Double Requiem Unlock today

News from the Empire of the Dead: Requiem kickstarter today reveals two more models: First, the lizardlike Professor Gecko, who does not look like he's selling insurance.

Also, the third of the Vampire Brides has been revealed in all her glory:

As you can see, she now has a name, not just a letter designation, as do her two sisters. Alas, neither my suggestion of Ilona nor what seemed to me to be the fan favorite, Ingrid, were chose.

I don't have updated images of the other two ladies, but I do have their names.

Her name is Teliaska, as suggested by supporter Binnman.
 I have no idea what it means nor from whence it comes.

Her name is Darla, as suggested by backer Barry Graham.
Its source is, of course, "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Angel."

Additionally, there are still a few early-bird specials left. After the initial specials sold out within hours, leaving those in the Americas in the lurch, West Wind's Andy Cooper added more to the system, at both the £76 and £101 levels. Forty-four of the first remain, and 33 of the second. At present, the project's funding stands just under £38,000, with 35 days remaining.

I'm guessing I'll have to get Professor Gecko as he's a lizard, to add him to my Moreau-themed crocodilian Army of the Abandoned (a Lycaon list). Perhaps Gulth Deathroll and his fellow experimental escapees found something in the burning labs and sheds of Moreau's Northern compound before they fled, some serum that has given them infectious bites that spread their reptilian characteristics, and Professor Gecko is one such result. (Can you tell I love the fluff of a game/setting/army as much or more than the mechanics?)

Requiem supporter avatars

If you want to show your support for West Wind's Empire of the Dead: Requiem kickstarter, you can use one of these pics as your avatar.

West Wind also created this lovely billboard for use on websites:

Share and enjoy!

Empire of the Dead: Requiem kickstarter

West Wind's kickstarter for the miniatures expansion of Empire of the Dead, called Requiem, is certainly going great guns. Once it launched on Valentine's Day, its £5,000 goal was fully funded in two hours. I plumped for one of the early bird specials at the £75 level, making sure I get my grubby mitts on all the LE kickstarter-exclusive minis they're producing, plus 28 points worth of the new models.

 As of this writing, the campaign has taken in nearly £34,000. As the funding level increases, miniatures within the factions are being unlocked, and stretch goal miniatures are being added. The difference is that everyone pledging Requiem-level (the aforementioned £75) and above gets the stretch-goal minis (which are limited-edition kickstarter-only) for free. Unlocked minis can be chosen with the points you receive for your pledge level. (Most human-sized minis are 1 point, some larger ones, like Mr. Hyde, the Baron's Monster or the squamous Professor Gecko are 2 point minis.)

So what of the stretch goals and unlockables have been revealed so far? First the exclusives:



First up was Tatu, who Andy says is a half-vampire servant of the Broken Dawn cult. I guess that makes her a Dhampyr. At right is Jade Dragon, an Imperial assassin wielding a massive twin-barreled pistol. Again, these are free with your pledge at Requiem-level and above.

I neglected to mention that every supporter at the £5 level and above receives the LE mini of Nedezhda Durova, vampire hunter. I took this image of her from the project page on Kickstarter.

Werewolf Hunter Aisha will be the next stretch goal mini to unlock, once the campaign hits £40,000.

It also appears that two minis for the Order of the Dragon set (vampires, of course) have been unlocked. The Mad Man and the first of the Vampire brides.

 

If you're a backer, go to the update about the vampire bride and suggest a name for her. My google-fu is sometimes wonky, but it seems in Stoker's book the brides are unnamed (and are called "sisters" but not brides), and they have acquired names in some film adaptations and written reimaginings. Although I chucked a few suggestions of my own in there for Andy, I really like Marcin Zdybicki's suggestion to call her Ingrid in honor of the late, great Ingrid Pitt, who played Carmilla in "The Vampire Lovers."

That wraps up everything I've seen so far about the single figures. I haven't been combing the comments like I usually would, but I see Andy's been answering questions there. Here's the big graphic with many of the figures that are part of this project, but there are higher-quality versions on the project's main page.

