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.
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.
In my previous post about Inkarnate, I mentioned Silversand, the fictional realm where my D&D campaign takes place. It’s in Faerun but not part of the official canon, it’s my creation for a low fantasy D&D 5e setting, inspired by the medieval Italian city-states and the Mediterranean region.
Silversand is a city-state on the Sword Coast, with a seaport and trade routes to the continent, named after its white sand of the seaside that sparkles like silver in the moonlight. It’s not as big and famous as Baldur’s Gate or Neverwinter, but prosperous, wealthy, relatively safe and well organized.
I received a copy of the Hungarian edition of Assassins of Allansia from Chameleon Comix for review a few months ago. It is a very neatly designed book, with the look and feel of the classic softcover Fighting Fantasy series, using the same artwork that’s visible on the hardcover edition. It immediately triggered a wave of nostalgia in me.
But why did it took me so long to write this review? Reading Fighting Fantasy books was one of my treasured childhood memories and I got paralyzed, and started wondering if I still enjoy them as much as I used to. Are they still as good as I remember they used to be? Does this book meet the standards that I expect, or is it just exploiting nostalgia? Luckily, I had no reason to worry: twentyfive years have passed since I last read an FF book and this was just as immersive and gripping as I remembered.
When I first saw Games Workshop’s Nighthaunts, I knew I had to build this army. I just loved the creepy and dramatic design of these miniatures, the clever usage of hollow structures and the mist-like shapes that give them a real ethereal look. It is design at its best!
When the two technical paints (Hexwraith Flame and Nighthaunt Gloom) were released, it became even more difficult to resist them: these guys developed special paints for the Nighthaunts! The reviews were all positive and I also found a bunch of amazing photos online. All you need is a white basecoat, a layer of these technical paints, and a bit of drybrushing or layering.
Since I also needed some ghosts for my RPG campaign and I have not seen any decent ghost miniatures anywhere else, I gave in and bought a set of Spirit Hosts.
The kit was a bit more difficult to build than I thought it would be, but it was worth it. I got a bit stuck after applying the white basecoat: Should I give them a grim look with Hexwraith Flame’s dark blue, or a more mystical look with Nighthaunt Gloom’s vibrant green? In the end, I decided to do a colour test, try my glazes, shades, and other technical paints, and pick the one that works the best.
Every story has to start somewhere… but where should I start mine?
Should I start with my decades long love of strategic games and miniatures? Or with me getting back to role-play games, both as a player and as a DM? Maybe a bit of both.
It was kind of a milestone last June when I bought the Shadespire boxed set after a long hiatus. I’ll write more in detail about this game later, for now let’s just say that it’s a tactical board game with cards and miniature figures, I love it and I really recommend it. I have always loved minis and models, and I have built and painted many of them over the past decades, so painting the Shadespire figures was beyond question.
I have to admit, the result was very far from what I imagined… Sure, it wasn’t a complete mess, it was acceptable, something I dare to call tabletop quality, but I wasn’t completely happy with it. Absolutely not… Some details were lost and some parts ended up totally different than planned. I continued with Steelheart’s Champions and the result was similar.
Steelheart’s Champions
I knew what I wanted to do with the figures, but when I was painting them, I just couldn’t work it out properly. Of course, I could blame the brushes, blame the paint and the figures, accuse every painter who had better works with doctoring the images… But let’s face it: I need more practice. So I decided to get more experience, paint more figures and use the minis for what they are meant to be used: play with them.
This blog is going to be my journal, where I record what I do, what I learn and where I track my progress…and of course, it’s also about games: role-play games, arena games, skirmish games, narrative battles!
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