Ross Tran
Morning Hunt
Sunday, November 27, 2016
Sunday, November 20, 2016
Sunday Inspirational Image: Turkey Jerk
There isn't any idea so crazy that will keep it from showing up as a Power Rangers' monster of the week...
The Turkey Jerk used cranberries and a turkey baster as weapons...
Saturday, November 19, 2016
Another Day In Frostgrave
We gathered for out penultimate game of the campaign today, and had a full table of 8 players.
Elsa, Anna, and their troops found themselves facing a new wizard (played by Sam, the daughter of one of our regular players) also called the Doctor. This one seeming to exchange a fez for a ridiculously long scarf. His ragtag fellows started off across a low ridge. Off to the right, Vaaron's band, including his woefully under-dressed apprentice (that dirty old man.
Elsa begins by casting leap on Grave Digger the treasure hunter, while Hood the treasure hunter follows on foot toward the tower ruin on the ridge, while the old marksman flanks off to the right to keep an eye on Vaaron's warband. Anna tries to follow her sisters example, but the spell proves too difficult. She orders the construct to head toward the bridge anyway. Everyone else moves out to explore the ruins.
On the ridge, the Doctor steps forward, and seeing the Grave Digger tries to sonic him (elemental bolt). The sound fails to bother the old guy, used to the screams of the recently dead anyway. Elsa comes up to support him, and blasts the Doctor with an ice bolt, but it impacts harmlessly against the wall of the tower. The hellknight follows Elsa, and menaces the Doctor. Anna leaps the slow moving construct up onto the bridge to retrieve the treasure located above, while Lady treasure hunter follows up the side. Hood begins to climb the watchtower... this is gonna take a while... The old marksman gets attacked by a Woman at Arms from Vaaron's party. He manages to fend her off long enough for Rathgar the Man at Arms to charge in and cleave her down the middle.
On the ridge, Elsa tries and fails to blast the Doctor again. The hellknight advances and smites the Doctor to the ground with a single swipe of his sword. From around the back of the ruined tower, a musketeer shoots the hellknight in reply. Down below, Anna further enchants the construct, speeding it's steps. With it's increased speed, is rushes across the old bridge and grabs the treasure. Mr. Bones grabs a treasure from a well, but is set upon by a thug of the Doctor. The younger marksman tries to give him cover, but as he's lining up a shot, he's charged by a strange dog with wheels in place of it's rear legs. He kicks it back, but doesn't hurt it.
Back by the bridge, the old marksman is charged by a thief who'd been hiding in the shadows of the woman at arms. Again, Rathgar comes to his rescue, dropping the thief. The musketeer again fends off the knight, and somehow manages to load and fire his weapon at point blank range. Wounded the hellknight still stands.
A giant ice toad emerges from a pile of snow and hopes at the old marksman. This time though, he doesn't need rescuing. As the beast is about to chomp down on him with it's massive jaws, he shoots his crossbow straight into the beast's small brain, killing it instantly.
Elsa again blasts the musketeer with an icy bolt, but again it fails to hurt him. Anna has better luck freezing the wheeled dog in a layer of ice. Mr. Bones manages to brain the thug, and stumble a little distance away with the treasure before he's setup again before shoving him off. From the far side of the ridge, a large construct lumbers toward them. At first Mr. Bones is relieved, thinking it's the one created by Elsa, but in spite of the visual similarity, it's a different golem!
Did everyone have the same issue of "Wizard's Workshop"?
The younger marksman slams it hard with a perfectly aimed bolt, but the magic enchanting it's body keeps it stumbling forward, even when so badly damaged. The hellknight again charges the musketeer, and again fails to land a blow and is shoved back. Hood finally finishes climbing the tower, and looks around. The view is spectacular, and the treasure chest at his feet is a welcome find.
A streak of light, like a firework, comes sailing through the sky toward the ridge. It lands between Mr. Bones and the thug and explodes killing both!
Elsa again tries to blast the musketeer, but can feel the spell failing. Giving herself a nasty case of frostbite, she manages to empower the spell, but again the blast fails to connect. Anna gives the speed enchantment to Lady the treasure hunter, who then runs toward the ridgeline. The old marksman spots a knight coming up the ridge behind the golem, and tried to take him out, but misses. Lady finishes her charge in front of the golem, and knocks it to the ground, breaking the enchantment holding it together. The old markman gets a bead on Vaaron, but he shifts right at the last second, and the bolt flies harmlessly.
