All posts by Darren

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Last Days, miniatures, miniatures painting, new arrivals, painting, RPG

And we’re back. This post is going to be all over the place (when aren’t they?) But we are starting off with a look at the progress I’m making with the Alien miniatures to use with Last Days (and the RPG).

I have 13 aliens assembled which includes the Queen. Which means I have 12 more left to do. However I decided to paint the assembled ones before putting the remaining ones together.

That meant I needed to decide how I was going to paint them. So it was off to the internet to look for some painting tutorials. Luckily with the older now out of print AvP game and the new Alien game there are one or two posts and videos about painting the aliens. And you guessed it they all had different colour schemes! Which means choose the finished look you like the most and follow that. And that’s what I did.

Here is the tutorial I decided to follow.

So far I have primed the figures with a black primer. Then dry brushed the models with Runefang Steel (which I just realised is the wrong paint! It should have been Leadbelcher! But I actually like the way it’s turned out.) Finally after the dry brushing I applied a wash of Nuln Oil. Now I just have to wait for that all to dry now before proceeding with more dry brushing. But that’s tomorrow’s job.

Painting progress of the Alien miniatures

You’ll also see above that I have some more supplies in to start painting the Big Bang Theory figures with. The important one was the orange brown for Raj. The others were just getting more in off paints I already had.

Not board game related but I do talk video games from time to time on here. And let’s face it I have been playing them since the dawn of the entertainment media that it is.

A couple of years back the Royal Mail issued commemorative stamps celebrating the rich history and achievements of the British video game industry.

Back then I didn’t have the resources to get a set of the stamps. But I did now. So when I saw that I could still buy them whilst pre-ordering the upcoming commemorative stamps celebrating British sci-fi. Well I snapped them up.

Royal Mail commemorative stamps celebrating the British video game industry.

I’m not a stamp collector. But these like the Asterix stamps that I have are just pretty cool to own.

The stamps bring back some find memories of simpler, more care free times. There was a sense of pioneering, pushing boundaries with the games back then.

The only drawback I see with these stamps is that Llamasoft and Jeff Minter are not represented. I love Llamasoft games. They have a unique feel, almost purity to them. Minter has been a gaming hero of mine since the early 80’s. He’s a coding god in my eyes.

Alice is Missing arrives

Finally I’ve been able to get a physical copy of the silent RPG Alice is Missing (I have a digital copy).

I just now need to organise a game or two using the discord server I have access to. Oh and learn how to assign roles, etc in discord. But that’s an apathy thing to overcome.

BBT Squad Prep and Aliens

Alien, Last Days, miniatures, miniatures painting, painting

It’s been a couple of days since I last graced this blog with my shallow thoughts and poorly formed opinions. But isn’t that just the way things are during this global event?

Although gaming has not been taking place in meat space, we did have another virtual game night last Wednesday. And our four player game of Wingspan has reached just over the mid point of round three! But that is all hardly worth writing about (unless I get really desperate for something to say, and that includes a massive misplay by Jonathan in our game of Love Letter).

I did dig out the Zombicide figures for the Big Bang Theory characters and primed them ready for painting.

The Raj figure presented me with a problem painting that I hadn’t come across before. That problem being skin tone. Luckily Duncan was able to point me to some great resources online, such as this CMoN post and this one. I now have a Vallejo Orange Brown on its way.

Looking back at the post where I spec’d them out as a Last Days squad to use I felt a bit embarrassed by what I did. So I will be revisiting this squad and “fixing” it.

I did spend some time this morning cutting and gluing some of the Alien miniatures that Gale Force Nine sell and that have ended up in my possession. The plan is to try and do some of these each day. Or every other day. Or the mood takes me! Look apathy is a real thing ok?

At the moment I have 20 more warrior aliens left to put together. Plus the Heroes of Hadley’s Hope which is 13 figures. And at some point hopefully in the near future the assets and hazards model pack will also drop through the letter box, and that also gets added to the model building queue.

Now you can see why I came up with the above plan to tackle the number of models that need building.

After all that building I then have to paint them! Although I think I might be able to get away with not painting the aliens!! Plus finish off the outstanding bits I need to do rules wise.

All this to add Aliens to Last Days and to use if I get to run the RPG. But I think it’s going to be worth it. Last Days has the potential to be the best Alien based game going!

