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Tabletop wargaming and other nerdery

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  • Heroforge: Lago Ratburgher – Now in Glorious Technicolor

    Posted on February 12, 2021 7:00 am by gdaybloke Comment

    As a roleplayer, it’s often a challenge finding a miniature that’s -just right- to represent my characters. That somewhat changed a few years back when Heroforge started producing customizable miniatures, taking advantage of advances in 3-D printing and designing a fairly robust website that let clients choose just what components they wanted for their figures. Different races, different poses, different equipment loadouts; it quickly became a quick and easy way to design character visuals, and most of my D&D Beyond character sheets have a Heroforge headshot.

    Last year, Heroforge kicked it up a notch by adding custom colorization of your figure, and the option to have your model printed in glorious technicolor. As someone who enjoys the act of painting, this feature didn’t immediately appeal to me personally, but I totally get that there’s a lot of gamers out there who don’t enjoy painting, so for them it as an amazing opportunity.

    Roll it forward to the recent holiday season and early January, and I got older, and my stepson decided he’d like to buy me a Heroforge model. This presented what we in the blogging world call an opportunity. I’m always keen to have more minis in my collection, and now we had a chance to not only get a mini for another of my PC’s, but also to see what Heroforge‘s colored models come out like!

    Enter: Lago Ratburgher, Halfling Rogue drafted into the Ratburgh constabulary to serve as an archer.

    Let’s be clear, this isn’t my first Heroforge model, so I knew to expect possible layer lines from the printer, and we got them. The graininess hasn’t been evident on all of the Heroforge models I’ve painted in the past, but it’s not unknown. The point of all this, though, was to look at the color.

    Realistically I knew not to expect the same lustre and vibrancy that we got on the 3-D render, but I’ll confess I expected a little more than we actually got. The coins on the base are a dull yellow, the arrowhead and helm are greys – it may just be that metallics aren’t really dialed in yet – and the three gemstones on the base are all quite dull.

    Conversely, I was impressed by the precision. Each quilted diamond of the armor has a darker center and lighter edges as portrayed in the render; the blue trim is spot on, as is the trim around the kneepads. There’s even color variation in the skin under his cheekbones.

    What made me smile, oddly enough, was the shiny spot on the helmet. That white spot near the front right of the helm’s crown is present both in the render and on the model – they’ve got color gradation doing a pretty good job of presenting reflective surfaces on steel, even if the coins in the sack do look a little like ravioli. I mean, he -is- a halfling, it’s totally understandable if he’s been looting pasta.

    The verdict?

    As someone who enjoys painting, I will likely not be relying on Heroforge for color printed models. I’ll happily use Heroforge for custom figures, but I’ll tackle the color chores myself – both because painting is a big part of the hobby for me, and because I like my models to have stronger saturation. For a non-painter, though, someone who may not be into painting ? The color service provides a simple, straightforward way to put your favorite character on the tabletop.

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    Painting Reviews RPGs 📎and tagged D&D Heroforge
  • SkeletonKey’s Dossier Decks: Pobbs Willodan, Haunted Goldsmith

    Posted on September 4, 2020 7:00 am by gdaybloke Comment

    It isn’t easy being a DM. Whether you’re putting your players through a published adventure or a world of your own creation, there’s a lot of preparation that goes into crafting an experience that (hopefully) you party will find interesting and engaging. A lot of time is spent working on story points, working out maps, gauging the threat potential of various gribblies to make sure they’re not a cakewalk but at the same time not a guaranteed TPK. One thing that can really breathe life into your world, though, is who your characters interact with. A well-crafted NPC can become as memorable as any boss fight, and can lead to more adventures than you’d planned.

    Enter the new Dossier Decks from SkeletonKey Games. Helmed by Ed Bourelle, SkeletonKey made a mark for themselves in the RPG Accessory field with their scrolls, stunning art representations of common spells used in D&D, physical props to add an extra element to your tabletop adventures. With the new Dossier Decks they’re looking to make life easier for the dear, beleaguered DM who’s in need of a little extra inspiration, or perhaps just to fill the gap when the players express an unforeseeable curiosity about that throwaway fishmonger who was never intended to be anything more than background noise.

    There are four decks currently available – Commoners, Wizards, Merchants and Orcs/Goblins. Each comes with three types of cards – Appearance, Traits, and Story Hooks – and all four decks can be shuffled together to make one oversized NPC generation engine. For today’s experiment, we’ve popped open the Merchants box, and drawn one of each card at random as an example of how it all comes together.

