A detailed account of my various commission/hobby projects.
Board Games - Video Games turned into tabletop games seems to be a theme with my board game projects. I mean it makes sense with Television Shows and Movies pulling from Video Game content why wouldn’t board game manufacturers.
This is Skyrim.
Board Games - Some days I feel like there might be two many games, I mean how many different ways can you tell folk tales or stories of an apocalypse? Do we really need more zombie games? How many games do you own that are still in shrink wrap? Do you feel a strange need to have every game with miniatures painted? I mean honestly no, there’s never enough games and the creativity board games spark in their players lends itself to a constant churn of new content.
So times I start a project and think, “Didn’t I already paint this?” Forest of Radgost is one of those games. The setting is Slavic Mythology which is slightly different yet similar to many of the traditional myths I’m familiar with yet this if a bit different.
The miniatures are nice, not amazing but pretty nice and the description from the publisher is interesting. (Not having played yet I can’t say much beyond this):
Detailed miniatures, immersive storytelling, and rich mythology await you in Forest of Radgost, a cooperative storytelling tabletop game that brings Slavic mythology to life.
When a boy and a girl disappear from their village somewhere in IX century Europe, the village druid dispatches a search party to find the children and escort them back to safety. As one of the members of that search party, you will need to trespass into the sacred forest and cross the boundary that separates the realm of humans from the realm of the Slavic deity Radgost.
Inhabiting the forest are strange beings such as the Psoglav, Lesnik, or Todorci, none of which take kindly to human intruders.
You'll need to use all your skills, wisdom, and instincts to survive the numerous encounters with these strange creatures.
Along the way you will develop your character, collect items, gain skills, separate and rejoin with other members of the search party, and, possibly, discover the secret reason why the druid chose you to join the search party.
Forest of Radgost is a role-playing game where each player controls a character with a fleshed-out backstory, motivation, and skill-set. Players navigate the web of interconnected forest footpaths with a pair of dice that determine the distance and direction of their movement, evoking the feeling of being lost in the woods, with creatures lurking at each crossroad.
At each encounter, players must decide whether to run, hide, flee, or communicate, without knowing which creature they are about to face. Depending on their choices, the encounters are resolved according to the numerous scenarios provided in the accompanying book of encounters.
Board Games - The super hero gene is one that is ripe for making “generic” versions of existing properties to build “unique” worlds. I mean The Boys does it marvelously so why not do something similar with a board game?
These minis are similar in scale to Zombicide and don’t have a ton of details so they’re ideal for the slap-chop dry brush and contrast paint style of painting. I really like this style for board games that have a bunch of miniatures. It gets them painted quickly and they look good on the board. Sure this style isn’t going to win any awards and I wouldn’t use it on more deatiled figure but when you need to get color on stuff quickly it’s amazing.
Hour of Need is just that, here’s what the publisher has to say about it:
The pages of Modern-day Saga Comics are filled with heroes and villains doing battle across both reality and the shared inter-dimensional space of the Astrallacy. While nefarious villains seek power and material wealth, valiant heroes fight to defend those that are caught in the middle of these epic conflicts—it is these everyday people that make reality worth fighting for, and now is their hour of need!
Hour of Need is a cooperative game of comic book action for 1–4 players (or up to 6 players with available expansions). Designed by Adam and Brady Sadler, Hour of Need is the latest installment in their line of Modular Deck System (MDS) games. Set in an original world inspired by modern comic books, Hour of Need puts players in the roles of diverse heroes attempting to thwart dangerous villains from carrying out nefarious deeds!
In each game of Hour of Need, players will need to use their chosen hero decks to tactically solve problems and thwart their chosen villain's schemes, as presented by the chosen issue deck and board. Utilizing simultaneous turns that provides the framework for collaborative strategy, players have to work together to reveal the villain and prepare for the final showdown!
Featuring fast gameplay, highly-detailed miniatures, and a variety of modular fixed decks for heroes, villains, and issues, Hour of Need lets players create their own comic book stories in the MDS Comics world!
Board Games - Weird painting techniques can be tricky to pull off. This is a game where light is used as a weapon and the art style is very monochromatic with glowing effects. It took me a bit to sort out how I was going to pull that off but I ultimately settled on a mono chromatic scheme with glow in the dark and blacklight reactive paint. That way the models match the art style in normal light but if you put in a blacklight bulb or two you get a really cool look.
