Curses from the Workbench

In Treue fest!

2011-10-05T18:10:00.000-07:00

Today I finished up my Bavarian troops!

They can be seen wearing Raupenhelms (Caterpillar Helmet).

These were replaced by the Prussian style Pickelhauben by 1889. I figure why be too anxious to follow all the ways of the scheiss Preisen (shite Proosians)? Plus, I got them cheap. The figures are from Wargames Foundry. The molds must be getting old because the casting wasn't that great. Their left hands look like they were put through a meat grinder. Painted up well enough though.

Gott mit uns!

2011-09-23T17:36:00.000-07:00

Hey there. Just finished some Prussian line infantry. There are more to do. What else is new? Almost done with my Bavarians.

Got mittens?

Machinegun Special

2011-07-16T17:50:00.000-07:00

Got the German machineguns done up! I think I'll keep the bases simple for these.

Lady Hussars from Hinterland Miniatures

Jägers from Great War Miniatures

Dismounted Cavalry

2011-07-13T17:12:00.000-07:00

Got some more pictures.

Here are two units of cavalry for my German forces. The miniatures are from Foundry Miniatures and while I have mounted hussars, I'm still looking for affordable mounted dragoons (it would cost me close to $90 to get nine from FM, ouch).

5th (Pomeranian) Hussars "Prince Blücher of Wahlstatt"

Before painting the hussars, I'd picked the colors on a whim. Then I found out which regiment they belonged to. Turns out, as of 1889, the regimental commander is none other than Edward VII, Prince of Wales. Talk about awkward if they ever end up fighting any British.

1st Silesian Dragoon Regt No.4

Piranha Boy

2011-07-12T16:08:00.000-07:00

Here we have Piranha Boy from Four A Miniatures smiling for the camera. Check out http://www.fouraminiatures.com/ where you can find interesting stuff like devil fish and goblins sculpted by Kev Adams. Plus, Mr. Coleman is a swell guy.

Piranha Boy can be found in and around the marshy canals of Venice Beach. He's a friendly mutant and has never intentionally eaten anyone. You can hire him as a guide and tracker. His uncanny ability to track in water has its obvious advantages.

Some believe that he's a mutant piranha unlike the Sea Monkeys found along the coastal ruins and are clearly mutant humans adapted to aquatic life.

Mars Moves to Defend

2011-03-22T17:47:00.000-07:00

More minis!

This time we have some Canal Martians for Space 1889 from RAFM. Got to push those pesky human colonialists off of Mars. The shield gunners are my favorite.

Musketeers;

Shield Gunners;

More to come.

Klankers und Truppen

2011-03-21T16:57:00.000-07:00

Another miniatures update.

Here we have a steam tank and walker from Ironclad Miniatures;

I always loved the fact that in Space 1889, it was the humans invading Mars with walkers (tripods, usually).

Then I have some German Colonial Schutztruppen from Battle Honors. I think that the sculpting is a bit crude but they paint up nice. I do like the big, honking mustaches.

Litko to the Rescue!

2011-03-20T17:36:00.000-07:00

Hello all! A while ago, a friend of mine and I got together to try out playing some Aeronef. This is when I discovered that I'd mounted all my 'Nefs wrong. You see, a couple of years back when I started messing around with them I thought I read in the rules that the hexagonal bases should be positioned so that one of the points is aligned with the prow of the ship rather than one of the sides. I thought that was unusual for a game using hexes to determine firing arcs and such. Putting those thought aside, I went ahead and mounted all my ships wrong. There was no going back.

Then I got a bunch of magnetic, hexagonal bases from Litko ( http://www.litkoaero.com/ ). This is the way it turned out;

Pictured above is a Zepp. of mine shortly before a large object fell on it and broke the base off.

I think it looks great. Plus, now I can store and transport my 'Nefs in some of those metal cookie tins that I had sitting around.

I'm actually getting back to this blog. More to come soon!

D&D Red Box commercial

2010-10-03T13:57:00.000-07:00

Attend, ye gods!

Also available at Target.

AD&D Monster Cards

2010-09-30T16:30:00.000-07:00

Check out what I found at a garage sale a while back. They're cards that have a picture of a monster on one side and its stats on the other. I believe these came out around 1982 or so.

