Stargrave Trashbash Fuel Tower part 1

Following hot on the heels of the foamcore farmhouses, I got right to work on my fuel tank tower workshop. The only appropriate basis for the fuel tank was of course a coffee can. Digging through my bits boxes to find things to make it look less like a coffee can and more like something discarded from a passing spaceship, I grabbed a crevice attachment from a long broken vacuum cleaner, a peanut butter jar lid, and a plastic 6 pack can carrier. 

There was still a long way to go before this was going to be table ready... but I liked the start of it.  Except the crevice attachment was a little too tall. So I cut the bottom of it off, and stuck it on top of the main tower.

Of course there needs to be more to this... it' supposed to be the home and workshop of the main NPC for the scenario! I don't have any good tools at the moment to be cutting metal, so the can is going to remain intact. This means that everything I do to it will be adding onto the can. 

If this is a workshop that all the locals come visit to get their tech things repaired, he might have build out a shed/store front to work from... and a balcony because what's the point of having a big terrain piece like this if there aren't multiple elevations to put your minis on?

 I "built" paper mockups for what i was thinking, and... yeah. I like it. Originally I was going to base this on a bit circular 5" base, but the more I worked on it, the more it felt too constraining, and hindering what I wanted to do. So at this point I'm planning no base. I got a little ahead of myself and build the first support for the balcony out of match sticks. 

I then realized that I needed to do more work on the can before building the balcony, but... I might as well check to make sure it's strong enough, right?

 Yeah, that'll hold up ok it seems. 

 

So I started working on the can. The first thing I did was to cut out strips of cardboard box and wrap them around the can, and also to make some to wrap the crevice attachment to the can. At this point I started wondering how he's going to get out onto the balcony... So back to the bits boxes, this time checking out all the various tank bits I've collected, and I pulled out a bunch of hatches and doors. A Rhino top hatch will work for the ground floor doors, and a round tank hatch for accessing the balcony. 

Yeah, the Rhino hatch works. I made a frame for it out of corrugated cardboard and then framed out the build out structure from foamcore. 

I also added 2... handles? brackets? flanking the chimney that I imagine are used by the ship to help secure the tank in place. They are made from the tubes at the center of dog poop bag rolls with foamcore braces wrapped with zip tie, with the zip tie clasp on top.

I then started to build out the rest of the braces for the balcony. You'll note that the balcony and the door are no longer on the same side of the can. It started to feel too busy on the one side. There are also some clamps added to the opposite side of the can from the chimney. I found them in the street years ago, and I don't actually know what they're from.
 

I then added the stir sticks to the build out to match the wattle and daub I did on the farm houses. 

And finished the balcony. I decided that I'd skip the railings, as there isn't an OSHA to enforce safety regs. 

 I decided to add a satelite dish. Originally I was going to put it on the chimney tower, but decided to use a chopstick, topped with a bit from a lotion pump, some wires, and bits of matchstick and stir stick to secure the dish. I don't actually recall where the dish itself is from. I used various wires twisted together to make cabling running from the dish down to a box on the side of the tower, with one twisted wire cutting behind the vacuum attachment down to the front door.  

 I took some mesh from an old screen door out in the garage and cut a circle out for the top of the peanut butter lid, and glued it down with superglue, adding the little tube on top built from a can cap from a 6 pack of beer and the cut off bit from the vacuum attachment. As a decoration I added the same 3E shape as on the main body, and unseen, is the cap from a used tube of superglue inside the tube. Oh, and the little decoration? It's actually the carved out bit of the grey clasps so that I could bend them enough to glue onto the can. Literally just the scrap bits leftover and reused. 

 

Next (and last) up is the hatch for balcony access. Using a combo of match sticks for the outer frame, and stir sticks as the hatch itself, I glued them all together on a bit of paper, added the green wire to indicate the hinges and the handle. And because the tower is rounded, I added a pair of stir sticks to either side to accommodate the curve. 

And once installed, I realized that I still needed a ladder to get from the balcony to the roof, so taking bit from the bits box, and adding to it, I built a simple ladder.  It was then I noticed the grey hook wasn't quite big enough for my Sgt. Forscale to stand on, so I added another little platform so a mini can stand on it, which brings the usable elevations on this tower to 5! Not bad for a coffee can.
 

 And now, it's time to paint... but that's for next post, as this one has gotten way too long! 

