A random display at Warhammer World

 

Between the heat, work being busy, and deep unpacking, I've not got much done of late. So here's some photos of a cool army in the Warhammer World display cabinets.

It seems to be an undead / underwater kitbash theme, and I'm not sure what they're meant to be. I couldn't see a thing saying who made it. Please do let me know if you know!

The hermit crab with cannon was what got my attention originally. Maybe the army is "Cities of Sigmar" given there's a handgunner in a crows nest?

The person I was with an I spent ages trying to spot all the parts - I reckon there's an idoneth boat, gobin giant spider, Tyranid claws and an ogre cannon. Am I missing anything?

A more general update on the author

I am pleased to report that I am safely arrived in Nottingham, although much of my stuff is yet to join me. There's likely to be no small amount of sorting and unpacking once it arrives, but I will from time to time have a little opportunity to do some things that are fun, still.

I managed to pop to The Dice Cup for a few games of Flesh and Blood last week. It seems like a nice venue, mostly based around board games, card games and RPGs. They also looked to have a few tables for skirmish gaming which I'll definitely look into.

I also dropped into Bugman's Bar on Sunday and caught up with Annie from Bad Squiddo Games. There wasn't a particular occasion beyond "I've moved to Nottingham". We had a good old natter and a short wander around the GW shop after. I didn't pick anything up, but did spot a few bits and pieces that I might write a short ramble on in the future.

I'm aiming to get back to at least weekly blogging from this point on, although it will probably be a little while yet before miniatures are being assembled, painted and played. But I hope it will be pretty soon.

Daydreams

I'm deep in the house move mines right now, so there's no time for painting. I've managed to pop to P9 Card Game shop for a few games of Flesh and Blood, as they've just moved their branch to near me. I've been day dreaming a little bit about what hobby I'll get to once the move is done and we're unpacked.

I've not moved house often, so there's an opportunity to do a bit of taking stock and clearing out stuff I'm not using. I had a little bit of a clear out before I started packing with some obvious stuff I wasn't using

Once I am moved and unpacked, I'm thinking I'll probably get a few more Combined Army figures painted first. I've got their paint scheme down just fine so they'll be a good "comfort food" project. Nottingham doesn't have an Infinity scene just now, but there's some folk up there who sound interested in trying it out.

I also want to get my Imperial Guard project back underway. There's two plasma gunners that need paint stripping, and three comm links that need painting to match my existing models. With Warhammer World in Nottingham, there's not going to be a shortage of people interested in GW games around.

Finally, I do want to have a solid blitz through the assorted RPG figures I've got. I've got tons assembled and ready to paint, and with money a bit tight around the move, it'll be a nice cheap way of passing the time while still being productive.

I don't want to plan more than this, as I suspect while I'm unpacking I'll find half a dozen things I'll get enthused about. There's no point in trying to predict this as I'll likely change my mind three times over the next couple of months...

Hiatus

 

Just to let folks know, I'm not dead, but I am moving house, which is annoyingly time consuming and means that less hobby is going on to write blog posts about. Once I've landed and unpacked I'll get back to it.

A restrained few bits and pieces

 

I had a pretty restrained Salute this year, due to the upcoming move and not wanting to buy things that would just get packed up to come to a new house. Still, I got a nice few bits and pieces that are making me happy.

There were a few freebies in the bag.  There's the metal show mini, which is some historical Napoleonic figure. I'm unsure if I'll convert it for Turnip 28 or eBay it. I can make the decision later. There's a sprue of Quar by Wargames Atlantic, which I will probably make up for Last War. Finally, there's a 3D print of a dwarf or something that should be a good Pathfinder NPC.

I also picked up a couple of freebies off stalls. I got the Baron's War show miniature, which is a plate armoured knight with a mitre, who will make an excellent cleric or paladin for RPGs. The 3D print was to show off YS Masterpieces' sculpting and casting services.

