NOVA Open Charity Auction

NOVA Open Charitable Foundation Auction ... help others and potentially yourself!

The NOVA Open is quickly coming up and if you are going, you will get to check out some incredible game play and have a chance to see these really incredible armies created for the NOVA Open charity. Even if you are not going though, you can help out by buying some tickets with a chance to win one (or all) of these really incredible armies. Below we will talk a bit about each of the armies and provide some links to some of the incredible painter's blogs. Hopefully you will join in the fun and support these great causes. You can learn much more and buy your raffle tickets at the NOVA Open Charitable Foundation Auction website. If you do find yourself in Arlington at the open, you can participate in the Silent Auction which will be raising funds for the Wounded Warrior Project and The Breast Cancer Research Foundation. Each subheading below includes a link to the raffle page for each of the armies.

Man Eaters of the Great Maw Army

For the first time, Stiff Neck Studio has created an amazing Fantasy Army for the auction. You could take these amazing Ogre brutes to any table top to dominate your opponents. 

You'll find contained an Ogre Tyrant, 6 Ogre Bullz, 5 Ogre Iron Gutz, 4 Lead Belchers, 1 Stone-horn and 1 Scrap Launcher. You can see a complete set of photos here, but below are a couple of the images just so you can get an idea of the amazing quality of the group. And don't worry about transport, because you will take this army around in style with a custom KR Multicase system. 

The proceeds from the auction are going to support The Fisher House Foundation. 

40K Deathwatch Army

A consortium of painters from Penny Arcade contributed to the development and provision of the 40K Deathwatch army. The good folks at Penny Arcade speak more about the army in the PA Deathwatch detachment collaboration project thread of their forums which you can join or follow. There are 40 pages of posts in various other threads there as well, so happy reading. You can also follow them on Twitter, check the Penny Arcade homepage for the different accounts. I've added everyone so I can learn more.

This army counts as a Grey Knights army and can be played at 1850 or 2000 points. There are 30 models in this army, painted by 38 different painters. You will find contained an Inquisitor, Assassin, Dreadnought, 10 Paladins, 7 Terminators, and 10 Interceptors. Here are just a few pictures, but you can see close-up shots of each individual model here. This group will also come with a custom KR Multicase system.

The proceeds from the auction are going to support Child's Play Charity.

Battle of Macragge: Blood & Honor

What do you do when you have a consortium of professional and highly awarded painters? You have them build an Ultramarines army of course. This 1850 point army is a monster, consisting of Marneus Calgar with Honor Guard, Chief Librarian Tigurius, Chaplan Cassius, 5 Tyrannic War Veterans, 1 Drop Pod, 30 Tactical Marines, 5 Snipers Scouts with Camo Cloaks, 5 Scouts with Bolt Pistols/CCW, 3 Storm Talons with Skyhammer Missles, 3 Thuderfire Cannons, 1 Knight Titan, and 3 Centurian Devastators with hurricane Bolters and Heavy Graviton Cannons... I mean that is a boatload of fire power and adaptability. 

There are so many amazing painters to discuss, but so little blog space. Marneus Calgar will be prepared by Justin "mrjustin" McCoy, owner and operator of Secret Weapon Miniatures and much renowned painter/instructor. The three stormtalons were put together by Chris "Jawaballs" Dubuque, but due to an unfortunate set of events they are MIA (presumably stolen). He has replaced them with a prize winning Ultramarines Banner though, read more here.

John Steining is putting together the Imperial Knights (and Redemption pieces) and you can following his progress on the 40K Hobby Blog. Neil Szabo is providing paint for Sergeant Telion and all 10 space marine scouts. Want to see how he does it? Check out his Almost Perftec blog of course. Dave Taylor created some really amazing Ultramarine Centurions, but more he worked with John Steining to include a beautiful Land Raider, because you have to cruise in style. You can see more images of all of these at the DaveTaylorMiniatures blog. Rounding out this already incredible team of painters is Dan Withers of Valhalla Games. The devastator squad and Chaplain Cassius are something to behold, but when you put all of this amazing stuff together in one army you will truly be wowed. Of course to protect it all as you dominate table upon table, will be a custom KR Multicase system.

The proceeds from the auction are going to support Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres. 