Stonehell B Team: Team Edvard

Session 306 was played on 11/2/25

Sonara, Wizard 3 (Rob)
Adorellen, Elf 2 (Me)
Glimmer, Kobold 3 (Lanse)
Kessaren, Cleric 3 (Cindy)
Loahn, Halfling 3 (Josh)
4 Kobold meatshields (iGor, Blar, 3, 6)
KARL! Dwarf 9 (Julia)

The party talks with the vampire Edvard, finds out that he doesn’t want to be the “fairy king” or even the “fairy consort” but he’s too afraid of the fairy queen to stand up to her, and for some reason, she really gets off on being with him. The party offers to take care of his problem, and he tells them that she’ll be back in 5 days. 

He goes back to his coffin, and the party talks about what to do, and how to do it…. It’ll take too long to make any potions, but maybe Lady Eiric has a stash of Nate Bombs? Karl suggests that raiding her vault, with permission, is the way to go… however as it’s still days away, how about going down to level 2 for some fun?

Heading down to the Reptile House they stumble upon an army of giant frogs almost right away.

---

Short on action, but there was a lot of talking, planning, discarding plans, more planning, and yet more planning, and even a call to Lady Eiric (Kat) for permission to raid her vault

Stonehell B Team: Bang a Gong (redux)

Session 305 was played on 10/26/25

Sonara, Wizard 3 (Rob)
Adorellen, Elf 2 (Me)
Glimmer, Kobold 3 (Lanse)
Kessaren, Cleric 3 (Cindy)
Loahn, Halfling 3 (Josh)
4 Kobold meatshields (iGor, Blar, 3, 6)
KARL, Dwarf 9 (Julia)

As the party wrapped up with Rocky, the door opened behind them and Karl walked in, nodded at the party and gave Rocky a lovely chunk of quartz. The party tells Karl about the gong, and he grabs the maps, flips through them, and points. “There!” 

From Rocky, they head into the quiet halls, passing through the Dance Macabre door, and over to the giant snake skeleton room. The giant snake skeleton remains smashed from a prior visit, but 7 zombies were happy to attack the party. Kess turned 3, while the rest of the party killed the other 4. Karl watched. A fair bit of jewelry was collected from the corpses. 

Pressing on, they passed the shrine to Baal, where giant centipedes swarmed out, hungry for living flesh, and got chunks from iGor, Kess, and VI. They didn’t get to enjoy the bites for long, as the party sliced and stomped them. Further on some bricked up zombies busted out, but Kess told them no. From there it was a short walk to the grand hall, and the giant rusty gong strung up high between 2 pillars at the southern end of the room. 

Karl yelled “BANG A GONG” as he chucked a hammer at it, causing it to ring out loudly. “Now what?” 

They didn’t have to wait too long, the rattling of skeletons sounded from one of the side passages to the east. Following the half a dozen skeletons was a bedraggled looking figure in grey and black robes. His long stringy hair looked greasy, and the shadows under his eyes just made his overly pale skin look even more unhealthy. “Who are you?” 

Gains: zombie’s jewelry
Kills: zombies, giant centipedes
Losses: 

February ‘26 In Review

For the shortest month of the year, I certainly managed to cram a whole lot into it, whether I wanted to or not. Work has kept me busy as we complete the year end wrap up and begin prep for the annual audit. School was out for winter break in the middle of the month, and so rather than spending $$$ to send the kid to camp, we spent $$$$ and all took off to San Juan for the week… coming back just in time for a blizzard to dump 2 feet of snow on us and close school for an extra 2 days. And somewhere in all that, I got my federal taxes figured out. 

San Juan was absolutely wonderful. It was so nice to go somewhere and be warm… Definitely worth the trip, and I even got to go to a castle! 


Miniatures
Playing that one game of Stargrave was enough to kickstart the hobby for the month, building 3 foamcore houses and starting on a fuel tank tower so that I could play the next scenario. It also got me to use some of those matchsticks from the kit I bought last month, and buy 1,000 stir sticks… the tower isn’t finished, but it is coming along nicely, and I’ve been having a great time working on it. And I’m already thinking about the crashed spaceship I’ll need for the next scenario! 

Aside from terrain, I painted up some more stirges, another axolotal mini, a halfling warrior from the (sadly ended) Sensible Shoes line, a Balthian (mind flayer), an alien trooper from Rogue Stars, and a half orc doxie. Kind of an all over the place month, and next month looks like it’s gonna be even wilder. 

Gaming
Because I didn’t get the tower finished, and with all the other stuff going on I didn’t get to play the next scenario of Hope Eternal, but I’m going to get the tower finished and get the game in soon. 

