Brink of Battle!

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

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!

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!

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!!!

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

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

Traveller Imperial Marines

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

Please wait

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Final purchases on the horizon

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

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!!!

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.