More Terrain Building

 I'm not sure what it is, but there's something just very peaceful and relaxing about making terrain, even if it's just building and customizing a kit. Gina got me a pair of modern MDF buildings from Atomic Laser Cut Designs for my birthday a few months ago, and I decided to pull one out and get it built up and customized. This particular kit is "Store Front 5" from their "Mean Streets" line of brownstone buildings, a single-story shop with a removable roof and opening doors. Despite the pulpy 1930s aesthetic of the Mean Streets line, there's plenty of buildings that look exactly like this within easy travel of my house (fun fact: because Buffalo, NY has so many old buildings still standing, films set in the first half of the 20th century are often shot here), so it's more than appropriate for the Rust Belt aesthetics of my modern games.

The pieces have been spray-painted, and I've applied graffiti decals to the exterior walls and given them a tan drybrush to weather the brickwork. The decals are a mix of Green Stuff World and Dave's Decals - the GSW decals go on more smoothly, but honestly half the decals on the sheets are misprinted and cut off, limiting their usability. I'll probably be putting another order in with Dave's Decals in the near future - I want to add some two-story buildings to my table, and "Ghost Signs" on the sides of the second story would be very fitting. Dave offers a variety of them. 

The fit on Atomic Laser Cut Design's buildings are very tight, necessitating some sanding on the pegs before painting - a lesson I learned the hard way! These were well-sanded before I got out the spray paint, but it's always worth it to continue to check fit as I go:

I'll be printing out a paper floor and some miscellaneous signage to glue in - a "no entry" sign on the back door, things like that, maybe some "lost dog" posters to stick to the sides near the front. I might talk to my 3D printing guy about printing up a rooftop air conditioning unit to add up top as well. I will be needing him to take care of printing some wall-mounted TVs and a bar for the interior. 

Speaking of the interior, I sprayed it a fairly obnoxious orange, with the intent being for it to look like the interior decorating hasn't been updated since the 1970s. 

I think it works.

To offer another update, I've finished pouring the resin for my gator-infested swimming pool. I haven't had a chance to get to the game store to pick up a bottle of "Dirty Down" moss effect, but I'm debating whether I even want to bother with it; this looks fairly decent as is.

The most I'd be doing with the moss effect would be some dirtying up of the rim. Not sure if that's worth spending $20. 

Figures Acquired in 2025: 127

Figures Painted in 2025: 124

WIP: Pool's Closed

 The mood struck me to start working on a bit of modern terrain again; I think this might be becoming a "hobby home" for me, something I can just always get stuck in with and putter for a while and have a smile on my face while doing it. 

This week I got out a piece my wife got me for my birthday - an above-ground swimming pool from Bad Goblin Games. The product photo on the website adds an alligator and UV resin "water" and I knew I wanted to do something similar. I'd gotten a pair of crocodiles from Wargames Foundry, and dug one out and got it primed and painted this week, with a coat of gloss varnish; they're a bit smaller than the one in the product photo but that's fine. I figure any crocodile in your swimming pool is a problem. 

The pool was sprayed white inside and out, and then I masked off the outside and sprayed the inner surface a bright blue. I gave a tan drybrush to the bottom of the outside and applied some Reikland Fleshshade as "rust" around some of the mechanical bits. 

After that was all dry, I started adding layers of UV resin. The first layer had a bit of GW "Athonian Camoshade" mixed in, a dark olive green shade. The second layer I mixed a bit of OOP GW "Waywatcher Green" glaze into the resin, which is a brighter green; once this layer was spread out but before I cured it, I put the crocodile in. The third layer also had some Waywatcher Green mixed into it, and was poured around the crocodile to help submerge him. 

I'm thinking I'll do one more layer of resin - I'd really like to have the crocodile mostly submerged. Then maybe apply some washes or glazes to really sell the algae-scummed look. 

This has been a really fun and really quick project; I'm now half tempted to get another swimming pool from Bad Goblin and make a "clean" version! Maybe see about getting a 3D printed pool floatie to have on top of the water in that version? 