The description on the game sounds interesting:
The shadows arrived on the moon. From that day on, a mass of shadows (called Sheol) similar to a black tide began to form until it shrouded the moon completely and the moon "cried" the shadows down to Earth. Although technologically advanced, people had no means to stop the shadows, which slowly filled the Earth and exterminated almost all of mankind. The planet was fully enveloped in layer of clouds so dark that sunlight could not filter through and the survivors took refuge on the Isle of Light, also called the Citadel, the last outpost of mankind. In fact, Lux, a type of light radiation capable of destroying shadows, was discovered too late.
Enclosed between the immense walls that surround the many square kilometers in which the intricate levels of the citadel arise, humans have slowly forgotten the external world shrouded in darkness and exhausted themselves in a series of internal political, cultural and economic struggles. In fact, over the decades, the citadel has become a collection of decadent people, mixing nanotechnology with superstition, millenary beliefs with cyber-empowerments, chaos and the emergence of new castes.
Only the Scouts, explorers of the unknown and raiders of the outside world, have not forgotten that the world belongs to mankind and that mankind shall reclaim it one day. In this game, you are one of them.is set in a not-too-distant future. After the Moon's Weeping, Earth has turned from being the realm of man to a place reigned by shadows. The only bastion of salvation is the Citadel, where the last survivors of humanity found shelter to survive. It is from here that the Scouts head out to explore the desolate lands of Sheol in search of resources.
Sheol is a cooperative game, playable solo or up to 4 people, with an emphasis on storytelling and strategy. Sheol is set in a coherent universe where game mechanics and setting are deeply interconnected. It is organized in campaigns, in turn, subdivided into missions. In each mission, players will have to coordinate their efforts tactically to complete the objectives and defend the central game area (the Citadel) from the enemy invasion. The story will progress, mission after mission, allowing characters to discover the secrets of the Sheol’s world and unlock more items and skills.
—description from the publisher
Board Games - I’m really behind on posting here, but will work on getting back to a regular schedule. My most recent project is a bit out of season now that spring is finally here, but what if spring never came? Frost Punk explores the idea of a perpetual winter set during the age of steam a what if post apocalypse game in which Victorian era technology needs to deal with a forever winter.
The game seems very cool according to this description:
In Frostpunk: The Board Game, up to four players will take on the role of leaders of a small colony of survivors in a post-apocalyptic world that was hit by a severe ice age. Their duty is to effectively manage both its infrastructure and citizens. The core gameplay will be brutal, challenging, and complex, but easy to learn. The citizens won’t just be speechless pieces on the board. Society members will issue demands and react accordingly to the current mood, so every decision and action bears consequences.
The players will decide the fate of their people. Will you treat them like another resource? Are you going to be an inspiring builder, a fearless explorer, or a bright scientist? Is your rule going to be a sting of tyranny or an era of law and equality?
The game is based on a bestseller video game by 11bit studios, the creators of This War Of Mine. The original (digital) edition of Frostpunk is a highly successful strategy-survival-city-builder, a BAFTA-nominee that originally launched in 2018.
Board Games - Marvel United has quickly grown to be one of my favorite board games. The mechanics while simple to learn are really deep when you start swapping around heroes and villains. This game has been out go to for any couples games nights as it’s simple and fun to try out various mixes of teams to play out historical story lines or just come up with a random what if scenario.
At this point I have gotten a base coat on all the models I own and am slowly working on detailing them out to completion between my other projects. I’’m really happy with this batch and can’t wait to play a few games with them.
Board Games - This is a cool set of 3D printed terrain for Western Legends with a neat first player badge.
Board Games - I haven’t play Nemesis yet but I have painted the models for the game, recently these Space Cats came across my table. No idea what they do in the game but the models were fun to paint.
Board Games - Batman Gotham City Chronicles is a board game that let’s you play out various story lines within the Batman universe. This set is part of the two player vs. mode that adds some dashboards and additional miniatures.
I haven’t played the game yet but the concept seems cool. Unfortunately the miniatures are some what all over the place in quality. Some of the sets I painted previously are on par with the Knight Models kits while others are really soft on the detail and merely get the job done representing the characters.
