Buck's Blog

My buddy Sam Fuson hosted “FusonConII” at the War Horse Farm in Gettysburg yesterday.  Dave Wood, Chris Palmer, and I ran games.  Most of the gamers were Sam’s friends and co-workers, but Duncan Adams (of the HAWKs) came along as well.  Among those attending were a couple of husband and wife pairs, a couple of father and son pairs, two brothers, and a niece and uncle pair.  There were sixteen gamers, all told.  The plan was for Dave, Chris, and me to run four games.  Chris ran two back-to-back GASLIGHT gamers, Dave ran a Look, Sarge, No Charts: Napoleonic Wars game, and I ran a Look, Sarge, No Charts: World War II game.

Dave was play testing his Battle of Laon (1814) game as a play test for Cold Wars.  Dave wanted to show how you could easily  make use of an old 25mm Napoleonic collection to demonstrate that the barrier to entry for LSNC: Napoleonics is low.  You can see from these pictures that the old 25mm Minifigs, originally mounted for Empire rules, look very nice placed on magnetic “sabot” bases.

Dave didn’t remount any of his old figures.  They were mounted on metal bases three or four figures across.  He stuck two of those “strips” of figures onto a magnetic base and then also affixed the LSNC: Napoleonics label to the magnetic base.  With a minimum of effort Dave was able to pull his old Minifigs out of mothballs and put on an enjoyable game.

This shot show how the “sabot” bases for cavalry look.

Dave and I are working on a series of 1814 scenarios.  I ran one of mine, Vouchamps, last Friday night at our club meeting.  He ran Laon yesterday.  Vouchamps needs a little tweaking, but Laon went very well.  It was a near run thing.  When time ran out and we counted casualties, the Prussians had lost 6 bases, and the French had lost 5, while retaining possession of the road that would be used later to facilitate their retreat.

After lunch, I set up a six-player Poland 1939 game using LSNC: WWII and my 10mm figures.  The game was supposed to be a Germans attack to seize a town along the Polish line of communications.

Instead, Duncan in the Polish center went on the attack with his horse-mounted cavalry.  Duncan smashed through a German infantry battalion.  Then he got greedy and tried to run down a German anti-tank gun.  He took some casualties, and his heroic cavalry ran for cover.

Meanwhile the German armor was trying to push their way across a river.  There were three bridges, and the crossings were only lightly defended by some Polish armored cars.  The German armor seemed hesitant to take casualties and did not advance aggressively.  As a result, most of the German armor was still on the wrong side of the River as Duncan was smashing the German center.  It doesn’t happen often that a player is completely wiped out, but in this game Alicia’s (orange sweat shirt) entire German infantry battalion was reduced to a single anti-tank gun section.  The game was a convincing Polish victory.

While these two historical games were going on in one room, Chris was running his two GASLIGHT games in the other.  I didn’t get pictures of Chris’ first game, but check out his blog (link at the top of this page) for his AAR.  This game was a Burroughs-only Mars game.  (Typically we do a Verne, Burroughs, Wells, etc. mashup.)

Even Sam’s bride-to-be got into the act.  This picture was taken just before a great white ape crawled out of cave and attacked one of Sam’s units in retribution for Sam poking fun at the GM’s singing.

 

This weekend I finished the Hinterland female Trench raiders that have been sitting on my painting table for several months.  These figures don’t have the same charm as the hussars in the dresses, but they are nice, clean castings that paint up pretty well.

Typically, I only watch one football game each year.  That’s the Army-Navy game.  It’s been a disappointing decade (11 years actually).  Occasionally we watch the Super Bowl, because we get invited to a party or my wife wants to see the commercials.  This year we weren’t invited to any Super Bowl parties, but the kids were.  With taking kids to Super Bowl events, church, and going up to Delaware for a friend’s promotion party, Sunday was largely shot.  Saturday, on the other hand, provided a good opportunity for some light painting between other kid taxiing events.  I used the time to work on some odds and ends that have been in my project box for a while.

