Mini Thoughts: When the sculpt starts to bug you

Have you ever found yourself working on a mini, and there’s something about it that just… isn’t right? Some aspect of the sculpt that just feels wrong? Last fall I had 2 minis that I felt that way about, both from Reaper’s Brinewind box. The first was the squeezebox player. Something about the head felt off. The forehead was too far back, or the face protruded too far out. It reminded me of a howler monkey. It looked better once the mini was painted, but as I was working on it, it bugged me the whole time.

The other mini that recently had this issue was the Powder Monkey pirate. The left arm holding the barrel is notably shorter than the right arm with the pistol. I measured. Her elbow should be closer to where her wrist is. The more I work on her, the more I see it, the more it bugs me. I was strongly debating trying to sculpt the arm longer, but decided the cheap plastic mini wasn't worth it. 

Sometimes you've just got to press on, especially when you know no one else will ever notice it. 

Warriors of the Dead Games Workshop Minis

 I got a box of the old metal warriors of the dead for more than I'd have paid for the plastic kit... but it came with the king of the dead. I haven't painted him yet because he was the only mini in the set that was already painted, so he spent a few days having his original paint stripped off. He will however be painted basically the same way these fine fellows were painted. 

These minis from Games Workshop's Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game are perhaps some of the easiest minis to paint. After giving each my customary hot soapy water toothbrush scrub, they were cleaned up to remove any flashing, and then glued to their slotta bases and added my ground up used coffee grounds for basing. I primed them white, and used one of the few bottles of Games Workshop paints I have, Aethermatic Blue contrast paint to base coat them with. 

I then dry brushed them with a few shades of cream colors, and a final highlight with a very pale greenish white Ghostly White. 

I picked out their weapons and mail to paint with gunmetal and highlight with shaded steel. 

Their bases were base coated with Walnut brown, with dry brushed Desert Stone and Desert Sand, and the rims painted with Pure Black. All in all, one of the fastest set of minis I've ever painted.

Stonehell: A Prisim... a pause

 Session 332 was played on 8/16/26

Morgana, wizard 10 (Rob)
Borumar, Triton Thief 11 (Josh)
Blotto, Goblin Fighter 8 (Lanse)
Nick, Fighter 8 (Me)
Koltic, Cleric 9 (Cindy)
Aroon, Fighter 8 (NPC)
Jameth, Fighter 8 (NPC)
Lor’Koth, Dwarf 8 (NPC)

The crystal chamber seems to require the doubling of something, but Morgana’s understanding of the runes is iffy at best, and so Morgana and a couple of the meatsticks head back up to talk to Rocky, leaving the rest of the party within the Crucible to keep the doors from closing on them. 

Because it’s been less than a day since they last visited Rocky, they just chat, and camp out with him until the clock resets and he can answer questions again. Inquiring about the Crucible, Rocky tells them that they must mirror image someone within the crystal chamber, and that future rooms within the crucible will require more magics to unlock, and that Morgana will need to do something with the power from the crown.

Thanking Rocky, they head back down to the Crucible and see about unlocking the crystal chamber. 

---

This was our final session of Stonehell before the passing of Rob... the story will continue.

 Someday.

September ‘26 In Review

It sucked. I lost my friend Rob, and it sucked. It still sucks. I miss him. 

While that was the thing that overshadowed everything else, it wasn’t all that happened because life goes on… The start of September means the start of school, and the kid is now officially in 1st grade! Of course there’s been like 3 fundraisers already, and multiple school events to attend… and it’s only the first month. The timing of the start of school and labor day means that I missed Reapercon again this year. I will make it back, but I’m not sure when. I haven’t bothered to pick up any of the minis from the con yet… not sure when I will. 

This month was the 60th Anniversary of Star Trek, and… well I had some feelings about that. And also the 17th blogiversary of Tower of the Archmage. It still blows my mind that I’ve kept this going for as long as I have. 

I also got a nasty case of food poisoning, got the flu and COVID vaccines, gave a double unit of blood, had a doctor's appointment a bit after where they spilled a bunch of blood they were collecting to test, and to top it off one of my aunts died… 

I’m so very glad that September is over. While I don’t dare suggest that October couldn’t be worse, I’m hoping for better. 