Here's a small selection. I see some Otis, Willingham and Holloway in there. Good stuff.

I like the Efreet posing as some kind of cocksure, Ogre Magi, ronin.

Here's what the reverse sides look like;

The check list;

I kinda wish I could find a use for them.

Video for this thursday;

Robot Menace

2010-09-23T17:59:00.001-07:00

Or should I say, Dampfpanzergrenadiertruppautomaten menace?

Presenting my newly painted steam automatons from Ironclad Miniatures. You can see that they are being escorted by engineers whose task is to direct, maintain and help defend the automatons.

Long time since the last posting, eh? It's not as though I haven't been doing anything with my miniatures or gaming or anything like that. I just haven't been able to finish anything worth posting for a while now. Keep starting on something only to move on to something else before finishing. I knocked these together in three painting sessions. Of course, it's a pretty simple paint scheme.

I'll see if I can bash together some game stats for these guys using Vor. Maybe I'll even use the robot rules from Rogue Trader era 40k.

Next up, who knows? Maybe I'll have some dismounted hussars painted up. How about the Bavarians I almost have finished?

Thursday video! Really? Who's counting anymore?

Extra reading for Space 1889

2010-07-19T19:04:00.000-07:00

I thought that I might spend a post discussing some of my recent reads that might be useful and entertaining for people interested in Space 1889.

First up, I have How to Make Friends and Oppress People by Vic Darkwood. A satirical look at nineteenth-century travel guidebooks. It covers topics such as;
Fireplaces in boats.
The practical theory of tea-making.
Insects, vermin and other troublesome creatures.
Modes of salutation.
How to treat banditti.
Engaging in gun battles.
Ballooning as a sport.
Pig sticking.
Revolting food that may save the lives of starving men.
Learning to ride a camel.
Employing a burly henchman.

If that doesn't sell you on it, I give up. A hilarious read and the advise is almost all authentic.

For more everyday advice, there's, Barkham Burrough's Encycolopedia of Astounding Facts and Useful Information, 1889. This immensely useful tome contains 20,000 things worth knowing. What's more, it's an interesting look into the life of the American middle class during the late nineteenth-century. Lots of recipes too. I have a print copy but you can always read it here, http://www.gutenberg.org/files/14091/14091-h/14091-h.htm .

Mostly of interest for you wargaming types is, L'Armée Française; An Illustrated History of the French Army, 1790-1885 by Edouard Detaille. Published in 1885, this is the best book of its type I've read. The detail is exhaustive and the illustrations are great. If you're playing a member of the French military, this ought to give you everything you need to fake the part.

Not to neglect the science fiction/alternate history aspect there's, The Tale of the Next Great War, 1871-1914 edited by I.F. Clarke. This is a collection of fiction written as a response to the Franco Prussian War. There's a lot of anxiety shown over the rise of German power not only by the British or French but by Germans themselves. Inside you find short works and excerpts such as The Battle of Dorking and La Guerre au Vingtième Siècle (War in the Twentieth-century) by Albert Robida. Other authors include George Griffith, Jack London and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

Plus a video in memory of Andyman;

My time with the Barbarians of Lemuria

2010-07-04T06:51:00.000-07:00

I ran this great little game a couple of weeks ago;
http://www.1km1kt.net/rpg/barbarians-of-lemuria

I'm running at least two sessions of this game for my group as a stop gap until Space 1889: Red Sands is released. I might possibly run a third.

I used the print version (Legendary Edition) and I think it went rather well. The rules were easy for me (the GM) to remember. Always a plus. Six players generated their characters in under an hour. Also good. Fun characters too.

I ignored most of the setting stuff. The setting didn't really catch me and I've never read any Thongor stuff (I did find the first novel yesterday and am now reading it). So, I just made stuff up. Didn't really matter. None of the players were familiar either.

The adventure I ran was a bit railroady (I think), what with a sea monster causing our characters to wreck on a remote island. The players told me that they really liked it anyhow. The scenario was a bit simple too. All that is kind of necessary since this was intended as a semi one shot. I had to tone a few things down because Lee's son, Will, was playing (I'm not good with ages, somewhere around 9 or 10 years old?). Which was fun. The last time I ran something for kids, I was in high school. I thought he really added to the group.