Figures Acquired in 2025: 127

Figures Painted in 2025: 124

Majestic 13: Operation Acid Reflux

 It's been a few months since my last game of Majestic 13 from Snarling Badger, and I decided this week I'd get the table cleared off and and play a game this weekend. A big part of that decision came in the form of a complimentary 3D printed "Giant Plague Toad" (totally not a Nurgle beast, scout's honor) I received from an Etsy seller, TableTopTradesman, earlier this week that immediately struck me as an excellent monster for Majestic 13.

Unfortunately, last night I had to take my wife to the Emergency Department at our local hospital following an accidental over-ingestion of medication. While she was discharged after a few hours, neither one of us slept much (or at all, in my case) afterwards, so I'm more than a little foggy-headed and prone to slight nod-offs currently. Naturally, this is the best possible state to be in when playing a game and writing an after-action report. 

The Force Discreet were once more deployed to a wilderness battlefield, this time to oppose a creature called an Ichor-Spitter. These creatures are capable of flight, ignoring terrain penalties on movement, and can spit powerful acid. 

Left to right: Javier, Pilar, Ortiz, Emilio, Anna-Maria

Secondary objective was a medical supply pickup - each of those neon green radiation symbols marks a piece of terrain with a supply point on it. I got a little hosed in two different ways with this mission:

1. Rolling for bureaucratic foul-ups as part of the mission generation, I got "Drop Zone Confusion," meaning my team deployed in a randomly-selected board quadrant. 
2. Rolling to see which terrain pieces on the table would be Clear, Difficult or Dangerous terrain, I rolled abysmally. Almost every hill and forest, plus the bridge and cabin, were Difficult Terrain, meaning movement was halved moving over them. One hill was Dangerous Terrain, meaning figures would potentially take wounds trying to cross it. Trying to obtain secondary objectives just got twice as difficult. 

Rather than do a full play-by-play since my brain's packed to capacity with cotton right now, I'll just touch on a few highlights:

• In my mentally fogged state, I was looking at the "Phase 2" profile for the Ichor Spitter (in Majestic 13, once your team has a certain number of victories under their belts, the monsters upgrade to a second, more difficult unit profile) for the first two turns, meaning it was hitting my operatives more easily than it should have and the negative side-effects of its attacks were harder for them to resist.
• The Ichor Spitter caught four of my five operatives in an "Acid Spray" blast, wounding and blinding half of them because they'd stayed clustered together pouring firepower into the monster instead of spreading out. 

• On turn 3, I rolled for the game's FUBAR mechanic, came up positive, and rolled on the results chart. A randomly-determined terrain piece, in this case one of the escarpments along the riverbank, collapsed, injuring any figures (human or monster) within a certain radius. Only Ortiz was in range, and I rolled almost minimum damage; I think he only took three points of damage from the collapse.
• Javier got caught in one Acid Blast too many, and was reduced to a steaming puddle on the forest floor.

• Ortiz scored a critical hit with his light machine gun, dealing an exceptional 34 points of damage to the monster in one go, which was enough to put it into its "In Extremis" state - every monster in Majestic 13 has an "In Extremis" threshold, where if it's reduced below a certain hit-point total it gains an extra action, but also takes extra damage as its body consumes itself with violent rage to fuel that extra action. 
• On Turn 4, Pilar successful performed a Call for Aid, calling down a drone strike on the Ichor Spitter and finishing the terrible beast off.

I didn't really accomplish the secondary objective of collecting all three medical supply drops; I got one, but the Force Discreet really is spec'd around pouring as much damage into the enemy as possible, and everything else is a bit of an afterthought. 

In the post-game:

• While Agent Javier did die of his wounds, he was successfully cloned and Javier Jr. will be ready to join the team in the next game. 
• The Force Discreet filed requisition requests for two Medic Kits and received one. Requisition requests to add a rapid response helipad to their base were also denied and/or lost in the bureaucratic maze. 
• Ortiz and Pilar used accumulated XP to improve their Dexterity scores, while Javier Jr. put XP carried over from Javier-Prime to improve his Combat score. 