Twilight Imperium the RPG

genesys, news, RPG

[said in the voice of The Rock] Finally! Genesys gets a new source book!

Announced yesterday by FFG and Edge Studios on pages 4 and 5 of the Twilight Codex issue 2 that they released was the news that the next source book for the Genesys RPG system will be a TI4 setting.

Pages 4 and 5 from Twilight Codex issue 2

The Twilight Codex is a web-based publication (basically a pdf you can download) that highlights rules updates and showcases new content for Twilight Imperium: Fourth Edition and its Prophecy of Kings expansion.

So it’s the natural place for FFG and Edge Studios (who are now the guardians of the RPGs that belonged to FFG) to announce a sourcebook set in the Twilight Imperium Universe.

We can get a hint of things to come by looking at Chapter 6: Space Opera of the core rulebook. This chapter looks at the setting Space Opera and uses Twilight Imperium as its example. I am looking for psionics to be expanded much in the same way netrunning rules were in Shadow of the Beanstalk.

Hopefully we will also get adversary cards to go along with source book.

I would say this announcement has been long over due by Edge Studios. Whose silence over upcoming Genesys related stuff has been infuriating and given the impression that the system may be deceased.

The new Genesys setting was not the only announcement within the pages of the Codex. There were also details of two novels set in the Twilight Imperium universe.

Twilight Codex page with book details.

It would appear that FFG are giving Twilight Imperium the Android treatment. It’s a shame Android isn’t getting some more love. But I’ll take the Twilight Imperium stuff gladly.

Triffid Apocalypse Imminent

Last Days, miniatures, miniatures painting

I’ve been quite the last couple of days. The creative bug came over me and I painted the triffid minis!

After doing a test mini, I streamlined the process by having a gradient from just three colours. Which speeded up the painting production line.

So that’s the triffids are “table ready” for using in Last Days.

Now all I need to do is work out is what the collective name for a group of triffids is!

Last Days: A Triffid Apocalypse! Another Update!!

Last Days, miniatures, Skirmish

After the first update to the stats I got some further feedback. Which raised some good points. So I’ve included once more the feedback from Facebook below, but not the feedback/comments from the first update (you can view them easily enough if you click on the link).

Please also remember that my inspiration source is the 1981 BBC tv series adaptation of the book. Although where there are gaps that need filling I use the resources linked to in the original post. The aim has also been to try and keep things rule light as possible while getting the triffid theme over.

I need to think about the spawning rules, and if they need changing from the core rules, and see how things feel. I do like the points raised. So once I can play test these with my friend there may well be a future update covering this.

The fire weapon doing double damage, see what you mean when I reread the Head Shot trait. Hopefully fixed that.

I have added stats for a triffid gun now. The disclaimer below really does apply to this.

On the first aid front, yep not thought that out enough. I think for this to work medical supplies needs to be something that can be equipped from the start, and used in game with the interact action. If used this way it’s gone and can not be used again. One and gone so to speak. I’m thinking a cost of 2 scavenger points to add medical supplies to a character.

Please note: These stats have not been play tested. I repeat have not been play tested. They are my initial thoughts, and a work in progress (this is the third interation). They are likely to change once I get a chance to play test them.

To Do (still):

▪ Play test this!

▪ Come up with campaign additions to cover a character becoming blind if they survived an attack and got hit on bare skin.

The source I used to help with the Triffid Gun stats is this link.

1 Triffid Down…

Last Days, miniatures, miniatures painting, painting

I know I should be finishing the stat update for the triffids. But hear me out. I started painting the triffids instead.

Basically what follows are notes for me so I don’t forget what I did. All paints used are Army Painter.

Despite painting the base coat of all the triffids, I decided to do just one to completion to iron out any kinks in the process.

The base coat for the stem of the triffid is deep yellow and white mixed together (equal parts). I think this when dry works very well, and gives me the colour I wanted on the stem in the middle.

I then used Pure Red, Lava Orange and Phoenix Flames for the layering/gradient. I didn’t go straight from one to the other when painting. I would mix equal parts of the previous colour with the new colour first and do a layer of that, before moving onto the new colour. I’m not too happy with how the “flower” front came out. It’s too solid one the red, and needs a bit more orange coming through.

The base of the triffid is Wet Mud, with the bit around the prongs Wet Mud mixed with equal parts white. And the prongs are ash grey.