Finally, in one of the shop bargain bins, I found these half price rat swarms. They're meant for Kings of War: Vanguard, but again, I plan on using them for RPGs. I think there's something excellently low fantasy about rat swarms. I have some old GW ones somewhere, and a spare set of the Cursed City set, which I got from a bits seller. That's probably enough rat swarms on balance.

So, all in all, an achievable amount to paint, with only one thing Bought With My Own Money, so I did pretty well on the restraint front.

Acceptance

 

This is primarily a blog about my silly little hobbies, but I am, I suppose "The Responsible One", so I guess I need to be Responsible. There's a whole bunch of people being awful in the world right now, and a bunch of my readership are directly affected.

Unless everyone has rights, no-one really has rights. Rights are universal. They cannot, and should not be "granted" by a government or other authority. Anything that is granted can be taken away. If you think "some people" should have less rights, one day, authority may decide you are "some people".

Authoritarians around the world are trying to divide people, to set up "other people" to hate, be that the immigrant, another nation, the "lazy", or trans people. They are doing this to retain power. They are doing this to shore themselves up.

We play silly games with toy soldiers. It may feel like there's nothing you can do. In the big scheme of things, everyone can do things that make a small difference individually - writing to elected representatives, and attending protests. But there's also smaller things you can do that are still important.

There's this myth that the way to a good community is to let people be. But really, a healthy community has rules. If you let people intimidate, bully and make people unwelcome, then people will leave, and you will be left with nothing but toxic bullies. The bullies have to go.

Whether it's an online community or your local gaming club - make folk who might feel vulnerable or unsafe welcome. Make an effort, and, most importantly, if someone does or says something inappropriate - do  something. Tell them that's not OK. Tell your club organiser. Remove them from groups you organise.

If someone you know says that something you said was hurtful or not OK, say sorry, and most importantly do everything you can to not do that again. Move on from it at the time - long rambling apologies or explanations make it worse. What's important is putting in the work to avoid doing it again. Making mistakes happens - but repeatedly being careless about things that matter to someone shows them that you don't care that you're hurting them. That you're not safe.

Fiddler: Infinity Canon Trans Icon

Please be kind to one another.

Trans rights are human rights.

Two events in a weekend

So, many of the people who follow this blog will be aware of Salute, the UK's biggest wargaming trade show. It was last Saturday, and as usual I went along. But it wasn't the only nerd hobby event going on at the Excel Centre! The Flesh and Blood London Pro Tour was running from Thursday to Sunday in the hall next to Salute. And I went to that as well.

I am very tired.

One of the great things about Salute is meeting a lot of friends from the wargaming hobby. I wasn't buying much, but I saw a bunch of folk, had a nose at various stalls, and saw some pretty cool gaming boards.

The Flesh and Blood Pro Tour had a lot of advertising around the Excel. I'm not sure how many Salute attendees went to get a demo game to see what it was about... I played games there on Friday and Sunday, as well as after Salute on the Saturday, too. I may ramble more about this later, but for now, I'm going to go and have a nap...

Wizkids Pathfinder Leshy Window Box Set Review

Recently arrived after a bit of a delay is this box of Leshy miniatures for Pathfinder. It's classic Wizkids pre-painted stuff, but at the higher end of that scale. You're getting eight miniatures, which are all based on the book art of the Leshy, a popular PC option in Pathfinder.

The Leshy are spirits inhabiting small plant bodies. With the recent Pathfinder Remaster they moved from an "Uncommon" player option to a "Common" player option, essentially becoming a comparable player option to Humans, Dwarves and Elves. That said, they gain their sustenance from sunlight, with their "rations" being very pricey, so they're not well suited to underground campaigns.

(There's a weird point on this one, where Fungus Leshy are mentioned a living in the Darklands, Pathfinder's Underdark, but the PC Fungus Leshy still need sunlight by the book. Still, this is a weird little side annoyance for me, and not super important.)

