Welcome to EZ Pawn

 I took yesterday, March 31st, as a day off work, and used some of that free time to finish* off the EZ Pawn Shop I've been working on. I got the front doors and the surrounding frame glued on, the sign on the roof assembled and weathered, some signage in the windows, and a few pieces of art on the walls. 

So why the asterisk? 

Because there's still a few things I want to add. 

I've got an air conditioner from Oshiro Model Terrain that I'm getting into the priming box today so that I can paint it up and glue it in next to the back door. 

There's some furniture to paint up and add in - I've got a cashiers' counter and a couple shelving units to paint up, and there's a safe and a gun locker that's on its way from Miniature Building Authority. There will probably be various other odds and ends added going forward. 

But!

It's finished enough to where I'd be fine with having it on the table during a game and not feel like it's unfinished. 

Pawn Shop Progress, Continued

 I've gotten a good amount of work done on the MDF pawn shop I posted about last time since Friday, and have probably one or two more sessions to go to finish the building proper; resin and MDF furniture will be another session or two on top of that, in all likelihood. 

The original red spray paint I bought to do the doors, window frames and signage in ended up being a weird neon red-orange that wasn't what I was looking for, so I painted over all that with ordinary red craft paint. Everything was given a light drybrush of a pale tan to weather and dull down the brightness of the red. I've glued in the back door, it's frame, and the window frames, plus used pieces of acetate sheet to make window panes; I've glued them in because I want to varnish over them, which will make them frost and look dingy and unwashed. The front door frame is test-fit and sanded, but not yet glued into place. The furniture inside has been assembled, but is not glued down because I'm going to hit it all with a can of black spray paint and then just give it a little drybrush to help the edges pop. There's a few resin bits and bobs I'm waiting to come in the mail as well. 

Around the side of the building, I've applied a graffiti decal - I bought a couple sheets of these off a seller on ebay; they're designed for model railroaders to add realistic graffiti to train cars, but O-Scale is close enough to 28mm for my purposes. This one worked really well; I was nervous about it tearing during application but it went on like a breeze. I've got a dozen more designs, and I'm anticipating using maybe one per building at most as I grow my modern terrain collection. 

The colors are really crisp and bright; I'll probably apply a very light drybrush of the tan over it to weather it and tie it into the wall behind it a little more. 

In addition to this, I started doing a little bit of work on my next building. One thing I regret not doing more of with the pawn shop is sanding down the lugs on the pieces; the fit on everything is exceptionally tight and once you add a skin of paint over it, almost impossible to get the lugs into their slots. So for the next building - a blank storefront that I'm building as the "Fat Dragon Self-Service Ramen Eatery" - I'm starting off by sanding all the lugs down! 

The furnishings are from OSHIRO Model Terrain - there are two noodle vending machines, a drinks vending machine, recycling bin and (not super visible by the front door) an ATM. I'm waiting on a set of booth seats from Miniature Building Authority to finish off the furniture collection for this one. The exterior is going to be the same color as the pawn shop, but I'm thinking a light blue for the interior walls. Flooring is going to be the same wooden plank pattern I used for the pawn shop. 

I'm debating if I want to do some flower pots on the sidewalk under the window and next to the front door. 

I'm hoping, given the lessons learned on the pawn shop, that the ramen eatery goes even faster!

Terrain in Progress

 With the weather finally warming up, I've been able to start on a project I've been champing at the bit for since Christmas. One of my Christmas gifts from my wife Gina was an MDF kit from Atomic Lasercut Designs, a small US-based designer of MDF scenery kits, representing a pawn shop.

I've made some good progress on it, painting most pieces separately before assembly - the exterior was sprayed with "Sahara Beige" artist's spray paint from Montana Gold, while the interior was primed white and painted a cream color using craft paint. The base plate got a coat of gray primer, followed by successive drybrushes of lighter shades of gray for the concrete sidewalk. I printed a wooden floorboard pattern from Sarissa Precision off at my local Staples with their fancy laserjet printer, and carefully cut that to size and glued it into the building's footprint. The walls have been slotted into place and glued to the base and each other, and the corner cladding, covering the joins, glued into place. 