Miniatures
Decently productive month. With the kid back at school, including his weekend language school meant I got more hobby time. Some of that was spent working on my yard decorations for Halloween, and the rest was spent painting and building. I got really focused on the food truck, and banged out the basic structure over 2 evenings, and then got right to painting. It’s amazing how quickly something can come together when you’re avoiding something else…like crushing grief. 

Of course with the focus on the food truck, I wasn’t nearly as productive on the rest of the minis I wanted to work on this month. Knowing the end of the month was coming, I put the truck aside and banged out everything I planned on.  

 

Gaming
Ha! Hahahaha…. No. 


Media 
Star Trek Strange New Worlds season 4
Resident Alien season 4
Letterkenny
Game Changer
Make Some Noise
My Octopus Teacher

Books
Star Trek Lower Decks graphic novels 1 & 2
Some West End Games Star Wars books

Loot
Minis! A friend was moving cross country and they sent me a box of minis that were going to be tossed. 

I've got more on the way too... A little retail therapy to attempt to sooth the soul.

Goals for October
Build new Tombstones
Play the next Hope Eternal scenario

Stonehell: Door problems

 Session 331 was played on 8/9/26

Morgana, wizard 10 (Rob)
Borumar, Triton Thief 11 (Josh)
Blotto, Goblin Fighter 8 (Lanse)
Nick, Fighter 8 (Me)
Koltic, Cleric 9 (Cindy)
Aroon, Fighter 8 (NPC)
Jameth, Fighter 8 (NPC)
Lor’Koth, Dwarf 8 (NPC)

Moving on past the smouldering bodies of the plated apes, the party heads into the strange chambers on the edge of the map. First up into a room filled with pillars topped with lenses, and a door that repels any attempt to go near it. 

Many attempts are made. Lor’Koth gets closest, and it’s only when his thoughts turn to opening the door that he found himself walking away from it. Various shenanigans are shenanned, but nothing from ropes and hooks, throwing people, or magical enchantments succeeded. Finally Morgana used a powerful Dispel Magic on the door, and for a brief moment the repel effect was paused, and the party rushed through into a blood stained circular room.

The basin and blade in the middle of the room, and the 3 sets of locked doors The meatshields play rock paper scissors to decide who’s going to bleed. Lor’Koth “wins” and takes the knife to his hand and starts to bleed into the bowl. Sooner than expected, there’s a trio of clicks, and the doors swing open. From behind the party, the lenses on the pillars also shift their focus. 

Moving forward, the party checks the next rooms. These are also circular, but have different contents. The ones to the south east and south west have summoning circles, while the central one has a large crystal emerging from the floor. Each chamber is also covered in magical runes.  

A pause: Stonehell & Rappan

We've decided to put the campaign on hold with the passing of our friend. No one feels like delving in those dark halls at the moment. I hope one day to return, but not now, and until we decide we're ready, we're going to play some other games. 

It's funny, it was never meant to run this long. What started out as a filler campaign has stretched on for more than a decade, 332 sessions... and now... 

Not ending. 

A pause. 

To be continued...

 

How? When? I don't know yet. We'll figure it out when we're ready. 

Death of a player

Countless articles, blog posts, tweets, etc., have been written about what to do when a character in your game dies.

Far fewer have been written about what to do when a player dies, and now I need to figure out what to do.

Rob, my friend, the man who ran Morgana and Sonra, and who was my co-DM running the Rappan side of things, passed away this week. It wasn't a surprise, he'd been battling cancer for all the years I've known him. But it still hits like a ton of bricks. You always think there's going to be more time, another game session, another chance to hang out, to laugh, to enjoy the company of your friend. But time ran out, and there won't be any more chances. 

I'm not prepared for this. And there's nothing I can do. It's happened, and now I have to keep going. I have to go to work, and take care of the dog, and get the oil changed on the car, and... 

And I've lost my friend. So have my fellow players. It sucks so much, in so many ways. 

I'm going to miss Rob. I mourn his passing. I mourn the games we won't play, the campaign that we haven't finished, and the times we won't get to share. I grieve that I won't get to see what he had in store for us. That I won't get to hear his delight and his laugh as he tricks us, or as he overcomes one of my tricks. We won't get to play Stargrave together again, or Space Gitz, or anything else we'd planned on, talked about, looked forward to. 

I miss my friend. 

 

There is always less time than you think, fewer chances to grab a moment of happiness. Seize them when you can. Roll your dice, share your stories, and have fun, because you never know when it'll be the last time you do.