17th Century Heroes for 'Devilry Afoot'

Hi All!

As some may know know (or I'm sure can commiserate) I'm a little, um, 'diverse' in my hobby interests. Italian Wars to Forbidden Psalm, Napoleonics to Turnip28, WWII to Burrows & Badgers, I like to cast my net wide and far. The same goes for rules and ideas for games: my mind (and library) are bursting with them, often to the detriment of forgetting other, perhaps more important things.

So in this vein, one new set of rules that has piqued my interest lately is Nic Wright's 'Devilry Afoot'.

This is a very nice, compact set of gothic horror skirmish rules set in the much-troubled 17th century. Similar to 'Hametsu', I really like that it's cooperative and requires a very modest figure count. Each player typically has one Hero and perhaps one or two followers. In 'Devilry Afoot', players are set against classic horrors of the period such as witches, werewolves, vampires, etc. I've not rolled it out to our gaming group yet as I wanted to have a few heroes 'oven ready' for the guys to choose from - and so here we are.

The rule book itself is a wonderful 128 page hardback which contains the rules,  character/beastie profiles and about a dozen scenarios for players to have fun with. I believe these are self-published but I found my copy on Amazon (boo!) and a PDF version is available through DriveThruRPG. Highly recommended.

Here are the first five heroes (all 28mm) I've painted-up for 'Devilry Afoot'. Four of the five models are from Bloody Miniatures. Several worthy Challengers have already featured these figures in their excellent posts, and so here are my efforts.

A cavalry trooper cheering his mates on.

A calm squire, smoking his pipe and waiting with his blunderbuss.

I really enjoyed working on these figures as they have great character and just enough detail not to get you into trouble. I also appreciate that they are cast in metal which appeals to my small, lizard brain on these heady matters.

A soldier from the Continent prepared with his long arm.

A lightly wounded gentleman with his dragoon pistol at the ready.

One of the five figures originates from my Dutch friend, Sander. Sarah and I met up with Sander and Arthur in Antwerp a year or so ago, and during lunch he gifted me this wonderful figure of a rat catcher that he thought I could make good use of. 

It was a very apropos gift, as rat catchers spark some nostalgia for me. I had just turned 20 when we received Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay at our game store in Winnipeg. At that time (I think around1986), I was very used to fantasy RPGs having the typical wizards, fighters, thieves, etc., but then WFRP introduced totally new characters such as Troll Slayers, Agitators and... Rat Catchers. Mind. Blown. I absolutely loved it, and my first character was a poxed rat catcher with a peg leg, hemp bag and a spade as a weapon. It was brilliant.

Of course, like a dullard, I threw out the figure's packaging before noting the sculptor/manufacture, so if anyone knows the provenance of this mini let me know in the comments. Anyway, its a terrific model with loads of detail (rats galore, as you can imagine) and I had a terrific time painting him up. He'll be a worthy character in our games such as 'Devilry Afoot'. 

These five sturdy adventurers will give me 15 points and another squirrel!

Thanks for dropping in!

- Curt

30K Raven Guard for Killteam

Hi All!

To switch things up a bit I've decided to follow my good friend Greg's worthy footsteps and take the plunge into 40K. Well, actually 30K to be precise. While I've enjoyed reading the Horus Heresy books, I've not done much for figures for it. That being said, the updated 'Killteam' rules now allow for cooperative play AND some enthusiasts have released a fan-based 30K expansion that looks quite good. Anyhoo, I thought I could put together a Heresy era Space Marine Killteam and perhaps run some cooperative games over Discord (similar to what I've been doing for 'Hametsu').

So with no further ado, here is the start of my 30K Killteam! I've decided to do up a group reflecting A 'Shattered Legion' force  - an ad hoc conglomerate of survivors who emerged from the 'Drop Site Massacre' on Istvaan V. Essentially, they are composed of the remnants of three legions: the Raven Guard, Iron Hands and the Salamanders. 

A Killteam is typically made up of 8-10 figures which I think is quite manageable. This first group is made up of three Raven Guard with jump packs. One is a close combat specialist with dual power blades, another has a groovy silenced bolter and the last one has a pair of arcane Dark Age of Technology pistols (which probably leak enough passive radiation to poison a good-sized city).  I envision that the completed force will mostly be Raven Guard with maybe an Iron Hand and Salamander popped-in for variety. 

Being a contrarian at heart, I looked for non-GW models. I was very happy to find a designer on Cults (RGANDALL) who concentrates pretty much exclusively on Raven Guard. As you can see, his models are absolutely stunning. The animation and detail are top-tier, with the added bonus that he includes all of this Legion specific iconography, gee-gaws and do-dads that really make them unique. The corker is that all his files are free (probably one of the reasons why GW lawyers have not given him static...yet).

I was surfing the net to get ideas for painting and found a YouTube channel that features GrimDark paint styles. I really liked this gritty approach and thought it fit nicely with this group of isolated survivors who've been conducting hit-and-run raids, and not having been resupplied for months. So, lots of chipping, muddy washes, AK Grime and Streaking Rust. 

The 'Apollo' rocket exhausts crack me up.

I had a load of fun with these, but each one took a good chunk of time to do. I think the process will speed up right after I'm finished. :)

- Curt

'Rodentovsky's Mischief' - A Warband for 'Burrows & Badgers'

Hey There!

Last spring my good friend Byron introduced me to 'Burrows & Badgers'. To be honest, I wasn't expecting too much, thinking it would be a cute game, but nothing to take too seriously. A skirmish game in a world of cute anthropomorphic animals? Maybe fun for one-off games, but no real legs to it, right? Well, I was proven wrong. 