Next game is a Special Mission, pitting the Force Discreet against the shadowy puppetmasters dropping these alien monsters on Earth. 

Additionally, in the aftermath of last night's Emergency Department adventure and my willingness to sit up all night making sure Gina didn't experience a seizure or cardiac troubles relating to her accidental overdose, Gina asked me to fill a shopping cart with miniatures she could buy for me. I had a coupon for 30% off from Etsy seller TableTopTradesman (see the top of this post), so I picked out enough gribbly 3D printed monstrosities to get us free shipping and we placed the order. So soon enough I'll have another five twisted brutes on 40- or 60mm bases ready to try and gnaw through the Force Discreet. 

Time to update the counter:

Figures Acquired in 2025: 127

Figures Painted in 2025: 123

One Horse Cart

 I'd started this "One-Horse Cart with Open Sides" from Wargames Foundry about a month ago, and it had been sitting on my workbench waiting to be either finished or accidentally knocked off onto the cement floor of the basement. I decided I better err on the side of finishing it. 

I've never been a big fan of painting horses (I come by it honestly; when talking with my father about his time painting Airfix figures in the 1970s, he's commented on how much he hated painting horses), but I'm really pleased with how this one turned out. 

I think I maybe erred too far into pale gray in painting the cart as aged and weatherbeaten wood, but I'm not going to go back and change it now. I've got another cart, from 1st Corps, that I'll lean more brown with to make it less aged. 

This will be a piece of scatter terrain and/or a scenario objective in games of Devilry Afoot and historical skirmishes. 

I'm counting this as two figures for the purposes of the counter.

Figures Purchased in 2025: 120

Figures Painted in 2025: 123

Devilry Afoot: The Beast in the Fog

 Well, I'd had every intention of going to Harlequin and playing Warhammer: The Old World tonight, but I slept really poorly last night and just didn't have the energy to fight rush hour traffic, play a 2 1/2 hour game and then drive home and need to sit up awhile to relax enough to try sleeping. I did still want to get some gaming in, however, so I cleared the dining room table and set up for a game of Devilry Afoot.

I couldn't find my roster sheets from last game, so I wrote up some new ones:

• Captain Tennille, a Soldier armed with a sword and musket, with the dark secret Gambler.
• Squire Root, a Gentleman with a sword and lantern, accompanied by his Follower Robert the Musketeer. Root is also a Gambler.
• "Frother" Martin, a Religious hunter armed with a sword, Bible and Hound, with the dark secret Drunkard.
• Goodwife Patience, a Goodwife with a pistol and lantern, with the dark secret Slovenly.

I used the scenario "The Beast in the Fog" from the rulebook, replacing hellhound the scenario calls for with a Werewolf. The scenario would open with four tokens at the corners of the board, each potentially representing the Werewolf; the hunters would be scattered across the board, and a heavy fog would restrict visibility to 4". 

During the first turn, the tokens all moved closer to the hunters, with three of them revealing themselves as decoys. Squire Root and Goodwife Patience moved towards the bridge to rendezvous with their companions; Martin rolled a "1" on his first activation, resulting in his drinking habit leaving him hungover for the duration of the game. Captain Tennille became disoriented in the fog, wandering past the bridge until meeting with Martin. 

On turn 2, the werewolf revealed itself, immediately catching a pistol shot from Goodwife Patience. She rolled phenomenally well for damage, putting three wounds on the monster immediately. It only had 5 wounds to begin with, so it was well on its way to being defeated.

Maddened by its injury, the werewolf charged Patience, but failed to successfully hit her and turned and fled back towards the shadows. Recovering its composure, the werewolf turned back around and leapt at Squire Root, killing the gentleman instantly and sending Robert the Musketeer fleeing off the board.

Captain Tennille charged on to the bridge, firing his musket from the top of the arch (mea culpa - I forgot about the 4" visibility limit) and putting a fourth wound on the werewolf. The beast towards the nearest shadows it could hide in, and then leapt on to the bridge, attacking Martin, who had just staggered up level with the Captain. Wounding the preacher, the werewolf then changed its tactics; it gave voice to a devilish howl, intimidating Martin into fleeing while the Captain struck at the werewolf ineffectively with his sword. 

