FIGURES BY FAUST

If Jagger played Football

2012-01-05T17:10:00.000-08:00

Some of you may remember that I got into NFL football last year. It was at my 41st birthday party that I told my friend Cam that I would finally give football a shot.

I have been an Emperor Geek* for many years, and was reaching a point in life where I was ready to explore something new. After some study that had less to do with statistics and more to do with personal connections, I chose the Atlanta Falcons.

Babydoll & I had just finished watching the first season of Spartacus: Blood & Sand, and I was all jazzed up for Gladiators, when the season started. My Falcons went on to have one of their best seasons in franchise history at 13-3. They choked in the playoffs and Green Bay went right through them. :(

This year they have been extremely inconsistent. Tony Gonzalez, our Hall of Fame destined Tight End has become my favorite player on the team. He's smart, good looking, and incredibly athletic. Which got me thinking about my favorite Half-orc D&D character, Jagger Kilmane, Father of Sorrows. He's kinda smart, kinda good looking, and incredibly athletic. If Jagger played football, he'd look like Tony Gonzalez! At least in the dark labyrinth of my mind he would.

Now, if Tony could cross the gridiron with two +2 Khopesh swords cutting a bloody swath to the end zone, I would be in geekery heaven.

I know you've heard this before, but we're precipitously close to getting Brink of Battle out the door and into your hot little hands. Or cold biggish hands, whichever is accurate. Alan & Gib are getting the diagrams finished, I'm setting up the distribution channels, and getting the web element positioned.

Dust off your minis boys, because unless I miss my guess, we're in for a wild night!

Noch Weiter!

*Emperor Geek - A comic and gamer geek who holds down a good paying, full time job, is laid frequently by someone other than himself, and who has good hygeine.

Brink of Battle!

2011-12-30T10:28:00.000-08:00

Last year I submitted my Historical skirmish wargame to the U.S. Copyright office. After getting the copyright back, I did some additional market testing and was informed quite directly my game's name sounded too modern and was not supporting the 'all periods' concept. Consequently, I took the feedback to heart and came up with a few alternatives. My think tank voted and the majority liked 'Brink of Battle: Historical Skirmish through the Ages' the most. So there you have it!

Since I'm a writer and not an artist, I pressganged my two Art Ninjas into servitude for the diagrams and illustrations I would need to finish the game.

Here are some model silhouettes that Gilbert Leiker, aka Mothbot, did that are going to be used to demonstrate more conceptually challenging rules. (All images Copyright Robert A Faust & Gilbert Leiker 2011)

Once he and Alan get the remaining diagrams and illustrations completed I will insert them into the layout and then we go to print!

Five and a half years of writing and play testing will finally bear fruit. I am thrilled at the notion.

Like any artistic or creative endeavor, my rules set will likely challenge the imagination of some more hidebound players and receive vitriolic reviews accordingly.

My great relief comes from the many gamers who will catch the vision of what I'm trying to represent and will enjoy the game for many years to come.

As we approach the final stages, I will be less focused on painting and modeling minis and more focused on getting this thing out the door.

Stay tuned for more sneak peeks and teasers!

Noch Weiter!

Holiday joy and a new pic from Drew

2011-11-30T19:15:00.000-08:00

Taking a holiday break from my Traveller stuff. I've been working with the First Born Gaming guys on their playtesting of Brink of Battle. So I've been refocused on the game for now.

I have decided to put a hold on the Traveller minis for now. I will be running a game of it soon, and also need to put my renaissance buildings together, clean my basement, and paint up said buildings.

Here's a new pic of a Reaper Mantis Man painted by my friend Drew. Enjoy!

Sword of the Imperium!

2011-11-11T17:47:00.001-08:00

Continuing with my current Traveller RPG fixation, I just got a pdf copy of The Spinward Marches Campaign by Marc Miller. I owned it back in the day, and gave it away when I was "done with roleplaying" (yes, I was a dumb shit).

My all time favorite depiction of Imperial Battledress powered combat armor was the one above that is in that supplement. This is what I'd tried to approximate with the Nova Corp Reaper mini conversions you've seen here.

One day, I will commission a top line sculptor to make me a whole squad that looks 'right'. But for now, my conversions will have to suffice.

I ran a MegaTraveller one shot game with the boys on Monday night. We had a blast, and I have been convinced I should run Traveller as one of our alternate games to D&D.

Maybe the party will run into Jagger Kilmane, Sword Worlder Kapiten of the Father of Sorrows
Patrol Cruiser....

If so, he'd look like a late forties version of Vladimir Kulich as seen here:

Noch Weiter!

Final Five!!! Traveller project part 1 complete!

2011-10-23T22:24:00.000-07:00

Here is my last of five Traveller Imperial Marines finished up. He's Jamison Zhunastu, and any Traveller player worth his salt will know what I did there with his name. :)

And here's the group shot of Marine Task Force Donosev dispatched to the Spinward Marches.

I'm done trying to work with this damnable fancy camera. I am going back to my old faithful to get the best results.

Defend the Extrality Line!!!

2011-10-16T17:30:00.000-07:00

Here are some better pics of my Traveller Marines in Battledress powered armor.

I'm not yet satisfied with the fancy new camera I got my Wife for her birthday. But here are some snaps of 4 out of 5 of my new Traveller Imperial Marines in Battledress powered armor.

I have one more to finish tomorrow and then post tues.

Strike from Space!!!

Forward Recon

2011-10-16T09:31:00.000-07:00

Here's the first of five of my Traveller project. Imperial Marine in Battledress powered armor.

When my camera battery recharges, I'll put up pics of the next two Marines.

Enjoy!

Before & After

2011-10-05T21:56:00.000-07:00

Traveller Imperial Marines

2011-09-17T14:43:00.000-07:00

Here's a WIP shot or two of my Marines in Battledress for Traveller. I am using Reaper Nova Corps figs with CAD gun#9 from Hasslefree for the gauss/laser/fusion rifles/guns.

Photos are from my phone, so the white balance is off. When they are finished I'll repost.

Strike From Space!!!

Now & Then

2011-09-05T18:33:00.000-07:00

So recently I was hanging out with WebOgre and asked if he still had any of the elves I gave him after my divorce and move to California. He did, and after some shrewd negotiating on his part, I traded him for a chunk of them. They have been through my bits box and then into storage at his place, but for models I painted over twenty years ago, I was surprised how well they held up!

I started playing Warhammer in 1987 and didn't have to twist WebOgre's arm to watch him jump in. I was fixated with Wardancers and Chas was one obsessed Stunty, taking on the Dwarfs.

I painted these all between 1988 and 1989. The two here below were part of a larger unit of Sea Elf Wardancers that I put together since we had the Warhammer Armies book for 3rd edition. The High Elf list had Sea Elf Wardancers, so I put a unit together and took Skaven shields, ground the details off and painted shark fins on them. Yep, those are hand painted.

Here are three I really liked of the Wardancer range. The female in the center has a Comedy/Drama style mask painted on her. I took the idea from a White Dwarf article on Eldar Harlequins.

I love the guy on the left with the eye patch and fighting claw. He had a small shield on his stub with a red & yellow cross-quarterly paint job. Must've been lost over the years. The mohawk wardancer in the middle is probably one of my all time favorite Jes Goodwin models from that range. Ahhhh, the good old days!

These last two are pretty special to me. The one on the left is the first Wood Elf figure I ever painted. The one on the right was one of my favorite Melniboneans. I didn't read any Moorcock until after high school, but I had some minis painted from that range because they looked like really cool High Elves.

Its fun to look at these and then scroll down to my more developed work. I have come a long way in those 20 years, but I do miss the special atmosphere those early days seemed to have that isn't quite the same now.

I wanted to photograph these before they hit the Simple Green and got stripped down. I am working with Drew on a Fantasy background/milieu for my skirmish game, and I have one area that has Gladiators of every race. I'll be using these old style punk wardancers for Elf Gladiators in my game.

Hope you enjoy,

Faust

More Playtesting

2011-09-03T21:56:00.000-07:00

Had two great games today with Dan, Drew, & Bob P. We played the newly printed Campaign rules with Period 1 AD99 Romans, Praetorians, and Gauls.

We played on my platforms/risers with ruins on multiple levels. This allowed us to use Climbing and Jumping rules that we haven't played yet.

Found quite a few tweaks here and there. Nothing major, just tightening the engine.

Thanks to Dan, Drew & Bob for taking the time to give it a go.

Conan the Barbarian Review

2011-08-21T15:59:00.000-07:00

I liked it. It was more enjoyable than most reviews I read gave it credit for. It wasn't 'great' but I knew that going in. It was worth the money and time. Great effects, great fights, and some very creative methods of enacting vengeance.

