Five Parsecs from Home meets Infinity the Game

Over the years I have quietly collected miniatures from the Corvus Belli game Infinity because they just look cool.  But they have just been languishing in a drawer.  Recently I started painting some of their new JSA (some of which I have posted here and here).

 

Recently I have become slightly obsessed with a game called Five Parsecs from Home.  I actually bought the game book during last years black Friday sales.  Recently I came across Me, Myself and Die's run through of this solo game and I really want to give it a go.  So, I started with rolling up a crew.  I then realized I actually had the perfect miniatures for my game...the Infinity miniature I have been stockpiling!

Here is my captain and a crew member.  These two were definitely my best rolls.

Captain  Aria "Starstyker" Voss - A Strange Character with a Mysterious Past.  A Military Brat from a War Torn Hellhole, motivated by Glory and leading life as a Mercenary.  Strong combat rolls here with higher reactions.

 

Lyra "Hex" Tanis - another Strange Character.  A Genetic Uplift, born into an Alien Culture, motivated by the survival and leading a life as a Mercenary.  The genetic uplift part of this character makes her very strong and being a merc just enhances her already above average combat skill and she is very tough.  She would have been the captain in many campaigns I think.

 

I knew I had the perfect mini for the Captain.  The Ariadna Intel Spec Ops mini.  I originally was going to use a 40k gene-stealer mini for Hex but think this one is actually better. Trisha N33 from  Dire Foes Mission Pack Delta.

The terrain they are staged with is the TinkerTurf SciFi Cargo container, very awesome terrain.

 

I promised myself I wouldn't paint these according to the box art, but it seems I did with Trisha N33.

 

Oathsworn Into the Deepwood

So, me and some friends played Gloomhaven and really enjoyed it.  When Frosthaven cameout (which we backed on Kickstarter) we were very excited.  The game however just never had the feel of Gloomhaven.  All the character classes seemed overly complex for no good reason and what we thought would be a fun addition, the Outpost building phase, was just a major drag on the fun.  So after quite a few hours and missions, we decided to make a change.  

Enter Oathsworn Into the Deepwood.  So far so great.  We have played two sessions and the story mode is really fun and interesting and the boss battle part is a lot of fun and very engaging.  

I painted up our starting party, left to right, the Priest, Penitent,the Huntress, and the Warbear.

 

 

 

Frostgrave: The Treasure Phantasmal

 Max the Witch gazed across the frozen landscape.  There had been a noticeably growing chill the deeper into the frozen city her and her war-band delved.  She had sent her snow leopard and owl ahead to scout.  She knew the wizard Nikodemus must be nearby.  He seemed determined to dog her every footstep.

A large clump of ruins materialized in front of her out of the mist.  Her eyes seemed to be playing tricks on her...a glowing phantasmal figure seemed to levitating on the top of the central.  That was no trick of the mist, that was a wraith.  Her owl lighted upon her shoulder, whispering into her ear.  Nik was here then...on the other side of the ruins.  She barked orders, her chill breath seeming to freeze in the air before her.  She sent one group to the the nearest ruined building to search for treasure, another she bid make haste with her in the lead for the central ruin where certainly the biggest prize would be.  

Nik eyed the cold and lonely set of ruins.  An owl across his field of view....he chuckled aloud.  Max was certainly here then. He motioned he War-band forward into the misty ruins of Frostgrave....

 

Max motioned her apprentice to take her snow leopard to search nearby ruins.  Out of the heap of rubble a wraith appeared, striking her apprentice down cold.

 

 

 

Nik directed his apprentice to investigate deeper into the ruins while he took a group up the nearest rampart, only to be met by a wraith, springing from a pile of loot! 

Team Max made their way to the central treasure only to be greeted with a very a phantasmal figure floating above a large chest....a wraith!

 

 

Nik's apprentice skulks below the melee above at the central treasure, thinking better them them than me!

 

 

 

Nik's tracker looked on in silence as Max's war-band battled the wraith, pity in her heart for Max's apprentice's lifeless body... she then directed Nik's captain and treasure hunter forward.  Eventually the wraith was defeated.  Seeing her apprentice's cold lifeless form, Max summoned a demon who she directed at Nik's war-band who now stood over her fallen comrade.

 

Nik ascended a nearby tower "Max, my men's didn't harm your apprentice!"  Max ignored his words and sent her automaton up the tower's ladder to attack Nik and his crossbowman....and out of anger threw a dagger at Nik with all of her might..... nearly taking out his eye!  Nik countered by shooting the owl off of her shoulder with his elemental bolt.

 

 

The final treasure was taken and both sides withdrew, Maxine carrying the body of her fallen apprentice back to the safety of her base.  But alas, Geoff could not be revived...

