End of the Road for The Velocihamster

A week ago, my oldest daughter, Anna's, cherished hamster passed away after on a long fight against a respiratory illness. I'll spare the graphic details and shocking way that Anna found her perished pet and continue on to something special I did for her.

As some of you may recall, Anna had used her hamster as the inspiration for her Mutant Future sometime back. Though we never got to play the character, she had a lot of fun envisioning her post-apocalyptic mutant animal character and I had a lot of fun illustrating her vision. Over time we had mentally transformed our other pets into additional denizens of the fallen Earth establishing them as friends and comrades of the mighty Velocihamster.

The illustration below is a quick drawing I did depicting our dog (Serene), our iguana (Bastion), and two cats (Oscar and Yeti) at Cheeks' graveside.

We all hope that cheeks has one heck of a time racing along on the eternal highway.

Ride on Cheeks.

Daffy Just Got Cooler

Thanks to the gent over at the Unofficial Games blog. I have been trying to track this down since I caught the tail end of it on TV.

A Few New Hobby Supplies

28mm barbarian slinger for scale

Was out and about with the wife today grabbing a bite together and doing a little bit of shopping when I found a few useful bits here and there.

First thing was found at the local Cash & Carry and has much potential for terrain building. Bought in bags of 100, these are dense wood sticks intended for use in candy apples. They are just about perfect for turning into palisades. Tapered on one end to a dull point, they can be used right out of the bag for simple projects or you could distress them for more realism. You could also cut off the pointed ends and use them for log construction.

The other find was a bag of various brass offcuts and end pieces of various diameters and lengths. These are sold in the modelling supply section of my local model/RC shop Galaxy Hobby as "Special Shapes". These are going to be useful in terrain building and sculpting.

I am looking forward to cracking these open and seeing what I can do with them.

-Eli

Conan The Barbarian (2011)

So much has been said about this movie leading up to its release and since that I absolutely had to make sure I saw it before it left the theatres. I figured, with no real attachment to the literary version of the character and having grown up on a healthy diet of Arnie the Barbarian and "Savage Sword of Conan", that I might actually be able to enjoy it for what it was and not find myself jaded by prior expectations.

I did.

When it comes down to it, this movie really had a lot to like. Though it jazzed me as a kid, as I grew older I found the origin story portrayed in the movie much more entertaining and believable than the original Arnie film. It never quite sat right with me that "The Riddle of Steel" was so elusive as to drive a man to conquest. The overall visual of the movie is epic and both fanciful and familiar.

What it really comes down to for me is a basic check list of what this kind of movie should include -

• Muscle bound noble barbarian
• Pretty girls
• Exotic places
• Derring-do
• A little magic
• A big monster
• Cool bad guys
• Lots of sword fighting

All of the above are a big check if you ask me. When it comes to Conan plots you generally have the big guy racing around trying to stop some wicked person from unleashing some sort of unspeakable horror on Hyboria and we see that in this movie. Along the way, he makes some friends and falls for a girl. We also have that. In the end, the evil plot is undone, Conan is victorious but is in the end left where he began - alone and driven. Once again, we have that in this movie.

Couldn't find a lot wrong with the movie from where I was sitting even though I did let the mostly empty theatre open up the MS3TK spigot that can be let loose on any movie.

-Eli

[Edit: It was pointed out that I mistakenly used the incorrect "daring-do" instead of "derring-do". Well, to the anonymous poster who pointed that out, you are correct but I'll hardly be damned for writing it how it should have been. It is only because the originally incorrect spelling has become the correct spellingthat it is correct at all.]

D30 Lizardman Variants

When orcs, goblin, bugbears and ogres are old or the weather is a bit too warm for hairy brutes, A DM can always count on a little help from his cold-blooded friends the Lizardmen. Lizardmen are an exotic addition to any adventure and can add a little bit of spice to the humdrum. But do all lizardmen need to be alike?