There could have been more dynamic tension. This is true of most good films; more tension would have likely made them great films.

What bugged me was the 'leading lady'. She didn't fit in at all during any part of the film. I could have done with an Olga Kuryenko replacement and it would have made a big difference.

If you like good old Sword & Sorcery, go see it. If not, wait 'til DVD.

Trouble with White Balance

2011-07-31T22:49:00.000-07:00

So, I just snapped photos with my wife's new uber camera. I used Auto White Balance, and my pics are kinda wierd lookin'.

So, I'm going to have to play with that to see if I can get photos like our old camera took them.

Balls.

Here's an example of what I'm talking about:

It's a little too 'warm' and doesn't show the colors under natural lighting.

I'm back to the mini forums for white balance advice.

UPDATE:

I just downloaded a paint type program that let me adjust contrast, brightness, and sharpness.

Here's what it looks like now. I'll still adjust the white balance next time.

Still doesn't look right....but a little closer to the real thing.

New pics coming soon

2011-07-13T11:49:00.001-07:00

I have some retro Faust brushwork pics to post next week for some Wardancers I rescued from the lair of the WebOgre.

Neat flashback to my painting style circa 1988.

Stay tuned!

Faust

Last Batch of Citadel Elves

2011-06-12T16:51:00.000-07:00

Just scrubbed 'til my arm went numb. Just waiting for 3 more models to arrive in the mail and I'm done buying elves.

Here's a snap shot of the lot I just pulled from the Simple Green.

The last purchases have been made.

2011-06-05T14:08:00.000-07:00

I got up yesterday at the crack of dawn to bid on two of the command models shown here. The great sword champion top left & the spear captain top right were my last & final purchases.

My brother Charles popped in on his way to Monterrey and we swapped some minis. He hooked me up with a gob of elf cavalry that I was missing from this range. So now I just have to start painting.
I have boltgun metal brushed on to my Reiksguard foot knights. Now just to finish those and they'll be up on the blog.

Later,

Faust

Final purchases on the horizon

2011-05-26T16:27:00.000-07:00

Well, I have made off like a bandit recently when Bob, Drew, & myself went to the flea market at Great Escape Games this past Sunday.

I scored some new in blister wood elves by Jes Goodwin from the old Citadel range.

Also got 3 new characters for Wood Elves for dirt cheap, including two models I really wanted but not for 30 bucks. Got them all for 6 bucks instead.

Stocked up on plastic shields and scored Drew a heroquest Imperial Noble for one dollar!

We had a great time hanging out and buying oop stuff for next to nothing.

Good times!

Uber Geeky Weekend

2011-05-15T18:33:00.000-07:00

Drew came over saturday afternoon and we threw down some Strike Force Commander with our fantasy minis.

My Judicial Champions saw the addition of Leopold Stossel, a Knight Veteran with heavy armor and a halberd.

I was incorrect in my previous entry about his Wind Song Harmony; that's not the name of his cavalrymen. They are the Storm Flower Harvest, and are a real pain in my ass! :)

Our first game was a Retrieval Mission. We played on a 3x3' table, and it was kinda tight on space, but we still had fun. Drew won, and my boys finally put out more than one of his horsemen.

The second game was a Raid with me as the Intruder. We fought that one to a Draw, both of us failing Rout checks at the top of Turn 4.

Later Jim came over to get our Star Trek rpg characters designed. That was a blast.

Then today some of us went and saw Thor. Fantastic!!!

Great weekend of uber geekery!

Shopping Spree!!!

2011-05-08T14:48:00.000-07:00

Well, I've been buying more minis than I've been painting lately, though that's about to change.

Here are some snaps of my recent acquisitions, as well as our table set up for the battle report of my game with Drew in last post.

Play testing with Drew

2011-04-30T17:41:00.000-07:00

So my buddy Drew came over today and we threw down with some Strike Force Commander Period 1, and used our Fantasy minis instead of our Romans and Gauls.

Drew brought 5 Elf Cavalrymen with a mix of Bows and Spears. I brought the Judicial Champions, human foot knights.

Drew used the plastic High Elf Reaver models from the Island of Blood boxed set by Games Workshop.

I used my old Marauder range Reiksguard foot knights. Here's my starting roster. We started a Campaign and set the standard 500 Supply Point starting level. I used a Standard Force Organization and Drew used Elites. We both got the 25 SP bonus for naming our guys and coming up with a Theme.

Judicial Champions – Standard Force Organization – 525 points

Ernst Reimer – Knight Commander – 5/6/4 ARM(5) 101SP

Commander, Myrmidon, Endurance

Medium Armor, Large Shield, Wargavel (Bludgeon), Extra Rations

Tristan Volk – Knight Veteran – 5/4/4 ARM(3) 86SP

Myrmidon

Medium Armor, Great Wargavel (Great Bludgeon), Extra Rations

Matthias the True – Knight Veteran – 5/4/4 ARM(3) 71SP

Medium Armor, Great Wargavel(Great Bludgeon), Extra Rations

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Gunter von Schloss – Knight Initiate – 4/3/5 ARM(3) 77SP

Stubborn

Medium Armor, Great Sword, Extra Rations

Brunner – Knight Initiate – 4/3/4 ARM(3) 72SP

Stubborn

Medium Armor, Great Sword, Extra Rations

Hargen Jaeger – 5/3/3 – Novice ARM(2) 59SP

Rapid Reload

Light Armor, Heavy Crossbow, Knife, Extra Rations

Griff – 5/3/3 – Novice ARM(2) 59SP

Rapid Reload

Light Armor, Heavy Crossbow, Knife, Extra Rations

Commander 101SP

Veterans 147SP

Troopers 277SP

525SP

We played two games. The first was a Recon Mission, and I was the Sentry player and Drew was the Intruder. The game went to the SitRep of Turn 5 when I voluntarily Routed. Drew had Wounded 3 of my models, Griff, Matthias the True, and Brunner. I took out only one of his riders.

He suffered no Injury in the After Action Report. Unfortunately, my boys weren't so lucky. Brunner got Recuperation and had to miss the next game. Matthias the True was renamed Matthias the Defiant, because he went 3 Turns engaged in melee combat against two of Drew's horsemen before going Wounded. He suffered an Internal Bleeding Injury. But poor Griff suffered a Cranial Fracture and in addition to having his CBT and CMD Ratings each reduced by one point, he also lost a Trait, which was Rapid Reload, and had to miss the next game. Brutal, but not fatal, which was the next result on the table had I rolled worse than I did!

Game two was a Retrieval Mission, and despite some stupid vengeance attempt on my part, I was able to pull out a victory. I accidentally played with Brunner, but he got charged and wounded and Drew got the Experience for taking him out, so it all balanced out.

All told the new Campaign rules worked out really well. After two battles, we both ended up with the same Reputation points of 638, and are ready to fight again.

Great games and good times!!!

41 & 5!

2011-04-20T09:29:00.000-07:00

That's right, true believers, I turned 41 today, and Strike Force Commander turns 5!

Five years ago I set out to make the best damned skirmish game ever. Soon enough we'll see how that turned out.

Keep checking back, cuz I just might post some official sneak peeks at the rules!

Noch Weiter!

Got the flu...

2011-04-14T11:01:00.000-07:00

Monday afternoon it struck at the gym. By the time we were half way through our D&D game I was beat.

Just keeps hanging on. I refuse to ask Father Nurgle for aid!

For Sigmar! For Karl Franz!

No New Paints, but new Rules galore!

2011-04-10T14:23:00.000-07:00

Here we are coming up on the 5th Anniversary of Strike Force Commander's origin.

The good news is that I'm finished with the Trauma Table and am actively working on the rest of the Rest & Resupply section of the Campaigns chapter.

Which means that I don't have any new paint on minis, but I have bought a gob of old Marauder Miniatures Fighters to add to my Reiksguard, as well as some old Warhammer & D&D modules to help cultivate ideas for my Epic Heroes supplement.

I passed my kidney stone successfully. 5-6mm it was. I'll post a photo sometime in the near future.

And I've been out of town a lot for work. So, all told, I'm just quietly collecting new models and prepping my ruleset for use later in the month.

Noch Weiter!

Strike Force Commander Variant - Fantasy!

2011-03-20T16:38:00.000-07:00

Here are some amateur snaps of a game Drew and I put together using the Period 1 rules from my Strike Force Commander rules. Enjoy!

Random Samplings

2011-03-20T15:29:00.000-07:00

BATTLE: LOS ANGELES

2011-03-12T09:03:00.000-08:00

Aaron Eckhart is the Shit!

