Win a signed copy of Tribes of Legend

   
 

My first 'official' prize giveaway!!!

Well today is a very special day indeed! It's a leap year and so we get to experience the delights of the 29th of February. It also means my good friend Mr Chaos Space Marine actually has an birthday for once! Yep he was born in a leap year on the 29th!!! Unlucky, as this means all his mates have a legitimate reason normally not to buy him a drink or any presents most years. Sadly this year that excuse is removed. So happy birthday buddy. As it's a special day though I've decided to try something a bit different for this here Blog. The lovely guys over at Foundry Miniatures were kind enough to give me a brand spanking new copy of Jake Thornton's 'Tribes of Legends' game to give away to one of you lucky lot. Jake was also kind enough to vandalise his own pristine creation with his autograph, so yep it's a signed copy.

Frontline Painter: Maagaan Warlock of Baalor WIP 2 (Flesh and inner cloak)

   
   

He looks alright so far... but getting to this point? Phew!

So my first WIP on this miniature was a bit of a beast. For that I apologise, but I really do believe that the first thing to painting a good miniature is good prep work. So sure maybe I went over the top a bit, but if you think that was bad you should wait and see what I do with the the painting guide!!! Firstly before you start painting you need to get yourself a pot of 'dirty' water to clean your brushes and a pot of 'clean' water to thin your paints down.Plus what ever mixing palette you use, be that a tile, a mixing palette or even a wet palette.

Foundry open day

  

Well on saturday the 25th of February 2012, myself and the Cursed decided we really ought to trek over to Nottingham for the Foundry open day. Primarily because we lead sad lives devoid of any real meaning or purpose... nah it's because we're geeks and we like toy soldiers. Although some might argue, and with some merit, that they are indeed the very same thing. The reason for our excursion though was that Jake Thornton was running intro's of his new game for them, Tribes of Legend. As I'd been having discussion's with him, on and off now for months, about issues we both have with various rule sets I thought it would be really interesting to see how he dealt with the issues he'd identified as being of concern to him. Plus it was a chance to play with toy soldiers, which is always good.

Who are Foundry Miniatures?

Foundry Miniatures is one of those gaming companies that you've probably never heard of, or half remember from a brief conversation with some old guy at a gaming club with an impressive beard. Most gamers of my generation won't have heard of them at all, although they've actually been in existence for quite some time. They were founded in 1976 by Bryan Ansell, not 12 months after Games Workshop were themselves were founded by John Peake, Steve Jackson and Ian Livingston. So they themselves are a venerable old beast of a company, who must have been doing something right all those years to have actually survived as they have. Like Games Workshop, and indeed much of the British based wargames firms, Foundry Miniatures are based in Nottingham, also like many other manufacturers of miniatures in the area they too have a little bit of an incestuous relationship with the Lenton Lane Behemoth.

Sunday Sermon: Profanity and self censorship

  

  

 

Sometimes I find censorship funnier and more effective than swearing any wall... now go lick my *BLEEP*'s

 
Well last weeks Sermon was a bit of a beast, sorry about that, so this weeks Sermon will be a little bit shorter. This particular Sunday Sermon is brought to you via an article I read on the House of Paincakes, who gave me my spark of inspiration. You see I've covered the subject of profanity before on my Blog, when I wrote my Is Anger a Gift article in response to GMort at the House of Paincakes funnily enough. But in that article I did only very briefly touch on swearing, cursing or profanity, or whichever term you prefer. It focused more on general offensiveness of which profanity is but one aspect. I think though it's an interesting topic for discussion where Blogging is concerned, because as I pointed out in Lauby's 'musing' article, I often have to self censor myself during the proof reading stage of my articles. I do this to primarily ensure that as many wayward spelling mistakes and typos don't make it through, but occasionally I do it to remove swearing, most of the time I wasn't aware I used. I don't swear all that much on my Blog, because I think that swearing very rarely helps you communicate the point intended or indeed to do so effectively.

Frontline Painter: Maagaan Warlock of Baalor WIP 1 (prep work)

  

Maagaan Warlock of Baalor and bane of green stuff!!!

So this is my first painting guide type article since I hurriedly painted my Sorylian Cruiser for the House of Paincakes HoP Idol contest. That guide was actually pretty well received, which surprised me. What people liked about it apparently was how detailed it was. So again with this guide I'm going to put a lot of detail into the guide, and if at points I'm teaching grandma how to suck eggs I apologise. But I guess I personally feel it's more important to be precise about these things rather than skip over details and leave some poor sod clueless and scratching their head.

