Christmas Special 2022 – The Christmas Broo!

I know it’s nearly Easter, and that I should have posted this in early January, but life got in the way. I can’t help myself and wait until next Christmas, so I thought I might as well release this now 😊 .

In the past couple of years, whenever time allowed it, I made customised gifts for my loved ones: doll houses for my nieces, a vignette for my brother, and this time it was a surprise for my gaming friend. Since he is a long-time fan of Runequest and his favourite monsters are the broos, the choice was obvious.

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Fighting Fantasy Fest 4 – The 40th Anniversary

There’s been a long silence on my blog, but after a busy period, I’m back with some good stuff. Fighting Fantasy 3 was a lot of fun back in 2019, but this time it was not just a simple event. In September 2022 it was the celebration of the 40th anniversary of publishing the book that started everything: The Warlock of Firetop Mountain. The ticket was pricey, but this was a once-in-a-lifetime event and it was also within walking distance from home, so it was absolutely worth it.

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Space Pirates – The Birth of a Fleet

Painting a fleet of spaceships has been on my to-do list for a long time, but the complexity of a fleet and the sheer variety of ships I saw in most ranges were baffling. Luckily, GZG’s Ravagers seem to be a manageable challenge: there’s a Light Carrier, a Cruiser, two types of Raiders and an Attacker (these are approximately the equivalent of destroyers and frigates or torpedo boats) and that’s all. Experienced players might find this range of ships insufficient, but for me, it seems to be the perfect starting set.

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Canvas Eagles – Triplanes and Aces

Our WWI aerial combat game did take off. After half a dozen sessions, we had several memorable moments with tense dogfights, unbelievable luck and unluck, smoke and fireballs in the sky… In the current stage of the campaign, Fokker Dr.I became my favourite. This distinct looking aircraft has a good range of manoeuvres, it’s armed with twin machine guns and it’s fairly reliable and durable. Apparently, I needed more of these 1:144 triplanes, so I ordered five of them from Decapod Models on Shapeways.

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All About That Base

As I mentioned in my previous post, I have been fairly busy in the last few months and one of the reasons for this, has been a massive hobby project: painting a customised base for my 15mm minis. I have a whole platoon of infantry with a matching battlemat and the next logical step was adding a set of buildings to my collection. There are many options available on the market and it was difficult to pick one, but in the end, I decided to buy the research station set from Brigade.

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A Favourite Reborn

My blog has been pretty quiet lately, because the last few months have been exceptionally busy on all fronts: work, life, painting and playing, but now I have much to share.

The Spider Drones of Ground Zero Games have been a long time favourite of mine: I have plenty of them waiting for me in different stages of unfinishedness. A six-legged spider-like drone with a rotary gun – yes, that’s exactly what I’m thinking about when I imagine a sci-fi battleground. When I ordered a few more of them recently, Jon was kind enough to ask if I wanted the new version. Is it possible to say no to this?

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Experimenting with Colourshift Paints

Colourshift or chameleon paints, which make that amazing iridescent effect that looks so cool on cars or guitars have been on the market for a while. These paints contain tiny glass-like flakes that work like miniature prisms, interfering with the reflected light. Practically, the paint seems to change colour depending on the light and the angle of the light it is viewed under. Finally, these paints are now available for miniature painters too; several manufacturers have launched their colourshift miniature paints.

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Canvas Eagles – The First Five Aircraft

How did I end up painting 1/144 scale aircraft? The answer is simple: my friend surprised me with a box of 3D printed WWI fighters, and two 28mm figures that he designed in Heroforge, which had not been painted. He’s been painting minis for a WWI aerial combat game for a while, and by now he has an impressive fleet with more than 100 fighters. He was keen to see how I would paint the same minis.

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Escape the Dark Castle – Review

I bought the Escape the Dark Castle game shortly before the lockdowns, as it promised an easy to learn and quick to set up game that can be played both solo or in a team. The price tag was convincing, and the cover art faintly reminded me of the classic Fighting Fantasy artworks, so I bought it without hesitation.

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Blue Max, Red Baron

After watching the classic “The Blue Max” movie – which I can only recommend if you haven’t seen it yet – two things became obvious: I had to add an ace pilot to the German starfighter squadron that I had painted earlier this year and this fighter had to be red, just like the Red Baron’s fighter.

The stout design of Brigade’s Galland Attack Fighter, which somehow reminds me of the fighters of The Great War and its characteristics, made it the obvious choice for this role.

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