It ran very smoothly with six players though I don't think I gave the system a thorough run through. Next session I hope to red line it a bit. I look forward to it. I had a lot of fun running it.

Jägers and Boxes

2010-07-03T17:28:00.000-07:00

Finished my Jägers! Here they are;

I've also been considering boxes for transporting my miniatures. It's been a improvised affair for me since the beginning. A box that a keyboard came in, a wine bottle box, tackle box, all kinds of boxes that just happened to come in handy at the time. I kind of want to change that.

Look at what I found at a garage sale;

Just guess what I'm going to use these great little boxes for! I plan on placing magnetized trays inside each one. At least a stack of two. It should be more than enough to store my French VSF force in.

Then there's this;

Also got this mortar shell box at a garage sale. I'm going to put my Germans in it. It's a bit on the heavy side. Kind of large too, but man, it'll keep my minis safe. At first, I intended on sanding off the stencils and Germanifying it. Slap a big "Nicht Werfen" warning on the top. Then I got lazy and sentimental. So, I decided to give it a quick sanding to get rid of the rough spots and gave it a stain coat. I also glued magnetic sheets inside to hold my minis. The glue is setting as I type.

Now I need to find something for my British, Martians and Zanzibaris.

Viktoria's Valkyries

2010-07-01T18:46:00.000-07:00

Here I present to you my first German VSF unit. The 1st Weib Hussaren or "Viktoria's Valkyries."

And a video;

Still Not Dead vs. Prussians

2010-06-26T19:49:00.000-07:00

No, I did not have West Nile Virus. I was just a little under the weather. I mean, what else would you expect after walking through clouds of very large mosquitoes? I'm not dead. I am fine. My monitor is dying, however. That'll make it difficult to process my photos of recently finished minis. I've got three units lined up to be done this week. I wish I'd be able to get more done but there's a lot of stuff keeping me busy. This is a shame because I've got quite a few Prussian lined up for painting.

Did I happen to mention that I'm working on my VSF Prussian forces at the moment?

Yep, I've been slowly building up various units that I can use in the greatest variety of scenarios that I can. I want to use units that would be seen in a European theater and units for colonial conflicts. I also want to see how much I can overlap them to get the most bang for my buck. I'll be aiming to have them represent the German Empire in a science fictional war between the years 1890 and 1900. The infantry is grouped into units of ten. This number will work with the three games I'm thinking of using; Gaslight, Vor or Space 1889. Here's what I've got so far;

1 unit of dismounted female Hussars (almost done).
2 units of Prussian line infantry.
1 unit of Prussian Jaegers (almost done).
1 maxim gun manned by Jaegers
2 units of Bavarian line infantry.
1 unit of mixed dismounted cavalry (dragoons and hussars).
1 unit of German South West Africa infantry (to use either in Africa or say, Venus).
2 units of African Askaris (to be used either with German or British forces).
1 steam tank of medium size.
1 steam powered walker armed with maxim gun.
1 unit of Martian sepoys (to be shared with British forces depending on scenario).

Here's what I'm still planning to add;
2 units of Venusian Lizardman Schutztruppen (I need to assemble them still. It'll take a bit of work).
Maybe 1 or 2 more units of Prussian line infantry.
1 or 2 units of Seebatallion.
A couple artillery pieces.
At least one unit of cavalry.
1 flying machine of some sort. Probably a zeppelin.

That quite a bit there considering I still have British, Martian and French forces on the line too. Yikes.

Dear Internets

2010-06-20T20:48:00.001-07:00

I tried to varnish some recently finished miniatures today. However, I could not get the child proof lid on the thinner to open. I ended up not varnishing those minis. I did affix some newly acquired minis to their bases and do some repair work on a German East Africa trooper's rifle. I also cooked some paella on the grill. I think I might have a case of West Nile Virus. Which is probably not good considering the only symptom I'm familiar with is death. A friend of mine had a horse that died from it.

More to come!

Thoughts on painting

2010-06-04T11:30:00.000-07:00

Not too much to add here. Just a few random thoughts from recent experiences.

