Imperial Walkers on the North Ridge

 

I just had to paint the minis from the Battle of Hoth boardgame. They are really good sculpts with nice lined detail. Which means they should really take a wash well. And that they did!

Task Force Blizzard in all its glory. They look great on the map.

Echo Base Defenders hold the line, in winter style. 

Yes, one of the Snowspeeders has grey stripes. That is Rogue Leader (Luke). I watched the battle scene far too many times to try and pick out details like that. Mostly, I found a bunch of continuity errors. Making movies is hard. But painting these minis was easy! I'm still amazed at the details on these small minis. 

 Now to print up some 3D terrain...

Go Paint Something

And Increase the Immersion    

Visit Scenic Hoth, and Battle for it!

 

Battle of Hoth (Days of Wonder) was just released following a far amount of hype. This new Star Wars wargame joins the many fine games that use the "Command & Colors" system. Memoir '44 being the most popular, but I do love me some Battelore 2nd edition.  

BoH easily deserves the hype. Take one of the most iconic sci-fi ground battles, marry it with one of the best wargame systems, and add really great minis=instant classic. 

It features a slightly smaller map area compared to Memoir '44, but this just gets the action moving quicker. The art on the Command Cards is very good, and the card holders work well.

We've played about six games at this point and have loved it. Fast play time means more games! I've always liked games that you finish a battle, and then say "That was great! Now let's switch sides." 

The game has 17 scenarios plus an Epic battle that uses two sets. Plus a couple of campaigns that add new cards to both sides. 

Each side has three different kind of units. Represented by very well done minis. Nice sculpts and good detail. Yes, they are getting paint next week, how could you not? I may be looking at some 3D printed terrain as well. 

Very highly recommended. 

Go Play in the Snow

Wampas Not Included.

 

Surprise Inquisition in grey!

 

I have just received the Warhammer+ subscription figure, The Cool Guy and his Weird Friend, so I got a hankering to build some new style Inquisition forces to go along with them.

Oddly, there are no rules at all for these figures. Kinda weird, but the figs are cool.

Using the Inquisitorial Agents Kill Team box I made six agents and servo skull mascot. I added Inquisitor Greyfax to make sure they had some supervision.

But now I have a bunch of parts left over for the optional agents. Seems like a waste.

Luckily, The Necromunda Hive Scum 4-pack box works well enough with the spare parts to fill out my roster.

Now for some paint, and heretics to burn.

Go Build Something

Try Not to Leave Them Grey for Too Long

Yet More 3D Printed Terrain

 Somedays, you just wanna rock! Sorry. I'll see my way out.

Maybe I watched too many Road Runner vs Wile E Coyote documentaries, but I had a need for desert landscape with just rocks. I scoured the internets and came up with a nice selection of STL files to print.

The real winner here is the amazing filament we found: Rock Gradient PLA.

That's the way they printed. No paint at all! The future we are living in does have a few high points.

Go Make The Robot Do It

Just Pick Well

Arkham Horror The RPG

 

I have played various Arkham Horror games over the past few decades, and since Fantasy Flight re-published the original board game, they have expanded upon but kept the base lore for their setting across books, card games, and other board games. 

The very first Arkham Horror was a board game based off of the Call of Cthulhu role playing game. It was really difficult to win. Kinda like Call of Cthulhu I guess...

No surprise then that it comes full circle back to a role playing game and Edge Studio has brought us the Fantasy Flight version of the Mythos. The starter box set is crammed full of goodness: player and monster cards, GM screen, handouts, two double sided maps, a bunch of counters, and rules.

It's been quite a while since I've done any RPGing, but this system looks fun and easy to get into, so I may be roping some people into giving it a go soon.

Try Something New

Loosing Sanity is Never Out of Fashion

Free Helpful Files

 

Just a reminder that a few helpful STLs that Mrs. Blackheart has done are over at her Printables page:

And a few others. Check it out!

