Koyote

The levy has been mustered to defend Britain from the Saxon invaders and the usurper, Arthur.

I made some progress over the weekend. I spent most of my hobby time finishing four more levy archers and getting started on the last four. One of the Great Kingdom builds that I'm considering for my Britons uses the Sapphire Elves rules. This will let me use the archer levy that I'm painting for my "historical" Britons as Warriors armed with bows in my AoM Britons warband. Warlord -mounted 8 Hearthguard -mounted 12 Warriors -bows 10 Warriors 10 Warriors 1 Behemoth 1 Static War Machine 1 Paladin -mounted I'm not convinced that it's worth 1 point to gain access the the domains of light and energy (my least favorite domains), so I doubt that I will be availing myself of the Sapphire Elves' Masters of the Magical Arts rules. I added texture to my Sacred Ground terrain piece and a few critters. I'm certain that I'll keep the raven/crow, but I'm still up in the air on whether or not the rabbit and badger will be included in the final painted piece.

I did a bit more work on my AoM models. I did some more GS work on victim's tunic and I added a slain monk (made by Wargames Foundry) to the giant's base. Here's the backstory. On the eve of battle, Mordred's warband was joined by Cribwr Gawr, Morgan Le Fey, and the sorceress' Pictish bodyguard. Upon spotting the newcomers, warband's priest, accompanied by his lay assistant, confronted the giant and the "witch", loudly declaring them to be a servants of the devil and imploring his Christian god to strike them down. The giant stared at the two men for a moment, and then reached down and picked up one man in each hand. Convinced that his faith would shield him, the struggling priest's protestations and threats grew in volume and venom. Annoyed and bored by his shrieking captives, Cribwr Gawr crushed the life out of both men, discarded their corpses, and then calmly continued his progress into the warband's camp. Convinced that discretion is the better part of valor, the onlooking Britons opened their ranks and let the giant stride into the camp. The war machine is Warlord Games' Roman Scorpion.

Do you have the SAGA 2.0 core rules as well?

The giants that I ordered from ArchaniaWorkshiop (a 3D printer who sells on Etsy) have arrived. I purchased Hill Giant and Frost Giant. With shipping and tax, the two models cost me $26, a bargain indeed. The models are made from a hard, brittle resin. By brittle I don't mean that the model is fragile, only that that material can't be bent or deformed because it will break. The detail is quite good and clean-up was minimal. The fellow pictured below is the Frost Giant. I removed the model's long hafted axe from its left hand, as it's kind of ridiculous and doesn't fit my theme. In its place I put a struggling victim that comes from GW's giant kit. I cut the bit in half and carved away the orignal hand that was grasping the victim. I glued the two halves to the Frost Giant's hand and used greenstuff to fill in the gaps and sculpt the bottom of the victim's long tunic.

I've completed Sir Agravain and the first four Levy archers. I need to do a bit more work on Agravain's face. Right now he looks like Sir Agravain the Terrified. Narrowing his eyes should help. To signify the Levy's lower rank and distinguish them from my Warriors and Hearthguard, I painted their tunics are the color of unbleached cotton. As usual, my camerawork and lighting are poor. In person, the reds are a deeper shade.

I’ve started work on a Sacred Ground terrain piece for Age of Magic. It can also be used as a Ruins terrain piece in standard Saga. In both my “historical” and AoM warbands, most of my Britons are early-Christians, but Mordred, Morgan Le Fay, and many of their men keep the old gods and the old ways. In my “historical” version of the warband the unit of mercenary Guides is represented by Morgan and her Celt Warriors. In my AoM version I am going to use the same idea to add crossbows to my warband. Instead of Guides, Morgan’s contribution to my AoM Britons will be a unit of Picts armed with crossbows and the giant, Cribwr Gawr. My AoM Britons’ ties to their pagan past give me the excuse to incorporate some terrific standing stone models (made by Scotia Grendel Miniatures) into my Briton’s AoM Sacred Ground terrain. I purchased the the rocky hill from Terrainify, a 3D printer that sells on Etsy. They sell this hill in 3 different sizes. For this project, I’m using is the middle size. It measures roughly 7.5” x 6”. Below are some WIPs.