    Our NPC is the lavender-haired gnome Pobbs Willodan. A consummate host, Pobbs is borderline obsessed with ensuring his clientele are well catered to, even to go so far as insisting that their wineskins are full before they leave. Possessed of a prodigious digestive system himself, nothing upsets his own stomach, so no doubt he’s constantly on the lookout for new delicacies and unusual gastronomic experiences. From the story hooks, there’s a legend of a ghost ship whose crew can only come ashore once a year, seeking their stolen booty… and conveniently Pobbs has a chest that magically appears to hold whatever is valuable or desired by the viewer, but said treasure is incorporeal.

    Alright, let’s put this all together.

    Continue reading → Post ID 20761

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    D&D Reviews 📎and tagged 5e D&D Ghost Ship Gnome
  • Dungeons and Lasers: The Driud Was Right!

    Posted on July 13, 2020 7:00 am by gdaybloke Comment

    It’s a fun day when a Kickstarter delivers, isn’t it? Friday afternoon a box appeared at the maw of the Gdaycave, and I was chuffed to find a bunch of floors and walls and stuff from Archon Studio‘s Dungeons & Lasers Kickstarter. This was one of the more fun campaigns I’ve supported, with the updates coming from “Roblin the Goblin”, a devious little trickster in service to Lord Bubo, master of the dungeon. The Kickstarter delivered clip-together components to create a three dimensional dungeon for tabletop roleplaying games, though I confess part of the motivation for me was having a selection of great terrain to use for taking pics of models.

    The stretch goals included some great fantasy and sci-fi components to bring the rooms to life, which will also make for some great scatter terrain or base details for models. Some of the sci-fi elements will be great for my Marvel: Crisis Protocol models, and we’ll see if any find homes on Warcaster models, or perhaps I’ll finally get some 40K assembled.

    The real treasure in the Kickstarter, though, is the Animal Companions Pack – “The Druid Was Right!”.

    A smattering of species, most with both a fantasy and a sci-fi variant, and a few mimics for good measure. Friday night was subsumed in short order by the clipping of components from sprues, and the heady aroma of plastic cement. Now I get to show you the adorable fruits of my labors.

    Continue reading → Post ID 20761

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    D&D Reviews 📎and tagged animal miniatures Animals
  • Conquest: Nords – Stalkers

    Posted on May 6, 2020 7:00 am by gdaybloke Comment

    When an FLGS (Torchlight) says “Hey, we’re looking at getting this game in to the store, new stuff, rules designed by Alessio Cavatore, you wanna take a bo-peep at some of the minis?”, the only reasonable response is “Surely, guv, that’d be crackin’!”. Cavatore’s resume includes plenty work for GW including the LOTR strategy game and Mordheim, Bolt Action for Warlord games, and a number of titles for River Horse including the Labyrinth board game, and the My Little Pony Tails of Equestria RPG. He’s a talented game designer with a solid stable of titles under his belt, so is stands to reason that Conquest: Last Argument of Kings should be worthy of a look.

    The full rules for the game are available as a downloadable PDF on the official website, but today we’re focusing on some of the minis. There are four factions in the game – the Hundred Kingdoms (Noble humanity), the Spires (Fleshshapers), the Nords (Wilder humanity) and the Dweghom (Dwarves). The setting has a few standard fantasy setting tropes, and the Nords caught my eye with their savage nature. Think the Wildlings from Game of Thrones if  you’re looking for an approximate corollary. A knock on my door later in that evening, and a box of Nords Stalkers made their way into the Gdaycave.

    Continue reading → Post ID 20761

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    Reviews
  • Metro Morph modular wargaming terrain

    Posted on April 15, 2020 7:00 am by gdaybloke Comment

    Point one: Terrain making is NOT my strong suit. Point two: I played Necromunda back in the 90’s, with its modular card-and-plastic terrain. Point three: The Necromunda relaunch a few years back was basically designed for 2D play. Later expansions and rules covered playing in the classic style with catwalks and gantries and ducking around elevated bulkheads, but the relaunch set was basically set up as a boardgame. The came the Metro Morph modular wargaming terrain kickstarter.

    It was everything the classic terrain was, and so much more. Its clip system (remember terraclips?) allows for heavy customization, the art aesthetic is perfect for a scrabble through the underhive, and with the added options for guard rails and stairs, you can frankly go to town with this stuff. With the kickstarter delivering last week, let’s take a gander.

    For my kickstarter rewards I picked up a core set, an elevation set, and a cover set.

