Why the Frostgrave project stalled. I was sculpting a Cthulhu Wars monster...

My post about my terrain build for Frostgrave dried up a bit, earlier this year. The main reason was that I landed a job to sculpt one of the monsters for the Cthulhu Wars expansion from Petersen Games.

I haven't been able to say much about it until now. However, Petersen Games have added a photo of the mini to their Kickstarter update, so I can finally let it all out...

The Librarian of Celaeno is a big beastie, the round plinth that she is standing on is around 80-90mm across.

The plinth with the piles of books was supplied by Fenris Games (the manufacturer of the minis).

I really enjoyed this sculpt, it is amazing how easy it is when you don't have to work within the restrictions of human, or known animal anatomy.

Crowdfunding, Wolsung and Sedition Wars

I signed up to three or crowdfunding projects last year. So far they have all come good!

The two I am going to look at today are the ones I have most recently received the good for.

First off, we have Wolsung, a Steampunk Skirmish game produced by Micro Arts Studio (MAS) in Poland. The crowdfunding project was launched on Indiegogo and well exceeded they initial goal, although that compared to some of the bigger crowdfunding projects of recent months, it was still quite a modest project.

The project was set up to produce a hard-backed rulebook for a set of skirmish rules based on the popular Polish Wolsung RPG rules. However, along with the rulebook MAS also included most of their range of Wolsung figures and some really attractive laser cut buildings and scenics as part of the promotion.

Having access to a laser cutter I haven’t actually bought any laser cut stuff from anyone before, so I was quite intrigued to get my hands on some of this so that I could see just how someone else designs theirs…

I also took a fancy to quite a few of the figures. Now, if it comes down to it, I probably wouldn’t have signed up to this one if it had just been for the rulebook. I already have more than enough different Steampunk rules, but I still need some more interesting figures before I can consider starting to run a game. So I threw in my name and over the course of the promotion I increased my contribution several times.

Here is what I ended up receiving, in the parcel, late last year.

Firstly we have the rulebook and the laser cut building. The second photo shows the other two laser cut packs, a raised walkway (including the Wolsung ruler) and some market stalls.

Next up we have a faction starter set and some resin barrels/boxes. Finally the various blister packs of figures (including a couple of packs of MAS’s very nice resin bases).

 

Just yesterday I finally received the first parcel from the Sedition Wars Kickstarter project. I say finally, as I subscribed to this one back at the end of June last year and they have been promising to deliver from about September onwards… However, as the project was one of the Kickstarter runaway successes it is easy to see how the scale of production forced the delivery time back.

Sedition Wars is a board game based in the world created by Studio McVey. It features a group of human troops searching their way through a building complex and fighting a selection of mutated monsters (think Aliens meets Space Hulk). Now I can’t say much about the game mechanics yet as I haven’t had a chance to read them, however the miniatures are fantastic and the artwork on the board tiles and in the rest of the game materials is of an equal level.

This is what I got:-

Wow, what a box, UPS managed to puncture the box, but fortunately there wasn’t anything missing or damaged inside!

Not quite so impressive once out of the huge box, but for a board game it come in another very large square box… The other items here are the “freebie rewards”.

Once in the box you get a better idea of all of the contents. 50 miniatures with bases plus dice, counters, game boards etc.

I haven’t un-bagged any of the Sedition Wars miniatures yet as I really don’t want to loose any of the bits. I am clearing the current projects and then I will be spending a bit of time getting them together.

I will be spending more time on the blog looking at both of these games, as I assemble them and prepare to play.

Infamy Miniatures

There have been a rash of companies jumping on to the crowd fundraising bandwagon recently. With several wildly successful campaigns, CoolMiniorNot with it’s Zombieside board game, CMON again and Studio McVey with Sedition Wars board game and Mantic with their Kings of War board game, to name a few.

However, I would like to highlight a more humble project that has also reached it’s basic funding threshold and is stretching out into further rewards to subscribers. Infamy Miniatures came to my attention several months back with the release of their steampunk themed twisted visions of Dr Jekyll and Sherlock Holmes. Both of which were immediately added to my want list (although I didn’t buy them straightaway due to other commitments at the time).

I recently discovered that Infamy were expanding their range with a Dr Watson figure, the companion piece for Holmes. This Watson figure would be crowd funded via the Indiegogo site, One of the pledge levels offered both the Watson figure and two other figures from the Infamy range; a perfect time for me to get Holmes and Jekyll then…

The fundraiser has gone from strength to strength, making 3 times the original goal so far, still with 18 days to go.

I would suggest that anyone with a interest in steampunk figures, or simply beautifully sculpted diorama pieces checks it out:-

http://www.indiegogo.com/infamy-watson

As the initial goal has been well and truly passed extra incentives and rewards have been added, the latest being a scenic base for those that contribute $58 or more. Also the next figure in the range (Edwina Hyde, companion piece to Jekyll)  has been considerably accelerated (and I hope it may make it into the rewards scheme as well, in some form).

Carronade 2012 Wargames Show

This time of year is the busiest for me. The students I work with are approaching their final assessments and the workshop is very chaotic. We are all stretched to the limit and as such I find it difficult to do much hobby work in my spare time (this is why I haven’t posted to the blog for a while). So it makes a great break to get away to a decent wargames show for the day.