The 2019 SAGA FAQs are available at the Studio Tomahawk website. The FAQs cover the main rules, all of the faction books, and the Book of Battles. LINKY

One of the brilliant aspects of SAGA Age of Magic is the ease in which you can bring your historical SAGA warbands into AoM. I had already planned to add a unit of 12 levy archers to my Britons to take advantage of levy rules in SAGA v2, but now that AoM has landed, I've decided to expand the warband even further so that my Britons can be played as a Great Kingdoms warband. I want to keep my original Arthurian "villains" theme, so I am going to restrict my weapon selection (e.g. no crossbows or firearms) and monsters to the early Welsh Arthurian stories. My first AOM additions will be a mounted Captain (or Paladin) and a Static War Machine. The Captain will be Mordred's oldest (half?) brother, Sir Agravain the Hard Hand. Like Mordred, in the earlier versions of the myths Sir Agravain is a flawed character but he isn't the villain Mallory makes him out to be. Sir Agravain is a brute so he'll make a good enforcer, but he isn't especially charismatic, so Mordred needn't fear his men switching loyalties. The model that I'm using Sir Agravain comes from Footsore Miniature's Late Roman Cavalry Command set. The war machine is Gripping Beasts' Late Roman Scorpio. Like most of GB's older minis, the sculpts are meh. Warlord Games sells a much better scorpion, but it's triple the cost of the GB model. If I find that the war machine works well for me, I may break down and order Warlord Games model and donate this one to a friend. Stronghold Terrain sells a very nice Late Roman Manuballista (which I own), but the models are very small, even for historicals. It's advertised as 28mm scale, but compared to GB and Footsore 28mm historicals, the Stronghold Terrain manuballista looks like it is being crewed by children. The next new addition to my AoM Britons will be much more fantastic in nature. Giants play a prominent role in the early myths of Britain's founding, so it's not surprising that they pop up, time and again, in many of the Arthur myths. In a Welsh myth, Arthur uses treachery to kill 3 giantess sisters and when their brother, Cribwr Gawr, reproaches Arthur, Arthur threatens Cribwr Gawr with death. In my warband's AOM backstory the giants are no friends to the Britons, but when Mordred offers Cribwr Gawr the opportunity to kill Arthur, an uneasy alliance is formed. I spent quite a bit of time online searching for a model that fits my vision of a giant from Celtic myths. Even though it's a giant, I don't want the model to be too tall as this could make it look too out of place among the rest of the warband. Even though it's monster in a fantasy warband, I don't want it to have any armor or carry any weapons that would look out of place for the semi-historical period that my warband inhabits. I finally settled on a hill giant miniature printed/cast by a seller on Etsy. The model is a bit too plain, so my plan is to gussy it up some using greenstuff and plastic bits from other kits.

I finally got around to finishing all twelve areas of blackberry bushes. Like their construction, painting them was a breeze.

The model on the left is from Copplestone Castings' Scavengers model line. When I purchased the model, I had intended to incorporate it into my post-apoc fishermen warband or to use it as a Freelancer. In either case, I wanted to upgrade its weapon, so I replaced the model's original weapon with an assault rifle. I don't quite yet know what I'm going to do with this model. It will likely show up somewhere in the campaign. The robot is the from Hydra Miniatures Robot Legion model line. I replaced the model's 1950s sci-fi death ray pistol with a much more fearsome weapon that, if memory serves, came from sci-fi weapon sprue made by Reaper Miniatures. The robot's head is indeed the head that came with the model, but it's not attached to the torso as the sculptor intended. What is now the robot's "face" is actually the bottom of the head bit. It's the 'ball' portion of the ball and socket joint that connects to the head to the torso. By rotating the head, the model's head is now shaped like an elongated snout that looks, IMHO, more menacing than the original design. I've included a photo of the original model from the Hydra Miniatures' webstore so you can compare the two. For the purpose of the campaign, the robot, R0-MLL, will provide Cyborg Hitler's goons some heavy firepower in the form of a plasma caster. Hydra Miniatures Optio (HYM-2208)

I've finished the last of the Post-Apoc, Pulp Space Nazis. I have one or two more ideas that I'm tinkering around with, but for now this is it for the Space Nazis. The first is the saucer's sinister Master-at-Arms armed with his death ray, Eva. Next is the saucer's surgeon and chief science officer, accompanied by his robotic assistant, Lil' Adolf. Last is the mysterious, commander of Cyborg Hitler's bodyguard -a powerful psyker who likes pina coladas, getting caught in the rain, and crushing ribcages with his massive mechanical fist.

Weekends work best for me, but I can probably swing an occasional Tuesday night.

Last week I received notice from Fireforge Games that my Forgotten Worlds Kickstarter goodies will be sent to me shortly. Last year, I made my decision to back the Forgotten Worlds campaign because their Living Dead Peasants are amazing, I figured I could use them in Mordheim and Frostgrave. But now that AoM is available, I have use for the Living Dead characters, knights, and warriors as well. What Forgotten Worlds' Living Dead model line does not yet have are large creatures or war machines, so I going to start looking at what other manufactures have available. GW is putting out a lot of cool undead beasties for AoS. Suddenly, I find myself very interested in Fantasy minis again.

Very nice. They look ready to bash-in some mutant cultists and space Nazi skulls (none of whom will be "very fine people".) I have all the critters painted for the first scenario, so he next step is to set a date where we can all get together an play.

