Levithan

I just picked up a copy of Scotia Grendel's Leviathan. This is a game I've been meaning to get for years but thanks to the excellent Leviathan War blog, I took the plunge!

I love the post apocalyptic fantasy setting and I think it has a lot of possibilities. 

I'm glad this line is still somewhat supported but I would love to see some updates on these twenty year old models. I do really love their orcs and goblins, they just need some variety.

(Leviathan Orcs)

I pulled out some older models that might be good choices to mix in with the Levithan models. The old GW plastic orc fits in surprisingly well. The Heartbreaker figure is a bit small and the Rakham figure is a bit big but may work.

(Left to right: GW, Heartbreaker, Scotia Grendel and Rakham)

Anyway, I'm looking forward to reading the rules and getting into the world of Leviathan!

Dick Dale

I'm sad today because one of my personal heroes has passed away today. Dick Dale was 81, and to me that's too young for a man who was such a giant talent.
I discovered his music as a kid in the 80s and he's been with me ever since. I've seen him in concert four times and even had the chance to meet him. There's a saying that you should never meet your heroes but With Dick Dale this was never the case. He was warm and welcoming and was generally interested in meeting his fans.

His music is so powerful and really hits you in the gut. I remember the first time I heard Misirlou I knew that I was hearing something  ground breaking, I was instantly hooked for life.

Thank you for all the music, Dick.

Standing On The Shoulders Of Giants!

This was my response to the current Non-troversy surrounding the OSR logo. I haven't been personally involved in the OSR in years mostly due to the way people in the OSR behave. It started out as a labor of love and then turned into a battle of egos. I'm not going to name anything specific but it just wasn't the same thing to me that it was at it's peak in 2010.

Quite a few years ago I came up with a logo based on the TSR logo. An original ripoff you might say. I made no claims on it and put it out there for anyone to use. A lot of gamers came up with their own versions, ones way better than my crude logo.  One in particular was really good and it was adopted for quite a few products.

A couple of days ago I came across a rant about how his logo was being used to harass minorities so he was revoking it's use for such purposes.  He didn't name anything specific so it was left up to the reader's imagination. Any gaming products meant to harass anyone seems like a really poor gaming material and I doubt you'd find an audience for it. I thought this seemed strange and sounded a bit like a political purity test.

I contacted the author and told him I did the original and said people ran with the logo and he blocked me on Twitter. I'm not going to try to understand his motivation but I don't  trust grandstanding in the guise of silencing speech. You can inject your politics or personal views in your games but you run the risk of alienating some of your audience. Immersing yourself into a fantasy world means leaving every day nonsense behind. I know I don't need to explain escapism to gamers but more and more it seems political extremists want to inject their ideology into every form of escape, creating no-escapism. Why buy a product that just reminds us how crappy the real  world can be?

I may get involved with the OSR again, I did enjoy it early on but a big failing of the OSR is the lack of humility and reverence for the original creators. If it weren't for them then none of this would exist. Make your own products and enjoy your gaming but remember that you stand on the shoulders of giants.

Cultural Cleansing

Cultural Cleansing

Lemmy!

Here's one of the Ral Partha Ogres I finished up.  I decided to go full Lemmy on him by sculpting long hairs as well as the stache. I think I'm going to revisit using my ideas from my "Black Lands of Sab'Bath" campaign setting; using a rock'n roll themed fantasy setting for Chaos Wars.

Lemmy is one of three ogre brothers (Fast Eddie and Philthy) who serve in the orc warlord "Snaggletooth" cavalry known as "Snaggletooth's Iron Fist".  I'm just going to have fun with this.
Note I made the grass more pronounced in the front of the base and gradually dying towards the back.  I based this on an interview where Lemmy said "We want to be the band that if we moved next door to you, your lawn would die."

Chaos Wars Mounted Ogre Conversions

Iron Wind Metals/Ral Partha's Ogre Cavalry on Elephants

Iron Wind Metals recently mailed me some minis and among the figures in the box were these Ogres!  I love these figures but I felt they needed a bit of converting just to give them each their own look.

First I started with cutting off one of the ogres arms.  It took a bit of sawing and applying a lot of pressure with the exacto knife but it finally came off.

Then I drilled a hole in the arm and the shoulder with my pin-vise and added a small piece of metal rod in the shoulder hole and glued it.  

Then I inserted the rod into the arm hole and glued that.

I took a bit too much off of the shoulder so I had to sculpt a new shoulder using ProCreate Professional Sculptors Putty.