Before he created Pulp Figures, Bob Murch sculpted for RAFM.  His old Call of Cthulu figures are more 25mm compared to his current 28mm figures, but I think they are interesting and have some nice aspects to them.  This roadster has been calling my name for a long time.  I got it for Christmas and painted it up this weekend.  The casting on the roadster (lead) was poor and required a lot of putty work.  I think the final product turned out pretty good though.

In that same Call of Cthulu line are these neat policemen on motorcycles.  I especially like the side car with the officer armed with a shotgun.  In my Granville pulp games, the police tend to be outgunned by Venusians, gangsters, soldiers, sailors, and robots.  These will help redress the balance a bit.

What’s not to like about female cultists to go along with the other cultists.  I’m thinking the cultists will have a major role in the next Duke Morrison adventure.

In an earlier post, I showed pictures of the Sergeants Three from Pulp Figures.  There are two Sergeants Three sets:  one with “toad face” from Gunga Din.  The other comes with these two characters from The Drum.

I’m thinking these Cub Scouts will have a major role in the next Granville game as well!

When we were getting ready to release The GASLIGHT Compendium, we had been in discussions with Nic Robson at Eureka Miniatures about a custom figure.  They already had this one in the pipeline that was similar to what we wanted.  I have a unit of 10.

When I ordered the flight stands for the FASA Hangar 18 ships from my previous post, I also ordered these larger Hydra pirate ships for War Rocket.  The pirates haven’t seen action yet.

 

I ordered some flight stands from Hydra Miniatures, because the FASA ships don’t have any.  They came in this weekend, so I immediately drilled holes in the bottom of my ships and mounted them.  I plan to combine these with the Hydra War Rocket ships for large battles.

I may also use Fleet Battles by GASLIGHT for the larger actions with a slightly different feel.

This city is supposed to be underwater, where the Shark Men live, but it looked more like a volcano to me.  I guess it could be both — a volcano under water.

The Hawk Men ships look like they are flying backward to me.  They are flying from left to right in this picture.

I have had these figures primed and ready to paint for some time.  After some recent projects, I decided to dust these off and paint them.

I have some other German See Battalion in pith helmets as well as some African troops.  I see a Duke Morrison in Africa scenario on the horizon!

One of the HAWKs, Greg, found these sippy cups at Target on clearance.  After some repainting, I think they make pretty good shuttle or drop ships.  See Chris’ blog (link at the top of the page) for a how-to description.

This is a closer shot of one of the space ships with some Pulp Figures Radon Zombies.  In the background you can see a Lost in Space robot I made from beads and Fimo.

When trying to pain metallic colors over plastic, I generally prime the entire model with Krylon Fusion matte black.  Then I spray the metallic color over the black.  I think you get a smoother finish that way.  The metallic colors don’t seem to stick well to the plastic.  I painted the fins with a gloss craft paint.  I tried gloss red for the nose, but the gloss red I had looked more pink.

Over the long weekend for Martin Luther King’s birthday I had a chance to work on some hobby stuff.  We had to take my daughter for an interview for high school admission and cheer leading, church, errands, etc., I had a couple of hours on Sunday and quite a bit of Monday (after running 12.5 miles around BWI airport) to paint.  Most of Saturday and Sunday I was preparing projects for painting.  Monday I did the painting.

People who know me, know that my favorite Dr. Who is Jon Pertwee.  My favorite story arc is the Silurians, a race of hyper intelligent lizard type people who had put themselves into suspended animation when the big meteor hit the earth.  The timer woke them up late, around the 1960s in England.  They were slowly waking each other up from deep sleep.  The Dr. gets involved, and excitement commences.  (This arc also has Elizabeth Shaw, my favorite companion.)

This weekend I painted a ten-man Silurian unit for use in Dr. Who GASLIGHT games.

These are Black Tree Dr. Who figures.  I have ordered a unit of Sea Devils, the Silurian’s aquatic cousins.

I also finished working on the quick-start guide for GASLIGHT.  When we combined the four GASLIGHT books (and added additional material) to create The GASLIGHT Compendium, we organized the new book in a Chinese menu format.  We found that our players were mixing and matching activation from one book with shooting from another, for example, so we organized to facilitate this.  We were then criticized that we made it too hard for newcomers to the game to get started.  The quick-start guide was designed to address this criticism.  You can download the quick-start guide for free from www.gaslightrules.com (here is the direct link: http://www.bucksurdu.com/Personal/documents/GASLIGHTQuickStart.pdf).

