Pause for the Cause

GW2: Back on the front burner.

Pardon me for some weekend rambling.

1. Not much new to report on minis/boardgames.  I'm basecoating the remainder off Tredarra and the Derelict Ship expansions, probably working too many models in parallel, and progress is slow.  Truth be told, I haven't lifted a brush in almost a week.  The tedium of basecoating is the part that I like least.
    
2. It's FALL!  Fall is my favorite season.  After an abnormally HOT September, the temperatures finally broke (although that seems temporary).  Progress over the next several weeks indoors will likely be slow as I enjoy some fall chores around our property.  (Splitting wood in 80-90 deg F heat is misery, splitting wood in 40-65 deg F is actually enjoyable).  So I'll be taking a pause for the cause to enjoy the outdoor weather.
   
   So, don't look for too many updates on minis in the next few weeks.  Unless it rains.
    
3. However, based on twitter comments, KDM appears to be nearing shipment.  Poots' claims that 2 of 3 boatloads (literally) of content are in the warehouses.  They're set to begin shipping the core boxes soon(tm).  I expect to dramatically take my arm and swipe all of the Brimstone off my desk and madly assemble the Monster.
    
4. GW2 deployed their second "boxed" expansion.  "Boxed" is in quotes because it's a pay-to-upgrade expac, but these things are done virtually these days. 
   
   I previously reported GW2 as "losing traction" but just-like-that it's back on the front burner.  I realized that I didn't want to play the new content before I finished the previous storylines. So, I grabbed my Guardian and have blitzed through the remainder of the Heart of Thorns story and am currently 4 of 6 episodes through the Living World Season 3 content.  I'm finding the writing/storytelling is improving (some of the original GW2 personal story is pretty clunky), and the character development and interaction is pretty good.  Even if I only play the "story" of Path of Fire, it'll be worth the upgrade.

Hot off the Desk: Derelict Ship Autoturrets

Pew Pew Pew

Editor's Note:  HotD is intended to be a series of pics as things come off my painting table.  They're posted not as a "look how great I can paint" but as a future resource to other SoB painters.  My standard of painting is "decently boardgame" and will win no contests.

"Hot" is a relative term.  These have been done for about a week, but I wasn't happy with some of the battle damage and decided to set the brush down.  I came back this morning and did 15 minutes of touch up and am happy with the results.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.  Here's a bit of background:

• Assembly was straightforward with no issues.  I opted to let the seams between the parts go unfilled.  See editor's note about my standard of painting. 
• For some variety, I altered the angle on the turrets position to have one shooting straight, one Left, and one Right.  This took some trial and error dry fitting to make sure the hose would still fit.  I used marks on my workspace to make sure the angles Left and Right are (about) the same.  
• I have been painting a TON of black/silver so I diverged from the recommended color scheme to go with the blue.  
• Color selection:  I chose to go with all 'cool' colors of blue, silver, black, and gray.  I actually basecoated the tank with P3 Brass Balls (a somewhat 'warm' color) but it came off oddly so I repainted.
• Primer:  I primed with Vallejo black and then did the zenithal highlights per my earlier Airbrushing post.  I like the effect, though the deep blue muted the differences quite a bit.
• Basecoat:  Portal Blue with Pistol Silver for the barrels, tank, rear 'spine,' and connectors.  
• The hose was based over the primer with Matt Black.  
• Before the wash, I dry brushed the hoses/wires in the lower back with P3 Brass Balls (after washing, the 'warmness' of this was muted sufficiently).
• Wash:  Dark tone ink.  The lore of the Derelict Ship is that it is very ancient. I didn't want these looking factory new.  Dark Tone has undertones of Black, so I used it instead of the brown (warm) tones of the other AP washes.  I used the ink unthinned and then brought back the color to the desired brightness during dry brushing.
• Dry Brushing:  Portal Blue all over and then some additional highlighting with Crystal Blue.  I did more dry brushing on the top surfaces and did very little to no Crystal Blue on the lower surfaces.
• The hose was dry brushed with Necromancer Cloak.
• All silver surfaces were dry brushed with Plate Mail. The top and tips of the gun barrels got a heavy dose of Plate Mail.
• Details:  
• The ventilation holes of the gun barrels needed some Matt Black touch up to be fully opaque.
• I decided to paint the wedge on top as if it were some sort of targeting sensor.  I backed this area with Pistol Silver, then Crimson Hand Red, and then finally a glaze of Saloon Red.
• Battle Damage was sketched with Pistol Silver before the wash, then highlighted with Plate mail.  As I mentioned, I was unhappy with the brightness of the silver as it really caught the eye (and highlighted my poor freehand).  To correct this, I dry brushed over the top with Portal Blue. The silver caught enough of the blue pigment to mute it down several shades to let your eyeballs focus on the silver gun barrels where they belong.