I've started to use Windex to thin my paints. This works surprisingly well. I use the clear, "natural", eco friendly kind. I'm not sure what the regular, blue kind would do the colors so I'm not even going to try and find out. Anyway, I find that it makes paints flow from the brush better than water. The paint literally goes where you want it to go. Nice. Only problem is that it appears as though the mixture encourages the paint to flow right up into the brush's fuller. Not so good. Gotta clean the brush extra regularly.

I finally managed to get my hands on a couple of the new GW washes. I'm liking them better than the old inks. Not as shiny and they flow better. They do seem to be a little too subtle on just one coat. It looks like washing will need to be done in layers.

I like the idea of painting outside. After being stuck inside all day at work, I really don't want to sit at the old workbench and paint while the remainder of day is busy being beautiful. There are a lot of problems with that though. I have to pack everything up for the expedition. I will forget something important. You would think the sun would be great for painting. No. It is either too bright or not bright enough, usually in turns. The combo of wind and sunlight also dries your paints crazy fast. Ah well, enjoy it anyway.

I'm alive!

2010-05-14T19:21:00.000-07:00

Relax my faithful readers (all two of you). I may have been missing. There has been a certain girl to show up, you see. Also, work has been frying my brain and spring is in the air. I have been working on stuff anyways. Just not very productively.

Here's a video. A cover of "Major Tom" done by Shiny Toy Guns. I've always liked Peter Schilling's song. Ignore the fact that it pretty much is a car commercial.

Machinegunmobile

2010-04-25T19:00:00.000-07:00

Alright, I opened up my big mouth on the Lead Adventure forum about how I'd like to put together a mechanized machine gun contraption. This means that I'm obligated, nay, oath bound to construct this beast.

Here's what I'm talking about;

What you see there are a Davidson four wheeled gun carriage and a three wheeled version. I like the three wheeler best.

The trouble is finding the parts for the thing. The machine gun is no problem. I've got a plastic gun shield lying around from who knows where, so that's covered. I was hoping to find a plastic model kit of something roughly close to 28mm scale to use for parts. I find out that there is nobody at all making automobile kits from the late 19th century and early 20th. Not even horse drawn buggies! The earliest you get is the 1920s. So, I'm going to have to scratch build this puppy. Maybe even the wheels!

The next problem is finding and converting a crew. Which army is this going with anyway? I guess it'll go to the French. The Germans are getting enough goodies as it is. Nobody really makes seated soldiers of the Victorian era. There are some gun limber crews that are seated. Mostly Prussians though.

Next. What kind of engine? Should it be steam? Eh, it doesn't have to be. I'm not really doing "Steampunk" here. This is Victorian Sci-Fi. I could see this as an internal combustion engine that's about a decade ahead of its time. I mean, the Davidsons pictured above are from around 1900.

There's this too;

Machine Gun Quadracycle baby!

Winged Sea Serpent Reported in Levant!

2010-04-19T17:51:00.000-07:00

So read the title of an article found in the Sunday, August 13 1922 edition of the New York Times.

"Currant-Laden Felucca Sunk When Sailor Belts Reptile With Pomegranate.", the title continues. The creature, "Has Eyes Like Sidelights" and "Zooms Aloft Like Airplane - Wrecks Caciques With Figs and Pistachio Nuts."

The sea serpent began its rampage off the port of Euboea in the Aegean. It then flew off to the port of Izmir at an altitude of about 5,000ft. It was also sighted off the mouth of the Nile, and around the islands of Crete and Lesbos. Greek authorities sent gunboats after it but had no luck in destroying it. One witness, a Turkish rug merchant, was taking a ferry when the creature rose up from the water near the boat. It appeared to be 15ft wide and 50ft long with a head 10ft across. It had huge, glowing eyes which seemed to bake the people on board the ferry with some kind of heat ray. It then slapped the ferry with its tail, nearly tipping it over and disappeared.

More on this article can be found in Fortean Times issue 248.

This would make for a great miniatures scenario!

I imagine four players. One player is the Sea Serpent, another a Greek Gunboat, there should be a dirigible piloted by an eccentric adventure and his companions and finally, the vengeful Mümtaz Effendi, Turkish Pomegranate Magnate in his cannon armed Dhow. The three human players will attempt to destroy or capture the Sea Serpent. The Serpent will be at a considerable advantage with its size, ability to fly and dive, and its heat ray vision.

