Forbidden Caverns Kickstarter

Just a note to let people know that my new megadungeon The Forbidden Caverns of Archaia funded in 21 hours. I'm blown away.

http://kck.st/2alP0u7

Recent Summer Painting

I have been painting up a storm recently while recovering from knee surgery.

The first are Frost, Fire, and Hill Giants painted in Ad&D fashion.
 

The next two are Ad&d Goblins. I've painted 16 of these and am waiting on better lighting before posting better pics.

Ratskum in the Sewers!

I'm managed to complete my Dwarven Forge Sewers. PHEW!

I really don't like painting terrain, but the altenative is better than most stuff out there.

Here you can see a small build. Enjoy.

Rats!

Over a year ago, in anticipation on painting my Dwarven Forge sewers, I accumulated a couple dozen wererats. What are sewers without wererats?

I didn't want the GW "skaven" aesthetic to dominate, so I looked toward Heartbreaker, Otherworld, Grenadier, etc with a couple skaven mixed in.

Wererats really aren't high on my painting priority list, so these were painted rather quickly using a basic process. They sat with painted fur for a year, I just bashed through them in the last two weeks. I did make a few minor modifications that included switching weapons and using different shields.

My next project with either be a large group of Citadel Ad&d Goblins (skin painted already) or some Hill or Frost Giants in the same state. We'll see where I am in a few days...

GaryCon in Pictures: Part IV

By far my most memorable experience at GaryCon was playing the original Dungeon! Boardgane with creator Dave MeGarry. Mr. MeGarry is a first class person. A real gentleman's gentleman.

We played on Dave Arneson's pingpong table and Mr. MeGarry treated us to a short lecture on the creation and history of the game. As I said, he was one of the original players in Dave Arneson's original  homegame.

He also pulled out several original documents from the Blackmoor campaign. See the bottom right -- "Killed in swamp by trolls," just so cool.

Here is some of Mr. MeGarry's F-off letters from game companies. Creative people don't take no for an answer.

Here is Mr. MeGarry and his wife showing off the original Dungeon! Board.

It was really neat to hear that Mr. MeGarry's sister did the interstitial sketching that was later picked up and used in the published game. A nice little legacy.

The original Dungeon! Treasure and monster cards.

More cards.

Yep, I won a newbie game with the Superhero!

GaryCon in Pictures: Part III

As you can see, I know important people, haha. As an aside, I have a bunch of Barrowmaze tees I'd like to get rid of, if interested.

Here is the GaryCon auction, run by Frank Mentzer and Tim Kask. Frank is very personable. A really nice guy.

This was a miniatures game of White Hand Orcs versus Boer War British soldiers. 

A closeup of the figs.

This was a jousting tourney that lasted most of the con. The action was done by the time I took this picture.

This was a very cool sandtable reminiscent of the one in Gary Gygax's basement.

Here is Jon Hershberger's Axis and Allies game. A very cool, and unique map surface. Jon is one of the great human beings in the old school community.

This was a wee sidetrip with Sean King to Gary Gygax's house. Arneson first introduced his Blackmoor campaign to Gary in his dining room. The left side of the house had the infamous stairs to the basement.

GaryCon in Pictures: Part II

There was a nice area devoted to artist David Sutherland at GaryCon. I was struck by a couple things. First, how hard it must have been for him to take a step back from the art once he realized there were more talented artists at TSR. Second, the degree of straight-up poaching from other sources directly into the Monster Manual. I was well aware of this already, it just struck me particularly while looking at the chinasaurs etc. Third, Sutherland had some skill in sculpting miniatures. I was struck with the nice detail on the greens and lead at the bottom.

Boxed set art.

The DMG cover.

A closeup of the Original DMG cover.

Chinasaurs and miniatures from boxed sets used as a basis for the creatures in the MM.

The red dragon. This appeared to be a homemade miniature.

The troll.

Sutherland miniatures. Sorry about the shadow.

GaryCon in Pictures: Part I

This is my first official post on this blog. I have every intent of using this blog to discuss miniature painting for my old school Dungeons and Dragons game, but I recently went to my first GaryCon in Lake Geneva WI and thought I should share my experience.

Disclaimer: My ability to blog regularly will always be hamstrung by the ebb and flow of the university calendar. The schedule always seems like feast or famine, so there are times I can't get to anything other than the day to day grind. I'll do my best. Just because there might be a long break without posting doesn't mean I'm not working away at a small project or two.

That being said, here is Part I of my GaryCon experience in pictures. I would absolutely go back, I recommend the experience to evryone who enjoys tabletop games of any type or description.

 The above is the new venue of the Lake Geneva Resort in Lego bricks. It is huge.

 A picture of the main restaurant.

 

Beer porn. I started off liking this Spotted Cow beer, but by the end I just though it tasted more like Cow Piss.

Love the aesthetic of the main area

The empty table left as a monument the honour Gary Gygax. Very appropriate.