Alabaster Automata

 

  I've finally gotten the entire 2-player starter kit painted and it is time to paint more models and play larger games.  Because my wife likes to play the Void side, I focus on getting those painted first for her.  And the Void models, like all of the Relic Knights line that I've dealt with so far, area beautiful!  This model is of a female, getting choked by some magical chain-collar that's attached to a huge, broken sword that she's wind-surfing on.  Like, whoa!

  Admittedly, I couldn't tell what the heck was going on with this model.  The resin used to cast these definitely holds detail, but there's no artwork or even painted examples to really clarify how she's supposed to look.  So I slapped on the appropriate contrast paints where I though they should go and worked from there.  The card art helped but 'discovery' was certainly more necessary.  

  After figuring some things out, I worked on the flesh.  She had surprisingly less flesh than some of the other models in the starter forces, and that was surprise considering how much fun the geometry can be to paint and highlight (if you know what I mean).  Alabaster has an exposed rear-end, so that was something, but I'm focused on the front and top ('zenithal' concept).  

  It became very necessary, after an embarassing number of repaints for the flesh, to paint up all the leather and body-armour that she wears.  Again, the model's details are crisp, but there's so much layered leather and techy-plates that it was hard to find all the detail.  And it's all black.  I hate painting black so much.  Highlighting black can make a person go crazy and now I was having to do an embarassing amount of repaint and touch-up on both the flesh and the body armour.  After some frustration, I finally relented and abandoned those.  

  Then came the opposite experience- the purple cloth wrapped around her!  A second layer of contrast paint, then a very fast layer and highlight saw that flowing accessory done in record time and perfectly framing all the non-metal stuff.  I went from frustrated to happy in seconds.

  I absolutely adore painting non-metal metallics as it uses my old pencil-art skills from ages long gone.  I'm not great at it but I did learn from the best (RIP Wappels!) and really enjoy using my paintbrush like a pencil to 'draw' highlights and shadows.  Alabaster's chains were the first to get the quick version and then the flat of the huge blade received more attention to get that NMM silver- wash zenithal primed parts with Nuln Oil, then wash with watered-down Night Blue, glaze with Turquiose, follow-up by watering down a light gray (bluish tone if you have) to build up, and create crisp reflections and shapes with white.  It's no Giraldez, but it's good enough relative to the enjoyment.  My goodness do I enjoy non-metals sometimes!

  By now, I'm happy enough with the results, so I put the pink glow on the blade and gloves, painted the hair with Basic Skin Tone and White mix to get that platinum-blonde colour, and based her up.  She's done!  These models are so much fun to paint and trying out these new techniques makes this game rather neat.  Now back to painting!

A funny story about a dwarf

   "It was a long time ago.  My companions and I started a series of quests for some wizard named the Mentor and some of the weirdest stuff happened.  For a company used to escorting caravans and guarding lords, those dungeon-crawls were kinda crap!  But we certainly have some stories to tell.  

  Like, early on, we were tasked with hunting down this Gargoyle- massive, stone-tough, and surrounded by all the monsters you would find in a dungeon!  I, of course, kicked every door down and charged whatever looked like it needed my blade.  The elf followed and kept getting injured- elves aren't very tough, ya know?  But he did some things with that magic he uses.  Speaking of magic- the wizard snuck around more than a thief!  Every room- he comes in later and just sorts himself into a corner and watches as we do all the fighting, and then just wanders away.  He had some good magic, but he was all about hiding in the shadows.  

  But the dwarf- well, they have short legs so you shouldn't expect much.  He lagged behind the rest of the group all the time.  In fact, I'm confident he even wandered off down different hallways because he didn't know where were!  By the time we got to the final room, with a fireplace, the Gargoyle, and a bunch of other baddies, the dwarf was all the way around the other side!  As we fought- the elf died and then I died!  The dwarf yelled through the wall after us as he heard the commotion and then the wizard used that magic and made the dwarf walk right through that wall!  With a bellowing roar, he charged into the Gargoyle's back and finished him off easily.  Like, one-shot easily.  That dwarf hadn't fought but once through the whole quest and then he gets to show up and win the battle?