Battle of Macragge: Scythes of Behemoth

Now no great battle can be fought if there is only one side to play and that is why you can also enter a raffle for this Tyranids of Hive Fleet Behemoth army. This army is also an 1850 point army with plenty of extras for flexibility and adaptability. Now this is a real monster army...consisting of a Flying Hive Tyrant with 2 twin-linked devourers, 5 Tyranid Warriors (magnetized), 1 Tyranid Prime with Norn Crown (magnetized), 60 Termagants, 2 Mawlocs, 1 Carnifex (magnetized), 20 gargoyles, 2 Lictors, 1 Deathleaper, 1 Venomthrope, 3 Tyrant Guards (magnetized), 2 hive Crones, and 8 Genestealers! 

Working on this army is another group of amazing painters. Brian Ballard is acting as a real mercenary by supporting both sides. For the Tyranids, he is painting up the Trygon/Mawloc, Carnefex, and Genestealers. Gabe Dobkin is working on the Lictors and the Deathleaper. Sean Fulton will be providing, surely, a beautifully painted Venomthrope and you can see his progress on this Jeabberwocky Miniatures FaceBook page. Jeff "rogueshader" Jenkins is working on a bunch, including the Hive Tyrant, Tyranid Warriors, and a Trygon/Mawloc. You can see his work on the rogueshader FB and eventually on his website. Adam Pratt will also be pushing this group along and you can see more from him on hos Color Theory Paint blog and his Instragram account (@colortheorypaint). And closing out the team and painting the Hive Tyrant, Harpy/Crones, and Hive Tyrant Guard is William Thornton. You can see much of his work on his Exiled Miniatures FB page. As with all of the other armies, this will also be nestled into a custom KR Multicase system.

The proceeds from the auction are going to support Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres. 

Extra credit for Ironheart Artisans...

because that's not all, Alex Landing of the great Ironheart Artisans will be providing templates and tokens for the 40K armies. How much more could you want? Get in on the auction action now.

So that is a ton and I'll follow-up with coverage of the

Flames of War WWII Panzer Lehr Western Front Army

Check me out on Twitter @layfieldpaint

Kickstarter stuff update

Kickstarter ...or that's where my money goes (continued)

Mantic Games - Dungeon Saga Dwarf King's Quest

So this Kickstarter is going gang busters and looks like it will top out as the best of the Mantic Games campaigns to date. The Dungeon Master pledge level, really the only pledge level, now contains the basic game and a load of bonus materials. There is enough now to play the game with friends or to play alone. There are bonus advanced rules plus rules for undead, orcs, and goblins. There are also a bunch of Kickstarter exlcusives. 

So let's take a look at the future for this one... bonus materials for the Warlord of Galihir add-on. The Warlord of Galihir is a $25 add-on level for an expansion pack. This includes goblin warriors, archers, orclings, and maw beasts. This includes the dungeon tiles, scenario rulebook, cards, and counters.

Some of the parts included with the Warlord of Galihir will also be added to Dungeon Master level pledge, which really makes that an even more fantastic level. 

There are still a whopping 17 days left in the campaign, which means we could have a rather heft set of materials coming when everything closes. Looks like potentially a fun way to play with the kids or with your fellow gamers. 

Hyground Games - 3D Terrain Tiles

The folks over at Yeti Militia have just started a new Kickstarter campaign and one that could be of potential use to lots of people. These look like some high quality gaming tiles that are comprised of a hex base system with interchangeable covers. This allows you to create custom configurations for any #tabletop system and for any gaming environment. One significant feature in the design of these is the ability to keep a 28mm figure on the hex even with there is a tree or other object present. There is some great video examples on the Kickstarter page which shows you how to build different layers and interchange the tops. 

Here are some examples of the terrain pieces. You can see that some are designed to occupy the entire space and some are designed to have a figure in addition to the design feature. In the picture above you can see how figures can do battle in a wooded/forest plot. These really changes the look/feel of any campaign and would allow you to make changes quickly for a #RPG setting. 

Since this is the beginning of what potentially could be a long series of custom tiles, there are plenty of areas for expansion. They have already designed and have ready for production nearly anything you might need for exterior play, there is nothing yet posted for underground or interior play. There are also limited to know creations for buildings or objects that would occupy multiple hexes. No doubt there could be plans for these in the future, currently noting exists. 

I don't know how this would translate for all games, such as Dungeons and Dragons which uses a 9-block design for battle or for Warhammer which is a straight distance skirmish game, but both could easily be adapted. All in all this looks like a solid project and the materials look fantastic with great adaptability to whatever gaming system you play. I'll be watching this closely to see how it goes and encourage you to check it out as well.