Later I'll come back and discuss the new faction they revealed today, Scotland Yard's Supernatural Branch, as well as they vehicles they're working on.

On a personal note, I want to greatly thank everyone for their words of care and comfort last night when we had to take my wife to the emergency room after she fainted and fell. She's feeling better, just bruised and a bit embarrassed. And pissed off about the scrape on her forehead where she hit the floor! But she's doing much better today, and we're both relieved this wasn't another incident where her hemoglobin had dropped precipitously low, like it did a few years ago. They admitted her that time, and it took an enormous amount of transfused blood and intravenous iron to get her back to normal. (Or as normal as anyone in our family ever gets.)

Additionally, I want to thank those who took the time to write about my post immediately preceding this one, whether you commented here, privately, or on the Lead Adventure Forum.  I've always known our community is a caring one, but by your words and actions you continue to show that you are some of the best people ANYWHERE. I am humbled to be friends with so many of you, whether we have ever met face-to-face or not.You are some damn fine folks, and I am proud to know you.

Making the tough decisions

I have to narrow down my endeavors on the miniature front this year. I have a mountain of unpainted lead that is likely big enough to shield me completely from errant radiation. I have limited financial resources and climbing medical expenses, so I have to learn to focus. I'm also undoubtedly going to have to part with some things from my pile.

But how? I have such eclectic tastes and magpie instincts that everything looks like fair game as it's released. The lure of the "ooh, shiny" is almost too much to bear.

Some large guidelines are already in place, simply because of my interests. I'll be sticking to skirmish-level gaming, which was always my intent, as you can see in the subtitle at the top of this blog. I don't have the attention span or patience to paint large armies. I much prefer an assemblage of characterful individuals on my table.

I'm sticking to 28mm, or 32mm, or "heroic scale" or whatever it's called now. I want my baseline humans to be about an inch tall. My eyes are too old now to paint details on anything smaller, and I want everything to be pretty much compatible.

So here's what I'm thinking so far:

Modern zombies: I have multiple rulesets and sources for these, and I absolutely LOVE zombie gaming. With Zombicide's Toxic Mall expansion coming out and the remaining character figs from their Kickstarter due, and the recent 7ombieTV expansion from Crooked Dice, and the continued creativity of Kev White at Hasslefree and the folks at Studio Miniatures, and too many other good companies to mention, this one genre could keep me booked all day every day until 2014.

I am going to resist with all my might the urge to expand into pulp zombies, Weird WWII zombies, ancient zombies, or any other kind of zombies (except the Strain, see "Far Future" below.) When I do get my John Jenkins Designs Terror-Cotta Warriors painted up, they will inhabit a museum in either my modern setting or my gothic horror/steampunk games. Speaking of ...

Gothic Horror and Steampunk: This will primarily be Empire of the Dead, although there will be a good mix of Malifaux and some Hordes and Warmachine (primarily Cryx) in there. I also recently bought the pdf of the Chaos in Carpathia rules and plan to give them a spin. And I may pick up some of the constructs coming out for Dystopian Legions. The rank-and-file troops, at 40mm, would just stand out too much, I fear. However, this giant sumbitch here is gonna be mine:

"You are direct violation of Penal Code 1.13, Section 9.
You have five seconds to comply."

Just like the Dark Age Abomination model, sometimes size is all that matters!

Far future: This will mainly be for Sedition Wars. I went a little nuts (for me) during the kickstarter campaign, but I'm really looking forward to getting my gribbly hands on these. Plus, if I were to lose about 100 pounds or so, I think I could cosplay Vokker Dargu.

The metal Vokker Dargu figure from Studio McVey. They've added an exclusive
conscript figure of him to the SW:BoA kickstarter deal to compensate for delays.

"Dead Space," which significantly influenced the look of Battle for Alabaster, is one of my favorite videogames of all time. How I'm going to figure out a way to shoehorn my Relic Knights Star Nebula Corsairs into this setting to justify that kickstarter spending remains to be seen.

Engineer Isaac Clarke from the "Dead Space" series of games.
I love it that most of his weapons are modified tools.

Captain Harker and Ceasar, space pirates!