My work D&D game has the players hunting the wyvern. They spent one whole session planning, and buying supplies, and then went out to lay their trap for the monster, and encountering a bandit camp! With some excellent rolls on their end, they managed to wipe out the camp except for the leader, who they captured, and then discovered the loot was almost entirely in gems and jewels… they haven’t noticed that the jeweler who was in the Keep is no longer in residence. 

The Stonehell game has the players dealing with the aftermath of the death of the fairy queen and all the various trapped fey now stuck in the dungeon. They’re lucky they didn’t try to fireball the waffle house they came across.

Media 
Hacks
Farscape season 3
Star Trek: Starfleet Academy
John Wick 4
10 Things I Hate About You
The Devil Wears Prada


Loot
Mothership boxed sets Awaiting the Burning Gods and Nirvana on Fire

Goals for March
Play scenario 4 of Stargrave Hope Eternal
Finish November session reports

Stonehell B Team and the Witch of the Deep

 Session 304 was played on 10/19/25

Sonara, Wizard 3 (Rob)
Adorellen, Elf 2 (Me)
Glimmer, Kobold 3 (Lanse)
Kessaren, Cleric 3 (Cindy)
Loahn, Halfling 3 (Josh)
4 Kobold meatshields (iGor, Blar, 3, 6)

Glimmer decides to have his fortune read. 

DMs Note: Why did I not write down what the fortune was?!? 

 While that’s going on Sonra erases some of the dragon’s defenses. After Glimmer’s fortune is read, no one else takes the witch up on her offer, and she departs heading East. Glimmer decides to draw on the wall. 

They continue to wait…

And eventually get bored and head back up the stairs and over to visit with Rocky. 

Q1: do you like magic rocks?
A1: No big flavor difference between them that he can taste

Q2 Was that the Witch of the Deep?
A2 Yes

Q3 How do we summon the king of the fey at a time and place of our choosing?
A3 Bang a gong

Quote of the session: “Lets do the right thing. Murder.”

Stonehell B Team: Spider's Bite

 Session 303 was played on 10/5/25

Sonara, Wizard 3 (Rob)
Adorellen, Elf 2 (Me)
Glimmer, Kobold 3 (Lanse)
Kessaren, Cleric 3 (Cindy)
Loahn, Halfling 3 (Josh)
4 Kobold meatshields (iGor, Blar, 3, 6)

Adorellen, back at the manse, was studying and working on updating their spellbook in preparation for the next delve, and while they were strongly leaning toward charm person, Sonra, with Morgana’s backing browbeat them into taking sleep instead. It didn’t help when the giant black widow spiders attacked on the causeway through the swamp. Adorellen took 2 bites, and dropped shaking to the rough hewn logs. Sonra used a precious anti-venom potion to save them. 

Investigating under the causeway they found the body of a prior victim wrapped up in their webs. Cutting the body out they found a pair of gems and some silver. 

Heading into the dungeon they made it to the Asylum to wait for the emissary of the queen. While waiting they watch the stick figures, and then they hear someone approaching. A middle aged woman, who calls them out for being so noisy. They talk with her, shocked to see someone wandering alone and apparently unarmed. She tells them that she was visiting with the tooth fairy as they had business. She did not go into what that business was, but gave them general directions on where he could be found. In a lull in the conversation she offered to tell them their fortunes…

Gains: 2 gems and some silver
Kills: giant black widow spiders
Losses: 

Stonehell B Team: Stick figures & Pissed off Pixies

 Session 302 was played on 9/28/25

Sonara, Wizard 3 (Rob)
Adorellen, Elf 2 (Me)
Glimmer, Kobold 3 (Lanse)
Kessaren, Cleric 3 (Cindy)
Loahn, Halfling 3 (Josh)
5 Kobold meatshields (iGor, Blar, 3, 4, 6)

The amusement value of ‘living’ stick figures was too much to pass up, and the party had to play with them. First they tried drawing their own, but the figures were attacked and erased by the native stick figures. Sonra then drew a stick figure dragon! The dragon began to rampage across the walls of the room, causing the deaths of many figures as they ran for cover. 

After watching the dragon lay waste to a good chunk of one wall, they head deeper into the Asylum, encountering quickly a group of platemail armored troglins, being harassed by pixies. Sonra and Adorellen Sleep the lot of them. Glimmer collects the pixies to stuff into lanterns, then ties all the bootlaces of the troglins together, picks their pockets, and then the party drags them back to the base of the stairs in the stick figure room. 

Exploring back and forth a bit they come to a room with giant beetles in it, ans decide to take them on. Adorellen and IV take the brunt of the beetle’s attacks, and IV drops.