  Our arguments later really came from who the MVP was.  Obviously, everyone wanted to pick the dwarf because he landed the killing blow.  But I think that sneaky little wizard, with his 'pass through walls' thing, was the real winner.  It didn't matter, the elf died too and that makes it all okay.  Then there was a wagon getting crashed on the way home, but that's a different story.  Ah, the stories!  Now let me tell you about rescuing Sir Ragnar..."

The ladies fighting for the galaxy!

  The whole family is together recently and we had to take the chance to throw down on some games.  My wife and daughter pulled out the Relic Knights box and I was summoned to do the "Intro stuff".  I was reminded of how easy this game is to learn...  Of course, they played Radiant vs. Void and it led to a couple of unique happenings that make for great story-telling- the whole point of all games!

  One of the best concepts of the game is the complete lack of deployment zones are specific terrain setup.  The players take turns to place their objective markers anywhere on the table more than 9" away from other objectives, then take turns deploying their units ANYWHERE ON THE TABLE more than 9" away from enemy units and enemy objectives.  This means players are not limited to 'symmetry' or some arbitrary required setup when making a themed, organic battlefield.  The unlimited deployment means that players are in the action almost immediately- no clunky rounds of just moving around and 'positioning' like other wargames.  My wife and daughter set up a nice, woodland table that wouldn't be out-of-place for a LotR SBG game...

  As the game ramped up, we saw Cupid compelling the Sundown Enforcers backwards after getting peppered with sheets of firepower, and Mikel chasing Mr. Milky into the trees for far too long- the Cyphers were definitely a focus!

  But the story of Tahariel and Bang Bang seems to be fated to remaining the same- Ms. Kaylee slowed Mikel's obsessive advance and eventually charged to finish the weakened cleric.  The Sundown Enforcers, long frustrated with Cupid's shenanigans, opened fire on Tahariel from across the battlefield and added to Bang Bang's deadeye shots, giving Kaylee her chance to sneak up on an unsuspecting target and use her claws.  Tahariel screamed in agony and fled the area, defeated this time...  

  It was a great game and both of the ladies playing had an absolute blast!  It was also great to see a complete 'noob' be able to pick up the rules and game-flow so easily, meaning that this should be a very easy game to teach.  This game just used the models from the 2-player starter set and the games are even more fun at the 'full-size'- that's more units to field!  I'm working on those right now.  Be sure to check out the set and more here.  

Happy Gaming!

Da Boyz iz comin'!

   If  you haven't paid attention lately- 40k is coming out with a new edition in only a few weeks.  The starter box will have Blood Angels (the old and new again poster-boyz!) and Orks and be themed around the continuing third war for Armageddon.  I don't want a new edition.  But I do want more boyz and my addiction to toy soldiers far outweighs my budgetary discipline.  

  My son demanded that we play a game finally (life has been 'fun' for both of us recently!) and I had to ask which foe he'd like to vanquish.  Dem greenskins wuz his target, so I had to do some digging to pull those old things out.  I have SO MUCH and still have WAY MORE to build and paint, but now I worry about the new edition and all those models becoming replaced anyway, so this game needed to happen just to give my collection their 'last run'.  My son, being the great defender of the war-planet, decided to bring his Black Templars led by Grimaldus himself, so this last run was going to be a massacre for the xenos.  Or so I thought...

  We deployed our forces and I saw my tough, unarmoured mob lined up across from his tough, heavily-armoured mob.  We rolled off for the first turn and the Emprah's angels won, so they got to jump forward and advanced with everything, their righteous zeal pushing them to cleanse the unclean.  The Templars shot with a couple of weapons but caused no significant damage, and then stood to wait for the oncoming charge.  Their chainsswords revved with murdurous intent and their voxes spread prayers of hatred and litanies of faith to the Emprah.  The only choice for the Orks was to match that energy and charge.

  The wall of greenskins surged forward and their mobs were quickly joined by a ramshackle but speedy Battlewagon sneaking from the flank and blocking off the Templars' dreadnought with its massive size and blocking line-of-sight.  With that, the cheers erupted and the choppas swung and the Orks gleefully leapt into the Black Templar lines.  When the smoke finally cleared, more than half the marines were destroyed and the Orks had lost only a few of their number.  Now it was an unarmoured horde versus a couple of armoured defenders.  