There are also a couple of tasty Dreadball figures I might try to worm in there too.

Mantic's John Doe MVP for Dreadball. I prefer to preserve his Lovecraftian mystery and think of him as "The Lurker at the Goal Line."

Of course, Dark Age then has to go and release the new factions of the CORE and the Kukulkani. Dammit! Can't you people see how weak I am?!?

Empire of the Dead vampires

My wife has decided to field a vampire warband with a female Graefin for Empire of the Dead. While she hasn't worked out the stats yet, I did write up a little fluff for her, in the same manner I did for my Army of the Abandoned.

Francesca Annalyssa Alford Stonavorja Diamanté Delamere (a name for each husband she survived) holds no illusions about what she has become. Seductive, beautiful, stylish and at the height of fashion she may be, but the undead Lady in Red knows she is a scrap of velvet and a twist of flesh wrapped around a neverending hunger.

While she has gathered around her the thralls and servants typical of a powerful vampire, Delamere does not play the courtly political games of the other Lords of the Night. Her coterie are a means to an end, an aid to her hunting and, in an emergency, food.

When Delamere and her followers are seen beyond the grounds of the dilapidated mansion they inhabit, all others had best flee before them. They are fast and aggressive, flushing their prey from its hidey holes and running it to ground.

They then devour their victims in the field, heedless of watchers or witnesses. If sustenance is plentiful, Delamere may truss or captivate survivors and remove them to stock her living larder. Her whole band will then melt into darkness, leaving drained corpses and body parts littering the battlefield.

Real life has kept me from much hobby activity, even painting up minis for Hendybadger's Paint the City Pink charity effort, but maybe I can bid once the auctions start and help that way.

Dr. Moreau and the Army of the Abandoned

I promised in my last post to bring you a writeup about my new idea for a warband for Empire of the Dead. After seeing the amazing Greystoke faction that Laughing Ferret created, I figured I'd have a go.

Thus, I bring you the first bit of fluff detailing the Army of the Abandoned.

They are the remains of experiments conducted by Dr. Moreau at his laboratory in England before the townsfolk discovered his repeated use of vivisection and went all torches-and-pitchforks on him. He had retreived many samples from Noble's Isle before he took up permanent residence there and built his compound (which is where Prendick encounters him in Wells' novel). This misshapen bunch of crocodilians that Moreau had experimented on (I guess later science fiction would say he had "uplifted" them) has banded together for their mutual survival in this unfamiliar land. Although they were native animals of Noble's Isle, they predate Moreau's compound and the prohibitions and praises voiced by the Sayer of the Law. They most certainly will follow men, eat fish and flesh, and go on all fours, if that is what they need to do.

They seem to want to be left alone, but when they do strike, the violence can be horrifying and brutal. I plan on running them as a Lycaon list, unless a better option presents itself.

Here are the words of Gulth Deathroll, Speaker for the Army of the Abandoned:

This land hurts. The air hangs thick and wet, but not warm. We seldom see the sun so that we may bask in it.

The doctor brought us here from our island, then he awoke us from our long dreaming, living in the memories of our ancestors stretching back to when the Great and Terrible strode the land. We had not changed much, until the doctor woke us with his machines and his potions and the hurt of his sharp knives. Now we are awake. Now we know things, and think things, and walk upright and hunt and kill things other than those foolish enough to come near our water.

The doctor has gone, chased from his buildings and his domicile by angry others of his kind. We smashed our way free, lashed the gates with our spiny tails and slashed those who stood against us with claws and teeth as their paltry weapons beat ineffectually upon our scales.

And now, like others we have found, we have taken to the sewers beneath this city, where great brackish rivers move slowly through the manmade tunnels. The ruby crystals the men so adore keep us warm even in this northern clime, and our numbers grow. We slither up the river banks and raid; we clamber from the sewers and destroy. And we wait.

The doctor will return, or he will not. And we will murder him, or not. Our patience is far greater than man's, and the memory of the saurians is long.

