Delving into 'Descent'

Happy Holidays!

Lately, I've been delving more and more into Fantasy and I LIKE IT!  Whilst working on my various projects to flesh out my historical armies I still feel the need to game. My buddy George introduced me to Descent.

So rather than paint the minis that come in the box, I just raided my collection to populate my Heroes, the side characters and the villains and monsters of the scenarios. In this case, I've been running a thief and a cleric on this campaign.

Left to Right: Mongol Foot Standard Bearer from The Assault Group to represent my Cleric, Reaper Thief figure as my Thief, The Wargames Factory Viking Huscarls as Militia stand-ins and the Dragon from Super Dungeon Explorer painted by George

Playing Amongst the Asteroids!

What do you get when you rub two sticks together mixed with rocks?

A game of the new XWing amidst an asteroid field, that's what!

Hi everyone! My apologies for not posting sooner. I've been getting as much gaming while getting acclimated to a new employment contract. Not an excuse - just a fact. It was a toss up between gaming and blogging. WWYD? Game, I hope.

In the meanwhile here's some shots of a game day last month playing with the new XWing and my latest asteroids acquisitions I blogged about in 'roids: quick and easy! (http://thehistoricalminiaturist.blogspot.com/2012/10/roids-quick-and-easy.html)

I'm gonna let the pix speak for themselves.

Coming soon. More historical action using the Command and Colors system paired up with minis.

New Scav Alert! Part 2: Repurposing Everyday Items for Sci Fi Terrain

What's the deal? (pun intended) 

In my never ending search for cheaper, ahem... cost effective solutions to more terrain i've found that repurposing everyday items to be a creative and imaginative exercise.
The word repurposing is a much used new term that i've let creep into my vocab. But hey, it's apropos. My latest find for repurposing was visiting my favorite scav-alert store.

My frequent forays into this scav-alert treasure trove has
yielded me all kinds of cool stuff to be repurposed.

Should i rename myself "The Historical and Frugal Miniaturist"? i think not.  However i am highly cognizant of the fact that this hobby is an addiction. Meaning that one can sink one's load of cash into this.

I usually cruise the aisles and let my imagination run amok.  And since I was on a sci-fi frame of mind I noticed these cool shapes...

Found these babies and I know what you're thinking.
What the hell are you gonna use these for?

Hint: look at the profile of the shapes.

Anything come to mind?

Get the picture yet? 

Of course, these are a few steps early in the process but use your imagination...

'roids: quick and easy!

Asteroids, Meteroids, 'roids, all the same. Bits of rock in space. Cool terrain to model for any space minis game. Two options: make it myself or buy. 

I'm sure most of you are familiar with this iconic Asteroids screen.

Beautifully rendered 'roids done in CG.

Ditto.

The first option was to make it myself and since i'm a DIY kinda gamer I was gonna do just that. Take a bunch of unused Styrofoam popcorn and modify, sculpt, chip, carve, cut, burn...

Yeah, right...

But what's better than making your own asteroids?  Buying readily made stuff from the crazy knuckleheads at www.spacejunkstore.com.

What's not to like about these 'roids?
Shown here with some EM4 Universal Spacecraft.

I was at the Houston Beer and Pretzles monthly event (http://beerandpretzel.webs.com/apps/photos/photo?photoid=164081400) when they were featuring Battlestar Gallactica night. Then with jaw dropping suddenness I spied a set of asteroids being used on the table. Man, I was hooked. So i ordered a whole bunch to use for some space gaming.

WIP: Dwarves Part 3 - DONE

Willy's (aka LTL Dad) Dwarven army painted, based and ready to fight. 
Time for a battle...

Flocked base with my sand slurry mixture.
Notice the absence of the ubiquitous green grass.

A little dry brushing of the bases after the required time for curing.
Rear Rank: Heavy Infantry from  L to R 2x Swords 3x Axes
Middle Rank:  Light Infantry /Auxilia Xbows
Front Rank: Light Infantry Bows

The Heavies!

Light Infantry and Skirmish

WIP: Dwarves Part 2

LTL Dad's new Dwarven army progresses... 

Red: Heavy Infantry

Heavy Infantry Axes and Command

Heavy Infantry Axes and Command

Heavy Infantry Axes and Command

Green: Light Infantry Missile Troops

Heavy Infantry Axes and Command

Heavy Infantry Axes and Swords

3 units of Light Infantry Bows

Light Infantry Skirmish Bows

Light Infantry Auxilia Crossbows

Heavy Infantry Swords 1st Unit and General

Heavy Infantry Swords 2nd Unit and General

Heavy Infantry Axemen

2 units of 3 Heavy Axes

Flock the bases and they're ready to fight...