Board Games - Space ship games are one of the genre of board game that can be a little polarizing you really either love them of hate them. Generally I dislike them as the are really just themed naval games which can be a bit slow and cumbersome. This one seems interesting however with some variety in combining pilots and ships for unique experiences.
Having not played here’s a description from the publisher:
Stars of Akarios is a narrative-driven, cooperative campaign game set in the Akarios Galaxy. Throughout Stars of Akarios, you will fight in epic space battles, upgrade your ship, and explore the fringes of space. Stars of Akarios is built upon 4 core pillars of game play: Space Combat, World Exploration, Space Exploration, and Player Progression. Each pillar works together to create a unified and epic, sci-fi board game experience.
You and your fellow cadets are close to completing your Akarios Institute pilot training when an unknown enemy attacks your home planet of Medellia. You must fight back with the war hero Captain Soma and her ship, the Sparrow. You will need to step out of your fighters to explore hostile worlds and ships, putting your cunning to the test as you seek new home for your civilization. Use your pilots' skills to complete the challenges you encounter in the limited time available. Manage your ship’s resources as you explore new regions of space and embark on missions fighting to survive through the unknown. Even if you are out of resources you can continue exploring, but you risk starting your next encounter at a disadvantage. Your pilot's skills will grow as you test your grit against the enemies in Stars of Akarios. Upgrade you characters' unique abilities and skill trees, allowing you to customize your play experience.
The 200 page scenario book unfolds as a "choose-your-own-adventure." Each choice, success, and failure will shape your story. It will take multiple play-throughs to see all of the Akarios galaxy. 8 different pilots each come with their own unique progression pad and set of skills. The campaign starts with 4 available pilots and the others are unlocked through the choices you make. 10 pilot ships each come with their own set of abilities and class. The ship class will determine what type of upgrades the ship can equip. Equip a combination of upgrade and ability cards from over 55 weapon cards, 55 engine cards, 55 tech cards, many co-pilots, ship abilities, and pilot abilities. Slot in each upgrade in your dual-layered playerboard where everything has a home.
Board Games - Masks are pretty cool. This game makes use of a mask mechanic that give models special skills based on the combination of character and mask. The miniatures are interestingly styled and were fun to paint using primarily contrast paint.
The description from the publisher sounds pretty cool:
Sons of Faeriell is a strategic eurogame for 2 to 4 players, featuring a brilliant potential traitor mechanic and multiple endings.
Faeriell is a verdant land of forests, mountains and lakes, set at risk by the menace of Corruption. All players have to face this threat, while pursuing their individual Achievements. If they fail to constrain the rise of Corruption, everyone loses the game. Collecting the most Achievements, while avoiding this fatal outcome, allows one player to win the game.
Players guide different Tribes of Weybits, the youngest sons of Faeriell. They are tiny and industrious humanoids, with the common goal to preserve the environment from Corruption and help the Great Guardians, the giant keeper animals that watch over the land since remote times. The customization of the Weybit Heroes starts from the beginning with the selection of their Tribe Masks, original items which can be worn by the minis. Each color of those masks provides a different specialization. New Heroes can be dressed and upgraded during the game with the acquisition of Perks, additional abilities that make every character unique. Weybits can become the most efficient helpers to the Great Guardians, mastering the knowledge of nature and learning to fight Corruption.
As an additional thrill to the game, one player can choose to change sides, get corrupted and gain the Corruption Sower as a new Hero, becoming able to win in the event Corruption defeats all others.
Strategic choices lead to multiple endings, making every game a different story to be unfolded.
Publishers Description:
Sons of Faeriell is a strategic eurogame for 2 to 4 players, featuring a brilliant potential traitor mechanic and multiple endings.
Faeriell is a verdant land of forests, mountains and lakes, set at risk by the menace of Corruption. All players have to face this threat, while pursuing their individual Achievements. If they fail to constrain the rise of Corruption, everyone loses the game. Collecting the most Achievements, while avoiding this fatal outcome, allows one player to win the game.
