Wednesday, July 7, 2010

40k Black Templars

So here's my first attempt at a Warhammer 40K Space Marine Unit: Black Templars.  Thanks to Todd Heck at Crossroad Hobbies in Dickinson, N.D. for providing the mini's and some paint.  These will most likely be displayed at the store and hopefully used in skirmishes or possibly even a full 40k battle sometime soon!  The purple bases most likely represent them fighting on a chaos or genestealer/tyranid world.
Miniatures: Games Workshop.  Paints:  Game Color Acrylicos Vallejo, Games Workshop Citadel Color. Miniatures painted by TSN.

Sunday, June 6, 2010

D&D 4e Commissioned Party

So here's the final group: Dragonborn warrior, Dwarven Monk, Human Mage, Halfling Assassin, Half-Orc Warrior all facing a Snowy Owl Bear.  This group was commissioned by a fellow RPG'er on d6d20.com.  I believe he will be using them in his summer D&D 4e campaign.  All miniatures are Reaper Brand save for the owlbear which is a Dungeon Crawl Classics line miniature from Goodman Games.  All miniatures painted by TSN.

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Dwarven Monk vs Owlbear

 These are two of five miniatures commissioned by a member of d6d20.com.  I'm painting the miniatures for use in his D&D campaign.  Pictured here is a dwarven monk that is testing his meddle against a snowy owlbear.  Bets anyone?

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Extreme Zombie Hunter at Fargo Core Con 2010

I was recently invited as a guest of honor at Fargo Core Con 2010 (www.fargocorecon.org).  I had a booth and gave a presentation on composing for THE CALL OF CTHULHU and upcoming THE WHISPERER IN DARKNESS.  I did manage to get away to the game room and partake in a few games.  One extremely fun game was Xtreme Zombie Hunter.
From the publisher:
Xtreme Zombie Hunter is a comedic table-top miniatures game compatible with all 25mm miniatures of Zombies and the personality types that might hunt them. Set in a fictitious modern day America where Zombies are real and hunting them on national TV has become all the rage! XZH delivers a simple system, which is character driven to encourage replayability, full of laughs and can be enjoyed by 1 or more players. XZH lets you experience the hysterical nature of a B style Zombie movie with a twist.

The game began with myself and the second player both rolling snake-eyes and breaking our sniper rifles as we landed.  We got everyone's attention in the game room with our whooping and yelling with those rolls.


I was immediately surrounded upon landing on the playing field by a mob of 'howlers' represented by the zombie clowns.

I did manage to fight my way through and head towards a building where another player had already found and initiated the beacon.  Of course, the beacon not only summons the chopper (which arrives on at a randomly determined time) but it also causes the zombies to swarm to the beacon's location.  One of the players spent a good deal of his time being chased around the building as shown in the picture below.



While he was leading them around the building, we raced towards the other side where the beacon was.  He managed to outrun most of the zombies, but upon turning the corner, they smelled his brains and the chase began anew.  We managed to all make it to the beacon, save for the one player being chased.  Another player used the 'plug!' option which requires you to stop and give a plug for your sponsor (the game is being broadcast to tv viewers - think RUNNING MAN).  Despite the back-stabbing move, the plugged player managed to make it to the beacon.  We continued to fight off the zombie hoard that was gradually swarming over us and were eventually all rescued.  The GM said he had not had a game where everyone survived!


SWARM!

I'll be posting more pics and games from the 2010 Fargo Core Con soon...

Friday, March 26, 2010

RAGING OWLBEAR! ...again?


I've recently been commissioned to paint some minis for a fellow gamer on my favorite play-by-post site, www.d6d20.com

He liked the owlbear from an earlier post here on the OOD.  The Owlbear is a Dungeon Crawl Classics mini, sculpted by Jason Wiebe, distributed by Goodman Games.  I really enjoy painting this mini - my fellow gamer requested a 'snowowl' variation of the Owlbear.  As you can see, the stark white fur and black-tipped feathers is a nice contrast and even enhances his visual ferocity.  After painting him, I had the idea to do a variety of owlbear styles based on environment.  For example, a tropical variation based on a bird of paradise or a sand-hue with red, blue, black and golds inspired by Egyptian Hieroglyphic-stylized owls and so on.  I'll be ordering more and will post them as completed.


I'll be protecting this mini with a coat of matte spray sealant, as he will be used as a recurring foe for tabletop gaming purposes.  I considered doing a snowy base similar to the 'Snow Patrol' mini I posted earlier here.  Since he was not going to be a display piece, I elected to do the grit and rock base, which will hold up much, much longer.  After a matte sealant is applied, this mini will enjoy feasting on many a player-character.

Monday, March 15, 2010

Blast from the Past: Chaos Spawn Champion

In an effort to keep frequent posts here at Orb of Deception, I'll be pulling painted mini pics from my vaults.

I painted this mod back in 95 or 96 I think.  It is a combination of several Games Workshop miniatures:  The hand was from a familiar pack, the lower portion from a Tzeentch flamer, the upper torso from a chaos marine and the sword arm is from a plague bearer.  Enjoy!

Looks like I just need to make a custom base for it now...

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Traveller anyone?


Meet Lagon Vargas, founder of the "Vargas Effect".  He's soon to be active in a play-by-post Traveller campaign at www.d6d20.com.  If you go there and decide to play - look me up, my username is 'InnsmouthMedic'.  I hope to see you there.

Also appearing is a Space Marine, "Sanchez".  Which will be played by my son.  Both were recently entered in a Reaper Miniature Painting Contest.  "Sanchez" or "cold patrol" tied for 5th place out of 21 entries.


Miniature: Reaper Chronoscape "Space Hero" sculpted by Glenn Harris.  Painted by Troy Sterling Nies.  Base scratch built by Troy Sterling Nies.  First Aid Kit and O2 Tank Sculpted by Bob Ridolfi.
Miniature: Reaper Chronoscape"Nova Corp Soldier" sculpted by Bobby Jackson(gun modified by Troy), painted by Troy Sterling Nies.  Base scratch built by Troy Sterling Nies.