Pushing up her sleeves, Elsa again blasts the insufferable musketeer. This time the ice finds it's target, and he falls. With a nod, she orders her hellknight to grab the treasure. Unfortunately just as she turns to go, Vaaron's entire warband exits the table...
...and while these 3 treasures were recovered, 2 lay unclaimed yet so tantalizingly within reach... if only there had been one more turn!
Mr. Bones did not survive the grenade, and will need to be replaced for the final game... in the library!
 |
| I started at the far left end of the table from this angle |
Elsa, Anna, and their troops found themselves facing a new wizard (played by Sam, the daughter of one of our regular players) also called the Doctor. This one seeming to exchange a fez for a ridiculously long scarf. His ragtag fellows started off across a low ridge. Off to the right, Vaaron's band, including his woefully under-dressed apprentice (that dirty old man.
Elsa begins by casting leap on Grave Digger the treasure hunter, while Hood the treasure hunter follows on foot toward the tower ruin on the ridge, while the old marksman flanks off to the right to keep an eye on Vaaron's warband. Anna tries to follow her sisters example, but the spell proves too difficult. She orders the construct to head toward the bridge anyway. Everyone else moves out to explore the ruins.
On the ridge, the Doctor steps forward, and seeing the Grave Digger tries to sonic him (elemental bolt). The sound fails to bother the old guy, used to the screams of the recently dead anyway. Elsa comes up to support him, and blasts the Doctor with an ice bolt, but it impacts harmlessly against the wall of the tower. The hellknight follows Elsa, and menaces the Doctor. Anna leaps the slow moving construct up onto the bridge to retrieve the treasure located above, while Lady treasure hunter follows up the side. Hood begins to climb the watchtower... this is gonna take a while... The old marksman gets attacked by a Woman at Arms from Vaaron's party. He manages to fend her off long enough for Rathgar the Man at Arms to charge in and cleave her down the middle.
On the ridge, Elsa tries and fails to blast the Doctor again. The hellknight advances and smites the Doctor to the ground with a single swipe of his sword. From around the back of the ruined tower, a musketeer shoots the hellknight in reply. Down below, Anna further enchants the construct, speeding it's steps. With it's increased speed, is rushes across the old bridge and grabs the treasure. Mr. Bones grabs a treasure from a well, but is set upon by a thug of the Doctor. The younger marksman tries to give him cover, but as he's lining up a shot, he's charged by a strange dog with wheels in place of it's rear legs. He kicks it back, but doesn't hurt it.
Back by the bridge, the old marksman is charged by a thief who'd been hiding in the shadows of the woman at arms. Again, Rathgar comes to his rescue, dropping the thief. The musketeer again fends off the knight, and somehow manages to load and fire his weapon at point blank range. Wounded the hellknight still stands.
A giant ice toad emerges from a pile of snow and hopes at the old marksman. This time though, he doesn't need rescuing. As the beast is about to chomp down on him with it's massive jaws, he shoots his crossbow straight into the beast's small brain, killing it instantly.
Elsa again blasts the musketeer with an icy bolt, but again it fails to hurt him. Anna has better luck freezing the wheeled dog in a layer of ice. Mr. Bones manages to brain the thug, and stumble a little distance away with the treasure before he's setup again before shoving him off. From the far side of the ridge, a large construct lumbers toward them. At first Mr. Bones is relieved, thinking it's the one created by Elsa, but in spite of the visual similarity, it's a different golem!
Did everyone have the same issue of "Wizard's Workshop"?
The younger marksman slams it hard with a perfectly aimed bolt, but the magic enchanting it's body keeps it stumbling forward, even when so badly damaged. The hellknight again charges the musketeer, and again fails to land a blow and is shoved back. Hood finally finishes climbing the tower, and looks around. The view is spectacular, and the treasure chest at his feet is a welcome find.
A streak of light, like a firework, comes sailing through the sky toward the ridge. It lands between Mr. Bones and the thug and explodes killing both!