The werewolf used its intimidating howl again, sending the Captain running. Patience was less than impressed, and shot the werewolf in the back at point blank range, killing the beast. 

The surviving hunters divided up the 60 shilling reward for killing a werewolf between the three of them. Martin, having been wounded but survived, is now infected with lycanthropy. Fortunately, for the low, low price of 20 shillings and a handful of hair off the werewolf that bit him, a cure can be brewed! 

This was a great way to spend the evening, and I'm really glad I was able to get some gaming in after all. I've also submitted to run demos of Devilry Afoot at the next Wargames Among the Warplanes show in September, so this was good practice for that as well. 

Figures Purchased in 2025: 120

Figures Painted in 2025: 121

Looting the Secondhand Bin at my FLGS...Again

 My wife is a generous god. Today is our wedding anniversary, and we both scheduled ourselves off work with plans to visit a local greenhouse/conservatory that is having a butterfly exhibition. Unfortunately, it's extremely hot today and Gina's MS flares up when she overheats - so between the fact that it's a bit of a hike from parking to the greenhouse and it's a hot, steamy greenhouse, we decided it might not be in our best interest to go today. Instead, she proposed we take a trip to Harlequin Hobby - I'd been wanting to check their collection of decal sheets for some Orc/Ork decals, and with her blessing I also spent some time digging through the file boxes of secondhand figures. I came away with some real goodies!

First up, another blister pack of old metal Night Goblin fanatics, as well as a metal Black Orc standard bearer that had been converted by a previous owner with a resin head. A vintage Orc Shaman and a goblin with a flail that was I think originally a Heartbreaker miniature. 

When I went to pay for these (as well as my sheet of Ork decals), she insisted on treating me. 

Why yes, I did marry out of my league. 

Figures Purchased in 2025: 120

Figures Painted in 2025: 121

Old World Wednesday #1: 4-Way Battle

 Last night, I played in my first "real" game of Warhammer: The Old World. Readers might recall I played a 500-pt "learning" game back in April. Yesterday was the inaugural "Old World Wednesdays" at Harlequin Hobby; I brought a thousand points of my Oldhammer Orcs & Goblins, and met up with three other guys for a 2 vs 2 game.

Besides myself, there was:

• Reece, with 1000 pts of Beastman Bray-Herds
• Vinnie, with 1000 pts of legacy Skaven
• Derek, with 1000 pts of Orcs & Goblins!

Derek and I teamed up on one side of the board, our armies complementing each other nicely, and being similarly comprised of older models with paper banners. Reece and Vinnie deployed opposite us. We picked a mission from the new Matched Play book; both sides deployed on a diagonal with victory points scored based on units in proximity to the tower at the center of the table.

Also pictured - my original Warhammer dice from 2001!

We didn't manage to finish the game before the store had to close for the night, but we had a great time along the way. Some highlights:

• I cast the spell "Foot of Gork" right off the bat, instantly eliminating Reece's "Razorgor" under the stomping fury of a spectral green foot. The spell was not dispelled all game, and after multiple semi-effectual stomps on Reece's Dragon Ogres, it turned around and stomped half of Derek's Black Orcs out of existence! Oops!
• Reece had deployed two regiments of beastmen one in front of the other; I used my Doom Diver catapult to target the front regiment, and managed to land a direct hit. It scored enough casualties that the survivors needed to make a panic test - which they failed, despite having their general with them. The front unit turned and fled into the back unit, forcing it to take a panic test as well, which it also failed, sending them fleeing as well. They managed to rally before they fled off the table, but it still put them out of position and on the back foot for the next two turns. 
• A unit of Stormvermin charged into Derek's Night Goblins; they managed to survive the initial charge and deployed their Fanatics directly into the massed Skaven. 