Here, left to right, we have a Lotus Leshy, a Seaweed Leshy and a Flytrap Leshy. Flytrap Leshy aren't a specific PC option (though there's a monster stat block), but mechanically they work just fine using the Cactus Leshy options.

The great thing about Leshy, being spirits inhabiting humanoid shaped plant matter is that you can really have a wide range of different themes or vibes.

Next up we have the Gourd Leshy, the Sunflower Leshy and the Fruit Leshy. Sunflower Leshy are another "monster option" that fits into other character classes just fine.

The paint jobs on these models are at the higher end of the Wizkids pre-painted scale, and really quite fancy. They've gone with brighter colours, which suits the general feel of Leshy in general, but there's a couple of spots, such as on the Gourd Leshy, where a little more shading would have probably brought them up an extra notch.

Finally, we have a Cactus Leshy and a Fungus Leshy. They're all very distinct with individual silhouettes so easy to tell which is which. All the sculpts are oozing character.

Leshy are small in the rules, and here you can see one being a little shorter than an Aenor goblin who was what I had around to compare them to.

The recent NPC Core book introduced an NPC profile for a "Gourd Witch", which is a pumpkin headed Leshy with a witches hat and witch spells. I'm only shocked I hadn't thought of it myself before now.

As a few Leshy face off against some marauding goblins - would I recommend buying this box? It is really pricey for what it is, but the quality is at the top end of what Wizkids do. For me, it was a must buy because getting the 'official sculpts' and not adding to my painting queue was an easy choice. There aren't many other good options for small plant folk right now outside of 3D printing. It's not going to be everyone's aesthetic, but if you've got the budget as a Pathfinder GM who uses miniatures, I'd recommend them.

Infinity Battle Report: Shasvastii vs O-12: Frontline

 

Continuing my attempts to practice with my Shasvastii, I had another practice game at the club. My opponent brought his O-12, and the mission was Frontline. I decided to try a list that leaned heavily into Infiltrating and Forward Deployed models

I had a good number of camo tokens scattered across the midfield - I had a couple of Shrouded, a Malignos Killer Hacker, and a Caliban Spitfire. I had a classified mission involving a visor and my opponent's HVT, so I held back the Caliban Spitfire so it could make the run early and didn't have too far to go.

This took a few orders, but a Taigha cleared a mine, the Caliban cleared the reaction remote, then camoed up to get past another model, got the classified then re-camoed to provide him a little protection in my opponent's turn.

With my handful of remaining orders, I moved a Taigha up to annoy an errant camo token.

Sadly, the camo state didn't help the Caliban much. It got discovered and taken out pretty swiftly.

My right flank got thoroughly attacked and the pieces there were put unconscious.

Focusing my efforts on classifieds, my Speculo needed to pass a WIP roll in base to base contact with an opposing remote. It succeeded at this, then chopped the remote in half.

The Speculo then went on to try and take out an O-12 hacker, but didn't manage to get a killing blow.

The Malignos also went up to take out some model or other, but ran out of orders to recamo. This was a definite mistake as it got swiftly taken out.

A Varangian ran over to try and rescue the Hacker, but also managed to fail to land a kill - but this stalemate locked in out of the scoring zones, so we were both stuck!

At this point the Zeta came out and just started deleting stuff. I tried to use my Shrouded to Posses it as my opponent was out of Command Tokens, but I couldn't land a hit and ran out of orders.

With a Crusher having joined the attack on my right flank and having scored a classified on the building, I took my Obsidon Medchanoid around to try and fire a Gizmokit at an enemy troop. Sadly, he lost the face to face and exploded.

I moved a few troops into zones, but I was heavily down points, and my opponent was easily able to move troops between zones to get a solid win.

On reflection, I needed more punch in the list. I didn't have enough firepower to deal with some of the threats I was up against. I like a lot of the tools I used, but putting all of the finesse tools into a list can really fall over in the face of even quite moderate violence. Putting in more of a mix of troops may be a better solution.