The doors, door frames and windows, as well as the sign that goes over the store, I want to do in red. Unfortunately, the "Fire Red" spray paint I got ended up more of a bright pinkish-red, almost neon, so I'm going to repaint those by hand to get more of a fire engine red. 

I'm hoping to have this building mostly done by early next week; there's a few interior pieces I won't be able to prime until middle of next week due to weather, but the building itself should be done. And that's doubly good, because another kit from Atomic Lasercut Designs arrived yesterday!

This one is a blank storefront, designed to be customized, and has a smaller footprint than the pawn shop does. I've got some resin interior furnishings from Oshiro Model Terrain and Miniature Building Authority that I'm going to use to turn this blank storefront into a Automat-style ramen restaurant; seating for customers and vending machines that cook your selected noodles right in front of you. What can I say, I got inspired when I saw "Noodle Vending Machines" on Oshiro's website. This one will have an identical wooden floor to the pawn shop and probably be in largely similar colors overall. Maybe a different color interior? 

"Directive: Reach For The Sky!"

 Nothing too exciting to post about today, but I did finish a few more figures.

This set of Robot Lawmen/Bounty Hunters from Diehard Miniatures has been sitting primed and unpainted for *cough*a couple years*cough* and I decided I had a use for them with my next Fistful of Lead demo at Harlequin Hobbies.

The yellow casings on these figures were inspired by my days working in a factory, back around 2009-2012. The dents and scratches sculpted on to the figures reminded me of the battered old machines I used to work on, so I copied their industrial paint jobs. 

Figures Purchased in 2025: 40

Figures Painted in 2025: 52

Demo Day AAR

 So yesterday, March 8th, the game store I've begun visiting locally - Harlequin Hobby in Cheektowaga NY - held a big day-long event (literally, noon to midnight) for people to demonstrate games they love and stir up interest. I signed on to run quick demos of Wiley Games' Fistful of Lead - the only truly indie game there, everyone else was running games with global distribution networks and marketing budgets that the store already stocked. 

Since I didn't need as much space as something like Warhammer 40K, I got put in the upstairs gaming hall - something I didn't even know the store had until yesterday! I got set up alongside a guy running Marvel Dice Throne and another running Marvel Crisis Protocol. My demo scenario was pretty simple - small gangs of orcs squabbling over division of treasure after a battle. Scaled it down to a 2' x 2' board and created warbands of just 3 figures apiece using my Oldhammer Orcs. 

The first hour and a half were pretty quiet, but a couple people walked by and asked about my set-up and I gave my sales pitch of what the game is and why they should play it. A lot of people were wowed by my painted metal figures as well. 

From 1:30 to 4, I ran four 20-30 minute demo games in pretty quick succession, and gave my sales pitch to probably 10 additional people, including a couple of store employees who couldn't sit down and play for 30 minutes. I only remembered to take photos of the last demo game, unfortunately.

Everyone who sat down at my table had fun, and left with a smile on their face, which is more than I could say for some of the other games I witnessed. I didn't get a chance to wander the demo games downstairs in the main play space, but a bunch of Warhammer 40K players showed up and decided to take over some table space across from me for a pick-up game, to practice for an event next weekend. Those guys just looked miserable the entire time they were playing, and an argument over rules broke out between a pair of identical twins - imagine the Marx Brothers mirror gag with Harpo and Groucho pointing furiously at PDF files on an ipad and you've got an idea. 

At 4 o'clock, after my last game wrapped up (and I was only scheduled for noon to 4) and I was putting my things back in my bag, a guy who'd drifted by and glanced at my table a few times came up and asked if I was still running games because he wanted to play. I apologized, let him know I'd only been booked for noon to 4, but informed him I'd be back to run more in the coming weeks because it's a game I love and there's definite interest at the store for more. 

Magnetize, Magnetize!

 Not much exciting going on at the moment on my paint desk, but I am working my way through magnetizing all of my orcs and goblins' bases and their movement trays. That's where the bulk of my hobby time has gone for the past week.

