EPIC28

Playing EPIC in 28mm.

Saturday 31 October 2009

Home at last

So here's 114 Mech Coy without their vehicles: Along the front (L to R) are the Coy Cmd squad (somehow shrunk to 4 ! wtf ?) The fire support squad at the Coy Cdr's disposal, the two commissars, the QM and the Engr det. Now behind them are two platoons of five squads (six including the Platoon Cmd Sqaud). I suspect that my fuck up might be that in terms of Chimera, each platoon has five. Which means I'm bodies over, rather than bodies short. hurrah.
Of course that still does not explain the shrinkage in the Coy Cmd Squad. The rear formation (on the R in the picture below) is the Grenadier Platoon. I have more Grenadiers to add - another squad, another HF team and two more lots of Melta and Stubber. So that lot spread out should make up enough for the five squads in that platoon.
The fact that I am in fact a few bodies up means that I'll be able to find the missing watchmasters (squad leaders/sergeants) who are obviously AWOL in the picture above. I've got the shoulder plates from the command squad upgrade pack kicking around somewhere as well, so I'll be able to beef up the poor Coy Cdr's squad. I also want another platoon command squad (will come off Army Builder as another Coy Cmd Squad) to act as 2iC.
114 Coy has three Fuchs; one for the QM, one for the Fire Support team and one for the Enginseer. The Engr Det will hitch a ride with the Enginseer.
The Engr Det will consist of:
Enginseer (or two) with two servitors (each), one tech and one HB. The DKK Engr squad, the Hellhound troop (three). If I get a Demolisher, this will also (obviously to anyone familiar with any AVRE) be an Engr asset.
So between the three Mech Platoons, three Panther Vanquishers and Engr Det, my DKK force is happily into apoc territory.
'Tis a pity that none of it is painted.

Friday 30 October 2009

This is it. For the time being

All modelling and painting stuff boxed. 95% of remaining stuff (models, clothes etc) bagged. Some of it is already in the car.

There's still the two lamps (angle poise and table) and the old computer desk (makes a passable hobby table) to go, but they'll have to wait until next week.

I suspect that it'll be a week or two before I'm back doin' stuff once all the kit is in the garage. One of the first jobs will be getting to grips with the airbrush.

Aiming to leave in good time to beat the traffic (A21 -> M25 clockwise -> M40, all quite joyous on a Friday).

Thursday 29 October 2009

final peices of work in Kent (my project, not the job) ?

Last night I based (PVA and sand/gravel mix) 64 infantry, 8 Ogryn and 14 Heavy Weapon Teams. Hurrah ! That's nearly everyone based.

All of the Painting and Modelling kit is now tidied up. So only the newpaper on the desk (with all the good little bits for the basing material pot) left to tidy up. All the bits that I don't have a real figure cases for a secured (as they can be) in Chimera and Serpent boxes.

Just my clothes and bathroom stuff to go.

Monday 26 October 2009

Other Stuff

This is one of the emplacements. The sandbags are a propietry resin product from someone somewhere. I'm trying to mount all of the bits and peices on hardboard. I like the idea of mounting all of the COD stuff on 12"x12" boards. 'Tis a pity that I didn't come across that idea earlier.
The earthy embankment is, in this case, sawdust mixed with PVA. (On the extreme outside of chance, 'elmers'). This makes for a comparatively heavy terrain peice. The blue bits are aquarium gravel that I bought on a whim 'cause someone said it was good for scenery.
Now; the advantages of aquarium gravel are that it is only gravel; unlike real gravel which includes all manner of natural and man made detritus. And it is regularly sized as well. So all good so far. The disadvantage is that the blue colour leeches in PVA and poster paint (which would seem to indicate that its water soluble colouring on aquarium gravel....) This is not really a problem, as I just paint over it again. But it makes me worry for the fish.

Panzer conversion - all old pictures.

These are Tamyia 1/35 Panthers (Panzer Vs). They were £8 each from http://www.modelsforsale.com/ I think the ridiculously low price was to do with the non-motorisation. Anyway, the observant amongst the audience will notice that the scale 75mm main gun has been replaced:

Another picture showing slightly more clearly the FW Vanquisher main armourment. And the little searchlight as well. These have now been base coated black pending my getting to grips with the airbrush.
My plan for these is the late WW2 Wehrmacht dark yellow with stripes in either a mid olive drab type green or perhaps a more sea green in thinner stripes.
Markings will be from here http://www.archertransfers.com/AR35038R.html these I already have.
All of the Chimera will be done in the same idiom. Which reminds me, I still have three rear turret Chimera to do (two with FW eagle doors).