A diluted Green Tone wash is applied. I like the green tinge the stem takes on. And I think it has really worked wonders on the lower half.

Once dry I super glued the triffid to a base. The I flocked the base. For once a little glue sticking flock to the triffid bottom works in my favour and makes the whole thing look better!

1 triffid down, 20 more to do!

FN-2187

Last Days, lego minifigs, miniatures, miniatures painting, painting

At the weekend for some reason I got it in my head I wanted a Finn Lego minifig with the now infamous First Order helmet with the bloodied hand print on it.

Naturally that isn’t something Disney or Lego are likely to sell.

So I did a quick Google to see if anyone was selling a custom figure. Instead I found a post/video showing how to do it myself using a toothpick and red paint.

I just needed Finn as a First Order trooper. Ok technically any First Order trooper would have done. But not for me. So eBay helped out by allowing me to purchase Finn in his First Order uniform. Which arrived this morning.

I then dug out a First Order trooper and removed its helmet. Then using a toothpick, and the Army Painter Zombicide Glistening Blood paint that I had, I painted on the infamous bloodied hand print on the helmet.

Which I think has come out looking quite good.

Yesterday I did finish off removing the supports from the final 6 triffids that Duncan printed for me.

I’ve now primed all 21 triffids ready to be painted.

After doing some research in how to paint the triffids. Which was mainly looking at triffid pictures from the 1981 BBC tv adaptation. I have a colour scheme that I will be using (just waiting for the Army Painter Wet Mud paint to arrive). At the moment I’m looking at tutorials on layering/blending because that’s the main technique I will need to painting the triffids.

Lastly the Alien miniatures arrived from Thirsty Meeple this morning. I just need the alien egg/face hugger pack to arrive.

Game Over, Congrats on your win

switch

Just checking in. It’s been more than a couple of days since the last post. So I thought I’d put up a still here post.

Yesterday I teased folks and my friends I’m actually playing the game with, with a “current state of play” screen shot of my reserve.

I can now reveal one of those blurred out birds from yesterday’s tease. Mainly because I played it this morning. Naturally my other cards are blurred out.

Yep I’ve played a Raven. It was in my starting hand. But I needed to get another bird out before hand so I can start making use of it. I also need ideally some sort of tucking cards thing going on. Round one for me has been about setting this up and some sort of engine around it. The following rounds are all about exploiting this little engine and making it more powerful.

This current game is making good use of the 24 hour time limit to take a turn. Don’t get me wrong I enjoy playing Wingspan with friends when we are all online at the same time and play is more or less real time, and banter etc is happening via a discord channel or messenger.

However that’s not convenient for everyone. So that we could include one of our friends in a game we started one with everyone playing committing to check in and take their turn once a day. I’m usually checking in to see if it’s my turn three times a day. Game play is naturally slower, but it’s inclusive. Although having to wait so long to drop the raven on everyone was excruciating.

I made the mistake yesterday of putting the The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (BotW) card into my Switch yesterday. The thinking was I’d get any updates installed so it’s ready when I get round to it.

However no updates were needed! And it went straight into the game. Several hours later.

BotW is a beautiful game. Nay stunning. So easy to get lost in it.

So instead of working on the alien stuff for Last Days or updating the triffids based on further feedback, I was exploring the high plateau on Hyrule.

But I do need to get back to this stuff. I now have some of the Aliens Another Glorious Day in the Corp models on the way. Plus I’m toying with the idea of basing the terrain on Hadley’s Hope. I do have a map of it from the Alien RPG. It’s just working out the best way to recreate it at an affordable cost.

Oh the post title? The later is the message I was expecting Jonathan to post once he saw I’d played a raven.

Arkham Asylum Mother’s Embrace First Impressions

apps, nintendo, switch

Last week Asmodee Digital and FFG (both part of the Asmodee Borg Collective) released Arkham Asylum Mother’s Embrace (AAME) on the Switch and other consoles.

Naturally this post will be looking at the Switch version of the game. So when I discuss things like graphic quality or other platform specific things they will not apply to the other platforms AAME is available on. Oh and I’m playing it on a Switch Lite.