I'd set it a bit earlier, the 1890s but it would be great for pulp era games too. I don't have a rules set picked out for it but just picture the game!

New minis and things

2010-04-15T18:53:00.000-07:00

Thursday video!

So, last time I was talking about Aero-Kayaks for my, as of yet, forthcoming French, Victorian Sci-Fi army and how I was selling miniatures in order to fund this project. What has come to be expected is that I spent some of the money on something completely different;

These excellent miniatures depict Princess Viktoria-Luise of Prussia dressed as a Death's Head Hussar accompanied by her unit. Based on this photo of her;

They can be had here;
http://hinterlandminiatures.weebly.com/

Of course, this means I'll probably be doing Germans as well. Not to mention home service British. But first! The French.

I very much want to build a French force. The uniforms are interestingly colorful. They wear Kepis which are my all time favorite sort of hat. Not to mention Zouaves. Or the Foreign Legion! Yes, I'm going to have to do it.

Update?

2010-04-10T19:06:00.000-07:00

First a video!

Anna Karina est très adorable.

So, I've been busy. Got a new job. Been doing a lot of gardening. Also selling a few of my unused miniatures on various forums so I can build a few of these;

Aero-kayaks from the Miyazaki movie, "Howl's Moving Castle." For my, as of yet, imaginary French, Victorian, Sci-Fi army. Still working out what materials to use.

I also dug up a "how to" I put together a while back about how to make gabions for your minis. In case anybody is wondering, a gabion is a basket made filled with dirt and rubble used to quickly erect a fortified position. Kind of like sand bags.

Step 1
I made a ring of green stuff and stuck in lengths of styrene rod like so;

I then dabbed some super glue at the base of each rod. I let the green stuff cure and those rods aren't going to come off easy.

Step 2
Took some modeling clay (the kind that doesn't dry or cure) like so;

Then stuck it in like this;

Step 3
I wove rubber bands between the rods. The clay is there to help keep the shape of the basket.

Keep weaving more bands in until done. You could also use raffia or dental floss, maybe wire. I started out trying green stuff but it was too tedious and I couldn't get a consistent shape to the "wicker".

The clay will push up as you go so you'll need to scoop some off the top near the end. Don't scoop too much as you go or the basket will get all conical. The last thing is to cover in a coat or two of white or wood glue and sprinkle a little sand and rubble on the top of the basket.

Finished;

Of course, as is usual, it still needs to be painted.

Built a Bridge

2010-03-27T16:17:00.000-07:00

The kind that goes on a ship that is. I've been working on my Aeronef French. Boy, do they need a lot of work let me tell you. They've been tricky to mount on the flying stands. Plus, I've had to replace some tail fins due to minor miscasts. The biggest problem is that the bridge of one of the ships ended up missing. Only thing to do was to build a new one!

Here's what this particular class of Aeronef should look like:

This is what I had:

Now, I started this willy nilly. About at this stage, I had me a thought. I thought, "Hey! I could put this on my blog." I started taking pictures. What these poor quality pictures should show you is the beginning of the bridge. I built it up using strips of styrene sheets glued together in layers. Does that make sense? The decking was made with a textured styrene sheet. The layers of styrene created a striated effect which needed to be smoothed out and hidden. I used some pro-create putty to do that and filed it smooth after curing:

Next, I cut little "windows" from a thin strip of styrene (not thin enough if you ask me but it was all I had). I then glued them to the appropriate spots:

This is the bridge with windows and smoke stacks, glued on to the superstructure:

Then, I cut up some round bits of sprue to use as gun sponsons and attached them:

The finished product. The guns were made from spare masts from other ships. I first thought to use brass wire but the lead was easier to work with:

Guess I'll need to paint them now.

Thursday is For Videos

2010-03-25T17:55:00.000-07:00

I was going to go into the beasts of burden that are to be found in the world of Angstrad but I'm tired and burnt out right now. I have a video though!

The Turks Arrive

2010-03-23T14:10:00.000-07:00

Made you think I was working on some Empire archers, did I? Or that French Aeronef fleet? No. It was the Turks!

On the far right you can see the Sultan Selim, newly purchased from the Germans. On the far left is the Abdul Aziz, a true monster of a ship bristling with cannons.