Frickin' AWESOME!!! Finally a real Sci-Fi WAR FILM!

Me and Babydoll saw it last night on date night, and we loved it! No love story, no propaganda, no cheesy bullshit. And no All Powerful Aliens.

Finally a movie that portrays aliens in a more practical light. Just because they have the technology to get here, doesn't mean they are immune to kinetic energy transfers at high velocity.

If you are an ultra-modern military fan you'll love it. If you are a sci-fi fan, you'll love it. It's like one reviewer said, "It's a sci-fi Black Hawk Down."

I concur. Now stop reading this and go watch the 2/5 kick some ass! "Retreat, Hell!"

Changing Roster

2011-02-24T18:19:00.000-08:00

Well, a little while ago, Quan-Bai, the Battleworn Apostate, went on his monastic walk about. This left the Raven Guard with one man down.

During the next adventure, a mutual acquaintance named Khalad, recommended that a Dragon Sorceror named Argosin join forces with the RG in order to clear out a Githzerai temple that was infested with baddies. Here's a few pics of Argosin -

During the adventure, Jagger Kilmane was transported to a Githzerai monastery in the Elemental Chaos where he studied with Githzerai blade masters for 7 years. He refined his fighting style and returned just moments after he left the party with his shield melted down and reforged into another khopesh blade, and a bitchin crested helmet upon his head!

That's Jagger Kilmane, Father of Sorrows in his Wings of Sorrow stance wielding Razorwing & Killclaw, his magic khopesh swords. Get some!!!

Those are the two figs I painted while trying to pass my 9mm kidney stone this week!

Raven Guard, to arms!

AD 99

2011-02-19T18:01:00.000-08:00

Here are some better close up shots of my Roman Legion Veterans lead by Brutus Maximus, as well as some group photos of Drew's Gaul Barbarians mixing it up with Brutus' Legion.

These are our forces for our AD99 game of Strike Force Commander.

All miniatures are Warlord plastics and we used Army Painter Quickshade.

Enjoy!

Guest Appearance!

2011-02-14T23:00:00.000-08:00

As a follow up to my Roman's in a Day post, I'm spotlighting my bro Drew Davies' awesome Gauls! He's done a bang up job on these wild men from the barbarian lands. Check 'em out!

He did one helluva job on the striped pants. Good job bro!

Rome built in a day!

2011-02-01T20:31:00.001-08:00

Well, in putting the finishing touches on my Strike Force Commander game, I recruited Drew & Bob to help me playtest Period 1 Ancient/Medieval.

We kicked some ideas around, and I think it was Bob who suggested Imperial Rome. Drew wanted to play some dirty Gauls and Bob wanted to have his scheming Praetorians. That left me to split the difference and have some veteran Legionaries and their Auxilia who were the remaining survivors of a Praetorian betrayal, and a Gaul slaughterfest.

We were going to start a 99 AD Strike Force Commander campaign, but alas, one of us hasn't painted his troops....and its not me or Drew!

We bought the Warlord Games plastics and were very pleased. I opened my box of Roman Veterans and my half box from the Auxilia plastics Bob & I split. I was armed with a can of Dark Tone dip from the Army Painter. I was resolved that I would get all 11 models I wanted to build for my strike force done in one day.

I started at 8am on a Saturday. I spent more time painting the team than I realized I needed to since the dip takes care of all the shading nuances. I finished painting and applied my last decal about 8 hours later.

I dipped the lot of them and had to wait 24 hours to finish the bases. Factoring out the cure time, my total time for 11 models from start to finish was about 12 hours. My Rome in a day! Or is that Dei? heh heh

I highly recommend the Warlord models and the Army Painter dip. These are gaming pieces and not art pieces, and all told, they look great on the board. Here they are:

The Raven Guard

2011-01-30T15:03:00.000-08:00

Finally, I present the figures we use for our D&D 4th Edition game. Drew is the DM and we have been having a great time taking out bad guys and building our rep as the Raven Guard. So named because we put so many baddies to death that the Raven Queen smiles on us.

First up is Angvar, Son of Tollec. He is a half-elf Ranger who provides the Raven Guard with serious archery support. His people were enslaved by Dark Elves from the Underdark. Now he's on the road looking to purge the world of such evil, and doing a fine job of it.

Next up is Beam, our dwarven cleric of the Raven Queen. He used to serve Bahamut, but through an act of his own cowardice, shunned the Platinum Dragon and turned to the Raven Queen's service. Now Beam provides wicked heals to his team of expert killers.

Jagger Kilmane, Father of Sorrows used to lead a strike team called the Growling Griffons. On their last mission, they were ambushed, captured by Mind Flayers, and Jagger became a thrall to the leader of the Illithid cabal. His evil master put him in the gladiatorial arena of the Underdark where he gained the moniker 'Father of Sorrows'. Now Jagger is the frontline that forms the Raven Guard's advance. Jagger is a half-orc fighter.

Jotan Silverhammer is the Raven Guard's elite forward recon specialist. He is a Dwarf Rogue who finds the fastest way to the jugular of a foe, whether with his magic axe or a wheel dart.

And finally, we have Quan-Bai, the Battleworn Apostate. Quan-Bai is a half-orc monk who turned to the mastery of psionic combat training to defeat his foes. He provides the Raven Guard with additional combat control and quiet insight.

All figures are from Reaper.

Hope you enjoy our badass elite strike team.

Noch Weiter!

Faust

Pics on the way

2011-01-30T00:13:00.000-08:00

I have a lot of stuff I painted before my numb arm issues. Gonna photo them and post 'em sometime today.

Stay tune.

Faust

Numb & Stingy

2011-01-26T23:10:00.000-08:00

So I have a cluster of muscles in my right shoulder that are so totally knotted up that they are causing my entire right arm & hand to go numb.

This has been getting progressively worse over the past few months, and has pretty well shut down my miniatures painting and my drumming.

However, we've (my physical therapist, chiropractor, & massage therapist) have figured out the problem, and are now starting work on it.

However, I did paint up a bunch of stuff over the latter part of last year, and will post pics probably by this weekend.

Stay tuned.

Noch Weiter! (with a numb & stingy arm....)

Faust

Painting again and it feels so good....

2010-07-20T10:43:00.000-07:00

Well, I've got some new stuff I should be able to post by the weekend. I know! Have a gasp that I'm actually putting up pics of new minis!

I finished painting up our D&D 4E party, the Raven Guard - and will have pix of them up first.

I'm painting up some Marauder Miniatures Dark Elves to use for playtesting my Strike Force Commander rules for the Ancient/Medieval period. Using fantasy figs for a historical game is just a guilty pleasure and will give me a ready made force to use when we start playtesting the SciFi/Fantasy rules for SFC later this year.

In the mean time, Drew, Bob & I are ordering some Imperial Romans and Celts from the greatest shop in the world - The Launchpad - to duke it out in Period 1 for SFC with more historical accuracy than Dark Elves bring to the board.

Just an aside, I put together our D&D party in SFC terms and it worked crazy good. Drew put together the Far Striders - a rival group from the campaign - and we threw down. Jotan Silverhammer was the start of the show with his Riposte Trait from his Sword working nicely with his Press the Attack Trait. Stabby-mc-stabby-stab.

Stay tuned for more goodness and mayhem.

Noch Weiter!

Faust

Cool Name Generator

2010-07-10T11:13:00.000-07:00

Pokin' around the net today and found this site:

http://www.seventhsanctum.com/

It's a random name generator. Pretty neat.

More updates on the way.

Noch Weiter!

Faust

STRIKE FORCE COMMANDER PRINTED!!!

2010-06-26T10:09:00.000-07:00

Just when you thought I'd fallen off the earth (well I did, but then I got back on...) here I am to announce that my Historical Man-to-Man skirmish game, Strike Force Commander, was printed into existence by 16 copies last month.

My copyright application is pending, and the boys are currently playtesting it some more, since it's been a couple of re-writes since they got to see the finished product.

So far the feedback is about what I expected, especially since the first printing has nothing fancy looking to it. Pictures and diagrams will come later this year, after I'm convinced that all of the kinks have been worked out of the rules.

Some of the feedback from the playtest group in Reno has been positive and very helpful.

I think this game will please a good cross section of historical gamers and eventually a lot of sci-fi & fantasy players.

I'll be putting up a new SFC blog page to track the game's progress specifically in the near future.

Stay tuned.

Noch Weiter!

Faust

Painting my Hobby Room

2009-11-22T23:23:00.000-08:00

It's going slow, but I'm almost there. I'll update some pics when I get around to it. Sorry this has become a boring non-blog about minis I'm not painting.