The movement trays are 3D printed, with spacers to convert to Warhammer The Old World unit footprints (which is a lot more appealing than rebasing 200-ish figures). Each slot in the base has a depression for a little magnet, so I'm gluing magnets into the trays and gluing squares of sheet steel to the underside of each base. Once the weather improves I'll hit the movement trays with a coat of green spray paint and flock the tops so the bases blend in. 

As you can see, there's a couple units here left to paint and even more in boxes behind them. The biggest limiting factor is going to be that the green I use for their skin is no longer being made, so once my stockpile runs dry I may have to stop. 

Finished Goblin Regiment

 I'm trying to work down my leadpile, and this regiment of goblins has been staring at me waiting to be finished since October. I painted the first dozen back in 2021 as part of the Old World Army Challenge, then came back to them last year to try and round them out to a regiment of useful size for Warhammer: The Old World. I got bogged down last year with seven figures left to go to reach my target of 40 figures. 

Tonight, I finished those last seven figures, giving me a unit of 39 goblins with a full command, accompanied by a shaman. There's still a few shields to paint and affix but overall I'm happy calling them done. The figures are a mix from Knightmare Miniatures, Harlequin/Black Tree Design, and Midlam Miniatures, all sculpted by Goblinmaster Kevin Adams.

My favorite figure in the unit is a bit of an easter egg in the back row - a goblin eating a meat pie (with a rat tail hanging out of it) and apparently burning his tongue on it. 

I've also knocked out a trio of treasure markers - I'm going to be running some demo games of Fistful of Lead on March 8th at my local game store, and I've put together a simple scenario with groups of orcs squabbling over the division of loot following a battle. I'm hoping I can lure a couple people in. I forget where the treasure pile with the shield and chest came from, but the other two are from Reaper Miniatures - and all three have been in my bits box for the better part of a decade. 

Figures Purchased in 2025: 40

Figures Painted in 2025: 47

Red Ninjas

 Fresh off the painting table - a trio of Ninjas from Crooked Dice, painted in red clothing to represent the imaginatively-named Red Ninjas from Marvel's GI Joe comic book in the 1980s. In the comic books, the Red Ninjas are renegade members of the Arashikage ninja clan (of which GI Joe member Snake Eyes and Cobra assassin Storm Shadow are also members) who end up working for Cobra saboteur Firefly.

I actually don't have a figure for Firefly in my collection yet, but in the meantime I'm sure this trio will find employment under the command of Storm Shadow.

Figures Purchased in 2025: 40

Figures Painted in 2025: 37

New Arrivals: TAG African Militia

 Following on the heels of my last post, another group of modern African paramilitaries - this time three packs of "African Militia" from The Assault Group, armed with AK-47s. Leading them is a figure marketed as "The General," whose cigar and aviator sunglasses give him a lot of personality. 

Given the more ragtag look of this bunch, I think the Crooked Dice figures I painted last week will be national army troops, and these will be rebels. This does swing me back into the red (though not by much) in regarding figures purchased versus figures painted, but I anticipate moving that needle back into the green before long.

Truth be told, I haven't had a lot of spare cash for hobbying this year. My wife and I have been getting hit with surprise bills one right after another since the turn of the year - veterinary bills for Atticus' passing, deciding to adopt a new cat and having adoption fees, this cat promptly managed to scratch his cornea necessitating a veterinary visit, the toe gave out on my winter boots in the midst of a polar vortex - and getting hit harder at the grocery store, so I have less and less money available for my hobby. 

Fortunately I have an extensive backlog of figures I can work on. 

Figures Purchased in 2025: 40

Figures Painted in 2025: 34

The Governor-General's Army

 Another eight figures finished - these are two packs' worth of modern African paramilitary soldiers from Crooked Dice, marketed on the website as the "Governor-General's Army." These were a semi-impulse buy for me a few months back; I placed a big order with Crooked Dice and I tossed these in among everything else. I had some vague ideas about using these as local forces in GI Joe games - the fictional African nation of Kalingaland appears in Marvel's GI Joe comic series in the 1980s, with the Joes team helping ensure free and fair elections in Kalingaland in the face of Russian interference. So these might appear in my games as the Kalingaland national army receiving support from the Joes, OR as anti-democratic forces receiving support from Cobra. 