In a previous post, I showed some of the FASA Hangar 18 Flash Gordon cities.  My parents got me two more of them for Christmas.  Above is a mountain with a death ray.  Below is an asteroid with a city on it.

I spent some time on Saturday cleaning up some of the clutter in “the war room.”  During that activity I found an old Marx cave/mine entrance.  I had two and already painted one for brown terrain.  This was was earmarked for gray terrain.  While these were intended for 54mm plastic Marx figures, I think they look pretty good with 28mm Silurians coming out.

The Hangar 18 Flash Gordon cities also come with little resin space ships.  I painted those too, but I haven’t photographed them.  I ordered 40 flight stands from Hydra Miniatures.  When they arrive, I’ll photography them and post them here.  Stay tuned.

I filed, primed and mounted on sticks a couple dozen Copplestone 10mm orcs riding wargs.  I painted the wolves, but I didn’t get a chance to paint the riders.

One more picture of Elizabeth Shaw and the Third Doctor for the road.

I am very excited about a new project on Kickstarter.  See press release below.

TUNNELS & TROLLS — ONE OF THE EARLIEST RPGS WILL GET A DELUXE REBOOT, WITH LOVE

The original team who created the classic role-playing game Tunnels & Trolls has come together again
to make the finest edition yet.

With the help of Kickstarter and a legion of enthusiastic supporters, the original design and development team, being affectionately called the “Fellowship of the Troll,” now has the funds to reboot the classic game into an updated and first rate Deluxe edition. It has been a long time in the making.

The longevity of Tunnels & Trolls is remarkable. As the second role-playing game to reach market (1975), the game opened the door of possibilities: the possibility of diversity in RPGs; the possibility of humor with your heroism; and the possibility of excellent art to ignite the imagination and bring the game alive. Adventures for solitaire play followed modules for group adventures, making it possible to explore a fantasy gaming narrative at any time, whether one’s companions were available at the gaming table or not.

The fans have remained loyal to the game for 37 years, through multiple editions and translations, weathering criticism of the game for being too light-hearted, or shy in world development, and the ups and downs of fortune in a multiform hobby that offers countless alternative opportunities, both tabletop and electronic. When the Kickstarter for Deluxe Tunnels & Trolls (dT&T) was announced, fans from around the world stepped up: the new game reached its funding goal in just over 36 hours. In less than a week, funding is over 200%, and there are another 25 days to go.

WHO’S WHO ON THE NEW EDITION
Ken St Andre, the designer of T&T, envisions a new edition that remains true to his original concepts, empowering players with strong, simple core rules and optional elaborations, while adding the best ideas from later editions. The Trollhalla.com website has kept him in touch with the fans over the last 12 years, so changes to be made receive due consideration before implementation.

One significant addition to the rulebook will be description of, and chronology for, Ken’s Trollworld, the world environment played “back in the day” and further developed by Ken in the years since. Working with Ken will be designer Bear Peters, drawing on Bear’s collection of maps, stories, and lore that have been tucked away for decades. Whole continents previously unknown are being fleshed out with their unique Kindreds and histories.

Liz Danforth, illustrator and editor/developer of the well-loved classic Fifth Edition is on board to reprise all those jobs. In addition to artwork created for the recent French edition (<http://tunnels-et-trolls.eu/>http://tunnels-et-trolls.eu/), Liz will create an entirely new cover painting and new interior art to add to the old favorites. Her editorial and game development skills will help ensure the Deluxe gem gets the best possible cut, hone, and polish to make it shine.

Although not part of the original team from the 70s, Steve Crompton brings years of experience as an illustrator, publisher, and graphics designer to the project. His hand and eye are responsible for the outstanding appearance of the recent French edition that inspired the Fellowship to reunite with the game’s original publisher, Rick Loomis of Flying Buffalo Inc.