As usual, I do not yet have any painted models for this faction of my dreams, but I do have many such models already in the Unpainted Mountain of Lead. Here are some catalog shots from the various manufacturers of figures that I'm likely to use:

 

 

 

Also, if giant monster rules are ever forthcoming, either from West Wind or one of us home-brewers, I could use several of the different BaneBeasts monsters from Maelstrom Games:

Of course, that would also necessitate me suddenly being made out of money, so we'll see what the future holds.

Further bulletins as events warrant, genties and ladlemen!

Ironclad Ladies Arrive + 20 Questions

Yay!* My first order from Ironclad Miniatures arrived today. As I've previously mentioned, these Victorian ladies will be the core of my warband for West Wind's Empire of the Dead, the Ladies Auxiliary.

My Ironclad ladies that just arrived:
From left, Mina Murray Harker, Irene Adler and Constance

Special thanks to John at Ironclad for enduring my emails. I think the ladies wanted to stop and see some of the Olympics before crossing the pond to get to my house. I must say these minis look even better in person than they did on the website. There are minor mold lines evident, nothing that can't be remedied with a moment's work with a needle file, and no flash that I saw. Mina's sword and Irene's pistol both bent somewhat during shipping, but I got them mostly straightened by hand here at my desk, and I'll get after them with some pliers once I get home. More once I get them dressed in some paint!

* Because "yeah" looks like a simple affirmative and "yea" looks archaic to me, so I'm going phonetically, "yay!"

Additionally, this questionnaire has been making the rounds on many of the wargaming blogs I read. Looks like it was crafted by Ray at "Don't Throw a One" and Fran at The Angry Lurker in a fit of ennui and animosity. So here are my answers. The questions are repeated below if you want to copy them for your own blog.
1.  Favourite Wargaming period and why? 
Modern, because I love to play Zombie games
2.  Next period, money no object? 
Weird World War II
3.  Favourite 5 films?
"Eat Drink Man Woman," "City of Lost Children," "Yankee Doodle Dandy," "Creepshow," "Duck Soup"4.  Favourite 5 TV series? 
Revenge, Project Runway, Dr. Who, Warehouse 13, Lost Girl5.  Favourite book and author?
"Armor" by John Steakley6.  Greatest General? Can’t count yourself!!
Saladin
7.  Favourite Wargames rules?
All Things Zombie from Two-Hour Wargames8.  Favourite Sport and team?
Sorry, I don't follow sports.9.  If you had a one-use time machine, when and where would you go?
I would go back to get a chance to meet my paternal grandfather, who died several years before I was born.10. Last meal on Death Row?
Fried chicken, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and 247 Cadbury Creme Eggs11. Fantasy relationship and why?
I'm already in my fantasy relationship, with my lovely wife, Tracey12. If your life were a movie, who would play you?
Ben Affleck, or maybe Bruce Vilanch13. Favourite Comic Superhero?
Rorschach for "Watchmen"14. Favourite Military quote?
From Murphy's Laws of Combat: "If your attack is going really well, it's an ambush." 
15. Historical destination to visit? 
Stonehenge16. Biggest Wargaming regret?
Selling my old Grey Knight Terminators17. Favourite Fantasy job?
Like Dave Attell said, "Manager of a chocolate factory run by big-breasted hookers." Unfortunately, like Dave, I ain't got the training for that. 
18. Favourite Song Top 5?
"All the Madmen" by David Bowie, "Ogdru Jahad" by Darkest of the Hillside Thickets, "Better. Faster. Stronger" by Kanye West and Daft Punk, "Better" by Jonathan Coulton, "Whistling in the Dark" by They Might Be Giants
19. Favourite Wargaming Moment?
It wasn't good for me, but I just loved the way it turned out. I was teaching an opponent to pay Battletech and we were having a 1-on-1 mech duel with the bendy plastics that came with the box set. I dropped into a pool to speed my cooling and my opponent walked up and kicked at me, crushing my mech's head. Priceless.20. The miserable Git question, what upsets you?
I work very hard to keep things from upsetting me (I have a heart condition). That said, I hate prejudice, racism and homophobia. 