Players guide different Tribes of Weybits, the youngest sons of Faeriell. They are tiny and industrious humanoids, with the common goal to preserve the environment from Corruption and help the Great Guardians, the giant keeper animals that watch over the land since remote times. The customization of the Weybit Heroes starts from the beginning with the selection of their Tribe Masks, original items which can be worn by the minis. Each color of those masks provides a different specialization. New Heroes can be dressed and upgraded during the game with the acquisition of Perks, additional abilities that make every character unique. Weybits can become the most efficient helpers to the Great Guardians, mastering the knowledge of nature and learning to fight Corruption.
As an additional thrill to the game, one player can choose to change sides, get corrupted and gain the Corruption Sower as a new Hero, becoming able to win in the event Corruption defeats all others.
Strategic choices lead to multiple endings, making every game a different story to be unfolded.
Board Games - Post Apocalyptic games are always so cool, there are so many clever variations on what causes the end of life as we know it. Zombies, plague, climate change, nuclear war, technology run amuck. In Posthuman genetic modification has caused a collapse of humanity as we know it.
The game looks pretty fun and is part of a series set in the same universe, it feels a little like Mutant Year Zero in concept which is a good thing.
The publishers description is probably better than mine as I’ve yet to play it:
You are a survivor in a near-future Europe that has collapsed under the weight of its own political errors, in the wake of a bloody class-war fueled by genetic modifications. In Posthuman, you journeyed to the last bastion of organized human society in the area: The Fortress. A year down the line, you have become an active part of that society and honed the skills you need to fulfill your role there, but the mutants are gaining ground...
Posthuman Saga is a standalone survival game in the Posthuman universe. You play a seasoned member of the Fortress' militia, sent out beyond the defensive perimeter to explore and hopefully reconnect with outposts the Fortress has lost touch with, while searching for scavengable sites along the way. You have to forge across a crumbled land where resources are spare and mutants roam the ruined mansions and forests alike.
Like the initial Posthuman, this is a sandbox-style survival journey, but the game system in Posthuman Saga differs from that of the first game in the series. Players win by completing various objectives that suit different characters and playing styles. It has an emphasis on tactical choices on two levels: the journey expressed through an innovative modular tile map puzzle and the individual story and combat encounters. The latter are fast, card-based affairs involving tough choices with future consequences. Posthuman Saga boasts over one hundred, finely crafted story scenes with a simple, push-your-luck mechanism that supplements the emergent narrative afforded by the game. Mutation is a way of life in the Posthuman world, and it can have its advantages, but it can easily get out of control...
Board Games - Most of the time when I get a board game project to paint there are tons of miniatures which is great, but sometimes a game only requires a couple to add to the overall experience. I think ADELE is one of those games.
Super simple models that just needed a touch of paint to make them pop.
From the description the game sounds really cool:
A mission to Mars starts to go wrong when the on-board computer becomes self-aware and identifies the crew as potential threats...
ADELE is a claustrophobic and stressful one-versus-many board game for up to 5 players.
All but one player take on the role of crew members. Each one will choose a character board where a special ability, initial object and stats (spirit and life points) are indicated.
The remaining player will control the powerful and vigilant AI of the spaceship: ADELE.
On each turn, all crew members have 4 action cubes each, to secretly distribute them among the available actions, using a screen to hide their boards from ADELE.
The ADELE player has to guess what actions each crew member plans and try to hinder them as best as possible. Managing a control panel (with its own deck of cards and pool of tokens) with a limited amount of energy per turn, ADELE will create incidents on the ship: originate fires, close floodgates, remove oxygen, shut down computers… there are many options!
Will the crew be able to carry out a plan to survive?
Board Games - Sometimes I wonder about the models I’m asked to paint. Burn Cycle is a game that features deluxe metal miniatures that are colored and shaded. Personally I’d opt to leave them as is because it’s a pretty classy looking game, but for playability sometimes it’s better to have characters match their cards.
The game features magnetic pieces that the models stick to, I’m assuming they are upgrades for game play. The board and mats are all a nice mousepad material which make for a really interesting looking game.
Painting was a bit of a challenge because the strong magnets kept wanting to clack together so I put a piece of sheet metal on my tray to keep them organized while I applied contrast over a metal base coat.