Next blog post will be about a freebie I got from Mantic Games, friends who are off to GenCon and eventually I'll post updates to the half-a-million projects I've already started.

Cheers,

Chris

Kickstarter campaigns...so that's where my money goes.

Kickstarter happenings... so that's where my money goes

Mantic Games Dungeon Saga: The Dwarf King's Quest

There are plenty of new gaming opportunities available if you are looking to get into new things. There is a great new campaign by Mantic Games (Halethorpe, MD). This table top game is a follow-up to their previously successful Kings of War 2012 campaign. They provide reasonably prices games that look great and are a lot of fun. You may know them from Kings of War, Warpath, Dreadball, Mars Attacks or others.



This is a dungeon based adventure board game for 2-5 players. The game has some really fantastic looking resin miniatures that would be good for any number of settings for RPGs or skirmish games. The pieces come unpainted, so there is a little commitment, but that also gives you the most flexibility. Looks like the main support level is $100, but that gets you the box game, advance rules, 4 heroes, 3 villians, skeletons, zombies, ghosts, armoured zombies, and dwarf revenants. There are already a bunch of stretch goals which mean additional miniatures (some Kickstarter exclusives) and the zombie rules. More to come... they were funded within 4 minutes and are fast approaching the $250,000 mark as I write this.

Infamy Miniatures Infamy: Welcome to the Big Smoke

Infamy miniatures (Nottingham, UK) is another start-up and building in a location where a number of other start-ups are launching. Some of these also have some cross-overs. It just so happens that I have a personal connection to this one as my friend Dave Taylor has contributed some of the editing to this.

This is a skirmish game set in a steampunk Victorian London. It has lots of your favorite characters (Sherlock and Watson, Jekyll and Hyde, Dodger, Tesla) all with new takes and some interesting new additions which should make game play rather interesting. It uses a combination of playing cards and opposing dice checks for mechanics and is showing some rather amazing 32mm scale resin miniatures. While the prices are a bit higher than Mantic, there are a number of possible entry points into the game. There is also an amazing amount of flexibility in what you miniatures you choose to receive. If you are into table top and steampunk, well get your wallets ready. This is the game for you. The pieces really look amazing and the game play sounds intriguing. This is in the final week, so you better get moving quickly.

Robotech RPG Tactics

I've been fascinated with giant robots for a long time, I mean since the early 70's when I was watching Tranzor Z and building robots out of lions (that's Voltron for the kids). Robotech coming along in the 80s only added to the intrigue. When Palladium Books put out the RPG, we were there playing irregularly, but always having fun. So of course when the boys at Palladium Books connected with Soda Pop Miniatures and Cipher Studios, to create this RPG Kickstarter, I was there. Here is the table top skirmish version and I can't wait. There have been some delays and some production issues, but they are nearing GenCon and have full sets. Distribution on this one should be coming very soon.

The miniature assembly looks kind of complex, but we are assured that is to make them look even more amazing. I am in at the Battle Cry ($140) level which gets me everything in the picture on the left there. I also added the SDF-1 because SDF-1! I will have more updates on this and game play and everything else as soon as I have it assembled, painted, and tested...so like 2090 when it is revised to be completely in a virtual world on Occulus. I know I move at glacial speed.

Reaper Miniatures Bones II: The Return of Mr. Bones!

It's too late for you to get into this Reaper Miniatures (Denton, Tx) Kickstarter campaign, but based on the success of this one and the previous Bones Kickstarter; there may yet be a third. This is the transfer of many of Reaper's metal miniatures to a new "Bones" material. I've had the pleasure of painting some of these and doing some modifications of a couple. The material is pretty easy to use, though very different than resin or metal figs. The paint lays on it well and it is incredibly easy to modify if you are into custom mods to figs or kit bashing.

This one should be shipping to me at the end of the year and you can see the entire Core Set in this image to the right. So that is a personal Christmas present. Looks like my $100 pledge will land me somewhere in the neighborhood of 150 miniatures. A pretty good ROI and all of these are great for table top RPGs and many skirmish games for many settings. Lots of stuff and a great mechanisms to get lots to paint.



That's all for now, future updates on current project coming soon...including a big shipment of scenery stuff from Cicada Crafts, some stuff picked up at Adepticon, some of Victoria Lamb's new products... too much to do!