Picking a Project

Yeah as I may have intimated to you on Thursday this is the 'one-off' project I wanted to attempt to try and kick start my desire to paint again. If the hints weren't strong enough SinSynn made me blow the big surprise by doing comparison shots for him! Why did I choose this particular miniature? Well it's pretty simple really. Although I own a lot of lovely resin sculpts from a number of high quality producers, like Studio McVey, Kingdom Death and of course Banelegions, only a few stood out for various reasons. I also knew that painting anything from the massive backlog of miniatures for the various games I currently play would be a bit of a mental barrier, as it would simply feel like I was starting to paint a faction again. Something of a psychological block that for me at the minute. So I needed a one off display project really, something to get me thinking about painting again. I wanted to do something with a bit of non-metallic-metal, or NMM from here on out, because I want all my Infinity miniatures to use this technique and quite frankly I'm a little bit rusty with it, so I wanted the practice. I was never great at it in the first place either. I also wanted a miniature I could use my Secret Weapon crushed glass snow on, because I've had it for a while now and I really want to use it so I can do a review of the stuff.

So I set about looking for a fully armoured miniature that looked a bit Nordic or at the very least like it was dressed for colder climates. Digging through my boxes (yes I said boxes) of unpainted miniatures I finally came to rest on a few choices actually. There was the Kings Men, Buthcher, Forge Priest and Survivor Male all from Kingdom Death. Meanwhile from Studio McVey I was tempted to start Vitharr Bearclaw, Isabella or The Raven Priest. I quickly ruled out Isabella and The Raven Priest from Studio McVey because of the lack of metal on both miniatures. After looking at the Forge Priest from Kingdom Death I decided he looked more like he belonged in a dusty wasteland, as does the Male Survivor. I also felt the Kings Man looked like he belonged on some pristine marble courtyard somewhere. So this left me deciding between the Buthcher, Vitharr Bearclaw and Maagaan. I started to see Vitharr Bearclaw in some meadow somewhere during spring and I really didn't feel up to painting the Butcher from Kingdom Death, as I felt I wanted to pick my skills up a little bit again before attempting him because he's limited edition. So this left me with Maagaan who I really wasn't too fussed about ruining with my piss poor paint job if I'm honest about it! I mean I can always just buy another one.

Heavy Gear Blitz New NuCoal releases.

   
   

So Friday looks like it's rapidly becoming new release day round these parts, and yeah, I'm not so sure that's as 'snappy' a headline as it could've been. I guess I'm not going to get a job working for News International anytime soon because I can't hack mobile phones either. So what use would I be to Mr Murdoch's sleaze and lies empire? I can however fully appreciate 'awesome' when I see it, and report truth bombs. Truth bombs being the one thing the UK's tabloid media is scared of, the truth in bomb form! Heaven knows it's not the corrupt police at Scotland Yard, whom they can buy off as casually as a Tory Peer or MP, shesh, what the hell is my country coming too?

• Truth bomb number 1: Gears are utterly fricking awesome. 
• Truth bomb number 2: Stealthy things utterly rule. 
• Truth bomb number 3: Stealthy Gears make my head explode. 

So Mrs Frontline Gamer wasn't best pleased to hear that DP9 had released the Espion two pack, because these bad boys are stealthy Gears. Que head explosion! This meant the long suffering Mrs Frontline Gamer has been cleaning up bit's of my exploded skull off of the floor, ceiling, walls, behind the sofa... you get the point, since I first saw them. Sadly no sooner had she cleaned that mess up than I saw the giant Armadillo beasts!!!

• Truth bomb number 4: More things need to have giant Armadillo's.