CATCHING THE BUZZ
The fans of the game have showed up with bells on to share their memories of growing up with T&T, and they continue to express their warm approval of the prospective new edition in blogs and forums. Below are just a few examples:
<http://whartsonhall.wordpress.com/2013/01/06/tales-of-the-staggering-zombie/>http://whartsonhall.wordpress.com/2013/01/06/tales-of-the-staggering-zombie/
http://www.thesecretdm.com/2013/01/new-on-kickstarter-deluxe-tunnels-trolls.html
<http://thegaminggang.com/2013/01/deluxe-tunnels-trolls-now-on-kickstarter/>http://thegaminggang.com/2013/01/deluxe-tunnels-trolls-now-on-kickstarter/
http://futileposition.com/2013/01/deluxe-tunnels-and-trolls.html

In the Comments section of the Kickstarter, many amazing stories of how the game touched people’s lives are being shared. The sense of community is strong, and has profoundly affected the fans and the design team alike. Liz Danforth spoke of the inspiration and impact of the fans’ words in her own blog (<http://www.lizdanforth.com/>http://www.lizdanforth.com).

Perhaps Big Jack Brass (the Whartsonhall blogger, above) encapsulates it best of all:

“The Kickstarter does two … important things: the surge of giddy support lets the people behind it know that there are hundreds of gamers out there who absolutely love and cherish the work they did and are doing now; and the new edition is something younger gamers can engage with more easily than something from 1979. It’s time to share the wonder and let others build their own magical memories.”

CONTACT US
If you can help us spread the word, we would be grateful. If you have a blog or podcast and would like an interview, or if you know someone who does, we would be happy to oblige. With new stretch goals (milestones) posted, we are hoping to reach out to many old school RPG fans who share the community’s fond memories of Tunnels & Trolls, and newer players who might welcome the possibilities to be found in this fresh Deluxe edition.

<http://www.deluxetunnelsandtrolls.com/>www.deluxetunnelsandtrolls.com
Kickstarter: <http://kck.st/W8rkq7>http://kck.st/W8rkq7

Twitter: @DeluxeTnT

Trollhala, Ken St Andre’s online T&T community: <http://www.trollhalla.com/>www.Trollhalla.com

Ken St. Andre: <mailto:kenstandre@yahoo.com>kenstandre@yahoo.com (Twitter: @Trollgodfather)
Rick Loomis (Flying Buffalo Inc): <mailto:rick@flyingbuffalo.com>rick@flyingbuffalo.com (Twitter: @buffalorick)
Liz Danforth: <mailto:liz@lizdanforth.com>liz@lizdanforth.com (Twitter: @LizDanforth)
Steve Crompton: <mailto:sscrompton@cox.net>sscrompton@cox.net
Bear Peters: <mailto:themancalledbear@gmail.com>themancalledbear@gmail.com

Flying Buffalo Inc  www.flyingbuffalo.com
PO Box 8467, Scottsdale, AZ 85252
480-945-6917

We needed suitably fantasy-looking buildings for your LSNC: Fantasy, Ancients, and Mediaeval games.  For Christmas, Chris made the building in the picture (above) with the blue roof and gave me a bunch of the plaster hexagonal columns to make more.  I haven’t had a lot of time for hobby this week, but bit-by-bit I assembled and painted a number of these small buildings.

I painted them with different roofs.  I thought each town might have different colors, so I could tell the goblins to seize the green town or the maroon town.

I made the doors and windows in PowerPoint and printed them on card stock.  While it’s hard to see in the pictures, the trim color around the doors and windows matches the color of the roofs.

The bag of hexagonal column bits had flat pieces that were too short for levels or floors.  I decided to make them into porch overhangs.

This was a fun little project that I could manage while watching “Murder, She Wrote” on Netflix in the evenings with my daughter.

In this post, I am including pictures of the last figures I finished in 2012 and the first figures I finished in 2013.  The idol above is meant to look like the cover of the original Dungeon’s and Dragons Player’s Handbook.  I love this model; although, I’m not sure when I’ll get to use it in a game.

The last figures I finished were the two sets of “Sergeants Three” from Pulp Figures.  These were meant to look like the characters from the movie Gunga Din.

I also completed 15 Pulp Figures Highlanders.  I’ll be using these in my Duke Morrison versus the Thugees game at Cold Wars.