Monday again already

A senior citizen drove his brand new Corvette convertible out of the dealership. Taking off down the road, he floored it to 80 mph, enjoying the wind blowing through what little hair he had left. 'Amazing,' he thought as he flew down I-95, pushing the pedal even more.. Looking in his rear view mirror, he saw a state trooper behind him, lights flashing and siren blaring. He floored it to 100 mph, then 110, then 120. Suddenly he thought, “What am I doing? I'm too old for this,” and pulled over to await the trooper's arrival.

Pulling in behind him, the trooper walked up to the Corvette, looked at his watch and said, "Sir, my shift ends in 30 minutes. Today is Friday. If you can give me a reason for speeding that I've never heard before, I'll let you go."

The old gentleman paused. Then said, "Years ago, my wife ran off with a State Trooper. I thought you were bringing her back." "'Have a good day, sir,"' replied the trooper.

Friday 23 October 2009

End of the line for F2H Pipeline contstruction.

So I'm no longer a resident of Kent from November onwards. There are things I'll miss, but I do get to resume my 'normal' homelife.

The big bag of little men and the three boxes of made tanks are loaded up and ready to go home tonight, along with the unmade bits I listed earlier this week. This is all good, as I scale down my hobby base in Kent (ie the cabin) and make it a little more tidy and habitable.

I've found some assorted root vegetable crisps that I bought for Paul Clark but which have now gone out of date. So I'll eat them next week.

Wednesday 21 October 2009

and I just like this picture.


114 Mech Coy (during the project)


Ulthwe & Bel Tain. Before this project began
















Packing up

I boxed up more unmade stuff last night. Three Chimera, Three 'Prisms, two Nightspinners, two Mk2 Falcons, the LAV25 and the airbrush. Along with a few other bits and peices.

All off home this weekend.

Tuesday 20 October 2009

Devos IV project

Still no idea when we're out of Kent. No one is telling anybody anything. This is usually because nobody knows anything. The man with the money has not yet made the desicion to de-populate the project office.

There is still stuff to do. But that which is paperwork I could do from home. My wife is quite impatient to know when exactly I'll be living at home again as my continued absence places her under enormous strain as she works long hours and has to deal with our friends as well. Vicky the dog walker is heavily pregnant and increasingly unable to fulfil her dog walking role. Its not very good for her. So I'm really chaffing to be home again. I really enjoy my job and being here is financially comfortable, but I think we've both had enough.

Back to the project:

So 95% of the little men are packed away and all of the vehicles that I have space for. There is not that much more to pack up before the whole lot can be loaded into the car and taken home to wait in the garage for the first Devos IV battles.

The first Devos IV battles are timed for Sat 14 Nov 09. There are six 400 point armies and potentially three or four of us. None has played 5th ed before and I'm the only one who has played 40K at all for twenty years. We'll swap the armies around and try and have a go with each one. By the time we've got the hang of it the beer and pizza should have kicked in. Long sufferring wife is out on a Hen do but I expect she'll stagger in about midnight.

Tud the Very Ilin

His entire focus is on gaining the personal skills to be faster, more cunning, more deadly and more resilient in both melee and campaign warfare. While Kamilata is in managing the defence of the static lyrond (a good ex-jalee role), Tud is out arranging the irregular distributed warfare defences of his lyo's lands (a good ilin role). Despite carrying really quite serious injuries. When other ilin are about he will be training them in the terrain, in ambush points, routes, places to shelter, caches, the vegetation, the landscape, the people, the threats, and so on. If/when he takes them out into the wilds he will drive them hard, and they will come back weeks later hairy, filthy and exhausted.

He's probably (Thranduil included?) the most infamously deadly all-round warrior amongst the characters, especially given he won't run out of power points. And despite a rather unlucky recent injury, which his lyo is oddly letting fester... Given his history - he has after all walked amongst the gods, across worlds, used magic, is well versed in advanced steam technology, had an arm turned into the sword of a god, amongst other things - an eye for shiny things, trophies and a rather cavalier attitude to supernatural 'taints' are not bad going. And all his shiny things go towards developing his ability to be really /really/ ilin; apart from a brief stint in the Iron Kingdoms when the ilin structure collapsed, there's no /personal /power or 'wealth' developed; Kamilata and his established position as regent-in-lyo-absence is much more 'dangerous' if you go that paranoid route. Unlike most ilin Tud appreciates the value of money in order to get things to happen outside the normal illin/empire structures, but it all goes into the job.