Oh my God, people riding giant Armadillo's, seriously what the hell is not to love about that? Armadillo's people, GIANT Armadillo's!!! I might need to go take a lie down in a darkened room... here look at some pretty pictures:

Infinity new releases!!! (February)

  
 

It's rapidly becoming a tradition here at Frontline Games HQ, that I cover the ever so lovely miniature releases every month from Corvus Belli's delectable Infinity range. I'm not about to break with tradition now am I? Nope, I'm not. It's also becoming tradition for Señor Angel Giraldez to release an early peek of one of the gorgeous miniatures his talented hands have painted for that months releases. This time February's early glimpse meant it was the turn of Pan-O players to get all hot under the collar first, with the terribly sexy looking Jotum. But, Angel didn't stop there this time, it seems he himself was particularly pleased with his work, and why wouldn't he be, it's a stunning paint job, so he released some detail pics of the Jotum as well. So yep, they've been given another one of their blasted TAGs those Pan-O swines! They still haven't got them all though, so those Pan-O players you know won't have quit their incessant whinging yet... just you watch!

Jotums

 Yeah, yeah they're the TAG faction blah, blah, blah... I'm tired of hearing Pan-O players grumble and whinge about how they don't have all their TAGs yet. Boo hoo for you. So the the Cutter's not good enough for you? The Dragoes didn't sate your appetites either. So Corvus Belli have released yet another stunning looking TAG for you, this time it's the lovely looking Jotum. I have to admit it though, I'm a tiny little bit jealous of all those Pan-O players when I look at this miniature *sigh* . So what is it like on the table? Well like all TAGs its statline makes for impressive reading it's MOV 6-4 is your standard TAG movement. It's CC of 18 is also pretty standard as too is it's BS 15. However, it's PH of 17 and WIP 13 does give it a slight advantage on most of the Pan-O TAGs at the very least in WIP, but where it really kicks ass is with it's ARM 10 and BTS -9. Couple it's PH, WIP, ARM and BTS together along with it's STR 3 and what you arguably have is the most survivable TAG in the game. It's a tank and many people worry about dropping  the points required on most TAGs because they're normally vulnerable to something or other, but the Jotums are built to last! It's got some tasty weapons too with the Multi-HMG and HGL, at 110 pts and 2 swc it doesn't come cheap though. Reality is Pan-O have an awesome array of TAGs available, would I take this over an Armoured Cavalry? Yeah, the extra stats for those points seems worth it. It becomes tricky though when you look at the cheaper Dragoes with their awesome weapons, and the TO camo Cutter. There's more TAGs still to be released for Pan-O too... greedy *bleep*er's.

Review: Banelegions Maagaan Warlok of Baalor

  

Maagaan encased in a cunning spell of binding... ahem... it's a blister pack.

So after yesterday's exceedingly late article on Banelegion's, I'm guessing some of you are wanting me to review some of the miniatures I own, right? Well oh go on then, you've twisted my arm! So where to start? Well I've decided to start with Maagaan Warlock of Baalor. Why you ask? Well if you've been reading my Blog of late you'll know that the painting side of my hobby has taken a bit of a kicking over the last few years. So I've been looking for something to help rekindle my love of painting... seriously, if that isn't a big enough hint then I don't know what the hell is!Lets just say I had an incentive to review this miniature first.

Product Description

Maagaan, who is not to be confused with a Renault Mégane, is a Warlock of Baalor apparently. I'm sure it's a fascinating job I really am and I guess he must be a terribly important sort. Any way, what he is in reality is a very fine sculpt from the very talented hands of Jacques-Alexander Gillois. It's also cast in resin and is a very fine quality reproduction of the original I'm sure. The miniature itself is cast into five individual parts, and has your standard square slotta base to sit in. The largest part of the miniature is undoubtedly the main body. The two arms are the next two most substantial pieces, one his sword arm and the other his magical wand arm. Although I'm sure Maagaan by the look of him is too manly to call it a wand himself, he probably refers to it as a 'rod of power' or some such name... but we all know it's a wand really. Next up is the fur cloak insert, a fiddly piece of resin to attach to be sure, and one I could happily have lived without if truth be told. But that fur cloak wasn't as fiddly as the sword scabbard, man that contact point is positively titchy. Still the fur cloak was the most awkward of pieces to get sitting right. I'll briefly mention the very large resin vent's on this miniature here, simply because they're quite evident in the picture, all I'll say is that they're a bit 'unwelcome' but if you take your time and are careful they won't pose any major issues.

Banelegions, beasties and unpronoucable names!!!