I decided to give this guy a "Lemmy Kilmister" mustache so I also sculpted some hair.  I may go back and add some layering later on but for now this is what I finished with.

On the second figure I decided to cut his arm off at the elbow.  I cut along the line of his arm guard this way it's easier to disguise where the cut was made.

This is after pinning and gluing the arm.  I had a bit more difficulty with just gluing this one so I added a little ball of the ProCreate on the pin and it held together better.

I decided to sculpt some long hair on this fella.

Back View

And here is the final results.  I like the way they came out and I think the conversions just gave them a little more personality.  I'm no sculpting virtuoso but I'm satisfied with it.

Dwarves Exploring

More of my artwork for Ral Partha.

Dwarf Werewolf Art

A friend of mine suggested calling it a Dwerewolf.  Anyway it's a new illustration I did for the second wave of miniatures being released by Ral Partha.

Stop Being A Damn Pussy!

Remember the war on Dungeons & Dragons in the late 70s and early 80s?  Ambulance chasing Lawyers wanting to make a name for themselves, religious nay sayers doing what they do best and yellow journalists hyping non-stories to fear monger society against something they didn't understand.

Pat Robertson railed against the dangers of fantasy role-playing game.  60 minutes ran a sleazy hit piece on Dungeons and Dragons. Tom Hanks starred in a now infamous made for TV movie, "Mazes and Monsters".  It scared parents all around the country and I'm sure role-playing books were confiscated leaving many young kids scratching their heads.

So what were the consequences of this dark time in American pop culture?  Not a damn thing!  Roleplaying Games are every bit as popular, if not more popular than the days of all the negative publicity.  There are far more choices of games, magazines and miniatures than they were when I first started gaming.

Yet a lot of gamers still whine about those days on the internet as if they have any effect on them today. Many of the whiners weren't even born until the mid to late 80s. You are not a victim, you are not oppressed, you don't need to become a goose-stepping Social Justice Warrior. You have complete freedom of choice on what you want to play.

For me, the movie Mazes & Monsters was actually the catalyst that sparked my interest in D&D.  I was pretty young but I remember watching the movie when it aired and thought "What is this movie that makes people go crazy because of how realistic it is? And where can I get a copy?!"

I look back on that movie now as just an odd period in history, but one I can laugh about. I didn't let the lies of liberal media outlets or scumbag lawyers affect my interests or life's enjoyments.

So get over what happened thirty years ago, laugh about it and STOP BEING A PUSSY!

Happy Oerth Day!

I am officially re-naming Earth Day as Oerth Day! Today will be a day to celebrate Gary Gygax's creation of Oerth and Greyhawk by gaming in his universe.

Kiss My Axe

Just a bit of art work

Superior Models Elf

I decided to touch up an old figure I've had since '84 or so.  I remember my brother buying this elf over at Royal Hobby in Rockford, IL.  We were both digging through a little miniatures bargain bin and he really liked this Superior Models elf from their Wizards and Lizards line.  I ended up picking out a few halflings and some goblins whose make still is a mystery today.  I may post those later some day.

Here's a barbarian that I can't remember the manufacturer who made it.  I think it was Lance and Laser but I'm not sure.  If anyone knows, let me know my memory on this one is a bit fuzzy.

And here's a size comparison shot with one of the Ral Partha Kickstarter miniatures.  They all seem pretty compatible.  The Ral Partha figure seems a bit smaller but his base was actually not quite as thick as the other two figures were. 

First Miniature Painted in 2016

This is an old Ral Partha (Iron Wind Metals) Knight I finished up today.  I'm pretty happy with the results!  I love the old War of the Roses or German Gothic style armor.  He'll make a great player character in the near future. 

3 Elves From The Ral Partha Kickstarter

First blog post of the year!  I just wanted to show off a few minis I painted from the new/old Ral Partha line!

Elf Swordsman with bow and quiver

I decided on a Macedonian style shield emblem.  I've always liked that design.

Elf Mage

Elf Champion with spear and shield

Chaos Wars Unboxing!

I wasted no time in basing them. There's an extra pack of archers and a chariot too.

I received a copy of the Ral Partha kickstarter packs this Christmas and I couldn't be more pleased!  I'm honored to have been a part of the illustration team and look forward to doing more work with Ral Partha.

The two box sets signed by the man himself, Tom Meier!

The figures are absolutely beautiful!  I love the old Tom Meier sculpts!  All in all I am really impressed and am diligently painting away and reading over the rules so I can do a demo game at my FLGS!

Books 1-3 plus the scenario book

Side by side the original book (left) and the new one (right). Can you spot the difference?

Elf Captain