Tud's rather single minded focus on his job includes a binding loyalty to his lyio, but bear in mind that he's had other lyio that are 'properly' respected so he can obviously compare her behaviour to theirs. And all the older characters have a long history with her as a relatively junior member of the party, which includes behaviour (eg as undead in the Iron Kingdoms) that would normally be fairly fine grounds for ilin loyal to the empire to not just abandon her but try for a mercy killing.

His current lyio has shown little or no loyalty to the empire, to the ilin codes, no responsibility for the lands she is supposedly responsible for, or indeed her ilin. She has the command, but is yet to earn any /respect/. So Tud's loyalty to Forgeillil is to the letter and based on his strong ilin values. But she has yet to take on the role of lyio as well as the mantle - say, by collaborating on a set of defence strategies and tactics, training a reserve local militia force since most of the effective force is usually absent, or pretty much anything beyond her naked ambition and venality (heh). Otherwise, in the meantime, Tud will continue to exercise his ilin skills to the full and for his lyio with little regard to /who/ holds the position of his lyio; given past experience (!) he expects to die in service to her.

If that service includes tattoos or piercings or anything to improve his performance in the field (say, to increase range, stamina, strength, health, sneakiness) then he'll not only go for it but encourage very strongly the junior ilin to do so as well, and that will hold some weight. Obviously if Forgeillil bans things he will follow her instructions, but (especially) if it's given as some arbitrary imperious edict he will do his best to reduce the effects they have on getting his job done to the best of his ability and those around him. The older characters are used to working that way anyway.

Tattoos, for example, might be 'just not ilin' but it's only the soft, safe, court ilin who can afford to ignore such tools. Though many might not take up strange things for traditional cultural reasons, frontline ilin like Tud have a job to do, and /his/ culture has been broadened a /lot/. Treat it like, perhaps, eating dog in our culture; we might frown on it or even think it horribly disgusting, but anyone as focussed and hairy as Tud who has lived amongst dog eaters is not going to be put off by such nancy provincial attitudes, and he won't have much patience for them either. Anyone who tries a jeer or a spit is likely to get a warning clout through both ears.

Some interesting and valid points. My two immediate observations are that all ilin expect to die in service to their Lyio. And that Tattoos are in this context not 'a tool' but more of an identifying mark of a long standing enemy. I'd love to know what the other PCs think.

Monday 19 October 2009

Body Art

The body painting thing is a cultural more of the Galadhrim, not the Pernostir (ilin classes). Whilst we know that Tud is up for almost anything, he is trying to be a better ilin and tattooing and even non-permanent body art is just not ilin. So Tud might well think twice about agreeing.

Just to re-iterate that point - the Wood Elves do temporary body paint. No other cultural group within the empire indulges in body art of any sort.

Nym should ask Valarwen, who has probably been painted hundreds (literally - she's seen a lot of action) of times before and for whom temporary body art is normal, even expected. FG and TL may also be slightly interested; FG likes magic (and Nae thingy Scillico is magic) and TL likes cultrually important things. Which this is.

Tattooing is entirely associated with the Aerdy. High class Aerdy women tattoo their live's stories on their bodies - it's part of their identity (ie it makes it impossible to keep them as slaves without it being obvious who they are). Tyralandi would almost certainly be interested in having hers updated and Erlini, having been awoken to her cultural heritage by Tyralandi, might well be interested as well. Aerdy menfolk are also covered in tattoos - and the Imperial experience of Aerdy men is not nice. Piercings are also a widespread Aerdy affectation.

Please bear in mind that the cultural gap between the Empire's peoples and the Aerdy is much much greater than it is between the disparate people of the Empire. Certainly the human population of the Empire are not used to seeing Elves amongst them, but they do have a shared history of mutual sufferring, military inter-dependance and eventual liberation. The Aerdy are quite often the bogeymen in the childhood stories of a lot the Empire. In Ulria and Perrenland, when the common people see Tyrlandi and Erlini (or anyone with a tattoo or inexplicable monkey's tail) they stop and point. In urban areas they jeer and spit. If the ilin were not there they may well get stoned or lynched.

In a world of 'them' and 'us' the Aerdy are 'them'. And peircing and tattoos are Aerdy.