There have been some variations on lizardmen that have been done over the years, but many of them are total rewrites of the the creature. But a few simple tweaks here and there can certainly add a little variety. Presented here are some quick tweaks to the basic lizardman that a DM can use on the fly.

1. Horned: +1 additional gore attack for 1d6 damage.
2. Light Absorbing Scales: Hide in Shadows as a 4th level thief.
3. Horny Hide: +1 AC bonus
4. Acid Spit: Spit acid up to 10' inflictig 1d4 acid damage per turn.
5. Blinding Spit: Critical hit with this attack causes blindess for 1d4 turns
6. Leaping: Pounce attack has a 3 in 6 chance of knock opponent down.
7. Venom: Poison bite attack.
8. Carrion Eaters: Attacks cause disease on a 3 in 6.
9. Savage: Berserk in combat.
10. Agile: +1 AC vs missile attacks
11. Chameleonic: Limited invisibility
12. Poisonous Skin: Physical contact inflicts poison.
13. Stink: Horrible odor causes nausea. All opponents -2 to hit.
14. Prehensile Tail: +1 weapon attack
15. Arboreal: Move through trees at normal movement rate.
16. Regenerating: Heal 1d4 HP per round.
17. Weapon Tail: +1 attack; 1d6 damage
18. Large: +1 HD; +2 damage
19. Huge: +2 HD; +4 damage
20. Armored: +3 AC Bonus
21. Independent Eyes: May see in two directions at once. Never surprised.
22. Sticky Tongue: Grab attack up to 5' away.
23. Spiky Hide: Grappling attacks against the creature inflict 1d4 damage.
24. Climatic Adaptation: The lizardmen are adapted for a climate that is not suitable for them.
25. Enhanced Natural Weapons: Possessed of more effective natural weapons. +2 damage to non-weapon attacks.
26. Natural Spell Like Ability: Pick a spell of level three or less. Can be cast 2/day.
27. Sonic Bellow: Special attack causes confusion.
28. Gaping Maw: Special attack swallows on a 1 in 6.
29. Roll twice.
30. Roll thrice.

Classic Figs To Good Home

A while back I discovered this pack of Citadel miniatures in my garage. I have no use for them, but seeing as they have some value, I thought I might post these up in hopes of finding a nice trade. 

The pack is 1105 BARBARIANS and features two wonderful barbarian figures in a solid 28mm scale. One is advancing with a two-handed axe while the other, a good likeness of Conan, is posturing with his sword. Both are in classic loin cloth and muscles Frank Frazetta barbarian style. The figures are in splendid condition with nothing in the way of corrosion or erosion of the details.

Being OOP and from a kinder, gentler time in Citadel's history before it was simply the miniatures arm of Games Workshop's in-house games, these figures have a lot of character that we really don't seem to see much of in the newer, more cookie cutter figures from Games Workshop.

 

What am I looking for? Well I'll start with best offer and go from there. I am not looking to make a ton, and can certainly provide a list of minis that I am looking for.

Mainly I am looking for -

28mm Hundred Years War (Old Glory, Perry, Front Rank)

28mm War of the Roses (Old Glory Perry, Front Rank)

28mm Vikings

28mm Dark Ages Peasants

28mm Wild West

I'm also willing to entertain other offers on a case by case basis. As a miniatures gamer, my interests are far-ranging and you may have something that I could use that escapes me at the time of this writing.

Anyhow,

If you want 'em, let's talk trade!

-Eli

I Am a Mad Robot

Hello all,

So, things trudge along. The kids are going back to school and I've managed to get myself a nice new little gig on the side. After offering some advise and general assistance in product development and the like to Steve, owner of Mad Robot Miniatures, I have been given a part-time gig as an official part of his team.

What does this mean?

Well what it means is that I'm going to be helping Steve develop new lines as well as fine tuning some of the models themselves. He's still the boss but this is a great opportunity for me to try to have some influence on the 15mm science fiction and miniatures world as a whole.

-Eli