Elsa again tries to blast the musketeer, but can feel the spell failing. Giving herself a nasty case of frostbite, she manages to empower the spell, but again the blast fails to connect. Anna gives the speed enchantment to Lady the treasure hunter, who then runs toward the ridgeline. The old marksman spots a knight coming up the ridge behind the golem, and tried to take him out, but misses. Lady finishes her charge in front of the golem, and knocks it to the ground, breaking the enchantment holding it together. The old markman gets a bead on Vaaron, but he shifts right at the last second, and the bolt flies harmlessly.
Pushing up her sleeves, Elsa again blasts the insufferable musketeer. This time the ice finds it's target, and he falls. With a nod, she orders her hellknight to grab the treasure. Unfortunately just as she turns to go, Vaaron's entire warband exits the table...
...and while these 3 treasures were recovered, 2 lay unclaimed yet so tantalizingly within reach... if only there had been one more turn!
Mr. Bones did not survive the grenade, and will need to be replaced for the final game... in the library!
Friday, November 18, 2016
#MMRPC Terrain
Okay, so I actually painted a WHOLE LOT of minis this week. I painted them black, dark grey, and then lighter grey. I also painted the temple, and built and painted the second set of stairs for the temple.
I started it out by painting it with a light grey housepaint. Great for coverage, but the color did not match any of the other terrain I've done, so I mixed together the dregs of several bottles of craft paint (black, navy blue, and greys) and gave it a quick re-primer.
The minis all got spray primed with black, and then touched up so no silver or bones was showing through. Then drybrushed with dark grey, and then lighter grey.
I used craft sticks and hot glue to keep my fingers from having more paint than the minis.
Here I'm checking the color of the temple against the stairs I already built for it.
And here's the second set of stairs drying.
Sadly this does very little to chip away at my mountain, since all of the figures under 28mm scale were given to me for this project, and the bones guys are doubles that I had... In fact, I think only the wizard in the middle was a unique mini from my collection.
I started it out by painting it with a light grey housepaint. Great for coverage, but the color did not match any of the other terrain I've done, so I mixed together the dregs of several bottles of craft paint (black, navy blue, and greys) and gave it a quick re-primer.
The minis all got spray primed with black, and then touched up so no silver or bones was showing through. Then drybrushed with dark grey, and then lighter grey.
I used craft sticks and hot glue to keep my fingers from having more paint than the minis.
Here I'm checking the color of the temple against the stairs I already built for it.
And here's the second set of stairs drying.
Sadly this does very little to chip away at my mountain, since all of the figures under 28mm scale were given to me for this project, and the bones guys are doubles that I had... In fact, I think only the wizard in the middle was a unique mini from my collection.
Thursday, November 17, 2016
Stonehell: The Gatehouse! (finally)
Session 19 was played on 9/9.
Wilhelm, drunk Dwarf 4 (Julia)
-Hamlet, war dog
2 torch bearers/linkmen
7 men at arms
Nilbog Dracon, Wizard 1 (Matt)
Stayed in town
Tink, a pretentious Elf (but I repeat myself) and former barkeep (Hanna)
Shelly, a vegetarian recovering alcoholic halfling Thief 3 (Nadia)
Frank, halfling 1 (Emily)
Yaqen, elf 1 (Shaun)
Leroy, human fighter 2 (Mike)
Tobias, Human-Cat, Cleric 2 of Persephone (Mollie)
As Wilhelm searched the town for his friends to go adventuring, he stumbled upon a human wizard who was himself on his way to Stonehell in hopes of finding a rumored wizards school that was once housed in the dungeon. As the rest of his friends were nowhere to be found, he let the wizard tag along. Together they head down the old king's road to the box canyon, and Wilhelm directs everyone around the gatehouse, as per usual. Nilbog stops the group, and asks why. With no good answer, they find the back door and check it out.
The southside lower level was mostly empty save for random animal droppings, twigs, leaves, and some random bones. Old graffiti covered the walls in a variety of languages. In the chamber looking out into the passage of the gatehouse, while looking through the arrow slits, and checking out the old weapons rack, a cold dead firepit flamed to life, and 5 ghosts materialized around it. The seemed shocked to be sharing the room with the adventurers, and grabbed for their weapons. The party ran, taking the stairs to the upper floor.