The Nae Larach Scillico list is cultural artefact, not a utility spell list.

Bad Monday


This is Richard the AA man. Loading my jam jar up to take it to the Saab dealer at Stoney Stratford to get a nice new shiney alternator.
Gemma at County Saab noticed that the warranty only expired a month or so ago and so is asking Saab HQ if they'll not charge full price as an act of good will. So aside from not getting to work and potentially looking at the thick end of £600 (upgrading the AA cover to include home start [or in this case, home not start] and over £500 for the alternator), it's just another Monday.

Sunday 18 October 2009

Debonaire

Such a good word. I must use it more.

Pah ! We laugh in the face of Inscrutable Yaks

FRPG on Saturday night; first for six months, alledgedly. A fine time was had by all and the PC party is back on track with the campaign arc. I say back on track, but more honestly perhaps they are just on track (at last).

Somehow, I let the PC party get away with defeating three beholders without sufferring any long term casualties. Oruro got turned to stone and Anar's magic items were temporarily nerf'd but that was about it.

Once again, a series of stun results on their foes allowed the galant PCs to bludgeon a poor innocent evil abhoration in the face of nature into messy oblivion.

I think it's time the "monsters" began to anticipate the PCs tactics and adopt an alternative strategy....

Friday 16 October 2009

Gaming as a hobby

OK. I enjoy a fairly narrow range of extra curricular activities. The FRPG. One game at a time. I'm much less bothered these days about the rules system. 3.5 looks to have the flexibility for which we abandoned AD&D for MERP. RM is, I now recognise, a little over complicated. Like Space Opera. One of my players, an auditor by profession and inclination spends a lot of time trying to fix it. Now, I see the ruleset as a vehicle for telling a story, so am quite happy to break the rules to further the narrative. So I'm happy with our broken RM and might well be satisified with 3.5 in the future. But then I'll be a player, not the DM, so my viewpoint will be slightly different. Perhaps.

As I have noted before, Fortykay can handle kill team missions and Apocalypse battles. It is extremely flexible. It can also do Stelek esque competitive games and the beer and pizza games that we will one day get around to.

Rules are OK, but I think that the rules one uses have to be suited to the activity one undertakes. If the rules don't suit the style of play one desires, then get new rules.

The Dread Pagoda of the Inscruitable Ones

This w/e is (hopefully) the concluding installment of the a/m adventure. Dragon subscribers (from when it was a real magazine and not just an interweb thing) might recognise it.

The Perran Empire campaign is a home brew RM adventure. It has its roots in AD&D (that's "1st edition") when our PCs carved an empire out of the central Flanaess. As you do when you are 14. Then GW launched MERP. So the PC moved to Middle Earth. Then the rules system morphed into ICE's RM. Then there was a bit of a hiatus. I launched a new campaign, back in the Penguin Empire that has been running for about four years.

Due to us all being grown ups with jobs and families we havn't played for six months (and of course, me being in Kent all week hasn't helped). So this little side adventure was never intended to be on the 'critical path' of the camapign arc. And it's never good to end a gaming session in the middle of a combat.

So I'm faced now with a consitricted timescale where I, as DM, have to sort out the combat and get the campaign back on track. There are about four or five adventures left in this campaign arc. The last one is an epic that will probably take three or more sessions.

The campaign is supposed to end in a grand finale. Whether the PCs dissapear in to the darkness and their moment of greatness takes place in the bowels of the earth or there is a giant showdown with a cast of fousundz is up to them of course. But hopefully it will be memorable enough. Even if I do have to actually stop leaving clues and just the PCs what is going on and what their motivation is in this scene (shesh !).

So, if you're one of the PE adventurers reading this, there'll be a new campaign, possibly in 2011. This time I get to be a player. The pathfinder or shackled city adventures can be downloaded from Pazio, so its possibly time for 3.5. I know that's me weakening and that if I had any integrity as a gamer then I wouldn't be suggesting moving away from RM. But if it makes it easier and quicker to play then I don't have a problem with it.

So to cut back to the dread pagoda. It was never meant to be important.

Phase 1 of MY project is complete(ish)

This co-incides with the likely end in the foreseeable future with my premanent residence in Kent. So last night I did a little Dark Angel Green overbrushing/dryrushing on the incubi and then sorted out and tidied up the workspace.