 
    

I originally drafted this article out at the end of summer last year (2011), but for some reason I never got round to finishing it off. It was around the time I did my articles on Studio McVey and Kingdom Death, it was meant to be 'third' in a series, so I guess you could say this article is actually really, really late! When I actually started writing it though I was fairly skint. In fact I probably made Greece and Iceland look positively flush with cash, and sadly this state of affairs is still the case, in fact I might be worse off! I hadn't at the time been able to look at picking any of these up, and so for this article I asked the the lovely chaps at the Maelstrom if they'd allow me to take shots of some of their Banelegion stuff, and have a general ferret around in their boxes (it's not as dirty or illicit as it sounds), so I'd be able to do some reviews maybe... this turned out to be a cunning sales ploy. Because I ended up getting the Terror of Fortriu and Guillaume le Perlerin as they're both lovely figures. Hell I've also picked up a few more since and will be reviewing them all separately over the next few months. This article is just a brief overview though of the range of models and a bit about the Banelegions range in general.

Photography courtesy of Mrs Frontline Gamer, aka Dr Brainiac.

The first thing to point out about the Banelegions range is that it is split currently into two categories, Banelords being your heroic miniatures and Banebeasts being the gribbly monsters. The second thing I have to say about the product line known as 'Banelegions' is that without a shadow of a doubt it contains some of the most incomprehensible and tongue twisting names in the entire hobby. That's saying something, because we love our weird sounding names us nerds. We all know that fantasy and sci-fi universes tend to suffer from what I like to call 'random name generation syndrome', a process whereby letters of the alphabet are picked at random to create names that not even a cunning linguist can pronounce. But, Banelegions takes the gold medal, and by a big margin! Names like N'nhaak'chshir and Oacyning make the likes of Euryalia, Magagg and Guillaume le Perlerin seem positively bland by comparison... however, I'm reliably informed by Rob Lane that the names are all indeed ye olde English, and not just a random conflation of letters drawn haphazardly from a hat. I have no reason to doubt him, but, I still have my suspicions! All I can say is thank the lord that we still don't speak ye olde English like Geoffrey Chaucer, it's hard enough being dyslexic with modern English.

Sunday Sermon: Locus of Control

  
  

Basic principle's behind the theory

Well it appears my batteries are close to being fully charged again, in terms of my Blog. So this is a bit of a long one I'm afraid. I figured that considering that I trained heavily in psychology, and that I still keep as up-to-date as I can with various aspects of psychological research and literature, that my Blog was actually woefully bereft of psychology influenced articles. 'Hey' I said to myself 'why not change that buddy?'. So I'm going to introduce you to a concept that has a high level of visibility in the field of personality psychology. Drum roll please... the concept of 'Locus of Control'! Now some of you will have come across the theory before I'm sure. It's certainly well known enough to have made the leap across into popular psychology and glossy magazines. You know, the type of magazine normally read by 20 something females on trains who then look up from the pages at you and tut disapprovingly for no apparent reason, and maybe mutter under their breath 'men'. However, for many of you I'm sure the phrase holds absolutely no meaning and you're probably wandering whether I just made it all up. I should therefore try to proffer some sort of explanation of the concept.

Just another average dice roll

The theory or concept of 'Locus of Control' was first developed by Julian B. Rotter (great name) in 1954. Rotter's concept was simple enough, he felt that in any given situation or maybe even in life in general that there would be personality types that attributed cause and effect to external or internal factors. Or in his theory the 'Locus' from the Latin for place or location of effect would be perceived to be internal or external. Initially he concluded that whether the Locus was internal or external was a moot point, and it was all about the individuals mental perception of the situation that was important, it was simply a personality trait. How very 1950's of him. Over a decade of research though Rotter and many of his students expanded greatly on the premise that the Locus of Control was of paramount importance to our emotional responses in many situations, and that in many respects different personality types would react differently based on the Locus of Control. Much of the work of Rotter and his student's though focused primarily on the internal cognition of the information, rather than the effect of the situation itself. They were after all psychologists.

Spartan Games announce a new race for Firestorm Armada

 
 

A shiny new Battleship render for a shiny new race.

It's always an exciting time when a game system announces a new race or faction to play with. That's exactly what Spartan Games have done recently with the announcement of a new race the Oroshan. I haven't really played any of the spartan Games systems recently, but a few friends of mine are still deeply involved with Firestorm Armada in particular. I personally want to start getting more games of Dystopian Wars in because I've enjoyed the game I have played of that. I have to be truthful and say that Firestorm Armada had slipped totally off of my gaming radar, so it's perhaps timely for me that Spartan have reminded me that I actually own a lot of stuff for this game already, and perhaps I should dig it all out again.