The arrow slits let in some light as the party rushed up. Once safe, seeing that the ghosts hadn't followed, they looked around. A large papery mound had been built in and around one of the arrow slits, and some multifaceted eyes looked out from a hole in the nest. They kept as far away from the nest as possible, and made for the door. A giant flying thing emerged, and they ran! The next room over had stairs leading to the roof and large hole in the ceiling. They took the stairs, bursting out into the sunshine. Unfortunately the flying things, looking like some sort of demonic wasps, came up around the side of the building. The party charges across the roof toward a hatch on the far side of the building. One of the henchman goes down under the swarm.
Once "safely" off the roof, the party takes stock. Down one already. They'll have to go back for the body at some point. The next room over, a lone goblin lays asleep, using a small log as a pillow. The party isn't quiet, and it startles, and falls down the ladder trying to get away. Rushing over to the open hatch, they look down to see the goblin unconscious on the ground, a pool of blood forming around his head.
Wilhelm, in an undwarven-like moment has the goblin bandaged, and lifted back up to his "bed" with the log gently placed under his head. Returning to the northside lower level, they're first drawn to a door from which the noise of several goblins talking can be heard. They knock, as is polite, and then exchange insults with the goblins... at least, that's what the party thinks, as none of them speak goblin. However, they do hear the distinct sounds of furniture being pushed up against the door. Checking the other rooms, one is empty, while the other has a bunch of old bedroom furniture. A false panel is spotted in the room by the bed, and it's checked out, but as they check it out, giant centipedes attack! Wilhelm tossed in a lit torch, and the room caught fire. The centipedes cooked, and the secret chamber was searched, and out of the smoking room was retrieved a fancy lace parasol, a well worn travel cloak, and a potion. The party fled the gatehouse as the ceiling caught fire, and headed right for the dungeon entrance. Several hours later, the gatehouse was a smoldering shell of a building... but the party was nowhere to be found...
Yes, I'm 2 months behind, and this was only the first half of the night's session... I've been busy! And no, the players still haven't gotten out of the dungeon yet.
Wilhelm, drunk Dwarf 4 (Julia)
-Hamlet, war dog
2 torch bearers/linkmen
7 men at arms
Nilbog Dracon, Wizard 1 (Matt)
Stayed in town
Tink, a pretentious Elf (but I repeat myself) and former barkeep (Hanna)
Shelly, a vegetarian recovering alcoholic halfling Thief 3 (Nadia)
Frank, halfling 1 (Emily)
Yaqen, elf 1 (Shaun)
Leroy, human fighter 2 (Mike)
Tobias, Human-Cat, Cleric 2 of Persephone (Mollie)
As Wilhelm searched the town for his friends to go adventuring, he stumbled upon a human wizard who was himself on his way to Stonehell in hopes of finding a rumored wizards school that was once housed in the dungeon. As the rest of his friends were nowhere to be found, he let the wizard tag along. Together they head down the old king's road to the box canyon, and Wilhelm directs everyone around the gatehouse, as per usual. Nilbog stops the group, and asks why. With no good answer, they find the back door and check it out.
The southside lower level was mostly empty save for random animal droppings, twigs, leaves, and some random bones. Old graffiti covered the walls in a variety of languages. In the chamber looking out into the passage of the gatehouse, while looking through the arrow slits, and checking out the old weapons rack, a cold dead firepit flamed to life, and 5 ghosts materialized around it. The seemed shocked to be sharing the room with the adventurers, and grabbed for their weapons. The party ran, taking the stairs to the upper floor.
The arrow slits let in some light as the party rushed up. Once safe, seeing that the ghosts hadn't followed, they looked around. A large papery mound had been built in and around one of the arrow slits, and some multifaceted eyes looked out from a hole in the nest. They kept as far away from the nest as possible, and made for the door. A giant flying thing emerged, and they ran! The next room over had stairs leading to the roof and large hole in the ceiling. They took the stairs, bursting out into the sunshine. Unfortunately the flying things, looking like some sort of demonic wasps, came up around the side of the building. The party charges across the roof toward a hatch on the far side of the building. One of the henchman goes down under the swarm.
Once "safely" off the roof, the party takes stock. Down one already. They'll have to go back for the body at some point. The next room over, a lone goblin lays asleep, using a small log as a pillow. The party isn't quiet, and it startles, and falls down the ladder trying to get away. Rushing over to the open hatch, they look down to see the goblin unconscious on the ground, a pool of blood forming around his head.