For the last six months or so I have spend about ten hours a week (my thanks to Radcliff and McConie for the company) gluing and painting zillions of little men and vehicles together. There is still a lot of painting and final trim type stuff to do, however at least now I have the six 400 point armies.

I've packed a huge box half full of chaos tank and vehicle accessory sprues, IG vehicle sprues, sentinal, land speeder and tank track sprues. All of these have been plundered once but still have enough on to be worth keeping. Then filled the rest of the box up with unmade models. A load of DKK Grenadiers, half a dozen of the new little boxes of Cadians and the FW bits to make them into veterans/renegades. And a load of metal minis that I havn't done yet either.

So I put all of the Chimera fleet together in one crate and the DE vehicles in another. I have about half a dozen Chimera boxes with heavy weapons teams in them and over tall models like Ogryn and standard bearers.

I put the paints in the paint box and the tools in the tool box. I still have left over a load of Eldar Vehicles and handfull of IG ones, including the Inquisition's 1/35th Stryker, another Ravager and a few more DE bits. So there'll be another big box of stuff to be packed next week to go back to the garage at home.

It's time to begin shipping all this stuff home again. I'll keep some in the cabin whilst I'm on this borrowed time, but really need to get the volume down to a level where it will all fit in one medium sized box - because I suspect that when I am not required full time down here, there won't be much notice, and I want to be able to seamlessly move my hobby stuff from the cabin to the garage with no fuss (they are 118 miles apart).

Hurrah ! Friday at last.

Honestly some folk will take offence at anything, I met a bloke with no legs this morning while at the bus stop, all I asked was "how are you getting on?"

Paddy was in the delivery room 20 when the midwife handed him a black baby "Is this yours?" she asked "probably" said Paddy "she burns everything else"

A gypsy girl sent an email to an agony Aunt "I am 12 years old and haven't had sex yet, do you think my brother is queer ?"

My missus has just gone into hospital with 2 black eyes and a broken jaw! It seems we were on different wavelengths when she said she wanted decking on the patio

Sex therapists claim that the most effective way to arouse your man is to spend 10 minutes licking his ears!! Personally I think its bollocks!!

They reckon that Beer contains female hormones and I think they are right. After 8 pints I talk shit and can't drive!

Vicar booking into a hotel asks the receptionist "Is the Porn channel in my room disabled" "No" she replies "it’s just regular porn you sick bastard"

A mate of mine has just told me he's shagging his girlfriend and her twin, I said how can you tell them apart?, he said "her brother's got a moustache!"

A biker goes to the Doctor with hearing problems "Can you describe the symptoms to me" "Yes.....Homer is a fat yellow lazy bastard and Marge is a skinny bird with big blue hair!!"

Thursday 15 October 2009

really nearly ready

OK; All the DE warriors, Incubi and the Dracon are ready for the table top. I've done the crews on two Raiders and one Ravager, so that's half of their vehcile fleet crews as well.

So that's everyone at minimum requirement for the patrol clash games.

I also now have thinners for the vallejo air, so might have a go at a tank sometime soon, just for variety.

Hurrah ! Now what to do about the table...

Wednesday 14 October 2009

Yet closer to the immediate goal of six patrol armies

The Sacred Guard's DAs are now fit for the table. By no means finshed at all, but good enough.

And all of the DE footsloggers now have their overbrush of either GW tentacle pink or Tamyia pink (which is a slightly more salmon like shade - I suspect that it can be blended with creams and browns to provide flesh tones).

So that is real progress. Hurrah.

As an aside, my car is being MOT'd. And I've found out that my mobile is still set to 'French' which is why it cannot recognise most of the words I've tried to text for the last few days.

Tuesday 13 October 2009

Hurrah ! Progress.

The Tigers 400 point patrol det is ready for the table top. They actually need colour on their equipment, bandanas and some of their marauder spiky bits. And their flesh needs another coat and the metal (currently boltgun metal) needs a mithril silver highlight. But that can wait. I keep forgetting about the twenty 'person' mutie squad (which actually only has fifteen persons at the moment). I will have to give them some attention fairly soon.

The Bel Tain Sacred guard 400 point patrol det needs a little more work on the DAs and Warlocks, but the DRs and Rangers are good to go. (MCH - DA = Dire Avenger, DR = Dark Reaper).

The Valhallans are good to go. There should be some detail work on the character figures, but again, that can wait.

The Devos IV boys are OK to go. The HB teams really need more work and the whole lot of them could do with a touch up, but they're OK for the time being.