Cheers,

Faust

HAPPY HAPPY JOY JOY!!!

2009-10-17T09:13:00.000-07:00

Sorry it's been so long since my last post. Here's an update of the exciting things that I've been doing in the interim.

Comic Con San Diego was great. I met James Purefoy (Solomon Kane), Thomas Jane (Punisher), and most awesomely, Edward James Olmos (Castillo from Miami Vice & Admiral William Adama from Battlestar Galactica)!!! That was July.

August saw me & Babydoll buying a sweet house with a BASEMENT!!! Yes! My own Batcave....

September was the move into the new house and preparation for the Wedding. We had 3 weeks between the time we moved in and the date of the wedding.

October 3rd was the most perfect day of my life. Mrs. Babydoll & I were married and enjoyed the company of our closest friends and family. It was awesome!

We then went on our honeymoon and had an absolute blast. Now we're both back to work and still not entirely unpacked. I'm hoping that tomorrow I can get my hobby room unpacked.

And Mrs. Babydoll sprung a new Drumset on me as well!!! So now I'll be dividing my time between painting, drumming, and my husbandly duties.

I love my life.

I'll post pics when we get them.

Noch Weiter!

Faust

2009-07-21T19:51:00.000-07:00

That's MothBot & me at WonderCon a few years ago. Guess which one is the zombie...

This time tomorrow night we'll be here at FaustHaus getting ready to do a shot of Wild Turkey with Scotty & Q to kick off our 4 day road trip to COMICON 2009!!!

I'm a jittery biotch with a level of excitement that is nigh Olympian!

I'm taking the camera and will report back next week.

Faust

One Week & Counting!!!

2009-07-15T16:29:00.000-07:00

Next week me & the boyz head out to Comicon San Diego. Yes, I would be friggin' excited about that!

Even though I seriously jacked up my knee last week at work, I'll be damned if I ain't gonna go.

Unfortunately, the GI Joe panel is on thursday and we're driving down that day, attending friday & saturday, & driving back sunday. Still, its gonna be sweet.

Faust

Austrians for Sale!!!

2009-07-05T21:40:00.000-07:00

Yup, I need Comicon money, so my Austrian Imperials circa 1580 are up for auction here:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=190319669332

Turn key army that's ready to kick some ass!

Thanks for looking,

Faust

108 Degrees and everyone is dying....

2009-06-28T16:59:00.000-07:00

Well, we lost Ed McMahon, Farrah Faucett, Michael Jackson, and Billy Mays this week! Wow! What an unusually high death rate in the celebrity world.

It's 108 degrees in Lodi right now, and I'm friggin hot. The air conditioner is doing its part, as is my cold Pepsi, and I'm realizing that I haven't updated this thing in over a month.

My bad, I've just been pre-occupied with our new D&D campaign. Me & Dave, Mike, Jim, Drew & the other Bob are havin' a blast with our new 4E campaign. We're all invested in the process & having a great time.

Our cast of heroes is as follows:

Jagger Kilmane, Father of Sorrows -half-orc fighter (me)
Quan Bai, Battleworn Apostate - half-orc monk (Mike)
Jotan Silverhammer - dwarf rogue (Dave)
Beam - dwarf cleric of the Raven Queen (Bob P)
Angvar, son of Tollec - hal-elf ranger (Jim)

Drew - Dungeon Master

In the next couple of weeks I'll have painted up our minis. I'll then post them here with links to our back stories. Your gonna dig it.

Think I'll throw something on the tv now.

Stay cool,

Faust

NO JOY! NO JOY!

2009-05-20T19:21:00.000-07:00

Well, you guessed it. I couldn't finish my damn game. The low pressure kept fatiguing me over the weekend and I lost about 11 hours to a coma fest on the couch.

I hate being weak. One day my UPS shipment will arrive with my Christian Bale body that I ordered back in aught 3 and I'll be right!

So, suffer through more of my useless drivel and unispired non-paint work while I pick away at the Combat Actions chapter of Strike Force Commander.

Looking forward to Terminator Salvation this weekend. Batman with an autorifle makes for an awesome film.....

Oh, and just in case any of you gits want to comment on my posts, oh I don't know, to maybe let me know you're reading this, then you can do so with ease as I opened up the comment section to anybody who wants to leave a pithy quip or mind flayer tentacle dangling from my posts....

I'm gonna eat pizza and watch tv. I'm an expert at that!

Faust

The Final Push!!!

2009-05-15T18:52:00.000-07:00

Yes, that does mean that I'm going to finish Strike Force Commander this weekend. I told Babydoll that it had to be. She agreed. That's why I'm gonna marry her....cuz she gets when a geek's gotta finish his game.

I'll let you know how it goes.

Oh, and while I'm doing that you all had better be going to see Star Trek. Support the Franchise!!!

Faust out!

Serpentor and other Strangeness

2009-05-02T21:46:00.000-07:00

I seriously love the G.I. Joe team. And Serpentor was one of the coolest Cobra characters they made IMO. Here is an example of why...

Now here is an image that will forever stain my soul. God help us all...

Yeah, what a fucked up deal, eh?

So on that note, I'll catch y'all later!

Faust

Final 3 Hours!!!

2009-04-29T18:13:00.001-07:00

Here they are:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&item=190302914040
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&item=190302912946
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&item=190302912431
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=190302913399
Don't miss out!!!

All current auctions!!!

2009-04-23T21:24:00.000-07:00

Here are all the links:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=190302913399

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&item=190302441151

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&item=190302912431

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&item=190302912946

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&item=190302914040

Good Hunting!

Faust

More Auctions!!!

2009-04-22T22:13:00.001-07:00

Check them out gang! I have 4 more auctions up on EBay for your perusal:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&item=190302912431

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&item=190302912946

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&item=190302913399

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&item=190302914040

They are good figs that I'm clearing out to make the final payment on the engagement ring!

Help a brother out & spread the word. Or bid high!!!

Thanks,

Faust

Strike Force Commander turns 3! I turn 39!

2009-04-20T21:24:00.000-07:00

It's April 20th and I'm an old man. I was born 39 years ago this very day. My skirmish game was started 3 years ago to the day. Neither it nor I are published to this day, but that's ok. It's still there, and when my D&D frenzy calms down, I'll start back in.

I spent the day watching my new Justice League Unlimited season 2 dvd and doing not much of anything.

I do have some ebay auctions going up tonight and tomorrow to pay off the rest of the engagement ring. You can see my massive FOW auction here http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&item=190302441151

Other than that, not much to report. I also got a Druid Overseer fig for my birthday and will convert it to be Karnus Hornwrath for our D&D game.

I'll post more when I get more painted.

Faust

Greetings sports fans!!!

2009-04-13T19:16:00.001-07:00

I have been a frakkin' work zombie of late. I've been stressed, depressed, and wholly unfocused on painting much.

But the good news is I'm playing 4th edition D&D! Never thought I'd do that again, but I'm so impressed by the new rules and am so in need of geek game time with other geek gamers that I'm in balls deep.

Yeah, I'm gonna tell you about my character now. Because that's a frakkin' requisite. My first character was an homage to my very first D&D character from the red basic boxed set back in 1982. He was an elf, mainly because I was a skinny little elf kid, named Jen Silverleaf. I then later had a character with AD&D named Greyshade who was an elf magic-user thief. So for 4ed my first character was an Eladrin Rogue who planned on multi-classing into Wizard at 2nd level. I called him Wychwood and gave him a mysterious patron from the Feywild who sends him out as an agent.

Wychwood was meant to be a team game character but I played him with my buddy The Q when he stayed the weekend down here. Wychwood died and was brought back by a raise dead ritual and is now pretty psychologically unstable and fey to boot.

So, for my other campaign, I'm playing a half-orc Druid named Karnus Hornwrath who belongs to the same Feywild order that Wychwood does. He recently sent Wychwood packing back to the Feywild and is now joined with Phariom, Tinbok (his cousin), Gok & Stormfang in search of some elf chick who he'll likely try to hump in his Stagman wild shape.

I painted up a Wychwood fig, but he recently took a tumble off of the gaming table and got chipped up. I think I'll strip him and repaint him. I'm gonna get a Karnus fig this weekend for my birthday and when he's painted I'll post him.

Semper Fi, carry on!

Faust

WATCHMEN

2009-03-09T18:21:00.001-07:00

Go see it. Now. Support the franchise.

What I've painted lately & my special project revealed!

2009-02-08T20:54:00.000-08:00

Well, its been a hectic month. Work has picked up considerably and I've been pretty wiped out. However, I've been poking here and there at my figures and here's what I've done in the past several weeks.

