A detailed account of my various commission/hobby projects.
Board Games – Ninja-All Stars got a bad rap. The weird combat mechanic really killed what was otherwise a beautiful game. Luckily Ninja Division/Sodapop Miniatures is repurposing the Clan boxes with rules for Super Dungeon. I’m patiently waiting for them to release the rules on their site or as a card pack so I can save my ink.
Board Games – Do you like poker dice? Do you like space cowboys? Do you like chibi style anime? Do you like trains? If you answered yes to ALL of these questions then Rail Raiders Infinite is the game for you. If you only answered yes to some of those questions you might like this or you might not.
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Board Games - Storm Shadow was my favorite ninja as a kid. The white color scheme with that sweet red tattoo just fed my imagination. I know I already painted up the mini boss based on Storm Shadow but I really wanted a full clan of white ninjas.
In Super Dungeon Explore the Elemental Shrine Ninjas are just OK. They can get cool abilities and with forward thinking the Console can make some pretty nasty groups for the Heroes to battle. However their limited attacks make it hard to put a significant hurt on the Heroes once they’re powered up with a few loot cards. I need to try a few more combinations to see what works best, but so far they’re pretty easy for a solid party to take out.
These models look great on the swamp side of the Von Drake Manor boards. the white really pops on the dark backgrounds. I was also able to get some paint on the shrines with this batch. The glow effect I did isn’t the greatest but on the dark boards they look pretty cool.
The three Ronin I squeezed in are the ghost from the Ring, Lone Wolf and Cub and a Birdman Sabotuer (I call him the Seahawk for obvious reason, haha).
Board Games – Ninja Division (formerly Soda Pop Miniatures) has been posting up a new chibi game based in the Super Dungeon Explore universe: Super Dungeon: Conquest. Supposedly this game will give you a new way to play with the Master Class Miniatures they’ve been releasing as well as your existing collection. Oddly enough the rules they’ve released for free seem to be a variation on the Super Dungeon: Arena Rules that is a tabletop game. The units of measurement are in inches so I guess you’ll play with a ruler and dice. I don’t know that this is what fans of the property are looking for and the skirmish market seems to be flooded with properties with stronger rulesets.
Read MoreRandom – Saturday mornings in the early 80’s were a great time to be a kid. From 1983-1985 the Dungeons & Dragons cartoon was my favorite show.
Read MoreRandom – Several years ago there was a huge boom in new Skirmish games, it seemed like every few months something new and exciting was catching on or being Kickstarted. I'm not sure if it was because Warhammer of both varieties was feeling stale or if it was just the market was ripe for something fresh and new. Today let's take a look back at some of the stars that seem to have burned out too soon (at least in my area, if these are booming where you are let me know why).
Read MoreNinja All Stars – I've been sitting on my Ninja All-Stars box for quite some time waiting for a chance to play the game. I was a little leary because of the negative reviews I read on a few sites so it kept getting pushed to the maybe later pile.
Read MoreNinja All-Stars – I recently received a big package from Soda Pop Miniatures containing the backer rewards for their Ninja All-stars Kickstarter. Since they've taken over running their own Kickstarters everything seems to be delivering on time or at least really close. Makes me wonder who was at fault for the Relic Knights debacle (Really a shame because it's a great game with a fun system and background that got the shaft because of the way the Kickstarter went)
Read MoreKickstarter – I haven't promoted many Kickstarters lately as there hasn't been much that caught my eye, that's changed now however. Sodapop Miniatures is running a kickstarter for their a second edition of the core Super Dungeon Explore box as well as the Legends expansion. This is very exciting.
The second edition isn't really something I need because I got the updates with Forgotten King, however the Legends expansion is something I've been eager to pick up. Essentially it adds the ability to level up your characters and play a more narrative campaign. This is exciting because it gives me something to possibly do with the Chibi stuff I got a while back and still haven't got around to writing rules for. They met funding in 15 minutes which is pretty crazy and are unlocking stretch goals like crazy.
If you're a fan of the original game or just interested in a simple fun game you should check this out.