AAME is set within the Lovecraftian Arkham Asylum universe that FFG created with their board games and living card game (lcg). I’ve enjoyed one or two of the board games, like Elder Sign, Eldritch Horror and Mansions of Madness 2. But the co-operative lcg Arkham Horror didn’t appeal to me, so I never bought it or played it. As for the whole Lovecraft Cthulhu theme with the elder gods, cultists and 1920/30’s setting it’s something I can take or leave.

Upon first loading up AAME I’m hit by the loading times. I’ve not timed it, maybe I should, but it does seem slow and take an age.

But as I navigate the menu, select my investigator, and start a new game, the cut scenes and starting in front of a house take me back to the early 1990’s and the “classic” MS-DOS game Alone in the Dark. That vibe just gets stronger as I start to walk around and explore.

If you ask Nathan the graphics aren’t much better than those of Alone in the Dark either. But in reality the 3D models may not be as good as those on other platforms, and feel more PS3 level at best. However they were more than serviceable and didn’t detract me from the game and getting sucked into the story.

You start AAME with the initial investigator that you chose at the start, but you are soon recruiting others into your team as you work through the chapters that make up the story.

During the game as you explore the location that the current chapter is set in, you can investigate certain parts of the room signified by a bright dot when far away, and a magnifying glass when up close.

Sometimes when you investigate an object you have a choice of options you can take. Chose the wrong one and the mythos clock goes up by one. If the mythos clock hits the top it resets, and forces all your current investigators to do a sanity check that if they fail will give them some sort of negative condition. But it’s not always guess work, if you gave a relevant investigator in your current team you get a clue as to the right choice to make.

I like that at the start of each chapter you select the investigators you want to take on that mission. Those left behind get rested and heal back up from any conditions they have from failed sanity checks.

One aspect I dislike about the game, and it’s done in many others too, is having captions on screen at the same time as the voice acting. I’ve read the text before the voice acting has finished. I must look at the options to see if I can switch this off. At list you can advance through it without having to wait.

Combat itself is fine. It’s turn based where you get to spend a number of action points to take one or more of the actions available to the character. The action point cost of actions varies on the action and character. Plus at the start of combat initiative is generated to decide the order of characters and enemies to take their turn. Very TTRPG like.

I like the quick access to the building map, equipment screen, story summary, and the objective summary. I also like the graphic design of these to be like and feel like a notebook.

Another nice touch is the auto saving, with the option to also create your own save point. This save point within the chapter will be where you start from if you need to quit and come back later, die etc.

I’m on the fourth chapter now and I’m enjoying AAME. I love the fact it takes me back to those days of playing Alone in the Dark. And I like that Asmodee Digital and FFG have chosen that style of game play. The story, the investigating a mystery also help in taking me back to those days. It may not have the flashiest of graphics. But they do the job.

MtG Arena App Update

apps, iOS, magic, MtG, MtG Arena

Thought I’d give a little update on the iOS version of Arena.

I raised a support call with WotC over redeeming the codes I had. Which they did respond to. You need to either use the PC/Mac version, or go to your account settings and https://myaccounts.wizards.com/code. Now this bit must be new (as in the last year) as I don’t remember WotC allowing codes to be redeemed via the web before.

Completed Colour Challenges!

So now I have some free packs and decks. Not many but some. It’s a start.

However having ground out the Colour (I refuse to use the American spelling here) Challenge unlocked the rewards as I progressed through each, and unlocked the other game formats. What it does not do is give me the free deck for having completed it, or acknowledge that I’ve completed it!

But Colour Challenge Not Complete!

The WotC twitter support did reply to my query about this with…

WotC Twitter Support Reply

So I visited the link, and created a feedback (that’s all it allows you to do) with the above screen shots attached.

In the meantime, I entered promo codes (happy I can do that now), ate, slept and other stuff.

With time to kill this morning I decided I’d check to see if I had a reply.

I want to say to my surprise there was no reply or even acknowledgement that my “bug” had been seen. But I was disappointed that there had not even been any form of acknowledgement. Which is the minimum you expect, even if it’s automated.

Naturally I voiced that disappointment via social media with the WotC Help account in a fairly civil manor.

I know the cards in this red/green deck aren’t going to be great. But they are cards none the less. Plus the challenge needs to be acknowledged as being completed so it can give me another to attempt (possibly). These challenges are one of the ways to grind out gems/coins and boosters for free. If the aim is to spend as little as possible (my total outlay so far has been a fiver on the intro booster offer) then this needs to be working.