The core game elements are simple and straightforward, but the system as a whole is quite nuanced, having a few key mechanics that really make it sing. The other thing that makes it a winner is the depth to how you can build and develop your warbands, making them unique and building a narrative. It has a bewildering number of creatures to choose from for your warbands, an astonishing depth to its magic system, a wide variety of weapon's and armour, powerful skills, and even rules for building your warband's den (think of the charm of Bilbo's hobbit hole, but with an armoury, apothecary and archery range thrown in and you get the idea). It's pretty amazing, and I recommend it not only as a great game to play, but also as a terrific example of quality publishing. The 272 page hardcover rulebook is both beautifully designed and wonderfully illustrated, making it a pleasure just to flip through and enjoy.

Our group recently started a B&B campaign which is proving to be a lot of fun. We have six warbands battling it out, three Royalist troupes and three fighting for the Freebeast Union.

So, for my second entry this season, I have a warband for the Freebeasts. This is 'Ratatevsky's Mischief'. 

Warbands in B&B can be as small as three creatures, or as many as ten. Players have 350 Pennies to build their beginning warband. The bigger/more powerful the creature, the more they cost in Pennies. As I knew several of the guys would create some low model-count, heavy-hitting troupes, I decided to take a different path and maximize numbers. Mice are the least expensive creatures to recruit, so I thought I'd try to 'flood the zone' with these little fellas in the hope that their increased numbers would allow me to take objectives, soak up casualties, while still being able to swarm for attacks. (By the way, a group of mice is called a 'mischief', which I thought was too charming to pass up so I worked it into the troupe's name.) All of these figures are 3d prints from 'Dragon Trappers Lodge' on MyMiniFactory.

This 'Mischief' of mice is led by a Great Grey Rat, Anna Rodentovsky. I really like her rakish, rapscallion appearance.  Anna sports a fencing blade and has a lot of sass.

Anna's second-in-command is Maizy the Mage. Like magic users everywhere, she's a bit of a glass cannon with a few powerful spells, but is otherwise quite fragile. 

The rest of the warband is split evenly between four close combat mice and four with ranged weapons. The models here have crossbows, but they are serving as proxies for calivers in the game. (Calivers are ferociously powerful in B&B, and having four of them will give a bit of pause to opponents who wish to move carelessly in the open.)

This is a warband that requires a good amount of luck and timing to work, but nonetheless can take a bit of punishment. Time will tell if they prove themselves worthy on the tabletop. 

For those who have read through this whole thing, I thank and applaud you! I hope to have a few more creatures for Burrows & Badgers over the coming months, but we'll see where the brushes take me. 

Again, thanks for stopping in and have a good one!

- Curt

'Simon', 'Sophie' and 'Anonymous' - Three Hapless Trolls Turned to Stone

Hello everyone! 

The Painting Challenge has started and so I present to you my first entry: Simon, Sophie and Anonymous, three hapless, grumpy and now calcified trolls who now provide shade for travellers, corners and crevasses for moss, and a nice place for the birds to nest and tend to their ablutions. 

These models are 3d prints from MyMiniFactory. They turned out a little ropey here and there, but being trolls-turned-to-stone I figure they can be a little rough around the edges. 

As their current state is, um, well, stone they were a fairly straightforward paintjob. A few passes with the airbrush, some drybrushing, washes, LOTS of tufts and BOOM, done.

For a bit of fun I put on a couple birds' nests on their shoulders. 

These three will provide a bit of additional character to the tabletop when we play our fantasy games.

Thanks for dropping by!

- Curt

The Alcanti Fellowship and The Birdmen of Catrazza - 10mm Dogs of War

Today I undertake a short return visit to my 10mm Warhammer Fantasy project. Over the past few years I've had a lot of fun creating massed bases of 10mm fantasy units for the Empire, Tomb Kings, Beastmen and Orc & Goblins. 

Nonetheless, my favourite force has to be 'The Dogs of War'. 

First up are 'The Alcatani Fellowship'. Pikemen in Warhammer Fantasy (well, the old version anyway) were very rare, in fact they could only be found as mercenary troops hailing from the city states of Tilea. 

Though vulnerable on their flanks, pike formations can be rather nasty when faced frontally, with many a cavalry commander ruing the day they charged a well prepared pike phalanx. The Alcatani Fellowship are unique in that they don't always fight for money, but often offer their services to fight injustice and tyranny. GW's version of social justice warriors. 

These 10mm fellas are 3d prints from MiniRat Studios. Great little models and they printed-up a treat. They have quite a bit going on with them so not a quick paint, but they look good all ranked up (there are about 85 figures in this unit).

Next are the Birdmen of Catrazza. One thing I really enjoyed about the 'Dogs of War' list was its sly nod to all sorts of Renaissance Italy ephemera such as Lucrezia Borgia's poisons, mercenary pikemen and Leonardo Da Vinci's whacky inventions. The Birdmen of Catrazza are very much along this vein and remain as much-loved models from the original range. 

These are 10mm renditions of the Birdmen from Varus Miniatures. Beautiful models and a real joy to paint. 

For their basing I decided to try a forced perspective with a tiny windmill on a range of treed hills. It was fun to do.

And for a final shot, here is my Dogs of War force to-date, with the Alcanti Fellowship and the Birdmen joining Bronzino's Galloper Guns and Braganza's Besiegers. Getting close to a real force. I just need more pikemen, always more pikemen...

Thanks for popping by for a visit. I hope you have a terrific day!

- Curt