Incoming correspondence from The Peregrine

As I've mentioned previously, I am amazed at the connections the Internet has allowed me to make. I try not to be too starstruck, but the fact that I get to exchange messages regularly with Patrick Keith and Vicky Morgan-Keith, Brian Roe, James Wappel, Chris and Debs FitzPatrick, Craig Cartmell, Bob Mervine and other creators whose talents and work I so admire, as well as bloggers who inform and inspire me and with whom I've become friends, like Vampifan and Hendybadger, just blows my mind.

Capt. Constance Bashford of the airship The Peregrine

Well, after my post the other day about purchasing RAFM's Abney Park airship pirate minis, I sent steampunk model Constance Bashford a Facebook friend request. I was happy enough that she accepted, but then I got a very nice personal message from her about how thrilled she was to hear about someone buying the mini based on her persona. 

She, of course, wants to see it painted up, and frequent readers of "Dispatches" will know that I paint at a rate charitably described as "glacial." But I will say I am excited to add these characters to my IHMN setting, so that will urge my painting forward at a better pace.

Toward that end, I ordered some bases from Fenris for my airship pirates and some cobblestone bases for the figures from the EOTD Kickstarter. The ones I ordered were the 30mm round DS Nags Tavern fine-grained wooden planking (as opposed to the rougher-hewn Black Freighter planking bases) and the 30mm DS Innsmouth Cobblestone, rather than the slightly more irregular Whitechapel Cobblestone bases they offer. I also ordered a set of "London Foul Sewer" manhole covers. Whimsy on my part.

Given that some people who follow the Northern Path believe a bit of prophecy indicates that the Twilight of the Gods begins this weekend, Ian is offering a 10 percent discount between now and the end of Feb. 22 (midnight GMT)  if you enter the code "RAGNAROK" on checkout at their webstore.

Love you all, my friends. Back to the boards, and I'll see you across the tables soon.

Sensors are picking up a counterblast ... oh, and airship pirates!

... this is Christopher Sheets, breaking radio silence to share the wonderful news that the Counterblast kickstarter has kicked off.

Counterblast is a pulp-themed adventure battle game set in an alternate Earth timeline where atomic testing lured aliens to our planet to investigate. Early exposure and technological exchange leads to an exciting universe of adventure among the various factions of the galaxy. The game is developed by Airlock Games, which is the new iteration of Patrick Keith's Bombshell Miniatures under its new name.

An Illyrian, a robot and a human from the world of Counterblast.

Factions for the game include the ragtag Lancers (think "freelancers"), the robotic Mekkus, the cephalapoid Edofleini, the well-armored and equipped Galactic Defense Forces, and the tribal women warriors of the Neiran Empire. The GDF and Lancers factions are made up of many humanoid races, some feline or sharklike, some more alien like the Illyrians we've seen from Patrick in other projects.

The man behind the rules is Brett Amundson, whose work may be familiar to those of you who are fans of "Secrets of the Third Reich." The miniatures are sculpted by Patrick Keith, whose work we know from EVERYWHERE, but most recently the many excellent sculpts he's brought to life through his company Bombshell Miniatures. Writing background and narrative for the campaign and characters is Vicky Morgan-Keith, an award-winning painter and writer who has also managed the many Bombshell kickstarters.

I'm basically paraphrasing the "Who we are" section of the kickstarter page for Counterblast, so any errors here are my own, and I trust Patrick, Vicky or Brett will set me straight.

Speaking of Patrick's excellent sculpts, I received my RAFM order of the Airship Pirates based on the steampunk band Abney Park, which were done by Patrick. There was a kickstarter for these that failed to fund, then RAFM brought them out anyway. Thank goodness. I hope they bring out all the concepts art that was shown during the course of the campaign. I bought the box set that contains the six members of the band, and I added another figure. They will become a pirate airship crew for my IHMN world, although not on the Ophelia, which is the ship they commandeered in the fictional background for their own steampunk personas. I'm not sure yet, but I think Captain Robert may be flying something called The Mighty Emerald before I get done with these rascals and rapscallions. The award-winning RPG Airship Pirates based on the band's work and published by Cubicle 7 got good reviews, and original copies fetch ungodly prices on ebay, so I think I'm going to have to break down and get a pdf of it (which I believe the band sells in their webshop, along with some really kicking apparel and accessories.) 

Abney Park guitarist Josh Goering, vocalist Jody Ellen and keyboardist Kristina Erickson. 

Abney Park founder and multi-instrumentalist Robert Brown, bassist Dan Cederman and violinist Titus Munteanu.

And this is Constance Bashford, captain of the airship The Peregrine. In my world, she'll be joining the crew. Constance is a steampunk enthusiast and model . Check out her work at her official Facebook page.

I have not yet acquired the figure based a character by the Canadian cosplayer Vortex called Baron Celsius von Fahrenheit. He's described as an "agitator." They also have an "Airship Engineer" figure that I didn't get yet. I don't know if he's based on a particular person's cosplay or not. I did read that the baron and the engineer were earlier figures moved to the Airship Pirates line. More pics once I get them out of the blisters and on bases.