Rise of Moloch – heroes

SMOG – The Rise of Moloch is another un-played miniatures boardgame in the collection, and I want to play with painted minis.

Drago, Walther Cavendish, Emma Swanson and Nanny Tin

I really like the minis for this game, as they are so full of character. A pleasure to paint, even if they take some time to finish.

With these done I have everything painted for the first scenario.

Mythic Battles: Pantheon – Ares, Achilles and Spartans

Seems like I have a lot of un-played miniatures games in my collection, and Mythic Battles: Pantheon is one of them. I do like to play with painted minis, so I started with these to get going. As usual with boardgame-minis I tried to paint the figs so they resemble the illustrations, because that makes it so much easier to recognize the minis during games. In this game the gods are large, to sort of mirror their abilities.

These first Pantheon minis were rather easy to paint, with lots of flesh, and it was real fun to paint the the huge Ares.

More minis are coming up, as I’ve painted a bunch the last couple of months.

3D-printed houses for Rangers of Shadow Deep and other games

It’s been awfully quiet here, as it’s been summer and I’ve had a bit of a blogging burn-out. I think I’m more or less back on track now, so there will be more posts coming soon.

Here are some buildings I printed during the last couple of weeks. I made them for the first scenario of Rangers of Shadow Deep, so now I will have an opportunity to try that game out.

This, the biggest house, is made by Printable Scenery, and is called Winterdale Small Cottage. You can buy that as it is, or as part of a fantasy building bundle. The latter seem to be on sale at the moment, so it might be a good idea to check that out if you’re interested. A couple more of those buildings are in the printing queue, so you might see more of that soon.

 

Anyway, this is really the nicest of the lot, with lots of details and lots of character. A great kit.

Next up is Small Medieval House from Thingiverse. A bit more basic, but a nice little kit. Can’t complain about the price, as free is hard to beat.

 

The Little Cottage is another Thingiverse model, also free. I really like it as it is well detailed, and it has the option of inserting a piece of transparent plastic sheet as window glass. Great model.

 

Finally we have a hut from 3D-print-terrain and their Age of Pirates set. It’s rather simple and crude, but prints very fast and will see use both in fantasy, pulp and other settings. A really useful model.

I’m really happy with how these turned out.

Next, there’s a bunch of desert style buildings that I’ve finished. But more on those in a future post.

Wild West Bank from Printable Scenery

The files for this bank come from Printable Scenery and their Wild West range of buildings.

I’ve had it printed and half-painted for quite a while, and finally painted the final details.

The building is in three parts that I printed with a layer height of .2 mm. Total print-time on my Prusa i3 Mk3 was around 36 hours and filament cost around €6.

Now I have to get some suitable furniture.

7TV – After action report

I’ve dusted off my 7TV rules, at last, and we (me, Koen, Thomas and my son David) had two games at the club the other week.

A nice Tatooine village. All scenery is 3D-printed, except the hills, barriers and, obviously, the lichen. (Thank you, Director Koen, for the pics from the Tatooine studio)

We used the Star Wars unofficial programme guide and had a great time.

The heroic defenders of justice, free enterprise and scrap-heaps.

The game is made to emulate typical B-movies, and you shouldn’t be surprised when scenery (i.e. props) suddenly moves a bit, figures change place or a killed character suddenly is back (due to him/her being a favourite of the audience). Everything is possible and you should take it with a laugh, because that is really what the game is all about.

Boba Fett hiding. He will soon switch place with one of my co-stars due to a script error. That will result in much shooting and, eventually, death.

A carnival! Yay! Except this is a Carnival of Horror!

This week-end I had Laffe over for another game, this time it was the Scooby Doo gang (another unofficial supplement) against a bunch of cultist. We used the carnival scenery I used in a Pulp Alley-game a while back, which made it feel just like an episode of the original series. 

Scooby and Shaggy find a plot point much to their liking.

Where do you find plot points? At the information booth, of course

Killer Clowns doing their thing, but Fred's actor plays the diva-card, so they can't fight him for a crucial round.

Except in this episode the gang was more or less obliterated as the cultist took no prisoners (or at least didn’t keep them longer than it takes to say “human sacrifice”). Shaggy and Scooby survived, as the live audience had enough and axed the cast.

Zoinks! Let's run!