This game was everything I ever dreamed of a game of Warhammer being when I first came into the hobby in 2001. I was entranced by Warhammer Fantasy Battles 6th edition, though I never managed to build an army or play a game at the time. The sportsmanship and camaraderie on display last night was second to none. We were all laughing at the Foot of Gork every turn, and we were all reading and interpreting the rules collaboratively to ensure no one was unfairly advantaged or disadvantaged. 

With this game I also feel like I finally hit a point where I was thinking and playing tactically, instead of hoping for the best while spinning in place playing the Major General's Song on a kazoo. Getting a perfect shot with my Doom Diver catapult that sent two regiments of beastmen fleeing in panic is going to carry me for a while. 

It ended up being a much later night out than I've had in a very long time, so this morning necessitated twice the coffee as usual to get me into some semblance of functional humanity, but I'm glad I did it, and I can't wait for next week's game. 

Returning to The Old World

 I got invited to a group chat organizing regular games of Warhammer: The Old World at my local game store. The people in the group seem nice and are painting their miniatures - and playing at a points value where I'm not going to destroy my back lugging my all-metal orcs and goblins to the store. 

So I sat down and sorted out a 1000-pt army that should be relatively well balanced. I asked for a little bit of help on Reddit, given my past experiences with being left to my own devices to build army lists. If all goes according to plan I'll be playing games on both Wednesday and Thursday this week - and with my wife's blessing and encouragement, no less! 

Da Pig Hussas - 5 Orc Boar Boyz (Big'uns), with full command, cavalry spears and shields. Standard bearer has the enchanted Banner of Butchery and the leader is wearing a 'Eadbuttin' 'At.

Dem Wots Got Stickas - 20 Night Goblins (pretend they have hooded cloaks) with shortbows, hiding two manic Fanatics in their ranks. Next to them is Wee Whistle, a Level 3 Night Goblin shaman.

Da Red Bastids - 25 Orc Boyz with hand weapons and shields and a full command.

Harboth's Orc Archers - 15 Orc Boyz with warbows, shields and full command. Behind them is a Doom Diver catapult with an Orc Bully to improve morale.

Big Boss Yorzolg - Orc Big Boss, army general, great weapon, Trollhide Trousers and a Charmed Shield on a Boar Chariot.

How they're shown here is more or less my plan for deployment as well, though if I can put the Doom Diver Catapult on a hill I will do so. Hopefully the Pig Hussas and Yorzolg can hit some enemy units in the flanks and cause some extra damage that way while the orcs soak up some charges and the Night Goblins...well, they're mainly there to launch the ultra-destructive and uncontrollable fanatics into the center of the table. 

Finished: Orc Shaman on War Wyvern (Marauder Miniatures 1992)

 I haven't figured out banners for him that I like, but I'm calling this figure done for now.

This feels like a recruitment poster for being an orc. And honestly, I think the finished figure came out even better than I'd hoped; the yellow skin, the fade to red on the tail, the striping, the tigerskin saddle, the orange mohawk on the helmet, the tarnished bronze bits. I feel really good calling this a centerpiece model. 

I'm counting this as five models for the purposes of tracking - the wyvern, the rider, and the three "Lesser Goblins" on the base. 

Figures Purchased in 2025: 115

Figures Painted in 2025: 121

Wyvern Finished!

 I'm proud to announce I've finished the Wyvern half of my Marauder Orc Shaman on War Wyvern. Though I might go back in and re-do the eyes - the yellow pupil is too close to the yellow scales. Now, just need to finish the rider and a trio of snotlings for the base, then flocking and flags!

Once this is finished, I have a unit of Orc Big'uns that I started base-coating skin tones on that I'll focus on, followed by another big centerpiece-y kind of model - a Black Orc Warboss riding in a boar chariot. That's going to be a beast of a model, potentially even heavier than this wyvern! 

Figures Purchased in 2025: 115

Figures Painted in 2025: 117

Lucky Finds at my FLGS

 My area has an absurd number of gaming-related stores. To the point where most of them have needed to engage in some degree of niche specialization to remain viable and not overwhelm the environment. So much like the finches of the Galapagos islands, we have game stores that focus primarily on board games, stores that cater to the collectible card gamer, a few big generalists who have been here the longest. One store also runs Escape Rooms to differentiate themselves. 