RIP Geoff, Maxine's brave apprentice.

 

JSA Shindenbutai Senku Troops

These are the JSA Shindenbutai Senku Troops from Operation Sandtrap-  I really like these guys and how they turned out. 

 

 

Infinity N5 Operation Sandtrap - Fennec Fusiliers

 So I am taking the journey into Infinity by Corvus Belli.  I really like the lore and the miniatures.  I saw a post on X by Corvus Belli that they would have early access pre-release of copies of the upcoming battle pack Operation Sandtrap to those that wanted to demo the game.  This corresponds with a rule refresh from N4 to N5 rules.  One just needed to email them an enthusiastic email as to why you wanted Operation Sandtrap etc.  I actually didn't expect a reply, but I got one with an invitation to the pre(?) pre-order....

Here are the first miniatures from this set, built and painted.  Very high quality metal.  I painted them in the Canyon Snake camo pattern that was shown in the optional color patterns of the Kestrel Colonial Force

Frostgrave stuff - Loot Studios Terrain + Reaper Bones

I did not get painted what I expected to get painted over the summer and really didn't have nearly the amount of hobby time that I thought I would have.  Then I somehow tried to start one too many projects which caused a massive backlog and a general hobby funk to set in.  In the midst of that I started a game of Frostgrave with my daughter (see previous post - Frostgrave Well of Dreams and Sorrows).  I was able to get my daughter's warband built and painted and mine built but just my wizard painted.  Eventually I will post pics of each.  However, I just had a hard time lately getting more done.  Painted terrain has always been a great way to get motivated as it is pretty quick to get good results.  So, I printed up quite a few pieces of ruins I had from a past Loot Studio subscription.  These are perfect for Frostgrave or quite frankly any fantasy game.

These turned out great, so easy...primed dark brown, then primer grey with a zenithal of light grey and/or  Zandri Dust (or both).  Then a heavy dry brush with an antique white craft paint followed by a dingy oil wash.  Done.  And that got me back in the mood to paint so I grabbed the miniature I picked for my Frostgrave tracker, which happens to be a Reaper Bones mini.  Not a huge fan of the bendy soft plastic they are made with but I was really happy with the result....see below!

 

 

 

 

 I quite like the way she turned out!

Frostgrave: The Well of Dreams and Sorrows

 The wizard Nikodemus surveyed the snow covered ruins.  Somewhere in that mess was the well, and he intended to drink from it....movement caught his eye, there a 100 yards away.  Another wizard with a warband no doubt.

He directed his band to move forward.  He advanced beckoning his captain to follow, his tracker to take position on a nearby ruin and to provide cover with her bow.  His apprentice followed with that greedy treasure hunter and a couple of thugs hired on the cheap.  The rest of his group fanned out looking for treasure.  As they walked, Niko chanted enchantments upon his captains sword with his apprentice doing the same but directed at the trackers bow.

He caught sight of the other wizard through the snow covered trees doing the same...a lass with blonde braids and a twinkle in her eyes even from this distance.

They converged on the well at about the same time.  She had a tall woman at her side huge axe at the ready, a captain taking cover in the ruins with a crossbow....and two very large warhounds, growling and menacing.

Niko spoke "I want no trouble, just here for a drink, likely same as you", As he said this his captain stuck her sword in the ground next to her and casually pulled out her heavy crossbow.

Without heeding what Niko had said, the lass began a cast as her warhounds pounced on two of his thugs that had moved up into position near the well.  Her spelled fizzled, but the hounds bites were true and one of Niko's thugs was mauled almost to death.  A fast and furious melee ensued...ending by the thrum of bow and crossbow string. One of the dogs lay dying as did her barbarian who had tried to sneak into position to take out the tracker watching from above.

She smiled and raised an eyebrow..."Perhaps you're right old man, a drink is all we are here for, no need to spoil it with blood"

The two wizards eyed each out as they both drank from the Well of Dreams and Sorrows, their apprentices following suit.  Then both warbands retreated back into the encompassing forest.

Two wizards suspiciously eye each other as the drink from  the Well of Dreams and Sorrow

A snowy and frozen well

The melee was fast and furious

This was the first in what I hope to be a long and fun campaign of Frostgrave with my daughter.

Frosthaven - Banner Spear Proxy model....Stormcast style

 So one of my current monthly (sort of) games is Frosthaven.  We played and completed Gloomhaven and were excited about Frosthaven.....but not as much anymore I think.  The scenarios are still fun, if not a bit harder and longer (grindier?).  But the town building is a complete drag.  And I was really disappointed in the miniatures.  I think of Gloomhaven and Frosthaven as sort of bespoke games and they just should have better miniatures.  My first character was a Deathstalker and that mini was terrible so I printed a much better proxy for it (really should do a post for that).  When I retired that character I chose the Banner Spear and my next character class, but the included miniature was just terrible looking.  Enter Stormcaset Eternal Gwynne Ironsoul -

 

I then went crazy with magnets and made the banner removable and a couple of left arm swaps with an actual banner model for a banner summon.