This is another one I haven’t had a chance to play but the publishers description sounds interesting:
A puzzly infiltration game for 1-4 players, burncycle puts you in command of a team of robots in the far future. Their mission: taking down evil, human-run corporations responsible for subjugating AI under their heel. Your team arrives at each corporate headquarters and must sneak inside, shutting down the companies' physical operations as well as their circuitous digital networks. As you search rooms and advance to the higher floors, you'll be rewarded with new items and abilities, but you'll also be challenged by threatening guards, fatal viruses and the architecture itself, which was built to fight off robotic intruders.
Key to this solo and cooperative experience is the idea of “creative action sequencing.” During each round of play, all players will contend with a randomly drawn set of programming directives, which tell them in what order their bots are allowed to take physical, digital and command actions. Players can choose to skip over directives at the cost of having an incomplete turn, or they can disobey the directions by paying costly action dice. The best players, however, find a way to work within the “burncycle”: essentially, organizing their actions so that they benefit the team while staying within the directive order.
Each of the corporate headquarters in the game use unique neoprene layouts on a larger mat, changing the geography of the game to suit your target. Each CEO also has at their disposal a special threat meter, which will trigger new obstacles for your robots as time runs out. If you don't complete the mission quickly, you may end up leaving bots behind, the victims of immobilizing power drains or destructive counterhacking.
Your team wins the game if you complete your objectives on every floor without losing your captain or maxing out your threat level.
Board Games - This year it seems I’ve painted quite a few board games based on video games, which is an interesting trend. I supposed it makes sense to create analog versions of popular properties as people are more likely to pick something up based on name recognition.
This is one of those games that has a ton of tiny pieces that I used a simple contrast method to put some color on, while painted the larger monsters in a more traditional method. I was asked to keep these in my lower level to save on cost which makes sense based on the detail level on the models.
I haven’t played it but here’s the description from the publisher:
Based on the universe of the Northgard video game, Northgard: Uncharted Lands is a game of conquest and exploration set in the age of vikings. Each player controls a Viking clan, looking to achieve victory by reaping glory in various ways or controlling the most prized territories of this new continent.
The game focus is on streamlined rules and mechanisms, allowing for a fast-paced and smooth rhythm of play. Each turn, players alternate their actions to adapt their strategies to their opponents' moves and the expansion of the board. Fame (i.e., points) can be earned by exploring, fighting, and controlling and developing territories. The various corresponding actions are played through the cards that the players have in hand. At the end of each turn, they have to choose a new card to improve their personal deck as their clans develop new tactics and technologies.
The conquest of Northgard also requires clever management of resources to build new buildings, improve your warriors' effectiveness, better your hand of cards, and upgrade your clan's specificities. The winter phase makes this management more difficult as you have to feed your units to keep them healthy and happy.
The pace of the game is set by the players as the game ends after seven turns, but can also be cut short at any time if one of them is in control of three closed territories hosting certain types of buildings.
Board Games – Turris has some pretty cool monster miniatures.
In Turris, players take on the role of tribe leaders in a post-technology society. Exiled from a once glorious city, tribes of scavengers are all that remains of a scientifically advanced humanity.
As the regular offering to the gods was delayed, the ground split open and vile Beasts arose from the Abyss, relentlessly attacking everyone in their path. Driven out of their home and left for dead in the harsh desert, the people have lost all hope, until an unexpected discovery was made.
Turris is a competitive Worker Placement game where players attempt to build the Tower as a final defense mechanism, utilizing the prehistoric technology of divine origin. You assign your Scouts to acquire resources and decipher the data from ancient machinery, all the while being constantly chased (and often devoured) by the unstoppable Beasts. The tribes all follow the Council's directives and complete its missions, but as a tribe leader you know that once the Tower is built and humanity is saved, it will dissolve without strong leadership. In building the Tower, you acquire Prestige Points which represent your standing amongst the tribes. The leader with the most Prestige will take control of the Council and lead humanity into the future — whatever it may be.
Turris uses miniatures that represent the Beasts and Scouts, decks of Mission and Tactics cards, as well as Tarot-sized gold/silver lined Trionfi cards which represent the Tower rooms.