Wilhelm, in an undwarven-like moment has the goblin bandaged, and lifted back up to his "bed" with the log gently placed under his head. Returning to the northside lower level, they're first drawn to a door from which the noise of several goblins talking can be heard. They knock, as is polite, and then exchange insults with the goblins... at least, that's what the party thinks, as none of them speak goblin. However, they do hear the distinct sounds of furniture being pushed up against the door. Checking the other rooms, one is empty, while the other has a bunch of old bedroom furniture. A false panel is spotted in the room by the bed, and it's checked out, but as they check it out, giant centipedes attack! Wilhelm tossed in a lit torch, and the room caught fire. The centipedes cooked, and the secret chamber was searched, and out of the smoking room was retrieved a fancy lace parasol, a well worn travel cloak, and a potion. The party fled the gatehouse as the ceiling caught fire, and headed right for the dungeon entrance. Several hours later, the gatehouse was a smoldering shell of a building... but the party was nowhere to be found...
Yes, I'm 2 months behind, and this was only the first half of the night's session... I've been busy! And no, the players still haven't gotten out of the dungeon yet.
Sunday, November 13, 2016
Sunday Inspirational Image: Doctor Strange
Picture by yinyuming
I went and saw Doctor Strange last week, and while I'm getting a little bored with the origin story, I can see why Strange needed it, given that he's so different from just about any other character introduced in the MCU so far. And while this was a fun movie, it didn't reach the level of fun of Deadpool or Guardians of the Galaxy. All in all it was a solid performance, and I'm looking forward to seeing how he ties in with the next Thor movie.
Friday, November 11, 2016
#3MMRPC Catching up? HA!
Okay, so I'm failing pretty miserably at the challenge. My last update was a month ago, which makes this week 7? 8? Anyway, I've actually managed to get a little painting done in that time. I finished Nathavarr and earned Bronze for him at ReaperCon. And while at the con I also painted up a CAV mech.
However, since I acquired him at the Con, that didn't reduce my mountain any...
After the con, around Halloween, I decided that I needed to try to do something thematic with the season, so I painted up Judas Bloodspire and a ghast from Bones I.
Given that they were both painted very quickly (for me at least) I'm really pleased with how they came out. I even managed to put a bit of what I learned in the expressive faces and eyes to use with Judas here. Not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but I'm pleased.
The ghast was actually just a paint catcher for a long while. Anytime I had red or purple on my pallet leftover, it got slapped onto this guy. I finally finished base coating him, and then just brought the color up using the vampire skin triad mixed with the imperial purple I used on the cloak above.
My current projects are statues for the Frostgrave temple I'm building.
However, since I acquired him at the Con, that didn't reduce my mountain any...
After the con, around Halloween, I decided that I needed to try to do something thematic with the season, so I painted up Judas Bloodspire and a ghast from Bones I.
Given that they were both painted very quickly (for me at least) I'm really pleased with how they came out. I even managed to put a bit of what I learned in the expressive faces and eyes to use with Judas here. Not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but I'm pleased.
The ghast was actually just a paint catcher for a long while. Anytime I had red or purple on my pallet leftover, it got slapped onto this guy. I finally finished base coating him, and then just brought the color up using the vampire skin triad mixed with the imperial purple I used on the cloak above.
My current projects are statues for the Frostgrave temple I'm building.
Monday, November 7, 2016
#ReaperCon Wrap Up
It's been a couple of weeks since ReaperCon and I've been... well, honestly I've been a little down. It was inevitable, given the high that I was on for the con. I heard it described as a family reunion with people you really like, and who really like you. They're right. That's pretty much exactly how it is. It's a small community, and a relatively small con (500+ attendees) that fits fairly well into an old Best Buy, but I can't think of a more welcoming warm accepting place.
But the fun didn't stop when things wrapped up around 9...
There was late night painting in the hotel, as well as games and drinking...
but just hanging out till midnight 1am 2am at the firepit was a large part of the fun!
I took 4 classes over the weekend:
Create your own spooky tree with Julie Guthrie: This was a blast, not just because making a tree is fun, but also because getting to hang out with Julie (who's been a sculptor in the industry nearly since the beginning). Can't wait to paint this up...