The Bloodcoats are good to go. They could all do with a little more TLC but are OK for now.

The DE are basecoated only. Better get on their case tout suite.

Rolemaster Magic System.

CNJ Wrote "This has been mostly done for ages. (And I started it quite a while ago – if you remember talking about it in the car park at GW in Nottingham).

Anyway, with the prospect of actually playing next weekend, I remembered that I had always intend to send you the new rules before we played. So you could look over them to see what you thought. I’ve tidied up a few loose ends and this is now the ‘Beta’ version. Obviously it seriously needs a play-test, but for us that really means in Bog’s World.

Personally, I’m quite pleased so far, and would really love to see how it will play.

Radically changing the spell system at this stage in the campaign may seem a bit much, but as I have argued before no one apart from me (vaguely) (and this is including you I feel) actually understands the current system anyway! Which is kind of the point. No one understands the system now because it is illogical, and doesn’t match the background. (It doesn’t even match the rest of Rolemaster actually, let alone anything more story-driven!).

If nothing else, it will allow wizardly characters the option to actually become really good at spell casting. (Which amazingly enough, they cannot in standard RM – go figure.). And if FG is supposed to be (or to become…perhaps an important distinction) the zivorn of the spell-casting goddess. It seems fitting that there is a skill that covers this (i.e. spell casting rather than just magical power).

The attached documents include:
- New Base Spells Table – replacing the ‘Base Spells Table’ in RM (+spell casting skill (‘OB’) –‘Resistance’ of target (‘DB’); +/- range and other mods : basically just like Arms Law)
- Casting Effects Table – results of the Base Spells Table are given as F, PS, NS, etc, which is ‘Failure’, ‘Partial Success’, ‘Near Success’, and so on. This table interprets what these actually mean for different types of spell (the type of spell, which is in basic RM already, becomes more important in this system).
o 66 and 00 results. I’ve included ‘special effects’ from rolling natural 00 and 66. Because I see magic as being rather unpredictable (not to say quirky) and wanted to include more ‘something weird happens’ type results. I had intended to think of more. But this is as far as I had got.
o About the results generally: I wanted to make this more interesting and exciting (certainly more than the numeric ‘he rolls high enough to resist your spell’ which is all the previous system could do. But the need to make it generic overruled that. In theory, we could write a table for EACH SPELL (or at least each list). But I thought we’d see how it works out first!
- Spell Types and Resistance – an overview explaining what the spell types mean and how they interact with the concepts of Passive and Active Resistance. (This will be a bit new to people, but hopefully will become second nature soon enough.)
- Changes to PCs – summarised as lines to ‘drop into’ character sheet spreadsheets, although no doubt a bit of sorting out will be required (cos it always is). There is are quite a few new subtle rules included here (and one or two assumptions/’guesses’ that are subject to change on discussion with you). But these are pretty much how the skills work out in this new system, and I don’t want to bombard you with detailed rules just yet. Since I don’t have any copies of character sheet for Tyra, Val or Nym, I haven’t been able to do theirs yet. But it shouldn’t be a very big job. I have done calculations for some PCs of Resistance as well (a key attribute in this system: replacing the ‘Resistance Roll’ modifiers in the character sheet. But I haven’t collected these in one place.
o List bonuses – some spell lists are easier to cast than others, and this summarises that for each of the PCs’ lists. This info that could be recorded on the ‘character sheet’, and is equivalent to ‘using a +10 sword’ say on combat skills
o Mods to level bonuses – the current level bonuses have to be changed for this system, and this is my suggestion for what they should be (this is one of the ‘underlying rules’ but I have shown this because it is something you could easily alter that might change PCs final skills more than some others).
- Spell Casting Modifiers (part 1) – this is an existing table with various situational mods to Base Spells skill (preparation, use of hands, encumbrance). I include this just for completeness and reference as all these still apply just as before. Part 2 of this table will include all the additional mods to Base Spells (range) and to Resistance (from armour). These are worked out, but not yet written up, because I’m not sure how to divide up these into a ‘handy reference’. I am thinking putting strictly ‘situational’ factors on one sheet, and factors that could ‘go on character sheet’ (be previously worked out) on another. I think they won’t both fit on one sheet! But what would work best for you?