Rear view. The Zenithal highlighting and selective dry brushing provides the bright to dim gradient top to bottom.

Add caption, showing the Left, Right, and Center aim.

The 'cool' color scheme seems to work well for these.

A Video I Missed

Somehow, I missed a video produced by KickStarter during the 1.5 campaign.  I remember Poots saying he'd been interviewed, but don't recall actually watching the result. Here is the associated article on Kickstarter from last February.

A few comments (bullet points are cool):

• Seeing some of the graphics "in work" that were used in the campaign is pretty cool.
• Seeing some faces that I now recognize from GenCon is very cool.
• Getting a glimpse of "behind the scenes" always makes things feel a little more real.  I love these sorts of videos.
• "I am a combination of humbled and ... horrified."  - Adam Poots.

Poots Watch - KDM Core Box and Wave 2 Delay

Just in case you guys don't have Poots' KS profile bookmarked so that you can lurk properly (and you should), here's a mini-update that he provided over KDM Kickstarter comments.

Kingdom Death 4-time creator about 7 hours ago
Just thought i'd give you guys a quick status update. At this point, cargo ships have started to reach their respective ports. Once they have arrived it usually takes another 1-2 weeks for the ships to be unloaded and the cargo to be trucked over to its warehouse. I want to have as little delay between global shipment as possible (very tricky when your sailing containers all over the world!) I don't have any "official" timeline updates yet. I am still personally at the wait and see point.

...

Wave 2 is being pushed back to Early 2018. Im not currently evil enough to take care of half the world for the holidays while everyone else has to wait until afterwards. But you know if I end up developing Atnas around that time... !

 ...

@Kenneth Walz, so many. Its totally insane. You guys backed WAY TOO MUCH KD STUFF!

This is good news for the Core 1.5 box.  After all these months of waiting, it will be a little surreal to have 17 lbs of core box show up at my house.

For the record, the delay to Wave 2 (i.e. the legacy expansions) isn't unexpected (although I'm sure there will be much outrage on the KS comments).  Poots warned during the campaign that there could be rolling delays due to the campaign being ~10x larger than he expected.  So here's that playing out.

He had a lot of reprints in the pipe before the campaign blew up, but once the size of the campaign became clear all of his agreements with the manufacturers were out the window.  His comment about "I'm not evil enough to take care of half the world..." means that he'll be taking some sort of initial shipment based on the first wave of reprints, but as it's not enough to cover everyone in the 1.5 Kickstarter, he'll withhold shipment until the full quantity can be shipped.

ZPS - September

UCM Navy: Coming Soon

Laying the groundwork for future (somewhat) regular updates, I'll break this into four categories and give it an official-sounding name: Zoxe Project Status (ZPS).

With bullet points.  Bullet points are cool.

1. On the Table:

• Shadows of Brimstone: Derelict Ship (Autoturrets basecoated, remaining primed)
• Shadows of Brimstone: Trederra (Trederra Mutants and Legionnaires, remaining complete)
• Ninja Division / Kingdom Death Twilight Knight chibi crossover

2. Gaining Momentum:

• Dropfleet Commander - Two player starter pack.  Bought this at GenCon, along with a LOT of other DFC content.  Need to get the 2-player pack out and assembled so we can PLAY.
• Kingdom Death: Monster.  No shipping notice of course, but am mentally preparing for receipt and assembly of the core box.
• PC Game: Heroes of the Storm.  I'm not much of a MOBA player, but have been enjoying HotS for casual play vs. AI.

3. Losing Traction:

• Brimstone backlog.  I have so much Brimstone on the shelf; despite some healthy throughput this summer I'm probably losing ground thanks to GenCon acquisitions.  Dropfleet and the pending shipment of Kingdom Death: Monster will cause these boxes to continue to gather dust.
• Warmachine.  I flirted with buying a 2-player box to get into this title at the FLGS, but alas I just don't have the bandwidth.
• PC Game:  Guild Wars 2.  This is a great game with some pretty amazing longevity for a 2012 title.  I dusted off my account this summer and found that I really re-enjoyed this game, found a great guild, and finally finished the personal storyline.  But I don't have the ability to really get into longer sessions, and it's a struggle to digest the game in 20-40 minute increments.

4. Going, going, gone....

• PC Game:  World of Warcraft.  I came back for Legion, and was initially enthused about it after catching the last 6-9 months of Warlords of Draenor.  But alas, the Class Halls, and the relatively small questing map meant that my alt army sat stagnant.
• PC Game: Overwatch. I really want to like this game, but the headaches this game gives me says my body disagrees.
• PC Game:  EVE Online.  EVE and I have diverged in interests, resulting in this very blog.

First Airbrushing Outing

Brimstone Derelict Ship Autocannons with a little zenithal highlighting.

