Cultists! The Knights of the Mystical Sword.

I was digging through my stacks of unpainted and I found a bag of cultists.  Some were from Artizan Design, some from Pulp Figures, and a couple from Rattrap Productions, though they no longer show on their page.

To start, we have the High Potentate of the Mystical Sword, by Pulp Figures.

A group of unarmed cultists.  Those with the crest on chest and/or hood are by Artizan Design, the uncrested are by Pulp Figures. The crested figures are the Elevated Knights of the Mystical Sword, while those without are merely Knights of the Mystical Sword.

The tommygunners, all from Artizan Design. Since they only have the crest on their hoods, they are the Ultimate Protectors of the Mystical Sword.

Pistoliers from Artizan Design and Pulp Figures. Those with the crest are the Ultimate Minions of the Mystical Sword, and the crestless, merely a Minion of the Mystical Sword.

The Knight Keeper of the Mystical Keys, from Artizan Designs, the cage is plastic and came with two enormous piles of chain.

I believe that these two figures had Rattrap engraved on the bottom of their bases. The figure in the brown suit has the only nickeled pistol because one painted black disappeared. Since they have earned neither robe nor propper hood, they are merely Acolytes of the Mystical Sword.

And finally, we have the Ultimate Torch Singer of the Mystical Knights (also the Ultimate Squeeze of the High Potentate of the Mystical Sword), flanked by the Carrier of the Mystical Torch of the Mystical Sword, and the Highest Purifier of the Mystical Sword.

Here are my cultists, eager to Purify the non-believers with bullet and flame.

Painting was pretty simple. They were all painted blue and washed with a homemade black wash. Hands were painted with a craft paint flesh and washed with GW flesh. The torch singer was painted with a lighter flesh tone with my brown wash. Her dress and hood are painted with a Martha Stewart craft paint. The swords on the crests were added with a Prismacolor Premier .005 pen. The curlicues on the High Potentate's throne were added with a fine brush.  I failed to show that the back is painted to simulate plywood.

Rogue Trooper Redux

Yes I'm replaying Rogue Trooper on PS4 (received as a points reward.)  These were painted long ago, so of course, I ordered more From Bronze Age Miniatures.  Unfortunately, most of the blue boys are no longer available. Nor is the sentry bot.  I believe that Games Workshop is about to produce some, doubtless at $50 for 5 plastic figures.

The first one kinda reminds me of Gunnar. Hubba-hubba for the second.

The first is a female in one of those ballet poses that BAM was so fond of. The right-hand figure is the one I use for Rogue himself.

A very aggressive figure on the left, and another female ballerina.

A Nord sergeant, and kneeling soldier.  All Nord figures are available. The upright "thing" on the sarge's back is merely a piece of brass rod with a piece of brass tubing slipped over it.

More Nords.

And still more Nords.

For those that never played the older version, Rebellion introduced it in 2006.  It is a TPS, Third Person Shooter (I've given you a new definition today!). The Redux edition is basically a remaster for more modern systems. Of course, it all began with the 2000AD comic in 1981.  I can't say that I have more than a passing acquaintance with the comic, but my understanding is that the video game does credit to the comic.  It is also relatively easy, compared to the more frantic games that came after 

Palaeo Diet: Eat Or Be Eaten

Sunday I got out some of my caveman figures and decided to have a game.  My inspiration for my prehistoric stuff is the La Brea tar pits, Quest For Fire, and any other caveman movie.

The first scenario is called Vanilla Sky and involves your clan in attempting to kill an Apex Grazer, as it is called in the rules.  This could be a ground sloth, wooly rhinoceros, or, in this case, a mammoth. For fans of "One Million Years B.C.", it could be dinosaurs.

The clan took it slow and easy on the approach, so as not to alert the mammoth. There was another thicket on the lower left of the table that the bowman snuck into. He was out of range of the mammoth.  He crept out of the bushes, and fired at the mammoth, causing a wound, a 5 on a d6.  The mammoth merely trumpeted. He loosed another arrow, landing a 6 which causes a critical hit and 2 wounds.  

The mammoth with only 1 wound left, flees.

A spearman runs up on the rear of the mammoth, who turns, takes a swipe at the spearman, and misses. The spearman hits on a 6,  causing 2 wounds, and the mammoth goes down into the soup pot!

The Vanilla Sky scenario is a simple learning scenario.  My wife then played, and also slew her mammoth, though not without a lot more trouble. The mammoth successfully attacked two figures, both of whom are hurt for the next game.

The figures are very old Strategem Sugar Wars figures, long out of production.  They are really South American Indians, available long before Copplestone.  I have all the nice figures by later manufacturers, but there is a dearth of bows available.  I'm looking at Copplestone Amazon Indians with bows to add to my collection.

Dragon Rampant Red Man Army, in detail.

  I promised closer photos of my Dragon Rampant Edgar Rice Burroughs Barsoomian red army so here we go.

