Koyote

It was a chore, but I managed to finish two more commanipulares. Four down, five to go.

We finally have some details. LINKY

I just heard back from Joey (the other Joey). He is still waiting on the cover art, so my guess is February. :(

Good. Hopefully we will be playing another TNT campaign soon.

Here's my WIP Dead (Wo)man freelancer. I think that I'll call her Magda. I used GS to cover up the model's weird toes with wrappings, cover her bare breasts with a shirt, add backpack straps, and to patch up a few areas. I replaced the swaddled baby on her back with a plastic bit from the GW plastic Kroot kit. The holster was made by Victoria Miniatures and the pistol was made by Mad Robot Miniatures.

Well, here's the first two mounted Briton Hearthguard. The horses didn't turn out half bad considering these two horses represent my second and third attempts at painting horses, ever. Nevertheless, I'd be lying if I said that I enjoyed painting them. I do not like painting horses.

Here's my WIP Wandering Mutant conversion. I decided against the interchangeable weapons. The model's wrists are too small. The model's right arm, which you can't see in the photo, came from a Warlord Game plastic Celt sprue. I removed the weapon, carved the top of the upper arm to shape, attached it with glue, and filled in the gaps with GS. The rifle's stock didn't fit between the right arm and body, so I cut it down and then once the arm and gun was glued in place, I rebuilt the stock with GS. The model's third hand was malformed during the casting process. The two fingers were just tiny little nubs, so I used some GS to rebuild them. I'm not a fan of the model's original feet, so I made them a bit bigger and added a fourth toe. There are three big spiders crawling on the model, so I added a fourth spider to the base. This little fella came from a bit belonging to the GW Arachnarok kit.

Vonvilkee, if you have the money I can bring it to Dark Tower tonight, 6:30ish.

Over the years, four of my friends have opened game stores and then within a couple of years, closed their doors. It's a tough business and if your goal is to make a good living, you are in for a rude awakening. As such, unless you have other sources of income (e.g. good pension, spousal income, lucrative investments, etc.), I wouldn't recommend it. You can save yourself years of lost time and lost sleep by taking out loan for $100K, withdrawing it all in cash, and then lighting that $100K on fire. On the other hand, you probably shouldn't listen to me... If you decide to do this, I have a few pieces of advice. First, don't run the place like it's your own personal gaming club. My four friends fell into this trap and it played a significant role in their failure of their business. Your game store isn't your hang out, it's a business, so run it like a business. This, I believe, is one of the reasons why Nathaniel has been so successful. Dark Tower is run like a business. Second, if you can swing it, sell beer and wine. In Seattle, both Card Kingdom and the Raygun Lounge (formerly Raygun Games), are doing this and it's working. In addition to providing your business with another stream of income, it turns your game store into a destination for people who don't necessarily self-identify as "gamers". How many couples do you see playing games at Dark Tower? On weekends and in the evenings, you will see non-gamer couples and their non-gamer friends at Club Moxie (Card Kingdom) and Raygun Lounge, playing board games and having a few drinks. And unlike bars, these drinkers tend to be well mannered because getting drunk and looking for 'hook-ups' isn't their reason for being there. Third, rather than competing with Dark Tower, have you considered going into business with Nathaniel? Depending upon it's location, this could be Dark Tower 2. Nathaniel has an established and successful business model. He has business accounts, a line of credit, insurance, payroll, accounting, loyal customers, product knowledge, and a lot of experience in this industry. Why recreate the wheel? I'm confident that the two of your could create a win-win situation.

Battle Systems makes modular terrain assembled from durable cardstock and plastic clips. When I first decided to play TNT, I purchased both their City Block and Shanty Town sets. After assembling the City Block terrain, I realized that it's not very practical for weekly gaming at a game store. Transporting partially assembled buildings risks damaging the cardstock, and completely assembling and dissembling is too time consuming for 4 hours of game play at Dark Tower. If I played at home, it would be a different story, because I wouldn't have to transport it and I'd have much more time for set up and clean up. Long story short, I chose to go with traditional plastic and resin terrain and now I have two boxes of Battle Systems terrain gathering dust. I'm going to hold on to the City Block terrain for playing The Walking Dead, but I want to find a new home for the Shanty Town set, which is unopened and still has the plastic wrap on it. It retails at $95, but I'm willing to give you the Ordo Fanaticus discount and sell it to you for $50 (plus shipping). http://shop.battlesystems.co.uk/shanty-town-43-p.asp

Sister Sacris (Mutant)

An old, GW Sisters Repentia model was my first candidate for a Dead(wo)man model, but I decided that even after removing the eviscerator and the small reliquary on her hip, she doesn't fit the image of a TNT Tribal, so I changed course. Instead of a serving as an outcast Tribal freelancer, the model's hood and bizarre attire makes her a good candidate for my mutant cultist warband. Armed with a hand weapon and pistol, her focus will me melee. I think I'll put her in charge of the miscreants, Brothers Ick and Ack. I removed the eviscerator, reliquary, the chains on her left arm, and a weird flat section of her tabard and then used GS to repair and rebuild. The bat was made by Mad Robot Miniatures and the pistol holster comes from Victoria Miniatures.

This evil b@stard goes by the name Pig Iron. A mercenary gunsmith by trade and a killer by nature, he's a man of few words and even fewer interests. In fact, aside from Pina Coladas and getting caught in the rain, Pig Iron's only other passions are his salvaged minigun, Lullaby, and watching Lullaby turn his enemies into unrecognizable gobbets. Only the most desperate or deranged warbands would consider hiring this maniac. Pig Iron (Mercenary Gunsmith)

I've finished painting the last two Briton infantry wearing crested helms. This completes my third unit of 8 Briton infantry. At Adepticon, I' plan to use them as Warriors, but if I were to play them as Romans, they'd likely serve as Hearthguard.