The questions:



1.  Favourite Wargaming period and why?
2.  Next period, money no object?
3.  Favourite 5 films? 
4.  Favourite 5 TV series?
5.  Favourite book and author?
6.  Greatest General? Can’t count yourself!!
7.  Favourite Wargames rules?
8.  Favourite Sport and team?
9.  If you had a only use once time machine, when and where would you go?
10. Last meal on Death Row?
11. Fantasy relationship and why?
12. If your life were a movie, who would play you?
13. Favourite Comic  Superhero?
14. Favourite Military quote?
15. Historical destination to visit?
16. Biggest Wargaming regret?
17. Favourite Fantasy job?
18. Favourite Song Top 5?
19. Favourite Wargaming Moment?
20. The miserable Git question, what upsets you?

Put my order in

I'm following up with something I mentioned earlier, planning to do a Ladies Auxiliary to run by Gentlemen's Club rules. Several people on one of the forums (maybe Lead Adventure, but I'm not sure) talked about the Mina Harker figure from Ironclad. I really fell in love with it, so I ordered her and Irene Adler and Constance as well. I'll be back for Ironclad Man and probably some others, but I've got to work out this warband first.

Mina will always be Mina Murray to me, after the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen comics by Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill. I love that this figure has the prominent scarf Mina wore in that series to cover her scars. This won't represent Mina per se, but in the backstory I'm preparing, somewhere there is a central organization to all the Ladies Auxiliary chapters with Mina Murray at its head. In her honor, the Presidents of the local organizations wear the red scarf (once they've killed a vampire!). Irene will be the Vice President of the organization, acting as its spymaster. Constance, with her steampunky gear, is the Secretary, of course. Of course, the L.A. will have their own distinct titles, such as Chairwoman, which I will work out more fully later.

Another figure I ordered was from Reaper, the beautiful and mysterious Xiufang. If West Wind releases Chinese Tong rules, which I'm certain they will at some point, I'll include her there as well, but I have an inkling she's working both sides of the docks, so to speak, using her contacts in Cheapside to funnel information to the Auxiliary. Maybe she's really the spymaster, not Irene! I'll have to see.

Seeing the teaser images of the Railroad Crew that Wyrd is putting out for Malifaux, I think I'll have some use for them in EOTD. (image from Alliance Game Distributor's Facebook Page).

I know I need some regular membership, too. I have some Victorian ladies from Foundry floating around somewhere, but the only other one I'm thinking about ordering right now is a long rifle-wielding steampunk goddess from Ramshackle Games. What warband doesn't need a sniper? And that name! Fidelia St.John-Smythe. Oh, I am truly enraptured.

I promise to post some of my own pics once things arrive. Hopefully I'll have my painting and modelling area set up by then! TTFN

Review: Initial Impressions of Empire of the Dead

Let me just say this: "Empire of the Dead" is a beautiful book. 

The cover of "Empire of the Dead" as it sits
 on my too-cluttered desk at work.

A full-color hardcover of 150+ pages, it's a delight to the eye, it's sturdy in the hands, and it even smells good.

For those of you thinking TL;DR already, here's the summary. This book is very good. Great fluff, great art, plenty of options for creative modeling and gaming. If you like VSF or steampunk or Gothic Horror, you should buy it. You won't be sorry.

I'll have to review the games' crunchy details later, once I've got a few sessions under my belt.

I do have a couple of criticisms based on my profession as a copy editor and page designer of 15 or so years, but they're minor, and if you don't care about those, skip the next couple of paragraphs.

I didn't like the main typeface chosen for the book. Sans serif fonts are much harder on the eye when used for the main text, and it puzzles me why, when the book does so much on its front and back covers and in its interior art to evoke the late Victorian era in its art and its design, a typeface that looks so modern was chosen for the bulk of the text, especially as much of that text is ostensibly the journal entries of a gentleman's gentleman of the period. I'm not saying the whole thing should have been set in Caslon Antique, but a more appropriate serif font was surely available.