They barricade themselves into the room and interrogate the pixies they captured. Eventually the pixies agree to take a message to the queen to open negotiations in 4 days. They release the pixie and head back to the stick figure room, and see the dragon has claimed the north wall. The stick figures on the other wall have created various weapons and fortifications to defend themselves. 

Heading out they give the troglins their weapons back. In the swamp they see a group of spectres killing something… they hurry on, knowing the spectres are too strong for them to deal with. 

Gains: 6 pixies
Kills: giant beetles
Losses: kobold meatshield IV

Stonehell B Team: On the way to the Asylum

 Session 301 was played on 9/21/25

Sonara, Wizard 3 (Rob)
Adorellen, Elf 2 (Me)
Glimmer, Kobold 3 (Lanse)
Kessaren, Cleric 3 (Cindy)
Loahn, Halfling 3 (Josh)
6 Kobold meatshields (iGor, Blar, 3, 4, 5, 6)

Departing Rocky the party makes for the stairs down to level 2A. On the way they’re attacked by waves of undead! What they’re doing out of the Quiet Halls is anyone’s guess, but the initial group of zombies is mostly turned, and the remainder hacked down in some vicious hand to hand combat. Blar, V, and VI drop, but only Blar and VI are able to be revived. 

Behind the 7 zombies were 10 skeletons, but 9 were immediately turned by Kessaren, and the upright kobolds tore the last one to bits. 

Before the stairs down, in the room with the broken statues, a group of Troglins is collecting tolls. The party tries to walk past, but the troglins aren’t having it. A quick combat later and the troglins are laying dead, but healing on the floor. The party takes their weapons (and coins) before they finish healing and regain consciousness.

Down the stairs to the Asylum, they reach the room with the stick figures, all of which stop what they were doing to turn to look at the party… an impressive feat given that none of the figures have faces.   

Gains: 7 troglin weapons, 467sp
Kills: Zombies, Skeletons, Troglins
Losses: kobold meatshield V

Simple Foamcore Farm Houses

 Sometimes you just need some quick and decent looking terrain. 

 Scenario 4 of Stargrave Hope Eternal campaign is set on a world far out in the boonies of the galaxy, and as such is a little lacking in tech. The settlement is described in the book as being a combination of prefab structures, homes made from locally available materials, and one tower made from a recycled fuel pod. You need between 6-10 structures for the scenario. I own 2 small 3D printed prefab huts and so need at least 4 more structures, one of which needs to be a tower, so I need to make at least 3 houses. The game is played on a 3'x3' board, but the village needs to be at least 8" away from any board edge so none of these should be very big...

 Keeping the size manageable had me laying out a couple of different size bits of paper on the board, and placing some minis in and around them. 2"x3" was tiny, and 4"x6" was too big, but a 3"x5" note card felt just about perfect. Big enough for a full sized door and a couple of windows, but not so big that they'd dominate the table.  

 Not wanting to spend a lot of time or money on them, I grabbed a scrap of foam core that I'd been saving, and got to measuring. Prior experience reminded me that I couldn't just cut out 3" and 5" wall sections because then the footprint would be too big. I opted to trim the long edges by the thickness of the foam core so that the walls would fit neatly on the 3x5 piece that would serve as the base/floor of the huts. 

I kept the height of the walls at 2" knowing the roof would greatly increase the height of the finished builds. I measured out the doors and windows using a 1" square base, then cut them all out. I opted for one door for each building, and 3 windows. 

I turned on my glue gun to get it hot, then I pulled out some aluminum foil, rolled it into a ball, and rolled it all over the exterior sides of the walls and the floor. It really is a fantastic way to add texture to cheap foam core. Once done, it was time to get gluing. 

 

Not perfect. My measurements were not exact, but close enough. I do like how it's possible to shoot through a building. Then it was time to grab the cardboard recycling and dig out a cardstock box and start cutting thin strips. I was actually more careful with this part than I was cutting the foam.  I framed out the corners and all the windows and doors. 

 All told this was about 2 hours worth of work. I then brought it down to my painting desk and slapped on a heavy coat of mod podge mixed with black craft paint, and once dry, followed that up with a heavy drybrush of antique white.

 I was unsure at this point whether I wanted to paint the interior walls or tint the exterior... I decided to try tinting the exterior using just a tint bit of watered down speedpaint.

 And then onto the roof! My original plan was a standard sloped roof, but my cousin suggested an asymmetrical gable with offset ridge, so that it might look a little less average medieval fantasy 

Once I had the foamcore frame I used cardstock to make the roof, and then started cutting and gluing the shingles... This was a pain to do, and messy.  