My game store of choice, Harlequin Hobby, is almost exclusively a wargaming store. They have a little bit of shelf space dedicated to Dungeons & Dragons and board games, but mostly it's wargaming, with the various Games Workshop games and Battletech getting the most real estate, but a decent selection of Warlord Games offerings for Bolt Action, Pike & Shotte, and Hail Caesar. 

They also have an unbelievable treasure trove of secondhand goods. I think the owner might buy job lots on eBay to supplement old stuff that gamers unload in exchange for store credit to spend on the latest Warhammer releases. There's an entire shelving unit of file boxes; a lot of the relatively recent Games Workshop stuff that's been sold back is sorted by faction for browsers' convenience, but the real motherlode for me are the boxes labeled simply "Fantasy."

I've managed to dig a handful of vintage GW (and competitors!) orcs and goblins out of there, treasures of the early 90s for the most part. There's also a shelf of secondhand rulebooks and supplements.

I stopped by the store yesterday morning because I knew they'd gotten some 6th edition Warhammer goblins in that I wanted to maybe lay claim to. I walked out with more than I'd anticipated. 

I got my blister pack of Night Goblin Fanatics (only 2 in the blister - maybe from 7th or 8th edition? In 6th they were 3 to a pack...) and a 5th edition Warhammer Battle Book, which looks like it was included in the Warhammer Fantasy Battles starter boxed set for that edition. It's got an overview of the hobby written by Rick Priestley, painting guides, an overview of the different armies available, and a series of scenarios to play beyond simple pitched battles. And it's in almost mint condition! I couldn't believe they only wanted $15 for it, so I quickly snapped it up. 

There were more goblins I could have gotten...should get...I may go back for those later this week or, more likely, see if they're still there after I get my next paycheck. They must be mine...

Figures Purchased in 2025: 115

Figures Painted in 2025: 116

WIP: Orc Shaman on War Wyvern

 I was able to spend an unexpectedly large amount of time today painting, which was nice. I'd originally planned on teaching a couple of friends to play Devilry Afoot and Perilous Tales, but when one had to cancel last minute due to some health issues, my friend Rick and I pivoted to having a relaxed paint-and-chat session at my dining room table. The two of us and our wives had lunch together, chatted for a while, and then from about 2:15 in the afternoon until probably about 5:30, Rick and I were parked at the table, hunched over our respective projects. 

I finished the primary color for the War Wyvern (a slightly orange-tinged yellow), and painted the tombstone on the base it will be leaning against. I also painted the furs, wood and bone bits on the shaman's saddle, with the furs painted as tiger skins; I've been wanting to do some tiger skins for a while now, and my fur-clad Savage Orcs were a ways down my to-do list. I think it worked out really, really well, and I'm a bit disappointed the shaman will be covering a lot of it. 

The wyvern, saddle and base are still separate from each other, just propped together for a quick photo. The wyvern itself is going to get a pattern of dark stripes down its back and head (and maybe some patterning on the backs of the wings), and I think the tail is going to fade to red towards the tip. Claws and horns in ivory shades, and the inside of the mouth I'm thinking blue. there's a bunch of tassels on the saddle (and another on the Shaman's belt) that I'm thinking bright purple for. Might as well go as visually loud as possible on a centerpiece model, right? 

I also got the skin tones base coated and washed on the rider and a trio of Kev Adams-sculpted "Lesser Goblins" from Alternative Armies, who will be scattered around the wyvern's feet. 

Figures Purchased in 2025: 113

Figures Painted in 2025: 116

Works in Progress

 I've had a couple things moving at various speeds on my workbench this week.

First things first, I've finished a 3D-printed raised pumpkin patch that my wife Gina got me as an early anniversary present:

This will be a nice piece of scatter terrain, adding a pop of color to various skirmish games. 