I need to get some more Turkish ships. They're my favorite.

Empire Archers

2010-03-19T17:23:00.000-07:00

I finally started work on these:

They're quite possibly the nicest plastic minis Games Workshop has ever produced. Odd that it has to be archers though. Don't they just look like they belong to Henry the Eight's hunting party? They look so competent and cool. Too bad they're a bunch of balistic skill 3 schlubs. Look at the third picture. There's even a gut shot orc getting ready to be dispatched by an archer's sword. Can't wait to finish painting them.

Speaking of painting, I primered the archers using white Armoury spray primer. This is highly unusual considering that I normally use grey gesso. I am to gesso like a Romanian is to onions. Even so, my gesso must be getting old or something because it has really been gunking up details lately. Hence the spray primer. We'll see how this turns out.

Bases, knocking them down

2010-03-18T17:55:00.000-07:00

Here, as you can see, are the Halflings I posted earlier. Halflings are de rigueur in the Empire this year. So, it should only be that I have a finished unit with the bases done.

Crossbowmen from Stirland:

Crossbowmen from Estalia:

Handgunners from Stirland in a, "Are you going to live forever? Get 'em done!" paint job:

Dogs of War Duelists as a Stir River Patrol boarding party (one guy had his pistol break off and I can't find it):

Various Free Company:

It must look like I favor oddball units and missile troops. It could be true. It is also true that they tend to come in units of ten and are therefore quicker and less onerous to paint.

Now for the regularly scheduled video from my most favorite band ever:

The Great War Against Bases Begins!

2010-03-11T17:10:00.000-08:00

I've been busy lately rebasing or just plain basing my Empire army. The nice weather lately has allowed me to begin applying static grass. I prefer to do it outside since that stuff gets everywhere. Pictures to come!

Now, a video.

What is this Angstrad thing anyway?

2010-03-04T10:01:00.000-08:00

But first! A video.

Amon Duul II, Archangel Thunderbird

Ah, the places this song takes you...

Angstrad.

What I want Angstrad to be is a world that is absolutely full of stuff. There is always something new around every corner. You could wander in every direction forever and find new stuff. North, south, up or down. Always places to go and get into trouble in. Always new people to meet. Most importantly, as a GM, always something for me to make up on the fly. Almost equally important, there is always room for players to contribute.

I want a world that is crowded. Like what you find in the Groo the Wanderer comics. No matter where you go, there are people. Masses of them doing stuff people do. Mostly doing as you would expect. You also find the strangest of customs brought about by the most unusual of environments like what you would find out of Dying Earth stories or Michael Shea's Nifft the Lean.

This is a place where life is cheap and often gory. A place where the gods don't appear to exist and those that call themselves gods really aren't. There is a feeling of missing history; as though the current world was dropped onto another and the old one sometimes pokes through in places. It isn't all that bleak tough, I would hope. There's also room for humor and whimsy. Look at Lewis Trondheim's Dungeon comics.

So that's what I'm hoping to get at. A good old Sword & Sorcery/playground/sandbox/Schrödinger's Cat like/D&D setting.

Bonus video! There seems to be some kind of problem with the above clip (at least for me it keeps cutting off around the 3:00 mark). So here is a Ladytron video. I think something like that could happen in Angstrad.

Sounds from the Dungeon

2010-02-25T19:06:00.000-08:00

Video Thursday! Yeah!

Here's Lustmord. This is the sound of venturing into the Dungeon. Unlike say, when you're venturing in the wilderness. In that case you'd be hearing the soundtrack to the Forbidden Planet.

Decade old project has come to end.

2010-02-24T17:32:00.000-08:00

The following pictures are of a coaching inn. The instructions for building it came from an old issue of White Dwarf and it's made of poster board, balsa wood and styrene shingles. Now, the title of this post is a bit misleading since I have yet to do the walled in yard, stables and gate that go with it. It is true though, that I started it roughly ten years ago and has been sitting in a box half done until late last week. Not bad for my first finished building if do say so myself. I'm kind of annoyed that the roof can't decide if it's tile or wood shingle but that's my problem.

The Dreaded Knoe Shoshu!