I really like how this turned out and actually like the placed banner a bit more than the one she is holding.  Was sort of making that up as I went along using contrast paints and a bit of panel lining.  

Gynne wasnt actually my first proxy I made.  I kitbashed one from a Questor Soulsworn and some Stormcast parts and came up with something that I think was a good representation of the Frosthaven box art of the Banner Spear.

Forgive the pictures, those are my first attempt with a light box.

I think this actually is a great Banner Spear especially when looking at some of the Banner Spear art out there.  But the miniature presented a very large footprint that I thought would take up too much space on the board.  And in the end, Gynne Ironsoul turned out better than I could have imagined, both as a kitbash and the paint job.

Wildercorp Hunters Started

 It has been a very busy summer and cannot believe I haven't found time to post and not as much painting as I would like at all.

Here is a quick palate cleanser I did to take a break from all the grim dark 40k for the Wrath and Glory Campaign.  First mini's from the Warcry Wildercorp Hunters set  (a gift from my family!).  One of these is a Cities of Sigmar soldier equipped with the unused spear from the set.  I really feel like spears or pikes should have been a part of the Cities of Sigmar troopers actually.

These were fun to paint and looking forward to the rest of the box set.

 

 

 

I think these are my favorite two, I call them Otto and Sven.  Otto is about to bury a hatchet in someone while Sven sicks the hounds on them.

Wrath & Glory - The March of Chaos Story so far

 So I finally got around to updating the Wrath & Glory campaign page, check it out for a full synopsis.

 Here are some pictures I took of some of the battles.

 

The group finds themselves surrounded......

  

 

We shall prevail!

 

 

This was quite the battle, and we found our first big boss!

 

Wrath and Glory - Cultists and Plague Marines

 Just a quick post showcasing some cultists and plague marines I painted up for the Wrath and Glory Campaign.

I did a little bit of kits bashing on these, adding mechanicus arms to the figure on the left and right of center.  They are intended to be Dark Mechanicus Cultists.

These three Death Guard Plague Marines were part of the Blackstone Fortress Expansion No Respite and I was quite happy to finally get them painted up!

Printed Mechs by Titan Forge

 So, I 3d printed these mechs really just to play around with and never really meant to fully painted them.  They are by a company called Titan Forge, who makes really good stl files.  You can check them out on their web site https://titan-forge.com/ or their MyMiniFactory store.  I have actually printed quite a few of their miniatures and have never had any issues rinting them.  

These Mechs were printed on a Phrozen Sonic Mighty 8k.  The print consisted of the main body, arms and legs and the cockpit cover.  Their were multiple weapon options.

I primed them in Leadbelcher, which I had never used out of the rattle can.  The result was a very smooth finish.  I then taped off one of them and hit the top areas with a blue paint (Coastal Blue from Rust-oleum).

They sat around for many months and then I started playing around with them after I got a bit burned out from painted all the minis for the ongoing Wrath and Glory campaign.  The green one was supposed to be just bare metal that I was going to test out some weathering effects, but I got carried away and really liked the models so put in a little effort.  The canopy over the cockpits is literally just a coat of Gryph Hound orange over the leadbelcher, and I think it looks pretty great.

And now they are being used in the Wrath and Glory campaign. Woot.

BattleTech Alpha Strike Review

 So I didn't really start this blog to post reviews, but I liked this game so much I wanted to post something in case someone somewhere is looking for a review and some information about this box set.

My son is running a Transformer RPG game for his friends.  At their last game he asked if he could use some mini's for their game.  I was surprised, as he has quite a large number of transformers action figures, but he said they were just too big. Unfortunately, the closet thing to mechs or robots I have are my Skitarii and they were over at the site of my Tuesday Wrath & Glory game.  So, he used a cadre of Votann squats.

Interestingly, I have a history with BattleTech and the PC game is one of my favorites.  I had been browsing on Amazon and saw a couple of different box sets for the table top version of the game and an idea struck me.  I could get that game and my son and I could play it and he could proxy the Mechs for the transformers in his RPG.  After a bit of research I decided on BattleTech Alpha Strike.  

I believe that BattleTech Alpha Strike is a entry level skirmish version of the the bigger game BattleTech A Game of Armored Conflict.  It was supposed to be quickly playable right of the box and game with 13 miniatures!  The price that day was $53 (retail of $79.99).  Pretty good deal I thought.