I'm really happy with the camouflage on their fatigues, and let me write it down here so I can recreate it later if needed:

• Basecoat Warpaints "Venom Wyrm"
• Wash "Agrax Earthshade"
• Heavy Drybrush Warpaints "Woodland Camo"
• Brown splotches in Reaper "Brown Sand"
• Dark markings in Reaper "Woodland Brown"
• Light Green splotches in Pro Acryl "Faded Green"

Honestly I could probably ditch the Venom Wyrm - it's a warmer green than Woodland Camo, and I could have done a basecoat of Woodland Camo, washed Agrax, then drybrushed with Woodland Camo again and it would have looked fine. 

Figures Purchased in 2025: 27

Figures Painted in 2025: 34

New Recruits for GI Joes

 Greetings, readers. For the past three years now, I've been working on and off at painting up (and in some cases, converting) figures to represent the heroic GI Joes and the villainous Cobra from the 1980s animated series. Today, as I work through my collection of miscellaneous primed figures, I've added five more figures to the finished pile - four Joes, and one Cobra.

First up is the sinister and sensual Baroness Anastasia DeCobray, Cobra's chief intelligence officer and one of Cobra Commander's lieutenants. This figure, the "Crimson Contessa" from Crooked Dice, depicts her in the costume she wore in the original animated miniseries, vs the leather catsuit she would wear later.

Next up, on the Joes side, we add Flash (laser weapon specialist), Dialtone (communications), Shockwave (S.W.A.T.) and Starduster (aerial reconnaissance and jet pack pilot). Starduster is an interesting one - his figure wasn't a regular commercial release in the 80s; instead you mailed in box tops from GI Joe Action Stars cereal to get him. 

It's hard to say no to a figure equipped with a jet pack and a grenade launcher, and I'm happy to have him in my collection.

Figures Purchased in 2025: 27

Figures Painted in 2025: 26

Running GAGG XXIX - Sharp Practice Demo

 Greetings, readers! This past weekend was the annual gaming convention put on by the university gaming club I've belonged to for almost 20 years now - Running GAGG, hosted by the Geneseo Area Gaming Group. I joined as a freshman in September 2005, and have only missed the convention twice since then. 

This year I committed myself to playing more games than I ran, something I've never done before. I signed up to take part in two wargaming demos - Sharp Practice and Bolt Action - and two RPG sessions, both played with 1st edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. I also ran a session of the RPG "Barbarians of Lemuria" with an adventure I'd written set in Alex Bates' Lost World of Azor, with miniatures available on his website. 

Playing AD&D from 10pm on Friday night until 2am Saturday morning meant I was in no shape to attend the 8am Saturday game of Bolt Action. However, I did get to learn to play Sharp Practice on Friday afternoon, which was a lot of fun despite a late start!

The scenario was a simple meeting engagement between American colonists and British regulars in the American Revolution. I took the British, while the gentleman hosting the event played the Americans. We were dead center in the student union ballroom so it was a bit noisy, but overall I had quite a bit of fun.

I don't recall the names of the units - I know I had three 8-man blocks of Highlanders with an officer, two 8-man blocks of Grenadiers, a 3 lb cannon and a small unit of scouts. The Americans had similar unit sizes as well as a preacher and a sergeant. I did take a few pictures as we went:

My deployment

Scouts meeting on the road

Cannon moving into position (disregard the pile of tokens)

The British Highlanders in retreat

We were coming up on the end of our timeslot, my forces' morale were much lower than his, so we called it there. Overall I had a good time and would absolutely play this again. And this counts towards my two games a month!

Figures Purchased in 2025: 27

Figures Painted in 2025: 21

More Modern Figures

After finishing that unit of White Russians, I needed a palate cleanser so I picked out a few of the modern/zombie apocalypse survivor type figures I've got in my primed box.