Board Games – Transmissions is a neat board game.with some amazing miniatures:
Based on the lovely illustrated world of Matt Dixon, Transmissions brings his world of mechanical friends to life. In the game, players share robots as workers moving around a rondel-styled board, collecting engrams and electricity. These are used to gather ideas to improve your use of the robots or items to score points at the end of the game. You also build your own set of connected, flowing pipes while gathering birds and butterflies to score even more points. The game ends when no ideas are left, a player's robots are complete, or no pipes remain to be built. After an equal number of turns, the player with the highest total score wins!
The game features a unique mechanism of worker selection and sharing with incredible illustrations, adorable miniature robots, and very welcoming play for everyone!
—description from the publisher
Board Games – Venice is usually a great location for an interesting style of game. Zombie Carnivale is a unique game that was nominated for several awards with the first edition of the game and with the Kickstarted Second Edition new scenarios and miniatures were added to the game to improve the experience.
From the Publisher:
The ancient manuscripts talk about a Leviathan, a huge creature lying on the silt bed of the lagoon on whose back the city has its foundations. All manuscripts agree on its eternal sleep and they all tell that the beast will wake up one day, shaking the city from its muddy roots, smashing the vitrified stilts on which the city stands, and crashing it into the seething sea where the monster will rise. The ancients say, however, that there will be signs; it is written that the Venetians will feel the tremors, that they would therefore save themselves from the monster, who will recover his freedom by plunging into the waves a deserted city.
But there were no signs. What ancients did not know is that the Leviathan is not alive. For centuries, the city lived and prospered on the back of a corpse. That corpse, though, is now awakening – and with it the dead arise from the lagoon...
In the cooperative game Carnival Zombie, players lead a group of characters who are fleeing on terra firma from the terror that has emerged from the lagoon of Venice. This group of characters must make its way through hordes of rotting "Infected" to leave the city, and players need to rush as the Leviathan upon which the foundations of Venice were built is awakening. Thus, it's only a matter of time before the city sinks in the dark waters of the lagoon.
Each game is divided into several nights and days. During the nights, players hide in trenches behind the barricades to resist the attacks of the Infected. During the day, players move through the city, which is shaken by tremors. The Infected are drawn by the groans of the Leviathan in the abyss to help their master free itself from the rotting stilts that nail it to the silt bed.
Players have several ways to get out of town, but little time to do it – and their path is hindered by the bosses, the most implacable servants of the Leviathan. If the players do make it out, they can assess their skills – and set a goal for next time – by counting the points scored during the game.
Board Games – Do you love Frankenstein? Are you a Victorian Horror aficionado? Is being a mad scientist interesting to you? If so you probably want to check of My Father’s Work.
This game from Renegade Studios seems really interesting:
The walls were lined with iron shelves, each metal slat overfilled with glass jars containing formaldehyde and grotesque curiosities within. Pristine brass tools and refined metals of a quality I had never before laid eyes upon were strewn across sturdy slabs of rock and wood, their edges sharp with use. However, my eyes were soon drawn to a sturdy writing desk, its mahogany eaves inlaid with thin strips of copper, the center of which contained a well-worn leather-bound book. My father's journal — passed down to me and representing years of knowledge and countless experiments. And inside that weathered tome, atop the pearly parchment oxidized yellow at its frayed edges, were the deliberate quill marks of a crazed genius outlining the ambitious project he could never complete in one lifetime — his masterwork.
Without realizing it, my hands were shaking as I clutched the book to my chest. At once, I felt an ownership and anxiety for the scientific sketches scrawled so eloquently on those frayed sheets. It was at that moment that I began my obsession: I would restore this laboratory to its former brilliance and dedicate my life to completing my father's work!
In My Father's Work, players are competing mad scientists entrusted with a page from their father's journal and a large estate in which to perform their devious experiments. Players earn points by completing experiments, aiding the town in its endeavors, upgrading their macabre estates, and hopefully completing their father's masterwork.
But they have to balance study and active experimentation because at the end of each generation, all of their experiments and resources are lost to time until their child begins again with only the "Journaled Knowledge and Estate" they have willed to them — and since the game is played over the course of three generations, it is inevitable that the players will rouse the townsfolk to form angry mobs or spiral into insanity from the ethically dubious works they have created. The player with the most points at the end of three generations wins and becomes the most revered, feared, ingenious scientist the world has ever known!
—description from the publisher