So, I have a confession.

I've owned an aibrush kit since early May, but was too terrified to use it.  We spend a lot of time on these little army men, and in general I've taken a "baby steps" approach to it all to minimize the risk of failure.  But the airbrush represented a giant leap (at least in my mind) and therefore a giant risk.

But, I had reached a point of no return - I had some very disappointing results with ArmyPainter Matt White rattle can, and vowed to never go back.  Other AP colors have shot fine, but this one can of White hit the models like Christmas tree flock.*

So I knew I needed to take the leap and break open the airbrush kit, but have continuously put it off. I had a slew of primed models already in queue, plenty enough to keep me busy these past several months.  But now the bin is running dry, and Kingdom Death will be inbound in the next few weeks, and I really (really) wanted the Derelict Ship models on the table.

So Sunday was the day.  Despite watching several youtube videos over the past many months, I mentally prepared myself for a gigantic disaster:  hissing air hoses, backspray everywhere, a compressor that was deafening, paint everywhere but where I wanted it, drips, runs, glops, gloops and enough expletives to make my cat blush.  Predicted end result: a batch of slaughtered models that I'd need to strip and re-prime.

The actuality was ... less dramatic.  Oh, I had a few minor clogs that were easily cleared.  The dual action brush was a little clumsy for me to use.  It took FOREVER to set up and tear down.  I ended up painting my thumbnail.  Minor things.  Even at the end of this first session I was getting the hang of it all.

And the results were wonderful. My first attempt as a novice airbrusher resulted in a better finish than my best rattle can.  The details are crisp and clean, and I had far more control.  Once I got going, I actually found the experience just as relaxing as painting with a brush.  I even stretched my goals a little bit and went for some zenithal highlighting on the Autocannons even though I could have lived with all black perfectly well.

My equipment is the $80 kit on Amazon, offset with a Badger 105** brush.  I'm using Vallejo primer, and a few other bits, for the time being mostly cheap imported knockoffs.

So, I'm sure not every session will end with these glowing results, but for a first time out I'm pretty happy.

-----
*I could, and have, diagnosed the 'bad' AP experience.  They're a great brand and I support them.  But bottom line: despite controlling as many of the variables as possible, including minimizing user errors, I still got a bad finish.

**The Badger 105 acquisition was something I pursued after watching Episode 4 of Miniature Monthly.  Aaron's how-to maintenance session, and troubleshooting clogs was worth the cost of admission to the Patreon.  Upgrading to use the same brush as him was another good choice to make the videos directly "compatible" with my gear.

GenCon 2017 - Part V (Sunday)

X-Wing Scenario: Rebels board and steal a Nebulon B Frigate (outline on game mat)

SUNDAY

Finally able to sleep in, where "sleeping in" means a 7am wakeup.  We meandered the gaming hall, then found our table and watched our GMs set up for our X-Wing scenario.  Chatting a bit, we realized we had done a different scenario with the same guys last year.

This was a 4hr, 6 player game and we had one no-show.  Mrs. Zoxe and I joined one other random as Rebels, and the other two guys took Imperials.  The scenario was that the Rebels disabled an Imperial Nebulon B Frigate and were attempting to steal it.

The Frigate was an outline on the map with turrets marked (engines offline, but point defense active) and a pair of docking rings that we needed to get the Rebel Transport to.  If we held the Transport on point for 2 rounds, we'd successfully capture and win the scenario.

Pew Pew Pew

The past two years at GenCon, these scenarios have always become an attrition fight that ends up being a frenzy against the clock at the end, so I pushed our side to aggressively deploy and push the Transport fast before the Imperials were in position to focus firepower.

"I've got a bad feeling about this...."  We were making good headway, with many TIEs dying for the Emperor, but alas the Imperials had sent a distress beacon and reinforcements arrived.  Placed directly behind our Transport, the poor girl didn't survive the next round.  Thinking all was lost, we were told that the Rebels could then choose to destroy the Frigate instead of Capturing and still yield a victory for the Rebellion.

So, a new Frigate hull point to attack was added, and the rebels lurched forward for vengeance.  As hits resolved during the next turn, the Frigate's hull was stripped away until there was just one point left.  We resolved the rest of the combat sequence, trying to kill a couple of annoying TIE Interceptors, but then Mrs. Zoxe realized that our last ship had a single shot on the Frigate.  She rolled hot, got the last point we needed, and the Rebels scattered into Hyperspace.  We were done in about 2 1/2 hours.  We stayed and chatted with the GM for another 30 minutes, picking apart different points in the scenario.