  First up are the Scouts, flyers, 4 points. The figures are all Bronze Age Miniatures' current release, except the left front figure, who is from the older release. http://bronzeagemin.com/sci-fi/ The low flyer in the middle is from Tin Man Miniatures, but is not a current listing. The other 2 flyers are from Shapeways, and suffer from the usual 3d printing problem of rough surfaces. https://www.shapeways.com/product/PED4V5D9N/pv13-barsoom-personal-flyer-28mm There is a base available somewhere on Shapeways, but I had some clear Lexan rod and clear bases, so used those instead.  The figures are not permanently mounted to the flyers. I only mounted half of the figures as some rulesets do dragoons in this fashion.

  These are my Lesser Warbeasts, 4 points. All of these figures are currently available from Bronze Age Miniatures.  The ulsio are described as being the disgusting color of newborn rats, so of course I had to go to Google. For those of you who are not familiar with Burroughs, the large creatures are banths, the Barsoomian lion. The ulsio are rats the size of large dogs, and are only found in dungeons. Sue me.

  We come to the Belligerent Foot, 2 units at 4 points each.  I went with Belligerent Foot, because the other two Foot units both have Shieldwall, not appropriate for figures without shields. Unfortunately, almost all of these figures are from the old release and so are unavailable, but he has new releases to replace, not recast, all of these. 

 

  These are the Heavy Shooters, 4 points. Once again, most of these are from the original release, but are replaced in the current release. The red men are not big on guns.

  These are Heavy Riders, leader included, 4 points. These figures are from the original release, and have not been replaced in the new release, so that favorite eBay thing, OOP.  I have an extra mounted figure should I wish to make the leader a separate unit. I also have a dismounted leader figure in case I find that having the leader in the only mounted unit a bad idea.

  Because these figures are so long, it is difficult to get good photos.  Here's one at an angle.  I never paint highlights on eyes, but the thoat's eyes are so large that the look rather bland without them.  The thoats look good painted, and from 3 feet, but they are nightmares with bad joints and lots of bad pitting.  Unfortunately, I got all my thoats assembled, and that made it more difficult to fill and file.

  This is my 24 point unit.  It's very impressive on the table and takes up a lot of real estate, as does the green army.  Their thoats are at least half again larger. The red man thoats are 5" (12.5 cm) long.  The green man thoats are 8-1/2 inches (21 cm) long. It's unfortunate that the first release figures are no longer available, but at least there are the slotta-based replacements. They are not as ornate, nor as varied as the originals, but the faces are better, the poses just as dynamic. The green men are the original releases, so quite ornate.

A Day on Barsoom

This is a quick skirmish near Helium.  The actual game took about 10 minutes playtime, so I will let the comic pages do the talking.  Also, I only had 9 pictures, which leaves a blank on the template I was using.  Rules are Swordplay 2018 with the Barsoom mod supplied by Ed. As always, click on the pic for a larger one.

The first post of the New Year, comparing old and new Bronze Age Miniatures Barsoomians.

Of course I caved and bought some new Bronze Age Miniatures Barsoom http://bronzeagemin.com/ figures.  I discovered the Edgar Rice Burroughs series at my local library when I was 14.  Knowing nothing of series, I first read "A Fighting Man Of  Mars", and wondered who the hell John Carter was. To this day Tan Hadron of Hastor is my favorite Martian.

I have a goodly number of the older Bronze Age Miniatures figures and really like them. I'm going to compare the old and the new with my biased opinions.  I've tried to find equivalents.

First, we have the lunger. The accouterments are simpler on the slotta figure. The lunge is more dynamic on the older figure, and the harness is more complex. The boots are simpler on the newer figure. The musculature is about even.

 Second, the parrying figures. The poses are quite close. I like the extra belt on the newer figure holding a rapier type sword carrier.  On all the new figures, the weapons are attached to the hands, better for convention games.  The guard in very saber-like.

 Third, the sneakily advancing figure. I couldn't find an equivalent in my older figures.  This is an excellent pose. Very dynamic. The right arm holding the sword is a separate piece but is quite well keyed into the torso.  Only a minimum of filling was needed, so little that it was provided by super glue gel with nothing added.

Fourth, we come to our first damsel of Barsoom.  I am much fonder of the lack of upper harness. It better fits the Burroughs idea of women only fighting in extremus. Her face, and all the new faces, are better, in my opinion. These two poses are almost identical.  I like the look that the new damsel has quickly buckled on a swordbelt to defend herself.

And, finally, the fifth figure, another damsel, quite angry! She, like the older figure, has no scabbard. The ire is plain to see on her face.  I imagine her finally being able to put paid to the jed who kidnapped her, and subjected her to indignities!!

It's pretty obvious that I'm quite happy with the change in style and basing. The harness is simpler, the weapons attached, the poses pretty much as dynamic, the ladies less prepared for battle. I've ordered the 2 banths Bronze Age Miniatures supplies, the ulsio pack, and another male and female figure.

I have all the white apes offered by 3 manufacturers, and that is a surfeit, so I won't be ordering any more of those.