First up is "Cobra" from Hasslefree Miniatures, but we know exactly who this is. The iconic Snake Plissken from "Escape From New York," played by Kurt Russell. This is the second figure sculpted in Kurt Russell's likeness I have in my collection, because I also have a "wink wink, *not* Jack Burton" that Hasslefree sells. 

Next up is "Monique," also from Hasslefree - wearing nursing scrubs and reloading a revolver. My wife briefly had to wear scrubs for a front desk medical job she held, and I based the colors on a set she had owned. 

"Rihanna" is another Hasslefree figure, described on the site as having waited out the first few weeks of the zombie apocalypse at an airboat tour office, surrounded by increasingly-less-hungry alligators, seemingly immune to the infection. 

Finally, an unnamed cartel soldier from Brigade Games' "Drug War Z" line. I really like the personality to this line of sculpts, and this guy's cringing posture is great. 

And I just realized I didn't paint anybody's belt buckles. Guess I'm going in to fix that later!

Figures Purchased in 2025: 27

Figures Painted in 2025: 21

Izhevsk Rifle Detachment

 In hopes of distracting myself from how badly I'm missing Atticus, I returned to my hobby desk to finish off what I'd started last week - a pack of White Russian infantrymen from Copplestone Castings. I've painted them with the blue shoulder boards and piping of the Izhevsk Rifle Division, as shown in the color plates of the relevant Osprey book. They served in the far east and eventually settled in Manchuria, making them ideal for my Back of Beyond project. 

I'll probably end up adding an officer and a banner-bearer to this bunch. 

Figures Purchased in 2025: 27

Figures Painted in 2025: 17

RIP Atticus

 Longtime readers of the blog will recall that in 2016, Gina and I adopted a very large, very charismatic black cat, named Atticus. He was already a few years old at that point, and was an amputee - he'd been found living on the streets with an injured and gangrenous tail that required amputation. 

Atticus has brought us a lot of joy in the intervening 8 1/2 years; a sweet and affectionate cat, he greeted me at the door whenever I came in (or at the bedroom door when I emerged in the morning), always wanting to be in my lap or sprawled across my shoulders. Anything we were eating he wanted a share of, and he would have loved it if we'd just put the jar of mayonnaise, or salsa, or whatever else on the floor for him to help himself to. 

As he got older, health issues began to pile up; hyperthyroidism, a heart murmur, arthritis, and most recently, kidney disease. Yesterday when I got up, he seemed lethargic and unsteady on his feet, and we couldn't get him to eat.

Taking him to the emergency vet, they discovered a very large mass in his abdomen; prognosis was not good given his advanced age (he was probably 14-15 years old at this point), and the vet was confident that his lifespan past this point would be measurable in days at best. We made the difficult decision to have him put to sleep, taking cold comfort in the fact that we wouldn't prolong his suffering to try and steal a few more painful days with him. 

We said our goodbyes - told him how much we loved him and would continue to love him for the rest of our lives - and I cradled him in my arms as the drugs were administered. 

In a few days' time I'll get the call to come collect his ashes. In the spring, we'll pick a nice spot in the garden outside and inter him, and plant something nice over him; something that will attract birds. I think he'd like that. 

8 1/2 years doesn't feel like enough time. I keep expecting him to come trotting around the corner to jump in my lap and demand treats. We've been sobbing on and off since the vet let us know about the mass. 

I don't think we'll be catless for long, but right now the grief is very raw and very sharp; I see Gina and I becoming second chancers, giving a home to cats who - due to amputation, like Atticus, or FIV+ status, etc - are considered "less desirable" for adoption. 

Majestic 13: Operation Firestorm

 And we're back with the second AAR of the night, with the Force Discreet feeling confident (cocky, even) after their astonishingly successful first mission. Hot on its heels, they were redeployed - another wilderness mission along a forested stretch of highway. This time they were up against a Helion Beam-Chaser, a lightweight, almost frail creature that generates a field of intense heat around its body and can focus this into blasts of superheated plasma. While the vague description given in the Majestic 13 rules suggests an elemental sort of creature, I pulled a "Mark IA1 Assault Fiend" from the game "Legions of Steel" out to represent it; I got this some years ago when Raybox Games reissued Legions of Steel and unfortunately it looks like Raybox is no longer offering the figures. 