My first announcement is that my secret project is my Blue Moon Spacemen with bubble helmets. I converted their pulp style weapons into real guns and am using them for my Traveller ship crew.

The color schemes are different for each member of the crew. Command & Control is red; Science is blue; and Engineering is yellow/gold. Yes, inspired by Star Trek. Go with what works I say.

This is before the addition of the bubble helment. Here's a tip, use a non CA glue for the helmets. I used CA and the damn helmet started to fog up.

I'll probably have to pop the helmet, shave it down some more and re-attach it with tacky glue. Wish I had've thought about that first.

Here's some more finished Thirty Years' War Imperialists starting with the Cuirassier on foot and followed by the pikeman converted to a Pistolier.

And finally a pic of all three Imperialists together ready to defend the Habsburg Dynasty!

Well, that's all for now. Gotta start the big auctions soon for Project Engagement Ring. Painted FOW Fallschirmjager, DBA Germans & Austrians to sell off. Stay tuned!

Project Engagement Ring!!!

2009-01-26T23:18:00.000-08:00

Here's the scoop: I've been pouring all of my money into my professional practice for the past two years and have not purchased an engagement ring for my Babydoll. This is no longer acceptable to me, so I'm selling everything I have to in order to raise the funds to get us officially engaged.

Here are the first of a slew of great auctions.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&item=190282851155

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&item=190282853080

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&item=190282854337

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&item=190282855241

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&item=190282856172

Please spread the word!

Faust

Got the flu and feeling blue

2009-01-26T10:13:00.000-08:00

I feel icky. I'm afraid to fart. Got some kinda stomach flu that's giving me the trots. So, I'm home today taking care of myself and staying within striking distance of my toilet.

Yeah, you probably didn't need to hear that, but part of you is mildly amused anyway...

Maybe I'll go upstairs and continue painting on my spacemen and TYW figs. Maybe I won't. Feeling kinda mentally blah as well as physically blah.

I'm happy with the way the minis are looking so far, now I just need to finish them.

I've decided on a name for my space crew: Captain Judge and the crew of the Final Verdict.
Yeah, its cheeseball, but it should sound cooler when the whole 11 man/woman unit is finished.

I'll have to get off my ass and finish Strike Force Commander so I can use them to playtest the Epic Heroes Sci-fi/Fantasy/Pulp supplement.

Well, for today I'll just remove any and all expectations of myself and enjoy the day as best as my bowels will let me.

Lazy day at home

2009-01-19T15:46:00.000-08:00

This is the first time in my life that I have been able to have Martin Luther King, Jr. day off with pay! Wowweee!

So, here I am on the couch having just awakened from a big fat nap. Oh, what a joy indeed! Earlier I watched Shoot 'Em Up! for the first time. What a ridiculously AWESOME action movie! It is so over the top that you just have to roll with it. Definitely made for guys. Chicks will get radiation burns from touching the remote if they watch this movie.

Speaking of chicks, me and Babydoll went to Reno this weekend to see our friends and just hang out. We had a great time as usual. Now I'm just a couch warmer.

I'm having a mad debate as to whether or not I should lay here and surf the net or go upstairs and paint my TYW figs and spacemen conversions. I should shower as I stink. I should also walk the dog, as I promised her I would. But all of that would mean I would need to get my lazy ass off of this sofa.

I just finished an awesome book by Eric Flint called 1632. My friend Roman turned me on to the series. I'm now starting a David Edding's book with Sparhawk that my brother Q turned me on to. I've been reading more fiction of late than probably ever before. I have too much real world shite in my head and I guess I need to balance it out.

I had a 45 second urge the other day to play D&D. It then soon passed. Wierd.

I'm having some angst over painting my Blue Moon Spacemen conversions. I decided to paint them in three different color groups and tie them together with their equipment harness and oxygen tank colors of a dark brushed metal. I went with Red for Command & Control, Blue for Sciences, and Dark Yellow/Gold for Engineering. Yes I lifted it straight from Star Trek, and I have no shame about it either. I'm in an artistic panic because I like my units to look uniform, and I don't take artistic chances ever! I mean ever!

Well, gonna go shower and walk the dog. Might even put on some clothes....

I am not a number! I'm a FREE MAN!!!

2009-01-15T19:57:00.000-08:00

Well, I've had one helluva week thus far. I've been non stop at work, kinda like the Punisher : Warzone movie. I'm utterly fried. I have no motivation to do any game writing or painting right now, even though I'm pretty damn close to finishing my current additional 5 thirty years war models that I have on the desk.

I'm also working on 11 models of a special project that has me nervous because I'm taking what I consider an 'artistic' risk. I don't take 'artistic risks' because I'm really not that creative when it comes to my paint work. My technique may be solid, but my ability to paint outside the box is fairly limited. I am attracted to realistic paint jobs on my figs, even if they are sci-fi or fantasy miniatures.

So this secret project is a real chance taker for me! I'll reveal it only when all 11 models are finished.

Now take a moment of silence to observe the passing of Patrick McGoohan who died Tuesday. His series The Prisoner is one of the best shows I've ever watched. ..........................................

Moment complete.

Be seeing you!

Faust

Judge

2009-01-08T18:59:00.000-08:00

Some years ago my little brother Alan and I were playing in a D&D 3rd edition game set in Greyhawk. I decided to play a Cleric of Cuthbert who was bald, wore heavy armor, and wielded a warhammer. Yeah, sure I was influenced by Warrior Priests of Sigmar from Warhammer, but what's a geek gonna do?

I called him Judge and he was a stern eyed badass. Sure, he was low level but he carried his balls in one hand and his hammer in the other. He had an Iron Cross branded or tattooed on his forhead (I don't remember which). Cuthbert's holy symbol was an equilateral cross and wearing it on his forehead was a lifestyle choice...

I attempted to make a suitable miniature of Judge, and was very close to finishing one, but just didn't quite get there for my taste. I ended up creating a Black Templar Chaplain that I named Judge and took a mild Eternal Champion attitude about this bald bastard who leveled evil to save Mankind, all the while chastizing Mankind for its lazy ineptitude! Not a very well liked guy, but then again, neither is the Punisher.

Here's Chaplain Judge in the flesh:

So this is the last piece of my Black Templars remaining. Haven't played in years, didn't like the new rules, yada yada....couldn't sell him off. He's like an alter ego for me. Sold the rest of the army, but not Judge.

While I like the look of the new Warhammer Empire Warrior Priest with Greathammer, I still need a real Judge model I can call my own. Something for Fantasy in addition to what I have for Sci-Fi.

The other day I was surfing miniature sites, since I had a big, busy day at work and lacked any psychological strength whatsoever upon returning home. So in my surfing I discovered a miniature range by Gamezone Miniatures that is pretty hit and miss, IMO, on its coolness factor.

The chaos knights are wicked cool and remind me of the original GW Warhammer Chaos Knights. Some of the other figs are so so. The Silvanus models are gorgeous, and I will have to use them as Wardancers at some point.

But for me, the coup de grace was finding Judge. In fact, he's even cooler than I thought. Now he's mounted, so I still need to get the GW one on foot and model him up a bit, but this guy is the cat's ass!!!

He's the bomb and a half! That hammer says 'AMEN' on the side of it. I sure wish I had thought of that when I created Judge back in that D&D game.

He's on his way from FRP Games right now. He's the last miniature I'm going to buy until I get my sweetheart an engagement ring.

Go forth and smash your way to victory!

Faust

Just finished my first 30 Years' War mini!

2008-12-25T16:58:00.000-08:00

Well, it's probably been a year or more since I picked up my paint brush. I'm painting up two strike forces for the Early Modern Period for my Strike Force Commander game, and decided I was not going to get too detailed. I figured, pun intended, that my days of highly detailed, painstaking paint jobs was no longer in my personal bag of interests. I was wrong.

I will take some photos after dinner to show you my first 28mm TYW Imperialist captain. It's too windy right now to top coat him, plus we're having company over for dinner and I don't wanna fume up the place.

I tried a new eye painting technique. I'm a harsh critic when it comes to eyes. It seems too few painters paint the eyelids and then have models that look perpetually horror struck. Better to just paint a dark slit in that case.

This time I did the eyes, primarily because they were sculpted in correctly on the model. After they dried, I not only painted in the eyebrows, though you'll never really see them, and then took a very thin wash of flesh color and sunk it over the whites and pupils. Its probably the most realistic set of eyes I've ever painted, since you wouldn't see a real person with huge whites staring at you from 100 feet away...