2010-02-19T15:05:00.000-08:00

Looks like I totally overlooked the fact that yesterday was a Thursday. So, here is the Thursday Video, Friday edition:

At last! I have finished the Knoe Shoshu. I wasn't satisfied with the first try and scrapped it but I have it done now.

Unpainted:

A few shots of the completed project:

I've started messing around with finishing up a coach house for Warhammer that I started some ten odd years ago. I figure that it's about time I had a good set of terrain for myself. Maybe for next update? We'll see.

The World of Angstrad

2010-02-14T19:46:00.000-08:00

Much of the Great Ones might be learnt in such regions, and those with their blood might inherit little memories very useful to a seeker. They might not know their parentage, for the gods so dislike to be known among men that none can be found who has seen their faces wittingly;
-H.P. Lovecraft, The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath

Angstrad refers to the "Wheel of Anguish" conceived by Jacob Böhme, a 17th century mystic. It's essentially a wheel formed by the constant opposition between the seven properties of nature. It also sounds like a cool name for a fantasy world (in an ironic way too).

No one is quite sure how the world of Angstrad came about. The only thing that sages and mystics can agree on is that there is a "Now" and there was a "Before." There is a point in history when the world simply "became." Many believe that there was another world before the current one.

There are no gods known to the many races of Angstrad. This has not prevented the formation of many religions. The Dragons, for example, have a shamanistic religion focused on the mastery of self and nature. Humans have known countless religions in their search for truth of the world. A few never realized how close they came to it.

The edges (limits, rim, borders, etc) of Angstrad are constantly shored up and gnawed upon by a host of spiritual beings known as Archons (as far as they could be understood as gods, maybe demons). On these borders are beings that are vastly powerful and immortal. There are those that seek to build order to some unknown greater purpose and others that seek to tear everything down until all is one.

Physically, the world is boundless. It isn't a sphere, nor is it flat. It simply is. It goes on forever in all directions. There are lands even in the heavens and some say that beyond those lands there is a sea upon which the moon and stars float. As above, so is it below. There are lands below the "surface" of Angstrad also. Great, cavernous kingdoms and underworlds.

More later...

The Races of Angstrad Plus a Video

2010-02-11T13:00:00.001-08:00

First, I'd like to say, "Yay!" for gaining my first follower. I hope your time here is well spent!

Today's video comes from the band, Metsatöll. Pretty freaky and cool.

Now, for the player races of Angstrad.

The rules sources used will be from The Complete Book of Humanoids, The Complete Spacefarer's Handbook and The Planewalker's Handbook. All for AD&D 2e. The following is a list of possible races for players with a little blurb for each. Notice that there are no elves listed. Don't sweat it. I'm going for the less than usual.

Humans - The natural baseline for the setting. They are widespread and diverse and there are just plain more of them than anybody else.

Halflings - The usual, Tolkien types. They live in isolated rural communities. Timid, powerless, provincial and more than a bit bigoted, they are your typical fascist enablers. They don't get out much. Every once in a halfling breaks the mold and becomes a big damned hero or dies trying.

Dwarves - Have already been mentioned in a previous post.

Dragons - These aren't in any of the handbooks mentioned but a race I'll be constructing from whole cloth. They're a little bit like the Dragon Newts from Runequest and the half dragons from Council of Wyrms. So, they are humanoid dragons that undergo gradual change as they progress in levels. More on them later.

Bullywugs - Frog men. They live in and cultivate swamps and marshes. Their societies are much like a mixture of Seminole Indians, Iraqi Marsh Arabs and Japanese peasantry. They make excellent rangers, thieves and ninjas.

Aarakocra - Bird men. Actually, a variant of Dragon.

Grommams - Gorilla men. What more do you need? Every setting needs them in my opinion.

Tieflings and Aasimar - The offspring of pairings between humans and entities from the outer reaches. Either from benevolent (Aasimar) or malevolent (Tieflings) beings.

Genasi - Spontaneously generated humanoids of elemental origins. No one is quite sure how and why the come about.

So, that's that. Next time I'll get more into what Angstrad is like as a setting.

Watch the Sky!

2010-02-06T14:50:00.000-08:00

I just finished painting all of my British and German Aeronef minis! I also learned just how big the new driveway is by way of shoveling tons of snow. Youch.

Here are the Brits:

Now the Germans. Notice how they need way more Zeppelins. I'll need to do something about that.