Any way, as for the new race the Oroshan they're apparently a deadly alien race... a quick question, why are they never ineffectual and lame these alien races? Any way I digress. According to the blurb this race are a bunch of nomadic wandering ass hats. Going around strip mining planets of their resources as they go because their own corner of the galaxy was destroyed by a supernova. While that is indeed a major bummer it doesn't really give them the right does it to act like intergalactic locust? But hey I guess if they've got the ships and guns to back up their aggressive intent then might is right. Right? I'm probably babbling now, so here have a look at the pretty looking renders:

Review: Freebooter'e Fate Goblin Pirate Starter Set

  
  

 

So here I am reviewing the last of the original four Freebooter's Fate starter sets. It's actually the Goblin Pirates my own pirates have crossed swords with the most. Round these parts it's almost certainly the Goblin Pirates who are the most popular first faction choice. I guess that's because they're the clearly obvious 'fantasy' faction if you will. They're also highly colourful and full of humorous character which helps. Besides, who doesn't like mental looking Goblins with dead sharks on their backs? You have to be a particularly joyless individual not to smile at least a little bit the first time you see the gloriously unhinged Moby Dugg!

Product Description

As before this is a starter set for Freebooter's Fate, I guess the clue is in the title right? But unlike the other starters this set contains six individual miniatures instead of the usual four. Well I suppose it wouldn't be a Goblin faction if it didn't outnumber the other factions, right? Well lets take a closer look at what components you get in the box.

The Captain of this merry band of Goblin brigands isn't himself a Goblin. Nope Captain Malo Gordab is an Orc, and a bloody big Orc at that. He does though sport the smallest and fiddliest little piece I've ever had the misfortune to come across. In the picture above in the top left you'll see a metal spru containing Malo's head and two horns to go on it. Now that's not all that's on that spru. Oh no there is also a teeny tiny little tooth that needs to go into Malo's gob!!! Bring the tweezers and a large packet of Valium. You have been warned! Malo is arguably the most difficult of the Freebooter's Fate miniatures I've had to assemble so far,both legs are separate as are both arms. All in he is made up of ten separate pieces. My advice? Stick the base insert in first and then attach both legs to it. Pin the body into both legs and leave that to dry. Meanwhile pin the two horns to the head and glue that bloody tooth in place. Then pin the head to the body. After that the arms are a doddle. Malo also comes with a spare hat carrier called Bajo. He's not nearly as complex a miniature, being made up of a single body, a base insert and a flag. I would however advise attaching the flag first with Bajo's body in situation so as to be sure it all fits together.

Revlugg is the first specialist in this starter set and is far easier to assemble than Malo is. Revlugg is made up of four components. The base insert, two arms and the main body. None of it should prove too taxing for anyone with any experience with miniatures.

Moby Dugg is arguably my favourite miniature in the entire Freebooter's Fate miniatures range, why? Because he's utterly bonkers looking! Moby Dugg comes in five parts, the now obligatory base insert, his main body which is brandishing a bomb, a pistol arm, his head and a dead shark. Yep you read that last bit right, a dead shark. Now I mentioned in some of my other reviews just how wonderfully cut various components were, Rosso's overcoat and Curly Ann's rifle spring to mind. Well Moby Duggs shark is in the same vein.

The final two miniatures in the starter set are the rather cool looking Deckhands, the harpoon wielding Goblin Mariner and the oar carrying Goblin Valero. Neither are overly complex to assemble. The Goblin Mariner is only three pieces, his base insert, his main body and pistol arm. The Goblin Valero isn't that much more complex, being made of four parts, the base insert, his main body, a sword arm and for some reason that escapes me, and oar arm. No I don't know why either! Each of the six miniatures also comes with a plastic base to attach them too. You do also get twelve playing cards for your four miniatures as opposed to the usual eight. As before half of them are in the games native German tongue, and the remaining half are in English. There are also the quickstart rules, which come on a single sheet. Again one side is in German the other English. Speaking of the quickstart rules you can now download a set of the rules for yourself to peruse.