In that same vein, pages 10 and 11 of the book are supposed to be a letter from a lab assistant to his lady love about the troubles that have befallen his master's work. Much better choice here of font, a flowing italic that evokes the feeling of script, but then the letter is set with each line centered. No one is capable of writing like that, since as you're composing a letter by hand you have no idea how long each line is going to be! Even on unlined paper, most people would right flush left, leaving the right margin ragged. OK, rant over, and I know it's nitpicky. That's why I warned you up front. But this touches on what I do for a living, so I have to work to get past these things trying to immerse myself in the world the book is trying to create.

But oh, the art! Lovely, moody, evocative, compelling. I handed the book to my wife who is both a gamer and an artist and she thought the work was top-notch. There are one or two clinkers, but the art is really choice. Excellent job by everyone involved.

I approve the use of D10s as the die of choice for combat and skill usage. It looks like the target numbers and modifiers will be easy to remember. But where this game succeeds most to me is in its setting. It's taken many of the old faction types from West Wind's Vampire Wars and woven them, with new choices, into a wonderful Gothic Horror world with touches of steampunk and plenty of tropes from the horror films, novels and games we all love.

The various factions presented seem well thought out, and by giving the framework of the Gentlemen's Clubs and the Holy Orders, they leave a lot of room for gamers to do their own creating. I love it. I have in mind reviving two old efforts of mine from my earliest forays into Victorian gaming -- the Sisters of St. Lucia as a Holy Order (steampunk nuns!) and the Ladies' Auxiliary, an all-female warband using the Gentlemen's Club rules.

Two of the most fun pages in the book for me were pp. 116-117. It's a list of 10 types of ferocious plant life that could possibly be found in the location The Botanical Gardens of Professor Julius Forbes-Talbot. Just imagine your intrepid adventurers rounding a corner in a dark, humid greenhouse, stealthily hunting whatever miscreant has drawn their ire, when the come face to face with a giant, bulbous, hungry flower bulb. Though the text says it's from the Amazon, I expect to hear it sing, "Feed me, Seymour!"

One surprise was that stats for many of the characters for which we've seen minis produced, including the Cirque du Noir Man Ape, Cedric Hyde, and others, were not included in this book. I don't know if they're on the forums, or on cards packed with the minis, or if they're being saved for a future volume. I'm OK with it; it was just surprise that left me a little disappointed. (I'm in love with that Man Ape mini and can't wait to get my hands on one. OK, maybe two so I can have one with each hat.)

That said, know that I love the book and fully recommend it. If you love skirmish-level gaming, gothic horror, steampunk, or any type of Victorian fiction, you should pick it up. I was a little skittish at the MSRP of $50, but it's more than worth it. I ordered mine from FRP here in the States. If I'd been in the UK, I would've taken advantage of one of the many special deals combining the rulebook, faction minis and some limited edition releases.

It's here! It's here! The new phonebook's here!

Actually I received my copy of Empire of the Dead today. Lovely, full-color hardback rulebook. I've only had a chance to leaf through it briefly, as I picked it up at the post office on my way to work, but I'm about to have my two days off this week, and I'll get into it more then.

Broad strokes

Still no pictures yet as I sort out some terrain for backgrounds, but I should give you a broad sketch of a couple of the projects I've got under way.

Modern zombies: I've got the nucleus of a zombie horde primed (a state they've been in for at least two years) and ready to paint, and I've got some Hasslefree adventurers on hand ready for some paint. I've also got the beginnings of a story ready for my zombie campaign. I'll probably use All Things Zombie and its two expansions  from Two Hour Games because of the great campaign mechanics, but I'm also thinking about giving 7ombieTV from Crooked Dice a shot, using the campaign rules from the Summer Special. The horde will grow later this year when Zombicide is released.

Victorian SF/Horror: Just ordered my copy of West Wind's Empire of the Dead rulebook from FRP. I've got some VSF figures from Eureka's Pax Limpopo line hanging around to play the heroes, but I am looking forward to acquiring some of the particular minis manufactured for this game. Everybody seems to be out of stock at the moment, especially on the Cirque du Noir Ape, which of course I MUST HAVE.

There will also be some ongoing post-singularity SF stuff using the Infinity, Reaper, old AT-43 minis and others I have. Not sure on a rule set yet though.