Next up, the French!

Tharks & Venusians, Halflings too

2010-02-05T10:30:00.000-08:00

Got some pics here of some things I've been working on lately.

Two Tharks I made using Kroot parts.

Some rifle armed Venusian Askaris.

Halflings for my Empire army. Still need to have the bases done.

Today is the snowpocalypse. I should be getting a lot of stuff done as a result!

Video Thursday

2010-02-04T17:38:00.000-08:00

Yes, today is the first installment of Video Thursday. I like to listen to music while I'm doing the stuff that I do. So I'll post music videos of artists I enjoy.

First up is the Russian singer who goes by the name, Glukoza. Funny stuff.

New miniatures alert! Here's my first completed Aeronef fleet. Straight out of Sao Paulo is a Brazilian squadron ready to take on the Brotherhood of Air Pirates out of New Orleans.

The Dwarves of Angstrad

2010-02-03T19:08:00.000-08:00

There are two types of Dwarves found in Angstrad. Regular Dwarves and Giant Dwarves. Giant Dwarves are the same in all ways to the regular type but grow to the size of a large human.

At first glance, there isn't too much different about Angstrad Dwarves and any other generic fantasy dwarf. They're short, stocky, bearded warrior/craftsmen. Each and every one of them is a master in their chosen trade from the day they become of age. Each and every one is also a fearsome warrior.

There are differences, however. First, they don't speak with a Scottish accent. They speak with a Dwarven accent.

There are no female Dwarves. Dwarves do not reproduce sexually. The way it goes is that very rarely a Dwarf falls in love. It doesn't matter what the Dwarf falls in love with. It could be a female member of another race, another Dwarf, a concept, a thing, it doesn't matter. When a Dwarf is filled to the brim with love(gosh)a new Dwarf is created out any materials at hand by the loving Dwarf. The "father" then raises the child to adulthood, imparting to it all the Dwarvenly ways.

Dwarves only ever die by violence and malicious magic. While they can starve, Dwarves are capable of eating anything organic and a lot of inorganic things too. Only, not every dwarf chooses to go to culinary extremes for mere survival. Thirst can also kill them. A Dwarf will theoretically go on living forever. You can tell a Dwarf's age by cutting off a limb and counting the rings.

Dwarves are rightly feared in combat. When engaged in combat, a Dwarf must make a save against Battlerage. Battlerage is a condition in which a Dwarf will choose an opponent and attempt to kill it to the exclusion of all other considerations. The Dwarf will try to utterly and irrevocably slay the target. A Dwarf cannot die until the Battlerage is through. This condition lasts anywhere from minutes to months and the duration is rolled randomly. The saving throw is penalized by the number of days in which the Dwarf hasn't had an alcoholic beverage. A Dwarf can have his Battlerage cut short by a heavy blow to the head. This involves making a called shot to the head that causes at least ten points of damage.

Dwarves live either as hermits or in monastic style brotherhoods and guilds.

For Starters

2010-02-03T16:32:00.000-08:00

So I've got me a blog. I think it should be fitting that I show off the very first miniature I ever painted. Somebody or Another the Rotund from Ral Partha:

Pretty sweet, huh? Looks kind of beat up. I must have painted him somewhere around 1990. In the 8th grade. I used acrylic paints and sable brushes even. I was already ahead of the curve by not using Testors enamels.

I think I'll repaint him now that I took a picture...

As for the present, I'm currently working on completing my British, French and German fleets for the Aeronef game. There will be pictures! Also in the works (you know, aside from everything else) is a Knoe Shoshu from the Space 1889 RPG that I'm sculpting. This gribbly creature is due to be completed by the end of the month. I shudder at the thought.

Another ongoing project is my Empire army for Warhammer Fantasy Battle. It was started sometime around 1993 and is still not finished. It's a mess is what it is. Not a badly painted mess but it just plain isn't done yet. I've been struggling with deciding on a unified base scheme for all the painted units. Something that will really make the army look done. More on this in the future.

Project number 2654 is my newly conceived world of Angstrad for use with the Dungeons and the Dragons. Most likely for AD&D second edition or D&D Rules Cyclopedia. Maybe a mash of both. It will be all gribbly and cool. You will read about it here first.