Review: Freebooter's Fate Imperial Armada Starter Set

 

Yeah I am re-using a picture again. Look I'm trying to be environmentally friendly

So I thought that my reviews of the Pirate starter set and the Brotherhood starter set would have been enough to sate your appetites for all things Freebooter's Fate. Turns out I was hideously wrong. My inbox was filled with requests for me to review the remaining starter sets, and indeed the Deep Jungle expansion rulebook. Luckily for you lot those terribly nice chaps at Freebooters Miniatures thought it would be a terribly good idea for me to review the rest of their range too. So here I am starting my review of the Imperial Armada start Set, these guys are the other main protagonists in the back story to Freebooters Fate. The flip side of the coin to the Pirates, and the most requested review. So what do I think of them?

Product Description

This is the third Freebooter's Fate starter set that I've reviewed. I will be following the same format that I did for the previous two reviews, so there are going to be a lot of pictures. This starter set contains four metal miniatures, which I'll now discuss in closer detail.

Nicely animated miniature despite the small amount of components

Capitan Garcia is, as his name suggests, the leader of the bunch. For a leader though he isn't comprised of as many components as some of the others I've come across. The majority of his bulk is contained within his main body. Attach a sword arm and he's whole again. The base insert is a nice simple affair that replicates a ships deck, there's also a box of cannon balls to glue to the insert. This is so Garcia can step onto it as he's standing. All in all it's a simple miniature to assemble.

This picture doesn't show it very well but there's a lot of detail on her

The Teniente of the Armada like Capitan Garcia before her is comprised of only 4 components and the plastic base. Again the majority of the miniature is cast in a single piece, her main body. Like the Capitan there is an uncluttered and neat wooden deck base insert. The other two components being a pistol arm and on open pistol box to be placed on the base insert in front of her. Again an exceedingly easy miniature to assemble.

Every faction needs it's bog standard deckhands

In keeping with the simplicity of the previous two miniatures the male and female Arquebusiers are themselves straight forward miniatures to assemble. Each of them comes with a base insert, although not the wooden decking of the previous two miniatures, these inserts appear to be a sandy tropical beach. They both carry a rifle (or arquebus d'oh) and the final component is their respective main body part. Attach it all to the base and bingo you're done. So that's your lot in this box for miniatures. You do also get 8 playing cards for your four miniatures. As before, four of them are in the games native German tongue, and four of them are in English. There are also the quickstart rules, which come on a single sheet. Again one side is in German the other English. Speaking of the quickstart rules you can now download a set of the rules for yourself to peruse.

All the way from the land of Maple Syrup!!!

  
  

Huzzah!!! Just when I was starting to think that maybe it was lost in the post.

Well there goes today's plans! I had intended on sitting down and finishing off my review of the Freebooter's Fate Imperial Armada boxed set today. But that will have to now wait until tomorrow. Those of you who frequent my Blog will know, a few weeks back I wrote a brief article introducing Heavy Gear Blitz as a game that 'intrigued' me. As for former Battletech Mech Head I'm not going to lie to you, my interest was more than piqued. However, I did face a bit of an uphill struggle round these parts to convince others to take the plunge, luckily for me John Nguyen of Dream Pod 9 helped me out with that. So I've been waiting on a nice shiny box containing some NuCoal goodness, and if you heard a really loud girlish squeal around 13:21 GMT then that was me receiving my parcel. I am going to take my time with these though and you won't be seeing any Blogs on Heavy Gear Blitz for a few weeks yet. This is because I want to wrap my head around it all properly and give you some quality content. While you're all waiting for that though he's some pictures of what I've got:

Just a quick heads up (3)

Yeah I know, it's super lazy to use the same picture over and over again

Well I'm still in the midst of taking things 'slowly' here at Frontline Games HQ, otherwise known as my home. I've been trying to get my lazy fat derrière into action over the last week or so. I can't face painting units it seems, or starting a colour scheme for an army. Nope, I appear to have broken a fundamental part of my brain that I require to be able to accomplish such tasks. What I need is something inspiring and illuminating to get those creative juices flowing. So I went searching through my storage boxes of miniatures looking for a simple yet enticing project to sink my teeth into. I seem to have found just the thing, and no doubt there will be some work in progress articles if my cunning plan has worked soon enough... if there aren't then you can all shout at me, and call me nasty names. However, over the past few months while trying to psyche myself up to get my 'hobby on' again I've perused a number of Blogs that have inspired me to knuckle down and get on with it:

Sunday Sermon: looking at things critically

   
 