Bragging rights:

• We brought the Transport in more aggressively than any other public-play group to date. Mrs. Zoxe was congratulated for her flying skill with the ship.
• We are the FIRST Rebel squad to 'win' in public-play.  In private tests, the win ratio of the scenario is about 50/50, but in public play with first-timers, Imperials almost always win due to swarm tactics.
• During deployment, we put our Y-wing and B-wings out front, which have far more hull and shield than the X-wings.  We lost few ships, and while most everyone had taken some significant damage, the Imperials started to die faster than they could focus fire.  As I described to our partner, the B-wings were performing as ablative shielding to draw fire while the X-wings maneuvered en masse almost unmolested.
• During that final round, MOST of the kill shots were from our protected X-wing squadrons, tho the final killshot was from a sneaky A-wing.

I had forgotten how much fun "original trilogy" X-wing was.  During our postgame banter, most everyone had played the older game and lamented the direction FFG has taken the game engine (i.e. weird ships and the focus on tourney play).  It kind of came off like a bunch of old timers vets pining for the 'better' days of yore, but considering that our GMs were part of the original X-Wing beta test (and had some of the handmade pre-production dice to prove it), it was an interesting chat where I was nodding my head a lot.

Finding ourselves with far more time, we returned to the vendor hall and did a 'greatest hits tour' of the floor, and found our way down aisles we'd only been through once.  We were surprised to find that by 2pm, the floor was starting to empty and we could look at almost anything.  Speculation: Sunday AM is probably heavy with people buying last minute things, but as people start to head to the airport or get on the road, the load lessens.

I went back to Kingdom Death to take pictures and one of the demo tables begged me to join, so I died horribly a 4th time.  We finally got off the floor around 3:45, with a show close of 4pm.  Still a little sad to leave, we realized we had skipped lunch due to X-wing and had Lunch/Dinner at a restaurant not far from the convention center.

And from there, we began the trip home.

So on Sunday we added:

• Demo: KDM - Lion
• Event:  X-Wing boarding action scenario

Closing:
It was a good year, and possibly a turning point for Mrs. Zoxe and I.  We've been following specific designers far more closely thanks to Kickstarter, and we felt more engaged and willing to start a conversation.  I recognized many more faces in the crowd - from specific staff to Youtubers.  The entire experience simply felt 'different' with more knowledge and more understanding of the ins and outs of the vendors on display.

And we had a great time.

GenCon 2017 - Part IV (Saturday)

My Beli'al (back right) on display with his brethren.

SATURDAY

Saturday was a simple day, but full.

Part 1 - Vendor floor.  We visited Beli'al at the FF booth and (egads) there were now FOUR evil demons submitted for the contest, as well as perhaps 15-20 other figures.  I got the final pictures of the contestants I was after, shook my head, and moved on.

Shadows of Brimstone Heroes - all excellently done.

The Sand Kraken looks simply done, but is excellent in execution.

We stopped back by Hawk games and the UPS man had finally delivered the last of their GenCon exclusives - the Battlefleet Boxes.  We bought a pair to round out the factions in the 2 player starter pack. These are the VERY FIRST, pre-production printings of these boxes.  There are only 10 of each faction in existence on the planet (40 total) and we now have two of them, or 5% of the world's current supply.  Dave said that he hadn't seen the final product in the final packaging before leaving the UK for Indy and he was nerding out about them almost as much as we were.

They were not cheap, but are supercool.

Dropfleet Battlefleet Boxes - the GenCon pre-release I was lurking for.

We stepped outside early for a near-zero line food truck lunch (some of the best, freshest, non-greasy burgers we've ever eaten), ate, and then came back inside to spend some time at the Wyrd Games (Malifaux) booth and wandered through some of the Artist zone.

Part 2 - Pathfinder.  This was over in the JW Marriot and was quite a hike.

<background>  I haven't done pen-and-paper RPGs since I was in the 8th grade.  During college, my roommate would GM a variety of game engines for groups back in his hometown on weekends, but our plans never meshed and I never ran a character with him - instead I'd peruse the rulebooks and create characters and help him jump start his understanding.  This is where my love of game systems and game rules tends to come from, I think. 

We've gone to GenCon for many years now, but have never played pen-and-paper.  So this year, after our initial Event tickets were sold out, I put a single session of Pathfinder on our roster just to say we did.  </background>

Without knowing it, we had signed up for an established multi-Con organized play group.  The small ballroom we were in at the JW was composed ENTIRELY of the same group, most of which seemed (and smelled like) they'd lived there since Wednesday and pretty much all knew each other.  We were of course welcomed and given a crash course and a pre-rolled character sheet in a class of our choosing.

Our group was a bunch of new players and a few no-shows.  The GM left for a few minutes and drafted another GM to play a character with us, meaning we had a veteran among the players.  One of the players was a bit of a spaz, but everyone else we interacted with were great.  The scenario was more of a brain teaser than a lot of combat, but we enjoyed it.