I was finally reminded that you can do whole strips and it's a much easier process! Also less messy with the glue and looks neater. It was almost enough to make me redo the other 2... almost.  

Then it was time to put a hole in the roofs for the chimney pipes. These were made from the tubes inside dog poop bag rolls. I also added some trim to the gables under the roof line.  

 Then it was back to the mod podge, and onto painting! The gables were painted just like the walls with antique white and the zealot yellow speed paint, with the brown for the trim.

 The roof was done with a sponge leftover from a mini blister pack and a soft blue craft paint, with a gentle dry brush of antique white to give them some highlights. 

 

Overall, these are great. Not perfect, by any stretch of the imagination, but solid looking and usable for the games I want them for. I still want to make little HCAV units to fit over the chimney pipes, but that's going to be its own little project. For now, it's onto the fuel pod tower!

The kid decided the houses needed a little something extra, so they all got some stickers. 

 And credit where credit is due, a hefty dose of inspiration came from this video. 

Stonehell B Team: A Rocky Road

Session 300 was played on 9/14/25

Sonara, Wizard 3 (Rob)
Adorellen, Elf 2 (Me)
Glimmer, Kobold 3 (Lanse)
Kessaren, Cleric 3 (Cindy)
Loahn, Halfling 3 (Josh)
6 Kobold meatshields (iGor, Blar, 3, 4, 5, 6)

While Nolti finished his convalescence they packed up and headed to Stonehell, passing a merchant caravan on the way, but they don't have anything of interest to the party. They head right for Rocky. 

Loahn while chatting with Rocky, decides to drink an experimental alchemical mixture that Morgana had been working on. Things go a little sideways and colors are a little brighter, and there are translucent pink butterflies flapping around. Adorellen is pleased that someone else can finally see them too.

Q1. “How can we get rid of the fairy queen peacefully and permanently?”
A1. Witch of the Deep may help, Challenge the Queen’s consort, Close the Portal and kill them.

Q2. Where can we find the Consort?
A2. Bang a Gong

Q3. Where is the portal?
A3. Where the mushrooms grow

The party spends some time pouring over maps of the dungeon to find a gong and anywhere mushrooms might be growing

January ‘26 In Review

Let’s be clear. 

Fuck ICE.

Fuck Trump.

Fuck you if you support them. 

31 days in January, and approximately 31 of them felt like Mondays. The year end at work is always hectic and will continue to be so for the next 2 weeks. In spite of all this shit, I’m doing my best to keep myself sane and safe, and these ramblings and games and such are all an important part of that. 

In addition to my little hobbies and spending time with my family, I also completed 2 home improvement projects, insulating the front bay window and adding blow in cellulose insulation to the attic, all just in time for the bomb cyclone to descend upon the country. At least I got it all done before the cold arrived in force. 

Gaming
The work game saw the players complete their pilgrimage across the Painted Wastelands, and decided that they wanted to return to their home realm rather than stay in the lower … They returned to the Temple of the Whale God and used the portal to return home. Upon returning to the Keep on the Borderlands, they discovered that while only weeks had passed from their perspective, two and a half years had passed here!

The B team continued their explorations of the upper levels of Stonehell, focusing on the quadrant under the Korners where they discovered a tribe of Troglodites had taken over. It was an unpleasant and stinky discovery. 

And for the first time since October of 2023 I played another session of Stargrave Hope Eternal! The dice were overall kind and my crew can move on to scenario 4 after I level up and finish a few necessary terrain bits.  

Miniatures
Slow start to the year, but in the end it was productive. Even though I had a good selection of minis prepped, some started, it took a good chunk of the month before I found my mojo and could spend any time painting. 

Media 
Hacks
Farscape season 3
Star Trek: Starfleet Academy

Loot
I came across this match stick building kit at the thrift store for $5. 1050 match sticks, a cutting tool, and a big piece of 0.25” thick MDF! I have no idea what I’ll end up actually using the match sticks for, but it won’t be to build a plane. Somehow it’ll get used for some terrain… probably walkways and ladders. 


Goals for February
Finish prep for scenario 4 of Stargrave Hope Eternal
Finish October session reports

Stonehell B Team: Forensic Accounting

Session 299 was played on 9/7/25

Sonara, Wizard 3 (Rob)
Adorellen, Elf 2 (Me)
Glimmer, Kobold 3 (Lanse)
Kessaren, Cleric 3 (Cindy)
Loahn, Halfling 3 (Josh)
6 Kobold meatshields (iGor, Blar, 3, 4, 5, 6)

The kobold accountant Roi was thoroughly interrogated, both about the books, and where the money went from the Korners, but also about the fey masters. They learned a bit about the Fey Queen, and how the coinage was taken from the Korners and sent as tribute, how various fey merchants had taken over prime space in the market from ‘honest & hardworking’ kobolds, and how it was all because of a deal made by Nolti. 