Carronade (in Falkirk) has been the highlight of the Wargaming year in Scotland for the past two or three years (at least as far as I am concerned – I haven’t managed to get to Claymore for three or four years so I can’t comment on the new venue for that show).

Last year I went to Carronade with a friend, Mike, who has since moved down to Durham. So this year I gave Jeff a lift down and we were also accompanied by my 7 year old son, who was really looking forward to having a try of one of the games!

I spent the first hour selling off a few things on one of the rentable Bring and Buy tables. This worked out really well as I ended up covering all of my spending for the day (including the petrol to get me down to Falkirk and back).

Anyway I suppose I should really get on to the Eye Candy…

Firstly, here are a selection of the wargames tables that were on display. I will identify the ones I can, but didn’t get a chance to speak to everyone so some will have to remain nameless…

54mm American War of Independence

Card Stock Mordheim. I am not a great fan of card terrain systems (as a professional model maker they somehow seem like cheating), however this table did look excellent!

I am not quite sure what this table was trying to achieve, it was split in two, with half being a WW2 game and the other half being a fantasy or sci-fi game…

WW2 Desert War

Epic W40K

A very nice Malifaux table.

A rather good Vietnam display. I have always been attracted to the Phantom, since my father and I built a 1/32 scale kit when I was a boy.

This was a great looking Pirate table, divided into several islands, each with a different piratical feel.

I was quite taken by the look of this Setting the East Ablaze game. The games is aimed at the period between the World Wars and mainly further east, this table was se in Egypt however and look great fun. I may well have to pick these rules and get some of Copplestone’s Back of Beyond figures to go with them.

The Urban War Demo Table, reminds me, I have some of these building sets… really must put them together!

A Very British Civil War, put on by The Gentlemen’s Wargames Palour

Warhammer Fantasy Battles, Lizardmen against Ogres!

Empire of the Dead, the new Steampunk rules from West Wind.

World War 2, probably Arnhem.

I didn’t get much time to look at the Painting competition, but this airship model did catch my eye.

Now moving right along, here are a few of the newer items from the various traders.

I am very impressed with Four A Miniatures, they are consistently adding interesting miniatures to their range. They seem to have an eclectic taste, jumping from fantasy to near future Sci-Fi quite at random, but all the miniatures have a very appealing style. I bought their new barbarian figure, and was sorely tempted by both their snow troopers and these brand new drop troopers (excuse the poor photography). What impressed me even more was that the proprietor actually remembered me from last year…

Next up we have a selection of Scheltrum Miniatures new releases. They have been expanding their Shattered Empires: German November Revolution range a lot recently and these new vehicles have got some real character.

These historical armoured cars will surely have uses for everyone from Back of Beyond fans, to VBCW and even Steampunk gamers.

Anyone who has read this blog before will know that I am a fan of the Critical Mass Games range of 15mm Sci-Fi miniatures. I participated I one of their demo games at Carronade last year and since built up sizable ARC Fleet and Praesentia armies.

After meeting Craig last year I work with CMG to design a series of laser cut game counter for their game. As I don’t have manufacturing facilities I wasn’t able to do the actual production counters for them (just some prototype samples) and the project has languished on the back burner for a good while. I was pleased to here, while I was at Carronade this year, that they have finally sourced a manufacturer for their counter. As such I was glad to see some of the prototypes in use on their demo table this year.

I had placed a small pre-order with CMG for their latest Mercenary figures as well as the new Alien Jungle Tree Trunks as well. These seem suitable for use as simple alien plants, with no further work (beyond painting), or also as trunks that you can add our own foliage to the top of. The handy thing for me is, that they are big enough that they will suit both 15mm and also my 28mm Pulp Sci-Fi collection!

While on the subject of my purchases, here is what I came home with.

My main purchase was the 7TV rules and it’s two expansions from Crooked Dice, the Summer Special and On Location. I am a big fan of the 60’s and 70’s TV, as I am sure anyone who grew up in that time is. So these rules really scratch an itch that I didn’t even know I had. As reference material I already have DVD sets of Captain Scarlet and Thunderbirds (notionally they are for my sons) and The Champions, The Saint and Callan, so ideal feeding ground for scenario ideas…

The Bring And Buy was also fruitful on the buying as well as selling front. My gaming buddies and I have regularly played the Ticket To Ride board game, which belongs to one of the other guys. I have considered getting it or one of the other games in the series on and off for several years. So when Jeff pointed out the Ticket To Ride card game for £5 it seemed to good an opportunity to miss. I also picked up 3 (unread) W40k novels, all of which I had previously been meaning to buy, and 2 W40k audiobooks for £2 each. Absolute bargain!

Finally, after purchasing the 7TV rules I was inspired to pick up some scenic items from Ainsty Castings that would be useful for the Pulp TV genre. Utility buggies and a laser table (well I do run a laser cutter all day at work). Conveniently these will be suitable for both “Hip” 60’s style scenarios and also for my Pulp Sci-Fi figures…

On the social side of things it was a good show, with both traders and visitors being in a friendly and most sociable demeanor. I chatted with lots of people, caught up with some people I have not seen for a while and put faces to a few people I have encountered on online forums.

The only disappointment was that my son and I didn’t get to take part in any participation games. There seemed to be a severe lack of them this year. Oh well, we’re hoping that either Skelp or Targe can satisfy that for us…

So that wraps up Carronade for this year.