I don't know that we'd spend a significant amount of time at future GenCons in these sorts of events (as it consumed ~4hrs during a prime day, we missed the SoB painting results, SoB events, the cosplay parade, etc.), but it was cool to do once.  And I can say that I sort of understand what this Pathfinder thing is about.

It's possible that we could seek out more stable group at the FLGS (barring other time commitments, which are many).

Part 3 - Post Pathfinder.  We came back to the vendor hall, and I stopped to take more KDM pictures and re-browse the store since it was later in the day and the crowds were the thinnest I'd seen.  We also demo'd the third (and hardest) KDM scenario - Lantern Year 28, Level 3 Dung Beetle Knight - and got a taste for a more complex fight.  This particular scenario was intentionally overtuned, and is intended to kill everyone horribly.  Our party obliged, though for the first time I was the last one alive (the other two demos I died first).

After that, we vaguely retraced our steps from the morning, visited Ninja Division, and then went to SoB to get the painting results.  I didn't expect to place (and didn't) but once again the compliments were flowing and I feel good about my submission.

However, I found myself standing in a busy show floor with a rather fragile miniature, and we decided to jettison and get him out of harm's way.

So, at the end of Saturday we added:

• Pathfinder scenario play-through
• Demo:  KDM LY28, Level 3 DBK

GenCon 2017 - Part III (Friday)

Kingdom Death Flower Knight scenario

FRIDAY

I found that I took far fewer pictures as the weekend progressed, so this diary entry will be a lot more text.

Friday we rolled in later and got to the east corridor entrance about 20 minutes before the vendor hall doors opened.   Strategy for the day was to head back to Hawk Wargames to see if the UPS man had delivered the GenCon goods, and then turn in Belial at FF.

UPS failed to deliver the DropFleet goodies, so I talked to Dave some more and then grabbed the 2-player box and some of the terrain pieces and card sets.  Thanks to all my lurking and chatting, the guy checking me out gave me a few deals that brought the entire bag of loot down to Amazon prices.  (Maybe I shouldn't type that, I'm not sure if Dave knows... hah).

Beli'al turn-in went without incident and got lots of oohs and ahhs from the FF staff.  I was particularly happy with the response from the original sculptor of the model, who stared for several minutes and pointed out things that I'd one.  He said he always enjoyed seeing how people interpreted his models; he looks at them from the concept art and then we players go and do all sorts of crazy things.

I got out of the FF booth before my visa erupted in flames and forced me to buy more. I spotted Aaron Lovejoy (painter) so we stopped to talk to him, introduced ourselves as Miniature Monthly backers, and then pick his brain on a few problems I've been having.  He was fantastic; could have stayed all day and just soaked up information.

We marched over to the Ninja Division booth and demo'd Rail Raiders.  It's a fun game with some unique dice mechanics.  Will be good for a party/family game when Zombicide is too intense (and the figures are super cute).  Mrs. Zoxe got her Kickstarter shipping notice on Thursday while waiting for the doors to open, but the guy doing our demo hadn't seen his yet, leading to much bantering and whining. :)

Caught an early lunch to avoid food truck lines (Jamaican jerked chicken, yum).  Then we began at row 0 and worked back towards the middle to finish our total floor tour.

After that we caught an over-the-shoulder demo of Dropfleet.  They were running a simplified ruleset compared to what I know from youtube, and even then the demo took an hour.  Despite that, it makes me want to rip the shrink off of my box and start making pewpewpew sounds.

After a quick break, we went back to KDM for the 2nd scenario.  We lucked out and got the same demo guy (same guy, different table) who was excellent.  Of course, I died first again this time and our party failed its mission.

This year, GenCon added the football field where the Indianapolis Colts play to its floor space.

We finished the day by walking upstairs to see the Pathfinder ballroom and check out the speed painting contests.  We were both tired, so took a break, then headed to Lucas Oil stadium to tour that, and sat in the stands for awhile waiting for dinner with college friends at a restaurant downtown Indy - but yet mostly out of reach of the GenCon crowd.

By the end of the day we added:

• Aaron Lovejoy, FFG Painter, Miniature Monthly
• Dave, Hawk Wargames (again, this time with fanboy pictures)
• Demo: Kingdom Death Flower Knight
• Demo: Rail Raiders
• Over the Shoulder Demo:  DropFleet

GenCon 2017 - Part II (Thursday)

Hall G Entrance about 30 minutes before doors opened. The crowd would get more tightly packed as time drew near. Most of these folks will simply relocate to the Kingdom Death line.

THURSDAY

We arrived onsite very early, parked, and then made our way into the venue.

We originally planned to enter from the Gaming Hall, but after loitering for a few minutes noted that the signs near the door said they wouldn't open until 10:15, so we quickly vacated to the Hall G entrance (nearest the War Store).  This was away from the main crowd that was assembling by the Fantasy Flight and CoolStuffInc entrances.