Bones Convert n' Take with Reaper Bryan: This is pretty much exactly what it sounds like. There's a couple of giant bins of Bones minis, and everyone digs through for parts and assembles them in a frankenstein-esk way. This is what I ended up with.
Painting Expressive Faces and Eyes with Derek Schubert: The man literally painted 2 faces while we watched, including taking our request for having one of them have glowing eyes. I have so much room for improvement, but now I have an idea of what I need to actually do...
Hands-On Sculpting with Joe Orteza: Kind of an intro sculpting class. We worked on a feather, a leaf, a 40k purity seal, rope, chain, fur, and chainmail. Very helpful, especially given that I've got those monsters I created above that are going to need some serious greenstuff work to finish before painting.
I also took a tour of the Reaper factory. It was neat to see where themagicminis are made! Because of a traffic incident, we didn't get a whole lot of time there, so I didn't get to spend my metal trade in on the things I wanted to look for. Next time...
Friday and Saturday mornings I played in a pair of 5e games. Both were fun, and it was nice to get to be on the player side of the screen. That's a treat I don't get to enjoy very often. In one i played a quasi-undead elf necromancer, and in the other I played a mutated dragonborn bard. The bard's mission was more successful, but the DM did a good job making sure everyone at the table got to shine!
There were demos of the upcoming Conan Rise of Monsters game (CROM) being run, so I jumped into one of those too, and playing as Conan, got to toss a giant snake off a cliff. I also played a demo of Reaper's CAV game. Giant stompy robots is always fun, and while I'm not going to get into it, I enjoyed the demo and even painted a mech up at the paint and take!
In fact, this was the ONLY mini I painted the entire weekend... I made up for it by bring home a metric ton of paint... and some minis...
But as corny as it sounds, the best thing I brought home was the joy of having gotten to hang out with an amazing bunch of silly and fun people. How silly? When Bones IV was announced, I got together a group of my friends and we did this!
That's us handing our cash/credit cards/wallets to ReaperBryan.
And almost everyone from the forum got together before it was all over to get this picture.
I'm already looking forward to next year...
But the fun didn't stop when things wrapped up around 9...
I took 4 classes over the weekend:
Create your own spooky tree with Julie Guthrie: This was a blast, not just because making a tree is fun, but also because getting to hang out with Julie (who's been a sculptor in the industry nearly since the beginning). Can't wait to paint this up...
Bones Convert n' Take with Reaper Bryan: This is pretty much exactly what it sounds like. There's a couple of giant bins of Bones minis, and everyone digs through for parts and assembles them in a frankenstein-esk way. This is what I ended up with.
Painting Expressive Faces and Eyes with Derek Schubert: The man literally painted 2 faces while we watched, including taking our request for having one of them have glowing eyes. I have so much room for improvement, but now I have an idea of what I need to actually do...
Hands-On Sculpting with Joe Orteza: Kind of an intro sculpting class. We worked on a feather, a leaf, a 40k purity seal, rope, chain, fur, and chainmail. Very helpful, especially given that I've got those monsters I created above that are going to need some serious greenstuff work to finish before painting.
I also took a tour of the Reaper factory. It was neat to see where the
Friday and Saturday mornings I played in a pair of 5e games. Both were fun, and it was nice to get to be on the player side of the screen. That's a treat I don't get to enjoy very often. In one i played a quasi-undead elf necromancer, and in the other I played a mutated dragonborn bard. The bard's mission was more successful, but the DM did a good job making sure everyone at the table got to shine!
There were demos of the upcoming Conan Rise of Monsters game (CROM) being run, so I jumped into one of those too, and playing as Conan, got to toss a giant snake off a cliff. I also played a demo of Reaper's CAV game. Giant stompy robots is always fun, and while I'm not going to get into it, I enjoyed the demo and even painted a mech up at the paint and take!
In fact, this was the ONLY mini I painted the entire weekend... I made up for it by bring home a metric ton of paint... and some minis...
But as corny as it sounds, the best thing I brought home was the joy of having gotten to hang out with an amazing bunch of silly and fun people. How silly? When Bones IV was announced, I got together a group of my friends and we did this!
That's us handing our cash/credit cards/wallets to ReaperBryan.
And almost everyone from the forum got together before it was all over to get this picture.
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