    Continue reading → Post ID 20761

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    Reviews
  • Judgement: Loribela Runeflask

    Posted on September 19, 2019 7:00 am by gdaybloke Comment

    Judgement came to my attention a little while ago thanks to our friend Shoshie and a few other souls. In a miniatures market with some excellent MOBA style games out there, it takes something special to stand out. I’m not talking about rules or backstory – I’m talking something to immediately catch your eye as you cast  your gaze along the shelving at FLGS. Some companies have pushed on a genre for their skirmish and MOBA games – Sci-fi, high Fantasy, Gothic horror, Steampunk, Wild West, many others, and hybrids thereof. The crew behind Judgement decided to stand out by upping the scale. Models for Judgement are 54mm scale, significantly larger than other models on the market, meaning that the game is immediately eyecatching.

    We’re seeing more and more fantastic artists turning away from gaming pieces and painting miniature figures and busts purely for artistic display. While a lot of gaming companies make game-playable figures that are absolutely display worthy. Judgement’s designers are producing models that are each designed to be display pieces, complete with some incredible scenic bases (eg, Zaffen Ironhelm’s shipwreck, or Piper’s illusory projection). They may have started a more Fantasyish theme, but has since thrown genre to the wind and now you get a dwarf in a mini flamethrower tank  and a demon-summoning halfling, alongside an orc assassin and more.

    Continue reading → Post ID 20761

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    Field Reports Reviews
  • Big Girls: Sgt. Titanica and Capt. Rahera

    Posted on September 17, 2019 7:00 am by gdaybloke Comment

    The Iron Kingdoms are populated by quite the variety of strong and deadly women, from those sworn to duty to those just out to prod buttock. Captain Rahera, Terror of the Wailing Seas, may well be the very reason those seas are wailing. She and her crew are sworn to no crown save that found on gold coins, but have to qualms about casting their lots with the lich lords of the Scharde Isles and their necromechanical creations.

    In another world beset by enormous creatures and constructs from this planet and beyond, some seeking to destroy humanity and others to save it, Earth’s defenders have been joined by this year’s GenCon Ram model, Seargent Titanica – Privateer’s homage to the classic 1958 film Attack of the 50 Foot Woman, possibly one of the best worst science fiction films of all time.

    Continue reading → Post ID 20761

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    Monsterpocalypse Reviews
  • Unboxing Riot Quest!

    Posted on August 26, 2019 7:00 am by gdaybloke Comment

    When preparing to hit the road to GenCon, there was one game I was looking forward to checking out more than any other: Riot Quest, from Privateer Press. An alternate future Iron Kingdoms arena combat game with characters both new and familiar that are usable both in Riot Quest -and- in Warmachine & Hordes?  Of course it was on my radar. With this box of niftiness hitting stores, let’s do a little unboxing.

    Riot Quest is a MOBA style arena combat game, with fighters teleporting onto the battlefield through gates and competing to snag all the loot and, of course, kick each other in the teeth in the process. You’ll bring up to 10 models with you to form your team, but only four will be on the field at a time, with up to four players scrabbling to collect the most booty before the game ends. It’s fast, it’s a little frantic, and it’s a heck of a lot of fun.

    Continue reading → Post ID 20761

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    Field Reports Reviews
  • Dungeons and Lasers

    Posted on August 19, 2019 7:00 am by gdaybloke Comment

    GenCon is full of wonderful projects, whether they be already available to the general public or driving interest for their launch or even just testing the waters to see if it can possibly be a thing. One of my goals this year at GenCon was to look for terrain and scenery. To say the least, I was very pleasantly surprised to find a little project called Dungeons and Lasers.

    Dungeons and lasers is a modular terrain system for roleplaying games, cast in hard plastic, and suitable for both fantasy and sci-fi settings. For the next week or so, they’re also on Kickstarter. Yes, that’s a pic of a giant envelope they gave me at GenCon. Fancy!

    Continue reading → Post ID 20761

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    Field Reports Reviews
  • Monsterpocalypes: Won’t you take me to Monkeytown?

    Posted on August 12, 2019 7:00 am by gdaybloke Comment

    Of all the supersized monsters in modern mythology, the two most iconic are a radioactive lizard from Japan and an enormous gorilla with a penchant for swatting at biplanes. As much as I’m aligned with the Destroyers in Monsterpocalypse (and trying to teach the two of our parrots to say “Gorghadra”), as much as I’m keen to see more Subterrans (Hammerklak is lonely), it’s hard not to get excited about the Empire of the Apes.

    Spend a little time at the Privateer Press booth at GenCon, it’s inevitable that a bunch of monkeys will follow you home. Well, sure they’re apes, not monkeys, but I was angling to get Funkytown earworm’d here. Let’s crack open some boxes and blisters.

    Continue reading → Post ID 20761

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    Monsterpocalypse Reviews

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