We had over an hour to wait, but got excellent placement in the herd, and bantered with the gamers around us.  It seemed like most folks around were also there for Kingdom Death: Monster (KDM), and stories from the Kickstarter and past GenCons passed the time happily.

The moment the doors open was a little surreal.  Although the Hall Staff opened the doors and were prepared for us, the last 5 minutes passed more quickly than I expected and when the crowd lurched forward I was caught surprised.  I went straight to the KDM booth and was maybe #20 in line.  Mrs. Zoxe went to Ninja Division to get the KDM crossover chibi figure, and a large bag of other loot.

The Kingdom Death line at about 10:03am Thursday. The KD staff made this as orderly as possible; there's actually an imaginary 'snake' line here in the available space.

Adam Poots, the man behind KDM, working the crowd.

I did well at the KDM booth and scored this years' GenCon figure, last years' figure, and as some of the stuff the web store has been sold out of and/or I didn't feel like paying shipping on (dice sets in particular).  The KDM line quickly took up all available space nearby and then snaked down the hall.  I was glad we strategized correctly.

Oddly enough, the search function in google docs didn't work on my phone, so the big list of KDM content I spent so much time researching before the 'con was mostly wasted effort.  I managed to work from memory, but did re-buy a white box promo that I'll get again from the Kickstarter.  Oh well, I've wasted more money on dumber things.

Adam Poots, the KDM owner/creator was there at the store exit and I got some pictures.  I was standing in the pseudo-line to chat with him but he got ambushed by some youtubers that cut in front of everyone, so I shrugged and went to booth #2.

Dropfleet Commander: Scourge and UCM

Dropfleet Commander: PHR

Dropfleet Commander: UCM

Dropfleet Commander:  Shaltari

Hawk Wargames was next.  Dropfleet Commander is a game that I've eyeballed the past couple of GenCons, and recently have been watching the coverage at Beasts of War/YouTube.  It's basically EVE as a board game and seems to be a more "wargamey" system than Armada.  X-wing is fun, but hyper competitive, and Armada never really scratched the itch I had for "big space battles" (it's essentially "more complicated x-wing" and more of a brawl than a scenario).  So, for the past two months I've been waiting patiently to see what Hawk had at GenCon before I threw my wallet at them.

Hawk's big GenCon release was delayed and was/is still in shipment (they hoped to have Friday, but that's been delayed again).  Dismayed, I lurked around the booth, chatted up a couple of the demo guys, and finally had really nice chat with Dave, the owner/creator.  I'd seen him on youtube in several vids, so I felt like I knew him.  Easy to talk to and glad to hear that I'd been watching Beasts of War.  Hawk offers a few "show only" alternate sculpt models (no unique stats, just a different ship model), so I bought those and then went to stop #3.

Shadows of Brimstone: New items included the Doomsday Device and Generators (resin) for the Derelict Ship expansion.

More Brimstone goodness.

Next was Flying Frog, aka Shadows of Brimstone.  Line here was long (not as long as KD, but still ... long), but Mrs. Zoxe found me while I waited.  FF brought far more new content than I expected, and I could have dropped north of $500 trying to be a completionist.  However, the hoped-for expansion (Blasted Wastes) wasn't there, so I held myself to a) a combo pack of new heroes, saved $$ by buying a 3 pack and b) card packs and limited edition resin items that will be on the web store (their web store shipping costs are horrid).  I thus avoided c) items that will be in retail in the next 3-18 months that I can pick up on Amazon or ask for at Christmas for 30% less.  Spoke briefly with Jason, one of the creators while in line.

During her tour, Mrs. Zoxe met Deke from Ninja Division, and had a nice conversation with their studio painter, Elizabeth.  (We support Miniature Monthly, so it was really great to meet 1/2 of that duo -- and spoilers - we met Aaron on Friday).

With all of my loot in hand, we returned to the KDM booth and I found Poots, chatted a bit about the Kickstarter and got my picture with him.  I also demo'd the Year 1 Lion, and died horribly (but walked away smiling).

I went to the Wyrmwood Studios booth and bought my dice tower set.  Which I love, but you should go read the review so I don't have to type it out again here.

We signed up for a Gloomhaven demo later that afternoon, and thus met Isaac, that creator.  Gloomhaven is currently a hot game on BBG forums, and the 2nd printing went pretty crazy.  I came away with a favorable impression of Gloomhaven, which is good since I'll get my copy from KS this fall.

We kept our promise and ate a non-gut-churning chicken and fresh greens burrito from one of the food trucks.  Beyond that, it was a tour of the far side of the hall, from row 3000 down to row 1800.

