninjak vs The Valiant Universe

On my last school break I picked up The Valiant Card Game - Ninjak vs The Valiant Universe. I ordered it on a whim, after hearing that it was based on a comic and live-action web-series of the same name.

I confess it's been a couple of decades since I have read anything from Valiant, but I was aware that they had relaunched a few years back, and had picked up their RPG series and their card game last year, neither of which had yet to see the table. However if you've ever stopped by here before you'll know I'm a sucker for superhero comics, so none of these purchases should be a surprise.

Deciding that I needed to see the web-series before trying out the game I fired up YouTube and spent an hour being mildly impressed. The writing and acting weren't anything amazing, but overall the costumes very well done, and FX were certainly better than I had expected. I would certainly watch more if it were produced.

Anyway, back to the game at hand. It's a basic co-operative card game for 1 to 6 players. Each player chooses a hero to control against "Ninjak" who is essentially three decks of increasing difficulty. The heroes are interesting in that they can't use their own powers, only lend them to other heroes, so teamwork is key. If any of the heroes are reduced to 0 health all players lose. With three or more players everyone takes a secret agenda and if Ninjak is defeated one of the heroes is the winner above the others. There are minor rules changes for playing with 2 players, or a solo player controlling one or two heroes, but  each hero tries to build up their stats by picking up Tactics cards, fighting Ninjak and helping their allies.

The components are nicely done with vibrant colours, excellent artwork and easy to read layouts with solid graphic design. The hero boards are double sided with comic art on one side and the live action version on the other.

I've only had a chance to try a half dozen games solo with a variety of hero duos and one game with a single hero. Some games have felt very easy and other have been quite challenging. I feel it would be a much more interesting game with a larger player count, as sharing hero powers, and working towards individual agendas would add some depth that's missing in solo play. It gets points for stylish presentation and a unique mechanic for superhero team-up action on the tabletop.

I doubt I'll be playing many more games of it solo but will certainly try to get some larger games going to see if my hypothesis is accurate. I'd recommend it to fans of the Valiant Universe, but it's probably a pass for most other gamers.

Ignore this Post

June 2018 DC Universe Tournament Results

Yet another successful tournament in the books! We had an excellent turnout and tons of fun for the day.

Tournament Results

8th Place: Mike D
Black Manta, Darkseid, Deadshot, Harley Quinn (Rebirth), Lex Luthor (Warsuit)

7th Place: Marcel
Batmite, Green Lantern, Raven, Superman (Red Son), Zatanna

6th Place: Darkness Coming, Paul
Darkseid, Parademon 1 x2, Parademon 2, Steppenwolf

5th Place: Doom's Avengers, Josh
Ares, Dr. Doom, Hulk, Spider-Man, Thor

4th Place: Justice League, Talon
Batgirl (Rebirth), Harley Quinn, Martian Manhunter, Raven, Supergirl, Zatanna

3rd Place: Black Adam & the Bat Attitude, Elton
Black Adam, Clayface, Killer Croc, Lobo, Parademon 1, Solomon Grundy,

2nd Place: Justice League, Tezlin
Flash (Ezra), Green Lantern, John Constantine, Shazam, Wonder Woman

1st Place: Jet Lag, Mike H
Black Adam, General Zod, LexCorp Heavy Trooper, Professor Zoom, Superwoman

Fellowship Prize: Elton
Best Painted Crew: Josh

April 2018 BMG Tournament Results

On April 7th, 2018 I hosted my second tournament of the year at Eastridge Sports Cards & Games in Calgary, Alberta. We had 8 players registered to play, but weather conditions brought our numbers down to 6. We still had a great day of games, food and fun with the Batman Miniatures Game 2nd Edition rules.

Tournament Results & Crew Lists

6th Place: Birds of Prey (346/$100), Mike D

Black Canary - Boss, Batgirl, Catwoman (Modern Age), Huntress, Poison Ivy (Classic)

5th Place: Joker (346/$1350), Brian

Joker (Leto), Harley Quinn (SS), Pandaman w/ magazine), Deadshot (SS)

4th Place: The Brave & the Bold (James)

Batman (Rebirth), Robin (Damian), Swamp Thing

3rd Place: Organized Crime (348/$1950), Mike H.