I received an order of villagers from Midlam Miniatures, to provide Innocents for my hunters in Devilry Afoot to protect. I also got a plague doctor to serve as an additional hunter, and a trio of gnomes who will be sinister "Red Caps" in game. These have all been cleaned up and based. 

I started painting a horse and cart I got from Wargames Foundry as a Christmas gift in 2023; this will be a piece of scatter terrain most likely in Devilry Afoot.

Words fail to convey the thrillingness of this photo.

Finally, I have, well...gotten distracted. I blame Merijn over at Another Wargaming Blog: His recent goblin posts have drawn my attention back to my long-neglected Orcs & Goblins. I've got a fair amount of infantry, a few Wolf Riders, plenty of Chariots and a few big character models that are awaiting paint. And I've bitten the bullet and started looking at advice for list-building. I'd like to play a few games where my loss isn't a foregone conclusion before the end of the first turn, you know? 

One of the pieces of advice I was given, at least for Warhammer: The Old World, was putting my general on a big monster. That, I can do! Going into my project box, the first thing that came to hand was my Orc Shaman on Wyvern. This was a Marauder kit from the 1992 that Games Workshop reissued last year as a brief made-to-order offering. I snapped it up pretty quickly, and then had to scramble to change the delivery address when it took longer to produce than expected and was arriving after our move. It was a huge relief when it arrived! 

Assembly was a bit tough, and I hope I can get away with only one pinned joint, in the neck. I know this figure is prone to drooping due to all that weight being concentrated in the left ankle, so I dug into my bits box and fished out a tomb stone from Reaper Miniatures (it had come packaged with a zombie I bought probably 7 years ago). It ended up being the perfect height to rest the raised right leg on, so hopefully that will help stabilize it. 

After this photo was taken, I finished assembling the Wyvern as well as the two pieces that make up the saddle, keeping the saddle and rider separate to paint individually before final assembly. I'm going to probably scatter a few snotlings around the base as well for added visual interest. 

Transporting it to play games with is going to be a risky endeavor, I'm sure.

Figures Purchased in 2025: 113

Figures Painted in 2025: 116

Devilry Afoot: First Playthrough

With everything I needed to play out the first scenario in the Devilry Afoot book - "A Discovery of Witches" - painted and varnished, I was eager to get the game on the table today. Even more excitingly, I've got a couple friends coming into town next weekend for a day of skirmish gaming, and they're both interested in giving this a go as well. So I definitely needed to get the game on the table and get a feel for it! What follows is a slightly simplified and condensed version of how the game went: 

"A Discovery of Witches" finds us on the outskirts of the sleepy village of Dunny-on-the-Wold; a coven of three witches has gathered for nefarious purposes, and a heavy storm is rolling in. The Dunny-on-the-Wold Neighborhood Watch has mustered to try and eliminate these witches before the storm hits. 

Today's heroes:

• "Frother" Martin, a Religious hunter with a sword, Bible and dog. He has the skill Theologian, giving him a bonus to quoting scripture at the forces of Darkness, and his dark secret is that he is a Sadist. 
• Goodwife Patience, a Goodwife hunter with a pistol and torch. She has the Devout and Swift traits, and her dark secret is that she is Doubting her faith. 
• Dr. Hessalius, a Scholar hunter with an axe, torch and three vials of Holy Water. He has the Academic skill, giving him extra funds between games, and his dark secret is that he is Wolf-Bitten, and secretly a werewolf. 

Things were off to a rough start for the hunters - Martin advanced towards the witches and was attacked, dying instantly to a witch's dagger. 

His dog sat by his body, barking at every witch that got close, for the rest of the game.

Patience tried repeatedly to shoot the witches, but missed every shot. Dr. Hessalius was charmed repeatedly, having to spend actions slapping himself out of it over and over again. 

Patience shoots at a witch disguised as a wolf.

Things started to get real messy when the witches began summoning Imps. Rules as written, you can have a maximum of twice as many imps as there are witches remaining on the table; I only have three imps painted, so I capped it at one imp per witch. 