I'm doing Imperialists and Swedes for these two forces. The connective color for the Impi's will be red of course, and I'm doing some Blue brigade colors for the damn dirty Swedes.

I guess if I like a mini, I can't do a quick and dirty paint job on it.

Gotta eat some Christmas dinner, be back in a bit.

Faust

TIME TO PAINT!!!

2008-12-21T16:31:00.000-08:00

Well, its about time I picked up the brush and had a go. I'm currently in the heat of a 30 Years' War fetish and busted out all of my Foundry TYW pikemen & leaders. I also ordered some Perry ECW musketeers to use as well. All in all Wallenstein is in the hizzie!

I also picked up a Rackham Kelt Centaur fig and my Babydoll got me a box of GW Beastmen for Christmas. Thanks Babydoll! So, not being happy with the GW Centigor models, I decided to convert my own.

I also didn't get too enthused about the TYW leader models from foundry, since they weren't carrying enough sword and pistol combos for my Strike Force Commander taste. So, out came the bitz box with the old Mordheim sprue bitz and viola! arms with guns. Some snipping and filing later and I had some officers with big fuggin' horse pistols and sabres ready for some storming party action.

My favorite conversion though was the Cuirassier officer on foot. He had an empty left hand, and I filled it with a single, handless pistol at first. However, the arm angle didn't look natural. I used some Empire Knights arm piece and did a complete conversion with a better angle. Now he can be my unhorsed Cuirassier that is leading an Imperialist forlorn hope skirmishing line.

I also added a sword and pistol combo to a fig that was waving his hat. Can't shoot Catholics with a hat, I always say, so I converted him into a Lutheran Swede!

I'm painting away to my heart's content. The final version of SFC is on hold, since I've had a period of writer's block. I'll do some figure work instead and still be moving the project forward.

Noch Weiter!

Faust

Weekend of Awesome Coolness and Delight

2008-11-11T08:27:00.000-08:00

OR God its good to have the friends I have.

My Babydoll & I drove up to Reno this past weekend to see our friends. I spent all day Saturday with my Boyz. We hung out and played pool, then went over to Q's pad and played Rock Band.

Now, as a drummer of 16 years I must say that playing drums on Rock Band is nothing like the real thing. In fact, I did better on vocals than on drums by a damn sight.

Thanks go out to Q for hosting. He lives in the apartment that is above the one I lived in when I was there from 2005-2006. Funny co-incedence that. It was so weird to drive up there.

All in all I had the best time in a long time hanging with my adopted brothers Scott, Gib, Matt (Q), Alan, Chas (WebOgre), & Joe.

Traveling with Babydoll is always the best time. I'm truly a joyous soul these days.

Unfortunately, the tragedy of the trip was when I broke my radio controlled Batmobile. Snapped the steering wheel off on a paving stone. Gotta pop the thing open and see if it can be fixed.

All told, it was a deeply rejuvenating trip with no talk of work or my game at any point. Just good time spent with great friends.

Noch Weiter!

Faust

WOO HOOO!!!

2008-10-25T18:16:00.000-07:00

So, I got a new job with a salary. What a relief! Now I'll be able to leave my job at work, and get some hobby stuff done. I can't tell you how happy that makes me.

I have been on straight commission for two years and am done with that. Now we'll be able to get on with life.

Happy happy joy joy...

Long days and once again, no time to paint...

2008-10-07T17:37:00.000-07:00

So, the other day it occurred to me that I'm not busier than usual, I'm just always busy! Now this is a good thing, but it is also a tough mill to tread. However, the world around me is not slowing down, so I have to keep pace.

That leaves me in a lurch for modeling and painting. Whinge, whinge, whinge....

Sorry I'm so boring.

I have to say, though, that I did get a few hours in on the laptop finishing what should be the core rules final edit of Strike Force Commander.

Seems like I've said that before. It's probably gonna be over 120 pages when finished. But it should be awesome.

I'm especially looking forward to buying some Seven Years' War Hussars like those on Der Alte Fritz' blogsite and get the foot variants of them for SFC. That would be lovely.

I'm going to go ice my back.

Noch Weiter!

Faust

Truly inspiring!

2008-09-29T19:40:00.001-07:00

So, I've been bitten by the Seven Years' War bug as I might've mentioned here before. While I'm still learning about all of the regiments/uniforms/and battles, there is one cat whose work on SYW is truly inspiring; his web handle is Der Alte Fritz and he's awesome.

I don't know him personally, and may never get to know him better than what I see on his site or read on his threads on TMP, but his SYW dedication and mastery is the epitome of this hobby, IMO.

He's the Barry Hilton of the Seven Years' War. Go check him out http://altefritz.blogspot.com/

God bless you Der Alte Fritz. Hip Hip Hussar!!!

Faust

So tired I can't lift my arms...

2008-09-25T17:00:00.000-07:00

I just finished 12 hours of paperwork, interrupted by 6 hours of sleep in the middle. I'm spent. Plus, I started weight lifting again two days ago and my damn arms are killing me!

So, I'm just whining. But I'm too fried mentally to write any more SFC, and my arms hurt too much to hold a figure for painting purposes.

Not sure why I'm writing this, but there you just read it.

Faust

Morning thoughts and eldritch ramblings...

2008-09-11T10:06:00.000-07:00

I'm having a slow morning. The low pressure system is making my head feel like I stuck it in a vice and have Billy Barty jumping up and down on it.

I've been working long hours and getting lots of real world stuff done, but nothing on the gaming end.

As I nursed my head with a hot cup of joe, I took a little 'me' time and surfed my usual miniatures haunts online. I found myself looking at the Games Workshop main page and my guts churned a bit.

Warhammer 3rd edition is where I got my first taste of wargaming proper. Yes, I admit, before I got in touch with my Humanity I was a nancy Wood Elf player. Hell, I was 6' tall and weighed 135 pounds soaking wet; which makes for one skinny elfling. I was intellectual and agile to boot, so Elfdom made sense. I fondly remember Scarloc's Wood Elf Archers as my first Warhammer boxed set. Thrilling that was.

But I digress. Games Workshop had my loyalty and pocketbook for the next 19 years. I sold more of the GW product line in my time in the hobby shop business than any other item or line. I was even an Outrider. Ahhh the halcyon years!

But now I won't touch 'em. Nope. Not a drop. Why? Simple economics: Low product value and high cost. I have no problem with paying heavy coin for a beautiful miniature. I have a big problem doing the same for a guy who is posed in the most unnatural position so some 12 year old has an easier time of lopping off his arm and gluing it to something else. Frankly, I'm like a former cigarette smoker who has quit the habit for years; I'm more disgusted by it than someone who never inhaled.

I am a Black Templar. But I sold mine off because of GW's sad drift from the position of leadership they used to be. There have only been a couple of minis in the past few years that look anatomically correct to me, and that's not enough to grab my wallet.

As you'll see below, some of their finer works are going on my desk from years gone by. Jes Goodwin & Juan Diaz are superstars in my book, so their figs are on my desk. But for the rest of my purchases, I've gone over to Heresy, Hasslefree, Infinity, Urban Mammoth, and Blue Moon. They are still trying to compete, and therefore have not become complacent.

Well, enough GW bashing from a guy who never thought he would. Growing up is a bitch...

Noch Weiter!

Game designing for fun and profit

2008-08-26T20:09:00.000-07:00

I'll be frank, when I started Strike Force Commander over two years ago, I didn't think I would still be writing. Of course, I was just gonna write a simple WWII skirmish game, and then realized that if I did it correctly, I'd have an 'all periods' product. Hence, the extra time in production...

Now, granted, I have a lot of other important things to do, and writing a game is what I consider my 'part time job'. Some days I get more time than others, and finally, I see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Along the way I have had to make some decisions that have expanded and narrowed the scope of the game. All told, I'm extremely proud of what I'll be offering, and really do think it will be a breath of fresh air for gamers everywhere.

In the mean time, I just keep plugging along.

Noch Weiter!

Faust

Back in the saddle again!!!

2008-07-26T13:44:00.000-07:00

Well, I've been a busy bastard of late. Actually, those of you who know me know that I'm always a busy bastard. However, I'm recommitting myself to the wargaming hobby in an attempt to reduce my stress level and avoid a heart attack.

Strike Force Commander is still in playtest, but going at a slow pace. Chas & Joe have been on vacation and Scott and I have had some solid development discussions in their absence.

My idea to do a Sci-fi/Fantasy expansion as my first release after the game itself has taken over my wracked brain. I've dug out all of my Traveller books and am reading The Butcher's Bill by David Drake at present. Hovertanks kick ass! Yes, I have serious Sci-fi brain.