My intention is to print out the various tables and ‘Handy Reference sheets’ a few times (on card if possible??) so everyone can have a copy (or at least, there are lots of copies going around – a bit like the way the Arms Law books etc. do)

I recommend concentrating on the Casting Effects Table, although you might need to read the Spell Types and Resistance doc first so that the column headings make sense. Then look at the Base Spells Table, in conjunction with the Changes to PCs and Spell Casting Modifiers, to see what sort of results PCs will tend to get. I’ll leave it to you whether or not you want to work out some scenarios for PCs (e.g. FG rolling a 90 with no prep…)!

Obviously, I’m very keen to try this out for real – and probably tinker a bit with it in play (ref’s discretion as always is required on what the actual result of any spell is, but consistent over-ruling the tables may mean the tables are wrong!). My aim has been to emulate the basic pattern of RM’s results, and where an exact match wasn’t possible, to change things in favour of what I thought would make a more interesting game. But you might find, even if I have matched existing RM closely, that you don’t like the results it gives and want magic to be made harder, or easier, or less predictable, or something. My aim has been to make it more transparent to everyone (you and players) when a spell is easy, hard, unpredictable, etc. And allow PCs and NPCs to change their actions and tactics accordingly."

I will have a look at the tables and we may use this at the weekend.

Friday 9 October 2009

Contractor competence questionaire today.

Nearly finished the stripes on the remaining Tigers and their multi-laser armed sentinal. Put the ice blue base colour on the Bel Tain weapons.

Not a lot going on there really, but did a bit of detail work on them all.

A bigger problem is that my credit card company appears not to have taken their money for Oct and also my landlady in Kent did not present last month's cheque either. So the vast sum of money in my account that I've alluded to in previous posts should in fact all have gone out of my account over four weeks ago. So I have in fact got about £2K less than is still in my account. Not happy. Ho hum.

Thursday 8 October 2009

Going to look at a bag full of Ni today.

So, the Valhallans are now in a fit state for the tabletop. There's loads more that I'm sure that a competent figure painter could do. But I'm not one, so they're fine.

And the 2nd Regt of the Devos IV PDF are also OK for the table. Some of them need basing, but they're good to go as well.

Only the DE to go now. And the stripes on some of the Tigers. And the white on the Bel Tain Avengers, reapers and warlocks.

And then I'll need five more mutants, really. but I'm not too bothered about five missing muties at the minute; there are plenty of proxies in the figure collection.

Wednesday 7 October 2009

Vallhallaaa

I did the base colour, equipment, weapons on all of the Valhallans and the faces on about half of them.

So these guys are deffinately gonna be ready. 55 bodies on the table at 400 points. Nice.

Tuesday 6 October 2009

Meeting postponed for a week. eer, um, hurrah. I suppose.

I've done the stripy 'camouflage' on about half of the Tigers and two of their three sentinals (the two they need for their 400 point list).

I've done some of the camouflage on the Rangers and some of the white on the avangers (the aspect warriors for both craftworlds are being done in their craftworld colours, to stop them homogenating into one huge Eldar mass).

I'm aiming to finish the Tigers and Bel Tain to an acceptable state for the first game by the end of the week.

Friday 2 October 2009

My project and the other project. (money out and money in)

Just squeezed a smidgeon of painting in before the big dinner. I did the flesh on the Bel Tain rangers, and then the red (scab red with tentacle pink undercoat) on the crests and so forth of Maugan Ra, Avengers, Farseers, Warlocks and Reapers.

Whenever I pick up a Dark Reaper model I want to say "We are the destroyer's agents on this plane." Too much DOW, perhaps.

The venison portion was minute, but at the end of the dinner the speeches made the whole project sound very successful and promised the entire team employment on the next project. Which is nice.

Thursday 1 October 2009

More more more

Just added the metal base colour to the Tiger platoon and then the base white and green colours to the Bel Tain.

Hurrah !

But I'm gonna miss out tonight as it's a three line whip for an end of project dinner.

Three audits adrift. Rah Boo Poo. Three audits today then; if the contractor will stand for it.

OK. So last night I cleaned out the stove (approx 10 litres of ashes), laid a new fire (didn't need to light it - it was a very warm night. I swept the steps, got three armfulls of logs into the indoor bin (in case it rains) and replenished the kindling supplies. I also impressed my wife with my detol surface wipe and detol floor wipe purchases. I may even use some later in the week.

Oh btw, did the sea green base uniform colour on the Tigers platoon. And the base metal colour on one squad as well as the base fortress grey on the Eldar. And the metal on one sentinal.