The hand of the master revealed ... my Victorian Scrunts arrive.

As I suspected he would, Bob Olley beat me. I received my items from Bob's Victorian Scrunts kickstarter before I've finished tinkering with the company rules I'm writing for "In Her Majesty's Name." I have two days off coming up, so I'll try to finish them off this week and have them posted before the weekend.

(My excitement has me waxing loquacious. There's a tl;dr summary down at the end if you don't want to wade through my excess verbiage!)

But I cannot deny you, my faithful readers, a look at the glory that is the work of the master. Olley's Scrunts are some of the most characterful miniatures out there, and though I haven't yet removed these from their (unique) packaging -- I'm still at work and don't want to lose anything -- they appear to be incredibly clean casts with minimal mold lines and no flash at all. At least I can't find any yet through visual examination. I mean, these did come out of a mold, right? Bob hasn't discovered some moldless method of casting metal miniatures with the sheer power of his mind, has he? Wouldn't put it past him. These things are gorgeous.

I wish I could've plunged into this KS much deeper, but I could only plump for the three-pack deal. That means there were lots I had to leave behind, like the light weapons, both gambling dioramas, the queen and the two vehicles, and the head sprues. Oh, the head sprues! Not that there's not plenty of variety with what I now hold in my grubby little hands, but still, the more, the merrier. You can see pics of all that escaped my greedy grasp on the pages of the kickstarter here. Bob has said over at LAF that he has ideas for many further Victorian Scrunt civilians, so more of the line may be forthcoming. He will certainly get more of my hard-earned cash when he does. I also intend to scoop up more of those I had to forgo initially, once he gets these up in his webstore.

What I chose were the lads armed with the Heavy Weapons, Packs 1 and 2:

The "unique" packaging I mentioned, here encasing
pack 2 of the Heavy Weapon Victorian Scrunts. 

Look at that face! The heads, bodies, arms and
 steam backpacks are all separate, interchangeable components.

Another closeup of the heavies' faces.

A top-hatted head from the Heavy Weapons Pack 1.

If you can look through the glare, you can see the detail
and dynamism of that body sculpt. I am impressed beyond words.

For my third pack I chose the Thugs:

Here we have the pack of Victorian thugs,
armed to bring violence to the streets.

A couple of bewhiskered close-ups of the thugs here.
They look suitably violent, that's for sure.

tl;dr version: Olley's Armies Victorian Scrunts are dynamic sculpts with exquisite detail, cast with minimal mold lines and, I swear, no visible flash. The variations available due to the modular design mean your assembled Scrunts will likely be unique. Highest recommendation, without reservation.

That's it for today, o my brothers and my sisters. Back to the boards, everyone, and I'll see you across the table soon.

Victorian Scrunts are on their way

The lastest word from Bob and Jackie Olley is that most of the packages from the Olley's Armies Victorian Scrunts kickstarter have been dispatched.

Need I reveal here that I'm maniacally scratching away, trying to perfect a company list for these figures before mine arrive in the post? I am. Fourth rewrite -- I don't know how Craig and Charles do it.

Actually I do. I've been writing game rules myself for over 15 years -- it's intense, draining but ultimately rewarding work. (I just wish I did it as successfully as they do it!)

In that vein, when I saw the Scibor figure below, I knew he would be a great walker addition to my scrunt company. The figure is designed for Blood Bowl-type fantasy football, but the inclusion of optional machine guns to go along with the steam fist certainly opens him up for use beyond the pitch.

Here's the picture from the Scibor online catalog so you can see what he's supposed to look like all put together.

That face looks like Cardinal Biggles from the Monty Python Spanish Inquisition sketch, no?

That's actually what made me fall in love with the little fella!

So here are my photos of the mini as I just received it:

Look at that adorable little face! The detail really comes through in this resin casting as well. Ornate yet functional and tough as hell, just like dwarves scrunts should make!

The backs of the steamfists. I checked the picture on Scibor's catalog page to see if these dings and divots were sculpted features or casting issues. (They're sculpted that way!)

The steamfists, palms-up.

This really surprised me. I was not prepared for the gorgeousness of the detail of this sculpted base. I wasn't expecting a sculpted base at all, so it was a wonderful surprise!

Optional machine gun and ammo canisters, I believe.

Shoulderpads, hatch crank and smokestacks. Gotta love more bits!

All in all, I gotta say this was a worthwhile purchase. As you can see, there is some resin flash between the parts in some locations, so thin that it could more accurately be called a film. There are also some tabs to be cut away on the knees of the armor, it seems. I haven't worked with resin much, so I've got my work cut out for me. For an experienced resin-modeler, I'm sure this would be an even greater value, as they won't have to cope with the learning curve I've got.

So back to the boards, everyone, and I'll see you across the tables soon. WITH a Victorian scrunts company list for IHMN, too. Soon, I promise!

Got my Fenris bases

Got my Fenris Nags Tavern fine planking bases for my IHMN Airship Pirates company. The quality on these is exceptional. Both the pattern and the polish are of very highest quality. Only one or two of the bases had minute bits of flash that I could've possibly eradicated with a fingernail. 

These Innsmouth cobblestone bases are, if anything, even better. No flash, no visible flaws, bottoms ground evenly to a fine polish. -- I love 'em. I don't know which IHMN crew will get these first, but I'm eager to try them out.

The joy of ordering from many of the boutique miniature companies, especially in the UK, is receiving sweeties along with your purchase. I'd never had a Super Fizz Wham! bar or a Barratt Fruit Salad chew before. (Both were pretty great as sweeties go.) Above you see what I received along with the third item I ordered, some sewer manhole covers. Unlike the resin bases, they're metal and attached to a sprue. Clean, clear casts, just like everything I've seen from Fenris. 

My thanks to Ian Brumby for the great work and great service!

Welcome, Wednesday!

We have a new public follower aboard. Welcome Nimrod, whom I am sure is a mighty hunter before The Lord (my readers did know I studied for the ministry at one point, right?), and who writes the excellent blog

Слишком много ножей, which Google translate tells me means "Too Many Knives."  Give the blog a visit -- we stomp much of the same ground, so I dare say you'll enjoy it. 

Now back to the boards everyone, and I'll see you across the table soon. 

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.

Welcome aboard!

Welcome to The Lord of Excess, author of the blog The Excessive Gamer, as a follower. He's currently doing the 40th anniversary D&D blog hop, as well as detailing the construction of a lizardman army for Warhammer Fantasy. Looking at his previous posts and his disclaimer, it appears he also covers Privateer Press, Fantasy Flight, Reaper products, Song of Blades and Heroes, and many others. Lots of ground you can cover in a blog that's been running since 2009!

Fred Jackson also joins us, who describes himself on G+ as a "gamer who has lost his way." Welcome, Fred. We don't know where we're going, but we're making great time!

And our third addition here goes by Brummielad1975, the force behind the Chronicles of Tantalus. His 28mm work includes come great recreations of film and TV characters, a special favorite of mine. His work really shows of Crooked Dice and Hasslefree's sculpts in a great light.

Welcome aboard all! Great to have you here.

Now back to the boards, everyone, and I'll see you across the table 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.