All this told, without knowing Nolti has been brought back by Koltic after the removal of the fey parasite. Still bedridden, they bring Roi to see Nolti, and explain what happened. They’re thrilled to see each other, and Roi seems especially glad to have Nolti free of the fey control. But what of the future? They aren’t going to be welcomed back to the Korners, nor will they be very welcome with the splinter group in the Gatehouse Inn. The party’s kobolds were rather disinterested, as they were from Nick’s keep, and not involved in this clan’s issues.  

Stonehell B Team: Glimmer's Rash Act!

Session 298 was played on 8/31

Sonara, Wizard 3 (Rob)
Adorellen, Elf 2 (Me)
Glimmer, Kobold 3 (Lanse)
Kessaren, Cleric 3 (Cindy)
Loahn, Halfling 3 (Josh)
6 Kobold meatshields (iGor, Blar, 3, 4, 5, 6)

Returning to Stonehell, the B Team heads to Rocky. On the way they encounter 6 dwarves from the Hermitage and chat with them briefly. Moving on they get to Rocky and chat with him before getting to the questions. 
Q: How are you?
A: Good

Q: Where are the fey coming from?
A: When the Winter Court sits upon the throne, the mushroom ring will open

Q: Where is the mushroom ring?
A: In the hothouse where the dryad reigns. 

They thank Rocky, and head out to the Quiet Halls chopping skeletons and zombies as they go, and make their way down to Kobold Korners’ back door. The guards collect their weapons, and take them to meet with Attendant Sned, the new boss. They head through the Korners, and down to the old fighting pits and slave enclosure, both recently revived under Sned’s leadership. Within the slave enclosure they see 3 goblins, 2 kobolds (Nolti’s lackeys, Sned informs them), an elf and a human. Sned has his accountant Cogs bring out the books for the party to review on Borumar’s behalf. Glimmer, twitchy over the slave situation, backstabs Sned. The guards go for their weapons, but Morgana drops a Sleep spell, which takes out Roi, the guards, the nearby pixies, and the slaves! 

The party yells at Glimmer for his rash action, but decides to make the best of it. They stuff Sned’s body into a box, free the slaves, and wake Cogs to make a receipt saying the party bought the slaves. They then hog tie and gag him, and the sleeping guards. As non-chalantly as possible, they head back to the main entrance of the Korners to collect their weapons, taking the slaves with them, and then head quickly back to town. 

Gains: 
Kills: Attendant Sned, skeletons and zombies 
Losses: 

Stonehell: Death of the Giant King

 Session 297 was played on 08/17/25

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)

Approaching the first of the Giant’s guard posts, the party finds 4 hill giants at watch. They crudely laugh and mock the party, threaten them, but are then forced to allow the party through when Morgana shows off one of the heads of the Plated Mage’s mechanical enforcers. Vrog the hill giant, leader of the bunch announces he will take the party to the king (and whispers in a not so quiet voice to the other giants that he’ll take credit for the party’s success).

Passing 2 more check points, the party is brought to the main hall of the Triclops King… which at the moment stands empty. Vrog tells them he’ll go get the king. The party waits, watched over by some stone giants. Soon enough there’s a fanfare and the main doors of the hall are thrown open. A full procession, full of pomp and pageantry, makes its way into the hall. First come the trolls, 4 of them, in matching outfits wielding great polearms, followed by 2 noble giants, and then the Triclops king himself. Close behind him comes an ancient hag carrying her head in a basket, and a 6 headed troll in jester’s clothes and caps. 

Then the screaming began. 

Morgana unleashed a lightning bolt that shot straight down the procession, followed by Borumar whipping out his scroll of Fireball. The giants were all stunned by the unexpected turn, and Morgana unleashed a Finger of Death spell on the King as he charged the party, with Nick in front. The amigos wade in, hacking down the giants that were still standing from the initial onslaught and making sure the trolls stayed down. The hag tries to Hold Morgana, but she shrugs it off. Harder to shrug off was the hit she took from one of the giant nobles. Koltic used Cureall to make sure Morgana stayed in the fight. 

Blotto’s fishing polearm swung wildly about and caught the Triclops King right in the lip, and hurt and distracted as he was, he fell victim to the rod’s paralytic magic. Meanwhile Morgana Webbed the fool, and then summoned a fire elemental to take care of the trolls. Blotto ripped the Triclops’ larynx from his throat, and the remaining giantkin decided to run for it. 