Dunno. Next time you see me, hum me a few bars and it’s yours.

I got a free core box set in my Adepticon 2017 swag. It’s still the plastic wrap. Since you took pity on me during last year’s Dirty Santa and gave me the cool 4Ground Saxon Dwelling, you can have it for a song.

With all the modeling and painting that I need to do to prepare for the Adepticon SAGA tournaments in March, I know that I shouldn't even be thinking about another painting project, but I just can't help myself. Inspired by Lead Adventure Miniatures' The Last Project miniature line and my own (short) experience as a commercial fisherman, I would very much like to make make a warband of post-apoc fishermen who supply the settlements in and around post apocalypse Seattle with fresh, albeit mildly radioactive, seafood. Keeping with the theme, I'd probably make them a Caravanners warband. Instead of a Trade Master, my leader would be a Captain and the Caravanner Lieutenant would be the First Mate. Ahab would be too obvious of a choice for a captain, so I'd probably go with Captain Hemingway. Of course, he'll need one of those classic Aran fisherman sweaters. The Local Emissary elite choice opens up all kinds of possibilities for using fun minis. As a nod to Lovecraft, I could use a Deep One hybrid model as a Mutant Emissary. I could find a suitably awesome south pacific islander miniature, name him Queequeg, and use the mini as a Tribal Representative. I don't know what model I'd use for a Warden. I suppose I could find a cop mini wearing glasses and armed with a rifle, and call him Martin Brody. 'Smile, you son of a b****!' Caravanner Trackers are grizzled veterans and guides, so of course I'd have to name my Tracker, Quint. He'd need a cap, large sideburns, and a mustache. Of course, he'd need a machete. 'Farewell and adieu, you ladies of Spain.' Do you think this fella is supposed to be a nod to The Old Man and the Sea?

Perhaps you should try TNT instead?

Chavez (Veteran Scout Freelancer) It's that time of year again, so I need to get to work on my SAGA projects for Adepticon 2018. If, between now and the end of March my gaming group starts another TNT campaign or if I find that I need to take a break from Britons and Romans, I may add a few more post-apoc minis to my collection. Otherwise, it will likely be Spring before my paintbrush and I return to the ruins of post apocalypse Seattle.

Doctor Everett is my freelancer Sawbones, although, the model could also serve as a freelancer Merchant or Rogue Psychic.

TNT's Gas Mask Girl was a pleasure to paint. Like the illustration on page 71 of the rulebook, I gave this model red irises. This will let her pass as a mutant and not be entirely out of place alongside my mutant cultists. I will probably use her as Bounty Hunter freelancer, but she could also serve as Gunsmith or a Wasteland Hunter. Near the tail end of our campaign I got into a discussion about the general usefulness (or the lack thereof), of the different pieces of Equipment Types. When gas masks came up, I noted that we hadn't found much use for them in our campaign because nobody used any of the gas weapons. Later, this got me thinking. Sleep and tear gas grenades don't appear to be that effective, but I have to admit that I haven't tried them for myself, so in our next campaign Gas Mask Girl will be loaded for bear with both. And just in case one of her grenades deviates back onto her, she'll also be equipped, of course, with a gas mask. To emphasize my plans for her, I equipped the model with grenades and replaced the bag-o-guns on the model's back with a backpack and rebreather bit that I bought from Victoria Miniatures. The single strap that crosses her chest isn't enough to hold the backpack on, so I used GS to add some straps.

On a whim I decided to give Brother Bellator an improbable pair of wings. The wings come from an old GW harpy mini. The harpy's body is long gone, but the wings have been flapping around in one of my bits boxes for over a decade now. Brother Bellator (Mutant with wings mutation) Bellator will likely be the last mutant cultist that I'll need to paint. I just put primer on a converted TNT Gas Mask Girl model. I'm painting her so that my mutants will have the option to hire a (mutant) Bounty Hunter freelancer. Once she's done I'll be moving on to another project.

Novitiate Biess (Mutant)

Depend-o-Bot IG172/2 (IG-88 for short) was a victim of the Pre-Fall Americans' wasteful consumer culture. On his way out the door to purchase Apple's newest iBot, IG-88's owner had ordered the Depend-o-Bot to walk to the curb, crawl into a dumpster and deactivate itself. Compelled by its programming to obey, it did just that. It remained in a sea of mankind's refuse for a century or more, until it was exhumed by scavengers and sold to a Preservers' enclave. Among the Depend-O-Bot's first post-Fall memory was crushing a Horowitzian Savant's skull with its massive metal fist. Prior to reactivating the robot, the Preservers' had replaced its right arm with an integral assault rifle and lovingly restored its entire exterior to near mint condition. The Savant's hundreds of hours of labor mattered little to IG-88. Whatever code that had made it subservient to humans and incapable of doing them harm, had been corrupted or inadvertently deleted during the Preservers’ ham-handed attempts to reactivate their newest prize. Free from these restraints, IG-88’s self-preservation directive would not permit it to ever again become the disposable property of another entity. So when the Savant had given the newly activated Depend-o-Bot the command to 'stand', it took IG-88 a fraction of a second to analyze the vocal and tonal qualities of the Savant's command and reason that the human believed that IG-88 was its property. The Preserver enclave never had a chance

Brother Fumos is a terrible shot. In fact, he's probably the worst shot in the entire warband. None of this concerns the near-sighted Fumos, because when one is lobbing grenades at the enemy, a near miss is as good as direct hit and if grenade lands well away from the intended target, there is always the chance that the explosion will find other victims.