The Dark Knight was flawless and I saw it 3 times in a row last friday. Bale was perfection in and out of the suit. He really showed his ability to shift between the two roles without the costume.

A couple weeks ago I dropped 200 bucks on figs. It had been awhile and I had sold off a gob of VS Sytem cards & Heroclix figures, since I rarely play either anymore. My intent was to buy Seven Years' War Austro-Hungarians and Prussians to use for SFC....

Well, did I say I have Traveller on the brain? I bought 12 models per side of the SYW armies listed above and the rest of the money I blew on non-Games Workshop sci-fi minis.

I bought the Spacemen from Blue Moon Manufacturing, 3 Infinity Nomad infantry, 3 Infinity Haqquislam infantry, 2 Urban Mammoth/Void Viridian characters, and 3 Rackham Duellists that will double as Traveller Imperial Nobles. Yeah, I went kinda nuts.

I dug out my remaining GW figs that consist of IG Cadians, some Inquisitors and some SM Scouts, all in metal. Now I need to buy one of the new plastic scout boxes to use with a Cadian Shock Trooper sprue or two to make uber cool conversions.

I've also had a real resurgence of my need to play a SFC skirmish with Wood Elf Wardancers....god I've fallen off the wagon.

So much for a guy who swore off anything but historicals, eh?

Well, here are a few snap shots of the figs I've put together. Notice the wild idea I got to make grilled flooring for the scifi figs using wooden rounds as bases with plastic needlepoint canvas sheeting for the flooring. I was pretty proud of the idea and how cheap it was. I have since seen that its not an original idea as some dude used the same stuff for his scifi building interior flooring. Why do I even try to be original?

Well, I'm gonna sign off for now. Check out the pix below and my two Ebay auctions that are really good deals for the money.

Noch Weiter!

Faust

Strike Force Commander turns two!!!

2008-04-21T10:19:00.000-07:00

On April 20th 2006 (my birthday) I drafted my first document for the game that would become Strike Force Commander. Yesterday, I turned 38 and SFC turned 2.

As it turns out, I loaded my Publisher program on Friday and have been farting around with that. Pretty cool stuff. Now I'm getting ready to start an official re-write and add some new sections as well.

Joe can't turn off the Warp Field he wears that fries electronics, so he can't download my latest revisions so he and Scott can play with the new rules. Chas & Dan got theirs just fine, so I'm certain it's Joe's Warp Field that's doing it. Chas will have to use his Tech Priest powers to fix Joe's problem.

I recently discovered the .45 Adventure/Gloire/Fantastic Worlds Pulp skirmish games. Seriously, if I hadn't already put so much time and testing into SFC I might've just played with those rules instead. Rattrap Productions has done a bangup job.

There are some similarities between our games, in that we both use d10's, emphasize 'feel' of the periods, have clean mechanics, and go for the man-to-man level of action. Their rules are more cinematic and pulp fiction in their approach and mine are brutally realistic. For example, when a man gets shot in one of those games, he'll probably still keep fighting; while in mine, he's probably a pile of bone & guts.

I think once SFC hits the shelves, people will have a good choice between cinematic and gritty realism between our two rule sets alone.

Happy Birthday Strike Force Commander!

Painter's Block

2008-04-06T12:32:00.000-07:00

Well, guess what? I have painter's block. I have some primed & base coated cowboys from Foundry sitting on my table and absolutely no interest in painting them.

I have some cool Artizan Fallschirmjager sitting on my table and not an ounce of interest in painting them.

I have some sweet looking Landsknecht conversions from Foundry with GW bits added that are sitting on my table, and I have no interest in painting them.

If I had someone close by, I'd play some Heroclix. But alas and forsooth, I'm stuck here writing a blog that nobody reads. And I have no desire to paint.

27 years of painting and modelling wargame miniatures does that too you I guess...

Strike Force in Hand

2008-02-27T23:16:00.000-08:00

Well, the boys have their playtest copies. Joe already started in on his Stigmata routine, complaining that I used his name too much in the examples....

Just when I thought his martyrdom was over, he had to go reminding me again. We had a good laugh about that. And he calls me a drama queen! LOL

So, anyway, just working my butt off and making small corrections to the game here & there.

I assembled and based 15 Landsknect figs the other day. Looking forward to painting them sometime in June I reckon...

Scotty, Joe, & Chas have given initial blessings on the rules. Awaiting further playtest results.

Faust out.

Alpha & Omega

2008-02-06T09:45:00.000-08:00

On April 20th, 2006 I started writing a squad level skirmish miniatures wargame I called Sturmgruppe. On February 5th, 2008 I finished the Alpha test ruleset for Strike Force Commander.

My game has changed quite a bit since I started out. What was intended to be a WWII game turned out to be a historical skirmish game that can be used for any time period. It's not 'generic'; in fact it has quite a lot of flavor that will bring your games to life. Besides, we all know that its the miniatures and scenery that set the flavor and feel of the game. Rules are just there to provide a method for moving your toy soldiers around and taking your buddy's minis out of play.

SFC is a balance of playability and realism. When models get shot or stabbed, they do what real people do; they fall down. It's a whole new day in skirmish gaming. I'm very proud of it.

So, now I have a set of Alpha test rules for my playtesters to sink their fangs into. I'll keep plugging away, though at a slower pace, to fill out the rest of the rules.

I'll set up a website and allow others to down load the rules and playtest it for themselves, thereby opening the circle of feedback.

It's been a long journey over the past couple of years. But I will say this; there is a deep seated satisfaction to finishing the bulk of this game. It is my best writing work in this genre, and I hope others will enjoy playing it as much as I do.

Noch Weiter!

Faust

Writing Writing Writing

2008-01-27T17:43:00.000-08:00

You know how it is. You have all of this hobby shizzle you want to do, but busting your ass for money takes precedence. So, I am waaaaay behind in a number of fronts. But simultaneously, I'm still making serious progress on writing my skirmish game, Strike Force Commander.

Chas, Joe, & Scotty are being patient, but I know that they wanna have a go again on the playtesting.

I was doing just fine on my time table until something Scott said at our last playtest in December took root in my mind. I said to them that I had over 50 Traits to modify troops with. Scott said I needed more. He was right; now I have 103. Not to mention a buttload of Weapon Traits. I also filled out combat some more with Mounted fighting and Elevated position rules.

I've been writing pretty non-stop for the past two days. That's no exaggeration either. I've been balls deep in finishing this thing.

Well, break's over. Gotta get back to writing about the Orders phase....

Faust

Fix Bayonets!!!

2007-11-12T10:22:00.000-08:00

Yeah, I finally got bit by the 18th Century gaming bug. It was really unavoidable.

It started with my deep seated love of the American War of Independence, being a Yank & all. Then it flanked me with my love of all things Holy Roman Empire/Austria-Hungary. Then it finally busted a .75 calibre round into my ass with the age of Marlborough & Eugene of Savoy putting the pain to the French. And don't forget that one of my Hall of Fame movies is the Last of the Mohicans....

So, with my continued, but slow, writing of Strike Force Commander, I was finally tempted to start formally reading about the period. The War of the Spanish Succession is cool. Way cool. And I'm a sucker for Tricorne hats!

So, I don't know when I'll get some figs & paint them, but I'm feverishly writing SFC so I can get a playtest group together and maybe get a published game out next year.

Fix Bayonets!

Faust

Attack of the WebOgre!

2007-10-14T21:31:00.000-07:00

Well, I was over joyed when my brother Chas crawled over the Sierra Nevada Mountain range to spend the weekend with me and my Babydoll.

It's been some months since we got to hang, and we had a blast. He was gonna go to a Flames of War tourney that was advertised as being on Saturday in Sacramento, but the game store that was hosting didn't have it down until Sunday.

Needless to say, we canvassed the Bay Area & the Central Valley for cool hobby shops/game/comic stores. Turns out the places that had what we wanted were right in my back yard of Sacramento. Viking Hobby is awesome. Jessica & Mark do a great job with the place and are always great to talk to. We highly recommend them. And, many issues of Wargames Soldier & Strategy later, me & the Ogre drove back to Lodi to playtest Strike Force Commander.

We had a great time, determined the game, thus far, is really balanced, and discussed ways to improve on the rules. Now I have more typing to do. But having a sweet ruleset to play any time period is highly motivating.

Then, sadly, this morning the WebOgre hustled back over the hill.

I had a great weekend. Thanks, Bro!

Busier than a Whore on Dollar Night!

2007-10-08T12:35:00.001-07:00

Yes, strange things are happening in my world. I'm really focused on other things of greater import than my hobbies.