So, when the dust settled on Thursday, we had met (and in many cases posed for selfies with):

• Dave, Hawk Wargames
• Jason, Flying Frog
• Poots, Kingdom Death
• Isaac, Gloomhaven
• Deke, Ninja Division
• Elizabeth, Ninja Division / Miniature Monthly
• Demo: Kingdom Death, year 1 Lion
• Demo: Gloomhaven

Hot off the Desk: Trederran Lieutenants and Grenadiers

Here's the first installment of HotD.  Today we're working on Shadows of Brimstone Trederra Deluxe Expansion.

Source of Inspiration

Editor's Note:  HotD is intended to be a series of pics as things come off my painting table.  They're posted not as a "look how great I can paint" but as a future resource to other SoB painters.  My standard of painting is "decently boardgame" and will win no contests.

As I continue to work my backlog of Shadows of Brimstone figures, I'm neck deep in the Trederra expansion.  I assembled the contents of this sprawling expansion as last winter was setting in and managed to get them primed outside.  I'm only now digging out of that priming blitz (just in time for snow to come once again).

Apologies in advance for the blurry cell phone pics.

Work in progress shot, just before Dark Tone wash.  A better work surface will be here this week.

Fun to paint, lots of little details to pull out. The sprue gives three options for the left arm, I used one of each.

Grenadiers ready for action. With the LT's done, I may go back and pick out some of the detail I omitted (these were completed before the LTs).  The green armor leg panels and helmet is a light wash of green over the Pistol Silver and gives a nice "Candy Apple Green" effect.

The whole crew.

This isn't intended to be a detailed how-to, but I will give a few notes:

• I used ArmyPainter Matt Black rattle can for priming. 
• Browns are SoB Dark Flesh highlighted with Leather Brown after wash.  
• Dark Tone Ink is used for all the washes.  
• The Jargono green does NOT cover over the Matt Black primer very well at all, so I based anything that would be black with Necromancer Cloak first.
• Yes, I paint all of my SoB figures without mounting them to the bases.  This was a decision I made with the original core set and have decided to carry it through.

The bulk of the other colors are found in the ArmyPainter Brimstone kits, with a few important exceptions:

• AP Necromancer Cloak is the dark gray that's used on the LT's helm, gloves, phone, and pants. It's my new favorite gray.
• AP Phoenix Flames is used for the helmet lenses.  It's a very awesome yellow.
• Silver areas are based in SoB Pistol Metal (from the paint set) but highlighted after wash with AP Plate Mail Metal, which is a little brighter.
• P3 Brass Balls is used on anything that looks like brass (notably the Lieutenants' tank and air lines)
• P3 Molten Bronze is used on copper things (notably the Grenadier's tank and air lines)

I'm reasonably happy with the results, given my intended standard of painting.  The LT's in particular were more fun than I expected and I enjoyed pulling some of the finer details out.

What's next?  I won't list the things I have waiting.  It's depressing.  Though I will say that I cracked the Derelict Ship box a few minutes ago and have the Autoturrets trimmed and glued.  

And then there's the other half of the Trederran expansion waiting.

Oh, and happy Labor Day to folks in the U.S.

How I Backed Kingdom Death

Simply put:  I spent a stupid amount of money on a game that I'd never played.  In the intervening months, I've never really regretted it.  Kingdom Death hits a lot of my buttons, and although my backing of the Kickstarter to obscene amounts perhaps seems impulsive to an external viewer, it makes sense (ok, SOME sense) in the context of the journey that I've been on the past few years.

The Black Knight. One of the models that caught my attention at GenCon16.

This is the story of how I ended up backing Kingdom Death.  If you want the short version, it's basically this:  There was wine involved, I pledged huge, and then never looked back.


Here's the longer version, starting at the beginning:

GenCon 2016:

I encountered Kingdom Death: Monster (KDM) for the first time at GenCon 2016.  

It was one of those moments where I literally stopped in my tracks and gawked.  I had no idea what I was looking at, but the art and figures just struck such a chord with me and I was instantly hooked.  Now, there's a TON of things at GenCon to geek out about.  There's a TON of games and figures to lust after.  My first encounter with KDM was a notch above all that.  All weekend, I kept steering us back to the booth to look and soak it all in.  

Now, for some context - At the time, I was working slowly through my Brimstone figures, learning to paint.  The KDM booth was full of highly detailed figures - far more detailed than the SoB minis - and most of the KDM content was painted in a minimalist / statue technique that I wanted to understand.  I knew enough about composing a painted mini that I could start to mentally pick apart the technique, and because the results were so simple and yet so well executed I thought it was a method I could use in future projects.  (Link to the studio that did the KDM figures is here.)

The core game, painted like stone statues.

I didn't demo the game in 2016, but did lurk around the tables enough to get a sense for the showdown phase - coop fights with a monster AI deck, and enough dice rolling to look fun.  So even then the thought of "buying in" was already a consideration.