We all have the capacity to think critically

Recently a fair few companies and individuals have actually asked me to look at some specific things critically, and tell them what I think. You might think that it'd be easy for me, what with all the reviews I do. I'd certainly think most people who know me well enough would confirm that critical thought is one of my 'strong suits'. However, with the things I've been asked to cast my critical and beady eyes over recently, the people doing the 'asking' weren't asking for a review as such. Thing is there are many different types of critical thought, despite what certain academics and business management guru's might have you believe. When the critical thought requires you to actually solve a problem, or asses a system it's very different to simply giving my reasoned opinion. While I'm not claiming my reviews are anywhere near as profound in their deliberations as many scholarly thinkers, I do take my time and seriously consider my deliberations. While not everyone will agree with my reviews, and indeed many will disagree with them vehemently, I believe I articulate my views well. I state my case and give responses to the products that end up on my reviewing desk. I think I'm good at it too.

I'll be honest here though and say it's not always as rational as all that. I've had the odd product I've just liked, or disliked from the outset. My gut response has been instant. 100% emotional. This really frustrates me. I feel the need to find out why I believe what I believe, and think the way I do. Maybe this is just me attempting to hide my emotional response to a product behind a badly disguised veil of faux rational thought. If it is though I take my subterfuge seriously, very seriously. If I've had an emotional response to a product then you can rest assured that I'll take even longer than normal to commit my thoughts to print. I've never denied though that I've had emotional responses to products, whether they've been released yet or not. Over the last few months though I've had people send me rules before games are released, or supplements yet to be announced. Or even 3D concepts of gaming scenery and other paraphernalia, and simply ask me 'so what do you think?'... that is never an easy question to answer when it's somebodies hard work you're critiquing. Somebodies business, they're livelihood. Plus they're after something a little bit more in-depth than 'yeah it's alright' or 'I think it's crap'. They're actually after qualified opinions, and reasons behind the opinions. Hell, in some cases they're after actual solutions to perceived problems and detailed responses.

Review: Malcontent Bamboo Resin Bases

  
  

Looks professional to me.

It's been a little while now since I did a resin base review. Now I know I've got more resin bases than I have miniatures... well not quite, but it does feel like it at times, but there's always room for more styles and types in my growing collection of resin bases. After all there are more and more games being released now and many of them have a unique look to them and sometimes Gothic ruins and fantasy ruins just won't cut it. I was faced with one such dilemma while looking at getting started in Bushido the Game. 'Bugger' I thought 'where am I going to get suitable bases for an oriental themed game?' Luckily for me and my lazy affectations one of our fellow Bloggers and a follower of this here Blog actually decided to start making his own resin bases. Who is this masked wander you ask? Well masked would be right, it's 'The Dark Templar' and his Malcontent range of gaming accessories.

Product description

Half of the bases I purchased

This review is of multiple set types of Malcontent range of Bamboo bases. I purchased four sets of the 32mm round lipped bases, which have five bases per set. I also purchased four of the single 50mm round lipped bases as well. They are simply put 32mm and 50mm round lipped resin bases. Not much more too it than that really.

More Freebooter's Fate reviews incoming.

 
 

More booty me hearties!!!

Yeah so it's pretty well known by now that I'm a bit of a fan when it comes to Freebooter's Fate. I've reviewed the rulebook, the Pirate starter set and Brotherhood starter set. I had a few of you ask me whether or not I was going to review all the starter sets, and maybe even the Deep Jungle expansion book. Honestly, it was always my aim to do so at some point. But, with finances the way they are you know, I thought it might be some take some time to getting round to doing them all. Well I had a package arrive Monday this week, except I wasn't home to pick it up, being as though I'm actually on a training course right now. So today I finally got a chance to see what the hell this mystery package was...

The third bit of Privateer Press news

  
 

Look. It even gets a shiny new logo!

Well it wasn't all clever mobile device army building apps and ginormous hulking robots of doom from Privateer Press last week. Not that huge walking weapons of destruction aren't cool and all that, or indeed that the announcement of the War Room app weren't impressive, they were. Nope. Privateer Press also announced they are finally rebooting their Iron Kingdoms RPG:

Sunday Sermon: Taking a break

  

That looks like such a very good idea!