One of the witches made it into the farmhouse, killing the inhabitant; once finished, he turned his attention to Dr. Hessalius - and again, rolled well enough to strike him down instantly with a mortal wound.

To her credit, Patience did manage to overcome her doubts long enough to quote scripture with enough vehemence to send an imp scampering away for a few moments, but ultimately she was overwhelmed, succumbing to the fangs and claws of swarming imps just as the rain began to fall.

So that was a big fat loss for the Dunny-on-the-Wold Neighborhood Watch! The witches emerged completely unscathed, quickly stripping off their robes for a celebratory nude dance-off in the Dark One's name. 

Overall, I liked the game, even if I didn't win; I felt like after turn 2 or 3 I didn't need to look things up in the rulebook as much, and was getting by with just the quick reference sheet and the bestiary entry for the witches. 

Monsters in Devilry Afoot are guided by a simple "AI" - for each witch, roll on a chart divided into columns for "A human is within 6"" "monster has been shot at since their last activation" and "all other situations." As the author is careful to note, monsters are irrational and act in irrational ways; I think I had two instances where a witch attacked, failed to wound, and then fled rather than press the attack. It may not have been the logical action, but it did give the heroes some breathing room. If the witches behaved rationally, the game might have been over in three turns instead of six. 

I liked the mechanism for determining initiative as well; tokens drawn from a bag is a pretty common one (Bolt Action and Sharp Practice both come to mind) but this is the first game I've played that uses it. I had a turn or two in this game where the witches activated twice back to back before any hunters activated and that was a challenge for sure. 

I'm looking forward to getting another game in soon; I may change up my selection of hunters (maybe some muskets would help even things up) or bump it up to add a fourth hunter to the group and see how things go then. 

Figures Purchased in 2025: 113

Figures Painted in 2025: 116

Devilry Afoot: Witches and Hills

 A few more figures finished for Devilry Afoot, and starting on some terrain pieces. I should be able to get my first game in this weekend to get a feel for it!

First up are a trio of Witches - these are Cultist miniatures, sculpted by Kev Adams for a company called Dark Fable, which is sadly no longer around, its founder Mike Burns having passed away a few years ago. They are now available through Dragon Bait Miniatures in the US, along with Dark Fable's incredible line of Egyptian miniatures. I went with a simple scheme of grimy slightly-grayish brown robes and black hoods. 

Next, an incredibly sinister goat from Pulp Figures; part of an occult accessory pack I got a while back as part of Bob's "Arcane Academics" Kickstarter. This was a very simple paint job, spray black, drybrush dark gray, pick out horns and eyes. It will serve as a Pact Devil in game. 

Next up is going to be terrain. I've got STLs for a few Tudor-style cottages as well as a blacksmith's and watermill that I need to take to my friend Dave for printing. My wife got me a few pieces of scatter terrain - a pumpkin patch, pigsty and village well - as an early anniversary present that need assembly and painting, and I bought a "Battlefield in a Box" hill a few weeks ago after watching Big Lee's video on the subject, which needs flocking.

My wife is astonishingly good to me.

I've gotten the pumpkin patch and the pieces of the well primed (though the well does seem a bit overly large), and I want to get a piece of MDF to glue the pigsty to to keep it secure and in one piece once assembled. I've even got pigs for it! 

Tonight, however, I stopped procrastinating and started flocking the hill. 

 The hill arrives as just a brown-painted resin lump with some dirt texture that's been drybrushed, with the idea being that you flock it to match your home table. This is a mix of two different shades and coarsenesses of railroad flock from Woodland Scenics - $15 a bottle, which will last me years and years at the rate I go through it. This is the same mix I use on all my miniatures' bases these days, applied in patches over a "dirt" layer of flock. 

I have placed a couple orders to round out my bestiary for Devilry Afoot - zombies, bogeymen, a barghest and some redcaps, as well as a collection of innocents for them to threaten. So between that and the figures finished, it's time to update the tracker again. 

Figures Purchased in 2025: 113

Figures Painted in 2025: 116