Now, at that first exposure, I REALLY didn't want to get into another game system. When I first walked into the KDM both, I had on my person probably $500 worth of Brimstone and other GenCon Loot in various bags, and the additional expense of a sprawling new title made my wallet tremble in fear.  But by GenCon Sunday, I reluctantly asked at the cash register about a core box, and was surprised that the staff all but laughed at me.  Apparently the game was sold out?  Not knowing the backstory, I walked away a little confused - but relieved at not having to make an expensive decision.

KDM: Wild and crazy models.

Interim:

In the interim months between GenCon and the 1.5 Kickstarter, I checked out the website and began to understand the "phenomenon" that KDM had become, the hugeness of the game, and the reasons why core sets were so hard to come by.

Kickstarter 1.5:

In November, the Shadows of Brimstone: Forbidden Fortress Kickstarter wrapped up.  I could talk about that KS campaign, but that's a whole 'nother story.  But it's that campaign that had me checking the Kickstarter tabletop category, and I stumbled into the KDM 1.5 Kickstarter.

I found the 1.5 campaign on perhaps day 2, and it had already exploded.  It brought pledges of $4.3M in less than 24 hours, and of course it continued to climb from there.  I was of course interested, but similar to GenCon, I had just spent a fair amount the Brimstone campaign, and there was no way around the fact that KDM is as expensive as it is huge.

But I began lurking, and watching Poots' updates, and trying to wrap my head around what exactly it was that I was watching.  In parallel with the campaign's evolution, I did my nerd research and got a crash course in the details of the game.  Videos. Reviews. Reading - lots of reading.  

The Plunge:

At the end of the first week, I was still debating what exactly to do.  I knew I wanted in.  I knew I was watching something different, something special, take place.  But what I was struggling with was what pledge level to jump in at.  

Logic said to pledge minimally, get the core game, and then go from there down the road.  That sounded great, except for two things:

1. KDM expansions are notoriously out of stock. There was a sense that if I didn't get exactly what I wanted during the campaign, I may never see it again, and that hurt my competionist sensibilities.
2. I missed the original Brimstone Kickstarter, and was buying the expansions at MSRP and Amazon prices.  The amount of cash I'd put down for that game made me wince; I was reluctant to repeat that history. If it made sense to front more cash initially to offset future purchases at MSRP, it might be worth the risk to go in big.  

Even then, I still hesitated.  Doing what I wanted to do meant an initial investment north of $1k.

About a week into the campaign, we were home on a Saturday night.  It was December, we had the fireplace roaring, and I was on the laptop while we watched a few movies.  I was debating initiating a pledge.  A bottle of wine was opened with dinner.  Wine-fueled nerd debate erupted.  

The most expensive bottle of wine I've ever opened.

Another cork was popped and more wine flowed - this time a sweet Port wine that I'd been saving for a special day.  My fingers hovered over the Satan's level, the $1666 "all-in" pledge level that got me the core game, every old expansion, and every new expansion, and many other odds and ends.  It was so much money, and still I hesitated.

More wine flowed.  Mrs. Zoxe helped me over the hump, "Just pledge, you can drop it later."

And so I pledged.  

It turned out to be a very expensive bottle of wine.  I learned later that Mrs. Zoxe didn't actually drink any of the second bottle, that was all me.  

But I was a backer, or "bakcer" as Poots calls it.

The Aftermath:

The pledge level I got into was the Final Form Satan's Lantern.  When I went in, Poots was opening these "all in" levels 666 spots at a time.  But within about 48 hrs of my pledge, he realized that he'd be losing money if he let many more folks in on that deal.  And so the FFSL became the last $1666 tier, and was locked at 321 places.  As the campaign progressed, I became more entrenched in my positioning, more and more things were added to it, and it became clear what a good deal the investment was becoming.  After the first few days, I stopped questioning whether I was going to stay in the campaign, and simply braced myself for a large Visa bill.

The last few days of the campaign were especially wild, and like many I cheered when KDM knocked Exploding Kittens off the #1 tabletop game spot, and then on the final day I watched the clock wind down on what became a historic kickstarter.  In addition to my base pledge, I added on Crossovers, the Board, and a few other things to bring my total north of $2k.  

GenCon2017 Lion encounter. He ripped my arms off and beat me to death with them. :)

We returned to GenCon 2017, and I spent a large amount of time at the KDM booth.  It had only been a year, but my understanding of the game had changed so much.  I chatted with other KDM fans while waiting for the doors to open, and held my own.  I talked with Poots and got my picture taken like a fanboy.  I demo'd the scenarios offered, and in some cases died horribly but in others emerged triumphant.

Waiting for GenCon to open. Many of these folks were KDM fans strategically placed at the entrance nearest the KD booth.

Time will tell if dropping a mortgage payment on a silly board game will be a wise investment, but as the core box delivery is imminent, I have very little apprehension.