I've finished two more saucer crewmen. Indiana Jones LINKY

I've finished another two members of Cyborg Hitler's bodyguard. Below is a group pic of the four completed models. Below is a WIP shot of some more "very fine people": the saucer's Master-at-Arms, the commander of Cyborg Hitler's bodyguard, the saucer's surgeon, and a crewman with a heavy weapon.

More bad guys for my Dog Days of Summer TNT narrative campaign. I have another 9 or so Space Nazi models lined up on my paint bench, waiting for paint. The first are three are crewmen who fell victim to rad zombies and were abandoned by their fellows. These minis are German Zombie Bombs from West Wind Productions' Secrets of the Third Reich model line. Like most of West Wind's stuff, they were poorly cast, but I bought them at a deep discount from a seller of eBay, so I can't complain too much. These next two are members of Cyborg Hitler's elite bodyguard. These minis are Scouring Gestapo Guards from Pulp Figures' Weird Menace model line. These wonderful sculpts are well cast and their simple, cartoony features were pleasure to paint. Pulp Figures is one of my favorite manufacturers. Whats crazy about Pulp Figures is its fixed US prices and how much it charges for shipping. The company is located in British Columbia, the province directly above my home state, Washington. Nevertheless, if I order directly from Pulp Figures they will charge me $18.40 US to ship each pack of 4-5 minis -no combined shipping. Crazy. Each figure pack costs a fixed $17 US, so shipped, each set of 4-5 minis costs $35.40. Rather than pay $70 for two packs of 4-5 minis (GW prices), I ordered the same minis from North Star Military Figures in the UK. Including VAT and shipping, I purchased both packs for $30 in total. Why order from the actual manufacturer that is 225 miles away when I can get the same models at half price from a retailer that is 4,621 miles away? Oh, and thank you Brexiteers. I continue to appreciate the favorable exchange rate. The pound dropped a bit lower than it is right now in 2017 and 2018, but according to the chart I Googled, before those dates it hasn't been this low since 1985.

So you see, what this all boils down to is that it's Jim's fault.

Not only was I an eye witness to how things "broke down", but as some of you may recall, in June of 2017 we created a record of Hamsters' spiral into corruption and chaos. LINKY Below are some of the highlights.

Wait. Hold on. Are you saying that the vote that made me a Hamster was invalid? First you call me a crony, a hobby killer, and a bully, and then you tell me that I'm not even a Hamster??? Oh boy, you guys play rough up here. And I thought gamer drama in Seattle was bad. Since that's the way it's going to be, I am going to form my own gaming club. I'll call it the Bellingham War Gerbils. And we won't be Richard Gere/Lemmiwink kind of gerbils. Oh no. We'll be the tough sort of gerbils that don't take no guff from anyone. And our logo will be a cartoon gerbil armed with a .45, kicking a cartoon hamster in the balls. That'll teach you to toy with my emotions.

I have no interest in playing politics or defending the club’s bureaucracy. I posted what I posted because I felt that people were jumping to conclusions and treating you two unfairly. My intention was to create a roadmap for resolving the matter fairly and in a manner that allows you to show some contrition. @VonVilkee: Which am I, a crony, a hobby killer, or a bully? Hmm? I suppose it’s possible that I’m all three?

Munkie, did you spend the money to benefit the club as a whole or purely for yourself and few select members? I ask because if its the former, then we should stop throwing around the terms 'theft' and 'steal'. If Munkie's intent was not criminal, then it's unfair to label his actions as such. We should also hold off on that ad hominem attacks until all of facts are known. From what I've read thus far, it sound like the funds were used without permission and thus should be returned, along with an apology. Also, Munkie should provide the club's leadership with a itemized lists of the items purchased with the club's money. A list that accounts for every penny spent. Lastly, I recommend that the club's leadership look at what Munkie purchased with the funds, and if they like it, the club should consider using some of its funds to buy them from Munkie. And since Munkie is very sorry for what he did and wants to set thing right, Munkie should consider selling those things to the club at a discount. Munkie and the club leadership can negotiate the price, offline.

I've painted more unpleasantness for the campaign. These ugly critters will serve as some form of mutant tick. With a body mass two to three times that of a grown man, lord knows what sort of creatures these enormous ticks find in the wastes to regularly feed upon (maybe they too are part of the Rad Zombie food chain), but if a wastelander comes blundering by, they have no compunction about adding some variety to their diet. The models are Hell Mites, made by Heresy Miniatures. It is my impression that Heresy Miniatures is a fairly small operation, but they have a lot of fun sculpts and they've always given me excellent customer service, so they have my recommendation. I want to start the campaign in June, but I still have quite a few models in need of paint. To prepare for campaign's first scenario, I need to paint 6 more Rad Dogs and 3 'special' Rad Zombies. The overall aim of the campaign is to hunt down and kill the Off Worlders (space Nazis), so added to my painting queue are 9 Nazi minis made by Pulp Figures and a few other assorted bad guys.