Lex Luthor, Heavy Trooper w/ jet pack, Lexcorp Trooper 1 w/ Bribe, Lexcorp Trooper 2 w/ jet pack, Lexcorp Trooper 3 w/ grapple, Anatoly, Hugo, Troy

2nd Place: Bane (350/$1500), Tezlin

Bane (Rebirth), Deadshot (SS), Duke w/ NV goggles & ammo, Kabuto w/ Titan, Prisoner 93432

1st Place: Organized Crime (343/$1500), Talon

Two-Face, Enchantress, Tet w/ Grapple, Nen, Prisoner 47905, Vov w/ Bribe

Fellowship Voted: Mike D.

Best Painted Voted: Mike H.

Thanks to everyone who came out, shared your great scenery and simply made the day excellent. I really appreciate it, not to mention the great prize support we had from www.o2media.ca and the perfect play space provided by Eastridge Sports Cards & Games. Thank you! 

We'll leave you with some photos of the lovely scenery and models that hit the tables last weekend!

Star Trek Adventures - Voyages of the USS Black Sail

WARNING: If you intend to play adventures from "These Are the Voyages Vol. 1" stop reading now!

Back in the summer of 2017 preorders were announced for a new roleplaying game series called Star Trek Adventures, to be published by Modiphius. At the time I'd been playing with a regular group in a Dresden Files campaign and had just begun running my first Mutants and Masterminds 3E campaign as well. So when the Star Trek game was announced I was all over it and placed my order.

The materials showed up in early September but I didn't have a chance to actually play until a few weeks ago, shortly after the release of the free quickstart rules.  After some posting around on Meetup, I found a group willing to give things a go.

I ran the quickstart scenario for a group of 5 players and we had a great time. The rules definitely need a few reads through by whoever will be running the game as the task resolution, combat and the various actions available to the characters cover a lot of ground. Having done that, I was able to give everyone a quick run-down of their character sheets, do a couple examples of Task resolution, melee and ranged combat and get playing in about an hour. We were able to play the scenario in about 2 hours once we got started, but it certainly could have run longer if the players had done a little more exploring. They enjoyed the game enough that we put together a ship and crew of our own the following week.

NCC-4215, The USS Black Sail (Excelsior Class)

The USS Black Sail has been launched on her 5-year mission from Starbase 4 to an uncharted system in response to a pre-Federation distress call. On the surface the away team discovers wreckage of Romulan origin and rescue a lone human survivor. Although under the influence of a psychotropic growth on the planet's surface, it's discovered that he's the Armory Officer from the Starship Atlantis. The Atlantis was an NX-class vessel that served in the Earth-Romulan War and was presumed destroyed in the conflict...over 100 years ago!

First Western Canada DC Universe Miniatures Game Tourney Results!

On January 6th, 2018 several players from around Alberta gathered at Eastridge Sports Cards & Games to play in our very first DC Universe Miniatures Game tournament. We had 8 players registered to play and had a great day of games, pizza and fun!

Tournament Results & Crew Lists

8th Place: "Clipped Wings" (Charles)

Classic Superman, Wonder Woman, Supergirl, Black Canary, Hawkman, Hawkgirl

7th Place: "Earth 2" (Brad)

Classic Superman, Wonder Woman, Martian Manhunter, Hawkgirl, Batman (Ben Affleck)

6th Place: "Cuddly Bunny" (Micheal Hooper)

Doomsday, Superwoman, Power Ring, Johnny Quick, Ravager

5th Place: "Magic FTW" (Mike Davis)

Doctor Fate, Wonder Woman, Hawkman, Hawkgirl, BvS Superman

4th Place: "Ane Justice For All..." (James)

BvS Superman, Shazam, Doctor Fate, Wonder Woman

3rd Place: "Beastly and the Owl" (Marcel)

Darkseid, Atrocitus, Sinestro, Owlman

2nd Place: "JL-eh?" (Elton)

Darkseid, Parademon 1, Parademon 2, Parademon 3, Black Adam

1st Place: "Justice League Swamp" (Joshua)

Red Son Superman, Aquaman, Swamp Thing, Batman (Rebirth), Flash

Fellowship Voted: Mike Davis

Best Painted Voted: Joshua Paquette

Thanks so much to everyone who brought scenery and such wonderfully painted models.  Each of you helped make it a great event to continue growing our great community.