The game, a ‘battle’, was a bit uneven, as most of the Scooby-gang weren’t made for fighting, so we’ll have another go with another scenario, one more suited to their characters.

All in all, we had a blast. A great set of rules that will see much action in the future.

A couple of actors dressed as 3D-printed ewoks come over from another set to have a look at the Tatooine studio.

3D-Printing Review: Wailing Tower from Thunder Chrome 3 kickstarter

Thunder Chrome has a kickstarter just now, Thunder Chrome 3: Highway to Castle Painskull, where you’ll get files for modular epic-sized buildings and catwalks between them.

I kindly got some pre-release files for review-purposes before the campaign and when I started looking at them my first thought was “Whatever will I use this for?” I printed some (the top three pieces of the tower) and realized that they look great, the fit between the pieces are perfect and that there are quite a lot of possibilities here.

I painted those while I printed pieces for the lower part of the tower (floor, two arches and two walls with circular windows). Painted those and realised that I really like this set. Now I had to have an even higher tower, so I printed four supports, the legs that lift the tower, and another floor. When I was at it I printed the three-piece stairs also, as our heroes have to be able to reach the upper floors.

I use a really basic paint-scheme: Army Painter Rough Iron as a base, drybrush with AP Plate Mail Metal. Details painted AP True Copper and Vallejo Bronze.

I still haven’t painted the supports or stairs, as I used up all Rough Iron and need to buy more. Got a cold that has floored me for a couple of days now, preventing me from visiting my Friendly Local Gaming Store. 

I am thinking about printing a balcony for the tower and maybe some of the catwalks, connecting this piece to other buildings.

So, what will I use it for? My first thought was Frostgrave, where it will look smashing. From Frostgrave the jump to Ghost Archipelago is a short one. In both, a treasure or two in the top-floor would be suitable.

Then I thought about Pulp Alley, where a scenario around a mad scientist holed up on the top floor during a thunderstorm does have certain attractions. Combine that with an operating table on which a lifeless body lies, connected to the spire (which, by the way, is the front of an Amraam missile from the parts-box) with wires. Hurry before the golem wakes up! Yep, definitely a scenario here.

So, there are all sorts of uses for this, and I have just started exploring them. I’m really happy with this.

© Thunder Chrome and used with permission

The verdict:

It’s different, fit is excellent, it paints up easily and the end-result is eye-catching. What’s not to like?  Great stuff!

© Thunder Chrome and used with permission

Do check it out before the kickstarter ends on May 27 2019. There is a free samples pack on the Kickstarter page if you want to ge a feel of it all before taking the plunge.

See more 3D-printing reviews here.

Look here if you want to explore what 3D-printing crowdfunding projects are live just now.

3D-Printing Review: Death Werewolf from Printed Obsession

Printed Obsession kindly sent a couple of pre-release files from their Hell Hath No Fury kickstarter for me to try out, and here is one of them.

This, a Death Werewolf, is actually a first for me, as it is the first figure I have printed. It looked daunting to say the least. Lots of details.

I sliced it in Sli3r, layer height 0.07 with supports. Printed in a Prusa i3 MK 3 with a generic filament (from Clas Ohlsson).

What came out after two and a half hours looked like a lump of plastic, but after I had removed all the support material something resembling a black werewolf emerged. I hit it with a short blast from a heat-gun to melt flimsy pieces of stray plastic.

After painting it looks like a great playing piece from a normal arms-length (or in the pics here). In a close-up pic (like when you click on these pics to get a full-size one) you can see layering but it’s not too bad, I think. 

I guess I could get better results with some practice, this is after all the first figure I have printed. I would like to try out my high-end Prusa-filament on figures, as I think that will give even better end-results. More experiments with figures will follow, especially things like zombies, as I think there is a lot of potential here.

The verdict: A beautiful mini that turned out rather well for a novice. If you have a SLA-printer you will get an excellent mini full of details, and with a FDM-printer (like mine) you’ll get at least a decent result, and probably rather good with some practice.

© Printed obsession and used with permission

Do pop over to their kickstarter, as the great-looking minis there are well worth a look, and there are some really nice terrain-pieces, too. Hurry, as the campaign closes on May 4 2019.

See more 3D-printing reviews here.

Look here if you want to explore what 3D-printing crowdfunding projects are live just now.