Go Print Something

That Helps You Do Other Things Slightly Better

Fresh Habs in Action

 

Of course if one has new terrain, you must battle upon it! 

Someday I'll try to get more pics during a game. Or maybe just do a battle only for the pics?

New Terrain, Fight!

Just Remember the Camera

Fresh New Habs

 

Don't you just hate it when a project gets this close to being done when stuff gets in the way, and it somehow shuffles off to the pile of Almost Done. 

The good news is once you finally summon the fortitude to re-engage and finish, it is somehow more fulfilling have wrested a project back from the edge of oblivion. Or is that just me? 

Anyways, I did just wrap up the terrain from some long ago Kill Team set, and added a nice little 3D printed landing pad. 

Now I just need to get a shuttle to put on that pad.

Go Finish Something

Change Almost Done to Newly Completed

Ad Mech Pict Captures

 

Just a handful of shots from the time I was trying to take "family photos" with my old camera. I took over fifty shots, but the vast majority came out blurry. I'm pretty sure something is going amiss with the auto focus. I made sure my new camera has a manual focus option. 

I was using two side and a top fill light, so that was not the issue. Maybe the CMOS chip is going bad. A good chunk were also very dark. Seven years is a good run for low-end digital camera. 

"Why yes, I do have several cats. Why do you ask?" Getting distraction-free backgrounds is tough when you are shooting pics from a real game in progress.

I will try this again soon, after I get the hang of my new camera.

Go Shoot Something

With Film, I Guess it's just Pixels Now

Campaign Teaser

 

The long delayed Inquisition versus Necrons campaign is finally moving forward!

Even more Necrontyr terrain is coming off the 3D printer as I type this.

Bigger update soon!

Wake the Dead

It's Time to Party

The Cygnians Arrive

 

New race for Battlefront Valkyrie. Easy to print and fun to paint. The Cylon-esque Cygnians are very distinctive, and called for a different paint job. I found Cobalt metal (a blueish metallic) from Army Painter, it looks great on them! Even if it really hard to see in these photos. I'm still working on the Hot Pink Prototypes...

Fighting killer robots just never gets old. Might as well look good doing it. I do believe we shall try a battle this weekend to give the game a go.

Go Sling Some Paint

By Your Command

Rocks in Space

As they say, printer goes brrrrt. I just got done painting the newly printed asteroids for Battlefront Valkyrie, and they look really good on the table. 

And not just space rocks! The ruler, turn gauge, energy and ship number markers are ready to go as well.

Very close to giving this game a go.

Go Make Something

Keep the Robot Working

 

Kill Team: SM2 Mission

 

Having just painted my Lt. Titus miniature, I felt I should give the Kill Team: Space Marine 2 Mission Pack a go (free on the GW Community site). It has a slightly altered rules set, and stat cards for three Ultramarines: Titus, Gadriel, and Chairon, plus four Tyranid NPO cards: Tyranid Warrior, Lictor, Termagant, and Hormagaunt. Which I'm going to use in normal Joint Ops Kill team games. 

It's only one mission, but does have replayability, and will easily altered for more variances. I already have the outlines for a few new missions. 

Any game were Lictors are actually scary is a good thing in my book.

 A quick and fun time if you just want to break out some Marines and kill Xenos. 

Go Roll Some Dice

Even if Only the Lictor is Watching

The Barbie Star Collective

 

Funny things can happen when you say "It doesn't matter". 

Fat Dragon has released the 5th expansion for Battlefront Valkyrie, a brand new faction with a very cool Cylon-ish feel. I asked Mrs. Blackheart to print them for me on her fancy Prusa XL, and she asked, "What color do you  want them?" 

I am going to prime them, and then spray a silver base coat, so it didn't really matter, and I said so.  

I kinda love my hot pink, A.I. controlled starships. I think I may just try a dark wash and see what happens.

Go Make Something

Sometimes With Surprising Results