Sometimes in our hobby lives we can face burnout. Whether that's from painting way too many Dark Eldar in a short space of time, I'm looking at you Sorrowshard. Or because you've just quite frankly been playing way too many games of whatever current game it is you play. Now I know what I'm about to say is considered in some quarters sacrilege, tantamount to treason, but it is true... here goes... I played far too much Blood Bowl and Necromunda and actually can't stand the idea of ever playing them ever again. There, I've said it now. Don't get me wrong I have a lot of love for both game systems, but there was a time where I was playing at least 10 games of Blood Bowl a week and possibly 5 or 6 games of Necromunda while I was finishing off A-Levels and then in my first year at University. It's still a bloody miracle I got any coursework done in that first year, let alone to the standard I did.

But, this isn't the only hobby burnout I've faced in my time. My first High Elf army with all those original one piece plastic spearmen and archers totally killed my painting mojo. That was possibly my first period of hobby burnout I ever suffered. My second was painting all of my various friends 'free' Goth Orks from the 2nd Edition 40k starter set. I wasn't interested in the game initially, but all my friends wanted space Marines and brought the starter set. So I ended up with a bloody Horde of Free Orks and Getchin (oh God the Gretchin), so they could play something other than slightly differently coloured Space Marines. Painting them all also killed me a little inside. But it seems I didn't sodding learn now did I? Nope, I've done it again and again in my hobby over the years. That is, I've bitten off more than I can realistically chew. My Wood Elf army with brass etched foliage on every base... argghhh!!! God I can still remember all the little cuts they gave me in my finger tips. It looked lovely when completed, but God did I resent that army, so much so I eventually sold it for a tidy profit.

Privateer Presses other big announcement!

  
  

Well obviously Games workshops announcement regarding their reboot, of the Lord of the Rings franchise has got people spooked. So it should as well, because to bring a game like that back from the dead requires some serious necromancy! In all seriousness though Privateer Press dropped to well edited and shot video's on us yesterday. The first was obviously about the Colossals, the second is actually a far more interesting development for me, and something I thought we'd have seen an awful lot more of by now:

Privateer Press annouce Colossal's

   

 

So Privateer Press have made another 'big' announcement with regards to HoMachine. I think those of you with your ears to the Iron Kingdoms grapevine will have already had an inkling about this. On the plus side though the the new Collosal models look pretty darn cool and the video isn't quite as cringe worthy as Games Workshops efforts:

Freebooters Fate Quickstart Rules Available for Download

 
 

Quickstart rules available to download

Freebooters Miniatures have put up the quickstart rules to Freebooters Fate up on their website to download. So if you want to have a look at this game you can. At the very least you should check out the basic mechanics behind the game for yourselves. In my article of games that intrigue me I said they should offer some quickstart rules for downloading for free. So obviously it was all my idea, and I'm totally responsible... OK so I'm not. they were always going to put them up on the website once they had them in the right format to download. But hey, it's good they've done it right? Speaking of updates, the MERCs minis website has also been updated, and in their downloads section there is now a space for free rules download. When they put them up I'll go take a closer look at the game. So hey, it's great news all round. Perhaps companies are realising now that the best way to get us all playing their games is to go out and show us what they're all about. How long before we get free 40k quickstart rules do you think? Oh yeah, that's right we've already seen 6th Edition 40k haven't we? Peace out!

Review: Freebooters Fate Rulebook

   
  

The obligatory shot of the rulebooks front cover

So a few people have asked me to actually do a review of the Freebooters Fate rulebook. And as I own the book, and have played a fair few games now it's not a major imposition. As with my Pirate starter set, the rulebook was sent to me free of charge by Freebooters Miniatures to review. Given the last game I was gifted for review was Dreadfleet that could be seen as a pretty brave move. I do think though that I would almost certainly have brought the rulebook and some starter sets myself eventually. Simply because it's pirates and as Phil Kelly says, who doesn't love pirates? Good God how did they get Dreadfleet so wrong, it had pirates in it...

Product Description

So what do you get? Well obviously without wanting to labour the point too much it's a book. It's a typical softback glue bound affair that I'm sure wargamers are more than used to. It's roughly A4 sized. The cover isn't a glossy cover that you might be used to seeing on say a 40K Codex, it's somewhere between a matte and a satin finish. Like the recent Hell Dorado rulebook if you've seen that or the Malifaux books. Inside though the pages are on a nice glossy paper, and the print is in full colour. There are 112 pages in total, although 3 of them at the back are reserved for notes. Otherwise it is crammed with information, stories and of course those all important rules.