Super Dungeon Explore – My forgotten King Expansion arrived recently and I'm super excited to try out the revised version of the game. The box that arrived was quite heavy and was jam packed with not only the base game but also a Boo Booty themed box which contained all the extra backer bonuses from the campaign. It sounds like the add-ons will be shipping at a later date which is ok with me, getting part of a kickstarter within the time frame projected during the campaign is way better than having to suffer through months (or years) of delays while everything is completed. (Looking at you Kingdom Death)
Read MoreRelic Knights – I haven't gotten this on the table recently and I part of the issue is that I subconsciously don't like to play with bare gray models (or primer white for that matter). So to rectify that situation I decided that I'm going to get the base colors down on all the Relic Knights stuff I own. Painting each faction to completion (or at least the level I want) is going to take to long with the other painting projects I have in my que.
Read MoreSuper Dungeon Explore - I finally started cleaning up my Von Drake Manor Minis, they've been staring at me for quite some time and I was going to make this my October project but some other stuff came up so I had to back burner it. Now that I'm taking a short break I was able to scrape off the model lines and fill the gaps with greenstuff. Just like the other Super Dungeon stuff I've cleaned up I sculpted the flagstones so the base has a bit more dimensionality and transitions back smoother.
Read MoreRelic Knights - I'm plugging away at the Void commission for Relic Knights. After wrestling with the assembly, I finished cleaning up and primed the models white. With all the Soda Pop stuff I prime white as it helps the colors be more vibrant.
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Relic Knights – The Star Nebula Corsairs are finally wrapped up and photos are posted in my gallery. Overall I'm happy with how they turned out. Still having issues with the material they're cast in but overall they look good at arms length.
Still loving the game and moving on to paint up some of my own models soon. My goal is to get a starter force painted up for each of the five factions I won before the end of the year. We'll see how this works out with my commission schedule but I'm staying positive I can get it done.
Relic Knights – Wow I'm getting rusty. These took a bit longer to wrap up than usual. But the basic grunts for the Star Nebula are done.
Read MoreRelic Knights – One of the cooler thing about Relic Knights is the idea of boosts. These are small tokens/models you can buy with extra points to fill out your list. Not only does this give you something to spend that random 1-3 points on but it also adds a cool little "power-up" that you put out on the field.
Read MoreRelic Knights – This month has been a real bear to get anything done. Real life has been kicking my ass lately so my hobby/second job has been taking a back seat for a bit.
Read MoreRelic Knights – I'm really happy with the Pro Dual Tower Deck boxes I picked up to store my Relic Knights stuff, however the black boxes are pretty plain. It's also a bit of an annoyance to have to open each box to see what's inside. In an effort to dress them up a bit I created some stickers to apply to the boxes. These help to distinguish the boxes from one another as they're all solid black.
I used some Avery Full Sheet Laser labels to print stickers of each faction symbol and the Relic Knights logo. This paper is supposed to stand up to the terrors the USPS puts packages through so I'm hoping it will stand up to some use. I may wind up reprinting them and sealing the stickers with a gloss varnish if they don't hold up, but I was in a hurry and just stuck them down. (Sometimes you just have to try something to see how it will look before you go back and do it right)
The adhesive seems to be holding pretty well so if the ink does the same I'll be happy. (Although I'm not holding my breath, this will be good enough for now.)
I also picked up a few keychain tape measures that I made little faction logos for and applied. I like that I know have a complete box with everything needed to play for the five factions I own. If I can ever get back out to other stores this will make it easy to demo the game and help build back the excitement of a few years ago when the kickstarter was live.
I really hope this game does well as I really like it and feel like there's plenty of potential for it to grow and have a decent market share in the already crowded skirmish game market.
Super Dungeon Explore – The last three models of this commission are just about done. Starfire and two Rex. The models are pretty straightforward. With the Rex needed some gap filling around every join. It's nice that the models come pre-assembled, however this can lead to issues with the joins that might have been avoidable if you could put it together yourself.
For the paint I started with a Mephistion Red base followed by a earthshade wash. The purple is a hormaguant foundation with a purple wash and genestealer purple highlight. I then went in with the red and highlighted after the wash to bring out some of the details.
Super Dungeon Explore – I was able to wrap up a good portion of this commission over the weekend. All I have left at this point is to finish Starfire and the two Rex models. The Rex models have some pretty nasty gaps that my client asked me to fill and smooth out.
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