The game comes with everything you need to play.  There is a squad of 8 Northwind Highlanders and 5 Clan Jade Falcon with Mech Cards. The miniatures are very nice IMO. It even has card board buildings and trees.  The Quick Start Guide is easy to read and understand and has two tutorial missions that build on one another.  We were able to sit down and put everything together and play and it was a lot of fun.  From what I understand, Alpha Strike is supposed to be a quicker playing game than the full game and less crunchy.  It uses an non grid battle map and you measure distances.

I will say the game does feel a bit scaled down and I believe there is a Commander's Edition Rulebook and even a Commanders Edition Update to the Quick Start rules here -  https://bg.battletech.com/downloads/

And the quick start rules specifically state that any special abilities found on the Mech cards but not listed in the Quick Start have no affect but can be found in the Commander's Edition. A good example of the is that each side has a missile boat Mech with Indirect Fire capabilities. I knew from playing the PC game how awesome indirect fire was and we agreed to house rule those into the game when would could not find them in the Quick Start.

I will note also that the game comes with a deck of pilot cards that are never used and that I didn't find mentioned in the Quick start rules, so I assume those are for more advanced games.

All and all, a worthy investment and I will probably track down a copy of the Commander's Edition of the rules.

Below are some pictures from our play.

 

Our table set up for the second mission (my son wipe the field with my mechs in the first mission, which was set up on a field with a few clumps of trees)

There is my sneaky missile boat hiding behind a building.

The final blow was landed on my son's remaining attacking Mech leaving only his critically wounded Atlas to retreat from the field.

I definitely plan on painting these miniatures and certainly will post the results.

Wrath & Glory, The March of Chaos - WAAAGH! Ork Kommandos

So, in preparation of some upcoming potential encounters my Ork Kommandos Kill Team found their way onto my paint table.  I had painted up three back in "Orktober", so had to build and paint the rest. 

These are a tabletop quality speed paint.  I tried to vary the skin tones.  They were actually a lot of fun to paint.

Here are a couple shots of the whole crew on the tabletop.

And this little guy might be my favorite!

Anyway, great to have these done.  And I can see why people like Orks, they are fun to paint and have lots of character.

Warhammer: Wrath & Glory, The March of Chaos – The Crew, Part 2

 The final two characters of the crew were Otto-uitroff and Simsel Simselson.

One of the very first things Warhammer I ever painted was the Start Collecting Adeptus Mechanicus box, so I had plenty of Skitarii to chose from.  I also took the bits left over from that box and mixed them with a Necromunda Cawdor gang box and came up with a very cool squad of what I called Dark Mechanicus techno-raiders (that probably needs a posts someday).  

But, I wanted something custom and unique for BCamp and remembered that I had a torso from the Blackstone Fortress character Daedalosus.  And with a few bits here and there came up with this gentlemech…..

OTTO-UITROFF - played by BCamp

 

                                                                                                  

Otto started with a standard Galvanic Rifle but at some point pick up a flamer and I used what I think is a Meltagun from my Krigers with a small canister attached to the side.

I used a standard Skitarii backpack and let the player choose from an assortment of heads.  This was the hardest part of the kit bash, as I had to cut off, shorten and then reattach the breathing hoses that came around the shoulders.

I actually hate painting red.  Hate.  Never can get the highlights right.  However, I recently started using AK Iterative paints, and their reds are fantastic!  I got there red color set on sale somewhere and for the first time really enjoyed painted red....huzzah!

Side-note: I actually had this model's torso because I had ordered the Blackstone Fortress expansion Escalation with the game itself (I had really wanted to play Neyam Shai Murad).  Many months later and during the middle of COVID I decided to paint the rest of the explorers and found that Daedalosus was missing his head.  I contacted Games-Workshop and the customer service was pretty outstanding.  They literally sent me an entire new expansion box to compensate (pretty sure COVID protocols had a hand in this also).  I used his backpack on the aforementioned Dark Mechanicus I had built and was very pleased to use this torso here!

SIMSEL SIMSELSON - Played by SH

While digging through that box I realized I had an actual sanctioned Pysker model for Simsel, equipped exactly as his was....but with the wrong head (very androgynous bald egg of a head).  After a very short haircut the head was replaced with a head from the Navy Breachers and I have to say, I really like this model.  Standard color schemed I gleaned from google searches of Astra Militarum Psykers.

This was a mini that I originally never had a desire to paint, but it was a joy to paint.  And I even got fancy and painted the inside of the cloak red with the awesome AK reds.

And here is the whole crew, ready to burn the heretics!

Follow their story on my Wrath & Glory page (work in progress).