  We finished the next turn, just rolling dice to see if anything neat would happen, and it didn't.  The Orks massacred the Black Templars.  In game terms, the Orks almost 'tabled' their opponent in two turns.  In narrative terms- the greenskins have long taken over Armageddon, scrapping and looting any abandoned Imperial site that they could find.  The Templars were dispatched to reclaim a particular area (now a junkyard and less a defensible site) and they ran into overly eager inhabitants.  Zeal does not replace Intel...

  The problem in this battle (besides a lack of dense terrain- we wanted to fight, not dodge!) is that the Templars went first and ran up too quickly, allowing the Orks first turn to take advantage of the 'Waaagh' rule and get stuck-in very quickly.  This gave Orks first strike and the sheer weight of numbers quickly overwhelmed even power armour.  But it was fun and we got to see the greenskins do what greenskins do.  

  Needless to say, I can't wait for the new edition.  I want more boyz!  They're coming, and soon.  

As always, Happy Gaming!

A little bit about Relic Knights

 

  Admittedly, I don't know very much about this game.  When I bought the 2-player starter kit and the rulebook, I was going off the models, description of the gameplay, and story of the company from the guy I talked to at Reapercon.  I only knew that this game used cards instead of dice and was sorta sci-fi.  I'm not a fan of the bubble-gum-style anime models, but that's because I don't usually paint them.  And not using dice?  Add alternating turns and open deployment and you got yourself a winner!  But in all of that, i never got the 'background' to the game.  I got home, suffering a little bit of 'buyer's remorse', but I instantly jumped onto the interwebs and the Youtubes to find anything I could.  I found some excessively boring videos and some exceptionally short videos focused on the factions.  But nothing really broke down the storyline in any meaningful way.  But here's what I know:

  Many years in the future, society across the galaxy developed AI and built their worlds around this technology.  Then, slowly at first, the stars started disappearing from the night sky.  Suddenly, the AI almost everywhere came to life and chose champions meant to for great things.  Unfortunately, time passed and the stars continued to disappear until this galaxy is the last one.  No science or religion has found a way to stop it yet, but there are champions that travel and battle for the fate of everything.  These champions are accompanied by AI constructs with magical powers and help to accomplish objectives or discover powerful relics.  These champions are known as Questing Knights and their companions are known as Cyphers.  When a Questing Knight reaches those milestones however they do, the Cypher and Knight transform into a more powerful being bent on destroying or saving this last galaxy, known as a Relic Knight.  

  The 'good guys' are known as the Radiant Faction and are trying to preserve the last galaxy.  The 'bad guys' are called the Void Faction and are bent on the destruction of everything.  Their champions battle each other for locations of great power and even the location of ancient artifacts to accomplish their goals.  The 2-player starter set has two Questing Knights- Bang Bang for the Radiant Faction and Tahariel for the Void Faction.  These two are not yet ascended to Relic Knights, but are equally passionate about their cause.  Somehow, the fates always seem to lead these two champions against each other as they have become too familiar with each other at every turn.  

  Bang Bang leads a band of western-style enforcers used to working on the outskirts of civilization.  Her Sundown Enforcers are heavily-armoured troops with a lot of firepower, while Miss Kaylee is a cat-woman with an armoured suit, a powerful blaster, and a claw that can rip the eyes out of her foes.  Finally, her Cypher is a small cow-creature named Mr. Milky and he has the ability to spray milk on his allies to heal them.  Bang Bang herself sports a couple of pistols and fisticuffs with an eagerness to lay down covering fire and knock some sense into those Void folk.  

  Tahariel leads an elite team of speedy operators interested in darkness and speed.  The Dark Pinions are lightly-armoured soldiers with combined firepower and blades fueled by jet packs, and Mikel is an angelic champion with a burning blade and wings of vengeance on the darkness.  Tahariel helps them by compelling her foes across the battlefield or melting their minds, while her Cypher is named Cupid and also compels units, allowing everyone to be in position to do the most damage.  