So, I'll know more in the next week or two and will let you all know. In the mean time, keep at it and so forth.

Faust

How real is real?

2007-07-30T11:36:00.000-07:00

Well, I've been sitting around painting my Fallschirmjager & missing my BabyDoll. She's in Vegas at a trade show, and I'm here with Memphis our Golden Retriever. We're both bummed. She's tearing to shit any stuffed animal she can find, and I'm feverishly painting 13 FJ in tropical camo. I've also rewatched the entire Band of Brothers series, The Eagle has Landed, Black Hawk Down, We Were Soldiers, and a drum instructional dvd by master player Steve Smith. Yes, we miss our BabyDoll...

I'm finished with the 7 or 8 stages of layering, highlighting, inking, & relayering, when I reach that final point last night where a decision had to be made.

I finished watching Black Hawk Down and went to bed. I've got work to do at the office at 1pm, so here I sit, writing this for lack of anything better to do.

Anyway, enough whinging.

Every well painted Splinter B pattern German FJ camo job I've seen does something that doesn't make any sense to me except that its done for effect. That is, the green lines or hash marks that cover most of the smock are painted to be visible on a 28mm mini's smock, but I think this is incorrect.

The effect of taking a man wearing pattern B and shrinking him down to 28mm would mean that we would lose a lot of details that we could see at full size. That being said, the small, thin green hash marks would go to. We wouldn't be able to see them at that size. Moreover, the overall effect would be to slightly 'haze' the beige smock color.

Since my aforementioned BabyDoll has the camera with her in Vegas, I can't very well show you what effect I'm talking about, but I've managed to capture it on my figs.

"Well you're just saying that cuz you can't paint 'em that small" says the Mushroom Man in the back of the room. Listen, I can paint the warts on a Gnat's ass. I can certainly paint tiny green lines on beige color. I just happen to think that it isn't realistic looking when considered in that size.

So, with nods of support for every guy and gal out there who have painted visible lines in 28mm, I must contend that it doesn't represent what IMO, Splinter B would look like up close at that scale.

With this in mind, I also noticed that there is a much larger area of beige on the figs that have the lines, than on mine, which looks proportionally closer to the actual camouflage smock in real life.

Of course, this could just all be in my head. Anyway, work progresses on the baker's dozen I'm painting. I'll likely be finished with them by the end of the week, when my BabyDoll returns and brings with her the camera.

So, I'll post a new poll about lines or no lines.

Multi-tasking!

2007-07-21T19:07:00.000-07:00

Well, as it would happen I have two concurrent projects running through my head, as though I didn't already have enough to do with work, writing Strike Force Commander, and spending time with my hot honey.

So, I ordered the 1644 ruleset from Foundry. I gave the old copy to WebOgre and this new updated version is simply tits. So, me and the boys are gonna give it a whirl and use our copious amounts of unpainted Testudo minis that are lying about. We dig the shizzle out of Thirty Years War. So we're testing different Figure to Base ratios to come up with something that looks awesome and still uses a format close to the basing standards set forth in the book.

What you see above is the ratio we'll be using. On each infantry base 20mmx20mm, we'll have two foot figs; or 4 for a 20x40mm base. On each 20mm wide x 40mm deep base will be one cavalry fig. Works for us.

Above that photo is my other obsession: Fallschirmjager in 28mm for Strike Force Commander games set in the Mediterranean theatre. I dig the scheissen out of Operation Husky and will be building some Sicily/Italy terrain in the near future.

What you see are some horrid photos I took as they got the first part of their splinter camo added today. I'm working on all 13 at the same time. A bit daunting, but at least the paint isn't wasted and the look is consistent.

Well, that's about it for today. I have worked out some wriggling details for SFC and am ready to start writing the Close Combat section. More to do, more to do....

Fallschirmjager

2007-07-08T22:26:00.000-07:00

Well, tonight I base painted my 13 Fallschirmjager figs. 12 are by Artizan, & the Flamethrower is by Foundry.

No pics, but I'll be sure to show them off once they're finished. It was nice to get back to my meditative painting. It's nice to still my mind with my longest running hobby.

Also put up some Empire Cavalry units for sale on ebay today. You can find the links on the sidebar to your right.

G'night.

Finally!

2007-07-05T21:37:00.000-07:00

I picked up the paint brush for the first time in over a year. I had some touch up work to do on my Empire Knights before I put them on Ebay, so out came the paints and brush this afternoon. Wow, I'm out of practice.

I finished my touch ups for the new photos, which I have below, and quickly shifted over to an exacto knife. I have noticed I'm not as nimble with that either. I must be getting old.

However, I managed to scrape, buff, and prep 13 Artizan Fallschirmjager minis in 28mm for my Strike Force Commander game playtesting. I reckon I should have some stuff painted up for next time so the boys can't break my balls anymore.

I also broke out the can of matte clear coat and sprayed two minis that were giving me the shiny trouble. Then I re-shot photos of them, so they appear below as well.

Now back to typing my game. Gonna be tasty. That's all I can say.

Faust

Strike Force Commander

2007-06-18T15:14:00.000-07:00

Well, here I sit at the office, waiting for an appointment to get under way. I decided that I could dash off a few notes to update the world at large of my progress on my skirmish game Strike Force Commander.

When I say "skirmish" I do not mean Company Level game where my units move in Skirmish Formation. I actually mean, Small unit game of individual minis moving about the board fighting a small skirmish against other small enemy units.

See, most modern Company level games I see describe themselves as "skirmish" games, when in fact they are whole battle games that simulate full engagements between sizeable forces, not smaller skirmishes between a few combatants.

That being said, I noticed a need for a playable set of historical skirmish rules. Most WW2 skirmish rules I've seen are down right unplayable, unless you are an accountant. Since I'm the kind of guy who wants to have a good, tense, game in under 45 minutes, I decided to fill that niche with my own design. And so, SFC was born.

My current plan is to have the rules finished this year for release next year. I will have the main rule book that will also have competitive strike force lists for tournament play (yes, I said tournament), and then later there will be campaign books for the three different eras/periods that I'm covering. The eras are Ancient/Medieval, Early Modern, & Modern Warfare.

I have yet to see a set of skirmish rules focused on tournament play. Most are campaign based. SFC will let you build a force that is badass and can be played right out of the gate, instead of having to start small & build up like a campaign. I like both, but wanted to be clear that both are great options.

I recently noticed that Warhammer Historicals will be releasing Legends of the High Seas. Undoubtedly a Legends of the Old West variant for Pirates & Swashbucklers. This has motivated me to get my ass in high gear and get SFC published before WH makes a skirmish game for all of the cool periods.

Since I don't get paid to sit around and write games, I'll be getting back to work...

Valhalla

2007-06-04T21:45:00.000-07:00

My sweetheart and I spent the weekend with our Landsknecht re-enactment guild at Valhalla Renaissance Faire. See my sidebar links for St. Maximilian's guild website.

We had a great time and I spent most of it banging on Donner, the guild drum. I play regular drums and was invited to play for the guild and learn our march beat this weekend. By the third procession I had it down and was quite at home in my puff & slash pounding away as the soldats behind me shouted "Noch Weiter!" in unison. Thanks to Tom for helping me learn the march.

Cool shit.

We'll be up there again this weekend. If you are dropping by please say hi. Ask for 'Anton' which is my character's name.

Oh yeah, nothing painted as usual. Tune in next time. Maybe I'll paint up some Landsknecht in 28mm....

Faust

Works in progress; or, why I have nothing new to show you.

2007-05-28T18:44:00.000-07:00

So, its been awhile since I've painted anything. In fact, its been over a year. I have an excuse: one hot girlfriend. Well, and that we moved states and started new careers. So, I'm a bit tapped.

However, my free time has really been filled with writing my Historical Skirmish game Strike Force Commander. I want to publish it in 2008, preferably prior to Historicon.

So, between writing that and reading stuff pertinent to it, I've been out of the painting loop. However, with my new found interest in putting brush to pewter, I'll be starting up again. Only this time it will be for my own game, rather than to play someone else's. That's deeply satisfying.

I'll likely only contribute commentary to this site infrequently. I'd rather let pictures of my minis do the talking.

Faust

So it begins

2007-05-28T17:34:00.000-07:00

Well, I'll admit, I'm not too hip with the blogging thing. My brother, WebOgre, suggested it though, since it seems the other gits who paint minis are doing it too. Since I've yet to get any decent market share of the Internet for this sort of thing, he thought it might be a good idea.

Since WebOgre is full of good ideas, I figured it was time. I also finally figured out how to create some not-half-bad photos of my figures.

So, enjoy. And don't bitch too much.

Faust