In the sudden calm, the party takes a moment to catch their breath, and look around. The king’s throne looks mighty inviting, and they check it out, finding, weirdly, a personal item from each of them. And that’s when the Hag, who had fled with the others, launched a fireball at Morgana. She didn’t much like it when the fire elemental launched itself at her.  

Following that, the party made a sweep of the Triclop’s hold, collected his treasure and watched the remaining giants flee in terror at the sight of the party (and their pet fire elemental). 

Gains: The Triclops King and various other giantkin’s treasures
Kills: trolls, ogres, giants, triclops nobles and King. 
Losses: 

---

 

Thus did the epic gaming weekend of 2025 come to an end... looking forward to our next one!

Stonehell: The Plated Mage

 Session 296 was played on 08/17/25

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)

4 Months Later…

Fully rested and recovered, the party sneaks their way into Stonehell, and makes their way carefully down to level 8, at the edge of the giant’s domain, all fully invisible. The prior encountered Stone Giants were not to be found, but a motley looking group of hill giants were on watch next to a small pond. They hear Blotto and see the light he’s carrying, even though they can’t see him. They call out to him, but he answers “Don’t worry about it” and then there’s several flashes of light and flame and a lot of screaming in pain from the giants as fireballs erupt around them. One manages to hit Morgana with a tossed rock before she uses her dagger to dispatch it. The tentacle creature in the pond is happy to take care of the bodies of the giants. 

Heading into the giant’s territory they next encounter some Stone Giants, and tell them they’re off to deal with the Plated Mage. The giants wish the party luck, but seem skeptical that they’ll see them again.

Further along toward the Plated Mage’s lair, they’re accosted by a pair of demon boars, but both are quickly slaughtered before they can do much to the party. The Plated Mage’s lair lay beyond.. But first the need to get in. Of course being the Plated Mage the doors were both mechanically complex and magically reinforced. Trying to open it dispells the invisibility of those members of the party who still had it. Further investigation on the door revealed that it was in fact a false door, and feeling foolish, they move on to the next door. A little more experienced with the Plated Mage’s tricks, they manage to get this one open, revealing a long corridor, with several large bio-mechanical drones and guardian constructs, and at the far end a trio of robed engineer-mages. 

Morgana barely began to try to talk to them before they attacked. A flurry of magical energy, fireballs and lightning bolts from both directions, and there’s mass casualties on both sides. The doors are slammed shut and Morgana activates her ring to zap them back to the bubble on level 6, and then to the manor. 

Healing potions are purchased, and a day to recover is spent in the manor. 

Teleporting back to just outside the Casino, the party returns to the Plated Mage’s door. Morgana dispells magic on it, and using a rope, it’s opened. The scars of the recent battle still mark the hall beyond, though most of the various constructs remains have been removed, though a few bits and pieces are still littering the floor. 4 new drones however are in place on guard duty and quickly move to attack the party. Morgana destroys them, and the party moves deeper, coming to another locked door. Again Dispel Magic at least temporarily opens the door, but beyond it are more of the engineer-mages who unleash fireballs at the party. Morgana’s fireballs are bigger, though Nick and Lor’Koth are happy to have fire resistant magic armor. 

Pressing deeper into the Plated Mage’s lair, they find themselves in a room thrumming with a subsonic beat, pipes and wires running like bizarre rivers along the ceiling and down into strange devices. Morgana drops another Dispel Magic onto the largest of the conduits. As they’re cautiously looking around a voice calls out to them from the far end of the room. One of the engineer-mages tells them the Plated Mage wishes to speak with the party, and further violence and destruction of his property is unnecessary and unwelcome. The party accepts the truce, and they’re led to a large 2 story tall hall. 

The Plated Mage is a 12’ tall construct of nightmarish appearance, and his spiderlike appearance on the upper balcony is heralded with a dry mechanical laugh and a condescending tone as he “welcomes” the party into his laboratory. He’s annoyed by the destruction they wrought and death of several of his apprentices. Morgana and the Plated Mage discuss the Triclopse Giant King. The Plated Mage reveals that the Triclopse King’s visions are clouded, but he isn’t sure by what. Morgana asks how to stop him. “Blind it and kill it.”

The party is escorted from the Plated Mage’s lab after their audience and the doors firmly closed behind them. Borumar (not Blotto!) pees on the door. He then paints a big “X” on the false door. 