  And that's it!  The models are fantastic and enough to keep me interested by themselves, but the storyline may be nice to know.  I do have to note that I haven't gotten any Relic Knights (or their "Questing" version) for my collection yet.  I do have most of the available factions and will be adding the Empire of Noh (and probably more) this year at Reapercon.  For right now, we're just using that 2-player starter kit with the addition of a couple of models and having a blast.  Give it a look-see on their website and definitely let me know if I have anything wrong above.  This is just a 'little bit' because that'as all I know!

Of course- Happy Hobbying!

Still here, seeking relics...

   Still here!  Sorry for the absence- I've been really focused on work (a growing company working on taking over an entire market!) and just haven't had a strong focus in any one game during off-time.  I still do the hobby thing and even squeeze in a contest once in a while, especially with my peer group- my brother finally got into 40k and started up a Blood Angels army, while my son has been focused on 3d printing (where I've backed projects and forced him to be my production center) and my wife has been slapping some paint on non-gamer models.  But none of it had the 'draw' for me to sit down and make a post.  

  In fast, Google has already tried to shut down this blog-site once for inactivity and I'm trying to avoid that again.  More, I actually (finally) found something to get excited about and wanted to blog about it!  Last year, I went to a little convention known as Reapercon and decided to fish out a new game to distract from the rest of my ridiculous collection.  This is where I ran into something I'd already seen years before and just wasn't interested, but fate knows the 'call-back' technique and sometimes uses it.  I like painting models (well, I like it enough anyway, but at least I'm good at it) and I love being part of a new thing- at the ground-floor, one of the "first adopters", being part of it before it's so-called 'cool', and this reappearance definitely presented that opportunity.  That's right- I have a word count...  (IYKYK)

  This game first popped up as a very successful crowd-funding project that had a poor reception for a number of post-production reasons that weren't limited to communication, logistics, quality, or even consistency.  But it did have a novel concept and enough of a following to not disappear completely.  A big-dog (I don't remember if he's one of the original creators or just a super-fan or what) reached out to an experienced game designer to re-work it and bring the project to life again, and I'm here for it.  The models are actually quite good (both the old and new- completely different materials and designs though) and the rules are very fast.  In fact, the whole game is so novel that it didn't even require dice- my arch-nemesis!  It is set in a sci-fi universe with fantasy elements carried on an 'anime'-aesthetic, and only made this come-back in 2025.  The game is called Relic Knights.

  I have to spread these posts out a bit, so I'm not going to go into the game-play aspects and certainly not the background (I actually don't know the 'fluff' since the online resources are poor and I don't own any of the old stuff), but I have been taking the opportunity to paint models and even work on some new techniques.  In this case, I'm just going to show off the models.  I have a very common style when painting miniatures as I'm a student of the "Citadel System" from the very first introduction of it (like I said- I dig starting at the beginning!), but I wanted to spread my wings a bit and try some stuff. 

  I'm used to that aforementioned approach of 'base, shade, highlight', often involving copious amounts of wash and singular lines of accents with brighter colours- ideally drawing your eye to the detail and not the lighting or aspect/pose.  GW models are high-detail and meant to really impress based on bringing all that out with layers and line-highlighting.  That system is easy and effective and anyone can get great results following it.  In the interest of breaking away from that very system, I tried to get the airbrush involved, applied zenithal principles, tested out Contrast paints, concentrated on highlights and placement, and even dusted off the old non-metallic technique once or twice.  It's been some time and my equipment is not the highest quality which means that I'm not always ecstatic with the results, but I'm very happy overall.  It's the uniqueness and overall aesthetic of these models that really allowed for that artistic expression more than the GW style and I had a bit of fun with it.  Check 'em out:

Radiant Faction (the good guys)

Void Faction (the bad guys)

  I did try to do some editing with backgrounds and effects and all that, but it wasn't working on some of the pictures, so I just posted them raw.  This is also part of the 'learning process'- I recently got a computer powerful enough to do all that stuff and have no idea how to use it!!!  These models are an absolute blast to paint and the opportunity for growth in skills is awesome.  I'm finding the experience fun and my wife even enjoys this one (I think she might even mean it this time!), so I strongly suggest it.  These models and the cards needed to play can be ordered here- give it a go!  If you just happened to be at Reapercon this year, I'm hoping to have a table set up as well- obviously, let me know if you read my blog- I know there's only two of you...  And I will, of course, start posting about this game (sooner or later).

As always- Happy Hobbying!