As soon as the Force Discreet arrived at their deployment zone, a torrential storm broke out, reducing all visibility to 12". Which unfortunately meant that if they were close enough to shoot at the Beam-Chaser, they were close enough to be in range of its area-of-effect abilities - and it's powerful blast attacks. 

The team's secondary objective this time was to hit two supply caches hidden in the forest on either side of the highway. The team quickly scrambled towards these objectives while laying fire into the Beam-Chaser as visibility allowed. It returned fire, quickly immolating Emilio and Ortiz.

Javier collected one supply drop, while Pilar managed to grab the other one - despite taking a blast from the Beam-Chaser that left her blinded and down to 1 hit point, and getting stunned by the monster's area-of-effect power. 

Sick of dealing with the Beam-Chaser, Javier called in a drone strike that extinguished the monster's flames for good.

With the monster defeated, we went into the post-battle sequence. While Ortiz recovered just fine from his injuries, Emilio unfortunately received a permanent injury - the loss of one of his arms. The team requisitioned a second suit of ballistic armor (assigned to Javier in recognition of his victory over the Beam-Chaser) as well as a pistol for Emilio. 

A second upgrade to the base was also successfully requisitioned; enhanced point defenses, which will come in handy in a few games when the Force Discreet have their first Special Mission and face an enemy strike team. 

Figures Purchased in 2025: 27

Figures Painted in 2025: 7

Majestic 13: Operation Shockwave

 Greetings readers! I had today off work for Martin Luther King Jr Day and it was too cold to want to venture outside - the wind chill put us at -7 Fahrenheit, or a breathtaking -22 C! So I got the table cleared off and set up for a game of Snarling Badger's "Majestic 13." As a reminder, this is a solo/co-op game where squads of 5 agents belonging to various secretive organizations attempt to take down a single much larger, much more destructive alien monster, a la the video game X-COM. I realized after my last game that I'd goofed and given my original team, Keel's Killers, entirely too much gear. Rather than reboot the Killers, I decided I'd start a fresh team, using the Foundry "Mercenary Fire Team" I painted earlier this month. And thus the brutally efficient "Force Discreet," founded and funded by the armaments manufacturers of the world, were statted up and set to work. This is a short battle report because the game went very quickly - and I am very tired, having had a bout of insomnia last night. 

I bought the "Battlefield in a Box" escarpments you see next to the road yesterday,
and was eager to see them on the table.

Their first battlefield would be amidst forested hills along an isolated stretch of highway, near a long-abandoned cabin that was once fortified as a survivalist's compound. Their secondary objective was to collect some fragments of the drop-pod that had been used to deliver the monster, for study and reverse-engineering. And as for that monster...they'd be fighting a Yvenian Shocker, a creature that can absorb and channel electricity, delivering destructive blasts of energy that can blind its targets.

3D printed figure from MarketMagiqueMinis on Etsy.

The team quickly spread out, with Javier drawing the monster's fire early on, being struck by electricity and temporarily blinded. The team's commander, Anna-Maria, and her second-in-command Ortiz poured fire into the creature with a rocket launcher and heavy machine gun, respectively. The other team members - Javier, Emilio and Pilar - did their best, sniping at the Shocker with automatic rifle fire and Pilar's grenade launcher. The old cabin collapsed in on itself, though fortunately no one was caught in the destruction.

the blood splatter on the porch denotes this was "Dangerous Terrain" even before it collapsed.

Ortiz and Anna-Maria successfully collected the samples of alien tech, fulfilling their secondary objective, and the whole team continued to fire on the monster, killing it on turn 4.

In the aftermath, the team successfully requisitioned one suit of ballistic armor (given to Ortiz), and added a Weapons Depot to their base, adding +1 to all weapon damage going forward.

But wait, there's more!

Because the game went so quickly, I had time to reset the table and roll up a second mission. Keep your eyes peeled for a second AAR tonight...

Figures Purchased in 2025: 27

Figures Painted in 2025: 7