Painting For Hippos Ishoo Ate-Aye: Dwarf King's Hold Orcs.

Welcome once more hippo fans to another ishoo of Painting For Hippos. I recently picked up Dwarf King's Hold from Mantic Games, and it got me to thinking. Many board games come with miniatures these days, and, naturally you want to get the game on the table ASAP. But in the case of something like DKH, which uses Mantic's Kings of War range of miniatures as a source of it's pieces, there's a bit more involved. So over the two parts of Ishoo Ate we'll be looking at what you need to do to get your copy of Dwarf King's Hold: Green Menace onto the table as quickly as you can.

In this ishoo, Grot'll be looking at getting the Orcs ready...

Okay then, that's the orcs ready (obviously, you can paint all eight at once almost as quickly, but two seems to be about the right number for photo purposes.) Next ishoo, we'll tackle the elves and basing... and there will be shots of the completed set!

Don't forget about the annual terrain comp will you? The dead line's just over a month from now!

SP/VSF Month: Rules system.

I've decided not to buy a Steampunk/VSF rule set. I've decided to make one. At the moment it's in a fairly early stage of development, just the basic rule mechanics and concepts. The idea is for the system to be generic, allowing players to create their own units, vehicles etc. quite freely. I'm also trying for a sort of 'pulp' feel. I know this is the wrong term - pulp didn't come about until the 1920s. Possibly I should call it a 'Penny Dreadful' feel.

I have named this system:

Further updates on the system, play tests and development will be posted to Top Dog Gaming, my rules and gaming blog.

Martian Zombies

Just recently I've 'published' my first game. I use the inverted commas since it's currently a downloadable print-and-play affair - I think getting into print will be the big milestone!
Anyway, it's called Martian Zombies, and pits the crew of a 1950s B-Grade SF movie space ship against hordes of martian zombies in a randomly generated space ship and a race for survival.
You can get hold of your own copy at RPGNow!

SF Month Bonus: Muscle Car Apocalypse

Been trying to find a use for the terrain-ised cars we looked at a few weeks ago? Trying to figure out a way to combine your love of Mad Max and all those spare WW2 tank bits you have? Been wondering why Ishoo Twenty Ate hasn't shown up yet?
Look no further - it's Muscle Car Apocalypse!

Muscle Car Apocalypse is a new game I'm working on, where you lead a gang of post-apocalyptic desperados in highly modified vehicles in a quest for glory, blood, cash and shiny car parts. It's 1/32 scale, meaning you can use any of the hundreds of 1/32 scale cars available, AND adorn them with parts from 1/35 scale tanks and crew them with 1/35 scale military figures, suitably converted. The rules are free, the terrain requirements are slight, and everything you need is readily available.

DOWNLOAD MUSCLE CAR APOCALYPSE

This is Version 0.4 of the rules, which are still being playtested. If you have any feedback, don't hesitate to get on to me via comments or email!

Incidentally, build-up photos and rambling commentary on the MCA cars is available on the What-If Modelers Forum.

Whack-A-Troll Season Opens!

A while ago I was swimming laps at Ashburton pool when I was struck by a nifty new idea for a quick-play multiplayer Warhammer scenario to use with my school games club.

It's called Whack-A-Troll.

Basically, eight players race through a cave system guarded by Orcs, Gobbos and other nasties to get to the treasure first.

Actual treasure. Mostly Eureka Miniatures, but the odd spare plastic Citadel figure as well.

So I had to do three things: write the rules, build the caves and paint up some extra heroes to add variety.
Here's grot to explain the modeling process:

Thanks Grot!

If you want to try it our yourself;
DOWNLOAD WHACK-A-TROLL.

I've only used Hero level characters, and tried to keep them between 100 and 150 points. I've also chosen to use only characters with a movement of 4 or 5 so that slow moving characters like dwarves will not be disadvantaged. If you don't have the right characters or bad guys around, why not try modifying things to fit your own collection.