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SAGA and Gripping Beast’s Harald Hardradda

A friend at my local game store has gotten me into SAGA. (Yu know who you are (that’s a pun that one person in the world is going to get)). I’ve not played yet, but we have some games scheduled in a few weeks. I’ve just started painting my army, but tonight I finished my warlord.

I used Gripping Beast’s Harald Hardradda figure, but I’ll use him as a generic Anglo-Danish leader.

Here’s what you get in the package. I ordered from Gripping Beast’s USA partner, Architects Of War. They shipped fast and have good prices, and an easy to use website. I got my SAGA rulebook from them, also.

Harald is BIG. I read up on him, and he was a big guy in real life, also.

This is where the shield attaches to his back.

I used a decal for the shield front. It was easy to put on.

The shield after the decal was applied.

When I primed the figure and the shield, I put a bit of blue tack over the parts that I would need to glue, so that I could glue metal to metal with no paint in the way.

The shield is attached.

Harald is painted and washed with The Army Painter Strong Tone ink.

Done and based. The sword on the base is from Wargames Factory Saxon Thegns. He’s on a 30mm Litko.net wood base with a heavy duty magnet base underneath.

I am really looking forward to playing SAGA. I’ve started on my Anglo-Danish warband. Hopefully I’ll have some pics of them for you soon.

Got in 3 Games Of Dreadball

I played Dreadball at At Ease Games last weekend. I got in 3 games in 3.5 hours, one of which was a game that I spent teaching Dreadball to a new player.

I’ve played Dreadball several times now, and it’s a really, really good game. Do yourself a favor and check it out.

Also, I’ve been to At Ease Games several times now, and it’s a really friendly game store. It’s a bit out of the way for me, but hey, you go where the games are.

The Humans (tan) vs the Dwarves. Notice 3 of my Humans are injured.

Humans vs the Orx/Goblins. Notice the 3 injured humans. Kind of a trend.

Monster Hunter International RPG and Friday Night Photos

The Monster Hunter International Employee Handbook and Roleplaying Game is finally available to the general public. If you missed the Kickstarter, now you can buy it.

The game is based on the series of novels by Larry Correia. Vampires, werewolves, zombies, etc. exist, but they are secret. The government pays a bounty for dead monsters. The players work for a private company that hunts monsters and collects the bounty. The books are action and combat heavy, and I expect the game will be, also.

My book arrived today, but I’ve been reading the PDF for the last several days. The game uses the HERO system, which I have not previously played, but it seems pretty good after a read through.

The book looks great, and is well put together. It’s 302 pages, hardcover, and full color. Tomorrow the group is going to try to get together and create characters and run through some exhibition combat, so that we can get a feel for it.

As readers of my blog know, I’ve been painting a bunch of 15mm monsters and hunters, etc for use with this game. I took some pics tonight of minis I’ve finished in various situations, just for fun.

I’ll write up a report after my first play session with my impressions of the game.

15mm Mutants and the Dangers of Dullcote When it’s Humid.

Over the weekend I painted up some of Khurasan’s 15mm Mutant Supersoldiers (END-202) and Savage Humanoid Cannibals (END-500). It was just after dark last night when I went to spray them with Testor’s Dullcote. I love Dullcote, it really “finishes” a mini. But I learned to be careful about the time of day I choose to use it.

I live about 500 meters from the ocean in Southern California, so when the sun sets, the humidity rises fast. This did not occur to me, and my minis ended up with a fogged finish. Damn.

After looking around the internet for solutions, I ended up brushing on Citadel’s ‘Ardcoat over the whole mini. This took care of the fogging and brought back the original color. Then, this morning, in full sunlight and lower humidity, I hit them will Dullcote again to kill the ‘Ardcoat’s shine.

This is the nine minis after painting and before any spray finish.

After the whole process – the fogged layer of Dullcote, then the ‘Ardcoat “fix it” layer, then Dullcote again. And basing, of course.

The Mutant Supersoldiers, front and back. I think they need another spray of Dullcote. The ‘Ardcoat is really shiny, and some of that shine is still showing, especially in the back view. The guy in the middle has a shiny ass, and that’s just not right. 🙂

The Savage Humanoid Cannibals. I think I’ll spray them with the Dullcote one more time, as well.

Here’s a size reference.

I’m glad I was able to rescue them, and I’ve learned a good lesson to not use Dullcote when it’s humid out.

I plan to use these minis with the Monster Hunter International RPG. I’m thinking of a “The Hills Have Eyes” type scenario.

Army Painter’s Color Primer Review

I recently got a buttload of 15mm Sci-Fi minis from the Critical Mass Games Kickstarter. I need to paint them, so I can have a full company vs. company to try out Quadrant 13. I looked into how to speed up the painting process, and I came across The Army Painter’s Color Primer. They spell it “colour” but they are wrong. 🙂

I use Army Painter’s washes – Strong Tone and Dark Tone, and I like them a lot better than the Citadel washes I had used previously, so I was already feeling positive toward the company.

The genius thing that Army Painter has done here is that they have a “100% match” regular paint for each color primer. So you can, in theory, spray your minis with the colored primer, paint the other colors, then touch up with the 100% match paint.

Anyway, I wanted to try it out before I sprayed it all over my CMG minis, so I tried it on Kurasan’s “Terror Of Clambake Beach.” These were perfect, because they are mostly one color.

The Clambake Beach minis before and after cleanup.

After priming with “Ultramarine Blue”. In the back is the spray primer and the 100% match paint.

The completed minis. I drybrushed a mix of the 100% match paint with a bit of Citadel’s Runefang Steel, then painted the eyes, mouth and teeth. Of course I messed that up, so I had several touchups to do, and they blended perfectly.

Then I washed with Army Painter’s Strong Tone mixed with acrylic medium to thin it. Basing was done my standard way.

The color primer really sped the whole process up. I’m a fan. The 100% match paints really seal the deal. I think this will save me about 25% time when I paint the 79 infantry from the CMG Kickstarter.

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Miniatures and the games that use them.