Off to deal with the Triclops…

2025 in Miniatures

2025 was an exceedingly productive year, with 146 minis in total painted, plus a bunch of terrain! As with last year, my goal was to paint about half non-reaper minis. I hit 40% with 58 non-Reaper minis, and 88 Reaper minis. That beats last year's total, which included terrain! 

 

It's hard to say exactly how many pieces of terrain I painted, as a good bit of it is modular.  

I'm not sure what my favorite thing to work on this past year was, but the Pepto Norkers are definitely up there.  

 

My goals going into 2025 were: 

BFG/Other Space Ships - Success!

More Frostgrave/Stargrave - Success!

LotR Sauron & Ring Wraith on Fell Beast - Sauron yes, Ring Wraith on Fell beast, no

~50% non-Reaper Minis - Close

Build & Paint some Sci-Fi Terrain - Yes! One scratch built, the rest 3D printed. 

For 2026 I'm going to have some similar goals:

BFG/Other Space Ships - Finish the original Tau fleet ships I have and then get started on... something else. Eldar? Forgeworld style Tau? Chaos Battleship? 

More Frostgrave/Stargrave - paint some minis and use them in a game!

LotR Balrog & Ring Wraith on Fell Beast 

~50% non-Reaper Minis

Build & Paint some Sci-Fi Terrain - Scratch build a few more pieces with all the junk I've collected, including another trashbash spaceship

 More jungle scatter terrain for my alien ruins?

Rappan: Fairy Party

 Session 295 was played on 08/17/25

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 party returns to the keep to rest a couple of days. Jameth acting like Lor’koth wasn't as annoying as it could have been, but it need to be addressed. They gear up and head north, crossing the river and head deep into the woods. 

The light begins to fade and the blinking of fireflies shines between the trees, giant fireflies! Light ahead brought the party to a glad full of fey, a fairy party was being set up! 

The adventurers are announced and welcomed to the party. A down on his luck Puck begs Borumar to help him. He's a bad Puck and needs him to laugh at his antics to impress the Fey King and Queen. Nick spends some time flirting with a little fairy, while Blotto gets involved in the badger races. 

As the night's activities begin to slow and the hour grows late, a rhythmic thrumming starts to beat from the north. Almost as one, all the fairies start to dance in time with it. Out of the darkness a huge shambling creature of bones and dirt emerges and moving with the beat. The fey dance around it while the Queen tells Morgana the beast is a guardian of a nearby ruined temple known as The Gut. 

The adventures join with the fey in dancing around the guardian until it shuffles away. The music fades slightly and the fey begin to disburse, but the guardian shuffles back and using the beat’s hold on it, the party destroys it. 

In thanks the Queen gifts an ointment for Jameth and gives Morgana a comb. The ointment heals Jameth’s addled mind. The party returns to the keep for more rest, and to give Morgana a chance to do some research and item creation.

December '25 In Review

 It's never not a busy month in December. Work is always crazy busy for me this time of year, and with the holidays it makes the rest of my time equally busy. The holidays themselves were relatively low key, mostly focused on keeping the kid entertained, but as exhausting as it’s been, it was great to spend time with the family, and I’m looking forward to what 2026 will bring (I say with some dread). 


Gaming
The B team has dealt with the fey in Kobold Korners! Some interesting reaction rolls have resulted in the remaining fey wanting to stay and work with the kobolds, now that they are free of the fairy queen's influence. I don't know what their plan is next, but I should figure it out so I can make sure I've prepped what's needed. 

I didn't get quite as far along in my session reports as I'd planned, but still made a decent dent, and should wrap up August the next time I get to sit down to write.

My work game has been on hold for the holiday season, but should be starting back up again in January with the return of a player who's missed the last 6 months!

I’ve been thinking about what I want to do gaming wise in the upcoming year, and in short I want more. I was thinking about doing one of those daily challenges, but they’re hard. 

Miniatures
Coming in just at the wire I did manage to finish Valfuryx and I'm pretty happy with it! I didn't manage to finish up everything I'd planned for Q4, but I got most of it, and a solid start on everything else. 

In addition to that I've got a small pile of primed metal minis, mostly from Stargrave, that I plan on working on over the next few months. 

Unplanned, but I've continued to make good progress on my Flatline City terrain. At this point I've got more than enough painted terrain to play some Stargrave! So really no excuse not to get a game in next month.


Media 
Farscape season 2
Stranger Things season 5
Frosty the Snowman
Home Alone
Hacks season 2
Klaus
Miracle on 34th Street


Loot
Stars without Number and Mr Unpronounceable!  


Goals for January
Play 1 game of Stargrave
Finish August & September session reports